Watcher's Test

by Sean Oswald

  In all of this mental strain, it was not lost upon Max that he was flying on a horse across the sky. He had flown before, but prior to working with Hasert, had never traveled in such an exhilarating way. The beauty before him would have been staggering if he had allowed himself to relax and take it in. They were flying in a northeasterly direction, so the first sun was just starting to come up over the horizon and the sky was a beautiful golden red, promising a warm late summer day. It seemed hard to imagine that something so wondrous could ever become mundane, but amidst the struggle of focus, even the beauty laid out before his eyes failed to thrill.

  A brief cry from Karl, the squad’s ranger, was the only warning that Max or any of them got before three beasts materialized as though out of the empty azure sky. Max later realized that they hadn’t just appeared but rather had some ability to camouflage themselves to match whatever background they were against, apparently even the open sky. Almost in the same instant that the warning cry was sounded, Max looked back and wished forever that he hadn’t. In that same instant, three members of his squad had a six-foot-long wyvern land upon their backs, and he was forced to watch as each of their chests exploded out with a stinger pushed entirely through from the back. Then the wyvern’s claws sunk into the shoulders of their victims, hurling them from their mount toward the ground. Some of the squad had abilities that might allow them to survive a fall from three thousand feet in the air, but it was unlikely that any of these three would. Etta, their healer, a level 17 sorceress specializing in Essence Magic, Skipp, a level 12 warrior specializing in whirlwind attacks with his large two-handed sword, and Orlantha, a level 18 hoplite specializing in quick in and out spear combat, were all talented members of the squad and by no means their weakest members, but they were also not members particularly well equipped for defense. The fact that he couldn’t even hear screams coming from them as they fell to their death, spoke either of the instant death caused by the wyvern’s strikes or of the shock that such potent blows had inflicted.

  Max immediately gave the signal for everyone to descend to the ground, as fighting even these lesser dragonlings in the air would be suicidal from the backs of winged horses. The mobility of the wyverns was far beyond their own, and worse, as long as they were in the air, Hasert couldn’t use his potent magic to support the squad. He was proud to see the remaining squad members draw their weapons and notice that not only Karl but also Ronald, their level 10 archer, and Olga, Hasert’s level 9 apprentice, were able to get attacks off at the wyverns while descending. Both Karl and Ronald peppered them with arrows, mostly dodged, but still providing enough pressure to keep them from any further attacks. Olga was even more effective in that first she hurled a small flash of bluish-white light which seemed to stun one of the wyverns, if only for a second, and then finished up by conjuring a thick cloud which covered over the squad and provided cover as they finished their rapid descent to the ground.

  Max didn’t hold out any real hope, but he had tried to guide his descent to bring him down close to where his fallen squad members would have likely fallen. As his steed hit the ground, Max was already leaping off it and scanning the sky with sword and shield equipped. He ordered his squad to sound off as they landed, dismount and form up in an outward-facing circle with him. The area that they landed in seemed to be in the middle of some farms as there were fields of wheat in every direction as far as he could see, and perhaps half a mile away there were several lines of smoke indicative of chimneys or cooking fires consistent with a small town.

  What Max didn’t see was the wyverns. Either they had broken off their attack or, more likely, they were camouflaging and seeking a better opportunity to attack again. Internally, Max screamed. He wanted to cry for his fallen friends, squad members that he felt responsible for. He didn’t want to lose any more of these fine men and women, but tears would have to wait for later. Now he was a flurry of action and shouting, giving orders to all of his squad as they formed up in their outward-facing circle with Hasert and his apprentice in the middle. Then they had to settle in to wait for another attack.

