After clearing the walls of any opposition, the advance Vanguard teams quickly made their way to the gatehouse and opened the city gates for the main force.

  Davon, in the meantime, took a second to look through the gatehouse’s windows at the streets below. The Duke’s Road was just as he remembered it from his scouting expedition, with one major difference.

  Every inch of the street was taken up with Crimson Reavers. Heavies clogged holes in the barricades, with spearmen eagerly waiting behind them. The regular soldiers pointed their spears through the tiny gaps between the Heavies’ tower shields. Archers held position in the towers, bows raised.

  The massive wall-like barricades on either side of the street were manned with archers, as well as new Crimson Reaver units. These brutes wore the same armor as the Heavies, but held massive crossbows in their hands. A single glance at those weapons told Davon that he didn’t want to find himself on the business end of one of them.

  But he almost certainly would. And soon.

  “Half of you archers, stay with the main force!” Grant commanded. “The rest of you, make for the roofs!”

  Davon shared a quick look and a nod with Kai and Lyla, then started for the gatehouse’s exit.

  Picking his position carefully, Davon Shadow-stepped onto a nearby roof. He landed on the side that was out of sight of the Duke’s Road. As soon as his vision cleared, he reached for his pack and pulled out a long hempen rope, smiling as he repeated Kai’s words in his mind..

  Never leave camp without at least fifty feet of rope…

  Swiftly anchoring the rope to the building’s chimney, Davon threw the loose end to the Vanguard archers still on the walls. Davon waited only until he was certain they had the rope safely anchored on their end before moving to the other side of the roof.

  He peeked over the edge slowly, looking down at the improvised carapace walls. The oversized barricades were almost as tall as the building he was on. They seemed rather flimsy, but they did their job.

  As best as Davon could tell, the point of these barricades was to prevent the Vanguard’s siege engines from being able to approach the inner wall gates, except by way of the Duke’s Road. If the Vanguard knocked the barricades down to get to the side streets, the rubble would be enough to prevent the siege engines from advancing that way, regardless.

  The fact that the Crimson Reavers could use these thrown-together walls to give their archers and crossbowmen high ground was only an added bonus.

  Those crossbows look like they could do some real damage, Davon observed.

  He considered his options to deal with these enemies quickly. Every plan he thought of, though, involved a lot of spellcasting. Davon still wasn’t sure what the exact limit was before he would overload himself with magic.

  Setting aside the idea of a daring attack, Davon waited for the rest of the Vanguard’s archers to catch up to him. He explained the situation as fast as possible. Putting their heads together, the gathered Revenants agreed on a strategy.

  Roughly half of the group moved to the other side of the street with Davon. Some traveled via Shadow-step or similar magic, others through abilities which allowed them to jump much farther than humans should be able to.

  Once each half of the group was in place on either side of the street, Davon gave the signal to launch the attack.

  On both sides of the street, Revenant archers fired down on the barricades. Of the seven Crimson Reavers lining the improvised wall below them, five were Crossbowmen. The two normal enemy archers fell immediately. The Crossbowmen, though wounded, turned on their attackers and raised their weapons.

  Most of the Vanguard’s archers reacted quickly enough to dip behind cover in time. A few, however, were struck by the massive crossbow bolts. Davon looked on in horror as a Green Tracker fell onto the roof beside him, a bolt sticking out of his throat. The body slowly slid off of the roof and fell to the side street below with a dull thud.

  Peeking behind cover with his weapon raised, Davon realized the Crossbowmen were still reloading their weapons. He shared a look with the Revenants on the roof across the street and gave the signal to fire again.

  Davon drew his bow and prepared his own shot. He took his time, carefully aiming for the one gap in his enemy’s armor: the throat.

  Just as the nearest Crossbowman raised his weapon, ready to fire another shot, Davon spotted his opportunity. He loosed a shot when the Crimson Reaver looked up at him.

  Davon didn’t wait to see whether his shot landed. He ducked back under cover immediately. The sound of the enemy gurgling blood and the crash of metal armor against carapace was all the confirmation Davon needed.

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  The small victory was quickly overshadowed by another Revenant falling, dead, to the street below.

  This isn’t good. But if we leave them alive, it’ll go even worse for the main force.

  Davon peeked from his cover to see only one Crossbowman left standing. With a swiftly aimed shot, Davon put an arrow in the soldier’s throat, ending the brief combat for this section of the wall.

  Great, now for another ten or so, he thought, already exasperated.

  Davon looked across the street. The other group of Vanguard archers had dealt with their Crossbowmen as well, but they had suffered more casualties.

  Frustration welled up within Davon, echoed swiftly by his Reliquary. If this continued, they would soon face losses too severe to realistically continue the fight.

  Some risks have to be taken, I suppose, he thought, directing the idea to his Reliquary more than to himself.

  Surprisingly, the weapon sent him a feeling of affirmation, contrary to its usual caution. Davon nodded as a sense of peace settled over his mind.

  Then we’re in agreement.

  He leapt across the side street to the next roof, splitting his bow into blades.

