City of the Dead Read online

  “Forbidden!” called a voice from behind Tailyn, and the lixes were thrown back by a protective field. The boy had gotten lucky—the guard was defending the house of the god. But one attack wasn’t enough for the lixes, so they dashed forward once again after they gathered themselves. That time, the guard said nothing. It just hurled them away. One more attack, and the monsters’ snorts made it clear they’d had enough. They ran off down the street.

  A loud screeching and scraping sound broke out. Tailyn, still rooted to the spot, turned to see that the lixes were dragging the mages’ wagon toward one of the shimmering circles. It was only then that the boy noticed the modified lix standing next to each of them. Standing on two legs, they were wearing armor, there was a long stick topped with a bright light in their middle paws, and the upper pair of paws held cards in the air. At least, Tailyn couldn’t for sure see that they were cards, though there was nothing else the little shining rectangles could be. A shadowy arm was reaching out of each card to embrace the circle next to it, almost as if protecting it from the dangers of the world.

  Something deep inside the boy told him what they were: portals and the cards that opened them. Out of the portals jumped lixes, while the beasts already in the city dragged loot back into them—furniture, supplies, and, worst of all, living people, primarily women and boys. The wagon was included in their loot. The horses harnessed to it whinnied in terror, though the lixes dealt with them simply. About a dozen of the creatures threw themselves at the animals, tore them to pieces, and tossed chunks of hot flesh right into their mouths.

  Tailyn vomited, even having eaten nothing the previous twenty-four hours. The site was sickening for the ten-year-old used to his peaceful, quiet life on the outskirts of the empire. Meanwhile, having polished off the horses, the lixes dragged the wagon over to the nearest portal and tossed it inside. Their cheer told the boy how happy they were with their loot.

  “Shields up! Hold the line! Attack! One step forward! Attack!”

  Motar’s voice rang out from the other side of the square. From around a corner, an even line of guards appeared, driving the lixes back as they came. They moved slowly, shoulder to shoulder, keeping their green opponents the length of their spears away. And even as sharp claws flashed, they proved powerless against the line of shields. With each barked order, the troop jabbed their spears forward in an effort to connect with the lixes, though the latter were just too fast. The monsters dodged, leaped over to the shields, and did their best to break through. And what had originally looked like a relentless forward press turned out to be anything but as the guards moved slowly and uncertainly. The line was far from even. As soon as they got out into open space, they came up against a new problem, too: the creatures started attacking from the sides.

  “Semicircle! Hold the line! Attack! Don’t let them get any further!”

  The guards’ triumphant forward march had come to an end. They blocked off the street leading to the trade district, beyond which was where the city’s wealthy citizenry lived. But still, just standing in place, the guards began sustaining losses. Tailyn watched in horror as an especially nimble lix jumped over to the shields only to grab one with its middle arms and yank it back instead of trying to beat through. Not expecting that move, the guard flew out of the line. A few seconds later, and the poor soul had been torn to pieces. His place in the formation was taken by another guard, but the lixes had a new strategy. One guard after another flew into the middle of the square with a wild shriek. A moment later, their shriek was reduced to a gargle as they choked on their own blood.

  “Retreat! One step back! Hold the line!”

  Motar quickly figured out that he had no business being there and decided to save the remainder of his troops. That helped—the pikes were crowded closer together in the narrow alley, keeping the lixes from getting in between them. But the green beasts kept pouring out of the portals. Unable to get through to the trade quarters, they headed up the other two streets. One of them led to the main gate, which wasn’t a problem; the other led directly to where the regular townsfolk lived.

  With happy shouts, a few of the beasts dashed over to the portals, the senseless bodies of women flopping on their backs. Girls, actually—Tailyn recognized one of them as a friend of his. Ten-year-old Bula was a farmer who’d already gotten to level two. Tailyn’s face fell. He wanted to help, but there was nothing he could do. As soon as he left the steps, he would have been devoured.

  “Push, boys! We have to stop them! Attack the beasts!”

  A warm feeling grew in Tailyn’s chest. On the street leading to the residential quarter, an armed crowd appeared. It wasn’t as uniform as Motar’s crew, and half of it was just farmers and lumberjacks, but there were some city guards in among them with shields and pikes. Tekhor, Motar’s second-in-command, was heading them up.

  The second group took losses as well, though they pushed the lixes back onto the square with sheer numbers. Equally unable to land any hits on the creatures, they still kept coming, teeth gritted. Retreat wasn’t an option—their defenseless families were behind them. The lixes quickly applied their newfound strategy by jumping over to the guards and trying to toss them out onto the square by their shields. And though it took them a while to begin making ground, the first guard was finally yanked out of the crowd.

