Watcher's Question: A LitRPG Saga (Life in Exile Book 2)

by Sean Oswald

  “Say that again”, Emily whispered to Mira, who complied and further added, “E-wai eed-nai o-tai tall-sai or-fai ime-tai.”

  “What are you little pretty’s going on about over there?” Duke Holstein asked with a sense of annoyance. “Just be quiet like good little pets. I haven’t forgotten about you. You needn’t worry. I will get to you in due time.”

  Oblivious to what Mira’s words meant, Edwin turned back towards Talvenicus all the while grinding Leyna’s blond locks under his boot. “My Lord, I swear, I saw the symbol upon her hand.”

  “Fool, symbols can be faked,” the duke spat out with a snarl.

  “Your grace, we have always been taught that the symbols of the chosen cannot be faked even by magic.” Talvenicus spoke with conviction even as his voice waivered. “And beyond that, I saw this woman’s compassion for my people. I saw how she has sacrificed for us and I saw her healing magic with my own eyes.”

  Just as the argument between the two men looked likely to result in Talvenicus joining Leyna beneath the duke’s boot, a soldier dressed in Duke Holstein’s colors came running up, “My Lord, my Lord…” He called out while breathing heavily after running in his armor.

  The duke seemed to be ignoring the soldier till one of the knights moved his horse over to intercept the man and had a quick conversation with him. The knight then reported, “Your Grace, the scout reports that a column of soldiers is headed this way from the south.”

  That seemed to get the Duke’s attention as he spun to look at the knight first and then the scared scout. “An army on my land? Who would dare?”

  The scout answered, “They were flying the flag of the Church of Shanelle, my Lord.”

  Chapter Four

  “The mountains are most epitomized by their main resident the dwarves. Rugged and bold, ugly even, yet strangely majestic. They take your breath away but don’t give a thimble’s worth of spit about what you think.” — Memoir of Jayfen Tarzen, former Chapter Head of the Theriot Adventurer’s Guild

  Dave had been walking along the trail leading into the mountains along its ever increasing slope. Karl and Leyna had let him take the lead as even the impossibly happy blond could tell that Dave was not in a mood for conversation now. The vegetation along the trail continued to thin and was less a narrow strip of grassland between the forest and the mountains and more foothills. By midday, there was nothing other than an occasional bush and scrub grass. The sun was bright and the air crisp. The quiet was a refreshing change after the noise of the forest, but all that quiet did was make it easier for Dave to be lost in his thoughts.

  His footsteps might be carrying him into the mountains, but his mind was back on the day Duke Holstein had arrived and made an already bad situation so much worse. He and Max had been out searching to the west, much as they had every day since the battle of Eris’ Rise. Dave had only known Max for four days now, but he was beginning to think of him as a brother. They shared that they were both Marines back on Earth. Max was in the Vietnam era, and Dave was a desert storm Marine. They were both exiles from Earth in a strange world, and the fact that they were both Marines bonded them, but it wasn’t the thing that made them feel most connected. Dave hadn’t learned all the details. While Max had a big heart beating beneath his ebony skin, he still was not overly talkative. What he had figured out though was that Max had lost a child. He thought it was a daughter and that she must have been a young teen. It explained why he had first been awkward around Mira but then had over the past few days formed a mentoring relationship of sorts with the girl. Dave didn’t need to know all the specifics. It was enough that he knew Max understood his pain. That shared experience was enough to forge a close bond in a short amount of time.

  Both men had been moving along at the enhanced rate allowed by Max’s Forced March class skill when suddenly Max stopped. He seemed to be listening to an inner voice that only he could hear. Then he spoke to the air. “We will be there as fast as we can. Give us an hour and a half depending on how fast the magic horses can go.”

  Dave looked at him but didn’t say a word. He knew that Max would let him know what he needed to know. But this confirmed that Max had some way of speaking to the other members of his squad, or at least their mage, Olga.

  “There is potential trouble back in Eris’ Rise. We need to get back as quickly as we can.”

