King of the Realm

by Andrew Bardsley

  “That is what’s worrying me, as I can sense something watching us sometimes,” said Qyndad, looking less confident than he normally was. “It’s definitely unnerving.”

  “Unnerving for a dragon?”

  “It’s making me concerned for Symania’s safety.”

  “What about your own?”

  Qyndad nearly laughed at the question but said, “There’s nothing in this kingdom that can harm me!”

  “Let’s hope that you’re right.”

  The next several miles went without incident as the adventurers sped along the river between two mountain ranges. Unexpectedly, a loud note rang out from what sounded like an improvised trumpet, coming from the foothills close to the mountains on the west side of the river. Ceras looked around to see what was happening, as several more answering notes played across the plains. Thousands of goblins arose from the top of the hill to the west of them, as if the grassland had come alive with the small creatures. They started to scream loudly as though triggered by the trumpet sound.

  “Run as fast as you can!” shouted Rinaldo. “It’s a goblin horde!”

  The team started to run without any need to be told more, as they’d all heard about the power of a goblin horde. When goblins were able to gather together in large numbers the power of the whole horde became greater, even giving the goblins mage power to perform greater spells. Ceras guessed that this area of wilderness must have somehow lost a critical mass of the other monsters that often kept the goblin numbers down, thus allowing for the goblins to quickly reproduce to horde levels.

  The horde of thousands and thousands of goblins was going to reach the bottom of the hill and block them off from escape before their group was able to pass them, even with the boots of air making them fly across the ground. Ceras cast a spell at the bottom of the hill, creating a magical force barrier. It was level with the running adventurers and to the side of the hill, preventing the screaming masses from blocking off their escape route.

  When the first few goblins hit the wall of blue, shimmering energy, Ceras felt no pressure from his magical shield. The adventurers could see the foremost goblins smash into the barrier, their faces squished as if pressed against a window pane. They collided with the shield in ones and twos, then tens and twenties, and within a few seconds hundreds and hundreds had all crashed against the shimmering shield.

  The front goblins were now being crushed to death by the weight of the masses behind them pushing them against the shield. Ceras started to feel the strain on his magic that was depleting his mana at an alarming rate.

  “Symania, will you cast a shield to the side to help shore up my shield?” shouted Ceras to the healer.

  He didn't hear her reply, but could feel the pressure of the goblins subside from his shield immediately.

  The adventurers now had to try to outrun the goblins that were coming up behind them, as the shield was only preventing attacks from the goblins to the side. Ceras noticed that some of the goblins on the opposite side of the shield were starting to form pyramids to try and climb over.

  “Shunneth, Rinaldo, Qyndad - you’ll need to clear the path of any goblins that get over the shield without slowing us down!”

  The three veered off to the side and ran closer to the glowing magical shield. Their speed remained on fast-forward so they could outrun the goblins behind them. This time Qyndad had his sword out, as he at least knew how to swing it now, thanks to some training from Rinaldo. The other two each had a sword in one hand and a mace in the other.

  When the first goblin managed to jump - or more likely be thrown - over the magical barrier, it was met by the three adventurers. They worked together as they cut it into pieces, leaving half the goblin on one side of them and the other half on the other.

  Soon more and more goblins were being thrown into their pathway and the trio seemed to dance through them, not slowing down in the least as they dismembered the small creatures. Ceras was thankful for the small number of goblins that were able to get over the shield as if the running adventurers had had to slow down, the goblins running from the rear would have caught up.

  For the next few minutes this stalemate continued as the barrier held, and the adventurers killed the few goblins that managed to get over. Once the runners had passed the majority of the army, Ceras and Symania dropped the barriers and put all their efforts into outrunning the goblins with the rest of the team.

  Ceras was so grateful to have the boots of air that enabled them to outrun the horde of mad goblins. As the group left them behind, Ceras was starting to get more confident that they had outrun them. From behind them he could no longer hear the goblins’ screams and eventually turned his head to see how far behind they were. He was surprised to see the entire horde had stopped and was dancing around several large goblins with skulls on their heads and staffs in their hands. Magical energy started to form around them like a mist as it rose up from the ground. The movement of the dancing goblins seemed to stir the magic and amplify it as the enchanted mist grew thicker.

  “I think they’re doing something magical!” shouted Ceras as he ran alongside the other adventurers. “Get ready for something unexpected!”

  For the next few minutes, he glanced back every now and then to see the magical mist forming into large, solid, humanoid shapes that were gradually becoming more and more detailed. Suddenly, from the rear, he heard a roar as if a volcano was erupting from the ground. Looking back, he saw a massive rock troll who was at least seven meters tall towering above the goblins. It started to smash its way through the army, not caring for any goblins it crushed under its mammoth feet. The rock that formed its body was glowing red in color, with smoke bellowing from its back as it ran forward. The goddess blessing identified it as:

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Skills

  Lava Troll

  50

  10

  800

  100

  Lava Ball

  That’s just great, we have a level fifty monster behind us, thought Ceras as a large ball of fire exploded about twenty feet behind them. Ceras turned back for a second, formed his own white-hot fireball about one meter in diameter, and blasted it at the chest of the oncoming molten monster. Watching for a second to see the fireball’s damage, Ceras was aghast when the fire hit the lava troll - not only did the fireball do no damage to the fiery monster, but he saw that its health bar had increased as if it had absorbed the energy.

