Watcher's Test

by Sean Oswald

  Mira, though, was riled up and having nothing to do with it. One glance back at the town hall that was now engulfed in flames which shot at least thirty feet into the air was enough to make her blood boil. Not that she cared about the town hall, but rather, that was where she had been standing, and this ugly green worm had tried to set her on fire. As she flew down toward the wounded shaman, she realized that she recognized the spell he was casting. It was Lesser Regeneration. She certainly didn’t want him to heal, so she needed to interrupt that spell. A part of her was appalled at how bloodthirsty she was feeling, but dammit she shouldn’t feel bad for wanting to kill the little monster that was trying to murder everyone in the village. She dove down at the maximum speed her ring could muster, which as she got moving was frighteningly fast. As she reached him, she swung the staff in her hands right at his ugly green oval-shaped head. Apparently, this fighting with a staff thing was harder than she had thought it would be because she only managed to land a glancing blow (5) which didn’t disrupt his concentration. Frustrated to see his body suffused with a golden glow from the healing spell, she flew back up to a safer distance where the three skirmishers who were racing over couldn’t reach her.

  The shaman’s right arm still hung limply at his side, forcing him to pick up his staff with his off-hand. His clumsy movements didn’t seem to present much of a threat and Mira prepared another combination of spells but wanted to wait until the skirmishers were all around the caster for better effect.

  Meanwhile, as her fight progressed, Dave was finally recovering from the sickness imparted to him. That was something that he never wanted to experience before. He had never liked being sick back on Earth—of course, who did?—but this had been a whole new level of sick. At least his improved Constitution finally resisted it, and he was able to stand up. His Enlarge spell had ended. Mira’s pet and the goblin it was fighting were hacking each other to death in a spectacularly inefficient manner, while Aloysia had apparently figured out how to get inside the guard of the ax-wielding goblins because she made much shorter work of this goblin than of the one she had fought before. That left Dave to help finish off the one fighting their charmed ally. At first, he would have bet money that he wouldn’t even be able to lift his sword let alone fight. Still though, he needed to, so he willed himself to move forward, to swing the sword downward at the goblin’s exposed back. He felt some resistance but then his Where the Mind Leads the Body Will Follow trait kicked in. His body didn’t feel any better or stronger. The lingering sickness still clung to him, but in that instant, he knew he couldn’t be restrained by such things. He would face this conflict and prevail. The final hostile goblin in their little battle died, caught unaware by Dave’s slashing blow to its neck.

  Turning, Dave took in the scene before him with Mira hovering in the air and the four remaining goblins looking to retreat. He could just let them run away and then work on saving what they could of the town from fire, but it didn’t look like his daughter felt the same way. She looked furious hovering in the air, the wind blowing her hair behind her and the glow of magic around her. For a moment, he pictured her as a dark phoenix seeking vengeance. Before he even shouted for her to stand down, her first spell went off followed almost immediately by a second quickened spell. Even as the web was expanding to cover all three of the skirmishers, flames billowed off of her hands, but instead of forming into their usual fan shape they formed a cone that was only 10’ wide and much more intense. The shaman was only caught on the very edge of the web, but the other goblins were all firmly caught in the sticky trap and lacked the strength to free themselves. They started to scream as the webbing caught fire and melted while still burning all over their skin. The heat searing them to the bones as the flames oozed under, over, and through their armor in the form of viscous liquid fire. The shrieks were horrible to hear and the smell of burning flesh impossible to avoid. Despite that, Dave charged forward. The goblins were completely mindless in their pain, trying to push away the flames that clung to them. Combined with the damage from the fire, a single sword strike from Dave was enough to end each of them.

