The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (18 page)

“This will do,” the sword adept
said. Turning to the other sprites, he said, “Poison your arrows. The first two volleys will be done without imbuing. After that, just fight well. Do not risk yourselves unnecessarily, but you all know what that dark elf bitch took from the Hearth
Mother. The goal is to kill her. All else is secondary. Lord Richter has a stun arrow. Red and I will approach them from the south. You begin firing from the north. The signal for both attacks is when the first caster falls to the stun arrow. Lord
Richter
I suggest you target the weaker caster, the Dark Mage. The risk of Modara resisting the effects of the arrow is too great. I will finish her myself,” he said as he held his two blades.

They quickly rebuffed, and then Richter gave the dangerous sword adept
a simple nod. Richter took aim
on
his target. Yoshi and Red faded to the left while Sion and Daniella moved to the right. Counting to ten to allow everyone to get into position, Richter then drew his bow back and sighted on the black robed Dark mage. His breathing slowed. He drew in a final breath, and then let loose his bow with his exhale.

The arrow pierced the Dark mage in the chest. The simple robes she was wearing were no match for Richter’s Recurve Bow of the Wood Sprite. It penetrated and she collapsed to the ground not moving. At the same time, Alma swooped down releasing a burst of psychic power that made Modara shriek, and two of the bugbears drop to their knees screaming. Sion and Daniella sank arrows into and the final bugbear. One sank found a home in his furry throat, and he fell back with a wet gurgle. The critical strike coupled with the poison on the arrow heads ensured he would not rise again.

Modara thrust her staff at Alma in a rage, unleashing a dark
destructive beam. Much to Richter’s
relief
however, his agile familiar was able to avoid the attack and flew off into the mist. Thank god she had cast
Haste
again! The skeletons started moving towards Sion and Daniella. That was when Yoshi attacked. He flew into their midst and his twin swords flashed
in every direction. Bones flew off as he deconstructed the skeletons piece by piece. The Dark magic that had initially made the undead stronger had since faded.

Red ran into the fray, swinging his sword. He was able to dodge the swings of the skeletons easily. The Dark mage was starting to rise, but Yoshi broke off his attack on the
undead
and stabbed him in the heart. With his death, the remaining skeletons dropped to the ground in a clatter of bones. Sion and Daniella’s Imbued strikes were keeping Modara huddled behind a spherical purple-black shield. She was chanting a spell, and with a
shout
her hand extended out in a claw. Two beams made of silver black fire shot from the chests of both bugbears to her hand. Pulses shot from their bodies towards Modara, and the energy gathered in an expanding ball centered on her hand. The two bodies slowly rose into the air, as their life energies were drained away by the Death mage.
Unfortunately, Red’s dash brought him within the radius of Modara’s
spell as well, and a third tether shot from his chest. The sprite’s back arched in spasm.

Yoshi yanked his gaze up from the Dark mage’s body
and seeing Red being attacked reared back and threw his sword at Modara. Seeing him start his motion she snarled and yanked her arm down. The black ball of energy became a tear in space that she fell through. The tear closed and Yoshi’s sword flew through
the space
she had occupied only a moment before. The bodies of Red and the two bugbears dropped to the ground. Yoshi said nothing as he walked stiffly to where his sword had fallen. Richter ran over Red, but there was nothing to be done. The sprites skin was pale and cold. His expression was frozen in a rictus of pain.

Sion and Daniella joined Richter looking at their red-shirted
fallen comrade. Yoshi started walking towards the trench. The area that Modara and the others had been trying to cross was actually not far from the ruined gate. The original bridge was just to the side of the gate, and would have given them an easy escape from the village it only they had seen it through the mist. Yoshi sheathed his swords and picked up one corner of the heavy log bridge. He looked back at them, “Come.”

“Come where,” Sion asked with sadness in his voice. He was kneeling beside Red, holding the dead sprite’s hand. “Modara has gone. Probably miles away if she is even still on this plane! Where are we going,” Sion’s voice was stressed and fatigued.

Yoshi put the corner of the bridge down and pointed at Red’s body, “They all die. Come.”

The sword adept walked back to the bridge and picked up the same corner again. Daniella,
Sion,
and Richter all looked at each then followed and picked up a corner. If Richter was being honest with himself, his desire for blood and vengeance had been extinguished. The original order had been his, however, and he wouldn’t have others fighting while he rested. They extended the wooden bridge out over the trench, and then crossed out of the village into the wild forest beyond. They began to hunt. Even years later they never discussed what happened after they crossed the trench, but not one bugbear left the mist alive.

It was afternoon by the time the four made it back to the village. Once their bloody task was completed, they had all waded into the river. None of them had wanted to reenter the village covered in gore. Richter had retrieved the better weapons and armor from the slain invaders, but even his Bag of Holding was not large enough to hold them all. He mentally made marks on his Traveler’s Map so that all of the gear could be recovered. The map would also serve to help gather the bodies as well. In addition to being a health risk, Richter believed that even enemies were entitled to proper disposal of their bodies. In this case, they would all just be placed in a pit and burned, but it was still better than being left for the animals. The loot from the bugbears was nothing amazing. Most of the gear was standard, but Richter did find several potions of healing which would come in handy. They crossed the bridge, pulling it in behind them.

The Dark mage offered better loot.

