by Paul Bellow
A second spider died. The third retreated, but it wasn’t quick enough. My giant boot squished it into the muddy ground. I threw my head back and laughed maniacally. Laughter echoed through the air, sounding more like thunder. The opposing army turned and fled to their city a few miles away. At my height, I could see the city in the distance. Should I chase after them and just smash the city? A pang in my gut brought me to my knees as I cried out.
You take 120 damage from shrinking.
You have [152/272] health remaining.
I shrunk back to my normal size just as quickly as I’d grown. While I’d used the Enlarge spell to double my size a few times, I’d never used it to such an extreme. The extra size had been helpful, but would the consequences be worth it? I rolled into a fetal position, clutching my stomach as I continued shrinking. Pain raced through my body from head to toes.
“Are you okay?” Keith asked as he rushed up.
Two dozen soldiers behind him looked on as I thrashed about on the ground.
“No, bring a healing shaman,” I said then coughed up some blood. “Quick!”
Jericho, my first shaman ten years ago, walked up and kneeled beside me.
“Drink this,” he said, putting a glass vial near my lips.
I tilted my head slightly as he poured the licorice tasting liquid in my mouth. The pain in my body dulled to something reasonable. I jumped close to maximum health as well. The potion tasted terrible, but I still sat up and drank the rest of it.
You feel better.
You have [272/272] health remaining.
“Thanks,” I said, finally settling down.
“Uh huh,” Jericho said, ignoring me as he bent down to examine a spider squished into the mud on the ground. “That’s great. You should rest up naturally too.”
“Is it dead?” I asked, walking over.
“Very much so,” he said, nodding. “The mud preserved them. I think we can use the bodies for magical components.”
“Great,” I said, curious as to what the Shaman Society would come up with.
Since starting up the group, I’d left them to their own accord for the most part. They had come up with amazing advances in magical cures and more.
“I’ll help you take them back to the city,” I said then turned to Keith. “Send some troops to scout their walls for signs of movement, will you?”
“On it,” Keith said then turned to bark orders at his men.
I cast Shadow Servant to carry the dead spider bodies behind the city walls. Once safely in the three-story Shaman Society building, I left Jericho and the others to their work. Before returning home, I stopped by the Engineering Academy to push them toward discovering gunpowder. A few of the turtles might have enough explosives residue for them to copy it. When it came to technology advancing, I didn’t mind borrowing from others.
The walk back to my house went by quickly as I thought about a counterattack against Charlotte. A march up to her city walls on its own wouldn’t suffice. I needed something special. Explosives of our own would be part of the equation, but something else hit me.
For several months, I had been building up our fishing fleet to bring in more fish. The large boats could be modified to become troop transports. I smiled at the ingenious plan.
Chapter 12
Countering the Attack
Sarah
“Are you nuts?” Keith asked as I told him the plan.
“Maybe a little,” I said, smiling.
“They’re not meant for battle,” he said.
“No, but they’re fast,” I countered. “With the right mix of troops in each one, including archers, we’ll have a worthy sea force. After landing on the beach behind their city while attacking from the front at the same time, we’ll have a short period to steal as much of their food as possible then retreat. The lack of resources will force them to stop attacking us so much.”
Keith pursed his lips together then glanced at the floor and tossed his head back and forth as he did when he thought about a problem. He would listen to my orders, but I also wanted him to believe in my plan. Genuine support from him would go a long way in getting everyone else excited and on board. We needed full commitment to pull off the plan.
“It might work,” he admitted. “We’ll need to organize.”
“Of course,” I said, nodding.
“We lost a lot of good soldiers today.”
“I know. That’s why we need to put a stop to Charlotte,” I said. “This won’t stop her completely, but it’ll give us enough time to advance beyond her capabilities. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it before.”
“This will open us up to the same sort of attack,” Keith said.
“Maybe, but we’ll be ready for her if she tries the same. We can protect our storehouses of food to ensure we have enough for everyone in the city.”
“Yeah, but if we lose the fishing ships, we’ll be hurting for food too.”
“That’s why we can’t lose them,” I said.
Keith grinned, unable to resist my charms.
“Where’s Julian?” I asked.
“Taking care of the burials,” Keith said, his smile fading.
I nodded.
“Make sure their families are taken care of adequately,” I said.
“We do that for everyone, Chief.”
“Good. We would’ve lost many more today if they blew up the walls.”
Keith’s eyes widened.
“What was that magic?” he asked.
“Chemistry, not magic,” I replied. “We’ll have it soon enough. It’ll likely be too dangerous to transport via our ships, but our land forces can use it effectively as a distraction.”
Keith nodded then stared down at the maps on my long strategy table.
“I can see this working,” he said.
“The timing needs to be precise. With shamans acting as a real-time messaging service across vast distances, we can coordinate everything.”
“What do you want me doing?” he asked.
