by Kevin Culp
After I put the diamond away, I extended my hand to Gregory. He reached past my hand and grabbed my forearm, so I did the same. “In all of this, I am glad to have had someone like you come to my town and assist us in this crisis, Gregory. You are a man of commitment and have answered the call even when you have long since retired.”
He chuckled a bit. “Well, I’m not the one going off to war, and I came here for my own ulterior motives. It was the least this old man could do to indulge the prince in this request after leading me to such a student.”
“If your vice is sharing your knowledge with those who have the ability to learn, then I’d still say you are beyond reproach in this instance. For that, I thank you.”
He nodded, and we released each other’s arm.
Christina and Korana then moved past me and gave the old man a hug. Phillip shook his hand, and they all thanked him again before we took our leave.
From there, we went back to my house and grabbed the horses. I would be buying another from Tony on our way out of town. Christina would ride Phara and Korana would ride Boon. Of course, I would ride Zeus, and we would need another mount for Phillip.
After that, we went to the tavern. We had decided it would be best to eat early since we would be on the road all day. Also, they were preparing a large portion of rations for us to take. Unfortunately, Archaeus wasn’t a hunter and had no skill to help him forage or gather food in any other way during travel.
Once we sat down, Nicholas started bringing out bundles of dried meats and nuts as well as a small amount of bread and cheese as we had discussed. He turned and looked at Christina. I could see that the old man was fighting with himself unsure of whether to just cry in worry, yell at her to not go, or wish her well.
He decided on the latter. “You be safe, Chrissy. I won’t forgive you if you don’t come back to us.”
Christina had tears in her eyes. “I will, Uncle. I promise”
She gave him a long hug.
“Archaeus, you be sure to take care of this girl. You may be immortal for all I know, but you won’t want my wrath if you don’t keep her safe.”
I extended to shake his hand, and he obliged. “You have my word that I will do everything in my power to keep her safe. No one would be as unforgiving of me as myself if something happened to her.”
Irene brought us breakfast, and we began eating. It wasn’t long before the door opened and an older man in full armor walked through. He had an eye patch over his right eye, with cropped brown and grey hair, and weathered looking skin. His rigid jawline and grimace gave him an intimidating appearance, but I could tell at a glance he was just a serious man here on business. He stopped in front of me, placed his fist on his chest, and bowed.
“Sir Archaeus, it is an honor to meet you, though I wish it had been under better circumstances. My men have already marched on to the Under Realms entrance, and I came to inform you of our arrival. I was told I could find you here. We traveled as fast as we could afford to ensure the timeliness of your mission.”
I stood and extended a hand. He stood straight and grasped my forearm firmly. “General Fahvrin Mare, I presume. It is an honor to meet you as well. I must say that I am under-informed on you at this time, but I have no doubt that you are a man of great honor if Prince Leovald sent you here.”
He nodded and then glanced sideways like he wanted to say something but was unsure of himself. Not something I expected from a man of his bearing.
“What is it?”
“We actually arrived at the cave about an hour and a half ago and wanted to begin setting up armaments such as trenches and pikes in front of the entrance, but we didn’t want to trap your wolf. There are rumors that he is intelligent, but we tried explaining the situation to him, yet he still wouldn’t leave the mouth of the cave.”
I guess I should have explained to Zeus that they would be arriving beforehand. He was intelligent, but really only followed my orders or those of someone he knew I trusted. “Understood. I’ll summon him.”
“One more thing, Archaeus. It isn’t much, and you may not need it, but I do want to give you something. Hopefully, it will be useful, and if not, then may it bring you luck.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that seemed to be a pocket watch. It was small and silver with a short length of chain attached. He handed it to me and I noticed there was a button on the side. I pressed the button, and it opened up. There was a needle inside that shifted as I moved, and arrows going in four directions denoted by N, S, E, and W. It was a small compass. It was relatively worn and beat up, but seemed to function well. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. A compass was a somewhat valuable item in the game, so I would think it would be here as well. I mean I’m sure that generals were well paid but still.
The General then decided to volunteer some personal information. “My sister lived in Lim and was among those taken in the attack. I’m not naïve. I know the chances of her making it through this are slim, but if you could bring her back, I’d be eternally grateful.”
I looked at this general that seemed so battle-hardened and callous and saw something different in him. “I’ll do my best to bring her home safely.”
We had finished eating, so we stepped outside. I focused my mind and summoned Zeus. The giant white wolf appeared before me in an instant. He actually looked ready for battle. I think the army had stirred something in him about the magnitude of the situation. I climbed up on him, and Christina got on behind me. Phillip and Korana mounted Phara and Boon, and the General mounted a steed of his own.
I looked at the General. “I’m entrusting the safety of Freid to you Fahvrin. If you need anything contact Lendon, he is the head of the guard. There are others you may be able to depend on as well. I will succeed in my mission, and I trust you will on yours.”
“I will.” He nodded to me and with that he rode off.
