Chương 103: Chapter 102- A Town in Shambles

" Hurk, by the Ancients…"" Just so you know, 'bathing in the blood of thine enemies' is just an expression no one actually does that?" Elias rolled his eyes, giving a certain pair of spearmen a faux glare as they sheepishly looked the other way, before responding." I know Astra, I just couldn't help it, it was unavoidable."" You just could not help what? Rolling around in the filth and viscera?"

The mirth trailing down the tether from her took the bite out of the barb and, as he turned to give her a pointed look, his eyes roamed over the liberal coating of blood and viscera on her own armor, he caught the faint grin as she needled him. Astra signaled Taylor, and within minutes of the triple blast from the horn he was carrying, a clatter could be heard in the distance as troops from below poured through the gatehouse up onto the ramparts, dividing into teams and manning the ballistae.

A series of loud thrumming sounds filled the air as they began raining bolts down into the courtyard below. The emplacements themselves varied from smaller two man machines that shot slightly oversized arrows, to massive siege breakers, launching bolts that themselves were nearly as tall as Eli. As they pounded into the flagstones below the cracked the stones sank nearly foot deep into the soil beneath.

Archers that had joined the weapon's crews began firing over the battlements, often failing to score a direct kill, but instead clearing the wall and securing space for the crews to work. Eli leaned over the battlement to look below before quickly ducking back as one of the antlered monsters below hurled one of the bolts back over the ramparts. He took a second more cautious look, and as he crouched to peer over the edge, the sight that greeted him turned his stomach as he observed the grim scene below.

The courtyard containing the fracture was a charnel pit of horrors, the roiling mass of beasts being cut to pieces by the rallying defenders was bad enough, but the bloody and battered human bodies littering the ground told a different tale. One of a rushed and desperate defense that failed, and the heavy toll that defeat had reaped when counted in lives lost. What little levity that had built in the wake of their victory washed out of him, this was no victory.

They were not the victorious conquerors, they were the relief force, and they were too late. A gentle hand dropped onto his shoulder as Astra came to see what could turn his mood so quickly and, after she glanced over herself she froze in place, the gentle touch turned firm as she gripped hard. Looking up, Eli caught a glimpse of her snarling with gritted teeth as he felt a ripple of a kindling fury ignited in her chest along the tether.

Elias gently pried her hand free as he stood, turning to face the sound of booted feet trotting to approach them. The soldier who was approaching, a lieutenant from the Emerald Grove garrison by the badge on his pauldron, jogged over only to recoil as Astra's head snapped in his direction. He quickly came to attention and saluted as she schooled her expression to neutrality upon seeing his reaction. Slapping a fist to his chest, " Lady Emberholdt, 2nd Platoon has assumed clearing duties for the Fracture Watch.

We project a full clear of the Pit in the next twenty minutes, do you have any additional orders?" Astra shook her head, " No. From what we can tell, none escaped the enclosure, but assume nothing. Post a two man watch along the wall in each direction and keep an eye on the lands beyond, send a messenger to Captain Winterbrook once the Yard is clear or if anything changes. Dismissed."

Astra glanced back at the clearing team, gathering them up with her gaze, " Third squad you are relieved, report to Mr Mason for reassignment, sixth follow me, it is time we find out what in the Abyss happened here."

The team found Captain Winterbrook and Baron Grunveldt holding court in a scene of organized chaos just outside the disheveled gatehouse. The Emberholdt garrison was similarly located near the fracture gate, but the courtyard and warehouses had been turned into field hospitals, so the men had erected an open pavilion near the entrance where they could be centrally located and easily found by messengers.

When Astra swept into the pavilion with Eli, Tia, and her guards in tow, Winterbrook snapped a salute in her direction as a harried looking Grunveldt just gave her a wave and a nod as he bent back over a map table, placing markers as he received a series of reports for a small group of nearby messengers. A few of the nearby workers paled at their blood soaked appearance and cleared the way as Astra strode up to the Captain and returned his salute, " Where do we stand Captain?"

Winterbrook gave her a sharp nod and walked over the map table, a rough approximation of the town displayed writ large. He used a gauntleted finger to outline a large swath of the town surrounding the enclosure, nearly a quarter of the total land area of the settlement. A smattering of small disk shaped tokens in red, white, and black covered the area, a ring of white around the garrison slowly spreading outward with the baron swapping a red for white as they spoke.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere." This is our initial rough estimate of the affected area surrounding the Fracture Yard. We still do not have a clear picture on what exactly happened, but we do know that there is widespread fire damage, and at least one loss of containment prior to our arrival."

He tapped a black token, " We have scouts combing the town, and hunter killer teams chasing down the reports as they come in, but they are not slowing down." He tapped a red token, " The fires are going a little better, most of the blazes we found haven't had time to reach deep enough to ignite structural beams, so they can be smothered quick, but there are more than a few that are going to be total losses even if one of our fire mages or yourself step in personally."

