Glory to the Brave (Ascend Online Book 4)

by Luke Chmilenko

  Raising a hand each in greeting to the chorus of cheers that rose up at their appearance, both scouts broke out with wide grins as they glanced over us, their eyes shifting upwards to look at the massive breach in the palisade. Staring onwards for a second until the noise started to die down, Sierra was the first to speak and break the silence that followed afterward.

  “So,” she said in a weary voice, “did we win?”

  Chapter 72

  Tuesday, April 30th, 2047 – 10:00 a.m.

  “It was after that battle that we fought you guys at Valor’s Point that I realized something needed to be done,” Hido said to me, clutching his hands together on the table in front of him as he spoke, his eyes unfocused as he stared down. “We were doing everything we could. Had done everything that we could. But it was never enough for Carver. Don’t get me wrong either, because looking back we all had a sense of that earlier, but…”

  “It was your breaking point,” I finished, seeing the elf nod in response as I sat across from him in the plainly adorned room that was his cell.

  “It was,” he agreed. “After that, I was angry—angrier than I ever had been before. So I decided to do something about it. The result was the feed that you all saw. I wanted to post something that would shock people, maybe even warn them about what was going on here. I honestly don’t know. I was just so mad that I had to do something to get under Carver’s skin the same way that he got under mine.”

  “And did it work?” I asked, noticing how Hido’s knuckles had turned white as he spoke, the memory alone enough to enrage him once again.

  “Too well,” the elf answered with a shake of his head before exhaling sharply to calm himself. “It took Carver a day to realize that the feed had been released, and it immediately sent him into a rage as he tried to figure out who had posted it. Then barely any time past that, he found out what you all did at Khudazal. That really pushed him over the edge.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” I offered to the man, only imagining how it would have been to experience, let alone live in that sort of toxic environment.

  “Don’t be,” Hido said with a shrug as if it didn’t matter. “We all made our bed when we chose to follow Carver. Myself most of all when I stabbed you all in the back in the process. That was part of the reason why I didn’t reach out to you all directly. I didn’t think you’d listen to me.”

  The elf paused for a second to collect his thoughts, shrugging for a second time as started to speak once more. “But even then, it’s not that I really had much of a chance afterward. Once you guys hit the city, things started to move pretty fast…and well, you know how everything after that turned out.”

  “That we do,” I agreed, the memories of those days already starting to feel more than a little surreal to me considering how far we’d come since. “Do you know what ended up happening to Ignis through all that mess afterward? Or any of the other Dread Crew members that are still unaccounted for? Like Roc, Mozter, or any of the others?”

  “Only in generalities,” Hido replied in an apologetic tone with a shake of his head. “At least, when it comes to Ignis, Mozter, and a few of the others. Roc and a few others in his group are the only ones I can speak with confidence to, and that’s because he told me they were going to fade away into the fens and desert. Hell, he even invited me to come with him, but at the time, I just wasn’t ready to leave. I still thought that things would change.

  “Anyway, though, that’s not what’s important—at least, not beyond them being gone for good,” he added a second afterward. “As for the others…all I can say is that they went—or in Ignis’s case, were sent—north to join the orcs there. Mozter and his group left right after our battle in the Twilight Grove, or at least that’s what Carver told me when I asked. None of us saw them leave or even saw them after the battle, now that I think of it. A few others followed them a short while later.”

  “I see,” I replied, giving the man a nod to show that I was still following along. “And what about Ignis? You said he was…sent? What does that mean exactly?”

  “That he was due to be punished the orc way,” Hido answered, his voice going a little quiet. “I’m afraid I don’t know exactly what happened to him, but apparently, after your attack, the heralds raided his chambers and found something that made them angry. Like really, really, angry.

  “They did?” I asked, suddenly curious at that bit of news, especially given what I’d heard from Carver during the battle. “Do you have any idea what they found to make them so angry?”

  “If only,” the elf answered with a shake of his head. “I tried eavesdropping on their conversation with Carver when they told him what they’d discovered, and there was some sort of mention of a curse, one that either once afflicted or still does afflict the orcs. It wasn’t clear the way they spoke of it. But that was about all I heard before I had to make a break for it.”

  “Hm, another mystery then,” I said despite very well having an idea of just what curse the orcs had been talking about.

  “And one that I am more than happy to leave in your hands,” Hido replied, his gaze moving to look around at the room around us with a visible fondness. “Because I think I’m done with the adventuring life. I’ve had enough of sleeping on the ground and fighting every day just to have food. If at least for the foreseeable future.”

  “Oh?” I asked, a little surprised at the adventurer’s words. “Are you thinking of quitting or taking a break from playing?”

  “I don’t think I’ll quit but a break for sure,” he replied, sounding a little unsure as he answered, his eyes flicking up to meet mine as he spoke. “And that’ll be after you don’t need me anymore. Don’t worry, I’m not looking to leave you all in the lurch.”

  “And we definitely appreciate that,” I said, feeling a little bit of gratitude at that sentiment, even after everything that Hido had done to us in the past. “After the mess that Carver’s made of everything, we could use all the help we can get in figuring out what he, Zhul, and the other orcs were doing.”

