by Jason Cheek
“Sure,” I said, giving him a nod of thanks, “can you have your Dwarves set up a quick ditch and defensive wall fifty yards further up?”
“No problem,” Domenic said, giving me a thumbs up as I rode away while he jogged towards his people.
Fylreh and Neristhana silently rode after me as I made my way over to General Dell and my companions. I guess they felt like I needed some additional protection after pissing off the War Leader of the Vanguard. Not that I was going to complain. If that bastard showed up, we’d need everyone on deck to take care of him. As we got closer, I saw that Ulia was in a deep discussion with Dell while Rayne, Brenna, and Keela were listening in. Though, everyone stopped talking as soon as Neysa trotted up.
“Excellent work, everyone,” I said as Neysa came to a stop.
“Hey Star,” Brenna called out in greeting.
“Nice to have you back Star,” Keela said, flashing me a smile before turning serious, “but we really need to have a talk about your friend Lord Burnslinger.”
“He’s been a little hard to deal with,” Brenna delicately said as Keela spoke over her.
“More accurately, he’s a right ass,” Keela explained, giving me a look.
“We were just congratulating Dell on a job well done,” Rayne said, after nodding in greeting.
“Though he keeps giving the credit all to you,” Ulia said in mock annoyance.
“Yeah, Dell kicked ass,” I agreed, “but he rarely accepts any credit for his accomplishments.” Turning to Keela and Brenna, I gave them an apologetic smile, “Sorry about Dom’s attitude, he’s still having trouble-”
“Not treating us like a newfar,” Keela knowingly said as everyone in the circle silently nodded in agreement.
“Exactly,” I agreed, hoping that my friends would start being smarter about how they treated the people of the World. Treating them right came with its own rewards, besides being the right thing to do, I silently thought, as I turned to the veteran Swordsman.
“Milord,” Dell warmly greeted me, holding out a hand, “I expect that’s partly due to my earlier demotion.”
“No need for that here,” I said, clasping his wrist, “Besides, I thought we already took care of what I thought about that back in Palnisdale.”
“Thank you, Star,” Dell said, releasing my hand as he turned to face the hump where the Orcs had retreated to, “we were just discussing what to do for patrols and a quick reactionary force in case they counterattack.” His eyes briefly glanced at the Half-Orc sitting before me. “Any recommendations as to how they might respond?”
“That’s the tricky part,” I said, quickly talking over some of the possible strategies that Helgath knew of as everyone’s faces darkened. “Just have everyone’s Zombies in position to buy us enough time so everyone can get into position should they attack again. Lord Burnslinger will have his Dwarves Elementals nearby too.”
“Together they should provide more than enough time to get formed up,” Dell agreed.
We talked a little longer about what to do if an attack came while the rest of us were logged out for the evening. Though, Helgath explained why she doubted that an attack would occur before they were able to entrap us on the slope. Mainly that being the War Leader of the Vanguard’s fear of losing any more authority in front of the horde.
Feeling confident that they had a solid handle on the situation, the conversation moved to discussing some of the issues my companions had while dealing with my friends. I gave them some advice for future interactions and told them about the bet. While they’d all rather have me here with them, they understood that I could be of more use facing off against the horde and slowing them down than being in the rear.
On the plus side, I explained that, after everything that had gone down, most of my friends weren’t as gung-ho about charging directly into the teeth of the horde. A term that I had to explain as I forgot there was no adequate colloquialism in common. On top of that, Ulia and Dell had most everything that I wanted done already in the process of being started, including a mounted patrol for the top of the pass.
The thought of being trapped inside the Valley of Stone by the Orcs and having everyone starve to death while BrokenFang Hold was taken over by the Hobgoblins was a fear that weighed heavily on my mind. I was glad to see that none of my subordinates laughed at my concerns. Unlike Domenic and a few of my other friends, they’d immediately understood the need for defenses on both sides of the trail earlier upon hearing my request.
