Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  The healers moved through the next gap after topping off the front-line fighters’ health. Several of them gulped mana potions as they moved. Helga and Jules, who had no place among the shield ranks, had placed themselves in the back to guard the healers, and moved with them now. Alexander noted two priests resurrecting the dwarves that had been killed. The dwarves followed the healers, and the tanks along with Alexander brought up the rear. Alexander used his Earth Mover skill again to raise a short wall only four feet high that stretched nearly the width of the shaft. Just one more obstacle to slow down the pursuit. The undead would be able to stumble over it, or walk around the edges. Like the trench, it wasn’t meant to stop them, just slow them down and give his tanks a breather.

  Sasha, seeing what Alexander had done, called an audible. “Crossbows! Back out in front! Move your asses! I want two volleys, then get back behind the tanks!”

  A flood of dwarves with crossbows emerged from the choke point and spread out in ranks across the mine shaft. A barked command had them all raising their weapons and firing in unison. Light-blessed bolts slammed into the oncoming enemy, killing a few score and dealing damage to at least that many more. The shambling undead creatures recovered and resumed their forward progress only to be hit with another withering volley a few seconds later.

  Their ranks were significantly thinned at this point. Alexander could see wide gaps in the horde as the dwarves retreated back through the funnel to take up their positions.

  Alexander called out “Jeeves! How many invaders remain in and around the mine?”

  It took a moment for the kingdom’s AI to reply. “There are three hundred forty-seven invaders within the mine at this time. There are twelve trapped in the enclosure outside but still active. And eighty within my detection range outside the enclosure.”

  As he was standing there listening to Jeeves’ report, he was slammed against the wall by an impact. Looking down, he saw one of the dark magic worms attempting to eat through his legendary mithril chest piece. He grabbed ahold of it and used his divine spell to turn the putrid thing to dust. He felt some healing magic, and turned to see Fibble shooting at him with his wand. “Pew! Pew! Pew!”

  Looking toward the enemy, he spotted an elf to one side of the shaft waving his hands and chanting.

  “There! I see a caster near the left-hand wall! An elf. It just hit me with one of the shit-weasel spells. That might be our necromancer!” He called out in raid chat. He cast a light globe over top of the elf to mark its position.

  Almost instantly, Brick responded “Aye, there he be!” instantly hitting the caster with Holy Smite. The elf’s spell was interrupted as it screamed in pain. It immediately began a new spell, only to have it interrupted again by a Holy Smite from Benny. Alexander added some Wizard’s Fire to the mix, then a channeled Ray of Light spell. He focused the beam on the elf’s torso, trying to cut the thing in half. He ran out of mana before he got more than a quarter of the way across, but the damage was significant.

  Once again, Alexander’s attempts to help backfired. The elf dove behind the wall that Alexander had created as an obstacle, taking cover from the Elysians’ attacks. Alexander hurried to gulp down a mana potion so that he could drop the wall and expose the caster. But by the time he’d done so, the elf was gone.

  He called out to the tanks “Did any of you see where he went?”

  Nobody spoke up. The elf was just gone.

  Alexander moved back behind the tanks, who were now decently rested and setting up at the narrow end of the funnel. They watched and rested some more as the undead creatures advanced over or around the wall and approached the choke point. Brick began to insult them as they drew close, trying to grab the aggro.

  “Yer mother’s so moldy even cheese won’t talk to her!” He shouted.

  Lugs snorted and looked at the dwarf next to him. “What? That doesn’t even make any sense?” Several of the front-liners around them chuckled.

  “Hush!” Brick retorted. “If’n ye don’t understand me love poems, keep it to yerself! Them rotted beasties like it just fine!” He pointed his hammer at the oncoming undead. They did look quite angry. Brick followed up with “Ye smell like a hobgoblin’s underpants!”