“Get the land forces ready. You’ll be leading them on the frontal assault while I sail the ships around to the other side of the island. We’ll need to go around Gecko Isle to sneak up on them. I haven’t had a chance to tell them we’ll be coming yet, and I probably won’t, but we’ve got good enough relations with them.”
“The other islands are becoming more important as we grow,” Keith said.
I nodded. “Even more so once we become the only ruling force on this island.”
“Send me a message if you need help on the docks.”
“Will do,” I said. “Talk to you later tonight. It’ll take us a week or more to get ready.”
“Maybe longer,” he said.
“I’ll be giving out bonuses to anybody who helps it go faster.”
Keith smiled then let himself out of the house. I continued studying the maps, calculating the best approach to make on the backside of Charlotte’s city. We’d never attacked from the sea before, so her defenses were sure to be weak. A two-prong attack might finally break the ten year stalemate between us. I wanted to claim the whole island for myself.
* * * * *
Two weeks later, I stared out at my armada and smiled. While not perfect, we stood a good chance of catching Charlotte and her city off guard. The timing on everything needed to be perfect which is why I had a shaman with me on the largest vessel. When we reached the harbor, he would let another shaman with the land troops know to start the distraction.
Several empty barge-like boats strung behind us would be used to store the purloined food from the enemy. I had thought about filling everything available with attack forces, but I worried about Charlotte and the four surviving spellcaster spiders under her control. We hadn’t heard a peep out of her since the failed attack on our city two weeks previously.
Waves rocked the boat up and down as I stood, holding onto the mast of the main sail for balance. I had kept just enough ships back at our docks to keep the fresh f
ood coming in. Feeding nearly ten thousand people had seemed impossible a few years back, but I invested in all the right areas and nearly broke my previous record for number of citizens.
If I succeeded in taking out Charlotte and the other spiders while sparing her citizens, I might be able to double my population. That would put me on par with some of the slightly larger islands surrounding us.
The brief thought about the Tower of Gates stirred up a combustible pot of memories. I pushed them aside, resigned to spending the next ten years alone. Concentrating on the game at hand was the way to go. At least I’d convinced myself of that sometime during the previous ten years. Some days, I wondered if I shouldn’t be trying harder to get out.
“Land!” a sailor in the crow’s nest shouted.
I saw the shores of Gecko Isle in the distance. We would sail east then south, following the coast until we reached the most southern point of the other island. From there, I planned on sailing northwest to land in the center of their city where they stored most of their provisions. In a few days, we would reach our destination and the battle would be on.
Had I thought everything through enough? Charlotte wasn’t an idiot. She played the Tower of Gates better than the most advanced AI I’d ever encountered. Human players were usually more difficult to beat in any game, let alone one this complex. My plan would likely throw her for a loop. According to my spies, she barely had small fishing boats.
We continued sailing, using the winds and our knowledge of navigation on the open sea to head for the southern end of our island. I had spent countless game hours researching all the tech trees needed to get us so far advanced in all things related to the sea, but it would pay off. I loved using cheesy strategies to throw my opponents off-guard during battles.
I sent a message to check on Keith every ten minutes or so to make sure we were on the same page when it came to coordinating our attacks. Hitting Charlotte from both sides gave us a better chance of pulling off the main objective of the battle—stealing or destroying her food and other supplies to slow down her progress. I needed to take out her economy.
The boat rocked as it clipped through the deep ocean water at a steady pace. I held to the main mast, loving the sense of adventure. After being trapped on the same island for ten years, it felt good to get away, even if it was just further out in the ocean. I saw a few people from Gecko Isle watch and wave as we rode down their coast to surprise Charlotte.
I loved when a plan came together.
* * * * *
Later that evening, we approached Cocoa City from the sea where it wasn’t very well defended. I told my shaman to relay a message for Keith and his forces to attack the front of Charlotte’s spider city. None of the humans under her control were happy from what I heard. She kept them in line through fear and violence. I pitied her in some ways.
That wouldn’t stop me from defeating her on the battlefield. She would spawn again as another character. Hopefully, she would come back as someone a little more mildly tempered. The men in my ship and the others knew what to do. After anchoring the larger vessels, our force would go ashore in smaller boats with the barges close behind.
I had hedged my bets and brought along several pounds of our new explosives just in case we couldn’t easily transfer their food to our ships. Burning their supplies down to the ground wasn’t as good as getting them for ourselves, but I wanted options in case something came up. One thing I’d learned about the Tower of Gates is that it loved curveballs and plot twists. The game would throw them at you when you least expected it.
A huge explosion on shore caught my attention. How many explosives did Keith tie together? I told him not to go overboard, but he definitely got everyone’s attention. We took several small boats to the beaches behind Cocoa City. They had a few small docks and boats for fishing near where we landed. I led my men deeper ashore.
