The Dragon's Wrath: Shadows in the Flame (22 page)

She’s not supposed to ask these kinds of questions
, I thought to myself in a panic. The AIs were allegedly shackled so that any mention of the game or players or NPCs would go over their heads. There wasn’t supposed to be a reaction.

Yet she was reacting.

Should I report this?
I wondered.

If an AI was breaking the rules then it should probably be reported but in doing so… she would likely be altered, memory-wiped, or lost altogether. She was… my friend in this game, my companion and to be the one that destroys her, no, I couldn’t do that.

It was too risky to report for now.

Or maybe it wasn’t risky enough for me to report it. So what if she was bending the rules surrounding her shackles, she was still stuck within the game and posed little to no threat. She might grow curious of the other world but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Yeah, this was harmless.

“Come ‘ere you,” I said with a grin as I gave Kate a hug from behind. Getting my mind back on track while warming up with Kate’s added body heat, the bright sun that started us off had disappeared behind some light clouds as a cold breeze came in from the ocean.

Winter was here all right.

At least the waters weren’t frozen over, though a large accumulation of ice had been seen a little ways off the shore. Either way, the weather wouldn’t impede our progress by much. My plans to produce more dire wolf pelts would have to be put on hold for now despite my assurance to Ellieby that I would send some her way.

If I waited too long with FWB, they would strengthen their position to the point where casualties on my side would be likely. A few silvers weren’t worth the time invested in my troops. The training would take priority for now. And as far as Kate was concerned… there was no issue. She was fine where she was, right here.

“We’ve managed to clear the second target Sir Sigurd!” shouted Astrid with a giant smile following. “At this pace, I believe we’ll soon be ready to move!”

“Good work! Take a break after the third is completed,” I loudly replied.

We had two real days left to get this right.

That was one day more than necessary.

“We’re coming, FWB… don’t you worry,” I mumbled to myself as Kate quietly listened to my every word. “This will be the end of your run here in the North.”

“For Selene,” she interjected.

“Yeah, for Selene,” I mumbled back.

Chapter 95: Setting Out

(Monday, January 10th Game Day / Friday, May 7th Real Day)

“Is she sea ready?” I asked the shipbuilder as I inspected the second longship that had been roughly completed an hour before. “Missing some finer touches, it looks like.”

“She’ll float ‘n all, that’s what’ll matter,” Stigr replied as he rubbed his elbow that appeared to have a nasty bruise. “If you want it finished, give me ‘nother day, plus ‘n hours’ time to clean ’er up and get her right.”

“Have Kate look at that arm, she’ll take care of that in a quick minute,” I said as I nodded in the direction of his purple and black bruise. “Good work as usual Stigr, another fine quality ship and in record time too.”

“Still short a seasoned hand,” he muttered with a shake of his head.

“You’re in for quite a lot of time off Stigr, no plans for you for a while now,” I replied as I began to walk away. “I’ll look into finding help though… in the meantime, why not pick out a child to help, train one while you’ve got the time?”

“Bah youngins’ll be a waste of my free days,” he said with a dismissing wave.

Heading down the riverbank towards the collection of men and women waiting by the first longship, everyone was packed and ready to go. Thirty-one warriors, four priests, six lightning mages, and four dark mages completed my troop. The ships themselves were built to hold around twenty people but could be overcrowded slightly if less gear was taken. Forty-five combat personnel split between two boats with a sailor at the helm plus Katherine and I was a bit too many though.

The weakest three warriors and two of the dark mages would stay behind to watch Dragon’s Breach in case of an attack… that left a rather thin line of defense but my idea was that we would be gone for less than two real days. Activity around these parts had lessened and with the worsening weather, I wasn’t expecting any trouble.

Four units of ten combatants each, organized as one priest, two casters, and seven warriors. Two per boat with Katherine leading the second ship and with myself on the first longship. One sailor per vessel at the helm and that completed our composition for the voyage. As long as the seas remained calm and the winds continued to blow, this would all be over soon.

I was ready to wash my hands of FWB and this was going to be my last attack on them. A final attack to convince them to move elsewhere and seek a treaty. An offer of peace… maybe, depending on how the attack unfolded.

“Eindride are we ready?” I asked as I came within talking distance.

