They were gods-be-damned big ass red caps. I did a fast count. There were at least twenty red caps. Two arms, two legs, built like a man, but their faces looked as if they had been smashed with a shovel, flat with just slits for noses and no lips to cover their blocky square teeth. Each of them was close to seven feet tall, carried a wicked iron pike, had heavy iron boots, and then there was their namesake. On each of their heads was a cap made of some sort of viscera, blood from the organ poured down the sides of their heads, and stained their skin a rusty brown.
“We can’t outrun them,” I said, as I slowed to a stop.
Liam grabbed my arm. “Yes, we can—”
“No, we can’t,” I snapped. “They can’t be outrun, not on their own turf, at least.”
The red caps started pounding the butt of their pikes into the ground at their feet, each thump bringing them a step closer. They had ringed us. From what I knew of them, which wasn’t a lot, we were in for a fight. Trained warriors who bathed themselves in the blood of their victims. Yeah, not really how I wanted to start my week. Freaking stupid Mondays.
“Pamela, to my back.” Thank the gods I’d been training her. She responded without question, pressing her back into mine. Alex tucked his butt in next to mine.
Liam didn’t question, just slid his back against ours.
“Head shots, people,” I said, my words calmer than I felt. Twenty red caps was no small feat to take on at the best of times.
As if in response, as I steadied my stance, something shifted inside of me, and one of my ribs pressed against my right lung. Shit, this was about to get tough.
Their pikes still thumping into the ground, the red caps were twenty feet away in all their blood and viscera glory. This close they looked like Dox on steroids, all muscle and small beady black eyes, bloodstained skin, with armor stretched taut over their bodies. My guts churned; injured, I was going to be more of a liability than a help in this particular situation. As if to drive the point home, pain rippled sharp and intense through my chest.
Four red caps engaged us, and I spun my swords out, crisscrossing them to catch the downward blow of a pike. The red cap forced me to my knees, the stone biting through my jeans. Alex leapt forward, snagging the red cap’s belt and yanking him off balance.
The red cap spun toward Alex, giving me his back. Thinking I was the weaker of the two of us. Perfect. He snapped his pike back in order to drive it into Alex’s side, but I beat him to the punch.
I drove my sword through the base of his neck, then yanked the blade to the left, beheading the big fucker before he could complete his swing.
“Good job, Alex.”
Alex blew a raspberry at the red cap. “Bloody stupid messy bugger.”
Yeah, he’d definitely picked up the local lingo.
A roar came from outside. The giant was still stomping around, and pissed as all get out. He gave me an idea. A bad idea maybe, but it might be the only chance we had.
“Pamela, knock out that arch.”
She spun, clapped her hands together and then flung them apart. The arch over the entryway blasted apart with the force of her spell, and as the dust settled, a loud, booming laugh floated down to us.
Garbling his language, whatever it was, the giant stomped into the courtyard, scooping up the closest red cap and jammed him, pike and all, into his mouth.
I blinked several times. That had been the hand that I’d cut off his fingers. And while they were maybe a bit on the short side, they’d grown back. Son of a bitch, I didn’t know giants had that ability.
The red caps were torn, half of them engaging the giant, the other half standing in our way. Better odds than we had before. Liam fired the crossbow, the bolt taking the closest red cap in his right eye. With a scream, the red cap went down to his knees, and then fell forward onto his face. Liam was already reloading the crossbow before the red cap hit the ground.
“Pamela, out front,” I said. “I’ll keep an eye on the big bastard.”
Trusting my crew, I let them take the lead. Which meant I had to let them guard my back while I watched the giant take out the red caps one by one. Their fighting style was guerrilla, striking hard and then darting out of the giant’s way, inflicting blows, but not any real damage that I could see. The giant’s skin was thick, and the red caps weapons weren’t spelled to cut deep like my swords.
Unfortunately for them, the giant caught on faster than I had thought he could, and in a matter of minutes, he’d eaten four more of them, armor and all.
“Rylee, we have a problem,” Liam said calmly, like he was telling me about the upcoming weather.
I turned away from the giant and his snacks. Ahead of us another legion of red caps trotted into the castle courtyard. Three rows of ten—maybe that wasn’t a legion, I didn’t really know for sure. But another thirty red caps? Shit.