Chapter 18

We soon learned that the Ever Steady was not living up to its title. There likely was a commentary about humanity to be found in there somewhere. As long as we were on the offensive and believed we had the upper hand, all was well and good. When push came to shove… well, there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on right now, but not the good kind.

It likely also had to do with the lack of time and organization. Things had progressed so quickly since the portal opened, that there was no overall control, no proper contingency plans in place. People milled about, confused, scared and angry.

Some organization was ongoing. Here and there, leaders shouted commands, browbeat people into actual squads and tried to arrange some actual order.

Elizabeth ignored it all. She pushed her way through the milling masses, every now and then glancing back at me to check that I was still with her, still carrying my burdens.

We pushed our way through a throng of shouting, panicked people clearly belonging to that Asian military coalition and experienced a brief moment of relative peace, meaning the next shouting crowd was at least fifty meters ahead.

I hurried up to reach her side and shouted. “Where are we going?”

“Our walls!” She nodded with her head straight ahead.

Then I saw it. In the night, a flag dipped, catching the glow from a light cone reaching upward from an elderly man. The U-Nerds flag.

“There’s no police or army or anything here. So, the largest forces divided the walls between us to avoid the worst chaos. The north-north western stretch is ours. We just need to reach the commanders, and ensure – no!”

I didn’t ask what she was talking about. I didn’t have to. We were too late. Or the attackers were too fast. Whatever the reason, the first cries of pain emerged from the walls ahead of us. Yet, they were quickly drowned out by other noises. Bestial sounds, snarls and roars. Whatever was coming, it wasn’t human.

“Follow!” Elizabeth’s command left behind every vestige of the kindly Crafter it held just a moment ago. Now, the steel showed from underneath, and she started sprinting, holding back nothing as she pummelled her way forward through the crowds ahead, using words, curses and elbows liberally, anything to speed her up.

I did as she said, barrelling ahead, ignoring the shouted complaints and cries of pain. Once, in between a man with a large, glowing spear, and a woman standing on a raised dais of earth that was slowly growing taller, I thought I spotted Nix, shouting angrily at somebody. Yet, she never saw me, and we continued at an angle. Eventually, we managed to beat our way through the crowd, reaching a spot where Major Pain was actually standing up, folding chair collapsed on the ground, surrounded by well-armed people.

“Lizzy!” He yelled. “Y’all made it. About damn time. How about-”

She cut him off mid-sentence. “I’ve got my goods. Rather, the boy here’s carrying them. Where do I set up?”

His gaze glanced over at me, then back at her. “Right here. Not letting ya out of my sight. Folks’re panicking right now.” He spoke to somebody else. “Pete. I want you to half the healing supplies and disperse them among the fighters. Tell the troops the rest of the healing’s back down here. Rotate ‘em down when needed.”

A lanky teenager with two spindly bone daggers nodded, reached out to grab my tarp and took off.

The Major didn’t miss a pace, turning back to Elizabeth. “Get to it. We’ve got less than a minute before the first wave hits. This’ll be uglier than a mud fence.”

She didn’t respond, just bent down and started arranging the contents of her tarp on the ground ahead of her.

I placed my tarp next to hers and started unloading items from my Personal Universe as well.

That seemed to get the Major’s attention. He scratched his nose, then commanded. “You. When you’re done unloading? You’re on bodyguard duty. People’re being dumber’n roadkill right now, and they might do something stupid to try and swipe healing goods.”

I considered protesting for all of two seconds, but… no. ‘Protect the healer’ made a crapload of sense, even compared to whatever experience I might gain on the walls. I nodded at him. Then I hoisted my shield and swordbreaker, started glaring at anybody who looked like they’d try to make a grab at any of the goods.

The walls close to us were as fully manned as they could get. Also, there were lights at even intervals, making sure that the walkways were fully lit. I turned full circle, trying to take in the entirety of the camp.

The Ever Steady was… well, it was impressive. Honestly. Even ignoring the chaos and panic of thousands of people being afraid and unsure, it looked damn good. Every inch of every wall was packed in varying degrees of organization and uniformity.

Next to the U-Nerds, the Asian coalition sported a damn impressive sight, with their part of the wall packed with spear wielders, while the ground just behind the wall was filled with rows upon rows of archers, ready to unleash volleys of system-enhanced arrows at any attackers. I wouldn’t want to be the one to try and take on that side.

Other spots on the wall were far less uniform. One side was a mess of shield bearers on either side of a larger-than-life figure that glowed in the dark with magical power from the entirety of his armor-clad body. The Shield of the Titan not only looked like he wanted to take on all comers by himself. He also looked like he’d be able to manage.

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On the other side of the U-Nerds, it was all organized chaos. People rushed back and forth on the walkway, yelling insults down at the darkness beyond. One guy, clad in what could charitably be called a home-made version of an American flag suit looked like he was pissing off the edge of the wall.

The rest of the walls were too far away to see the details – but there was no doubt that they were covered, weapon-wielding humans ready to repel whatever the night had to throw at us.

Behind and above all of us, the bird’s tower loomed, with the captain looking down on all of us. Also, another presence was there, a swirling bright sensation slowly building into something bigger and more menacing than mere lights.