by Eric Ugland
The axe flew true through the air, spinning perfectly. Since I’d really put some oomph behind the axe, it bisected the goblin, sending half of the jerk right into the fire.
A moment of silence, which I didn’t let go to waste. The next axe hit the big goblin, slicing through his torso and lodging into the wall.
Mr. Robes booked it, and I let an axe go after him. There was a wet thwock and an anguished cry and I knew one less goblin was around to trouble me.
I threw the next axe as I ran, getting into the fallen tree just in time to stand over Lily and take the sword strike meant for her. It bit deep into my thigh, and there was a generous spray of blood about the place. The goblins laughed, taking heart at my wound.
Shouting a roar at them, I invoked Stand Tall and laughed as my wound appeared to heal instantly. The little fuckers were clearly scared now. I took advantage of their shock, chopping down one way and then the next, slicing apart the goblins as fast as they could move. Once Lily was, more or less, safe, it was an easier fight. I had more skill than the goblins, plus better reach and better weapons. All they had were numbers. And numbers plus cowardice doesn’t equal anything resembling victory.
The last goblins sacrificed their brethren to get away, and I figured it was better that they go back to whatever hole they crawled out of, telling stories of the horrible humans who slaughtered them. Plus, I needed them to leave quickly so I’d be out of combat and start healing, because blood was gushing out of me. That initial slice of theirs had hit an artery.
“You come back,” I shouted at the three retreating forms in their own language. “I will kill you all. ALL OF YOU!”
Chapter Forty-Nine
I carried Lily in my arms. After a few minutes, she stopped crying and fell asleep. I didn’t bother grabbing all the loot. For once, I figured it would be better to wait a while and take care of the girl. Halfway back to the village, I came upon the rescue party: Amber, Skeld, Ragnar, Nathalie, and Tarryn.
They stopped and watched me as I walked by with the little girl. I didn’t say anything to them; I was busy trying to process how I felt. A lot of anger. Disappointment. Frustration.
It upset me that something this bad had happened. I knew it was a possibility in this world, but there was something so violating about it all. These twisted goblins and snuck into our home and stolen away with a child. And we had been none the wiser. Had I not had been as overpowered as I was, this sweet girl would have been the morning repast for those dark goblins.
The dwarves had been sleeping, not watching. Nathalie had chosen them to be the night watch. Nathalie decided Skeld and Ragnar could sleep. That I could sleep. That Rebecca’s brother, the only one of us with actual guard experience, could sleep.
Or, rather, was it my fault because I decided I could finally sleep? That wasn’t good. Did I need to change my sleep schedule? Sleep when everyone else was awake? Try and stop sleeping altogether? There were no good answers, and the frustration was starting to get to me.
Back in camp, I walked through with the little girl, not letting anyone talk to me until I had placed Lily back where she belonged, in her mother’s arms. And after that, no one wanted to talk to me. They wanted to look at me.
I walked over to the river and walked in until I was neck deep. I stood there for a moment, letting the river do the hard work of washing all the goblin blood off me. And my blood. I was gross. There was a crimson ribbon trailing downstream behind me. I dunked my head under, and I felt the horrible pain from the ice cold water as it assaulted me. I stayed down underwater until my lungs burned. Part of me wanted to kneel down, to stay down, to give up. But another part thought of what might happen to Lily or Mouse or any of the other kids if I wasn’t around.
I stood up. I had learned my lesson.
Climbing out of the water onto a rock, I sat down and let the drops run off me. I stared at the moving water.
“Whatever you may think,” Nikolai said softly from behind, “this was not your fault. And the only thing you did wrong was not waiting for more help.”
“There was no time for that,” I said. “Lily was literally seconds from being spitted above their fire.”
“There was no way to have known there were any others in this valley.”
“We could have scouted more.”
“Yes, we could have. But who would you have sent? You needed Ragnar and Skeld to guard here. Your only other ‘ranger’ is a level 18 courtesan. You think she would have found the goblins let alone survived an encounter with them? Who else was free to go deeper into the valley? Everyone has been working as hard as we could to get a place that is safe—”
“It’s not safe,” I interrupted him to say. I made a mental note to ask about Amber the kitsune girl at a later date. I hadn’t known what her class was, but if that was the case, I didn’t want her ranging alone yet.
“No, not yet. This was something we knew. And there were mistakes made.”
“What do I do? Punish those two dwarves because they couldn’t stay up all night?”
“It is what they expect.”
“They aren’t guards. They’re not trained for this. If I remember correctly, they’re both just barely adults, and neither of them have the least bit of combat experience.”
“In this case, the fault lies with Nathalie for choosing them.”
“So I punish her?”
“Punishment is not the only tool in the leader’s arsenal.”
“I don’t know what my arsenal might be.”
“And that is my fault. Your actions this night have been commendable. You were decisive, quick to act, and you were successful in rescuing and protecting your people. We know there is an enemy out there, and we know that you have defeated them once. This gives us great advantages.”
