by Aleron Kong
Terrod stared at the alchemist in disbelief, but then Richter’s scream of pain brought him back to the reality of the moment. He turned around and saw that his liege was straining to keep the snapping jaws of a skath away from his face. Krom had joined the fight and was bashing the skath in the head with a rock, but between the monster’s thick skull and its enraged status, it barely noticed the smith’s futile efforts.
Jean had finally loaded another bolt, but couldn’t get a clear shot on anyone, so he just kept the crossbow up and waited for his moment. Terrod ran forward a few more feet and plunged the short sword hilt deep into the skath attacking Richter. The pain of the blade piercing its internal organs got through to the monster in a way that Krom’s rock bashing had not. It reared on its hind legs as its back arched in pain. Blood sprayed on Terrod and Krom’s faces as the captain withdrew the sword.
Damaged, but not defeated, Richter snarled up at the skath from his position underneath it. Before it had time to fall again, he forced a spell form to coalesce in his mind as he made the necessary movements with both hands. His wrists clapped together of their own volition and he spat, “IGNO!” A gout of orange flame shot up into the skath’s belly, roasting it. Again, the skin blackened and charred faster than should have been possible. The monster reared back even further to escape the dreaded fire, and its back legs slipped out from underneath it. As it crashed to the ground, Richter sat up, keeping an unrelenting stream of fire on the skath. It rolled on the ground, but was too overcome with pain to form the coherent thoughts needed for escape. As the skath screamed and squirmed under the onslaught, Terrod shouted for Richter to cease his attack so he could finish the beast. Richter, savoring his enemy’s pain, heard nothing.
It took Krom grabbing his arm and shouting that they still had to fight the big one for him to stop his spell. With the horrible heat gone, Terrod stabbed the skath in the abdomen. Its flesh crumbled like charcoal and the captain met almost no resistance as the blade claimed the skath’s life.
Richter stood up and looked around, taking stock of the situation. The archers had scored against the bull skath multiple times, but it showed no signs of slowing. Jean had managed to fire and successfully hit the skath that had been fighting Caulder, judging by the bolt sticking from the creature’s side. The sergeant must have used the distraction to attack and behead the river monster. An overlarge reptilian head lay next to the body, weakening spurts of blood still coming from its ragged stump of a neck. Alma had finished draining her skath and was hovering in the air nearby. Sedrin was still passed out, but the bleeding had slowed thanks to tourniquets Krom had fashioned out of strips from his shirt. The dwarf had regained his hammer. His shoulder was healed enough to hold the large weapon, but he was still clearly favoring one side. Terrod stood ready with the elementum sword held down at his side, staring at the bull skath, and Beyan stood far off to the side, looking between the last skath and his party. His face was a collision of fear, anger, and uncertainty. Richter turned his attention to the bull river skath.
The entire party had stopped their attack and were watching the confusing tableau focused around the male skath. The large monster was still fighting one of the traitorous skath cows that had come to Terrod’s aid. The other had been torn in half, though the top half still seemed to be trying to reach the bull by clawing its way forward on its front paws. The remaining skath was down on its back with the bull’s massive foreleg on its abdomen. As Richter watched, the bull bit down on one of the smaller skath’s legs and, with a massive wrench, pulled the leg free. A spray of blood covered the ground at the moment of separation, but no more blood spurted from the severed shoulder. The skath didn’t scream or give any indication that the loss of its limb troubled it, it just kept trying to bite the bull.
Richter stared at it, confused. He activated Analyze.
Weak Reanimated River Skath. Level 3. Health 120. Mana 0. Stamina 450. The corpse of a river skath that has been reanimated. The level of this reanimated monster is substantially reduced and its values and characteristics are adjusted accordingly. The exception to this is that its stamina is increased. It will feel no pain and will only be destroyed by massive tissue trauma or damage to its central nervous system.
