by Cheek, Jason
‘What’s up?’ Neysa demanded as Helgath’s voice sounded next in my head.
‘Why is Fylreh slowing down?’ Before I could put my jumbled thoughts in order to answer either of them back, I felt my ladies begin digging through my consciousness to find the answers for themselves. A split-second later, Helgath perked up as I felt more than saw the wicked smile that came to her lips. ‘I have a way to make that work out even better.’
Talk about feeling embarrassed! Some of those pornographic thoughts were most definitely not meant to be shared with anyone … ever. Even though neither of my girls judged me, as usual, I couldn’t help feeling somewhat uncomfortable at the mental intrusion. Both Neysa and Helgath tried to sooth my ruffled feathers, but there wasn’t time for any of that as wave after wave of attacks continued pummeling our defenses.
Even though the last mile and a half went by in less than a minute, it felt like an eternity as we purposely kept the enemy’s focus on the chase. As we neared the cluster of boulders, I could just make out my friends at the top of the pass preparing the surprise attack while Fylreh slowed down to let the Chaos Storm vanguard close the distance between us to fifteen yards. At the same time, Neysa and Helgath stayed ahead of us so the Half-Orc could focus on keeping our shields up. As long as we didn’t let the range fall below that, we had no problems enduring the massed attacks with Holy Shield, Enhanced Mage Armor, and Bone Shield up and running at the same time with Regeneration.
‘I need to borrow your strength if I’m going to make this work, War Leader,’ Helgath’s thoughts came to my mind, as we approached the cluster of boulders. Feeling my mental flinch at the term, her mental voice softened. ‘Star.’
There was something about the way Helgath said my name in that space that lowered all of the mental defenses I’d unknowingly erected in response to their initial intrusion into my thoughts. I couldn’t exactly say what it was about her mental tone that made my innate distrust disappear. Quite possibly, it was simply how she opened up her mind, heart, and soul to me without reservation.
In that split-second, I could see Helgath for who she truly was. My Half-Orc soulmate was not a particularly nice person. There was a darkness welling up inside of her that could swallow the world. At the same time, she was bound to me completely. There was nothing she wouldn’t do if it was in my name. In the face of that pure devotion, the walls crumpled before her mental touch as I suddenly understood what it was she wanted to do. Reaching her black-clawed hand out to grip my calf, Helgath began draining my mana in copious amounts as she began crafting her spell. A much harder maneuver to pull off than one might expect when galloping on two different mounts with different gaits over rough terrain.
I sagged against Fylreh’s back and my limbs felt like wet noodles from the immense strain as the snow began changing in a ten yard radius around us. The channeling spell’s massive effect wasn’t noticeable at first as Helgath focused on melting the surface of the frozen snow we were galloping across. The effect was subtle at first unless you were paying close attention to the terrain, which no one was since they were focused on blasting us to death. As the effect began expanding out to cover a thirty yard radius on each side of us, my body went slack and I would’ve fallen if Fylreh hadn’t reached up to grab my wrists. Not, I noted in spite of myself, that she bothered to move my hands away from her digital display.
Helgath wasn’t in any better shape. If not for her death grip on my calf to keep the connection alive between us and her fingers and toes intertwined in Neysa’s thick fur, she would have fallen from the Silver Dire Wolf’s back. Though Neysa did everything she could to soften her gait, the Half-Orc’s body limply flopped with each impact of her galloping paws. Nonetheless, Helgath didn’t lose consciousness until she’d nearly covered a length of thirty yards.
By then, nearly a third of the Chaos Storm Alliance’s vanguard were down. Most ended up on their asses and were hollering in confusion as they slid to a stop on the newly created swath of ice. The effect didn’t hurt anyone except for their pride. That, and it momentarily stopped their pursuit. As Helgath’s limp hand fell away from my calf, my head swam as I weakly looked over my shoulder at the enemy’s lines. The players were already busy melting the sheet of ice with their various magics as the main raid came sprinting around the curve in the trail below. In the minute or so it took for the vanguard to clear the way, the main force had nearly caught up to them.
