I felt a great conflict stir in my heart as we delved deeper. The path laid out for me by the will of Kold brought me back underground where I belonged. I felt great comfort knowing I was a few steps closer to home, to hell, and the Steel Bastion, but it came with a price I was barely willing to pay. I was cold to the point where my limbs stiffened. What great irony the universe had brought upon me as if I was a mere tool for the entertainment of their vast cosmic powers?
Yet, I would not utter a word for I was Shieldfather and it was not becoming for one such as me to moan cold feet. Or arms. I’d rather have my heart pierced by a garg wasp.
“I can’t see shit,” Bleff uttered for he had no such honorable boundaries.
I could see just fine in the darkness, though. The cellar was small, stuffed with old furniture, broken wooden benches, and barrels covered in thick layers of dust interconnected by cobwebs. Our path was clear, for there was a great hole in the far stone wall that led deeper into the bosom beneath Underock. A circle of rugged rock and soil oozed darkness like giants behind their mammoth screamers.
If only I wasn’t so cold, I pondered and as if hearing my thoughts, Kindra Van Groer, the slick-tongued wizard flicked her wrists and conjured a small flame in her palm. It quickly grew to the size of a fist, burning lustrously and warm. The ball of fire then floated up on its own, circling the wizard.
“Here, goblin, now you can see. And that’s why you always need to bring a red wizard to the—ouch!”
To my great shame, I instinctively reached for the flame in a childish attempt to warm my freezing soul. In doing so, my great bronze hand struck Kindra Van Groer accidentally across the face. Keldar, Tamban, and Bleff found themselves stunned as the wizard rubbed her reddening cheek.
“The fire sheds warmth,” I blurted out for no words of wisdom could follow acts of such stupidity.
“You slapped me! You big, ugly barbarian son of a—You want a fight? You’ll get one!”
She raised her hands as strings of fire twisted up her forearms and around her fists, lighting up the cellar in yellow and orange. The dust on the old wooden garbage was blown away and the cobwebs melted. She pressed her fists together and suddenly a gust of fire engulfed me, warming and caressing my body.
DAMAGE OVER TIME SPELL DETECTED: [INCINERATE]
[DESCRIPTION]: Suffer 1 point of fire damage every second for 15 seconds.
NOTE: The effect of [Incinerate] has been reduced by 60%.
I shuddered in the pleasure the spell brought me then looked at the wizard. She seemed dumbfounded by my reaction. The bronze of my body had acquired a soft red hue, and small fires broke out from my skin here and there like flames across a stream of magma. The cold was gone, now only shame lingered.
“You like that, copper man?”
“I think he does,” Bleff replied with a big fat grin on his ugly face. The admiration in his tone was very welcome.
“That does not give him or anyone the right to strike a lady, especially a noble lady such as Kindra Van Groer. I thought you a man of honor, Shieldfather!” Keldar Brightstar, the paladin said.
Tamban Bambadan ran his fingers through his dirty, vine-infested hair and grinned showing his fangs, but spoke no words. I was caught between immeasurable shame and unfathomable pleasure.
“I feel great shame,” I said, bowing my head slightly. “I have known nothing but cold since I arrived in this world. The warmth of your fires has stoked my will to live once again. I did not want to strike you, and I offer you strike me in return.”
Van Groer looked around angrily, obviously trying to come to terms with my apology and the entailing offer.
“I just did,” she said. “You’re literally on fire.”
“Hmm, yes.”
“And you…you’re enjoying it?”
“With great shame, yes.”
“Want me to do it again?”
There was a hint of excitement in her words.
“Please, if you don’t mind. The timer is about to end.”
“I could hit you with a fireball, too, you know.”
A devilish grin spread across her dark-skinned face.
“Alright, I see where this is going, and for the sake of the rest of us, just stop,” Bleff said with a surprisingly commanding tone.
“Stay out of it, goblin,” Kindra snapped. “The man enjoys my fires. I can’t say I’m not intrigued. What did you say before? Born of the flame?”
Bleff moaned and rolled his eyes but refrained from saying more.
“One more time then?”
I nodded and the wizard’s eyes lit up again as she recast her spell and lit me on fire once more.
“This will do,” I said.
