Chapter 26

Bianca

Day 16 of Landing

Population of Thornhill - 47

“How is he?” I asked, stroking Orion’s sweat-soaked head with the back of one of my fingers.

“He has an elevated white blood cell count and low blood oxygen levels,” Ethan said tiredly, checking his Diagnose card and shaking his head. “It’s most likely pneumonia. Anika has given him an infusion of wild garlic and echinacea with her Herbalist skills, but it’s not as potent as macrolides or penicillin.”

“He looks awful...” I said, noting his gaunt pale face and the dark circles around his eyes. “Will he really be alright?”

“The infusion Anika made for him to combat the illness made him extra drowsy. That, combined with his deteriorating health... he might be out for a while,” Ethan sighed, shaking his head.

“He’s going to be fine though, right?” I asked.

“Even without strong antibiotics, he should be okay. He just needs a lot of rest to fight it off.” Ethan frowned, examining one of Orion’s arms. “His body looks stretched to the limit. The use of his buffs has probably taken a deep toll on his muscles, not to mention he’s been working day and night with little sleep. No wonder his immune system is so compromised.”

“Oh, Rye...” I stroked his cheeks, “Why do you push yourself so hard?”

Cass barged in with a basket of wild purple plants and wild garlic. “I brought these. Is Rye going to be alright?”

“Thank you for that, Cass, but please stay with Roza and the other children,” Ethan commanded.

“It’s just a cold, right? He’ll be okay? Wake up!” Cass came over to shake his unconscious brother before Ethan held the boy back.

“Yes. He just needs rest,” Ethan reassured the boy before dragging him off and shouting back at me, “I’ll get him a warm compress, Bianca.”

With Orion out for the day, I would have to close the dungeon. When I checked on it, I found out there was still one occupant on it on the first floor: Alex.

“That little... when I get my hands on him,” I muttered.

I had known yesterday that Orion and Alex had gone into the dungeon. I had also known that they were past the intended limit I set for Orion alone. Somehow, I realized that I was never going to stop those two, or anyone for that matter, from pushing down further. I realized that it was the nature of this world to try to get stronger and now the ones who relied on them had to pay the consequences for it.

This world rewarded those who sought levels and pushed themselves. I couldn’t fight it any more than the tide. That didn’t mean I wasn’t allowed to be angry at this idiot for pushing himself so hard.

“BLACK SAILS! BLACK SAILS ON THE HORIZON! EVERYONE GET READY! BLACK SAILS ON THE HORIZON! PIRATES! PIRATES! PIRATES!”

When I heard my worst fears come to reality, my first instinct was to run. I needed to run far away from here. I can rebuild somewhere far away.

No.

Someone had to take action. I took all the frustration I had built inside over the past few days of inaction and turned it into will. This was my community, and I had to do something.

But for the community to survive, it needed its sword, and it needed its knife.

The mess hall was abuzz with activity, panic-stricken people, and worried faces, and heading them was the Captain who tried his best to calm the folks around him down. Everyone was already expecting the worst.

“We don’t know if they are pirates, you are just fearmongering!”

“Black sails? It doesn’t matter what planet you are from, black sails mean pirates!”

“WE HAVE TO RUN! NOW!”

“Where is Alex?! Where is Orion?!”

“What about the children? Oh god, the children!”

“Does anyone have a facking cigarette?”

“Calm down everyone, let’s just settle down and sort this out like civilized individuals. Calm down.” The Captain tried to ease the panicking crowd.

“QUIET!!!!!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, cutting through the noise. The sound of which caused birds in surrounding trees to flee. I don’t know if a skill was activated, but they all stared at me intently, which caused me to redden. Shaking off the nerves of public speaking, I had to resolve myself.

I first looked upon Cade, our guard, and the other notable dungeon member, who was gripping his spear in anticipation.

“Cade. Go into the dungeon and find Alex. Get him back here ASAP.” I ordered curtly. The young black guard nodded and ran in the direction of the cave entrance, his class ability carrying him swiftly through the forest.

“Anika, I need you to prep some stimulants, antibiotics, or anything that can fight off Orion’s symptoms. You need to wake him up. Meet us back at the dungeon cave once you are done.” With that instruction, Anika nodded and left the group to run into the forest. Before the Herbalist left, I saw her Forager card flash out.

“Everyone else who can’t fight, I need you to follow me. Right now, we can only hide at the dungeon entrance. Alex, Cade, and Orion will fight off the pirates.”

Herman limped his way into the mess hall from the beach and huffed, bent over exhausted as if he had no more strength in him. “Looks like their ship is dead in the water. They are taking rowboats now. They’ll be on our shores... excuse me let me catch my breath... within an hour or two. We... we need to run. None of you have any fighting experience.”

“I ain’t letting these facking pirates go anywhere near my kids. Give me a weapon. I will kill them all,“ Marek said, baring his fist and teeth.

“Marek is right. We can fight,” Copilot Kestrel bravely volunteered. “Three boys aren’t enough to take them on if they mean business.”

“You have no classes! Marek is a builder, not a warrior.” I marveled at the insanity of their willingness to throw away their lives.

