Island Kingdoms' War

by D. L. Harrison

  I blew out a breath, and then nodded slowly.

  The ship dropped from the sky, and we flew along the line in between the encampments at a mere thirty feet high. Invisible or not, my heart pounded, and I felt the familiar feeling of approaching battle energize my body as I was flooded by adrenaline.

  I also found out my guess was right, they wore enchantments that drained their mana as fast they could replenish it, and they were cursed with weakness so they couldn’t escape their bonds. They also didn’t look to be in the best shape and were stripped of all their equipment.

  Anlyth grunted, “I think I have a crazy idea that you’d be proud of.”

  I snorted, I was glad someone did, it looked like suicide. I’d been about to suggest plan B.

  “What?”

  Anlyth replied, “The chains all go to the large wooden stake.”

  Really, it was more like a large pole, a fence post height but as thick as a telephone pole.

  He continued, “The wood has a thick metal band around the pole where the chains attach. Which makes sense, otherwise they could just tear the metal from the wood.”

  I nodded.

  He took a deep breath, “I should be able to control earth. A much simpler spell than what controls this craft. Literally rip it straight up to a few thousand feet, which through the manacles will drag Cassie’s group into the sky with it. Then we just follow it up, pop the canopy, and pull them into the ship. We’ll be safe at that altitude and invisible to them I think, and we’ll have plenty of time to deal with the manacles and curses. The trick is we’ll be visible for a few seconds when I pop the canopy and lean over to cast it.”

  I laughed, “You’re right, I love that plan.”

  Cassie muttered, “You’re both nuts.”

  I laughed harder.

  “We can fire off a shot as we leave too, at least kill some of these bastards. Probably kill around twenty, and maybe hurt a bunch more besides.”

  Gwen said, “I can extend the cloak to cover the open canopy and you leaning out, it will only fail when you actual cast your magic.”

  Anlyth nodded, “That will help.”

  I sighed, “The only thing I worry about is giving them ideas, it’s awesome having this advantage, but I don’t imagine it will be long before the dark elves figure out how to build ships too. Hopefully, not until the next war though.”

  Steve said, “Maybe I should rot the wood stake, near where it goes in the ground. What if your spell isn’t strong enough to rip it out of the ground. You can’t risk making it too powerful, or you’ll rip their legs off instead of lifting them into the sky.”

  Anlyth nodded, “Good call, I’ll hold my spell until you cast.”

  I said, “Any other ideas?”

  They all shook their heads, and I turned the ship around and got us in range for our plan. We were maybe fifty feet up. The range of the spells were going to use was a lot longer than that, but it was safer this way since Anlyth would be able to feel the metal band directly when he cast his spell.

  As plans went, it was fairly simple, and worked well. We popped the canopy open, and Steve leaned out and fired off a blast of gray energy that caused the wooden post to rot. The enemy had no chance to respond before Anlyth spell followed. The post cracked by the ground, and the rest of it along with the metal ring flew straight up, dragging along their four captives.

  I shot off the fire blast as I started to lift straight up to follow. The explosion was large, blinding, and quite a distraction as Gwen re-established the cloak. A few of the dark elves got off attack spells, but they missed as we accelerated into the sky to several thousand feet. Not incidentally, the attack killed nineteen dark elves, and injured almost twice that number. I’d aimed for the middle of their encampment.

  Cassie snorted, “You’re all nuts. That was awesome.”

  Congratulations! Nineteen dark elves are dead. You have earned eighteen hundred Experience Points!

  That was a relief, since it meant we were out of battle and basically safe. We rose until we were directly below the ex-captives, and then popped the canopy. Anlyth and Steve stood up, and then pulled them into the craft. All four of them had been beaten and were unconscious. It didn’t take long for Steve to get the manacles to release. I managed to help Lara and Anlyth with the healing, while I kept the craft steady. Their bruises and wounds disappeared before our eyes, but they were still unconscious as we got them settled in the craft, closed the canopy, and took off for the glade. As for the wooden pole and manacles, maybe we’d get lucky and it would kill an enemy or two when the spell ran out and it fell to the ground.

  Congratulations! You pulled off a daring rescue. You have earned five hundred thousand Experience Points!

  You have leveled!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Fire sphere to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Water sphere to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Life sphere to journeyman level three. You have earned a Thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Meditation skill to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Sneak skill to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Builder skill to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  Congratulations! You’ve advanced the Hunter skill to journeyman level three. You have earned a thousand Experience Points!

  I was so used to the familiar rush of new concepts that it hardly affected my flying as we headed south. I’d have to find a couple of hours tomorrow to incorporate them all. We still had all of tomorrow, and the next night before the battle, so I wasn’t that fussed over it, even if it was a priority.

  “Glade tonight? Cassie, will you need help getting re-equipped?”

  It was unfortunate, but there’d been no indications of where their stuff had been. She had hers, it had come back with her resurrection, probably for a penalty, but the other four hadn’t died, they’d just been stripped.