  As Brick taunted the enemy in front of him, more and more of them crossed the trench by walking over the bodies of other undead. The press of rotting bodies against the tanks’ shields began to increase again. Still, the stalwart tanks held the line with the supportive strength of the dwarves behind them. Alexander noted that Warren wasn’t holding his shield as high as he normally would. Either he was injured, or his human stamina just couldn’t stand up to the punishment.

  Seemingly out of nowhere, the living corpse of a dire wolf flew across Alexander’s line of sight. It landed amongst one of the rear lines and immediately began ripping into defenders. A moment later, an orc warrior with two axes flew feet-first over the tanks and landed about 20 paces from the healers. It got to its feet and began to move toward Sasha and the healers. She threw a thorn trap on it, holding it still long enough for Benny to hit it with a Holy Smite. Helga and Jules cut the orc down in seconds.

  Looking toward the front line, Alexander saw two of the undead Ogres had changed up the undead battle plan. They were each lifting nearby comrades and tossing them over the heads of the tanks into the back rows. While Alexander had been watching the orc, four or five more enemies had been dropped into the midst of his defenders and were wreaking havoc. The second and third rank dwarves who’d been supporting the tanks were having to turn and fight, and the tanks were slowly being pushed back. In another minute, the undead would be free of the choke point and able to spread out within the wider shaft.

  Alexander called out “Ranged! Focus on the ogres!” As he hit each one of them with Wizard’s Fire to mark them. The undead monsters roared in pain, but continued their devastating rain of undead missiles upon Alexander’s rear echelon.

  Undead Ogre

  Level 70

  Health 68,000/68,000

  A few crossbow bolts sped toward the ogres. Most of the Broken Mountain dwarves were now engaged with the thrown undead. The bolts struck the ogres and did considerable damage, but both remained standing. More undead went flying into Alexander’s ranks. His people were becoming hard-pressed to deal with them. Upon impact they were knocking down a dwarf or three, creating gaps in the lines of shields. A few veterans in the third rank started trying to catch the flying corpses on their spears and control the impact. But the tactic wasn’t working well. The force behind the flying enemies was too great.

  One of the burning ogres was down to 25% health. It roared and began to push forward through the mob between itself and the tanks. It was now flinging bodies forward with both hands, simply scooping them up and tossing them underhand as if it was lofting bowling balls as he moved. He trampled several others as he lumbered toward the line of tanks, and spread Wizard’s Fire to many more. After a couple of seconds, the ranks in front of him parted and he picked up speed. Flinging a couple of bodies over the lines of defenders to land among the healers, he smashed into Pollock and his men on the front line. The human warriors had no hope of withstanding the impact. Pollock was trampled by the flaming ogre as his men were flung aside. The dwarves behind them in the second line did better, their superior strength and interlocking shields stopping the monster in its tracks. But it quickly began to reach over top of those shields and pound at the defenders. One dwarf was lifted and tossed backward over the ogre’s shoulder into the undead horde. There was a spray of blood as the unlucky dwarf was ripped to pieces.

  Many spears and swords brought the ogre down quickly, but the damage was done. The front lines were breached and undead were pushing through. Alexander watched in horror as first one, then another, and then several defender’s names went grey on his UI.

  Forcing himself not to panic, he used his Earth Mover skill to raise a wall right in front of the tanks, cutting off the undead that had not yet penetrated the
lines. The tanks immediately turned and tried to help deal with the scores of undead now rampaging through the Elysian ranks. The majority of Alexander’s army were at a lower level than the rotting monsters they faced. They were fighting at nearly a one to one ratio now, and their only advantage was the blessed weapons they wielded. If not for those, his people would all have perished then and there.

  He fired Ray of Light spells at the undead who were molesting the healers and keeping them from healing his troops. Teleporting himself next to Sasha, he drew his sword and helped Jules and Helga cut through the enemy with all the speed he could manage. Once the healers were clear, he went back to casting light damage at the enemy troops. His spells didn’t kill them, but the light damage often distracted them enough to let his people recover and finish them.

  It took nearly three minutes before all of the undead were lifeless corpses once again.

