Chapter 35

  Waiting For Shadows In The Dark

  Weightless.

  Formless.

  Nothing to show for his existence, but his thoughts and the dull glow of a flask at his side. The dark crowns hovering before him sparkled as if they held the stars themselves within.

  A series of ripples ran through the space before him, like when a stone gets skipped across the water. Disturbances in the surface revealed an endless trail of simultaneously liquid and crystallized light. And that light reached out, branches stretching forth to touch the stars.

  Then he saw the cracks. The light had been broken.

  Thin strands of light strayed from the whole, tethered to the crowns, to the flask, and to him. No longer without form. It was almost imperceptible, but like the crowns and the flask, he glowed.

  Emotions flowed into him from the crowns. From two of them, confusion, and from the third Nik felt unbridled rage.

  And then he felt something else. Almost overpowered by the strength of the rage, a soft ray of hope trickled from the stream of broken light.

  A heart began to beat, and lungs filled with air. His heart. His lungs.

  The world around Nik broke against him, shattering the vision into a treeline and grasslands.

  Head spinning, he narrowly avoided crashing into Ryan as he stumbled forward to be caught by Harper’s arms.

  “I… saw…” Nik said, unable to finish his sentence as his sense of gravity swung from one side to the other. His legs, head, and stomach felt pulled in a different direction every other breath.

  Ryan let out a whine as he nuzzled against Nik’s side, but the sound of the fae-dragon’s concern was drowned out by an odd mimicry of a battlecry.

  A young, screaming goblin ran at Nik and Harper with a stick in hand.

  He came to a stop, nearly tripping over his own feet.

  The Stormclaw child stood as tall as he could, held his stick pointed in their direction, and called out, “Let… Let go of Lord Nik… or feel the staff of Bonesy.”

  Harper was on one knee holding a swaying Nik. She looked over his head to the slightly shorter creature, mouth opening and closing without words until she said, “Who? Wait, what?”

  Struggling to keep his body upright, Nik said, “I’m ok, Bonesy. I just need a moment.”

  Bonesy’s eyes only squinted, jaw clenched he replied, “Okay, but I’ve got my eyes on these people. If they try anythin’ funny, then I’ll be by your side.”

  This kid is brave and foolhardy. I need to make sure he stays safe until he has the chance to grow up, Nik thought.

  He leaned away from Harper and motioned for Bonesy. The goblin child shoved his stick through the cloth belt he’d strapped around his waist as if it were a sword being sheathed.

  Nik dropped the flask into his inventory and said, “My right hand goblin can take it from here, thank you.”

  Harper allowed the confused expression to fall from her face and asked, “What did you see?”

  Nik tried not to put his full weight on Bonesy as he answered. “I saw… Well, I think what I saw was the tower’s true form. Like a tree made of liquid light and jewels, but it was damaged. Then there were also the three crowns. I could sense emotions coming from them, and I’m pretty sure they sensed me, too.”

  Bonesy held surprisingly firm, supporting much of Nik’s weight as he whispered to himself, “The tower’s true form is liquid light and jewels, and emotions from crowns… Anyone else I’d say these were daydreams and impossible realities?”

  Wolf climbed out of the cart, his lumbering motions accompanied by complaints of soreness and stiff limbs.

  “Shifting does not feel great. Hey, Lana. About earlier, thank you. And I’m sorry, the shadows distracted me from using any of the wolfsbane,” said the now human looking stranger.

  Harper wheeled on him and said, “You shouldn’t have been so out of control Wolf. You and I are going to need to have a talk about that later, but right now bigger things are at play. Also, introductions are in order. Nik, this is my companion Wolf. Wolf, this is Burrow Lord Nik Stormclaw of the ‘Green Tower’.”

  Nik replied, “Hello, Wolf. I would normally say, ‘it’s nice to meet you’ when making a new friend, but I don’t know if that’s what you are, yet. And Harper, don’t put so much emphasis on the tower, or add it to my title in general. It’s weird.”

  Harper’s almost too happy smile returned as she said, “In the service of proving friendship and good faith. I bind myself in service to you. I swear by the tower, whatever color it may take. So long as you are acting in the best interest of the people you lead and I am counted among them, I am yours to command, my lord.”