  Cassie blew out a breath, she looked a little overwhelmed, “Thank you. Yes, we’ll have to figure something out. If the outpost doesn’t have anything decent, we can head for a human city back west? We have older equipment in storage. Robert will decide when he wakes tomorrow, he’s in charge of our group.”

  I wondered which one was Robert, we’d rescued three men and one other woman. I supposed introductions could wait until they were conscious…

  Chapter Nine

  The sun was up, and the peacefulness of the Glade and welcome of the trees felt like a thin illusion with the war almost upon us. The table under the gazebo was rather full with eleven of us. Our guests didn’t look all that happy, outside of Cassie, but I couldn’t really blame them for it. I’d be angry as hell if I’d lost all my equipment and had gotten tortured.

  Still, they weren’t rude to us, just out of sorts as they were introduced, a bit haunted even. Robert was a very tall and wide man, built like a brick wall, with a strong jaw and chiseled features. Anthony was in shape, wiry, with blond hair, blue eyes, and a baby face. I got the impression Anthony was with Jade, who was a statuesque woman with long wavy red hair and green eyes. Dan had black hair and gray eyes, was of medium build, and had an open honest face.

  Cassie was practically in Dan’s lap, but I couldn’t tell if they were together, or if it was just the lack of room. She was also rather attractive, when she wasn’t scowling with anger or worry.

  When breakfast started to wind down, I made a suggestion.

  “We still have about thirty-six hours before the enemy arrives, unless they move a lot faster than we think they will. Cassie told us you have spare equipment back west? You could try your luck at the outpost a couple of miles south, but all th
eir gear is pretty low level in quality. Initiate level for the most part, except for apprentice level enchantments.”

  Robert grunted, “It took us three days, moving quickly, to cross part of the western kingdom and elven forest.”

  Steve replied, “That’s not an issue, we have a ship, and we’ve been curious about the Western Kingdom.”

  Robert frowned, “And you’ll ferry us back and forth?”

  Gwen nodded, “If you’ll let us look around a bit, we’ll aim for being back here by tonight. What’s it like there, do they have a registration and tax office for the undying?”

  Cassie laughed lightly, “No, they do have offices for official quests sponsored by the kingdom, but they don’t track us all like that, except for those that break the law. As for taxes, it’s a consumption tax there, not income, so we’re taxed when we buy services or items.”

  Gwen replied, “Good to know, we want to look around, not get arrested for not being registered. That’s a thing in the Southern Kingdom.”

  Robert smirked, “We’ve heard stories, the Western Kingdom doesn’t have anything good to say about them, but I have my doubts on just how bad they are.”

  “Any strange laws we need to know about?”

  Jade replied, “Not as such. Don’t argue with the guards, and don’t talk to the aristocracy unless invited to. Stay away from the castle. Otherwise it’s just common sense, no stealing, killing, and things of that nature.”

  Lara nodded, “It doesn’t sound too different then, outside of the tax and registration structure.”

  Robert nodded, “It’s bigger, three major cities and a lot more towns, villages, and farms. One place is much the same as another, we need to get to Tradewinds, it’s the large city closest to the eastern border by the elven forest. Still over a hundred miles away. It has the largest market since its where the dwarven and elven products enter the kingdom, it’s also where we have a permanent residence where our stuff is.”

  Lyre said, “Anlyth and I will go back to the fort and stay behind. We’re familiar already, and it will leave enough space for everyone in the craft. Mostly. We can send you a message if the enemy moves before we’re expecting. We’re assuming they’ll march tomorrow morning, but they could march today and arrive tonight.”

  Yeah, mostly. It seats eight comfortably, and there’d be nine of us even with those two staying behind. We needed a bigger ship, but I wasn’t sure it was worth rebuilding, not until we hit master level anyway, and we could incorporate better security and more robust magical systems.

  Robert nodded, “I thank you, if I haven’t said it before. I wasn’t all that surprised to hear the elves wouldn’t rescue us. No offense,” he added to the elves.

  Anlyth grunted, “Losses are expected, and the scouts were needed to monitor the enemy, not to mention the enemy in the eastern and southern mountains as well. That said, our ship was free, and it was our pleasure to rescue you.”

  It was a crappy thing, but Anlyth wasn’t wrong and I couldn’t blame him for defending his people, even if I wish he hadn’t. Losses were expected, and I imagined the answer would have been the same for an elven sortie that had been captured, except those would never come back even after death. It was also natural to be angry about being abandoned.

  Dan cleared his throat to break the sudden tension, “Shall we?”

  Cassie grinned, and patted Dan’s arm as she stood up. We all stood then, and Gwen gave me an excited smile. I knew she was thrilled about seeing a new place, I was as well, even if our time there would be very limited.

  “Is there an enchanters’ guild here?”

  We’d landed about a mile away from the city. I was still a bit paranoid about someone trying to steal the ship. Even if that was impossible with our crude security system, it wouldn’t be hard to destroy that enchantment, or even just strip the ship of the gems which were quite numerous and valuable at this point. With Anlyth gone, Dan hid the ship underground for us, since he had Earth as one of his spheres, along with Fire and Sword.

