She walked over, went up on her toes, and kissed me.
“We’ll figure it out,” she murmured.
I just nodded again, fully captivated by the love of my life. In truth, as long as I had her, and was moving forward and growing, I’d be a happy man. What it was that we’d be doing specifically didn’t matter all that much to me, and if we missed out on seeing things we wanted to see, we could always just do it later. It wasn’t like we didn’t have fifty thousand years to kill, we’d get to it eventually.
At the very least, we’d stop by a Western Kingdom city when it was time to get our expert level enchantments done. I already thought I knew what I wanted, what I had now, with five more intelligence and four more wisdom, but we’d all held off on a decision. We might discover something that would change our minds, and none of us knew much about the Expert level, except it would give us more power, quadruple damage, and more powerful concepts in mana, magical spheres, and enchanting.
Gwen snickered, and turned as Lyre and Anlyth walked out, shortly followed by Lara and Steven. They loaded up their packs and started to get inside the ship. Anlyth and Steve were in chainmail as well, but Lara wore robes like I did, and Lyre was still in leather armor. She hadn’t felt the need to upgrade to steel armor, since she wasn’t a melee fighter.
We both got into the ship as well and took off. We’d already said our farewells to Anna, Gorlick, and Naleada, as well as others, with the promise we’d return if possible when it was their turn to defend the southern flank. We headed north toward the glade, which I still thought of as mine and Gwen’s. Huh, that was another thing I was looking forward to at expert levels, I’d be able to make a steel oak bow for Gwen, assuming the trees cooperated.
Chapter Two
The feelings of welcome rushed over my senses, as the glade welcomed us back. Anlyth and I exchanged a knowing look when Lara gasped in surprise, and she had a confused but happy smile on her face. I imagined when she was here so shortly that first time, she was still level one, and perhaps hadn’t even chosen the Life sphere yet.
She asked in a tone of wonder, “What is that?”
Lara had joined us in Southern Kingdom, along with Steven. Both of them had been wonderful additions to our party, but Lara was indispensable. She had a hang-up about killing, even monsters, though she made no judgements about us killing them, and helped us to do it in a support role. Her support had been a godsend, and I’d lost count of the amount of times her protection and enhancement spells had prevented disaster and even death for the entire party. Now that our protections were at 80% against all forms of magic just with enchantments, I was looking forward to seeing what she came up with instead. Perhaps more stat improvements, perhaps something else.
Anlyth said, “The steel oak trees, the grove which surrounds this glade, welcomes us. The trees are sentient and connected to the whole forest through the root system. They can also read good and evil in the hearts of those that walk among them.”
She sighed, “Steven, we should have come last time, no wonder you all came back up here on our day off.”
Steve smirked, “Don’t feel a thing.”
Lyre said, “The Life sphere wielders feel it strongly, but if you quiet your mind you’ll feel this is a peaceful place. Special, subtly so.”
I popped the canopy.
“Did anyone else see the large fort in the field between our forest and the Elven one?”
To the west of the forest was a large grassy plain, that led to the eastern side of the elven forest. It was about two miles wide east to west.
Anlyth grunted, “I did, not sure what it’s about yet, I’m sure Wynn can fill us in.”
I nodded, “Think he’s here, or in the outpost.”
A familiar voice from outside said, “He is coming now.”
I turned my head and smiled at Rylla. She was in charge of the elven scouts, and she’d given us all the information we’d needed to target the goblins to make the most impact. She had a smirk on her face, and her eyes widened, and her hand shot out as Anlyth tossed her two gemstones.
One of them was a stasis spell I made, a duplicate of the one I’d put on the ship. I was guessing the other one was the earth spell involved in making our ship fly. The scouts had the talents among them to copy and make enough two-seater scout ships for ten two-person teams in just a few hours, though Anlyth would supervise the building.
Rylla continued, “We saw you fly over, he’s eager for your final reports on the Southern Kingdom.”
I nodded, and we all got out.
Gwen squeezed my arm, and headed for the large outdoor firepit we’d built, presumably to make lunch. Lyre and Lara followed. I didn’t believe for a second that cooking was a woman’s work, but every time I asked if I could help I got shot down, so I’d stopped, asking I mean. The rest of us headed for the open gazebo with a roof and large table instead.
“We couldn’t help but notice the large stone fort?”
Rylla nodded, “There’s another one just outside the northern border of the elven forest, and one a few miles east of the outpost. We don’t think it’s going to be much longer, a matter of days or perhaps sooner, before the war starts. We’ve already started to evacuate the villages.”
Wynn stepped into the glade, with a serious expression on his face. That was pretty normal actually, it was a rare sight to see the elven weapons-master smile at all. What was even stranger was that he’d always been stronger than the rest of us, but he’d only managed to gain four levels since we’d gone south. I shrugged that off as unimportant in my mind, he was a good tactician, and friend.
“That’s true, welcome back. We’re hoping you’ll stick around for the fun?”
I replied, “That’s the plan, although we had no idea it was coming so fast. The forts?”