  You Have Been Offered the Fealty of a Vassal!

  AdminHarper has offered you

  allegiance as your vassal.

  Accept?

  Yes or No

  Wolf’s voice cut through that of the notification.

  “Where Lana goes, I go. I swear by the tower. So long as Lana Harper serves under you, so do I.”

  A second window pinged into existence beside the first.

  You Have Been Offered the Fealty of a Vassal!

  WolfNinetySix has offered you

  allegiance as your vassal.

  Accept?

  Yes or No

  Would it be better to have them bound to me in some way, or out there somewhere, acting on their own? I don’t really want either option, not with everything Harper has done so far. She’s clearly planned and acted with determination and intent. I don’t know if I want that type of individual running around unchecked, thought, Nik thought.

  He mentally confirmed his selections and the system congratulated him on gaining two new vassals.

  Looking over his new companions, he thought, I don’t know anywhere near as much as I need to know about these two.

  Shoulders squared, Nik set to get what use he could from them.

  “As my vassals, you will place the lives of the clan at the top of your priority list. They’re worth more than being sacrificed like you’ve sacrificed others to your game. Understood?”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Understood,” they both replied.

  “Good. Now, what abilities do you have to offer? I need to understand everything we have to work with before sunfall,” Nik said.

  A small stone lifted from the ground at Harper’s feet.

  “I have the gift of gravity manipulation that my father gave me. Unfortunately, my low level of resonance meant that I couldn’t use it on Earth. So, I’ve been unable to practice or level it since I left the tower, but I can reduce or increase the weight of a single item, up to my own height in diameter. Alternatively, I can shift the direction of gravity’s pull in a small area about half of that size,” she said.

  Harper nodded at Wolf and then he took his turn at explaining his skills, “I’m a lupine, so I heal pretty quickly. I’m also stronger and faster than most creatures. I have strong senses, too. I don’t have any elemental abilities, but my tooth and nail skill is at level 7.”

  “Level 7? Tower, that’s the highest level skill I’ve heard of so far,” said Nik.

  “Thanks, I had a lot of older siblings growing up,” Wolf said.

  Nik’s head tilted, and he thought, What a weird thing to say. That’s not a skill, and I don’t know how it’s related to his abilities.

  So instead of questioning Wolf, he said, “That sounds nice, thank you for sharing that personal detail. Is there anything in either of your skill sets that can help with digging, or moving earth?”

  “I could dig with my claws, maybe. It would be a bit demeaning, but I think I could contribute,” Wolf replied.

  While her lupine companion responded, Harper was thinking.

  “If I had others to help, I could decrease the weight of a large object for it to be pushed. Maybe, some dirt could be moved in that manner,” she said.

  Nik considered what the best use of their time would be. Harper’s idea wasn’t a bad one but most of the Stormclaws were either better off using their earth skill or too young or elderly to help. Maybe some of the teenagers could help, but there weren’t many of them either. That just left the adventurers.

  Alright, time to act as a leader, put aside my feelings and do what is best for my people, he told himself.

  He motioned to the adventurers who’d been lurking to the side of the treeline, close enough to listen to the conversation, but far enough to be excluded from it thus far.

  Side-by-side, Beatrice and Sir BlackDagger led their group over.

  “Hey, buddy. We know you’re trying to plan the fight. What do you need?” Beatrice asked.

  Sir BlackDagger looked down at his own upturned hands, and closed them into fists as he looked past his knuckles and down into Nik’s eyes.

  “I will be the hero I played at being when I stepped into your world. We talked about it, and we all agreed; we’ll fight by your side against this king. Death to tyrants,” he said, and he held a hand out between them.

  “I know that you’re sorry, but it isn’t easy to forget your sins. I’m trying to see past that right now. I was going to promise to do my best to help you get back home if you helped me to protect my people,” said Nik as he met the warrior’s hand with his own.

  Sir BlackDagger said, “I figured you would probably do that anyway.”

  “Nah, I told him that you would,” said Beatrice with a small smile.

  “Thank you, friend. You’re probably right,” Nik said to the druid.

  With her small smile turning into a confident smirk, she replied, “Death to tyrants.”

  These people are so strange. Are they trying to get me to say that phrase, or something? he wondered.

