by Charles Dean
Lee had initially expected the Firbolg Herald to be geared with at least leather armor, or potentially even plate, and he had refused to believe what he saw the first time he spied him through Ethan’s eyes. Seeing him as he approached now, however, there was no denying how ridiculously he was dressed. Despite the ominous rings of frost that emanated out from his feet with every step, the Herald was dressed as casually as if he were on his way to a business luncheon; and, rather than any type of functional armor, he was garbed in white khakis and a loose-fitted blue shirt, his hands casually stuck in his pockets.
The Herald’s lack of fear as he walked toward a battlefield was unsettling, and Lee panicked a little even as he gave the order for one of the golems to leave the bar and lead Dave and Pelham to their position.
Lee couldn't take his eyes off the group as they walked down the path, and he knew that the Herald could see him from where he was at the moment. He wasn’t hiding his position at all. Even Ling was in full view as she had ignored Lee’s directive to hide. Instead, she had stayed poised, collected and out in plain sight. She had an arrow nocked and at the ready as she slowly moved up beside Lee.
Well, at least she’s confident. She had all of the calm, collected determination that Lee didn’t feel at the moment. Despite his outward calm, he was freaking out. His brain was studying those twenty troops and worrying over the worst-case scenario. If his traps didn’t do their job, there was no way he could face even ten or fifteen incredibly-skilled fighters, much less twenty who were accompanied by a powerful magic user--which he had a feeling all Heralds were.
I wonder what his powers are. Lee’s eyes flickered left to right as his brain kicked into overdrive. How in the hell is the Goddess of Grudges, which Miller assures us is her true identity, going to manifest her powers in a Herald? Lee suddenly wished he had thought of this more in-depth or at least gotten it out of Miller before the fight started. For all that Miller had told him about this Herald, and for all that Miller had given him in terms of information about the Herald’s goddess, he was still woefully short on knowledge or understanding of the Herald’s weakness.
My weakness: failure to properly plan since I get caught up spending time naked in bed with Amber too often. Lee sighed. It wasn’t the worst weakness to have, but it definitely was making him kick himself right now.
“So, you have finally returned,” the Herald called as he approached Lee. “My name is Devin, by the way. Devin McGuinness.”
“I would have thought with a name like that you would be stouter,” Lee shot back as he eyed the man up and down. Of course he has the most Irish name I could imagine besides O’Brien. “Well, I’m Lee. It’s nice to meet you.”
“No last name?” Devin’s eyes perked up. “Just Lee? Interesting. I thought a civilized man like yourself would have at least come from a society large enough that last names were required. I can understand why these podunk towns with less than two-hundred people have no need for them, but I had always imagined your true home was larger.”
“You’re not worried about this meta talk?” Lee asked, buying time.
“Meta talk? Oh, you’re a gamer in your world, are you? That makes sense. You don’t look like the business sort, and you’re definitely not the sporty kind either. I should have taken you for either a reader or a gamer,” Devin said, nodding to himself rather knowingly.
“I could be a business sort,” Lee said as he urged Ethan to hurry Dave and Pelham. He wanted them to get closer so that they could properly flank the Herald when the traps went off and the fight started, but they were still in route at the moment.
“No, no, you couldn’t be. The fact you’re here now talking to me is proof of that.” Devin’s tone, while laid back, became more derisive as he mocked Lee. “The armor too. You’re the try-hard gamer who thinks that this whole competition is an adventure. It’s written all over your face. Pathetic.”
“What’s so pathetic about wanting to gain levels or even ‘try hard,’ as you call it?” Lee asked. He couldn’t understand this guy’s logic. In a world where he might be attacked and die at any point, the idea of leveling up and getting better at combat just seemed like a natural thing to do.
“Really? You want me to spell it out for you? Well, I suppose it’s only fair. If, by some miracle of an upset, you manage to win, I shall at least impart to you some knowledge so that you stand an even better chance next time. Honestly, I thought about killing you off dozens of times while you were in the colosseum, but it was just so fun to watch the rat race through the maze.” Devin leaked arrogance from every pore as his pretentious and insulting tone grew to grate across Lee’s ears.