I’m sure the whole effort looked like an act of desperation. A last ditched effort to escape an overwhelming enemy’s dogged pursuit. Already, the Chaos Storm Alliance players were excitedly pointing at my friends towards the top of the pass and jeering as they began pushing four foot in diameter boulders down the slope. In a matter of seconds, a hundred and thirty five smallish boulders were plunging down the trail like a mini avalanche.
Although dangerous, the plummeting rocks weren’t exactly hard to dodge since they were clustered together in a line about fifty yards wide. That wasn’t because my friends were incompetent or anything. The top of the pass was around fifty yards wide, and the point where the enemy raid was on the trail was somewhere between seventy-five to eighty yards wide. Fylreh and Neysa were easily able to swerve to the far side of the trail to steer clear of the rolling bouncing mess roaring down the slope with a few smaller stones and loose debris joining the churning mass, once again the attack looked to be one of desperation more than any true threat.
As if to prove my point, I could see the mass of enemy players opening up a pathway in the center of the trail as Evil Sandra made a production of ridiculing our wimpy efforts to start an avalanche. “We’ll crush these insignificant losers under the heel of our boots as soon as these stones pass by and I’ll finally be able to show Julie I’m a better strategist then her ex-lover!” At least, that’s what I imagined she was saying as she excitedly remonstrated in front of the raid, while they hurriedly made a path for the boulders to pass through. Not that I could actually hear anything from this distance, especially with the thunderous roar of the boulders hurdling down the slope.
Nonetheless, I always liked to “people watch” and add in my own words to fit the facial expressions and hand movements of their actual conversation going on. Although, it was more fun if you were doing it with someone. I gave extra points the closer the made-up story came to what was actually being said, or if it was funny as hell. While both worked, I usually wasn’t that funny, so I tended to go for the first option. I chuckled at my own thoughts as the show began unfolding before my eyes.
The first clue the Chaos Storm Alliance had that all was not well was when the boulders began to spread out and curve in the raid’s direction. When I say curve, I mean the stones suddenly changed their hurtling course for the surprised players. This all happened just a few seconds before impacting the Ranger’s vanguard who were currently at the front of the raid with Evil Sandra. It all happened too quickly for the players in the front ranks to even begin to react. One second they thought they were safely out of the way and the next a solid stone boulder weighing nearly two-hundred and fifty pounds was flying at their face like a massive cannon ball.
Even as far away as I was, I could see the panicked moment of fear on the front row players’ faces as they suddenly realized the danger they were in. Not that there was anything they could really do about it. As the boulders smashed into the raid’s front line, there was a literal explosion of blood and viscera as the first two to three rows of players simply ceased to exist. Beyond that, whole swaths of bodies were just mowed down or thrown up into the air in the tight packed formation.
The only thing I could equate with what I was seeing was to drop a push mower on top of a tall stand of weeds. You know what I mean. The blades mostly annihilate the main portion of the fibrous stems while the rest of the weed parts are spat out in large oozing clumps of semi-chewed parts. Yeah, that was basically how this looked as pieces of arms, legs, and sometimes heads went flying everywhere as a field of gravestones i
nstantly appeared as if by magic.
It was honestly too surreal to even be disgusting, especially since you knew no one was actually losing their lives. Hell, I doubt the impact would’ve even hurt at seventy-five percent realism since it was basically an insta-kill. Now, for the survivors in the proceeding rows I’d have to say that was another matter altogether, especially when the Earth Elementals unfurled to do a flying belly flop on whoever was nearest to them as they were slowed down to a stop.
At the same time that was going on, the cluster of boulders that were intermixed amongst the main portion of the raid suddenly rose up from their boulder-like camouflage and began attacking the players around them. Not in the way you would’ve typically expected either. Instead of trying to pulverize the enemies with their rock-fists, the Earth Elementals began picking up players and physically throwing them off the side of the mountain trail. This seemed to cause the Chaos Storm Alliance players even more confusion as they sought to hammer the enemy summons down with their melee weapons or blast them at point blank range. The disbelieving faces of the Chaos Storm players as their overpowered lightning attacks did nothing against the stone summons within their midst were the absolute best.
