by Troy Osgood
The third item was a single leather bracer. The color was hard to tell but it was plain with little to no scroll work. Two small throwing knives were set into sheaths on the top and bottom of the bracer. The blades were only about two or three inches long, weighted at the end. Hall put the bracer in his pouch.
The last piece of armor, the last item in the chest, was a leather helm. Plain, nothing more than a skull cap. It was odd shaped. Smaller than a human head, but wide. Made for a Dwarf and so Hall gave it to Roxhard.
“That’s it,” he said, standing up. The short sword, books, and pouches went into his bag. “Let’s get back outside.”
While Hall had been going through the stone chest, Roxhard had searched the Caobolds. There had been nothing worthwhile. Not even the weapons were worth salvaging.
They quickly retraced their steps, moving faster as they knew there were no traps and had already walked the path. It was harder going as the passage now sloped up, and the steeper angles were tough. They all grew tired but none wanted to stop.
Each wanted to see the sun.
Pike squawked and Angus mooed as they entered the cave. The dragonhawk fluttered up and landed on Hall’s shoulder, the cow moving over to Leigh and nuzzling at her hand. She quickly scratched behind his ear. Retrieving his spear, Hall led them outside.
The sun was higher but still a couple hours before dark. Plenty of time to head back down to the foothills. He started that direction, hugging the wall when Roxhard spoke up, calling for their attention.
He had stopped to get a better look at the leather cap, holding it in his hands now that they were in the sun. The cap was plain. No ornamentation, not well crafted. Functional and that was it. Hall had felt the tingle of magic so the item had some hidden value.
Roxhard held it in his hand, arm extended so all could see.
At first there was nothing standing out, but then Hall saw the color. The leather was dyed, patchy and streaky, like it had been dunked in a vat and hung out to dry.
It was a dark red, the color of dried blood.
“Redcaps,” he cursed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Distant cousins to the Dwarves, related more to Gnomes, Redcaps were considered the finest airship builders in the entire world. Their ships were strong, armored, and heavily armed. Not the fastest ships, but they made up for it in power. Elven ships, especially those of the Highborn, were for more graceful, but the ships of the Redcaps were more feared.
Because of this, the Redcaps were pirates. They raided villages and cities on the edges of all the islands, roaming the entire world, as well as attacking any other airships they came across. More often than not, those ships would choose to run away instead of trying to defend themselves against the Redcaps. They would count on their speed over the bulkier Capships to escape.
As vicious as Goblins, as strong as Dwarves, the Redcaps were feared fighters.
Duntin, as the race was truly known, earned the name Redcap because of the tradition of dunking their leather skull caps in the blood of their enemies.
“This was a Redcap treasure chest,” Sabine exclaimed, also cursing.
All eyes went to the sky, scanning the clouds and the blue beyond. Were those dark spots in the distance islands or ships? Both? Hall fought the temptation to walk to the island’s edge and look below. He’d done it before, everyone had, but the way the wind blew around the shelf he didn’t feel safe enough to satisfy idle curiosity. The chances of the Redcaps returning at that moment were slim.
But then he remembered this was a game, or supposed to be. Opening the chest would have been a triggering event and prompt the return of the Redcaps.
Nothing seemed to be happening. No ship shockingly appeared from below. No shadow in the distance came quickly closer.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said, not wanting to tempt fate.
There was no way they could handle an airship’s worth of Redcaps.
Hall led the party back into the crack in the mountain. He was cautious, not wanting to rush, listening hard. The crack was just wide enough for one but if someone or something came up from below there would be no way to turn around. It would be too easy to become trapped in the tight space. He held his spear, ready to use the length to keep anything at bay.
They made it safely through the crack and onto the foothills. The journey was slower because of caution, along with it always taking longer going down. It was close to nightfall when they stepped out of the crack and next to the two boulders with the slab. Hall glanced up into the sky, seeing the moon on one side and the setting sun on the other. The sun made the clouds red, a beautiful sunset.
Not enough time to find a suitable campsite.
Hall looked back into the crack. It was wider at this part, and the boulders did provide some cover from the foothills. It would have to do.
They didn’t light a fire, the night cold. The crack did provide some shelter from the wind across the foothills but the stone was hard and sloped. None of them got a truly restful sleep, and Hall had more watches taken throughout the night, each taken two shifts, with himself pulling the last.
The morning sun woke them, all with another loss of Vitality. They were tired, aching, and irritable. Until they were able to get the items identified, or able to afford it, it would be hard to tell if the trek was worth it.
Leaning against the stone wall of the crack as the others woke up and stretched, Hall had pulled out the treasure map. Now that it had been decoded and used, the magical map was just parchment. All the lines were there, the text and markers readable by the others. The case was still a nice piece of work, worth a decent amount if he wanted to sell it. By itself, the map was worthless. He didn’t think he’d sell either of them. Not a truly sentimental person, Hall still thought they would be good to keep.
