Chapter 128. New skill unlocked: War Cry

Carlos’s question hung in the air. For the first time, the leader’s smile changed.

The man in chainmail looked from Carlos to the others. "Goldwin?"

One of the Lords near the ridge gave a short, uncertain laugh.

"The Goldwin family?"

Carlos did not answer them.

The man in chainmail kept staring at him. Then understanding reached his face.

"Hmm, even if we say you are from that family..." he said. "We know you are still not one of the main Goldwins. You are from the branch that does not know its place."

The woman beside him looked at Carlos with new interest. "That is why nobody knew his name. The Goldwins still use him, but they do not put him forward."

The leader recovered first. "A surname is not a shield, Lord Goldwin. Especially when it belongs to a branch with no one coming to protect it."

The leader watched him for another moment, then looked toward the damaged channel. Whatever surprise the name had caused, he had already chosen to push it aside.

"We are not here to discuss families. We are here because you have a district that needs more people and more protection than you can provide."

"You broke part of it before you said that."

"To make sure you understood the problem."

Carlos looked at the split Glasswood support. Water still leaked through the gap, cutting a thin dark path into the soil.

"Then explain your agreement. Properly."

The leader’s confidence returned. He seemed to think Carlos had finally started listening.

"A shared contract. The district remains under your name. We receive work access, crop access, and a voice in future restoration. Our people help defend it. Our resources help restore it."

"And when I say no?"

The leader did not look at the workers behind Carlos. He looked at the broken channel instead.

"Then you keep trying to protect everything alone."

Carlos nodded once.

"No."

The leader’s smile disappeared.

"You have not heard the full offer."

"I heard enough. You damaged a channel, threatened workers, and walked in asking for control. That is not an offer."

The man in chainmail shifted his weight. "You do not know who you are refusing."

Carlos looked at him.

"I know exactly what you are."

The leader lowered his hand.

The three long-backed beasts moved first.

They came through the rain without a sound, spreading across the ground as they reached the old marker line. Their shoulders stayed low. Their yellow eyes never left Carlos’s people.

"The hounds," Kaia said.

"Two, wet the ground. Nessa, watch the riders. Brann, do not touch the channel."

Two bounced behind the shattered wall. Nessa shifted higher behind the broken stones, her bow already raised. Brann moved toward the damaged support, hammer held in both hands.

The first beast crossed the marker.

Two’s Water Shot struck the mud in front of it. The ground had already been softened by the leaking channel. The creature tried to change direction, but its front paws slid out from under it. It crashed into the mud and rolled hard enough to strike the broken wall.

The second leaped over it. Kaia met it with her shield. The creature’s teeth snapped shut against iron. Its weight shoved Kaia back, but she kept her feet. Carlos stepped beside her and drove the spear butt into the beast’s shoulder.

It landed badly and pulled away, limping.

The third did not come closer. It waited near the marker, watching the other two and the people behind Carlos.

On the eastern side, the two small riders urged their wolves around the ridge. The animals were lean and quick, their paws barely sinking into the wet grass.

Nessa fired and her first arrow cut through the reins of the nearer mount. The wolf twisted away from the pain and threw its rider into the mud. Before the rider could rise, a second arrow buried itself in the ground beside its hand.

The other wolf rider turned back toward the ridge.

"They are feeling us out," Kaia said.

Carlos saw the same thing. The two four-armed gray fighters had not moved yet. Neither had the three huge creatures standing behind them with wet scars across their skin.

The leader had sent the fast ones first, expecting them to find a weak path.

"Then let them learn," Carlos said.

The two gray fighters rushed forward together.

Their upper hands carried curved blades. Their lower hands held heavy clubs. They came at Kaia from opposite sides, their arms moving too quickly for Carlos to follow cleanly.

Kaia backed toward the narrow ground beside the broken wall. The Bearkin Guardian stepped in beside her.

