The next morning the mayor gave us another small village to go to. Having used up our rations the day before on the refugees, we purchased some more from the market to try to help stimulate the economy instead of taking free food, as that would be needed for the refugees.
"Now Edgeville is a small town similar to Admonton, but it is called that because it backs up to a cliff. The town is a farming town and they provide a portion of the foods that all the surrounding towns and villages have for sale. We need to help them because they are a part of the economy of the entire area." The mayor said to us.
"We will help them, I promise. Is there anything else we should know before we go in?"
"There isn't much else to say for the town. I have met their mayor before and he is a very rational man. Trust him, if he is still alive. If you will follow Commander Harlow, he can show you the best way to get to Edgeville."
"Dragonrider, if you will come with me we will escort you to the gate."
We went with Harlow and I began to feel a bit awkward walking down the street. Everyone would stop to stare at us. They also parted to either side to be sure they got out of our way. Many saluted with fists to their chests and bowed heads. Some even kneeled as we passed. Harlow had a retinue of guards with him as well helping to make the way to the front gate, all wearing full plate armor polished to almost a mirror finish. A child ran out into the procession and grabbed me by the leg, embracing the only part of me he could reach. His mother came running after him, looking completely mortified. I reached down and picked the child up in my arm and pulled him up to my eye level.
"Well, hello. What's your name, big guy?"
"Thomas, sir. Are you really a Dragonrider?" The little boy blurted out, clearly unable to hold back his curiosity.
"I am, Thomas. Where are you from?" I asked, noticing he was wearing rags similar to those in the town we rescued yesterday.
"I'm from Admonton. You came to save us yesterday. I wanted to say thank you for saving me and my mommy."
"You are very welcome Thomas. That is what I am here to do. I want to help as many people as I can."
"Thomas! What are you..." his mother finally made it through the crowd to us and drew up short when she saw him in my arm. "Dragonrider! I am so sorry, please forgive my son, he is just curious."
"He was no trouble at all. I am happy to see him."
The mother curtsied slightly and smiled at me. I handed Thomas back to his mother. I suddenly found myself wishing I had something to give to the boy. Rutherford put a hand on my shoulder.
"Here, give him this," Rutherford said, smiling.
He handed me a small wooden carved toy. It was shaped like a horse. It appeared to be hand carved.
"Rutherford, did you make this?"
"I did. When you work as a healer for so long, you find that it's best to have something to give the children to distract them while you do your best to heal their parents."
That was a grim thought, but it made sense. I handed the boy the carved toy and then reached into my bag and handed his mother a couple of gold coins.
"Here. Get him some new clothes, and toys, and get yourself some food. Please take care of yourselves."
She looked at the coins in shock. Then she looked up at me and tears began to flow down her face.
"My lord, this is too much. We will be fine. I don't need..."
"No, I am the one who does not need it. Take it and take care of your family."
"Thank you, my lord."
"And none of the my lord stuff either. My name is Callan, and I am no different from you in that I am simply making the most of the situation that I have found myself in. Please take care of Thomas."
She nodded her head and bowed deeply as she backed away with Thomas in her arms, playing with his new toy.
"That was very kind of you, Callan. Most people in your position would have acted much differently." Harlow said, coming up behind me to see why we had stopped.
"But why? These people are no less important than I am. That mother is here to take care of little Thomas. Her job is just as important as mine. Without her, Thomas might not survive." I replied.
"Most won't see it that way. You are saving many lives all at once. They do not have the power that you do and that elevates you above them in most people's eyes."
"I don't want to be elevated in anyone's eyes. I just want to do my best to help these people."
Harlow smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.
"That's just too bad, Callan. If you go out and save people you are going to be put on a pedestal as better because you can do things they cannot. But you are handling it well. Keep that humble spirit. It is truly refreshing to see."
We continued on the path toward the front gate, people parting the entire way, coming out of shops sot watch us go by, or hanging out of windows to see us. They continued to bow, kneel, salute, or stare in awe at us as we walked. It made me feel uncomfortable truth be told, but as Harlow said, I would just have to get used to it.
Once we got to the gate, the guards called out for a halt as though this was a formal parade procession. Harlow came over to me to help give me directions.
"Sorry for the formal procession lads, the mayor wanted to be sure that we were showing you the respect that many of the townsfolk and refugees would now feel like you deserve."
"It was definitely awkward, but I can see why she would want to do that."
"In any case, if you will head out the gate here and go ahead til the path forks, follow the path to the left. This path is the most direct path. Many others have been taking a different route because there are bandits that have been seen on the road. We figured with Aeolith flying overhead, that you wouldn't need to fear them and could get there faster this way."
"That is probably true," I said, chuckling slightly at the thought. "We will take this route, and if we find any bandits, we can handle that as well to make the roads safe."
