Shouts and jeers erupted from among the forest as the orcs responded to our meager show of force. A few of the bolder ones even strode out from their cover to taunt us, offering rude gestures and threats. While the language of the orcs was not known to me, the meaning of the threats they made was quite clear. Orcs were not known for treating their prisoners well, least of all their female captives. Should they take either of us alive, our time with them would be most unpleasant.
We feigned our distress and in general made a show of reacting poorly to the orcs’ menacing display. This only appeared to embolden them, and the few that had stepped out into the open were soon joined by a handful of others. I hoped to draw them close enough for our archers to try and take them out with a quick volley of bolts, but they rushed back into the forest suddenly when another orc emerged and ordered their withdrawal.
The apparent leader was taller and more muscularly built than the scouts and wore a pair of matching red armbands with some sort of insignia on them, but he vanished back into the trees before I could make out the crude design. I continued to look for the orcs for some time, but they did not return. Eventually, I stepped away from the parapets and consulted with my companions.
“Your plan nearly worked. We almost had them, Dreya,” Tási offered encouragingly.
“It would have worked if that big one hadn’t shown up,” I lamented.
“I recognize him,” Broda replied. “Not individually, but by his rank. Those armbands bore the symbol of the Black Hand tribe and mark him as one of their sub-chiefs.”
“I’m sorry Broda, I know this must be tedious, but you’ll have to explain the significance of that for me,” I said regretfully.
“The Black Hand tribe is not one of the larger ones, fortunately,” she explained without hesitation. “But what they lack in numbers, they make up for in sheer brutality. They will not give up easily, if ever. The fact that they sent a sub-chief, their equivalent of a prince, to lead this attack means we need to take their threat very seriously.”
“Oh, is that all?” I replied sarcastically.
Bane landed on my shoulder at that moment, forestalling her retort.
The bulk of their forces are close now, Sintári, no more than an hour away. I would have returned sooner, but I was trying to get a better idea of their numbers. I could not get a precise count, but I estimate that we face between two and three hundred of them.
‘You did well Bane, thank you. Go find something to eat if you haven’t already,’ I sent back to him.
Bane flew off to where several dwarves were cooking some food. Over the past few days, the people had taken to feeding him, considering it an honor to have the ‘little dragon’ choose a morsel from them. Bane had taken full advantage of his honored status and become quite picky with his eating habits, turning up his nose at anything that did not meet his ever-increasing standards. Once he was off pursuing his dinner, I let the others know Bane’s estimate of our enemy’s numbers.
“Sounds like a full war party,” Khorim noted dourly.
“They only knew about the two of us,” Tási bemoaned. “Why would they send so many?”
“It makes little sense,” Broda commented. “There’s no reason for them to bring so much force to bear.”
I stayed silent, unwilling to voice my concern. While there might have been some mundane purpose behind the tribe’s actions, I feared that my days of being unnoticed by those who opposed me might have come to an end. Certainly, a tribe as vicious as the Black Hand might have chosen to respond with overwhelming force to the defeat we had handed them, but it was also well within the realm of possibility that their action might have been directed or influenced by something else. Something or someone who was aware of my presence here. Although the prospect haunted me, I kept my concerns to myself—it would serve no purpose to invoke the possibility of an even greater threat immediately before going into battle.
My silence was not only for that reason. I was also regretting my decision to leave the gateway wide open. I had thought the gap might entice our foes into a rash attempt to cross the trench, counting on both the spikes at the bottom of the trough and my traps within the gateway to handle them. Although the impediments would still provide us some protection, the sheer number of enemies we faced made the clear pathway through our fortifications far more vulnerable than I had anticipated.
“We need some soldiers to protect the gateway,” I finally said. “The orcs are too numerous for us to rely on our original plan.”
“I will put together a squad,” Khorim said confidently. “They will hold the foul beasts off.”
“We can manage this if we are able to control how fast they come at us,” I continued, adjusting our tactics. “I need the archers to keep to their original targets while I try and slow down the orcs’ charge.”
“I will remind them,” Broda offered.
“Thank you both,” I replied as the two of them set off on their tasks.
“What about me?” Tási asked.
“No changes for you, Tási,” I smiled at her. “I want you right beside me for the entire battle.”
“Good,” she sighed with relief. “For a moment, I thought you might send me away.”
“Not if I can help it,” I replied warmly as we took our place overlooking the parapets once more.
We didn’t have long to wait before a horde of orcs broke from the forest, massing just outside the range of my bow. Hundreds of them assembled before my eyes, and I could make out the tiny health bars and identifications floating above their heads. Even from that distance, I could see the callous sneer on the sub-chieftain’s face as he glared across the field at me. With a brutal roar, he initiated a charge, leading his warriors in a mad dash towards our defenses. Among the surging mass of green bodies, I noticed that several of their number carried crude bridges designed to ferry their troops over our trench. I realized the dire threat these devices represented and immediately focused on eliminating them.
