Stoneweaver

Stoneweaver - Chapter 34

Jumping in front of the statue's fist, Danath felt the punch echo through his armour, and vibrate through his body, but he'd managed to knock Greck away from the blow. Stumbling away from the creature, he turned to find Greck scrambling to his feet, and shouted at him through the suit.

"Get the men formed up back there," he pointed back down the road. "Otherwise we'll have these things on one side and Narvon's men flanking us."

With a glance at the not too distant threat, Greck turned to him. "How far back do we go?"

"Just clear of the statues for the momen..." He cut off as another stone fist flew his way, and he barely dodged it. Dancing back, he sent a quick glance towards where Farnal just about managed to hold his own against another of the things, wearing stone animated from the nearby ground. His had a few more chunks out of it than his opponent did, though.

They'd made little headway against the creatures, other than blocking their attacks on the troops, allowing them the chance to withdraw, and he knew they faced the danger of them breaking and fleeing to the debatable safety of the city. Not that they may have much option. The statues alone could probably stop them, but with a smaller, though probably better trained and equipped, force approaching, with an unknown number of Stoneweavers, this could quickly become a slaughter, and he had to wonder how much loyalty he owed to an employer who may already be dead.

He could only afford a portion of his concentration to consider it, though, as the mobile block of hard stone commanded his immediate attention. If he couldn't even stop one, he may as well order a full retreat. Come to think of it, why should he order anything? He shouldn't be in charge here, and didn't owe the men anything. They seemed to look to him for leadership, but why? He was a duellist not a general, and as a mercenary his first duty should be to himself, so he should just fly away from here and leave them to it.

Narrowly dodging another punch, he noticed the statue had overextended itself, and before he'd even thought through his action he added to its arm's momentum while kicking at its foot. Kicking stone turned out to not be a good thing for his foot, even if it managed to topple the statue. Fortunately he didn't seem to break anything, although it did leave him limping.

The minor victory drew a murmur from the troops, who halted their retreat until Greck screamed at them.

Despite its fall, the statue didn't appear to take significant damage, and tried climbing to its feet. Danath briefly considered animating some nearby stone to hold it down, and glanced around for the nearest patch. Then he spotted the vines entwining the creature. Not as strong maybe, but closer at hand, and the thing would be up soon.

Hurriedly rummaging through his pouch, he found an eyrineth and touched it to a vine. "Bruthor." Quickly taking control of the vegetation, he wound it firmly around the statue's legs, around and around, tying them firmly together. The thing struggled to rise, but didn't seem aware enough to consider reaching for the vines. It was stuck.

Dancing away from another approaching statue, he hurriedly went through his pouch again. Did he have five of the things or six? They were small enough to carry a few around, even though he rarely used them, and he hoped Farnal had more. He might have to pop back and check on Roak's supply, too, if he had time.

Running back to where Farnal had problems with a pair of them closing on him, Danath jumped on the back of one. The impact didn't knock it down as he'd hoped, but he touched an eyrineth to its vines and activated it.

They wrapped around the thing's legs, contracting quickly, and it tripped as it tried to turn to face the new threat, slamming to the ground.

Hurrying to help Farnal with the other one, Danath ventured a glance at the approaching army, wondering how many of the things they could take down before enemy reinforcements arrived. And whether he should hang around to do so.