Chapter 24 - Ambusher Unleashed

Lillia scrambled over the shattered door back into the dungeon, the scales of her gloves digging 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.
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 tore 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 more smoke. It burned her lungs; she started coughing and couldn’t stop. She 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 ringing 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.
Pulling out strength she didn’t have from a well she didn’t know ran that deep, Lillia’s first few steps up the stairs were commanding, then adrenaline took over. She broke into a sprint.
She was going to reach the top just in time Havoc in the Ambusher’s jaws. 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. She kicked, trying to find any purchase on the stairs. Her toe caught the edge of the stairs and the riding boots bit into the stone, snapping in place and letting her stabilize on the edge of the fourth step. She 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 backpedaled as the Ambusher turned to her, its scaled head low and its massive beak opening. Red spit dripped from the top of its mouth.
A horrid scrape filled the air as the Ambusher dug its wing talon into the first stone step. Each of it scales rattled as it approached, standing on end and clicking against one another.
Lillia kept her sword up, but something had changed in the way the Ambusher regarded 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. She lunged forward, sloppy and predictable. Havoc would have laughed, but the creature was distracted.
Vianaffir caught the torchlight as the Ambusher snapped back around to Lillia. It batted the side of the blade with its beak, throwing Lillia across the stairs and into the wall.
The Ambusher roared behind her. She spun just in time to see the open jaws coming for her and snapped 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 it pressed her 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 did nothing. 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, crushing her chest and collapsing her lungs.
Lillia smelled the rank breath of the Ambusher as it drove 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.
“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.
With something deep inside her, she smothered every twinge of pain and every scrape. 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 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 waved his club in wide arcs, keeping the Ambusher from leaping at him, but it didn’t have the reach Vianaffir did.
He was almost 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 inventory 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 wheeled around, 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.
The Ambusher crashed to the floor.
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 lashed out with its wing talon from the floor as Lillia had her weapon up in celebration. She 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 yanked Lillia 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 wing talon 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 wing talon 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 wing talon 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.
The shadow turned around. More blood splattered onto Lillia. It crouched down in front of her.
“KID!”
Lillia blinked.
“KID!” Havoc groaned. Lillia knew the hobgoblin curses that followed.
There was so much blood under Lillia. Most of it was hers. Some of it was—
“Havoc?” she managed.
The hobgoblin sagged on top of her. He coughed. It was wet. “That was dumb of—” he gasped. “Dumb of me, kid. You come back.”
“Havoc?”
“You did good, kid. Don’t celebrate too early, ne…” Havoc fell to the left, landing beside Lillia. The princess reached for him and found his wrist. It was covered in blood.
“No. Nononono.”
NO. NO. NOT AGAIN. She couldn’t do anything last time. She hadn’t been there. This time she was right there. It was her fault. Her aunt was right. It had all been her fault. She didn’t want to believe it, but it was right. It was true. She was…
Lillia felt the tears on her cheeks. That was what she was going to do now? Cry? USELESS. USELESS.
Lillia tried to push off the ground, but her entire right side was numb and cold.
“Havoc?”
She didn’t have the strength to move closer.
“Havoc. Help me up. I’ll find a way to help.”
Lillia tried again. The numbness in her shoulder gave way to pain for a moment. She screamed. She screamed against the pain. She screamed against the helplessness. She screamed about how worthless she felt.
She tried to say his name again. It didn’t work.
Lillia reached into her inventory and pulled out one of Rickshaw’s potions. She grabbed the cork in her teeth and nearly swallowed it to pour the sludge down her throat. Lillia coughed and sputtered. She felt her shoulder as it stitched together. Something tightened in her chest.
Now she had the second one for Havoc.
Lillia tried to roll over. Tried to push herself off the ground. Tried to move. Everything on her right side was still limp. Still broken. No. No.
She pulled out the second potion as she spat out the first cork. She couldn’t get it to Havoc from here, let alone feed it to him. She could figure something out. She could drag him back to his room! Would that even work?
Lillia drank the second potion and feeling began to return to her fingers. A crashing wave of pain smothered the pins and needles of blood-flow. It only got worse as the potion worked, repairing nerves and replacing torn muscle.
Oh, by all the gods.
Lillia pushed, using her arms to force herself up into a seated position. She screamed the entire time, but halfway through it fell silent as her voice failed her. The air was thick with the smell of iron as she fell sideways towards Havoc.
Her head landed on the hobgoblin’s chest. It sounded wet. It was close enough.
“Havoc. I name… I name you as my champion.”
[Heiress’ Blessing is on Cooldown!]
“Fuck!” Lillia pressed down into the hobgoblin’s chest. She could hear a heartbeat.
Lillia used her good arm and pressed on Havoc for support. The hobgoblin gurgled as she did. Lillia didn’t make it all the way up; she could see Havoc’s gnarled face and furrowed brow.
He was silent; blood pooled on his lips. He tried to force a smile, but they’d always looked weird on him.
“No. No. No smiling,” Lillia said as she tried to find a semblance of balance. “You’re supposed to be grumpy. Grumpy and mad.”
“Kid.”
“Shut up!”
“Kid, listen.”
“NO!” Lillia’s yell broke into a coughing fit.
“Lillia.”
Lillia put a hand over Havoc’s mouth. No. She wasn’t doing this. She was scared. She was hurt. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t going to be alone.
What else was there to try?
“Havoc. By my right as an heir to House Ashvalin—” Lillia coughed.
Havoc groaned.
“Sorry. By my right as an heir to House Ashvalin. I name you knight. With all the status and rights that entails.”
Maybe it would be a buff. Maybe Havoc would suddenly be super strong and walk all this off.
[Havoc is not a Legal Target for Emergency Knighting due to status: Monster]
“What…No…”
Havoc chuckled. Lillia almost lost her balance.
“You—you tried, kid.”
“I name you knight. With all the status and rights that entails!”
[Havoc is not a Legal Target for Emergency Knighting due to status: Monster]
“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY THAT!”
[Lillia used Indignance - Level 2. Invalid Target]
“I name him knight!”
[Havoc is not a Legal Target for Emergency Knighting due to status: Monster]
“I am the heir to House Ashvalin. You don’t get to tell me what to do! I name Havoc my knight!”
[Havoc is not a Legal Target for Emergency Knighting due to status: Monster]
“THEN MAKE HIM NOT BE ONE! I AM THE PRINCESS.”
[Lillia used Indignance - Level 2. Target Dungeon]
“Havoc will be my knight! It doesn’t matter if he wants it! It doesn’t matter if you want it….” Lillia clenched the thick fabric of Havoc’s apron tight in her fists as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I AM THE PRINCESS AND I WANT HIM!”
[Are you sure?]
Lillia stared at the text. Her chest heaved. “What?”
[Are you sure?]
“I name you knight. With all the rights and status that entails.”
[Emergency Knighting Used On—]
[Emergency Knighting Used On—]
[Emergency Knighting Used On—NOBODY]
[Emergency Knighting Used On—HAVOC]
Lillia felt something twist within her chest, then within her heart, then within her head. Her vision flickered black, then white, then gone.
[Lillia Ashvalin used Emergency Knighting on Havoc!]
[Havoc has been granted all the rights of a knight!]
[Havoc has gained status: Adventurer.]
[Havoc died.]