by Edward Brody
“Huh? My finger?” Sung asked, grabbing the baby from me. “Like this?” He adjusted the child and slipped his finger inside the orc’s mouth. A second later, he yelped in pain and nearly dropped the baby on the ground.
“Shhhh…” I murmured.
“That fucking hurts!”
“Hold it in, man! It won’t kill you! We need to be quiet now more than ever.”
Sung gritted his teeth and cautiously placed his bleeding finger back in the orc’s mouth. “I’ll try…”
“Okay,” I said. “I’m going to try something.”
I held my hands together and started channeling a Firebomb. Sung watched as the magic ball in between my hands grew bigger and bigger, and finally reached approximately the size of a basketball. I needed the ball of energy to be big enough to cause a lot of damage, but not so big that I wouldn’t be able to throw it over the buildings we were standing by.
“Get ready to run,” I said as I adjusted the ball in my hands.
Sung yelped again, this time much quieter as his teeth were clenched. He stumbled backwards and bumped his back against the building.
“And invest some points into willpower,” I added.
I took several steps away from the building, pulled the ball back, then ran forward and finally hurled it as hard as I could, aiming for a spot that was out of sight of our intended escape path, but close enough that it would draw the attention of the guards.
The Firebomb boomed loudly, and I heard shards of wood flying and metal clanging against something hard.
You have gained 1500 XP!
You have gained 1600 XP!
Advancement! You have reached level 31 and gained 3 ability points. To assign your ability points, open your status page. You can also increase any of your known skills by 1 level. Choose wisely, as your choices cannot be undone.
You have gained 10 MP!
A Barbaros screamed loudly. “Yynizzen! No! Get up!” She screamed again. “Yynnizen! Somebody help my husband!”
“Over here!” someone else yelled. “There’s a metal shard in his throat! Is he dead? What’s happened?”
My eyes went wide at the voices and the level-up alert. I had accidently killed more innocent victims.
I swallowed and took a deep breath, but when I peeked around the corner, I saw the two city guards rushing from their station over to where the Firebomb had just exploded.
You are bleeding and require medical attention. Bleeding is a damage-over-time effect.
Sung grimaced and grunted as he struggled to handle the baby’s bite, so I stepped up to him, grabbed the baby, and put my finger in its mouth.
“Let’s go, now!” I said and started running for the entrance. As we ran, I added, “Don’t look back.”
My heart sank as we passed through the gate, and I heard the distant sobs of a Barbaros crying over a lost loved one, but I just kept running. I ignored my bleeding, the occasional bites from the orc, and the uncomfortable guilt in my stomach festering from killing more blameless people.
When we were a moderate distance from the entrance, I started fumbling in my bag, fetching a white suppression pellet. Sora… I projected as I slid the pellet into the pocket where she was hiding.
She knew what was needed, and as she chewed on the pellet, she jumped out of my pocket and ran with us. Within a second, her body became engulfed in magic, and she grew to her usual Great Beast size.
Get on, she projected as she lowered herself, which surprised me a bit; usually she never issued orders.
I hoisted myself onto Sora and Sung hopped on behind me. I held the baby tightly with one hand and squeezed Sora’s fur tighter than normal as she sprinted towards the Peace Temple.
You have completed the quest: The Arsonists’ Plot!
You have gained 15,000 XP!
We had gotten away, but I felt no pride or sense of victory. Instead, I felt ashamed.
Chapter Twenty
2/19/0001
“There he is!” Sung shouted, pointing towards a large peach tree growing near the edge of the Peace Temple.
Trynzen was crouching under the tree, rubbing his paws up and down its trunk as if he were giving it a massage. Sung’s horse was standing patiently nearby, tied to the same tree with a long rope.
When Trynzen saw us approaching, he stopped what he was doing and ran to us. “Friend, friend! Gunnar, Sung! Trynzen waiting very long. Dark and alone!”
