by Adam Drake
“Well, aren't you going to ask me to come along?” She sounded incredulous.
He stopped. “Why would I do that?”
She trotted over to stand in front of him. “Look, I'm kinda new here.”
“You and me both,” Rob said.
“I've been sent to this valley to look for a scholar from my clan who's been missing for weeks.”
“The Ghostblade clan?”
“Yes. So I think it would be beneficial if you helped me locate him.”
Rob looked at her in confusion. “Are you asking for my help?”
“No,” she said. “But it would be your duty to assist me in this matter.”
“How could it possibly be my duty?”
“You're an adventurer,” she said. “It's what you're suppose to do. Assist in matters. And I have a matter. An important one.”
Rob stared at her in amazement. Then, after counting to three, turned away and resumed walking without a backwards glance.
“Hey, wait! Where are you going?” she called after him.
“I got other matters, lady. Important matters,” Rob said.
He pushed his way into the forest until the rocky hill and Myna disappeared from view.
As he retraced his steps, he considered her rudeness. She appeared to be an elf, or something similar. Perhaps it was her race's manner to act like that. If such was the case, he doubted elves had many friends.
Still, she did want to come with him which he found incongruous with her personality. Even with her ability to use a blade, he didn't think he could handle her around for more than five minutes.
Although, she was quite beautiful.
He was pondering turning around and going back for her when he suddenly appeared near the clearing again.
Staying back within the trees, he looked around.
The bats hadn't returned to the well. Instead, they flew in a large circle around the entire clearing. Dozens of them.
He looked to the house. He'd never make it over there without attracting attention. Should he wait until they returned to the well? How long would that be? It wasn't like he had copious amounts of time to waste. His people were in need of him.
For several minutes he watched the swirling black cloud of bats, wishing them to leave, or at least thin out. But they persisted, squeaking and flapping about.
He found himself suddenly regretting not taking Myna up on her offer. She might have been able to help.
Waiting here wasn't an option. He needed to get to the house and soon.
Maybe he should just run for it. Race across the clearing and through the front door. Then what? The bats would pursue and he didn't think they'd stop once he got inside.
“Crap,” he said. For a few moments he considered turning away and giving up on the scrolls. He was so close!
Behind him, someone cleared their throat.
He spun about, axe and buckler at the ready.
Myna stepped forward out of the shadows of a tree, her transparent sword in hand.
“What are you doing here?” Rob said, surprised.
“Watching you flounder about while you decide what to do,” she said. She stood beside him and gazed out at the swirling bats. “Giant bats,” she said. “This is what you had to run off for?”
Rob scowled at her for a moment then turned back to the clearing. “Yeah. Why?”
“Just wondering,” she said, looking over the clearing. “So which is it?”
“Which is what?”
“The house or the well? Which do you need to get to?”
Rob wondered if he should say anything, then said, “The house. There's something inside I need.”
She took a few more moments before she spoke again. “Okay, I'll help.”
“I didn't ask for your help.”
“No,” she said and turned to smile at him. This time there was no malice in her expression, but something warm and enticing. “But you were expecting it.”
And before he could come up with a response, she moved into the clearing.
“Whoa! Wait!” Rob said, rushing out to follow her.
She stopped several paces in the clearing, watching the bats race above. The creatures suddenly grew more agitated at their appearance.
“I'm right handed so keep to my left,” she said. “And stay close, but not too close.”
He wanted to ask her why when several bats swooped down toward her.
Myna calmly watched them, waiting. As soon as they were in range, she suddenly slashed her ghostly blade in a quick, wide arc. The next moment, three dead bats fell to the ground at her feet.
She glanced at his stunned expression. “Sweep!” she shouted and swung at another bat.
Several bats launched themselves at Rob, and he braced for the attack. Following her lead, he waited until they were close and sliced his axe in a broad swing.
He struck the first bat and kept on moving to hit the second. A third bat pulled away. The two bats he hit fell to the ground, dead.
You have killed a Giant Bat. You have gained 50 experience points toward your next level.
You have killed a Giant Bat. You have gained 50 experience points toward your next level.
Nice! Two bats with one stone, as it were. He flashed a grin at Myna, but she was already sweeping at another set of bats. More bodies fell to the ground.
A small timer appeared at the edge of his vision. It was shaped like a round clock, ticking away ten seconds.
The cooldown, he thought, as he blocked a diving bat with his buckler and hit it with the axe.
