Chapter 24 – Ambusher Unleashed

Lillia scrambled over the shattered door back into the dungeon. The scales of her gloves dug into the wood. She’d changed back into the chitterpede chitin while running. She needed to be loud. She had to draw the Ambusher’s attention away from Havoc. She had to. She had to.

The Ambusher’s roar echoed back down the hall towards Lillia from up the stairs. She pulled herself around the corner and back onto the flagstone just in time to see the ambusher’s tail disappearing over the first landing.

“Havoc!” she called out. She was hoarse from running. Screaming at all tore against her throat. She pushed through it as smoke poured through the door behind her. “Havoc! Look out!”

As she struggled to get more words out, Lillia inhaled the smoke from the growing fire she was leaving behind in the savanna. It burned her lungs; she started coughing and couldn’t stop. The princess doubled over.

No. Not now. Please.

Lillia used the wall for support, dragging herself through the fit and onto the first stairs to the landing. She pulled out Vianaffir and slammed it against the wall, blade on stone rang out through the hall.

“And I am my champion,” Lillia only managed the second half of the statement, but it was enough when combined with intent. The blessing steeled her heart and rallied her breathing. Lillia found her footing after.

Her legs were already burning. Everything hurt. She wasn’t meant for this. She was a princess, and she’d already almost slain a monster. There should have been nothing left.

Lillia hadn’t gotten the chance to do anything about her parents. She wasn’t about to let this opportunity become a regret.

The princess pulled out strength she didn’t have from a well she didn’t know ran that deep. Her first few steps up the stairs were commanding, and then adrenaline took over. She broke into a sprint.

She was going to get to the top and see Havoc in the Ambusher’s jaws, rounding the corner just in time to see him die.

“COME FIGHT ME!”

She was too late. None of it was going to matter. He could be bashed against the wall and crushed by its massive tail.

“I’M DOWN HERE!”

Lillia was back at the first landing. She whipped past the open doors to the Huntsmaster’s Lodge and Havoc’s room. The Ambusher shrieked upstairs.

She still hadn’t heard Havoc; that meant he was dead. That meant she was too late. That meant it was all over.

Lillia leapt up the last steps two at a time, passing through the flickering torchlight and onto the main landing.

The ambusher wasn’t there. Havoc was on the far side of the room, carrying his club.

“Havoc! What happened? You’re oka—”

“STUPID GIRL!”

Havoc pointed above Lillia, to the sconce as he shouted. Lillia, like one of the many beasts, looked up just in time to see the ambusher dropping off the wall above, careening towards her while swinging one of its wing talons wildly.

Lillia leapt backward down the stairs. Flagstone shattered as the Ambusher struck inches from where she had been. Lillia felt herself falling as she kicked, trying to find any purchase on the stairs. Her toe caught the edge of the stairs, and the chitin riding boots bit into the stone, snapping in place and letting her stabilize on the edge of the fourth step.

The princess shook her head and flailed her arms as she found balance. The boots had a generous interpretation of what ‘tripping’ meant.

The ambusher’s scales flashed in the firelight as it smashed the stones where Lillia had been in frustration. Blood splashed through the air as it raged, glistening before splattering onto the floor and walls.

Lillia took a step backward as the ambusher turned to her. It held its scaled head low and slowly opened its massive beak. Lillia watched red spit drip down from the roof of its mouth.

The creature took a step forward, digging its wing talon into the stone of the first step. Its scales rattled as it did, standing on end and clicking against one another.

Lillia kept her sword up, but there was something different about how the Ambusher was regarding her now. She was trapped in a narrow hallway. Her hands were shaking on Vianaffir’s grip.

The Ambusher didn’t want a fight, but this wasn’t going to be one. Another step forward. Lillia lost more ground.

There was a loud clang, followed by the horrible sound of ripping flesh. The Ambusher yelped and tried to wheel around, but there wasn’t enough space in the hallway.

“Fight someone who knows how to hold a sword, asshole!” Havoc yelled. More squelching. The Ambusher thrashed, trying to look over its shoulder. It pushed backward. Dust fell from the ceiling above Lillia as she heard the Ambusher’s club-tail slamming against the walls and floor.

Havoc was attacking it. He was too close. He was going to—

Lillia was charging before she had anything close to a plan. The princess lunged forward with Vianaffir . It was sloppy and predictable. Havoc would have laughed, but the creature was distracted.

Vianaffir caught the torchlight as the Ambusher snapped back around to Lillia, batting the side of the blade with its beak. Lillia stumbled to the side, following the redirected momentum. Two more steps and she crashed into the wall.

The Ambusher roared behind her. Lillia winced. She spun just in time to see the open jaws coming for her and snap the broadside of the blade in the way. The metal clashed with the hard scales on either side of the Ambusher’s beak, giving Lillia an inch of room to breathe. She’d blocked it. The Ambusher pushed.

Lillia screamed as she was being ground into the wall. The chitin scales of her dress screeched across the stone, rattling Lillia’s teeth. She tried to push back with the sword, but it was nowhere near fair. Lillia heard her spine pop.

