It was sectioned off by a wall of massive stones, encrusted with salt and smoothed over by weather. A glistening structure stood at the very top of the tallest point of the mountain, and below it, a huge shelf had been cut into the side of the cliff. Bright flags fluttered on ships pulled into the docks in the distance.
The gates were open a crack, and I couldn’t see any sign of a guard. Vesma doubled her pace, and despite my snarling stomach, I worked to keep up with her. A dull roar clashed with the sound of waves from the ocean on our right.
“What kind of guard leaves their gates open to a Vigorous Zone?” Vesma asked as we neared the city gates.
“They don’t,” I answered before I broke into a run.
Vesma and I raced closer to the city. Thuds, screams, and the clang of alarm bells filled the air.
Qihin City was under attack.
Chapter Eight
I beat Vesma to the gate and raced into Qihin City. I sprinted away from the fortified walls and past brightly painted pagodas stretching into the sky. The buildings clustered around each other to create narrow passages that snaked out into wider streets. Lampreys crawled over the rooftops in waves of scales and razor-teeth. Robed fishfolk screamed as they attempted to flee the predators.
Waterfalls gushed out of the tall buildings and flowed through channels carved into the streets. Fountains fashioned from coral projected water to the skies in a celebration of the elements. But the beauty was marred by lampreys descending from the waters to invade the city.
Packs of scaled monsters skittered through the streams and rooftops, the faster ones tearing down statues and leaping on the fishfolk. Screams and howls filled the air as the monsters tore the fishfolk asunder with their claws and feasted upon their flesh. Starsquids roamed the streets and lashed out with viciously barbed tentacles.
“Good spirits!” Vesma cried.
I ripped the Sundered Heart free of its sheath and tried to discern the best place to start. Everywhere I looked, someone needed my help. I heard a woman scream and turned to the door of a nearby house.
A Qihin woman was valiantly trying to fend off a starsquid with a broom. Blood glistened on her dark skin as it dripped from a dozen small wounds. I forced myself to move even faster and raised my free hand. I caught the starsquid with a gout of flames that did little more than distract it, but that was the point.
The monster tore its attention away from the woman and spun toward the light as I slammed into it and put all of my weight behind Nydarth’s blade. The powerful strike broke through the squid’s natural defenses and pierced deep into its rubbery organs. I kicked the dying monster off the end of my blade and wheeled to face the panting civilian.
“They’re everywhere,” she moaned. “We can’t hope to hold them!”
A lamprey collapsed to the ground beside me as Vesma pulled her spear free. “Where the hells is the garrison of the clan guards?”
“Monsters. Everywhere,” the woman moaned again.
“Get inside and bar your door. Treat your injuries as best you can,” I ordered her. “We’ll cut down their numbers until the garrison gets here and re-takes control. Stay quiet and behind solid doors.”
The woman slammed the door behind her after she barreled inside.
“What’s the plan?” Vesma asked me. “We can’t kill every monster in the city.”
“The garrison has to be on the way,” I said as I scanned the street. “The monsters aren’t going after the people in the houses. As long as the citizens stay inside, they’re safe. We’ll clear everything we can on this street and hold it until the guards get here.”
“There are only two of us. How the hells are we going to manage that?”
“Easy. You take that side of the street.” I pointed behind us. “I’ll cover this side. We throw enough fire at them, it’ll work as a lure. They’ll be too busy with us to attack the citizens.”
A hard light glittered in her eyes, and she pushed Vigor along her weapon. In an instant, the blade of her spear flickered with flames. “Don’t get killed, Swordslinger,” she said.
I caught hold of her shoulder and kissed her quickly. “Two of us versus an army of monsters? That’s what I call a fair fight.”
She turned so that our backs were pressed together as a pack of lampreys dived from the nearby rooftops. The locals had barred themselves inside the buildings and left the street mostly clear. I covered my upper body and arms with a layer of Frozen Armor and turned to meet my new foes.
A lamprey latched onto me and hauled me in close to snap at my face with its toothed maw. I elbowed one of its claws off my shoulder and smashed it against a wall while Vesma stabbed another. A rapid stab through the gills finished the lamprey. I impaled two more of them with my spiked Plank Pillars, stunned one with a spray of Stinging Palm, and dispatched it with the Sundered Heart. Fire flared from Vesma’s spear as she pushed toward the other side of the street.
I caught a vicious claw on my ice-armored forearm, stabbed my attacker through the mouth, and shoulder-checked the dying monster into three more of its friends. Mist began to cloud around the lampreys as they fanned out to attack me from different angles. I countered their blanketing cloud with my own Ash Cloud and followed the sound of strained hissing until I found the
