The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (25 page)

Looking up at Richter, the thief
replied, “You, and everyone you love, are dead. You think you accomplished
something here tonight? Ha! These were our rookies. The ones that were only
good for making dinner and ensuring the building didn’t burn down. We will
refill our ranks, and when our veterans return, I will enjoy seeing you peeled
like a grape!”

Richter nodded during this entire
response, looking thoughtful and not interrupting. At the end, he firmed his
lips, nodded once more, and then drove his dagger into the thief’s eye. The
body start
spasming
, and even as he cleaned his blade
on the dead man’s clothes, the right leg continued to kick erratically. With a
deep sigh he moved to the next kneeling man.

“Look. I know you don’t want us here.
We don’t want to be here. There has b-”

The man interrupted, “We are both at
fault! I agree, please let me help you find your friends!”

“Thank you, lead the way,” Richter said.
Terrod
stared at him with wide eyes.

The man walked ahead of them to a
blank wall. Running his hand along the wooden panels, he found what he was
looking for. A small square of wall depressed, and the thief placed his hand
inside. They heard a click, and then a section of wall opened. Dragging the
door open, a small room could be seen with a trap door in the floor.

“Open it,”
Terrod
said.

The thief looked nervous, but did as
he was asked. As soon at the hatch was lifted, the smell of unwashed bodies with
human waste was palpable. Faint wails of despair came out of the hole.

“Get them out of there,”
Terrod
screamed grabbing the man by the nape of his neck
and shoving him toward a ladder.

“Everyone! It’s
Terrod
.
We are getting you out of here, come up the ladder quickly as you can.”

Stinking, weakened figures climbed up
the ladder and stood to the side. Upon seeing the thief many began to hiss and
grumble. One dwarf wrapped his hands around the man’s neck to throttle him.
Terrod
had to pull him off, saying they still needed the
thief alive. About thirty prisoners made their way up the ladder,
Terrod
staring in each face before moving to the next. When
no one else came up he grew frantic, “Is anyone else still down there? Isabel!
Where is Isabel?”

An older dwarf said, “They separated
her and a few others from the rest of us as soon as we got here. We haven’t
seen her in days.”

Terrod
stomped towards the thief with
murder in his eyes.

“
Th
-they
sold her,” the thief stammered backing up. “Some of the King’s friends keep
nonhumans on their estates as slaves. They use them for cheap labor, sport… or
pleasure.”

With a cry,
Terrod
threw himself at the prisoner, pummeling him with his fists as he cried in
rage. This time it was Richter who had to save the man’s life.

“We don’t have time for this,”
Richter said. Addressing the thief, “You will die here, now, unless you can
help us.”

“There is a ledger,” the thief said.
His facial bruises were making his speech slurred. “It’s in the chest where we
keep our loot. Please don’t kill me!”

“Get on your feet,”
Terrod
snarled picking the man up by the arm. Turning to
Jeremy he said, “Gather our dead, and lead our people back through the tunnels.
Make sure to get Jason and the other wounded to a healer. Be vigilant, but move
quickly. Go!” Turning to Richter he asked, “Will you and your friend stay with
me?”

“We finish what we start,” Richter
replied. Sion nodded.

“Where are we going,”
Terrod
asked the thief.

“This way.”

The man walked back towards the
stairs, and past into the hallway where Richter had suffered his sneak attack.
Reminded he told the thief, “If you are planning on leading us into a trap, you
had better be sure that it kills us all at once, or I will put an arrow through
you head. After seeing how you treated those people, it would be a pleasure.”

The thief whimpered, but nodded. They
walked down the hallway on edge. The only reassuring fact was that it was
narrow enough that sneak attacks could not come from the rear. They reached a
large oaken door which the thief pushed open. Biting his lip, he pointed to the
first stone after the door and said, “Don’t step on it.”

Skirting the trap, they followed him
into the room and saw a large chest sitting in the middle.

“What’s the catch,” Richter asked.

“I will tell you but on one
condition. You have to let me go, and kill the other thief you kept alive. The
only way my own gang doesn’t kill me for failure is if they think I was never
here. I want your word.”

Terrod
moved forward, “I’ll get the answer
out of you some other way,” he said raising his mace.

“Stop,” Richter said. “We don’t have
time for this! I swear not to kill you, and will let you deal with the other
thief. Tell us how to get the ledger!”

“That entire chest is a decoy. It has
a powerful sleep spell bound to it which causes hours of unconsciousness in
anyone who touches it. The real chest is over here.” The thief walked over to
painting and took it down from the wall. Behind it was a chest the size of a
microwave. “I don’t know how to open it though, and it weighs an incredible
amount.”

“That’s not a problem,” Richter said.
Taking his Bag of Holding he slipped it over the chest, reducing its apparent
weight of 310 kg to 31 kg, well within the tolerance of his strength.

Terrod
stared at him, “Will your wonders
never cease.” Walking back, they took care not to trigger the trap, and walked
back to the remaining prisoner. Richter handed a dagger to the helpful thief,
“I am not here to do your dirty work. Do what you must.”