As we talked, I slowly began to realize that they were taking this as seriously if not more than I was. It made sense once you realized that their folktales and history were full of horrific stories of the Northern Tribes’ various invasions into the Nordic region. Even after the establishment of the Isolde Line, there’d still been plenty of raids from land and sea that had left their scars on the psyche of the people in the region.
We also talked about ways to loot everything of value from the thousands of Orc corpses strewn across the ground. This was going to be a little bit more difficult of a feat to accomplish then normal due to the number of bodies in question. Luckily enough, Zombies could be programmed for simple actions such as dragging corpses from point A to point B and such, which would help the troopers on watch with the workload.
While gathering up all of the armor and weapons wasn’t really feasible, looting the coins, soul stones, and magic items were the priority on our lists. Soul stones especially since we’d nearly used up our entire cache during the initial raids earlier that morning. I also made some recommendations for sticking swords, spears, and anything else of that nature through the zombies’ bodies. That concept caused a few disconcerting questions at first until they saw the concept in action. After that, I had a feeling we were going to see a lot more spikey zombies in the very near future.
Though I accepted the kudos from my people for coming up with the creative use of zombies in holding loot while also making them into deadlier undead, it really wasn’t anything innovative. Anyone who was familiar with zombie movies such as shows like The Walking Dead could’ve easily come up with the concept. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed that it had taken as long as it had for me to start using the old idea. All that I could say in my defense was that there’d been a lot going on and, up til now, I’d been selling the extra junk weapons I looted or giving them to my people to melt down.
“Yo Jay,” a shout from AJ suddenly interrupted our conversation, “dinner is about ready. Are you coming or not?”
“I’ll be right there,” I shouted back, before turning to my people.
“Go,” Ulia said, “we’ve got this.”
“Thanks,” I said, seeing the rest of my companions and Dell nodding in agreement. Though, before I had Neysa head back, an idea came to me.
“Troopers of the House of Kayden,” I called out to the newly minted Dragoons and the House of Kayden troopers around me as they paused from their work to listen to my words, “I just wanted to commend you for a job well-done. You stopped a Northern Tribe’s horde in their tracks during an invasion, a feat that was considered by all to be neigh impossible,” I nodded in satisfaction as I saw the pride of my words reflected in the tired faces of my people. “While our trials are far from over, we’ve made the enemy fallback to lick their wounds and have gained another day. With our increased strength, I have no doubts that we’ll reach the city of Darom and escape to safety.” My eyes scanned the men and women across the field as I clutched my fist over my heart. “I salute you for all of your hard work, honor, and professionalism.”
“Hoorah!” General Dell shouted, returning the salute as all of the troopers clenched their fists to their chests and cried out, ““Hoorah!””
I had tears in my eyes as we headed back to where everyone had set up camp. There was a surprisingly large fire pit blazing and all of my new and old friends were sitting around talking to one another and eating. Most of the Uten Syn guild were sitting off to the side in their o
wn groups, but Krishna, Lyeneru, Angie, and Gaelin had joined us along with all of the Devil Dogs. As we rode up and slipped off of Neysa’s back, Jill called out to me.
“I thought you said there’d be water for us to wash up with for the night.”
‘There’s water a short way underground beneath us,’ Helgath said, answering the question, before I could ask, even though she didn’t particularly like Jill, ‘if you can get me a Dwarven Earth Shaman, I should be able to set up a shallow pool of water for people to wash up in.’
“Hey Dom,” I said as he looked up from a conversation he was having with Gutirrg, his Gnoll companion and a female Dwarf, “if you can get an Earth Shaman over here after we eat, Helgath says she’ll be able to set up a small bathing area for everyone.”
“Oksana says she’ll do it after she’s done eating,” Domenic replied in-between bites of grilled meat as he nodded at the female Dwarf next to him.
“That’ll work,” I said, turning to Glen who was the acting Grill Master as the female Dwarf next to Domenic gave Helgath a friendly wave.
“My cooking skill just leveled up again,” Glen proudly stated as he held two plates up in the air, signaling that it was for me and Helgath.
