Sovereign (The Gods' Game, Volume IV)

by Vider, Rohan M.

  “What is it?” asked Adra.

  “The bonuses from the spectres’ rings are applied through a trait,” he replied.

  Mirien froze, spoon halfway to her mouth. “I’ve never heard of an item that could do that,” she said.

  Kyran simply shook his head in bemusement. The twins’ gifts were more precious than he had first realised. Thank you, he whispered to the sisters.

  This time, the buzz from the rings was unmistakable.

  ✽✽✽

  The party resumed their journey northwards the next day. Even though they had only been in the city three days, the group that left Celne was not the same one that entered. Having come so close to losing Mirien, their mood was quieter and more reflective. Yet at the same time, there was a new cohesion and energy to the party.

  The hidden strife and animosity—between Adra and Mirien especially—was gone, replaced by newly formed trust and a fledgling friendship. They were a true party again, Kyran thought. It bodes well for the future.

  The first few miles out of the city passed without mishap, with Adra scouting ahead and Mirien guarding the party’s backtrail once more. The whiesper had made a full recovery after the last of the disease had been driven out of her body.

  Kyran himself travelled in worg-form next to Gaesin and Aiken. Slinking in the bear’s shadow, he took two steps for every one of the great bear’s. While the day’s journey began easily enough, after only a few hours of re-entering the forest, the party encountered a new difficulty.

  “Kyran, halt. We have a problem,” said Adra from where she scouted up ahead.

  “What is it, Adra?” Kyran asked, wondering worriedly if the wolven had run into the missing ghouls. None of the party had caught sight of any of the necromancers’ former pets since the Reapers’ defeat.

  “I am not sure yet. I can see smoke rising above the trees a few hundred metres ahead. It looks like it is coming from campfires. Lots of them.”

  Kyran glanced upwards, but the overarching branches were too dense for him to see beyond. Adra was travelling in the treetops, which by both her and Mirien’s reckoning was the safest means of passage through the forest. From high up in the trees, the wolven scout had a less obstructed view of the sky.

  “How many?” he asked.

  “I am not sure yet. I am going to sneak closer for a better look.”

  “Be careful. Do you want me to join you?”

  “No, it will safer to scout from up above. Whoever is ahead is more likely to have sentries on the ground.”

  “Alright, but don’t take any risks.” Kyran could almost taste Adra’s amusement at his instruction, but she didn’t say anything in response. Through the battlegroup, he felt her slipping further ahead.

  Briefly, he considered activating shared sight, but it would only needlessly distract Adra. He schooled himself to patience and lay down to wait. Needing no excuse to rest, Aiken did the same, followed a moment later by Gaesin.

  “What’s going on?” whispered a voice from the shadows. Gaesin yelped and started in fright. But since he was now used to Mirien’s penchant for sudden appearances, Kyran did not react as the whiesper shadow stepped into being behind them.

  Tongue lolling out in laughter, he watched the half-elf sputter out an explanation. “Adra’s found something. Campfires. She’s going closer to investigate.”

  Mirien glanced at Kyran. “Should I go help her?”

  “Tell Mirien to stay here. Adra knows what she is doing,” he replied. Lowering his head, he closed his eyes.

  Gaesin shook his head. “Kyran says to wait.”

  Mirien nodded. Dropping down next to Aiken, she petted Kyran’s head.

  What—? He jerked his head up in offended dignity and growled at the whiesper, but she only laughed in amusement and turned away.

  Damnable woman, thought Kyran, resting his head back onto his paws.

  ✽✽✽

  Cloaked in stealth, Adra ran lightly along the tree branch. She reached its end and dropped nimbly to the overlapping branch of an adjacent tree, then continued onwards.

  She proceeded in this manner for the next five minutes, scaling a tree’s central trunk each time she dropped too low. All the while she moved steadily northwards, and her senses strained for the faintest hint of movement below.

  As she drew closer to the still-concealed camp—and she was sure it was a camp now—the murmur of noise from below grew until even the din of the surrounding forest creatures could no longer be heard.

