Time. Marci needed time. For what I didn’t know, she had turned back to the waiting soldiers and shrieked again while flaring her wings. The archer nocked an arrow and took aim at her. I sent a sharp mental command for her to fly away but she refused. She wasn’t scared like I was, she was just angry.
The stryker squad began to communicate by hand signals. Each squad typically developed their own signals based on a common set known through the army. From what I could piece together they were preparing to advance. Not knowing my skills and stats were the only things that stayed their hand, they might not know how low my health was since I was a significantly higher level than the female who had Identified me.
“There's an easy way to do this kid,” the big swordsman started. “The King wants you alive, we don’t have to fight anymore. You made your point but you're alone and poisoned. That's Witherleaf, heard of it? Pretty soon you’ll be unconscious, the fact that you aren’t points to a monstrous stamina. You should be proud.”
“What of the residents of the mine? What will you do to them?” I shot back. If they were willing to talk I would hear them out and buy the time Marci wanted.
“They committed treason, son. They ignored a lawful order, abandoned their town and fled to an unaffiliated town in Eter’s borders. Arthur knew better, at least he used to.” The woman answered in a sad tone. “The rest of them can argue ignorance, actions taken out of terror but Arthur will hang. The King will demand it.”
“You can save his children, right now. Enter our custody and I give you my word the girls will not be harmed. Arthur was a friend, once, I don’t have the power to spare him or his wife, but his kids will return with us to Etes to live.”
They didn’t know his wife was already dead. I believed that they used to be friends, Arthur had said he was a high ranker from the first army. My head was spinning, time was running out. I reached up to comfort Marci and begged her to fly away when they captured me. She sent back a harsh negative rebuttal.
“That’s enough. His eyes are swimming, he can’t fight anymore, put another arrow in him just to be safe.” The woman said. “His stamina must be high, it won’t kill him.”
She turned to look back at the archer after a moment of silence and I followed her eyes. The archer wasn’t there anymore. I scanned left to right and saw nothing moving in the darkness, even with the bond powering my vision. The stryker leader, or so I assumed, barked out a sharp command and the remaining squad members formed a tight circle.
The two swordsmen and the woman stared out in the darkness calling out the names of the archer, the tracker hadn’t shown themselves, they didn’t respond to her call either. My mind was racing trying to understand what was happening. Where had the other two gone? There was no way anyone from the mine had made it out here and Marci remained on my shoulder radiating anger and defiance.
My health was down to 45. There was a metallic taste in my mouth. I was about to beg Marci to leave again when I heard a loud thump. Marci cried out and projected friendship, happiness, and gratitude. A small rock of hope settled in my throat.
A louder thump this time, closer. It became rhythmic and I realized where I had heard it before as the forest ape from yesterday stepped out of the shadows. Following him closely behind was his son, thumping on his smaller but still broad chest. I looked around to see dozens of the apes stepping out of the shadows, all thumping in unison now. It was overwhelming, tears sprung to my eyes as I watched the scene before me.
Was this really happening? Or was this a fever dream from the poison? I sent Marci a questioning thought and she replied with a series of images that saw her fly desperately through the forest searching for the ape. She had found him inside a colony, he was projecting to a crowd. She had begged the ape, in her own way, for help by sending him images of the mine surrounded. The forest ape had responded immediately and gathered the fighting apes of the colony to respond. There were hundreds in the forest near us and they were ready for war.
“Please put your weapons down. Please!” I cried out to the strykers, suddenly sick of the bloodshed of the night. “There are hundreds of them and they are here to defend the mine. Please heed your own advice, the battle is lost, surrender and live! We can come to a peaceful resolution! This doesn’t have to get worse.”
“Pah. Fucking ape won’t stand in my way.” The lead swordsman replied and adjusted his grip on the massive sword. There was no doubt this man was an exceptional fighter.
“Silence. Put down your weapons and lay down on the ground, hands out front.” The leader responded quickly and coldly. All three of them complied immediately.
“Thank you. Thank you.” I replied unsteady. I turned to the forest ape and Identified him.
Forest Ape - Intelligent Beast - Pack Leader - Level 24 - Health 210/280
I projected gratitude, friendship and happiness. Pointing to the three downed strykers I projected danger, caution, careful. Three large apes came up and stood guard over the strykers, I sent out a questioning thought about the location of the archer. Stryker squad standards required the antidote to all poisons to be carried incase of accidental ingestion.
Her body was just out of sight, her neck broken, eyes open wide in a terrified look. Grunting at the unexpected sight, I searched her pockets methodically, trying to disassociate myself from what I was doing. Finally finding the small pouch that contained vials, the antidotes were not labeled so I had to guess. I downed the first one and nothing happened, panic beginning to rise.
Two more before the poison notification dropped off. There was risk in drinking antidotes like that, the dose makes the poison the old camp alchemist used to say. Grateful for my high stamina, she had several health potions on her so I grabbed them all and drank the first one. My health finally stabilized and started to regenerate without the poison present.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
We bound the remaining strykers hands and feet with tripwire and left a dozen of the forest apes to guard them. It was too risky to try to travel with them. The pack leader left them with clear instructions to kill the soldiers if they broke out of their bonds. Without knowing their exact strength levels it was hard to determine if they would be able to or not.
Approaching the pack leader next, I projected images of the mine surrounded by the soldiers. In return he projected help, friends, and anger. He projected an image of me straddling the dead deep forest ape after our fight. He turned and let out a roar, beating his chest three times in rapid succession. The apes responded with roars and matched his chest thumping.