One blade struck the guardian’s shield. A club smashed into Kaia’s shield rim. The second fighter tried to slip past them toward the seed path.

Carlos thrust his spear at its thigh. The creature twisted, but the point still cut through its leg. It snarled and swung both lower clubs toward him.

Brann’s hammer struck the ground between them.

Mud and loose stone burst upward. The blow did not touch the channel, but it broke the fighter’s step. Kaia drove her shield into its chest. The creature staggered back toward its side of the marker.

The other fighter followed it after the Bearkin Guardian’s shield smashed into its shoulder.

For a few seconds, neither side moved. The three enormous creatures still stood behind the attackers. One had a scar across its cheek that looked newer than the rest. Even from a distance, Carlos could see the torn skin tightening.

He did not know what they were, but he knew he did not want them near the channel or the seed store.

The leader watched his troops return to the line. His face had gone still, but Carlos did not chase.

That was what they wanted now: a messy fight away from the channel, where their numbers and equipment could spread out.

Leon stood farther back, dry beneath a dark coat. He had not drawn a weapon once.

"You see?" he called. "This is pointless. Just sign the contract and nobody else needs to get hurt."

Carlos wiped mud from his cheek.

"You came here, broke the channel and started shooting. Do not talk to me about people getting hurt."

Julian stepped beside Leon with his sword in hand.

"You will regret acting brave when you are a farmer with no field left."

Carlos almost laughed. Then he saw where Julian was looking.

Not at the channel, but past him.

At the low stone building where Cedric’s people guarded the seasonal seed store.

Carlos turned.

Selene Morrow had moved during the first clash. She stood near the ridge with a small glass flask in her hand.

The liquid inside was dark. Kaia saw it at the same time.

"Fire!"

Selene threw it with all her might, but Nessa’s arrow reached the flask before it crossed the marker line.

Glass exploded in the air.

Dark oil rained onto the wet mud instead of the seed-store roof. A small flame caught along the ground, then died under the water from Two’s last shot.

"How did you know there was something there?" Carlos asked the man in front of him. They should not know about the seed store.

The leader looked at him with a curious expression. "It is too obvious, my soon-to-be dear friend. Too many people are guarding it."

A vein popped in Carlos’s forehead. They were being too obvious.

For one second, everything was quiet. Cedric looked from the blackened mud to Selene.

His face changed. He had been patient since Carlos arrived. He had held the line. He had kept people away from the fighting.

Now he lifted the shield from the ground beside him.

"They aimed at the seeds we have been trying to protect for so long..." he said.

Carlos looked at Leon, who remained calm.

Carlos pointed his spear at the enemy line.

"You have one chance to walk away. Take your injured people and leave the district."

Leon’s hand tightened at his side.

"Or what?"

Carlos did not look at the fire stain. He did not look at the damaged channel.

He looked at the people who had come to destroy something they did not understand.

His eyes widened with anger. He took a deep breath.

"EVERYONE! ARE YOU REALLY WATCHING ALL THESE FUCKERS TRY TO DESTROY OUR BELOVED LAND IN FRONT OF US?!"

"DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE EVERYTHING WE WORKED SO HARD FOR WITHER TO DUST?!"

His shout surprised everyone, especially his own people. The fury on his face was contagious.

"IF YOUR BLOOD IS BOILING LOOKING AT THEM DESTROY OUR FARMS, TAKE UP YOUR ARMS AND PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE!"

"WE WILL EITHER FIGHT FOR GLORY OR DIE TRYING!! WHO IS WITH ME??!!!!"

For a few seconds, there was silence. People were too shocked to answer.

Brann was the first one to reply with his mouth quivering.

"FIGHT OR DIE TRYING! FIGHT!!!"

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

The chant spread across the district. Even the golems that had been repairing the walls turned toward the attackers.

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[You have influenced your troops and the district’s defenders to fight with their lives on the line]

[New Skill Unlocked: War Cry]

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