  “I can only imagine,” Hido said with a sigh before motioning to the wall behind me with his chin. “Speaking of, though, has he said anything?”

  “Not even so much as a peep,” I answered, not needing a hint to know who he was referring to. “It looks like he might have up and quit himself. Or, if not, decided to take a break for a while too.”

  “Hm,” Hido grunted, his face twisting itself into a scowl for a few seconds before softening. “I’d hate to think that he escaped paying for all the suffering that he put us through, but maybe him quitting is the best thing for everyone. At least, he won’t have the option to hurt anyone else that way.”

  “Maybe,” I replied, not completely sure that I agreed with his words. It was one thing for us to finally stop and capture Carver, but to do so and not be able to punish him for what he did to us made our victory feel a little hollow. “In either case, though, we plan to hang onto him for as long as we can before sending him along to wherever the game decides to take him, if for no other reason so that we know where he is.”

  “And that’s probably a good idea as anything else,” Hido agreed, our conversation lapsing for a few seconds as we sat in silence. “Anyway, I think that’s about all I have with regards to what we’ve been up to the last while. Is there anything else that you want to know or ask about while you’re here?”

  “No, I think that’s enough for today,” I said, the two of us having already been talking for the better part of the morning so far. “I need to make my rounds elsewhere and see if there isn’t anything else that I can think to ask.”

  “That’s fair,” the elf said with a nod as I stood up from the table, giving me a goodbye wave. “You know where to find me when you do.”

  Bidding the man farewell, I made my way out of the cell and into the prison beyond, the heavy door slamming and locking shut behind me. Nodding at one of the guards on duty, I strode over towards another cell at the far end of the ro
om and stepped up to the single open visor to glance within, spotting the perfectly still form of Carver. Sitting at the edge of the bed as I’d seen him do so every time that I’d looked in, there was nothing to the man that belied an active presence, his body completely unmoving save for the times that it lay down to sleep.

  No change at all, I thought as I turned away from the sight, the few seconds of observation telling me everything I needed to know. In the three days since the attack, the man had said nor done nothing, exactly as I’d told Hido just minutes earlier, seemingly having given up after his defeat. We’ll see if he keeps that up though over the next few weeks. He’s not going anywhere fast.

  Giving the guard one final wave, I made my way out of the prison and stepped back out into Aldford, squinting as I glared up at the bright sun above me. It had been three days since what we were starting to call the Second Battle for Aldford had ended—three days that had also been accompanied by near non-stop rain, this morning being the first time that the sky had broken since. As a result, none of us were used to seeing the bright orb shining down at us from above, slowly needing to get used to its presence once again.

  Something that we’ll have plenty of opportunity for over the next few weeks. We have a lot of work to do just to clean up after the battle, let alone to start rebuilding anything, I thought as I walked through the town, my eyes scanning over the countless signs of damage visible. A pile of debris here, a large scar of magic there, along with a burnt-out or damaged building to round out either. While we may have survived the orc attack, we hadn’t done so unscathed, and Aldford would bear the scars of the ordeal for quite some time yet.

  But at least we have the hands to help with that now, I added a few seconds later as my journey had me arriving at the town hall, the sounds of numerous voices in the distance having grown steadily the closer I approached, with Léandre’s, in particular, calling out the moment the square came into sight.

  “Okay, I need all those who know which end of a hammer to hold before striking a nail to gather over there,” he said in a loud and commanding tone, the craftsman standing on a large wooden crate amid a throng of people. “And I need those of you asking why you are even holding a hammer if you haven’t measured anything yet to please see Jenkins over there. For you will have the misfortune of supervising the others.”

  Chuckling at the man’s words as the crowd around him started to organize themselves appropriately, I quickly cut my way through the square, pausing only to send a wave in both his and Jenkins’s direction, not wanting to distract them or the new arrivals with my presence. Having just arrived this morning from the temporary refuge that we’d established to the south, they were among the first wave of people we’d called up with the intention of using their eager hands to begin to clear and rebuild Aldford. The rest would follow slowly in the days to come, arriving in a controlled fashion as to not overwhelm the town’s already strained infrastructure and the sheer lack of living space that we were now forced to contend with. As it was, the last few days had been an exceptionally cramped affair in just trying to find a dry place to stash all the defenders that had contributed to Aldford’s defense, let alone find a way to accommodate another thousand or so souls.

  At least now that the storm’s passed, we can set up tents and other temporary housing closer to Aldford to spread people out, I thought as continued to walk, my mind taking that opportunity to shift towards the expansion plans that had been drawn up by Léandre and Drace while we’d sheltered from the rain. Building off the architect’s earlier ideas, the town’s eastern half was slated to undergo a rapid explosion of growth as it sprawled across the river, eating up as much land as possible that wasn’t suited for farming. It was going to be a tricky process to balance in the coming weeks and months, seeing as said river was the best source of water available to us. Fortunately, I’d managed to escape any and all responsibility in having to deal with that process by assigning it to the aforementioned pair to deal with. The last I’d heard they’d solicited Garr and a few of the other earthspeakers to help with their efforts—something that they were all more than eager to be a part of.