  “Potential trouble?” Dave asked, drawing out the word potential, seeking an explanation.

  “Yes a messenger has just arrived and announced that Duke Holstein is going to reach the village within an hour.”

  Grinning to cover his frustration, “Max, I get that you are just giving me the bullet points, and I know that we need to get moving, but my family is back there. Can you give me a bit more information?”

  Max shook his head more to himself than anything else but then offered up a bright smile back at Dave, “Yes, I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget how new to Eloria you are. Albia is ruled by a king, but there are lesser nobles. Most importantly, there are three duchies that cover all the land not directly controlled by the King.”

  “Right I think you said something about how you serve the king directly, right? And his name is Harold Borstein?”

  “Yes exactly. Well Duke Holstein is the man who rules over the land that Eris’ Rise is set in. Sort of. The town is on the very edge of the kingdom at a place where the settlers had not gone until the need for lumber forced it. King Harold ordered the creation of three villages along the Seinna River to harvest wood from the Murkwood.”

  “Okay, and from what Talvenicus told me, Eris’ Rise was the first of those villages set, and for some reason Duke Holstein didn’t want to bother with setting up the village, so he offered freedom to serfs who would go and settle there so long as they produced lumber.”

  Max grimaced, “I don’t believe that the king expected that outcome, but honestly, he probably wouldn’t care so long as the lumber was being produced. Which it was for a short time, but then it dried up. My squad was sent to investigate. I was not told all of the reasons, but I’ve been around nobles in Albia long enough to know that the king must have suspected that Duke Holstein was undermining his order. It should be enough for me to say that you can’t trust the Duke. King Harold isn’t perfect, but in the three years I have served him, he has always kept his word. He always speaks plainly even if I don’t always know all the reasons for the things that he says. On the other hand, Holstein is known as a bit of a conniver. Probably because his duchy is the furthest from the western border and the constant conflict there.”

  “From what I have learned, that is where the goblins typically attack, and no one in your squad or Talvenicus seems to know why goblins would have attacked this far to the east.” Dave asked as he tried to confirm what he had learned.

  “Exactly. Obviously it has something to do with that death knight we fought. What concerns me though is that the pieces don’t seem to all fit together. Why would such a powerful creature with a small army of undead need the goblins, and why would any of them attack such an out of the way place?” Max paused as if remembering something. “Back in the boonies, there was this private that got assigned to my squads. Normally, I tried not to get too attached to the newbies as too many of them died before I could. But there was something about this kid. He was a college boy through and through, yet for some reason, he volunteered. And not for a desk job where he could have used his big brain. No, he signed up with Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. Well, anytime things got hot, or the VC would spring something on us, he would always say this thing. I didn’t understand it at first, but now I think I get it. So in honor of Pvt Talbert, with everything strange happening now, I think it's appropriate to say ‘the game is afoot.”

  With that, Max triggered his Forced March ability and surged back towards the village on his conjured mount. Dave had to press himself down against his own mount and follow as quickly as he could.

  Back in the present, Dave was brought out of his memories
by a tug on his arm from Karl. He whipped his head towards the man actually having expected it to be Leyna playing one of her stupid games. When he saw that it was the no-nonsense ranger, he held the sharp words he had been about to say and only crooked an eyebrow in question.

  “You need to see what I have found,” the ranger spoke in his usual calm demeanor, but it was clear after only a few days with the man that he felt whatever he had found was significant. Dave braced himself for the worst, fearing that it was going to be Sara’s remains.

  The ranger led him off the path to a small cave, really more of an overhang jutting out with an indentation in the side of one of the sloping foothills. It wasn’t more than fifty feet from the trail, and Dave wasn’t sure that he would have even noticed it if he hadn’t been shown it. There were the remains of a crude campsite. A small fire, some fish bones and some tubers or similar root vegetable which had been chewed on but not eaten.

