No! I screamed the word. Not here. Not like this.
With all the rage of the wasteland, an army of clansfolk thundered after me, racing along the valley that cut through the Ayros Mountains. A hundred warriors at least, most on foot – though I’d heard the roar of bears who were bound to have berserkers riding on their backs. Springing from the desolate cruelty of winter, the wastelanders had attacked without warning, without mercy. They were focused on breaking open the shell of my tank-suit and ending the life of a cursed city-dweller. But I was fucked if I’d let death find me today. Not like this. Not so far from home.
Aiming my shoulder cannon behind me, I fired two blind shots. The wails of the dying signified that I’d found my marks. The tank droned with the expenditure of power, but I ignored its complaints and kept running.
There was only one way for me to go: further into the valley, deeper into the mountains. The warriors blocked the way behind, and there were more tracking me from up on the ridge to my left. The valley wall on the right was too sheer for even the tank to make the climb, so it was straight on and don’t dare stop. The enemy had given me barely enough time to acknowledge my terror.
The warriors above took potshots with bows and slings, but none of their projectiles could pass through the tank’s energy shield. However, the tank itself wasn’t functioning at full power, and I was pretty sure that the clansfolk behind had picked up at least two ether-cannons. One well-placed shot could overload the shield and cut it dead; another could disrupt the magical field holding the suit together. So I dodged, I weaved, I made myself as difficult a target as possible.
I was the sole survivor of my platoon, and running was all I had left. Even if the tank were fully operational, there was no way it could take on such a large army by itself. How the clansfolk had managed to amass such a sizable force in this place without Command detecting it was beyond me, but answers weren’t important now. Stay ahead, stay alive – I tried not to think about what I might be running towards.
Shadows were good. The sky was filled with snow clouds blocking the light from the barricade of ether crystals orbiting Urdezha. The clansfolk needed the flames of torches to light their way, but I didn’t. The tank’s glass helmet allowed me to see through the dark of night, its sonar searching for dangers ahead.
The valley narrowed, bringing me closer to the warriors above. Their arrows and stone-shot ricocheted off the shield with sharp snaps. I extended the slim cannon on my left arm and aimed up at the ridge as I ran. The cannon whumped and the blast smacked rock, sending up a spray of sharp chips that forced the clansfolk to scurry back with cries of alarm.
The path sloped down, narrowing all the time. Weaving between juts of dark rock, jagged and porous, I finally headed out to where the valley became much wider than before. I veered to the right, away from the slings and bows, and the clouds unleashed a flurry of snow. The army behind hit the bottleneck and shouted curses in Salabese. Their angry voices merged with the wind and I gained some headway.
Snow dashed the air with thick white flakes. The tank’s helmet saw through the storm; the energy shield parted the flakes as I ran through them and they swirled behind me, further muddying the enemy’s view of my flight. But I could hear the roars of bears again, and their riders, the berserkers, were leading the charge now. Though the storm gave me some cover, I was pretty much on open ground. The tank was fast, but it couldn’t outrun bears, and its shield was in no condition to withstand the explosions that came when berserkers summoned their own spirits.
As if fate had decided to smile upon me, I came to a great frozen lake that stretched the entire width of the valley floor. The ice beneath the covering of snow groaned and creaked under the tank’s weight, but winter had made it solid and strong. I reached the other side ahead of my pursuers, but the roars of bears and the shouts of berserkers weren’t far behind. I could see eight or nine of them, clustered together, racing across the lake, grainy and monochrome through the helmet’s glass.
At the edge of the lake, my arm bucked as I fired the cannon at the ice. Three shots in a line. The third felt weaker than the first two, but the ice cracked then rose and parted satisfyingly nonetheless. As a dark abyss was revealed beneath, I continued running to where the valley narrowed again and headed up to a pass. The screams of berserkers plunging into deathly frigid waters came after me.
I needed to stop and give the tank’s ether crystal time to regenerate magic, but I didn’t dare slow my pace. These clansfolk knew the Ayros Mountains, and the warriors were as tenacious as they were savage. Broken ice wouldn’t deter them from the hunt, and for all I knew, I was running towards more of them. The sonar’s area of coverage had been hindered by the snow and the close rock walls. I had to find a place to hide, to catch my breath, to think, to plan.
Salvation came when the pass snaked and then curved around in a wide arc to the left. At the apex of the bend, I spied the dark mouth of a cave, mostly covered by the lumpy formation of an overhang. I made my way to it, deactivating the shield so I could squeeze past the obstruction, and ventured a few steps into the sudden stillness of a natural tunnel burrowing into the mountain.
The sonar gave no warnings. The glass helmet couldn’t penetrate very far into the gloom, so I removed it and gazed into utter blackness, listening. Nothing beyond the low moan of wind from outside and the sound of my laboured breathing. But the sweat on my face was chilled by a light breeze coming from the darkness ahead. From an alternate way out?
With survival paramount in my mind, I put the helmet back on and the dingy, rocky environment was revealed to me again. The tank’s shield activated at my command. The sonar pinged. Something living. Behind me. Outside.
Facing the cave’s entrance, I heard a muffled grunt coming through the sound of wind. A lone bear had survived my ice trap. The overhang blocked most of my view, but I caught sight of the beast’s large shaggy shape creeping up on the cave through the whipping snow. I could see the berserker on its back, too. Tusks and a tattooed face, hair wild and matted into tangles of spider legs. I didn’t have a clear shot, and I couldn’t allow the berserker time to summon his spirit.
Taking several steps back, I aimed the shoulder cannon at the overhang. One blast of ether magic was enough to cause a minor rockfall. To the heavy cracks of breaking stone, the ground rumbled, dust filled the air and the way into the cave was blocked to my enemies. Along with my way out.