“You see,” Devin continued, “you shouldn’t be fighting at all. Look at me for instance. Do you see me with weapons and armor? No, because they’re not needed. Magic classes and the benefits of being a Herald can all generally be activated at a range. We’re essentially the few and lucky mages of this realm. To make adventuring and questing on your own even more counter-intuitive, you can form groups that can gain experience without you. The title you will get as a penalty for abusing this just imposes a small -5% decrease on the more useless stats anyway. How have you not realized that? Instead of fighting, you could have been working on growing your faith while trained, higher-level, better people go out and level for you. The fact that you didn’t even understand such a basic concept is a testament to the failures of Humans. You haven’t even learned to take advantage of others properly.”
“Humans haven’t learned to take advantage of others properly?” Lee couldn't help but crack a sad smile when he heard that. “I don’t think you’d ever say that if you saw the history of my people. There is no ultimate depth to the cruelty to which mankind has sunk in the search of power and authority. We have done it all and more. It’s not that we didn’t learn to use and abuse other people for our goals. Rather, it’s the opposite. We always knew how to do that. It’s cooperation that took us time to learn. It’s teamwork that I had to understand.”
Devin raised an eyebrow. “Pathetic. Cooperation is just group selfishness. It’s something even monkeys, wolves and . . . rats can do.”
“What is with you damn Firbolgs and calling Humans rats? You think that’s an insult of some kind?” Lee was still rather annoyed with the racism thing. “And what’s with that . . . cle . . . cleh-something curse word you guys keep spitting at us? Are those words from your world, or is everyone just an idiot here who can’t come up with proper insults?”
“It’s a derivation of a phrase meaning ‘big forehead’ in our native tongue. It’s a slur against Humans because your people have unsightly-long foreheads to begin with, and a good number of you bald so fast it only makes it worse. The term was actually native to this town long before I arrived, so you don’t need to take it out on me. As for the rats . . . Aren’t you? You band together when it suits you, and you split apart when it doesn’t. You lack discipline, hierarchy, and proper monarchs to lead the people with honor and dignity. Like rats, your kind scatters to the wind the second something goes wrong, unwilling to sacrifice themselves for any greater good.”
“Ah. So that’s the basis of your insults,” Lee mused. “Really poor taste, but I guess that’s the best you can do when all the decent, self-respecting men would have already turned their back on that goddess of yours. What were you? Fifth choice? No, that doesn’t sound right. Fifteenth? Maybe twentieth? Thirtieth choice? How many died or betrayed the goddess before she found a sap like you? I’m not even sure how she got you to stay, given how they trigger your powers.” Lee laughed. He didn’t find anything funny. He just wanted to make sure Devin knew he was mocking him and wanted Devin to feel his existence was a joke.
“Fourteenth, actually.” Devin didn’t seem phased. “It honestly would have taken a lot of work to get to first if it wasn’t for that friend of yours . . . What was his name? Miller, right? Ah, a good man. He managed to kill all the candidates I couldn’t personally eliminate. It made my j
ob quite easy. As for whom I had to sacrifice . . . Well, it wasn't a soon-to-be wife or anything. It was just my only son. It’s not like I can’t make more of them in the eternity I will have after this competition while living as a god.”
Your own son? What kind of monster are you? Lee was appalled. He wanted to stab him, to destroy his existence and remake it just to crush it again. This was the type of scum that every society on Earth would be better off without. The fact that he was alive, the fact that he was breathing the same air as Lee, was an insult. No sane man would ever be able to sacrifice his only son for anyone or anything. Lee was tempted to just charge him and try to bury a blade in his neck, and he understood even better than before why Miller really wanted to be the one to kill this guy, but he had enough wherewithal to stick to his plan.
