Dawn of Adventure

by Andrew Bardsley

  Chapter 14

  The Bennet family and the entourage of adventures were all set up for the night. This was normal for parties of adventures in the dangerous wilderness at the edge of the county. As it was foolhardy to travel at night even in large parties. They had set up an easily defensible campsite. Lizzy again had set up all the wards to defend her family for the night with their magical power. She had wished for the company of Jane or at least Charlotte while performing her task. In her opinion, it was more pleasant work with somebody to talk to.

  When she got back to the central fire of the camp through the tall grass that was like dark covering on the ground. She saw her mother smiling with an abundance of joy. Her mother with that same smile passed Lizzy’s the standard bowl of adventures stew that had been bubbling away as she had been casting the spells.

  I bet Janes was attacked, she thought, as her mother was looking so happy.

  Her mother’s hopes had been answered; Jane had not been gone long before she was waylaid by some orc warriors. When hearing this, Lizzy was uneasy for Jane, but her mother was delighted. While Jane had dealt with the creatures in her own way. The battle had left some of her clothes torn, according to her mother.

  “This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” said Lady Bennet more than once, as if the credit of making the creature attack Jane were all her own.

  “I even have a communication for you, Lizzy. It seems that Jane will be of much use to the party. But she needs your help…She said that she finds that the destruction of the scourge is going to take a lot more magic than we thought it would initially take. She wants you to come, my dear, and provide her some magical aid while she undertakes the process. She would feel that it would be best if she had somebody that she can trustfully watching over her during the process,” said her enthusiastic mother. “How wonderful not only was she attacked, but she will render them some great services. All the while looking all lady-like and vulnerable. Bingley will have to look upon her and feel the stirring of concern for his beautiful damsel in distress,”

  “Well, my dear mother,” Elizabeth said when she had finished listening to the message. “If your daughter should have been in danger due to your machinations. If she should die and be sent to resurrection far away. It would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of Bingley, and under your orders.”

  “Oh! I am not afraid of her dying. People do not die of little trifling attacks, not with her power. You will take good care of her. As long as she stays there, it is all very well. You must go in the morning!”

  Elizabeth, feeling really anxious, was determined to go to Jane at once. She said with frustration on her face at her mother.

  “Mother, you will be pleased to know that I will go now immediately,” she said with determination.

  “How can you be so silly,” cried her mother, “as to think of such a thing, in the dangerous night! You will get there at an inconvenient hour for their party...it is most unseemly. Lizzy, nobody wants you to go so quickly.”

  “I shall be very fit to see Jane...which is all I want.”

  “Is this a hint to me, Lizzy,” said her father, “ to send you with an escort?”

  “No, indeed, I do not wish to avoid the walk by myself. The distance is nothing when one has a motive.”

  “I admire the activity of your benevolence,” observed Mary. “But every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason. In my opinion, exertion should always be in proportionate to what is required.”

  Lizzy said to her sister, “Thank you, Mary, for your wise words, but I think this is proportion to what is required.”

  With that, Lizzy picked up her pack, kissed her mother and father on their cheeks, and walked off into the darkness of the night. Her mother looked as if she was about to say something but just nodded at her headstrong daughter. She knew that pushing her daughter too far would achieve nothing.

  As Lizzy stepped out of the flickering light provided to the camp from the fire, she looked up into the night sky. Seeing that the night sky was full of light from the myriad of stars flickering in the heavens. She cast a night seeing spell that had been a great utility in the past. As the weaves of energy touched her eyes, the dark landscape became lit with red hues of all shades. With the spell’s aid, she could now see the detail of the world surrounding her. The only difference was to seeing the land during the day was that the surroundings were all in a red scale. In the distance, she could see the flashing magical marker her mother had cast for Jane and now for her to find the way. This magical guide was all in her mind as part of the wonder of her mother's true power.

  Suddenly from behind her, she heard two sets of footsteps. Looking behind her to see Kitty and Lydia approaching out of the night. They were both ready for a night's adventure. Kitty was in her full armor with a solid looking ax on her back.

  Kitty said with a smile, “Like Mary, we think that your impulses should be guided by reason. But unlike her, we have a more practical solution to the problem. We’ve decided to escort you ourselves.”

  Lydia cut-in with a frown, “Don’t worry, we will not be seen by the Dungeon master’s party. I'm sure that they will not want to see me. Kitty and I will leave you just before their camp if needs be.”

  Lizzy nodded with grateful acceptance as she moved forward again now with her two adventures’ sisters on either side. With the noise of the creature of the night telling them the danger, they could meet. The three kept close together as they moved quickly in the night. Now the darkness was full across the foothills of the mountains. The creatures of the night were on the hunt for any defenseless prey with howls frequently filling the night air.

  Lydia said with excitement, “Even most of the orcs are safe behind fortifications of their stronghold as the night was just too dangerous in the wilderness. I wonder what we should meet. It will probably be high-level and valuable.”

  “We can only hope,” said Kitty eagerly in reply.