Wynn replied, “The enemy will have a large army, and swarm into the forest to take out the villages and towns before they circle and siege the walled elven cities. The forts are an attempt to derail that, though the chances are small it will work, we’re going to try and turn them back before they can ravage our forest.”
Steve tilted his head, “Can’t they just go around?”
Wynn sighed, “They aren’t mindless like the goblins, the dark elves and gray dwarves are too cunning to fall for something so obvious, and they’ll be in charge. On the other hand, we don’t believe they’ll risk leaving a live enemy behind them. If they bypass the forts, the soldiers within can sortie and be a perpetual pain in their backsides, and worse, cut off supply lines. They’ll have to take the forts, even if their purpose is transparent to them, or at the very least they must contain them. Worst case, they leave a small amount of their army behind to bottle them up, and in so doing split up their strength. Even that’s better than nothing.
“Regardless, the generals of the elves, dwarves, and humans are in the outpost right now, working out the remainder of our strategy.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that plan, except of course it sounded like a suicide mission for those that manned the forts.
Wynn shrugged, “Let’s grab some lunch, I want to hear about the Southern Kingdom, then we can talk about what opportunities are available for you in this conflict.”
I nodded, and we all moved toward the Gazebo.
Chapter Three
“That was delicious.”
Gwen winked, Lyre said thanks, and Lara nodded shyly.
It took a surprisingly short time to cover the last couple of weeks, and what we’d been up to in the South. Making sure they were armed, preparing, and taking it all seriously. Luckily, we’d had a staunch ally in the princess, and the king’s apparent foolishness had really been a curse, otherwise it would have been more difficult. Not that it’d been easy. Still, we’d gotten it done, and we’d gotten in some crazy fights along the way.
Wynn grunted, “That helps, I’ll pass along the information to the generals, with confidence.”
Anlyth asked, “You mentioned somethin
g we could do to help?”
Rylla replied, “Ships first.”
Wynn nodded, “Not sure about the south of course, not yet, but the northern and eastern evil races are mobilizing for sure. We should have more information about it in the morning. The plan is to build those ships, and then scout the mountain ranges tonight. Once that’s done, we should have a better idea of when each group will attack, which one first. We hope they won’t all move together.”
Steven asked, “Has that ever happened?”
Rylla shook her head, “Mostly no. They don’t collaborate to that level. We believe they do collaborate in some way, otherwise their attacks would most likely be months or even a year or two apart, but they general move a few days to a week apart. There have been instances where they overlapped, a day or two apart when we’re still fighting one group another joins the fray. Hopefully that won’t happen this time around.”
I nodded, “So nothing yet.”
Wynn smiled, “Bored?”
I laughed, “Not exactly. Just ready, we’ve already had a few days off.”
Wynn nodded, “Understood. Well, take one more day off, enjoy the glade. Rylla and I need to get back to the outpost. Steve, Lara, you’re welcome to make use of my cottage, I’ll be bunking down there tonight. I’ll be back around mid-morning with news. Anlyth, you’re going to need to supervise the ship building for a few hours, then you can stand down too.”
Lyre said, “I’ll come as well,” she glanced at the four of us, “We’ll be back by dinner?”
“Sounds good,” Gwen said, “We’ll hunt down some deer and make some steaks.”
Lyre grinned, “I’ll bring bread, juice, and other sides back from the outpost.”
We all stood up, and the four elves headed south.
Gwen said, “Jason and I are going to hunt some fresh meat.”
Lara blushed, “I think Steven and I will just explore?”
I nodded, “Sounds good.”
I wasn’t at all surprised by that, if she couldn’t kill evil races, or monsters, I wouldn’t expect her to enjoy hunting down a normal animal.
We split up at that point, and Gwen and I headed north to track down a deer.
I’d been keeping up my hunting skill to my level by being constantly aware of my surroundings, looking for animal trails and signs, and otherwise being aware of what life was around me. But, I hadn’t actually gone hunting in quite a while. It was a remarkable difference from the initiate levels as we walked through the woods now that I was in our forest again.
I imagined our much higher sneak skill helped as well, if not for my detect life spell I wouldn’t have been able to keep track of Gwen at all as we ghosted through the forest. We’d come a long way from the time we’d woken up in and around this forest. It didn’t take long before we tracked and took down a deer, once we had, Gwen broke the silence we maintained during the hunt while we skinned and dressed.
“I missed this. I enjoyed the luxuries of a city, but not the bustle and crowd.”
I nodded slowly, “Me too.”
She smirked, “You just like the trees.”
I laughed, “That’s part of it, but the peace is good too. Still, with the ship there’s no reason to do without those conveniences while we live out here. It wouldn’t be the same without you to share it with either.”
She winked and gave me a smile.
“How bad do you think this is going to get. I mean, the people here seem real to me. I know they defend against the enemy every two hundred years or so, but a lot of the elves, humans, and dwarves are going to die.”
I sighed, “That’s occurred to me as well. Especially for the people we know, and in our party. We just have to save as many as we can. I also wonder how we’ll be fighting, a full-fledged battle is different.”
She tilted her head, “How so?”
