by R. A. Mejia
Someone to my right asks, “What’s wrong? You look worried.”
I turn and see Mary, hovering at eye level. I sigh and answer, “I’m not sure going south is the right decision. I know I told everyone that’s where we’ll be heading, but it’s directly in the way of those riders we saw leaving Valse.”
Mary shrugs, “So don’t go south right away. Go east or west first. I know it’s a hard concept for you, being from a place where machines tell you the most direct path. But Google maps doesn’t exist here. You can take the scenic road somewhere.”
I feel the wagon move and see Vrax and Kitsune climb up onto the wagon. Vrax takes a seat right next to me, and Kitsune sits at the edge of the bench. I should ask these two what they think. After all, we’re traveling together.
“Vrax, Kitsune, I want to ask your opinions. Where do you think we should go next?”
Without a moment's hesitation, Vrax looks at me and answers, “To the kobolds.”
I sigh in frustration, “Yeah, we’ll be going to find them eventually, but we need a more immediate destination.”
Vrax tilts his head and stares at me, “Don’t care where else we go. As long as we rescue kobolds. I trust you to make good decision brood brother.”
My shoulders sag a little at hearing Vrax’s words. The weight of my friend's absolute trust isn’t easy to bear.
Kitsune leans forward and raises her hand to get my attention. I nod at her, and she says, “While my homeland is south, we’d have to travel through the Empire to get there. I don’t think it’s worth the risk. If all we’re looking for is a place to hide while you look over those papers you took, then might I suggest we hide where the Empire cannot go without causing themselves trouble?”
“Where would that be foxy?” Mary asks her.
Either not getting the double meaning of Mary’s comment or choosing to ignore it, Kitsune answers seriously, “Monstrum. The Imperare Empire and Monstrum have been at war for the last decade. Mostly because the Empire refuses to recognize Monstrum’s right to exist as a nation. But also because it allows them to raid the country for slaves. If we head there, the soldiers following us will have to turn around or risk a battle with a much larger force of non-humans.”
“You seem to be forgetting something,” Mary says while holding out a single finger to emphasize her point.
“What’s that?” Kitsune asks.
“In Monstrum, humans are captured or killed on sight. No trials, no courts.”
The fox woman puts a finger to her lips, considering the problem, “Well, that is the dilemma. Maybe we can wrap him in something to hide his human features.”
I interrupt the ladies conversation, “Kitsune, I have a disguise already in mind. Are you willing to take a detour into Monstrum then?”
Kitsune’s ears twitch, and she answers hesitantly at first but with each word her resolve seems to harden, “Yes. If it will help you. You rescued me from a lifetime of servitude in some man’s harem. If I can help you and still get home, I will.”
“Then it’s decided,” I say and point down the road, “We travel north following the other wagons until we reach the crossroads, then we’ll turn east towards Monstrum. We’ll hide out there until we can figure out who Mr. Gerald sold the kobolds to and where they’re being kept.”
Having made a decision, I snap the reigns, and the horses pull forward. Only the wagon doesn’t move. I snap the reigns again, but still, no forward movement.
Kitsune bites her lower lip to keep from laughing and asks, “Never driven a wagon have you?” She points to something attached to the wagon on my left hand side, “You have to release the brake on the side there.”
I look to where she’s pointing and see a lever that’s pulled back. I push it forward, hear metal squeal, and the wagon lurches as the horses are finally able to move ahead. It’s such a sudden movement, I instinctively pull back on the reigns in my hands, and the horses rear up. The wagon comes to a sudden stop, and we all fall forward.
Poor Vrax actually falls over the front of the bench into apparent empty space. I stand up, look over the front of the wagon and see Vrax hanging on by one clawed hand, his feet dangling a few feet off the ground. One of the horses swats Vrax with his tail, then lifts it up. Vrax sees the tail rise and frantically scrambles back into the wagon only a moment before a wet plop hits the ground. He looks at the backside of the horse, where his near miss took place, then at me and scowls. He takes the reigns from my hands and gives them to Kitsune. Turning to me says, “She drives. You bad driver.”
I scratch my head and shrug as I take my seat. He’s not wrong. We’ll probably be safer if someone who knows what they’re doing drives the wagon.
The road is dark, and Mary casts two light spells and attaches the magical globes to the front of the horses’ harnesses along their chests. The spell provides light enough to see the road without blinding the horses.
It occurs to me that Mary might have just done something amazing, “Mary, did you just invent headlights?”
Careful not to mention specifics about my world, Mary answers, “Uh, maybe. I’ve seen the machines where you’re from use lights like that at night. I just figured it would work here too.”
Kitsune snaps the reins, and the wagon moves forward. We quickly catch up to the other wagons, their makeshift torches lighting their paths. I can see them bouncing ahead on the road. The weak light from their torches forces them to maintain a slower speed.
While we travel, I consider the exciting possibilities Mary’s actions have opened up. Perhaps there’s a way to enchant a stone or globe with the arcane symbol for ‘light,' then place it in a reflective container like an old lantern that would shine all the light in a forward direction. It doesn’t seem too complicated. I wonder how much people would pay for something like that. I could even miniaturize the design and make magical flashlights.