  She felt a tickle of trepidation. Whatever the camp ahead was, it had to hold a sizeable contingent. What is such a large force be doing in the forest?

  Adra had nearly reached the source of the campfires, yet she still hadn’t detected any hint of movement below. Either the sentries’ stealth was far superior to her own—or there weren’t any sentries.

  Adra slowed. Not ten metres away, the forest foliage thinned, then disappeared altogether. There was a clearing ahead, and a large one by the look of it.

  Dropping to all fours, she inched forward. She slipped down the next branch and up the next, continuing in that manner until she reached the clearing’s edge. Then, ever so carefully, she pushed aside the concealing leaves and peered through.

  Her eyes widened. The clearing was enormous, at least a few hundred metres across, and inside it was no camp, but a settlement. A village, really. One filled with thousands—no, tens of thousands—of short, green-skinned creatures, light and nimble on their feet.

  Forest goblins.

  Adra stilled, sudden fear rippling through her. If there was one universal truth about forest goblins, it was that they were crafty creatures—and nearly as stealthy as wolven.

  Which means I might already be surrounded. Forest goblins were experts at camouflage, and without extended observation, she was not likely to detect them. There could have been sentries after all, and even now the little monsters could be creeping up on her. She tried to calm her rising fear. There was no need to panic—yet. I can still outrun them.

  Forest goblins were a menace. Little more than savage beasts, if left unchecked they would rapidly overrun a region. She flexed her claws and unconsciously began loosening her knives in their sheathes.

  “Adra? What’s going on? Are you alright?” Kyran’s voice came through tight and worried over the battlegroup. She could feel his concern—and confusion—through their link. No doubt he had sensed her fear.

  She took a calming breath. “It’s a tribe of forest goblins. A village of at least twenty thousand, in a large clearing.” She ran her gaze over the settlement again.

  A wooden-log palisade had been erected around the perimeter, with a clearance of about twenty metres from the forest’s edge. On the northern and southern end of the village were twin gates, each guarded by a pair of high watchtowers.

  Yet as neat and maintained as the perimeter of the settlement was, the inside was slovenly: a haphazard arrangement of crude hide tents, dotted with campfires and teeming with goblins hurrying to and fro.

  Once the walls were breached, the village would not be too difficult to capture. “They look like they have been here for some time.”

  “Forest goblins,” repeated Kyran, chewing over the information. “Are they Xetil’s?” he asked.

  Adra scanned the village again. She could see no banners or flags of any sort. “If they are, they aren’t announcing it,” she replied.

  “Can we avoid them?”

  She was tempted to respond with an emphatic no. Forest goblins were a plague that needed to be burned out wherever they were found, else they would spread rapidly. But taking on the village was an impossible task for the party. “We can,” she answered reluctantly.

  “Head back here, then, and let’s discuss our next step.”

  ✽✽✽

  “Forest goblins,” said Mirien. “Another tribe—and a big one by the sounds of it. What are so many of the creatures doing in the Elder Forest?” Her eyes narrowed in thought. “They h
ave never settled this far north before.”

  “What do you mean, ‘another tribe’? Have you run across them before?” asked Kyran. He had resumed elf-form after Adra had rejoined the party. Presently, they were in a shallow creek a safe distance away from the goblin village.

  Mirien’s face transformed into the neutral mask she wore when trying to conceal painful memories. “The Brother expedition I entered Crotana with, encountered a goblin tribe in the eastern reaches of the forest. We—I—tricked them into attacking Iyra’s troops. But this village cannot be part of the same tribe; that one was weeks east of here.”

  Adra grunted. “Forest goblins spread fast. Maybe they migrated.”

  “Not that fast,” Mirien argued, “and certainly not in the Elder Forest. The forest is too hostile to travel swiftly in numbers.” She shook her head in in disbelief. “I’ve never known a tribe to build walls before either.”

  Adra nodded. “The walls may not be theirs. They appear better made than the structures within.”

  “But the goblins are a sentient race, correct?” asked Kyran.