  During that time, as the flame spread down the tendrils of webbing that kept a tenuous hold on him, the goblin shaman lifted his good hand and triggered the magic of his second ring. A triangular-shaped, gossamer, white shield sprung off of his hand and forced the webbing off of him. The shield being composed of pure force didn’t allow purchase by the webbing on its surface and as its expansion could not be stopped, it served to free its wielder from the death trap he had been in. Even as he struck down the other goblins, Dave had to admire the creative use of the shield spell in a way it wasn’t meant to be used. The gamer in him loved improvisation like that. Not that it would stop them from ending the little arsonist.

  Not waiting for the last of his fellow goblins to fall, the shaman took off running as quickly as his bony little legs would allow. All the while trying to hold the shield behind him. Mira started to move to intercept him, but Dave called out, “Let him go, we have to worry about the fires.”

  At first, Mira ignored her father until he called out again. Then she turned her head and called out in anger, “But that bastard tried to kill me.”

  Wow, something about this attack must have seemed more personal to her. Dave didn’t know what to think. “We will get him later, but right now, unless you want to end up sleeping in a tree again, we need to do what we can to help put out these fires.”

  Her body still displayed all of the tension and anger, but she slowly was descending to the ground. “Fine, but I get to go when we hunt him down.”

  A capable Mira no longer caught up in teenage drama was a good thing, but a bloodthirsty daughter was not something he would allow if he could help it. Not much that he could say at the time though. Yet another problem to be addressed another day. Sometimes, it seemed like he was stacking up more issues than he would have a lifetime to handle. Once she had reached the ground, he grabbed her and pulled her into a hug before she had time to protest. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You are safe now, and you were amazing back there. Don’t let him or anyone else control your actions.” He looked down at her, releasing the embrace and using his hand on her chin to get her to make eye contact. “You are better than that. You are Mira Nelson, and nothing keeps a Nelson down.”

  A half-smile was all the response he got but he would take it.

  Then as they both turned to take stock of the fire, he added with a grin, “Oh, and don’t let your mother hear you cursing like that or no number of spells are gonna save your hide.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Hope is the grand seed grown under the warmth of family and in the fertile soil of friendships. It must be enough for it is all which they have left to us. —Li Bo Myong elder of the Sun Elves upon receiving word of the Exile.

  A little more than three miles away, it was Karl’s turn at watch duty. While the rest of his squad slept peacefully around him, he stayed vigilant. The events of the past few days wouldn’t allow any of them to sleep if a guard wasn’t awake at all times. Making his slow patrol around the perimeter of the camp, he began to smell a fire. Wisps of smoke carried his way from the burning town. He turned to look and was able to make out in the distance the glow of a fire. It would have to be pretty large to see from this distance, and it was in the direction of the town they were supposed to investigate. The captain would want to know about this.

  While Dave and Mira were fighting for their lives against the goblin invaders, the majority of the people who lived in the town proper had been evacuated to the south. Many tired children were being carried by parents as the people congregated around in a flat area maybe one thousand feet past the mayor’s home. Emily was being asked question after question about what was going on. Even Talvenicus and the city council people were turning to her for reassurance. So much so that she had told Jackson to stay with his sister right next to a tree in the open space. She was hesitant to leave the kids even though
they were still fairly close, but the pleading looks she received were enough to draw her away.

  Soon she found herself wandering around amidst the clusters of people. She still didn’t know everyone well enough, but it was obvious that there were some social groups as different families or individuals seemed to hang around one another. The unmarried men seemed to mostly stay together. In much the same way, the married people with children grouped together and the married couples without any children also grouped up. It wasn’t that there was no cross over, but the majority of people seemed to stay in clusters based around one of those three designations. She spent most of her time with the group with children. Maybe because she was most comfortable there and maybe because she thought she could do the most by encouraging the children.

  That was all interrupted though when Conrad came running up to her. He was panting from clear exertion and his face, hands and arms were covered in soot. His muscular frame was the perfect image of contrast with Emily. She felt a little silly as he was bowing to her. “Priestess, we need you. Please.” His speech was short and sharp, punctuated by gasps for air. “Tristan was helping me. We were trying to… put… out some of the smaller fires.”