“And there’s more once we finish this thing,” she added with an exaggerated wink. I truly hoped there would be. Though Bleff’s buffs were of great use, they faded in comparison to the comfort Kindra’s fires brought me. Perhaps she would prove a greater ally than I had anticipated.
“Shall we bring upon buffs before we venture further?” Keldar asked and we all agreed that this would be wise.
Bleff increased our health stats with his [Word of Vitality] and Keldar activated an ability called [Aura of Fervor] that increased both our attack and movement speed. As we moved towards the hole in the wall, the paladin stopped us one more time urging me to let him go in first for he had a spell called [Detect Evil] and claimed it prudent to use it ahead.
“Prudent indeed,” I said and Kedlar walked through the hole ahead of me. He cast his spell and then stood there for a moment before we continued.
“I sense evil,” he said grimly.
“So do I,” I said though not because of the spell but rather because I had never not sensed it.
“It’s just rats, you dimwit,” Kindra said. “I’ve been here before.”
“They are all creatures of the wild,” Tamban Bambadan said as he lumbered behind dirtying his fur against the walls.
“The stupidity,” Kindra said exhausted.
“Rats,” I muttered to myself as we entered a larger underground chamber in which I could stretch to my full height.
At the far end, there was another large hole, though numerous smaller holes pocked the dirt in all directions. I had seen, battled, and destroyed countless giggl-erats, drum-rats, and the notorious fart-rats and imagined these creatures might be similar.
As I rummaged through memory with both glee and sadness, I heard a faint rattling coming from caves and caverns probably connected to the one we were in. Bleff grabbed onto me with one hand and to a root protruding out the dirt walls with the other.
YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED A MONSTER
NAME: RAT
ATTACK: 2
DEFENSE: 0
“Protect me,” he said as his voice croaked.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
A great skittering then echoed from all sides. Hundreds of tiny legs grabbing forward, squeaking, chattering, and promising a dreadful time.
“Have fate in me, goblin,” I said. “No harm shall come to you.”
But Bleff wasn’t alone in his frightfulness, I noticed Keldar’s hands tremble around the handle of his splintered mace. I lowered a hand on his shoulder and he twitched nervously.
“You too, Keldar,” I said and pushed past him, readying my shield and sword. “The rats take no man today. That I promise and for each one you destroy, I, Shieldfather shall take two.”
“What the hell is he on about?” Kindra said in her ignorance.
There was no time to explain to her the origins of those holy words with which each Tide began nor did I deem her worthy. Yet.
And then the swarm came.
It was a great flood of greyish little vermin that spilled out of every hole and crevasse of the dirt cavern. Their anger was as tangible as the smell they carried with them. These were no giggle-rats, not even half their size, but they came in vast numbers and unlike the crabs on the beach, these creatures were aggressive, angry, and squeaking with madness.
I rushed forward with a mind to gather the rat’s attention, and it worked. They came at me quickly, biting and scratching their way up my legs. I soon realized defending against such small critters was more difficult than I hoped for. My shield proved of little use against them. Even so, I slashed and hacked my way through the vermin with my new tiny sword, spilling diseased blood against the earthen walls.
“Argh! Heal!” I heard Keldar yell behind me.
A great deluge of rats came streaming on top of him from holes in the ceiling. The paladin was almost entirely covered in a coat of dirty grey fur. Tamban weaved his hands into a spell of greenish light that engulfed the paladin with healing energies but it did little to help him get rid of the beasts.
I hacked through two rats in one swing, then smashed my shield into a third. I quickly dashed back closer to my group, taunted two of the rats from Keldar and still left half a dozen more biting and scratching the paladin’s neck, arms, and legs.
“Heal me!” he cried again and the druid did his best to do so, but he too was now cornered by another group and had to fend off the vermin with his free hand. Our formation was not a formation, our defenses were shattered, and no man was safe.
“Don’t do it Kindra!” I heard Bleff cry out over the clamor of battle.
He was hiding behind the wizard who was building up a great ball of fire in both her hands. This one was far larger than anything she had used so far, and it promised to be of great use.
She slung the fireball at the paladin and it flung him off his legs and tossed him against one of the walls. Smaller shards of flame spread in all directions incinerating both the rats and the party members. It was suddenly very bright and comfortably crisp.
