Born a Monster

Chapter 73

Trap

“Okay, so explain to me how we don’t all die against the town walls.”

“That’s simple. They open the gate.”

Achmed scoffed. “What assurances do we have that they will open their gates?”

“I’ve done too much for this city. They will open their gates.”

.....

“Beg pardon?” I said. “I think the town paid you for each of those good deeds.” I didn’t even know what good deeds his band had done, save for those I’d been hired to participate in.

“Trust me, their trench system isn’t even complete yet. We can win through.”

“How many bows do they have?”

Awda knew that. “About two thirds of the large ones have bows. One third of that, maybe one in five of the large ones, is a good shot. We’ll be dead before we reach the trench.”

“So literally, our best shot is only at dawn, when they’ll be firing into the sun?” I asked. “And only if we can sneak most of the way to the trench before they see us?”

“That’s the plan.” Philecto said.

“The plan needs a lot of work.”

Dina said “We may have better odds if we come through here.” She pointed at the necromancer’s pit. “We kill the death witches, loose the ghouls, and head in between these two trenches.

Achmed said “We won’t catch any wizard worth their salt just sleeping. I’d rather raid the prison than that place.”

“If we lead a group of captive women,” Rina said, “They will open the gates for us.”

Dina crossed her arms. “I find that unlikely. “These are prisoners, underfed, dehydrated, possibly wounded. They won’t be moving quickly enough. What will they do, except die?”

“Perhaps they would find death preferable?” Faraj asked.

“I’ve seen no bows among the little ones.” Dina said. “And they’re usually asleep soon after dawn. If we can get to the trench without being spotted, we ought to be able to sneak through.”

“The problem I have with that is these watch towers. I think that we will be seen, no matter which way we approach from. No matter the time of day.”

Philecto stroked the stubble on his upper lip. “Dina runs faster than anyone else. If we let her be seen, here, and she waits until they muster a troop to chase her, and then she runs behind the hill to where the rest of us are, here, with the setting sun at our backs, we attack here.”

“We die before we can cross this open area.” Awda said.

“Can any among us cast an illusion,” I asked, “make us look like a returning hunting patrol? If we return just before dawn, we might be able to make it to the trench.”

But nobody had powers that resembled that.

“What powers and skills do we possess, then?” Rina asked. “Perhaps we should build a plan around that?”

And so, the dumb plan was made. The plan that relied on too many people doing their parts absolutely perfectly.

#

We struck, two hours after dawn, on the west side. The plan relied on Faraj and Awda taking out the guards in two of the watchtowers with long range bow shots.

“Faraj missed.” Awda explained, as the alarms were raised.

“That’s all right, we needed to move camp anyway.” Philecto said. “Besides, they barely have a half dozen goblins.”

What? Why would any fool organize fewer than twenty?

My mouth went dry. “Those aren’t goblins; those are kobolds, second tier creatures.”

“Lizard-kin.” Rina said, loosening her curved blade in her scabbard. “Agile, hard to hit, hard to wound. Looks like they’re ranging ahead of the others. We can take six.”

I shook my head. “Scouts, they won’t attack us. They’ll keep the infantry and archers apprised of where we are. We should fall back, keep them from drawing support from the main force.”

“The bravery one expects from a belly-crawling lizard.” Achmed said.

But prudence won out that day. We circled north and slightly west, and made a brief stand where our archers fired off half their quivers from atop a hill and behind various trees. We tried hiding in some scrub, but one of the kobolds found us.

I’m supposed to say it was a running battle, but it was actually a series of small skirmishes as the foliage and terrain permitted us archer cover. They never pressed us so hard that they took casualties, but several times Achmed had to pull out a trick to cover our escape.

A sheet of ice on the ground, a knee-high hedge that blocked ready pursuit, a blinding blizzard of snow – I may not have liked Achmed as a person, but that day he acquitted himself well.

[Your spirit bond has been dissolved due to the death of your bonded spirit. Five development points have been refunded.]

[You have taken six points of Emotional damage. You have 2/10 Serenity.]

The loss, the sorrow, nearly overwhelmed me. But beneath it, there was another emotion.

Anger.

Had they been torturing her for these days? Draining her slowly for shadow mana?

No. No, I would not let this stand. This would not ride.

I would return some day, stronger, wiser, and there would be vengeance.

But for that day, I ran.

The Uruk gave up their pursuit at dusk, but the kobolds followed us. More brazenly, once they learned that our archers had expended all of their arrows.

“We may need to go back to Whitehill and restock.” Faraj said. “My sister and I need arrows.”

“The only money remaining for the quest is what remains in Narrow Valley.” I said.

Achmed was making a loud complaint to Awda when the kobold emerged from a bush to tackle me.

It slammed my head into a tree trunk.

[You have taken a Yellow Critical, x2 damage. You have taken sixteen points of blunt damage. After armor, you have received ten points of damage. You are at negative health, and will suffer a period of unconsciousness.]