“We are,” he answered with a small turn of his head to partially face me.

“Then let’s begin,” I said calmly. “Havardr, Sigsteinn, Astrid, and Soren, you’ve got team leader duties, sort your units out and load up, the second longship is ready just up the bank. You’ve packed, unpacked and checked, and packed again?”

“Eh,” was the most unanimous reply heard.

“Good, let’s go then.”

Every warrior had a bow to hunt with and in this situation, the twenty-eight of them were given thirty-three arrows each, with twenty-seven targets to hit. Six arrows were for emergency usage as we would be firing in-sync in specific order with little pause, moving left to right then up and repeating.

Having taken our time in the drills while roughly eighty yards out from the target, accuracy was nearly ninety-percent at a firing rate of one arrow every ten seconds. The draw weight for the bows being used were well over a hundred pounds and required a different technique to fire them. Utilizing both arms and the muscles of the chest, shoulder, and back, they would pull the bows apart rather than rely on one steady arm and one pulling arm. It made sense, considering the draw weights but it did seem to take a bit longer.

Either way, two days of practice wasn’t enough for true muscle memory but it was enough for them to remember the order and angles. If mistakes were made, the second longship had fourteen warriors armed with bows to finish the job from the river, as after the first day they were split up and practiced firing from the ship.

Everything had been practiced.

Setting sail both Karvi class longships began to cruise through the estuary with relative ease as the clock ticked over to 9:00 AM. One hour had passed and three hours of daylight remained. The voyage would take roughly twelve hours, give or take a few hours, and if lucky we would arrive in FWB’s territory before midnight. I wanted a night raid… one where my new spell could be utilized in full-effect.

They say a lightning strike is more majestic in the night sky, after all.

Chapter 96: The Lightning Strike

(Tuesday, January 11th Game Day / Friday, May 7th Real Day)

Beaching the longship on the riverbank as we pulled within three miles of the enemy village, the other longship continued on as they would sail and row down the river and circle around. Their destination was the riverbank on the eastern side of the village, where we had previously launched the prior raid. A twenty or thirty minute journey for them while our march through the forest would take about the same.

Jumping overboard into the icy waters with twenty armed combatants following in my wake, we moved onto the densely-packed snow that covered the forest floor. Eindride and Annalie were left to defend the ship, as the two wouldn’t be partaking in the festivities tonight. One was a sailor after all, a man of the sea… a fisherman by nature, the other an inexperienced shield-bearer too green to be on the field.

Stopping to check the location of the moons, one large and one small satellite that was directly north of our location, as long as we kept the light to our backs we would be heading in the right direction. Shadows under the canopy of the forest, the dim lighting of the night kept us close. No more than an arm’s reach from the man or woman in front and behind, everyone was responsible for the one next to them.

The clock was ticking and 11:00 P.M. was right around the corner so there was no time to stop and rest or to count numbers. Daylight was only an hour out and it was imperative that we reached our destination on time. It was a necessity to be on time as the coordination with the second longship was based on it, despite the ability to contact Katherine at any given moment. 

There may come a point where communication would be unavailable… and we needed to be ready for that. We hunted with that theme in mind and tonight, we were simply hunting a different kind of beast. The thick foliage had remained the same as the last time we passed through this forest, unchanged by the inhabitants of the village. Brush on the ground thick enough to block our path, we cut through as quietly as we could.

Five more minutes and we would be at the edge, the forest line that would break into flat plains of white as far as the eye could see… that was, until the eyes saw brown. That brown village with small circular wooden walls with torches spread every twenty feet along the edge. The village with its lone tower on the outskirts, serving as the eyes and ears. A warning system manned by NPCs yet one that would hardly help them tonight.

Returning to the squeaky crunching of the snow beneath our feet, it was a small annoyance but the light snowfall brought a sense of calm that helped one get by. The winter wonderland of the North was here and the pines did their best to keep most of the snow up above our heads. If only the pines let the moonlight shine through, then everything would have been perfect.

As we traveled through the forest and made our way to the edge of the tree line, stopping short of exiting the cover of the pines, not a single animal had been heard or spotted on the way. A peculiar thing as one would expect to hear something, it was as if our hostility was sensed in the air and sent them into hiding. Perhaps our bloodlust was in the air, wafting about as only animals could sense.

