Chapter 194: The Crossbow Road [BONUS]

Night fell over the southern road before the last wagon had crossed the ford.

Encrid stood at the edge of the water below Harlow’s Hill and counted.

Nine wagons still on the northern bank. Perhaps three hundred people on foot waiting behind them. Soldiers of the Fifth and Second Watches, mostly. The very last of the column.

And somewhere behind them, in the dark, the Roamers.

Berrick had given him what he knew in a few short sentences. A pack had come around the western end of the Wall an hour before sunset. It had not gone toward the Mouth. It had found the southern road and followed it, the way a dog follows a scent.

I’ve never seen them before, my lord. Long legs. Very long. They don’t run like Reevers. They lope. Like wolves, but bigger. We couldn’t outride them."

Berrick had gone north with two riders.

He had come back alone.

Encrid looked across the ford at the waiting wagons. The crossing was slow. Every wagon had to be led through the water one at a time, with knights of the Third Legion holding the oxen’s heads against the current.

Two minutes per wagon, if nothing went wrong.

Nine wagons. Eighteen minutes.

Then three hundred people on foot. Another quarter of an hour, perhaps more, in the dark and the cold water.

"How far behind us are they?" Encrid asked.

"They were four miles back when I turned," Berrick said. "At the speed they move, less than two now."

Encrid did the calculations.

It did not come out well.

"Harun."

The tall knight was beside him immediately.

"My lord."

"The Cavel wagons. Ellis brought eighty barrels of pitch. How many are still with the column?"

Harun thought for a moment.

"Twelve, I believe. On the last two supply wagons. The rest stayed on the Wall."

"Where are those two wagons?"

Harun looked across the ford.

"Still on the northern bank, my lord."

Of course they were.

Encrid turned and looked at the road behind them. It ran north from the ford, straight and pale in the moonlight, between two low banks covered in brush. Two hundred paces up, it passed between a pair of old boulders, where the banks came close together.

A narrow place.

"Get the last two supply wagons to those boulders," Encrid said. "Turn them sideways across the road. Break open the pitch barrels and pour everything over them. Everything."

Harun understood immediately.

"And the oxen?"

"Cut them loose and drive them across the ford. We’ll need them later."

Harun turned and began shouting orders. Ten of his knights spurred their horses up the road.

Encrid turned to Gus.

"Get the three hundred on foot moving. Don’t wait for the wagons. Into the water now. The knights will hold them against the current."

"Yes, young master."

"And Gus."

Gus stopped.

"If I tell you to go, you go. You don’t wait for me."

Gus looked at him for a long moment.

He did not say yes.

Then he ran toward the water.

✧ ✧ ✧

Encrid climbed onto the last wagon on the northern bank.

It was a Quartermastery wagon, loaded with grain sacks, and its oxen had already been led into the water. He climbed onto the sacks at the back and unslung his crossbow.

He looked at it.

He had never really looked at it before. It was a plain weapon, a soldier’s crossbow from the Gannon armory, with a stock of dark wood and a steel bow. He had spanned it perhaps forty times in his life.

A window opened.

[ Name: Crossbow (Gannon Armory) ]

[ Grade: D ]

[ Maker: House Gannon smithy ]

[ Condition: 87%. ]

[ Description: A crossbow forged in the smithy of House Gannon. It was meticulously crafted with one purpose in mind - to never betray the soldier who carries it onto the battlefield. Sturdy, reliable, and easy to maintain, it does exactly what it is meant to do and nothing less. ]

Then he looked at the sword on his hip. The one Corvan had handed him.

[ Name: Winter Oath (Longsword) ]

[ Grade: B ]

[ Maker: House Gannon Smithy ]

[ Condition: 100% ]

[ Description: A finely crafted longsword forged by the master smiths of House Gannon and presented as a weapon worthy of the Gannon name. Unlike ceremonial weapons made to display wealth or status, this sword was forged for actual battle.