Laughing, the kobold jumped over a swing of Rina’s sword and vanished into the foliage.

#

[Lucid Dreaming successful.]

“Manajuwejet, spirit guide! I call upon your services, and offer you pain and loss, the only things that remain to me.”

“Actually, can you whip up a point of Celestial Divinity? I can see the requisite faith in your aura.”

The tiny scorpion was brown with spots of white tonight.

“Let us speak while I harmonize that for you.”

“So, finally taking divine vengeance?”

“I’m seriously considering it, but I actually need to visit anywhere that shadow spirits hang out.”

I wove the stuff of Dreams into the stuff of Stars, which was actually risky, considering I wasn’t properly aligned with the stars. It took two tries, and a sanity hit that I’d be feeling for two days.

“What? Uhm, I’m your guide, and I’ll do what you command, but may I offer advice?”

“Always.”

“Those things will rip your soul apart and devour the pieces. Ask me to guide you somewhere else.”

“I need to honor a fallen shadow spirit. Where is that best done?”

His tail fell into the sand. “You want to WHAT? I – I mean, yes, that happens, but for a shadow?”

“You tell me, o wise spirit guide. What place am I looking for?”

“Tell me about how you wish to honor her.” He shook sand off his tail, raising it again.

I told him about Black Snake, and what she meant to me. In the meantime, I wove the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars together in a sky that was half day, half night.

“Oh! Okay, you don’t want the Cliffs of Darkness and Despair. You want the Cathedral for the Lost Children.”

“There we go.” I said, one point of...

The disparate elements of the Celestial rebelled against my will, exploding apart toward their own purposes.

Well, crap.

“Would you take a point of Five Elements Mana, instead of the original price?”

He salivated. “It’s okay. I have time, come back when you bear the price of passage.”

“I intend to.”

“Free advice? Don’t try the path to the Cathedral on your own. Have a spirit guide.”

.....

I had the biomass to pay for my first day unconscious. On the second, my System automatically targeted my Resolve, the highest point evolution I had, and reclaimed it at half price.

Okay. This had to STOP.

[Maternal Biomass Loan: 976/976. Your daily payment is 10 biomass (1%). This loan is in RECLAMATION status, and may not be borrowed against. Once repaid, it will be removed from your System.]

Gods. It still wanted enough to take everything I had.

I did the math. In theory, if I gorged myself on nothing but stew at sixteen nutrition per serving, I could be free in two days. Fourteen, if I could gorge on grasses.

That was assuming a period of peace, with no predators, no weather, and nothing going wrong. So double, maybe triple that in the real world.

I was getting real tired of these near-death experiences.

#

It was dawn that woke me. I’d been left at the river side of the new camp, presumably to die in my own excrement and dried blood.

Assholes. They’d better not have abandoned the quest.

[Your health is at -2/20, your mobility is limited.]

I washed myself clean in the river, but passed out when I attempted to perform the Tapping Ritual.

On my way back upriver to the camp, there was no shortage of algae, grasses, and other plant-life.

It is a pain to drag yourself with one broken hand. I didn’t even count the number of times I passed out just to get within sight of where I’d been.

I’d only gotten enough nutrition to keep the Biomass Debt at bay, not even enough to overcome my hunger.

It was enough to survive on, for a day. I let myself pass out.

When I came to, it was by the fire, with people around me. Not all of them, Faraj and Dina were missing.

Philecto was arguing with Awda over how to storm the trenches.

“No.” I said. “Hit and run. Trying to reach the city, that’s a trap. If we get pinned down, they’ll kill us.”

“You will certainly die in any case.” Achmed said.

“You are too fragile for this life.” Rina said.

“I have lost much.” I agreed. “But I -”

[Your pain threshold has exceeded your remaining health. You will experience a period of unconsciousness.]

“Do not abandon the quest.” I managed, before all faded to black.

The next day, I was carried in a sack to the next campsite. I could stand, but was in no shape to forage. My mind seemed fuzzy, unfocused. That must be the lack of Resolve.

I had two servings of stew, and half a cup of cold tea.

My gums had begun to puff outward, and my hunger raged like a frustrated centaur.

I began nibbling on a shrub, and had eaten nearly a third of it by the time I passed out from sheer exhaustion, jaws still closed on the end of a branch.

Between bouts of being senseless, I gathered that we were no longer near the trenches, but perhaps a half day or so away. The others were fighting a hit and run battle, but were making no headway.

Achmed had a bandage around the right side of his head. After failing to push the bandage clear of his vision, he pulled it entirely over his eye.

Dina had a rent in the side of her armor, from which the smells of blood and sage wafted.

A kobold had struck Rina in the calf, but not so severely as to impact her movement.

Faraj was healing well from an arrow through his lung, but was still coughing up blood. He was in no shape to return to the field.

But I was able to tend him that next day, and to fill my stomach once.

I was also able to make a single pot of stew, though I lacked the mana to infuse a second set of servings.

The next day, we moved camp, and reached the river.

#