Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)

Home > Other > Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) > Page 67
Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4) Page 67

by Luke Chmilenko


  Chapter 52

  “Well, that lasted longer than I’d hoped, but it wasn’t so bad in the end,” I said to Freya with a weary sigh as I watched the last of the adventurers and townsfolk leave the meeting room. “It seems like everyone is confident and onboard about what we’re doing next.”

  “Only because of both your words,” Aldwin said with a shake of his head as he and Veronia moved to join us, Garr and the other gronn following a step behind them. “There are not many leaders who can stand in front of their supporters after a defeat and not only rally them so drastically, but to practically convince them that the loss of Valor’s Point was actually to our benefit.”

  “You’re too kind there, Fredric,” Freya said with a snort, shaking her head at the man’s statement as everyone arrived, forming a loose circle around us. “We were just trying to make sure that everyone doesn’t panic. Though…at the same time, not having to worry about manning and supplying the base does allow us to be more flexible than we have been in the past. I just wish it didn’t come at the price that it did.”

  “Nor do any of us,” Garr replied, the tone of his voice indicating that he knew exactly what the woman had meant. “But nature will recover—it always has and always will. And from where I stand as well, it is far better for us to deny the orcs the land’s bounty on our terms than to see it fed into their war machine and used against us. That path only leads to more suffering. Both for nature and for those in the orcs’ path.”

  “That it certainly does,” Veronia agreed wistfully, our conversation changing topics as Cassius picked that moment to join us, the Hallowguarde guildmaster arriving with an extremely tall and muscular white-furred Tul’Shar trailing half a step behind him.

  “That was a good speech, you two,” he said by way of greeting. “I think it struck the chord we were looking for. Everyone leaving seems to be excited for the next round to start already.”

  “Hopefully not too soon,” I replied with a shake of my head, feeling the exhaustion still hanging on me all too well. “We could still use some time to catch our breaths.”

  “And hopefully we’ll get it,” Cassius said wholeheartedly, his head moving to indicate the adventurer that had followed him. “Anyway, though, I’ve found the unfortunate soul here that’s been nominated to speak for the newcomers and figured to introduce him to you all before we head out. His name is Riggs.”

  “Nice to meet you then, Riggs,” I said in greeting as I shifted my attention over towards the Tul’Shar, finding myself needing to crane my head upwards to meet his eye. Standing at what had to be at least seven feet in height, the dark-armored feline warrior was easily a match for both Drace and Abaddon in size and build. Though where those other two adventurers carried a more defensive bearing, Riggs appeared the complete opposite, the two large swords strapped to his back signaling his more aggressive focus.

  “Likewise,” the large Tul’Shar replied as he scanned through our group, his voice bearing the soft hint of a southern accent as he spoke. “And good mornin’, y’all.”

  “And the same to you,” Freya answered back as she turned to look over at the massive adventurer, raising an eyebrow as she did so. “So, what did you end up doing in order to get stuck representing all of the new arrivals? Last time I checked, you were all having a hard time picking someone to speak for you all.”

  “Um, yeah. That we were, I suppose,” Riggs said, a small frown crossing his face before it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “And uh, I got picked because I asked too many questions. Good questions apparently. So they told me that I could be responsible for figuring them all out with you people.”

  “Ah, yeah, that’ll get you in trouble every time,” I said as a handful of chuckles passed throughout our group. “In either case, though, we’re happy to have you on board. Hopefully, we can get the details sorted out for the newcomers fast enough, then turn our worrying back to the orcs.”

  “Well, anything I can do to help with that, I will,” Riggs affirmed. “Though I’ll admit, I’m pretty partial to getting back into the fight as soon as possible after what happened last night.”

  “Oh, something tells me we’ll be having plenty of opportunity for that,” Cassius said, sharing the feline warrior’s eager tone as he turned his attention towards Freya and me. “Anyway, though, I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be poaching a handful of scouts and horses for the next couple days. I’m going to be sending them out along with Kilgore and Berwyn to make contact with the main body of the reinforcements. From what the newcomers have said so far, I peg them at roughly sixty or so miles away, so barring any surprises, they should be able to reach them sometime in the afternoon or so. Then, hopefully, from there we can figure out what exactly we’re working with.”

  “That sounds great,” I replied with a nod, silently hoping that there weren’t any unexpected complications waiting for us on that front. With how many people that were set to arrive over the next couple days, the sooner that we could get an understanding of their various skills, abilities, and needs the better. It would help us sort out where best to send them, be it either to Aldford directly, the growing farmland to the west of the town, or what was most likely to happen, a temporary settlement somewhere the orcs weren’t likely to find. “Hopefully, they’ll all be understanding enough and willing to follow directions as we sort things out on our end.”

  “Hopefully,” Cassius echoed, matching my nod with one of his own, but then immediately following it up with a shrug. “In either case, though, Berwyn and Kilgore will make sure to knock heads together if that’s what it takes to get everyone moving. Same with the other two you’ve sent with us, Natasha and Bax.”