  He landed not far from the stairs to the temple. Another meter, and he would have been within the protection of the god, but he was not so lucky. The crazed animals descended on him. Once again, the whole thing happened so quickly that nobody had any time to react.

  Almost nobody.

  Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich.

  You used Enhanced Shield-I 29 times.

  Guard Georn’s shield was enhanced by 464.

  Charges remaining: 21 of 50.

  Tailyn only stopped when his lungs ran out of air and he was no longer able to blow on the card. A crowd of lixes were on top of Georn, but none of them was able to break through is new shield. While Tailyn was still just a weak mage, and his card was just at level one, it was still enough for the guard to get his wits about him, pull out his sword, and bury it in one of the creatures. A wail was heard round the square as the lix was too slow to dodge the attack. It was the defenders’ first victory.

  “Come here, Georn!” Tailyn yelled. “Onto the stairs! The god won’t let them through!”

  “Stay there, boy!” The guard took another few monsters straight to the chest before sending his sword flashing once again. Another one bit the dust.

  Tailyn knew his shield wasn’t going to hold up for long. And he wanted to help, though he also wanted to hold onto the card’s remaining charges. The guard pulled himself to his feet. He began swinging his sword to beat back the lixes, but one of them got around behind him before he could notice it. Tailyn definitely wasn’t going to be able to make himself heard through the heat of battle.

  The decision was an easy one.

  Alchemist Tailyn Vlashich.

  You used Electric Strike-I.

  You did 16 damage to level 3 green lix 778-R332 and stunned it for 30 seconds due to its weakness against electricity.

  Charges remaining: 49 of 50.

  The lix dropped to the ground in a fit of convulsions, and a spear pierced it immediately. Tekhor and a squad of five fighters had come to Georn’s aid. The leader yelled over to Tailyn.

  “Can you do that again?”

  Instead of replying, the boy looked over at the next lix and activated his card, blowing on it just once. The situation repeated itself exactly. One charge down, one beast dropped to the ground, one quick thrust with a spear.

  “Bravo!” shouted Tekhor. “Stay there and keep taking them out. We’ll do the rest!”

  Five charges of electricity… Ten… Fifteen… Thirty… Forty.

  The more lixes Tekhor’s squad took out, the more appeared out of the portals. And they were all level three, terrifying and angry, throwing themselves immediately at the squad of defenders without paying a
ny attention to anyone else. Tailyn even had to use the remainder of his shield card to save Tekhor from a lix coming at him from above. Another wave poured out of the portals to join the fray. Tailyn used the last of his attack card and ran back up onto the steps, having done everything that had been in his power. The mountain of dead animals was a testament enough to that. He felt bad for Tekhor and the guards, but he was just a ten-year-old kid. What more could anyone have expected of him?

  Charges remaining: 0 of 50.

  “Retreat!” Tekhor quickly figured out why Tailyn had made his way back to the steps. The boy had bought them a few minutes, and the baron’s troops were going to be showing up soon to beat back the invasion. It was just a shame he and his boys weren’t going to live long enough to see that happen. But that was okay—he’d lived honorably, and death held no fear for him. Most important was that the women and children were safe.

  Three lixes leaped onto Tekhor all at once. Covering up with his shield, he awaited the blow, only it was not forthcoming. There were no flashing shields, no dying cries coming from shredded people, no exultant howls from the beasts. And when Tekhor risked a peek out from behind his shield, his eyes widened. The monsters were all convulsing on the ground, having been stunned by bolts of lightning coming out of the sky. The portals were gone, too—the lixes that had been holding them open were just as affected as the rest.

  “Wipe them out! You only have thirty seconds!” Tekhor looked over to see the two mages standing on the wall of the city elder’s palace. They didn’t need to repeat their order. Both Tekhor and Motar sent their detachments rushing in from the adjacent streets, weapons at the ready. Spears and swords worked diligently to bathe the square in the blood of the invading army.

  Tailyn stared triumphantly at the mages who had managed to turn the tide of the battle. It didn’t occur to him to wonder why they hadn’t showed up sooner. Just the fact that they hadn’t meant they’d had a good reason, and it wasn’t for him to question them. The storm cloud hanging over the city began to recede; the sun began to break through.

  Even with how fast the guards were working, they weren’t able to finish off all the lixes. About twenty survived. Jumping up onto their paws and realizing what was going on, they showed surprising mental acuity and dashed out of the city. Nobody bothered chasing them. The guards were exhausted, and they were right in the middle of sinking to the ground when the god made its decision. They were heroes.