“And Orion is a cook! You’re placing all your hopes on a sick cook and Alex? Alex the slacker, of all people? I mean to talk to whoever their leader is and try to talk some sense. We have nothing here for these pirates to steal,” Captain Alvarez said looking around for support that seemed a lot less enthusiastic than before.

“We have women and we have children,” I said.

“We have no idea if they are even pirates. Black sails could mean something completely different in this world,” Copilot Kestrel said.

“Enough talk. All of you have to start running right now,” I commanded, and half of the crowd was ready to follow. The other half wanted to stay and fight.

“I ain’t running with pirates on our back trying to hurt my family!” Marek said, and other men joined in agreement, with Herman shaking his head furiously in condemnation.

“AHEM~” A female voice cut through the talk. “I love you, Bianca, but you aren’t going to convince these guys not to defend their homes and what they consider their families now.”

Sophie, who was mysteriously absent from the beginning, had arrived from the hills, a wooden carry-on-looking chest trailing her feet. She pulled a card from her palms and dropped it on the chest. It expanded as people nearby stood back and watched it turn into a full wagon. Inside the wagon, Sophie reached in to drop copper swords, maces, axes, some armor, and other weapons onto the ground before the cart.

“I made a deal with Orion to deliver these,” Sophie said with a somber smile.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

When the men picked up the weapons, they realized the implication. They weren’t going to defend themselves as soldiers do in our world, at a distance with guns. They were going to get up close and personal. So close they would see their enemy’s eyes. Some like Ethan, Herman, and Larry decided against it, but others like Captain Alvarez, Kestrel, Clark, Marek, James, Joseph, and Miguel took up the few weapons available.

Other men, like the newcomers Bart and Jesus, who couldn’t find copper starter weapons would make wooden spears. The whole thing seemed too infantile and primitive to me as if these were little boys playing make-believe war with sticks they found.

“Marek, don’t do this,” I pleaded with him while he practiced swinging his copper mace.

“A man has to fight for his family,” he said, gritting his teeth, making practice swings through the air with his mace as if he held a baseball bat.

“We mean to talk to them,” Captain Alvarez said, calming everyone down as the men and one woman, Sasha, parted ways with the non-combatants. “We have to reach an understanding to resolve this without violence. These weapons are only a precaution. I will try to explain to them that we have nothing of value.”

Later, with Alex and Cade finally joining back from the dungeon with newly looted weapons, the men regained their confidence. Fitted with their new weapons, they marched towards the shore to meet the pirates, while the others marched towards the dungeon entrance cave to seek safety.

“Alex, protect them,” I begged him and Cade. “You two should be on the front lines. They have no idea how to defend themselves with swords.”

“I won’t let any of them die, Bianca. Is Orion still sick?” Alex asked, to which I nodded. Despite that, Alex still smiled confidently.

I stared helplessly at the backs of the stupid defenders, cursing myself.

Why didn’t I make more of them level up in the dungeon? Oh right, Bryden.

Why didn’t I pick Battle Golem? Why didn’t I prepare them better?

I should have fought back against the Captain. I should have been a better leader.

And now they will pay for my mistakes.

Before the group of refugees went into hiding in the dungeon cave, Ethan and I paid a visit to the still-unconscious Orion.

“I feel so useless,” Ethan said hopelessly, brushing his hands through his black hair. “I can’t... I have a class, but I can’t do anything about this.”

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We’ll carry him to the cave,” I said briskly. I didn't know if I was saying it to myself or to Ethan.

Ethan insisted he would do the carrying, and then I had an idea. I called Slate over. Orion’s body was placed on the palms of the golem, which flattened its rock hands to accept it. We draped the muskrat blanket over Orion, and Slate marched in unison with the refugees toward the cave, with us beside him, assuring that he wouldn’t make any harmful movements to Orion.

“Easy now, Slate. Don’t hurt him. Just move carefully,” I patted the golem’s back.

When we reached the cave, we lay Orion flat before the dungeon door. The cook was shivering, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he was murmuring to himself softly. His temperature had risen to 103, according to Ethan’s Diagnose card. He would need medicine.

The refugees of Thornhill sat restlessly in the cave. Sounds of faint crying and panicked murmuring echoed throughout the dungeon. Slate was standing guard at the cave entrance, blocking the entrance with his body. Soon, in the distance coming from the forest, someone screamed.

Oh no. That sounds like Anika.

“HELP!!”

Anika was carrying a basket of ingredients, running away from an unknown enemy. She kept glancing back at the person chasing her, and when she saw Slate, she rushed toward the cave entrance, and the golem stepped aside to accept her entrance.

Her pursuer was maybe thirty paces behind her, its wet tongue lolling out hungrily. The man—or creature—had slimy, vomit-green skin. Bulging yellow eyes took in its quarry; there was a hunger for flesh behind its gaze in one form or another that made my skin crawl. It carried a rusty bronze machete, which it smacked at the golem’s stone body to no response. Its arms, wearing a patchwork leather and bronze spiked gauntlet, tried to squeeze past a break in the golem’s body, which would lead inside.

