Oh crap, oh crap. I thought. Why am I so stupid? I must be the worst god ever. I was so confident about my ability not to be seen. It’s important to change your confidence level when you learn new information about the situation! Like, I realised that the situation had changed when I saw that there were some kind of animal with the Abandoned. Why didn’t I turn around? I just went ahead and tried it anyway. I’m so stupid!
Okay. I can’t feel bad about it right now. There are people depending on me. The dogs don’t scare me, but they can outrun me. Which could make getting away more difficult. Even with my lightning power they could exhaust me and slow me down. Then the other abandoned could drag me down.
What I was really worried about was that the Abandoned would start looking around trying to find me and find the mortals instead. They were just two hills and a valley away from the road. I needed them to be so intent on chasing me that they forget about the mortals.
There were dogs still tracking me by smell. Like the human Abandoned, the dogs seemed wrong. Mean and anxious, prone to snarl and attack anything. But especially keen on getting at me. Despite their sense of smell, they still had trouble actually biting me because I was still invisible. That was going to change soon, so I was zapping them whenever I got a chance.
I was on the far side of the road from Decius and Epictetus. From their vantage point, they could see an outcrop of rock with a sheer face that overlooked the road. I circled around, making my way to that spot. Decius’ estimate looked correct. There were more than a hundred Abandoned on the road here. On the positive side, they seemed to all be gathered in this one spot.
I ran to the ledge and got ready to relax my invisibility. I wanted to make as big a show as I could. I can’t use lightning or thunder, I thought to myself. Can’t run the risk of scaring some of them in the wrong direction. Yep… better get naked.
***
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Decius and Epictetus both considered abandoning their position in sight of the road for fear of being discovered. Now that Josh had triggered the dogs, they were concerned that the Abandoned might send out scouts. Ultimately, they decided to keep watch on the Abandoned. It was important to see if the Abandoned moved or sent out scouts.
“An army has to be able to see to move,” Decius had explained.” If we march for the bridge without knowing what the Abandoned are doing, we might march right into them. We don’t know if they have sentries, and we don’t know exactly where the bridge is without following the road. They are obviously guarding this area, which means they think we can’t get by them by circling around. They are probably right.”
“Can you see anything?” Asked Epictetus.
“No,” he said. “I just hear a lot of barking. Wait. I hear him. He must be speaking while invisible.”
They both waited in silence for a while Josh spoke.
“Wait. I see something. Yea. That’s him. He must have turned off his invisibility. He practically glows in the moonlight.”
“Oh, yes.” Said Epictetus. “I see him too.”
“Wait, wait a second. Why is he…”
“Oh, you know I have read that in certain battles…”
“Oh my god, it’s magnificent.” Said Decius.
“Well, he is a god after all.” Said Epictetus.
“Yes, but I had no idea the gods…”
“Well, usually a priest would say you have to have faith and believe these kind of things.”
“How can I have faith when I’m seeing it right in front of me?” Asked Decius.
“Well, just try not to look at it so much.”
“I’m really jealous. Why didn’t he get it out before?”
“Well, I don’t really think it was the appropriate time.”
“Really? Not the appropriate time? During a battle? I would say that is the most appropriate time.”
“Yes, but then he was focused more on electrical shocks.”
“Well, regardless, I want a sword like that someday.” Said Decius. “I wonder if I ask him if he can get one for me. The gods must have plenty of them if they gave one to someone like him.”
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