Dao Divinity Book 1

by Bruce Sentar

  Bart nodded and Amber seemed a bit happier that the prospect wasn’t off the table. She’d been torn up before when she had thought Dar was firing her. If Sasha was right, he’d need to let it happen or she’d be uncomfortable, scared that he’d get rid of her.

  “Anyways, we ought to get going. Find me some men, Bart, and we’ll do what we can to make a home for everyone.”

  Bart nodded and stared into his drink in thought as they got up. Dar murmured to Sasha on their way out, and she caught the waitress, paying for their table and another round for Bart.

  Amber smiled at him, but also shook her head. “My father’s a proud man. He’ll get you back for that.”

  Dar shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll need his help plenty in the future.”

  As they left the building, Dar started scanning, wondering if there were spirits and demons he could recruit in the area. But just as they stepped out, they were met by horns and drums that clamored in some sort of alarm.

  The sun was lowering in the sky; they only had maybe an hour or two of light left. What on Earth—or Granterra, rather—was happening.

  People all over the streets dropped what they were doing in response and grabbed their belongings, rushing off. Some of the vendors even left wares behind, grabbing what they could and beelining away from the area as quickly as they could.

  As they darted away, a group of soldiers in a mix of boiled leather and chain started what Dar could only describe as herding the citizens of the slums. Dar was still standing next to the doorway when one came up and yelled into the tavern.

  “Get out, line up, and prepare to defend the city.”

  Things happened quickly after that. The group was rounded up and directed out the gates.

  Dar followed the flow of traffic, unsure what his best course of action was. He could reveal he was a wizard, but he still wasn’t quite sure what was happening.

  “Lord, this way.” A servant in Lady Margret’s colors beckoned them out of line. “I’m glad I found you all.”

  “Of course,” was all Dar could manage as he watched the city push those from the slums out the gate with no armor and just a spear in hand.

  It wasn’t that different from how it was handled in the small town, but still, it bothered Dar that they were all being pressed into fighting versus choosing. And there were clearly weaker, less fighting-able people among them. It made no sense to send them out to fight.

  The servant brought their group over to Margret, who abandoned her conversation partner and hugged Dar. “Happy to see you here.”

  She had clearly sent for him, so he guessed it was more theater than anything else. Several of the other richly dressed people standing around her looked… jealous?

  “I need to prepare; where should the wizards report?” he asked, wanting to separate before she got handsy.

  “Top of the wall, there.” She pointed to a section of the wall by a gate. “You’ll have a good vantage point from there.”

  Dar peeled her off him and turned to Sasha. “You wait here.”

  He pulled Cherry along with him as they went to the top of the wall, passing guards rushing about with bows preparing the top of the wall. Several armed men gave him a questioning look, but once they saw Cherry, they let him past.

  Whatever was beyond the wall was growing in volume. The group of men ahead were all looking past the wall with what looked like a spyglass.

  The Wizard Golum from the courthouse turned at Dar's approach and then looked at Cherry with a scowl.

  “I figured this was an exception,” he said.

  “Guess it is. Gentlemen, this is the new wizard that can’t control his spirit properly.”

  The dozen or so men turned back to Dar nodding, accepting him without pause.

  “What do you make of this situation?” one asked, handing him a spyglass.

  He noticed Cherry slip away and join the group of spirits that were standing back from the wizards.

  Even before he lifted the spyglass, he could see a mass of forms out past the furthest tower, just on the edge of the woods. The people from the slums were being pushed out along the fields with their spears to meet the mass head on.

  Taking a clearer look through the spyglass, he saw a crowd of gremlins moving similarly to how he’d seen them herded in the past, but the numbers were far more than he’d seen before. Mixed in among them were deer that the gremlins looked to be riding.

  “My best guess is that you’re going to have a large number of trolls behind a group of gremlins that size; not to mention, there might be something else. I haven’t seen a group that large before.”

  He handed off the spyglass back to the man who’d offered it.

  “A dozen trolls will decimate the militia,” a man with several layers of clothing stated nonchalantly. His messy outfit was topped with what almost looked like a banner, which was draped across his shoulders. “I’m Henry by the way.”

  “Aren’t we going to fight?” Dar asked.

  “After the militia softens them up, we’ll go in and take care of the larger issues. I suspect… Ah there it is again.”

  Dar didn’t need the spyglass to see the lump rise above the tree line.

  “What is that?”

  “We don’t know, but I suspect we’ll need to deal with it. I hear you are a wizard specializing in combat?” another one of the wizards asked the question, and the group as a whole seemed to be barely holding themselves back from laughing.

  “I am. I have multiple enchantments that help me.”

  The wizard who asked twisted his grin. “Good. We’ll have to see it in action. I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunity.”

  “None of you seem to be worried.” Dar noticed they were all fairly casual about the large mass of devils.

  “This is the third such attack in the last moon. The militia takes a heavy toll, but we are also taking on more and more people from outlying towns that resupply the militia. And there’s so many people coming; honestly, this helps thin it out a bit.”

