Ascendant of Aldrya

by Northwest Grant

  Garrett let her go. "I'll just let all of you orc-lovers talk it out. Emma, when you need a real man, you know where to look." He sauntered off toward the inn, looking self-assured even in full retreat.

  The survivors gathered in two clusters--townspeople in one, adventurers in the other.

  "Hope that priestess gets here soon," said the dwarf. "My name's Bromus, by the way. Thanks for getting the greenies off me." He reached out a hand, and Nigel shook it. The dwarf had a firm, callused grip.

  "Glad I arrived at the right time," Nigel said.

  The archer spoke up next. "I'm Bel. Good fight, everyone." She stayed at the edge, just as she had during the fight, shifting her weight nervously.

  "Nice shooting," Nigel told her.

  "We all did well," said Khoraja. "Especially considering we mostly hadn't worked with each other before."

  The druid came over last. "I'm Nelori. Gragoth, Taura, Sleipan, and Van set out early this morning for the Burning Wastes. If they'd been here, this fight wouldn't have been close." She indicated the robed figure on the ground. "And Farek wouldn't be dead."

  "Alissandra will rez her as soon as she gets here," Emma said. "There's still time."

  "Have you ever seen the other side of life?" asked Nelori.

  "No," Emma replied.

  "It's ... unpleasant. An emptiness you don't forget, even if you come back. Do not speak lightly of dying."

  Nigel thought of what he experienced after the accident. The same, or different? And the disembodied sensation he had talking to the voice. Was I dead then? Or just unconscious?

  "I did not mean to make light of it," said Emma. "I merely sought to bring hope."

  "Yes," said Nelori. She nodded at Nigel. "Good decisions, forming a line. We wouldn't have lasted much longer. It turned the tide."

  Nigel shrugged. "Thank you," he said, not knowing what else to say.

  "Don't be modest. You were fantastic," Emma said. "So brave."

  There were worse fates than being admired by the pretty priestess. Nigel just smiled.

  "Brave and reckless are often two sides of the same coin," Khoraja said.

  Well, that brought me down a peg.

  "Not that I'm one to cast stones on that account," added Khoraja. "Nightwolf makes a habit of saving people, it seems."

  Then Khoraja turned to Nelori, and the two elves and Bromus complimented each other on their casting. Emma intercepted the guard as he ran back from the temple.

  Nigel took advantage of the chance to look at his character sheet. More than four people had banded together to fight the orcs, and he was curious how that looked on the party overlay.

  They weren't all displayed. Only Khoraja and Emma were listed as being members of his party, as was Garrett, who was grayed out. An ex-member of the party. He clicked on Emma, and to his surprise, more information came up. Like his sheet, hers had lots of zeroes. He skimmed for exceptions.

  Sexual Healing 9

  Healing 3

  Divine Blast 1

  Bandaging 2

  Unarmed Combat 1

  Lock picking 1

  Why can I see all this? The only thing different between her and Khoraja is that I had sex with Emma. Nigel shrugged. Maybe that was the explanation, but there were other differences, like Emma being human. But he hadn't been able to see her character sheet before.

  He found other high skills:

  Seduction 6

  Oral Sex 15

  Intercourse 9

  Anal –

  He decided he'd rather look at her stats, which were conveniently on a different page.

  Strength 7

  Dexterity 11

  Constitution 13

  Intelligence 14

  Whether those were good stats, he didn't know. There wasn't a lot for comparison. None of her stats were as good as his Strength of 17, but none of his weapon skills were as high as her 9 in Sexual Healing, either. He looked at his own sheet. The only thing that had gone up was his one-handed sword, from 4 to 5. He wondered if that was because they'd exceeded the party limit by fighting with everyone else, or if it was just chance.

  "I have bad news," Emma said, the gravity in her voice causing him to close the sheet and pay attention. He hadn't remembered her sounding so serious before. She'd just talked to the person she'd sent off to look for Alissandra, whoever that was.

  Everyone else focused on Emma too. "Where's the priestess?" Nelori asked.

