The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) (26 page)

A second later, he was shown how wrong he was when Alma released a bolt of lightning from above.  The yellow energy forked through the air and impacted the bull skath on its back.  It roared louder than before, and a black scorch mark appeared on its back.  It freed its other arm and hammered the saproling to the ground with a mighty blow.  The forest creature tried to rise again, but the bull skath knocked the deer’s head free with a mighty swipe of its claws.  Green blood flowed thick from what was left of its neck.  With the saproling disposed of, the bull looked up to target the dragonling, but Alma wisely remained high and out of reach. 

Not having to worry about hitting the saproling anymore, Richter dual cast
Flame I
again.  Trying to attack Alma had made the compact creature rise up and present its chest.  The lance of fire burned into the bull’s breast, charring the skin and muscle beneath.  Sion and Ulinde released their shots in the short window of opportunity as well.  Ulinde’s ice arrow struck the bull’s face, paining it, but Sion couldn’t ignore the tempting target of the bull’s chest.  The imbued arrow struck with concussive force in almost the exact same spot as Richter’s flame. 

The sprite had poured almost every mana point he had into the shot.  In truth, Sion had feared losing control of his imbuement and soon would have had to fire the arrow just to avoid damaging himself, but instead, the timing worked out perfectly.  When the arrow hit, ripples of force propagated through the monster’s whole body and it was thrown backwards.  Even Caulder and Terrod, who were still harrowing its flanks, were thrown onto their backs. 

The combined damage was too much for the bull skath.  It struggled to rise, but it had a ragged crater in its chest. 
Analyze
showed that it had only thirty health left.  Richter sent out a mental call to his familiar and he cast
Soul Trap
on his prone enemy.  Alma latched onto the bull skath, which tried to whip its head back and forth to reach the dragonling.  Its motions were weak, however.  The last thing the monster heard was “Igno” before more flames poured into the hole in its chest and consumed its heart.  A ribbon of rainbow light spun through the air.  All was silent.

CHAPTER 16
 

Richter ran over to Sedrin and cursed when he saw the damage the man had sustained.  There were large bleeding holes in his leg where the skath had bitten him.  Far worse was his hand though.  Only two fingers remained, thumb and index.  The rest had been torn off.  Two were lying on the ground not far away, but of the pinky there was no sign.  Richter looked at the scene and started barking orders. 

“Futen.  Teleport back to the Great Seal and tell Randolphus what happened.  Tell Sumiko that we have injured and that Sedrin will need to have his fingers reattached.  She should prepare whatever she needs to, so that they can be reattached without delay.”  He wanted to have another guard detail dispatched, but they would have no way to accurately find him in the wild.  The last thing Richter wanted was for another group of his villagers to be attacked. 

“As you command, my lord,” Futen replied.  The inner glow in the floating orb flared to the point of being blinding and, with a clap of air rushing into a vacuum, the remnant disappeared. 

Richter extended his hand and cast
Ice Dagger I
.  The foot-long ice shard shot into the ground at his feet.  He picked it up along with Sedrin’s bloody fingers and wrapped them all together in a loose length of cloth.  The entire package he tucked inside of his chest armor.  He still wasn’t sure if placing something inside of his Bag caused cell death, and he wasn’t willing to risk Sedrin’s fingers.  It was a blind hope that Sumiko would be able to reattach the digits, but if she could, he would do everything he could to increase her chances of success. 

“Which of you have Agility greater than thirty?” Richter asked.  Only Ulinde raised his hand.  “Then I need you to come with me.  Sedrin must get back to the village and Sumiko’s magic as soon as possible.  We cannot wait.  Everyone else needs to follow behind us in a group.”

Terrod immediately protested. “My lord.  You cannot travel through the forest with only one man for protection.” 

“I can do whatever I damn well please, Captain.  I am the lord here.  I will save this man’s hand if I can, and you will follow my command.  Am I clear?”

Terrod stiffened and came to attention.  Clapping a fist to his heart, he said, “As you command, my lord.” 

Richter nodded and said, “Stick together and keep safe.  I will see you back in the village.”  He looked at Beyan, who was still holding himself back from the group.  When Richter’s eyes fell upon the gnome, the alchemist’s face grew guarded as if he was ready to fight or flee.  Richter took a deep breath to control his stress and said evenly, “I do not know why you hid your magic, but I am sure you had a good reason.  That doesn’t matter to me right now.  What matters is that you fought with us and helped us survive.  Go back with the group and know that you still have a home among us.  Come to the Great Seal tonight, however, because I
will
have your story.”