  Dave let out his breath with a sigh of relief upon not finding any human remains. He hadn’t even realized that he had been holding his breath. Then a moment later, he found what the ranger seemed to think was so significant. Drawn in mud on the side of the small cave wall was a set of stick figures. Six of them to be precise. One larger figure on the left. Then next to that figure were three similar sized figures, two of them with long hair added to their heads as if to signify females and the other with no hair drawn on. Then further to the right with a space separated from the four clustered figures were two other figures. Both of the other figures were smaller and of similar size, but one was drawn with long hair, and the second of the two was drawn almost as if it was slightly hunched over in the manner that goblins carry themselves. Finally, above the four figures was a heart clearly drawn by a little finger. It all had the look of a child’s art, the sort of thing Dave had seen many times over the years from his kids.

  Upon seeing that simple drawing done in mud, Dave felt a rush of memories of a smiling Sara, running to him, leaping into his arms. Images of the many times that she made him sit there as she colored a picture for him. When she had been a bit younger, it had sorta been their thing. Dave sitting there fooling around on his phone while Sara made her special artwork for him. The wind blowing down from the mountains was cool against his skin, but inside his heart was burning. Hope lit a fire in him as he sighed out softly, “My baby is alive.”

  Most peculiar of all the emotions and images that Dave saw was an image of Sara skipping hand in hand with a goblin, not as a prisoner, but as a playmate. He felt overwhelmed. First, it had simply been the fact that this picture was the first tangible evidence that Sara was alive, but now, it was more than that. It was as if the painting was speaking to him as Sara’s father. Like it was a message left directly for him. The message was conveyed in feelings. He just knew that Sara was safe, but grieving and missing her family. Dave let the wash of emotion from the drawing flow over him. He just knew that Sara was sad because she felt her family was dead. She believed she was alone in the world and somehow she had befriended one of these goblins. Well, if anyone could do something so unlikely, it would be Sara. She was her mother’s daughter through and through, but her compassion was directed at every little critter she found. Time after time, Sara had wanted his help with saving a baby bird fallen from its nest, or a baby rabbit she found in the backyard. That was just who his daughter was, even at her young age.

  The emotion of the moment swept through him as a raging fire, and he succumbed to it, falling to his knees. Leyna started to move towards him to ask if he was okay, but Karl intervened. “Give him a moment.”

  She looked at him not seeming to understand. Perhaps because of her class, perhaps because of her job, or perhaps because of something broken in her before either of those came to pass, the blond spy didn’t seem to understand the emotion Dave was feeling at that moment. Oddly, Karl, the solitary ranger did and sheltered Dave to let the feelings run their course.

  After another few minutes, Dave stood up. The moment was gone, and he was all business, back to the task of finding Sara, but now with a renewed vigor which only hope can provide.

  “That drawing is definitely Sara’s work.” His voice faded off for a moment, “But I’m not really sure what exactly to make of it. Clearly, the first four are meant to be her mother, siblings, and me. She must be so scared, but she drew the goblin with her. For a moment there, I almost felt a connection to her through the drawing as if by magic.”

  Leyna spoke up now, “Well, I am hardly an expert on children, but that heart shape over the rest of her family must mean something. What is confusing to me is that she didn’t seem to draw the goblin in a scary or imposing manner. She drew the goblin more like a companion than a captor.”

  “You are right, it's almost as if she has Stockholm syndrome.” Dave spoke quickly without thinking.

  “Stock what?” a perplexed Leyna asked.

  Realizing his mistake and not wanting to go into explaining it too much, “Never mind, it's a thing from back home.”

  “Hmmm,” the blond spy gave a low purr of curiosity but didn’t say anything.

  “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it, but what I am worried about is the fact that she may be forming some type of relationship with the goblin.”

  Now, it was Karl’s turn to be shocked. He scoffed, “I don’t think you need to worry about that Baron Nelson. Goblins don’t have friends even with other goblins. They are a soulless bunch of cretins living only for the moment. It's a wonder that the entire race hasn’t died out from stupidity by now.”

  Thoughtfully, Dave asked, “Well that brings up the question of what exactly goblins are?”