“So what do I do?”
“With the dwarves? With Nathalie?”
“Yes.”
“It is a tough one.”
“I’ve never had to discipline someone before. At least, I mean, that’s not true. I have. I used to bust kneecaps when people didn’t pay. But when someone just fucks up? I don’t know, man. Can you just give them a solid tongue lashing?”
“As your second in command, I can do that for you.”
“Thank you,” I said. “You know, this was supposed to be a safe place.”
“What we imagine is not always what is true. This will not be the safest place at the beginning. And I believe you were up front about this when you spoke to all of these people following you. You said there would be dangers. And those of us who have lived in Vuldranni know there are dangers in this world. Focus now on what went wrong and how we might fix it.”
“A big wall.”
“A wall will help.”
“Made of stone.”
“Yes.”
“Which should be the emphasis for the next few days, not the tunnel. Get a wall up and around our buildings, and then we can go back to the tunnel.”
“I disagree. The tunnel is vital.”
“Then we need to get more people here. Hire some swords.”
“That is an excellent idea. However—”
“We’ve got 200 gold. What’s that get us?”
“Very little.”
“How much do we need?”
“More than that.”
“Can we sell some of the treasure?”
“You cannot. If I remember correctly, you are no longer permitted in Osterstadt.”
“Neither are you.”
“I think we need to examine who among our group is willing to make that trip, and then, we send them back to buy things for us.”
“Emeline would be perfect, but—”
“She is not allowed in the city.”
“I’m noticing a rather bad trend here.”
“Yes, we have not built up the best relationship with our neighbors, have we?”
“Kind of fucks us.”
“Yes it does.”
We sat there a moment longer, th
e water going by, the fish returning and swimming around.
“Who would you send?” I asked.
“Darden. He’s one of the Nightdelvers clan. He’s got some good appraisal skills and an ability, which allows him to see the value of objects, at least as it pertains to the person who is claiming ownership.”
“That’s cool, I guess.”
“It is cool. But the problem will remain, we need actual currency in order to get food and materials. We cannot simply send Darden into Osterstadt with piles of ancient treasure. He will be marked quickly, and likely mugged or killed. And there is not as large a market for pure treasure, certainly not enough to fulfill this entire holding.”
“So we need cash.”
“Cash?”
“Liquidity. Imperial coinage.”
“Yes. That is quite a necessity.”
“If I step away from here for a moment to go get some money, would you be able to hold things down?”
“Where is it you are going?”
“A place not that far away. Thing is, I don’t really want to tell you exactly where I’m headed because I’m pretty sure you’re going to tell me it’s a stupid idea, and then you’re going to try and talk me out of it. But I need to do it, so, well, just tell me I can leave this place in your capable hands.”
“Do not die.”
“I won’t. Pretty sure I can’t. Don’t lose any of the children.”
“I won’t,” he said, using a contraction for the first time. Which may have just been him mocking me by repeating what I said, but It could also have been the first tiny sign of his butt unclenching. Baby steps.
Chapter Fifty
I headed towards the waterfall, and looked up and around the cliff sides until I saw a familiar bit of fur hanging out at height.
“FRITZ!” I yelled.
A big head looked over the edge and down at me.
I waved.
He seemed to roll off the edge, and then fell towards the ground for a moment until he unfurled his wings and caught some air, landing in front of me with a whoosh.
“What?” he asked.
“Up for an adventure?” I asked.
He seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Must fly?”
“Yeah. Out through the canyon, then east along the mountains. We’re looking for—”
He grunted, then grabbed me and flew us through the canyon, getting really close to the walls. He cut along the mountains, and we set off east.
It was nice seeing all the landscape from above. We covered ground significantly faster than walking. Even still, it took more than two days to get there. Every once in a while, Fritz would drop down to the ground, and he’d rest. I did a bit of fishing where I could, feeding everything I caught to the big guy.
But we finally got to where I was trying to go: the place I’d given away some of my golden coinage. The wyrm hole.
He dropped me in the dirt in front of the hole, and he did some sniffing around. I got up and brushed a copious amount of dust off me.
Considering I’d killed the wyrm recently, I figured it would be a simple matter. Walk inside, grab the loot, return home with gold and then, I don’t know, go to the Vuldranni equivalent of Disneyland.
“Smell death,” Fritz said.
“Yeah, it stinks here,” I replied.
“In-side?”
“Yeah. I’ll go first, you follow.”
He grunted, which I took to mean yes.
The cave was big, and the area in front was all dust. I knew it was my imagination, but I felt like I could still see the spot where Teela had waited to be killed. It was just a dusty spot. Nothing was there to indicate how many people had perished here.
I walked into the cave, looking up and around. It was more like a horizontal bore hole than a natural cave, at least to my untrained eyes. No stalactites hanging from the ceiling, no stalagmites coming up from the ground. It was remarkably smooth. The floor was dusty for another forty or so yards before a slow transition to mud as plenty of condensation dropped from the ceiling. Another fifty yards, give or take, and the mud gave way to stone. The light from the outside world barely penetrated where I stood.
