The Butcher of Gadobhra-Chapter 535: Too many Fuzzybarkbarks

"Eat, Fatfingers! EAT! No heat left in you! Need heat to burn fuzzybarkbarks!!" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Ozzy knew that saying no to Myrna didn't work. Not for him, at least. And he really was hungry, but something about the meal she was holding was setting off alarms. Still, he did need to eat, and he accepted the tortilla wrapped around...something...from her. His fingertips grew hot as the Heat from it began leeching into his skin.

The two of them were in the courtyard of Sedgewick, Ozzy leaning back against the burnt stump of a tree. It had broken when he'd slammed a snarlfang into it as he swung the critter around by its hind legs. Both the tree and the snarlfang were casualties of the collision, and later the tree had been burned to a cracked trunk when Iggy needed fuel. Ozzy had then used the trunk as a baseball bat to hit a snarlfang leaping from the wall. The blow wasn't good enough to knock it back over, but the stunned creature had become Iggy's newest playmate as the enthusiastic salamander wrapped its supple body around the monstrous canine and gave it an up close and very personal dose of salamander affection that left it smoking and charred in only a few seconds.

The salamander loved to cuddle, but only Myrna, Caldrius, and Ozzy could hope to survive his hugs. Chainy didn't do hugs, but had been happy to let the fire lizard curl up inside the smokehouse for a nap. Exhausted from putting out so much heat, Iggy had curled up next to Ozzy and had his head in the Butcher's lap. After she handed Ozzy a five-pound burrito from her cart, she began feeding Iggy tidbits of food that smoked and burned. Ozzy took one bite of the burrito and knew that his mentor in the arts of grilling had upped her game. Even for him, this was eye-watering hot. He got the first bite down and could feel it giving his stomach a hard workout.

"Damn, Myrna, what the hell did you put in this thing?"

A loud laugh announced Caldrius as he walked up and accepted a smaller version of Ozzy's meal from her. He seemed to have no trouble taking a large bite, chewing with gusto. "Rule number one of eating Kobold Cooking: Don't ask what's inside. Enjoy the food and relish the mixture of textures and flavors as they destroy your taste buds."

Ozzy shrugged and took another bite, hoping he would at least get another level of Fire Eating from the experience. "How are things looking from your lofty perch? I'm guessing we're doing ok if you can take a snack break."

"I'd say the battle isn't over, but with most of the large ones killed, we should be able to deal with the wolves massing for suicidal attacks. I wanted to make sure my familiar wasn't burning down too much of the town. Salamanders don't particularly like to fight, but they love to burn things. Especially new things. But you look to have things under control. I hope he wasn't too much trouble. I needed to get here fast, and there was no time to arrange for a babysitter."

"Oh, he was trouble for the Snarlfangs, but not for me. We worked as teams. Helga and Fastian would lock down one, and Iggy would cook it, then come help me with the one I was tussling with. He put out a lot of fire, both of us did. If the town wasn't made from stone and smoke-infused wood, there wouldn't be any buildings left except the bank and the smokehouse. I think we pushed Fastian to his limits and maybe a little beyond. He's taking a little nap in the tavern."

"Good, good. I'm happy to see Iggy has found a couple of new playmates, and Fastian has limits he hasn't explored yet. As to the situation beyond the town, it's complicated. There is a large block of wolves, very intent on charging the front walls, but others have broken off into individual packs. The wolf packs are staying away from the town and fighting with each other, devouring the wounded. But the witches are worried about something, and they sent me to find you and Rolly."

"So much for my hopes for a nap. Myrna, can you coax Iggy back to the smokehouse? I'll get the little fishies out of the fountain."

"Myrna can do that, Fatfingers, if you promise to finish eating her cooking. Don't let the bottomless gullet steal from you." She took her bucket of treats and used it to lure the salamander away and towards the smokehouse. Chainy was still at work, cleaning up wolf carcasses from in front of the town and piling them next to the butcher shop. Ozzy finished his burrito in three more painful bites, then walked to the fountain. Rolly and Squirmie were in the water, cooling off and regenerating some of the burns and wounds they'd taken in the fight. The two of them had dropped out of the sky, ambushing a snarlfang and saving Rastfian from a painful mauling. They had some resistance to the fire put out by Ozzy and Iggy, and had waded into the battle, laughing off most of their wounds as they always did.

The two of them came out of the fountain looking haggard, but much better. Ozzy pointed to the gate tower. "Time to get back to work. Ben just landed up there, and they need us for a war council."

