The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

by Brent Roth

  The reflection of the moon on the river's surface held still and stood out amongst the smaller stars and colorful sky, but it was a calming presence. That singular white circle, large enough to hold in your hands, illuminated the entirety of the village on this cloudless, cool summer night.

  Closing my eyes, I went back to sleep.

  Life was good.

  Chapter 64: The Day After

  (Monday, September 20th Game Day / Monday, March 29th Real Day)

  Logging back in and finding myself lying alone on the river bank, I looked down the river and noticed that the longship had already departed on its voyage. The trade master, two sailors, and nine warriors made up the crew that would travel to the eastern side, where they would partake in the trading of goods and receive payment for prior products already delivered.

  A simple thing, left for them to handle.

  It was already mid-day as the sun was directly overhead by the time I made it over to the cabin. Inside, Selene and Katherine were playing with the kittens while Barkley was sitting calmly by the fireplace.

  "Have you girls seen Milly?" I asked with a little interest.

  She was attached to my hip the entire trip… then once we arrived at the village she was always running around, talking to others. I hadn't actually talked to her since we came back. I thought that was a bit odd, and something about her had bothered me.

  "She left this morning, headed south along the river," said Selene nonchalantly.

  "Oh, passed right by us then?" I questioned, with a confused expression.

  "Not quite, she entered the trees and snuck around us," Selene explained. "She was acting quite oddly, as if she didn't want to be seen."

  "Ah, I see."

  That was certainly odd behavior.

  Something was bothering me.

  Opening my friend's list, Milly was no longer on it, either.

  Curious, I tried to add her and found that she had blocked me.

  Something definitely, was wrong here.

  "I'll be back, I want to check something."

  Heading outside and north to the mountain wall that closed off the top portion of our village, I scaled the wall with a combination of [Flash Steps] and a few jumps. Standing at the top, a relative hundred feet or so above the village, I cast my [Keen Sight] and began to stare southwards.

  Nothing appeared except for a few glimmers of small animals, as I sat down and began to think over the past events. To my knowledge, I hadn't done anything over the past few days to piss her off, unless she saw my relations with Katherine and Selene and found them disgusting. If that were the case, I guess it didn't matter much to me.

  Somehow, I didn't think that was it though.

  She wanted to come to the North for some reason, supposedly because she wanted to relocate here. If the area wasn't for her, would she need to block me?

  That didn't add up.

  Her information came from the Alpha and Beta Meeting, which was filled with a lot of overachievers, generally speaking. A lot of hostile players from hostile guilds attended those meetings. Quite a few players that I didn't really agree with and had already butted heads with on occasion.

  That was what was bothering me.

  When Emily advertised my territory, it put a target on my back.

  I was expecting it.

  Someone, at some point, would come to challenge me.

  Even this far north, out of sight and out of mind, I was harmless to at least ninety-nine percent of the population.

  That didn't matter though.

  If you were a threat to some guild's expansion, you would become a target.

  War had already broken out in the Central Kingdoms as resources were scarce and so too, was land. Guilds fought for supremacy, and word around the web was that a few were moving north, to the border. That was a few hundred miles away though.

  Still, I couldn't shake the feeling.

  Checking again with [Keen Sight] giving a scan over the horizon, nothing appeared.

  About to give up, one blip appeared.

  Waiting a minute, I scanned again.

  Five blips appeared this time, as a sixth shined right at the end of the scan.

  Reactivating the ability and leaving it on perpetual scan, the glimmers of light steadily grew one by one as they entered within my visual range. Numbers far too large for a party or small traveling group… twenty, then thirty humanoids headed this way.

  "Selene, emergency, get all of the livestock and NPCs to gather at the rear of the village, by the mountain side," I messaged telepathically as I continued to count the numbers appearing in the distance. "After that, gather the warriors at the south gate, expect trouble."

  "As you command," she replied solemnly and shortly.

  They were thirty minutes out but the group had bloated to a sizeable number of around fifty players. There was no indication that they were hostile, but a large group didn't move together unannounced.

  This wasn't a daily stroll.

  No, this was no stroll… coupled with the fact that Milly had scouted the place out and mysteriously left while blocking me from contacting her and this had the makings of an enemy raid. I knew what was coming next, for I knew player behavior far too well.

  The only part that bothered me was the lack of declaration.

  In The Dragon's Wrath, when guilds declared war on each other, there was exactly that, a declaration of intent. Due to the nature of an MMO spanning multiple time-zones, surprise attacks were penalized with a reputation hit and as cowardly.

  You declared intent, and then a time-frame was set up for large scale battles with guilds agreeing to terms. Old school thinking, but it fit for the timeframe the game was set in, and made it reasonable for players that couldn't sit online all day.

  What were these people intending.

  Fuck it, I'll kill them all.

  Even if I was shorthanded, they weren't taking my land.

  Leaping off the top of the cliff and flashing to the ground, I quickly broke into a sprint as I ran to the cabin and grabbed my halberd and full battle-armament. Shield, one-handed axe, bow and arrows in a quiver slanted at the small of my back, a dagger across my chest and along my thigh. Hardened leather, a mixture of boiled, tanned, and woven strips formed my ensemble, as I was covered from head to toe.

