by Jason Cheek
What proceeded after that wasn’t pretty. I saw red as I began blasting out electric pulses out of my hands as I had proceeded to have a conniption for ten minutes. Not that I remembered much of what happened, except that I became very familiar with the spell, Zap. When I was finished, nearly seventy Gull Hawks were littered on the docks around me and I was covered in sweat, pieces of white feathers and blood. I sucked in deep breaths trying to calm myself down. I’d also learned that Zap could be cast with just a finger, which was useful for the darting birds I’d been battling.
Looking around the docks at my vassals, I saw a range of looks that traversed the spectrum of utter shock to open laughter. The laughter being from my companions, aka Zinn, Alanah, and the rest of the Brat Pack who were watching from the Wind Dancer’s railing with most of the crew. Several of the more enterprising sailors had even taken bets on the outcome as I saw coins exchange hands.
Helgath somehow kept a straight face, not that it hid the mental amusement coming across our link. Neysa, on the other hand, was enjoying the free meal immensely as she laid down in the pile of half-cooked birds to feast. Captain Lightouch simply had a patient expression on his blank face, while Sub-Captain Windcoat had turned away to howl in laughter. It was so bad, she was nearly falling down as she helplessly hung from Grahorn’s back gasping for breath.
The Humans, on the other hand, were a contrast of opposites. Sub-Leader Butcher face was frozen, unsure of how to react as she did her best not to laugh or have any expression whatsoever, while Old Man Fortner howled like a banshee. I had to give kudos to the old man. While every other soldier in sight did their best to keep a straight face or was terrified that I’d take out my frustration and embarrassment on them, the old man had no problem laughing at the ridiculous spectacle I’d just put on. My eyes came to rest on Captain Lightouch as I shook my head unbelievingly.
“I guess attacking the Gull Hawks wasn’t the best decision?”
“Not particularly, my lord.” Captain Lightouch agreed, as the ghost of a smile came to his lips. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone try that before and mostly succeed. Usually the newfar who give that a try end up at a graveyard.”
My eyes quickly glanced over the flocks of Gull Hawks riding the winds around the pier as their cawing cries echoed over the water. While the flocks had been dramatically reduced, there were still too many for me to want to try uncovering the corpses again. Taking a deep breath, I met Grahorn’s blue eyes and asked. “So, why did we pile the bodies here instead of bringing them to the arena?”
“Because, that was your orders.” The old Gnomeling said with a shrug.
“Thanks for looking out for me there.”
“Any time, my lord.” Captain Lightouch said, now fully smiling as Lornila finally got herself under control.
“That … was quite … the interesting spell … you used to finish off … the last of those beasties.” The female Gnomeling managed to get out, choking and hiccupping with laughter as she gasped for breath. “Very powerful.”
Closing my eyes, I pressed my fingers against my eyelids thinking, while silently flipping her off. Krishna hadn’t lied when he said the first spell was shit. Other than its ability to instantly connect with a target, it sucked balls. The only good thing about this whole incident was my Nature magic skill was now seventeen. Well that, and the antics I was going through with my people by allowing them to joke and speak freely were letting my new vassals see me in a new light. I could hear Domenic’s voice in the back of my mind suddenly chime in. ‘Yeah, in the light of an idiot.’
I couldn’t help the smile that came to my own lips as I shook my head. Who would have thought that would happen? Chuckling to myself, I looked over at the Wind Dancer. “Yo Zinn, Alanah, and the rest of you, feel like giving me a hand?”
“Sure thing, my lord.” Alanah said sweetly, as she began heading towards the ramp.
“Only if you don’t start blasting Gull Hawks again with fireballs,” Zinn called out a step behind her friend with Mugorlorth and Tavon nervously following behind them. As the Brat Pack gathered around, I caught the young Bard’s eye.
“Got anything to distract those guys with in your bag of tricks?” I asked as she walked up, before looking to Tavon and Alanah. “Maybe the two of you can give me a hand healing everyone?”
“It would be my honor, Chieftain.” Tavon said, standing up straighter, while Alanah agreed excitedly.
