The sun slowly pried its way higher into the sky as the group of six traveled quietly across Cleftshire. Wood smashing in the distance drew their attention ever forward, ever toward the task ahead. All around them was evidence of the trifleys’ rampage, growing more pronounced as they approached the bridge. The monsters had scarcely made any mark on the buildings back by the mill, but as they drew closer to the bridge, smashed windows, destroyed doorways, and caved-in walls marked the monsters’ presence.

  An accidental bump from Wilfurd behind him made Jarod’s muscles tense and his sword arm twitch, but he stayed his blade before anything came of it. It wasn’t like when Filgrin and he were slinking behind houses to get across the bridge. A group their size wasn’t likely to have the advantage of stealth when they finally got to their target, but he hoped they could at least stall any forewarning until they were in position.

  The surveyor’s carriage was close now. Nikolao poked his head out around the corner from the backside of the house they’d taken cover behind. The surveyor’s eyes went wide, and Jarod was worried for a moment that he’d been spotted, but he didn’t retreat back behind cover.

  Nikolao just stood there, watching whatever was going on by the bridge. Long enough that Jarod couldn’t help but quietly ask, “what do you see?”

  Nikolao glanced suddenly sideways at Jarod, snapping back to reality. “There’s a pair of trifley there, but it’s not that. Our carriage, the enchantments failed and… well, see for yourself.”

  He stepped back to allow Jarod to step in front of him to survey the scene. There were two trifley around, distracted in their search through scattered belongings and bodies. There was a lot for them to look through because it looked as though the entire contents of the carriage had been strewn about the street in front of the bridge. Even more so than the room’s contents, the room itself seemed to have been scattered throughout the street. Great pieces of the ornate walls still leaned helter skelter against each other, and a chunk of the ceiling, chandelier still attached, was lying atop a heap of smoldering books.

  Amidst the rubble and ruin, were the bodies of the surveyors Jarod met earlier inside the carriage. It was hard to feel sympathy for people who’d imprisoned him and chosen to stay hiding inside from danger, but even they didn’t deserve this fate.

  “We can take them out now,” said Nikolao. “Before they have a chance to notice us.”

  Jarod pulled the surveyor back around the corner. “Their fur is already brown. If we wait for them to go back underground, we don’t have to risk them raising an alarm.”

  “It’s just two of them though!” Nikolao realized he was speaking too loudly, and dropped back into a quiet whisper. “We have two bows, we can kill them in an instant.”

  “What’s the situation?” asked Wilfurd.

  Jarod explained the predicament to the group, advocating again for his plan of safety.

  “I don’t know,” said Wilfurd. “If we’ve got two of ‘em here, we might as well take ‘em out. Two less to deal with in the future. So long as our archers think they can make the shot.”

  Filgrin answered first. “We’ve got ‘em by surprise. I’d take those odds.”

  Jarod saw a glimmer of hesitation in Shelley when the question was first posed. After Wilfurd’s answer though, she set her jaw and responded confidently. “I’ll hit mine dead on. Easy as hunting a buck.”

  “Do it then,” said Nikolao, stepping back to allow the archers to take their positions.

  Filgrin and Shelley stepped to the side of the house, side by side. Jarod was surprised to see their similar rituals, as they each took a deep breath looking down and nocked an arrow. The rest of the group crouched alongside them, weapons in hand, ready to race forward if one of the targets still drew breath.

  “I’ll take the one on the left,” said Filgirn. “On your mark.”

  The pair drew their arrows, and steadied their aim. Jarod listened in anticipation to their slow exhale as they found their target, and the breathy “now” right before Shelley fired her shot.

  A pair of bowstring twangs rang out, loud in the suspense of the moment, but easily drowned out by the noises beyond. Jarod saw a flash of movement as the arrows sprang out of the bows and disappeared around the corner of the building. Without waiting for confirmation, he started a sprint forward, ready to attack whoever was still standing.

  Both the monsters lay dead, arrows protruding from the back of their necks. Jarod and the rest of the party fell quickly into a crouch to cover themselves from prying eyes now that haste wasn’t necessary.

  “Fine shot,” said Filgrin in acknowledgment.

  “Told you I knew how to handle a bow,” said Shelley matter of factly, but when Jarod glanced back, she had a proud smile on her face.

  The area by the bridge where they’d be retrieving supplies from was open and exposed to trifley eyes that might happen to be looking in that direction, so Nikolao instructed most of the party to wait crouched behind the meager bushes that lined the edge of the chasm. He brought Jarod along, pointing out a small section of wall from the exploded interior big enough to hide the two of them. Two would be enough pairs of hands to retrieve what they needed.

  Whatever had happened to the wagon had been devastating. Nothing had been safe from whatever blast must have blown it apart. Jarod recognized furniture from inside whose legs had been blasted off, and a heap of broken glassware sitting in a congealing pile of liquid that must have been a stash of something expensive.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The worst sight was the surveyors.

  Nikolao knelt down beside broken forms with splinters of shrapnel embedded deep within flesh, and broken limbs mangled at unnatural angles. The living surveyor reached out to one, dusting off his uniform, and pulling his arms into a more respectable position to look as though he might have died standing at attention.

  Jarod felt a measure of empathy for Nikolao. Even after the pain he’d been put through, he could understand the emotions of losing someone close to you. He was taken back a little by the other man’s grief. From how callously the surveyors had treated him and the other villagers, it didn’t seem like they cared for anyone outside of what could be gained from them. Yet Nikolao felt something for these men.

  “They died quickly at least,” Jarod said.