“Go save us a spot next to Sarka and Yun,” I said, seeing Fylreh and Neristhana hesitate as they looked around the circle unsure of where to head, “and we’ll get the food.”
“Do you mind preparing two more,” I asked, giving our platters to Helgath as I quickly pulled out two more wooden platters from my rucksack.
“Sure, there’s plenty of meat,” Glen said, before leaning in close to whisper, “I honestly wasn’t sure what Centaur’s ate,” he privately confided.
“They’re omnivorous,” I explained, “and I expect she must be starving after all of the galloping and fighting that we did throughout the day.” As he piled the platters high with meat, I shook my head as I eyed the massive boar. “Did you get this back in Palnisdale?”
“Naw,” Glen said, “we killed this beaut before reaching the Valley of Stone and I packed him away with the rest of the herd in my new Backpack of Holding.” Reaching down, he held up a massive bag that sort of reminded me of a canvas backpack that you’d get in the Army, “It cost everything that I made from killing Orcs and then some, but it was worth the price. It’ll suck in anything smaller than its total size if it’s set at the mouth and activated. I swear it’s like carrying around my own storage shed.”
“Sweet,” I said, impressed and slightly jealous, “Though, it’s a good thing I didn’t head out shopping with you guys, or I’d have never had the money left over for all the mounts.”
“I thought we were goner’s when those Orcs just died on our defenses like lemmings,” Glen said, shaking his head at me.
“Thanks man,” I said, accepting Neristhana’s platter, “It was educational. I honestly thought it would’ve taken them a lot longer to bash their way through all the traps that you guys had prepared,” I shook my head in disgust, “Obviously, we’re going to have to prepare better for our siege against the Hobgoblins, or they’ll just walk right over us and take BrokenFang Hold away.”
“Can’t you just use the same Dark Lance spell to slaughter them all,” Glen asked, somewhat confused.
“I don’t see how,” I said, frowning as I considered the question, “Even if Rani doesn’t gimp the fuck out of the spell, the pass on the Plains of Atoll side of BrokenFang Hold is just too wide. I doubt we’d even have enough people to line everyone up in a line across the gap. Even if we did, it would only give us one shot and then everyone would be out of mana. Besides, we’d have to be standing in front of the walls on ground level for it to be effective in a straight line.”
“That wouldn’t work,” Glen said, instantly understanding the problem, “they’d just run everyone over just like the Orcs did here.”
“Yep,” I agreed, unsurprised that he’d figured it right out.
“Hold up,” Glen said as his face grew pensive, “If you’re not back in BrokenFang Hold prepping the defenses, then how is everything going to be ready in time for the Hobgoblin invasion?”
“There’s two other guilds doing the majority of the work,” I said, using Neristhana’s platter to point towards Thomas, Kenzie, and the rest of their team, “the Devil Dogs and another guild called the Valkyries. Without their help, I couldn’t have made this trip over to help Domenic out.”
“That’s why you didn’t let Dom kill that Rogue,” Glen exclaimed as his eyes lit up in sudden understanding.
“It’s one of the reasons,” I said shaking my head, “The other, is that he blew her up with a Moonshine Elemental and didn’t even blink an eye or offer an apology. That’s after she came here with their guild’s top players to give us a hand, while the rest of their guild is working to build-out the defenses for BrokenFang Hold and slow down the Hobgoblin invasion with the Valkyries.”
“People get mad at being killed by stupid shit and losing experience,” Glen said, instantly getting it, “Remember how mad people would get in Chaos Online?”
“Fuck man, that would’ve got you blacklisted on the local server real-quick,” I said, “and that’s without the added fun of feeling real pain when you die.”
“Is she a Nightmare start,” Glen asked, as he looked back at the laughing woman.
“As far as I know, the entire guild is Advance start now,” I said, not a hundred percent sure, “but it’s hard to say. All of them are in a disabled vet program that’s being offered by the VA to help with their recovery and integration back into society, so who knows exactly what their pain threshold really is.”