“I have a spell that might work,” Zinn said, hemming and hawing somewhat. “It’s a song of Minor Illusion.” Her eyes unfocused as she began reading out loud. “Basically it creates any sound or image of an object or objects within range that lasts for the duration of the song. It affects all creatures and humanoids within audible range of the song. Physical objects will pass through the illusion, but not dissipate the spell. The illusion created can only display in an area five yards squared.”
“Don’t look at me like that. I just read off the spell’s description.” She said, upon seeing my raised eyebrow.
“Okay, then. Feel like giving it a try.” Catching the Team Leader’s eye, I pointed to the tarp. “When Zinn starts her illusion, I want everyone to hold the tarp over your heads.”
“By your command, milord.” The man stiffly replied, as I did my best not to roll my eyes at the soldier’s choice of words.
For a moment, it felt like I was in a badly made Battlestar Galactica fan film. Focusing on the man’s name, his information popped up. Alex Carnell, level 30 Team Leader Swordsman. Seeing the nervousness in the men’s faces, I quickly added. “If any of those Gull Hawks head our way, just drop the tarp and step back. I’ll deal with any attacks if necessary.”
At the chorus of “Yes, milord.” From the troopers standing at the edge of the tarp, I waved Mugorlorth, Captain Lightouch, Sub-Captain Windcoat, and Team Leader Carnell over to me. Explaining the process to everyone present, I thoroughly went through the steps that needed to be followed upon resurrecting a decapitated corpse. Once I was confident that everyone understood what needed to be done, I nodded for Zinn to do her thing.
Swinging the lute from her back, the young bard got down to business. The tune she played was one I hadn’t heard before as a pile of bloody corpses shimmered into existence about twenty yards down the dock. Immediately, cawing cries rang out across the bay as Gull Hawks dove in for the illusion. I felt Helgath’s arm wrap around my bicep as I began selecting the corpses to raise. As my magic passed over the first set of corpses that had been laid out, I hurriedly waved my helpers to the bodies that I could mentally select with my Resurrect spell as I began my cast, while keeping an eye on the blood thirsty birds.
Cawing cries of outrage rang out from the first flocks as they flew through the illusion finding nothing, while the following flocks diving through the illusion only found their enraged brethren. Within seconds, feathers flew as the Gull Hawks began tearing into each other thinking that the other had stolen the juicy meat. The new flocks diving in to the fray just added to the confusion as a massive aerial brawl broke out amongst the flying monsters. By the time my first resurrect cast finished a minute later, there was more than enough chunks of meat and blood to create a feeding frenzy without Zinn’s illusion.
Looking away from the ferocious battle as my Resurrect spell completed, I saw the five sailors I’d selected groan out in pain as life rushed back into their bodies. Quickly, I waved for my helpers to keep their patients down and their decapitated heads pressed in place as I hit all five with a quick Regeneration spell. At the same time, Tavon and Alanah began casting their own heals as Zinn joined in with a similar thumping beat with the Song of Rallying Spirit.
The song was mainly used in battle, but the twenty points of health the song gave every second was nothing to sneeze at. It was perfect for the current situation. What had caught me by surprise was that she seemed to be playing two different tunes. Every five to ten seconds, the music would turn slippery as she suddenly changed back to the previ
ous tune she’d been playing. Whatever the technique was, she was able to keep both the Minor Illusion and the Rallying Spirit spells both in play. Such a feat was a sign of true talent.
It somewhat reminded me of the old-school stories I’d hear from EverQuest players about bards in the game. Supposedly, a “Master Bard” could keep four or five songs in play to put out multiple buffs at the same time. These were the quintessential players of the game at the time. While EverQuest was long dead by the time I got into playing, I’d always found the stories interesting as hell. Pushing the random thought away, I focused on my job of keeping the newly raised sailors alive.
While the Regeneration would seal the gaping wounds around the sailors’ necks, it wouldn’t properly reconnect the spinal column. Quickly, I cast a round of Minor Mend Bones as the sailors’ groans and shrieks of agony came to my ears. This was the worst part. Without Yun and Thompson backing me up, I had to do the more complex casts on my own, which was why Helgath had chosen to just raise five instead of ten sailors at once. Maxing out our cast would have just emptied out the mana we needed for repairing the damage that had been done to the sailors’ bodies.