You have found
:
Magic Ring. Durability 12/12. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Average. Weight 0.1 kg.

You have found
:
Magic Ring. Durability 11/11. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight 0.1 kg.

You have found
:
Magic Ring. Durability 25/25. Item class: Rare. Quality: Superb. Weight 0.1 kg.

You have found: Apprentice Dark Mage Robes. Defense + 12 (additional +15 vs magical attack). Durability 20/20. Item class: Common. Quality: Average. Weight 2.8 kg.

You have found: Magic Amulet. Durability 20/20. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Above Average. Weight 0.3 kg.

You have found: Magic wand. Attack 4-6. Durability 17/17. Item class: Uncommon. Quality: Superb. Weight 0.2 kg.

You have found: Minor Mana Potion x 4. Taking this will restore 40 mana points over 6 seconds.

He was well familiar with the blue mana motions
and so could identify them by sight. Richter would need Futen to identify the other items whenever he turned up. Despite having spent several nights reading the Lore book, he had yet to achieve the skill to identify unknown magical items. The remnant had found them after they had crossed out of the village, and had been instrumental in locating enemies throughout the morning. If it wasn’t for Futen and the Sion’s tracking skill, they would never have found all of the them. After the last bugbear was killed, Richter had sent Futen back to the Quickening. The remnant was to inform everyone that the attack force had been defeated, and then to keep watch at the base of the hill leading to the meadow. He would serve as an early warning in case any enemies were still hidden and tried to attack the noncombatants.

The four walked slowly through the village passing the bodies invaders and defenders alike. Each one was marked on Richter’s map, but not even Yoshi had the emotional
wherewithal to deal with the bodies of the dead after the morning they had had. Richter felt a painful stab of guilt every time he passed one of his villagers that would never wake again. He took his mind off of it by examining his combat log. E
xperience
was allocation seemed to be different in larger battles. Any enemy that he killed directly he received experience for, but it also seemed he received varying amounts of experience if he helped in the kill at all. Trying to figure out the math was giving him a headache, so he closed his log again.

They walked until they reached the top of the hill leading to the Quickening. A sea of saddened and weary faces greeted him. The sprites stood around Hisako. The Hearth Mother was now
awake
and stared at Richter with sympathy. Her empathy touched him. That she could understand his pain and guilt, when her own people had died as well, moved him deeply. He knew that he needed to remain strong though. Sensing his turmoil, Alma landed on his shoulders offering him her warmth and support.

Terrod stepped forward, “Has the danger passed, Richter? Are we safe?”

He looked back at his Companion, “They are gone. We killed all that we
could and the defenses are back in place.”

One of the villagers shouted, “Here here! Cheers to Lord Richter! Cheers to our savior!” The villagers took up the cry. All except those who had the vacant look of numb loss. Several families had been irrevocably damaged, and nothing would bring their loved ones back. One mother held a small doll which she gazed at, slowly stroking its hair and murmuring to herself.

Richter couldn’t stand having them cheer him for stopping an attack that he had allowed to happen in the first place. “Stop, stop! Do not praise me! This is my fault! Because of my
arrogance and impatience
our defenses were lowered. It was me!
I
chose to dispel the protective enchantment.
I
assumed that our location and our trench would protect us.
I
was wrong.” He walked over to the woman mourning the loss of her daughter, “I’m sorry.”

With those words,
his walls came down. He hadn’t been able to face the complex emotions that had arisen over the last hours of battle. There hadn’t been time. The needs of the
moment
had helped him to compartmentalize, but saying those simple words broke him down. He reached out and held the woman holding the doll. She looked at his face and began to sob. Unnoticed tears began to stream down his face as well. She clutched the doll to her chest as if it was the child she had just lost. The two of them slowly crumpled down to the ground. He didn’t know how long he sat there with the survivors of the attack. After a
time,
though, a hand touched his shoulder. Looking up from the embrace he shared with the grieving mother, he saw the faces of Wisteria and
Poltan.

Both were elders of their people, Wisteria was a high elf and Poltan
was a hill dwarf. Richter had met with both of them a month before in the Kingdom of Yves. He had convinced them that his village was a chance for a better life, and
they in turn
had convinced their people to come. Looking up into their faces, he braced himself for the condemnation that he knew he deserved. Instead of berating
him
though, Wisteria just placed her hand gently against his cheek.

“Before you came to us, we were struggling to feed our children. The laws of Yves were crushing us, and it was becoming shamefully common for our men to be wantonly killed or our women abused. Nothing was done about it by the authorities because they saw us as less than
human. That changed the day that you came to speak to us. You didn’t promise a miracle or a perfect life. Instead, you offered us the chance to rise or fall based on our own merit.” Wisteria’s voice was soft and understanding.

Poltan spoke after
her, “If I remember correctly you said, ‘I make no promises for the future, but I do promise that if you come with me, we will meet it together.’ Today when we were attacked, you didn’t look to save yourself, you plunged into danger. You fought and defeated those that were a threat to us. And,” the hill dwarf paused. When he continued his voice was thick with emotion, “you saved my son, Dar
gren
.”
Poltan
gestured to a reclining figure behind him. It was the dwarf Richter had used CPR on. Dargren looked exhausted and
worn,
but was alive. When he noticed Richter’s attention, he smiled weakly and raised his arm in greeting.