The Land_Alliances

by Aleron Kong

  Richter cast Slow Heal on his Companion and then took stock of the situation. He was standing on the boundary of the sticky material. He didn’t want to become trapped as well. Orvin was caught right in the epicenter of the trap, ten feet away. Terrod was only four feet away, but the ground was still covered in adhesive webs. He drew the short sword from his Bag and tried to cut one of the strands. It immediately got stuck. He was able to pull it free after several tries, but it was clear that cutting wasn’t going to be an option. That’s when he heard the tearing noise.

  The Warrior hadn’t been idle since being trapped. As soon as his attacker had sicked his pet on him, he started trying to free himself. First, he used the enchantment in his boots. His hope was that the shockwave would cause the tree he was attached to shift and maybe free him. Unfortunately, the webbing that bound him also effectively tied the tree in place to both the ground and the cliff wall.

  He groaned in frustration. The trap was too strong for him to escape, but he had invested in a helpful Talent since becoming a Warrior. Orvin activated Power Up I. At a cost of one hundred stamina, he was able to double his Strength for a short period. The problem was it took a full minute to activate the Talent.

  The screams that were filling the air hadn’t just been because of the pain from the dragonling’s attack. It was in frustration and rage that he still wasn’t strong enough even with his Talent. His failure to break through meant that what he saw as a flying rat could keep attacking him with impunity! Orvin had always known he would die in battle, but he couldn’t stand the injustice of being slaughtered like a trussed sheep! So, cursing the time it would take, he had to use the next level of the Talent, Power Up II. It required a two-minute startup time, and cost of two hundred stamina, but his Strength increased by 300%.

  Orvin could only watch his hooded attacker slip down from the cliff above and start talking to the prisoner. When the man pulled back the hood of his cloak, he was shocked to see the face of the man they had been sent to assassinate. It was such a surprise that he almost lost the concentration needed to maintain his Talent. Richter was supposed to be dead! That babbling bitch had said she had killed him. Orvin swore that if he got out of this situation alive, he would choke the woman to death!

  The pain he was experiencing was enormous, but another Talent he had invested in let him tolerate it. Unlike Power Up, Iron Will was a passive Talent. In Orvin’s opinion, it was a vital investment for any fighter. It made him more resilient to pain, but more importantly increased his resistance to enchantment type spells. He had invested in it to level three.

  While Orvin waited for the startup time of Power Up II to elapse, he glared at the Lord of the Mist Village and imagined the horrors he would inflict on the man once he was free. Finally, the two minutes was up. Strength surged through his entire body! His veins pumped molten steel, and feeling like one of the Engineer’s mechanical constructs, he ripped his arm free of the binding. Now it was time to deal with this accursed flying rat!

  Richter looked over at hearing the Warrior’s bonds snap. The man’s right arm came free. With the literal speed of thought, he projected, *Alma, fly away!*

  The dragonling either ignored him or was so drunk on the feast of memories and personality she was partaking in that his command didn’t register. The Warrior was still able to wrap his hand around her neck and started squeezing with all of his increased Strength. Alma finally broke off her attack. She squawked as Orvin did massive damage to her little body. If not for the almost rope-like, sinuous nature of her neck, the fighter would have ended her life by snapping it. As it was, the dragonling wouldn’t last more than a few more seconds before expiring.

  Richter wasn’t going to just let his familiar to be killed, however. He drew an arrow as fast as his high Dexterity allowed and fired. The arrow streaked across the ten feet faster than even Richter could track and struck true. It impacted the forearm that was holding Alma. It looked like the man was wearing medium or heavy armor. It didn’t matter though. The purpose of the shot was not to penetrate the man’s armor. Richter had grabbed a Heavy Arrow.

  Orvin’s arm whipped back from the blunt damage arrow. It didn’t knock the Warrior down braced as he was by sticky threads, but his grip did involuntarily release, allowing Alma to escape. She flew away and golden light suffused her body as she cast Slow Heal. A quick check of her status showed that the Orvin’s crushing grip had removed more than one hundred health. Richter hadn’t seen Alma access her Life Magic since he unlocked the Power, but he felt relieved that his familiar would survive.