As the refugees inside the cave saw this, they broke into screams, trying their best to get away as far as they could from the cave entrance. Anika was by Orion’s side, stuffing a tincture in his mouth, encouraging it to go down.

“Slate... please do something!” I tossed out a Saw card and designated the frog raider’s body. When the order wouldn’t go through as if a credit card had been declined, dread filled my mind.

The raider’s almost liquid-like amphibious body squeezed through the hole in the useless golem, like a spelunker going through a tight cave crevice.

“Stop him, Slate!” I yelled, my hands over my head in complete disbelief.

The golem moved to squeeze the raider's body, but it was too late. A hideous laugh full of intent echoed in the cave from the raider as it licked its lips, scanning its prizes. It readied its machete, waiting for one of us to defend ourselves.

In the dungeon cave, everyone from our village who was hiding there saw him, and their world turned upside down. He stood with the height and upright posture of a man on two feet, but instead of a human head, he had the head of a green frog. If the night sky and the magic here weren't enough to convince them they were no longer on Earth, this sight truly shattered any remaining hope they had left.

I saw Ethan cower in the darkness near the creature, fear overwhelming his body as he went into a fetal position.

The frog raider scanned the group, sensing our fear and inability to fight. It targeted Aaliyah, my helper, and stewardess, who yelped as the monster lunged at her, dragging her away. Its machete threatened us all, warning us to back off. Aaliyah sobbed as its tongue and machete brushed the back of her neck. The frog growled threats in an unknown language that sounded guttural.

Aja was growling loudly and letting out barks as Astrid tried desperately to hold the dog back. In another area, Herman was being held back by a tear-filled Gladys and Anika. The frail old man was yelling while struggling to be let free, “Get the hell away from her, you dirty frog bastard!”

Aaliyah’s head met the cave wall, her eyes filling with tears and dread as the pirate held her there. The frog creature unbuckled its belt with a delighted smile, and in a brief moment of carelessness, Ethan came up behind it, lunging and placing a hand on its legs. A card flashed, revealing Anesthetic Touch. Soon, the pirate was completely unconscious falling suddenly to the floor, and we carried a crying Aaliyah away from the downed frogman, comforting her.

An older woman, Tiffany, held the pirate’s dropped machete threateningly over the unconscious frog.

“Who wants frog legs?” Tiffany asked, her teeth bared to a chorus of agreement.

“No. We keep it alive.” I ordered. “Tie it up.”

“Keep it alive? That monster tried to take one of us!” Ruth yelled pointing accusingly at the frog.

“We need to interrogate it. Remove its clothes and weapons, and tie it up,” I commanded angrily, leaving no room for further discussion.

We took an inventory of what we took from the creature.

Leather Spiked Cuirass (M) - D

Wool Trousers (M) - F

Leather Boots (M) - F

Wool Gloves (M) - F

Gold Coin(9) - The head of the coinage showed a queen of some kind, the tail end a phoenix

Leather bags (2) - D

Lesser Potion of Healing - D

Common silver rings (3) - F

Bronze Machete - F

Anika examined the red potion filled in a small glass test tube with a cork holding it. Using one of her Herbalist skills, she managed to identify it.

Lesser Potion of Healing - D

Restores a small amount of health

“What the hell does that mean? Health? Like a video game potion?” Anika asked, examining the card with a confused face.

“Do you think it’s safe?” I asked.

“Should be, unless the card is lying,” Ethan shrugged. He was holding the frog’s rusty machete now, examining it carefully.

I came to a decision.

“We give it to Orion. Any leftover, Anika will examine it and try to replicate it.”

With Ethan’s Prescribe skill amplifying the potion’s effects, the doctor poured the red liquid down Orion’s mouth. We saved a few drops for Anika to reverse engineer. Ethan pulled up his Diagnose card to examine Orion’s vitals, and the doctor’s eyes widened.

“His fever is going down. His blood counts are stabilizing. His heart rate is climbing. Combined with the effect of Anika’s herbs... he’s recovering so quickly. It shouldn’t be happening this quickly... It’s incredible...” Ethan stared in awe at the card, with his fingers on Orion’s wrists as if he wanted to make sure himself if what he was reading was correct.

Less than a minute later, Orion slowly opened his eyes, looking like he had just recovered from the worst night of drinking in his life. His dark, sunken eyes took in the scene before him as he tossed the blanket aside. Dark brown hair, matted with sweat, clung to his forehead, strands of darkness covering his groggy face. Rising with purpose, he checked his body for his weapons.

“We’re at the dungeon cave,” I said, not wanting to waste time. “Everyone who can’t fight is here. Pirates are here. They are on the beach. The captains and others are there as well. Please hurry and save them.”

Orion looked around, not bothering to speak as I briefed him on the situation. His eyes rested on the tied-up naked frogman for just a few seconds before continuing his scan. Then his gaze landed on Roza and her children. I realized what he was looking for and suddenly panicked. The cook tightened his belt and reached into the bag Roza had made for him, sniffing a leaf package he had stored there before opening it and swallowing the contents. A few cold words came out of his mouth before he promptly stormed out of the cave.

“Where the hell is Cass?”