  “Death to tyrants,” Nik said, with a lilt that made it sound almost like a question.

  Sir BlackDagger’s hand squeezed gently before letting go, and he said, “Now, tell us what the plan is and how we can help.”

  The feathers on Nik’s head bounced lightly as he nodded and gave them an appreciative smile. He pointed to the trees and said, “I need a fallen trunk chopped down to the length of Harper’s height. She’ll lighten it just enough for your party to push it in a large circle. I need a wide circle carved around the camp we’re setting up.”

  “To what end?” asked Harper.

  Nik replied, “We’re going to create a line of earth and remove the plants we can to prevent the fire from spreading.”

  “The what? You want us to make a fire line? Are you going to burn your own camp?” Beatrice asked accusingly.

  Poor Bonesy’s face was painted with fear as he looked up at the leader he was still helping to stay standing.

  Nik shook his head, knowing that it was a plan born of desperation, and said, “If an army of shadows is coming, then we’ll burn them away. The fires will eat away the darkness and the embers will make it to where even the ground will be a source of light. We survive the night and plan for tomorrow once we’ve seen the sunrise again.”

  Beatrice said, “I assume you have some way to keep your people safe from the flames.”

  Nik frowned and said, “I do, that was my first concern. We have earth-shapers. Those who cannot fight will take shelter below the surface, and those who can, will fight together like we did against the skitterbug matron. Our shield users will cover the perimeter with the others behind them, and then, once we have the shadows within the circle, we blast fire and lightning through the grass.”

  Sir BlackDagger's voice cut in with a steady tone. “It's a bold plan, and not a bad one considering the enemy we're facing. I like it, but it might not be so easy to pull off. Getting the fire to spread quickly could be its own challenge, you might need an accelerant of some kind. Something that catches easily and burns hot.”

  “Any ideas on what to use for that sort of thing? What burns faster than grass, leaves, or wood?” Nik asked.

  The heavily armored warrior shook his head and said, “I do not, but we have plenty of people we can have trying to figure that out.”

  Heavy footsteps carried the dwarf adventurer to stand at Beatrice's side. Her voice was more steady than the last time she'd spoken to Nik, but she'd also just barely survived the battle against the skitterbugs then.

  She said, “I've only heard one side of the conversation, but if goblins eat bread then I assume they use flour. I saw a video of someone blowing it up online. Or if you guys have any cooking oil or hard liquor, then that could work, too. If you're still trying to think of ideas, I mean.”

  A claw scraped lightly against scales as Nik scratched his chin, head tilted in thought.

  “Hmm. I can stand on my own now, thank you, Bonesy. Go check with the others now and see how much oil, liquor, and flour we have with us,” he commanded.

  “Yes, Lord,” the goblin youth replied, eyeing all of the strangers suspiciously before he returned to the main group.

  “Can you talk while you use your ability to reduce the weight of an item?” Nik asked.

  Harper’s smirk returned with a strange fire burning behind it as she stared down at him and replied, “Sounds like the gears are spinning in your head. I might end up a little bit out of breath, but I’m at your disposal.”

  The next half hour was spent by Nik coordinating the work efforts with each of the group’s various tasks. As he directed their endeavors he was shadowed by Ryan, who was at his side making repeated clicking noises with his tongue.

  The small mushroom-capped dragon bore a look of determination on his face. At least that’s what it looked like to Nik.

  With the earth-shapers having taken turns, a small tunnel was carved out of the center of the circle Pearl and the lowerguard had flattened and worked toward clearing. When they finished it would be a tight spiraling path down to a cavern large enough to hold the non-combatants.

  At the edge of the woods, they collected large sticks they could use for torches and bonfires, while the one Beatrice said he should call, Addy, cut a fallen trunk down to the needed size.

  There was something that was satisfying to Nik about watching Harper try to converse while she strained to keep her gravity manipulation in effect. She kept the portion of trunk from a fallen tree held just light enough to let the others press it forward, turning up chunks of dirt and grass in the five foot wide path that was created as they moved.

  Nik’s legs hadn’t been strained quite like this since he’d climbed the stairs of the sunken castle.

  Pushing this hunk of wood was no easy task, and he thought, I’m lucky my stats have improved enough to make it possible for me to contribute. I need to stop thinking of myself the same as I was. I’m not the kobold I was when I’d been hidden away from the world, and I’m done hiding.

