The Forest's Silence

by Tao Wong

  As the party entered the hall again, traversing deeper, they split their usual line formation into a wider one. Behind them, a set of simple tripwire traps and flares were set-up to alert them of reinforcements from behind. This fight was one that required all of them after all.

  The Zarask noticed the party as the group spread out, letting out growls and yips that were unheard by the Adventurers. The Champion stood up, hands falling open as its chest mouth opened to release a scream. An arrow winged forwards, blocked by one of its minions which batted the arrow out of the air. For its trouble, its arm was smeared by the sticky mixture, gluing its fingers together.

  Uninterrupted, the Champion howled, the noise joined soon after by the other Zarask. The combined sonic assault staggered the party of Adventurers, cutting through their hearing protection and making their very bones tremble and organs hurt. Daniel coughed, feeling blood fill his mouth as he bit his own tongue to regain his balance and shake off the effects.

  Looking around, he noticed his friends staggering under the assault. Making up his mind, Daniel quickly began casting Healer’s Mark. Slapping Rob on the shoulder, he layered the healing spell on the Enchanter, helping the Selkie stand straight as the volume dissipated.

  Omrak, enraged, charged forwards, breaking the line of their careful group. Behind him, Asin took off while Tula continued to flank the group, her bow singing as more arrows flew forwards. This time, she targeted the minions, managing to web two mouths shut before Omrak clashed with the group. Wind-enchanted sword in hand, the Northerner took large, curving swings to ward off his attackers.

  The Champion, forced behind his minions as protection earlier, stomped around the group. With Rob receiving healing, Daniel took off at a dead run in an attempt to head off the Champion before he joined the fight against Omrak and the now-arrived Catkin.

  As the Champion finally managed to make its way around the group, Daniel arrived as well and threw himself into an impromptu shoulder-charge and Shield Bash. Triggering the Skill as he flew through the air, his arm shot forwards to slam into the Champion, staggering the monster. Having attracted its attention, Daniel was struck and sent staggering to the side as he landed.

  Tiny balls rolled across the ground, releasing streams of water. These streams reached and grasped, forming into tendrils that gripped and grabbed at legs. The Zarask paused as they swarmed the pair of fighters in their encirclement, letting up for a brief moment their assault as they attempted to extract themselves. A few seconds later, even more enchanted weapons landed, shattering and releasing a cloud of freezing Mana-laden gas. On contact with the water, the formerly easily broken tendrils of water froze, attaching themselves to skin. For a brief moment, the Zarask were caught, unable to move, and Tula took full advantage. A Storm of Arrows landed among the group, each arrow an empowered version filled with a strength-sapping poison. As the Zarask pulled themselves free, feathered and injured, they tore skin and left weeping wounds of frostbitten flesh behind.

  In the meantime, Daniel found his footing and lashed out at the Champion with Perrin’s Blow. The empowered strike, targeted at the lower floating rib that Daniel sensed to be a weakness in the Champion, threw the monster away from the main scramble. Having drawn the Champion’s full attention, Daniel hunkered down under his wooden shield and plate armor, focusing on deflecting earth-shaking blows with his shield and weapon at an angle. Even then, Daniel quickly found his arms numbing under the repeated assault. If he could, he would have called for help, but none could hear him.

  Time slowed down, each clawed strike another saved second, another moment that his friends could make use of to win their fight. His Find Weakness skill kept informing Daniel of potential areas to strike against the Champion, but Daniel could not afford to take the chance. Even potential openings were discarded in the brutal calculus of stamina and speed that Daniel had to make, refusing to trade a chance blow for wasted strength.

  Another blow, this one caught slightly too slowly, sent his hammer skipping out of his hand. The loop around his wrist pulled his entire arm out of place, a mistake that opened his chest to a brutal kick. It threw Daniel backwards even as the Champion’s foot was left smoking. On his buttocks, Daniel scrambled to rise as the Champion threw its head back and howled.

  Once more, Daniel found the sonic attack resounding within his bones. Closer now, the attack was even more brutal. But instead of a general area attack, the Champion looked towards Daniel and cupped its hands together, focusing the howling attack. It struck Daniel directly, wracking the Healer with pain.