  Having gotten her first bath in three days, Emily felt like a new woman. She had gone out throughout the day to heal the men afflicted with the spreading branches and had even found a way to heal the man with the flame lynx injury. It turned out that if she could press the two sides of the injury together, she was able to heal it. Seemingly once the flesh was touching, her magic was able to restore the parts together. Once figuring that out, it was a relatively simple if time-consuming process to start at the edges of the wound and heal it until it was smaller and smaller. Once she got down to where there was just a round hole of a wound left, she had Dave help her by pushing the flesh together forcibly. It hurt the patient temporarily, but sometimes healing had to do that, whether on Earth or in Eloria.

  Between her healing duties, she and Dave walked around the village, looking for a place to build a home and finally deciding on an open lot that wasn’t far from the mayor’s house. Emily felt a real joy here. She was doing good and helping people in a way that they couldn’t help themselves. If she hadn’t already known what her aid meant to these people, the way that the wives or children of the men she had healed would come up and bring her flowers, or the men themselves would bow and scrape before her certainly convinced her. The real crowning acknowledgment was when young mothers would bring their children up asking her to bless them.

  During one of the lulls, Dave shared with her what he had learned about the name of the village and how it was meant to be a play on words. Apparently, because of how the village was built on a slow rising hill and Eris, a messenger of Shanelle, had slowly risen into the heavens after delivering his messages, it was thought to be rather clever. Emily was shocked though that it wasn’t just a playful name but was indicative of the type of people who had chosen Eris’ Rise as their home. Dave filled her in on the details of how most of them had been serfs and what exactly that entailed, or at least as well as he could based upon the limited information he had gained in his conversations with Talvenicus. Emily, always one to be empathetic, was horrified by the way that serfdom was practically slavery in all but name. She was proud of the people as though they were her people, and maybe in some ways they were. They reminded her of the people on her many mission trips who were simply trying to rise up out of poverty into something better. It had always been an argument between her and Dave about giving money to help support these charities, whether in Africa, Guatemala, or even in their own small town. It wasn’t that Dave wasn’t willing to give, he just was a strict ten percent giver, but Emily would give and give until she had nothing left to give. She just had that kind of heart.

  After hearing about where these people came from, their desire for a better life and the devotion to the Goddess Shanelle, Emily was practically bursting with excitement. Dave knew that look and knew it meant that she had a plan and wasn’t going to be dissuaded.

  “You know, honey,” whenever she used terms of endearment in a normal conversation, he knew he was in trouble, “that plan you had about building a church here doesn’t just have to be a way for us to get into the village. We could actually build a church here. We could do so much for these people, and if we are really going to have to live the rest of our lives here in Eloria, I think this would be a great place to start out.” Emily practically beamed as she spoke.

  “We could… but there is so much more of this world to see, and I don’t want to settle down without having a better idea of what is out there.” Dave’s response was his usual guarded self, not denying her request but seeking to avoid agreeing with her.

  “I’m not saying we have to stay here forever, Dave, but if the monsters we faced are the worst that there is here, then with some more leveling up, we should be able to create a safe home for our kids here while they grow. And besides, you know how I have always wanted to live in a small town.” Emily hooked her arm inside of Dave’s and snuggled up to him as they walked a slow c
ircuit around the town. They had agreed to speak in Elven so that it would be less likely that anyone would understand what they were saying.

  Dave enjoyed the feel of his wife pressed up against him, and in all honesty, he stopped being able to think quite as clearly as before in reaction to the softness and warmth he felt from her. Emily, definitely, did not intentionally try to manipulate Dave like that, but she couldn’t help but observe over the years that his resistance to her proposals seemed to melt the more she was touching him. One of her friends, or rather more of an acquaintance, would have said that Dave had shifted from big-head thinking to little-head thinking, but Emily didn’t like to think of it like that. She liked to think of it as her physical proximity to Dave helped him overcome his lack of empathy and open up to the idea that she expressed.

  “So if… and I’m only saying if I agree to this, then we are going to have to figure out how we fit into this town.”

  Taking that concession as an indication of Dave’s willingness, she said, “Oh, thank you. You won’t regret this. We just need to stay here until Sara is big enough to fend for herself, and then we can move on and explore the world.”