Beyan bowed his head and, without any of his customary irritation or arrogance, he said, “As you command, Lord Richter.”

Richter nodded back.  Another thought occurred to him—discretion might be the better part of valor in this situation.  He instructed everyone to keep quiet about Beyan’s magic.  They all agreed, but several of the other party members eyed the gnome suspiciously.  It just underlined the importance of speaking with the alchemist sooner rather than later.  Now was not the time though. 

Richter checked the village mana pool and saw that he could summon three more workers without compromising the village’s upkeep.  As soon as the grey figures had formed, he ordered them to take the bull’s body and as many of the other skath bodies back to the village as possible.  He was about to pick up Sedrin, when Alma nearly shouted in his mind.

*
Master!  Master!  Come see!  Come see!
*

The dragonling was hovering over a stand of thick reeds that was a few feet out in the river.  Richter had rarely heard her so excited, so he decided to just run over and see what had captured her interest so strongly.  When he got close, he parted the fronds and understood why she had called him over. 

You have found:
River Skath Nest
.

A mound of mud had been piled on the inside of the reeds.  In individual divots, eggs were resting upright.  Each one was about the size of his hand and white, but the central egg was grey and twice as big as the others.  When Richter examined it, a prompt told him that it was a Bull River Skath Egg. 

He wasn’t sure what good they could do him, but he also didn’t want to leave a nest of dangerous monsters behind to attack his people in the future.  He called over a mist worker and told it to forget bringing back the skath bodies and to instead bring back the eggs, safe and unharmed.  It would have been easier if he could just put the eggs in his Bag, but he ran into the same problem as with Sedrin’s fingers.  Richter had once put a live salmon in his Bag as an experiment.  The fish had tasted fresh when he had removed it, but it had definitely died. 

Following his directions, the mist worker picked up the first egg and then placed it inside of a cavity it had formed in its chest.  Once the egg was inside, the opening to the cavity closed off and the egg remained hovering in place, suspended by whatever matrix made up the mist workers. 

*
Thank you, my love
,* Richter sent.  *
We must travel fast now.  Keep watch for predators from the air and warn me of any danger.
*

The dragonling tooted her assent and flew higher to get a lay of the surrounding lands.  He jogged back to Sedrin’s body and picked the man up.  The jostling brought the guard back to consciousness, and he cried out in pain.  Richter told him to be strong and that Sumiko would help soon.  Jean cast
Haste I
on Ulinde, while Richter enchanted himself. Sion wished his friend speed and safety and with that, Richter took off, Ulinde in tow. 

According to Richter’s map they were about seven miles away from the village.  He planned to break some records.  Running full tilt, the two men quickly put distance between themselves and the rest of the war party.  Even carrying Sedrin’s weight, Richter was almost able to run at his top speed.  Alma flew above and proved invaluable as a source of info.  Twice she steered the trio around potential predators, though thankfully these were simply forest cats and a small black bear. 

Sedrin lost consciousness again sometime during the run, a fact for which Richter was grateful.  The guard had tried to stifle sobs or gasps of pain as his battered body was jostled, but the suffering he was experiencing was obvious.  Still, Richter didn’t slow.  He knew that if the situation was reversed, he would happily suffer almost any pain if it meant being able to restore the use of his hands.  In the end, they were able to make it back to the village in less than an hour, though Richter’s endurance had been very nearly empty for the last mile of the run. 

Sumiko, Randolphus, and a contingent of guards were waiting for them at the city gates.  Richter quickly put Sedrin down as gently as possible and moved out of the way so Sumiko could examine him.  Ulinde slumped to the ground, exhausted.

“Damn fools,” she said, with more fire than normal.  “Look at the mess those beasts made of him.”

Richter didn’t respond to the criticism.  Instead he took the package with Sedrin’s fingers from its resting place in his armor.  The density of the ice dagger had kept most of it from melting.  “Can you reattach his fingers?”

As he unrolled the bundle, Sumiko scrutinized the fingers and said, “Well at least you showed some good sense in keeping them cold.”  She looked at Sedrin’s ruin of a hand and said, “I cannot promise, but I think I can.”