There was only one last stop to make before we left on our journey. Tony was ready for us by the time we arrived. Phillip dismounted Phara and looked through the lineup of horses. He picked out a pretty average size, solid brown male named Jake. Archaeus didn’t really trigger anything to say what type of horse this was. I think they did just call horses like this Standardbred in my world, which I think I was still able to recall that knowledge because even if they didn’t share the same name here Archaes recognized it as a standard horse.
I paid Tony, and he prepped the horse giving him the full works tack, harness, saddle, and saddlebags. Christina hopped down from Zeus, got on Phara, and began patting her neck. She definitely seemed to love the horse.
The plan was to leave town on the road to the east. About an hour of travel and we could turn south and wouldn’t be going through much forest along the way to slow us down. Where the area was wooded, it seemed to be pretty thin, so it shouldn’t cause much issue. Our journey had just begun. Once we got to the eastern edge of town, I told the others to stop, rode slightly ahead, and turned to face them.
“I think you all know what is at stake on this mission. It isn’t just the men we hope to save. It is also for the safety of the people of the Varnelion Kingdom and even the Largon Empire. I appreciate all of you for coming with me on this quest. I can’t guarantee your safety but will do my best to ensure it. This may seem contrary to the fact that you are risking your lives, but do remember that keeping yourself alive should be the highest priority. You can’t save anyone if you lose your own life, and it is my goal that we will all return here soon.”
Christina’s expression hardened. “We will all return, Archaeus.”
Phillip nodded. “We had a great teacher. We can do this.”
Korana spoke up. “I know I’m done with living my life trying to avoid everyone out of fear. I want to do something meaningful with my life, and I believe that starts here.”
Chapter 12
The first few days of riding went pretty smoothly. We rode east for a short distance and then headed south as pl
anned. On the fourth day, it started pouring rain. It definitely wasn’t ideal travel conditions and part of me thought about waiting out the rain, but given the circumstances, we couldn’t afford to lose travel time if it didn’t let up. It didn’t help that it was exceptionally cold outside. I couldn’t help but think it might be more bearable if it had been cold enough for snow. Phillip and Christina bundled up for the cold, but once the clothes were soaked, I didn’t think it mattered much. Luckily, Phillip had brought a large tent that fit all of us and kept the rain off at night. It didn’t do much for the soaked ground, but we camped under some trees and it wasn’t that awful with our bedrolls. Each day we rode for about ten hours. Like the game, most people judged their travel off of eight hours a day, so this lets us make good timing, and I could keep the horses content with my healing.
The rain let up the following day, and the temperature was probably in the high 50s during the afternoon, so it wasn’t too bad for Christina and Phillip. It got a little cold again that night, but without the rain, it was easy to build a fire. We had been taking turns keeping watch. Christina would take the first watch, Korana the second, I took the third watch, and Phillip took the last. We would leave in the morning after I said my prayers to prepare my spells, and I ate on the road.
It felt like I had just fallen asleep that night when I heard a scream.
I opened my eyes and in the little bit of light that was still visible, I saw Christina go to grab her side in pain. As soon as she touched it, she jerked her hands away, and there were visible burn marks on them. I noticed the side she had grabbed seemed to have a small layer of a greenish-brown liquid on it. I jumped to my feet immediately.
“Phillip, Korana, we’re being attacked! Get up!”
The two bolted upright, and Phillip reached for his sword. Luckily, my breastplate was comfortable enough to sleep in, and Phillip was only wearing leather armor, so he slept in it as well. The girls didn’t wear any armor. We quickly formed a circle, and I rubbed the liquid off Christina’s side using my Healing Hands in the process to heal the wounds. The substance sizzled on my hand, but couldn’t get through my resistance to hurt me.
“What the heck!” Phillip shouted.
I turned to see a black reptilian beast lunge at him from the brush. It was about the size of a dog with sharp claws and a crocodilian head. Its eyes were glowing green as if the beast was radioactive. If it had wings, I might have thought it was a dragon.
He dodged the creature’s lunge, which unfortunately meant it came through the middle of us. Luckily, it was my back to Phillip, and I caught the beast out of the air. It writhed in my arms, snapping at my face and trying to claw me, but it couldn’t penetrate my Damage Resistance. Its neck bulged, and it gagged as if to cough up a hairball and then spewed what I guess was acidic vomit onto my face. The acid sizzled but didn’t hurt, though the smell made me wish I was dead.
I suddenly felt something warm just above my arm. It was hard to see without the acid dripping into my eyes, but Christina was stabbing at the beast’s side with a flaming sword. She seemed to be getting through its hard scales, and it writhed in pain.
“Archaeus, there are more of them!” Korana yelled.
Maybe I should have held on to it, but I threw the one in my arms off into the brush and drew my sword as Korana began to chant a spell. She held out her arm and aimed at a creature in the brush moving towards us fast about twenty feet away.
When the spell finished, a black tendril of energy shot from her hand and struck the creature in the face. It looked as though its body began to whither as soon as it was hit. No physical damage was done, but its muscles shrunk into husks, and it face planted into the ground.
“Um, I think there are a lot of them,” said Christina.