  From there, they talked about plans to build a home and eventually a church and ways in which they might be able to help the community. Emily’s role was fairly self-evident. She would provide healing services, health training, education, and perhaps as she understood her connection to God or whatever Shanelle was, even some spiritual guidance. Dave, on the other hand, did not have a clearly defined way to fit in. He certainly could help with some basic education but never really enjoyed teaching that much. He was strong enough to do any of the basic physical jobs of the village or could take up a craft of some sort, but as they discussed it, he made it clear that while being a lawyer might have been fine in perfectly civilized Earth, here in Eloria, he meant to be a man of action. The way he spoke with such conviction and strength was actually exciting to Emily, and pretty soon they were both wishing that they already had a home built.

  By the time that second sun was fully risen, they had a plan in place, and Dave went off to talk to Talvenicus while Emily went to speak to Gertrude about other possible herbal aids to her healing. They both promised to check in on the kids who had been left at the mayor’s home with instructions not to leave, despite their complaints.

  An hour of waiting to be attacked was taxing on even the veterans of Max’s squad. Some of the younger members showed real signs of strain. Finally, Max had assigned Karl, the ranger, to partner with Engel, a level 13 defender. Their classes would work well together. Karl had access to some skills that gave him increased senses and great ranged attacks, while Engel much as his class name indicated, was the perfect meat shield, excelling at protecting his allies. He likewise assigned the archer, Ronald, and Leo, a level 9 defender, to work together. Both pairs were set to patrol in a small circular perimeter of about a quarter-mile in diameter. It was a large enough area to encompass where their fallen comrade’s bodies had come to rest and yet hopefully not too large an area to be properly patrolled. The rest of the squad, consisting of Max, Hastert and his apprentice, Leyna, the level 15 infiltrator, Ahren, a level 14 myrmidon, and Adelmo, a level 8 warrior, set to work pulling the broken remains of their friends toward the middle where a proper grave could be prepared for them until such time as their bodies could be transported to the capital for internment in the crypt which housed the fallen faithful of the Purple and Gold.

  Once they had all three bodies gathered together, Max had taken on the unpleasant task of stripping them of any magical items. It might be an unpleasant duty, but it was an absolutely necessary one; first, because such items could not be wasted and secondly, because they would be a beacon to any treasure hunters who happened to pass by the area. The necessity didn’t make the task any easier though. These were the bodies of his friends, his squad. They were people he had either recruited or trained. Men and women that he had fought beside and shed blood with, there could be no closer bond. The bodies were each a deformed mess of broken bones and limbs turning the wrong way. The rings on their fingers were difficult to remove, but the armor proved impossible to move without cutting off limbs, something he was not prepared to do.

  While Max was removing any valuables to be passed on to the fallen’s next of kin, Hasert was busy using magic to dig deep enough for a proper grave. The squad didn’t have tools for digging and while wizard didn’t specialize in earth magic, he was still experienced enough to have a spell for raising walls of earth. It wasn’t exactly an excavation spell, but it had to displace the earth in order to form the walls, and so, with creative application over time, Hasert was able to open three roughly grave shaped pits to place the bodies of their fallen squadmates into.

  Throughout this entire process, the rest of the squad members were constantly looking over their shoulders and up into the air, each with their weapons drawn. It was almost a relief when Leyna called out a warning and pointed her hand crossbow up at a forty-five-degree angle, shooting into what appeared to be a clear sky. Her experience and skills as an Infiltrator had helped her recognized one of the wyverns through its camouflage. Her dart went true and struck the wyvern squarely in the chest but was barely able to damage the thick scales. Fortunately, the dart didn’t need to pierce deeply to deliver its poisoned payload, and the wyvern screamed in fury as it felt the venom released into its body.

