Watcher's Test

by Sean Oswald

  After everyone calmed down, the entire family sorta crashed to the ground, coming down from the second major adrenaline rush of the last few hours. Emily turned to Dave. “How can we survive here if even frogs can kill us?”

  Dave had an answer ready on his tongue. In his mind, the answer was obvious. One or more of them needed to focus on actively leveling up so that these creatures wouldn’t be so dangerous. Dave wanted to be able to protect his family, and each new encounter only enforced that fact more. Despite the thoughts in his head, Dave had been married long enough to know that this was not the sort of question he was actually supposed to answer, so he simply said, “We will make it through. We are the Nelsons.”

  For her part, Emily knew the words didn’t mean much, but she appreciated the encouragement and Dave’s positive attitude. Somehow, they would survive. She didn’t know how, but she just knew that they had to.

  By this time, the first sun—wow, it felt strange to the Nelsons to think of the sun as a first sun—had already set, but the second sun was well above the horizon and beginning to move across the sky far faster than they were accustomed to. Unless there was a third sun, Dave estimated that they had approximately six more hours of sunlight. That was assuming that the second sun moved at the same rate as the first one had. It had taken about four hours to travel from the high noon position it had been in when they first appeared outside of the loading zone until it had fallen below the horizon in the west. He still agreed with Emily that it was better to be by the river than by the woods but also knew that they had to get firewood and preferably before it became too dark. None of them were experts and starting a fire with their flint might not be as easy as it often appeared to be in movies. This led to further discussion with all of the family included this time. It had not escaped Dave and Emily just how potent the magic that Mira had used was, but when they tried to ask her again about her skill choices, she deflected and simply talked about how she now understood what Dave had meant when he had described the rush of using magic. Trading silent looks, Dave and Emily both agreed not to push the issue and moved on.

  Emily insisted that if Dave was going to go get firewood that he would have to take either Jackson or Mira with him. It was his concession to her to agree that no one would go anywhere without someone else with him, including him. Dave decided to take Jackson with him and left the girls with Emily to move the campsite another thirty feet from the edge of the river. While they wanted to be as far from the tree line as possible, they also didn’t want giant frogs climbing into their camp at night. The guys began walking the quarter-mile to the tree line and Dave was struck by a memory of the last time that the two of them had walked together. It felt like a lifetime ago that they had walked out of the stadium from Jackson’s baseball game, but he knew that in fact, it had only been hours. Well, at least hours that they had been conscious. What happened between the silver disc and appearing in Eloria after the gray loading zone might have taken far longer than it seemed.

  Once out of earshot of the girls, Dave explained that while they were going to be trying to collect enough fallen wood to keep a small fire going all night, they were also going to be looking for any fights that they could engage in because in his words, “It was imperative that they level up.” It was easy for Jackson to agree with his father and go against what he knew his mother’s wishes were because this gave him the feeling of being connected to his father as the men of the family. That feeling of being trusted by his father was not one that he would give up cheaply. Dave insisted that if they ran into anything as large as the boar from before or if a fight went badly, that Jackson promise to leave his father and run back for help from his mother. The instructions weren't couched in terms of the boy’s safety but rather in the importance of him getting aid from the girls to help his father who would hold the danger at bay until reinforcements arrived. On the other hand, if the fight was going well, then Jackson was to stay back and wait for a sure-fire opportunity to land a solid blow, and either way, he was to let Dave take the brunt of any attacks. Jackson was not only willing but eager to follow this plan, as a way to bond with his father and from his own sensibilities as a budding gamer.

  Inside the woods, the light of the sun filtered through only dimly, in visible beams set off by motes of dust in the air, almost like one would expect in a rarely opened attic. Unlike an attic though, the forest was clearly full of life. Birds could be heard everywhere but few were seen and missing very clearly were the small rodents, squirrels, and such that Dave would have expected to be everywhere in what appeared to be unspoiled woods. He was again struck by the oddity of the clearly heavily logged area a few paces away and the appearance of what seemed to be an old-world forest completely untouched by human hands. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Dave saw some rapid movement. He turned to face his left but could no longer see anything. He made the universal sign for quiet to Jackson and then drew his sword. With his free hand, he tried to cast his Assess Enemy spell, hoping that it would still work even though he couldn’t see whatever creature it was that was hiding at the base of a rather large tree. Unfortunately, if the spell did work, he couldn’t tell because he wasn’t able to see either the creature, if in fact it was still there, or any of the indicators the spell was supposed to provide. Looking back at Jackson and assuring himself that Jackson had his mace ready, Dave moved forward as quietly as he could. He was proud of his efforts to move softly, but any true woodsman would have chuckled at the thundering amounts of noise he was making. When Dave finally reached the spot where he supposed the creature was now hiding, he could feel the rush of nervousness but swung his longsword at a fern type bush at the base of the tree. He sliced through the leaves of the bush easily, but instead of it revealing a creature, it revealed a hole bored into the tree perhaps two inches in diameter. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed as if this might be the entrance to some type of animal lair. Given its size, though, he didn’t hold out much hope that it would be a profitable source of XP, so he turned and walked back to Jackson.