We’ve traveled for about half an hour when Vrax taps my arm. The sounds of the horses trotting and the wagon wheels bouncing along the road make talking while the wagon is moving challenging. I lean down so that Vrax can speak directly into my ear.
“I hear horses,” He says to me. I look at him oddly and glance at the horses pulling the wagon. He shakes his head and says into my ear, “Not those ones. Ones behind us.”
My eyes widen at the implication of his statement, and I sit up. My heart beats faster as I edge to the end of the wagon bench and poke my head around the wagon to look behind us. The forest is pitch black, but when I activate [Darkvision], I can see in the distance a figure on a horse. The only reason I’m able to see him is the glimmer of light from the torch in the rider's hand.
I sit back on the driver's bench correctly and turn to my right. Mary and Kitsune both look at me. I yell over the sounds of the wagon, “They’re getting closer. Maybe five minutes behind us now. We should probably increase our speed.”
Kitsune shakes her head and points to the wagons in front of us. The two wagons ahead of us are still moving at a trot. Unfortunately, the road here is not wide enough for us to pass either. I wrack my brain for some idea of what to do next. We should be able to split off from the two other wagons soon. If my memory is correct, there’s a crossroads up ahead that we can turn onto that will move us east towards the mountains and the Monstrum kingdom. I’m just not sure how far ahead it is, and even if we could turn off, the other two wagons aren’t even aware of how close the soldiers have gotten. I’d feel like we’d be abandoning them to the soldiers if we just turned off in another direction.
I lean down to talk to Vrax and say, “We need to warn the other wagon’s that the soldiers are getting closer so they can speed up. I’m going to fastball special you to that other wagon so you can warn them. Ok?”
He shakes his head for a moment, then considers the other option, the soldiers catching up to us, and reluctantly nods.
I yell for Kitsune to speed up and get our wagon as close as possible to the back of the one in front of us. She nods a
nd snaps the reins, and the horses increase their gate until their noses are only a foot from the other wagon. I stand up and spread my feet for balance. Then I reach down and grab Vrax by the collar of his dark red armor. He curls into a ball, and I hurl him with every ounce of power my eighteen points of strength allow.
I hear a loud “Yiiiipppp,” as Vrax flies through the air. I start to wonder if I should have used all my strength when he passes the back of the wagon and then the middle. He disappears past the front of the wagon, and I’m acutely aware that I just threw my friend and brood brother like he was a baseball with no one there to catch him. Maybe not my best idea.
I breathe a sigh of relief when a clawed hand appears above the top of the wagon, and it gives me the kobold version of a thumbs up. Which with Vrax’s three fingered hand looks like he’s flipping me the bird. Before I get too excited about the success of my daring throw, I hear hoofbeats approaching from my left.
I peek over the left side of the wagon and see not one rider but three beginning to overtake our wagon. Behind them are another nine mounted soldiers dressed in black leather armor, each carrying a torch in their hand. The poor horses they’re riding look like they galloped the entire way from Valse. Their sides are sweaty, heaving, and foam is beginning to form around the horses’ mouths.
The closest soldier wears a leather helmet with a bright red feather on top. Perhaps he’s an officer of some kind? When I focus on the area above his head, I see a title and his health bar.
Guard Captain, Lvl. 6
The Guard Captain pulls up to my side of our vehicle and yells, “Stop the wagon!”
I put my hand to my ear and feign that I can’t hear him. I don’t think my ruse works because he turns red and pulls the horse closer to the wagon. Still, with the torch in his left hand, he ties off the reigns and leans over the right side of his horse towards the wagon. It takes me a second to realize that he’s reaching for our wagon’s brake handle. As his hand reaches out to pull the lever that will bring our vehicle to a halt, I instinctively reach out and grab his arm. The soldier glares at me and grabs my arm back. Then he pulls. I’m not expecting the move, and I’m almost pulled off the driver's bench, but my left hand catches the side of the wagon before I fall. The soldier continues to pull my arm even after I let go of him. I’m off balance, and half my body is pulled off the wagon.
My grip on the side of the wagon begins to slip when I hear Mary yell from my shoulder, “Let him go, you foot clan reject.”
Three bolts of magical energy fly by and hit the soldier in his face.
Mary deals damage: 3 (force)
Mary deals damage: 4 (force)
Mary deals damage: 3 (force)
The three magic missiles don’t do much damage, but they surprise the captain enough to let me go and pull back on his horse’s reins. I feel a hand pull on the back of my white cloth shirt, and I’m dragged back onto the wagon bench. Once I’m able to sit correctly, I see that it was Kitsune that pulled me back in. She has a scared but determined look on her face, and the knuckles of her hands are white from gripping the reigns of our horses.
I’m about to thank her when I hear a loud bang behind me and feel the wagon jolt. I stand up on the bench and look back over the roof of our vehicle. I see that one of the pursuing soldiers has jumped from his horse onto the back of our vehicle and is trying to climb onto the roof. I quickly scramble up onto the roof too and find the soldier walking towards me with a curved one handed sword out. I get my feet under me and rush him like a football player. The wagon is only about seven feet long and four feet wide, so the soldier doesn’t have room to dodge. Aiming low, I catch his legs and throw him off balance. I feel him fall backward as I tackle him and feel a sting of pain as the soldier loses his grip on his sword and it grazes me as it falls.