  "Alissandra is dead, and the amulet she carried has been stolen. She was attacked from behind, it appears, while we and the temple guards were fighting in the public square."

  "We need to find another high priestess," Nelori said. "Quickly."

  Emma didn't reply.

  "Quickly!" Nelori repeated.

  "The closest other high priestess of Inanna is in Lionguard," said Emma.

  "No," said Nelori. "No." She stared at Emma. "You do it. You raise him."

  "I can't," Emma said.

  "Try!"

  Emma sighed and bent over the lifeless body in the crimson robe. She chanted. She looked up to heaven. Nothing happened.

  "Try harder," Nelori said.

  "I can't," said Emma. She knelt next to the lifeless body of the guard. A tear ran down her cheek. She chanted, she reached out her arms, she called for Inanna to return the soul from the underworld.

  Inanna, apparently, wasn't listening.

  "No. No. No," Nelori said. Khoraja put her arm around the other elf. Nelori sobbed, burying her head against Khoraja.

  Emma went to talk to the remaining temple guard. "You can ride, right?"

  The guard nodded. His face was wracked with grief.

  "Get a horse from the stable, and ride to Lionguard. Tell high priestess Sivestara what happened and ask her to come raise whoever she can."

  "There is no hope for these people," said the guard. "What's the point?"

  "It is possible she can raise Alissandra. There are magics that lengthen one's resistance to Erishkigal's call, and Alissandra is skilled. Sivestara cannot save the others, but she might be able to return Alissandra to us."

  Her words motivated the numb guard into action, as he hurried to the stables. Emma walked back to join the others. Nigel noticed Bel was missing. She apparently had slipped off at some point.

  "After a tough fight like that," Bromus said, "A dwarf could use some rest and relaxation. How about you and me, Emma, go have ourselves some fun?"

  Nigel tensed. He knew it wasn't a good idea to get attached.

  Emma shook her head. "Um, not right now," she said.

  "I got another little magic item for you," said Bromus. "You liked the bra. And I have to say, it looks a hell of a lot better on you than it would on me."

  Emma hesitated before replying. "No, Bromus. I haven't been myself today. No."

  "Dammit," said Bromus.

  Nigel felt a sigh of relief.

  "Getting the high priestess won't do any good," Nelori said.

  "I'm so sorry for your loss," Emma said.

  "Fuck that," replied Nelori. "You're looking after your own."

  "I'm doing what's possible. If Farek can somehow keep his tether to the world, perhaps..."

  "You know he can't. I should have let this village burn," Nelori said. Khoraja tried to comfort her again, but Nelori put her hands on Khoraja's sternum and stepped back.

  "No," Nelori said. "It's true. I'm getting my things and departing this spirit-forsaken hellhole. I've had enough of humans." She strode back to the inn with a purpose, and no one stopped her.

  "What if the orcs come back?" Nigel asked.

  "They won't," said Khoraja. "Not for a while."

  "How can you be sure?" Nigel asked.

  "I can't." Khoraja shrugged. "But orc attacks aren't a regular thing here, and they suffered severe casualties. They'll want to recover."

  "This wasn't a regular attack," Nigel said. "A human instigated it. The same one that killed the girl when I first got here."

  Emma
looked between Khoraja and Nigel. "Tell me about the girl later," she said. "I have to tell the townspeople their loved ones aren't coming back."

  CHAPTER SIX

  Nigel considered what he would do next.

  In two days Nigel had gotten attached to Aldrya, and to Belden Village. He didn't want the innkeeper or the waitress to lose their business, or for orcs to overrun it with no one but the townspeople to defend it. And Alissandra meant something to Emma, and Emma meant something to him.

  On Earth, hardly any of the decisions he made, except for crossing the street the one time, were matters of life and death. No one would die if he switched jobs, skipped game night, or went out for Thai instead of Chinese. In Aldrya, it seemed someone's life was at stake every day. I ought to hate that. But it's strange--in some ways Aldrya feels like a game, but what I do matters here. On Earth I was just adding stats: games played, money earned, restaurants visited. He had even had a little app that kept track of how many times he'd gone to each restaurant that gave him discounts and made it into a competition with other foodies.