  “I don’t think there is anything worth digging for here. We might as well just get the firewood before your mother starts to worry too much.”

  Jackson nodded and tried to hide a grin as he started picking up the few pieces of dried tree branches that he found on the ground. Dave joined in and it didn’t strike either of them as odd that there was very little in the way of fallen branches or such on the forest floor. Perhaps it could be blamed upon the overwhelming oddity of the day that they didn’t notice such a seemingly insignificant detail, but if they had been paying closer attention, it would have been obvious that someone was maintaining the floor of this forest and keeping it from being cluttered with too much fallen wood.

  Meanwhile, back at the campsite, the girls were able to quickly get everything moved a few more paces from the water. They found rocks to create a fire circle and laid out the bedding into what they determined would be the designated sleeping spots with Sara surrounded by first her siblings’ bedding spots and then on the outside by her parents. Finally, after about an hour, they decided it was going to take the boys a bit longer and so they went back down to the river’s edge and decided to see if Emily could use her enhanced reflexes and magical blade to spear any of the fish. Sara was nervous as Emily stepped into the water, but Mira stood by her and assured her that Mom would be okay. Then oddity of oddities, once Emily was about four feet into the water and finding that it was already to her waist, she was greeted by another notification.

  Warning! You are about to cross into the Eastern Albia Logging Zone. Do you wish to leave the Merkwood Zone? If so, please note if you want to receive future warnings.

  What the heck was that supposed to mean? Eastern Albia Logging Zone? Merkwood Zone? What was a zone, even? This was definitely something that she wanted to ask Dave about because it seemed like one of those game things. Hmm… how long is he gonna take collecting firewood? With those questions tumbling around in her head, E
mily stepped back out of the water and told the girls about the notification that she had received. They both let her know that neither of them had received any such notification, so out of curiosity and a desire to learn about this world that was apparently their new forever home, Emily stepped back into the water and once again at about the same spot received the notification. She experimented by walking upstream a bit and trying it again, and once again about four feet out from the bank, she got the same notification. Finally, just to be sure, she switched places with Mira and asked her oldest to do the same thing. Mira was nervous after Sara’s experience in the water, but she too wanted to see what this was and didn't want her mom to think she wasn’t a grown-up. As Mira reached the same distance from the shore, she was able to confirm that she received the same notification.

  After they were all back on the shore, they decided to wait for the guys to get back before experimenting any further. It was just then that they saw they weren’t alone. A set of five massive frogs similar to the one that had attacked Sara had somehow circled around them while they were experimenting with the zone notification. Now, as the girls turned to face the frogs, their backs were to the water and Emily gulped in fear for her daughters and berated herself for allowing them to be trapped.

  Chapter Nine

  “It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention and a rogues gallery ranging from laziness to play have been considered as possible fathers but all these ideas fail to properly consider the effectiveness of imminent death as a creative force.” —Memoir of Jayfen Tarzen, former Chapter Head of the Theriot Adventurers' Guild.

  Draznei’kai Shutan flicked his wrist, sending the blood clinging to his ebon blade flying in a fine spray against the formerly undyed woolen vest adorning the Albian peasant at his feet. The peasant didn’t complain, not for fear of Draznei’kai in his jet-black plate mail lined with intricate silver runes, but rather because of the gaping wound in his chest where his heart had once beat. After cleaning his blade, the dark knight strode forward, placing his boot upon the corpse of the fallen peasant as he stepped over him. This corpse was but one of many laid low by him today and today but one of many days of death caused by Draznei’kai. In fact, he had lost count of the battles he had been in; it had simply become a way of being for years beyond a normal man’s lifespan. Walking away from his latest victim, he looked around the site of their raid. His troops consisted of a goblin raiding party led by a shaman with four scouts, twelve skirmishers, and six rogues along with his eight reanimated skeletons. It was an intentionally small raiding party for two reasons. First, the goblins didn’t fully understand that Draznei’kai was in charge. They saw him more as an advisor to their chieftain and had no real understanding of the long game or the level of control which had been exerted over their tribes, and because of this, they didn’t place great importance on this mission or see how it fit into the larger scheme of things. Secondly, the raiding party was small because he did not wish for the human kingdom to find out about them until it was too late.

  He had initially worried that the size of the raiding party would be insufficient for the task, that the human logging villages would be protected with royal guardsmen, but nothing could be further from the truth. It was actually pathetic. This first village in Oppenheim only had four guards and a little over sixty villagers. It presented no challenge, and he had only lost two goblins and one skeleton. The skeletons would be easy enough to replace, and he didn’t care about the loss of the goblins. The best thing was the word that was coming back from the three scouts he had sent to check on the more eastern logging villages as they only had positive news to report. Two of the scouts had made it back just before the raid on this first village. They had reported that there were two logging villages in Holstein. Draznei’kai would never fully trust the reporting of the goblin scouts. They were ignorant and barely able to count beyond their fingers and toes, but they at least knew what soldiers looked like. It seemed that the two remaining villages were much better established with small walls built around them, bridges crossing the Seinna River, and some completely built structures rather than the half-built framework of this village. Yet for some reason, both of the scouts who had returned were absolutely certain that there were no guards in either of the villages. It was almost as if Duke Holstein had set the villages up and then left them completely unprotected. He was a bit worried that there was some trap here that he hadn’t seen, but decided that, ultimately, he would have to rely upon his superior strength to carry out the plan. After all, he had yet to meet a human that could even come close to challenging him one-on-one or in a group.

