Foundation of Smoke and Steel

Chapter 173 Edited

 Daniel

Daniel barely had time to register the surge before it was on them.

A mass of orcs broke from the rear ranks — not a scattered few, but a full wedge of mounted Fangborn driving straight toward the gray wood table. The chant behind them thickened, Pulse building in rhythm as the singers forced the berserker state higher. The sound pressed against Daniel's ears like a physical weight.

Karguk moved first.

The Pulse around him consolidated and hardened along his forearm, not flaring outward in wild aggression but condensing into something dense and brutal. He stepped into the path of the lead rider and struck with a straight punch that landed like a falling tree. Bone cracked and the mounted warrior was ripped from his saddle and hurled sideways into the dirt.

The charge did not stop.

More riders pressed forward, driving their beasts harder, trying to crash straight through the center of the gathering and shatter the parley before it could hold. The charge was staggered rather than disciplined — no lances, no unified line — which cut its efficiency enough to work with. Daniel saw the angle a heartbeat before impact and stepped laterally, forcing the line to split around the gray wood table. If they crashed through the center it would become slaughter. Funneled, they could be broken.

One mounted orc lunged at him directly, spear thrusting for his throat. The weapon was thick and brutal, a dense layer of Pulse magic visible around the tip.

Daniel drew Qinglan's Silence in one smooth motion and unleashed his mana. The force surged up the blade in a controlled layer, refined through his modified cycling method until it formed a tight sheath of dense purified power infused with intent. He spread mana simultaneously through his limbs, reinforcing his joints, his hips, his elbows, his knees, and his feet, then started circulating it like a current through his meridians and core. The steel hummed under the strain.

The spearhead struck and slid.

He angled his wrist just enough to redirect the thrust past his shoulder, then stepped inside the arc. His return cut was clean and economical. The blade passed through armor and flesh alike, and the mounted orc split at the waist as if cleaved by a siege engine rather than a sword.

Dark blood sprayed across Daniel and the stone beneath him.

Behind the falling rider, two more Fangborn broke through the narrowing gap, their mounts crashing forward in blind momentum.

Nathan was already moving. He launched past Daniel with a feral shout, colliding with one of the riders hard enough to send both tumbling from the saddle. Nathan landed on his feet. The orc came up fast, pulling a large knife from his belt. Steel rang. Dust exploded as they circled — the orc managed two moves before Nathan decapitated him.

The Serans advanced as one.

Their shields locked into place with spears leveled, their disciplined line holding even under the press of charging cavalry. The first wave of orcs hit them and stalled, mounts screaming as they were forced sideways by a wall that refused to yield.

Above the clash, Gavin's voice cut through the chaos.

"Ethan. Do I light them up?"

Daniel did not look up. "Controlled. Use the kinetic earth spell we practiced. Break the mounts' legs if you can. And don't level the camp. We still need them."

A heartbeat later the ground convulsed beneath the advancing riders. The earth heaved, angled force slamming into the mounts' knees and throwing the second rank into disarray. Beasts crashed. Riders spilled forward into the Serans' waiting spears.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Karguk roared then.

The Pulse around him expanded, but it did not tear at the edges of thought like the berserker chant. It was focused and deliberate, carrying the particular predatory weight of a fighter who had chosen his prey and would not be distracted. Daniel understood, watching him move, what berserker power looked like when it had been mastered rather than surrendered to.

Karguk leapt into the mounted warriors. He did not strike randomly. Riders were torn from saddles. Spears snapped. Armor dented inward under concentrated Pulse strikes that cracked bone without hesitation. Blood spattered across the gray wood and the surrounding stone.

Then Shira moved. Throwing blades the size of her forearm left her hands in rapid succession. Two Pulse singers dropped before they knew what had happened. The berserker chant faltered without their voices to sustain it, the haze thinning from the attacking orcs' eyes. Confusion replaced frenzy. The attack lost cohesion, breaking into desperate clashes instead of unified assault.