All in all, it had been a brilliant plan and my friends had expertly taken care of the specifics and carried out the ambush perfectly. The enemy players were almost more screwed if they didn’t die from the fall, since they’d have to run all the way back from the bottom of the valley. Those that did die would temporarily lose a level and have to do a corpse run back to the graveyard. I couldn’t help the smile that came to me so easily as the Chaos Storm Alliance players began rallying each other to form up as they did their best to batter down the stone warriors.
Although I doubted less than six hundred players had been brought down by the attack, taking on the raid head-to-head had never been the plan’s goal. Even in the midst of all this, they’d still tear us apart in any serious battle. No this was simply a way to slow down their advance while the rest of us got away.
I was just about to turn away from the train wreck below, when I noticed Evil Sandra glaring up at me. She was drenched from head to toe in blood and gore as her eyes bored into me. Well, at least it felt that way, because I swear I could feel her simmering hatred from a mile down the trail. She wasn’t alone either. There were a handful of players that had survived with her. A simple guess as to how they’d survived was that they must have hit the deck at the last second before impact.
It looked like she was pointing her arm at me and yelling something. I figured it was probably some sort of dire threat or snarky comeback. Whatever, it’s not like I could hear a word the crazy bitch was saying from this far away. Nonetheless, I gave her a one-finger salute in response, before turning away to find we were nearing the top of the pass. I couldn’t help the satisfied laugh that came from my lips as I hurriedly reached back around to firmly grip Fylreh’s chest with both hands once again.
Chapter Twenty
(Second Assault Group: Star and friends escape from Domenic’s valley)
Although this entire situation with riding Fylreh was awkward as hell on one level, at the same time, it was hard to not totally enjoy the experience on another level. My hormones weren’t giving me any peace either, and the emotional high from the fighting just added fuel to the proverbial fire of strong emotions and intense feelings. No matter how much I might want to deny my feelings, riding the Centauride’s back was seriously awesome, I silently thought, as we approached the top of the pass.
‘You better not get too used to that,’ Neysa’s words clearly sounded in my mind, as she caught up to the filly’s side and gave me a meaningful look.
‘Nope, you’re my girl for riding once I hit level forty,’ I hurriedly reassured the Silver Dire Wolf, as I tried to clear my thoughts of anything inappropriate. No sense in being embarrassed all over again.
‘You know,’ Helgath’s exhausted voice sounded next in my head. ‘That woman is never going to give up trying to kill you.’
‘Nothing new there,’ I replied back with a mental shrug, glad for the change of topic.
For some reason, Crazy Sandra had always thought that beating me down would make Julie look at her differently. It would, but not in the way she thought, which just meant that, after all these years, she still didn’t truly understand the focus of her girl-crush. My ex-girlfriend didn’t like people being more competent than she was. That, and she liked the D. I didn’t see that changing any time soon in the near future, but then again, what did I know. Not that I cared either way. Seeing the color coming back to Helgath’s face, I gave the Half-Orc a quick once-over.
‘Good job back there with that spell, it worked perfectly to group the enemy up for the trap.’ My words brought a satisfied smile to Helgath’s homely face as I looked her in the eyes. ‘You feeling better now?’
‘It’s just mana exhaustion, War Leader,’ the Half-Orc explained without concern, though it was obvious she appreciated the recognition.
‘And thanks for taking care of the Fylreh situation back there,’ I said, feeling somewhat self-conscious at the request. Though, if there’d been any other way, I’d never would’ve asked. ‘That couldn’t have been easy.’
‘I live to serve, War Leader,’ Helgath replied nonplussed.
‘I couldn’t ask for a better soulmate,’ I reassuringly said, before getting to the meat of the issue. ‘But, I was just wondering if you knew how Fylreh lost her breastplate?’
