The Land: Founding (Chaos Seeds Book 1) (32 page)

 “How do you know us?”
Terrod
shouted.

 “You are absolutely right! I am
being rude,” the man replied sounding genteel and magnanimous. “Please allow me
to introduce myself. My name is Ronin, and I am the leader of the Night Blades.
You may remember that you killed almost all of my new members, and burned my
house to the ground a few nights ago. Now it has been a hard few days for me
and mine. We lost a few more members to attrition and other thieve guilds that
smelled blood in the water. It also took a few days to figure out who to thank
for the, ahem, warm welcome, I was greeted to when I came back to my home. Then
I remembered who we had sold those pretty little nonhumans too though. So I
checked up on anyone in their lives.” The man gave a short laugh. “Now we
couldn’t be sure which one would be rescued, or exactly who would come, but
somehow I had a feeling this little elf maid would stir someone’s heart.” He
laughed again, and ugliness could clearly be heard in the sound.

 “Where are the rest of the people
you sold,” screamed Isabel.

 “Be calm Isabel! Be calm,” the
friendly note was back in his voice. “Don’t be so rude. After all, my friends
and I have worked so hard to repay all of you for the kindness you showed us.”
His voice lowered with each following word, the tone of his communication
weighed heavily with anger and scorn. “I NEED, to settle, this DEBT!”

 Richter heard a faint scuff on
the cobblestones behind them, and realized the purpose of Ronin’s entire speech
had been to stall. It had allowed the other thieves to find and catch up with
them. To come up behind them! Throwing his arm back he cast Grease, and was
rewarded with cursing coming from multiple spots as thieves came into view,
their Stealth interrupted by the fall.

 He turned back and cast Analyze
on this man who would face down four armed men alone, even if only as a
delaying tactic.

Name: Ronin. Human Level 22. Health
400. Mana 160. Stamina 310. Disposition: Hatred. Humans are one of the shortest
lived, but most prolific breeders in the Land. Humans have a broader affinity
for skills than other races. No special bonuses to race, but no special
penalties as well. Profession: Thief.

 What?!? This man had a
Profession! Xuetrix had said that only the powerful had Professions.  And
this Ronin was level 22! This could not bode well!

 Sion drew and fired at Ronin,
but the man leaned almost leisurely to the side and disappeared from sight.
Terrod
pushed Isabel against a wall, and turned to draw his
sword protecting her. Jeremy activated Stealth and vanished as well.

 Richter began to cast Troubled
Sleep, but was struck with a spear of rock. The attack made his Ice Dagger look
like a tooth pick. The one strike removed thirty health, striking him in the
side and knocking him down. Praying he had a second before being struck again
he cast Haste. His power with Air Magic let him quickly get back to his feet.

 When he stood up, he saw the
mage off to the right with a black wand pointed at him, purple light gathering
at the tip. Sion shot an imbued strike at mage which stopped a good three feet
short, causing ripples in cylinder of force around him. The wizard changed his
target and pointed the wand at Sion. A purple sphere shot out from the end of
the wand. Sion had started moving as soon as he saw the wizard aiming his wand.
The tennis ball sized purple ball struck the cobblestones right next to Sion.
When it struck it popped and spread a thick purple liquid over the stones,
which began to bubble and hiss. A small gobbet landed on Sion’s leg. The sprite
screamed in pain. He quickly dragged his leg on the street scraping off the
viscious
acid.

Richter could see the flash of bodies
and blades in front of him, Jeremy and Ronin disappearing and reappearing
quickly, fighting as only
stealthed
figures could.
They must be guessing where the other would be in a fast paced and close range
game of cat and mouse. It was impressive that Jeremy had lasted even a few
moments against a level 22 Thief! Who knew what benefits the profession
brought!