Richter wasn’t sure how much longer the small zombie would distract the bull, but he didn’t think it would be long. He cast Slow Heal I and then focused on the present moment. He cleared his mind, and his hands wove in sync. Words of Power flowed from his tongue. Each syllable grew harder to speak until it felt like he was trying to swallow a cracker after being denied water for a week. Despite that, he knew that this fight had to end. Sedrin had to be taken home as soon as possible, where Sumiko could minister to him. So Richter focused his entire will upon the casting and forced the final sound from his lips. The casting was complete.
Richter felt the power he had manifested pierce the skein of reality, and a six-foot-tall green disc appeared in the air. The scent of evergreen flooded his nostrils, and a creature stepped through the gateway. This saproling was larger than the last and it took the form of a five-and-a-half-foot-tall grass-covered stag with prehensile tentacles rising from its back. Richter’s head felt like it was splitting open from the strain of finishing the dual casting, but he mustered the fortitude to shout, “Attack!”
Sion and Ulinde resumed their fire upon the monster, which roared in response. It ripped the head off of the skath underneath it, and the small creature collapsed, limp, to the muddy bank. The skath ran at the party, but was intercepted by the saproling. The earth creature rammed its horns into the bull. The black prongs on top of the stag’s head pierced the monster in the neck and chest. The bull roared again, trying to bring its sharp claws to bear against the saproling, but the tentacles on the summoned creature’s back whipped forward to wrap around the front limbs and thick neck of its enemy.
Sion and Ulinde continued their ranged attack and Beyan cast his skull spell again. Another dark purple disc with a white skull in the middle shot from his hand and impacted against the bull. Both monster and saproling were staggered by the spell, but didn’t fall. Jean shot his crossbow at the struggling pair, but ended up hitting the saproling instead. Luckily, the mage’s poor aim didn’t seem to have an effect either way.
Terrod looked at Caulder and said, “Shall we join the fun?”
Caulder plucked at his bloodied chainmail and said, “I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing!” Both guards ran in to attack the bull from the sides.
A snapping noise brought Richter’s attention to the fact that the saproling could not match strength for strength with the powerful bull. Already the monster had pulled one of its arms free, severing the vines holding it in the process as well as snapping off part of the saproling’s horn. Unlike the first saproling Richter had summoned, this one did not remain mute. It screamed in an all too human voice as it was ripped apart by the skath.
Richter ran forward but stayed out of the general melee. He cast Slow I. A blue aura surrounded the bull for a split second and afterwards, it was just a touch slower. Terrod and Caulder attacked from either side, drawing blood, but not achieving any true damage against its thick scales and head. Beyan seemed to not have another offensive spell, and the cooldown on the last had not elapsed, so he was more or less useless for the moment. Once again, the archers couldn’t fire with impunity for fear of striking their comrades, and Krom’s ability to fight had been greatly compromised. Whatever had happened to his shoulder was a type of injury that Slow Heal I couldn’t fix. The battle was up to Richter, Terrod, and Caulder, he realized.
A second later, he was shown how wrong he was when Alma released a bolt of lightning from above. The yellow energy forked through the air and impacted the bull skath on its back. It roared louder than before, and a black scorch mark appeared on its back. It freed its other arm and hammered the saproling to the ground with a mighty blow. The forest creature tried to rise again, but the bull skath knocked the deer’s head free with a mighty
swipe of its claws. Green blood flowed thick from what was left of its neck. With the saproling disposed of, the bull looked up to target the dragonling, but Alma wisely remained high and out of reach.
Not having to worry about hitting the saproling anymore, Richter dual cast Flame I again. Trying to attack Alma had made the compact creature rise up and present its chest. The lance of fire burned into the bull’s breast, charring the skin and muscle beneath. Sion and Ulinde released their shots in the short window of opportunity as well. Ulinde’s ice arrow struck the bull’s face, paining it, but Sion couldn’t ignore the tempting target of the bull’s chest. The imbued arrow struck with concussive force in almost the exact same spot as Richter’s flame.
