Chương 26: 25. The Kitchen Larders

Tavian looked over the dirty, tired looking men backing up Braun. How much longer could they keep this up? As long as they had to, Tavian decided. They were fighting for their lives and their homes.

"Well done," Tavian said.

"Let's go." Braun wilted slightly.

"I thought I would lead…" he said, but Tavian was speaking over him.

"I would like to hold the entrance to the tunnels, barricaded, if possible," Tavian continued.

"We collapse it as a last resort." Braun nodded, seeming ill at ease, but accepting.

"We'll try to secure the entrance without claiming any tiles at first, to prevent the Anarvians from noticing what we're doing if possible. Once we've established a position, we can claim the tiles. Our Influence is high enough that even a dozen men should be able to hold." As they exited the courtyard, Braun seemed to hesitate, as though he was expecting Tavian to take the lead. Tavian gestured for Braun to go ahead.

His brother was still young, and had performed admirably so far, but he wanted his own command, he needed to grow up fast. They set out from the courtyard, heading through the destroyed stone gate and into the south wing of the palace. The kitchen areas and the larders were at the far end of the wing. Anarvians controlled territory beyond the kitchens, but all the tiles they'd cross over to get there were neutral. They could get in and out quickly, without facing any resistance.

With a little luck, they could bring back food stores that could either be eaten or sifted. Then they could figure out what to do with the other dungeon access points. The one in the crypts behind the temple was definitely going to cause them the most trouble. It was far outside the Fortress. Anarvia would likely try to move the relic out that way, as soon as they found it. Maybe they could figure out where the tunnel ran underground and collapse it.

The smell of smoke stung Tavian's nostrils as they moved deeper into the fortress. Likely something in the kitchens was burning; the cooks had been interrupted in their work by the coup. Tavian hung back. He wanted his brother to feel competent in his position as Tavian's Marshal. Traditionally the ruler's younger brother commanded the armed forces, but it technically wasn't accurate for Tavian to call Braun a Marshal.

Marshals were supposed to have Banner Commanders and Regiment Commanders reporting to them, even Generals. Tavian didn't even have enough people in his kingdom to form a Block—one hundred forty four men—the basic strategic unit of an army. And despite his strengths, Braun wasn't ready for it yet. Men liked and respected Braun, but it was still difficult for a 17 year old to lead grown adults. The best thing that Tavian could do was to show the others that he trusted Braun.

That could be difficult in a hectic battlefield scenario; but this push shouldn't involve any fighting. They reached the kitchens, and Braun quickly sent his men searching for any signs of a trap. When they'd cleared the space, they moved to the steps leading down to the larders. Braun wisely positioned three men at the top of the steps, to prevent the rest of the force from being totally trapped at the bottom of the stairs should an enemy appear.

As men reached the cool submerged rooms of the larders, shouts broke out. Tavian heard steel on steel echo up the stairs, and he cursed himself for hanging back. When he finally reached the landing, he discovered a full on brawl in the pantry. Men were struggling on the floor, grappling, fighting in small groups, as Braun desperately rallied his forces into a cohesive unit. And… he was doing a good job. Tavian stepped over the a dead Verosian at the foot of the steps.

The enemy was wearing Anarvian colors; and there were only about a dozen of them, but they fought like mad. Tavian joined the fray, his sword flashing, when he was struck by the silence. He fought against pale, ghastly men, who did not call to one another, or cry out when struck. Their wounds did not bleed enough. Ghouls. More ghouls were climbing up out of the trap door at the back of the room.

"Braun!" Tavian shouted, pointing to the hole. Braun saw the threat, and punched through the enemy with two men at his flank, running to close the trap door before more of them could climb through. Tavian tried to drop back, activating his system interface. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. A ghoul seized his throat with uncanny strength, and forced him up against a wall. Tavian punched the creature in its dead face, but didn't break its grip.

He struggled for breath. He quickly selected a half dozen tiles that created a two tile wide corridor, reaching out to claim the kitchens. By doubling up on the tiles, he reduced the chance that Anarvia could cut him off again. Twisting, Tavian tried breaking the two handed grasp of the ghoul. The tiles claimed sequentially, each taking a few seconds to fully flip, before the next tiles in the chain could begin the short process. Tavian's vision tunneled. His tiles were being claimed too slow.

He hacked with his sword as the ghoul continued to crush his wind pipe, but the creature didn't seem to notice the glancing blows. He twisted, searching for leverage against the wall, but his feet slipped. The ghoul snarled, trying to bite Tavian's face, and he managed to push against its neck to keep the pungent, snapping mouth away from him. His vision faded to black, and he felt his strength draining away.