Maybe it was ours… more likely it was mine.

Steadily building my anger as we walked through the shadows of the forest, my preparation for [Enraged State] and [Frenzy] if needed was nearly complete. It only worked when I was mad… so in a way, the game wanted me to rage. It condoned it, welcomed it, and even supported it.

The Dragon’s
Wrath
, as they say.

Raising my hand and signaling a stop, I kneeled down to survey the scene before me with my [Keen Sight] as we waited patiently in the snow. A few humanoid-shaped glimmers appeared in the distance but all of them were inside the village, all save for two that occupied the tower directly outside.

Twenty minutes had passed us by while the allotted time was thirty minutes. We would need to keep moving. There was quite a distance to cover between the trees and the village, with open fields of snow filling the space between. We needed to sneak in, to enter within firing range undetected as best as we could before the enemy could sortie.

“Stay low, move slowly but steadily and a ten count before you follow,” I whispered as the message was relayed down the line. Keeping my spot as the point man, I stepped out into the open field with my back and knees bent in a crouching position, moving slowly but steadily forward as ten seconds passed before the next man followed.

Five minutes after leaving the forest, we were within one-hundred yards of the village and were quickly closing in. Dropping myself to a prone position, I motioned for the rest of the troops to wait for my signal. The individuals on watch had been looking our way for the past minute and although they couldn’t see us out in the dark, we could see them standing in front of the flames.

Their silhouettes blocking the flames as they faced in our direction, I needed to remove them from the picture before we could carry on. Lying on my belly while using my arms and legs to perform a fast crawl, the cold snow had nearly numbed my face as it remained inches away. Entering within thirty yards of the tower, the light produced by the flames had illuminated the base of the tower and provided little cover.

The barren base was free of clutter and was absent of the darkness that I readily relied on. Lying still at the edge of the darkness while staring at the glistening white snow that reflected the flames directly in front, I toyed with the idea of using magic to finish the job. I had one minute left before the second ship would begin its movement towards the village, starting some three-miles away and behind the trees where we last played.

As I was thinking over my options with time dwindling down, a noise from within the walls caused the watchmen to turn their heads as I stared at their every move. Jumping up from my position I sprinted towards the base of the tower as I did everything in my power to tread as lightly as possible, softening the blows of my feet on the snow in an attempt to avoid the loud crunches that would give me away.

Reaching the base of the tower within seconds, I immediately jumped up onto the ladder and began my climb without a care to what was behind or above. Every second counting, I needed to silence them before they could send out an alarm.

“Hey did you hear that?” said a man.

“Yeah someone walking by the tower but I can’t see anything… someone going out for a hunt?” answered another as I hung onto the ladder directly below the trap door that would lead me up and into the interior of the watch tower.

“Should we blow the horn?” asked the first man.

“The gate’s still closed… yeah, blow the horn this is suspicious,” replied the second.

“I thought I saw movement out there, I knew it!” uttered the first as he grew excited and the sounds of shuffling could be heard through the wooden floor boards.

Opening the trap door and hoisting myself up with half of the motion of a muscle-up and dip, I quickly turned my head and saw the man with the horn at his lips. Grabbing his ankle and yanking as hard as I could, he fell to the floor with a loud thud as I bit down on my knife and held onto his body to support myself.

Feet dangling out of the hole with only my belly over the board, I held on tightly with my left hand as I pulled the knife out from between my teeth and quickly stabbed the man in the neck with my right. Warm blood pouring out of his neck as he gurgled and tried to make sounds, the other man turned to me in shock as he grabbed his axe and attempted to swing down on me.

Turning my face without time to react, I let go of the dying man and contorted my body as I absorbed the hit that pierced through my shoulder. Grabbing the head of the axe as I slipped and fell through the hole, the man had tried to fight the pull and came crashing down with me. Falling fifteen feet to the snow floor below with a thud that knocked the wind out of me, I gasped in an attempt to breathe as the snow barely cushioned and quietened the fall.

The man that fell with me was in the same situation as he coughed and rolled to his side in an attempt to get up but failed as he was still stunned and fazed by the hard fall. Winded, he tried to call out but the lack of air in his lungs betrayed him as a hoarse whisper was all that made it out. Regaining my composure before him, I crawled to him with my strength returning and grabbed him from behind as he reached his feet.