More bats attacked him, and he blocked and slashed at them while he waited for his timer to finish. The moment it did, he used his Sweep again and caught three bats at once, killing them.
Oh, this is great! Sweep would have been useful in his fight with the goblins and gnolls. Perfect for dealing with groups of attackers.
“Move toward the house!” Myna shouted during a lull in the fighting. The bats appeared to be regrouping in the face of this new threat.
Swatting at a bat, Rob hurried across the clearing.
As they moved together, both of them continued to smack away the occasional attack. Rob marveled at how fast her strikes were, considerably faster than his own.
They reached the house and climbed up onto its ruined porch. The doorway was missing its door, and Rob could see a dim hallway beyond.
The bats attacked again, this time in larger groups.
Keeping to Myna's left, Rob fought with a renewed frenzy, punctuating his strikes with Sweeps. Myna did the same, but her blade moved so quick, it didn't appear she needed a shield of her own, hitting the bats before they got too close.
Soon Rob grew incredibly tired with sweat pouring off his body. His arms grew heavy, and he found it hard to attack.
“You've run out of energy!” Myna said. “How typical of a man!” With her free hand she produced a small white potion from a recess within her tight leather armor.
Where did that come from? Rob wondered. She handed it to him, and he quickly reached over with his shield hand to take it.
You have taken an item: Energy Boost
Restores full energy in 20 seconds.
Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Value: 2 gold pieces.
Mindful not to spill it, he managed to drink it down while still hanging onto his buckler. Almost immediately he felt his energy returning. He resumed his attacks.
Rob couldn't help but notice Myna was barely sweating. “Don't you need one of those, too?”
“I have really high energy,” she said. “I can go forever.”
If there was any innuendo with that statement, Rob missed it as the bats suddenly pulled away. They had tightened their flying circle to swirl around the house.
Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Rob motioned to the door. “Get inside!”
They hurried through the doorway and stopped in a small foyer. The place was in ruins. A collapsed stairwell meant they couldn't get upstair
s. A large open room to the right was crammed with fallen beams and debris. A small hallway led to a closed door at the back of the house.
Rob looked around, confused. Where the hell are the scrolls in this mess?
Bats sudden flew through the doorway and the front windows to attack.
Standing side by side, Rob and Myna fought as they slowly backed up down the hall. There wasn't any room to use their Sweep.
“What's the plan, adventurer?” Myna shouted over the noise of the bats.
Good question. How could he search this place with the bats attacking? He looked around the hallway and found a small closed door.
“I'm going to check this!” Rob said.
Myna nodded and stepped into the center of the hall, slashing at bats. Their dead bodies began to litter the floor.
Rob pulled the little door open and found it revealed a small set of stone stairs descending into darkness.
“Always stairs and darkness,” he said.
“What?” Myna said. A bat suddenly got caught in her long ponytail and she yanked it away with a curse.
“In here!” Rob said and took a few steps down. He cast his Light spell, and the stairwell brightened. It revealed a stone floor a dozen steps below.
Myna turned and dived into the stairwell as Rob slammed the door shut. The door rattle with the bats bashing into it.
Rob found himself pressed up against Myna in the cramped space. She seemed oblivious and looked around. “Is this the place you needed to be?”
“Yeah,” Rob said sliding past her body and down the stairs. “I think so.”
Carefully, they descended until they stood in a tiny cellar room. There were no windows or doors. The only way in or out was the stairs.
Junk and debris covered the floor and was spread everywhere. The room was as dilapidated as the rest of the house.
Rob slung his axe and peered around. Where were the scrolls? He checked his map and could see his indicator was right on the little X. This was the spot.
“We went through all of that just to end up in this dump?” Myna said. “You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
But Rob wasn't listening. He pushed aside the fallen debris and bits of wood.
Myna watched him for several moments as he futilely searched the room. “What are you looking for?”
“Something,” Rob said. They weren't here. Then he remembered the mantelpiece of the farmhouse. He looked over to one of the walls which comprised of various stones.
“Something?” Myna said. “Well, that's specific.”
Rob ran his gloved hands over the wall, pressing and pushing. Suddenly, one of the rocks fell out, exposing a little hole.
“Bingo!” Rob said, excited. Inside was a small leather bag wrapped in twine. Carefully, he pulled it out.
“Oh, look,” Myna said. “The payoff.”