  A surprised Tailyn read the message that popped up in front of him:

  The attack on Culmart was repulsed (2 waves).

  All participants in the local event receive +2 levels.

  ***

  You were among the five locals to contribute the most to the defense of the city.

  Level +1

  You earned 8% of all loot collected from the dead lixes.

  To receive your reward, speak to the city elder.

  ***

  Note! Since you haven’t completed the initiation, you cannot level-up.

  Character modification ongoing.

  You unlocked attributes.

  Attribute received: Enhancement (3).

  Enhancement. Description: An attribute given by the god in unusual cases that serves to increase all other parameters. Anyone who receives Enhancement demonstrated incredible mastery bordering on heroism to the god. Don’t forget to prove worthy of this gift.

  ***

  Level in the formula used to calculate your main parameters was changed to level + Enhancement.

  Tailyn, shocked, pulled up his attributes and stared at the changes in surprise.

  Status table

  General character information

  Tailyn Vlashich

  Alchemist

  Level

  1

  Age

  10

  Yearly tax (crystals)

  1 (beginning at age 16)

  Coins

  0

  Gold

  22

  Main parameters

  Shield level

  215

  Mana level

  210

  Physical attack

  26

  Magic attack

  34

  Attributes

  Enhancement

  3

  Skills

  Alchemy

  Shield Restoration Potion

  6

  Mana Restoration Potion

  1

  Magic Enhancement Elixir

  1

  Herbalism

  Amilio

  1

  Ordinary Loach

  2

  Ordinary Daisy

  2

  Ordinary Lavender

  2

  The table was really starting to grow, and Tailyn decided to hide all the recipes he’d collected. If he needed them, they could always be pulled right back up. But the fact that he had another field without a colored background was fantastic news. His main parameters had jumped up as though he’d actually gotten to level four—it was a shame he hadn’t, but what he had gotten was solid already. The only problem was figuring out how enhancement was leveled-up. What did he have to do for the god to consider it an achievement worthy of the title?

  “Great work, kid!” Tekhor’s powerful fist slammed down on Tailyn’s shoulder, knocking a couple shield points off. The excited guard had forgotten his own strength. “You saved us all!”

  “It wasn’t me, Master Tekhor,” the boy replied in embarrassment. “The mages cast the lightning.”

  “Well, if it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have lived long enough to see it! So, I’m in your debt. If there’s anything you need, just let me know, and I’ll be happy to help.”

  “And you saved my life twice!” Georn piped up. “Your shield kept them off me, so I owe you, too, Tailyn. Remember that!”

  Tailyn shrank back in confusion. At just ten years old, he wasn’t used to being the center of attention. Everyone had always done their best to avoid him thanks to Master Isor’s unpleasant temper, but there the townsfolk and even the god were singing his praises. It was both incredibly flattering and awfully scary.

  “Sure, sure,” he finally squeezed out as the crowd parted. The pair of mages were making their way over, only their faces didn’t share the general exultant sentiment. Instead, they were focused and seriously frustrated about something.

  “Where’s the wagon?” Forian asked Motar as the two stepped closer. The head of the guard frowned, looking back at his troops for support, but none of them were in any hurry to say what had happened to it.

  “I said, where’s the wagon with the suspect?!” Forian’s voice was climbing in pitch, and the victors fell silent. The rank and file guards began edging away from the furious mages—nobody wanted to get in their way. Unsure what to say, Motar just blushed, though that was when Tailyn stepped in to help.

  “The lixes dragged it into one of their portals, Master Mage. They ate the horses, too. I watched them do it.”

  “One of their portals?! Motar, please tell me you’d already moved Dort the way I told you to?”

  “No, Master Mage!” The red-faced head of the guard suddenly turned deathly pale, though he replied crisply and clearly. “When the lix attack began, Dort was still in the wagon.”

  “I’m going to—” It was Forian’s turn to flush bright red, though he was interrupted by a menacing shout.

  “In the name of the baron, nobody move!”

  Hooves clattered across the cobblestones, and a detachment of armored horsemen rode out onto the square. Baron Equire’s troops had arrived to defend the city.

  “Where are the green lixes? What are academy mages doing here? Does Baron Equire know you’re in his city?”

  To his surprise, Tailyn realized the mustachioed commander wasn’t fazed in the least by the threatening mages. He behaved as though they were equal to or even below him. And what was even more incredible, Keran, the healer mage, replied. He even replied calmly, without expressi
ng a shred of annoyance that their conversation with the guards had been so rudely interrupted.

  “We’re just traveling through. The town elder asked us to stay for a couple days, so we did. Why was the town left unguarded?”