  As suddenly as the scream started, it shut up. Blearily, his vision tinged in red, Daniel saw a throwing knife stuck in the monster’s throat. As the Champion staggered backwards, attempting to claw the sparking knife out of its mouth, an arrow joined it. Then another.

  A wracking cough forced Daniel to roll to the side, spitting blood out of his mouth as he attempted to clear his throat. He scrambled at his helmet clasp, finally freeing his face as he gulped down desperately needed air, forgetting for a moment about the fight around him. As his breath came to him, Daniel reached for his Mana, casting a simple Minor Healing II on himself first before layering a Healer’s Mark. As he staggered to his feet, he turned back to the battle only to see it finished.

  Around him, there were only the Mana crystals of the slain Zarask and the fallen body of the Champion. Standing over the corpse, a no longer glowing Omrak stood, his sword plunged directly into the monster’s chest where its heart would be.

  “Oh. I guess I could have waited,” Daniel said.

  He frowned, touching his ear, and realised he could not even hear himself. With a sigh, he slumped to the ground and just lay on the cold floor, enjoying the cool comfort. Later, he’d heal everyone else. But for now, he was the most injured of the group and, on Healer’s orders, he was going to have a lie-down.

  Chapter 5

  Cleaning up after the Dungeon run was simple enough. By the time Daniel had finished healing himself and the rest of the team, no one wanted to continue, so they had carefully explored and found the way down to the next floor. Using the staircase, they then transferred themselves to the exit. Tula was grateful enough that both Asin and Rob were willing to deal with the disposition of their loot. Running a Dungeon was always more stressful than a day’s journey in the outlands. It was, Tula believed, because in a Dungeon you knew you were going to be battling monsters at some point. In the outlands, you could go days without a violent encounter.

  Tula sighed, shaking her head. Whether it was stressful or not, she would soon be leaving Silverstone and its Dungeons. The expedition to the west of Brad was not breaking new ground, but any expedition that passed near the untamed lands like the expedition planned to needed a Ranger. Even if she did not want to go, her orders from the Western Ivy were clear.

  And, in truth, it would be good to get out of the city and see her family. Just because she enjoyed talking did not mean she liked crowds. And the city was nothing if not filled with people. All of them talking too loud, crowding too close, and refusing to bathe often enough.

  Tula ran a hand through her hair again, picking up the small brush she had been gifted, she brushed her short hair again. Hot baths were a luxury that she would miss. As she stared at the scarred visage in the mirror, she found her lips twitching up slightly. Baths and those silly party members of hers. Still, the time together with them had been helpful. She was now two-thirds of the way to Level 16 after all the adventuring they had done.

  “Best get moving,” Tula said, shaking her head. “If I don’t, Asin is just going to have Erin give us too heavily spiced meats.”

  Putting her brush away, Tula turned and looked around her room. The bed was made, and her belongings were all stored in her pouch. She could leave right now and never come back and not be missing a single thing. As Tula reached for and picked up her bow, she nodded. Good.

  A short journey took Tula from her inn to Erin’s wh
ere the group had decided to meet. The food was good, plentiful, and Erin was known to keep trouble out. It made the inn very popular among Adventurers, especially after a day’s delving.

  “Over here!” Omrak roared when he spotted Tula standing just inside the door, looking through the inn for them. She trotted over while Omrak relieved another table of a stool, dropping it down with a thump. “You took a while, friend Tula. Everyone else is here!”

  “I wanted a bath,” Tula said and sniffed in Omrak’s direction. “You, obviously, made a different choice.”

  “I bathed two days ago,” Omrak said. “And I wiped myself down with oil just last night.”

  “That is not helping your case,” Daniel said.

  Beside Daniel and opposite Omrak, Asin leaned over to prod Rob in the side. When he howled and sat-up, she flashed him a toothy grin and then prodded him again.

  “What? Speak, you confounded feline!” Rob snapped.

  “Change.” Poke.

  “Change what?” Rob said.

  “Tula.”

  “Fine,” Rob said as he batted away her clawed finger. Muttering unkind words about sharp nails, Rob changed places with Tula.

