Max defended against the Skarak Chieftain’s double-spear attack. He parried one spear strike with a downward sweep of his shortsword, and he narrowly dodged the other stabbing spear, his excellent Agility allowing him to move quickly and evade the attack.
As the Chieftain reset for another attack, and Max made ready to press home an attack of his own, he saw that the Skarak Warlock was casting a spell. Magic Missile leapt from the spell caster’s fingers.
>
>
> Skarak Warlock casts Magic Missile on Max causing moderate damage.
>
>
>
> Max’s shield is dispelled.
>
>
Max checked his spells and realized he’d used up two of his Magic Missile spells and his Magic Shield. He cast his final Magic Missile, his hands performing the gestures, and his lips reciting the incantation under his breath. The Magic Missiles streaked across the cavern and slammed into the Warlock. A blue shimmering Magic Shield flickered over the Warlock and then it vanished.
>
>
> Max casts Magic Missile on Skarak Warlock.
>
> Magic Shield deflects attack; no damage done.
>
>
>
> Skarak Warlock’s shield dispelled.
>
>
The Magic Missiles had at least robbed the Skarak of his Magic Shield, but Max knew he had to attack fast, or the Warlock might just cast a replacement shield. The Warlock was a higher-level magic user than Max, who was now without magic. All he could count on was his prowess with a shortsword.
The Chieftain stepped in close, and Max could see that the Chieftain had only one eye. It was bright red and stared unblinkingly at Max. The missing eye was not covered in any way, so there was a black cavity in place of where the second eye had once been. Black pointy teeth in a furry snout, a fat belly, and a tattered cloak; the Chieftain was as scruffy as he was ugly. He lunged with his twin spears.
>
>
> Skarak Chieftain attacks Max causing minor damage.
>
>
One of the Chieftain’s spears stuck into the leather tunic in Max’s chest. Max pulled away with the spear still stuck in his tunic. He stepped back again and pulled it out of his opponent’s grasp, then Max pulled the short, spiky spear free. He tried to take an aggressive stance with two melee weapons, the Chieftain’s spear and his own shortsword, but he couldn’t control them. He discarded the spear, tossing it behind him to the side of the cavern, and faced his enemy with shortsword alone.
Out of the corner of his eye, Max noticed that the Skarak Warlock standing up on the plinth by the young woman in chains was casting another spell. Max rolled out of the way of the Chieftain’s next attack. He grabbed his catapult off his belt, loaded a bullet, and shot it at the Warlock just as he was about to cast his latest spell.
>
>
> Max attacks Skarak Warlock causing minor damage.
>
>
>
> Spell casting interrupted; spell lost.
>
>
It was a little victory, but immediately the Skarak Warlock began casting again. Max had taken quite a bit of damage, and a Magic Missile strike might well send his Health into the critical range if it didn’t kill him outright.
Max avoided another stabbing spear attack from the Chieftain, and again shot at the Warlock with his catapult. He caught the Warlock with a stinging blow on his snout.
>
>
> Max attacks Skarak Warlock causing minor damage.
>
>
>
> Spell casting interrupted; spell lost.
>
>
The Chieftain closed with Max and jabbed the spear toward Max’s head. Max moved to parry the blow with his sword and succeeded in deflecting the thrust aimed at his head. The spear glanced off Max’s shoulder.
>
>
> Chieftain attacks Max causing minor damage.
>
>
Max’s health bar was dangerously low now, and there was no end to this battle in sight. It was all he could do to avoid attacks from the Chieftain while simultaneously launching catapult bullets at the Warlock to stop him from casting spells. There was no way to make an attack of his own.
He knew couldn’t win this fight with defense alone. Max started to feel a creeping fear that he had taken on too much. It was one thing to battle a group of Skarak alongside his party or even to take on a Giant Cave Rat with his friends nearby to assist him should he need help, but the Chieftain and the Warlock were too powerful. Max dodged another attack, shoulder rolling up onto his feet. The Chieftain’s spear glanced off the rocky ground with a glassy sound, and a smell of flint striking a spark filled Max’s nostrils. Max found himself nearing the cavern entrance. He would have to flee into the tunnels. The young lady tied with thick ropes to the stone circle was screaming and sobbing.
Max loaded another bullet into his catapult as he backed toward the tunnel entrance. He launched the bullet.
>
>
> Max attacks Skarak Warlock causing minor damage.
>
>
Even though the bullet only delivered minor damage, it sent the Warlock’s Health plummeting. The Warlock was weak, Max thought. If he could get past the Chieftain, he could defeat this Warlock and tip the odds in his favor.