I aimed my first Shockwave arrow not at the orcs carrying the wooden span, but at the structure itself instead. My arrow struck the device dead center and burst into a cloud of disruptive energy. The orcs that had been holding it were thrown to the ground, stunned by the force of the energy that had been unleashed on them.
I quickly fired two more Shockwave arrows into the remaining spans, disabling the porters that had been carrying them, and managing to destroy one that had been poorly constructed. Although my Aura reserves were quite low, I counted the points well-spent. The orcs had lost one of their spans outright and seemed reluctant to attempt to recover the remaining two, having already observed what had happened to their brethren who’d been carrying them when my arrows had struck.
With my Aura still recovering, I abandoned my talents and relied on the sheer power that the Bow of Impact provided instead. I chose my shots carefully and took out individual orcs one by one as they rapidly approached. A smile crossed my face as I realized just how close they had gotten while I’d been preoccupied with eliminating their crude bridges.
Suddenly, green-skinned bodies began dropping all across the orcs’ advancing lines. Our enemies had finally reached the fields that Hilgreth had sown with her caltrops, and the vicious devices were taking a heavy toll on their numbers. When they realized the danger, the orcs were forced to slow their charge and began to carefully pick their way through the treacherous minefield. That was the signal that our archers had been waiting for, and the dwarves finally joined the fight.
Bolts screamed out from the parapets, taking out any orc that bore a bow or long-range weapon of any sort. The stunned sub-chieftain glared in hatred and surprise as his forces suffered the losses from our volley. In a fit of outrage, he roared out a command, stirring the still numerous orcs forward with renewed vigor.
Green-skinned bodies flung themselves across the trenches in berserk outrage, careless for their own safety. Several somehow managed to make their way across the gap but were quickly rep
elled by the defenders Khorim had staged there. But in death, the orcs had served their purpose, allowing even more of their brethren to surge into the trenches and begin clambering up towards the open gateway.
As things grew grim, a burst of flame ignited in the center of the trench, forming into a deadly column of fire that charred everything nearby. Tási’s pillar of fire careened through the tightly packed orcs, roasting them alive within its swirling flames, and the mad press of orcs that had threatened to overwhelm the gateway’s defenders below us vanished in a haze of smoke and flames. As before, the powerful Spell drained her, and I saw Tási collapse to the ground in exhaustion as the fires died down.
We did not waste the reprieve her magic had provided us. Crossbows had been reloaded and a second volley went out, wreaking havoc among the remaining orcs. Although there were still many of our enemies left, the sudden loss of so many of their number had the orcs on the verge of panic. With a target of opportunity in my sights, I seized on the potential for a rout and launched a Swarm-infused arrow at my mark.
Across the battlefield, three shafts stitched across the bare chest of the orc sub-chieftain. He looked down at the arrows protruding from him with an expression of puzzlement before collapsing to his knees. His body remained kneeling on the ground for a second before falling over dead. Their leader’s demise was the final straw, and the remaining orcs broke away, fleeing back into the forest.
Cheers erupted all across the fortifications in celebration of our victory. Tási was still drained from her exertion and I sat down next to her while she recovered.
“You did really well,” I commended her sincerely. “Your Spell gave us the break we needed.”
“Thanks,” she smiled back at me weakly.
Bane landed nearby and joined us soon after. I had held him to his promise to stay away from the fighting. He was not made for the brutal sort of combat that was involved in such battles, and although he initially resisted my command to stay away, I eventually managed to convince him that it was safer for both of us. Our happy reunion did not last long, however. Broda soon found us as well, and the news she brought was not good.
“The battle went well, but we did not escape without losses,” she told me bluntly.
“How many?” I asked her in return.
“Over a dozen wounded, and nearly half that number dead,” she replied.
“Stay with her,” I placed Bane on Tási’s shoulder before turning back to Broda.
“Take me to them,” I said, rising to my feet and withdrawing one of the resurrection scrolls.
“Remember what happened last time you used one of those?” Broda reminded me. “We can’t afford to lose you right now.”
“And I can’t afford to lose anyone I don’t have to,” I scolded her harshly. “Now take me to them.”
The dead had been laid out respectfully at the foot of the wall. Five still bodies carefully arranged on the cold stone. Some looked almost peaceful. I recognized one of them as a woman I had spoken with as she shot her crossbow during practice. A lucky arrow, one of the few the orcs had managed to fire, had pierced her heart. The others all seemed to have fallen defending the gateway as their bodies bore much more devastating wounds. One had been decapitated, while another had been hacked at so badly that his body was barely held together anymore.
“I don’t know if I can do this more than once,” I said turning to Broda. “You know them better than I do, who should I try to bring back first?”
“Out of the three, I would say Clorid first, then Madren,” she replied, indicating the crossbow wielder and one of the soldiers.
“What do you mean out of the three of them? I see five bodies here.”
“Yes, five dead, but only three you can possibly bring back,” Broda explained. “The others have been ruined beyond any hope of restoration.”
My confused expression prompted her to explain a little further.
“Decapitation or loss of any vital organs eliminates the chance of restoring life, Dreya. So too does excessive damage to the body. There’s just too much damage for the magic to overcome.”