  But the cost was high. He could see from his UI that maybe ten percent of the dwarves that had walked into this mine with him were dead. As he watched, another perished, probably from bleed damage. He began casting heals on those with the lowest health or most serious injuries. As he did so, he called out to Brick.

  “I need a report! Who have we lost? How many can we bring back?” He continued to heal until his mana was drained. Gulping down another mana potion, he watched as the healers finished up. All those still standing were out of danger with at least 50% health. Sasha called out a command, and everyone took a seat to rest.

  Brick took a seat next to him a minute later. Sasha came to sit on the other side. Brick quietly said “We lost twenty-seven, countin’ Beatrix and Pollock. The rest be all dwarves. Fifteen o’ those be from Broken Mountain. Three be our miners, includin’ the one that got tossed. He be on the other side o’ the wall now, and no way to rez him.” Brick looked grim “There weren’t enough of him left to bring back anyway. The rest be our guards.”

  Sasha added “We have three healers here who can still resurrect someone. Two others already used theirs to bring back those first two dwarves. Brick and Benny can each bring one back as well. So can Martin and two of his people, if you go get them. And Silverbeard. That’s nine.”

  Alexander was fighting the urge to puke. So many lost in what should have been an easy fight. Twenty-five citizens of Elysia and Broken Mountain lay dead around him. Nine could be brought back. Sixteen gone forever. And now he needed to choose which of the dead were the lucky ones to be resurrected.

  And there were still a couple hundred undead on the other side of the wall. And a demon army.

  His voice cracked as he asked his friends “How… how do I choose?”

  Brick placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Ye get yerself to the keep n fetch Silverbeard n the rest. Leave the choosin’ to us.”

  Alexander nodded dejectedly and teleported himself to the keep. Silverbeard and the healers were already there waiting. The chancellor had seen the names go grey during the battle, and knew what would be needed.

  “We be ready.” was all he said. The somber healers behind him bowed their heads.

  Without a word Alexander teleported them back to mine shaft. Silverbeard immediately took charge. He started by calling over the commander of the Broken Mountain dwarves. When the grizzled veteran joined them, Silverbeard said “Ye lost fifteen o’ yers, in the fight. We can bring back nine o’ them. Ye’ll need to point out yer choices.”

  Alexander opened his mouth to object. Silverbeard was eliminating any chance of bringing back even one of the ten Elysians who had perished. Sasha took his hand and shook her head no. She pulled him away and whispered. “We have to. This is our land, and our people should make the sacrifice.”

  Alexander nodded, tears in his eyes. “Dammit. They’re just NPCs. But I still feel like somebody just ran over my dog. This is… too real.”

  Sasha hugged him. “Sometimes, it definitely is. You’re not alone, we all feel it. These people have become our friends, regardless of whether they’re flesh and blood.”

  Just as she finished speaking, Jules joined them. She wrapped her arms around Alexander and held him tight, not saying anything. But he could feel her tears wet against his neck.

  Brick and Lugs approached hesitantly. Alexander waved them forward, letting them know they weren’t intruding. Lugs stepped forward.

  “We still got to deal with them zombies, and then the demons. We’re gonna need more help with the demons. I don’t mind dyin’, even with the xp loss. But losin these guys…” Lugs stopped and just shook his head.

  Alexander said “Jeeves, how many undead or demons are left in the mine area?”

  Jeeves’ voice came back much more quickly this time. He too had been monitoring the battle. “There are one hundred ten inside the mine. Still twelve trapped in the courtyard. And fifty-two in the surrounding forest.”

  Noting the drop in numbers outside, Alexander opened raid chat “Max, Lainey, Lorian? You guys been dealing with zombies in the woods?”

  Max responded first “We’re still on the tower. A group of them showed up here. We’ve been picking them off, maybe twenty-five so far.”

  “We’ve found a few stragglers outside the walls and finished them.” Lorian added.

  Alexander said “All of you, keep an eye out for demons. If we’re right, they were just waiting for the undead to soften us up. They should hit us anytime now.”

