“I need to go check on Kattie,” Carl said, heading for a hallway.
“What’s your name?” Marie asked the bartender.
“Felix, miss,” the bartender replied, checking her out.
“Please don’t make eyes at my wife,” John said with a laugh.
Felix shrugged, “She’s safe. My wife would kill me.”
“Is there any work around here that needs doing?” Harry asked. “We’re in need of coin, as you’ve heard.”
“A trow?” Felix said, looking at Harry. “Haven’t seen one of your kind in a few years. Not much for one as thin and short as you.”
“What about us?” Tom asked.
“You both look like you can haul things, at least,” Felix murmured. “They might be able to use you in the forest, cutting lumber. You even have your own axe, which will be a bonus.”
“Dick, let me borrow that axe,” Tom said. “I’ll go do the logging.”
“When did you cut down a tree last?” Dick asked pointedly. “We’ll go together. Your brawn and my brains.”
“If it’s a forest, I might be of some use,” Harry said. “You have hunters out there, too, right?”
“We do,” Felix said.
“Good. I can probably use my ability to scout out there.”
“You three be safe,” Marie told them.
“Be back with the villagers. See what you can find out for us and where we can get some damned starter gear,” Tom replied.
“I’ll ask,” Marie said.
The three friends left the inn, moving down the road. An offshoot ran toward the trees, and the wagon with the four villagers could be seen just short of the trees.
“You think any of them have stats as good as ours?” Harry asked.
“Depends on if this is a game or if this is real life,” Tom replied. “Game? No, they’ll just be mooks with maybe a single positive stat each. If this is real life, they have every chance to be just as up and down as we are.”
“Any way to find out without tipping our hand?” Dick asked.
“No,” Tom replied. “Maybe,” he corrected a second later. “If I get into a fistfight with their biggest guy, it would tell us pretty quick. The hard part will be pulling my punch so I don’t kill the poor fuck if they are mooks.”
“Don’t,” Harry said. “At the moment, we saved Laurel and her kid. I’d hate for that to vanish because we killed someone. We need the goodwill for as long as we can keep it.”
“No slaughtering the town and just taking everything, then,” Dick snorted. “How long has it been since we did an evil campaign?”
“Couple of years,” Tom replied.
“When Marie joined the table,” Harry added. “We could have a few times, but she would have hated it, so we didn’t.”
“Damned cricket,” Tom deadpanned.
“We’ll make you a real boy someday, if we can find a woman desperate enough,” Dick laughed.
“Asshole,” Tom sighed.
“We all have them and they all stink just as bad,” Harry snickered.
~*~*~
Stepping into the woods, the sound of voices guided them toward where the villagers were. A dozen large men stood conversing with the four who had brought the wagon. Tom felt the hairs on his neck stand up when the men looked at them as they closed the distance.
“You them, eh? What do you want out here?”
“Looking for work. We need money,” Dick replied bluntly. “Shorty can do scouting work, while me and stumpy here can fell trees.”
“Hunters are all out for the day already, so no way can your friend find them,” one of the men laughed, joined by the others.
“Want to test your skills?” Tom asked Harry.
“Hunt the hunters? I can do that,” Harry said. Giving the men a smirk, he vanished.
The lumberjacks all jerked as if slapped. The leader’s lips pursed as he looked at the other two. “Are all of you adventurers like him?”
“Similar, but different,” Tom replied, flexing his shoulders slightly.
“We only get paid when the trees sell,” the leader said. “I can offer you a couple copper if you can fell a couple of trees at least.”
“Easy,” Dick said, having been looking at the gear the lumberjacks were carrying. “You working that patch?” Dick pointed at a small deforested area.
“Yeah.”
“We’ll take the north edge,” Dick said.
Following Dick, Tom could feel the eyes on them. “You honestly think we can do this?” Tom asked once they were away from the group.
“Yeah, the only problem will be if the axe fails,” Dick replied. “I’ll show you how it’s done, but you’re going to have to do most of the work.”
“Figured, but that’ll be a refreshing change of pace from what it used to be,” Tom chuckled.
“I wonder if my magic can help at all,” Dick muttered as they approached the trees on the north.
As the sun started to sink, the pair stopped their work. Three trees lay on the ground behind them, and a few of the villagers worked at removing limbs and branches from them. Tired and hungry, they moved over to where the foreman of the group stood.
“We’re done,” Dick said.
“You did good,” the foreman said. “You going to help us get them loaded?”
“We can,” Dick shrugged. “That wagon can’t possibly hold them.”
Chuckling, the foreman shook his head, “That’s for the limbs. The logging wagon should be here in a minute.”
“We’ll just go have a rest while we wait,” Tom said, feeling drained.