I looked into the fields and saw dozens of green glowing eyes staring at us trying to decide on the best plan of attack. I doubted that I could reason with these creatures, but I didn’t get that they were mere animals from their stare. It wasn’t just a desire for food that I was seeing, but malicious intent and anticipation at the thought of rending flesh with tooth and claw. Suddenly, they all rushed us.
“Maintain this circle and watch those beside you!” I yelled.
Two of them charged me from the brush. I had drawn my sword before they reached us and held it in two hands. This wasn’t like the fight in the cave with the Ratkin where I just stood back and watched the others fight. If these creatures got the better of someone, they could likely end their lives in an instant. I ignored the two charging me and swung at one that was lunging at Christina.
Its head came off cleanly, and at the same time, I felt my left arm and right leg gain a substantial amount of weight. The beasts had latched their mouths onto me and were just hanging there thrashing their bodies trying to pierce my skin in whatever way they could.
The other one that had lunched at Christina she had sidestepped and stabbed at it with both swords in a way to push it into another that had launched itself at Phillip. It worked but as the creature flailed and turned midair, it swung its heavy tail and hit her across the face. As she turned back to watch the brush, I could already see some discoloration forming around her eye and some slight trickles of blood coming from where the scales scratched her.
I heard a crack of electricity as Korana finished another spell. I spared a glance to see three of them that had been charging her now sparking with their bodies twitching involuntarily, but they continued their assault. I grabbed the tail of the creature on my arm and swung him into the one closest to me breaking off several of his teeth on my arm in the process. She took the middle one head-on stabbing with her claws towards the creature’s chest. It raked one of its claws down her side and the other across her arm leaving some nasty gashes, but she plunged both of her hands nearly all the way into the creature, and it fell back with a shriek of pain.
“GAAAHHHH!!!” Phillip screamed.
I needed to help him, but it was hard to look out for him when we were back to back, and I was trying to help the other two. I risked turning to him and saw that he had attacked the third charging Korana and cut off one of its arms, but in the process had failed to defend himself against one that had sunk its teeth into the meat of his thigh and was now attempting to drag him to the ground.
I thrust my sword past him into the back of the creature’s neck and felt my blade strike its spine. It released its grip and began to spasm on the ground. I still had one on my leg, but just as I went to pull it off, I saw Christina fall.
One had rushed in from the brush and just swept her legs from under her with its tail. Just then I saw two more at the edge of the brush, but they weren’t charging. They were looking at Christina and seemed as though they were about to cough up hairballs. I picked up Christina and turned my back to the creatures while holding Christina tight to my chest. I felt the spray of acid cover me and sat Christina back on her feet when it ended.
“Stay vigilant!” I yelled.
I heard a yelp and looked past Korana. Zeus was standing and had about six of the beasts latched on to him with one in his mouth. They didn’t look like they were doing much damage, but his damage resistance wasn’t quite as high as mine and they were obviously getting through. Unfortunately, I had to trust that he would be okay and let him handle it himself. After all, he was much more durable than the other three with me.
The one on my leg finally seemed to give up on hurting me. My leg was free again, but it snapped at Christina. She swung her left sword in an arc and slashed across the creature’s eye creating a nasty wound that caused it to retreat back to the brush.
I suddenly noticed that Phillip had picked up his bow. An arrow was knocked with a glowing tip, and it was pointed to where the two had been that spewed acid at us. I glanced back and saw the pair were starting to move forward but there was another on either side of them in the now too familiar hairball stage of preparing to launch an acidic breath attack.
Phillip loosed his arrow and
struck the side of the one on the left that had started to move forward. It exploded and all four of them were caught up in the blast. I could feel the force of the blast and the heat emanating from the fires made me realize that it was enough to even get past my resistance and do quite a bit of damage. I’m certain that the four of them in the middle of it didn’t survive. Phillip looked shocked by the results himself but soon had to come back to reality as another bared down on him from the side.
He turned quickly to respond but his injured leg failed him, and he began to fall to the ground. As he did, he dropped the bow and drew his sword again using it to catch the monster in the stomach as it jumped at him.
Two more were approaching him from the edge of the brush, but Christina intercepted them. She deftly dodged their attacks then plunged her flaming blade into the shoulder of the one on the left. The one on the right leaned back on its haunches then jumped at her face, but she sidestepped and drew her acidic sword all the way down the creature’s side. It then ran past me off into the brush.
“He… Help… me.” Korana groaned.
She had one latched on to her side writhing and trying to drag her down while another was biting at her ankle. As I turned to look at her she fell. I rushed over to her and drove my sword straight down through the beast on her ankle. I grabbed the other one by its upper jaw with one hand and lower with the other and used my strength to pry them apart and pull it off of her. I slammed it into the ground as hard as I could and heard a crunch. It didn’t move.
I looked around. I could see two or three of them at the edge of the brush staring like they were thinking about attacking, but questioning whether it was a good idea. I locked eyes with each of them and after a few moments they turned and ran off. One was limping back towards the brush with a missing leg. No one stopped it, but it would probably die soon due to blood loss or get picked off by a healthier carnivore.