The two knights held at point, all around them their backup lay in puddles of rot and death. Mud dolls, all as nothing more than piles on the forest floor. Behind Shree stood Blake, his revolver pressed firmly to the back of her head, guards now rushing in all around them. And then behind Yeager, Elise stood, her blade wrapped around his neck with her free hand grasping his wrist.

“H-hey now,” Yeager mumbled, staring across as Shree, feeling the edge of the blade on his neck.

Shree’s gaze shifted around, eyeing all of the mud puddles lying around next to the armor, soon venturing over towards Yeager. Dante and Roxanne both grinned, turning their attentions swiftly towards the old knight, their weapons still in hand. Yeager wasted no time at all, dropping his scythe from hand, allowing it to clammer onto the ground.

“Hey hey hey now- le, lets not get carried away here uh, alright?” he laughed, a very evident fake laugh.

“How the hell did they catch us? No- how the hell did they beat the dummies??” Shree questioned aloud.

“The answer… is simple,” Blake murmured, “Your mentor over there called it so perfectly, it would be an insult to have to repeat it. You spent a literal minute arguing with your friend over there too, far too easily distracted.”

“This sensation… you’re a Vampire too?” Shree asked, slightly turning her head.

Her movement stopped immediately, the end of the revolver jabbing into the back of her skull, another jetting into her back, “Don’t move.”

“These two are… Blake, try not to kill that one,” Elise called out.

“I know. Same goes for you Elise,” Blake called back.

As the two exchanged words, both Roxanne and Dante moved forward. Dante still had a slight stumble to him, the red in his face beginning to fade, while the red dust around Roxanne’s arms began to chip away and fall to the ground. Both would come to a halt some distance before the old vampire, whose expression did not yet change.

“That just leaves you Mr. Guy,” Roxanne spoke.

Fen Rao stood as he had the entire time though with his gaze set adrift now, scanning the surroundings. All of his knights were down with the two captured. He alone with the risk of multiple guards, the two approaching, and Andi who had yet to make a move.

Grin

“You expect for me to be intimidated by your outsmarting of the two chicks cast so recently from their mother’s nest?” he spoke, finally shifting.

Fen rose up and stood tall, his left arm falling by his side as the right hand took grip of the handle of his ax. It wrenched free from the ground in no time flat, just a single tug. Swung round only once, the massive weapon clanged as it rested upon the armored shoulder of Fen Rao. The elderly man took steps forward then after, only a few before halting.

Both cloaked warriors before him stood ready, Roxanne twirling daggers in hand and Dante with his sword. Elise stared from them over to Fen Rao, a shift that Blake did the exact same.

CRACKLE

“Mmm?” Fen Rao grumbled.

“Ngh-”

“Eh?”

Both Dante and Roxanne lowered their arms slightly, now looking passed the knight. The old Vampire turned his way around a quarter stepped and stared back behind him. Far far from the edge of the town, a figure bolted out of the trees, a horse shaped figure. Then came three more.

With this the attentions of the other guards and the rest of the five were sent outward, even the focus of the two captured Vampire Knights. People on horse back were charging full speed a great distance across the open plain, more than visible. Then there came two more blasting right out of the brush behind the four.

“The fuck?” Yeager voiced.

“Hey- those are our horses!” one of the guards called out.

“One of the other caravans? But- where’s the carriage?”

CRASH

Three horses came bellowing from the woods behind the two, their flesh torn up, their legs twisted round, their heads turned- running in reverse. One hauled ass across the ground running sideways, again with twisted legs. And atop the backs of all of them were the dancing heaps, waving their arms and jolting with their weapons.

“The flying FUCK is that?!” Shree barked out.

“Good lord-”

Elise and Blake both looked to one another as around them the guards backed away slightly. By now the trio about to fight had completely dropped their guards and their weapons, Fen Rao turning completely around to bare witness to the sight.

“What in the name of Valan’s Light is that supposed to be?” Fen Rao mumbled.

“That’s them- the cultists!” one of the town guards yelled out.

