Delver Magic: Book 06 - Pure Choice (5 page)

"We wait?"

"We wait," the bulkier
goblin grunted.

Rubbing his head, Okyiq groaned.
The large goblin had spent time pondering the events of the night. Thinking was
never easy for a goblin, and the consideration of tactics could produce
headaches of excruciating intensity. Still, Okyiq believed the activities in
the human town offered not so much of a dilemma, but a potential opportunity.

Okyiq struggled with how to
utilize that opportunity based on limited information and his own restricted
ability to reason. Rather than seek additional facts, he searched for possible
explanations based on conjecture, not an easy task for any goblin.

The hulking monster remained
certain of one thing: the humans were concerned with something at their wall.
As to what it was, he could only imagine. He sensed something in the night...
perhaps fortune, the same fortune that cleared the threat of the elves from the
forest. Okyiq began to believe that luck was on his side and he did not wish to
waste such an opportunity.

"When real rain starts, then
we fire," the large goblin ordered. "Make sure goblins behind hill
stay out of sight until ready to shoot. Must all shoot at once to kill as many
humans as we can. For now, stay hidden... make certain all have enough arrows.
We will shoot a long time."

That order confused the
lieutenant.

"Won't humans run for
cover?"

"Humans will hide, but will
wait behind wall. We still fire at wall. Make sure all goblins
understand."

The subordinate shook its head and
admitted a dangerous truth.

"Don't understand."

Okyiq nearly exploded. In a fit of
frustration, the bulky goblin grabbed the lieutenant by its armored
breastplate. Spit showered upon the smaller goblin as the leader frothed with
rage. Most of the frustration came from tactical struggles. The large goblin's
head did indeed pound with pain from jumbled concentrations, and it didn't wish
to waste time and effort explaining itself.

"You don't have to
understand! You do as you're told! You're too dumb to understand. Why do you
think humans on wall?"

The lieutenant didn't dare answer,
too afraid to say the wrong thing that might lead to its death.

The release of anger seemed to
ease the pain in his head, and Okyiq decided to continue his rant, even as it
meant offering the explanation he felt unnecessary to offer.

"Humans react! Always react!
Sometimes react to nothing, Sometimes react to something. Could be something
big, could be something small, but always they react! Archers on wall means
they react to something, but what?"

The commanding goblin didn't wait
for a response, didn't expect one. Instead, Okyiq spelled out his own
contemplations as if to clear his jumbled thoughts.

"Big wizard not there, almost
never there anymore. Big wizard in big city. Big wizard wouldn't allow us this
close, doesn't like goblins. Magic would find us, but humans put archers across
whole wall. Why waste archers on long wall if big wizard could use magic to
throw us back into trees? Magic not here.

"Maybe cursed delver behind
the wall sensed us, but probably not. Delver in Burbon. We know that.
But..." Okyiq struggled with the words to explain his reasoning, to
exclaim why he felt they had not been uncovered by the delver's great senses.
"...doesn't make sense. Does delver know we're here? If yes, then why not
send out soldiers on horseback to scatter goblins before rains start? Why just
stand there and wait? Humans hate to wait almost as much as goblins. And why
wait in open if they know we are here?

"No, not magic and not
delver. Humans not on wall for goblins. Something else has humans' attention.
Something going on inside their wall, that's what I think. And if something
else going on, then humans already worried. We make them
more
worried."

The amount of speculation
surprised the goblin subordinate. It was more "thinking" than it
could have accomplished in an entire season, let alone one night. Still, its
leader was offering an explanation and the threat of retribution seemed to
diminish. The lieutenant's curiosity got the better of it and pressed for
further understanding.

"But why waste arrows by
shooting at wall if humans hide? Why not shoot and stop? Save arrows."

"Because arrows will add to
worry, will keep attention off gate. We kill as many humans quickly, but we
don't stop. Not a waste if it helps us open gate. Once gate open, humans can't
hide behind wall."

