War Aeternus: The Beginning

by Charles Dean

  “Oh, then how do we search the house without telling them why?” Miller asked

  “Just leave that to me,” Lee said assuredly. For good measure, he added, “And don’t do any talking until I tell you to.” The last part wasn’t actually needed. He just thought it’d be nice to get a break from Miller’s continuous rambling about how great justice was and how everyone needed to be protected and saved because it was the right thing to do. Lee might not be sensitive enough to understand someone like Ling’s feelings at a moment like this, but he could at least guess that even she didn’t want to constantly be reminded about Shannon’s plight after personally getting kidnapped just the day before.

  “Okay, but what wil—” Miller started up another string of questions, but Lee cut him off right away by holding up a hand and shaking his head.

  “Miller, let me handle the talking on this one, okay? I’m divinely inspired, so I won’t be led astray. Trust in the Herald of your faith. You’ve already witnessed some of the great works of Augustus.”

  Miller looked like he wanted to say something again, so Lee repeated himself. “Trust in me.” After that, a quiet settled on the group as they walked to the six houses in suspect.

  Smell anything from Shannon? Lee asked Ethan as they looked at each of the houses.

  Little Ethan communicated by sending a mental image of dug up dirt and Shannon’s smell near one of the doors.

  Alright. Let’s sell this then. Lee clasped his hands in front of him, closed his eyes and tilted his head back as if he were looking to the sky. He stood quietly for a brief moment as if he were in deep prayer then pointed at the door Ethan had indicated in one quick, dramatic-as-possible action. “That one!” Lee stated emphatically. “That’s the house!”

  “Are you sure?” Ling asked. “That’s Geoffrey’s house. He’s been a really great guy ever since his wedding. He helps out around town all the time. I can’t imagine he’d ever do anything to harm someone.”

  How is it that we live in a town where people treat me almost getting assassinated in the night as something normal, but she can’t believe that someone would try to kidnap another person? Lee looked at her quizzically, not understanding where her certainty about the good nature of other people came from when everything he had experienced told him otherwise.

  “What’s his job in town?” Lee asked.

  “He’s a tailor. Why?”

  Well, the proof is in the pudding. Lee simply shrugged, and without explaining what he was up to, he went up to the door and knocked.

  “Hello?” Lee heard a voice say from within the house. “Who is it?”

  “Hey, sorry to bother you, but . . . umm . . . I’m kinda in a pickle here. Could you take a look at these clothes? Do you think you could fix them?” Lee pulled out the pants he had taken off earlier when he had swapped them for the leather armor and held them out.

  Geoffrey wasn't having any of it. “What?” he asked, sounding outraged. “I’m busy right now.”

  “Look, if you can’t do it, that’s totally fine, but I just need a moment of your time,” Lee pressed. “If you look at it and tell me you can’t fix it, I’ll go away. But I was told you’re the best tailor in town, so please help me out.” Lee made sure to lay on some praise and stroke the man’s ego as he pressed to get the door open with a promise of ‘I’ll go away if you give me a few seconds.’ People might not be compliant with random visitors, but they were usually pretty happy to do what was needed to get them out of their face.

  “I said I’m busy!” Geoffrey shouted, refusing to open the door even a bit.

  Lee exchanged a look with Ling. Suspicious? A tailor turning down easy business? He could tell from Ling’s expression that she was beginning to have doubts too.

  “Sir, I promise I’ll get out of your hair if you can’t fix this, but this is a family heirloom. It’s a one of a kind outfit that I am very attached to. If you can fix it, I’ll reward you handsomely,” he insisted, taking a final stab at getting the man to open the door.

  “Huh? Let me see what we’re working with.” The man didn’t exactly open the door but cracked it open wide enough to poke his head through. When he did, Lee had Ethan run between the man’s feet and into the house.

  “Oh, it’s right here.” Lee handed the man his nice black slacks as Ethan spied around the place. A few seconds later, he had his answer.