  Stepping outside of the cabin, the scene in front of me was managed chaos as men, women, and children ran about in a hurried, but ordered panic. The warriors, all thirty-one that were left, along with the four priests had lined up at the palisade, standing behind on the ramparts that allowed us a firing angle on the approaching army.

  An unannounced grouping of fifty some players or NPCs was an army, after all.

  A small amount, sure, but lethal this early in the game.

  "Sigurd, where do you want us?" asked the men that had lined up.

  "Hold position here on the walls! Don't break off unless you're forced off or they've penetrated the walls," I yelled out to the men. "Stay safe! If you need a heal, rely on your priest! Don't do anything unnecessary to risk yourself!"

  Selene came up behind me as she whispered in my ear, "Sigurd, what about us, where do you want Katherine and I?"

  I wanted to put them at the back with the non-combat NPCs as a last line of defense but I realized that would be futile if it came down to it. We would either successfully defend here or the village was going to be lost.

  Swallowing the lump that had appeared in my throat, I nodded at her and Katherine, who was standing a bit behind Selene. They would have to join the fight, if we wanted to win. We were up against a literal rock wall; there was nowhere else to go.

  "Join me on the wall Selene, Katherine, join up with the priests and manage the healing, stay safe," I said softly to them, but confidently. I was worried for them, as they weren't replaceable, not like the other NPCs. I didn't want to lose any of them, but I couldn't stand to lose Selene or Katherine.

  "Hey, you two, don't do anything rash, if the
wall falls, I want you two to break out and retreat, gather the non-combatants in the back and move them to the Northern Triangle," I instructed sternly. "I'll rely on you two to direct them, if I fall. If I fall, you retreat, got it?"

  They both nodded as they understood the stakes and took up position on the wall.

  The army of players was slowly approaching, easily within a ten minute walk or a short sprint. They didn't wear any colors to distinguish themselves, but they were all armed. Too heavily armed for a walk in the park; their intentions were as clear as day.

  Opening my menu and altering the territory designators, I changed it to declare the current army as trespassers. They would be alerted instantly, to stand down. Of course, they did no such thing, and continued with their forward march.

  That was a declaration of war, as far as the system was concerned.

  They were now officially hostile forces, launching a surprise attack.

  "Fire in two waves, twice, then free fire after that," I yelled out to the men.

  Setting my halberd and shield down against the wall, I drew my bow and eyed the markers on the field. There were a few rocks of importance and a short palisade that indicated distance. Two-hundred yards marked our effective firing range, as they started to enter within it.

  It wouldn't be long now.

  Shifting the weight of the draw from my shoulder and arm to my back through the contraction of my back muscles, I held the drawstring back as far as I could. Holding for a second, I lifted my left arm and tilted the bow upwards a rough forty-five degrees.

  Steadily inhaling, my chest started to expand and then as the expansion brushed my hand aside, the bowstring slipped cleanly off my fingers.

  Thirty-two other bows did the same.

  Thwacks and twangs filled the air as strings reverberated rather noisily, and with practiced precision, we all drew our bows again as we watched the arrows sail through the air. One, two, three seconds passed as the arrows continued their flight, then finally, impact. A glorious impact, with the unsuspecting mob of players hit squarely by the first volley as two or three players fell to the floor from a critical hit.

  Instantly, the group broke ranks and began to sprint forward without any cohesion.

  A second volley followed, with only one man falling victim.

  As I began to draw and fire in rapid succession, caring little for accuracy as I repeatedly attempted to slow the oncoming advance, I watched as my warriors and Selene did the same. Firing an arrow a second, thirty-three arrows flew out at random intervals that cut through the air as the enemy players continued to advance.

  The shield-bearers at the front easily blocked and defended those directly behind as they held the frontline and continued to charge.

  "Target the rear!" I shouted as I lifted my bow slightly, arcing the trajectory of my arrow in order to hit their casters.

  Ten seconds had gone by as the first hundred yards were cleared, and only a hundred remained. The peak physical fitness offered by the game gave the players the ability to run at world record levels.

  Sweat started to roll down my cheek as I anxiously continued to fire, quickly draining my quiver of forty arrows.

  My fingers itched as the string stripped and burned the skin with such rapid firing but I couldn't pay it any heed.

  Fifty yards remained, as another two men fell.

  Dropping my bow to the ground with less than five seconds remaining before they would reach the walls, I brought my arms into my chest as I started to chant.

  The twenty-five yard mark was hit, with a woman collapsing to the ground struggling to breathe as an arrow pierced her throat.

  Fifteen yards left, as the shield-bearers funneled together in an attempt to break through the open gateless entryway.

  Five yards away, I stared them down.

  "CHAIN LIGHTNING!"

  Yelling at the top of my lungs as a rallying cry and a threat all in one, my booming voice carried across the field. Heads and eyes turned up to the flash of lightning as it surged forward and caught the shield-bearers unaware.

  Arcing, bouncing, jumping and flickering as it coursed through their bodies and into the dirt below, the first man hit died instantly as the other four fell to the floor. Arrows filled the void where their exposed backs had been a blink before.