Taking the dagger, the man slit his
former comrade’s throat with no hesitation. Seeing Richter’s outstretched hand,
he gave the dagger back. They walked down the stairs and back into the tunnel.
Richter looked at the thief and asked, “What is your name.”

“I am called Nil.”

“Well
Nil
,
we made a deal of knowledge for service. You knowledge of the chest for my
service of sparing your life. But you owe me for saying you from him,”
indicating
Terrod
. “He would kill you despite what I
agreed to. Now say you owe me for saving your life.”

“I owe you, kind sir.”

“Say it again.”

“I owe you my life, sir!”

“And now say it one more time,”
Richter said enunciating each and every word.

The thief clearly knew what this meant,
but could say little in rebuttal. After seeing the murder and rage in
Terrod’s
eyes, there was no denying that he owed his
survival to Richter. He bowed his head and spread his arms wide. “I owe you, my
Lord.”

Richter looked the man in the eye and
said, “Thrice heard and witnessed.”

Nil has agreed to do you a favor.
Failure to do so when asked will cause a decrease in his reputation with all
beings, and other unknown consequences. Keep in mind, your word means
everything!

“Now run,” Richter said. “I will
collect on what you owe me one day.” Nil ran off giving credence to the old
saying of vanishing like a thief in the night. Richter, reminded of the state
of the refugees they had rescued, could not leave it like this. Casting Grease
once more on the room they had just left, he threw
Terrod’s
torch into the mix and was rewarded by a whoosh of flame as the furniture and
walls caught light. Richter, Sion,
Terrod
and the man
who had been guarding the final thief then turned their backs on both the light
of the fire and the darkness of their deeds, walking on into the gloom of the
tunnel.

They made their way back to the inn
without incident. While on the way, Richter dealt with the prompts that
littered the edge of his vision.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 5 in archery. +2% bonus to aim. +2% bonus to damage.

Congratulations! You have reached
skill level 4 in Imbue Arrow. +5% damage. +5% speed of mana flow.

Congratulations! You have advanced to
level 4 in Herb Lore. Herbs are 3% more effective. Increased chance of finding
higher level herbs.

Congratulations! You have advanced to
level 2 in Focus. Zoom increased by 0.1x

You have proven yourself to be
Honorable. You chose to save the life of a comrade rather than eliminate a
threat. +2 to Charisma, 3% decrease in critical strike chance and critical
strike damage.

The last seemed a bit of a double
edged sword, but he was satisfied with the bargain. Richter would never know
for sure, but since coming to the Kingdom, interacting with others had been of
the utmost importance. From meeting
Caulder
, to
Rosy’s
referral to
Terrod
, to
Leandra selling him the spells that had quite possibly been the deciding factor
in the battle with the thieves, his ability to interact with those he had met
clearly altered his life here. If he was going to succeed in this new world, he
could not do it alone, and he would continue to need help. He would take all of
the Charisma he could get!

The next prompt was what caught his
attention though.

Congratulations! You have won +500
fame points! You have freed those falsely imprisoned, they will spread word of
your bravery!

CHIME!

Congratulations! You have advanced to
Reputation Level 2! “I think I’ve heard of you.” New quests and opportunities
will become available to you!

You have completed the Quest: Fight
for those Who Cannot I. The nonhumans of Yves will now look upon you favorably.
Many may decide to come to the Mist Village. Bonus Reward: The contents of the
thieves’ chest. Reward: 3500 XP

TRING!

You have reached level 9! Through
hard work you have moved forward along your path. As a Chaos Seed you gain 6
points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4. You also get
25% advancement to the skill of your choice! Crush your enemies, honor your
allies, LIVE!

Richter was once again faced the
pleasant dilemma of how to allocate his points. The real difficulty with his
abilities was that they were almost all mana dependent. His most powerful skill
was still Imbue Arrow, and that was a serious drain. Many game players liked to
specialize in one area. That was never Richter’s style. He liked to have the
ability to grow in many directions. His value as a player always came from
finding unorthodox solutions to problems through combinations of his skills and
abilities. He liked to think that where others saw problems, he thought of
solutions. He saw no reason to change his style now. So he put all of his
points into the only characteristic he had not directly invested in yet,
Wisdom.

Richter finished with his internal
management and enjoyed the increased regeneration of his mana bar at corner of his
vision. By the time they had arrived at the ladder that led to the alley behind
the inn, a fair amount of his mana had recovered. He still felt some aches from
bruises, and walking shot pain into his lower back where he had been stabbed.
These were minor annoyances now though, rather than debilitating injuries. The
healing abilities in this world were amazing. His healing herbs were truly
magical. St John’s Wort eat your heart out!

“We need to go back to
Aldimah’s
Focus,”
Terrod
said
once they were back in the inn. “I’m not sure what protections are on that
chest, but I’d be surprised if there were not both magical and
nonmagical
traps.
Killik
and
Leandra should be able to help. Will you come with me? You convinced the thief
to give us the chest. I’ll happily relinquish the contents of the chest, but
please let me see the ledger!”

