“I think this is where we are.”
Gwen gave me a questioning look, and then stared at the globe.
I shrugged, “This is the only one that doesn’t have western mountains and a large gulf in the north east.”
Steve muttered, “How does that help us?”
I shrugged again, “We can decide where to go next, once this war is over. I’m pretty pissed right now at what they did, but I won’t stop fighting until it’s done. We can’t leave all those people to die, just because the leadership of the northern kingdoms seem to be made up of assholes.”
Granted, the soldiers had been condemned to death already, but there was something very wrong with tricking them into fighting for their life, while planning for them to die no matter what. It was also stupid, if they’d doubled the soldiers and given us a general or two of master levels to help shore up the grand enchantment, we might have even stopped the enemy before they harmed the elven forest at all.
I decided that part was a lie too, they’d never believed the enemy could be stopped there. It was all part of the lie to get the condemned to fight. They’d only ever wanted to bleed the enemy as some kind of experiment. And we’d had, by about ten percent of their numbers. Still, it seemed a waste, there’d be ninety thousand to defend from now, instead of a hundred. That’s assuming the northern fort was as successful as we were with the other half of the horde. Of course, if they’d failed to hold against the dark elf sneak attack, there’d be closer to ninety-five thousand.
Gwen said, “I see no point in going far away, or skipping things. We can either go northwest to the large continent, or northeast to the island chain.”
There was stuff to the south too, but it was farther away. It looked like we were in the southern hemisphere, right below the equator.
I replied, “Beaches.”
Gwen snickered, “You just want me in a bikini.”
I nodded, “Damned right, love.”
She laughed throatily, and then bit her lip with a certain look in her eyes. I knew then she regretted this place had a muted sense of touch as much as I did.
She also hadn’t told me how she died, and I was glad of that. I didn’t want to picture it.
Steve cleared his throat, I guess we’d gotten a little… intimate with our gazes. If anything, our love and connection had only grown stronger with time.
I sighed, “I’m going to take the time to memorize this, who knows if it’ll be here next time we die, or if we’ll even die again at all. It’ll be a good mental guide on where we’ve been and still have to go as time passes. Then I’ll do the meditation and upgrade thing.”
Gwen replied, “Good idea, me too. Steve, I might need your help with the sword practice.”
Steve nodded, “I leveled too, sounds like a plan.”
We still had over twenty-two hours in this place, might as well. It also wasn’t lost on me that we’d be at the master levels before we’d gotten very much of it done, the world was huge. We could still grow, but the majority of activities and quests would be far below our level and a waste of time, we’d have to find the master level quests and all that.
I wondered again what Gaia was up to. Was she crazy, or was there a method to her seeming madness in this violent world she’d created for us? I pushed it down though, I had no new insights or guesses into that subject. Still, I hoped she had a logical reason for it, otherwise our lives were hanging on the whim of a broken and insane A.I. Which would be bad.
We all went our own way at that point, and then started to work on our skills and meditate. I couldn’t cast or practice, not while dead, but I could reorganize the spells and the new concepts. Spell casting was fast, and all in the mind, but it was far from easy or simple.
I spent a lot of time looking for new combinations or spell possibilities after incorporating the new concepts. I had a few ideas for when we reached expert, being able to control raw magic and form spells outside our bodies would open up lots of different things, and I had a ton of ideas for when we reached master and could combine spheres, but otherwise I was at a loss for new spells during our journeyman levels. Perhaps I’d already discovered them all when we’d hit level twenty-one? There weren’t all that many major changes for that jump, at least on the spell level, the biggest changes being sensing magic outside of our bodies and grand enchantments. The problem with that thought, with the idea that I’d already discovered everything, was mass heal hadn’t even been on my radar at all, so surely there was more I hadn’t considered yet?
A failure of imagination perhaps, but there it was. I really needed to sit down with Lyre, Anlyth, and Lara and compare notes on our common spheres of fire and life, we hadn’t done that in a while. Hopefully we’d find the time for it soon, I knew as soon as we respawned we’d have to head straight for the elven city and prepare for the next battle. Hopefully we’d be able to stand firm.
Chapter Sixteen
Gwen and I shared a private moment when we respawned. A deep passionate kiss as I held her in my arms, and I could see in her eyes that we both wished we had time for more than that, but we’d been dead for almost a full day and Anlyth, Lyre, and Lara were waiting for us outside with the ship.
Reluctantly, we headed outside. It was drizzling, and a bit cool, in the early evening the day after the short and violent battle.
Anlyth said, “Good to have you back, that was a close one.”
Lyre smiled at seeing us, but her words were grim, “We should get going. Yllarius, the crown city, is clear for now, from what we’ve been able to find out. It looks like the enemy horde recombined, and they’re encircling the second largest elven city, Aladell. Several small villages were destroyed earlier today during their march, but no lives were lost, they were all abandoned in the preparations.”
That sounded intimidating, ninety thousand or more of the evil races around one city? Of course, the defenses should be a lot more robust, and we should have a lot more defenders.
“How many defenders?”