  Emily immediately remembered Tristan as one of the first people she had met in Eloria. “Is he okay? Do you need me to come help him? Where is he?”

  Despite being very fit, Conrad continued to have a great deal of difficulty breathing and started to try to answer each of her questions only to be interrupted by the next question. Seeing his obvious distress, she looked at him again and assessed that he might be suffering from smoke inhalation. She wasn’t sure if her healing spells would work on something like that, but it was the best option, especially if Tristan needed immediate help. She set her hand on his shoulder and focused her mana into her Minor Healing spell. Instantly, his face lit up. His breathing became less labored, so much so that he gave a huge sigh of relief.

  This prompted even more embarrassment on Emily’s part when the large man dropped to his knee and lowered his head against her thigh. “Thank you, Daughter of Redemption. Thank you. I couldn’t breathe.”

  Glad that her new darker skin combined with the predawn hour likely prevented anyone from seeing her blush. “You said something about Tristan? Is he hurt?”

  Pawing at her hand, it was Conrad’s turn to be embarrassed. “Yes, priestess. I’m so sorry. He needs your help. Can you come with me to heal him? He is badly burnt from a falling beam.”

  During the time, Talvenicus had come over. Upon hearing about Tristan, he started barking orders. He organized the majority of the men into three squads. They were certainly still worried about the goblins, but they couldn’t let their town burn down either. Each squad was assigned to a different portion of the town. He would lead one of the groups, Emily along with Conrad would lead one although her primary focus would be to find anyone else who was hurt, and Jarvis would lead the third. The mayor left Olga in charge of the women and children with ten of the men to guard them.

  Before leaving, Emily took Jackson aside, “I’m counting on you to watch your sister. I don’t like leaving you two here, but I can’t take you into a burning battle zone. I’m leaving our packs with you. So both of you need to stay by them, but if anything threatens your sister don’t worry about the packs just take care of her.”

  His hands clenched tightly around the handle of his mace, “You can count on me, Mom. Just hurry back.”

  With a kiss on his cheek and then one on Sara’s forehead, Emily left. Running to catch up to her group that was following Conrad to where Tristan had been injured. She felt sick to her stomach, but this needed to be done. She couldn’t be the “priestess” if she wasn’t going to do the job. Anyway, she didn’t really understand if Shanelle was the same being as the God she had worshipped on Earth. Emily thought that She might just be another way of understanding God, but either way, that voice which had spoken to her in her moment of need had been very clear. She had sworn to redeem the lost, heal the sick, and serve all people. This was exactly what that meant.

  The fire brigade parties had not been gone for more than two minutes when one of the men who remained behind suddenly screamed. All eyes were drawn to him as children clung to their mothers, and the men present all tightened their grips on whatever was in their hands whether it be a bow, an ax or a mace. The man who screamed had his hands clutching his stomach, which had a blade sticking out. Behind him was a goblin rogue who had just stepped out of the shadows. No sooner had everyone seen him than the rogue yanked his blade back out with a cruel twist, and the logger fell as though he had only been held up by the blade.

  From there the goblin sprung amongst the women and children. He swung his sword wildly, never killing anyone but scoring numerous cuts against the hated humans. They scattered around him like leaves in the wind, until it was almost as though a path had been opened up right toward the Nelson children. The rogue wasn’t strong, but he was far more agile than the human loggers and dodged any attempt at counter-attacking against him. Then it happened. He saw the amethyst amulet around Sara’s neck. “Oh shiny. I want!” he cried out in his guttural language even though only one present understood him.

  The rogue rushed forward, seeing Jackson stand up and take aim with his mace. It was all too easy for the rogue to slide in under the baseball swing offered by Jackson and even easier to counter by sinking his blade all the way to the hilt into the boy’s soft stomach. Not even bothering to draw out the sword, he lunged forward with claw-tipped fingers toward Sara’s neck. Her hands came up to fend off the assailing goblin, but his forward movent shoved her back so that her head struck the tree she had been sitting against. The sudden deceleration caused her to lose consciousness even as an outraged shriek sounded out from the shadows just behind the tree.