  Remembering Geb and his advice about fighting the demons, Alexander excused himself and teleported down to the node chamber at the bottom of the pit. He found Geb sitting in his usual spot near the crystal. Barin, the leader of the dragon wing, approached Alexander.

  “How goes the battle?”

  Alexander grimaced. “We’ve nearly eliminated the undead. But we paid a high price. Twenty-five citizens killed. Sixteen that we cannot resurrect. We just don’t have enough healers. My concern now is that the demons may attack at any moment. I don’t think we’ll be strong enough to hold them back.”

  Geb spoke from where he sat near the node. His eyes remained closed, and his face calm. “I am grateful for the sacrifice your people have made for me. And your willingness to pay such a price, though it clearly pains you, Alexander. I believe my node and I have recovered enough to ease your burden.”

  The ancient Guardian reached out a hand and laid it upon the glowing red node. He began to sing in his deep, rumbling voice. The light grew brighter and brighter as he sang. The dragons began to hum along, swaying on their feet as they kept the rhythm. All had their eyes closed, and the looks on their faces were the picture of contentment.

  A minute or so after the song began, Geb’s voice trailed off into a final long note. Then quieted altogether. He opened his eyes and smiled at Alexander.

  Sasha’s voice came across raid chat “Holy shit! All of our dead just started breathing again!”

  Alexander wanted to hug the ancient being who’d just saved his people. He tried to speak, but Geb held out a hand. “A gift for a gift, Alexander. You need strength to continue this battle. I can provide that strength. You and your people will find a way. I have faith in you. Now, I must rest. I may need whatever strength I can muster to defend the node if you should fail.”

  “We will not fail you, Guardian. I have made mistakes, but I am learning from them. We’ll find a way to keep the demons from reaching you here.” Alexander bowed deeply to the Guardian, nodded to the dragons, and teleported himself back to his people.

  He found himself in the middle of a celebration. All of the dead, save the one miner, had resurrected at once. Not only that, but every defender had received permanent ten-point increases to strength and stamina. On top of the experience gains and levels achieved from killing nearly a thousand enemy undead, his army was significantly stronger now than when they entered the mine. Fibble was laying on the stone floor, holding his belly with both hands. Alexander checked quickly, and his little friend had gained ten levels in a very short time.

  “Fibble! Are you okay, budd
y?” Alexander called out as he approached.

  “Fibble tummy go crazy! Big tingles!” The goblin rubbed his belly again. “Fibble stronger now. Time to kill demons?”

  Despite all the emotional battering of the day, Alexander couldn’t help but smile at his Minister of Demon-killing and Cookies. “Not quite yet, buddy. More undead to kill first. Then demons.”

  Fibble didn’t respond, just closed his eyes and continued to lay there, patting his belly.

  Sasha called for the officers to gather to discuss their situation. When they were assembled, she began “On the other side of that wall are about a hundred more zombies we need to deal with.

  “Maybe less” Lugs spoke up “At least some of them won’t be able to get out of the trench.”

  Alexander wasn’t so sure. “Let’s just assume that all the remaining undead are right on the other side of that wall. Including one ogre that likes to shot-put corpses at us.” The word ‘corpses’ triggered a terrible thought. “And if that necromancer’s still out there, he may have raised some of the corpses we killed.”

  Brick shook his head “Nah. When ye kill em with fire or light magic, they stay dead. And Jeeves woulda said somethin’ if their numbers started to grow.”

  “Well, that’s one good thing at least.” Sasha replied. “Alright here’s the plan. Tanks back up front, crossbows behind. Every one we can fit. As soon as Alexander drops the wall, the crossbows fire everything. Waste as many of those filthy things as possible. Then we go back to shields, spears, and fire. We’ll need twenty of the crossbows to focus on the ogre.”

  They all nodded in agreement and disbursed to share the plan with their groups. Everyone was back to full health and mana, and they were as prepared as they were going to get.