The Bloodforged Kin

Chapter 217 - 211: Safehold - Leon and the Underpowered

Two hours later the next Abominable Snowman appeared from the west.

"Well that was like clockwork," Ben said. "From the same direction too. Do you think we should send some people out there and find out where they're coming from?"

Tess shrugged. "It doesn't really matter, and I doubt we'd want to face a whole group of them at one time anyway." She turned to face Leon. "Are they ready?"

Weeble had met her after the Toys had defeated their Snowman, but Tess had already been convinced of his argument before he'd even returned. As usual, his assessment of the group had rung true to her, and she'd sought out Leon to get his opinion. The big man agreed - he was worried for the residents of Safehold, but understood that their protection was a crutch that could lead to their deaths in the long run. He'd try to keep them safe, but they needed to be put in danger - to be tested.

Leon returned her look with a silent nod. She nodded in return and he turned to face the courtyard, voice booming. "Team 1, you're up. Meet me at the west gate."

Half of the team of 20 men and women were armed with long spears and makeshift shields cut from pieces of magically-hardened wood, while the other half had an assortment of machetes, axes, and heavy hammers. Without waiting for a reply he walked to the edge of the wall and stepped over, landing hard on the ground below. If the fall bothered him, it didn't show. They had opted not to have any music playing since it would be a distraction and make it difficult for Leon to call out commands. The wall teams were green and he didn't want anything to reduce their chances of surviving this.

Team 1 filed out of the double-doored gate, arraying in a loose formation behind Leon.

"Tighten up ranks! Shields and spears, up front - just like we practiced. Close-quarters fighters, get behind them and be ready to rush in once they have him pinned."

The strategy was simple, as most good strategies are: The spears would keep it at bay and attempt to pin it in place. Once it was locked in, the close-quarters fighters would rush between the shields and attacks its legs. Leon was their only powerhouse so the best strategy they had was to knock it to the ground and hack it to pieces before it could get back up. Their march into the open ground was uncoordinated, people bumping into the ones in front of them or stepping on heels. Low curses and irritated objections called back.

"Quiet! Get it together - it's coming!"

True to his words, the Abominable Snowman had begun a loping charge at the group. It wasn't moving fast, but its long legs ate up the distance between them faster than anyone would have liked.

They met its charge with a crash of shields and spears, the tips puncturing skin as the wielders slammed the spear butts into the ground and stood on them to root them in place. The snowman roared in pain and swept its arm out, shattering spears and sending the front line flying. Barely five seconds into battle and the formation was broken.

On the wall Tess took a step forward. Weeble grabbed her arm and she wheeled around to glare at him. "I'm going down there."

"Tess, no! They need to do this."

"They're going to die!"

Weeble nodded. "Some may, but they need to do this on their own. If you go down there now you're setting a precedent that you will always bail them out. They need to come together or run, but they have to make that decision on their own."

She ground her teeth, not okay with this. "Fara, what are their chances?"

"Not great!" the girl said cheerily. "They haven't been practicing formation tactics and, thus, don't really know how to fight as a team. This should certainly prove educational!"

Tess grunted, ready to ignore Weeble's advice and charge down there herself. She searched out Leon, watching him pull people to their feet and push them into small block formations of four people each. If she went down there now she'd be cutting his authority off at the knees and proving she didn't have faith in his ability to lead. She ground her teeth hard but kept herself rigid in place. This would play out however it would play out, and she had to trust her people to pull their weight.

While the Abominable Snowman was pulling broken spearheads from its chest and stomach Leon had gathered his people in groups of four - two spearmen, two close-quarters fighters. He sent them in different directions, just out of the snowman's reach.

"Harass and distract it! Each group rush in and stab, then retreat back and let the next one come in. Only attack if its back is to you! Watch out for its arms! Go for the legs!"

The group directly behind it jumped at the orders, sprinting in to jam spears into the back of its legs. It roared and spun, but they had already danced backwards and out of its reach. The next group did the same, but without the spears they had to get in close and hack at its legs. One over-enthusiastic young man wasn't paying attention to his group and didn't notice that they'd retreated, trying to get an extra swing it. A massive purple fist caught him and he was sent ragdolling across the frozen ground.

"Damn it! One hit, then retreat! Wear it down!"

Leon wanted to rush to the man to help him, but couldn't afford to take his eyes off the fight. He'd just have to hope he was okay.

"Weeble," Tess said urgently. "Should I send Cass to pull back the injured?"

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Weeble considered, then shook his head. "Wait to see if he gets up. People can take a beating, especially these days. He needs to find his way back to his feet - they all do."

Tess's teeth were going to be worn to nubs before this fight was over.

The bloody brawl was chaotic and messy, with people getting knocked aside almost as often as they managed to hit it. The young man had climbed shakily to his feet and Leon had shouted for him to get back to his group. The kid spat blood but returned, his expression a combination of embarrassment and determination.

The battle continued to rage and the teams found their coordination, as rudimentary as it was. Leon's orders came less and less frequently as people found their rhythms and began to work in concert. The fur on the snowman's legs was stained a deep red and its footfalls had begun to grow wobbly.

"Oh fuck."

Tess's head whipped around at Weeble's curse, but he was staring intently at the beast. It was swaying on its feet and had reached a level of injury that, presumably, let it activate its skill. It was bent over, arms clasped close to its chest. Even from the wall they could feel the cold power radiating and crackling the air.

