Danny, Adem and Zarch were huddled together in the protective shade of a bush several hundred metres away from Goldbolt’s fortress. And even being this close felt horribly dangerous.
The building itself was immense, and the most heavily fortified structure Danny had ever encountered.
“That’s a pretty fuckin’ big castle,” Danny said. Zarch nodded.
“I’ve seen bigger,” Adem said. Danny turned and looked at him.
“Not on this planet, of course.”
The height of the building rivalled that of the tallest office buildings Danny had seen back on their earth. It was at least a kilometre wide, and made of tightly packed grey brick. They didn’t even want to hazard a guess as to how thick the walls were.
Rising up against the four corners of the castle, watching over the land that surrounded, were four statues of identical women. They were decked out in warrior’s garb, and all carved from the same midnight-black stone.
Stone towers rose up from the roof of the fortress at regular intervals, each staffed by heavily armed red archers. They kept a ceaseless watch on the castle’s boundaries. Along the edge of the rooftop were threatening looking spikes, discouraging any and all unwelcome visitors.
Set apart from the walls of the building was a separate outer wall that surrounded the entire structure. It was about twenty feet high, and archers patrolled it. Surrounding the outer wall was a manmade river, about twenty feet across at it’s widest point.
“A moat? He has a moat?!” Danny exclaimed. He didn’t want to hazard a guess as to what was living in it. He’d had enough experience with the aquatic life of this dimension.
There appeared to be only one entrance. There was a drawbridge cut into one section of the outer wall, that looked to be wide enough for three men on horseback to enter side by side.
“I don’t envy the workers, alive or dead, who had to build that castle,” Zarch said.
Around the fortress was a clearing. The area had been completely cleared of trees and plants for at least a hundred metres around the castle.
“Okay. We can do this,” Danny said.
“Do what?” Adem asked.
“Take the castle,” Danny replied.
“Are you insane?!” Zarch asked.
“A little.”
“Three of us against them?”
“Not just the three of us! I’m going to get help,” Danny explained.
“Should we accompany you?” Adem asked.
“I’ll be quicker on my own,” Danny said. Adem nodded.
“Remember the observation we made earlier? That red archers regularly patrol the area surrounding the castle?” Adem said, something grabbing his attention.
“Yeah,” Danny replied.
“They’re coming this way.”
“Shit!”
Danny dove backwards into a nearby bush and turned his skin dark green. Zarch and Adem ducked behind a nearby tree, Adem altering his clothing to match Zarch’s and appear as one of the red archers.
The patrol quickly came upon their location. Six men clad in red leather made their way through the trees, keeping an eye out for anything unusual.
“You there! Behind the tree!” One of them yelled in their own language.
“…us?” Zarch said, stepping out slowly. Adem followed, just as carefully.
“What are you doing out here?”
“I… I thought I saw a boar pass by here a moment ago. I’d like to eat well tonight,” Zarch said, keeping his bow raised.
“Make your way back to the castle with us. There have been reports of outsiders causing trouble nearby.”
Adem shot a look down at Danny while Zarch spoke to the archers. Danny nodded slightly and crawled back further into the cover of the bushes. He waited a few moments until he couldn’t hear the archers anymore, then turned and burrowed his way out.
Then, he hunted.
He tore through the forest on the powerful hind legs of a cheetah, not letting anything stand in his way that could be dodged with a single step or torn to shreds with a set of tiger claws. He came across a log blocking his path and he cleared it with one jump, hitting the ground on the other side and continuing without breaking stride.
His coyote’s ears were pricked up and he filtered through all the sounds that bombarded him.
Birds. Several hundred metres up. Harmless.
Something in the undergrowth is searching for grubs. Possible food source.
A tree branch is creaking. It’ll fall soon. Don’t be under it.
Somewhere… voices?
Danny lifted his head and sniffed the air, his wolf’s nose trying to make sense of the smells around him.
The same animal from before. The possible boar. Must remember where these things were for later.
Trees. Every tree has it’s own smell. He’d never noticed before.
Waste. Animal waste. So many things use the forest floor for a toilet.
And everywhere he turned, the odour of decayed and rotting corpses. Grimm and his army of zombies. They were a while off, but… they were out there. Not safe. Danny hoped Priest and Ozzy could return Grimm to the fold.
And, perhaps if Grimm starts thinking straight, he could bring his army to their battle. More reinforcements would always be good.
Danny leaped to the side on his left foot to dodge a tree that had appeared in his path and bounded back with his right, returning to the path he was on. Suddenly something caught his attention and he spun around to face the tree. He sniffed. He closed his eyes and sniffed again.
Somebody had stopped to urinate against this tree. Recently. Somebody human. Danny was on the right track.
He kept running. Vines stretched across his path and he slashed them to pieces without thinking. His legs kept pushing him forward. The voices he’d heard were getting louder. He kept his ears up and his nose forward, and he knew he was getting somewhere. He’d soon find help.
One of the voices struck him as familiar. As he got closer the voice got louder, and he realised why.
“Sam…” He whispered as he ran.
In a nearby clearing, Sam was debating strategy with Sir Justin.
“You’re a poopyhead!”
“No, you’re a poopyhead!”
“We’re just sitting here doing nothing,” Justin was yelling at Sam.
“We need a plan. If we try to take Godbolt now, on our own, we’d get ourselves killed!” Sam yelled back.
Dozens of restless knights surrounded them, roasting the flesh of a deer-like creature they’d found and killed. A few were drinking water from the stream they’d come across earlier that day. Night would soon fall, and many of the knights seemed to be of the impression that they’d made camp.
“Sam!” Came a voice from the trees, breaking up the debate. Sam spun around to face the source of the voice.
“Danny!”
Ozzy and Priest marched through the forest on the trail of Grimm. Even their substandard human noses were enough to follow the smell of the decayed undead soldiers.
“Grimm’s army reeks,” Ozzy said.
“At least we know we’re getting closer,” Priest replied.
“How do we know he’ll listen to us? He just kicked our asses last time,” Ozzy said,
“I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet,” Priest said.
“Damn.”
………………………………………………………………………………………………
“You want do what?” Sam asked.
“Take Godbolt’s fortress,” Danny said.
“Yes!” Sir Justin exclaimed.
“Vanguard versus hundreds, maybe thousands of archers?” Sam asked incredulously.
“Not all of Vanguard,” Danny answered.
“Well who’s there?”
“Me… Adem… and Zarch.”
“Zarch?”
“Epicentre. Whatever. That guy. Matthews.”
“Three guys versus Godbolt and his army?” Sam said.
“And Sir Justin’s knights, if they’re up for it.”
“It is the battle for which we have spent years preparing,” Justin said.
“And maybe some zombies…” Danny said, continuing.
“What?”
“Depending on how Priest and Ozzy go. And maybe dragons. And giants.”
“Maybe?” Sam said.
“Hard to tell how the other guys are going. Our phones aren’t exactly working here.”
“You plan to go into battle without knowing who you have on your side?” Sam asked.
“I was just about to try getting in touch with them,” Danny said.
“How?”
“Um… by getting you to think really hard towards Phil.”
“Why me?”
“…I’m really tired from all that running I did…”
