The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen (31 page)

Chapter 63: A Glorious Day

(Sunday, September 19th Game Day / Monday, March 29th Real Day)

Lying on the river bank, I was enjoying the dream, a bright sunny day, one that seemed brighter than all the rest. With a few parted clouds in the sky to throw the right amount of shade down on us, followed by a pleasant ocean breeze that blew steadily across the river, there were no complaints from me.

Nor were there any complaints from any of the others, currently enjoying the festivities. Roasted meats of all types, plenty of seafood to tide one over, and even a few vegetables from the farm that were recently harvested.

Live music in the form of singing and chanting as the warriors got drunk by the fireside only added to the ambiance, as Selene and Katherine enjoyed themselves with the other women. Even Milly was somewhere in there, too.

Everyone was having a good time.

The birds were busy chirping in a tree a little ways from me as I continued to stare at the sky, thinking about how far things had come. When I started this game, alone and cold, nearly freezing to death on many occasions, I had a goal but didn't know if or when it would come together.

Now, hah, now all I had to do was turn my head to the side and look at my creation. All of the hard work, the countless hours spent digging, chopping, carrying, to prepare the buildings, all the days out in the forest hunting and exploring, and even the time devoted to scaling the mountain… all of it, led to this moment.

I had accomplished what I set out to do.

Premature celebration, perhaps, but I was on my way.

When you've failed, and find yourself in a hole, it's not about the big successes and the end goal. It's about the small steps and realizing that every little accomplishment adds up. I still had an end goal, but I was going to realize the success that had already happened.

Yeah, it was a good day.

A few hours had gone by as I had fallen asleep in the sun, only to wake to a sleeping Selene on my arm. The sun was setting now and the party was long over as the reddish-purple sky began to shift into its lightshow mode. The aurora was coming next, intermixed with countless stars that seemed too bright to be real, but without the light pollution of a large city, it was nature at its finest.

Beautiful, was one word to describe it.

The cool, late summer breeze hit my bare skin as I stretched out and wrapped Selene up in my arms. She didn't wake up, but that was fine. Moments like these were nice in their own way.

Watching the aurora as it floated about, pulsating and waving, a kaleidoscope of colors enthralling and entertaining. Blues, greens, purples, pinks, yellows, and reds, all the vibrant colors one could think of, all visible and ever-changing.

The reflection of the moon on the river's surface held still and stood out amongst the smaller stars and colorful sky, but it was a calming presence. That singular white circle, large enough to hold in your hands, illuminated the entirety of the village on this cloudless, cool summer night.

Closing my eyes, I went back to sleep.

Life was good.

Chapter 64: The Day After

(Monday, September 20th Game Day / Monday, March 29th Real Day)

Logging back in and finding myself lying alone on the river bank, I looked down the river and noticed that the longship had already departed on its voyage. The trade master, two sailors, and nine warriors made up the crew that would travel to the eastern side, where they would partake in the trading of goods and receive payment for prior products already delivered.

A simple thing, left for them to handle.

It was already mid-day as the sun was directly overhead by the time I made it over to the cabin. Inside, Selene and Katherine were playing with the kittens while Barkley was sitting calmly by the fireplace.

"Have you girls seen Milly?" I asked with a little interest.

She was attached to my hip the entire trip… then once we arrived at the village she was always running around, talking to others. I hadn't actually talked to her since we came back. I thought that was a bit odd, and something about her had bothered me.

"She left this morning, headed south along the river," said Selene nonchalantly.

"Oh, passed right by us then?" I questioned, with a confused expression.

"Not quite, she entered the trees and snuck around us," Selene explained. "She was acting quite oddly, as if she didn't want to be seen."

"Ah, I see."

That was certainly odd behavior.

Something was bothering me.

Opening my friend's list, Milly was no longer on it, either.

Curious, I tried to add her and found that she had blocked me.

Something definitely, was wrong here.

"I'll be back, I want to check something."

Heading outside and north to the mountain wall that closed off the top portion of our village, I scaled the wall with a combination of [Flash Steps] and a few jumps. Standing at the top, a relative hundred feet or so above the village, I cast my [Keen Sight] and began to stare southwards.

Nothing appeared except for a few glimmers of small animals, as I sat down and began to think over the past events. To my knowledge, I hadn't done anything over the past few days to piss her off, unless she saw my relations with Katherine and Selene and found them disgusting. If that were the case, I guess it didn't matter much to me.