  Orvin stared at the dragonling flying out of reach and then locked eyes with her master in fury. He started ripping the sticky threads off. Richter had no idea how the man was strong enough to tear the high tensile material, but it didn’t matter. At the speed he was going, he’d be free in less than a minute!

  Richter Analyzed the Warrior. The minutes that Alma had been draining him had taken a definite toll. She had removed hundreds of health points. The man’s mana was completely depleted and his stamina was less than one hundred. He was clearly still a threat though. Richter took aim again, planning to finish the mercenary off, but then he heard a deadpan voice.

  “The woman is returning, my Lord. She has climbed out of the river and is making her way back towards you from the west. She will be here soon.”

  Richter cursed under his breath. All he needed was another few minutes and he would have been able to both kill this man and free Terrod! Now that he had seen his Companion though, he knew that saving the barkeep was the priority. Richter shoved his arrow back into his quiver. Extending his hand, he cast Flame. Where cutting the white threads had failed, the flames eagerly ate the web like material. The flames quickly moved over the white bonds leaving only ash behind. Terrod suffered a few minor burns where the trap had been touching his skin, but it only amounted to a small loss of health.

  Terrod fell, his legs cramping from being immobile in a strange position. Richter helped him back to his feet. There was no time for a brotherly reunion though. The flames didn’t stop at just freeing Terrod. They continued over the entire trap, the fire eating its way toward the Warrior.

  “You have to get out of here!” Richter shouted to his Companion. Looking at the okami he asked, “Will you carry him? I will get back on own.”

  The wolf just looked at him. Richter shot a glance back towards Orvin. The flames were only a foot away now. Richter tried again, “Please! I will owe you a favor!”

  The wolf’s ear twitched.

  “I won’t abandon you,” Terrod objected.

  Paying him no heed, Richter repeated himself. “I will owe you a favor! I will owe you a favor!”

  The wolf lowered one shoulder as it had when Richter had first mounted it. Richter turned to Terrod. “We don’t have time for arguments. I can hide with my armor, but you can’t. Get back to the village. That is an order!”

  Terrod’s expression firmed and it looked like he would argue, but a bellow silenced the argument. The Warrior was free. Richter fired another Heavy arrow which knocked Orvin down and succeeded in buying them a few seconds. Terrod nodded and ran to the okami, mounting in a fluid motion. With no more ceremony or hesitation, the two took off.

  Alma landed on Richter’s shoulders. Now that he was about to face two enemies, he changed his tactics. He extended his arm and spoke a word of power, casting Charm. Richter was confident that his Life mastery would be enough to overcome the Warrior. Even though Orvin was damaged, fighting with an ally was better than fighting against two enemies. No change came over the man though, and Analyze showed that he hadn’t been successful.

  Orvin responded by throwing a fighting spike at Richter. There was no time to dodge. The spike hit him mid chest, but his breastplate stopped most of the damage. The Warrior followed his first attack by taking his oversized shield from its resting place on his back. He also drew an axe from a belt loop and soon he was running towards Richter in a peculiar shuffle. His ov
ersized door shield was large enough to protect most of his body from attack. Orvin’s stance slowed the Warrior only a bit and also provided great defense.

  Richter smiled grimly. It would be a great strategy if he was only an archer. Unfortunately for Orvin, he was much much more. Richter cast Grease. A 10x10 foot circle of brown liquid appeared on the ground with Orvin in the middle.

  The fighter was no fool though. As soon as Richter cast the spell, he stopped moving. Richter drew a heavy arrow to knock him off balance, but Orvin surprised his enemy. Bending his knees without moving his feet, the Warrior then leaned forward while straightening his legs. He fell completely forward, but on top of his large shield and it acted like a sled. Coupled with the forward momentum he had created; the Warrior was easily able to slide out of the AoE of the spell.

  Richter’s mouth dropped slightly open at seeing such a convenient and easy solution to his spell. Once again, The Land proved that it was the application of power that mattered rather than raw power in and of itself. He cast the thought aside and got his head back into the fight.