With the strategy somewhat
clearer, the lieutenant offered a sinister smile which satisfied its commander.
The diminutive monster even nodded and offered praise.

"Okyiq smarter than
humans."

The large goblin appeared pleased
with the compliment. He released his hold on the armored breastplate and
allowed the lieutenant freedom to move.

"Now, go make sure goblins
have enough arrows. Real rain almost here."

#

Linda Acumen was alone when the
first wave hit her. She stood in a back storage room of the Borderline Inn,
looking for extra mugs for all the additional people in the tavern. No one was
ordering drinks at the moment—they were all too occupied, wondering about the
alert and watching for additional signals from the towers—but she wanted to
keep busy. She didn't want to stop and think about what was happening outside,
didn't want to wonder what Ryson was facing at that very moment.

The initial contact rushed toward
her, but couldn't touch her in any way. Linda didn't feel anything on her skin,
but she could sense something all around her. She almost called out for help.
She thought of Ryson, but for some reason she knew he could not help her. The
same force that tried to take hold of her was also inside her husband, inside
all delvers.

She turned to run back into the
main room of the tavern, but then a surge of odd images rushed into her
consciousness. A wave of emotions kept her in place. She felt everything at
once; fear, sadness, anxiety, confusion, but mostly anger, and it raged within
her.

She wanted to strike out at
something, but there was nothing near that was worth her immense fury. She
shook uncontrollably as she grabbed her head, clawing at her hair and trying to
somehow reach the flood of foreign memories pouring into her mind.

For long, drawn out moments it
continued. No one noticed, for she remained alone and away from the tavern full
of Burbon's citizens. She grunted and snarled in a fit of pure rage. She never
saw the two greasy puddles sliding toward her.

Two arasaps had entered the tavern
by sliding through a back window well before the river rogues even entered the
town. Both had waited patiently in a far corner near the stairs to the
basement. They appeared as nothing more than two large drops of water that
might have fallen from some boiling pot.

They kept in constant contact with
the arasap that was already inside the human host. Through telepathic messages
only the arasaps could understand, they knew to wait. An opportunity was coming
soon, and they would not waste it.

When the first arasap began to
feed, the other two creatures made their way across the floor. Their objective
remained alone and far too occupied to notice their advance. When they reached
her feet, they both rose up slowly, like expanding bubbles. They struck from
opposite sides, each taking hold of a separate arm.

Linda barely noticed. The flood of
images and emotions kept her angry and confused... and completely unable to
comprehend her dire situation. She felt the greasy substances slide across her
arms and into her neck near her shoulders.

At the same instant, the flood of
images subsided and she could no longer feel the strange presence surrounding
her. When she regained her composure, all traces of the arasaps were gone. The
incident remained fuzzy in her mind. She wondered if she imagined the entire
event.

There was one thing, however, that
remained clear in her mind. She thought of Ryson and how he left her. He was
not there to help her. Beyond that, she realized there was something between
them, an obstacle that neither of them could overcome.

Linda stormed out into the tavern
and took a seat alone at a back table. She ignored everyone around her. She
focused on a single glass that was left on the table. It was empty, but she
began to look at it as a symbol of her future. She wanted to toss it across the
room, let it shatter into a thousand shards, but she held to it. She decided
she didn't want to let go of it, at least not at that moment.

Those that waited in the
Borderline Inn let her be. They imagined her emotional state was the result of
the chaos outside in the streets. They couldn't blame her. Her husband was
racing through the town, defending Burbon against horrible creatures, fighting
for them.

Ryson found the third rogue in a
residential section of Burbon, roaming through shadows of the eastside. The
beast appeared almost disoriented and seemed much more intent on fleeing as
opposed to stalking the alleys for food. Several dogs were barking from inside
locked homes, and the rogue moved frantically from one shadowy corner to the
next, hopelessly trying to escape the noisy mayhem.