  Khoraja put her hand on his arm. "We did our best," she said.

  He smiled at her. "Yes, we did our best." Khoraja meant something to him, too. The death in the courtyard--well, everyone mattered some. But not everyone mattered the same. Khoraja probably didn't need protecting, but he wanted to protect her. He covered her hand with his, and stood quietly with her.

  Emma came back. Khoraja withdrew her hand.

  "It seems strange that a human can just challenge their leader," Nigel said.

  "Orc leadership is all about the challenge, a friend told me," Emma said. "I'm not sure of the exact rules. Sometimes orc tribes have been led by trolls, or giants. Fortunately, trolls and giants are rare nowadays."

  "It's not the first time orcs have been used as pawns in a larger game," said Khoraja. "They respect strength, but that often puts them in the hands whoever is strongest. It's not that they are evil exactly, so much as that they easily serve evil."

  Nigel nodded. Deluca seemed to be behind everything bad that was happening. The problem was, Nigel had no idea how powerful he was. It might be possible to challenge him for the chiefdom of the Broadnoses, or that might be suicidal folly. A party--of four, presumably--might be a safer option. Another life or death decision to make on incomplete information.

  But presumably the Broadnoses were the Orcs from the hills, and he'd killed many of them. Maybe that meant he'd completed Windstar's quest. If he could get a magic item by talking to them, he should do that before embarking on a dangerous mission. The next quest might give him a clue of what would happen next. So far, they'd all involved going to kill a number of monsters. He didn't want distractions from stopping Deluca, but the more information he had, the better.

  "What was the point in attacking the temple priestess? Because it looks like this entire orc attack was a diversion so she could be attacked. Is the amulet she had that valuable?"

  "The amulet was a relic of the hero-priest Garald," said Emma. "It helped the priestess regenerate her mana. She loaned it to me, briefly, to help me gain skill. It let me cast more spells in less time. But it also adds strength to a spell, such as resurrection. If it fell into the wrong hands, it could enhance almost anything."

  "So a beginning caster could use it to help level up, but an experienced caster could use it to get more power out of the spells the already know?"

  "You talk strangely, but yes, that's essentially it."

  "I'll go talk to that guard at the castle," he said. "Maybe they'll give me something for fighting the orcs."

  "I'll go with you," Emma said immediately.

  "I'll go with you, too," Khoraja said. "Someone has to keep you out of trouble."

  "It should be safe enough, shouldn't it?" They'd encountered nothing dangerous on the road from the castle any of the times they'd traveled on it.

  "Yes," said Emma. "I'll go get my pack. I'll be right back." Emma turned toward the temple and ran as if she was afraid she'd be left behind. Nigel couldn't help but think the front view of that run was probably amazing. The back view wasn't too shabby, either.

  "She likes you," Khoraja said. "And she's hot, isn't she?"

  Apparently his staring had been obvious. "Yes." He glanced around to make sure they were out of earshot of everyone else. "Khoraja, something weird happened."

  "What?"

  "You know when I first met you, I said something about a character sheet, and you didn't know what I meant."

  "Sounds vaguely familiar."

  "Well, basically, I can see a numerical representation of how strong I am, how good my skills are, that sort of thing. I don't know if that's an ability all ascendants have, or if it's unique to me."

  "Hmm." Khoraja seemed to think about that. "I don't know either. Maybe you could ask Windstar. I'll distract Emma while you talk to her."

  "Thanks. Anyway, that's not the weird part. This morning, after the fight, the character sheet showed me my 'party members'--you, Emma, and Garrett, although Garrett had just left. It's shown me that before, like in the mine. However, I've not been able to see ratings for anyone else, and their abilities, until now."

  "You can see ratings for me?" asked Khoraja.

  "No. I can see ratings for Emma."

  "Oh. And are they good?"

  "She has some very high skills."

  Khoraja rolled her eyes. "Oh, I didn't doubt about that. Anything useful outside a bedroom?"