Harlow smiled at me with a glint in his eye, "I see you understand our meaning."
We waved farewell to the crowd, mounted up on the horses that the guards had ready for us outside the gate, and with a mental call to Aeolith, we took off, Aeolith roaring in delight at getting to stretch her wings. Heading out on the path that Harlow pointed us on, we eventually came to the fork in the road he spoke of. There was a sign in the road with arrows pointing in both directions, the left showing Edgeville, and the right showing Admonton. A pang hit my heart thinking of Admonton, but I quelled that thinking of how they were free now. We turned left and followed the path toward Edgeville.
"Do you think we will be there in time to help?" Tristan said, giving voice to what we were all feeling.
"I hope so, lad. Would be a real shame if we weren't, but there be only so much we can do at any given time." Vokin replied. "All you can do for now is take solace in the fact that we be doing all we can to save as many as we can. Every life saved is more than what could have happened had we not been here."
That resonated with me. I hadn't thought of it that way. I had only been focusing on the loss that I hadn't been able to prevent. I needed to stop that and focus on the lives that had been saved. It was impossible to be in every place at once, to save everyone every time. We were only one group of people and could only do so much.
With that in mind, I hardened my resolve, once again steeling myself to the choices I was making and the path I was to walk. Tristan nodded at Vokin's wisdom and we continued on the rest of the ride in silence.
When we arrived at the town, there were no guards this time to greet us. There was also no wall, fence, or gate around the town. I could see the fields out in the distance that should have had people in them tending to the crops. Instead, they looked abandoned and partly overgrown. You could still see the neatly planted rows of crops in the fields, even from this distance, and the plants seemed healthy still. Aeolith landed near us and took up her customary position at the back of the group, but as close to me as she could be.
The town itself was similar to Admonton, with the homes being little more than huts with dirt floors and dirt roads going down the middle of the town and leading out down a couple of branching paths to people's homes and a small market where goods could be sold. The entire town though seemed to be built in somewhat of a semi-circle around one main building that backed up to what I could only assume was the cliff that Edgville got its name for being near. The ground went from the worn and compacted dirt of the rest of the town to stone just behind the main building, which we assumed was the town hall.
Once again, the town was extremely quiet. Peering into some houses showed us that there were people in the town, but many were hiding, likely having seen Aeolith overhead. We continued walking down the main road leading through the center of town toward the big building backed up near the cliff. Once we got to what appeared to be the town square, a large open space in front of the town hall, a man walked out of the building.
"He-Hello, w-welcome to Edgeville. While we appreciate you c-coming, we would ask that you l-leave please." The man said, stammering slightly and almost shaking with what I assumed was fear.
"Unfortunately, we cannot do that sir. Would you happen to know where the mayor of Edgeville is?" I replied, suspicion growing in my mind.
"Actually, I'm the m-mayor. We really don't need you here, so if you would kindly..."
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"Come on out," I shouted over the poor man's stammering. "We already know you are here. There is no use hiding from us. We will find you."
I walked slowly up to the town hall building, carefully watching in as many directions as I could. When I got up to the same level the mayor was standing on, at the top of the steps leading to the front doors of the building I looked at the man standing there, shaking like a leaf in the breeze. I watched him for another minute and his eyes darted to the door, for just a moment. I nodded to him and motioned for my team to ready themselves as I placed a hand on the handle of the door. I drew my blade and counted to three in my head before I ripped the door open.
The room behind it seemed completely abandoned. There were a couple of desks in the room and some chairs that had been turned over and thrown in different directions. Papers had been thrown all over the room as though someone had been searching for something and then a group of children had come through after and had a paper fight. Poking my head in the door, I looked both left and right and didn't see anything. I made a waving forward motion with my hands and moved into the room, my team following behind me. I made it into the door, and moved to the left, in front of the big window holding the sword in both hands ready to attack anything that moved.
Just as my team came into the building, Aeolith stuck her head into the door to get a look as well, Something swung down from the beams in the ceiling, with both feet kicking out, knocking me backward and through the window behind me. The wind was completely knocked out of me and I felt something pop in my chest as whatever that was hit me. Landing flat on my back I let out a cough and a moan.
"What the hell was that?" I managed to croak out.
The sounds of battle were coming from inside, and Aeolith was backing out of the building to check that I was OK. I felt her mental panic and sent her soothing thoughts, letting her know I was going to be fine. Looking at my health, that one blow had taken out fifty health with one hit. Casting a quick minor healing to get half of those points back and felt something pop in my chest again and I could breathe easier. I must have broken or dislocated a rib. Standing back up I looked to the window and sidestepped just as Vokin was tossed out of the window as well, cursing as he landed on the ground.
"You OK, Vokin?" I asked, bending to try to help him stand up.
