The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (15 page)

One look at the fallen villager made it clear that he would never be getting up again. His friend didn’t seem to know
that though,
and fought furiously to drive the attackers back. It was clear that he had no formal training with a blade, but the man still made two of the invaders fall back a step. It was the opening Daniella had been waiting for. She shot an Imbued arrow into the face of the bugbear on the left, and he collapsed. Richter fired an imbued arrow at the
other
but missed. A grunt drew his attention to the right. The brawl between Richter’s charmed bugbear and the one she had been
fighting
ended with her dagger sticking from the center of his chest. She stood tall, one ear having been torn off. She grinned with blood on her sharp teeth.

The group of villagers protecting Hisako were challenged by several bugbears. The awkward swings of the men and women were only completely ineffectual. The only thing they did accomplish was to make the bugbears they were fighting cautious. It was only their stronger numbers that made this particular part of the fight a stalemate.

Hoping that the villagers would remain safe, Richter began to take aim on the fallen mage again,
but then he heard a scream. He looked around and saw that four of the ambush group had circled wide around the sprites who were fighting their fellows, and were now running with weapons raised towards the unarmed villagers. He pointed quickly and shouted, “Attack!” His charmed enemy began running towards them, but it was clear they would reach
the villagers first. He drew and took aim, knowing full well that he would not be able to stop them all before they started laying to waste to his people.

A screech rent
the air and a dark shape buzzed by the bugbears heads, too fast for them to react. Suddenly they stopped their run and began holding the sides of their head. Their weapons fell to the ground forgotten. In the heat of the battle, Richter had forgotten about Alma! Her psychic attack had dazed them all. He released his
well-imbued
arrow and shot one in the groin. Only a mist of blood and a ruin of flesh was left of the bugbear’s former pride and joy. A howl of despair and injustice filled the battle site.

Richter pointed at the bugbears and addressed the unarmed villagers, “Attack while they are vulnerable!” The mass of villagers fell on the bugbears who were already shaking off the psychic attack. Though they were no longer stunned, the attackers had lost all momentum and soon fell to the combined counterattack of the twenty plus villagers. A furious and bloody scuffle broke out, which left seven villagers injured, but all of the bugbears dead. Now six more villagers were
armed and rushed forward to help.

A shout drew his attention back to Sion and the invaders he had been fighting. The other villager was still on his
feet,
though one arm hung limp and bloody. Next to him was the dwarf that had chosen to fight against the wishes of his woman. He had initially been guarding the Hearth Mother, but must have stepped forward when the other villager
died. The dwarf
was now trading blows with an attacker.

The shout had come when Sion had driven his needle-like sword
into the knee of another bugbear. A vicious swipe of a studded mace made him let go of the handle as he rolled
out of the way. He unshouldered his bow, but before he could
nock
an arrow, the mace wielder was on him again. It was all the sprite could do to keep out of the way of the swings.

Richter was knocking an arrow to help his Companion when his body was locked into immobility. Everything he could see had developed a purple tint, giving the world a surreal look. Just as
importantly
though, his health started falling at five points per second! From his vantage, he could see the air caster and one of the
villagers
guarding Hisako were also surrounded by an aura. Since everything was purple to
him
he couldn’t be sure theirs were as well, but it was a safe bet. That damn mage must have recovered from the spell backlash! At this
rate
he would be dead in less than two minutes. The villagers in even less time. Richter really hoped that they had invested the points from their leveling into Constitution. Without investing the points, they could be dead in twenty seconds!

Richter tried and strained, but he couldn’t break free. What was the duration
on
this damn spell? Twenty, forty, eighty health
gone
! And the pain! It felt like his muscles were being torn apart from the inside! He would scream if only he could. Worst of
all
though, was that he could see his people in the same spell. They couldn’t last much longer! And then, something amazing happened. Hisako finished casting her spell.

He had been wondering what spell would take such a long cast time. Richter wasn’t disappointed. Above her
head
a ribbon of gold light appeared stretching ten feet vertically into the air. It rotated clockwise began to form a window into a day lit realm. The area around the portal grew perceptibly warmer. It continued to spin until it was a perfect circle, the entire process taking no more than a few seconds. Through the hole in the
air, Richter could glimpse
endless fields of gold grass. They looked like the grasses surrounding the Hearth Tree, but whereas that was a small circular patch this was a plain that extended on into the distance. A figure emerged from the portal. Seven feet tall, the creature’s physique was astounding. Sculpted muscles were highlighted by tattoos that covered every area of exposed flesh. He was wearing a white sleeveless vest with a hood that was drawn up, hiding his face from view. Pants of the same color extended down to his ankles, and his feet were bare. On his back were two white wings that slowly flapped. They were longer than the man was tall when extended. In his hand, was a crystal sword that created rainbows when it refracted the light of the portal. Once he was out the summoning portal, he landed in front of the Hearth Mother. The light from the portal filled Richter with a sense of wellbeing.

You have been exposed to the light from the Plains of Sana. All healing spells 100% more effective for positive alignment and neutral creatures while the portal remains open.

Unable to help himself, Richter cast analyzed the angel.

Name: Zacharia.
Cherubiae
. Level ???. Health ???. Mana ???. Stamina ???. Disposition: Neutral. Among the lowest levels of the celestial army,
cherubiae
are often used as scouts and messengers.
Cherubiae gain seven points to distribute per level,
and have 1.3x modifier to all stats from their base value. Denizens of the Plains of Sana are well versed in healing and have some regenerative properties.