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Rolly folded Squirmie's wings around her and tucked her into the carrier slung across his chest. "Poor bug is tired out. She's used to commanding thousands of larvae and nestlings, but wolves are a lot tougher, and the Snarlfangs are nothing but bad attitude. Really wore her out. She normally couldn't do something like that, but luckily, there were a lot of Beast Masters willing to help out with the project. Sadly, none of them survived."

"Yeah, I'm really broken up about that. I take it they got a nice burial in her stomach?"

"Just the brains, we left the rest to feed the wolves. Waste not, want not."

"I feel the same way. Wolf isn't the best for sausage, but I've got some ideas."

Rolly's stomach growled at the mention of food. "See, every invasion of monsters has a silver lining."

Ozzy nodded, "Circle of life. And if they don't like it, maybe they'll learn to stay the hell away from Sedgewick."

"Or we kill them all. If they can't learn, we can turn them into an educational lesson for others."

Ozzy shrank down to his normal size, and they climbed to the walls and then to the top of the gate tower. There were far fewer people up here now. The white circle was enjoying wine and cheese while they hummed their chants softly. Vladmir's wives were in one corner, wrapped in a large quilt and sleeping while Granny watched over them, ensuring good dreams. Ben was talking with Suzette and watching the movements of the packs as they fought. Ben wasted no time before dragging them into the conversation.

"We've got trouble. Chartok is back. I ran into him at the Hamlets. He saved Billy's ass by killing all the wolves there and adding them to his pack. The Baron's group is tied down there, guarding the hamlets. Chartok left a lieutenant named Good Boy with enough wolves to keep them behind the barricades."

Ozzy looked out past the massed wolves in front, to the packs fighting in the distance. The winning side was always the black wolves, whose numbers were swelling. "Shit. How tough is he now? We killed him on our first outing."

"Ah, yes, we did. And I ran into him again when I first met Diego. He remembers us. He's a lot tougher now."

The Butcher tried to spot him, but there were too many wolves, and surprisingly, some jet black Snarlfangs. "How tough?"

"Oh, I'd guess Tier Five at least, and he's upgraded to a snarlfang. I had a hard time getting any info on him."

Suzette confirmed that. "I can feel him. He's testing my barriers around the town. Higher than us, at least Tier Five, maybe Tier Six. Nowhere near the Silverthorn Duchess, and not quite as powerful as the Sphinx, but she keeps her power damped. It's hard to say."

Ozzy drummed his fingers on the stone wall, thinking. "So let's call it Level twenty-five, he's Elite, won't go down easy in that body, has an army of thousands of zombie wolves, a dozen undead Snarlfangs, and whatever shit a Necromancer can do. Any ideas on how to kill him? Our sorcerers need a recharge, and fast."

They heard the slow steps of Inquisitor Diego as he ascended the stairs. "I have a piece of information that may be critical. Some enthusiastic young adventurers barely made it to town alive. They have an interesting quest given to them by Chartok to slay wolves. Checking with other groups, I found the same thing from two other parties. He traded their lives in exchange for accepting the quest. It was one of the ways he culled the packs and increased his own army so fast."

Ben's eyes got big. "That's insidious. I am so jealous. He's gotten smarter."

Diego nodded, "That he has. It's part of what makes him dangerous. He's reborn each time, weak, simple-minded, and vain. If allowed to grow more powerful, he becomes a powerful sorcerer and his intelligence grows. Also, his ego and his vanity. That has been his downfall more than once. He's driven to test heroes, and will keep going until he reaches too high. But for now, we need to limit his army. I'll point out that you have a large pile of dead wolves within the town."

Ozzy looked to where Chainey was still clearing the wolves from in front of the walls, not letting them build into piles that would let the rest climb to the top. "Oh, shit."

Suzette looked worried, "I can keep his spells out, but not if he leaps over the walls."

Diego smiled, "There is a simple way to neutralize those bodies. The quest he gave specifically said they would not get credit for bodies without four legs or damaged by holy fire."

Ozzy yelled down to his smokehouse. "Chainy, be a good lad and rip off one leg as you toss them over the wall. Start a new pile." The chains waved and got to work, happy to maim corpses. The Butcher took out his flensing hatches, "Rolly and I'll get to work on that pile."

Ben headed down with them, "And if I have some help spreading out the bodies, I'll start burning them. Can't be too careful."

Diego looked at the sun. "We have two hours until the sun sets. Estimating how fast he is culling the living wolves, I think we'll have a visit about sundown. We should prepare as best we can."