Silver Peak, page 33
part #2 of Sky Realms Online Series
Leaving the dead mercenary and the two PeakGuards, who still suffered from the Hexbolt, behind the remaining guards rushed Cronet into an alley between shops.
Hall landed on the ground, jumping down from a two-story roof and onto the hard-packed dirt of the alley behind the homes. A quick glance around, making sure no one had seen him, he knocked on the door in a pattern, quickly opened the door and slipped into the Door Knocker safehouse. Roxhard and Jackoby, along with a couple Door Knockers, all looked up at his approach, lowering weapons.
“Did it work?” Roxhard asked.
He shrugged, not sure.
They waited, none approaching the windows. Time stretched and Hall got nervous. He started pacing back and forth. There came a knocking on the door, a pattern like he had done, and the door opened. He was right there as Sabine and Leigh entered, followed by Angus, closing the door behind them. He grabbed Sabine in a hug, surprising her. It was short and he pulled Leigh into another hug. This one was longer, tighter, and the surprised woman wrapped her arms around him. It lingered and both stepped back awkwardly. Angus mooed and pushed Hall out of the way.
“We took the long way around,” Sabine explained. “Went through the Square and then some alleys before doubling back.”
The next wait was even longer but no less intense. The small building was crowded, people spread out on the levels and rooms. Sabine was in the bedroom, trying to nap. Hall wished he could but he was too wired. This had been his plan. He had worried enough about sending Leigh, and Sabine, into danger but they had made it back. Caryn was the last to return. While her part was the easiest, involved the least risk, it was the most important.
Her report would tell him if the plan worked.
Half an hour later, she returned. The same pattern of knocks on the back door and the Duelist entered. She pushed her dark hair out of her face and smiled.
“The mercs practically pushed him back into his house,” she said to Hall’s unspoken question. “Hour or so later, a carriage came barreling out and went roaring off down the streets.”
“Which way?” Hall asked.
“East,” she replied and gave him a description of the carriage.
Hall smiled. It had worked.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Pike soared through the sky above the plains. The dragonhawk flew east, following the road that would lead to Auld. His sharp eyes, which somehow seemed even sharper now, scanned the land below him. Through the shared connection, Hall saw what Pike saw, the dragonhawk apparently benefitting from the Increased Perception skill.
The road ran straight through the grass of the plains surrounding the city. Hard-packed dirt, a brown line in the green. To the southeast, a large forest. To the northeast, the plains stretching as far as the dragonhawk’s eyes could see. Directly north, the Thunder Growl Mountains and Silver Peak itself. All of it seen in detail. People, animals, and the lone carriage taking a smaller side road heading for the forest.
It fit the description Caryn had given. Four wheels, two smaller in the front and larger in the back. The sides painted red with gold tracings. Carved details in the corners. A high seat for the driver. Four horses, running fast. The only carriage on the road, any of the roads.
Hall had no idea where Cronet was running to but it was out of the city, which is what they needed. The plan had worked. Hall had realized that there was no way to fight the Councilor in the city. They would be the attackers, the bad guys, and would end up fighting the PeakGuard as well as the Silver Blades. If it even came to that. Cronet, smartly, would have played the victim.
In the end, he would have won.
The only way to fight him was out of the city. To do that, they had to flush him out. They had to panic him so he would flee the city to someplace the Door Knockers didn’t know about, a place they had no influence, a secret base of operations. Somehow, to Hall’s amazement, it had worked. He really hadn’t expected it to.
Pike lost sight of the carriage as it disappeared under the thick canopy of trees. Swooping in lower, the dragonhawk was able to catch glimpses as the carriage sped down the thin and rough road. In and out of the trees, he followed it, until it came to a stop at a collection of buildings in the middle of the forest by a large pond. Spread out in a large clearing, the buildings were all one story and made of logs with shingle roofs. Men could be seen moving about, some carrying large axes. What Hall took to be a mill was built next to the pond where a river flowed through the forest into the body of water.
Together, Half-Elf and dragonhawk watched the carriage came to a halt. The horses were panting, tired from the frantic journey. The driver jumped down, and before he could open the door, six mercenaries jumped out. They were followed by Cronet. The man was angry, rushing across the clearing toward the largest of the buildings. The mercenaries started barking orders to the other men, spreading out as they did.
Through the eyes of Pike, Hall watched as over a dozen Hobs ran out of the large building. They were all armored, some pulling pieces on as they ran. The camp was chaotic in the activity, people running everywhere as if unsure where to go. Hobs shouted, mercenaries shouted, workers shouted.
Hall canceled the connection. It was time to go.
They had immediately left the safehouse. Most of the Door Knockers had retreated into the tunnels to head to Peakdock and gather the troops. One Knocker followed, dressed as a citizen of Silver Peak Keep. Hall and his companions stood out more than the Knocker did, who looked natural, like he belonged.
Leaving the city by the east gate, they started running down the dirt road. A quick sprint to make up some distance and then a jog, finally turning to a walk. Hall didn’t want to tire out; there was going to be intense fighting soon. But he didn’t want to take a long time to get to the forest either. The more time they gave Cronet and the mercenaries, the more defenses could be put in place. The one advantage they had was that Cronet didn’t know they were coming.