Sora stopped in front of him, and as Sung dismounted, he gave my shoulders a strong squeeze. When he was on the ground, Sung raised a high-five to me. “Mission accomplished. That was awesome back there.”
I reluctantly high-fived him but lowered my eyes and shook my head. “Nah, it was sloppy. First, we killed that innocent Barbaros at Jenzyn’s house, and then I—”
“There wasn’t much choice,” Sung interrupted.
“A couple people died when I threw the Firebomb.”
“Did they?” Sung asked. “I heard some screaming, but how can you be sure?”
“I gained XP after I threw it.”
“Damn,” Sung said. He sighed a little, shrugged a shoulder, and tilted his head to the side. “It was an accident—no big deal. At least we didn’t get caught.”
“Yeah,” I groaned. “But when you count the dead orc and Trynzen’s brother, that’s at least five dead. It seems like a bad trade to walk away with so many casualties when you’re actually trying to save people.”
“You could’ve just left the orcs to die,” Sung said, again shrugging. “You didn’t want to do that.”
I frowned and nodded a little, knowing he was right. If I hadn’t saved the orcs, Trynzen’s brother wouldn’t have killed the baby’s mom, and we would’ve been out of Barbaros before things escalated to the point where Trynzen needed to kill his own brother. My decision to save two orcs, of all creatures, had resulted in a fatal domino effect.
“Hey,” Sung said, noticing my disappointed state. He slapped his hand against my leg. “We did our best. Nobody’s perfect. We got some gold and intel about the Scourge.” He walked over to the horse and started untying the rope. “It wasn’t all bad.”
While I didn’t feel good about all the deaths that took place in Barbarosia, I struggled with why exactly it bothered me so much. I had killed bandits, kobolds, demons, orcs, and humans—lots of them. When I was in the Sands, I had cut out an innocent man’s heart to appease Dryden. I had killed slavers, Faithsworn, and even beheaded Solomon. There was little reason for me to be sensitive about a few random deaths, but for some reason it still stung at me.
After some thought, I guessed it was the nature of why I did what I did. Most of the people I had killed previously had been an enemy to me in some way—or they were just bad people in general. The orcs I had killed in the past would’ve killed me and my friends had I not killed them first, but the orc under the wagon seemed far more like someone just trying to survive, even if she were part of a typically aggressive race.
But the Barbaros deaths in Barbarosia—completely innocent people. They were merely victims of circumstance, losing their lives so that Sung and I could avoid the consequences of setting Jenzyn’s house on fire. If I didn’t feel bad about that, I’d be just as heartless as Dryden.
There was a thin line between being a person and a monster in Eden’s Gate, and sometimes the lines blurred. Sometimes the monsters were better than the people, and sometimes the people were monsters. Often, good people did monstrous things simply because the world was so unforgiving.
Sung mounted the horse and told Trynzen to hop on behind him. I adjusted the baby in between my legs, and we continued our journey back to Edgewood.
“Careful,” I said as we entered the Freelands, casting another round of Divine Sight on our party.
At night, the besieged Freelands looked quite a bit different than it had earlier. Light sprinkled the landscape from the various campfires the orcs had created, and the goblins and orcs roaming between campsites with torches.
>
Even more of the Scourge camps nearest the road appeared to have been cleared by Highcastle’s effort, so we were able to keep our distance as we travelled, but there was no telling if an orc or goblin from one of the camps further out would stray, spot us, and attack unexpectedly.
I eyed some of the snuffed-out camps as we passed, with dead bodies lying around campfire remnants and tattered tents twisted on the ground. Random pieces of loose, low-level weapons and battered armor littered each one. The Highcastle cleanup crew still had a lot of work to do.
After a bit of traveling, we spotted a group of soldiers fighting a pack of orcs and goblins a couple hundred meters ahead of us and just off the road. Each of the men carried torches in one hand and were swinging weapons with the other. The orcs and goblins had dropped their torches and were fighting with both hands.