“Good.”  He beckoned to the guards standing nearby.  “Get ready to run, we are going back for the others.”

“You’re dead on your feet, child.  You can’t go back out like that!” Sumiko snapped.

Richter was tired, in pain, and in no mood to be told what he couldn’t do.  He opened his mouth to snap a scathing reply, when Sumiko raised her hand and said, “Hush!” in sprite speak.  Her hand wove in a complex pattern and she muttered an incantation.  Gold light suffused her arm and then flowed into Richter.  His exhaustion fell away.  If he had been able to inject Red Bull directly into his veins it would probably feel like this.

“I’ve fortified your max endurance and replenished your stamina pool.  The increase will only last an hour, though, so do what you need to do and come back safely.”  Her tough exterior cracked. “I don’t want you to have to go to that awful place again.”  Several of his people had seen him come through a rift that led to a sea of pure chaos the last time he respawned.  Sumiko had been deeply disturbed by what she had seen through the rent in reality.

Richter smiled, riding the ultimate runner’s high.  All of his irritation and anger of a moment ago forgotten, he said, “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll bring the other kids back safe!”  She scowled at him again, but he just laughed and started running, the guards close behind him. 

Alma flew overwatch again and led them unerringly back to the other members of the war party.  The three mist workers were walking with them, each carrying their assigned load.  Even though they hadn’t been separated overly long, Richter was still relieved to see all of them. 

“So yer back from yer little jog, yer lordship?” the dwarf asked.  A smile was on his bearded face, white teeth poking through his salt and pepper beard.  One of the smith’s arms was up in a sling, but it didn’t seem to have dampened his spirit at all.  The dwarf had his hammer slung over his other shoulder, and though his chainmail shirt was still rent, the flesh Richter could see underneath was smooth and unblemished.

Richter smiled back. “Sumiko is a bit irritated with us for getting banged up, but she says she can save Sedrin’s fingers.  The ones we found anyway.”

Terrod walked up and handed over Richter’s sword.  He could see that the captain’s own sword had been recovered and was resting in its sheath.  “That is quite the instrument you have there, my lord.”

“Krom is to thank for that,” he replied.  The village Smith nodded with pride. 

Richter examined the members of his war party.  No one had made it through the fight unscathed, but except for Sedrin, no one had been seriously hurt.  Terrod and Caulder stood tall, giving orders to the guards Richter had brought.  Jean looked a bit pale, but he still smiled reassuringly when he saw Richter examining him.  Krom looked energized from the fight and would probably have said he was ready to fight one hundred more of the lizard monsters.  Only Beyan refused to meet his gaze, the gnome’s face a complex mixture of emotions.  Richter knew that this was not the time to confront the man, but resolved he would do it that night.  The last member of the party, Sion, stood tall, bow in hand, steadfast as ever.

As the guards that Richter had brought with him fanned out around the battered party, he and Sion clasped wrists.  They shared a look that communicated their friendship and their silent relief that they had survived such a deadly ordeal.  Since the end of the fight, Richter had been in damage control mode, not letting the stress, pain, and bloody horror of the fight reach him.  Now that they were in relative safety, though, it started to encroach on his psyche.  The solidity of his Companion’s friendship helped him to weather the emotional onslaught.  Sion gave him a nod and released his grip, and they made their way home.  Richter looked around and said, “Alright.  Let’s go home.”

Alma continued to fly overhead.  Richter looked up, and the dragonling, sensing her master’s attention, dove into a complicated spiral pattern.  She pulled out of the dive at the last moment and buzzed directly over one of the guard’s heads before regaining altitude.  The man hunched over with a surprised oath and Richter couldn’t help but chuckle at the mischievous creature.  He checked the prompts he had earned. 

You have been awarded 10,547 (base 140,632 x 0.06 x 1.25) experience from Brain Drain against Level 15 River Skath.

You have been awarded 4,290 (base 57,199 x 0.06 x 1.25) experience from Brain Drain against Level 11 River Skath.

You have been awarded 11,840 (base 157,865 x 0.06 x 1.25) experience from Brain Drain against Level 16 River Skath.

You have been awarded 91,178 (base 1,215,703 x 0.06 x 1.25) experience from Brain Drain against Level 34 Bull River Skath.

TRING!

You have reached level 27! 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!