by Eric Vall
It was a quick stop. I just wanted to see if the innkeeper could tell us where Maelor was, but as we entered, the aroma of meat cooking in the kitchen wafted into my nostrils and made my stomach rumble. But I wanted to find Maelor first. We could eat after, despite how much I wanted to right now.
There was only one guest in the common room, who sat at a long table with a bowl of soup and a book in his hand, so I paid him no mind. One of the workers swept nearby. He was a few years older than me, with short sandy hair and a round face. He whistled a familiar tune though I couldn’t place the title. It was a popular song amongst traveling bards, but the title escaped me. That didn’t matter right now though.
I walked up to him. “Excuse me?” I said to him. His deep brown eyes snapped to mine, and he offered a shy smile.
He cleared his throat. “Ah hello there, traveler. What can we do for you here?” He leaned his broom against one of the columns that held up the room. “Need a room, or some food, or both?” He was very eager.
I shook my head. “No, thank you… Err, perhaps later, but for now, I’m looking for someone.”
The man nodded. “A local?”
“Not exactly, though I know he’s been here recently,” I explained. “Do you know where I can find Maelor Corroso? Old crotchety man, large, and has a long gray beard. He’s a summoner.”
The innkeeper, which I assumed he was, nodded as his eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh yes! He stays here. A decent fellow, rather ornery, but very helpful. He doesn’t know when to stop working.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like him. Is he still in town?”
“Indeed he is. He’s been helping to dig a coal mine about a mile into the forest. Still in the very early stages, so he should be here a while longer.”
I smiled and tipped him for the information. “I appreciate it.”
As we made to go, the innkeeper called after me. “Take the main road out of town, then half a mile in, take the freshly cut path south into the forest. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you,” Layla said with that cheery lilt of hers. Then we exited the inn and mounted our horses.
We traveled down the road out of town quickly. I set us on a fast pace since I was so excited. My friends didn’t protest, they smiled eagerly as well.
The fork in the road to the dig site came up soon enough, as obvious as the innkeeper had said. A thin dirt path clear of bushes and smaller trees, freshly made judging by the debris of cleared bushes and trees along the side of it. The path was narrow, so we rode in slowly, single-file.
“How do you think Maelor will react when he sees you?” Braden asked from the rear of the line.
I stroked my chin as we idled up the trail. “Good question. He’ll scold me for something or another, say some crazy shit, but ultimately give me a hug and a big smile.”
Layla snickered. “I can’t wait.”
As we went along, silence fell over us as we let the sounds of nature wash over us. Birds chirped, the wind rustled the leaves in the trees, and cicadas droned their loud songs in the midday heat. That was all interrupted by nearby yelling. The path ahead ended at an opening between two hills.
I reined in my horse. “You hear that?” I asked. My friends nodded, their faces fraught with sudden concern. I dismounted Cas and padded toward the opening.
“Where are you going?” Layla hissed.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” I told her. She cursed, hesitated, and finally dismounted her horse to follow me. Braden did as well. Good. I continued forward, the yelling growing louder. I couldn’t make out the words, but it sounded very aggressive. I hoped it was simply Maelor arguing with some workers.
But those hopes evaporated when a gunshot ripped through the serene forest air.
“Fuck,” I said as I dropped to an instinctive crouch. Going straight in probably wasn’t a good idea. So I veered into the woods and crept amongst the brush. My friends didn’t argue. I began to climb the rise ahead of us. We were shrouded by the deep shade of the forest, caressed by this particularly dense cluster of trees. That only helped our stealthy approach.
Nearing the top, I grew more nervous. I gripped one of my essence crystals subconsciously. The yelling got closer and closer, and as we crested the hill, I heard Layla gulp next to me. The shouting was definitely angry, and there were a few curses. Maelor’s voice was clear as day, arguing with whoever was down there.
“I won’t do it, you’ll have to kill me,” he said with defiance. Shit, this was serious. Hell no, I didn’t come all this way to see him, only for him to get his fat old butt killed right in front of me. I gritted my teeth and jogged to the top of the hill, stealth be damned.