  Adra and Mirien exchanged glances, before Mirien nodded reluctantly. “They are, although many dispute the truth of that. Forest goblins are more primitive than their larger cousins from the Wazrak plains and have never evolved beyond a life of simple subsistence. Most consider them to be little better than ferals.”

  “And seemingly, like many of Myelad’s rejected, they have gravitated to Crotana,” Kyran mumbled to himself.

  “What’s that, Kyran?” asked Adra, leaning forward.

  He waved off her question. “Nothing. Just an idle thought. How do we avoid them?”

  “The goblins do not seem to have spread out much beyond their village. If we swing around it, we should escape notice,” replied Adra.

  Kyran nodded. “Do we circle the village to the east or west?”

  “It would be best to scout out both routes before deciding,” said Mirien.

  “But the longer we stay here, the greater the risk of discovery,” said Adra. “The creatures are excellent scouts,” she added begrudgingly.

  Mirien nodded slowly. “Adra is right,” she allowed. “Further delay isn’t worth the risk.”

  “Alright, then. Let’s angle west and give the village a wide berth,” said Kyran, picking a direction at random.

  ✽✽✽

  The party swung around the goblin village in a wide westward arc. For the next hour they made steady progress without mishap, and it seemed they had chosen the right course. But Kyran’s hopes of a peaceful day’s travel were dashed when Adra cried out in warning again.

  What now? Kyran wondered. He was heartily tired of the surprises the forest kept throwing at them. Could they not finish a single day without running across the trail of something else?

  “Stampede! Take cover!”

  Kyran jerked to a halt. Stampede?

  “Uh-oh. This isn’t good,” Gaesin said, face paling. He yanked on Kyran’s hand. “Quickly, we must flee.”

  Kyran stared at him blank-faced. Seeing his confusion, Gaesin hurriedly explained. “Stampedes are not uncommon in the forest. Think of the damage an ivoranor herd in flight could do,” he said, licking his lips. “It’s bad.”

  “Flight is not an option,” Adra panted. “The stampede is too large and too close.” Kyran sensed she was running hard back towards the party, her pulse erratic. “We are nearly dead centre in their path. Shields up. Hurry, you don’t have much time.”

  Kyran realised Adra was scared, even if her fear was better concealed that Gaesin’s. He left his questions for later and spun a magic shield around himself. “What next?” he asked Gaesin when he was done.

  “Find a tree or something large to hide behind,” replied the half-elf, eyes darting over the surroundings.

  Kyran cast his own gaze over the trees then back at Aiken. None of the nearby tree trunks were anywhere large enough to safeguard Aiken’s bulk. Gaesin, seeming to realise this at the same instant, began pacing and muttering to himself.

  “Gaesin,” Kyran called. He failed to get the half-elf’s attention. “Gaesin!” he yelled. The youth spun towards him. “Calmly, Gaesin,” said Kyran, lowering his voice. “Will any of our spells work?”

  “I don’t know,” replied the youth. He bit down hard on his lips. “I don’t think so. The force—” He broke off as the ground trembled.

  This isn’t good, thought Kyran, looking around in concern. At a rustle of leaves, he jerked his head upwards. The tree branches were quivering, as if stirred to life by a great wind.

  His eyes dropped to Gaesin. The youth seemed nearly petrified. “Gaesin, take cover here,” he said, pulling the half-elf behind a nearby tree.

  The half-elf looked at him, not understanding. “But it’s not big enough for all of us.”

  “I know,” replied Kyran. Turning to Aiken, he gestured him towards the adjacent tree. “Brother, behind this tree.” The tree would cover a laughably small portion of the bear and leave the rest of him exposed. But Kyran had a plan—of sorts.

  “No, brother,” Aiken said. Lowering his head, he nudged Kyran towards the trunk. “You take shelter there.”

  “We don’t have time for this, Aiken,” Kyran said, staggering back slightly from the bear’s shove. “Move, please. I will hold the unshielded area between.”

  “No,” replied Aiken firmly. “I am better suited to face the brunt of the stampede than you are.”

  Kyran ground his teeth in frustration. But Aiken was right. “Alright, brother,” he conceded reluctantly. “Brace yourself between the two trees,” he said before taking cover behind the second tree himself. “Gaesin and I will ward you as best we can.”

