The Sleeper Must Awaken

by Kip Terrington

  If she acquired enough of them, she could close all of her subterranean tunnels. She wouldn't need to interact with the outside world if she had a neverending supply of dark nectar. The sounding of a gong brought her out of her musings.

  A human vampire walked in and bowed low to the ground, her forehead pressed flat against the floor.

  “Rise, my sweet. What do you have for me, Number 10?” the mistress asked.

  Number 10 would have been considered a beautiful specimen of a human if she hadn't had the pale bloodless face of a vampire. Carefully ignoring the two piles of ash, Number 10 offered her report.

  “Great Mistress, all exterior tunnels are now completely free of rubble. The shipments of binding potion and the slave mark kits are in route to their destinations. On a more serious note, one of the punishment teams failed to return, even though the tunnel they would have entered was the first cleared. Your Arm in command of that region deemed it necessary to send a squad of five Fists in order to ascertain what occurred,” 10 said.

  “Oh my, five Fists, that’s quite a force. However, if one of the Arms believed it necessary, then I'm sure he had his reasons. You may go, but on your way out, let my steward know I will need a few more halflings sent in for me to turn. It really is quite upsetting. We have lost more halfling vampires this month alone than in the last hundred years. First, it was confirmed that two were killed by goblins. Goblins! Now, a punishment squad hasn't returned, and on top of that, I had to kill these two little ash piles right here. We're lucky they're so easy to replace. Seems you can't throw a rock in the middle of the forest without it landing on a halfling. Why are you still here? …I dismissed you,” the mistress said, and with vampiric speed, Number 10 quickly exited.

  The positive mood she had worked so hard to build had now evaporated.

  “How could things have gotten so bad? After I discovered that delightful unbound Champion, I thought things were only going to look up, but now… now… it’s like they couldn't get any worse,” the mistress said, having no comprehension that the UI was skillfully manipulating her.

  Though the mistress was powerful, to the UI, she was easily categorized. The UI had deemed that she didn't need to see the blue letters. She never left her place of power. She was clearly a Raid Boss.

  At that very moment, the mistress felt a steady stream of pulsing through her meticulously crafted binding line. Her jaw stiffened as she focused on counting how many magic users were invading her subterranean caverns. Her anger gradually turned into dismay as the pulses continued to grow in number.

  In all the millenia she had ruled, she had never faced so many mages. Even if her vampires were able to fight off such a force, it would weaken her tremendously. Hopefully, the other members of the triumvirate remained unaware of her weakness until she was able to gather her strength once more. That is, if she survived at all...

  Chapter 43 - Sticky Steel

  Within ten minutes of their quick march inside vampire territory, Joe and Zoya’s army found a group of seventeen slaves gathering mushrooms. To prevent the main force of the army from slowing down, a few of Zoya’s stone angels gathered up the slaves and marched them back to the army’s forward base of operations. There, they would be protected by the small squad of Iron Dice NPCs left to guard the resurrection point.

  As the winding tunnel they traveled in began to turn around a sharp bend, two of their scouts returned and signaled for the army to halt. Joe, along with the clan leaders, and Zoya headed to the front of the army so that they could converse with the scouts.

  The lead scout, a yeti named Kaw, was accompanied by his brand-new goblin apprentice, Puak. They each saluted Joe and their respective chief.

  “We are in enemy territory now. No more saluting, right?” Joe reminded the scouts, “What we got?”

  “Around this bend, the tunnel straightens out and you can see for a great distance. Which is why, I assume, the halfling vampire has positioned herself at the far end. With her sharp vampire eyes, I'm sure she saw me, but instead of retreating, she maintained her watch,” the yeti scout reported.

  “She probably wants to see us come around the bend so that she'll know our numbers. Let's leave the army here and the six of us can go take a look at her. Let’s give this vamp some serious information. Maybe enough that she'll leave without seeing the whole picture,” Joe hoped.

  As they rounded the bend, Joe pulled out a spyglass Zoya had made for him.