Lyre shrugged, “About eight thousand, two shifts of four thousand, and there’ll be a lot more undying parties as well. So, it’ll be a lot closer to that ten to one ratio we need for defense. There’re also a few master level beings in the city, so our grand enchantment defense should hold. They won’t participate in the major battle much, they need to concentrate on the enchantment and countering the evil masters, but they’ll ensure the enemy needs to gain or breech the walls the hard way, instead of with magic.”
I nodded, “Let’s go.”
We all piled in the ship, I let Anlyth take the flight seat, since he knew where we were going, and I’d never been inside the elven forest, or seen one of its large walled cities. It was maybe twenty miles away, so it wouldn’t take us long to get there.
I felt conflicted as Aladell came in sight. Not just about the war with the evil races, or what that asshole Faelyn had done, but with all of it. I still felt a need to grow, and grow quickly, accumulate power. It felt like there was a shadow on my mind, a hidden danger coming that I was desperately trying to make myself ready for, even if I had no clue what it was. It was much more than simple ambition that drove me to level and gain power. It was subtle, and I didn’t often think about it.
That said, there was another side to things. I was remarkable blasé about death and destruction. The battles got my blood pumping, and the wounds and dying hurt, were even excruciating at times. I’d been gritting my teeth, and getting through it, but it had all left its mark. Beyond that I felt like I was being manipulated.
I cared for Lyre and Anlyth a lot, they were friends, comrades, even family. Yet, a part of me saw that as yet another manipulation, all the humans, elves, and dwarves that were native to this created world were real to me, lives worth defending, but at the same time they were truly creations of an artificial intelligence designed to push my buttons. Designed to appeal to my sense of justice, a need to protect, a hero complex if you will. I felt the pressure not to let th
em down, even as I knew it was all artificial.
I hoped after this battle things would slow down a bit, before the eastern or southern horde started their attack.
I was also a bit frustrated Gwen and I hadn’t been able to… express our feelings before this next battle. I loved her, and she meant the world to me. She loved me as well, I was sure of that much, and I wanted to spend some time with her soon. Not only for the physical expression of love, but to also spend time with, and maybe explore the elven city before the next damn crisis reared its head. Gwen… kept me grounded I think, more than I knew. Her constant support, and even just her smile drove me to want to excel and be a better man.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t thinking of quitting, or backing down. I wouldn’t be hanging up my spells and taking a job at an inn, or milking cows on a farm anytime soon. Everyone has doubts at some time or another. I wasn’t a quitter, I just felt conflicted. I needed to open my eyes, the humans, elves, and dwarves were the obvious side to take against the cruel and evil races, but they weren’t all puppies and sunshine either. It wasn’t just a small percentage of the undying, the real humans, that let evil infect their hearts. Faelyn and whoever had given the bastard those heartless orders had shown me that.
I wasn’t sure what I expected as we flew toward it, but the elven city of Aladell wasn’t it. It had large stone walls, and it was about two square miles, one mile wide and two in length. There were many districts below us, broken up by wide streets, much like a human city. The market, warehouses, common housing, upper class, and noble class, and everything else a city could need.
Except, it was nothing like a human city at all. Firstly, it wasn’t square, it was more an oval. The large streets were also curved, not straight. There was a lot of open space. Perhaps most shocking was it looked like they’d just grown walls in the middle of the forest, and then cleared only the trees and bushes absolutely necessary to build. As a result of that, the city wasn’t very uniform, but at the same time it looked like a perfect fit to the forest. The buildings and walls had vines, there were a lot of small parks, and many trees lining the streets and between houses. It was… very green, for a city.
The walls were manned with humans, elves, and dwarves. There were a lot more of the mini-ballistae, and I spied many of the undying. I wouldn’t be surprised if every undying that chose to fight and level on this large island, was in the city.
The enemy horde was surrounding the city, marching in from both the east and north still, but the buffer between the walls and forest wasn’t that large. I wasn’t sure whether that would be more of an issue for us, or for the evil races. They had the cover of the trees until they were almost to the wall, but then they couldn’t organize very well either.
Gwen squeezed my hand, and I looked over and gave her a smile despite myself. Her eyes danced for me. I let her excitement catch in my own chest, and then pushed away all the doubts for now. The determination to stop the enemy here, rather than lose a major city, settled into me. This world could be ugly, but my party was still there, all of them.
“You guys had any breakthroughs in fire or life you haven’t seen me use?”
Lyre shrugged, “Honestly, I’ve been pretty focused on air lately, the lightning has been a new toy. Also, the enemy seems to favor resistance against fire. I suppose that isn’t much of a surprise, since it’s probably the most damaging of the magical spheres.”
I nodded, “I get that.”
It was why I used it more than water, a lot more. Though water had its uses at times.
Lara shrugged, “Not really. You already picked up my mass heal, right?”
I nodded. Well, so much for that idea. That was okay, I could be patient for six more levels, I’d earn more abilities soon enough. I did have a few ideas on creation and growth, entanglement. Vines with large enough thorns to cause real damage while pinning down an enemy. But it wasn’t something that would be overly useful during a siege. Better to just kill them. There were just too many, even if I could entangle ten to twenty of them in a spell, what was the point when there were ninety thousand of them?
