Sara stood at the end of the long table that had been built on the patio, looking at her team. Raven being tended to by the Shafted medics was the only thing on her mind, but she had to deal with…Craig.
“I’ve told every one of you as plainly as I could.” Sara took a deep breath and looked people in the eyes as she took in her crew. “Craig will come. It won’t be pretty. Some of you will die. Prepare for that day…”
She let that hang in the air.
“But I changed my mind. No one’s dying today.”
Chadwick stood firm behind her, massive arms folded over his chest. “We aren’t ready for a full-on assault. That’s what he’s going to bring. We’ve created a shelter in the Void. Everyone is going. No exceptions. Let him burn it to the ground. We’ll rebuild. Your lives are more important.”
Silence washed across the ocean of faces Sara had come to love. Not a face in the crowd was unknown to her.
“No.”
The crowd parted as a face Sara hadn’t seen before stepped forward.
“The Shafted won’t run.”
Sara considered his words. The fact that he was taller than every other dwarf there confirmed it. “Pete Steel-Shaft. You made it.”
“Aye.” He nodded. “And I have something to say.”
Sara simply nodded. Her energy prevented anything more.
“Since the day I was born, I’ve heard stories of my grandfather and his grandfather scraping by to feed their families.” Pete looked around at the rapidly growing, interconnected alleys of the Dwarven market and the shops started by the Shafted, then back at her.
“And you come in, out of nowhere, promise a better life, then don’t give it to us. You give us the tools to make a life ourselves.” Pete looked to Chino and Lacuna, who nodded.
Sara shrugged. “I don’t see impure bloodlines, and I don’t believe that anyone should suffer for another group. Fuck the needs of the many. When you pay attention to the needs of the few, everyone’s happy. Tsuruhashi was built from the ground up, not the top down.”
Pete looked directly into her eyes. “And that’s why we’re not letting your vision fall.”
The Shafted cheered and rallied. Pete let them have their moment, then motioned for quiet.
Sara looked down at her clipboard and the growing stack of resident lists. Doubt crept through her brain. She could get these people killed fighting Craig. But one thing she had learned was to trust someone when they said they could do something.
“What do you propose? All we know is what little we’ve gotten from Chadwick, Raven, and someone who can’t go home now, even though she needs to. From that, we have no chance.”
Pete motioned for Rob Zombeard, who joined him confidently.
“Craig keeps weaponizing cock…so Rob and Shardi decided to pick us a lane.”
Rob let out a loud whistle.
The ground rumbled as two giant purple-and-black beasts came from behind the large housing complex. The things were at least fifty feet long. Their ragged fur was covered in pictures of Muffin in her chicken suit. Their eyes rested above massive mouths. One stretched open to reveal a giant, human-toothed vagina as it screamed a fierce cry.
Honored brand Muffin Top XL! Honored brand Muffin Top XL!
“Meet the Brandersnatches,” Rob said with a grin.
Sara felt her head turning sideways like Stewie’s as she delivered the burning question.
“You…created a creature?”
Rob chuckled and shrugged. “More than one. Check this out.”
Rob let out another whistle, and the parking lot flooded with at least a hundred five-foot-tall clams holding spears in their human arms. They had human legs and long, eccentric, colorful beards. Giant googly eyes sat atop their shells, buried in wispy, stringy blonde hair.
When they opened their mouths, Sara started to see what Pete meant by picking a lane.
“You’re weaponizing pussy?” Sara asked, staring at Rob.
“I mean…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “We could always tame a few Draggins.”
“I like bearded clam better than dick that destroys everything it touches.” Sara scribbled in her notes. “What can they do?”
“Fodder,” Rob said. “The Beckys are just to overwhelm. The Brandersnatches finish the job.”
“Beckys?” Simone weighed in. “You call them Beckys?”
“Ahh, yes,” Rob said, offering no more.
Sara scanned the people again. “Okay, so that pads our numbers.”
She tapped the pen against her clipboard and thought.
Just then, a wagon came barreling over the hill in the distance. The entire staff jumped to their feet before Kaori saw who it contained.
“It’s Cody! And some other people.”
“Is that…” Simone raised an eyebrow. “The Hot Wangs crew?”
Sara sighed and opened her Pocari Sweat, taking a deep swig as the wagon rolled to a stop.
“Sara!” Cody bounded up on all fours, super cutely. “I’ll explain later. I trust these guys implicitly. They need to tell you what we’ve found.”
Cody briefly introduced them. Sara acknowledged the group while turning her clipboard to the roster page.
“What do you have?”
“There are ten portals—” Thiccolus started.
“Already there.” Sara had no time. “We’re at the imminent Craig attack.”
“Wait.” Glandalf pulled out a tablet. “Can I hook into your main portal? I think I can buy you some time.”
Sara glanced at Cody. He peeked up over his shoulder from cleaning himself at an odd time and nodded.