“Kitty thought the whole thing didn’t make any sense. Dom just kept going on about how both you and Kenzie just attacked him over nothing,” Glen said, shaking his head as he realized he and Kitty had been played. Obviously, some of the more important parts hadn’t been mentioned in the story that they were given, “And that was after we had a few words about that same exact issue with him.”
“On top of that, Kenzie has some serious PTSD issues from an IED too,” I said as Glen groaned at how much worse it was then what he’d even thought.
“Sorry about that,” Glen said with a sigh, “I should’ve known better coming from you.”
“It’s cool man. I’m just glad you were here to give us a hand, and to be honest, I’ve missed playing with you two,” I said, giving him a wry grin, “Are we good now?”
“Right as rain,” Glen said, giving me and Helgath friendly claps on the shoulders, “Now, go enjoy your meals. We can catch up later once things calm down.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, feeling better. I’d been wondering why Glen had been being so prickly with me. Now I knew.
As we made our way over to the spot Fylreh and Neristhana were saving for us, I noticed that everyone seemed to have their Combat Pets out. Partly that was to show off and partly that was because Combat Pets were freaking cool as hell. Seeing Neysa laying on the ground next to Fylreh, I groaned realizing that I’d completely forgot all about her.
“Yo, Grill Master,” I called back to Glen as I spun around, “Do you have a few meat bones you can toss over?”
“Sure thing,” Glen said, “How many?”
Giving Fylreh and Neristhana their plates, I held up three fingers as I nodded at Neysa. With a knowing laugh, he tossed a large legbone through the air. Before I could catch it, Neysa leapt up and deftly snagged it out of the air as her mental laughter flittered through my mind. Two smaller bones came sailing through the air a moment later, which I set down next to the girls as they gave me a nod of thanks and called their Combat Pets from storage.
With a shimmer that partly reminded me of a summons, the two Combat Pets suddenly appeared from their storage spaces in front of the girls. Neristhana’s Grim looked like a small gray puppy that was around eight months old. It was adorable as hell. Curiously sniffing the air, it happily waddled up to the Gnomeling female with its tail wagging on unsteady l
egs as she happily cooed and snatched the pup up in her arms.
Fylreh’s Combat Pet seemed to be a lot more skittish. As soon as the Earth Shock Wolf pup appeared, it fearfully scampered over to the filly and jumped in her arms. It was obvious at one glance that the little guy had been traumatized by Lady Trinder’s attack back in Palnisdale. As he peeked out from the crock of her arms, the filly gently stroked the little pup’s head as she told him what a good boy that he was for saving mommy from those bad men.
Lying flat on her stomach with her legs folded up underneath her, Fylreh almost looked like a normal two-legged Light Elf sitting on the ground. I couldn’t help but shake my head at the adorable scene. The puppies were so cute as they cuddled up in the girls’ arms. Looking at both females petting their Combat Pets made me happily think of when I’d first held Neysa in my arms. She’d been so soft and cuddly. A part of me was somewhat saddened that she’d grown up so quickly.
Throughout my life, I’d always wanted a dog of my own, but with how I’d grown up, that hadn’t been possible. Even though dogs loved me, my gaming lifestyle and intense work schedule wouldn’t have been a good match for taking care of another life. That, and I always tried to stay out of the house as much as possible due to the abusive nature of my family. In many ways, rescuing Neysa had been a dream come true, I lovingly thought, patting the Silver Dire Wolf on the shoulder. As I sat down Indian-style to eat with Helgath, I noticed Sarka giving me a wane smile.
“What a wild day,” Sarka said as she leaned back against a large stone and fed Freya, her Elite Fanged Tarpan Strider baby, the last few pieces of meat from her platter, “I still can’t believe we managed to pull that off.”
“I’d already accepted the fact that we’d be playing through the night,” Yun sleepily agreed from where he was spooned up behind Sarka’s back, “I really didn’t want my last few days of playing to suck like that.”
“Last few days of playing,” I asked in confusion as Helgath and I cleaned our hands with water from one of my waterskins. Not that it did all that much, but it did at least clear the worst of the dirt from our hands.