Lee wanted to make sure Dave and Pelham were in position before he ended the conversation. He had to stall until they arrived. His only worry was that the Herald would smell the oil. One wrong whiff, and he’d bolt, making Lee’s laid-out trap function as nothing more than a temporary wall to deter the enemy--not that it wouldn’t be useful to slow them with Ling around to snipe a good many of them, but he wanted to get the most utility out of the trap when it was sprung.
“Alright. That is a sacrifice, but what’s the point?” Lee asked, buying as much time as he could. “It’s not like your goddess will protect your son’s soul. It’s not like you'll ever get him back. Was that really worth it in the scheme of things?”
“Yes,” the man answered back. “Not that you would understand logic, but it’s simple math. One-hundred years of his life versus eons of mine--which is more valuable? How is that not an easy call to make? Did I hate her at first? Absolutely. But that’s just the nature of the beast. No power comes without a price, and it only took me a minute to understand that. If I had to kill a hundred people that would live a hundred years each just to preserve a nearly-infinite life for myself, why wouldn’t I? The logic is sound: for the greater good, the greater utility.”
“Well . . .” Lee looked down at the ground and then smiled. Not only had the Herald stopped in position over the oil, but so had the twenty men behind him. Unwilling and unable to wait any longer lest the opportunity pass him by, Lee pulled out his first Molotov cocktail. Devin didn’t even blink when saw it, he just watched as Lee used the torch he had been holding to light the rag before tossing the bottle.
One of the troops rushed forward as soon as the bottle left Lee’s hand and blocked the projectile with his shield, and as the makeshift bomb struck it, the burning oil splattered all across his body. The first bit of flaming liquid hit the ground and ignited the oil there in a sudden flash, but the Herald just watched and smiled, obviously not caring that the man in front of him was screaming in pain.
A blue ball of energy appeared in front of Devin’s chest and expanded outward in a spherical orb. In no time at all, it had encompassed the entire area and quenched the spreading fire before the oil-based flame could even reach the Herald. Then, continuing its growth, the ball encompassed not only Devin and the nineteen remaining soldiers, but also a sizable chunk of the park. It seemed as if the energy dome were a snow globe, harboring its own unique climate. Trails of blue light spread out from the circle on the ground and ran to the top of the globe before turning into snow and falling down around the inside of it.
“Now!” Lee shouted, but he didn’t have to. Ling had already nocked and fired three arrows in rapid succession at the same time Ethan jumped from pre-prepared crossbow trigger to pre-prepared crossbow trigger.
Unfortunately, both the arrows and bolts were snared by the light-blue energy waves and slowed the moment they entered the snow globe field. Ling’s arrows were either thrown off course or easily avoided, only weakly striking against the men’s armor before bouncing away harmlessly when they did make contact. The bolts, however, which were fired from the much-larger and spring-wound crossbows, where still effective. They ripped through the first people they came in contact with, and four were dropped instantly.
Your party has killed Evan. Your party has been awarded 25 silver, 12 copper, fine leather boots, an embroidered handkerchief and 898 Experience. Your share of this is 6 silver, 3 copper, fine leather boots and 224 Experience.
Your party has killed Hiro. Your party has been awarded 37 silver, 78 copper, a well-polished steel helmet and 899 Experience. Your share of this is 9 silver, 20 copper and 225 Experience.
Your party has killed Mort. Your party has been awarded 23 silver, 51 copper, a leather belt and 883 Experience. Your share of this is 6 silver, 13 copper, and 221 Experience.
Your party has killed Brody. Your party has been awarded 31 silver, 67 copper, steel gauntlets and 892 Experience. Your share of this is 8 silver, 16 copper, and 223 Experience.
Devin, who had watched the four bolts go off, grinned and clapped. “Well done! And with a rat at that. I see the terminology suits your race in more ways than one; but, sadly, this is where you die. You won’t be able to reload them with that tiny creature, and if you move to retreat . . . Well . . . I don’t think you’ll be able to do that.”
Lee suddenly realized why Devin was so calm: it was a trap.