The angel spoke, his voice a rich tenor, “Hark, Daughter of Light, you have my service until the portal fades. How may I serve?”

Hisako was clearly drained from such a powerful summoning, “Break the spell that binds these three. Kill the mage, and then all other bugbears and orcs that you can reach!”

“As you wish, Daughter.” The angel simply raised a hand and three gold beams shot out to Richter and the two villagers. He collapsed to the ground, almost in ecstasy at the lack of pain. He looked up a moment later to check on the two villagers that had been caught in the spell. Neither were moving. “Nooo,” he croaked. He cast
Slow Heal
on the Air mage, but no glow surrounded the man. It was too late. He couldn’t cast it again on the other man because of the one-minute
cool down
for the spell, but he knew in his heart that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Two more of his villagers were dead.

By the time he had recovered from the pain and failed to heal the villager
, the angel had reached the remaining bugbears. Four warriors had been left to oppose the seraphim, all standing in front of the
mage
. It didn’t matter. The crystal sword struck down at one. It raised a shield to block. The sword cut straight
through
the buckler however, a single blow overcoming the shield’s durability. The blade continued forward and bisected the body at
angle
. Before either half had fallen, the angel spun and thrust his sword through the throat of another, and yanked to the side. The head was left attached by only a few tendons. The spin had presented the wings to the two other bugbears. With a forceful extension, each wing connected with a fighter knocking them off their feet. With no other impediments, the angel turned to the Dark mage.

The mage was no fool however,
and had started casting as soon as the angel moved in his direction. A pool of darkness welled up and surrounded the man like a cocoon. When the
crystal sword flashed into it, the pillar of black dispersed like wisps of cloth on the wind. The angel finished the two bugbears it had struck prone, and then flew back to Hisako.

Sion and Daniella had managed to kill their opponents now that they weren’t facing so many. The angel alighted in front of Hisako, as the villagers came up behind Richter. It was only then that he remembered his charmed bugbear. Apparently it had come to stand with him after the villagers had killed the four bugbears Alma had stunned. It had also been caught in the Dark mage’s spell and had succumbed to the life drain.

“The mage fled, Daughter,” the angel said in its strong sure voice. “Would you have me pursue? The teleport he used is
only short range.”

“No,” she said. “Please heal all of us, and then go help my people who are still fighting.” Blue flashes could still be seen to the south.

“As you wish.” The hooded head bent, and he puts his hands together with the sword held pointing up. A gold light began in his hands and then infused into the sword bathing a forty-foot area in light. Richter immediately felt his pain diminish and he saw his health bar improving. He recovered all of his lost health in only three seconds. He absolutely had to get a healing spell like that! A quick look around showed all of the injured villagers had been healed as well. The dead, sadly, remained down.

“I go now Daughter, but advise
you to join the fight. My time here grows short.” He gestured to the gold portal which had lost half of its bright intensity. The angel then jumped into the air, and with a flap of his powerful wings, flew towards the fighting at incredible speed.

The villagers looked
around in shock at the dead bodies of their friends and loved ones. Richter raised his voice, “We will mourn soon, but right now we must finish this fight. Our people are still in the longhouse and are running out of time. Our brave allies are fighting for us right now to keep still more of the invaders from getting to your families! Anyone that can
fight now is the time!”

With that short speech, Richter started running towards the burning building. Hisako and the sprites were right beside him, and he could hear the villagers close behind. Running up one final rise in the land, the longhouse came into view. The entire roof was ablaze and smoke came out of the high air vents cut into the walls. The invaders were no longer trying to break in, but instead simply
waited
several yards back from the barred doors. They knew the fire would succeed where they had failed, and that soon the villagers inside would soon come running out.
At least
ten were standing in front of the building.

Seeing them waiting to slaughter his people, Richter flew into a rage.

*
Alma!
*

*
Attack?
*

*
No,*
he thought. *
Kill!
*

*Yesss!
* came her happy and brutal reply.

When they were only a seven yards away,
the bugbears finally caught sight of them. They noticed too late because Richter was able to get close enough to cast
Grease
again
. He caught more than half in the AoE. As they turned to meet the attack, they fell prone. He had
targeted his spell to the center of the attackers and so only one still stood standing on the left and two on the right. Alma dove from the left and targeted her psi attack at the one still upright. Rather than continue her
dive past,
though, she latched onto the bugbear’s head with four legs. Clinging like a tick, her tail wrapped around her prey’s neck securing her hold. The skirmisher reached up to pluck her off, but Sion shot him with an imbued arrow. The damage from the attack, coupled with whatever Alma was doing, was apparently enough to overwhelm the bugbear’s psychic defenses. The last sight Richter
caught of
the invader’s face was of the eyes widened in absolute terror, as blood ran freely out of his nose.

Sion and Daniella began targeting the fallen warriors with imbued shots. Three were dead before they regained their feet. Not to be outdone, Hisako fired off
beams
of light at two bugbears once again leaving cauterized holes in the bodies. They were dead before they struck the ground. The villagers fell upon the remaining two standing bugbears and literally tore them
into
pieces. The panic in his people knew no bounds. They all feared their loved ones might be dead in the building before them, and would let nothing stand in the way of opening that door. Several of his people were so blinded by rage that they had rushed forward and were caught in the
Grease
spell as well. Rushing forward, it was almost impossible to see the slightly darkened surface that warned of the spell.

Once all of the attackers were dead. Richter ran up to the door and shouted, “It’s Lord Richter. Come out! We have killed the attackers!”