Adventures on Terra - Book 2: Escape

by R. A. Mejia

  She turns her head and gives me a curious look, “Kung Fu?”

  Oh, that’s right she wasn’t there for the explanation I gave Vrax. “Kung Fu is just a special way of fighting without weapons. Unarmed fighting.”

  Understanding dawns on her, “Oh, I have that skill. My parents forced me to learn how to fight with my hands and feet, swords, staves, and the bow.” She smiles at the memory, “It was fun at first, learning how to use all those weapons. It made my parent’s happy to see me practice the stances and weapon forms.” Then her fox ears droop, and her expression turns sour, “But then the matches started, and I realized that all the training was meant to teach me to hurt people. I cried every time I had to fight someone, even in practice matches. When I threw my opponent and accidentally broke their arm, I was hysterical for a week. Ever since then I haven’t been able to fight anyone.” The tears reappear in her eyes, “Even when we were on a diplomatic trip to our beastmen allies on the mainland and were attacked by the Imperare army. I used my healing magic to help our guards but just couldn’t bring myself to hurt those soldiers.” Her voice quivers as she continues, “Even when they killed my parents.”

  I hear a sniffing sound and turn to see Mary sitting on the edge of a box of fruit, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. She gives me a dirty look like I made Kitsune cry. Then she flies over to Kitsune and gives her a hug around her neck. Kitsune smiles sadly and hugs the fairy back.

  I feel completely out of my depth, and I’m amazed at Mary’s ability to comfort a crying woman so quickly. I reach out tentatively with my hand to pat Kitsune’s shoulder but Mary gives me another dirty look, and I withdraw it.

  Ok. Ok. Girls only moment. Got it!

  Mary comforts Kitsune for another minute then tells her, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m sure Armon didn’t mean to make you upset.” She turns and gives me a look.

  I look back at Mary, raise my palms up and shrug. What? I don’t know what to do.

  Mary mouths the words, “Apologize to her, you jerk.”

  Oh! Is that what I’m supposed to do? But I didn’t do anything that needed an apology. All I did was ask if she knew Kung Fu. How was I supposed to know it would lead to her crying?

  Mary gives me another look that clearly says I’d better apologize or there will be hell to pay, so I do. “I’m sorry Kitsune. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  Kitsune sniffs once more and wipes the snot from her button nose with the corner of her sleeve. “It’s ok. You couldn’t have known about any of that. At least you know why I couldn’t fight back when I was captured or in the dungeon. I guess it’s better that you know now that I won’t be much help in a fight. I can heal you and even cast some distraction magic, but that’s it. I can’t do anything that will harm someone.”

  Mary assures her in a soothing voice, “It’s ok Kitsune. We won’t ask you to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. Your healing skills are amazeballs, and we’re happy to have you on the team.

  As we continue our ride in silence, Mary sits on Kitsune’s shoulder and rubs her back with her fairy hands. Kitsune faces the forest as it passes but looks off into the distance as if remembering painful memories. I look at my brood brother Vrax and mouth, ‘Thanks for the help man.’ He raises his hands up and shrugs in helplessness. I guess he’s as uncomfortable around a crying woman as I am.

  The rest of the trip to Trinitarian is relatively unremarkable. There’s a daily routine that the wagon caravan has as it plods along. Each day we wake up before the sun is up, water and feed the horses.Then each wagon team breaks their fast together on the fruits and vegetables that they carry. Vrax contributes meat that he’s trapped from the night before, making him a very popular kobold around breakfast and dinner time. After hitching the horses to the wagons, we’re on the road until noon when the caravan stops in whatever open field is available for a brief lunch, then back on the road until the sun begins to set. Then we camp for the night in another field, the wagon teams finding small separate areas for a little privacy. The horses are unhitched from the wagons, fed, groomed, and watered. The crews for each wagon then set up their tents and cook their dinners. A few people wander from fire to fire chatting with each other, but for the most part, everyone keeps to themselves mostly.

  Our group generally stays with Dr. Gooflak and Leelu during the day. Though we make it a point to have someone riding with the lead wagon, watching the road. However, when it’s Mary’s turn to watch the road for trouble, she does so riding on the back of Mr. Snuggle Butt. With her new [Ring of the Summoner] she can keep the wolf around for up to an hour at a time, which is more than enough time for her to recover the mana she spent summoning him. Mary looks rather fierce riding up and down the road on the back of her wolf. I’m thinking of making her a special red mask with a white cape and spear so that I can call her Princess Mononoke.

  Anyone not on guard duty usually sits in Dr. Gooflak’s wagon and works on improving their skills. Vrax works on making traps during the day. I practice [Crystal programming] and use my new [Repair] skill to bring our teams gear back up to maximum durability. Vrax’s short sword had a durability of one out of fifteen, and I’m surprised it lasted this long. Kitsune, naps, meditates or writes letters.

