Stoneweaver

Stoneweaver - Chapter 32

They met no resistance getting onto the island, Narvon's guards seeming content to form up around the far buildings. This didn't make Danath feel any easier, as they seemed too organised. They could have reached the breach through which Melmyrn's forces streamed in time to meet them, so why hadn't they? He could make out a few who appeared to be in the black and red he believed signified Narvon's Stoneweavers. Did they really have that many? They certainly outnumbered Danath and Farnal.

Roak had taken some damage, but refused to go back to the city, so Danath had ordered him to hold the road against any guard who tried to come behind them. He seemed willing to settle for that.

Of concern to Danath was how everyone seemed to be looking to him for orders. He was just Thortus' champion, yet even Greck, a lieutenant who should be in charge, looked to him. But then Greck seemed as overwhelmed by the landscape greeting them as many of the men did, although he stirred himself faster from his awe to order them to form up rather than wander around.

Getting them into any kind of a formation proved difficult, like trying to sculpt water, and Danath quickly realised why Greck seemed so unsure. He'd led men in small turf wars, but those tended to be just shouting at your men to charge. They didn't usually require the formations of a proper open battle, and he doubted anyone in Melmyrn knew how to fight such conflicts. Including him. So why the depths did they look at him like that?

With the last of the men filing through, he had Greck get them into line, but it still took a couple of minutes before they could start marching along the road, led by his metal avatar. He'd had the block of metal he favoured for duels brought over, and animated it to keep it near when he needed it. He'd tried wearing it while flying, but it had been too heavy.

He flew a short way ahead, Farnal off to his right, and kept a lookout for signs of the ambush he thought must be there. But nothing obvious presented itself. The statues looked worrying, but their bulk meant they'd take effort to control, and since he couldn't see any enemy around, they'd have to be directed from the buildings. Apart from the fact that controlling that much statue over that distance would be a strain, if the opposition had that many Stoneweavers, they should have no problem overwhelming this invasion force.

The troops passed the first of the statues without incident, though many on the right flank eyed it warily. They were half way along them, and maybe half a mile from the house when a black and red form flew towards them.

He heard a shudder run through the front ranks of the troops, but Danath kept his metal avatar at a steady pace as he flew forward to meet the soldier. They came to a stop a short way apart, and Danath halted his metal avatar, the troops coming to a gradual halt behind it.

With a dismissive glance over the troops, the guard met Danath's gaze with his own cold stare. "Do you surrender?"

"No. Do you?"

The guard offered a cold smile. "Protect your lord," he roared.

Cries from the men alerted Danath to the danger, and he risked a glance away from the guard to see the statues moving towards the troops. Glancing back, he saw the guard flying back towards the line of his troops, which started moving forward.

They'd have to wait, as he dived to deal with the immediate problem. It'd be few minutes before they closed in, anyway. The metal avatar flowed to meet him as he landed, quickly enclosing him as he dismissed the air avatar and turned to meet the threat. What were they? The only answer which came to him was that they'd been given programmed commands. A specific set of instructions which would let them stand as decorations until given the activation code. Setting such instructions wasn't easy, but the bulk of the animation would be less of a strain since it wouldn't be maintained in the same way as a standard animation.

Extending a blade from his armour, he slashed at the nearest of the things, chipping its surface without noticeably slowing it. Despite its lumbering gait, the punch it aimed at him moved fast, almost catching him squarely. It still hit him a glancing blow, and he didn't know how he managed to keep his feet. But he got knocked back a few steps, and took a moment to recover from the impact still shaking his armour.

So a direct attack didn't seem to be doing much good, and the screams of his men said how much damage the statues could do. The enemy army may not need to do anything other than dispose of the bodies if he couldn't come up with a way to stop the small army of monstrosities lumbering towards him.

No, he realised that wasn't entirely true. They had slaves to clean away the bodies.