  “Yep, she's just standing there watching us. What is that? About… I don't know... four soccer fields away?” Joe asked.

  “It's just over 360 meters, so you’re pretty close,” Zoya confirmed.

  “Yeah, I've never been stellar at judging distances over 300 meters. Still, if I had a rifle, I could knock her teeth out from here. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anyone in our army who has a range that can reach our little observer. My fireball would dissipate to nothing after 40 meters. What if we sent a few of your stone angels? Are their metallic fists hard enough to make them dangerous to the halfling vampire?” Joe asked Zoya.

  “If they could hit the vampire enough times, maybe, but unfortunately, my angels are just not fast enough to be a threat. And, the vampire would shatter them easily. But there is another option… Bridcha?” Zoya asked, as she raised one hand in invitation for the large yeti to give it a try.

  The big hairy chief squinted his eyes, but gave a grunt of acknowledgement. Reaching over his shoulder he took hold of the largest lacrosse stick ever to be produced, at just shy of two stories in length. Thankfully, the lengthy cavern they were in had a tall enough height to accommodate it. Holding the mammoth lacrosse stick, he reached into a bag at his waist and pulled out an iron ball and placed it in the specially made net at the end of his pole.

  “He can't possibly throw it that far. The reports I received said that the best yeti throw yet was just under 200 meters,” Joe said.

  “Lil, and the chief here, have been practicing together and didn't want to make the rest of the tribe look bad. I wouldn't have even known if one of my angels hadn't seen them practicing on its patrol. Let's watch,” Zoya said.

  The chief raised his lacrosse-style pole, and with a powerful sweeping ark, threw the steel ball. It looked like a frozen rope. The ball covered the distance, but it didn’t meet its target.

  With his spyglass, Joe saw the iron ball embedded in the rock a few feet to the side of where the halfling stood.

  “It caught fire at the end. I can still see it smoking in the wall. You definitely have the distance,” Joe said.

  At that point, the chief laid eight steel balls on the ground in front of him. With care, he took a jar out of his bag and dipped a soft bristled brush in it. Next, he slopped the green Linapot generously all over the steel balls. Setting down the brush, he then used his lacrosse stick to scoop up one of the prepared balls. The yeti quickly tossed the ball. This one was a little closer to the halfling, but unfortunately, not close enough that the halfling was willing to flee. On the fifth try, Joe was about to tell the yeti to call it quits, but the look of determination on Bridcha’s face made him hold his tongue.

  Bridcha took a deep breath to steady himself, then he stepped forward, twisted his hips and put everything he had into the toss. The iron ball flew, and this time, Joe felt his twenty-sided eye spin and land on a 20.

  The fiery iron ball struck the halfling in the shoulder and the hardened flesh of the vampire shattered, rather than broke. The whole of his left arm fell to the ground and the vampire’s wail was epic. Using the one good arm he had left, he crawled back up to his feet and ran. All thoughts of observation were now gone.

  The yeti grunted with satisfaction.

  “Great balls of fire! What a shot. Oh, that was wonderful to see. Let's not lose the window. FORWARD MARCH!” Joe shouted and the army rallied forward, deeper into vampire territory.

  As soon as they came to the place where the lookout had been stationed, they found a cubby hole with another fo
ur slaves sitting in it, looking down at the ground in fear.

  After another half hour’s march, they came to their first true obstacle. The tunnel narrowed down to the point that only ten men could walk abreast of each other. Fortunately, the tunnel was still high enough that Bridcha could still swing his lacrosse stick, but the vampires had built a castle keep in this narrow terrain. The floor-to-ceiling structure blocked all egress, except through its closed wooden gate.

  Joe halted the army just out of longbow shot, and Zoya came over to join him on his shoulder.

  “How do you want to break it down? We've got quite a few options once we get a little closer,” Zoya asked.

  “I think we fake with the battering ram and then I burn those wooden doors down,” Joe smiled.

