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Book 2: Chapter 31: Test 3

Penn saw him looking and grimaced.

“Yeah, we’ve been going all out trying to impress each other. I heard there’s some kind of life-sucking spikes covering the other side. And watch.” He picked up a rock and hurled it over the top of the wall. The rock smacked a shimmering barrier which extended out over the top and into the sky, only visible when activated.

“That explains why no one is manning the top,” Arthur noted, though his throat felt tight with intense bitterness. All his skills and he couldn’t do anything like that.

“Yup. Some Earl’s daughter from the south put it in place. It’s self-sustaining — feeds off of sunlight somehow so it’ll keep until the sun sets,” Penn confirmed, his voice growing sourer with every word. “She couldn’t make it too high on account of the dragon riders, but it’s made the rest of us defenders useless.”

Arthur nodded. That flying-weasel scourgeling had likely been knocked out of the sky from a dragon rider.

Protecting the city at large was a good thing, but… they were here to prove themselves. It was frustrating not being able to do so. A burning sense of uselessness ate at him.

Yes, he had helped some people back in the healing tent, but he was a Legendary user two times over. He was meant to do more.

He had to be better — show that he was the best possible choice to link cards with that egg.

Just by glancing around he could tell he wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Most of the townsfolk who could get away from the eruption had been shuttled to the inner city, leaving the Legendary recruits. And there were half as many as there were before. All wore looks of sullen frustration, unhappy about being held back.

Penn led him on. Soon, they came to Marion and Echo, who had returned to her twelve-year-old girl form. Likely to save on mana. That was a good thing as her pouting sulk fit her face perfectly.

“What took so long?” Echo said.

“Two more teams just left now, through the gate,” Marion added, pointing to the single break in the wall.

Echo stamped her foot. “They got a head start on us. I told you we shouldn’t have waited for them.” She threw a dismissive glance at Arthur who had to clench his fist to keep from throwing a rude sign back.

You’ve dealt with plenty of brats in the orphanage, he reminded himself. Though none of them had been in direct competition before.

So instead of dipping down to her level and snapping back directly, he attacked her from another angle. “Have you ever hunted anything in your life? It’s not going to be roses and daisies out there.”

“Of course I have,” she snapped. “I got bow hunting all the time with my attendants.”

He made a show of looking around. “And where are your attendants, Princess?”

Marion was the one who answered. “Back at the hive.” There was a definite sparkle in his eye. “This is the first time without them that I can remember. I want to take full advantage of it.”

“Let’s go then,” Penn said. “Arthur, if you have any combat cards at all, this is the time to bring them out.”

He could not, under any circumstance, show anything from his Body Enhancement card. But he still had a few things up his sleeve. “”I have an Uncommon stealth card,” he lied. What he actually had was a nicely leveled Stealth skill. “I could help scout the forest ahead.”

Echo changed shape back to the brutish man, though her long beard was elaborately braided. She struck one fist into an open palm. “You show us where they are, and we’ll smash them.”

Penn casually unsheathed his sword. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

Marion shrugged. “I’ll do what I always do.”

“Which is?” Arthur asked.

“Seeing ahead.”

“All right,” Penn said. “Let’s move out.”

True doubt only began to hit Arthur once he was out of sight of the wall. The scourge volcano loomed much, much closer. The erupting scourgelings were visible rolling out from the sharp top. Some dragons hovered nearby to snatch the scourgelings before they could do damage, but many more escaped their grasp.

The farmland was separated from the city by a winding river and thick trees. Those trees shook with so many bodies passing by, and the whistling shrieks were so thick in the air that it all came together to form a white noise.

Riders with barrier or large area of effect cards were likely doing their best to reroute the flood of scourgelings away from the city. Or else even that impressive wall wouldn’t hold them back.

Doubt crept in. What was he doing? He was a utility expert. His position was of support. And he had walked away from it into the heart of the battle.

Marion had slowed, too. “Do any of you guys have a bad feeling about this?”

Echo stopped and blinked. She looked toward the river and the shivering trees and paled. “It didn’t seem so loud back in the city.”

Only Penn continued striding forward. He looked back over his shoulder at them. “What are you guys waiting for?”

“What… what are we doing?” Arthur asked, looking down at his hands. He had just strode out of the city, bare handed. Hurriedly, he grabbed a pickax from his Personal Storage. He’d left the shovel back in the tent.

“I’ve never been this far in the wilderness without protection.” All the bluster had left Echo and though she kept her brutish shape, it was easy to see the little girl within.

Penn turned and scowled at him. “We’re all the protection you need, kid. Don’t wimp out now.”

Arthur and Marion exchanged a look.

“I can provide a distraction,” Marion said, “But I’m not good at the actual… fighting.”

“That’s good enough,” Penn said. “Come on, we’re losing daylight.”

Arthur became more and more certain that something was wrong by the moment.

“Penn, slow down. Ask yourself why you’re charging out here like this.”