"Yeah lad, it caught me by surprise in there. I thought Rutherford had 'im, but he wriggled free. He's a tough one."
Well, let's get in there and..."
My sentence was cut off as Rutherford was tossed out the window and landed on top of us. The wind knocked out of me for the second time in just a few mins I pushed to get Rutherford off of us.
"Really?! You couldn't handle holding onto him?" I squeaked out, his bulk pinning me down.
"He's tougher than he looks. It's not natural." Rutherford replied.
Just as he finished saying this, a man jumped through the window after us. I had just managed to get Rutherford off of us and stand when he landed on the upper part of the raised porch in front of the town hall. He hunched down on all fours like a monkey and glared daggers at us. His eyes flashed red, and I knew we had found it. Just as it had before, its shadow extended out and grew up the wall. This time the Shadow Beast looked like a huge gorilla. In the light, it was slightly transparent, just like the other Shadow Beast, and it smoked lightly in the sunlight. Its gaze landed on me and it suddenly became filled with rage, flinging itself at me.
Just as the creature was about to hit me, and I had braced myself for the impact, Vokin was there with his shield between me and the beast. I put a forearm against his back to help him brace for the impact, crouching to account for our height difference, and pushed. The creature hit the shield like a freight train and pushed us back, our heels digging into the ground. After being driven back about fifteen feet we came to a stop. Rutherford was there, rushing in from the side, and smashed the beast in the side of the head with his hammer swung with both hands, a primal yell escaping his mouth. The Shadow Beast was flung twenty yards away, its head turned awkwardly to one side.
"Where's Tristan?!" I frantically asked.
"He was inside, but he use his Dark Shroud as soon as you got hit. I'm guessing that meathead over there didn't see him." Rutherford replied, not taking his eyes off the beast.
"Tristan! If you can hear me, we need a drain on this guy to try to slow him down a bit, then Rutherford we need to keep hammering him to wear him out until we can pin him down. I think we are going to need Aeolith's help with that on this one."
"I hear you," Came a disembodied voice from a shadow behind me, presumably Tristan.
Vokin and Rutherford nodded as well. We got into formation with Vokin in front with his shield, and myself and Rutherford on either side, slightly behind him, making a V-shape. Vokin used his taunt ability to get the creature's attention as it was getting up from Rutherford's attack. Its focus shifted immediately to Vokin and the rage I thought I saw in its eyes intensified. It began to charge again, all the while the man that had jumped through the window was standing there still smiling out at us. Halfway through its charge, a green bolt of light struck it from the side and we could see it falter in its steps slightly. Its eyes closed as though it felt some pain, but it brushed it off and kept coming for Vokin, though it seemed a bit slower now. Just as it hit Vokin's shield and started to push him back, I slashed out with my sword using Powerful Blow in an upward cross swing, and at the same time, Rutherford used his Divine Strike in an upward cross strike going the same direction. Both blows landed one right after the other, mine slashing and lighting the beast on fire at the wound with black flame, and Rutherford's catching the beast on the chin and sending it flying backward. This time the beast had to have been flung back at least fifty feet. It screamed in pain when it hit the ground, its jaw mashed shut from Rutherford's attack during its flight.
As it lay there rolling around on the ground trying to get up, I sent a signal to Aeolith who pounced on the man at the town hall, grabbing him in her taloned hands. He tried to break free, but her grip was like iron and he cut himself on her claws while trying to wriggle free. With gasps of pain from the claw scratches, he stopped moving in her grasp.
"Vokin, Rutherford, jump on that creature while you can and keep it off me while I deal with that guy," I said, pointing my thumb over to where Aeolith was. "Tristan, drain it as many times as you can for as long as you can to try to reduce its strength some more for them to hold it!"
Not waiting for a reply, I raced over to where Aeolith lay on the ground, the man clutched in her front talons.
"Hold him for me, Aeolith!" I said putting my hand over his head in the designated pattern. "From darkness, you came, to darkness, you shall return, LUX NEGAT TUUM ESSE!"
Again, light shone through all the holes in the man's head. The Shadow Beast had thrown off Rutherford and Vokin and was rushing toward me and Aeolith. As the spell took hold, the beast stumbled and the pinpricks of light shone through it until the lights became so numerous it exploded in a flash of light, killing it.
We sank down after that, relieved it was finally over. Aeolith let the man down to the ground gently who had been controlled. He lay there unconscious and not moving from the ordeal, but he was breathing.
I walked over and patted Vokin and Rutherford on the back.
"Great job on that one guys. That was tougher than the last one." I said giving them a smile.
Tristan walked over and I tousled his hair a little, making him look slightly embarrassed. The man that had been standing at the top of the steps had apparently run to a nearby building and was coming out now slowly approaching us.
"Is it, truly gone?" The man said, a look of scared hopefulness on his face.