Finally the tile they stood on was claimed, and Tavian used his burst of strength to break free, gasping for breath as he diced the body that had tried to strangle him. ⬣ Kingdom Status ⬣ Core Essence Tiles Claimed Influence 185 23 8. 0 The surge of capability granted by eight influence empowered Braun and his men, and they quickly beat down the remaining ghouls, severing their heads to prevent them from rising again.

One of the ghouls seemed to move too quickly, though, and it nearly buried a black dagger in Braun's neck. Tavian leapt to intercept the blow, turning the dagger at the last moment. It left a deep notch in the steel of Tavian's blade. Clustering around the trap door, a few men jabbed spears down into the hole to prevent more of the monsters from climbing out. Braun swung the heavy wooden door shut, crushing grasping hands and fingers.

The wooden floor beneath their feet squeaked and groaned, and sounded with the soft moaning and quiet scrabbling of the ghouls below.

"It's not secure enough," Tavian said.

"We've got to get down there and blockade the passageway. Is there another way down?" Braun was doing a casualty inventory. One man had died in the initial ambush of ghouls. Another had been slashed badly in the leg, but would likely heal well enough with time. Others had sustained light injuries. Tavian gripped his brother's shoulder for a moment, looking him in the eye.

"Well done," he said.

"Not everyone can remain level headed when ambushed like that." Braun beamed, and Tavian couldn't help but smile too.

"Braun, you're leading," Tavian said.

"What's the call?"

"Can you [Fortify] him?" Braun asked, gesturing to the injured man. He was trying a little too hard not to look at the dead man. Tavian knelt beside the man and assigned him [Fortify I]. He cursed himself for being so slow to claim tiles. If he'd been faster, these men wouldn't have fallen. Tavian scanned the larder, noting the shelves bursting with provisions. They should bring those back to the Core. The position wasn't defensible, and Tavian wanted to see if Braun would recognize that.

"What next, Braun?" Tavian asked again. Braun grimaced, and he turned away from the wounded.

"We've got to get down there," he said.

"Anyone with an axe, start opening a new hole in the floor, over there." He pointed to the opposite corner of the larder.

"We're short on time, too," Tavian said.

"Won't be long before the Anarvians are coming to see what we're doing." Tavian wondered if he should step in and take over, but resisted the urge. He would do what Braun was doing. Men began prying and hacking at planks at the far end of the pantry.

"My lord," one of the soldiers said to Braun.

"Look how decayed these are from beneath. Watch your step."

"Quickly," Braun said.

"We need to move faster." The men worked, and a large hole opened up into blackness beneath. The noise and light attracted the ghouls. As Tavian stared down into the hole, a pair of ghouls reclaimed the ladder from beneath the trap door, and brought it over to the new hole.

"They're coordinating!" he exclaimed, counting at least another dozen of them in the black pit. With eight influence, a dozen ghouls would be no problem. But ghouls had a way of multiplying. Tavian kept a close eye on the dead soldier. Braun kept four men at the new opening to prevent the ghouls from coming through. Then he set four men at the trap door. They swung this open, and six men dropped down into the muck below. A dank odor of rotting slime filled the room as the men dropped down.

The ghouls responded at once, running to confront the new enemy. Braun and several more men dropped down the new hole, surrounding the enemy. Tavian followed. The room beneath the pantries was foul. Generations of cooks dumping various bits of waste had created a thick layer of decomposing filth across the ground. The air tasted of feces and mold. Looking up at the pantry floor, Tavian was shocked the whole thing hadn't already collapsed. The joists were so rotted that in places they were thinner than his wrist.

Braun's men cut through the first few ghouls easily. Tavian joined the fight, feeling the added strength of influence as he caught one of the creatures unawares, taking a leg off at the knee. But the remaining ghouls moved quickly, sharply, nearly as fast as they had before Tavian had claimed this tile. Something was wrong. The ghouls were fighting too well. The influence of the kingdom didn't seem to be slowing them down. Then he noticed the black knives that they carried; pulsating with miasmic essence.

Were these the infused weapons that Jarden had created? Braun sent three of his men into the tunnel that lead down to the dungeon. They hacked at support beams with their axes, and the wooden braces creaked and groaned. Tavian beheaded a ghoul, and a moment later the final ghastly body dropped down to the ground. Then the entire ceiling collapsed. Shelves toppled, spilling their stores down on the men below. Wooden beams splintered, snapping into deadly spears.

Barrels of wine split open, frothy liquid rushing forth. A sack of flour ripped open, filling the air with a choking layer of dust. An instant later, the dust ignited. The explosion sucked all the air from Tavian's lungs, knocking him to the ground beneath the collapsing floor. Everything went black.