  The callous disregard for life was like a bur in Dar's side, but he also understood that if the towns fell, so would their food supply. And feeding so many would be difficult, but letting them die in battle wasn’t the right answer either.

  Dar stepped towards the edge of the wall. “I’ll do what I can. Can’t do much of that from back here, though. Cherry, to me,” he called over his shoulder and scooped up the dryad when she came.

  “What are you—” Henry started asking, but the voice faded away as Dar leapt off the ten-foot wall, landing rough on the ground.

  Cherry looked concerned as he carried her towards the militia. “What are we doing?”

  “We are going to have you build a briar patch around the militia like we did last time. It was effective, wasn’t it?”

  “I could have done that from the wall.” Cherry rolled her eyes.

  Dar nodded. “That would out you as a grand spirit though, yes?”

  He had noticed that whenever she was pretending she would touch the ground or a piece of wood to exercise her dao. He’d come to suspect that was one of the differences between a greater and grand dao.

  If his dao only affected his body and what he could touch, Sasha’s seemed to work through silk, but never left her body, then Cherry would at times summon branches and vines out of nowhere.

  The girls probably hadn’t even mentioned it because it was ‘common knowledge’.

  Cherry’s mouth opened and closed. “Yes. You’re right. Thanks for helping me keep it a secret.”

  “It is selfish too. I figure we’ll be able to stall your ‘training’ better if he thinks you are just a greater spirit.”

  “En.” Cherry nodded, looking forward towards the militia.

  They were starting to turn towards Dar as he moved, and a few shouted cheers as he walked past with Cherry, marking him as a wizard. He grinned, feeling like a champion, but he didn’t want them putting too much faith in him. He could only do so much.r />
  “Make it low to the ground in front of the militia. We don’t want to cause them to go around and pick off the sides.” He set Cherry down on the ground.

  Cherry knelt down, pushing her hands slightly into the soil. In response, small, thorned creepers started spreading across the ground like ivy in front of the militia.

  “She’s laying a bed of thorns down. If you cross here, you’ll get caught up in it. You need to stay behind it and take advantage of the gremlins who will be slowed. But you’ll still need to fight,” Dar instructed the men and women nearby.

  Only the front row nodded, and he realized they had absolutely zero discipline. “Please pass that message to those behind you.”

  Then they started turning and whispering the order back.

  Cherry stood up after she’d covered the ground in a thin layer of the vines, wiping sweat off her brow. It might have not looked like much, but she must have covered half a football field in them. It no doubt took a good bit out of her.

  “Can we go to the side and create some cover for their sides?” he asked, concerned for her.

  “Yeah, I can manage that.” Cherry stood up.

  “Could a greater spirit manage it?” he asked, wanting to keep her cover.

  “Maybe? Those guys on the wall don’t know how much I just created. It should somewhat blend in so they can’t see the height.”

  He nodded, weighing the risk. But his desire to save lives won out, and they moved to either side creating a mass of twisted thorny patches going away from the militia at an angle. He wanted to funnel the gremlins through so they’d be easier to deal with.

  “That’ll have to do,” he said as she finished up.

  He stepped back, admiring their work, but as he looked up, he realized the mass of gremlins at the forest’s edge had grown considerably. They’d definitely helped the militia’s chance of survival, but as he took in the mass, he wondered if it would be enough.

  Chapter 22

  Cherry tugged at his sleeve. “I don’t think you should fight. At least not until it becomes chaotic.”

  “What do you mean?” Dar looked at her, confused. They already knew that he’d enhanced his dao towards ability to battle. He’d just have to make sure not to use the fire dao.

  “Honestly, you are tough as stone. If one of those wizards watches you fight, they might get ideas about what you can do. And once they do, they’ll want it for themselves.”

  “I get that, Cherry. But I’m not about to let one of these people die just to avoid some uncomfortable questions.”

  There was no way he’d walk around with that guilt forever. He had no doubt some people would die here in battle, but it wouldn’t be because he had sandbagged the fight. He was with them, and they’d just have to figure out the rest later. “We’ll deal with what comes after this. Right now, our priority is helping keep these people alive.”

  She shifted uncomfortably in front of him. A look of guilt spreading on her face.

  He’d hit closer to home than he realized. “Sorry, Cherry.”

  She had done just that; if she had fought back at the town, they likely could have saved it. But she’d hidden to protect herself.

  “It’s fine.”

  That was the clearest code for ‘not fine’ if he’d ever heard it. He kept his face serious; they had a job to do for now.

  “We’ll talk after this. Do you want to go back up to the wall?” He didn’t have an easy way to get back up there, but he’d try to bring her if something about this was going to be an issue for her.

  Cherry said something, but she was drowned out by gibbering from the oncoming gremlins. Unfortunately, they’d run out of time. Whatever her decision, the wall would have to wait.

  Reaching down to his belt, he brushed his pants but came back empty handed. He blinked, and it took a moment for him to realize he’d left his sword back with Marcie. He cringed, heavily regretting that decision. It was unsettling to stand in the middle of a battle without a weapon.

  Dar took in his surroundings, starting to strategize. The mass of militia was to his right. A wall of briars stood between him and the open space meant to become a bottleneck for the gremlins.

