Chapter 584: Hunting Party

  A low raspy screech echoed through the ashen trees, sending the hunting party on edge. The dozen goblins lifted up their spears and swords and huddled in a circle, eyeing the trees and bushes warily. Only two of them had bows, they had somehow managed to grab them in the midst of yesterday’s ambush on the Lunisian war encampment.

  After a few moments of silence, Nalindor raised his fist. “It’s clear. Let’s keep moving.”

  The group nodded reluctantly and followed him deeper into the eerie woods.

  “What was that?” a woman with one of the bows asked. Her name was Mynda, Myndel, or something like that. Nalindor couldn’t remember and simply decided to call her by her nickname, Myn.

  “I think it was a vulture, or maybe a dire Vulture, who knows,” Sev happily answered the woman’s question.

  “A-Ah… Dire?” Myn gulped.

  “They say that there are far more dire animals in this forest than in the rest of the Ebon Realm. But then again, the creatures here are much larger than their cousins anywhere else. So who knows?” Sev rattled off as Myn's face grew more and more spooked.

  Despite the gravity of their situation and their dwindling supplies, Sev was a curious lad, always eager to learn more about nature. If only to improve his own potions and elixirs that he could sell to his fellow soldiers.

  Nalindor smiled wryly to himself. He had known Sev since they were kids. Sev had always gotten himself into trouble, but the healer always looked after his own. Nalindor couldn’t recall the amount of times Sev had patched him up after a drunken brawl.

  He was counting on Sev as the only White-Red mage, or the only mage they had for that matter, to get them through this place. Nalindor had grown up hearing horror tales of the scarlet forest. Parents would chide their children and threaten to send them to Vulture Woods if they did not behave. The path to Evenfall was fraught with dangers, only acolytes and the most pious of goblins would usually make the trip.

  Now Nalindor had to lead a small company of soldiers through the forest that gave children nightmares. He silently whispered a frustrated prayer to Lunae.

  “You know, I always wanted to visit Evenfall someday,” another hunter spoke up. “Just never thought I’d be doing it like this.”

  “If we make it,” another added grimly.

  “We’ll be fine. A few days of hunting like this and we’ll be at Evenfall,” Nalindor assured them, even if he didn’t really believe it himself. The truth was they had a hundred mouths to feed and even with several hunting parties, he doubted they’d all find enough food. There were only two kinds of fauna in these woods. The kind that killed everything they came across and the kind that was skilled enough to evade and hide from the former.

  Either one wasn’t going to make easy prey. The likelihood that they’d all make it out of the forest was slim. But they didn’t need to hear that right now. They needed their captain to be strong, calm—

  “Do you hear that?” A soldier tilted his head to the side.

  The whole party stopped to listen, glancing around, searching the treeline.

  Myn furrowed her brow. “I don’t hear anythi—”

  A large shadow leaped out of the trees and with one swipe of its giant paw sent Myn flying through the trees. The hunting party stumbled back in shock as the massive bear stood up on its hind legs. The beast towered over them, easily four times their size.

  Nalindor was the first act. He hefted a spear and chucked it. The spearhead landed straight into the bear’s chest, only to skid off with a mild scratch. The bear roared angrily and swung his paw. Nalindor rolled away and another goblin was hit instead, the giant paw crushing her head with a sickening crunch of bone and viscera.

  “Nooo!” screamed another. The goblin, bigger than most, leaped onto the bear’s back and repeatedly stabbed at it with his daggers. The blades barely sank a centimeter into the thick hide.

  Without hesitation, the bear leaped backwards and flattened the goblin underneath it in a burst of blood. The beast rolled back to its feet and turned to the rest with a hungry growl.

  “Retreat!” Nalindor yelled.

  The others scrambled away and followed Nalindor in a mad dash through the ashen trees. They only stopped when their lungs burned and they stumbled with each step.

  “I think we lost it,” said one of the goblins between gasps.

  “What the fuck was that?” wheezed another.

  Nalindor glanced around the party, just happy that they were alive. “Wait,” he froze. “Where’s Sev?”

  The group looked at each other, the morbid truth dawning on their faces. “He’s dead…”

  Nalindor shook his head. “No. No. He was alive. Did any of you see him get hit?”

  “Well, not at the time. But if he’s not here, then he’s dead.”

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  Nalindor clenched his jaw and turned around. “We’re going back for him.”

  “What?” “You can’t!”

  Nalindor ignored them and marched back the way they came.

  “Captain,” one of the goblins hurried to his side. “I know he’s your friend, but—”

  “It’s not about that!” Nalindor rounded on him and slammed the goblin into a tree. “Sevryn is the only healer we have! How long do you think we’ll make it out here without a goddamn healer, huh!?”

  The party fell silent.