  “No, Kyran—” said Gaesin as he realised what the pair were about.

  “There’s no time,” said Kyran, cutting him off. “It’s up to us to keep Aiken alive, alright?” Gaesin nodded vigorously. “Good. Cast slippery ice in front of us. It may not stop whatever comes, but hopefully it will slow them down.”

  “What are you going to do?” Gaesin asked as he began casting and Aiken padded into position.

  “For starters, lay down a shock wall,” Kyran answered grimly. But before he did that, he needed to see what awaited them.

  He activated show hostiles and expanded his awareness three hundred metres outwards. His player’s map lit up with dozens of sporadic red markers. Yet there was no sign of the wall of red he’d expected.

  Frowning, he glanced up. The trees were still shaking. So where was the stampede? Wherever it was, it was still a ways off, which made him wonder on its size and strength. He ignored the sudden churning in his gut.

  It was too soon to cast shock wall. The spell had a duration of little over a minute, and he had an unhappy premonition that he would need every second of it.

  Using the time at hand, he cast grasping roots in front of where he expected Gaesin to cast slippery ice.

  Gaesin has cast slippery ice (radius: 36.6m, duration: 6 minutes).

  Kyran has cast grasping roots (radius: 51m, duration: 8 minutes).

  A frosty sheen of ice spread outwards, its pristine surface broken only by the surrounding trees and thick underbrush. A second later, brown roots spilled out of the ground and filled the empty space beyond.

  As the weaves of the spells completed, Mirien stepped out of the shadows. “Stampede?” she asked, her face sombre.

  Kyran nodded. “Take cover with Gaesin behind the tree,” he ordered.

  Mirien eyed the trio’s placement—the two casters in cover and Aiken exposed between—and shook her head. “No, I will stand with Aiken.”

  Kyran opened his mouth to argue, then closed it with a snap. Aiken, he grudgingly admitted, would fare better with Mirien by his side. He jerked his head in acquiescence and the whiesper flowed into place, nudging him away slightly as she placed herself on Aiken’s right. With a sigh, he gave way.

  Mirien eyed the root and ice field in front of the party. “You know
that is not likely to stop a stampede,” she said, drawing her blades and weaving her own magic shield around herself.

  “I know—” Kyran broke off as a solid flood of red filled down from the top of his player’s map.

  His mind froze for second, unable to comprehend the sheer mass of creatures heading their way. He shook himself free of his daze. “They’re three hundred metres away and closing quickly. Get ready.”

  Turning his attention inwards, he spun weaves of air essence. The approaching horde was moving fast. He judged he would have only a few seconds to place the shock wall.

  In the midst of his spell, he sensed a breathless Adra drop down from the trees above. Completing his casting, he drew a line across the forest from east to west over the ice field, less than two metres ahead of their position.

  The shock wall, unlike the grasping roots or slippery ice spell, was a construct of pure energy with no physical components. Despite the many obstacles in its path, the field formed a complete and unbroken barrier.

  Kyran has cast shock wall (length: 4.2m, duration: 84 seconds).

  “Adra, take up position beside Gaesin. Now!” Kyran barked as the shock field burst into place.

  Aiken has cast guardian’s aura (radius 3.0m, buff: guarded, duration: until deactivated).

  The party is guarded (+30% strength, +30% constitution).

  “Good job, brother,” Kyran said.

  The ground heaved fitfully, the trees above swayed violently, and an unholy racket of shrill cries and yelps filled the air.

  The horde was almost upon them.

  Kyran peered around his tree trunk, but the forest foliage was too dense for him to make out the forms of the onrushing creatures. With a start, he realised he hadn’t thought to ask Adra what threatened them.

  He risked a look to his left. “What are these creatures, Adra?”

  “Gibbons!” she shouted over the nearly deafening racket.

  Gibbons? he wondered, perplexed. Apes?

  He had no time to pursue his query further though. A furious tide of orange boiled across the ground and streamed down from the trees. So close-packed were the creatures that Kyran was hard-pressed to pick out any individual features.