  Orvin was out of the AoE, but was still getting to his feet. His increased Strength let him move quickly despite being encumbered. Richter activated Double Shot. Both of his arrows scored against his target’s armor and removed some health, but didn’t penetrate. The poison coating accomplished nothing since the arrows weren’t breaking the skin. He used Drill Shot, but Orvin lifted his shield and the arrow sunk harmlessly into the metal, the wooden shaft sticking out like a quill.

  The entire course of the fight, Richter had been backing up in an effort to keep distance between himself and his opponent. Alma had launched herself back into the air, speeding through the air. Orvin stopped pursuing for a moment, pulling a potion from his belt. He downed the red solution in one go, and Richter could see the wan look on Warrior’s face improve as color came back to his cheeks. Giving Richter a cruel grin, Orvin erased the distance between them with the Warrior Talent Lunge.

  Orvin crossed ten yards in a second. It was only his impatience that saved Richter. Though the Talent was created to close distances quickly, the Warrior started too far back to make skewering his enemy a sure thing. Richter was able to dive out of the way. Before he went far he spoke a guttural incantation and his left hand contorted into a specific finger configuration. All it took was one second, start to finish, and a cone of concentrated darkness shot from his hand. Richter’s Cloying Darkness spell slowed Orvin down by 20%. It was the edge he needed to put some distance between them again.

  Richter fought a running battle down the hill to the river. He pulled out all the stops. He cast Summon Insects hoping to distract Orvin, but the fighter just shrugged the stinging bugs off and kept coming. Orvin swung his axe in a cross swipe. Richter cast Flame at the same time towards the Warrior’s face. A quick shield block stopped the flames from reaching flesh, but at least the block threw off the axe swing and let Richter avoid the blow.

  Troubled Sleep did nothing. Orvin just shrugged it off as easily as Charm. He made an overhand chop with his axe. Richter jumped back, but this time the axe scored a glancing blow. A loud screeeech split the air as Richter’s armor was marked by the weapon.

  Richter knew he didn’t have much time left. To make matters worse, behind Orvin, he saw a flicker of movement at the end of the passage. Sonirae had made it back up from the river. It was time for a Hail Mary.

  *Psi Blast!*

  Alma swooped in behind Orvin and let loose with an unchanneled blast of psychic energy. Once again, it was apparent that many denizens of the Land did not have a defense to this particular form of attack. The Warrior’s Iron Will talent was useful in many ways, but it was not an effective bulwark against the dragonling’s mental strike.

  Orvin staggered. He would not have been distracted for long, but for a golden second, his defenses dropped. Richter then took his chance and did the one thing ranged fighters must never do, he eliminated the distance between himself and a melee fighter. Jumping forward with his shadow dagger, and no defenses to speak of, he attacked the fighter head on.

  His dagger sunk into the man’s neck. For the first time in the fight, the shrieke venom entered Orvin’s bloodstream. It didn’t cause instant death, but the venom did start to quickly undo the good that the healing potion had done. Richter stared his enemy in the eye and screamed in rage, but also in complaint. The son of a bitch still wasn’t dead, he thought.

  Staring back, Orvin used his last seconds of buffed Strength and wrapped one hand around Richter’s wrist. Try as he might, Richter just couldn’t drive his weapon any deeper or twist the blade any further in order to increase the damage. Orvin then wrapped his other hand around Richter’s throat and started to squeeze. Apparently the Warrior felt cheated from not being able to kill Richter’s familiar, and was determined to kill her master by the same method.

  Richter heard the vertebrae in his neck begin to grind. He knew that in just a moment he would hear another sound similar to the crisp snap of broken chalk. Then his fractured neck bones would sever the spaghetti softness of his spine. After that his only hope would be to die quickly rather than be tortured by these two mercenaries.

  The one thing that saved him was the same fact that had aided him since coming to The Land. He wasn’t alone. Alma wrapped her body around the fighter’s head for the second time. While Orvin had been able to weather the attack at full strength, this attack caught him at a vulnerable time. With already depleted health and with poison running through his veins, the pain was unbearable this time. The Warrior fell to one knee and both of his hands lost their iron grip.