  “So if any of you don’t want to die out here from an infected cut, follow me,” Nalindor snapped.

~~~

  Sev crawled through the brush, trying his best to not crunch the scarlet leaves around him. He heard Nalindor yell retreat in the distance, but Sev had already left the clearing. The moment he had seen Myn go flying he had rushed after her.

  For all his magic, he was no warrior. His Bright spells were subpar, he could conjure orbs of light to guide them in the dark, but he couldn’t shoot concentrated beams of light like the battle mages.

  If he was back home he could make some explosive potions from all his shelves of alchemical ingredients. But he wasn’t home. He was stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere, on the ground, crawling like a terrified squirrel.

  What would Esme say if she could see him now?

  Memories of yesterday flooded his mind. The Ebon Lords’ soldiers rushing through the Lunisian encampment. The screams of the dying ringing through the valley as steel clashed against one another. Esme’s broken body lying in a pool of her own blood.

  Sev’s chest clenched tightly in pain. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried his best to control his breathing. He couldn’t save her. He was no warrior. He was a coward. He had only joined the army because Esme had volunteered. She wanted to help the sick and wounded. She—

  No. Sev wiped the tears from his eyes. He couldn’t think about her, not now. Putting one hand in front of another, Sev made his way through the trees.

  A weak moan caught his attention. Sev pushed past a few bushes and found Myn lying on the grass, blood pooling underneath her. Esme’s broken body flashed in his mind’s eye. Sev shook his head, banishing the thought, and scurried to Myn’s side.

  “Myn!” he whispered, relieved when he saw her eyes flicker towards him.

  She groaned in panic and tried to move to little avail. Four deep gashes had torn through her platemail and dug into her chest.

  “Shh, shh. It’s me. It’s Sev,” he whispered in a soothing voice.

  “Gh… ev…?” she mumbled through a mouthful of blood. The panic in her yellow eyes receded just a little.

  “Yeah, it’s me,” he smiled shakily. “I’m here. You’re gonna be okay.” White mana flowed into his hands as he placed his hands over her and channeled his healing magic.

  The wound looked bad. His professors back at the healer’s academy would have told him she was a lost cause on the battlefield and advised him to search for others he could actually help.

  “I… on’t.. wa… to d…” she choked.

  Well, he had never listened to any of his professors anyway. “You’re not going to die. I won’t let you,” Sev swore to himself more than to her.

  He poured more mana into the spell, adjusting the spell weaves as he went. Sev closed his eyes and focused on her wounds, stemming the bleeding and knitting the flesh back together little by little.

  A deep growl from behind broke his focus. Sev slowly turned around and looked up to the giant bear looming over him. Its golden eyes were filled with a starving rage.

  Terror filled Sev’s body. His heartbeat thumped in his pointed ears. He wanted to run. And yet he found himself slowly standing to his feet, standing between Myn and the beast.

  The bear pulled its black lips back in a sneer, angered at the small creature’s defiance. It inhaled and bellowed a powerful roar that shook the nearby trees. Its roar was suddenly cut short as a spurt of blood flashed across its neck. Sev didn’t understand what happened before the bear’s head tumbled off its neck and it collapsed at the goblin’s feet.

  Sev stumbled back a step and stared at the giant beast. Blood poured from its neck almost like a spout from a keg of ale. The dark red liquid poured over the grass but then slowed to a halt and began floating away.

  Sev’s eyes slowly followed the blood and landed on a figure standing a few paces behind him. A northern drow woman, clothed in azure armor. The blood coalesced her around, no, rather around her scarlet blade.

  A cold chill ran down his spine in recognition of the famed sword. “You’re… the Blue Rose.”

  The War Master of Holo’s Shade had found them. A hundred questions ran through his mind, but with a bitter realization, he knew none of it mattered. He was going to die.

  A shorter woman, a vampire by the looks of her scarlet eyes, stepped out from behind the Blue Rose. “Allow me, my lady.” She drew her sword and stalked towards Sev.

  “No. Wait,” Stryga said after a moment.

  The vampire frowned. “My lady, there are no doubt others of his kind in this place. He’ll alert them if we don’t deal with him now.”

  “I won’t!” Sev interrupted. He raised his bloodstained hands and glanced at Myn lying on the ground. “Please, just let me save her.”

  “...You’re a healer?” Stryga asked.

  He licked his lips and swallowed. “I am.”

  Myn coughed, blood spilling out from her lips, and falling down the sides of her cheeks.

  “Please, she’s dying.”

  “Are there others?” asked Stryga, eyeing the trees.

  Sev balled his fists, a glint of determination in his eyes. He dropped to his knees and began casting a healing spell over Myn.

  “My lady asked you a question, goblin,” the vampire drew the blade to his neck.

  “If you’re going to kill me then Myn is already dead,” Sev muttered as he kept healing. “But if I don’t help her now, then she will die anyway. So, if you’re going to kill me just get it over with. If not, then let me focus.”

  “Shall I?” The vampire glanced at her mistress for approval to kill him.

  Stryga stared at him thoughtfully, “You care for this woman? Is she someone important?”

  “I met her yesterday.”

  “Then why stand in the way of a rabid bear to save her?”

  “Because enough people have already died,” he snapped at her. His shoulders slumped as he sighed and focused once more on Myn. “This war has taken enough lives. It’s taken enough…”

  “Sevryn!” Nalindor called out in the distance. “Sevryn!”

  The vampire turned towards the sound and hissed. She moved in front of the Blue Rose and held her sword in a fighting stance.

  “...Put your sword away, Gwyn.”

  The vampire did a double take. “My lady?”

  “We’re leaving.” Stryga turned and walked away.

  “But, the goblin! If we let him live he’ll inform the rest of them!”

  Stryga ignored Gwyn’s words and looked back at Sev huddled over Myn. “I hope you succeed.” She turned and disappeared into the treeline.

  “My lady,” Gwyn called out to her and glanced at Sev, caught between indecision. She cursed under her breath and chased after Stryga.