“Should we help again?” Sung asked as we cautiously rode closer.
“No,” I answered, shaking my head as I saw one of the Highcastle men slice the throat of an orc, spin, and thrust his sword into the eye of a goblin. It looked like the humans had the upper hand. “Not this time. Not while we’re carrying so much gold and this little guy. Let’s try to go around.”
We veered away from the action and avoided the fight entirely, but further along the path, a group of three orcs ran across the road, grunting in unison and holding torches in their hands. They seemed to be moving with a specific destination in mind and didn’t notice us from their moderately far distance. It seemed we weren’t as easy to spot while using magic sight to light our way.
Our journey seemed to be going as planned, but no more than a few seconds after the orcs ran by, I heard a light thump, and Sung’s horse neighed loudly and reared up on its back legs. Both Sung and Trynzen held on tightly to avoid falling off, but as soon as the horse grounded its hooves, there was another thump, and the animal darted ahead wildly.
As Sung and Trynzen sped away on the panicking horse, I noticed two arrows protruding from the horse’s side. When I scanned the area, looking for the source of the projectiles, I saw a solitary goblin around a hundred meters away. It was crouched behind a rock for cover, holding a shortbow in its hands.
Name: Goblin Sharpshooter
Race: goblin
Level: 18
Health/Mana/Stamina: 180/10/120
Status: aggressive
As the goblin nocked another arrow, I turned and urged Sora to head its way. As we rode closer, I held my arm out and cast a Fireblast when its head peeked up from behind cover.
The goblin ducked back behind the rock, causing my Fireblast to miss, and when I followed it up with an Arcane Missile, I missed again, and my magic simply hit the rock.
The goblin leaned out from cover, pulled back its bowstring, and let an arrow fly in my direction.
Sora saw the arrow coming and was able to veer to the side, avoiding getting hit, but the sudden shift rocked me a bit. I still had the baby in between my legs and was using one of my hands to hold it in place. I couldn’t grip the saddle as strongly with my knees as I normally would to avoid crushing the baby, and each time I held my hand out to cast magic, I was momentarily relying on my core balance to prevent us from falling off.
Sora sensed me losing my stability and slowed down to a walk, allowing me to shift a bit and regain control.
Hang on, father… Sora projected.
I’m trying, I replied. Not so easy to fight with the kid.
I know. That’s why you need to hang on. I believe I can handle this one.
Sora’s muscles tensed underneath me, and she crouched a little bit, taking slow, deliberate steps towards the goblin. I couldn’t recall a time when Sora fought with me on her back, but it was clear that was what she was about to do.
I pulled the baby up and held it close to my chest while using my lower legs and a firm hand to get a good grip of Sora’s saddle.
When the goblin popped its head out of cover to shoot another arrow, Sora galloped forward at a breakneck speed, and when the Goblin released an arrow towards her, she jumped just at the right time, clearing the arrow and landing just a few feet from the goblin.
Landing so close, Sora only needed to take a few short steps before she was able to knock the goblin’s weapon out of its hand with her paw, and before the goblin could muster a defense, Sora had her jaws clenched tightly around its neck.
The goblin tried to scream, but it came out more like a sputter with Sora crushing its windpipe. It kicked and pounded its fists against Sora’s head, making a last-ditch effort to get free, but Sora tossed her head from side to side with maximum velocity. I heard bones crack during the motion, and when Sora’s head finally stilled, the goblin was totally limp.
You have gained 1000 XP!
“Good job,” I said low as Sora dropped the goblin from her mouth.
I had the natural inclination to jump down and check the goblin for loot, but as my eyes were panning over it, I saw a flicker of light growing brighter out of the corner of my eye.
Four large orcs were running towards us with their weapons drawn.
It wasn’t clear if the sound from the scuffle had attracted the orcs or if they noticed us by chance, but regardless, we needed to get away quick. Without Sung and holding an orc baby, I wouldn’t be able to fight them effectively, and I couldn’t rely on Sora to defend against four enemies on her own.