  “Elfling is Krinnk’s! You no touch.”

  Then the whipping sound of a sling spinning was heard right before a rock blasted into the temple of the goblin rogue with uncanny accuracy.

  All eyes stared on in shock. Did one goblin just attack the other? None of the villagers knew what to think of it, but Olga recovered herself first. She cried out, “Save the children. Kill the greenies.”

  The spell of confusion broken, the nine loggers and farmers who were still fit to fight all leapt forward as one. Some fell upon the unconscious goblin who had fallen to Krinnk’s sling stone. Others tried to reach Krinnk, but he was too fast. As soon as he saw his little elfling being attacked, a new emotion had sprung up within him. He had known jealousy before. The urge to fight with his kin for food, shinies, or even time with a female, but none of that compared to this alien sentiment which sprung up within his breast. He felt possessive of Sara, yet it was more than that. He felt protective and that was something new.

  Faster than any of the villagers could act, Krinnk sprang forward and picked up Sara’s limp form. His bony frame with saggy skin belied the strength of his tightly corded muscles. Goblin scout training didn’t make for visually pleasing creatures, but it did make them stronger than expected. With the girl in his arms, he was off and running. Laden down with Sara, there is no way that even the spry goblin would have been able to outrun the villagers, but at that moment the most unnatural wailing erupted from the village. It was as if death itself had been given a voice, and it struck fear into all of the humans such that they stared numbly back at the village cowering.

  For his part, Krinnk knew what that sound was. He had heard the wailing of the skeletons animated through necromantic magic before. The bone man was coming, and terror lent strength to the goblin scout.

  Once far enough away from the crazy fire elf, the goblin shaman fell to the ground. He had not known fear except in front of the goblin chieftain or Draznei’kai for a long time. Certainly not since he had been raised as a shaman. To think that some wisp of an elf would chase him away. It was infuriating. Worse, between her and that sword-wielding giant they had slaughtered, all of his goblins unless perhaps any
of the rogues were still in hiding. It was time to flee this place and regroup. He just had to recoup something out of it. His life would be forfeit before the chieftain if he didn’t, but if he could capture the death knight and turn him into a slave for the tribes then he would be a hero. Better still, he would be able to blame the failure upon Draznei’kai and use that as an excuse for why they had magically enslaved him. Yes, that story would work nicely not only with the chieftain but also if the dark one had any allies that came looking for him.

  Stumbling to his feet he struggled to calm himself and organize his thoughts. He needed to get away from the town before the human and elf followed him. It annoyed him that he needed to use the last of his secret trove of magic items which the assembled tribes had provided to him, but it would all be for naught if he couldn’t reach the death knight before the villagers caught him. So without another thought about it, he pulled from his belt pouch a small crystal about the size of his thumb. It was filled with a purplish-black smoke that seemed to swirl in response to his hands and felt numbing to the touch. This crystal would let him travel up to a dozen miles in an instant. It was a crowning achievement for the collected goblin shamans and had been prepared by a ritual requiring multiple casters as a last-ditch escape tool for him. The shaman probably would have been mortified to learn that it was an exercise for apprentices in some places to create such items, but he didn’t know that and so stared at it proudly for a second more before a noise behind him made him fear for his life. He crushed the crystal between his thumb and fingers while saying the triggering magical word. Then watched in awe as the smoke inside the crystal escaped and expanded to engulf his entire body. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it was oddly unpleasant. As soon as he was covered completely, his body and all his possessions were converted to shadow stuff and streaked forward almost faster than the eye could follow toward the bridge where he believed his prey to be still. Unlike a shadow step ability, this crystal did not really allow him to move instantaneously, but it was still as fast an arrow flies.