The sprite had poured almost every mana point he had into the shot. In truth, Sion had feared losing control of his imbuement and soon would have had to fire the arrow just to avoid damaging himself, but instead, the timing worked out perfectly. When the arrow hit, ripples of force propagated through the monster’s whole body and it was thrown backwards. Even Caulder and Terrod, who were still harrowing its flanks, were thrown onto their backs.
The combined damage was too much for the bull skath. It struggled to rise, but it had a ragged crater in its chest. Analyze showed that it had only thirty health left. Richter sent out a mental call to his familiar and he cast Soul Trap on his prone enemy. Alma latched onto the bull skath, which tried to whip its head back and forth to reach the dragonling. Its motions were weak, however. The last thing the monster heard was “Igno” before more flames poured into the hole in its chest and consumed its heart. A ribbon of rainbow light spun through the air. All was silent.
CHAPTER 16
Richter ran over to Sedrin and cursed when he saw the damage the man had sustained. There were large bleeding holes in his leg where the skath had bitten him. Far worse was his hand though. Only two fingers remained, thumb and index. The rest had been torn off. Two were lying on the ground not far away, but of the pinky there was no sign. Richter looked at the scene and started barking orders.
“Futen. Teleport back to the Great Seal and tell Randolphus what happened. Tell Sumiko that we have injured and that Sedrin will need to have his fingers reattached. She should prepare whatever she needs to, so that they can be reattached without delay.” He wanted to have another guard detail dispatched, but they would have no way to accurately find him in the wild. The last thing Richter wanted was for another group of his villagers to be attacked.
“As you command, my lord,” Futen replied. The inner glow in the floating orb flared to the point of being blinding and, with a clap of air rushing into a vacuum, the remnant disappeared.
Richter extended his hand and cast Ice Dagger I. The foot-long ice shard shot into the ground at his feet. He picked it up along with Sedrin’s bloody fingers and wrapped them all together in a loose length of cloth. The entire package he tucked inside of his chest armor. He still wasn’t sure if placing something inside of his Bag caused cell death, and he wasn’t willing to risk Sedrin’s fingers. It was a blind hope that Sumiko would be able to reattach the digits, but if she could, he would do everything he could to increase her chances of success.
“Which of you have Agility greater than thirty?” Richter asked. Only Ulinde raised his hand. “Then I need you to come with me. Sedrin must get back to the village and Sumiko’s magic as soon as possible. We cannot wait. Everyone else needs to follow behind us in a group.”
Terrod immediately protested. “My lord. You cannot travel through the forest with only one man for protection.”
“I can do whatever I damn well please, Captain. I am the lord here. I will save this man’s hand if I can, and you will follow my command. Am I clear?”
Terrod stiffened and came to attention. Clapping a fist to his heart, he said, “As you command, my lord.”
Richter nodded and said, “Stick together and keep safe. I will see you back in the village.” He looked at Beyan, who was still holding himself back from the group. When Richter’s eyes fell upon the gnome, the alchemist’s face grew guarded as if he was ready to fight or flee. Richter took a deep breath to control his stress and said evenly, “I do not know why you hid your magic, but I am sure you had a good reason. That doesn’t matter to me right now. What matters is that you fought with us and helped us survive. Go back with the group and know that you still have a home among us. Come to the Great Seal tonight, however, because I will have your story.”
Beyan bowed his head and, without any of his customary irritation or arrogance, he said, “As you command, Lord Richter.”
Richter nodded back. Another thought occurred to him—discretion might be the better part of valor in this situation. He instructed everyone to keep quiet about Beyan’s magic. They all agreed, but several of the other party members eyed the gnome suspiciously. It just underlined the importance of speaking with the alchemist sooner rather than later. Now was not the time though.
Richter checked the village mana pool and saw that he could summon three more workers without compromising the village’s upkeep. As soon as the grey figures had formed, he ordered them to take the bull’s body and as many of the other skath bodies back to the village as possible. He was about to pick up Sedrin, when Alma nearly shouted in his mind.