  “Are you sure? That puts you at risk?” Zoya worried.

  “Unless you develop a taste for risk, you'll never have drink champagne,” Joe stated.

  “That's not how the Russian proverb goes, Joe,” Zoya said.

  “I know. Just like I like to shorten names, I like to misquote proverbs. Don’t worry, I can hide behind the battering ram’s defensive spurs and only leave cover when I'm firing,” Joe reassured.

  Midway up the brick wall, a door opened and a tall elven vampire presented herself. She was dressed in a deep purple robe, with gold highlights on the wrist and hem.

  NPC, 74 of 101

  Elven Vampire Mage

  “Greetings, Invaders, I am Vespera, your doom. Before I destroy you, might I know what kingdom invades us? I can see that you are a rather diverse group. Does that mean you're from the Noble’s Alliance?” 74 of 101 said when the blue letters above her head flickered and changed.

  NPC, Vespera

  Elven Vampire Mage

  “Open your doors and surrender. Your deaths will be quick,” Joe replied.

  “Not wanting to say where you’re from? I won't be fooled. A group such as this could only come from the Noble’s Alliance. Turn your force around and leave our territory immediately, or I guarantee all of the delicacies we provide will no longer cross into your borders,” Vespera threatened.

  “I thought you were going to be our doom? Now you're threatening sanctions… you're supposed to escalate your threats, not deescalate. I'll give you an example,” Joe said as he opened his bag wide for two yetis to reach inside and begin to pull out the original battering ram the yetis had made themselves, with a few additional modifications added.

  Once the battering ram was free of his bag, Joe took his place on the battering ram, behind one of the defensive spurs. As they had practiced, they lifted the battering ram above their heads and began to run. Before they could take more than a few steps, the gates opened and twenty vampire halflings raced toward the army.

  Joe had anticipated something like this, so he was prepared. Joe gave a crisp clear call, “DROP… RAM…” and the lines on both side of the ram stepped out of its path as it fell to the ground with a thundering impact.

  “LACROSSE VOLLEY READY … FIRE. AND, FIRE AT WILL!”

  There were no clangs or clashes of gunfire, only swooshes of air as the balls of steel flew. Over a hundred iron balls flew toward the keep, and more than a few of them hit their target. It was an unpalatable scene, with so many vampire halflings breaking to pieces.

  A few of the vampire halflings made it within forty meters of their goal, but that was when the magical attacks began to fall. Joe let his fireballs fly, finally being used for the purpose they were intended.

  Though Joe’s fireball was the highest damage dealing spell, it was far from the only spell flung. Muck sent as many Ice Spikes as he could produce downfield. Rod sent a beam of Concentrated Life Energy that tripped a halfling. The combination of steel and magic was too much, even for the hardy vampires.

  Throughout the whole slaughter, Vespera stoically watched. Deep down, however, she was reeling. Their weapons were too effective. She should have listened to the one-armed patrol vampire. The halfling had reported that the invader’s range attacks were lethal.

  Vespera could see she had failed her assignment to delay the invaders, but she resolved not to return to the Arm as a complete failure. Looking out over the invaders, she noticed that all of their noses had a slight repugnant white glow. Gathering her will, she gave the command for the rest of her forces to make a hasty retreat. They did not have to be told twice. The keep emptied like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

  Once more she addressed the commander of the opposing army.

  “Yetis throwing metal balls with sticks that can break the flesh of a vampire… well, the flesh of a halfling vampire. I'm not ashamed to say, this was not anticipated. I'm also not ashamed to say I don't like it. Not that I care about the halfling vampires. Their job is to die, but they're supposed to take at least a few of you down with them. I hate incompetency.

  “What you brought to this kingdom is formidable, so much so that I will tell you, you have garnered my respect. We should talk more. I am sure that we can come to a most beneficial arrangement. My mistress can be generous with those who are powerful, and clearly, you fit in that category.

