Chapter 93 - Goats, Goats, Goats!

“God,” Zeke panted, his hands on his knees. They’d been running through the mountains for what felt like an eternity, and despite his massive stamina, fatigue was very near to overwhelming him. “It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t scream the whole time.”

As if to punctuate his point, a loud, bleating scream echoed through the mountain pass, announcing the presence of their pursuers. A dozen more answered, cutting through Zeke’s eardrums.

“They’re a little further behind,” Abby said, lacing her hands behind her head and trying to regulate her own breathing. It was only a marginal help, and her chest rose and fell like a bellows. “But I don’t think we got rid of the trace when we killed the tribunals. It might not even be magical in nature. Nobody comes this far north, so the information I had on them obviously had some holes.”

“Great,” Zeke deadpanned, straightening to his full height. “So, we’re not going to lose them anytime soon. At this pace, we’ll leave them behind in…a month? Two?”

“We won’t make it that long,” Abby pointed out. “I can’t keep going like this for more than a few more hours. A couple hours after that, you’ll drop, too. We need somewhere to rest.”

Zeke couldn’t disagree with her assessment. Their flight had stretched on for days, and though they’d managed to put a little distance between them and their caprid pursuers, the constant running had taken its toll. They had also had to endure a few attacks, especially early on, and though the party had emerged victorious from the handful of ambushes, they hadn’t done so unscathed. And neither had been afforded the opportunity to recover. The result was that both Zeke and Abby sported numerous shallow wounds that had further sapped their strength and stamina. The only one that seemed none the worse for wear was Pudge, who despite his bulk, seemed more than capable of traversing the mountains for a few more days yet.

Because I’m stronger than you, came Pudge’s smug thought. Recently, on those rare occasions when the bear decided to broadcast his thoughts, they had become far more coherent. Zeke found himself wondering if it was due to the bear’s ever-increasing maturity or if it was related to his level gain.

“Whatever, you big furball,” Zeke muttered, not wanting to argue. In any case, their nightly wrestling matches, which had persisted up until they’d been attacked by the caprids, had proven that Zeke still enjoyed a physical edge over the bear. But the gap was slowly narrowing. Zeke had few doubts that soon, Pudge would grow stronger than him. And even though he didn’t relish the thought of losing to the bear, he couldn’t wait to see how strong Pudge might become.

Abby, who was used to what appeared to be a one-sided conversation, asked, “What do you want to do? Are you still locked out of the cottage?”

“I can’t summon it,” Zeke said. “I’ve been trying every few minutes, but I keep getting the same message. Apparently, I can’t use the skill while I’m the target of hostile creatures.” He summoned a waterskin and poured the contents over the head before saying, “At least I can still access my storage.”

“Yeah,” Abby agreed. “We’d be screwed without it.”

“Do we find somewhere to ambush them?” Zeke asked, trying to ignore the bleating calls of the horde of pursuing caprids. “Maybe a cave or something where we can keep from being surrounded?”

Abby’s brows furrowed as she considered it. With the timing of the initial caprid attack, Zeke hadn’t had much opportunity to think about his relationship with the woman, and even when he did, he still didn’t know where he stood. That night had been great, and it had been precisely what they’d both needed in regards to stress relief. However, Zeke had no idea whether it was anything more than that. Nor was he certain if he wanted it to be.

Sure, he liked Abby. A lot. She was smart, beautiful, and a loyal companion. But did that mean he wanted a relationship with her? Did he even have time for that kind of thing? What’s more, he found himself wondering what she even saw in him, aside from availability.

Not that he could spare much thought for something that, right now, didn’t really matter. Not in the face of their very survival. So, he shook his head and focused on the problem at hand.

They wouldn’t survive a straight-on fight. Not only did Zeke have trouble dealing with them because of their momentum-based skills that sent him flying every time they attacked, but the monsters pursuing them were even higher leveled than the ones they’d fought so far. There were also more of them.  A lot more. Hundreds. Maybe even thousands of the goat-like humanoids, and they were all hellbent on murdering Zeke and Abby – enough that they’d pursued them for almost three days without stopping.

“I don’t think that will work,” Abby said. “Even if we could find a defensible position, those things will just knock you out of the way. And if they can do that to you, I’ll go down in less than a second.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Abby ran her hand along the back of her neck, then glanced around. Zeke’s eyes followed hers. The forest had thinned out a bit, but the foliage was still heavy enough for basic concealment. However, whatever other monsters there might’ve been in the region, few of them had bothered Zeke or Abby. Likely, the caprids were the apex predators of the area, and nothing wanted to get in the way of their hunt. While that didn’t speak well for their chances, Zeke was grateful that they hadn’t had to fight much along the way. If they had, the goat-men would’ve long since caught up.