  The poison prevented the exposed wyvern from using its camouflage ability, but the other two had yet to make their presence known. Max was guessing that they were all either top tier 2 or low tier 3 monsters, and he knew that even one of them could cause serious damage to his squad if handled improperly. The encounter overhead had already proven just how dangerous they were, but Max couldn’t allow fear to dictate his actions. Max knew what it was like to fight against an enemy that you couldn’t see and never knew where they were coming from, to be on edge for months at a time, never fully feeling safe. That experience from what felt like a lifetime ago enabled Max to take charge and snap orders to his team immediately.

  “All ranged abilities focus on the visible one, all defenders stand ready and keep your eyes open for the other two.”

  The previous encounter with the wyverns had been one-sided and had gone very badly for the squad, but last time, Hasert had been entirely focused on maintaining his spell long enough to get the mounts to the ground. This time, the beasts would find out what happened when a tier 3 wizard went to war. He shot out a quickened version of that same blue-white flash that his apprentice had used before. It had the same effect in that it stunned the wyvern but only briefly. That, however, wasn’t the wizard’s primary action, but only meant to slow the beast enough for his high mana cost spell to hit. The stun effect also had the benefit of making the beast a better target for the spells and arrows. In an instant, three arrows and a lightning bolt all slammed into it. Karl’s Twin Shot Arrows each hit for (12) damage while due to the magical bow he used, Ronald’s single arrow hit for (36), but the true damage came from Hasert’s lightning bolt which struck the wyvern for (190). This wasn’t enough to kill the beast, but the main reason the wizard employed lightning wasn’t for its killing power but for its ability to stun an enemy.

  True to Hasert’s intent, the voltage coursing through the wyvern’s slender frame was too much for it and caused its muscles to spasm uncontrollably, interrupting its flight and sending it plummeting to the ground. All of its grace in flight now gone, it fell no different from a rock with its muscles locked up. Before it could even impact Ronald scored another hit, this time as a critical strike against the wyvern for (71). A second after the arrow hit, the beast impacted the ground. The wyvern was a tier 3 beast but not because of its incredible resilience or defensive powers but rather because of its extremely deadly offensive capability, but even so it was still a tier 3 monster and so the fall while stacking on another (26) damage was not enough to kill it instantly, even with the poison still damaging it every tick
. Max’s longsword did for it, though, what the impact with the ground didn’t do and ended it with a brutal downward thrust driving the red enchanted blade through its scales and into its heart.

  The squad all felt a moment of cathartic relief upon the death of the wyvern. It didn’t bring back their fallen friends. It didn’t deal with the other two beasts, but it did bring a sense of some small measure of justice. After that initial relief, the squad continued to scan the sky for any evidence of the other wyverns, but no one caught a glimpse of them. So finally, they were able to move forward with burying their friends. Max wasn’t a religious man at all, even with what he had seen. That didn’t keep him from saying a few words to honor the fallen. He knew that they would eventually have a more formal funeral once their bodies could be moved back to the capital, but for now, these deep but unmarked graves would have to suffice. Most of the squad was Albian and therefore deferential to all three of the gods of good, so Max chose for his short speech to briefly memorialize the virtues of justice and how each of the fallen had represented those virtues. It served to not only be a brief but meaningful eulogy but also to further motivate the squad to stay focused on getting justice against the wyverns. Max knew, painfully so, that it was better to keep his people focused on revenge or justice than on fear and loss.

  Following the burial, the squad rested and ate, and then as the second sun was well into the sky, they were roused to hike the few miles that they could still cover before dark. The captain had no intention of traveling at night while still under the threat of an enemy who could hide its presence so well. It was hard enough to detect one during the day. Also, the squad was tired. Physically tired from the forced ride to this point and emotionally tired from the events of the morning. Now it was going to take days for them to cover the last fifty miles to their target instead of hours. They would obviously move slower on foot rather than in the air. They would also be delayed by the need to travel around any little villages or towns out here as they didn’t want word of their presence to reach Duke Holstein before they had a chance to look into the state of the logging villages.