Somehow, I didn't think that was it though.

She wanted to come to the North for some reason, supposedly because she wanted to relocate here. If the area wasn't for her, would she need to block me?

That didn't add up.

Her information came from the Alpha and Beta Meeting, which was filled with a lot of overachievers, generally speaking. A lot of hostile players from hostile guilds attended those meetings. Quite a few players that I didn't really agree with and had already butted heads with on occasion.

That was what was bothering me.

When Emily advertised my territory, it put a target on my back.

I was expecting it.

Someone, at some point, would come to challenge me.

Even this far north, out of sight and out of mind, I was harmless to at least ninety-nine percent of the population.

That didn't matter though.

If you were a threat to some guild's expansion, you would become a target.

War had already broken out in the Central Kingdoms as resources were scarce and so too, was land. Guilds fought for supremacy, and word around the web was that a few were moving north, to the border. That was a few hundred miles away though.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling.

Checking again with [Keen Sight] giving a scan over the horizon, nothing appeared.

About to give up, one blip appeared.

Waiting a minute, I scanned again.

Five blips appeared this time, as a sixth shined right at the end of the scan.

Reactivating the ability and leaving it on perpetual scan, the glimmers of light steadily grew one by one as they entered within my visual range. Numbers far too large for a party or small traveling group… twenty, then thirty humanoids headed this way.

"Selene, emergency, get all of the livestock and NPCs to gather at the rear of the village, by the mountain side," I messaged telepathically as I continued to count the numbers appearing in the distance. "After that, gather the warriors at the south gate, expect trouble."

"As you command," she replied solemnly and shortly.

They were thirty minutes out but the group had bloated to a sizeable number of around fifty players. There was no indication that they were hostile, but a large group didn't move together unannounced.

This wasn't a daily stroll.

No, this was no stroll… coupled with the fact that Milly had scouted the place out and mysteriously left while blocking me from contacting her and this had the makings of an enemy raid. I knew what was coming next, for I knew player behavior far too well.

The only part that bothered me was the lack of declaration.

In The Dragon's Wrath, when guilds declared war on each other, there was exactly that, a declaration of intent. Due to the nature of an MMO spanning multiple time-zones, surprise attacks were penalized with a reputation hit and as cowardly.

You declared intent, and then a time-frame was set up for large scale battles with guilds agreeing to terms. Old school thinking, but it fit for the timeframe the game was set in, and made it reasonable for players that couldn't sit online all day.

What were these people intending.

Fuck it, I'll kill them all.

Even if I was shorthanded, they weren't taking my land.

Leaping off the top of the cliff and flashing to the ground, I quickly broke into a sprint as I ran to the cabin and grabbed my halberd and full battle-armament. Shield, one-handed axe, bow and arrows in a quiver slanted at the small of my back, a dagger across my chest and along my thigh. Hardened leather, a mixture of boiled, tanned, and woven strips formed my ensemble, as I was covered from head to toe.

Stepping outside of the cabin, the scene in front of me was managed chaos as men, women, and children ran about in a hurried, but ordered panic. The warriors, all thirty-one that were left, along with the four priests had lined up at the palisade, standing behind on the ramparts that allowed us a firing angle on the approaching army.

An unannounced grouping of fifty some players or NPCs was an army, after all.

A small amount, sure, but lethal this early in the game.

"Sigurd, where do you want us?" asked the men that had lined up.

"Hold position here on the walls! Don't break off unless you're forced off or they've penetrated the walls," I yelled out to the men. "Stay safe! If you need a heal, rely on your priest! Don't do anything unnecessary to risk yourself!"

Selene came up behind me as she whispered in my ear, "Sigurd, what about us, where do you want Katherine and I?"

I wanted to put them at the back with the non-combat NPCs as a last line of defense but I realized that would be futile if it came down to it. We would either successfully defend here or the village was going to be lost.

Swallowing the lump that had appeared in my throat, I nodded at her and Katherine, who was standing a bit behind Selene. They would have to join the fight, if we wanted to win. We were up against a literal rock wall; there was nowhere else to go.

"Join me on the wall Selene, Katherine, join up with the priests and manage the healing, stay safe," I said softly to them, but confidently. I was worried for them, as they weren't replaceable, not like the other NPCs. I didn't want to lose any of them, but I couldn't stand to lose Selene or Katherine.

