The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2)

CHAPTER 8

Hisako cried out in outrage and pain. Six of her people lay on the ground. Their bodies were bloodied and ruined. More than one was decapitated. Eleven bugbears bodies joined them in unnatural positions. None were moving. The remaining ten sprites were split between firing out of the village to keep the reinforcements out of the village or attacking the knot of bugbears still inside the walls. They were outnumbered even if their attention had not been divided. At least fifteen bugbears remained inside the earthwork walls. The only reason the sprites had not been overwhelmed was the presence of the angel. Zacharia was battering with its crystal sword against an unseen barrier.

The Dark mage was straining to keep the defense in place. He was down on one knee with both hands raised above his head. The drain of maintaining the shield was obvious. Next to the Dark mage was another figure. She wore tight-fitting robes that in the light of Hisako’s Blessed Light spell, looked more dark grey than black. There was no submission in her face however, unlike her comrade.

The grey-robed sorceress had dark grey skin and fine features. Jet black hair hung loose and straight down her back. She held a staff of braided black wood. The end was pointed at the angel. Her face would have been considered beautiful if not for the cruel snarl fixed upon it. She was five and a half feet tall and her ears were upturned like an elf’s. Even at a distance, her form fitting clothes showed off an athletic and pleasing build.

All of this registered to Richter in a moment, but what caught his attention was Yoshi’s battle with a bugbear several inches taller than the other bugbears Richter had fought. Aside from being bigger, he wore a mix of chain and leather armor, not just the leather of the rest of the attackers. He wielded a large sword. The blade swelled out closer to the tip resembling an axe blade. In the other hand, he held a heater shield. Analyze showed:

Name: Lif’alt. Bugbear Raider Level 24. Health 410. Mana 130. Stamina 430. Disposition: Enmity. Bugbears are the result of sorcerous experimentation blending cave bears with goblins. The race is naturally strong and hardy. They are adept at hiding. Warlike to a fault, it takes a strong leader to control them. Well known to incorporate other races into their war parties. Bugbears obtain the title of ‘Raider’ by undergoing special training. Every raider has +3 to Strength and Constitution. They also have advanced weapons training. Bugbears get one point to distribute per level, and each level gives +1 to Strength, +1 to Constitution, +1 to Dexterity, +1 to Endurance. Profession: Warrior.

The steady banging of the angel against the two mages shields provided a slow tempo. The movement of the two Fighters though was faster by far. Everyone around them fought in what looked like slow motion. Yoshi had two blades out, held in either hand. Each was three feet long and double-edged. The blades were one inch wide uniformly until they tapered to a point. They glowed the pale blue of a glacier. As Richter stared, the two exchanged furious blows.

The raider swung his sword down in an overhand chop. Rather than trying to block, Yoshi smacked his sword against the flat of the falling blade while jumping slightly to the side. The heavy weapon served as a relatively immovable surface, allowing Yoshi to push himself out of the way. Getting back on the ground, he spun in a circle both swords lashing towards his opponent’s legs, using the form Samara Seed Falls. The bugbear didn’t even try to dodge, and instead just took the strikes on his iron greaves. Yoshi’s swords left blue white splotches of ice against the iron but did little else. In response, the raider thrust out with his shield trying to bash the sprite. Yoshi had not stayed still however, and used the momentum of his spin to continue behind the invader. That was the idea anyway.

Seeing his shield bash fail, Lif’alt lowered his center of gravity and pivoted on his front foot, keeping the shield between himself and Yoshi. He activated Thrust, and his heavy blade shot forward several times faster than it would have by strength of arm alone. Richter’s breath caught in his throat. At such a short range there should be no way that Yoshi could dodge. Richter was wrong again.

Yoshi bent backwards at the waist almost to ninety degrees, putting one leg behind him for balance. At the same time, he crossed his swords in front of him, catching Lif’alt’s weapon in the crook of the two blue blades. The other side of the angle they formed was only an inch from Yoshi’s chest. The tip of the sword drew a drop of blood from the end of the adept’s nose. Drawing his blades across his body in a reverse scissoring motion, he pushed the sword up and away. He straightened and he spun both of his swords back into a guard position.

The two circled one another before resuming their deadly dance. The raider led with his shield, with the sword laid atop sticking towards Yoshi. Taking half steps forward, he closed the distance and jabbed over the top of the shield. Yoshi struck his opponent’s sword away and swung one of his own swords over the shield. The bugbear had already retracted his blade though, and was able to deflect the half sprite’s strike. The two started to circle again, putting some space between them.