  She’s in the basement. Lee had to stop himself from recoiling when he saw the conditions she was being held in through Ethan’s eyes. She was locked in a cage with a gag stuffed in her mouth, and her wrists and ankles had been tied together with a single rope which was suspended from a hook in the ceiling. It was inhumane enough to make a good and honest, sheltered city dweller like Lee want to throw up in his mouth.

  “Son, I have some free time tomorrow, but right now I can’t rea—” Without even looking at the fact there wasn’t a single hole or tear in the pants, Geoffrey was already trying to push Lee away. But before he could finish, the revulsion Lee felt reached his throat and had to be voiced.

  “RAT!” Lee yelled, pointing at the man as he put his foot in the door.

  “What? What the hell are you talking about?” Geoffrey scoffed as he tried to slam the door, only to have it stopped by Lee’s foot.

  “There’s a big rat behind you! How can you not see it?” Lee asked. “Guys, get that rat before it causes trouble with Geoffrey’s shop!”

  “No, no! Don’t come in!” Geoffrey protested.

  Miller just ignored him as he slammed his shoulder into the door, knocking Geoffrey to the ground and charging into the room. Ethan scurried across the floor and back down the stone stairs into the basement where Shannon was kept. “I’ll get him! He’s as good as mine!” Miller yelled as he barreled through the room after Little Ethan.

  “Wait! Don’t go down there!” Geoffrey shouted, this time with much less panic as he reached into a chest near the bed and started pulling something out.

  Crap, it’s a weapon. Lee gulped as he slowly pulled out his sword and tried to keep enough space between him and Geoffrey so that he could react easily. He was already playing out all the variations of how the fight would go down in his head.

  “WHAT IN AUGUSTUS’S GREAT NAME HAVE YOU DONE?!” Miller’s ear-shatteringly-loud yell came from the basement.

  Lee didn’t need to guess at what had set him off. He found Shannon.

  “GEOFFREY! I’m going to murder you!” Miller yelled from down the stairs. “I am going to rip your arms off, tear your tongue out, and pull every single tooth out one by one . . . You’re a dead man!” Miller’s rage was over the top, and he could be heard stomping up the stairs.

  Geoffrey, apparently not one to roll over and die, had pulled out a large one-handed axe and was preparing to rush the stairs and fight Miller when an arrow shot through the air out of nowhere and stuck into his shoulder.

  Lee didn’t have to look back to know who the shooter was. When did she bring out a bow? Was it on her the whole time? Seizing the opportunity, he pushed into the building and charged at the freshly-wounded man.

  Geoffrey grabbed at the arrow and stared at Ling in shock, but he didn’t even have time to react before Lee kicked him as hard as he could, sending the man toppling down onto the first few steps. Lee’s momentum was almost enough to carry him forward and down the flight of stairs with him, but he was able to regain his balance by grabbing onto the door jam and catching himself.

  Geoffrey, however, was in a completely different situation. He immediately slammed into the edge of one of the stone stairs face-first and then continued his trip forward down the stairs, tumbling head over heels.

  Halfway down, Miller stopped the falling man with a stomp, sticking him in place. He slammed a boot down on the man’s wrist next, yanked the axe free from Geoffrey’s grasp, and tossed it down the stairs. Once the man was disarmed, Miller lifted him up by his neck and proceeded to beat him with his free hand. “You. Sick. Son. Of. A. Goblin. Whore,” Miller
shouted, the words punctuated with the sound of Miller’s grunts, his fist slamming into Geoffrey's face, and Geoffrey’s sobs.

  “Mr. Donovan, please . . . Just . . . Just finish him off. Please, end it quickly,” Ling pleaded. Whether it was just her nature or because of her previous ordeal, she clearly couldn’t stand to watch the brutal scene.

  Miller didn’t even hear her. He was so wound up and enraged that he continued his savage assault on Geoffrey despite the young woman’s pleas. After several tense seconds filled with the sickening crunch of blood and bone being hammered, Miller shoved his fist into Geoffrey’s battered and mostly toothless mouth. True to his word, the Firbolg grabbed the man’s tongue and actually ripped it out. When he was done, Miller tossed the barely-breathing man, who must have had amazing, cockroach-like vitality, to the bottom of the steps and pulled out his spear.