Returning them to his pouch, he pulled out the short sword, wanting to examine the etched symbol. He remembered the feel of it in the dark, and he had guessed pretty good. Now in the light he saw that there was a triangle with the point up. Midway through the triangle was a line connected to an arc. A pyramid with a crescent moon? It appeared like the point of the pyramid was breaking through the crescent which loomed behind it.
Something about it was definitely familiar but he still couldn’t place it.
Replacing the short sword in the pouch he pulled out the bags of coins and jewels. The bags were simple canvas with hide strings threaded through the top. Undoing the tie, he opened the bag and dumped the contents out in his hand. Eight gold coins, twenty silver and eight copper. Not a huge amount but decent. Replacing the coins in the bag, he dumped out the jewels.
“Is that what I think it is?” Sabine asked.
Hall nodded. It was.
Five jewels lay in his hand, all rough cut, all small. Each was about a half inch long and that high, sharp edges. Three of them were rubies, another an emerald, but it was the last that had them excited. Smallest of the five, it was green with an orange tint. It seemed to glow with an inner light, accenting the green aspects.
A Sun Emerald.
A very rare jewel.
Hall had no idea what the small one he held was worth but knew it was counted in hundreds of gold. Holding it between fingers, he held it up to the light. The orange color was not lines or a stain but more spread out, part of the jewel.
This single jewel alone made the trek worthwhile.
“We need to do more treasure maps,” Roxhard said, looking at the small jewel in Hall’s hand.
Hall placed the jewels back in the bag, tying it tight, and returned it to his pouch. Standing up, he grabbed his spear from where it lay against the wall. His bedroll had already been packed, and the others were rolling theirs up.
“None of it is worth anything until we can get to town and sell it,” he said, stepping out of the crack.
He looked out over the foothills and the plains. Birds circled in the morning sky, but otherwise all was silent and empty. For now.
Pulling up his internal map, he scaled the distance from where they were to Land’s Edge Port. At least four days, most likely five. The Far Edge Peaks were home to many creatures living in the valleys between mountains and on the peaks themselves. While the Boarin and Centaur tribes lived in the plains themselves, Goblins and other nasties lived in the foothills at the base of the mountains. It would not be an easy trek across the mountains, and Hall contemplated taking the time to go into the plains themselves instead of the foothills.
Which would be safer?
There were risks involved in both. No way would they avoid all the various dangers. Would the added travel through the plains be any safer? He glanced at his Vitality bar, how low it was and not rising. That made his choice.
The sooner they got to Land’s Edge Port, the sooner they could get a good rest and regain their much-needed Vitality.
Pike soared overhead, keeping out over the plains and not close to Far Edge Peaks. Cliff Shrikes had been seen, the aggressive and larger birds would be too much for the smaller dragonhawk. Shrikes were dangerous birds, fast with long and sharp talons and serrated beaks. Their screech could produce a stunning debuff.
Hall had hated the few quests out of Land’s Edge Port that involved the Shrikes. Any quests involving Shrikes on any of the islands he hated. They always attacked in pairs and were almost impossible to target. It took forever to wait for one to swoop low enough to be able to attack and that one’s call would bring another into the fight. Some Players were known to avoid quests involved Shrikes just because of how annoying the fights were.
He had chosen a path that was midway between the plains and the mountains, staying in the foothills but not directly mountainside. The walking was easier, the land not as steep or rocky, and the dangers from creatures like Cliff Shrikes was lessened. Staying in the foothills kept them away from Centaurs and Boarin.
Not that the foothills were without dangers of their own.
Because of their numbers, the mountain cats and other predators stayed away. They kept small fires at night hoping any visible smoke would be mistaken for Centaur or Boarin campfires, using the fires to keep the night predators away. They could see plenty of fires out on the plains in the time after the sun set and full dark appeared. The plains were busy at night. They fell asleep to the sounds of wolves howling, the great cats prowling, and other nocturnal hunters.
In a way, Hall found it peaceful. He’d spend his watch hours, typically first and last, sitting and staring out across the grassy plains, just listening to the sounds. He’d grown up in the woods and had moved to the city, gotten used to the city noises, but had always remain a lover of the woods. He missed these sounds. It was different, he knew. This wasn’t the woods of his home, this was the wild. The noises belonged to dangerous creatures.
But he found it peaceful, felt like he belonged.
The second night from the passage, he was on first watch. He had just put some more sticks and small logs on the fire, building it back up for the cold night. The wind had died down and they were fairly well sheltered in a hollow formed by a fallen tree and some boulders. Standing at the edge, he watched the land around him, listening to the sounds of the others sleeping. Around midnight, he heard Leigh get up from camp and approach.
Her turn on watch.
He didn’t immediately turn and head to his bedroll but stood there as she came alongside, standing close and almost touching. Together, they watched the plains.
“We should be in Land’s Edge Port in two days,” Hall said, finally breaking the silence. He hadn’t wanted to, enjoying her silent company, but felt he should. “I figure a day to recover and then can take the airship to Edin and head for your Grove.”
Leigh stiffened at the mention of the Grove. From their conversations he knew she was not truly looking forward to it, had been trying to delay. But it was time.