  Speaking of letters, I finally write to both Lilliandra and Sonya. It’s been a couple of weeks since we had our message tablets stolen and I know they’re likely worried about me since they haven’t been able to get in contact with me. The letter to Lilliandra is mostly informational. I thank her for her assistance in locating someone that may help us decode Mr. Gerald's ledgers and assure her that everyone in the group is ok. I describe briefly some of the adventures we’ve had and that we have added a new team member, Kitsune to the group. I remember near the end of the letter to ask about her, Rex, and Keans and inquire what they have been doing. I know they go on quests for the Adventurers’ Guild, but I truly don’t have any idea what they’re doing and hope they’re not up to anything too dangerous.

  The letter to Sonya is more challenging to write. For one, I never got a response to the last message I sent to her. Sure that may have been because of the theft of the message tablet, but it also could have been because she’s lost interest. I mean, we had a couple of good dates. Well, great from my point of view. But it’s also been weeks since we’ve even seen or spoken to each other. On earth, I’ve met people that lost interest in someone they were dating if they didn’t get a response to a text message after an hour. I’m honestly not sure how to date someone by letter. Is that even a thing? Anyways, I apologize to Sonya for not being able to communicate recently and tell her about being robbed on our way to Monstrum. I inquire about her health and well-being. Then I remember Mary’s advice and add in some romantic stuff. I’m not sure if it all fits together, but I’ll have plenty of time on the trip to edit. Dr. Gooflak says that we can send our letters through the adventurer’s guild, though it’ll cost a few coppers for postage.

  As promised, when we’re not on guard duty our team also tries to help out where possible. Kitsune and I help take care of the horses that pull Dr. Gooflak’s wagon. I cook at night and Mary spreads the good news about the Potterverse around the campfire. By the time we arrive at the outskirts of Trinitarian, she’s reached the end of book three.

  All this extra work is great for my skills too. I raise my [Animal Care] skill to novice level 8, my [Crystal Programming] to novice level 3, my [Cooking] skill to novice level 9, and [Repair] to novice level 3.

  The city of Trinitarian must have some official border that’s invisible to the naked eye because once we get close enough to the city, I get a notification that makes me yell with joy.

  You've completed the quest 'Guard the Caravan.' You receive 25 XP.

  You are now level 5. You have 5 free stat points.

  Chapter 6.1

  Everyone is very happy for me when I tell them that I just leveled up and they all yell some form of congratulations, ev
en Mr. Hastings.

  I pull up my [Status] to see how things look now.

  Name: Armon Ellington

  Age: 19

  Level: 5

  Class: none

  Titles: none

  Exp to next lvl.: 996

  Unspent Stat points 5

  Health: 65

  Stamina: 87

  Mana: 91

  Health Regen/Min 0.525

  Stamina Regen/Min 3.25

  Mana Regen/Min 1

  Str: 18 Int: 22

  Dex: 19 Wis: 12

  Con: 21 Cha: 13

  Defense: 13

  Skills

  Sneak: Novice 7

  Observe: Novice 4

  Craftsmanship: Novice 5

  Firestarter: Novice 2

  Cooking: Novice 9

  Spear Mastery: Novice 7

  Logging: Novice 5

  Workhorse: Novice 4

  Carpentry: Novice 4

  Construction: Novice 4

  Knife Mastery: Novice 3

  Herbalism: Novice 8

  Sleight of Hand: Novice 4

  Search: Novice 7

  Shield Mastery: Novice 7

  Magical Engraving: Novice 5

  Magical Aura: Novice 9

  Aura Projection: Novice 9

  Mana Control: Novice 9

  Alchemy: Novice 5

  Unarmed Combat: Novice 7

  Climbing: Novice 3

  Lock Picking: Novice 3

  Animal Care: Novice 8

  Listening: Novice 4

  Mining: Novice 3

  Blacksmithing: Novice 5

  Crystal Programming: Novice 2

  Haggle : Novice 2

  Repair: Novice 3

  Abilities: Darkvision, Thrust, Shield Bash, Aspect of the Kobold 1

  Spells: None

  Arcane Symbols Known: light, dark, water, fire, earth, air, force, self, life, death, remove, and directional symbols

  Looking at my [Status] screen, I’m astonished at all the skills I’ve collected these last few months. I wonder briefly whether it’s unusual to have this many skills. I imagine most people pick a few to focus most of their time on and try to excel at those. I seem to be taking a jack of all skills approach.

  Before I can spend more time considering my skill choices, our wagon caravan crests a hill, and my attention is diverted by my first sight of the city of Trinitarian. It’s quite the sight to behold. The city seems to still be under construction as there are teams of workers pouring in and out of the city. Wagons full of wood and stone are already lined up outside the city’s makeshift gates, waiting to be cleared by the city guards. The walls are being build right now and I can see into the city. From this hill I can see, there are three multi-level buildings made of stone in the center of the city, surrounding them is an open circular courtyard and an area that may be a training ground of some kind. Beyond that are wooden homes and shops, with more under construction. Beyond the incomplete walls is a miniature tent town where all the construction workers seem to be living. From here you can see that the streets are planned well, everything radiates outward from the three central buildings. When the city is finished, it will be five or six times the size of Restrian.