Burning rats skittered every which way, squealing in panic and lighting up other rats while doing so. Dust and rocks came falling off the ceiling and the whole chamber threatened to crash on top of us. None of my abilities had any use when it came to the rats. Using my [Triple Block], I managed to stop one nasty rat from jumping me, letting the tiny demon bounce off my shield harmlessly, but that was it. I managed to pry away as many as I could from Kindra and Tamban as the druid maintained my health, but it was just burning, screaming mayhem.
When the last rat fell, my health was already down to 110 / 200. I didn’t worry for I had a healer and was sure it wouldn’t harm our progress. I felt blood trickle down several bite and scratch marks and when I eyed the others, I saw they shared a similar look.
I grinned, for I cherished the look of a warband after battle. There was no sweeter image than a bloodied warrior standing triumphantly over his enemy.
“Keldar’s dead,” Tamban said kneeling next to the burnt body of the paladin.
“What the hell!” Bleff roared. “Kindra! Why? You killed him!”
I nodded solemnly, eyeing the corpse.
“A great death, surely,” I said, cutting through the accusation.
The demise of a fellow warrior was no cause for bickering. Shameful were these creatures I called companions, but their disrespect would not sway me from the path of a Shieldfather.
“Say what?” Bleff cried, pointing a finger at the source of his anger.
“It is a warrior’s death, no less.”
I knelt next to Keldar, picked up his mace, and lowered it in his lap, then folded his hands over the grip. Next, I stood and made the mark of the Steel Bastion, holding my fist into a blade touching my forehead and my heart.
“Back to the Frostlands with you, old boy. You have done well.”
“You!” Bleff yelled again, pointing at Kindra. “You hit him with a fireball! I told you not to!”
“I couldn’t heal through that,” Tamban said, shaking his head, but then he shrugged, dusted off his fur, and smiled again as if nothing had happened.
“He would have died anyway,” Kindra said coldly.
“No, he wouldn’t!” Bleff exclaimed.
“Will you shut up, goblin? What were you doing the entire fight?” Kindra barked at the smelly green creature. “You just hid behind me!”
“Bleff isn’t that useful. Such is he,” I said calmly. “And Keldar’s death is nobody’s fault but the rats’, may they rot and wither.”
“How can you say that? You saw her hit him—”
“I saw the chaos of battle, the imminence of death, the fear of pain, and great cowardice on your part. Keldar died fighting. We should be happy for him.”
“But—”
“No buts, Bleff. Look to your shortcomings first.”
The goblin opened his mouth to say something else, but then just grimaced and snorted. Soon tears followed and deservedly so. I was not glad Kindra helped kill Keldar, but at least she did something rather than nothing. In a battle, one had to make decisions and make them fast, but most importantly, one had to stick to them. Kindra had made one such decision, one of us died, but the others survived for it. It was a good trade.
I would not mouth any of those thoughts to the others for words could not teach them battle.
I did as my good friend Godfrey had taught me and looted the many rats strewn across the chamber. The first dozen offered nothing but burned fur, broken teeth, and crisp intestines which I stuffed into my lootbox nevertheless. I was hoping that perhaps, just like with the crab parts, I could sell these useless bits for some silver for I knew coin was a most powerful tool in the overworld.
“Onwards!” I commanded once everyone had grabbed their share, and we pushed through the following dirt tunnel with Kindra and Tamban right behind me as Bleff shook and cowered behind them.
We arrived at the next chamber soon, this one larger in every way than the previous one. Even Kindra’s flame could barely shed enough light for it to reach the hole-ridden walls. My red eyes pierced through the darkness and I barely made out a great chasm that split the chamber in two. A long bridge connected both sides, and it looked as if it was barely holding together.
“Are rats builders?” I asked for it made no sense to my mind that those vermin may have created the bridge.
“No,” Kindra said. “I’ve no idea what this is supposed to be. I’ve never gone past the first chamber.”
“Bleff, cross the bridge,” I ordered and the goblin gasped as if slapped across the face.
“W—what?”
“You weigh the least. If it can’t support you, there is no point in us trying.”
“Wise,” Tamban said and pushed the goblin ahead.
“What? Wait! Why me?”
I grunted, exhausted by his reluctance to prove himself worthy at least once. Instead of answering, I grabbed him by his robe and shoved him ahead.
“Go!” I ordered as sternly as I’d order a Shieldson to give his life for the Bastion.