  The militia were already lowering their spears while a backline made of women drew their arrows and fired over them into the oncoming wave of devils. Arrows plummeted into the wave of gremlins, but the ones that fell were only a drop in the ocean. It didn’t even make a noticeable difference in the masses that charged forward.

  There had to be more than a thousand of the little, gray-skinned devils. Luckily, the thorns did slow them, causing a whole line of them to stumble and be trampled by those behind them.

  Similar to before, the gremlins just climbed over the dead bodies ahead of them, using them as stepping-stones to try to get over the briars and to the militia.

  A series of audible smacks sounded as gremlins made it to the spears, many becoming impaled. The high-pitched cries of the gremlins mixed with human screams rose up all around Dar.

  It only took a few moments longer before spears were full of bodies, and the remaining force of gremlins was surging up and over them, making contact with the militia forces.

  Dar winced. He knew there would be major loss of life, but the militia stood the best chance at being able to handle the gremlins. They didn’t stand much of a chance against what he knew came next. He needed to keep his focus there, but he was able to take down a few gremlins that were within his arm’s reach while he waited for the real battle.

  The little devils were easy enough to pluck from over the thorny bushes and toss back into their fellows.

  Thuds sounded as trolls followed behind the final waves of gremlins, thumping the clubs against their hands and slowly corralling the gremlins forward.

  Whimpers sounded around him as the militia spotted the trolls coming their way. A few turned and looked like they were about to run, leaving the flanks of their peers open.

  Dar shoved them back into place, snapping the necks of a few gremlins in the process. “Hold strong. I’ll go work on distracting these trolls. Fight together; that’s your best chance.”

  Those he made eye contact with were clearly in a state of shock, but they managed to follow his orders and realign themselves in the group.

  Sighing, Dar looked back at the closely approaching trolls. The timing felt right. Diving around the briar patch, he cycled mana through his channels to build up pressure for his first attack. He needed to make these first few really count before the trolls swarmed him and before the other wizards joined the fight.

  He was already risking enough to use his dao at all. With the wizards on the wall, he could pretend it was some small, enchanted item they couldn’t see from there.

  As he approached the first troll, it looked up, slightly amused. Raising its huge hand, it swung it casually, trying to backhand Dar away.

  Dar moved forward, ignoring the swinging hand. He pointed his finger at the troll and let loose a burst of heat, causing the troll to yelp and pull back. It provided the opening he needed. There was just enough room to leap above the troll, blasting its head with a blowtorch-like jet of heat.

  The troll’s skull crackled and blackened for a second before it stumbled back, falling on the troll next to it.

  Ugh, cooked troll still smelt horrid. He tried not to retch.

  Anticipating a follow-up attack, Dar turned, but he wasn’t fast enough. He felt his body lift off the ground, rocketing straight to the side and slamming into the ground, his arms trying to catch himself. The back of his head ached with whatever truck had hit him.

  Vision flickering in and out of focus, Dar braced his hands on his head, shifting to try to get to his feet quickly.

  But a hand wrapped around his ankle before he could move. All sense of equilibrium leaving him, he was momentarily looking up at the sky before slammed back down to earth.

  He felt something start to snake around him, starting to partially enclose him. When he heard a
thump and breaking branches, he realized that Cherry had shielded him from the next attacker to give him a moment to recover.

  Trying to make good use of the opportunity, Dar focused on the green vines wrapping around him and tried to center himself. Letting his mind drift to meditation, he channeled mana through his limbs, letting it nurture the body he had modified with mana.

  Clarity came back sharply, but unfortunately, it was followed by the pain.

  “You’ve had worse. You got this,” he growled, working to give himself a pep talk. After a few deep breaths, he moved to rip off the vines.

  As he prepared to break through, he was startled when the vines didn’t give an inch to his attempt. But he did recognize an outside impact as they must have taken another hit.

  “Cherry, I’m ready. Let me out,” Dar yelled.

  The vines opened up to the side, and he rolled out to see the angry troll slam into the shell of vines once again.

  Cherry smirked, kneeling next to the briar patch, her hands on the ground. “Maybe next time don’t jump into a pack of trolls alone.”

  He sighed. She was right. He’d been overconfident, but damn it, what good was a body like this if he couldn’t do something with it.

  As he watched, the other trolls were already making it to the militia line. The men were piling on with their spears trying to take them down, but many were falling in the process.

  Dar pivoted to the troll that had been attacking the shell of vines. As he charged it, Dar pushed his hand to its face, turning its skull into an oven.

  Moving to go attack the next troll, the other wizards appeared in the area and began fighting. Golum raised a staff and blasted frigid air over several of the trolls, frosting them to a standstill as ice gathered and they solidified into frozen trolls.

  Another wizard then threw a stone into the air. As it moved, it grew until it plummeted down on the frozen trolls, shattering them into gruesome red fragments.

  Shit, that’s some teamwork.

  They descended on the trolls with their enchanted items, casting mostly some sort of ice magic, frosty daggers, and miniature blizzards. But one had a lance big enough to skewer a horse that devastated the pack of trolls.