Taking a seat against a tree out of the way, Tom shook his head. “Digging the grave: not tiring. Chopping down three trees: exhausting.”
“I was surprised that you wanted to go for the third,” Dick chuckled. “I guess you just wanted to strut your stuff now that you have muscle and not fat.”
“Yeah, tired as I am, it feels great,” Tom grinned. “You think Harry found the hunters?”
“I hope so,” Dick said. “If he hadn’t, I think he would have come back here.”
“Hunters probably went straight to the village,” Tom said.
The jingle of harness and the clop of hooves caught Dick’s attention. Looking up, saw a large wagon and six horse team coming their way. “Well, looks like work is almost done for the day. Can I just say I’m looking forward to killing shit and taking their stuff instead of doing this kind of drudgery again?”
Snorting, Tom got to his feet, “Don’t blame you. Glad to know that clotting blood works.”
“I didn’t laugh, at least,” Dick said. “Had me worried a bit when you missed the cut and the axe came back on you. Was creepy seeing the wound vanish.”
“At least we’re certain I can take some damage now, though,” Tom said, rubbing his leg where the axe had hit him.
“Let’s go finish this. We’ll probably need the copper to buy some gear.”
Chapter Five
Entering the inn, Tom and Dick saw Harry at a table with a handful of other villagers. Harry waved at them, excusing himself from the table and going to join them at the bar.
“How did your day go?” Dick asked first.
“Found the hunters and stalked them for a few minutes. That’s when Leona caught on that someone was nearby, and that led to a bit of panic when three of them turned with bows to find me. I was able to convince them that I was sent, though. I found them a trail and brought us to a den. The wolf there was less than happy to have us show up; she had just had an early litter.”
“They kill the pups?” Tom asked quietly.
“No, surprisingly,” Harry said. “Brought them back and gave them to the elder, who raises the dogs for the village. They’ve done the same before, so most of the dogs here have some wolf in them.”
“Good,” Tom said, “would have been a waste.”
“You just don’t like it when animals are put down,” Dick said.
“Kill or be killed is
one thing. Pups are another,” Tom growled.
“Easy, guys,” Harry said. “I’m getting a couple copper for my help finding the den.”
“We’re supposed to get some for logging,” Dick added. “Which means maybe we can see about getting some basic gear.”
“About that,” Harry grimaced. “Only gear to be had here is shit left behind or sold to Felix. If we get lucky, a merchant will be here in a day or three and might have some stuff on him.”
“Harry, you’ve been back for a bit,” Dick said, getting to his feet. “Where’s the shitter?”
“Straight down the hall, out the door and to the left,” Harry winced. “Hold your breath if you can.”
Dick left the other two, not happy with the last bit of information. Tom waved to Marie, who passed Dick as she walked into the taproom. John was behind her, carrying a four stringed lute.
“How did your day go?” Harry asked the couple.
“I’m going to start my life of entertaining tonight,” John smiled widely.
“He’s been all but bouncing off the walls since he got the lute and tuned it,” Marie giggled. “Reminds me of when we were young.”
“That might be because you are young again,” Tom deadpanned.
John rolled his eyes, “You just wait. I convinced Felix to let me put a bowl up on stage while I play. I’ll have money for you guys to buy the gear off him by tomorrow morning.”
“Do you even know what he has?” Harry asked.
“I was able to get a look,” Marie nodded. “He has a tent, a few bedrolls, a short sword that needs some attention, a pair of sling bags, some hemp rope, and more miscellaneous equipment.”
“No other weapons or armor?” Tom asked.
“Not that I saw,” Marie said apologetically.
“The sword, we need. It will give Harry a chance to be effective,” Tom said.
Harry frowned as a surge of knowledge hit him. “Huh... never fought with a sword before, but I know the basics all of a sudden, which means I’m unlikely to stab myself, anyway.”
“Just like me yesterday when I killed the goblins.”
“Now that you mention it... yeah, I was able to use the spear correctly, too.”
Marie frowned, “I didn’t get any knowledge of that kind at all.”
“Here comes Dick. You want to fill him in, Harry? I’ll be right back.” Tom left the group, heading down the hall.
Dick rejoined them and shuddered, “Medieval sanitation... well, a bit better, but not by much. I did clean the seat, though. Thankfully, occultism can do that.”
“Another reason to keep you around,” Harry said seriously. “Oh, Marie, you went caster too, right? Do you think you can teach Dick the spells you picked up?”
“I can try. Jinxes can’t be taught, but my three spells are ice burst, spirit warning, and energy armor.”
“I could use the energy armor, if nothing else,” Dick said. “That’s fifty hours of learning. We’ll have to find a way to break those hours up into manageable chunks.”