"Yes, it is dead now. You won't need to worry about it bothering you anymore," I replied.
"Thank the gods! We cannot tell you how much we appreciate your assistance. The man came to town first asking if we wanted to invest in a new project that he promised would make us our money back tenfold."
"And who are you exactly here?" I asked.
"A thousand apologies," The man said bowing low. "I am Reginold Applegate, Mayor of Edgeville."
"If I can ask, what made you think something was wrong?" I asked the mayor.
"I've seen swindlers come through trying to peddle snake oils before, this wasn't any different. The people here are hard-working. They scrape a living out of a tough area as you can see from the landscape. We don't trust anyone promising easy money. But the biggest key was when some of the people started going missing."
"Missing? Where did they go?"
The mayor beckoned me to follow him and I was led to the cliff though and could see where the Shadow Beast had been dumping the most boisterous of protestors to its takeover. It was a horrific sight to see the bodies broken at the bottom of the cliff.
"It's a damn shame," Vokin said, staring sadly over the edge. "So much promise at the bottom of that cliff. So much needless loss."
"Gods of Hogarth, hear my plea. Take these souls into your fold. May they find an eternal respite within the folds of your graces, and may they pass on to the Fields of Arnoir where they can be at peace for all time." Rutherford said, holding his hands to his chest in a form of prayer.
As he pulled his hands away from his chest and opened his arms wide, specks of light flew out and over the cliff, seeming to appear from his chest.
"What was that, Rutherford?" I asked.
"A blessing. It should help guide their souls to a peaceful afterlife, provided they were good people in this life."
"What are the Fields of Arnoir?"
He smiled over at me. "A peaceful afterlife, where people can run free. There is no pain or suffering there. Many of the dead go there, so they are likely to find loved ones to reunite with as well."
"So it's a little like heaven?"
"What's heaven?"
"It's an afterlife in the world I'm from. Some people think it's just clouds where angels walk and sing all the time. But I think it's more. I think it's the greatest place your soul can imagine. There's no pain or suffering there as well, and you spend eternity with loved ones who went on before you as well."
"That sounds peaceful. And similar to the Fields of Arnoir. I am glad your world has such a place."
"Sounds a bit boring if you ask me," Vokin said.
"Alright Mr. Stick-in-the-mud, what is your idea of an afterlife?"
"The ultimate goal is to die in a glorious battle and be allowed access into the Halls of Fornir, where warriors go to drink with the greatest heroes of all time."
"Ah, we have an afterlife ideal like that as well on earth. It always troubled me though. What do you do if you can't die a warrior's death? A farmer isn't likely to die in a glorious battle. Yet the world needs his crops to survive. Does he get to go to Fornir? If not, what is his fate."
"I...I'm not sure," Vokin said, honestly.
"That's OK. You don't have to be. I personally believe that you are eventually put before some form of judgment, or calculation, of the good and bad you did in your life. That is what decides your fate in whatever afterlife is there for you. So long as you lived your life to be as good of a person as you could be, you will be taken care of in the next life, whatever that may be. That is truly the best we can hope for. And it makes living this life a little easier. At least in my opinion."
Erot's Blessing:
The Goddess Erot has heard your heart and is pleased. She has offered you a blessing of peace. She will help guide the souls of this town to their final resting place.
What in the world was that pop-up for? That was the second time I had gotten a message about the Goddess Erot. I would need to figure out what kind of interest she had in me, but for now, I needed to help these people.
We walked back over to the center of town and the original mayor, who had managed to avoid being thrown off the cliff by surrendering the city to the Shadow Beast, thanked me for saving them. I was torn between how I felt about his tactic. On the one hand, it was cowardly and let the Shadow Beast take over so easily. On the other hand, it was the tactic that likely saved more lives by not fighting with it. I decided to let it go and think only about the lives saved here.
"So you have seen the swindler's come through before, but then decided to give the town over to the Shadow Beast?" I asked the mayor.
"He had some kind of compulsion. I had seen him just walk up to people and ask for their money and they just reached into their pockets and handed over their entire life savings. Those who had resisted had disappeared. That was when we found bodies starting to appear over the cliff. Giving him the town stopped the deaths."
"I'm sorry you had to endure that. Do you want to come to Jewelston with us?"
"We will be fine here for now. We need to tend to our dead and get the crops going again. We cannot take the time to leave or others around us who depend on our crops will go without as well."
"Alright. But if you see any signs of Shadow Beasts again, send someone to Jewelston right away and we will come to your aid."
The mayor thanked us again for our help and we shook hands before leaving. With the crops they had here, they would be able to keep themselves fed, and the Shadow Beasts seemed to be going individually to the towns to take over. I felt fairly confident they would be OK for now, and they would send someone if they needed us.
We mounted up outside the town and began our journey back to Jewelston.