Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [85]
“Run!” Kranxx said, batting Gullik on the top of his head.
The norn laughed and pulled his axe. “If they’ve already seen us, my tiny friend, then the time for stealth is over!” He hefted his weapon in response to the challenge. “Wolf’s teeth, the time for battle has begun!”
“Hold it!” Dougal said. He cast a wary eye on the warband. “They don’t seem to be charging.”
Battle lust danced in Gullik’s eyes. “Then we shall take the battle to them!”
Ember grabbed the norn’s elbow before he could stomp off to fight. “If they meant to fight us, they would have attacked already.” The other charr of the warband were scrambling with their rifles as well.
“Oh-ho!” The norn beamed with pride. “They are wiser than they would seem if they fear to engage us in battle!”
“I don’t think it’s us they’re afraid of,” said Riona. “They just don’t want to come in here.”
“Maybe they know something we don’t,” Dougal said as he glanced around them.
“There’s another warband coming from the northeast,” said Ember.
“And that looks like one in the southwest,” said Riona.
“We need to keep moving,” Dougal said. Another distant pop and another shot puffed the earth next to him. “Right now.” The three warbands, all on the closer side of the tortured strip of land, now sounded horns to each other. Their message was clear.
Without a word, Ember turned to the northwest and started off again. The others fell into step behind her, the norn and his asura passenger last.
“By the Wolf’s whimper,” Gullik growled, “only cowards run from such a fight!”
“Don’t think of it as running away from that fight,” Kranxx said. “Think of it as running toward a bigger one.”
The norn let out a deep chuckle. “I do enjoy your wisdom!”
“I still don’t like it,” Dougal said, keeping pace with Riona and Ember. “What could be in here that would be so terrifying that it would keep three warbands of charr from coming after us?”
Riona smirked at this. “Let’s hope we don’t have to find out.”
The gunfire behind them intensified, but at this range they were minimal targets, and the worst it did was shatter some of the glass foliage near them. None of the shots came close to hitting anyone, but it didn’t seem as if the charr were trying very hard.
“Hold it!” Dougal said.
Ember skidded to a halt in the shattered purple grass, and the others following her all did the same. “What is it?” the charr said.
Dougal shaded his eyes and gazed to the southwest. “There,” he said. “They’re not shooting at us anymore. Look.”
The two charr warbands on the southern edge of the Brand had joined together and were busy unloading their rifles into a crystalline hill hunkered to their east. It was a larger target, Dougal noted, but had no effect on them and their flight.
“I haven’t seen anything this odd since I stumbled upon that hylek fertility ritual!” said Gullik.
Dougal knew then exactly what was happening. He’d heard tales of minions created by the Elder Dragons to execute their will—and anyone who might trespass upon their lands. Here in the Dragonbrand, they stood squarely in the Crystal Dragon’s territory. Its passage had scarred this land and claimed it as its own. It stood to reason the creatures that lived here would belong to the Crystal Dragon too.
“We need to get out of here right now!” Dougal said, grabbing Ember’s shoulder.
She shrugged him off with a growl. “We should get to the far side of that hill for cover.”
“No,” Dougal said. “We need to head in the other direction as fast as possible.”
“We can’t go back to the south,” said Riona. “Those warbands will tear us to pieces.”
Killeen put a hand on Dougal’s arm. “What’s wrong?” she said.
Dougal stabbed a finger in the direction of the hill, which had started to shudder. “That!”
As they watched, the hill continued to quiver as if shaken by an earthquake, although the land that they stood on seemed as solid as ever. A terrible noise sprang from the hill. It sounded like thousands