Lif’alt activated another Warrior ability, Lunge, triggering an unexpected burst of speed. He crossed the six feet in under a second, the sword leading with a straight thrust. He followed this with a sideways slash, a shield bash and then overhand chop. Yoshi barely dodged the first strike and ducked under the second. Richter saw that the bugbear had waited until Yoshi was backed up against a large stone. The first two attacks of the combo had just been a distraction! The shield bash connected and flung Yoshi back. Richter resisted the impulse to look away from the last attack that he was sure would cleave the half-human in two.

Once again Richter had underestimated the sword adept. The shield had indeed connected, but it had not knocked Yoshi off balance. He used the force of the shield bash like a springboard to propel him to the stone. He quickly kicked off the large rock and jumped over the bugbear.

The invader’s downward slash had brought his body forward and made him bend down to a certain extent. As Yoshi passed over the bugbear’s head, he stabbed down with one sword, two feet of the icy blade entering just above the clavicle. The blue blade sunk two feet vertically into his opponent’s chest, leaving frost at the penetration site. A startled grunt escaped the raider, but Yoshi was not done. He maintained his grip on the imbedded sword, using it as a fulcrum. He ended his flip by hanging crouched on his enemy’s back. One hand was holding the handle of the buried blade and his other sword was poised to strike. A moment of stillness came and went, ending when Yoshi thrust forward. The tip of his sword entered through the base of the neck, traveled up at an angle, and then fangs, blood and glowing blue metal exploded from the bugbear’s mouth. That was how the story of Lif’alt ended.

Richter had been totally distracted by this battle between two fighters and came back to himself with a start. Though it had captivated his entire attention the fight took less than one minute. The other bugbears upon seeing the death of their strongest fighter seemed to deflate and lost some of their intensity.

Death of an enemy Champion: -100 Fighting Spirit points for enemy forces for the duration of the battle! +50 Fighting Spirit points for allied forces for duration of battle.

He finally felt like the battle was going their way! The only real question was… when would he stop making stupid assumptions? The sudden absence of a particular sound caught his attention, and he realized he could no longer hear the angel’s sword banging upon the enemy wizards’ magic shield. Turning his head, he saw the cherubiae raise his crystal sword in salute to Hisako.

“Good luck, Daughter of Light.”

The angel faded from view, its time on this plane done. Large cracks could be seen in the black shield that the mages had huddled behind. The disappearance of cherubiae created an unspoken cease fire. The remaining bugbears broke off their attack on the remaining sprites, backing up towards their casters. Their large shields were dented from blocking imbued magic strikes. The sprites broke off to form around Hisako and Richter. Yoshi stood in front, both swords glowing softly blue in the darkness.

No one spoke at first, and the two groups just glared daggers at one another. Richter took the opportunity to drink several mana potions. Something about this particular piece of land tickled his memory, but he stopped thinking of it when the female caster said, “Hello Hisako. It has been a long time.” Her voice was a sultry syrup. The kind of dulcet tones that every man thinks he wants to hear.

“Hello, Modara,” Hisako replied with venom in her voice. Richter looked at her surprised. He hadn’t ever thought he would hear such vehemence coming from the kind and matronly sprite. Her face was a mask of stark anger. Richter looked back at Modara who seemed amused by the Hearth Mother’s fury. “You will not escape this time!”

Modara just laughed. She held up her staff, “I think you might be overconfident, or do you not recognize what I am holding?”

“I see your new bauble,” Hisako said in the same tone as before. “I also saw how much you strained to keep the angel at bay. There can’t be much mana left in it. You WILL die!”

Yoshi spoke up, “Let me take her head now, Hearth Mother! I know what this whore of darkness has done.”

“Watch how you speak to your betters fool! I will drink the fluid from your eyes,” she spat back at the sword adept. Turning to look at Hisako again, she resumed her previous languid tone of voice, “You are quite right Hisako. I have used most of my reserves, but I have enough for one last spell.”

Modara raised the staff in the air and shouted an incantation. The sprites started firing at the mass of bugbears, but they huddled behind their shields. Braced by their massive strength, the shields protected them from harm. The two casters were behind the warriors, and the fighters seemed content to let Modara finish casting her spell. After a few seconds, she let loose a shout and thrust the staff into the air. Dark streamers of energy plunged into the ground between the two groups. The earth immediately started rumbling, and then a bony hand shot up, followed by another and another. That was why this patch of ground had seemed significant. It was where Richter and Sion had burned the bodies of the goblins they had killed cleansing the forest!

Modara’s laugh rose into the air. “You really should be more careful where you put a mass grave!”

In no time at all, dozens of skeletons had climbed out of the ground. The sprites started firing at these new enemies, and the first volley dropped several, but the Dark mage had not been sitting idle. He finished his spell and dark tendrils wrapped around each skeleton. Whereas before the sprites’ imbued arrows had caused the skeletons to collapse, now they caused much less damage. The defenders would have been overrun, but Hisako saved them again.