  Harper’s explanation of how it felt, and the logic she used when shifting an item’s weight, left a lot to be desired. Nik’s only previous experience with gravity was the knowledge that things fell down if nothing held them up.

  Complex descriptions of the force of nature that is a part of the fabric of space and time weren’t necessarily too complicated for him to understand, but it was a lot to try to take in at once.

  I’m beginning to think that Harper might not be the best teacher, Nik thought.

  Despite their hard work, they only had an uneven curve that extended at a diagonal from the edge of the forest and then ended in a shoddy, almost semicircle. It was less than half of the larger, outer circle he’d wanted to carve around their camp had been completed before the shadows started to grow longer.

  Nik called out, “We need to shift our focus to the defenses of the inner circle and set up watch mounds to keep our eyes out for the shadows. Leave the trunk.”

  He could barely even see over the tall grass, and even that was only because the breeze caused it to sway below his eyeline. Pearl was still in the air, and he could hear her communicating with the goblins below.

  Still at Nik’s side, Ryan continued to make the occasional click with his tongue, but then the fae-dragon stopped moving forward.

  He’d paused for only a moment before he began jumping energetically and running in small rings around Nik.

  Nik laughed at the odd behavior and said, “Woah, what’s gotten into you, little buddy?”

  The little guy’s orange tail wagged excitedly, and Ryan hunkered down. His shoulders wiggled up and down as he settled into position to launch an attack.

  He clicked his tongue twice, and then Nik watched him spit a large ball of bright green goop through the grass.

  A line of bowed and broken stems of now wetted grass led to the point of impact.

  Everything along that small trail, leading up to and then including the endpoint, began to discolor and sag. It decayed before their eyes. The musty scent of dead plant matter filled the air briefly, and then tiny mushrooms popped up from beneath the layer of grass that had fallen to Ryan’s new ability.

  Nik was so busy staring at the results of whatever Ryan had just done that he had almost forgotten about the fae-dragon who bounced and spun beside him.

  Tail still wagging at a speed that could put a stone bullet to shame, the dragon nudged Nik's hand, and he felt a surge of joy flood through him. This was currently one very happy dragon, but it was strange feeling another creature’s emotions like they were your own.

  He thought, There’s not much that is good about our situation, but that’s for me to bear.

  Nik patted Ryan’s mushroom hat and said, “Good job learning something new. You're a very good boy.”

  A coin appeared in Nik's hand from his inventory and the fae-dragon hungry eyes went into hyperfocus. He tossed the coin and Ryan snatched it out of the air.

  Ryan spent the rest of their walk back to rejoin the others as a purring trip hazard. The little dragon attempted to nuzzle Nik's side every few steps, which sent the vibrations of their purr through his leg.

  At the area he'd set for their camp, Pearl, Kath, Stics and Worik had done an exceptional job clearing the area and encircling it with a raised ring of earth. In fact, they wouldn't need to build any additional mounds to watch from, since the ring was so high.

  Everyone else was already below ground save for Bonesy and Elder Terk.

  “What have you managed to gather?” Nik said to the young goblin.

  Bonesy stood tall and replied, “flour and oil, Lord.”

  “Good job. Thank you,” he said.

  Nik took the items in hand and stored them for later use. Before he could turn to ask the elder what he might need, he realized that Bonesy was still standing there with his staff in-hand.

  He said, “I know what you want. You're brave and helpful, but you're still young and untrained. You cannot be a part of this battle. Return to the others, and try to help me by keeping them calm. Help the elders to take care of the children, and get them to sleep if you can.”

  To Nik's surprise, Bonesy bore the command in silence. He looked frustrated and dejected, but he nodded. The goblin turned, and walked below, his body vanished into the opening that would need to be sealed soon.

  Before being addressed, Terk said, “I am old enough to participate, and I will live or die defending our people this night.”

  Nik considered the elderly goblin. “If that is your wish, then save what mana you have and ask one of the others to seal the opening behind you. Everybody else, find places to plant our torches and take up positions around the camp.”

  With that final command, they began their vigil.

  They were now doing the one thing that was left for them, watching for shadows in the dark.