  Richter had begun to lose consciousness, but as soon as Orvin relaxed the hold on his wrist, Richter ripped his shadow dagger back towards himself. A large chunk of flesh fell from the fighter’s throat, and for the second time since coming to The Land, Richter tasted the last drops of an enemy’s life blood. His face and body were covered in the arterial spray from Orvin’s throat. Another beat of the heart brought a weak gout of blood spilling forward. A final weak shudder of the Warrior’s heart tried to move more blood forward, but failed.

  Orvin was dead.

  Alma threw her head up to the sky and gave a shrill roar, still latched to her vanquished foe.

  CHAPTER 11

  Richter couldn’t join his familiar in crowing as much as he might have wanted to. He hurriedly wiped his eyes free of Orvin’s blood and looked back up the hill towards where he had seen the Assassin. He saw that she hadn’t really moved, she was just carefully looking around. Richter realized with a sinking feeling that she was examining the traps that he had laid down. His jaw tightened in consternation. He had hoped the poisoned darts would take the woman out. She had much less than health than the Warrior. After a few darts, this fight would have been done. Instead of seeing a woman writhing in pain though, he saw her looking at him with that same horrific smile that he remembered gazing at helplessly while being castrated.

  “Hello, love!” she called out with a cheery tone. “What did you do to poor Orvin?”

  “The same thing I’m going to do to you, you fucking psycho!” Richter shouted back. He spit, clearing more of Orvin’s blood from his mouth. He had inadvertently swallowed some. His rising bile mixed with the coppery fluid to create a truly horrific taste. It did nothing to help his mood.

  She stood in place on the other side of the traps, still smiling. “Well you let Terrod escape. That was very naughty by the way. You DO remember what I did to you the last time you were naughty? Not to worry though! Bringing him back was always just a bonus. YOU on the other hand, you tasty dish, will absolutely HAVE to die. How are you still among the living? I was sure you were dead. Or at least that you would at least have a very serious limp from now on! Haha. You must tell me how you did it! Was there a necromancer in your village? Oh nevermind. The good news is,” she reached into one of her sodden pouches and pulled out a small serrated knife, “this time, I’ll be able to use the right knife for t
he job!”

  As she had been speaking, she had delicately stepped forward through the traps. Richter cast Slow Heal on himself, he also rebuffed with Barkskin, Minor Life Armor, and Haste. He then reached into his Bag for an item and whispered something to the invisible remnant. Prepared as he could be, Richter glared at her and his fury built. Her inane babble made him even angrier! Why did she even talk like that? It was like she was always trying to make people focus on the wrong thing. Academically, he admitted it was probably a good practice for an Assassin. She could keep someone’s focus misdirected until she struck in an unexpected way…

  *Alma! Help!* Richter sent her a mental image of the wasp that had paralyzed him before.

  She immediately dove and let loose a Psi Blast. It was the first time Richter had ever been inside the AoE of her mental attack. Even though the attack wasn’t targeted at him, he still suffered. It felt like his mind was a TV, but instead of tuning into a channel, all he got was static. Screechingly painful static!

  Richter staggered, barely keeping his feet, but he was able to recover. He looked around to see if his hunch paid off. Sure enough, on the ground near where he had been standing was an oversized wasp, twitching on the ground. He smiled and then slowly twisted his neck to look at Sonirae. For the first time, he saw something other than a self-assured smile on her face. She reached her hand out in panic, her mouth forming the word ‘no’, but Richter didn’t wait. He stomped down with one reinforced boot. He felt its little body squish beneath his foot.

  The Assassin screamed in rage. Her arm swung forward and with a flick of her wrist, she shot the small crossbow attached to her forearm. If Richter could have seen the projectile in flight, he would have seen the black fluid oozing from the tip of the bolt. At the same time, she activated a Talent. Focusing on Richter, she used Marked for Death which immediately increased all damage he received from her for a period of time.

  Richter started contorting his body to avoid the shot and Alma once again came to his rescue. A white glow enveloped her as she cast Errant Wind. The bolt which was speeding towards Richter curved ever so slightly to the right. It wasn’t much of a change, but it let him avoid the shot. The bolt instead went through his cape, leaving a small hole. He lifted his foot and saw that the wasp was still twitching ever so slightly. He shouted out, “You missed me bitch!” Then he stomped down again.