  “Let's dispense with all this unpleasantness, because, though you have destroyed a significant amount of fodder, you've only been facing children. Everything changes when the adults come out and play. Don't make that happen. With so many mages, my mistress already knows of your entry. Make the smart choice,” Vespera said, even though Joe was clearly not paying attention.

  He and his fellow mages were double-checking every piece of vampire in front of them to ensure they were no longer a threat, as well as picking up and harvesting as many fangs as could be pulled before the vampires turned to ash.

  Without looking at her, or even acknowledging her statement, Joe walked back over to the battering ram. Then, with measured rhythm, so as to allow his army to catch up with his plan, he yelled crisply and clearly, his voice echoing throughout the cavern.

  “RAM…” and the lines on both sides of the ram crouched down and took hold. “RAISE…” as one they lifted the ram up and over their heads.

  “FORWARD… MARCH… QUICK-STEP... MARCH…” Joe called out and they quickly transitioned from a double-time to a controlled sprint.

  Vespera snarled, raising both of her hands as she began to chant. A green-yellow glow began to slowly grow between the palms of her hands. As the green-yellow ball began to expand, she brought it to her lips and blew. Instead of a slowly blown kiss, the yellow ball flew swiftly toward Joe, bypassing the large metal spur in front of him and striking him in the chest.

  For a moment, Joe thought he was going to die, but then nothing happened, aside from him receiving an oppressive feeling of foreboding.

  Zoya saw the magical attack as it played out, and before the ball hit Joe, she had launched her angels straight at Vespera. Moments after her seemingly benign magical attack hit Joe, Zoya’s stone angels pummeled into the elven vampire. The vampire easily broke the head off the first angel that impacted her, but the momentum of the stone still caused her to fall back, creating an opening for the other angels to step inside the door and quickly sabotage the ability of the opening to close.

  They needn't have bothered, other than the one attack that Vespera had landed on Joe, the castle keep was silent. Instead of dispatching the stone angels, Vespera quickly took her leave through the back exit.

  The battering ram broke through the wooden doors after only ten minutes of continued abuse. It wasn't that the doors were weak. They were solid, but the yetis could provide the horsepower and inertia that could not be ignored.

  Other than another hundred slaves, the small castle keep lay empty. And unfortunately, it was built in such a way that it was only a decent defense from one side, and that was not the side Joe’s army needed.

  The road now forked. There were four different tunnels that branched off from this point.

  They took a moment to regroup and Zoya came over to inspect Joe.

  “I can't figure out
what that attack did. But, my instincts are telling me to create some distance from myself and everyone I care about. Maybe it is a brain thing?” Joe asked as he spread his arms for her to look him over.

  “I can't see anything different about you, and that's after looking through multiple non-visible light spectrums, heat vision, and many other metrics. I'd like to think maybe it did nothing, but I know that's only wishful thinking. I'm not looking forward to finding out what she did. I'm not sure if we should press on or, at least, if you should press on,” Zoya said, with evident worry in her voice.

  “Frustrating. This is one of those times when I wish I disagreed with you, then I could go ahead and make the final decision and go with the army. But I'm worried that she's made me into some sort of weird biological bomb or something. Something deep is telling me to leave. The army should press on with you at its head. I don’t want to just run off alone. Could you lend me both Obsidian One and Obsidian Two? I'm going to make my way to the slave city of Sibiu, using the westernmost tunnel,” Joe said as he began walking in that direction, gaining some distance from himself and his army.

  “You can't get out of formation. That is exactly what you told your troops they couldn't do,” Zoya countered, unable to hide the fear in her voice.

  “It's good to be king,” Joe said, giving her an apologetic grin.

  “They will corner you and kill you,” Zoya stated.

  “It's always possible. No one lives forever. However, it is difficult to corner a Portal Mage. And don't worry, Obsidian One and Two can jump with me. I just received a bunch of new portal spells when I allocated my points. My instincts are screaming at me to go. I am a danger to all of you. I will be careful, but I must go. Here, look at this spell. It is all I need right now,” Joe said.