Chapter 9: Chapter 9 A time to fight

Vhala let out a long breath, and leaned back against a tree. “Then I vote yes. We’re doing this. Wiam, send a [Message] back to the ‘guild letting them know we’re taking on the rescue, Davrar guide us. Artha, Emerald, you know the drill.”

She turned to Nathan. “Ok, we’ll need to get you up to speed quickly. We’ve done this fight before, but never against so many. The key is the mages. They’re the power, the backbone and leaders of Giantsrest’s slave raids. We kill them, and we win. The Slave Masters can keep the slaves and slave soldiers in line and get them all moving the right direction, but it’s the Enslavement Mages and their magic who will win or lose this fight. The slave soldiers aren’t a big threat - they’re immune to pain but these ones won’t be too independent or capable. They’ll be ordered to try to pin us down so the mages can hit us with something like [Dominate], [Slumber] or just [Chains of Restraint] so they can capture us. And they will try to capture us. Giantsrest takes pride in capturing Gemore adventurers, and they have bounties on us specifically.” She quirked a grin. “Time to push them a bit higher.”

While she was talking, Artha and Emerald were setting their gear neatly on the forest floor, stripping themselves of anything not important for imminent combat. Then Emerald helped Artha withdraw a complex belting system and strap heavy armor plates over his body. The bags had to be enchanted to hold that much metal, there was no way it would fit otherwise. They were done remarkably quickly, and Artha’s muscled form was replaced by a nine-foot behemoth of roughly engraved steel.

They all rejoined Nathan and Vhala as she explained Nathan’s role in the fight. “We know about how they’ll react, and we can keep them distracted and get you close. But mages are tricky to finish off. Usually Enslavement Mages don’t know any spells but mind magic past tier five, so no [Fly] or [Teleport] or [Disintegrate], but they’ll all be [Mage Armor]-ed in hostile territory, and they’ll be quick with [Wind Blast]s and other spells to keep anybody from getting in close. If you can close the distance in spite of all that to crack their [Mage Armor] and knock one off, we can hopefully take this fight. Better if you get more, of course.”

I’m about to fight for my life. Not just mine, but a hundred people I’ve never met before

Nathan tried to speak, but found his throat was suddenly parched. He swallowed, then asked. “How long do we have? Do I have time to try to develop my Magic Resistance Talent? I’ve got a few ideas.”

The Giantraiders stared at him like he’d grown another head. Vhala finally answered “We probably have a few hours, but we should use that to set up the ambush. If you think you can develop your talent in a reasonable way after we’re there, I’d tell you to go for it. But usually people take a few days to prepare and have their Insight very clearly thought out. Regardless, I think I know where they’ll pass. Let’s hurry to get there before they do.”

The next hour was a frantic run through the forest. Nathan had to sprint in bursts to keep up with Giantraiders, spending stamina to save himself from falling on multiple occasions. His compatriots were fast, and knew the terrain. For a third of the trip they ran along a wide ruined road, studded with cracked and broken paving stones. Eventually they broke from the road before a long bridge in much better repair than the rest of the road. In the center of the bridge was a ruined gatehouse, worn but surprisingly intact with a hundred-foot drop to the river below it.

Nathan wanted to ask about the weird ruin, but he was running and the Giantraiders were ignoring the strangely intact bridge. With the road and Vhala’s ability to find clear routes through the difficult terrain, they reached her chosen ambush site before their enemies.

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