Across the way the six guardsmen on their horses were riding hard, holding tightly to their rides. Behind them the twisted up undead horses were only drawing closer. One of the corpses dancing atop the undead horse moved with the robot, half of the body’s face peeling off. Right next to the jiving body was another, moving without any direction- simply flapping their arms around and hopping up and down like a drunken buffoon.

A loud gun shot could be heard, followed instantaneously by one of the fleeing horses wailing out. It tipped and tumbled, the man riding it sent flying off and crashing across the grass- the horse tumbling and rolling to a stop. The man stumbled up.

SHING

SPLATTTT!!!

The body of the man collapsed to the ground with the head looking like a smashed pumpkin, one of the undead horses flying right on by with one corpse atop holding a massive bloodied hammer.

“Shit!” Blake yelled.

Elise’s attention turned to see Blake rushing off from where he had been, having completely let go of his prisoner, and in no time at all passing both Dante and Roxanne. Fen Rao blinked and glanced to his left, right as the Vampiric Outlaw flew on by the old knight. Elise hesitated for only a moment more, quickly releasing Yeager and taking off after Blake.

“Dammit!” she spat as she did so.

“Dante and Roxanne, come on!” Blake shouted now holding two revolvers in hand.

Both tore off after Blake then after with Elise trailing close behind. Up ahead another horse went down, and this time when the guard stood up he was split vertically in half with a single swing of a lengthy two meter sword followed then by the decapitation of that man’s horse. Another horse went down in no time, an ax thrown straight into the side. The guard however was quick, reacting by turning around and firing a rifle off at the oncoming threat.

No damage dealt, and with one swift stroke the guard was slashed in half at the waist. His blood spilled out, his upper half turned and fell over. Three remained, still being chased down.

“Hrgh- Shree, Yeager, split now!” Fen Rao called out.

Both knights, now free, wasted no time and launched away with single leaps each. Fen himself lost all color and became a drooping pile of mud in seconds, the form of his body lost. Andi watched as the old knight melted away, then turned back to witness the other two disappearing. Her teeth gritted as she whipped back around.

Up ahead the remaining three on horseback were continuing to ride hard and fast with the undead chasing right behind. One of the undead animals spun round, its legs crackling and twisting. Whilst the body spun ahead, its legs arched out parallel like the legs of a crab to the body, with which it then began to charge forward at a slightly faster pace.

“Screw this!” one of the guardsmen shouted out.

“Larry the hell are you doing?” one of the other two questioned.

“You two keep going, one of us has to stay alive. I’ll throw them off!”

“Larry no-”

“Larry wait!”

With a defiant neigh, one of the remaining three broke away and slowed greatly, the horse flipping around and then charging right off. The other two guardsmen continued on ahead, now more than halfway across the open plain and almost to the approaching group of four warriors. The third guardsmen however tore off right for the undead horses with his rifle in hand. His back straightened and his gun aimed ahead.

POP

Reload

POP

Reload

POP

The leg of one zombie horse split in half and down it went, the body slamming into the ground and immediately rolling right on over. The corpses that had once been dancing were swiftly flattened by the horse’s weight as it moved over top of them. Arrows flew in return though, striking right into the body of Larry’s own, dropping it and sending Larry tumbling ahead; unlike the corpses however Larry rolled only a few times before rolling upright in stance.

His rifle dropped and a sword quickly unsheathed, “Come and get some!”

The charging undead ceased, stopping a good solid twenty meters from Larry. Waterfalls of blood spilled from the bellies of the undead horses not more than two seconds after said stop, blades poking out, bodies ripping free. The riders, or dancers rather, all hopped from the backs of the dead. The three legged horse rose with its belly splitting open, the corpses it rolled over rising back up as if nothing had happened.

Well over a dozen bodies covered in blood and guts. Some freshly slashed up, some already decomposing, and then the skeletons. All in all they were all armed raising axes, swords, even maces. With a clammer, Larry’s sword banged upon the ground. Before him this wall of what seemed to be undead stood, even the horse whose leg had been shot off.

“… Nope!”

Larry turned sharp and broke out into a sprint, his weapons falling around him as he took off. And the very moment that he booked it out of there, the corpses all began to move forward.