‘Neysa and I helped her out of a difficult situation with a group of newfar,’ Helgath smoothly said without batting an eye at the uncomfortable question. Before she could say any more, we were forced to dodge another mini avalanche of Earth Elementals that were being sent down the slope to slam into the Chaos Storm Alliance raid.
Instead of galloping next to Fylreh, Neysa chose to dodge the plummeting stones by splitting off and heading down the opposite side of the trail. I didn’t really think much of it, figuring it was just zigging when someone else zagged. By the time Neysa and Helgath caught back up to us, we were approaching my friends who were excitedly calling out to one another. Leaning forward, I gripped the filly’s waist as I leaned in to her ear.
“Thanks for the save back there,” I said loud enough for Fylreh’s ears alone, “and the ride.”
“I didn’t give you a ride?” Fylreh protested, as her head whipped around to look at me in shock. Seeing the confusion in my eyes, her ears flattened in embarrassment as she lowered her voice to explain. “I carried you to safety.” She paused for a moment before continuing in an odd tone.
“Giving a ride,” her cheeks flushed a deep red, “has a somewhat different meaning between a male and a female in Centaur society.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, blushing in spite of myself at the twinkle in her eyes. It would make sense that our slang would have different meanings. Before either of us could say more, she began stomping to a stop in front of my friends and the rest of the players that were waiting for us at the top of the pass. Gripping the equipment strap beneath, I vaulted into the air and swung around to land on the ground, coming to a stumbling stop as AJ called out.
“Smooth moves, exlax!”
“Let’s see you do better without stirrups or a saddle, stubby!” I joked back without hesitation, as Neristhana silently stepped out of the crowd to silently take up a defensive position beside me. Where my other companions were, I didn’t know, but the silent look she gave me let me know we’d be talking about leaving her behind in the near future. My attention was quickly pulled back to the Dwarf who was demonstrably grabbing his crotch.
“I got your stubby right here for you-” AJ began to say, only to be cutoff as Krystal and Jill both knuckled him in the ribs. Letting out a sharp grunt, he tried again. “I thought your horse-girl broke up with you.”
“She did, this was just a one off” I said, a little bit annoyed that we were having this discussion in front of Fylreh like she wasn’t here. Nonetheless,
I couldn’t help slipping one of my innuendos into the conversation. “She was just giving me a ride to help me out of a tough situation.” I finished as Fylreh let out a sharp snort at my comment.
“Is that what you’re calling it,” Hefe chortled, as he jumped in on the fun. “From what I heard, you got some extra time in the saddle back on the Wind Dancer.”
I let out a heavy sigh as Fylreh angrily stomped a hoof behind me. Before the situation could escalate into something ugly, Bonnie Smash gave the Gnome a hard smack upside the head, which shut Hefe up nicely and luckily removed the need for either one of us to say more. As I gave the Half-Orc a nod of thanks, Jill unhappily spoke up.
“Ugh,” the disgust was clear in her voice, “there are some things best left behind closed doors.”
“More like barn doors,” Phoenix chimed in, with a similar look of revulsion on her face. While I expected that to a point from Jill and Krystal, I hadn’t expected the attitude from the red-headed guy that was playing a girl.
“Really, dude?” I asked in all seriousness, facing Phoenix as I tried to understand where all this was coming from. From the very first time we’d met, the two of us had gotten along like two peas in a pod so her repugnance had come out of left field.
“Well, I knew you’d “mount” her,” Phoenix said in obvious distress, “but she’s a freaking Centaur!” Seeing the look of anger that briefly flashed across my face, she hurriedly tried to backpedal. “Look, I don’t mean any disrespect,” Phoenix hurriedly added as she looked back between Fylreh and me, before lowering his voice. “I figured you just had a monster girl fetish going on and I’m cool with that, but sometimes, it’s hard to accept the whole “horse thing” when you’re pawing at her tits-“