Grabbing his helmet that had been strapped around his chin, I pulled back and down as I thrust a knee into his back, using the edge of the helmet against the back of his neck in an attempt to snap his spine. Yanking as hard as I could, the man’s body weight carried forward as his head was cranked back but the soft edge of the leather helmet proved useless as the man tumbled to the floor still alive.

Switching the placement of my hand while still holding onto his helmet, I used the extra grip provided by the leather to help twist to the left as I wrapped his body up with my right arm and held him in place. Tugging and fighting the entire way through, the incredible strength of his neck muscles resisting my pull the entire way, I finally felt the tear of the muscles as they gave out and a small audible pop followed.

With the man now limp in my arms and my heart racing through my ears, I looked around and saw that no one had showed. The gates remained closed. Catching my breath as I dragged the body of the deceased towards the wooden walls, I left him lying against the palisade in a position that was hard to see.

Waving my hand slowly back and forth with a fire burning on my fingertips, I looked out into the darkness and could hardly see anything. Making my way over to the ladder, I climbed back up to the tower to find that the second sentry was still barely alive as a pool of blood had surrounded him. The knife having only pierced one artery and exiting through the windpipe, he couldn’t make a sound as he choked on his own blood.

Pulling the knife out and inserting it once into his chest, I put the NPC out of his misery as I turned and looked at the inside of the village. Thirty seconds later, fourteen miniature flames appeared in the distance roughly eighty yards away. Ten seconds later and the first salvo was released.

It was now 11:33 PM.

Fourteen arrows took flight as their little fiery trails whizzed through the dark night sky, crossing over the moon before they landed directly into the center of the roof of the first structure. Ten seconds later the second structure was hit as the flames had begun to spread and alarms started to sound.

Men and women began to shout as I watched from the tower, a front row seat of the mayhem and destruction. A minute into the siege and six buildings were completely ablaze as the fires began to spread on their own. Guild members had attempted to put the blaze out but quickly gave up as they mobilized in the center of the village.

Shrill screams of NPCs filled the air as goosebumps formed on my arms but I held steady and continued to watch. The players had made their minds up and by the time the eleventh building had been hit, they were standing at the gates ready to move. The wooden gate opened slowly as I slid down the ladder of the tower and began my sprint in the direction of my troops, having decided to stick with the original plan over any spur of the moment decisions.

The arrows of the enemy fell behind me as I continued to run while spells fizzled out at their maximum range not even remotely close. Covering the distance in a matter of seconds, I turned around and watched as the horde of players began their charge into the darkness of the night. The only thing that gave us away were the small fires that burned at the feet of each warrior. Fourteen bowmen with six casters waiting behind them, ready to cover them.

And as I reached them, the voice of Havardr could be heard loud and clear.

“Eighteen!” he called out as they took aim and released simultaneously.

Turning back to the mass of players that were quickly closing the distance, fifty yards separated us as I motioned for the troops to prepare.

“Skirmish!” I shouted out as I dropped my stance and began to gather electricity around me. Giving out one last command before whispering my three verse chant to myself, I practically bellowed out my last words. “Cover fire in five!”

As my words reached the ears of the mages around me, lightning had gathered in my palms as four distinct bolts of electricity twirled and spun together. Forming into a collection of raw power that danced in the darkness. White and blue light emanating from my hands and surrounding me as the sheer size of the bolt continued to grow with the more power that I put into it. With the distance to target closing rapidly at only twenty yards out, I released.

“Chain Lightning!” I shouted while thrusting my open palms forward.

“Chain Lightning!” yelled Astrid as she stood to my right at let go.

“Chain Lightning!” screamed Soren as he stayed on my left and released.

“Chain Lightning!” called out another man to the side.

“Chain Lightning!” exclaimed the buxom female.

And in the blink of an eye the entire snowy field before us turned to day for an instant as lightning streaked across the plains and straight into the mass of thirty-some players, arcing and bouncing while sending bodies tumbling and crashing into the dirt and snow. The concentrated magic had been focused on the center of the pack and the muffled screams of shock were imagined as nearly ten bodies hit the floor and never got up.