 The rogues behind him were
rolling out of the radius of the grease spell to rejoin the fight. Knowing they
would be swarmed if the men got up, Richter reached into his quiver and found
the Arrow of Flame. He shot it at one thieves in oil. The thief gave a grunt of
pain that became squeals of agony when the arrow ignited the oil he had
conveniently been rolling around in. The fire spread through the rest of the
oil and ignited two other thieves, three others managed to escape the oil
though, and were quickly getting to their feet. He shouted to
Terrod
, “Get her out of here! The longer we wait, the more
of them will come! We have to get escape!”

 Sion had recovered quickly and
continued to fire shots at the mage, dodging rocky spikes and acid balls in
return. Not of the arrows were able to penetrate the barrier. Richter fired an
imbued arrow at a thief still trying to get up, and struck him in the chest. It
knocked the man back into the flames of the grease fire, his screams joining
the others. Luckily the flames formed a makeshift wall, and gave him some
respite from the other two thieves, but still a thrown knife grazed his temple
putting blood into his right eye.

 
Terrod
was moving down the street with Isabel. The docks were in sight, but were still
several hundred yards away. Richter cast summon insects on the mage, but the
bugs remained on the outside of the cylinder of protection the man had made. He
tried using Drill shot, but again his arrow failed to have any effect. The mage
just smirked at him and then turned his full attention back to Sion.

Then Richter heard a gurgle. He
turned to the right and saw Jeremy and Ronin phase into view. A knife was
sticking of Jeremy’s throat, Jeremy’s own blade was in Ronin’s side. The two
stood face to face. Jeremy’s wound was clearly fatal, while Ronin’s was most
likely damaging, but not life threatening or even debilitating. Sion meanwhile
had been caught by a half arc of stalagmites that appeared in front of the mage
sticking outward and upward. On leg was impaled on a sharp rocky spike. The
purple light was accumulating at the end of the mage’s wand again. Richter
barely looked as he drew and fired again.

The man was completely ignoring him.
Richter could only assume the mage had deemed him a nonthreat. The thief had a
sick grin on his face as he anticipated Sion’s death. Richter felt a brutal
pleasure at seeing the shock on the man’s face as the Arrow of Negation
penetrated the circle of protection, and pierced the mage’s high right chest.
Richter drew, imbued and release again, the arrow aimed at the man’s face. The
mage snarled at him while yanking a necklace off and cracking it in his hand.
Each of the attackers were enveloped in black smoke and a moment later they
were gone. A furious scream of “No,” came from Richter’s right. His last
glimpse of Ronin was an insane and furious expression on the man’s face just
before the Thief disappeared.

 It was suddenly quiet, even the
still screaming and burning thieves had disappeared. Richter’s already released
shot exploded against the wall that the mage had been standing in front of only
an instant before. Jeremy’s body crumpled to the ground, a scarlet bright arc
of blood coming from the hole that Ronin’s blade had left in his neck.

 It was over. The earth mage’s
escape amulet had taken his entire surviving party away, leaving behind only
Richter, Sion, Jeremy and the dead. Richter ran over to Jeremy attempting to
stabilize the old thief. The blood had already stopped spurting though, now
only dribbling out in weaker and weaker pulses. The dying man smiled weakly,
blood on his teeth, and then his eyes glazed over and he released his last
breath. With nothing else to be done, Richter was overcome with emotion he
didn’t have time to express. He got up and hobbled over to Sion the pain in his
side making his breath come out in short huffs. He gave Sion a healing potion
and a healing herb. He also placed the healing ring in his friend’s hand.

 Richter looked the sprite in
the eye and said, “I’ll pull on three okay? One,” and without further warning
yanked him off of the rock that had impaled him. Sion screamed, glared and then
spit at Richter in as many seconds, and then promptly lost consciousness.
Luckily the potion was still working for a few seconds slowing the blood loss
down. Passed out, Sion could not use the ring to fully stop the bleeding, so
Richter ripped a strip off of his clothes and bound the wound.