  Our caravan gets in line behind the wagons full of construction materials, and we’re past the wooden barricade that serves as the cities front gate in a little over half an hour. The five wagons full of foodstuff passes through the main street of the city that leads directly to the center. Our team, having finished the guard job, is paid the five copper per person per day reward. We each get seventy copper from Dr. Gooflak. After saying our goodbyes to the good people we’ve traveled with the last two weeks, my team goes off to explore the city.

  Chapter 6.2

  With the caravan offloading its foodstuffs, our group has its first chance to explore the city. The center of the city is still under construction, and there are work crews everywhere made up of the stronger non-human races. I see orcs, trolls, and even a few giants. Directing them are goblins holding up blueprints. Aside from the construction workers, everyone else people wearing dark purple robes come in and out of the few completed buildings in streams. The people wearing robes come from every race imaginable, except humans. A short, squat kid wearing a set of the purple robes comes out of one of the stone buildings carrying a large potted plant. He walks past us and crosses the courtyard.

  “They're all so young,” Kitsune notes, and upon further inspections, I notice what she means. While there are a few people older than me, most of the people in robes are kids under the age of fifteen.

  Vrax points at the boy with the plant and yells, “Oh, look it’s a Hufflepuff.”

  I snort at the reference and realize that Vrax is correct. Well, not about that kid being a Hufflepuff but that this must be the college that Lilliandra wrote me about.

  I walk up to a group of teens talking in the courtyard and ask, “Excuse me, is this the college?”

  A skinny teen completely covered with light brown fur turns, smirks and answers, “Yeah, old man. You’ve found the college.” He then claps slowly while saying sarcastically, “Congratulations.” The teens behind him all snicker.

  I smile indulgently at the teen’s antics, “Yeah, guess it was a silly question, but I’m new in town. Could you direct me to..” It takes me a moment to remember the name of the contact Lilliandra gave, “Mr. Jaxson Miltonha.”

  “You sure that’s the right person? Seems like you had a bit of a senior moment there.” The teens all laugh again.

  I smile widely and lean forward, the hairy teen leans back, but I grab him by the arm. I lower my voice and speak directly into his ear so that only he can hear, “Look here you teen wolf wannabe. I get that you’re trying to act cool in front of your friends. But I’ve traveled a long way to get here. You’re going to answer my question politely, or I’m going to embarrass you in front of your friends so badly you’ll never live it down.”

  I release the teen’s arm and see him rub it. Then I ask again, “You were going to tell me how to find Mr. Miltonha?”

  He looks at me sullenly then points to a building behind me, “His office is on the second floor of that building. It’s just past the statue of the orc holding up the globe.”

  I thank the kid for his help, and our group walks towards the building he pointed out. As we walk away, I hear Mary muttering about the terrible state of the world when children are so disrespectful to their elders. I hold in a laugh. I sometimes forget that Mary is actually older than me by several hundred years.

  The two-story stone building we walk into has a single high wooden door as an entrance. Inside, the floors are an exquisite dark wood, and the walls are paneled with wood only slightly lighter. The hallway is rather quiet and lined with wooden doors on each side. As we pass each door, I can hear the faint sound of voices and can only guess that behind each door, a class is being taught. After only a few minutes searching we find the stairway leading upwards and take it to the second floor. The layout on this floor is almost identical to the first floor except that the doors are spaced closer together and on each is a plaque. I look at the closest one and see that the plaque has a name etched on it. This one says Prof. Albus Dufendoor. The door next to it has a plaque inscribed with the name, Prof. April Flowers. I can only guess that these are the teacher’s offices.

  We wander around the second floor for another five minutes before Vrax points out the statue of the orc holding up the world on his shoulders. Just beyond it, is another door. This one has the name Prof. Jaxson Miltonha inscribed on the metal plate on the door. I knock, but no one answers. I knock again, but again no one answers. I try the iron door handle and find it locked.

  I turn to my companions and see the tired looks on their faces. We’ve been traveling for weeks, and I decide that it’s unfair for me to expect everyone to wait with me here. I tell them, “Look, I’m sure this guy is in a class somewhere teaching, but I don’t know how long it will be before he returns. I�
��m going to wait here for him. Why don’t you guys go explore the city and see what it’ll cost us to get a room somewhere and something good to eat?”

  Vrax smiles briefly at the mention of food but shakes his head, “No. I stay with you brood brother. We find out where our people were sent together.”

  Mary and Kitsune also decline to leave. Before I can protest, the sounds of doors being flung open, echo from downstairs and a stream of voices floats up to us.

  “Looks like class is out. Maybe Prof. Jaxson will come by his office now,” I suggest.

  We only have to wait a few more minutes when a thin goblin with dark green skin, long floppy ears, and a long thin nose comes walking down the hallway. The goblin’s black robes are too big, and he constantly pulls the hem up as he walks. When he finally notices that we’re standing outside his office, he stops, looks at us, and asks, “Is there something that I can help you with?”

  I walk up to the short goblin and ask, “Are you Professor Jaxson Miltonha?”

  The goblins ears twitch slightly, and he takes a step back from me, “Depends on who is asking.”

  I hold my hands up in an attempt to reassure the goblin that I mean no harm, “My name is Armon Ellington. My teacher Lilliandra referred you to me as someone that could help me with a problem I have.”