  But while I’d managed to pawn that set of responsibilities away on them, in addition to the ones involving managing the actual clearing and reconstruction efforts of the town, there was one responsibility in particular that I hadn’t been able to get anyone to take charge of. Granted, that could have been because it was a responsibility that if it was handled poorly could potentially spell the end of everything and everyone in the town as it tore itself to pieces in a vicious display of destruction that would make our recent battle look like a schoolyard fight between children.

  It was the responsibility of dividing the loot.

  With a truly colossal amount of spoils to recover from the vanished orc horde, let alone somehow distribute equitably amongst the several hundred defenders, I’d found myself the only person willing to take the task. Or perhaps, more accurately put, the slowest person to load themselves up with other tasks to claim the justification of being “too busy” as a reason not to be burdened with it. Regardless of how it ended up in my hands, however, I’d at least been fortunate to conscript a handful of people to help me with the task, the most critical amongst them being Ritt, the one-armed merchantman the perfect person to run herd on a horde of greedy adventurers. So it was with his voice splitting the air ahead of me that I arrived at the arena, the site having been chosen for its wide-open space and storage capacity for our loot-sorting process.

  And for one other reason, in particular.

  “That’s a win for Dannelon!” I heard Ritt shout as two figures staggered out from the sandy ring, a chorus of clapping and cheers echoing out along with his words. “And that means he gets the, uh…Belt of Fortitude you two couldn’t agree to split, and you, Kieron, get your pick between anything else on table number one there—or straight coin value instead.”

  “Rah, fiiine,” the aforementioned adventurer said with a small note of frustration. “He beat me fair. I’ll take that Longsword of Deadly Wounds there instead.”

  “Fantastic!” Ritt exclaimed, waving his hand for the man to go do exactly that, indicating one of the many tables that had been lined up behind him away from the completely packed stands. It was that very motion that caused him to spot me approaching from the side, a grin quickly crossing his face. “Hey, Lyr, there you are! You’re back earlier than I expected. How are things going with our prisoners?”

  “Surprisingly well—they didn’t hold anything back at all, and we have a few things to go on with regards to where a few extra of their camps and bases are farther up north, among other things,” I replied as I glanced around, seeing that the stands were full of eager adventurers chatting and shouting amongst themselves as they watched a few helpers rake the battle ring’s sand flat again. “How about here? It looks like things are going well here. Really well, actually.”

  “That’s because they are,” Ritt replied, his grin growing even wider as he fully turned towards me, allowing me to see the now-familiar presence of Noodles hanging from Ritt’s neck, the rope snake helpfully holding what looked like a small clipboard on the man’s behalf. “I don’t know how you came up with this idea, Lyrian, but it’s been effortless on my part so far. Everyone sorts out their own disagreements, and things just carry on from there. Even the people waiting for their turn seem to be having a good time. We should turn this into a regular feature of some sort.”

  “Well, if this is the sort of crowd we’d get if we did, I don’t see any reason why not,” I said, turning so I could better see the stands and surrounding area, finding them packed with what had to be the better part of a hundred adventurers. “We’re going to need bigger stands if we do though.”

  “Definitely,” Ritt agreed, following my gaze for a second as he glanced towards the crowd, then the freshly swept arena before suddenly remembering something. “Whoops, they’re waiting on me now! I need to call another pair down. You
going to stick around for a bit here?”

  “Just for a minute, unfortunately,” I replied despite being eager to see exactly how the process worked firsthand. “I’m making my rounds, checking in on everyone here to see if they need anything from me. I need to drop in on Constantine and Sierra next.”

  “Ah, that’s fair. They’re the ones sorting out and bringing in the loot that we’re handing out here,” Ritt said with an understanding nod. “If anything goes wrong there, we’ll end up with a riot on our hands.”

  “Pretty much my thoughts too,” I said, the crowd suddenly growing louder as they continued to wait for something else to happen. “And it looks like they’re getting antsy enough here already.”

  “Hopefully, only until the next fight starts,” Ritt said as he checked the clipboard that Noodles was holding for him before striding out towards the edge of the ring and facing the crowd. “Sorry about the delay, everyone! Next up is number twenty-eight and twenty-nine! Come on down over to me by the tables, and we’ll sort you all out!”

  Striding back over towards me after he finished speaking, we waited for the called adventurers to appear, only to find ourselves surprised when both Janus and Riggs showed up at the same time.

  “Oh, boy,” I said as I saw the pair. “Don’t tell me that you’re both twenty-eight and twenty-nine.”

  “Ah, afraid so,” Riggs replied, the massive Tul’Shar holding up a piece of paper that revealed the latter number and Janus doing the same with the former. “So how is this going to work?”

  “Well, that’s going to be up to you guys,” Ritt said as he took the two scraps of paper from him and once again consulted his clipboard, flipping it to another sheet and scanning it until he found their names. “According to this, you both carried over and above your weight for the battle, which means you each get a claim off the ‘grand table’ over there, or you can choose to take more from any of the other tables, adjusted for value the farther down you go. If you both like something you see, then you can each claim it and go. But if you both want the same thing…well, then we have some options.”