Daniel cut down another Fangborn attempting to flank the Seran line, then stepped back into alignment as the pressure began to ease.

Within moments the mounted charge had collapsed into scattered resistance.

The surviving orcs staggered back, breath heaving, Pulse uneven and unstable now that the chant had dissolved. Blood soaked the earth around the gray wood table. The parley had nearly become a massacre, and for several dangerous seconds it still might. Urzag and a knot of what appeared to be his loyal retainers were still fighting even as the wider engagement slowed, refusing to acknowledge the shift.

Karguk remained where he stood, posture unchanged, presence anchoring the clearing.

"You would spill Tide blood over wounded pride?" he asked, his voice even and heavy.

Urzag did not lower his spear. Blood traced the corner of his mouth where Karguk had struck him. The berserker haze had thinned but not vanished — it had compressed into something colder.

Daniel watched him carefully.

The Serans held formation without advancing. The Li retainers remained disciplined. Vivian and Anmei stood coiled but restrained. The entire clearing seemed to breathe through a single strained lung.

Karguk stepped forward. "You challenge me before the Tide. You challenge me before outsiders."

Urzag answered without hesitation. "They burned our kin while you watched. Above all."

"The Reds were not Tide. And you attacked while I was at the greywood table."

"They were orc. A touch of corruption does not negate blood. Now — do you yield the right of command?"

The distinction mattered to Karguk. It did not matter to Urzag.

Daniel saw the decision form before the movement began. The spear shifted toward Karguk's centerline — a small adjustment, but the intent behind it sharpened into something unmistakable.

Karguk saw it. He did not move. He took a defensive stance and narrowed his eyes with the particular stillness of someone who had accepted what was coming.

"You have made your choice."

Urzag rushed, spear thrusting for Karguk's throat. Karguk caught the strike and in the same movement countered, Pulse condensing around his forearm into a brutal concentrated force that smashed into Urzag's chest and drove him into the ground. Urzag cried out and crashed hard as the orcs around him scattered to avoid the fall.

For a heartbeat it seemed finished.

It was not.

Behind Urzag, a Pulse singer stepped forward. He began chanting, raising a carved bone rod etched with spiraling glyphs that glowed with gathered power. The rod drew energy inward along a single invisible line, and the air tightened with it.

Daniel felt it before he saw it.

A filament of compressed Pulse lanced across the clearing, aimed directly at Karguk's heart.

Daniel moved without thinking. He twisted, bringing his blade into its path. Mana flared in a refined sheath across the steel. The Pulse needle struck and shattered into shards of force that tore sparks from the edge and scorched his hand. The recoil drove him back a step.

The clearing erupted.

Fangborn surged in confusion. Some rallied to Urzag. Others moved to shield Karguk. The Serans advanced, shields interposed, their Resonance taking hold as Li cultivators gathered mana. Daniel's voice cut sharply through the chaos.

"Hold."

The command came a breath too late. Three senior Pulse singers loyal to Urzag had repositioned directly behind him during the fighting. Their palms struck the earth in unison.

Pulse flooded the area in a massive concentrated surge, erupting outward in hard geometry. Lines of condensed force rose from the ground around the gray wood table, climbing in straight planes that locked overhead. The lattice sealed with a low resonant tone that vibrated through bone.

The construct formed — walls of compressed Pulse enclosing Daniel, Karguk, Shira, Vivian, Nathan, Sophie, Anmei, Gavin, and Lucas inside a rigid box of hardened energy. Beyond it, the Iron Tide blurred behind translucent planes.

Outside the construct, Urzag staggered upright, clearly injured but looking triumphant.

"Held, Karguk," he said, ignoring the Li cultivators and the Serans entirely.

Outside the lattice, Fangborn roared in confusion. Some pressed forward and recoiled as their own Pulse rebounded from the barrier. The Serans held position. Li retainers remained coiled, awaiting command.

Daniel understood.

Urzag wiped blood from his mouth and laughed harshly.