  “Thank you,” Tula said to Asin as she took her seat. “Did you all order already?”

  “Just the first couple of plates,” Daniel said. “But we have some non-spicy meats coming.”

  “Good,” Tula said. She snagged a skewer of vegetables, biting into the cooked onion and pepper meal.

  “Share.” A small pouch dropped beside Tula who juggled the skewer, her pouch, and the contents of the smaller pouch before sliding it all away.

  “Not going to count it?” Rob said, his brows drawn down with disapproval.

  “I trust you.”

  “Trust is good. But you should still verify,” Rob said.

  “My choice,” Tula said. “As we’ve discussed.”

  “It would make me feel better if you checked it. As I’ve said before.”

  “Tough,” Tula said, sticking her tongue out before she took another bite of her skewer. She then snagged three more skewers as one of Erin’s waitress dropped a new plate of skewered meat onto the table. This one did not have the telltale red glow of the other skewers.

  The group fell to drinking and eating, and their discussion turning to the fights earlier in the day. It was a time-honored tradition, a debriefing and discussion of the fear, the terror that they had all faced. A sharing of experiences that helped their minds and souls to come to terms with what had happened. It was a good ritual, one that Tula knew was conducted by the Rangers too. Which, considering how taciturn so many of their members were, said much of the effectiveness of the talks. In the end, the group finished debriefing, their minds and emotions settled like the food in their stomachs.

  “What are you planning tomorrow?” Tula said curiously. Tomorrow, she would be leaving. Still, she was curious what the team planned. Back to Artos? Or would they retry Portos to gain familiarity?

  “Tomorrow?” Omrak looked confused as he spoke. “We go with you, do we not?”

  “What? No. That’s my expedition,” Tula said, frowning. Omrak might be a little naïve at times, but he was not stupid. Though he did have a tendency to not listen when they spoke.

  “Yes,” Asin said.

  “That’s right.” Both Omrak and Tula agreed with Asin’s word. When Tula saw Asin grinning at the confusion she caused when both Adventurers realised that her ambiguous answer could be applied to them both, Tula reached over and smacked the playful Catkin.

  “That isn’t helping.”

  “Yes.”

  “Enough, Asin. Stop teasing them,” Daniel said. “Omrak is right. We are coming with you.”

  “What!” Tula yelped.

  “Well, we took a team vote and decided we were getting tired of Dungeons. And an expedition led by a real Ranger sounded like a great experience,” Daniel said. “So, we joined the expedition.”

  “You can’t do that!” Tula said.

  “Is friend Tula angry with us?” Omrak leaned over and whispered in his usual loud manner to Rob. “Were we not meant to join friend Tula?”

  “I think she’s just a little surprised,” Rob said. “Right, Tula?”

  “Sorry. Sorry. You’re right. I’m not saying you can’t come. I just didn’t expect you to come. You know? This wasn’t the plan.”

  “But you are happy for us to come, are you not?” Daniel said, leaning across from Asin.

  Tula fell silent as she met Daniel’s intense gaze. She paused, forced to consider how she felt about the announcement. Did she want her team—her ex or previously ex team—to come? After a moment’s consideration, Tula realised that she was happy to have them. A team that she knew, that she trusted on her back? That was something most Rangers longed for. Too often they ended up guiding strangers, which led to conflict and increased danger. It was just that the expedition was going to be going home. For her friends to see that, for…

  “No. It’s fine,” Tula said, offering Daniel a half-smile. It would be fine. They were her friends after all.

  “Good. Because we can’t back out now anyway,” Rob said. “The damage to our party standing would be enormous.”

  Tula snorted while Asin just let out a little snort of laughter.

  “Right, now that you know our secret. Let’s talk gear,” Daniel said, turning serious. “Here’s what we have purchased. If we need something else, we have a few hours in the morning to pick it up. But, I think we’re good.”

  Tula leaned forwards to listen in, head cocked to the side as the healer began listing their preparations, all the while squashing the squirming mass of concern in her stomach. It would be fine.