  Regardless, we were all level twenty-three now, and even with the new knowledge and meditations that I’d done I couldn’t come up with a better enchantment scheme for my equipment than I had now. It made sense to me to get started on our expert level equipment, even if we still had eight levels to go. Better to have it ready. About all that would change, would be enhancing my intelligence to thirty, and wisdom to twenty-seven. Assuming my base didn’t go up again in either for the next seven levels, which I hoped wasn’t true.

  As for master levels, I wasn’t sure about those. We had no master or grand master level gems anyway, so our expert level upgrade might be our last mass update. I had a feeling those gems weren’t easy to find, or make, and any master level enchanter would be extremely expensive, so we’d probably have to do the work ourselves as it came up and not all at once. I wasn’t all that worried about it, I’d do the best we could that way, and otherwise not stress it.

  Cassie replied, “There are. I can show you around the market while the rest of my group gets their equipment? We can meet up again in two hours, lunch at the tavern?”

  Robert grunted, “Sounds like a plan. We’ll take the time to upgrade what we can in the market as well.”

  The city came into sight. It wasn’t too much to look at, we couldn’t see the city itself since there were fifty-foot walls in the way. I imagined if the horde wasn’t kept back and defeated in the elven lands, then this would be the first city they tried to overrun and destroy. There were large gates, which were open, with a line of wagons and groups trying to get in. The line wasn’t all that long though.

  Through the gates I could see a large fountain and square, and a few buildings in the background.

  Gwen took my hand and squeezed it, I didn’t give it back after returning her smile. We joined the queue to get into the city, but it didn’t take all that much time before we were passed through.

  It wasn’t all that much different than Southmere, it even smelled the same. The market itself was right inside the gate, with stables, taverns, inns, stores, and street vendors as far as we could see on ground level. The street seemed to go on forever, and the castle in the center of the city rose above and dwarfed the buildings around it. The haggling and other loud conversations around us were almost overwhelming, but I’d gotten used to the hectic ways of a human city and wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I had been on my first visit to Southmere.

  I noticed almost right off, that there weren’t many undying at all, it was mostly humans, dwarves, and elves that were part of this world. The reason for the lack was obvious of course, they’d all marched East to help defend against the horde.

  Cassie said, “This way to the enchanters, then I’ll take you on a tour of the best shops.”

  Sounded good to me.

  We spent most of the day in the city. The enchanters would take a week before our stuff was ready, and they’d hold our stuff for a month after that. If we didn’t return by then, it would be forfeit. It was a good day, and we got to know the other party a little better. Robert was a little standoffish, but the rest of them seemed alright to me.

  It was an hour or so before nightfall, when we left the city and returned to the elven encampment.

  Chapter Ten

  The news reached us the next morning, right after breakfast. The enemy had finished gathering and started the march south and west out of the mountains. Even at their slower pace they’d be at the forts by sundown. It was suspected that they wouldn’t attack until the next day, but I wasn’t all that sure of that. It seemed likely the gray dwarves and dark elves at least, might get up to some mischief during the night, if not a straight forward attack on the walls.

  The sun shone above us, but the fort felt like a dark malaise had settled over it. There was no hope in the eyes and on the faces of those who were condemned to fight or die. The numbers weren’t in our favor in a very big way, and even should the enemy horde split evenly to take on the northern and
eastern fort, we’d be outnumbered by over thirty to one. It seemed clear this was an experiment of sorts to bleed the enemy only, and if the horde was to be stopped it would be at the two large elven cities in the forest. The thought we could stop them there was just a lie to give the condemned hope, a lie they weren’t buying at all anymore, if they ever did.

  I wasn’t too thrilled myself about our odds of being able to escape when the officers called for a retreat and disappeared in the scout ships, and we had a much better chance than the others. The fort would be encircled, and most within it would die, if not all.

  I didn’t know all that much about wars, although I’d picked up a little bit during my time on this world. One thing was for sure, morale was just as critical as training, ability, and tactics. Given the state of morale, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if our condemned defenders got rolled over in the enemy’s first charge at the walls.

  They had no hope of surviving to claim the reward of their deal.

  That… seemed wrong to me. Oh, they deserved death I supposed, from the laws they broke, it was the fact they truly had no chance to defend and stop the horde here. That, and the obvious truth there weren’t any plans at all for a retreat. Either the asshole in charge believed we had no chance at retreat, or the plan was in some way designed for these people to die despite their deal, and to never have a chance of claiming life. I could see it in all their eyes, they were dead men walking and knew it.

  It was not only morally ambiguous, but rather stupid and doomed the plan to failure. I wasn’t sure if I was in their shoes that I’d even bother fighting. Why give the blood, sweat, and tears for a day or two, if in the end the officers were going to screw you over and take off in ships, and leave you behind to be exterminated?