  Note to self, he thought. Fire on fire - no good.

  He ran on to try to catch up with the other adventurers. He could feel the rumble of the ground as the pounding troll was catching up with them, so he turned around again and cast a frost spell, packing as much power into the mist as he could and sending it toward one of the rock troll’s knees. When the hundreds of thousands of ice particles hit, the red glow of the leg turned a dull black and slowly iced over, making the troll stumble and fall. It made an almighty crash as it hit the ground, taking about ten percent off its health bar.

  Taking a few more seconds to stand still, Ceras sent several large blocks of ice shards into the body of the troll now on the ground. When each of the shards hit the fallen troll, its red glow dimmed to black in each of the places the ice had impacted.

  Ceras started running again as fast as he could. As he ran he noticed the troll was getting up, but this time it was moving more slowly than before. He put on a burst of speed, digging deep into his stamina, and after a few minutes eventually caught up with the others in their flight from the goblin horde and its monster.

  When he was level with Symania he briefly glanced behind to look at the rock troll, now lagging a few hundred meters behind but still pursuing them. He saw the horde of goblins continuing to dance around in the center of the mist in the far distance, only to hear another roar as a lava troll emerged from the mist and started to race toward the adventurers.

  Spying
the river on the eastern side that twisted and turned across the plains, Ceras had an idea.

  “Across to the other side of the river, everybody!” he shouted as he ran to its banks in a few magical strides.

  Everybody jumped off the meter-high bank and onto the stony beach that lined the turbulent, fast-flowing river. Rinaldo started to wade into the river, jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone to quickly get across. As Ceras jumped into the river he felt the chill of the icy mountain water, and smiled with relief that his plan might just work.

  The other adventurers were now running up the other bank away from the river, still trying to outrun the horde and the trolls behind them. Ceras stopped to watch the approaching lava troll on the opposite bank.

  The first troll was about to cross the river so Ceras shot a mist of ice particles at its leg, successfully slowing it down. As it entered the icy cold river, steam erupted all around it, causing its body to dull and blacken with bellowing smoke, slowing it down more and more. The blacker its body became the more health it lost, as Ceras could see from the lowering red heath bar. The troll froze mid-stream and fell into the chilly water, which erupted in a huge explosion and produced a massive vapor cloud that rose about twenty meters into the air.

  By this time, the second troll had entered the icy water with a rush of steam. Ceras decided he didn’t want to hang around to see its fate but ran after the rest of the adventurers, although he did hear the eruption of gas as the second troll died.

  After about half an hour of running to catch up with the rest of the team, Ceras said, “Best if we keep running for as long as we're able. Who knows what else the goblin horde will be able to produce with that magic of theirs?”

  As nobody seemed to be complaining, the team kept up the pace, getting further and further away from the goblin's horde. Their pace kept on until nightfall, when the adventurers started to slow down and walk as the plain was beginning to lead up into the mountain’s foothills.

  As the group sat around a small fire that Ceras had started with a fireball, they brought out some rations from their packs to eat.

  “We’ll need to inform the kingdom about the horde of goblins in the area, as people will need to be sent to exterminate them before they grow any further and are a threat to the kingdom,” said Symania, chewing a bit of hard dried meat before trying to wash it down with some water.

  “I could just go back and…” said Qyndad, before he was interrupted by Symania.

  “No. Let the kingdom deal with it as we don’t want any more attention brought to ourselves.”

  “How far away is the kingdom?” asked Rinaldo.

  “Just over the mountain pass we’re about to enter. This trip normally takes a few more days as most people aren't running for their lives with magical boots of air, being chased by large lava trolls!” said Symania.

  “Don’t forget the goblin horde as well.”

  “Thanks for reminding me!”

  “I think that we should go as far as we can tonight, using spells to keep us awake so nothing catches up with us, “suggested Ceras.

  “Good idea. Symania and I can lead the way as we both have night vision,” said Qyndad as he gestured to Symania beside him.

  “When did you get night vision, Symania?” asked Ceras curiously.

  “I really don’t know, as I’ve not got a spell for it. It just seemed to happen,” said the bemused young woman. “Some of my other stats are changing as well.”

  After a quick meal and drying their feet and boots by the fire, the weary team of adventurers started the steep walk up to the mountain pass. The two with night vision led the way, but lucky for the team the moon was full, casting light onto the night. As the adventurers got higher and higher into the mountains the temperature dropped as the bitter wind hit them.

  Ceras started to use the fire spell in his magical pathways to warm himself up so he was not affected by the cold. He also noticed that unsurprisingly, Qyndad was not feeling the cold, but what was surprising was that Symania did not seem to notice it either. The other two had taken out thick coats from their bags of holding to wrap up warmly.