“That’s right.” Devin gave Lee the most punchable smile he had ever seen as the cold and calculating Herald stood nonchalantly beneath the falling snow. “I knew you’d be here. I didn’t know when you’d be here, and I wasn’t sure how you would get the enemy to attack at this time, but I knew you weren’t entirely an idiot. I watched as you plotted your way out of that prison, so I had a good understanding of what your capabilities were. I knew that this would be the ideal spot for you to fight me.
“The only thing I had to do was make sure I had enough troops to kill you. Since everyone but Dave and Pelham, who I’m sure will be here soon, had family or otherwise, they’d have stayed with the last of the great Human nobles, Connacht. As for Miller and your people from Satterfield . . . Well, you wouldn’t be in the situation you’re in now if you were the type to be blasé about using other people. I had a hunch you might bring the oaf, but you definitely wouldn’t bring the people from your precious little town if you thought the fight would result in their blood.” Devin threw his head back and laughed. “For all the innocent people you sacrificed today, I do find it amusing that I knew you weren’t willing to give up those closest to you--as if their lives are somehow more valuable than the dozens who were killed the moment you started this war.”
Another twenty troops poured out of a building on Lee’s left, each also holding a spear with a buckler. Sandwiched between thirty-six people and a magic-wielding Firbolg who could slow arrows to a halt, Lee felt a pit form in his stomach.
“Ah, that’s it. There is the face of desperation. Good. Then my calculations weren’t wrong. You really were just as short-sighted as I anticipated.” Devin smirked at Lee. “Now, Herald of . . . Who was your god again? The God of Drunken Idiots? How about you just cut your wrists and make this quick for me? I might be inclined to spare the lass next to you if you do.”
Lee looked over at Ling then used a golem to look at Amber so he didn’t give away her position. “Yeah, I could do that if you’d spare them,” Lee said to Ling’s horror. She immediately shot him a look of ‘Oh, hell, no you don’t,’ but Lee brushed it off. “The problem is that the people I brought to this town would still end up dead, and while innocents are dying today, it’s so that more can live tomorrow. Like you said: it’s simple math. I love the people with me with all my heart--some of them I love more than I ever thought I could.” Lee had to stop himself from looking at Amber when he said that. “They are the family I found when I first got here, but I need to respect their wishes, and I need to protect far more than just the handful of individuals that came with me to Kirshtein. I have an entire city of Humans and Firbolgs and Leprechauns to keep safe--people you’re going to eventually let die for your own greed.”
Devin let out a slow breath of air. “Yeah, that mak
es sense. I’m surprised that you could see it so clearly, but I suppose everyone is due to give me at least one surprise. Well then, shall we crush that little hope you have left? And maybe those two gentlemen, Dave and Pelham? I’m quite certain they will show up eventually.”
Lee pulled out his shield and positioned himself so that he could block anyone who got too close to Ling. Thankfully, since he didn’t have to be in one position to practice his smithing, he had been able to dedicate quite a bit of time to it over the past few days while they were traveling. Thanks to his increases in Glass Smithing, his glass daggers now did an additional +9 damage.
“Ling, pull back and shoot the guys approaching from our left,” Lee ordered. He removed a few of the daggers from his inventory and threw as fast and hard as he could. They didn’t pack the same fatal power as Ling’s arrows, but they did visible damage where they struck. He only had six daggers on him, but all six struck home.
Your party has killed Jaime. Your party has been awarded 56 silver, 8 copper, a copy of ‘The Firbolg Manifesto’ and 856 Experience. Your share of this is 14 silver, 2 copper, a copy of ‘The Firbolg Manifesto’ and 214 Experience.
One person dropped instantly with the daggers buried in his neck, and two more were wounded. It wasn’t much, but in his head, Lee now had to face only thirty-five soldiers and one Herald. Then came a little extra welcome news:
Your party has killed Samantha. Your party has been awarded 99 silver, 200 copper, well-polished steel greaves, a war hammer and 901 Experience. Your share of this is 25 silver, 50 copper and 225 Experience.