The ship lowered into the city, and Anlyth parked it in a small park near the front gates. We all got out, and he sunk it into the ground. Between that and the protections it should be alright, as long as the city wasn’t overrun that is.
We moved into the street and then toward the gatehouse, which had the stairs up to the top of the walls. I couldn’t help but look around and take in the city. I was looking forward to a little time off to explore and spend some fun wooing time with Gwen, but I pushed all that down. I needed my head back in the game. Battle first, then a little relaxation. Hopefully.
A guard stationed at the bottom of the gatehouse looked us over before moving to let us pass. He had a haughty look on his face, as if to say we were late. I ignored it, we didn’t owe him an explanation.
We took five flights of stairs up the tower, which ran along the sides of the four walls, and then walked out onto the wall.
Steve sighed, “Dying sucks.”
I laughed, “Yes, I’m going to try harder to avoid it in the future.”
We kind of did get a break between battles, but in a lot of ways we didn’t. That world with the temple and statue in the clouds was far too sterile. No pain, but no pleasure or even real relaxation. No food, no hunger, it was pretty damned boring actually.
The wall was about ten feet wide at a guess, and most of the soldiers looked tense and ready for battle. Of course, it was all a guess, the enemy might not attack until the morning. They had been running around burning and looting all day, of course they’d also gotten a good night’s sleep last night while we were dead, so I supposed it could go either way.
“What’s the chances they’ll send more cloaked dark elves.”
Anlyth shook his head, “The grand enchantment is much better here. The fort was thrown together rather quickly. The enchantment on the walls would reveal them if they tried.”
I nodded and looked along the wall. I found a spot with a larger gap between undying parties, and then headed in that direction to support the soldiers and hold that part of the wall. We were on the western wall, by one of the gates, I had to assume Anlyth knew which wall we were assigned to. While we were dead, he’d had plenty of time to communicate and check in on the communicators.
It was all pretty overwhelming, we were just one among thousands in a mutual defense against the enemy. I’d be glad to get back to normal quests we could just handle as a party. It was almost too much, the death and destruction. Why such a large-scale war?
Trying to figure out Gaia’s mind was a futile exercise.
We walked over to the wall and looked over. Whatever the enemy was doing, they weren’t prepared yet. I also didn’t see any of them setting up tents, or starting fires for cook pots, which probably wasn’t a good sign for the battle taking place tomorrow morning.
I also felt a phantom stabbing pain in my chest, an echo of my last death, and I stubbornly looked over the wall until it went away.
We settled in to wait. The others seemed okay, mostly. Lara looked a little lost, and she was constantly touching Steve. I couldn’t blame her for it, I remember how Gwen acted when I’d died back in that goblin cave, not the same, but she’d been just as freaked out. I was fairly sure Lara would pull it together when the time came. She’d never let us down yet.
There was a lot of confidence around us in the soldiers. They were pretty confident in their preparations, I supposed given their history they had cause. We all tried to relax, but it wasn’t easy. We also took comfort from each other’s presence, but the conversation was sparse.
Night fell.
I had a feeling when I had the overly clever idea of building a ship because horses were too damned slow, that it would come back to bite us in the ass at some point. I just hadn’t expected that regret to show up so soon. The sun hadn’t been down too long when one of the elven soldiers pointed out and muttered a few co
nfused words, as if not quite sure what he was seeing.
The enemy hadn’t built ships, enchantments would have been too involved maybe for so many, and they probably lacked the crystals or gems, but they’d definitely come up with a better plan than scaling the walls. It looked like hundreds of tight groups were rising up from the woods at an angle, and they were coming straight at the top of the wall.
We didn’t have all that much time to react.
“Dispel!”
Enchantments could resist a dispel, but normal spells not so much. Of course, I wasn’t in charge of the wall, and the soldiers on the wall weren’t the condemned, they wouldn’t be taking my orders. A few took my suggestion as common sense, a lot of others I think were waiting for an order from the commander of the wall, which came a few seconds later.
Lara of course, simply released our bonus enhancement to our attributes, and looked torn about the dispel as she readied a mass heal. I supposed it was possible that dispelling their flight at speed and having them hit the wall and fall to the ground below was too offensive for her sensibilities. I didn’t blame her for it, she simply didn’t take life.
The rest of us weren’t idle either, I picked a group and shot out a fire blast. I wasn’t the only one to attack in that moment either, I supposed standing orders covered attacking the enemy trying to gain purchase on the walls.
As a result, a few disparate groups started to fall out of the sky from dispels, and then the night’s darkness was lit up by exploding fire, shards of ice, earth, lightning, blades of air, and arrows. Honestly, it was a little awe inspiring as the enemy disappeared in blasts of fire, at least until I remembered there were ninety thousand of them, and we’d maybe taken out two hundred or so.
A moment later a whole lot more blasts of light were sent out, targeting the groups that were left with dispel magic. That second dispel group was a little late though, the ones that waited for the commander’s orders, and all it managed to do was mess up their controlled landing.
Island Kingdoms' War Page 9