  Nikola sighed and stood up slowly. “I don’t need your comfort, villager. I know your feelings about us, you don’t have to feign sympathy for me.”

  Jarod was about to respond in some protest, but Nikolao interrupted him before he could continue. “There’s work to be done. Let’s salvage what we can and move forward. They’ll be here when we return. The dead have the cold patience of the grave.”

  Without hesitation, Nikolao began shifting aside some of the spilled furniture, and pulling out large tower shields from a pile of rubble.

  As he worked, Jarod began to recognize some order among the chaotic blast zone. The contents of the carriage had been caught heavily in the blast, but they were scattered in roughly the same layout as they had been inside. The large bookcase against the back wall had split in half and spilled its contents into the streets, but it was still lying next to the cabinets Tex’ana had grabbed his medicine from.

  A large chest of drawers was cracked in too many places to count, and had spilled various equipment by another wall listing against the remaining form of the carriage itself. Jarod spotted chains, bedrolls, manacles, and loose netting lying among the sundry contents. He began unknotting the jumble, and had collected a pair of intact nets by the time Nikolao was ready with 3 tall tower shields.

  Nikolao held up one finger to the rest of their group hiding in the foliage by the chasm edge and gestured for a single person to join them in the rubble. Wilfurd was the first to respond, stooping low as he dashed his way through the open view across the bridge. Luckily, it seemed like the trifley on the other side of the chasm had mostly contained themselves indoors at this point. There was still a group hacking away under cover of the tavern awning, and occasionally one would dart from building to building, grey fur becoming noticeably more brown.

  “Take this shield,” said Nikolao when Wilfurd arrived. “We’ll have you and Jarod start at the front to cover us, while Tex’ana and I carry nets. Filgrin and Shelley will be at the back. Once I’ve thrown my net, I’ll raise my shield alongside you and try to provide a front line for our archers. With Tex’ana’s reach, he’ll be able to swipe at any of the creatures in front of us while staying safe behind cover.”

  Jarod didn’t like the prospect of being a front line for anyone with how little health he had, but he had to admit that it was a reasonable idea. He hefted up a tower shield of his own, being pulled off balance until he could adjust to its weight, and took a position alongside Wilfurd.

  “Just like when we were playing soldier as boys, right?” Wilfurd asked.

  Jarod couldn’t help but grin at the memory. “Just like that, except blades instead of branches.”

  Nikolao interrupted their reminiscence. “Enough of that, we’re exposed here, so we need to get a move on. Start making your way across as quietly as you can. We’ll catch up momentarily.” He gestured for the rest of the group to follow.

  Jarod and Wilfurd began their march, looking back to make sure the rest of the group followed behind. Tex’ana’s tall figure grabbed a net from Nikolao, and caught up to them, still crouched as best he could, with quick waddling strides. Filgrin and Shelley pulled up in the rear, arrows nocked, as Nikolao explained the plan to them, and their company of six began the trek across the wide-open bridge.

  It was nerve-wracking work as they crossed. The bridge was in even worse shape than when Jarod and Filgrin had crossed it the first time. In many sections, the wooden planks that formed the road had been blasted away entirely, forcing the group to balance across the thick support beams that had survived the assault.

  Suddenly, the beam Jarod was standing on gave way beneath him. He careened forwards, trying to keep his balance on the downhill slope created when the timber broke free of the support on one side.

  Athleticism check (5, 7)

  [7]+1

  Full success

  Jarod managed to keep his feet as he picked up speed with no other option than to keep his momentum moving forward. If he kept following the beam though, he’d be led underneath the bridge and off the edge for a long tumble into the ravine. Spying an intact section of floor to his left, he made a desperate leap up to it. Somehow, he had the presence of mind to pay attention to his shield as he leapt, and raised it high enough in front of him to clear the ledge in his landing.

  He thudded hard on the wood, but far enough forward to keep his center of mass past the edge and on mostly solid ground. He pulled his dangling legs around and stood up quickly to prepare for any further collapse.

  The ground beneath him held firm as Jarod stood there, panting from the sudden exertion.

  “My god, are you okay man?” Wilfurd called out, carefully choosing a different path along the wood beams.

  “I think so. Just a bruise or two at the most,” Jarod said. He’d managed to escape without injury, but he was glad they were nearly across the bridge. He didn’t want to spend any more time on the ruined structure than necessary.

  The rest of the group caught up and Jarod allowed Wilfurd to pass to lead the rest of the way.

  Ahead in the village, the trifley beating on the tavern walls were clearly visible now. They were hacking at the walls and prying boards loose wherever they could, but every time the interior was exposed for just a second, a glint of steel flashed out to drive the creature off. Jarod could hear shouting and hammering from inside, as the villagers worked to repair their crumbling structure and keep the trifleys out. The trifley at the walls were running around frantically, but they seemed to be too caught up in their bloodlust and explosive mania to notice the figures approaching on the bridge.

  They didn’t have to notice though, because as the company closed the final stretch, a group of four of the creatures, fur already a dark brown from the sun, approached the bridge.

  “Get down,” Nikolao hissed through clenched teeth, but there was nowhere to hide. The company all crouched against the railing, hoping vainly that they could avoid being seen somehow, but they were directly in the open view of the loping trifleys.

  The monsters started jibbering loudly in their strange language as they drew near, barely altering the trajectory of their approach. There was no more time to delay.

  Jarod stood up and sprinted forward to get off the bridge. He raised his tower shield tall, planting it firmly in front of him alongside Wilfurd. This was where they would begin their assault to drive off the horrid creatures.