  Lizzy had her suspicions confirmed by what their motives must be. It was not normal for then to be so considerate. With the target of the Dungeon master’s party’s campsite shown a few miles in the distance. By her mother's magical guidance spell, the difficulty of navigating was made easy. But still, it was hard going as the women were on their guard, always watchful of the shadows in the dark woods.

  Lizzy thought, we only have to avoid any creatures out for a quick meal or two. But my companions don’t seem keen on that.

  An hour later, they were about halfway to their destination. Moving through a large wooded area with thick undergrowth that was obstructing the women's route. Lydia had been looking back ever so often. She said in an excited tone of voice, “I'm sure that something is tracking us.”

  Kitty said, “Do you know what it is?”

  “No, but it's certainly large enough to be of some value to us,” Lydia said with a pleased smile.

  “Is there any way we can avoid a confrontation?” said Lizzy, “I want to get to Jane as quickly as possible.”

  “Certainly, you may want to avoid a confrontation, but this is why we came!” said Lydia with excitement.

  When Lizzy looked back again in the shadows of the dark of the undergrowth of the forest. She saw a flash of movement. The creature was bounding from cover to cover as it was on the hunt for some easy prey. She estimated that it was about twice her size as it moved quickly through the darkness. The goddess’s blessing gave her an indication of what the three had to deal with.

  Name of Monster

  Level

  Agility

  HP

  MP

  Skills

  Mountain Leopard

  45

  50

  500

  300

  Flash movement

  Lizzy was about to shout to her sisters beside her as she started to form a magical shield around them. But it was too late as a flash of darkness barreled the short distance toward the three women. Lydia moved with an accelerated blur of sp
eed to the right. Rolling on the ground, she was already firing her first arrow before she finished her roll. As Lydia's arrow was in midflight towards the oncoming darkness, Kitty stepped in front of Lizzy. Then with a glow of a combat-skill, she locked her feet into the ground. It was as if she was a wall blocking the oncoming darkness springing toward them. Lizzy's eyes flashed down to the ground beneath Kitty's feet. Now instead of grass, there was a stone foundation. That had come from the depth of the earth to Kitty’s feet. Her heavy boots were part of the stone locking her in place.

  The first arrow of Lydia’s hit the oncoming monster with a thud in the silence of the night. Drawing blood but only dropping its health by a small fraction. But this did nothing to stop the attack as the dark shape crashed into the warrior standing as a shield for the wizard. The crashing of the impact of the Leopard onto Kitty echoed sharply into the dark night. Kitty didn't sway or even fall backward as she took the full impact of the creature.

  Then she slashed out with her great ax as the creature claws tried to grapple her armored body. For a fraction of a second, the struggle with the two continued as the monster tried to tear open Kitty's heavy armor with its raging claw and fangs. All the while, Kitty hacked at the exposed parts of the beast that were twice her size. She looked as if she was using the whole body to pivot with power around her stable footing. To Lizzy's slight amazement, she moved her feet at will as the rock foundation reformed around her. With this, she had the best of both worlds being able to move and also not be moved by the forceful attacks of the wild creature.

  Lizzy was just about to release a fireball at the attacking creature when she saw Lydia spring from behind the beast. As the monster was fully engaged with the warrior who was acting as a tank. It was not focused on the real threat to its life from behind.

  Lizzy released her fireball as she knew that the two youngest had the element of teamwork in their fight. Just when Lydia sprang, Kitty dropped her ax and grappled the Mountain Leopard with her gloved hands. The creature started to try to dig its long protruding canine teeth into her neck as she hung onto the monster. Thankfully her heavy armor prevented the animal from being able to bite into her flesh quickly. Meanwhile Lydia was clambering onto the creature’s back with a thin sharp dagger out looking for the critical blow. She promptly moved around using the black fur as handholds. When she found the spinal column at the top of the neck, she thrust in the thin dagger. As it dug into the brain of the creature, Lizzy saw the health of the attacking monster drop to zero in an instant. She smiled with satisfaction to see how good her sister was at a critical strike.

  With grace and agility, Lydia jumped off the monster’s back. Then Kitty flashed with a power-skill as her strength increased for a few seconds. She threw the monster’s body to the side as if it was a kitten. No sooner had the beast hit the ground than the two women were moving to it. With sharp skinning knives drawn ready to gather the bounty of the kill.

  Lizzy said as the two set about their task, “As you're going to be busy with your gruesome task for a while, I’ll travel the rest of the way by myself.”

  She just got a nod from Lydia. But a slightly guilty looked and then a nod from Kitty.

  As she walked off into the darkness, she thought, I guess I know exactly why they came with me. Any excuse for gaining something.

  Now that they had parted, Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing the wilderness at a quick pace. Casting a physical enhancement spell, she was able to jump over logs and spring over puddles with impatient activity. Moving quickly, Lizzy soon was able to find herself at last within view of the campsite. Now the spell had worn off, and she had weary ankles, dirty armor, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.

  The outer guards of the dungeon master camp showed her to the edge of the campsite fire ring. Where around a large fire all but Jane were assembled. Not surprising, her sudden appearance, out of the dark night, created a great deal of surprise. That she should have walked the miles in the darkness of the night, and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley. From the looks of disgust on their faces, Lizzy was convinced that they held her in contempt for it.