I crouched in a bush at the top between two adolescent pines. The rise I sat on was only a sliver that ended almost immediately and sloped down into a wide bowl of a clearing before me, a gully really. Trees were cleared all around, with large piles of lumber to our left with stumps that littered the area. At the very center was a massive rocky outcropping surrounded by a dug-up pit as wide as the inn we’d been in earlier. The top of the rock was worn, gray, and covered in moss. Halfway down, the rock became brown and muddy from where Maelor had started digging, and there were piles of dirt everywhere.
Standing amidst all of this was my only family, Maelor, and a gaggle of armed men.
“I’d rather not kill a defenseless old man,” a thug immediately in front of Maelor said. “Especially one that could be very useful to us.” I couldn’t make out his finer features from a distance, especially with the brown scarf over his mouth, the same as the rest of the men. He was tall, with a narrow head and short cropped black hair, his skin pale in comparison.
Judging from the ragged leather armor and the patchwork clothes of all these men, I knew they were bandits. There were thirteen of them, nine of them armed with rifles and pistols and the other four had swords. They had Maelor surrounded. My mentor stood defiantly in the middle of them, blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead as the blood stained his gray beard red.
Maelor scoffed. “I’m not as defenseless as I look.”
The leader, I assumed, spoke again, accompanied by a snicker. “I’m sure, that’s why I said you’re useful, but frankly, if you try to grab your crystals, I’ll put a bullet in your leg.” He kicked a familiar looking satchel next to his feet.
I grimaced. Like hell I would let that happen.
Maelor simply responded to that threat with a laugh. “How am I supposed to help you without my monsters?”
One of the other bandits, a short, dark-skinned one, chimed in, “He’s got a point, sir.”
“Silence,” he snapped. He turned his attention back to Maelor. “You will help us, or we shall raid that precious little village you’ve been staying in.”
“Please, you shit,” Maelor scoffed, “you lot are plannin’ on attacking them regardless of what I do.”
The leader laughed harshly. “You’re right.” He jammed the barrel of his rifle into Maelor’s gut hard. My mentor crumbled to his knees and clutched at his stomach with a groan. “Fine, have it your way,” the leader sneered.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“This is bad,” Braden said next to me.
“Yeah,” Layla added, her voice trembling. I didn’t register what either of them said. All I could see was the bandit leader as he cocked the hammer back of his rifle and put it against Maelor’s temple. This was it, this was what I came all this way to see. I would watch the only family I had left die in front of me.
“Cover me!” I moved before they could respond. Braden and Layla each tried to grab me and stop me, but I was too quick. I grabbed as many crystals as I could hold in my grip and tossed them as I charged down the hill.
The crystals landed at the feet of the various bandits and flashed.
Then chaos ensued.
My monsters suddenly appeared and attacked though I ordered them not to kill the bandits. That wasn’t who I was. So my axe goblins and
box trolls and wallerdons used their bodies and not their claws and blades. Admittedly, I knew they were capable of killing without their weaponized appendages, but it was less likely.
My box trolls tackled a couple of bandits while one of my axe goblins head-butted another. Another goblin suddenly exploded in a flash of smoke after three bandits shot at it simultaneously. Bullets could kill monsters, but it was exceedingly hard, and bullets were worthless against the bigger, powerful, more magical grade E monsters.
The leader’s head snapped to the commotion as he whirled around and raised his rifle. I summoned a speed slug, placed it on my shoulder, and shot toward the bandit leader. His eyes met mine for a split-second before I kicked him in the stomach with the force of a bullet and sent him flying into the rock. He smashed against it with a yelp and crumbled to the loose dirt.