“Go,” I muttered, tugging on Sora’s fur a bit. “Run in the direction that Sung’s horse ran.”
Sora turned and bolted away from the orcs, putting distance between us and them in seconds. But as we fled, I heard the orcs shouting to some other Scourge who were stationed at nearby camps, drawing their attention our way.
I swiveled to see at least three other orcs grab torches and start running with the trailing group, and the further away we got, the more torches I saw converge behind us.
It was only a minute or so of riding before I saw Sung and Trynzen sitting patiently atop the unmoving horse a few meters from the road. Sung was leaning over, petting the horse on the back of the neck, trying to keep it calm.
He turned his head and smiled when he saw me approaching. “She’s calm now…” he said as I slowed to a halt beside him. He pointed to the two arrows that were still protruding from the horse’s side. “She got tagged with a couple arrows. I might need your help to remove ‘em.”
“No time for that,” I said, glancing behind me. “That goblin that shot the horse is dead, but now we’ve got orcs on our ass.”
Sung groaned and shifted his gaze to the direction from which I’d come. “How many?”
“Ten is best case, maybe twenty by now… Who knows?”
“Damn,” he groaned. “Well, we’ve got a bit of distance on them. If we move now, we should be okay.”
“Follow the road to Edgewood,” I ordered, “and no stopping. I’ll be right behind you.”
Sung nodded and glanced behind him. “Hang on, Trynzen.”
“No fight orc!” Trynzen cried as Sung gave the horse a firm bump.
As we hurried toward Edgewood, I saw another group of soldiers fighting a distant but easily visible camp, and I wondered if the horde of Scourge that were chasing us would divert their attention to fight the soldiers instead. It would be a shame if we pulled a bunch of Scourge their way, but since the orcs had all been on foot, it seemed possible they might simply give up chase altogether.
When we reached the outer edge of our damaged forest, I glanced behind me one more time and could see a line of torches far behind, slowly creeping closer and closer. Though we had widened the gap dramatically, they still hadn’t given up their search.
I followed Sung through the razed trees and burnt foliage that now made up the beginnings of Edgewood, and we eventually found the trodden path that roughly connected Highcastle to our village. We followed the path the rest of the way until I saw one of our High Elf guards standing in his position with his arms crossed. He perked up and reached for his bow when he saw us rus
hing towards him.
I raised my hand above my head and started twirling it in a circle as we approached. “Get everyone ready! We’ve got Scourge incoming!”
The High Elf relaxed a little when he saw it was me and Sung, but he raised his eyebrows at the mention of the Scourge. “More goblins are coming?”
Arryl, the High Elf guard captain who was nearby, heard my command and ran towards us saying, “Did you say the Scourge are launching an attack?”
I nodded. “They’re pretty far behind us, so they might not enter our village, but with the trees burned, who knows.”
“All of your guild mates are sleeping,” Arryl said.
“Asleep?” I asked. “All of them?”
“We haven’t been attacked in some time,” Arryl said. “Mostly quiet since you’ve left. They decided as a group that it was time to get some rest.”
I groaned a bit at their decision. I thought there had been an understanding that they’d rotate our schedules and stay alert until further notice, and as their guild leader, I had yet to give that further notice. Still, I couldn’t blame them for wanting to return to some sense of normalcy. Everyone was tired of the heightened state, including me.
The baby between my legs snorted a bit and started crying.
I looked down to the baby and rubbed its chin with my thumb. “Relax, little guy.”
The baby quieted when my thumb was touching it, but as soon as I pulled away, it started wailing again.
I picked it up and started bobbing it up and down lightly. “Calm down, calm down.”
“What is that?” Arryl asked nosily.
I shook my head. “Just a baby.”
“A baby?” His brow creased. “Why do you have a baby?”
“Baby orc! Baby orc!” Trynzen blurted. “Not fight orc! No kill orc! Gunnar take care!”