  “Honestly, I don’t think you all will have many problems getting people to do what’d best for them,” Riggs offered in a confident voice. “Those who have made it this far have no illusions about what they’re all walkin’ into here. I know it may not be so polite to say, but the words ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ have been bounded around a fair bit since we left Coldscar, but in an eager way. Everyone that’s coming knows full well that there’s a horde of orcs waiting for them at the end of the journey, and they are all excited to have the opportunity to cut their teeth on them.”

  “If they are arriving with as much enthusiasm as you say, then they are more than free to say whatever they like about the region here,” Veronia replied with an amiable snort. “We will certainly not turn away anyone willing to contribute in whatever way they can.”

  “That makes me glad to hear, and as a whole, I don’t think we’ll let you down,” Riggs said, inclining his head towards the woman as he spoke. “At least not until long after all these orcs are dead and rotting. Then I’m afraid that there’s a chance people will start to get bored and troublesome, assuming that such a thing as boredom ever happens around here.”

  “It certainly hasn’t yet,” I replied, unable to help but grin at the thought. “But hey, you never know, we might actually be due a change of pace one of these days and manage to last longer than a week without a new catastrophe rearing its ugly head.”

  “From your mouth to the gods’ ears,” Aldwin said wistfully. “I would certainly not turn down a long respite after how recent weeks have been. Especially if we are to have a huge host of new arrivals joining us.”

  “I don’t think any of us here would,” I replied, the bone-deep exhaustion that had been smothering me all morning choosing that opportunity to flare up and remind me once again just how tired I was.

  “Definitely not,” Cassius agreed, the man taking that opportunity to signal towards the exit with his head. “But for that all to happen, we’re going to have to sort out these pesky orcs that are set about ruining our home, which is where Riggs and I will be heading out as soon as we’re done here. I’m going to taking a good chunk of his people along with mine, and we’re going to give them a bit of a crash course on how we do things around here. That way we can hopefully slot them into o
ur plans without too much trouble going forward.”

  “That’ll be perfect,” Freya replied graciously, despite doing her best to hide an untimely yawn. “And I hope to be up there soon as I can, later this afternoon. But with how long I’ve been up, I absolutely need to get some sleep before I can do anything else. I barely made it through this meeting as it was.”

  “That sounds good, but at the same time, feel free to rest however long you need,” Cassius answered. “We don’t need you burning out, and that goes the same for you too, Lyr. I know full well what kind of pace we set over the last few days.”

  “Don’t worry. Getting some sleep is pretty high on my list, too,” I replied to the man while indicating to Garr and the other gronn as I spoke. “We’re due to check in with Halcyon and the other mages after we’re done here, then soon as that’s done, I’m crashing for a few hours too.”

  “Perfect,” the man replied, both him and Riggs then stepping away from our group. “In that case, we’re out. See you all later tonight.”

  “Take care and good luck,” Aldwin called after the adventurers, the man also deciding to take their departure as a cue to get moving on with the rest his day. “And Veronia and I should be on our way as well. We have a long ride ahead of us through the western farmlands to inform the settlers of our plans, and also to ensure that they are ready to move should the need arise.”

  “Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Freya said with a shake of her head. “But if we’re going to run into any problems way out there, it’s good to do it while we still have time to fix them.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” the bann agreed, his attention turning over towards Garr. “I am sorry again that this is the welcome that you and your companions must endure immediately after arriving at our home. It seems that we are destined to be moving in opposite directions for a while yet.”

  “But not towards opposite goals,” the gronn replied in an understanding tone, waving away the knight’s concern. “The needs of war are demanding, and we are all more than happy to contribute in any way that we can. We can worry about such things when our enemy has been defeated and we can finally breathe in peace.”

  “I am glad to hear that,” Aldwin said graciously, inclining his head towards the gronn. “Though in the meantime if there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “We certainly will if need be,” Garr replied, returning the gesture. “Thank you.”

  Bidding one another farewell, our meeting effectively came to an end as we all filed out of the meeting room and split off our separate ways, with Aldwin and Veronia going off to the stables and Freya towards our guild house.

  “Okay, time for sleep,” Freya announced tiredly as she left us. “Don’t be too long, Lyr, you need your rest too.”

  “I shouldn’t be,” I promised as I waved goodbye to the woman, going on to shift my attention towards Garr and the other gronn once she’d left. “Speaking of sleep, though, are you sure you’re all okay to jump straight into work? If you want a chance to catch a nap, no one here will begrudge you.”

  “Thank you, Lyrian, but we are more than rested enough to contribute,” Garr replied with a shake of his head, his voice growing eager as he continued to speak. “And I do not think that any of us would be able to lay our heads down a second time without having a chance to look closer at the tree. We are eager to learn everything that we can about it. It is truly a marvel of nature and magic.”

  “That it definitely is,” I said with a smile before motioning for the group to follow me. “Let’s get you over to our workshop where the others are. They should be able to answer your questions and give you the space you need to work. I’m sure too that they’ll want to pick your brains about the corruption and the spirits.”