  Sexual healing--was that a bedroom thing? Or was that just the healing she could do once she'd formed a sexual bond with someone? The heals she'd given him during the fight seemed significantly more powerful than the ones he'd gotten in the mine. "Yeah, I think so."

  "Why can you see her and not me?"

  "Maybe because I had sex with her." Nigel grinned at her. "Want to test that theory?"

  Khoraja laughed. "Look, I like you, but that is the worst come on I've ever heard. Maybe I don't even want you to see a numerical representation of my skills. If you want to find out if fucking lets you see character sheets, Abby was looking at you with more than casual interest."

  "The waitress?" Nigel didn't think it was that easy to seduce a woman he hardly knew, but maybe on Aldrya it was.

  "Or you could go to Lionguard and have quite the selection. I understand there are some very exotic experiences available, although you might need more gold for them."

  "Um, thanks, but ... not what I want."

  "Then you'll have to wait. Look, Emma is coming back."

  Emma was walking up the road from the temple with her pack on her back. "Ready to go?"

  "No, we've been dawdling, talking," Khoraja said. "I'll get our packs and give you two some alone time." She walked back toward the inn. Emma watched her go.

  When she disappeared through the door, Emma turned to him. "That was nice of her. She likes you." She put her arms around Nigel's shoulders.

  "I like--" he almost said both of you, but decided that was too honest. "You."

  "And you like her, too. It's all right, Nightwolf. I'm not the jealous kind." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "But something is happening between us. I'm not sure what's going on, but I haven't felt this way about anyone else for a long time, maybe ever."

  She kissed him again, and this time Nightwolf kissed back. Their tongues swished wetly against each other's, and he was conscious of the curve of her chest pressed against his. The metal of her bra dug into him, and the thought it was a present from another lover suddenly annoyed him.

  A lover she turned down, he reminded himself, and deepened the kiss. He wondered if kissing was on that character sheet, and how high her skill was. Pretty damned high, he guessed, but he wasn't going to look when he could experience it. Her lips were soft and full, and she had a very energetic tongue.

  "Bar's off limits, so I guess you need to do it in the village square," said Khoraja, suddenly next to them. "You know you're surrounded by dead bodies, right?"

  U
gh, thought Nigel, noticing his surroundings. He glanced around and saw Garrett leaning against the wall of the inn. He met the man's eyes. Garrett gave him a sadistic smile and held his gaze while running a thick cloth along the length of his sword.

  Emma extracted herself from his arms. "Let's leave," she said. Perhaps she'd noticed Garrett too.

  The trip to the castle was uneventful. Windstar was exactly where he expected her to be, standing in the same place.

  "I killed the orcs," Nigel said.

  "Sort of," said Windstar. "Not in the hills. Nor were all the orcs killed by you or those in your party."

  Nigel shrugged.

  Windstar frowned. "Very well. What element would you like to be guarded against?"

  "What elements are there?" asked Nigel.

  "Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Shadow, Divine, and Metal."

  So far, most of the monsters he'd faced had used metal weapons, so Metal was the obvious choice. But Khoraja's fireballs had come very close to him a few times. Nigel hesitated.

  He had a defense for weapons already. He could block with his shield, or parry with his sword. But magical attacks he couldn't do anything about, and if Khoraja could cut it closer with her fireballs that would help. "Fire," he said.

  Windstar reached into the gap at the hip of her armor, and pulled out a glittering red stone, fixed in an ornate golden setting, with a gold chain so the amulet could go around his neck. She held it in her fist and then handed it to him. "Fire it is."

  Nigel took the amulet and put it around his neck.

  "I have a new quest for you," said Windstar.

  Nigel refrained from saying that wasn't a surprise.

  After a pause, Windstar continued. "There is a brood of wyrmkin East of Belden, about a half-days travel, in the valley just south of the Argon hills. Their numbers need to be thinned lest they become a danger to the farmers north of the hills. I need you to kill ten, and then you can come back for a reward."

  For a moment, Nigel thought she was saying worms and pronouncing it funny. But wyrm. Didn't that mean dragon? He looked between Emma and Khoraja, but the two of them looked more puzzled than anything else.