“What about those sailors?” The Team Leader asked, nodding to the bodies I’d initially bypassed.
“Their bodies are too damaged for me to resurrect.” I explained, as my eyes glanced over the bloody, hacked apart remains. Whoever had killed them must have been pissed, since they’d taken the time to mutilate the bodies thoroughly. At Carnell’s nod, a pair of troopers began pulling the corpses to the side as I knelt next to a man that was the most severely wounded of the first batch. His sharp green eyes looked up anxiously at Mugorlorth who was helping him. As he lifted his arms to try to push the Half-Orc away, I cursed under my breath as I realized one of the Gull Hawks must have stolen his left hand.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed the frustration welling up inside of me away and focused on the task of saving his life. It took a little more focused healing to stabilize the sailor enough that his body’s natural regeneration could take over. Seeing my concerned face and the golden glow around my hands from casting Heal spells, the man seemed to relax somewhat. Making sure that none of my other patients needed emergency healing, I plopped down next to him with Helgath at my side to let my mana regenerate as I took a deep breath.
The man’s uniform that I’d been working on was a little more decorated than that of the rest of the sailors. A quick identify showed that he was Anthony Davis, a level 40 Sub-Captain of the Royal Navy. The officer’s eyes were busy taking everything in as his body healed, while he intently listened to the answers his comrades were getting to their anxious questions about the status of the city and the Dread Pack.
I didn’t blame the man for being careful, since he was looking up at a Half-Elf and a Half-Orc working together to heal his injuries, while another Half-Elf and Centaur healed his companions. Even though Mugorlorth wasn’t actually doing any healing, he was still assisting me and helping the man to not lose his head. The fact that the Gnomeling traders were there along with the Darom human Sub-Leader Butcher and Team Leader Carnell was not lost on him, neither was the fact that his Royal Navy sailors were working on their ships.
I let him contemplate without offering a word as his eyes took in the ships and the activity on the docks. There was no question I looked ridiculous with all of the Gull Hawks’ feathers and questionable body parts plastered to my clothing. Not that the scorched bodies scattered across the dock around us wouldn’t clearly signal what had happened. Even now, the Gull Hawks were still fighting each other savagely over the illusionary corpses. Mugorlorth was at his elbow when he tried to sit up again. Instead of pushing the Half-Orc’s helping hand away, he allowed my companion to help him into a sitting position.
Wordlessly, he accepted a dehydrated strip of wolf-meat from me as Team Leader Carnell got the next batch of bodies in position to be raised. Giving him an apologetic nod, I stood up with Helgath as we raised the next batch of sailors. Once again, there were two I couldn’t raise. As before, I just selected the next corpses further down the line, while waving my helpers over as I went through the whole rigmarole again. By the time I sat down to recover my mana, the ex-officer was watching me intently.
“I believe a thank you is in order for saving my life,” the man said holding out a callused hand. “I’d offer you gold as a thank you, but I currently find myself stone broke. The name’s Tony.” He said gripping my wrist.
“Star,” I replied back with a smile as I released his hand. “I figured it was the least I could do, since you seemed to have lost your head.”
“It happened when I was a Sub-Captain of the Howling Wolves squadron when I served with the Royal Navy.” Unconsciously, Tony’s hand touched the newly grown skin around his neck as he quipped back. ”It was a nasty business. Some unpleasant fellows took command of my ships and pitiless revoked my position.” The man’s witty remark was somewhat strained with the undercurrent of rage as he tried to keep his jaunty tone.
“Surprisingly enough, it seems like any revenge I might have desired to take has been delivered tenfold. From what it sounds like, I have this Lord Ironwolf to thank. Any idea what type of man he might be and where I could find him?”
“He’s a man like any other, I would think.” I said, a smile on my lips. I didn’t have the heart to tell him who I was, since I was enjoying the word play between us. Also, from what I’d seen of the nobles in the Human Realm, I imagined he’d clam up as soon as he realized who I was.