Bleff was shaking like a wet dog, his hairy green legs threatening to give in. Just as I was to push him again, the ground in front of the goblin suddenly opened up and out came a rat as large as Bleff himself. I flung the goblin to the side and he skidded along the ground until he landed several feet away, then raised my shield and licked my lips.
“Travelers!” the rat said, taking us all by surprise.
I took a step back, lowered my sword against the edge of my shield, and focused on the death I would soon have to teach.
“Now, why look at you!” the rat, said grinning and squeaking.
Ugly bone trinkets, and beads hung from its skinny arms and neck. In its left hand, it grabbed a crooked piece of wood that could almost be called a staff.
“Words will not save you from death, rat,” I said confidently.
“Words, yes. But not for me, for you! Answer my riddle and I will let you pass. Yes, yes!”
“Riddles? Only Steelspeakers and demons dabble in riddles, rat. And you don’t strike me as a Steelspeaker.”
“What?” Kindra asked from behind me.
The goblin-sized rat chittered strangely and then slapped its hands together.
“Tell me, barbarian, what gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?” it asked with a self-satisfied smirk that made my blood boil.
“Your mother’s twat!” I roared and surged forward, aiming my sword at its chest.
“Wait, you idiot!” I heard Kindra yell, but her insults became a background to what I did best: sow death upon the enemy.
“Wrong!” the rat laughed and just as the tip of my blade was about to plunge into its heart, the rat vanished back into its hole.
The sound of rattling chains filled the cavern. Something came loose, and a massive rock suddenly swung from one side of the chamber only to crash into the other. Bleff gasped again, Kindra cursed me, and Tamban…well, Tamban was splattered against the wall by that very same rock.
It was a most unfortunate development.
I watched as the bolder swung back and forth a few more times. Bits and pieces of the druid still hanging on to the bloodied boulder until it stopped swinging between Kindra and myself.
Tamban’s blood pooled beneath it.
“You moron!” Kindra said rubbing her forehead. “You stupid, pig-brained—”
“A warrior’s death,” I said, stopping her not only because Tamban had lost his life in battle and was owed respect, but also because I felt her insults were pushing me over the edge of my goodwill.
“Back to the Frostlands, old boy,” I said, tapping the boulder.
Not every death could be as glorious as that of Keldar the paladin, but even so, Tamban’s demise counted as a warrior’s death for he was at war when it happened.
Sort of.
“You’re not made for talking, are you? You just cost us a healer.”
“Oh! Gods! We’re all going to die,” Bleff muttered between gasps and cries.
“Shut up, Bleff,” Both Kindra and I said in unison.
“You said no man would be lost to the rats, and we already lost two!” the goblin yelled back and then cowered as if awaiting my wrath.
It did not come for there was at least some truth to his words. The sting of guilt had suddenly found me and I did my best to do away with it. Guilt was a great enemy, especially to a Shieldfather. For we made promises of survival when we knew there would be death, for we lived to protect, and yet sometimes our defenses were breached. We were taught that such was the burden of command, that such was life in Oomer’s Cohort, that in the end such was hell, and that in hell guilt could chip away even at the strongest armor.
“Forgive me, Bleff. Forgive me, Kindra. Such is…this world that some die and some live,” I finally said because forgiveness was the first step toward shedding guilt.
“Whatever. We can’t finish this without a healer,” Kindra said. “We better get back and look for a replacement.”
“No,” I said. “I give no quarter to the enemy. I do not retreat. I do not yield.”
“Well, I do,” the wizard said.
“I’d like to yield and give quarter and all that very much so,” Bleff muttered.
“Bleff can heal—”
“I can barely recover ten hit points per spell!” he squealed in the most desperate tone.
“You, wizard, can still burn swarms of enemies, and I will take the front. We will bring the rats to justice. For Tamban, for Keldar!”
“Oh, fuck!” the goblin cried out.
I thought my words of inspiration had somehow offended him, but I soon realized the reason for his foul words.
“The exit tunnel has caved in!”
“Firda, Mother of Fire, I’m trapped with you idiots in here!”
“Good,” I said, eyeing the bridge. “See, even the gods are not amused by your cowardice. Onwards.”
“Why me?” Bleff yelped, falling to his knees and raising his hands to the ceiling as if waiting for an answer.
“The bridge,” I said, ignoring him. “Go, goblin. Take point.”