  Once the goblins had had their fun with the few villagers that weren’t dead yet, it would be time to move onto the next village. Goblin measurements couldn’t be trusted, but the scouts reported that the next village was about fifty miles down the shore of the river and the final village just slightly past fifty miles beyond that. The only variable right now was that he had sent out three goblin scouts and only two had returned. He had questioned, and even threatened to torture the other two scouts as to why the third had not returned. As best he could understand, the final scout was more ambitious than these two and had wanted to make sure that there were no other human outposts any further down the river. All of the initial reports they had pointed to only the two complete villages and the one he had just wiped out, which had been incomplete. Yet, there was no point in taking risks. If the goblin finished his scouting, it would take him less than two days past the easternmost village to reach the river delta. This meant that he would be back to report within seven or eight days. It might be interesting to see if the goblins could keep their human playthings alive for that entire time, but either way, if the final scout wasn’t back within eight days, he would march on the second village.

  His musings were interrupted by a screechy goblin voice. “Death Knight, the village is secured. All of the humans are either dead or bound. My people will need a few days to rest and eat here. There is much good food and shiny things to play with.”

  Draznei’kai didn’t respond immediately; he didn’t even turn. He knew well the value of keeping a subordinate waiting, the way that tension could build. Finally, when he felt the moment was ripe, he turned to face the goblin shaman. He could see the fear and anger warring behind the small beady goblin eyes. The goblin’s hand clutched against the bone shaft of his staff as he rocked back and forth. Draznei’kai could see the process going on in the little mind in front of him. The shaman wondered if he could successfully challenge the death knight. The impudence would have brought a smile to Draznei’kai’s lips if he were capable of such an expression any longer. He wondered and waited to see if fear or anger would win out. Then as the shaman’s shoulders slumped and he leaned back on his heels, the answer was clear.

  “Is that all you have to report?” Then without waiting for a response, “Tell your people that you will be allowed to stay and rest here for one week. Do with the humans as you wish, but in seven days, they must all be dead, and your people must be ready to march.” He paused for a moment, letting the full weight of his gaze settle upon the shaman.

  “As you order.” The shaman bowed his head and turned to walk away. As he left, Draznei’kai’s shadow stepped several miles away into the Merkwood. There he entered a safe house that he had prepared long ago. Walking into the small chamber, he sat upon the stone chair he had built and settled down to meditate as he passed the next few days.

  Meanwhile, the full realization of terror had crept into Emily’s mind. She was scared for herself, but what was practically paralyzing her was the idea of what would happen to her daughters. Her only hope was that she could create an opening between the frogs and perhaps the girls could run to the tree line and find their father. The giant armored bullfrogs were making some sort of deep-throated frog noise. It almost sounded like they were talking to each other and who knows, with Eloria, maybe they were. Either way, Emily took advantage of the delay t
o turn toward the girls while simultaneously drawing her enchanted dagger. “Mira, I’m going to attack the one on the left while they seem to be talking. I want you to grab your sister and run as fast as you can to the tree line. Your father probably can’t hear us from here, but he should be able to once you get closer.”

  Mira cut her off. “We aren’t leaving you to die, Mom. I’ve got magic too.” As Emily started to object, Mira raised her hand and spread her fingers out as she shouted out three magical words. The mana rushed out of her, manifesting in a horizontal jet of flames shooting out in a fan-shaped wave which struck the three centermost frogs. As the waves of flame rolled over their bodies, their skin started to shrivel and char. The center one seemed to take the worst of it, such that he was barely alive, while the ones to its sides took serious damage and started making a loud plaintive sound, which Mira took to be frogs crying.

  Feeling the heat produced by Mira’s spell, Emily realized that it was too late to stop her, and instead, launched herself toward the left-most frog with the speed and agility that would make an Olympic gymnast or sprinter drool in envy and shouted to Sara, “Activate your talisman.” As she leapt through the air flipping before landing on the back of her target, she was pleased to see a golden bubble suddenly expand around Sara. Time almost seemed to slow down around her as it had before in combat, and her mind processed not only her observations necessary for battle but also a set of random thoughts. She was actually amazed at how natural this seemed, how reflexive her actions were as well as the fact that she was taking in stride that her firstborn had apparently learned how to be a human flamethrower. Even in the instant that she landed though, she realized that the best way to protect her children was to push the extraneous thoughts out of her mind and to focus on the foe beneath her. Try as she might, she couldn’t help but make a last-second comparison between what she was about to do and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, so it was that anyone observing this midwestern nurse and mother might have mistaken the slight smile upon her lips for enjoyment.