  Unable to scream or cry, they died quick, silent deaths.

  Slinging my shield onto my back while dropping my quiver onto the floor for the man next to me, I leaped off the ramparts with my halberd in tow. Filling the gap of the entrance with my body and halberd at the ready, four other warriors dropped down with axes held high. Two seconds, as I pulled my weapon back and above my head.

  Then the wave hit.

  Axes were swung in quick succession as shields were raised to deflect. The heavy swings of the warriors broke through the weak wooden shields, with loud snaps and cracks filling the air. Splinters of wood flung in every which direction only to be ignored by the flash of swords swung in retaliation.

  Screams filled the air as limbs were mangled and a hand fell to my feet.

  My heavy swing had cleaved straight through a shield and on through the arm of the defender as he buckled from the blow, staggered and falling backwards as he grasped his missing hand. A quick thrust and the spear-point entered the soft flesh of the man as I twisted and pulled, watching him tumble to the ground in a state of shock.

  Before I could ready my next attack, I was forced to duck as a spear narrowly missed my face, grazing past my hair as the warrior next to me fell to a sword thrust into his chest. Unable to maneuver, the four of us were caught fighting shoulder to shoulder in formation as the ten or so players in front of us continued to attack.

  Relentless in their pursuit, we kept them at bay with wide arcing swings of our two-handed weapons, slicing air mostly in an attempt to buy time and space.

  One player stepped forward in a moment of impatience only to catch the hook-end of my halberd as I pulled him down onto the ground beneath me. A quick switch of grip, and a short wind-up brought the axe down into the man's chest as he rolled face-up right in time to witness the end.

  Blood splashing from the open cavity of the man recently executed, I pulled back as my halberd ripped a censored rib out into the open. In the melee, another warrior fell to a spear as he missed his counter swing, and two more dropped down to replace them.

  Then, fire started to rain down on our position as we were forced to roll back and retreat. One player was too slow, and was caught in the friendly-fire. Burned to death in front of our very eyes in what couldn't have been more than a second or two, he fell to his knees and ceased his screams.

  The other warriors fell back as I held the frontline, standing alone at the entrance to my village. Daring any man brave enough, to challenge me to a one-on-one. A few challengers stepped forward as they attempted to prove their prowess.

  Two-on-one was still within reason.

  With fire raining randomly down around us and frost bolts impacting the walls, my remaining warriors fell back and retreated to the safety of the village's interior.

  The two men circled me as one quickly dashed forward with a lunge and the other attacked with a high-arcing swing of his two-handed sword. Sidestepping the lunge and parrying the bastard sword with my halberd sent a shiver through my arm as the heavy impact jarred me.

  Hands numbed, I stepped back once more as they repeated the process.

  A side swing this time, I stepped into it and tackled the man to the ground, rolling with halberd discarded and knife drawn to hand. A quick thrust into his neck silenced him as I kicked dirt up in the face of the spear user that had missed his thrust.

  Blinded, he swung wildly as I rolled and picked up my halberd once more, turning with legs spread and a knee nearly touching soil, I lunged forth from my awkward position and pierced the man through the abdomen as he dropped his weapon to the ground. Pulling back, the gaping hole in the center of his stomach was gushing blood as he clasped it
in an attempt to stop the hemorrhaging.

  Raising an arm, I fired off a quick arc lightning as he struggled in place. An arrow soon found his face, and I cut the connection and retreated back to join my men.

  A few warriors had fallen to the magic bombardment as I navigated through their corpses that littered my way. Selene and Katherine were in the rear and were providing support with the priests as golden beams of light poured out from the heavens.

  Yet, the line was broken.

  Flooding my field of vision were numerous players, too many to count but at least forty as ten or so had been killed. Mages, priests, rogues, archers, shield-bearers, axe-wielders, all types, had filled the gaps as they continued to run through the narrow entrance and into the village.

  Dropping my halberd a second time, I raised my arms and let out a quickened chain lightning as I yelled to the men, "ENGAGE!"

  Chaos broke out as the two sides prepared to clash.

  Thunder split the noise of the players and men screaming their battle shouts, while lightning filled the space between. Five players dropped to their knees as heals quickly followed, and a counter barrage of spells soon dotted my vision.

  Dropping to a knee, I screamed, "GET DOWN!"

  Flashes of red, blue, and white filled the air as fireballs and frost bolts shot out in a line. Burying my face into the ground at a moment's notice, half of the warriors did the same and avoided the attacks as they flew overhead. The other half, too slow to avoid, had been hit and were staggered as they were engaged in melee.

  Swords were swinging wildly as the unsuspecting warriors were caught off-guard and slowed by the frost magic that had hit, including a few freezing rains that hovered above us. Two men fell as one's head rolled to the floor, and then as our own healers returned to the fray with a wave of holy light, the warriors that were left stood tall.

  Jumping up with the rest of the men, I commanded them forward, "CHARGE!"

  Running full sprint into the mix, I broke my charge with a swing of my halberd into the face of an unsuspecting woman. Taking half her head in single sweep, I brought the halberd back with the circular momentum and pressed forward.