I reluctantly nodded in understanding and unrolled the scroll as I approached Clorid’s body. Fortunately, the arrow that had taken her life had already been removed, sparing me the task of pulling the shaft from her chest. As I knelt down beside the fallen woman, a hush fell over the crowd that had gathered to pay their respects.
The words flowed through my mind as I read the parchment, and the powerful magic coursed through my veins just as before, but this time I was at least prepared for the onslaught of power that came with it. I knew that trying to fight against its overwhelming force would be pointless, so I attempted to guide it instead, funneling its energy through me rather than letting my body absorb all its power. The experience was still incredible, with flashes of light and entire galaxies full of life seeming to thread their way through my nerves, and despite my attempt to blunt its impact, when the energy finally dissipated, I was left reeling.
Broda was by my side in an instant, cradling my limp body in her arms.
“Did it work?” I gasped.
“Yes, now be still,” she replied. “You’ve done your part, now it’s time for you to rest.”
“No,” I pushed her away weakly. “I can do one more.”
“Dreya,” Broda whispered to me softly. “You’re going to hurt yourself badly.”
“Worse than him?” I asked her pointedly as I pulled myself next to Madren’s body.
“I can’t stop you, but please don’t do this,” Broda pleaded with me.
“I have to at least try, Broda,” I replied with tears in my eyes.
“I know you do, but it hurts me to see you torture yourself like this.”
I fumbled with the next scroll, unable to maintain my balance even while sitting on the cold stone. I looked to Broda and begged her to help me.
“Hold me up, Broda,” I pled with her. “I need your strength.”
Reluctantly, Broda sat down next to me and supported my body while I focused on unraveling the next scroll. When I finally did, the magic flowed through me again in a raging torrent that I had no hope of controlling. Infinite worlds passed by in my mind, filling me with power beyond comprehension for only an instant before the blackness claimed me.
7
I woke up and opened my eyes to see the roof of my own tent. As my vision adjusted to the dim light and I became aware of my surroundings, I felt Tási lying next to me and heard the sound of Bane’s soft purr. Somewhere off in the distance, the echoes of music rang through the walls of the canyon.
“What happened?” I asked Tási as I tried to rise from beneath the covers.
“You lay back down right now!” Tási rebuked me. “Maybe you don’t think you have to listen to Broda when she tells you not to do something stupid, but I’m not going to let you get away with that!”
The fierceness of her anger took me by surprise, and I reflexively laid back down as she yelled at me, but my compliance did little to soften her mood and she continued berating me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Tási practically screamed in my face. “You literally mean everything to everyone. An entire continent needs you, and you insist on doing incredibly stupid things that put your life at risk!”
I had never heard her utter a single profanity before and the sheer force of the anger she spewed put me completely off balance.
“Tási, I can’t die,” I tried to defend myself.
“Really? Do you know that for sure?” She asked me, not as a series of questions but more in the form of an accusation. “With the Barrier in place, we have no idea what might happen if you die. Shit, you’re not even really a Deathless anymore, are you? You’re a fucking Sintári now. Do you have any clue what that means?”
“I’m not sure—”
“Exactly! You not fucking sure! Yet you keep acting like Miss Fucking Immortal and taking all sorts of spectacularly idiotic chances with you
r life.”
“I’m sorry that I scared you Tási, but I had to try—”
“No! You! Didn’t!” Tási yelled back at me. “You didn’t have to do anything. You wanted to. You chose to. You can lie to everyone else—lie to yourself if you want to. But don’t you fucking lie to me!”
“Maybe,” I replied to her honestly as her words started to sink in. “I can’t really say what it is that drives me to do the things that I do sometimes.”
“Will you please promise that you will stop taking so may unnecessary risks?” Tási implored as her tone finally softened.
“I admit that sometimes I act rashly,” I began before Tási snorted at me derisively.
“Frequently?” I offered.
Tási nodded in agreement, and I felt free to continue again.
“You have to understand that there is something guiding me at times, pushing me to do things that may seem unwise,” I explained. “And despite how it might look to you, I don’t consider following the course it plots for me to be foolish. Whatever it is that is guiding me has led me all the way here. It has kept me safe and never led me astray, and I will continue to follow wherever it leads me, no matter what.”
“But it is also true that I have made some unwise decisions myself as well,” I quickly added before Tási could unload on me again. “I will do my best to rein those in from now on.”
Tási’s anger crumbled with my concession, and as she crushed me in a tight embrace, I felt her tears falling on my skin as she cried against my shoulder.
“I was so scared,” she sobbed. “They told me that when it happened before you just stared off vacantly for a while.”
“What happened to me this time?” I asked, suddenly disturbed by the implications of what she’d said.
“You were barely alive, Dreya,” Tási whispered through her tears. “I had trouble even finding your pulse. Nothing we tried helped—all we could do was wait and hope that you would come back to us.”
Second Skin: Unified: A litRPG Adventure (Second Skin Book 3) Page 12