At Richter’s nod,
Terrod
spent a few moments checking in with all of the former captives. He had
apparently not rented out any rooms since the first trouble with the Night Blades
several days prior. He had foreseen that the nonhumans would need a place to
stay away from prying eyes until he could get them back out of the city.
Richter asked if the gang knew
Terrod
was involved
with getting the nonhumans out of the Kingdom. If so, they would obviously come
to the inn looking for retribution.
Terrod
said the
arrangements were made through intermediaries, and his name should not have
come up. He still seemed a somewhat uncertain though.

Terrod
passed on the care of the nonhumans
to his staff who assured him that everyone would be fed, given a bath and a
place to stay. The wounded were already being cared for and the dead laid by
the fire with what were clearly loved ones sobbing over the bodies. Three
fighters had given up their lives in the fight.
Terrod
,
Sion, Richter and Jeremy walked out into the night. There wasn’t much noise
other than their footfalls.
Terrod
looked at Richter,
“Not everyone would have the stomach to kill a man on his knees like that.”

Richter answered without looking
back. “Where I am from horrible things happen every single day. No one helps.
We even have the ability to know about atrocities on the other side of the
planet, but nothing changes. I personally, was too weak or too scared to do
anything about it. I don’t like slavers, and that is what you are if you hold
an innocent against their will and intend to profit by it. That is what this
Kingdom seems to be approaching. When the Night Blades tried to sell people,
they crossed a line. Now that means they were on one side, and I was on the
other. I don’t regret killing that man. I am happy the world has a bit less
evil in it.”

“You let the final thief go,”
Terrod
observed. “That Nil, who killed his own man.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. Nil’s was
being part of a group that had partaken in the slave trade. I do not enjoy
killing, but as I said, I will not apologize for making the world a better
place. Now all three of those men who surrendered were given the chance to make
amends. The first was asked twice by you. Then in the most reasonable terms I
could manage, I asked him a third time. Now even where I come from, neither god
nor man can ask for more than that. So when a man has been given every chance
to amend for a heinous crime, and yet still decides to stand defiant on the
wrong side of the line,” Richter finally turned to look at
Terrod
,
“I will snatch the soul out his body, and smile right after.”

Terrod
looked back at him, “I think we
understand one another.”

They arrived at the magic shop, and
Terrod
lead them around to the back door. He knocked once
and then waited. The familiar face of
Killik
filled
the window, and then they heard a bolt being drawn back before he opened the
door. The filed into the room with the table Richter had seen before.
Terrod
wasted no time. “We took a chest from the Night
Blades. We need it opened.”

“Why did you bring us this trouble in
the middle of the night,”
Killik
said heatedly. “You
know how hard I work to keep Leandra away from this!”

Terrod
took the abuse silently, and then
said, “It’s the only way to find Isabel.”

“Of course we will help,” Leandra
said coming down the stairs set in the back of the room. “
Killik
get your tools. Where is the chest?” The man looked like he might argue, but
then changed his mind, and did as he was bidden.

“I have it,” Richter said. “Where
would you like me to put it?”

“One moment,” she said. She placed
both hands over the table. There was a blue glow, and a circle inscribed with
runes appeared on the table. “Set it here.”

Richter retrieved the chest, and
placed it on the table.

Killik
returned with a leather bound item.
Unrolling it next to the chest, various metal implements could be seen, each in
its own specific place. He looked at the four of them, “Just stand back, and
let us work.”

Killik
and Leandra huddled around the chest
murmuring to each other. They circled it several times planning their avenue of
attack. A lot more than several times actually. The next thing Richter knew he
was being shaken awake from the chair where he had sat while waiting. Sunlight
streamed through the window and the sounds of foot traffic could be heard. All
the innocuous events of that occurred, and were in turn ignored, each and every
morning. This morning however, they were remarkable to Richter, standing in contrast
to the blood spilled and lives lost the night before.

His focus was quickly pulled to what
was in front of him. The chest lay on the table the lid ajar. Leandra and
Killik
sat nearby looking drained. “That thing was a nightmare.
You’re lucky you brought it to us,”
Killik
said.

“That bad,” Richter asked rubbing his
eyes.

“Well not bad if you would have
enjoyed your blood boiling and parts of your body sloughing off, namely your
c-”

“Leandra,”
Killik
interrupted sharply. Looking back at Richter, “Point is the chest is open now.
We will let you handle your business. I only did this for Isabel. Come Leandra.
We are going to leave them to it.”

The young mage complained but
Killik
was hearing none of it. He herded her out to the
front of the store and out of sight.

“Who is Isabel,” Richter asked.

Terrod
paused on his way to open the chest,
“A wonderful woman. A wood elf. She is… precious to me,” his voice catching at
the end. Richter now understood
Terrod’s
passion to
free the nonhumans.
Terrod
opened the lid, and set it
back on the table. The chest was less than half full. Several vials were on top
that he placed to the side. Underneath was a thin book bound in brown leather.
Terrod
took the book and began to go through it page by
page, the other contents of the chest already forgotten. Sion moved to the
vials examining them, leaving Richter to examine rest of the contents of the
chest. The first thing he saw was a gilded dagger in a sheath that looked like
faceted crystal.