“If you’ll excuse me for a moment.” I said, before he could inquire further. Standing up, I went through the whole resurrect and healing shebang again, before sitting back down. Interesting enough, the risen men seemed to be taking up a subordinate position behind Tony.
“Looks like this Lord Ironwolf has you working quite hard,” Tony said, as he watched me raise more of his people. “Although, I must confess, I’ve never heard of anyone raising so many people at once. How is that possible, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Lord Ironwolf tends to keep a tight ship and a harsh schedule, at least for himself.” I said, the ghost of a smile still on my lips. Nodding to the Half-Orc sitting next to me, I continued. “If I might introduce my soulmate, Helgath. She is the genius behind the technique being used. It’s a combination of her Shamanist ability mixed with my Light magic.”
“Anthony Davis,” The ex-officer said, rising to his feet and offering Helgath a stiff bow. “I am forever in your debt, my lady Helgath,” he continued, turning to me. “As well as yourself, my good sir.” My eyes rose in silent appreciation at the lack of racial prejudice he’d shown toward my Soulmate. Definitely extra bonus points in my book, I thought, quite impressed with the honor and respect that he had shown to the two of us. Even more so, when I realized the second bow had almost been too much for him. Thankfully, he managed to sit down before his legs completely gave out. “Although, there is not much a destitute ex-sailor might offer other than his heartfelt thanks.”
“Your thanks is appreciation enough.” I said, as Helgath blushed beside me at being called a lady. Nodding towards the docked ships, I continued. “From what I understand, with the evacuation of the townsfolk, there is currently a need for senior sailors such as yourself. I could inquire if a position is available if you’re interested” There was something about the man’s suave personality that made him instantly likable. Standing up, I gave him an apologetic nod. “Albeit, you’ll be expected to swear allegiance as a vassal to be brought on. If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
Once again, Helgath and I raised another five sailors back from the dead. This time, there was only one that I couldn’t select. After finishing up the healing scramble to keep everyone alive, I plopped down heavily next to Tony with Helgath leaning against me.
“I’m surprised to hear that the entire town is evacuating.” Tony said, trading a concerned look with the other newly risen sailors. Lowering his voice, he asked. “Are th
e citizens of Darom being forced to leave by this … Lord Ironwolf?”
“Not exactly,” I answered. Seeing the man’s back stiffen, I hurriedly explained about the fall of the Isolde Line, the Dread Pack and the Chaos Storm guilds’ treachery, the rescue of Princess Reeva, and the current fallback plan to BrokenFang Hold, albeit hurriedly might have been somewhat of an oxymoron. In-between the telling, I motioned for the rest of the sailors who then crowded around to listen to the story.
Sub-Leader Butcher and Old Man Fortner had even gotten in on the story. Each was asked to go through their individual reasoning why they had for chosen to swear an oath with Lord Ironwolf. Surprisingly enough, neither Butcher nor Fortner gave up the game that Lord Ironwolf was actually me. Both of them watched my interaction with the sailors with a twinkle in their eyes as we shared the private joke. By the time the story was finished, Tony had come to a decision.
“After some discussion with my colleagues, we would like to join the rest of our people under Lord Ironwolf, if you could put a good word in for us.”
“I don’t think that’ll be a problem. I can guarantee you that he’ll be more than happy to accept your oaths.” Before I could say more, I was rudely interrupted by a bald-headed Gnomeling.
“What could a Half-Elf possibly offer a Gearhead?” Radbaic Domehead resentfully asked, spitting on the pier to emphasize his words.
“Or for that matter, a Gnomeling from the Wind Dancer Clan?” Bellbor Stouthack added with a frown, crossing his arms.
“He’d better be offering better terms if he wants a clan of Domeheads to swear to him.”
A frown came to my lips as I saw the looks of annoyance that instantly crossed both of my captains’ faces. It seemed like I’d opened a new can of worms with resurrecting the Gnomelings. These Gnomeling Traders were an interesting lot. Instead of being the elegantly-dressed traders and fighters that I’d come to expect from the Wind Dancer’s crew, the five clans of survivors were something else altogether.