"Hey, you two, don't do anything rash, if the wall falls, I want you two to break out and retreat, gather the non-combatants in the back and move them to the Northern Triangle," I instructed sternly. "I'll rely on you two to direct them, if I fall. If I fall, you retreat, got it?"

They both nodded as they understood the stakes and took up position on the wall.

The army of players was slowly approaching, easily within a ten minute walk or a short sprint. They didn't wear any colors to distinguish themselves, but they were all armed. Too heavily armed for a walk in the park; their intentions were as clear as day.

Opening my menu and altering the territory designators, I changed it to declare the current army as trespassers. They would be alerted instantly, to stand down. Of course, they did no such thing, and continued with their forward march.

That was a declaration of war, as far as the system was concerned.

They were now officially hostile forces, launching a surprise attack.

"Fire in two waves, twice, then free fire after that," I yelled out to the men.

Setting my halberd and shield down against the wall, I drew my bow and eyed the markers on the field. There were a few rocks of importance and a short palisade that indicated distance. Two-hundred yards marked our effective firing range, as they started to enter within it.

It wouldn't be long now. 

Shifting the weight of the draw from my shoulder and arm to my back through the contraction of my back muscles, I held the drawstring back as far as I could. Holding for a second, I lifted my left arm and tilted the bow upwards a rough forty-five degrees.

Steadily inhaling, my chest started to expand and then as the expansion brushed my hand aside, the bowstring slipped cleanly off my fingers.

Thirty-two other bows did the same.

Thwacks
and
twangs
filled the air as strings reverberated rather noisily, and with practiced precision, we all drew our bows again as we watched the arrows sail through the air. One, two, three seconds passed as the arrows continued their flight, then finally, impact. A glorious impact, with the unsuspecting mob of players hit squarely by the first volley as two or three players fell to the floor from a critical hit.

Instantly, the group broke ranks and began to sprint forward without any cohesion.

A second volley followed, with only one man falling victim.

As I began to draw and fire in rapid succession, caring little for accuracy as I repeatedly attempted to slow the oncoming advance, I watched as my warriors and Selene did the same. Firing an arrow a second, thirty-three arrows flew out at random intervals that cut through the air as the enemy players continued to advance.

The shield-bearers at the front easily blocked and defended those directly behind as they held the frontline and continued to charge.

"Target the rear!" I shouted as I lifted my bow slightly, arcing the trajectory of my arrow in order to hit their casters.

Ten seconds had gone by as the first hundred yards were cleared, and only a hundred remained. The peak physical fitness offered by the game gave the players the ability to run at world record levels.

Sweat started to roll down my cheek as I anxiously continued to fire, quickly draining my quiver of forty arrows.

My fingers itched as the string stripped and burned the skin with such rapid firing but I couldn't pay it any heed.

Fifty yards remained, as another two men fell.

Dropping my bow to the ground with less than five seconds remaining before they would reach the walls, I brought my arms into my chest as I started to chant.     

The twenty-five yard mark was hit, with a woman collapsing to the ground struggling to breathe as an arrow pierced her throat.

Fifteen yards left, as the shield-bearers funneled together in an attempt to break through the open gateless entryway.

Five yards away, I stared them down.

"CHAIN LIGHTNING!"

Yelling at the top of my lungs as a rallying cry and a threat all in one, my booming voice carried across the field. Heads and eyes turned up to the flash of lightning as it surged forward and caught the shield-bearers unaware.

Arcing, bouncing, jumping and flickering as it coursed through their bodies and into the dirt below, the first man hit died instantly as the other four fell to the floor. Arrows filled the void where their exposed backs had been a blink before.

Unable to scream or cry, they died quick, silent deaths.

Slinging my shield onto my back while dropping my quiver onto the floor for the man next to me, I leaped off the ramparts with my halberd in tow. Filling the gap of the entrance with my body and halberd at the ready, four other warriors dropped down with axes held high. Two seconds, as I pulled my weapon back and above my head.

Then the wave hit.

Axes were swung in quick succession as shields were raised to deflect. The heavy swings of the warriors broke through the weak wooden shields, with loud snaps and cracks filling the air. Splinters of wood flung in every which direction only to be ignored by the flash of swords swung in retaliation.

Screams filled the air as limbs were mangled and a hand fell to my feet.

My heavy swing had cleaved straight through a shield and on through the arm of the defender as he buckled from the blow, staggered and falling backwards as he grasped his missing hand. A quick thrust and the spear-point entered the soft flesh of the man as I twisted and pulled, watching him tumble to the ground in a state of shock.