  “Kind of reminds you of our first guard request, doesn’t it?” Daniel said to Asin the next morning. Gathered in a small square just off the main boulevard, the Adventuring team watched as the expedition got itself together. Multiple carriages were pulled over to the side where the caravan master’s secretary was reviewing the wear of the carriages and beast of burden, ensuring that they were all up to the expedition’s standards. At the same time, the caravan master was interrogating the carriage drivers—the Drovers and Wagon Masters being forced to provide details of their Skills. For the most part, it would not be important, but a good caravan master would still ensure he knew the full extent of his people’s Skills.

  “Team leader,” Asin said, jerking her head to where an adventuring team walked in.

  Daniel turned to stare at the group, the only other Adventuring team on this expedition. As Daniel watched the group walk forwards, he reviewed what he knew about the team. A yellow tier Advanced Adventuring team, they outranked their own team by seniority, leaving their team leader in charge. The team itself was one of the Seven Stone’s many sponsored teams, and Daniel could not help but admire their equipment. All seven of the adventuring team wore a light dark-grey cloak whose inside lining held the tailored enchantment runes that kept their wearers warm, dry and cool. The ‘Adventurers Cloaks’ were much in demand and cost at least thirty gold each.

  “Daniel Chai? Of the DAO?” the group leader asked as he approached. The tall blond man wore the grey cloak over his shiny plate armor with casual ease. To Daniel’s surprise, the man made no sound when he moved, nor did he seem encumbered by the steel plate mail at all. Daniel, on the other hand, was dressed only in his iron breastplate, eschewing the majority of his armor for comfort.

  “That would be me,” Daniel said. “You’re Craig Morris of the Seven Stones.”

  “That would be me. You did your homework,” Craig said. “This is Vivian, Bjarne, Uppulu, Hjalmar, Elisa, and Sumuhan.”

  Daniel’s gaze flicked over the party, who acknowledged the pair each time Craig spoke. One of the first things Daniel noticed was the way that a couple of members of the party moved, favoring old—or perhaps fresh—injuries. Wrapped bandages, a hitch in a step. It spoke to the healer within
Daniel, but the healer made no offer to relieve their pain. He had no desire to be mobbed by cheapskate Adventurers again.

  Vivian was dressed in light, untreated green leather, the scales of the monster that it came from still attached. From his recollection, she was a sorcerer instead of a mage—untrained in the channelling of magic via a formal school with her spells all coming from her Skills. It meant that she was much less versatile than a real mage, but she had the advantage of being a faster caster since she only had to invoke her Skills. It was, in some ways, similar to Daniel’s own use of Minor Healing. Well, before he had progressed it by study.

  Bjarne was bigger, taller, and dressed in a chainmail hauberk with leather and cloth padding otherwise. Daniel noted that the cloth padding he wore underneath the light leather on his arms glowed slightly, golden stitching through the cloth indicating it was likely to be enchanted. Bjarne had a short sword sheathed on his waist, but he carried a halberd behind his shield.

  Uppulu was armed and armored very similar to Bjarne, except that the dark-skinned warrior wielded a leaf-bladed spear rather than a halberd. Otherwise, the pair seemed to favour lighter armor and a larger shield than Craig. Of note to Daniel was Uppulu’s footwear which consisted of lace-up sandals with tiny wings on the end.

  Hjalmar was a change from the previous warriors, being thinner, shorter, and overall smaller. Clad in light leather armor, the archer carried a simple recurve bow that he held unstrung in one hand. Even standing still, Hjalmar kept cracking his neck, shrugging his shoulders and otherwise stretching out.

  Elisa was the Seven Stones team’s other long-range fighter, the young woman wielding a recurve bow as well. Daniel could tell that her weapon was enchanted, the gilding along the edge of the bow a clear indication. When Daniel looked over to her, she flashed the young healer a bright smile, causing Uppulu to frown.

  Sumuhan was the last of the team to be introduced, and he was also the only Beastkin. Sumuhan was a rarer Beastkin, a goat-variant, unlike the majority predator Beastkin. Sumuhan’s snout was longer than Asin’s, with a long, white wispy beard trailing from his face and well-polished horns on his top. The Goatkin towered over the group, standing around six feet eight inches, and on his back, he carried three javelins. As for his main weapon, the Goatkin held a simple maul.