  Peeking down at the improvised wall, he clocked the same formation as before: two archers, five Crossbowmen.

  Davon put together a swift plan. With a quick exhale to calm his nerves, he clutched his blades in a white-knuckle grip and jumped down into the Crimson Reaver formation.

  Landing directly beside one of the normal archers, Davon sank his blades through its shoulders and into its chest, leaving it dead on the spot. Then, in a swift but sloppy movement, he pulled his blades out of his first victim and launched into a series of slashes against the next.

  Taking advantage of the enemy’s surprise, Davon positioned himself to use the Crossbowman as cover against its allies. Then he struck with both blades to the Crimson Reaver’s side, leaving two long gashes in its armor.

  Davon used his momentum to spin on his heel for another double slash, failing to notice the Crimson Reaver raising their crossbow in a defensive manner. Davon’s blades made contact with the crossbow, shredding the loading bolt into pieces but failing to injure the Crimson Reaver further.

  With Davon’s blades stopped by the crossbow, the enemy brought the stock of their weapon up in a swift motion, catching Davon on the chin and sending him into a stagger.

  Davon recovered just in time to see the crossbow stock come down on him again. He stumbled forward in an attempt to dodge. The blow instead caught him in the small of the back, causing Davon to cry out.

  Pushing through the pain, Davon raised his blades, aiming for the gashes he had made in his initial attack. His blades slid momentarily before finding purchase in the damaged armor, sinking into the monster’s flesh.

  Davon let his enemy’s body slide off of him onto the carapace-like walkway, standing to his full height. As he rose, however, he came face to bolt with another crossbow, pointed directly at his forehead.

  Davon instantly dropped into a crouch, only barely dodging the massive bolt. He swung his blades in an upwards arc as he straightened up, catching the next Crossbowman in the armpit. The blow slashed through most of the soldier’s arm, leaving it to fall limp at their side.

  It was then that the Vanguard archers caught up. Raining arrows down on the distracted Crimson Reavers, they killed the lot in a few continuous volleys.

  Alright… fighting alone and without abilities is difficult, Davon thought ruefully, giving a thumbs-up to the rest of the group.

  As the Vanguard archers continued their crawl up the Duke’s Road, Davon asked if any of the present Revenants were capable of melee combat. Only a few replied positively, but that was enough for Davon. The next ambush would be much easier with a few extra hands to aid him.

  He gave them a quick pitch of his plan. First, Davon and the other Revenants capable of fighting in melee would leap down amidst their enemies, hopefully taking out at least a few. Then the rest of the group would rain arrows down on the opposition.

  The Revenants set into action. Aiming for one of the Crossbowmen, Davon jumped with his blades poised to strike as before. Aided by gravity, the force of his attack was enough to pierce through the soldier’s heavy armor, bringing them down with one strike.

  The other Revenants found similar success, with only one of them failing to kill the target. Before the Crimson Reavers could retaliate, the archers brought down their fury, cleaning up the rest.

  Morale surged within the Vanguard’s assault group. Turning his attention to the other side of the street, however, Davon noticed they weren’t doing quite as well. They were still fighting at the second wall segment. Not only had they already lost almost half of their Revenants, but they had also attracted the attention of the main force down in the street.

  Quickly, the Crimson Reavers raised the alarm, forcing both Vanguard groups to fall back. Davon’s group retreated towards the outer walls. They halted on a series of rooftops near the gates even as a shout went up from below them.

  The Vanguard’s main force had finally pushed into the city.

  Davon was not surprised to see the charge was led by Grant himself. The old Revenant and a few other heavily armored Vanguard walked fearlessly towards the frontline of Heavy Crimson Reavers, weapons at the ready.

  Grant raised his great sword and brought it down with all his might. The earth shook as he cleaved straight through one of the Heavy Crimson Reavers, shield and all, bisecting them vertically.

  A wave of noise erupted from the city’s gates as every Vanguard Revenant joined the fight. While the main force was stuck at the gate, ever so slowly pushing against the mass of Crimson Reavers, more Revenants descended from the walls, striking at the enemy’s flank.

  Crimson Reaver archers and Crossbowmen, seated in hastily constructed towers on the street, released their projectiles towards the Vanguard. Davon winced as several Revenants caught bolts and arrows. Their bodies fell to the ground, immediately lost in the churn of combat.

  From the outer walls, Vanguard retaliation came in the form of various elemental spells. The Revenant mages joined the fight with a powerful impression, thinning the mass of Crimson Reaver soldiers from a distance.

  Davon stood to his full height and raised his bow.

  “Archers, attack!”

  Other Vanguard took up their spots beside Davon, and they rained arrows down on the enemy.

  Choosing to conserve his energy, Davon didn’t bother taking precise aim. He just loosed shot after shot into the sea of Crimson Reavers. As on many previous occasions, there were far too many foes for him to miss.

  Suddenly, Davon’s tempo was interrupted by a roar in the distance. Fear filled his heart. He turned towards the inner walls just in time to see Tenebris land on the ramparts, wings fully unfurled.

  “The real battle is about to begin,” Davon murmured to himself, drawing his bowstring once again.