Its blade follows the traditional Gannon Family Style, balancing strength, reach, and precision without sacrificing reliability. Every part of the weapon, from the weight of the blade to the shape of the guard, was made according to the techniques preserved by House Gannon for generations.

A gift from House Gannon to one of its sons. ]

He closed the window.

He did not have time to think about everything in the description..

Up the road, at the two boulders, the knights had turned the supply wagons across the road. He could see them working in the moonlight, breaking open barrels with their sword hilts. The smell of pitch came down the road on the cold air.

And beyond the boulders, something was coming.

Encrid felt it before he saw it. Through Attunement, at the very edge of his reach, a rhythm. Not the heavy beat of the Elder. Something lighter and faster. Dozens of bodies, running.

"Harun!" he shouted. "Back! Now!"

The knights at the boulders swung onto their horses and galloped back down the road.

Behind them, the first shapes came over the rise.

They were exactly what Berrick had described.

Long-legged. Very long-legged. They ran on four limbs, but their hind legs were twice the length of their front ones, and they moved in great bounding strides that covered the ground like a thrown stone. They were grey-brown, lean as starving dogs, with long narrow heads.

Encrid raised the crossbow and looked at the leader.

[ Name: Loper ]

[ Classification: Level Two ]

[ Traits: Pack hunter. Fastest Roamer on open ground. Tires quickly. ]

[ Weakness: Hind leg tendon. ]

[ Condition: Compelled. ]

Tires quickly.

"Harun, the torch!"

Harun had one ready. He reined in beside the wagons at the boulders for a single heartbeat, threw it into the pitch, and galloped on.

The wagons went up.

It was not a slow fire. The pitch caught all at once, and a wall of flame rose across the road between the boulders, higher than a man on horseback.

The first Loper reached it at full speed and could not stop.

It went into the flames and did not come out.

The rest of the pack pulled up short. They spread out along the fire, pacing, looking for a way around it. The brush on the banks was too thick. The boulders were too high.

They began to climb the banks.

"They’ll go around," Harun said grimly, pulling up beside Encrid’s wagon.

"I know. It’ll take them time."

Encrid looked at the ford. The last wagons were in the water. The three hundred on foot were halfway across, holding onto each other, waist-deep in the black current.

"How much longer?"

"Ten minutes," Harun said. "Perhaps fifteen."

The first Loper came over the bank on the eastern side of the fire.

Encrid aimed at its hind leg.

He was not a good shot. But the Loper was moving in a straight line toward him, and its hind legs were very long, and the tendon at the back of them stood out clearly in the firelight.

-Tak.

The bolt went into the tendon.

The Loper’s leg folded. It went down in a tumbling heap and did not get up.

Encrid spanned the crossbow again. His arms burned.

The second Loper came over the bank. Berrick shot it. The third came over the western bank, and two of Harun’s knights rode it down.

Then they came in numbers.

For the next quarter of an hour, Encrid did nothing but span and shoot, span and shoot. He aimed for the hind legs every time. He missed more often than he hit. But when he hit, the Loper went down, and a knight rode over it.

Twice, a Loper reached the wagon he was standing on. The first time, Harun’s sword took its head off. The second time, it leaped straight at him, and Encrid swung the crossbow like a club and knocked it sideways, and Berrick put a bolt through its skull from three paces away.

And then, as suddenly as it had started, it ended.

The Lopers that were left stopped running. They stood on the road beyond the dying fire, their sides heaving, their long tongues hanging from their jaws.

They were tired.

Encrid looked at them through the smoke.

Then he turned and looked at the ford.

The last of the three hundred were climbing out of the water on the southern bank.

"Now," he said.

Harun’s knights turned their horses into the water. Encrid climbed down from the wagon, and Berrick pulled him up behind his saddle.

They crossed the ford with the Lopers watching them from the other side.

None of them followed.

✦ ✦ ✦