  “What do you mean, ‘what goblins are’?” Leyna asked even as she answered her own question, “They are a scourge on civilized beings. Nothing more than animals without an eternal spirit, or at least, that is what all the religions I know of teach. They eat and crap and rut and fight and that is about all there is to their race.”

  “Yes, but are they a naturally occurring race, or are they like the tree sappers, a wizard’s experiment gone wrong?” Dave had his attorney’s voice on and was in cross examination mode.

  “Maybe they are a wizard’s experiment, I can’t say for sure. The little bit of ancient history I know says that they never existed in the old world. Some rumors say that they are what happens when an orc mates with an elf.” Karl raised his hands in a universal gesture for being uncertain as he finished speaking.

  Leyna laughed, “As if an elf would ever deign to sully themselves with a member of a lesser race.” The sarcasm dripped from her words before it suddenly occurred to her who she was talking to.

  An awkward silence fell, until Dave said, “Well, from what I can tell this drawing looks pretty fresh. The edges of the mud figures are still pretty crisp, and it doesn’t look like the light rain we had 3 days ago affected it at all.”

  Kicking at the remains of the fire, Karl added, “I would say that this fire is two days old, not more than three for certain.”

  “So that means that we aren’t that far behind them. Neither Sara nor the goblin are all that big, so if we push today maybe we can catch them tomorrow.” Dave’s smile was full of hope.

  Coughing to clear her voice, Leyna added, “That still doesn’t explain how they have made it this far. Remember, we got teleported to the edge of the kingdom. This is nearly three hundred miles from Eris’ Rise. How did a goblin and a child make it that far in less than eight days? Worse, if that was two days ago, how did they make it here so quickly?”

  “Closer to two hundred and fifty miles.”

  “What did you say?” Leyna asked annoyed.

  “I said, this is closer to two hundred and fifty miles from Eris’ Rise.” Karl’s tone was nonchalant as if he didn’t recognize that the lieutenant, his commanding officer technically, was irritated by being corrected. He continued, “Well a goblin scout could probably make fifty miles a day, but I don’t see how that would be possible while ca
rrying a little girl.”

  “Shhhh, I hear something.” Dave cut in as the two squad members were staring at one another.

  It was a testament to their training that they both immediately dropped their bickering and had hands to weapons, totally alert for any sign of danger. There was nothing to be seen, and for a moment, Dave thought that he had been hearing things, but then just as he had been ready to give up, he heard that same low rumbling sound. It was coming from further up in the hills but wasn’t very far away. They started to use hand signals to communicate so as not to make any noise, and not for the first time, Dave was grateful that the signals Max used with his squad were so similar to what he had learned in the corps.

  Dave signaled for both Leyna and Karl to take up flanking positions somewhat behind him. Karl backed away more than Leyna did, but that made sense given that his chosen weapon was a bow versus the daggers that the spy preferred. The three of them hadn’t as of yet been in combat together but the gamer in him had a good sense of the best way to use two DPS types. Once again, Dave was stuck in the tank role, and this time without the benefit of a healer. He was even more grateful for the opportunity he had had to buy healing potions in the capital.

  Everyone had weapons at the ready as the source of the sound came into sight. It was about three feet high off the ground and more like four feet wide. Its body was something of a flat football in shape held up on stubby legs. All across its back there were six inch ball like nodules which were constantly moving about. Its head had the same flat sort of shape except with ear like protrusions. There was no discernible neck, yet the head still seemed to move side to side as if the beast was looking for something. As to what it was using to look with, that was a bit confusing. There were no visible eyes, but rather narrow grooves which appeared to be carved into the head. Every inch of the beast had the look of gray stone. The little legs had no joints, but they clearly worked to provide locomotion by growing and shrinking in to move it along. Each also ended in fierce claws which dug into the earth. Behind the creature was a long tail with the same same smooth earthy texture. For the life of him, Dave couldn’t help but think that the creature looked like some nightmarishely huge armadillo.