We reached the edge of the beach and saw several rundown shacks. Two raggedy women in scraps of cloth noticed us but said nothing as we crept by. I led everyone to one of several large, rectangular buildings a few hundred feet ashore. Another explosion to the north rocked the ground. Several women screamed and ran away.
“Let’s check this building first,” I said to the shaman next to me. “Tell everyone to follow me inside and be ready for anything.”
Jericho nodded then relayed the message. I opened an unguarded door and entered the building. The smell of rotting fish filled my nostrils. I cast a light spell and saw a swarm of insects flying over heaps of rotting fish heads. My breakfast almost came back up my throat, but I held it back as I walked out of the building.
“Check the next one,” I said, arm still over my nose to block the smell. “That must be food for the spiders. I wonder if they’re breeding more of them.”
“There’s something over here, Chief!” a soldier yelled.
I jogged over to the next wooden building, opened the door then walked inside. Rows of shelves reaching to the high ceiling had been stocked with all sorts of items, including food and rations, armor and weapons, and what looked to be a huge stockpile of their explosive powder. I glanced around, wondering if we could carry all the stuff.
“There’s a message,” Jericho said, holding his hand on the side of his head. “The super big explosion for a diversion took out some of our troops.”
I frowned. “How many?”
“No exact number, but it’s a lot. Keith and anyone left are retreating back to Kron City. He wants to let you know he’s sorry for failing. We need to get out. The mass of their army is returning to the city.”
I made a decision on the fly.
“Prepare to burn this and the two closest buildings to the ground,” I said. “More if we have time. Tell everyone to split up.”
Jericho continued relaying messages to sub-groups of my attack force. I poured black powder from the huge stockpiles of it to the front door, hoping the others knew what to do. Too quick on the lighting of the fires, and we would blow ourselves up. I hated not being able to steal their supplies, but watching it all go up in flames was the next best thing.
“Back to the boats!” I shouted.
The sound of triumphant warriors rang out from the other side of the city. I rushed to the waiting boats with Jericho at my side. Once we made it to the water, I turned and cast several Fire Lances at the buildings. The fires didn’t take long to hit the trails of gunpowder we’d left all over the place. A horrific boom filled the air as five storehouses exploded.
I watched as a few others rowed the boat back to the waiting ship further out. The huge fireball turned into a mushroom cloud of smoke. How much black powder had they been storing? Or had they come up with a new, more potent mixture? Either way, they had lost quite a bit of supplies, including insect food for the spider themselves.
One of my plans over the years had been to get the humans in her city to rebel. We’d come close to it happening a few times, but she always clamped down. Her people feared her more than anything which made it difficult to get them to turn to our side. As we boarded the bigger ships to sail back home, I caught a glimpse of Charlotte.
She stood on the shore, huge swathes of her city in flames. Would she come to her senses and surrender or would our war continue? One of us needed to win the battle, and I wasn’t about to give up.
During the entire journey back to our ports on the other side of the island, I relished the victory that might help us turn the tide of the war.
* * * * *
Back at Kron City, I took stock of all the losses. Two hundred and fourteen soldiers died, leaving my total population at 9,599. I insisted on no big celebration when I returned. Citizens weren’t happy until I announced a prize for the most innovative idea to win the war. The one million gold coins would set-up a person and his family for multiple generations.
Weeks sped by with many people entering the contest with written or verbal explanations of their idea. Scribes wrote down the entries from people who couldn’t writ
e. Running my city as a dictatorship, I didn’t want too many people reading and writing. That would change after the war ended eventually, but for the moment I needed people not questioning orders.
One Saturday afternoon, as I lounged in my backyard, plotting a way to rid the park of the giant statue of myself without hurting anyone’s feelings, Julian and Keith requested to see me. I told Jericho to go to the front door and bring them to me. I sat up and prepared myself as I waited for them to show up.
“Good news?” I asked as they stopped in front of my lounge chair.
“Yes,” Julian said, rubbing his hands together.
“We have a winner,” Keith said. “Smart teen made an incredible machine.”
I glanced over at Jericho who had no reaction then back to the others.
“What is it?” I asked. “And who is it?”
“A teen boy named Michael,” Julian said.
“It’s a steam powered war machine,” Keith said.
At the mention of the advanced industrial technology, I stood.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“A steam powered war machine,” Keith repeated. “Basically, it’s a machine…”
“I know, I know,” I said, cutting him off. “We have everything to make it?”
Julian nodded, still smiling. “He came up with the design himself.”
“That’s amazing,” I said. “We should go see it. Right now.”
“He hasn’t made it yet, but we’ve seen the plans,” Julian said.
I stood. “Take me to him.”
We traveled to the poorest residential neighborhood in the city. I tried to keep everything balanced, but the individual personalities of the citizens made it difficult if not impossible. A few children and a dog followed our procession as we entered the area. I emptied my pockets of coins, throwing them into the air. The children greedily snatched them up.