“Get off. Let me fight.”

[Lillia used Indignance – Level 2: The Crashscale Ambusher is immune to repeated daze effects]

The Ambusher continued to press. Lillia tried to inhale, but she’d lost all the air in her lungs trying to speak. Vianaffir was tight against her, pressing against her chest and collapsing her lungs.

Lillia felt the rank breath of the Ambusher as it crushed her to death. She saw a clump of her hair caught in the back of its throat.

Another ringing clang from back in the cathedral, and more squelching. The Ambusher flinched for just long enough. Lillia let go of the sword and ducked before the creature pulled its attention back to her. She dropped to her stomach and rolled down the stairs. Everything screamed at her with each step she fell.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Come on you scaly bastard! I’m up here.”

More clanging.

Havoc was hammering on its tail and pulling its attention from Lillia.

“Havoc,” Lillia managed. It was too quiet for him to hear over the scraping of the Ambusher’s scales against the flagstone as it retreated toward him. “Don’t. You can’t die.”

“That’s right, this way!” The ringing of iron on flagstone came from the cathedral.

“Havoc, please.”

Lillia tried to push herself off the ground. The first time her hand slipped, and she crashed back down onto the stair, falling another step from the momentum. The princess gritted her teeth. She pushed down every pain she felt and every scrape she’d gotten. Lillia struggled to her feet. She stumbled and had to use the wall for support again, but she didn’t fall.

The Ambusher’s club tail disappeared over the top of the stairs.

Lillia snatched Vianaffir back as she sprinted up the stairs again. Her ribs were screaming at her. Then she realized she was screaming alongside them. Her throat was raw. She could taste iron in her mouth. She was falling apart.

This wasn’t happening. She would not let this happen. She couldn’t just stand by again.

Lillia was back up the stairs, but this time the Ambusher wasn’t waiting for her. Havoc was backpedaling toward the far wall as the thing snapped toward him. The hobgoblin was waving his club in wide arcs, keeping the Ambusher from leaping at him, but it didn’t have the reach Vianaffir did.

He was going to be at the wall soon. He would have nowhere to go. He—

The riding boots rang out in a rapid chorus as Lillia tore towards the creature. Vianaffir’s blade shone in the hearthlight, before Lillia forced it back into her chest and pulled out the spellmaul. Ichor splattered on the floor below her and sizzled against the flagstone as she approached.

Lillia swung at the tail. Slamming the side of the maul into it. Spikes bounced off bulbous scales, but the ichor stayed and bubbled on the Ambusher’s tan scales. Lillia followed Havoc’s words, turning the momentum of the blow into another, then another, then another. She followed the Crashscale as it stalked toward Havoc. The first hits didn’t make the creature flinch at all, but as they stacked up, it began to falter.

“I am my own champion!” Lillia shouted. The soothing Heiress’ Blessing washed over her, and the spellmaul hissed as the bubbling ichor on it boiled into a black cloud of smoke.

The Ambusher rounded, turning its maw back to Lillia.

Lillia caught its gaze as it lunged. She swung the spellmaul.

Scales splintered under enchanted steel as the maul shattered the jaw of the Ambusher. Blood and ichor splattered on the floor. Sparks flew. The creature’s head snapped sideways with the blow, the entire beast lurching to the side from Lillia’s strike.

A chunk of the ambusher’s beak broke off. Blood poured from the wound. The creature stumbled, unsteady on its back legs and torn wings. It screeched. It shrieked. It flailed.

Lillia raised the maul into the air. She’d done it! She’d done it again! She turned to Havoc and tried to manage a smile. He was still watching the beast with his weapon out.

The Ambusher never quite fell. It lashed out with its wingtalon as Lillia had her weapon up in celebration. The princess felt the chitin dress tear, and then nothing as the talon tore deep into her shoulder. Her chest was warm and wet. The wound didn’t hurt.

Havoc screamed something. Lillia couldn’t hear it.

The Ambusher pulled Lillia in with the talon embedded in her shoulder. The blade pulled on parts deep within her. Lillia screamed and tried to kick against being drawn toward the thing’s bleeding mouth. The maul fell from her limp hand.

Lillia’s vision swam. She put her other hand on her chest and pulled; Vianaffir flashed into existence from her dress. The ambusher flinched at the sight of the blade, then roared. Hot air washed over Lillia as blood splattered across her.

It shook her off the talon and dropped her. Pain crashed through Lillia. Her eyes weren’t working. She couldn’t see.

The Ambusher raised its wingtalon high into the air. It almost looked pretty in the firelight. Had it always been that lovely colour of red? Lillia stared at the glittering blade as it came down toward her.

Something pulled Vianaffir from her hand. It was rough. Coarse. Gross like the rest of the dungeon.

The wingtalon crashed down, but never reached Lillia. Warm liquid poured over her. The Ambusher and Havoc screamed a pair of death knells.

The shadow over Lillia buckled. The shining wingtalon went limp. The ground shook under Lillia as the Ambusher crashed to the ground.

Oh good. It was over. That meant she could take a nap. Lillia would have preferred a bed, but she was so, so tired.