As they walked, Hall described where Cronet had stopped.
“That’s the old Derish Mill,” the Door Knocker had told them. “Didn’t think anyone was still working it.”
Once the location was confirmed, the Knocker left to join up with the Guild. It was his job to lead the Knockers to the Mill. It was Hall’s job to keep Cronet occupied in the meantime.
Pulling up his mental map, Hall marked the location of Derish Mill on it. The area had been filled in, no longer clouded, as Pike’s scouting had revealed it. On the map, he could see the pond and the clearing.
Skill Gain!
Cartography Rank Two +.1
With a direction fixed, they left the road and made their way through the plains to the forest. The sun was starting to set as they approached the forest’s edge. With a last look up at Pike circling above, Hall led them beneath the trees.
Thick and old, the trees towered above them. Branches spread out, blocking most of the sun, letting filtered beams hit the ground, which was covered in needles and leaves. They moved silently, spread out in the trees, keeping to cover as much as possible.
The forest was silent, very few creatures stirring. A slight rustling of a squirrel in the branches above, a bird chirping and taking wing. The loudest noise was Angus stomping over and snapping twigs and leaves. The small cow could not move gracefully.
It was an hour later, much darker beneath the trees, when Hall held his hand up. A signal for them to stop. The group was spread out, but the signal was passed, and they all stopped, crouching low.
Hall saw a shadowy figure moving through the trees ahead. Not looking their way, the figure was crouching at a small stream. It looked like the person was getting a drink as they stood up and seemed to wipe their hand across their face. They started walking again, forward, but not toward Hall and the others. He was walking past on an angle, a path that would take him away from them.
Close enough that Hall could make out the details, the man was not paying much attention. A bored Sentry. No one was expecting anyone to have tracked Cronet to the forest, so the guards were not on alert. The man was dressed in dark-colored leathers, a bow slung over his shoulder and a short sword belted at his waist.
Skill Gain!
Identify Rank One +.1
Silver Blade Sentry (White)
Hall was tempted to let the man pass by but didn’t want a chance of the Sentry coming up behind them. And one less Silver Blade now was one less they would have to face later when the odds would be against them. He had been worried when he had seen, through Pike’s eyes, the amount of Silver Blades at the lumber mill. That was a lot of enemies and they didn’t know for sure when the Door Knocker reinforcements would arrive.
Or if.
He wasn’t fully convinced that Berim and Ulysses would send help. The only course of action, besides stepping away which they could not do, was to proceed as if the Door Knockers were going to arrive in force.
The smart move was to eliminate every Silver Blade they came upon. Quickly and quietly.
Hall was tempted to do it himself but knew he had to remain focused on leading the group. He was starting to agree with Roxhard. They needed a name.
Raising his hand, Hall pointed to Caryn and then the Sentry. The Duelist, crouched behind a low tree, stepped away and moved slowly and quietly after the Sentry. Her shadowed form seemed to disappear in the forest without a sound, as her Stealth ability activated. Hall wondered how much higher hers was. He had put no effort into raising his, it seemed that Caryn had. He had been lamenting how the group needed someone with thief skills, and it looked like they had found her.
Giving Caryn a couple minutes, Hall stood up and motioned the rest to continue.
SLAIN: Silver Blade Sentry
+ 25 Experience
Skill Gain!
Small Blades Rank 2 +.1
Hall held the body and slowly lowered it to the ground. The Sentry had stopped kicking and fighting. The man had stiffened and tried to cry out as Hall’s hand covered his mouth from behind. Before the Sentry could fight back, Hall’s short sword had stabbed him from behind. With the base damage from the weapon added to the Critical Strike from the ambush attack into the Sentry’s unprotected rear, the man didn’t have a chance.
It was the third Sentry they had come across, the first that Hall had taken out himself. Caryn had gotten the first and Jackoby the second. None had been very effective Sentries. Checking the map, Hall saw that they were only a half-mile or so away from the Mill. He expected to run across more Sentries and was right.
Skill Gain!
Identify Rank One +.1
Silver Blade Sentry (White)
A Sentry had stepped out from behind a tree only twenty feet or so in front of them. Luckily, the man’s back was turned. He was looking toward the Mill, grumbling to himself. Hall motioned for a halt and studied the surrounding land, trying to figure out the best way to the Sentry.
This was going to be the hard part. Taking the Sentries out while doing it quietly. One shout and it would be over. They were still a good distance from the Mill, but it was close enough and sound could travel. A barely heard shout would be just as bad as a louder and closer one.
The ground between him and the Sentry was covered in low bushes, no clear path. If he tried to Leap, he would enter the branches and make a lot of noise. It was hard to tell if other Sentries were near. He couldn’t see them, but that didn’t mean anything.
Hall decided to wait for the Sentry to move. They would have to run the risk of the man coming up behind him. Or hope the Door Knockers took him out.
It was a slow couple of minutes. Only five or so, but to Hall, it felt more like fifty. The Sentry walked off, heading away from the group. He took his time doing it. Once he was out of sight, Hall gave it another couple of minutes to be safe.