  “I’m just . . .” Miller stalked down the steps and stabbed the point of his spear into Geoffrey’s shoulder joint. Blood spewing out of the wounds, but the man’s arm wasn’t immediately severed. “Making sure he knows . . .” He stabbed down a second time and then a third, finishing off his work before kicking the body over.

  Your party has killed Geoffrey. Your party has been awarded 21 silver, one sewing kit and 54 Experience. Your share of this is 10 silver, 50 copper, one sewing kit and 27 Experience.

  “That he knows . . .”—Miller began chopping at the other shoulder—“that I am a man of my word. A man of righteousness and purpose must always keep his word.”

  “I don’t think anyone will doubt that in the future,” Lee said to Miller as he began descending the stairs. He really did disarm him, rip out his tongue, and beat each tooth out of the poor man’s mouth. Lee felt kind of shocked. Usually, whenever people shouted those type of threats, they were hyperbole. He’d lived a long time as a trash-talking gamer and a regular member of the good ole, excessively-violent human race, but he had never seen someone follow through on such a cruel threat.

  “You should wash your hands and clean yourself up a bit. I have a feeling Shannon is going to be scared enough as is,” Lee added as a quiet afterthought as he stepped around Miller and moved toward where the woman was being held.

  He didn’t have any use for the shirt and pants he had traveled to the real world in, so he quickly pulled them out and made a show of covering his eyes as he approached Shannon’s naked body.

  His act was a farce since he had already seen her clearly through Ethan’s eyes, but he felt like the illusion of respecting her decency was for the best at the moment. It took him a moment without the use of his vision, but he was eventually able to cut the ropes that she was bound up with, starting with the ones around her ankles and then moving to the ones around her wrists. As soon as she was freed, he caught her gently in both of his arms.

  “I’m . . . really sorry about what you’ve been through. These won’t fit comfortably, but please put them on,” he said softly, hurriedly pushing her away and handing her his old clothes. Even now in such a compromising position, he was doing his best to respect her privacy and keep up the illusion. That said, he didn’t have Ethan cover his eyes too.

  After pulling out her gag and putting on his clothes, she spent a solid two minutes trying to figure out how the zipper and button for the slacks worked. Finally, she apparently gave up and decided to hold them up instead. “I’m . . . sorta dressed now.”

  Lee turned back around to find her doing her best to keep the pants up. Without knowing how to work the belt, they didn’t even come close to fitting her. She was pretty tall for a woman, about five feet ten inches, and she had brown hair to go with a petite face full of freckles that usually accompanied Irish redheads. The good thing for her was that her figure wasn’t curvy in any particular way, so not only did Lee’s clothes not exactly fit her, they also hung shapelessly without showing anything of her figure.

  “Here, let me help you out with . . .” Lee went over to assist her with the buckle.

  “Ah!” Shannon screamed and jerked back involuntarily before he could even touch it.

  Lee threw up his hands as if surrendering and did his best to put on a smile. In a calm and even voice, he tried to talk down her panic. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s just that those pants have a funny system to stay up. You do it like this . . .” Without touching her, he did his best to mimic the gestures need to button and zip the pants and tighten the belt. Everyone is used to zippers and clasps back home, so I suppose I took some things for granted.

  Once she got it, he edged a little closer. “Do you mind? It’ll take just a moment. Close your eyes if you have to. I just need to adjust this so you’re decent,” he said.

  She clenched her eyes shut as he made the last adjustments for the belt. She remained incredibly stiff the entire time, and he hated having to do it, but he figured that a moment of pain securing things would save her the trouble and further humiliation of things starting to fall off. When he was finished, he also had her put on a pair of socks.

  “Okay, there you go. You’re all set now,” Lee said. When she looked at him curiously, he quickly followed it up with, “How about we take you to your dad?”

  Shannon didn’t say anything. She just pulled a little at her shirt and then meekly nodded.

