Chapter 47

Note: Thanks to Alex for beta reading this!

Crystal followed Terra, Guang, and Paanee up the stairs to gain the wall. A group of enemy soldiers rushed forward with big ladders. The ice sprite formed a dagger, her body cold with anger at these pissants for assaulting her home.

She threw a dagger out at the soldiers, taking one in the face. He dropped, but the others trampled over his body, bringing those ladders closer. Paanee’s acidic spit took another soldier in the head, melting his helmet into his face.

“We should open the gates and let Siwang’s cockatrices out,” said Terra, glancing at Crystal. “They can shout at it while the goblins can defend the gate.”

“Yes, yes,” Crystal said. “And the ghosts. Send them down there, too. They’ll give those soldiers a fright.”

“We will,” moaned Nevidena, her voice full of grief and sadness.

“What about us?” Hrudei asked. “Unleash us, Noble Crystal.” The aos si had such fierceness in her purple eyes. “They will not know how to react with us in their midst.”

“Fine, fine,” Crystal said. “That leaves the orcs, kelpies, and wildhounds plus us four to defend the wall.”

“I’ll help hold the gate,” Terra said and hurried back the stairs.

Crystal glanced out at force. The ghosts spilled down while the gates opened. Paanee and Guang spread out down the line. The ice sprite conjured more ice daggers and hurtled them out at the foes. Paanee and the kelpies spat acid down on the soldiers. The cockatrices spilled out and formed a ring. They shouted.

Men collapsed, paralyzed.

The aos sithe vanished in bursts of light and appeared down amid the soldiers. Hypnotic lights swirled around the fey monster girls. Soldiers swayed, transfixed by them. With a shout, they started killing each other, beguiled by the beautiful aos sithe.

I like their style, thought Crystal.

With their mournful wails, the ghosts surged into the soldiers. They touched the men who screamed in terror and died. Weapons stabbed into them, but they were ghosts. Ethereal. The blades and spears passed right through them.

Siege ladders reached the wall.

“I got the left side,” Crystal called to Guang.

The lampetia nodded. She darted down the wall to the right and fired beams of light at the siege ladders. The orcs drew their golden swords, rushing to defend the wall, wildhounds loping with them. Paanee had the kelpies with her, their acidic spit striking the attackers.

One siege ladder snapped in half, melted by their attacks. Men screamed.

“That’s it,” Crystal shouted as Dzelzs thrust her sword into the face of the first attacker up her ladder. “For our dirty boy! Let’s kick their asses!”

“FOR LORD LEO!” roared the orcs and wildhounds.

Terra watched the cockatrices shouting. They slammed into the soldiers near the gate, paralyzing them with their sonic attacks. The former barista smiled, forming her hands into hammers. Her clay body shifted, her boobs shrinking.

“Goblins, keep them alive!” cried Terra.

“Yes!” Hipera cried.

The goblins darted between the cockatrices. They were short, but their size made it hard for the soldiers to defend against hamstring attacks. Those that got close to the cockatrices were dropped and dispatched.

Blood filled the air. This wasn’t like battling monster girls. The enemy didn’t die. Terra watched up close the damage inflicted on them. She readied for the fight, standing before the open gate. Her eyes flicked around.

Aos sithe appeared in flashes of light and swirls of rainbow. The ghosts left screams of fright and corpses behind as they moved through the enemy soldiers. It wasn’t even fair. They took no damage from the enemy.

The cockatrices paralyzed more and more men. A wall of stunned soldiers lay in an arc, forcing those wanting to attack to scramble over them. The soldiers attacked with a ferocity that surprised Terra. She could see why in their eyes.

They were afraid but also they hated it.

They despise us, Terra thought.

A soldier thrust a spear that skewered Klitorsa. The goblin vanished in a burst of motes. Terra sighed as the cockatrices kept shouting. The soldier that killed the goblin fell paralyzed. Atri, another goblin, slit that one’s throat.

They won’t stop until we’re dead, Terra realized. They’ve grown up thinking we’re monsters. Literal monsters that must be exterminated no matter the cost. These are not conscripted soldiers forced to be here.

They’re patriots fighting for their world.

A woman shouted. Divochyy, one of the aos sithe, died.

“Don’t let up!” Terra cried. “No quarter! For Lord Leo!”

Mrs. Bella Lucina soared over the south wall with the thunderbirds. They crackled around her, their bodies made entirely out of lightning. She watched the battle. A pile of paralyzed soldiers formed before the basilisks at the gate, Terra in the midst of them. The ghosts left trails of green and dead. The aos sithe had soldiers killing soldiers.