"It's going to kill them!" Tess shouted, and she leapt.

Leon remembered the fight from earlier, and the blast that had leveled everything in the area, freezing the Toys. There was no way his team would survive that attack. There was no time for them to make it behind the walls.

"GET BEHIND YOUR SHIELDS!" He was running at a sprint, far faster than anything he'd been able to do before The System. He'd been putting all of his points into Strength and Agility and he could feel the investiture paying off. The skin on his face began to crack as he rushed headlong into the sphere of super-cooled air that surrounded the creature. With a shout of defiance he swung his hammer into an upward swing, activating the hammer's enchantment just as it hit.

A loud hiss of steam was instantly followed by a meaty thwack as Leon hit the snowman directly between the legs. His strength was formidable, but the telescoping head of the steampunk hammer tripled the power of the impact and sent the snowman flipping head over heels. It landed hard, its cries of pain not anything like the roars of fury it had elicited earlier. It sat up, grabbing itself and looking around in confusion - just in time to see Leon's second strike coming at its face.

Another massive swing and another hiss of steam and it was sliding backwards, digging a deep trench in the snow and earth beneath it. The cheers on the walls echoed the cheering of Team 1.

"Get on it!" Team 1 sprung to Leon's call and rushed to the creature. In their confidence they got too close, too quickly.

The first wave rushed it with glee, only to be swept aside by one long sweep of its arm. It was flat on its back and its face was a bloody mess, but it still eyed them with malice.

"Stay in formation! Don't relax the formation!" Leon's order was obeyed by the more level-headed of the group, with them pulling the bloodthirsty ones back to get into a line. Leon reached them as they stood just outside of its reach. They couldn't let it get back to its feet - he didn't have any more charges on his hammer and wouldn't for 24 hours.

"Go in, now! Watch the arms! Same tactics as with the legs!"

The groups rushed in in pairs, dancing backwards to avoid the swings, most of them successful. The fight should have been easier with the creature on its back, but every time they got close they were driven away by the arms. Leon thanked their lucky stars that it hadn't had a chance to get to its feet yet. They needed to finish this - somehow.

"Fuck you!" All heads turned to follow the voice and saw the young man who had been knocked back breaking formation and running a straight path between the snowman's legs.

"Get back here you idiot!"

He ignored Leon's orders and ran between its legs, jumping onto its hips and running up the large, furry body. He reached the chest and smiled a bloody smile, machete held high overhead. He swung it down, already imagining splitting the thing's face in half.

A purple hand swung up and caught him. The sound of crunching bone and a halted scream drove everyone to a horrified pause. It flung its arm out and a bloody, wrecked mess of a body went flying into the distance.

"NO!" Leon was running the same path as the boy had now, tears filling his eyes. "PIN ITS ARMS!" He screamed as he leapt onto its hips. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw his people rushing forward to grab the massive arms, throwing themselves across it, grabbing its fur and pulling, and others just chopping at fingers the size of their arms.

Leon didn't have time to see if it worked. He was at the thing's chest. He saw arms lift slowly as it tried to shake off the people covering them. His hammer came up and he cast Hammerfall. He didn't have the enchantment of the hammer itself, but in this moment he didn't need it. Rage, fury, and loss fueled his swing and the snowman's forehead crumpled inward with the strike. Leon swung again and this time its nose was pressed into its skull. He swung once more, eyes so focused on the Snowman's face that he missed the fist that had freed itself. Without warning he was flying through the air, hammer flying off into the distance.

He tumbled across the ground, feeling an arm and ankle break. He tried climbing to his feet but fell, not able to hold himself up, his broken arm not able to push him up onto his good leg. He struggled and pushed - they needed him! Get to your damned feet, man!

He felt hands reach under his arms and he tried to recognize faces through unfocused eyes. Something was wrong with his vision - one eye saw only red, the other was blurry.

"No," he forced out. "Go help them."

"We're getting you back, man. They got this."

"No!" He tried to shake the arms off but he stepped too hard on his broken ankle and fell again, head hitting the ground and causing his eye to go even more red. "I'll be okay. Go help them." Had he said the last part out loud? He couldn't be sure. Where was he and why was it so cold? He couldn't remember being near a river, but the loud rush of water was drowning out everything else. Maybe he had fallen into the river? He was floating - that much he knew. He was floating down a river and must have hit something hard because he hurt.

Tess controlled her fear, with a large amount of help from Fara, as they loaded Leon onto a floating platform and rushed him into the Bouchard compound. The remaining members of Team 1 were hacking at the long-dead snowman. They might have known he was dead, they might not have - none of them were taking any chances. Once the head came off the team stepped away with loud cheers. Some even tried rolling the head back towards the walls.

Tess breathed a sigh of relief and jumped back up onto the wall. "Someone tell them to leave the head out there - we're not bringing it inside! Get everyone healing pills, it looks like every last one of them is injured. Jesus, how long did that fight even take?"

The last was rhetorical but Weeble answered anyway. "About 45 minutes - which isn't great, but probably the best they could do. The important thing is that they DID do it, and all without the help of their mother bear. Hell, they probably didn't even notice that you jumped off the wall to help them."

Tess could sense the sarcastic smile and twinkling eyes behind his mask. How does he do that?