  “And we will do all we can to help,” Garr affirmed as we began to move, his eyes gravitating upwards to the ætherwarped tree branches high above us the second we stepped outside. “There is much that we tried—and failed—to understand about the corruption during our war, both because of demands of the fighting, but also because my people do not gravitate towards magic the same as yours do. Those who are so gifted, such as us, tend to follow either the path of nature or the path of spirits. It is only the rare lorekeeper that ever delved into the arcane arts.”

  “And we are about the opposite here among my people,” I said, parsing his wording as the gronn favoring either the druid or shaman classes. “Almost all of us favor the arcane, with only a handful of others choosing anything else.”

  “Then perhaps we will each have a special insight to share with one another and unravel the true nature of the corruption,” Garr replied in an optimistic tone. “Perhaps even we will find a way to finally destroy it.”

  “That would be ideal,” I agreed, our conversation turning into small talk as we cut through an already busy Aldford, everyone having long since woken from our exciting night and begun with the day. Along the way, I made sure to point out all the various points of interest to the gronn so that they could better navigate it themselves should they need to. But with us already being near the heart of the town, it didn’t take us long to reach the arcane laboratory, our arrival to the place being pre-empted by a sudden mental voice invading our thoughts.

  the voice intoned desperately before going on to repeat itself.

  “By the spirits, what is that?” Garr exclaimed, both him and his companions flinching at the mental intrusion.

  “One of the artifacts that we recovered from the ruin underground,” I replied with a slight frown crossing my face, recognizing the source as belonging to the Nafarrian security system that had been in the place. “Though why it’s suddenly upset and shouting is beyond me. I thought Halcyon had managed to turn it off. Come on, let’s go take a look at what’s going on.”

  Continuing a bit farther, it didn’t take us long to finally reach the arcane laboratory, the alarm cycling once again through our minds along the way. Feeling a little worried at what we were about to walk into, I did my best to brace myself, wondering if I was about to lose my opportunity to get some sleep.

  And of course, when we finally arrived, I was far from disappointed by the vision that abruptly appeared before me.

  “Huh,” I grunted, all of us stopping as the lab came into view, each of us needing a few seconds to take in exactly what we were seeing.

  Spread out in a loose cluster directly outside of the ramshackle cabin that was our magic lab, we spotted our core group of spellcasters, which consisted of both Caius and Halcyon as well as Stanton and Donovan. But instead of finding them engaged in some sort experiment or research, we instead arrived to find both Halcyon and Donovan standing on two separate wooden chairs in the yard in front of the lab, the pair armed with a broom and a rake, respectively. Holding the tools high over their heads, the two mages were attempting to reach a brightly glowing metallic ball hovering in the air above them, the object moving to evade their clumsy attempts to catch it each time they came close. But yet, that initial snapshot only described where my eyes landed first, a familiar flash of azure fur dragging them down to see that Amaranth was also present on the scene, his attention fixated on the orb above.

  Which apparently, judging by the panicked look on Caius’s face, desperately trying to run interference on the cat, was a bad thing.

  Darting from side to side in an attempt to get around the shouting warlock, it only took a second for me to realize what Amaranth’s intentions with the floating orb were, which I knew would be less than gentle. Fortunately, though, Caius’s efforts seemed to be enough to keep the cat at bay, for the time being, my familiar clearly not yet interested enough to simply bowl the dark elf over and pounce at the flying sphere. It was thanks to his efforts then, that I was able to shift my gaze once more, this time landing on Stanton, or r
ather just his head as he gazed outward from a brand-new basketball-sized hole in the side of the cabin. Judging by the shocked and confused expression that I saw on his face as he stared up at Halcyon and Donovan’s efforts, I was able to quickly put together the broad strokes of what had happened, if not the reason why.

  Breathing a sigh as I finished inspecting the scene, I turned my head towards Garr and the other gronn, seeing each of their wide-eyed expressions as they continued to stare onwards. Only taking a few seconds to sense my gaze, Garr eventually managed to pull his attention away from the chaos, his eyes looking to me in askance.

  Shaking my head at the implied question, I couldn’t help but grin back at him as I motioned for him to follow me into the chaos ahead.

  “I guess it looks like it’s going to be an interesting first day for you today.”

  Chapter 53

  I entered the crafting hall with a spring in my step, pausing to take a deep breath and inhale the mixed scent of sawdust and wood that permeated the air. Resuming my pace from there, I strode deeper into the building, following the sweet aroma of labor to its source. For the first time in what felt like ages, my mind and body both finally felt like they were well-rested and not simply propped up through the combined mixture of coffee, sugar, and willpower. Of course, the nap that I had just awoken from played a large part in that feeling, the four dreamless hours that I’d managed to snatch rejuvenating me better than anything I’d expected. But over and above the desperately needed sleep, I felt that the biggest reason for my good mood and energy was because I was finally home, especially after the last few days of frantic travel through the Hartwyld.

  And now instead of having to worry about said frantic traveling, I can worry instead about frantic crafting, I thought with a slight grin as I headed deeper into the building, my path taking me towards the carpentry workshop. Which, all things considered, is definitely much less stressful than worrying about getting eaten by a hungry creature or surprised by an orc.

 

‹ Prev