  The team kept climbing all the way through the night until they walked into a narrow mountain pass that was between several peaks.

  “At the other end is a kingdom guard tower overlooking the pass,” said Symania. “If they give us any trouble, just let me deal with it.” As she said this, she gave Ceras a sharp look as if he would cause a problem.

  The ground of the pass was mostly rocky stone covered in snow, thanks to the altitude. The group made their way slowly into the pass, clambering over the rock and sometimes having to wade knee-deep through snow. After an hour of traveling through the difficult terrain, Ceras saw a glowing magical barrier across the pass at its narrowest point. In the center of the barrier was a tall tower that seemed to be the source of the blue glow. To the side of the tower was a large archway that could have fit two carts side by side.

  “How do we get through the barrier?” asked Ceras of Symania.

  “They always have some adventurers on watch so they will allow us to pass.”

  “Let's hope they are awake at this early hour,” muttered Rinaldo.

  When the five adventurers reached the barrier, they shouted to the tower to try and get the attention of the guards for the pass. After a few minutes of shouting, a burly wizard opened the shutters of one of the windows. Looking down, he spotted the human adventurers below trying to get his attention and was surprised to see them, judging by the look on his face.

  “I’ll be right down!” the wizard shouted at them with a yawn.

  A few minutes later the wizard stumbled out of a solid wooden door in the stone tower. He wore a magical robe that seemed to flow as if made of the night sky. Facing the adventurers on the other side of the archway he started to cast a spell, which slowly pulled away the magical barrier that had covered the archways as if he was rolling back a curtain.

  “Come through quickly,“ he said urgently. “It will not stay open for very long.”

  The adventurers surged through the archway, glad to be out of the wilderness with the goblin horde.

  “We need to get a message to the kingdom that there’s a goblin horde on the other side of the mountains,” said Symania to the wizard, who was still yawning.

  Hearing this mid-yawn, he shut his mouth quickly and went slightly pale. “I’ll send a message off right now.”

  “Tell them they’re powerful enough to create legendary monsters,” said Symania.

  This got him to turn back with a look of shock, then started to run quickly to the tower.

  “We’d better head down the pass and get out of the cold,” said Symania, looking at the two wrapped-up warriors.

  Chapter 8 Central Kingdom

  The sun was at its midday height in the sky as the adventurers came into sight of a town at the bottom of the foothills. They had been descending from the mountain pass for half a day, and everybody except Qyndad had been relying on spells to keep them awake the whole time they had been traveling the rough terrain.

  “Can we agree on no demonstrations of significant magical power this time, so we can maybe stay in the town for more than an afternoon?” asked Symania with a stern look at Ceras.

  “OK, OK,” said Ceras, accepting of the rebuke, “but is it best if we just stay in a standard inn so as not to draw attention to ourselves?”

  “I think that you’re right,” said Symania.

  The gates to the town were wide open with only three guards keeping an eye on the traffic that was entering and leaving. Most of the people who were entering were farmers bringing goods to the market just inside the town entrance, and a few were adventurers dressed in various armor.

  As Ceras passed through the gates he kept an eye out for anybody who seemed to be acting suspiciously or looking at them too much, but they appeared to have blended into the crowd as he couldn’t see anybody taking much notice of them.

 
; Walking through the market, the adventurers bought some hot meat on a stick from one of the street vendors, as all of them were hungry. Symania led them to a large inn called The Green Goose at the edge of the market square displaying a strange sign with a goose on a green background. Entering the courtyard, the group had to move out of the way of some carts heading out as if they were setting off on a long journey, with the caravanners and guards all in position.

  After watching the carts leave, Ceras and the others entered the inn door and through a small passage into a large common hall. The hall was full of merchants, judging by their rich clothes, having a midday meal. To Ceras it looked as if many of them were conducting business, as money seemed to be changing hands with folded parchments and then handshakes as if the deal had been concluded.

  Light streamed in through the windows, through which Ceras could see the activity of the market. There was a bar in the corner of the well-lit room, with a barman serving drinks to waitresses. All of the waitresses were young and quite pretty as they served small glasses of wine to the mostly male clients, who seemed to be ignoring them as they talked business with each other.

  Ceras went up to the barman and said, “We’d like to get rooms for the afternoon and night. We’ve just arrived in town from a long journey and would like to use them as soon as possible.”

  The barman looked at the five weary adventurers as if he was sizing them up. “It will be one hundred coppers for rooms and meals for all of you for one night,” he said flatly. “It will be two rooms, one for the girls and the other for you boys.”

  Ceras nodded that the price was acceptable and dug into his money purse for some silver. When he passed it over, the countenance of the barman changed to one of congeniality and he asked one of the serving girls to lead them to their rooms.

  The rooms were very plain with a few amenities for washing, but Ceras was not too bothered as he cast protection wards over the thresholds to both of the doors and then went straight to bed, only pausing to take off his armor.