>
>
> Skarak Chieftain attacks Max.
>
> Attack dodged; no damage done.
>
>
Max planned his attack, a lunge at the Chieftain to get the beast to retreat a step, and then Max would run past toward the Warlock and attack. One good strike and the Warlock would be defeated. He looked into the red eye of the Chieftain and got ready to press his attack.
Then he heard footsteps in the tunnel behind him. He braced himself, knowing he would soon be surrounded on all sides. His only hope was to get in close to the Warlock Chieftain and try to fight it out with the Chieftain before he was overwhelmed by the nasty little Skarak creatures.
Max maintained eye contact with the Chieftain and saw his face drop, his eyes widen. This made Max glance over his shoulder, and there in the tunnel, he saw his party approaching at a jog. Elderon launched a Magic Missile at the Warlock. Jahrod rushed at the Chieftain and brought his axe down with a mighty rush attack.
>
>
> Jahrod attacks Skarak Chieftain causing heavy damage.
>
>
The enemy had finally taken some real damage and Max pounced. He swung his sword when the Chieftain staggered from the heavy attack from Jahrod.
>
>
> Max attacks Chieftain causing moderate damage.
>
> Chieftain has been defeated.
>
>
Max watched the Chieftain crumple at his feet. Then he ran over to the Warlock and leapt at the spell caster with his sword.
He delivered a heavy blow.
>
>
> Max attacks Skarak Warlock causing moderate damage.
>
> Skarak Warlock has been defeated.
>
> Max gains experience points.
>
> Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
>
>
Max stood there, gasping for breath. He looked at the young woman who was simultaneously sobbing and smiling. Jahrod was checking the fallen Skarak.
“More Skarak are on their way,” Anita called from the entrance to the small cavern.
Max hurried over to the young woman tied to the stone circle and cut through the thick rope wrapped around her arms and legs, tight around her body. She collapsed in his arms as the rope slackened. He could feel her chest heaving as she took in huge, relieved breaths. Max pulled a shabby old blanket off the wall and wrapped it around the young woman’s shoulders.
“You are safe now,” Max said softly to her.
“Oh, thank you!” She wrapped her arms around Max’s neck. “I owe you my life.”
Max patted her gently. “I’m glad we could help. Maybe now you can help us? We are looking for a little girl, the farmer’s daughter. He said his child was captured by the Skarak.”
“That’s me,” the young woman said, wiping her tears and smiling at Max. “Daddy never realized I am all grown up now. He still thinks of me as his little girl, just a child.”
The young woman’s smile vanished, and she turned white as the sounds of approaching Skarak filled the cavern. She clung on to Max even tighter. Max pushed her behind him and loaded a bullet to his catapult.
Elderon and Jahrod stood in the entrance to the cavern and braced themselves for the onrush of Skarak. The sound grew, and Max could see their dark shapes in the tunnel. They came on like a dark, chattering wave.
Elderon lifted his hands up and cast a Fire spell. A shimmering ball of fire the size of a basketball raced away from Elderon and down the dark tunnel, lighting up the mass of Skarak as it went. And then the ball of fire exploded, expanding outwards in all directions with a wall of fire racing back along the tunnel toward the cavern. Max took a step back, but saw Elderon and Jahrod standing their ground.
When the wall of fire reached the cavern entrance, it evaporated. The tunnel was free of Skarak as they fled in fear of the powerful spell.
Anita came over to where Max stood and checked the young woman’s wounds. She cast Basic Healing on her and soothed the raw skin where the ropes had been. The rope had burned her wrists and ankles, and there were little scratches all over her skin where the Skarak had clawed at her when they had captured her.
“They were talking about a dark portal, about bringing it here and becoming more powerful.” The young woman rubbed her healed wrists. “Is this what is causing the dark evil that is creeping all over the land? Our little farming county was so peaceful and so prosperous, but we’ve had murder crows and dark wolves appearing more and more regularly. They were going to use me as a sacrifice to summon even more dark creatures.”
“We need to find a way out of here as quickly as possible,” Max said, but then remembered he needed to loot on the slain Warlock and Chieftain.
>
>
> Skarak Chieftain’s inventory:
>
> • Spear of Fire
>
> • Shortsword of True Striking
>
> • 20 gold
>
>
He dropped the coin into his satchel, tucked the spear into his belt, and then checked the Warlock.