The Hearth Mother raised both arms in a “X” in front of her face and then spread her arms wide. A large gold panel like the ones she had cast before flashed into existence. This was much larger however, and covered two dozen yards in width and ten feet in height. She gave a second and a third shout, each magical yell starting with making another “X” and ending with an open armed stance. The shield became more substantial and glowed brighter at the end of each of her movements. The golden panel was a formidable defense, but the strain of such a large shield was clearly telling on the Hearth Mother’s face. Richter could see the bugbears had joined the skeletons, and all were beating against the wall of light.

Modara laughed again, “How long can you last Hisako? And just how are you going to kill me after my minions rip you into little pieces? Hahaha.” Hisako didn’t answer, the stressed look on her face did that for her. Richter knew she couldn’t last much longer. Both enemy casters began firing dark beams of energy at the shield. The impact points of their blasts created a fine series of cracks that grew by the second.

Yoshi spoke up, “The Hearth Mother cannot fight on her own. Form up! We will send these evil creatures to the hell of their choosing. Foresuto No!”

The sprites responded, “Foresuto No!” Richter translated the phrase silently, ‘For the Forest!’

He readied himself to fight. He wasn’t concerned about his own life; he would be reborn. The thought of the sprites dying though, filled him with horrible guilt. He couldn’t even think about what would happen to the villagers once the fighters were dead. He knocked an arrow to his bow and prepared for Hisako’s shield to collapse. The sky began to lighten as the assault continued against the gold plate, making it even easier to see the wide spread cracks. It wouldn’t be much longer.

Wait, lighten?! The sun was coming up! Richter accessed the town interface and checked the mana available. 517! With his personal mana pool, he was over 800! He began to laugh. First the sprites, then the bugbears, and then the casters, started to stare at him. The only person that didn’t seem to notice was Hisako, who was fully committed to their defenses.

Modara shouted, “Do you think the sun will save you idiot? You’ll be dead before it is fully up!”

Richter held up his middle finger. “Modara,” he paused to make sure he had her attention, “you’re fat.” She looked at him with utter shock on her face, then her expression twisted into something truly ugly. She screamed in rage. The magical attack from her outstretched hand grew thicker and darker. Richter just laughed evilly, and then threw his hands up above his head. He cast Confusing Mist.

Thick mist shot out of his body in all directions. It penetrated the golden shield and continued on. Visibility was soon zero for everyone present. He concentrated this time, and mentally focused on making the mist permeate to the boundaries of his domain without leaving a clearing in the middle. As the mist flew faster and faster, he selected all of the sprites and gave them immunity. He also thought of Alma giving her immunity as well. The skeletons had continued to pound at the shield, but the bugbears had stopped in confusion and the two streams of black magic had stopped as well.

Richter moved to Yoshi, “We need to retreat with Hisako. Tell everyone to be as quiet as possible so that we can lose them in the mists.” The sword adept nodded and spoke quickly to the other sprites. All shouldered their bows, and Sion came to stand next to Richter. Alma alighted on his shoulders hissing at the enemies on the other side of the golden shield. A glowing grey orb was also floating thirty feet away. Richter shouted, “Futen!”

The orb flowed towards Richter, “Yes, my Lord?” The remnant’s deadpan voice sounded even stranger than normal against the screams of outrage and bloodlust coming from their foes. Modara’s voice rose above the others as she threatened the bugbears with painful deaths if they let Hisako flee.

“We need to escape. We are going to run as silently as possible. Lead them off in another direction by imitating our voices.”

“As you wish, my Lord.”

At a nod from Yoshi, Richter picked up the Hearth Mother and began running. They quickly reached the range of her ability to maintain the shield, which shattered to golden pieces. She cried out at the spell backlash and lapsed into unconsciousness. The fragments dissipated before striking the ground. As soon as the wall was down, the skeletons and bugbears surged forward. Blasts of black energy shot in their general direction. One caught a sprite in the shoulder throwing him to the ground. The brave fighter didn’t make a sound however and regained his feet quickly. Yoshi moved to support him, and they all continued forward. The increased agility of the sprites let them outstrip the bugbears and skeletons. After a minute, voices issued well to the left, and the sounds of pursuit followed it. Once again Futen’s ruse was working.

They ran for another five minutes until there were no sounds behind them. Stopping to assess, Richter looked at Hisako. She still had not regained consciousness, but she didn’t seem to be in any distress. He waved to two of the sprites and whispered furiously, “Take the Hearth Mother to the meadow. Stay there and protect them all.” He carefully handed over her body. A thought occurred to Richter, and he spent a few seconds giving immunity to the sprites that were guarding the villagers and all of the villagers he could remember.

Sion came close and asked softly, “What do we do now, Richter?” Yoshi and the other sprites looked at him as well.

He looked at his best friend, and the other fighters with a harsh glare, “We kill them all.”