Winterbrook sighed as he gestured to the comparatively small ring of white tokens, " The Yard is contained for now, so, unless the situation takes a significant turn we should trend towards stable over time. Current estimates have the fires contained within an hour or two at least, but we just won't know about the outbreak for some time." He leaned back upright, knuckling a spot on his lower back as he rose, "We hope to have swept the town by dawn, but if another tide spawns?"

He grimaced as he shook his head, " We just do not have enough information yet." Tia padded over to peek at the map as Astra spoke, " Any casualty estimates? And where the fuck is the watch?" Winterbrook grimaced and glanced over at the Baron who shook his head before turning back to give Astra a stony look, " Light so far for the forces we brought, only two killed in action on the initial assault, and a handful of wounded that should recover swiftly."

He took a deep breath, " As for the local forces we do not yet have a firm estimate my Lady, it could be as low as a hundred or in the thousands, it is still too early. As for the Watch…" Winterbrook jerked his head and they retreated to a corner of the pavilion, Eli and Tia joining them as the guards formed a cordon sectioning them off from the rest of the occupants.

He leaned in and spoke in a low voice, " We have only been able to find a score or two of the Garrison's soldiers, and quite a few of those holding the line at the gate were just clerks who grabbed anything not bolted to the floor to toss in the path of the tide."" We found a few members of the Watch among them, but no more than a handful, and according to the scouts, the walls and gates stand empty.

No one has reported where the rest of the Garrison went, but the survivors we found were broken and battered so the prospects are not good." Astra tensed at the report, jaw clenching until an actual growl rumbled in her throat. Her growl cut off as Eli dropped a hand on her shoulder and gave her look while nodding towards the Captain.

She sighed with a grimace before schooling her expression as she turned back to Winterbrook, " No need to look, I suspect you will find the rest of the Garrison in the Pit, or at least most of them from what I saw." Winterbrook swore under breath, " Shit. This gets worse by the minute, ok." He tapped his foot for a minute before speaking, " There was a young man, just a Corporal, organizing the party at the gate when you smashed through the gatehouse.

I took over for him once we arrived and sent him to the healers since he looked more alive than dead." He sighed, " I was hoping to give the young man some more time to rest, but given the condition of the rest he is probably our best chance to get some answers. Let me take you to him, any one else you would like to bring?" Astra thought for a moment before she nodded, " My guards and yourself, can you spare Magnus?

The League tends to have the most experience with the Abyssal fractures, can you leave your post right now?" Winterbrook flagged down a messenger to collect the League representative before turning back, " Magnus is currently coordinating the hunter killer teams, but his second can manage. Baron Grunveldt has this post well in hand as long as you can spare a hand to help with military matters."

Astra nodded before turning and waving Mason forward, " Mr Mason, assist the Baron, and do not hesitate to contact me if the situation turns." Mason saluted before turning to join the Baron as he bent over the map, speaking in low voices. A bald head bobbing through the crowd signaled the arrival of Magnus as Astra turned and nodded to Winterbrook, " Lead the way."

Winterbrook led the group into the courtyard, he pointed to a store room in the back that was little more than a shed that had been converted to housing for the injured. As they filed through the courtyard there were dozens of cots set up in rows, some occupied with injured sitting up with wounds as simple as a few large cuts being sewn shut and bandaged, to more than a few laying back listless with missing limbs.

A steady stream of traffic was leading to the large warehouse by the courtyard gate identifying it as the field hospital, and the rows of still, covered forms filling the practice yard signaled the morgue. The air filled with the scent of blood and offal, what little made it past the miasma of fiend blood that hovered around Eli, and the groans and cries of the injured lent a macabre mood to the scene before them.

Tia padded closer pressing against Eli's thigh as the somber mood affected her, and he reached down to stroke her spine in reassurance. The Captain pushed the door to the shed open, they found a trio of cots, two occupied with the middle empty, and as the Captain pointed at a man in the corner, Taylor stepped up to the other and gently asked him to step outside for a few minutes.

The weary soldier looked like hell, disheveled with a blood soaked bandage on his face and an arm in a sling, but as he glanced at the gathered officers he grimaced and stood to exit without a word. Winterbrook approached the other soldier, he was a thin man in ill fitting chainmail liberally splattered with roughly cleaned blood. He was covered in a smattering of bandages, including a wrap on his left hand that was currently missing the last two fingers as he gently snored.

When the Captain shook him awake he started, eyes flying open with a gasp, but as Astra took a seat in the chair by his beside he took one look at the crest on her breast plate and tried to bolt to his feet, only to be pressed back down into the mattress by the heavy hand of the Captain on his shoulder. Winterbrook spoke with a soft tone, at odds with the normal gruff speech of the taciturn man, as he pinned him in place, " Easy boy, no harm will come to you, the Lady has a few questions for you."

Eli wondered about the truth of that statement as the young man stared at Astra like a deer in the headlights as he broke out in a cold sweat.