“Well, in wars on Earth fought with bows and swords, all the bowman would be together, and all the melee folks would be together. That would split our support and frontline people, wouldn’t it? Of course, we aren’t meeting on a field, and we’ll all be on the wall, so maybe not.”
She nodded, “We’ll find out what they want, maybe they’ll send us out to harry the enemy. Let’s talk about something else.”
“You have beautiful eyes.”
She snorted, but also had a wide blushing grin on her face.
“Love you too.”
It was my turn to wink.
The rest of the day was pleasant, although I think we were all a little worried about what was coming. The people in this virtual world were real to us, and it was a harsh violent place. It made me a bit angry actually, but I had to wonder if it was really Gaia’s fault, since it was humanity who excelled in such circumstances. In truth, I tried very hard not to think about it, or why she would go to such lengths.
It wasn’t all bad, we enjoyed a peaceful day in the glade, and when evening came we got back together with the rest of the party to enjoy dinner. The roar of the nearby fire, warm food, the calm acceptance of the steel oaks, and the sounds of the forest were all relaxing. We kept the tone light, the conversation and banter about anything except what we’d be facing over the next few days, or even what we might do after the war was done.
After dinner, we retired for the night.
Chapter Four
“Good morning,” Wynn said a little gruffly.
We were around the table and on the tail end of breakfast. Skillet biscuits, eggs, and bacon, with a selection of fruit as well. My stomach was happy.
“Morning,” we all murmured back as he took a seat.
Wynn said, “It looks like the North will move first, but the Eastern tribes aren’t all that far behind.”
“What can we do?” I asked.
Wynn grunted, “Normally, I’d say nothing but hunker down and prepare. They should be fully assembled by the night after tomorrow, and they’ll reach the forts the next night to attack at dawn the morning after, assuming they don’t just attack as soon as they arrive.”
Gwen asked, “That fast?”
Wynn smiled grimly, “The evil races will cooperate to an extent with the dark elves and gray dwarves in charge, and the giants to keep them line, out of fear. But, any sedentary time with them all bunched up like that increases the likelihood of orc and hobgoblin tribes fighting. They’re usually in competition for territory and resources, all of them really, the dark elves will move them quickly to prevent infighting.”
“Normally?” I asked, getting us back on track.
Wynn nodded, “There’s a short window of opportunity to better our odds.”
He pulled out a large map and unrolled it. It was of the mountains of the north. At the staging point, there were already notations of several orc tribes, thousands of dark elves, gray dwarves, as well as hundreds of giants. Around the staging point there were a few orc tribes still on the move to join up with the army. Horde?
Wynn said, “The flyers give us an opportunity to whittle down the enemy a bit before they can even all come together. There are three targets, three more orc tribes that won’t make the staging point until late tomorrow, and they’re rather isolated at the moment.”
He tapped the map several miles to the west of the staging point.
“We want you to ambush and kill as many of this tribe as you can, the whole tribe if possible. There are just over sixty from what our scouts could tell last night. Of course, they’re probably not there anymore, and on the move to the east through the mountain valleys, you’d have to figure out where they are now which shouldn’t be too hard, and then set up an ambush.”
Sixty orcs. We were journeyman now, and they should all be apprentices, except maybe their shaman and chief, so it wasn’t completely impossible, but it would be difficult. Numbers mattered, and we’d have to be smart about it. It would also help, every little bit would help, if we could take out even a small amount before they marched south to destroy the kingdoms.
“Alright, what ab
out the other two?” I asked.
Wynn said, “Other parties of the undying will address those, they’ll be taken and delivered by the scout ships, and picked up when the fighting is done. Anyway, once that’s finished, you need to head to the fort west of these woods, and report to a colonel Faelyn. He’s in charge of the undying volunteers for the siege, and he can explain what’s expected from you as well as the expected flow of battle and lines of retreat. He may or may not have more for you to do.”
I nodded, “Sounds like a plan.”
Wynn nodded sharply, “I’ll leave you to plan, you can keep the map. Good luck.”
He got up and left while we all looked at the map.
“I see two possibilities. We could ambush them at this river, once their forces are split in half during a crossing. Or, we could set up an ambush at this ravine,” I tapped the map further along, “Of course, that depends on if they even use that valley to get where they’re going. It’s the most direct route to their main war camp, but not the easiest.”
Lyre said, “River.”
I grinned, “You just want to electrocute them all in the water.”
Lyre snickered, “Maybe? A ravine makes a nice funnel of death, but I’d rather split up their numbers, hit them when they’re half done with a river crossing. Plus, if we’re forced to retreat, we can set up a second ambush by the ravine.”
Gwen nodded, “We’ll have lost surprise, and they’ll be more aware if we have to set up a second ambush, but I agree that two chances are better than one. Still, the point may be moot, if they go north first there are fewer natural obstacles, even if it adds a few miles to their march. We need to go see which way they went before we solidify any plans.”
“Fair enough, anyone have something to do first? We have several hours before they reach that river.”
We all exchanged looks, but no one spoke up.
“Very well, let’s go take a look and see which way they went.”
We all cleaned up after breakfast before getting in the ship to go take a look.
Island Kingdoms' War Page 2