  He had to admit that she was actually rather cute, all things considered. He also had to admit that thinking about how cute she was after what she’d been through made him feel like he was committing some sort of sin. It was enough to make him berate himself for recalling her previously bare image. No, that’s inappropriate, Lee, very inappropriate. Yet, despite the chastisement, the image didn’t fade.

  Chapter 5

  Name: Lee

  Race: Human

  Class: Herald - None

  Level: 5

  Health: 150/150

  EXP: 68/750

  Primary Stats:

  Power 15

  Toughness 15

  Spirit 15

  Secondary Stats:

  Charisma 5

  Courage 5

  Deceit 1

  Intelligence 25

  Honor 1

  Faith 1

  Skills:

  Unarmed Combat: Initiate Level 1

  Swordplay: Initiate Level 1

  Sneak: Initiate Level 2

  Cooking: Initiate Level 1

  Divine Skills:

  Golem Sculpting: Initiate Level 4

  Appreciative Drunk: Initiate Level 2

  “Lee!” Miller yelled as he came up the stairs. “What are you doing? Let’s get out of here! We shouldn’t delay in the day’s tasks, or the wines of Augustus won’t taste as sweet!”

  Lee turned to look at Miller as he stomped into the room and took a minute before answering. It was probably best to brush over the fact that Miller had only been part of the religion for a day, had never met the deity and was already divining how Augustus thought and rewarded his followers.

  “Getting Shannon back to her home as soon as possible is a priority . . . But I think that’s exactly what we need to do,” Lee answered, thinking aloud.

  “What? We need to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Ling responded, looking around frantically. She had a death-grip on her bow, and it was clear that she was worried about the idea of hanging around any longer than they had to. “What if someone shows up? What if Geoffrey had accomplices?”

  “I’m actually hoping they do come,” Lee said, pacing around the room as he looked things over. “Because then we’ll be able to correct the mistake made by our good Brother Donovan.”

  “What mistake? I enacted righteous justice and delivered unto man the wrath of Augustus!” Miller declared shamelessly, thumping his blood-soaked hand against his chest.

  “Yeah, you did,” Lee answered quietly but sternly. “And now that he’s dead, we don’t know how his operation works. I think it’s safe to assume that he had to have been working with someone else at this point. We don’t know why Geoffrey was doing this or what his goal wa
s, but we do know that several other people have gone missing, and none of them are in this house. He had to have some purpose for kidnapping all those people, and he most likely had accomplices to help him smuggle them out of town. We know that no one ever found a trail that led toward water, so I think it’s safe to assume that he wasn’t just dumping the bodies. We need to find out who he was working with and a way back to whatever camp they are using so that we can save any other victims that might still be alive.”

  “As the Herald of the great Augustus, you should show more faith, Lee. It’s clear that Augustus will show us the way. We shall slay those evildoers in the name of justice!” Miller insisted.

  It was clear that neither Miller’s opinion nor mood would remain undaunted by any argument or pessimism, so Lee decided to just leave it be. “I show as much faith in him as is appropriate,” Lee sighed. He turned to Ling and said, “Do you think you can do me the favor of taking Shannon back to her home? I’m sure her father is worried sick.”

  “No!” Shannon pulled back as soon as Ling put an arm around her. “Please . . . Please, don’t leave me alone yet.”

  You’re scared that someone else will try to grab you again? “Okay . . .” Lee acquiesced. “Miller, come on. We’ll come back and watch this place later.”

  “That sounds boring. Let’s just get directions from Augustus and give them all a good one-two! I want to rip someone’s head off for the way they treated this woman. I am going to find one of those bandits, rip his collar bones out, and stab them through his eyes so that he can see the holy light of justice first hand!”

  After Miller’s earlier display, Lee had no doubt in his mind that Miller would do everything in his power to follow through with his plan and do exactly as he had promised. He also had no doubt that it would probably end up being a lot more bloody and gruesome than what he had just described. “I feel like I should remind you about forgiving others, as is the way of Augustus,” Lee warned. Miller’s irrational attitude was likely to get them into trouble if the Firbolg couldn’t learn to contain his temper.