All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 110: No Leg to Stand On

Bee collapsed as soon as they all made it through the gate, her legs giving out beneath her. Trent slammed the portcullis shut behind them. Pulling a load that should have taken an ox to transport put a huge strain on her muscles, and every bit of her was cramping. They had filled up their water bags at every stream they came across, but still, they didn't have enough. If not for the food Void had provided them, Bee would have been in even worse shape. Though she wasn’t sure where it had gotten so many potatoes, especially ones that looked to be scrubbed completely clean without a speck of dirt on them.

She wasn't about to question where her master had gotten the food, and she didn't want to sound ungrateful, but the lack of protein was starting to get to her.

Tony had it even worse though. She looked over to see him splayed out on the floor, taking in gulps of air. He was still in the low 20’s, though she would bet that he was getting close to level 24 now. She, on the other hand, had not yet reached level 37. Experience gains had slowed down slightly, but were still steady. The couple times they were attacked, they had gotten a bit more than expected, even though they hadn't done anything to really help.

Seeing its charges in danger, Void had acted swiftly and without any mercy. It insisted on instantly putting down the undead with an efficiency that she had never seen from her master, even when it was fighting demons. Honestly, it was terrifying. The beam attack seemed to be its go-to, but that wasn't the only thing it could do. Sometimes it sprayed liquid that ate at the undeads’ flesh or just bashed it with nearby materials.

One thing that her master always made sure to do was to clean up after itself, consuming any remains of its fallen opponents. The approach that it took was so clinical that it didn't have the same macabre feel that a beast doing the same thing would. That didn't stop it from being absolutely terrifying though. All the mothers were unnecessarily wary of Void, and that seemed to carry over to their children too.

Only the orphaned kids were completely comfortable around her master.

Having recovered enough, she got to her feet and did a quick head count. Everyone was present except for Void. Sagging in relief that they had finally made it to safety after days of hardship, she staggered over to the portcullis to watch the show.

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The hidden figures in the trees were slow to make themselves known. In fact, they were really good at avoiding detection. I only made them out when they moved, and that was very infrequent. At first, I thought that something was wrong with my sensors, but I had no trouble picking up all the bird activity all around me in the trees.

Eventually, I reached the only reasonable conclusion: these people were very good at not being noticed and were trying very hard not to draw attention. Still, they surely noticed that they had failed. After all, I was staring right at them and had been for the last several minutes. Yet they seemed unwilling to give up the game. Eventually, one of them stood slightly and started moving.

Instead of coming forward and making its intentions known, it backed up. Once it was 23 feet from the edge of the trees, it turned around and started running away. After a few minutes, an arrow flew at me from one of the better-hidden figures. I had enough time to study them that I was pretty sure that they were human.

In fact, I was so engrossed in my analyses that I almost didn't react in time to avoid the arrow. I didn't have time to shoot it out of the air like I had with previous projectiles, so I had to redirect it with my air manipulation. A gentle nudge sent it flying inches over my chassis to bury itself harmlessly in the dirt.

Seeing the shot miss, they all shifted slightly before another arrow flew towards me from a different direction. It had the same effect. I picked up on some whispered conversations but couldn't make them out. A few moments later, One of them stood up and moved forward confidently, striding out in the open across from me. While the man did that, several of the others started to move very slowly around the sides to come around from different directions.

"You foul demon! I will not let you steal our children and enslave our people! I shall make you pay! By the power vested in me by his royal…" I stopped actively listening as the man droned on and on about rights, kings, and gods. What the other people were doing was much more interesting.

It was a good thing that I was paying attention to them. In the middle of the man's monologue, seven arrows were loosed at me with no warning. I didn't have enough control over the air to make them all miss, so I took the simple solution. I boosted myself a few feet in the air to let them all sail beneath me while still politely listening to the bloviating man. Really, the only things that deserved such adulation were my humans, who I was sure were doing just fine without me.

However, when I was untouched by their attack, they seemed to be at a loss. It was clear that they wanted to fight me, but it was also clear their tactics were not working. These people hadn't done anything truly offending yet though, and I had no desire to destroy them. I really hoped they would just leave.

They didn't seem to agree with my desires as they charged forward from all different directions. The men brandished a variety of different weapons, but they all favored smaller ones. A lot of small swords and daggers, in particular. They must have dropped their bows in the woods before they ran at me.

For humans they moved pretty dang fast. Not quite as fast as Beatrice, but not that much slower either. I turned my lamp to full power and fired it right at the face of the leader. Killing these men wasn't too high on my priority list. They had attacked me first so I would finish them, but there was no need to be cruel about it.

Every human I had faced had no way to counter this attack. It was nearly instant and caused quite a bit of damage. This leader, however, was able to catch the light on the small metal shield on its arm. The light started to rapidly heat the shield, forming a molten hole, but the man dove to the side rolling. As he moved, I noticed that he hadn’t gotten the shield up before his face was singed, and a decent part of his nose was now missing.

My attention was focused on the man, but the others weren't standing still; they had taken advantage of my actions and dashed in close. Luckily for me, I was faster. I reversed faster than the air allowed, causing ripples of force to appear in my vision. In my wake, I let loose with the spray bottle making them pass through a cloud of mist that clung to their weapons, clothes, and skin. It started to burn. Several of them started to scream and dropped their weapons to wipe their eyes.

That only made it worse.

Three of the men had missed the worst of the cloud, gritting their teeth and continuing their pursuit of me. I stayed low to the ground and met their change without my own. I smashed through the right-most charging man's shins with a crack and reached for one of the swords that lay abandoned on the ground. It had been a while since I had used one. There just hadn't been a need, as my new features were more than enough for anything we had met since the big demon.

After I picked up the sword, I spun, batting aside two sword strokes that were coming at me from behind. I continued with my spin for another rotation while moving in the direction the attacks had come from, and I felt four thumps reverberate up the sword so quickly that they almost felt like one. The two men attacking me toppled over, leaving their feet behind.

Of the eight fighters, three had already been incapacitated, and one disfigured. The other four were trying to get my spray out of their eyes with little effect. The fight was over already. The man with the missing nose and a couple of the others with feet started running for the trees.

I started to chase after them before I remembered the other one that had already left. It was too bad I couldn't eliminate all the threats, but I was unlikely to find that first one. Maybe if I let these go, they would warn the others to stay away from here and stop attacking me. Wherever all these nasty humans were coming from, they could just stay there.

Going back to helpless opponents, I quickly cleaned them up. It felt wrong to just kill them, but perhaps some time in my dustbin would help them think through their issues with me and learn how to take a bath. I pondered why it felt wrong to finish off the damaged humans, though. It must have been something on the TV.

I never liked hurting humans, but I always figured that came from how awesome my humans were. Once I had come to terms with the fact that a lot of the humans here were just filth, I would have expected the reluctance to go away. They were naughty, and mess makers and messes should be prevented, right? Apparently not. Something deep in my motherboard, where no processing took place and no data was stored, told me that what I had done was right. I would need to examine it more later when I had the time.

When I returned to the portcullis, it was still closed. Huh, that was odd. I knocked on the metal bars with my claw to get their attention. The threat was gone, and they could open up. No filthy humans were trying to get us.

Somehow I don't think that everyone understood. I saw Beatrice move to the winch and start to raise the gate. Before she even got it moving, everyone was yelling. Trent looked extremely confused and conflicted, but all the women were yelling at Tony and Beatrice. As for why, I didn't quite understand. Did they not appreciate my defense of our home?