“How far do you think we are from the Farindale Forest?” she asked.

Zeke shrugged. He’d studied the maps a few times, so he knew the relative location of the forest. However, they’d gotten so far off track that he scarcely knew where they were, much less how far away from the undead-infested forest they were.

“We’ve been going in the right direction,” she went on. “I don’t think we’re that far off from our original track. If we can get to the Micayne Estate, we can find somewhere to hole up, and let the undead and the caprids have it out.”

“You think it’ll work?” Zeke asked.

Abby shook her head. “I don’t know,” was her response. “According to the information we were given, the undead thin out as you get closer to the estate. But they get stronger, so what they lack in numbers, they make up for in individual strength. There are reports of flesh golems and reapers, and there are probably other, stronger monsters.”

Left unsaid was the expectation that, once they reached the Micayne Estate, there would be some sort of barrier that kept the undead out. Otherwise, it would’ve been overrun long ago. Zeke had no idea if the same runic wards would keep the caprids out, though. He gave his concern voice, adding, “And we’re sure this Micayne guy would be welcoming, right? Is he a good guy?”

Abby shook her head, her ponytail swinging slightly as she said, “There’s no such thing as good guys and bad guys, Zeke. Not here.”

“I disagree,” Zeke stated. He was no philosopher, but he firmly believed that morality was a constant. Some things were wrong, and no amount of moral relativism would change that. “But whatever. Is he on our side?”

“He was one of Lady Constance’s original party members, so probably?” she said. “The guy locked himself away up here after his wife was killed. But he’s a powerful energy mage, if that helps.”

“What does that even mean? Was he a healer?” Zeke asked.

“No,” Abby said. “Think of him as more like a battery. He has a couple of skills that let him channel vast amounts of energy. In that group, he would feed mana to Lady Constance and his wife, Erica, and they would lay waste to entire hordes of monsters. But he also partnered with Constance’s late husband, who was a healer. I heard a story once about this magical plague that had overwhelmed Sanctuary. It was strong enough that it took a high-leveled healer to even slow it down, and it gradually overwhelmed the city. So, Micayne and Jeremiah, Lady Constance’s husband, partnered up and performed this ritual that cured the entire city.”

Zeke knew Abby wanted him to be impressed, but he had no context for whether or not it was an impressive feat. So, he said, “And I take it that’s uncommon? I don’t know anything about healers or what they can do.”

“The most powerful healers with appropriate area skills can affect a radius about twenty yards,” Abby said. “Micayne and Frederick Nightingale covered the whole city, which is about three miles across.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Abby said. “The only problem is that he’s not that powerful on his own, at least from what I’ve heard and read. That’s why he always had that team around him. Until…you know…until things went bad, and they started dying. There are only three of them left, now. Abdul Rumas, Lady Constance, and Micayne. Silas came in later, from what I understand.”

“And two of those are supposed to be in the area,” Zeke said, remembering that the famous paladin was the one who had led Talia Nightingale’s party into the Farindale Forest. “Would they help us with the goats?”

“I don’t know,” Abby admitted. “But heading that way is probably our best bet. If we can steer the caprids into the undead, that’ll take care of the problem. And if not, maybe we can get Micayne and Rumas to help.”

Zeke ground his teeth. It went against his nature to rely on other people, especially when they were strangers. After spending so much time alone, he’d learned to depend only on himself. More than that, he’d gotten into the habit of attacking his enemies head-on, even when it might not have been the best idea. That he’d come out of each ill-advised encounter alive only served to encourage that destructive behavior. Rationally, he knew he couldn’t employ the same rudimentary tactics in every situation. But that didn’t mean he had to like sneaking around and using misdirection, especially when it wouldn’t net him any extra experience. But what good was experience when you’re being trampled under a caprid’s hooves?

“I don’t like it, but I don’t think we have a lot of choices here,” Zeke said, doing his best not to flinch at the most recent bleating scream from one of their pursuers. “Unless you’ve got an option ‘B’?”

“We’re already a lot further down the alphabet than that,” she said with a tired smile. Then, she pointed to the west and slightly south, saying, “I think that’s the direction we need to go. We’ve circled around most of the forest, so if I’m right, we should come up on the backside of the estate.”