“Chino.” Sara motioned him over. “Shardi is already down there. Let him get set up and give him anything he needs.”
“Aye.”
Chino waved, and the JNCO wizard with the bushy ponytail followed, joined by all of the Wangs crew except Thiccolus, Tripod, and Chadriel.
“What else do you have for me?” Sara looked to the Dwelf.
Thiccolus looked around, momentarily confused. “Oh, us? We’re here to kick ass. Bukkakelyn is mine.”
Sara nodded. “Welcome to the team. Everything’s free for residents.”
As they processed the gravity of her words, she hoped one of the medics would interrupt her with an update on Raven. She pushed down her fear and continued the all-hands meeting.
“Give me a perimeter update. Where are we at?”
Quarry Taylor stepped up to the table, switching out with someone who was done talking for now.
“We’ve got about seventy percent of the northern Forest of Nihilism secured, but expansion is slow because we’ve been mapping the caves and running into significant kobold resistance.”
Sara looked up. “What? Kobolds?”
“Yeah.” Quarry shook his head as if it was beneath him. “They keep attacking, and it’s just slowing us down.”
Sara tried to process it, but the casual nature struck her as wrong. “What were we doing with the kobolds?”
Quarry looked like the question was foreign. “Most of them run off into the depths, but some get brave. Foolishly so.”
Sara’s blood boiled. She dropped her clipboard on the table and closed the distance to the dwarf with three purposeful strides.
“How many?”
Quarry’s expression turned defensive. He took a step back. “Maybe five or six.”
For a fraction of a second, Sara snapped.
Everything she had modeled for these people. Every drop of blood she hadn’t told them to spill…she had led them here.
Kobolds were sentient. They were aggressive because they had attacked their home.
She stared at Quarry long enough that she was sure he understood before doing the only thing she could.
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and continued holding his gaze.
“Chadwick. Can you set up a meeting with their people and families?”
Quarry’s eyes flashed wide. They eased only when Chadwick answered.
“I’m on good terms with them.” He scribbled on his clipboard. “I’ll make it happen.”
Sara never took her eyes off Quarry until he released a deep, relieved sigh.
“Thank you. We’ll stop expanding until you tell me more.”
“Thank you, Quarry.” Sara smiled.
“Are…” Quarry hesitated. “Are you going to arrest the ones who…”
“No, Quarry.” Sara shook her head. “I wasn’t explicit about my laws. Allow me to be clear now. We don’t kill. Full stop. If you can end a fight any other way, you do.”
Silence hung for a moment before she finished.
“And displaced people don’t displace people on my watch.”
She let that hang in the air, knowing it was the right crowd.
“I thought this place was empty. We shift our focus to this battle and restoration until I know the full extent of what we’re dealing with.”
She didn’t have time to let it sink in further.
“Free period. Anyone have anything to add or ask?”
“I do.”
Sara turned to see a still badly injured Raven being propped up by two medics.
“Raven!” Sara gasped in relief and horror.
“I want to show you what I’ve been working on for this,” Raven said weakly.
A trampling sound rushed up from the stable Raven had taken to during the times Sara had to run things. Twenty extra-large Veiny Clucks came rushing forward with unarmed women of various races riding them like little Chocobos.
They came to a stop and dismounted just outside the patio.
They were all wearing outfits clearly designed by Raven: loose camo or green cargo pants, black tank tops, and long, colorful hair.
“Meet the Spear Bitches!” Raven forced a smile through her pain.
Sara took a moment to acknowledge the sheer awesomeness of Raven solo-training twenty women to perform drive-by spear attacks, but she couldn’t keep from chuckling at Raven’s attempt at chaotic creativity.
“Spear Bitches,” Sara repeated.
She looked at the group of proud women of many races and smiled.
Raven relaxed into her attendants. “You got this.”
Sara’s heart fluttered.
That had been their phrase. It was so simple, but so powerful.
She looked around at everyone gathered there, then toward the looming road.
He was coming.
This could be it.
She crossed the patio and placed a hand on Raven’s shoulder.
“You’ve done nothing but have my back and let me exist with you.” She swallowed hard. “Thank you, Raven. I love you.”
Raven gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. For a moment, her eyes held nothing but surprise, and that struck a deep fear in Sara’s heart.
Then Raven’s eyes softened, and tears crept out.
Just as she lowered her hands, a blaring horn sounded in the distance.
He was here.
“EVERYONE IN PLACE! DEPLOY THE BECKYS!”
Sara ignored the panic attack her people couldn’t afford and took a deep breath for a rallying cry.
Then she realized the town had no name.
She had to think on the fly. Her thoughts shifted between English and Japanese.
“For…”
Eto…kuso…
“FOR ETOKUSO!”
A triumphant battle cry erupted from the crowd, and they started to chant.
“ETOKUSO! ETOKUSO!”
“No, no!”
Sara saw the first horse come over the hill.
It was too late.
She had named the town.
“Umm…shit.”