Rifles cracked, and puffs of smoke billowed as the bandits continued to fire on my monsters, but their scattered single shots weren’t having that much of an effect on them. They were smart though. It was unwise of them to try to kill my monsters, so they raised their weapons on me. I only had a split second before they fired, but it was enough for me to summon a wallerdon in front of me as their guns fired in rapid succession. Their bullets bounced harmlessly off the wallerdon’s broad bulk. I summoned another one to stand guard around me and added a few more goblins to the fray for good measure.
Behind me, a bandit ran for Maelor, but I barreled into him at slug-powered speed, grabbed him by the arm, and tossed him onto the ground. He passed out from the impact.
“G-Gryff?” the shaky voice of Maelor asked behind me. I turned to him and flashed him a grin.
“Hey, old man.” I give him a courageous grin.
He frowned. “What the hell are you doin’ here?”
I hooked a hand under his arm and hauled him to his feet. “We can talk later. Let’s get you out of here first. How did they even get close to you?”
He shook his head. “They caught me by surprise, had their guns on me ‘fore I could do a damn thing. Took my satchel of crystals.”
I nodded to him as my eyes drifted to the tree-covered slope I left my friends on, but Braden was already in the dig site, his own crystals in hand. He threw a couple, and out came a pair of ice imps, who proceeded to cast ice magic at the bandits. Layla was still hidden, and when I glanced in her direction, I saw the glint of her essence crystals. No doubt she was waiting to see if we got ambushed.
That’s when another rifle sounded, but this one was a boom that broke the air and made my bones vibrate. That could only mean one thing, that they must have had a marksman or two with long rifles.
Layla ducked back into cover as one of my monsters disappeared in a puff of smoke from the shot. Another boom, another bullet, and my wallerdon was destroyed. I cursed. Those bullets were a higher caliber and more effective against grunt level monsters. Still, they should have been useless against my wallerdons, so they must have been a damned good shot and hit it right in the eye, the weakest part of it. That was just my luck.
I grabbed for more crystals from my bandolier as the last of my monsters fell under a hail of rifle fire, but before I could summon them, another shot rang out. The earth exploded in front of my feet, kicking up a blast of dirt. The message was clear, move and I die. I followed the line of fire up to a pair of bandits on the slopes ahead of us, each garbed in deep brown cloaks and hoods to keep themselves hidden. They both had long rifles, the thin metal barrels as long as my leg and scopes that glinted in the sunlight.
“Make one wrong move, and I’ll put a hole the size of an apple in your face,” one of the bandits called out.
I sneered at the bandit, but I still had the speed slug. They wouldn’t be able to hit me, no matter how skilled they were.
The other one raised his rifle, but he pointed it at Maelor. “Just in case you think that magical speed of yours will protect you, it won’t protect the old man.”
Fuck. He was right. I was fast enough to evade their attack, but Maelor certainly wasn’t, and I wouldn’t be either if I tried to protect him. These damn bandits. Still, I had one ace up my sleeve. Layla. I just had to wait for her to do her thing.
The bandit leader staggered to his feet. He groaned and checked the back of his head, wincing as he did so. His hand came back smeared with blood.
“Son of a bitch,” he growled. He charged over to me and kicked the back of my knees, forcing me to the ground. The four or five other bandits that weren’t knocked out snickered as they kept their guns trained on Maelor and me. Two of them had their guns trained on Braden, who had his hands raised. They didn’t appear to know where Layla was if they had even noticed her moments earlier.
The bandit leader forced Maelor to his knees as well. Once we were both kneeling, he pulled out a long knife and held it to my throat. “I don’t know who the fuck you are, but you made a big mistake interfering.” Now that I was up close, I could see him clearly. Long nose, thin lips, narrow blue eyes, sharp cheeks, he looked like a mean sonofabitch.
My eyes flitted to the tree-line where Braden watched in horror. I knew Layla was probably watching too. I feigned worry and fear for the sake of the bandits. If I acted too cocksure about Layla’s impending rescue, I would doom us all, so instead, I played up my fear, just a little.
Maelor struggled next to me. “Leave him be,” he pleaded. “I’ll do anything you ask, just don’t kill him.”