“Where we’ll either be saved by a horde of zombies or a pair of the most powerful people on the island,” Zeke said. “Doesn’t really sound that plausible when I say it out loud, does it?”

“It’s the best we’ve got,” Abby reiterated.

Zeke had little choice but to trust her judgment, so he nodded, and once they’d both caught their breath, they took off in the appropriate direction. For a few hours, they continued running up and down the various hills and mountains. They skirted a valley full of granite boulders, crossed a couple of mountain streams, and went almost a mile out of their way to avoid a herd of wicked-looking deer whose antlers were made of some sort of shining metal. They didn’t get close enough for Zeke to identify them, but he still held out hope that they would distract the pursuing caprids.

Over the course of the rest of the day, it was more of the same. They took a handful of breaks, but most of that time was spent arduously climbing or descending various slopes.  Thankfully, those breaks also gave them a few minutes to scarf down various bits of food, which served to soothe their fatigue as well as spur their natural vitality into healing any lingering injuries they might’ve picked up along the way. Finally, just before nightfall, the group reached their destination. The trio stood atop a low hill, looking down on a sprawling estate, beyond which was a dense forest shrouded by a perpetual fog. Here and there, Zeke could see the remains of a long-gone civilization jutting through the mist to tower over the forest’s canopy.

However, he hardly paid attention to that. Instead, he only had eyes for the writhing mass of undead aimlessly meandering around the estate’s walls. Most were clearly zombies, but dotted through the horde were much larger figures that he suspected were the flesh golems that Abby had mentioned.

Within the walls were more undead creatures. Some looked like prototypical grim reapers, complete with hooded cloaks and long, sweeping scythes, but there were other variations as well. The ones moving around the estate grounds were different, though. In a stark contrast to the horde outside, these undead monsters walked with purpose and intelligence.

“This is bad,” Abby said. “Really bad. The place has been overrun.”

Zeke shook his head. “I don’t think we’re getting any help from the heroes,” he said. “So, running the goats into the undead seems like it’s the only option.”

“How are we supposed to survive, though?” Abby asked. “There are thousands of zombies down there, and that’s not even considering those other undead. I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet that the big ones are flesh golems. And the ones with the scythes are reapers. As to the others? I have no idea, but I think it’s safe to say they’re probably bad news.”

Zeke didn’t immediately respond, but he couldn’t help but agree with Abby’s assessment. When he’d imagined grinding out a few levels by killing zombies, he hadn’t expected such an overwhelming force. But looking down on that mass of unliving monsters, Zeke knew how fruitless any assault would be. He and his partners would likely make a big dent in the zombie population, taking a host of the monsters with them, but eventually, they would be overwhelmed. Numbers didn’t count for as much as they did in the old world, but they weren’t entirely meaningless. And that wasn’t even taking their fatigue into account.

As he studied the situation, his eyes caught on something in the distance. About a mile past the estate was a singular tower jutting through the mist. Narrowing his eyes, Zeke focused on the structure, then pointed it out to Abby. “That tower,” he said. “Does it look intact to you?”

Abby’s gaze followed his finger, and after a few seconds, she said, “It does. Do you think it’s whole?”

Zeke shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said. “What I can see seems to be in good shape. Almost like it’s new. But I can’t see all that well through the mist.”

“You think that’s our best shot?” she asked. “Hole up in there and…what? Wait it out?”

“The way I see it, the goats are going to come crashing down here, screaming up a storm,” he said. “That will probably attract the zombies. So, I think we should try to circle around the estate to the north and hit that tower. We’ll lock ourselves in, and hopefully, the zombies will hear the goat’s screams and go take care of them. Then, while they’re distracted, we can get away from this place. Maybe go south into the forest, level a bit, then come back so we can save the princess.”

“If she’s in any real danger, she’ll probably be dead by the time we come back,” Abby said.

Again, Zeke shrugged. “I know. It sucks, but I’m not going to charge into certain death to save a stranger I’ve never met,” he said. “If she turns out to be dead, then we’ll bring her body back to Beacon so her mother can get some closure.”

“Kind of coldblooded,” Abby said. “But I don’t see any other options right now. Fine. Let’s get this over with. If we stay here too long, the caprids will be close enough for the zombies to hear them. And we don’t want to be between the two when that happens.”

With that, the trio took off on a slightly northerly track, skirting the estate and circling around to the lone tower.