The Everburning City

Act 1, Part 5, Chapter 31

Roderick

Roderick squeezed the hilt of his sword as if it was the only thing keeping him grounded. Panic hit him like a rushing flood, like a storm's winds. Having something to hold helped.

Mack, he remembered, still believed they were getting out of this. And if the old shadow, who shrugged off things that left Roderick weak at the knees, felt they had good odds...

A Gloamtaken rushed ahead of the others, and Roderick brought that one down with a weak r thrust into the ribs, and a quick twist of the wrist to widen the wound. The creature fell while his sword was still inside, and he barely managed to pull it out before it was trapped beneath. Roderick cursed himself over the mistake, but the next creature made a worse decision of going after Mackaroy, who struck it down with a shallow cut to the ribs that looked like barely more than shifting into a different guard stance.

Roderick used mostly the same trick, but remembered to pull the sword out earlier. He then cut a third with a low slash, managing to sneak by the creature's flailing arm.

Three would be how far he'd have managed on his own. As the creature fell, another lunged at him from the side, both hands clinging to his sword arm, and it pulled him hard enough to drop him to one knee. But even as one hand moved to turn his head back, or gouge his eyes, a black blur passed behind it, and the creature toppled over beside him.

Mack pulled him to his feet. "Hope that scare was enough, kid."

Roderick frowned,

"Happens to all of us, after we get used to danger. Arrogance makes us complacent, and we forget we'e one stupid mistake away from death. Keep your eyes open." Mack patted him on the back, harder than the old shadow needed to, and turned back to the killing.

So Roderick sheathed his sword, and shifted back to his Salamander. Still advancing, he fired with careful precision, going back what he knew, and being as careful as he could to keep his fire away from Mack.

Fire. Open the breach. Toss out the spent shell. Damn things stung as they came out, he wondered how the captain did it so quickly. Pop in another one. Check the fit. Volenski had cuffed him upside the head when she saw him skip that part. Close the breach. Pick your target.

Roderick chanced a glance backwards. The Mob was still advancing, collapsing in on itself as It trampled over its own creatures to try and reach the pair of soldiers fighting. Even as the mob surged, Valen was light on his feet and quick with his sword, slowing the mob by putting the dead into its path. And the captain was firing so quickly his spent casings didn't hit the ground before the next shot went off.

"A dozen more," Mackaroy said. Roderick hadn't noticed, and suspected he wasn't responsible for all that many of the creatures they had killed. "That's all we have left here."

They didn't last long. Mackaroy brought down most of them in that quick, almost mechanically efficient manner of his in the time Roderick took to get four shots off. As soon as the last one fell, Mack turned around and ran back to Mildred, stopping beside her and crouching down.

"Ash bitten thing won't light," Mildred growled as Roderick approached. "No matter what I do, the fuse won't take a light."

"You tried taking a Salamander to it?"

"Three times. Lights for half a second, then fizzles out like I stuffed the end into a bucket of water."

"Ash in the abyss," Mackaroy whispered.

"It's like I'm trying to light a fire in the bottom of the river. Everything I've tried should have worked. Burning hell, I should have blown us up already," Mildred cursed.