The leader chuckled. “I’m afraid we’re past that. We’ll find another summoner for our needs. I can’t let stunts like this stand.”
I saw Braden take a step toward me, but one of the bandits shot his gun into the air, making us all flinch. “I don’t think so, you ox. Stay over there, and I won’t have to put you down too.” A lie I was sure. I didn’t believe for a second that they wouldn’t kill Braden, but Braden reluctantly stayed still. His body tensed, itching to move, but he stayed glued in place.
Maelor roared, but another bandit held him in place. I gave him a weathered smile. “It’ll be okay.”
“Like hell it will!”
I wanted to argue with him, to tell him my friend was still up there and would help, but I couldn’t. Instead, I had to bear it as the bandit leader glared and pressed the knife harder to my neck, lancing me with pain and drawing blood.
“Say your prayers, boy--”
A familiar flash blasted the area, with a puff of smoke accompanying it. A monster being summoned. A wallerdon suddenly appeared above the bandit marksmen. They only had enough time to look up at it before gravity kicked in and crushed them. Bones snapped, and blood sprayed, and it sounded just plain wrong.
“What the…?” the leader looked on in horror, and that was all the opening I needed. I pushed the bandit leader away from me, his knife coming free from my throat, though it nicked me good one last time as he stumbled away. I turned and saw Layla at a full sprint, her face contorted and red with fury.
Layla growled as she tossed another crystal, one that I recognized. It was large and swirled with dark blue light. I knew what laid within. When the monster materialized, I grinned from ear to ear.
Her hyppocrans had joined the fight.
The massive beast roared, a terrifying sound that reverberated through the forest and sent birds fleeing into the skies for miles around. The bandits didn’t even think about trying to fight. The three remaining scum turned tail and made for the trees. I turned my attention back on the leader, but he was already on his feet and sprinting for the woods too. I noticed he had Maelor’s satchel of crystals slung over his hip and guessed he must have grabbed it in the initial chaos.
There was no way we could let him escape.
I started after him right as Layla came within a few steps of me, already tired from using her monsters and the run. “Wait, Gryff!”
I didn’t look back at her. “Look after Maelor!”
“But--”
“Just do it!” Then I was off.
The leader and the other bandi
ts were already in the trees as I began to climb up the hill. I would have used my speed slug, but I learned long ago that going full speed inside of a forest was not a good idea. That lesson had resulted in one of my many broken noses and a chipped tooth. So it was up to my normal long legs.
The bandits were fast, and they probably knew these woods. I certainly didn’t know them. I was at a disadvantage, especially since there were four of them. One broke off to the left and hopped over a log before twisting between two trees and taking off at a sprint. I chucked a cementroll crystal his way and had it pin his right arm to a tree. That was one down, but the other three were now farther ahead.
Another was far ahead to my right. He was going to get away, but then a massive body slammed into him. Braden. He had the bandit knocked out in a heartbeat. There was that Academy training coming to fruition. He raced to my side and then joined me stride for stride in my pursuit.
“What are you doing?” I roared through labored pants.
“Is that not obvious?” he replied with a quirked eyebrow. He pointed ahead of us at the bandits.
I grimaced. “I told you to watch after Maelor!”
He frowned. “You asked Layla, and she has her hyppocrans. It seemed to me that you needed help.” I couldn’t deny that logic. I did need the help too.
The bandit leader and his last crony twisted between trees and over obstacles and moved with a grace and desperation that I hadn’t expected. They’d clearly done this before, and though I was a wilder through and through, it wasn’t as if I sprinted wildly through the forest at every chance I could.
I tried using a couple of cementrolls, but neither was able to hit the bandits with their cement. The globs of their sticky secretions would either hit a tree or bush, or the bandits would dodge out of the way at the last possible second. I had to give them credit. I wish they wouldn’t be so difficult. Then again, I wished they hadn’t attacked Maelor, to begin with.
They started to pull away. Braden, who trailed slightly behind me, cursed. “We’re losing them, Gryff.”