Dancing Upon A Knife’s Edge

The closer the arrogant Alpha Roobit dashed to the city walls, the more Mutant Beasts appeared on the road. Large and small, ugly and putrescent, these living nightmare things caused havoc in the outer reaches of Florinad city.

The road became filled with dangerous slicks and holes, the buildings around were damaged, and many collapsed onto the road, blocking the stampede dangerously.

Agile riders scaled piles of shifting rubble, doing their best to continue forward to the walls, but the mounts who pulled supplies had to find another path. The stampede split apart into a myriad of branches, forging a path through alleys and byways.

Hundreds of Mutant Beasts gathered in these passages, blocking access to the walls, and starting an endless battle in the city itself.

Roads were wrecked beyond all use, wheels were destroyed, and the supplies so desperately needed were trapped.

Finally, the situation changed - some of the elite troops returned from the battle to hurry the supplies forward. A powerful vanguard cut through the Mutant Beasts by the hundred, while powerful earth abilities raised a new road through the city directly to the wall.

This new road was only wide enough for two larger elephants to run down side by side, and raised so high that any missteps could cause a long fall and serious injuries. The supply convoy sorted themselves into a thin line and dashed along the new road as quickly as possible.

Everyone had to maintain speed, so they were not crushed by the traffic behind. The beasts and people who could no longer keep up took the initiative to throw themselves off the road and take their chances in the melee below.

In spite of all the vanguard's efforts, Mutant Beasts started scaling the sides of the road, getting closer to the traffic above.

That was the scene Mateus found when he caught up with the crowd. With no time to rest, the Roobit joined the line and dashed up the steep incline to the new death road. Before Mateus' eyes it stood up sharply from the city like a knife edge, ready to slice all that step forward to pieces.

Holding the guide ropes in one hand, and tightly clutching his standard issue Combat Knife, Mateus stared at the road ahead with deep apprehension. A feeling in his soul was saying - this is a road to death.

Quietly Mateus cursed beneath his breath, so softly that not even the Roobit could hear over the roar of pandemonium around them.

Even if it killed him, Mateus had to get these supplies to the wall. Which meant he had to follow this road to its end.

Soon his feelings were proved right as Mutant Beasts appeared on the road. Screaming sounded everywhere like whistle of a train to hell. Bundles of intertwined flesh, wood and supplies were hurled off the road like tragic comets, while Mutant Beasts swarmed below like ants on a corpse.

Three of the nasty things launched themselves over the edge and directly at the arrogant Roobit! With a swift hop he dodged one, a firm paw slashed another in two, while the third was kicked firmly away to fall below.

The dodged beast turned its attention to Mateus and the rickshaw. It easily gained purchase and climbed up onto the tray, where it's dripping fluids started fouling the supplies. Mateus didn't wait - he let go of the ropes and lunges at the beast!

In a nightmare of pain and filth the two fought on the moving rickshaw. Splinters of wood flew, and blood was drawn on Mateus like a scribbled etching. After what felt like hours of struggle, Mateus found the right angle.

He stabbed the beast deep in its head and abdomen, again and again, filling his ears with painful screeches of death, then shoved it out of the tray! The solid thump as the beast fell to the rock made no difference in the madness of sound around him.

As he looked up, panting from exertion, Mateus found more Mutant Beasts on the road near and far - more than he could count. The fight that felt so long lasted less than three minutes, and the road ahead looked endless, filled with blood and peril.

Clutching his bloodied knife tightly, Mateus stared at the monsters ahead. He would do his best.