The apes, it turned out, were incredibly fast through the trees. They only came down to the ground when it was necessary. Preferring to swing across the giant trunks and branches high above the forest floor. We made it back to the mine within a few minutes, I had only been able to take one of the health potions due to the cooldown. Potion cooldowns were still a mystery to both me and the residents of the Old Mining Camp. They had a randomness to them that wasn’t explained in the tutorial.
The mine remained surrounded by the soldiers from the Eter first army. They were in a defensive position with scouts posted at regular intervals in all directions. From the trees the apes were able to advance until they were nearly on top of the scouts without being spotted. The Eter army still had a lot to learn about this new world.
The door to the mine was broken open and there were bodies scattered about the clearing. The bodies were from both sides and it left me alternating between seething anger and bitter sadness. There were arrows being traded from the guard outpost down to the clearing and vice versa. Smoke and craters littered the area near the entrance indicating bombs had been used. The size of the craters matched what was left behind the minor bombs without the enhanced explosion skill. I was grateful the army must not have access to the major bomb.
I projected caution, waiting, negotiation at the pack leader. I wanted a chance to end this without more killing. The pack leader projected agreement and together we climbed down from the tree we were observing from to the forest floor. Approaching one of the scouts, I raised my hands in a gesture of peace, showing that I was unarmed. The first scout saw me and gave a cry of alarm, sending his partner back towards the blockade.
“Don’t shoot. I am unarmed. Don’t shoot!” I shouted at the scout. “We want to talk, we can end this without more fighting.”
“Easy to say when you have murdered half of my unit.” A broad shouldered man walked out after a tense minute of silence, his uniform displaying the marks of a Captain. “How about you surrender yourself to our custody and tell your people in the mine to stand down.” His words sounded confident, almost arrogant but his tone and facial expression didn’t match his words.
“We have your stryker squad, three of them are unharmed. You are surrounded right now by a colony of forest apes. On average they are higher level than your soldiers. Please just surrender so we can talk in peace.” I begged the Captain. I didn’t care if I sounded weak, I didn’t want to have to kill any more of my fellow countrymen.
“What’s to stop you from just killing us all after we surrender then? You command the beasts of the forest now?” The captain asked. Stalling for time, one of his scouts leaned in and whispered in his ear. “My scout says that we are indeed surrounded. Impressive work Sylar, late of the third army, stryker squad six.”
My surprise must have shown on my face as he called out my name and even my previous rank. It was a stark reminder that despite the events of the last 3 months I was still a citizen of Eter.
“You think we don’t do our homework? We’re not all as incompetent as that mayor you kicked out of Burch. The King is angry that he has a mayor squawking at him. He wanted you brought to him and the residents of Burch would face a token punishment. I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen now. At least 100 men and women of the first army lie dead here. Outside of the Norx invasion this is the worst loss the army has faced in many decades.” He took a deep breath and looked around at his soldiers. They were ready to charge and die in the line of duty, despite the odds.
A voice of grinding stones bellowed out from the door to the mine. “Tuol, lay down your weapons, it doesn’t have to be this way.” Arthur was visible now, slowly walking out of the mine. “You all know me. You know what I stand for,” his foot stepped near one of the bodies and he leaned down to check for signs of life before standing back up “this loss of life never had to happen if you had just listened to me.”
Captain Tuol, as Arthur named him, gave a long look at the former soldier turned blacksmith. He made a hand signal that resembled a chop that spread through the camp rapidly. I tensed for a moment, ready to fight but relaxed as every man and woman began to disarm themselves. Captain Tuol took off his sword belt and dropped it before him.
“Alright Arthur, Sylar, let’s go have a nice little chat why don’t we?” The captain said and turned towards the mine. He walked up to Arthur, still full of confidence, gave him a nod and walked past him to stand by the entrance to the mine. Arthur waited in the clearing and looked pointedly at me.
I turned towards the pack leader, my friend Halev, and projected happiness and gratitude. The forest ape slammed his fist against his chest twice, sending a message I couldn’t translate to his pack. They visibly eased up and formed a loose perimeter around the soldiers. For their part, the soldiers of the first army dumped all of their weapons in a large pile near the center of camp and strode to the clearing before sitting down.
Marci back on my shoulder, I nodded to the pack leader and turned around. The soldiers moved out of my way as I walked through the temporary camp towards the clearing. There was mumbling and cursing, grief and anger aplenty. Lost in thought as I approached Arthur I was surprised when the big man grabbed me in a fierce hug.
“Camile was worried sick about you when the soldiers showed up. At first we thought you had been caught and they followed your tracks here. When Tuol started demanding we hand you over we knew that you were out there. She never lost faith that you would come back and save us.” The big, intimidating former soldier had tears in his eyes.
“Camile was worried sick huh” I retorted.
Tears were beginning to form in my eyes as well. Arthur clapped a big meaty palm on my shoulder as we both turned and walked towards Captain Tuol. Walking through the clearing dropped my mood when I saw the bodies. Ryen was there, staring up at the forest canopy. It looked as if he had been struck by an arrow up in the outpost and fallen down the side of the mine. I knelt down and closed his eyes, tears flowing freely now.
A senseless death over the pride of a worthless mayor and the lashing out of an annoyed King who didn’t value his people. My grief bubbled up, sobbing over the corpse of my friend. The clearing was silent until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Come on son, we can still do some good today.” Arthur said in a soft voice.
I slowly stood up and followed him through the smashed opening of the mine. Barely contained anger coursing through my body.