>
>
> Skarak Warlock’s inventory:
>
> • Scroll of Summon Storm Elemental
>
> • Scroll of Fireball
>
> • Scroll of Magic Shield
>
> • Ring of Shadows
>
>
“What scroll do you have there?” Elderon said, noticing Max’s looting. “That Warlock is a high-level spell caster, so he might have high-level spell scrolls on him.”
Max slipped the Scroll of Fireball into his satchel and held out the Scroll of Summon Storm Elemental for Elderon to see.
“I can’t understand any of this,” Max said. “What is it?”
“Scroll of Summon Storm Elemental,” Elderon said, nodding and looking impressed. “But that spell is far too high level for you to learn right now. Store it carefully, and when you gain enough levels, you will be able to write it into your Mage Book. Attempt it now, and it will be lost. Have patience.”
Max slipped the scrolls into his satchel. He stood up, holding the Shortsword of True Striking. He held it lightly in his grip, testing its weight and balance. Max sensed he could more easily hit a target with this sword. It was almost as if he was permanently imbued with a Boost spell from Anita. He drew his shortsword from its scabbard and held the new sword in one hand and his old shortsword in the other, but he found it very awkward to wield them both at the same time. One hand just didn’t know what the other was doing. It was frustrating. Max was pretty good with both hands—he needed to be for climbing—but holding two shortswords just felt awkward.
Jahrod examined the weapons.
“You’ll need to develop your skills for dual wielding if you want to use both swords at once,” Jahrod said.
“Or you can learn a spell of dual wielding that will allow you to use two weapons together,” Elderon said. “It’s not a particularly high-level spell. The effects don’t last long at low levels, but they can last as long as a whole day at higher levels.”
Max dropped the shortsword into his satchel and slid the Shortsword of True Striking into his scabbard.
Then he stepped over to Anita and slid the Spear of Fire out of his belt. “What do you think of this spear?” he asked.
Anita took hold of the Spear of Fire. “It’s a good weapon. Added fire damage. It’s a good find.”
“Take it, it’s yours,” Max said.
“It’s a powerful weapon,” Anita said. “You should keep it.”
Max shook his head. “I’m no good with a spear. I want you to have it.”
Anita dropped her staff and admired her new spear.
“What do you think I should do with this, Elderon?” Max slipped the Scroll of Shield out of his satchel.
“That’s a very powerful spell,” Elderon said glancing at the scroll. “You already have a Strength spell, so now you should copy this Magic Shield into your Mage Book.”
Max read the spell, and the scroll disintegrated. He checked his Mage Book and found the Shield spell had appeared there on a page of Level Three spells. There were no slots for him to memorize a Level Three spell. He guessed he’d have to make a level first. He checked his stats, saw his XP bar was nearly filled, and realized it wouldn’t be long before he’d achieve his next level.
Next, Max held up the Ring of Shadows he’d taken from the defeated Skarak Warlock. He wanted to check the ring with Elderon, who took the ring to inspect it.
“Do you need a spell of Know Item to tell me what this is?” Max said.
Elderon took the ring from Max and studied it. “It is a magical ring,” Elderon said. “I can see it is not cursed. Yes, I’ve seen these before. It is a Ring of Shadows.” He handed it back to Max. “It is safe for you to use, young Mage. If you wear this, it will make it even easier for you to use your Sneak ability. With both that and your cloak, you’ll be practically invisible at a whim.”
Max slipped on the ring, and immediately he became more difficult to see in the dim light of the cavern. He activated his Sneak ability and was invisible to the rest of the party. He walked around slowly, gazing down at the farmer’s daughter, who was shivering and still recovering from her ordeal.
“Hey, stop creeping around me,” Jahrod said in an annoyed and hostile growl as he turned this way and that, looking for Max. “Come out where I can see you.”
Max took off the ring and slipped it into a little pocket on the side of his leather tunic.
“Enough of this,” Elderon said. “We need to leave, now.”
“I need to rest soon,” Max said. “I have used all my spells.”
“No time,” said Jahrod. “More Skarak are coming. I can smell them.”
“We are going to have to battle through the caves.” Max gripped his new shortsword. “Maybe we should barricade the cavern entrance and rest here so we can take them on at full Strength.”
“I know a way,” the farmer’s daughter said. “The Skarak moved in here only recently, but I used to explore these caves when I was a little girl.”
She stood up and went to the circle of stone she had been tied to. She pushed it, and it rolled aside. Behind was a narrow passage.
“We can go this way. There is a shaft up to the surface that is easy to climb.”
Max nodded. “We take the back route.”