  When the nobles in the dungeon master’s party had recovered. With the shock of seeing her this late at night in the wilderness by herself. She was received, however, very politely by them, and in Bingley’s manners, there was something better than politeness; there was good humor and kindness. Lizzy noticed Darcy to the side as he said very little, and Hurst nothing at all. The former was divided between admiration of the brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion and doubt as to the occasion justifying her coming so far alone. The latter was thinking only of his evening and care not for her diligences for her sister's welfare.

  Moving toward the fire with concern, Lizzy said, “Where is my sister Jane.” She had focused her eyes on Bingley as he seemed to be the most receptive to her inquiries.

  It was his sister, Miss Bingley, that answered, though, “She went over the hill with some of the common adventures looking after her. The poor girl had taken on the job of clearing the miasma far too seriously. She is going in and out of a healing meditation...”

  Bingley interrupted his sister's comments, and he said with concern, “I have just returned from her, but I will take you there as he is in much need of your help, I think.”

  Lizzy said with a forced smile, “That is the reason I rushed over in the dark night to be with her.”

  She heard Hurst grunt under his breath, “Dam, silly girl.”

  But she ignored it as Bingley bowed his head and led her out of the campsite. Looking behind her, Lizzy saw a looked of interest on Darcy’s face, or was that wonder. She also noticed that Miss Bingley saw that look and frowned with seeming concern.

  Now with the kind attentive escort of Bingley and several of the adventures with the noble party, she moved into the darkness again. Bingley was beside her, showing her the most effortless way as they traveled up a hill with a mage light to guide them.

  He said in some way of explanation, “Jane advised us that we need to move our campsite away from the miasma. As... well, I guess that you’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

  With this half explained, she was just about to crest the hill when she saw a glowing green mist in the valley on the other side. She stopped for a moment in wonder as she felt a slight tingling sensation. Then she felt that the tingling sensation started to itch as if something was under her skin.

  Seeing her shocked look, Bingley said, “Is this your first time in close proximity to a miasma?”

  She said with a looked of concern, “Yes, does it get worse than this.”

  He nodded his head with a grim expression, “You’ll see it in a second. Thankfully you won’t feel the full effect as your sister is battling it with her powers.”

  Her head was now just above the brow of the hill. In the valley below, she saw a green mist laying across the land. The dark billowing mist was at about the head-height-level from the bottom of the valley. Everything below the fog was obscured by the dark, murky haze. But trees that were still standing. The top branches out of the mist were all dead and bare of any signs of life. Not only were they dead, but it seemed as if they were slightly melted. Strands of some type of sticky webbing were stretched between them. In the webbing was a range of creatures. That had been captured in the grasp of the miasma strung out like flies in honey.

  All of the creatures were twitching as if they were still alive but unable to break free of the slimy webbing. Lizzy, as she looked on in horror, could see small flows of energy moving from the creature’s bodies into the dark mist. It was as if life was being sucked out of the dying creatures. With the magical light for her vision she was able to see the entire valley had been captured by the misty miasma. In the middle of the valley was a glowing area that was full of bright green light as if it was a hole into the earth.

  “Monstrous,” said Bingley with distress, “If a healer wasn’t here,
we would be pulled into the miasma by its power. We nearly lost a few adventurers before we understood we needed to cast healing spells.

  “There is Jane. She is doing a marvelous job for us.”

  The sizable handsome warrior pointed out a flat section of land just down from their position on the rise. Jane was sitting in a meditative pose. Lizzy could see a flowing stream of healing magic emanating from her body. This white energy seemed to be pushing back the mist of the diseased miasma. Where the two fields of energies met, the misty haze was forming hands with massive claws as it tried to cut through the healing energy. But as it dug deeper into the white light of the healing power, the grasping claws dissolved into dark particles. The particles flowed into the air like ashes on the wind.

  Lizzy quickly ran over to her sister, with Bingley closely behind. Two adventures from the dungeon master’s party were watching over her. They both had disturbed looks on their faces but seen happy to seemed their powerful master.

  Bingley said to them, “Go back and get some rest. We’ll, take over the duty of watching over her for now.”

  They both saluted and, with a grateful smile, ran up the hill. Glad to be gone from the valley steeped in death.

  Lizzy knelt down next to Jane. Who was sitting in a reflective position on a mat. She had her legs crossed and arms with the palms pointing upward. A stream of light was flowing upward from her palms into the air and flowing with waves like an incoming tide to the edge of the miasma. Where the battle was taking place with the grasping claws.

  Lizzy whispered to her sister, ”I’m here, Jane.”

  Jane opened her eyes slowly. Lizzy could see the burning energies of Jane's extraordinary healing power in her eyes as if a flame was dancing in the center.

  Jane said quickly, “It's good that you came so quickly, Lizzy. This is not the easiest thing I have done. So I need your help and the sooner, the better. I just needed a wizard that I could fully trust.”

  Speaking quietly, Lizzy said, “I understand. What do you need me to do?”