 Furious with anger and
exhausted from the brief but fierce exchange, Richter picked up the sprite and
looked at Jeremy’s body. He couldn’t just leave it there. He was reaching down
to throw it over his shoulder when
Terrod
came
running back.
Terrod
just said, “No,” softly when he
saw Jeremy’s body. He walked over to his old friend and picked up the body,
freeing Richter to carry Sion. They moved as quickly as possible down to the
dock. The shouts of the crew of the ships they had hired could clearly be
heard. They ran aboard one of the ships as the sailors pushed the boat away
from dock. They were finally out of immediate danger, but it had been at a high
cost.

You have completed the Quest: Fight
for those Who Cannot II. Reward: Increased regard from
Terrod
.
Reward: 8000 XP

Congratulations! Your relationship
with your
Terrod
has improved from friendly to ally.
Terrod
will fight with you, and for you until death, and if
he can find a way back through the veil, will fight for you again.

TRING!

You have reached level 10! 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!

You have either characteristic points
or skill percentage points to allocate from the previous level. Now that you
have progressed again, you must allocate your points within the next week or
they will randomly be assigned for you.

Richter dismissed the prompts. 
As wonderful as it was to level, the gravity of the events that had just
occurred made it impossible to be happy.
Terrod
was
still holding Jeremy’s blood stained body.

“
Terrod
,”
Richter said. “You know you can’t stay in the Kingdom. Ronin survived, and if
he knows who you are, there is a good chance the count, and by extension the
king, will know as well. You aren’t safe here.”

 The stress gave
Terrod’s
visage a bleak and stark look. He simply nodded
without speaking.

 “I would be proud and happy to
have you join us in the Mist Village. As long as I live you will have a home
there.”

 The man broke, a sob escaping
him. The enormity of the past few days, the horrors that the woman he loved had
suffered, and the loss of his good friend and his home was enough to faze
anyone. He didn’t allow his moment of vulnerability to continue though. He
carefully set down his friend’s body on the ship deck, and he and Richter
clasped wrists, each man leaning on the strength of the other.

 “Thank you my friend. I gladly
accept your offer. I will return to help the other nonhumans if we can discover
their location, though.”

You have been offered a Quest: Fight
for those who
Cannot
III.  You have helped many
nonhumans, but some still languish in slavery. 
Terrod
is dedicated to saving them.  Will you help these people to breathe free
air again? Reward: Unknown.  Yes or No?

 “I will stand with you
Terrod
.  If we can help them, we will.” 

Terrod
the human has become your Companion.
Companions will stay with you only as long your goals align.

Terrod
looked at him with a surprised
expression. “I had heard of Companions but I’ve never known any, let alone
thought I would become one.”

 “I am happy to have you as
one,” Richter replied. The reward for the quest made more sense now. Richter
had thought that when
Terrod’s
disposition changed
from neutral to friendly, that was the extent of it.  The real benefit
though was that finishing the quest set the stage to gain another Companion!
“Sion and I have been Companions from the beginning, but I’m still not sure
what it means,” Richter said.

 “Companions are devoted to one
another’s cause. As time progresses you can sense when the other is in danger,
and with enough time and devotion to each other, you can sense intense
emotions. There are stories of the greatest Companions being able to share one
another’s strengths and mana even Abilities, but I think that is only fantasy.”

 Hmmm, Richter thought, having
Companions was potentially a way to greatly increase one’s strength. What if
Sion could adopt his Limitless Ability? There was a lot to think about.
Terrod
begged off after that, moving to comfort Isabel.

 Once the boat was far enough
from the dock, the sailors unfurled the sails. Both ships were moving with the
current and quickly picked up speed. Less than an hour later, the lights of Law
could no longer be seen, and they were at last on their way home. The sailors
had wrapped Jeremy’s body in a tarp and taken it below deck. They would bury
him in the village. Richter sat next to Sion, who had awoken and used the healing
ring. As the boat rocked gently, they leaned against the mast, staring out at
the darkness over the water.