Quickly, Rob undid the twine and opened the bag. Within were three tightly rolled pieces of parchment.
Scrolls.
But before he could inspect them Myna said, “Hey! They stopped!”
Rob listened. The banging on the door had ceased. Had the bats given up?
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Rob closed up the leather bag and slid it into one of his bags of holding.
“Okay,” he said. “Let's get out of here while we can.”
They moved up the stairs to the door. Rob pressed his ear against it and listened. He couldn't hear any sounds other than the frantic thumping of his heart.
“Anything?” Myna asked. She was pressed up against his back.
“No,” Rob said. Carefully, he opened the door a crack and peered through it. The hallway appeared empty of bats. Live ones, anyway. A lumpy carpet of bat corpses covered the floor.
He opened the door the rest of the way and looked about. No flying bats.
He glanced at Myna who shrugged.
Quietly, they moved down the hall to the open doorway and looked out.
The sky was empty of bats. Lots of corpses dotted the ground, but nothing else flew at them or attacked.
They looked to the well. Bats no longer flew out of it.
“What happened?” Myna said. “Where'd they go?”
“We have a saying where I come from,” Rob said as he moved out onto the porch.
“What saying?” Myna said following beside him.
“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.” At her confused expression he nodded to the treeline to the south.
They quickly ran across the clearing, watching the sky for signs of bats.
In moments, they reached the trees and then ran through the forest, leaving the dead house behind them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
They hurried along for several minutes, all the while watching for signs of pursuit.
Reaching a fallen log, Rob motioned for them to stop. “Okay, that's good, I think. They lost interest in us.”
Myna looked back the way they came. “Are you sure? Those things seemed very determined to kill you.”
“I get that a lot,” Rob said as he sat on the log. He slung his axe and slipped his buckler off to rest it beside him.
“Break time, already?” Myna said. “Need another Energy Boost?”
“No, I want to see what I got.” He brought out the leather bag and undid its twine again. Then he removed his gloves and wiped his sweaty palms against his pants.
Myna watched him quietly while glancing back in the direction of the house.
“Okay,” Rob said. “Magic time.” He chose a scroll at random and took it out.
You have taken an item: Spell Scroll of Damage Shield – Level 1
Required Intelligence: 14
Mana Cost: 25
Imbues the caster with a full-body aura that absorbs all forms of damage up to 50 Hit Points. Cannot have more than one Damage Shield active.
Cooldown: 2 hours
Value: 35 gold pieces
Wow! Something that can take hits for him? Very cool. Unfortunately, he'd have to wait until next level, at the very least, to use it.
He selected another scroll.
You have taken an item: Spell Scroll of Sun Bolt – Level 1
Required Intelligence: 12
Mana Cost: 10
Damage: 20 Hit Points.
Allows the caster to instantly cast a sun bolt at an opponent within 25 paces.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Value: 35 gold pieces
Range damage! Sweet! Finally, he'll have a chance to hit something without walking right up to it.
Since he met the requirements, he learned it. It appeared on his list of known spells along with Light.
Now that he had two spells did that mean he was considered a wizard? He shook his head. Didn't matter. He had spells now. Plural. It made him feel heady.
Jazzed for more, Rob opened the last scroll.
You have taken an item: Spell Scroll of Heal
Required Intelligence: 12
Mana Cost: 15
Grants the caster the ability to restore hit points to 100% over 60 seconds.
Value: 20 gold pieces
Rob let out a small cheer. Yes! His healing spell! He finally got it. Now he could heal himself during a fight or not get too stressed if he ran out of potions. Fantastic!
He learned it and then stared at his spell list.
Known Spells
Light (5 Mana)
Heal (15 Mana)
Sun Bolt – Level 1 (10 Mana)
Feeling tremendously satisfied, Rob grinned from ear to ear.
“Well, you look happy,” Myna said. “Found what you were looking for, I take it?”
“Yup,” Rob said. “Been waiting for this for a long time.” He noticed she was injured and moved close to her. “Here, let me heal you.”
“I can heal myself just fine,” she said, pulling away.
“Please, I insist. You healed me before. Now I can return the favor.”
She could see that this was important to him and
nodded.
Rob placed his hand against the bare skin of her neck. Her flesh was warm to the touch. As he cast Heal, he felt a tingling sensation course through his body, down his arm and out his hand.
He could see all of Myna's cuts and bite marks fade away, almost immediately.