They were silent for a little longer, Hall thinking he should head to bed but Leigh started to speak.
“These foothills remind me a little of Edin,” she said. “It’s one hill after another, large ones covered in grass and rocks. Cold and windy. Foggy. But beautiful.”
“I know,” Hall replied. “Edin is probably my favorite of all the realms.”
“You’ve been?”
“Yes,” he replied before he could stop himself. He had been in the previous game, not this new one. Now he had not been to Edin before. He could picture it though, knew what it was like. And Leigh was right. It was rugged but beautiful.
Like she was.
“Ever been to Cliff Fields?”
“Nope, never heard of it before you mentioned it was where you were from.”
And he hadn’t, which was odd. He had explored every inch of Edin before, and there had never been a village called Cliff Fields. He wondered how many other new villages there were.
He caught her smile in the moonlight.
You have earned +200 Alliance points with Leigh. She is pleased that you remembered the name of her small village on Edin.
“There’s a lot about you and the others that doesn’t make much sense,” Leigh said.
Hall glanced down at her. The Druid was looking out at the plains and not at him. That statement worried him. He had been afraid that Sabine’s questioning was going to make her nervous about them, question their sanity even.
It shouldn’t have even been an issue. They were Players, she was an NPC. Her AI programming should have basically prevented her from understanding what they were saying or even caring. But she did somewhat understand and did seem to care.
“Sometimes you all sound a little crazy.”
There was nothing accusatory in her tone, or fear, or nervousness. It was just a simple statement of an observation. Hall still expected her to say she was leaving them at first light. He wouldn’t blame her but he knew that he’d miss her.
“Sorry about that,” he started. “It’s just…” he paused, unsure of what to say.
“Don’t worry about it,” Leigh told him, looking up at him with a smile. “For whatever reason, I trust you. That might make me the crazy one.”
She laughed lightly.
Hall liked the sound of it.
“That means a lot,” he said and meant it.
They fell silent again, Hall wondered if he should say or do more.
“Shouldn’t you be getting some sleep?” Leigh finally said after a couple minutes.
He knew she wasn’t trying to get rid of him, there was a hint of disappointment in her voice. She was just stating a fact, something he should have thought of himself.
“You’re right,” he replied, making sure a similar note of disappointment was in his voice.
With reluctance, he bid her goodnight and walked back to the fire. Adding another log, he spread out his bedroll and curled up under the blanket. He stared at the stars for a couple minutes and fell into a relatively restful sleep.
Two days later they left the foothills and crossed the last bit of the plains. They could see forest just to the south, a gap between the trees that marked where the Grayhold Road was. As they got closer, they could see some traffic on that road, wagons pulled by horses and people walking on foot. Coming in from the east there was no farmland or surrounding villages.
Hall had been surprised to learn from Leigh that there were a handful of small villages surrounding the city. Places where the local farmers could meet and organize along with the tradespeople that supported them. Most were only a day at most from the walls of the city. He remembered there being a handful of farms around Land’s Edge Port, there had been some quests involving them. But those had just been small collections of buildings, the homestead and a barn or two. There had been a logging camp in the woods to the southwest, a half dozen buildings. Beyond that, nothing but the city itself.
From what Leigh had said, Edin didn’t seem that much of a different place then he had known. Grayhold and even River’s Side were similar, just farther apart because of the scale and distan
ce differences. He was expecting Land’s Edge Port to be similar to what he had remembered.
He was wrong.
They joined up with the hard-packed road, alone on it for now. Wide enough for two wagons side by side, it was well maintained. No ruts or potholes. It ran north where it met the plains and then west to where the city was nestled in a small valley at the edge of the island. Hall stopped at the top of the rise, the road descending into the valley and the city.
Which was not what he had expected.
Like all cities and villages in Sky Realms Online, Land’s Edge Port had not been true size. There had been a handful of random homes but the majority had been functional buildings. Shops, tradespeople, guilds, the bank, and so on. Only about three dozen buildings surrounded by a wall with the docks built out from the edge of Cumberland.
What he saw now was a true city. There were hundreds of homes; wooden and stone, two or three stories. A wall of gray stone still surrounded the city, a large half circle with towers at the island’s edge, surrounding the two gates, and spaced evenly between. The road led to the east gate of the city, another road coming out of the west gate and heading toward the farms and villages.
Fields filled most of the space between the slopes of the valley and the walls of the city. Hall saw a large pond to one side and clumps of trees scattered around, a larger forest nestled against the eastern slope of the valley.
Hall estimated the city to be about four miles long, maybe three miles deep. There had to be thousands of people living within its walls. Smoke rose from countless chimneys, evening supper fires starting.
Laid out in five or six pie shaped sections, all roads in the wall led to an open space in the middle of the city. The market. Halfway between the market and the docks was the largest building in the city. Four stories tall, made of wood and stone, Leigh said it was the Duke’s palace. The docks were built out from the edge of the land, over the air and nothingness below. There were numerous small airships docked, and others could be seen coming and going, their large propellers and steam engines keeping them afloat.