“What do they all do?” Harry asked Marie.
“Ice burst summons a chunk of ice for me to throw. If it hits my target, it does damage to him. Regardless of if it hits or not, when it lands, it explodes in a small burst and does cold damage to everything in the area.”
“Nice damage spell,” Harry said.
“Spirit warning I took for you. It lasts a full day and anytime you’re in danger, it warns me. There’s no range on it, either.”
“Intended for when I went out ahead of the group,” Harry nodded.
“Exactly,” Marie smiled. “Energy armor is the standard one you see in all the games. It boosts the armor stat for the caster for sixteen hours. It acts like leather armor and can’t be used if actual armor is being worn.”
“Can definitely use the armor,” Dick said again.
“What did you get for taking human as your race? Harry asked.
“Oh, ritual casting. It takes half an hour to use, but a number of spells can be used as ritual magic and then they don’t cost energy. Both spirit warning and energy armor are rituals. I also took magic adept, which cuts my spell learning time down by twenty-five percent.”
“Damn, I’ll need to see about trying to pick those up, if and when I can,” Dick said. “That would free up more room for combat spells and make it faster to learn magic.”
“Yeah, didn’t make it that far through the list before picking battle mage, did you?” Harry asked.
“No,” Dick grimaced. “Battle mage just looked like the obvious take, as none of my spells are rituals.”
The opening bars of “Carry On My Wayward Son” drifted from the stage, and the group turned to see John grinning as he strummed the lute. When the song came to an end, the hunters applauded loudly, some even whistling.
“Surprised the loggers aren’t here yet,” Tom said, having rejoined them during the song.
“Fire!” someone shouted from outside.
The villagers rushed out, followed by Marie, Tom, Dick, and Harry. In the distance to the west, a column of black smoke was rising.
“That the Wilmirth farm?” one of the villagers asked another.
“Probably. Just like the Rand farm last night.”
“Want to go?” Tom asked Dick and Harry.
“Might be able to do something, at least,” Harry said. “Even if it is just revenge.”
“Let’s go light them up,” Dick nodded.
The three of them took off down the road at a jog while the villagers argued about whether they should go or not.
“Be safe,” Marie called after them.
John placed his hand on her shoulder, making sure she didn’t go rushing off with them. “They’ll be as safe as they can, dear.”
They passed a number of villagers that were standing on the road and watching the smoke in the distance. Dick kept his pace slower to not outdistance the other two, but after a bit, Harry began to slow further, grabbing his side.
Tom slowed, kneeling in front of his friend and pointing at his back. “Get on.”
“Fuck that,” Harry panted.
“I can run longer than you. Shut up and get on,” Tom snapped, “or we’ll miss everything.”
“He’s got a point,” Dick said. “This is what you get for being short and slow. Now man up… or trow up.”
Grumbling, Harry climbed onto Tom’s back. Getting back to his feet, Tom took off jogging again, Harry’s weight negligible. Dick kept pace with Tom, the slower pace easy for him to match.
They were closing the distance to the smoke steadily. Dick was the next one to slow, breathing hard when he pulled up into a walk. “How… much farther?” Dick panted.
“Maybe a mile,” Tom said, setting Harry down. “The smoke is blacker and the sun’s setting. It’s behind those trees ahead. Maybe another orchard and farm like the last one.”
“No wheat out here, though,” Harry said, walking alongside the heavily panting Dick.
“Dick, when you’re good for another jog, we should head straight for the smoke. We should drop to a walk when we reach the trees so Harry can do his thing.”
Breaking into a fast walk, they reached the tree line just as the sun sank below the horizon. Harry slipped ahead of the other two, who paused to give him time to work his way forward. Just through the orchard, they could make out a large fire, which was probably the cabin for this farm.
After a minute, Dick and Tom started forward as quietly as they could. Dick’s footsteps were lighter than Tom’s, which landed with a soft thud with each step. At the edge of the trees, Tom and Dick stopped. They could see no sign of Harry, but they did spot the six goblins coming out of the barn on the far side of the yard.
“Magic,” Tom whispered. “I’ll make sure they don’t get to you.”
Dick nodded and began whispering in the strange language of magic. Three brightly glowing orbs formed in front of him, streaking off to hit three different goblins. The light of the orbs got
their attention just before the magic struck, killing one and injuring the other two. Goblin cursing filled the air as five goblins turned toward the trees.
“That’s one,” Tom snarled in goblin, stepping forward from the trees. “Come get some.”
The goblins snarled back, mocking him as they leveled their spears and charged. “Stupid dwarf! We kill, take to Gruk,” one of them said.
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 5