Damage received: 2 (glancing blow)
I continue to push forward until I see the edge of the wagon. I let go of my hold on the soldier and stop charging, letting momentum carry the off balance man backward off the wagon. He yells as he falls and I hear the thud as his body hits the ground and is trampled by the horses following behind us.
You’ve killed an Imperare Soldier, lvl. 5. You receive 9 XP.
I wonder for a second why I’m only getting nine experience points for killing a level five soldier. Then I remember that I’m still in a group and the experience points from kills are split between everyone. I don’t have time to consider the topic further because of another set of notifications I receive.
Mary deals damage: 4 (force)
Mary deals damage: 6 (force)
Mary deals damage: 3 (force)
I stop my daydreaming and turn to face the front of the wagon. From my position on top of the roof, I can see that two riders have pulled up next to either side of us. The rider on the left side is shielding his face and his horse is falling back. That must be the one Mary just attacked. The rider on the right side is pulling up to the driver's bench and leaning over as if he’s about to jump off his horse onto the wagon. While I have my shield and some weapons in my [Inventory] I don’t have time to equip them. Instead, I grab the curved sword the soldier I threw off the roof dropped. I slash downward at the grasping soldier just as he leaps from his horse, arms outstretched to grab hold of the wagon.
Damage dealt: 3 (glancing blow)
The blade nicks the man's face above his left eye. However, the unexpected attack from above causes the soldier to instinctively pull his hand back from the wagon to protect his face. A move that doesn’t go well with his leap towards the wagon. He realizes his error and flails, trying to grab some part of the vehicle. His attempt does not succeed, and his body hits the side of the wagon before falling to the ground with an audible crunch.
You’ve killed an Imperare Soldier, lvl. 4. You receive 7 XP.
I wince knowing that the horses following the wagon finished off the soldier if the fall didn’t. Still, that’s two down. Only ten more to go.
I’m still standing on the roof of our wagon when I feel something slam into the back of my right shoulder, forcing me to fall to my knee.
Damage received: 5 (piercing)
A burst of pain blossoms along my back. I turn my head to the right as far as I can and am just able to see a crossbow bolt sticking out of my shoulder. Someone shot me!
Still, on my knee, I turn around and see that one of the mounted soldiers is guiding his horse one handed while he tries to reload a hand crossbow. I see another soldier on horseback taking aim with another hand crossbow, and I drop onto my belly. I hear a whistling sound as a bolt flies through the space I was just occupying. I hear hoof beats off to the side and peek over the roof. I have to pull back as another crossbow bolt hits the wagon, barely missing me.
Damn. The soldiers are getting smart. Their shooting crossbows at me to prevent me from attacking the guys trying to jump on the wagon. I check the [Group] interface and see that Mary is down to 30/69 mana. She can shoot off three more rounds of magic missiles, then she’s out of mana. I don’t have any type of ranged attack, and my right arm hurts like hell when I try to raise it. I don’t see a lot of ways we’re going to be able to get out of this.
Before I can contemplate the situation further, the wagon suddenly shifts, and I hear our horses cry out. I’m thrown forward, but since I’m already on my stomach, I’m not thrown off the wagon roof as our wagon comes to a complete halt.
Oh, no. Did one of the soldiers make it past Mary and grab the reigns from Kitsune?
I get to my knee and look towards the front of the wagon expecting to see a soldier grappling with Kitsune. Instead, I see that she’s the one that pulled on the reigns. It’s hard to make out in the dark, but I can see in front of us, the other two wagons have also stopped. Their sudden halt shifting the wagons sideways to block the road ahead.
The ten galloping riders behind us all pull on their reigns hard in an effort to stop. I feel our wagon shift as one rider doesn’t stop in time and slams into the back of
the vehicle. I don’t get a notification that we got XP, so I guess he didn’t die. However, my attention is drawn forward by sounds of men yelling and trees crashing to the ground. If you’ve ever heard the sound of a large tree being snapped in two during a storm, you’d recognize that’s what’s happening ahead. The forests on either side of us are dark, only lit by the glow from the torches the mounted soldiers have and our own magical lights. Whatever is ahead of us has not only blocked the road but seems to be fighting someone.
One last human scream pierces the air, and I look down from my position to the sides of the wagon and see all the mounted soldiers on either side of us looking forward, weapons in hand. It seems we’ve been temporarily forgotten as everyone is transfixed by the terrible sounds ahead of us. The ground shakes as something moves towards us in the dark. Trees creak and sway ahead of us as something moves through them coming closer and closer. I grip the hilt of the sword in my hand tightly ready to do battle when the sound of something large being ripped from the ground reaches my ear. I’m only puzzled by noise for a moment when a huge hulking figure is bathed in what little light the wagons ahead can provide. It’s Gorbash! He’s holding a thick six foot long tree over his head, preparing to throw it.