The camp is torn down and the party is, at last, ready. We turn northwest into the bottom corner of our sector. Though we have left the easy terrain of the road, the tall grasses and occasional grove or outcropping of shrubbery does little to hinder our passage. There are babbling brooks and a balmy breeze through the leafy trees that make it an almost pleasant hike.
That is, until a handful of goblins is spotted slinking through a cornfield.
To his credit, Vong has been ranging ahead of the party and did not do something daft like immediately yell and alert them to our presence. Instead, he stops us short of the farm we are coming upon and reports what he found.
“There were six I counted. Goblins. Armed but not very well. Not sure what they were up to but they are probably Horde. I say we jump them.” As he hunches forward conspiratorially, his wide-brimmed hat falls forward into his face a couple times because the height of his stuffed pack pushes it out of place.
“Two front-line and two support,” I remind him, motioning to myself and Voella’Tien.
“Can’t you rain down fire?” Rakatha asks, smacking his fist into his open palm to punctuate.
Back to that, are we? “The field would catch.”
“Well what do you propose?” Vong gives me a look like a lost puppy.
How was he an officer in the war? How did he get made the leader of our party?
Before I can suggest a clever tactic such as setting an ambush, arrows come whizzing through the air at us. Nothing hits but it grabs our attention. Looking past Vong’s enormous pack, I spy what is likely those few goblins that he had reported. They are excitedly nocking arrows in preparation for another volley. From the arc of the arrows, they are probably at maximum range. The worst idea would be to charge them because, in an open field, they could simply fall back and continue to fire, keeping us unable to fight back.
Do I have the only ranged weapon? I glance around and affirm that I do. One light crossbow will not be significant against their shortbows. Their range is much longer. We’d need to draw them into…
What the fuck?!
During the two or three seconds I was considering the skirmish, Rakatha and Vong have pulled their swords and are now charging the goblins.
Another volley, now focused on the two fighters running forward. Rakatha gets a nick on the arm but doesn’t even flinch. Vong ducks to evade an arrow, rolling out of his pack in one fluid motion.
As expected, the goblins are falling back and needling those idiots.
Voella’Tien turns to me, “Can you help them?”
I think of several witty retorts: ‘They are beyond help’, ‘I can put them out of their misery if that’s what you mean’, and ‘Hush, they are learning an important life lesson’. Instead, I say, “What do you propose?”
“You can’t let them die!”
Yes, I can. But I won’t. Not presently anyway.
I focus my mind and draw arcanum to me, swelling it in a wave before me and shaping it to my will. My words bind it to its new purpose and I release the spell into the field.
A shimmering dome envelops the pair thrashing through the field toward the goblins they have no hope of catching. If they have any sense they will stay within the dome.
Helpfully punctuating the reason to stay inside, the arrows from the next volley plink against the dome and fall to the ground outside its perimeter. Vong and Rakatha stop. Vong looks back and gives me a smile and a thumbs up. Rakatha seems to be thinking too much for a guy like him, and is probably going to charge again.
It will be fruitless, I can see that. The goblins have a good lead and there is no terrain in the area that we can drive them to that would help this predicament. Although it is unfortunate to fail on our first encounter, I’d rather live than go out in a blaze of glory. I think Rakatha disagrees, so I cast another spell, creating a dense fog beyond him in a large swath across the field. The goblins can no longer be seen. Rakatha turns around and looks slightly deflated.
Grudgingly the dynamic duo returns and Voella’Tien tends to their wounds. For all their recklessness, Vong managed to only get one arrow to the ribs that bounced off the bone and did not do any major damage, and Rakatha took three arrows in the shoulder, arm, and thigh respectively. Their wounds well within the realm of clerical healing, the two are returned to full health. Their clothes, however, have holes and blood stains.
I can fix both of those things with my magic but I don’t.
The Wordbearer Chronicles is a dark fantasy web series with new passages on Tuesdays.
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