“What are you talking about? We need to get cards because… because…” Trailing off, Penn looked down at his own hands. He clenched and unclenched his fingers. “Wait right here.”

Then, turning, he shoved past Arthur and Marion to head back the way they’d come.

He slowed about twenty feet back, shook his head again and turned to glare at them. “No, this is stupid. We have to be out there. We have to prove ourselves.”

“That’s what I thought,” Marion said, “Come over here, big guy.”

Penn stomped over to join them. As he did, his expression melted from determined to more complex. “Uh… wait…”

Marion sighed, “There’s a mind mage in the city.”

Arthur stared at him, shocked he could deliver that so casually.

“Maybe a dark emotion tinkerer,” Marion corrected.

“I was under a spell?” Echo squeaked in her manly voice.

Penn paled, but his jaw was set and determined. “Are you sure? What exactly did you see?”

The prince’s eyebrows rose. “See? This isn’t about seeing the future, it’s about seeing a pattern. Your mind changed from walking over there to over here. That indicates there’s a spell with a large area of effect — one with a border.”

It wasn’t that Arthur didn’t believe him, it was just that the implications were horrific. “If that’s the case… we were sent out here. No,” he said at once, realization dawning. “Not just us. All of the other teams, too.”

He’d felt so useless in the city and was convinced the only way to fix it — to succeed — was to get out.

“Yup.” Marion stuck his hands in his pocket, looking around with curiosity. “I suspect we’ve been led into a trap. And right on cue...”

It was as if the clouds fell out of the sky on top of them. Instantly, they were shrouded in fog so thick Arthur could not see the length of his outstretched hand.

For a heart-freezing moment he was certain this was a direct attack. That they were about to be set upon.

Distant shouts, distorted by the fog, told him they weren’t the only ones.

“What’s happening?!” Echo boomed. Then, just as quickly, “We have to go back!”

Arthur saw a huge shadowy figure pass him by. He reached out and grabbed her giant ham hock shoulder. “No wait, if you go back and that spell’s still in effect you’ll come right back out here again..”

“We can’t stay here,” Marion said, “This fog is perfect for assassins.”

Echo whimpered.

“They don’t need assassins.” Penn’s voice was dark. “They just have to sit back and let the scourgelings deal with us.”

“The dragon riders will see something is wrong,” Arthur said. “We just have to stay together and stay alive.” He didn’t waste time asking if anyone had a nullify area of effect card. If they did, they would have used it.

“Penn, do your thing.” Casually, Marion hooked Arthur’s elbow with is own and pulled him two steps to the right. It was done so smoothly that at first Arthur didn’t register the rush of air.

A scourge-wolf landed, jaws snapping, exactly where he’d been a moment before.

Penn brought down his sword in one easy motion. The wolf’s head came off and the body crumpled.

Letting go of Arthur, Marion reached up to cover Echo’s mouth before she screamed. “You don’t want to attract more, do you?”

Two feet away, the wolf’s jaws continued to snap at air. Arthur stared at it, frozen, and only came back to himself when he saw Penn reach for glow above the body.

“Two Common shards, one Uncommon,” Penn announced, straightening.

“You keep them for now.” Arthur recognized the need to extend an olive branch while he could. “You’re the team leader, right?”

Even through the dense fog, Penn looked pleased. Though he waited for Echo and Marion to nod their agreement before he stuck the shards in his pocket.

“I want to go home,” Echo whimpered.

“Uh.” Penn looked around. With his free hand, he scratched the back of his neck. “Anyone know which direction we go to get back?”

Arthur started to point, but then paused. It was more than being disoriented from the attack. The small patch of ground he could see before the world turned gray and blank looked utterly unfamiliar. “I think there’s a disorienting aspect to this fog.”

“Hmm. A wide ranging area of effect with added bonuses,” Marion said. “Sounds like a Legendary card to me. I think someone’s got the idea to pick off their competition.”

Penn gave him a look. “You don’t sound worried about it.”

“I know for a fact I’ll be alive three seconds from now. It’s hard to be worried when you’re never surprised.”

Echo broke in. “What do we do? How do we get back?”

They looked at each other.

“Pick a direction, I guess,” Arthur said. He pointed to where he thought might be the way to the city. The fog distorted all sounds and he couldn’t tell where the whistles from the scourge came from, but he thought there were less of them to the right. “I think it’s that way.”

The others looked at each other. Then with a mutual shrug, they moved.

They kept close together. Echo held onto Marion’s arm, but the other three were too proud to touch.

Arthur frowned down at the ground, trying to determine if this looked different from before or not. Shouldn’t they have reached the city by now? Or at least felt the urge to go back on a suicidal scourge-hunt?

And if they did reach the city, could they power through their own thoughts?

“Wait,” Marion said at once. “I think something’s wrong—“

Arthur’s next step hit empty air. He tipped forward with a shout and started falling.

And falling. And falling.

It was as if he had fallen down a deep well or mine shaft, only everything around him continued to be gray fog. He shouted, reached for a handhold, but there was nothing.

He fell and fell and fell.