Behind me, I could hear the surprisingly loud breathing of Fritz. It almost seemed like he was afraid. Or uncomfortable. Maybe the big guy didn’t like being in the cave. I wasn’t overly fond of it.
The smell was definitely getting worse the deeper in we went. Whatever was inside the place was rotting something fierce.
Farther and farther. There was a sharp bend, an s-curve of sorts, and then the tunnel straightened out. Ahead, I could see that the cave opened up in a big way. But where I was, that’s where I found the first rotting body.
It was a human, one of the men who’d been trailing the group back when Cleeve was alive. His skin was mottled, black. There were burst pustules over his body, and the remains of something I think might have been vomit. It was truly disgusting.
Notably, it looked like he was running away. Something had caught him from behind.
I didn’t recall the wyrm having anything powerwise that would have caused something as brutal as that.
Not wanting to leave any treasure behind, I pulled the coin purse from the man’s belt and dropped it in my bag.
I looked back at Fritz, and noticed he was hanging back a bit.
“Gross?” I asked.
He nodded. “Poi-son.”
I stepped away from the body, all of a sudden afraid that I’d suck in something deadly. But whatever had been there had dissipated. There weren’t any bugs though. Or other small creatures feasting on the corpse. That struck me as odd. Still, the wyrm was dead. I was just wasting time.
So, I stepped over the body, and went in deeper, walking tall and even humming to myself. At no point was it pleasant, however. It smelled bad, the place felt bad, in a way, it even seemed to me that it looked bad. This cave was a bad, bad place. I wanted to leave. Maybe that’s why I was humming, why I was walking with a little more pep in my step, attempting to push back against the overwhelming miasmatic feeling the wyrm’s cave threw at me.
I got closer to the large opening, and I could see a mound rising up in the open space.
Treasure.
A hoard.
A hoard for the books.
Chapter Fifty-One
There was gold most everywhere, piles of gold that were taller than me. Statues of various precious stones. Works of art. A golden spear. It looked a bit like someone had decorated the cave in the style of Scrooge McDuck.
“Holy shit,” I said. “Jackpot.”
My words reverberated around the cave. I looked up, but I couldn’t quite make out the ceiling. The walls extended out into darkness. Immediately, my first moments in Vuldranni came rushing back, the memory of being eaten alive. I shrank back, fear burbling inside me. I shook my head, chasing away those thoughts, telling myself that I was stronger now. And, importantly, not paralyzed. If those things that ate me came around, I could throw down. Hell, I could throw them.
I’d be fine.
I was not fine.
A form rose up behind the treasure pile. A massive head, huge eyes, huge mouth. Something along the lines of a school bus in size. Just the head mind you. Pretty sure the school bus could have fit inside this thing’s mouth. Clawed hands, big enough to molest the statue of liberty, slammed down on the piles of treasure, gold coins flipping up and clinking back down. A gigantic sinewy neck extended out beyond the huge head, attaching to gods know what down below where I couldn’t see. And I wasn’t thinking about getting any closer.
Now this was a dragon.
I fired off the identification spell.
Ancient Forest Wyrm
Lvl ?? Matriarch
Oh.
This was bad.
I’d killed one of her babies.
Pretty sure she figured that tidbit out because she sniffed me, t
hen reared back. Her head went so high it seemed to disappear into the blackness above.
I felt the wind from it coming before her strike, and I dove out of the way. Her teeth crashed together with a noise so loud I could feel it. She had barely missed me.
She let loose a terrible roar, strings of vile saliva flying out of her massive maw like nightmare silly string.
A claw came sweeping across, and only through a bit of luck and a tiny depression in the floor did she miss, the deadly talon passing by inches from me.
I scrambled to my feet, reached into my bag and froze, once again. I backed away, trying to think through possibilities. Some way to fight this skyscraper masquerading as a beast. I flicked through my skill list, and saw that big number sitting in shields. So I looked at the wyrm and I looked at the pile of treasure. There was a beautiful shiny silver shield sitting about twenty feet from me.
The wyrm’s head was moving, and instead of darting backward to avoid her strike, I ran forward, diving at the pile of treasure as she snapped her jaws shut mere inches from where I’d just stood.
Here’s a thing about piles of gold. It’s not like Duck Tales, where Scrooge dives in the gold and swims. I dove in the gold and nearly knocked myself unconscious on the heavy metal. I slipped around on the coins, the things shifting under my feet as I scrabbled up the slight rise until I could grab the shield.
As soon as I grabbed it though, it felt right. I knew how to hold it and move it even though I’d barely done anything with a shield before.
The ancient wyrm’s claw came whooshing from the side, and I got the shield up, pushing my shoulder into it just in time to catch the full impact of the hit.
There was a great prang as claw hit shield. The metal shield neatly wrapped around me, unable to withstand the sheer force. But I had. Sure, I’d slid back a few feet, but I held.