Hall pulled them closer together, not wanting them to be so spread out. Angus was quieter, figuring out how to move without making as much noise, but it made him slower. Hall had adjusted the pace to compensate for the cow. They would need him when the fighting started.
Slowly, they crept across the last half mile. Hall stole glances of the sun through gaps in the trees. He wanted to time it for just as the sun set beyond the horizon, hoping it would be when the majority of the Silver Blades were starting to eat dinner.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they got to the clearing that was the Mill. High grass and dirt paths spread out through the clearing, bordered by the pond on one side. One-story log buildings with low sloped shingled roofs. The rear of each building had no windows, the sides only one or two that were closed with shutters. All the doors faced the middle of the Mill where Cronet’s carriage still sat.
Sentries stood in front of each building, a couple roaming the grounds. Most were Humans. He could see a couple of the Hobs, those clustered closer to the largest building in the middle. It was hard to get an accurate count as the Sentries kept moving, and some were blocked by the buildings, but Hall was able to count three Hobs and eight Sentries, which might have been a mix of the Sentry and Cutthroat. It looked like there were two Archers. No casters from what he could see, which didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Hall and his companions were seriously outnumbered.
He watched their movements, trying to see if there was a pattern they could exploit. The Sentries followed no set paths or timing, it was all random. Maybe they could pick the Silver Blades off a few at a time. Kill them quickly, retreat to the woods, get chased by a couple and take those out. Return and get some more. Hit and run tactics.
That could work, he thought as the ground started to shake.
Hall looked to the east, the far side of the Mill, and watched as the trees moved. They shifted and shook as if something was pushing them aside. Out of the trees stepped two large figures. Giants. Not as big as the one they had faced at the farm, but they were still giants.
Hall cursed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Skill Gain!
Identify Rank One +.2
Oak Crag Hold Giant (Blue)
Oak Crag Hold Giant (Blue)
Hall watched the two giants sit down just past the border of the trees. The ground shook as their great bodies hit. Each held a tree trunk club and seemed to be ignoring the smaller people running around.
Their arrival changed Hall’s tactics.
The plan had been to take out a small group of Silver Blades, lure the rest into the woods, and take that group out before coming back for more. The giants would be across the open space before Hall and the others were done with the first group of Blades. There would be no chance at separation. They’d end up fighting the entire Mill plus the two giants.
Not smart.
But what if they took out the giants first?
Staying low, he melted back into the forest and gathered the others around him. He made a couple quick hand motions and realized the others didn’t understand. With a sigh, he started walking and they followed. We’ll have to work on that and come up with some common ones, he thought.
As they moved through the forest, keeping well back from the clearing, he realized that the motions he had been making were fairly complicated and carried a lot of meaning. Was that a result of this new Strategy skill he had acquired? There would be time to figure it out later. Right now, they had thieves to kill.
The walk to the other side of the Mill took almost an hour. Long and slow, constantly stopping to listen to the noises around them. Alert for any Sentries. They found one, and Caryn quickly dispatched the Blade. Hall stayed the closest to the open clearing that was the Mill, keeping it to his right and always in sight. He was able to guide them as it turned back toward the pond.
As they got closer to the two giants, they walked with more care. There was no telling how well the giants’ ears were. Because they were bigger, that had to make hearing easier. Through the trees, Hall could see the back of the two giants. Dark shapes in the darkness about twenty feet away, blocking out the moon and starlight.
Pulling the others in close, he quickly whispered the plan.
Skill Gain!
Strategy Rank 2 +.1
Pointing at the Firbolg and Caryn, he motioned them to the right-hand giant. He positioned Roxhard near him at the left. Sabine and Leigh were stationed between the two groups, Angus in front of them. Satisfied that it was as good as it would get, Hall watched the Silver Blades, waiting for the perfect moment.
It seemed like the Blades were avoiding the giants. They never came closer than twenty feet. The Sentries in the area would walk toward the giants and turn, not even looking that direction. Hall studied the patterns, timing them. Toward the giants and away, momentarily lost to sight behind the nearest building.
One more rotation, toward the giants, away and behind the building. Hall tapped Roxhard on the shoulder, and the Dwarf Warden activated Battle Rush.
He burst from the forest, leaves and branches exploding out into the clearing. The Dwarf crossed the small distance and slammed into the back of the sitting giant. Because it was sitting, the giant did not get pushed forward or knocked down, but the impact did shake it. It leaned forward a tad, grunting in pain. Roxhard bounced but was ready for the impact.
Landing on his feet, he swung his axe in a heavy two-handed blow. The head cut into the giant’s back, slicing a large gash. Hall saw its Health bar, the red dropping by at least a third. Taking a couple steps to clear the trees, he activated Leap.
As he soared high into the air, his arc bringing him down, he saw Jackoby rush out of the trees and slam into the other giant. The Firbolgs size and weight did cause the giant to slide forward a foot or so. Before Jackoby could even swing his hammer, Caryn had darted out and her two swords sliced thin lines of blood across the giant’s back.