Elderon sent another burst of flame along the tunnel as Max stepped into the narrow passage to lead the way. The farmer’s daughter followed, then Anita. Jahrod came next with Elderon coming last.
Max crawled through the sharp rocks of the passage until he reached the end. Above him, he saw a dark shaft going upward.
“Are you sure this is the way?” Max asked the farmer’s daughter.
She nodded.
Max started to climb. The shaft was twisted with jagged rocks sticking out here and there. It was easy to climb upward with lots of easy handholds and footholds. He climbed for a long time, feeling weaker by the moment as tiredness began to overcome him. At the top, Max felt soft, damp earth overhead. He dug upward through a mass of roots until he burst out into daylight and onto the soft grass of a meadow on the edge of a thicket of trees.
Max pulled the farmer’s daughter up through the ground. Then came the rest of the party. The day was getting dark, so Max looked around to find his bearings.
“This way,” the farmer’s daughter said. “I live less than five miles from here. If we move fast, we can be at my father’s cottage before nightfall.”
The grass was soft underfoot, and the late afternoon air fresh and cool after the damp, dusty caves of the Skarak.
As the sun set, Max saw the farmer’s cottage on the side of a gentle slope. The young woman ran toward the cottage, calling out as she went. Her father and mother rushed out to embrace their daughter.
“Thank you for returning my little daughter,” the farmer said as his wife embraced the girl. “You are heroes.”
>
>
> Max gains experience points.
>
> Max has leveled up.
>
>
“You will all stay with us tonight,” the farmer announced. “We have broth, beef pie, and ale.”
Max looked at Elderon, hoping the Mage would agree to accept the farmer’s hospitality. Elderon nodded and followed Max inside.
The little cottage was warm and dry, the table loaded with good food.
“Do you have any scromble?” Jahrod said.
The farmer’s wife froze with a fixed grin, one of fear. “I could try and make some,” she said.
Jahrod waved a dismissive hand. “Fear not. This beef pie will do the trick. It’s just a bit fresh. Needs a few weeks to really get ripe.”
Max didn’t think weeks-old beef pie sounded very healthy. After a meal and a tankard of ale, Max could not hold off tiredness any longer. He stood up from the table.
“I need to level up,” Max said. “And then rest.”
“You can sleep in our barn,” the farmer said. “It is filled with soft hay and is warm and dry.”
Max went to the stable. A loft with hay was perfect for rest. He unrolled his bedroll and sat on it. He looked at his stats in the yellow hay, the strands forming the window with the golden letters. Level up hovered there.
“Are you ok?” Elderon called up to Max from the ground below the loft. “Do you need help?”
Max looked down. The rest of the party were making beds on the hay-covered floor.
“No. I’m good.” Max returned to his bedroll. He let the words wash over him.
>
>
> Max has leveled up.
>
> Level 3 Mage.
>
>
Reaching into his satchel, Max realized it had been upgraded with his level. The satchel was deeper now and lighter too. He lifted it up. It was much lighter. He checked his stats.
>
>
> Satchel Upgrade
>
> • Magically enhanced Mage satchel
>
> • Capacity increased
>
> • Carrying weight of all items reduced
>
>
“Nice,” Max said to himself as he admired his newly improved satchel.
Max checked his Mage Book. He had a new slot for a Level Three spell. Max dug out the scroll of Fireball he’d found on the Skarak Warlock. He remembered what Elderon had said about the Fireball spell, but Max wasn’t going to give this scroll up now. He scrutinized the scroll, and then he carefully learned the spell. The scroll disintegrated, and the icon for Fireball appeared on the page for Level Three spells.
>
>
> Mage Book
>
>
>
> Level 1 Spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Detect Enemies
>
>
>
> Level 2 Spells:
>
> • Strength
>
>
>
> Level 3 Spells:
>
> • Shield
>
> • Fireball
>
>
Max turned to the page with his spell slots and immediately prepared three Magic Missile spells and a Strength spell. Then he looked at his Level Three spells. Shield or Fireball. Elderon had warned him about Fireball, but he had to see it in action. He prepared the Fireball spell. As soon as he woke, he would cast it and see it in action. Elderon would never need to know he’d used it.
Max tucked his Mage Book away, lay back on the hay, and was soon drifting off to sleep. He was disturbed before sleep took him when he felt someone slip under his blanket beside him.
“Anita?” Max whispered.
The farmer’s daughter whispered in his ear, her warm breath on his skin.
“Shhh,” she said and kissed him gently, her hands all over him. Max knew he needed rest to activate his spells, so he lay still and let the farmer’s daughter caress him gently all night.