Rogues didn't like dogs, as dogs
could smell them far in the distance—another reason why dogs had become so
popular after the return of magic. Early warning and avoidance of danger became
necessary in life throughout Uton, particularly so near Dark
Spruce Forest,
and dogs proved to be the ablest of alarms against shags, goblins, and
especially river rogues. From the smallest terriers to the largest wolfhounds,
the appreciation for canines grew as their natural ability to sense dark
creatures saved almost as many citizens as the town guard.

Reeling from an alley to a dark
porch and then to a lonely street corner, the rogue seemed helpless in its
attempt to avoid attention. The moment it rushed away from one barking canine,
it stepped too near the home of another. Soon, the entire eastside echoed with
yaps and howls, and the monster could find no path to sanctuary.

Ryson closed to within a single
town block of the rogue, but then slowed his approach. He continued to carry
the Sword of Decree in front of him, but he made no attempt to wave it over his
head. He had a clear view of the creature, knew there was only one in the area,
but he delayed signaling the towers. He continued to assess the situation as he
watched the rogues frantic movements.

Realizing the monster was
extremely agitated, Ryson wondered if trying to catch it in an iron net
remained the best alternative. He was very near the eastern town entrance. He
probably could have coaxed the creature toward the gate, right through the
passage, and beyond the wall in mere moments. He knew the rogue was simply
trying to escape. Guiding it to just such a remedy seemed the best solution for
everyone involved.

Unfortunately, Ryson knew the gate
was closed and the keepers were under strict orders to leave it that way. They
weren't going to open it for him, even if he had the rogue marching right in
front of him. More than likely, they would signal the situation to the towers,
and the captain of the guard would receive the message immediately.

Ryson thought of the agreement he
had with Sy. The captain gave his word he would release the rogues unharmed,
but it would be far from the town. Sy wasn't going to allow the beast to flee
so near Burbon's borders. There was already tension between the two of them,
and breaking their agreement would only add to the stress.

Still, the delver made no move to
signal the towers. He followed the rogue for a few more blocks, which only
served to strengthen Ryson's opinion that the creature was too unsettled to
hunt for prey. If everyone stayed away from it and allowed the beast free
passage, it would leave of its own accord. The only thing it seemed to care
about was escaping the continuous clamor of the neighborhood dogs. The monster
didn't even notice the delver's glowing sword.

The rain that had been little more
than a very light shower finally altered the delver's decision. A smattering of
drops here and there turned into a steadier downpour. The rhythmic beat of
drops against the surrounding rooftops added to the chorus of barking dogs.
Several street lanterns dimmed or were extinguished completely. Visibility was
dropping quickly, and Ryson knew the guards in the streets would have a
difficult time keeping their torches lit.

With nothing to gain in delaying
his decision further and growing anxious over the storm clouds to the west, the
delver waved his glowing blade over his head. He kept a close watch on the
river rogue, waited to see if the action might divert its attention.

It didn't.

The monster simply kept moving
onward, trying to find a secure place to hide, but failing to do so. The only
thing that seemed to offer it any solace whatsoever was the increasing rains.

#

Okyiq also welcomed the storm. The
rain began to pour down upon the tall grass of the hills just as heavier winds
rustled almost violently through the trees of Dark Spruce to the west. The
large goblin nodded his head in approval as he made one last address to his
surrounding lieutenants.

"See? This is why I lead.
Told you the rain would be stronger. Humans will have hard time seeing us. What
will they shoot at? Nothing. We have target. We can shoot at the top of wall
and at towers without even seeing humans, but we know they are there. We will
hit some. They will die."

None of the lieutenants answered,
but a few nodded their heads in agreement with Okyiq's sentiment. The rain beat
down upon them, splashed against their armored breastplates and substantially
diminished what they could see. If they peeked over the top of the hill, they
could still make out the outline of the wall in the darkness and rain, but just
barely. The exact position of the humans was, at best, a guess, but that was
all they needed. The same advantage did not hold true for the human archers.
Even when the goblins finally began to fire, the dark creatures would remain
quite hidden in the tall grass and the teaming downpour.