*Master! Master! Come see! Come see!*
The dragonling was hovering over a stand of thick reeds that was a few feet out in the river. Richter had rarely heard her so excited, so he decided to just run over and see what had captured her interest so strongly. When he got close, he parted the fronds and understood why she had called him over.
You have found: River Skath Nest.
A mound of mud had been piled on the inside of the reeds. In individual divots, eggs were resting upright. Each one was about the size of his hand and white, but the central egg was grey and twice as big as the others. When Richter examined it, a prompt told him that it was a Bull River Skath Egg.
He wasn’t sure what good they could do him, but he also didn’t want to leave a nest of dangerous monsters behind to attack his people in the future. He called over a mist worker and told it to forget bringing back the skath bodies and to instead bring back the eggs, safe and unharmed. It would have been easier if he could just put the eggs in his Bag, but he ran into the same problem as with Sedrin’s fingers. Richter had once put a live salmon in his Bag as an experiment. The fish had tasted fresh when he had removed it, but it had definitely died.
Following his directions, the mist worker picked up the first egg and then placed it inside of a cavity it had formed in its chest. Once the egg was inside, the opening to the cavity closed off and the egg remained hovering in place, suspended by whatever matrix made up the mist workers.
*Thank you, my love,* Richter sent. *We must travel fast now. Keep watch for predators from the air and warn me of any danger.*
The dragonling tooted her assent and flew higher to get a lay of the surrounding lands. He jogged back to Sedrin’s body and picked the man up. The jostling brought the guard back to consciousness, and he cried out in pain. Richter told him to be strong and that Sumiko would help soon. Jean cast Haste I on Ulinde, while Richter enchanted himself. Sion wished his friend speed and safety and with that, Richter took off, Ulinde in tow.
According to Richter’s map they were about seven miles away from the village. He planned to break some records. Running full tilt, the two men quickly put distance between themselves and the rest of the war party. Even carrying Sedrin’s weight, Richter was almost able to run at his top speed. Alma flew above and proved invaluable as a source of info. Twice she steered the trio around potential predators, though thankfully these were simply forest cats and a small black bear.
Sedrin lost consciousness again sometime during the run, a fact for which Richter was grateful. The guard had tried to stifle sobs or gasps of pain as his battered body was jostled, but the suffering he was experiencing was obvious. Still, Richter didn’t slow. He knew that if the situation was reversed,
he would happily suffer almost any pain if it meant being able to restore the use of his hands. In the end, they were able to make it back to the village in less than an hour, though Richter’s endurance had been very nearly empty for the last mile of the run.
Sumiko, Randolphus, and a contingent of guards were waiting for them at the city gates. Richter quickly put Sedrin down as gently as possible and moved out of the way so Sumiko could examine him. Ulinde slumped to the ground, exhausted.
“Damn fools,” she said, with more fire than normal. “Look at the mess those beasts made of him.”
Richter didn’t respond to the criticism. Instead he took the package with Sedrin’s fingers from its resting place in his armor. The density of the ice dagger had kept most of it from melting. “Can you reattach his fingers?”
As he unrolled the bundle, Sumiko scrutinized the fingers and said, “Well at least you showed some good sense in keeping them cold.” She looked at Sedrin’s ruin of a hand and said, “I cannot promise, but I think I can.”
“Good.” He beckoned to the guards standing nearby. “Get ready to run, we are going back for the others.”
“You’re dead on your feet, child. You can’t go back out like that!” Sumiko snapped.
Richter was tired, in pain, and in no mood to be told what he couldn’t do. He opened his mouth to snap a scathing reply, when Sumiko raised her hand and said, “Hush!” in sprite speak. Her hand wove in a complex pattern and she muttered an incantation. Gold light suffused her arm and then flowed into Richter. His exhaustion fell away. If he had been able to inject Red Bull directly into his veins it would probably feel like this.