Life Review Ch. 06

Bishop and Denza led the way to the trail and through the maze of passages that concealed the enemy stronghold from the rest of the world. They stood atop the ridge overlooking the valley in silence, watching the patrols of the hyena riders circling the outer walls.

Cassidy looked around and spoke quietly, "We are going to split up once we get to the valley floor. Bishop, make you and Nessa invisible and get into position. The three of us are going to start taking care of the hyena riders before heading inside. That should give you enough time."

Bishop and Nessa nodded. Bishop put his hand on Nessa's shoulder and cast his spell, both of them vanishing into thin air. Shawn heard the quiet footsteps retreating down the path into the valley. Denza unslung her bow and dropped into a low crouch as she led Shawn and Cassidy to their own starting point.

The trio moved from cover to cover, using the shadows of the early dawn and the fortifications surrounding the shanty town to sneak close to the wall. Denza stopped them and signaled that a patrol was approaching. Two riders came around the bend of the wall and slowly made their way closer to where the trio were hidden.

To maintain their stealth, Denza had banned Cassidy from casting any spells until they were in the town. After some grumbling, Cassidy held back and let Shawn and Denza move forward into position to ambush the patrol. Denza made sure that the two of them were down wind from the hyena mounts so that they wouldn't give away their location.

The two riders passed by them slowly, unaware of their impending doom. Once clear, Denza stood and quickly let loose three arrows that hissed away into the early morning darkness. Shawn heard three high pitched yelps as each arrow silenced the smaller hyenas and the two riders stopped figure out the source of the disturbance.

Shawn surged out of his hiding place with his spear ready and hurled it at the closest dire hyena. Once the shaft left his hand he broke out into a sprint and activated his Gale Intercept ability and was once more propelled at breakneck speeds towards his target, the gnoll rider.

Activating his Gale Intercept spell Shawn arrived a fraction of a second before his spear. Again he felt time slow to a crawl. His body felt primed with potential energy ready to be unleashed. Without hesitating, Shawn kicked at the gnoll's head in a scything arc. Once he decided on an action, time resumed it's normal flow, his kick and his spear struck simultaneously. The blade of his spear punched deep into the monstrous hyena's chest, causing the beast to give a strange gurgling yap and keel over as the spear pierced its heart.

The steel toe of Shawn's boot connected with the furred snarling face of the gnoll

rider, with the spell completed as intended, gale-force winds coiled around Shawn's body like a snake and lashed out at the gnoll. The second rider's growling cackle was cut short when Shawn heard three wet thunks as Denza's arrows found their mark, silencing the rider and it's mount permanently a short distance away.

The spell Shawn released lifted the gnoll bodily from its dead mount and threw its limp body to tumble down the fortifications to rest in a lifeless heap. Shawn spun once in the air, propelled by the momentum of his attack, landing easily next to Denza who had begun retrieving her arrows. .

"Two down, four hundred and ninety eight to go," Shawn said quietly, pulling his spear from the dire hyena's corpse.

"Shall we play a game?" Denza asked, knocking another arrow.

"This should be good, what kind of game?" Shawn's interest was piqued by the suggestion.

"Here is how we play. After we take out the next patrol, we sneak into the compound and we kill as many enemies as we can before the alarm is sounded and the plan begins," Denza's speckled eyes glowed in the slowly approaching light of dawn.

The game was simple enough. Shawn had played stealth action games before, but to actually live one out was a surreal experience. A small voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he had killed and didn't think much of the act. Looking at Denza standing beside her kill like an apex predator, reveling in the thrill of the hunt, he came to the realization that he was enjoying himself. A smile crept onto his face. He would revisit the issue another time, he was going to enjoy himself for the time being.

"What are the stakes?" Shawn asked casually.

"A magical item," Denza grinned. "The next magical item we find, goes to the winner."

Cassidy emerged from her hiding place, pulling out her wand, "You can't leave me out of this."

"You can't do anything to raise the alarm," Denza reiterated. "That means no loud noises or else the game is over."

"That's fine," Cassidy shrugged.

"Alright, I'm in," Shawn stuck his hand out.

Denza placed her hand on top of his, "We start once we dispatch the next patrol."

"That magic item is as good as mine," Cassidy claimed boldly.

The three shook and the bet was on. They moved further down the wall and hid once more, waiting for the next patrol. They only had to wait a few minutes before three hyena riders came into sight. Denza frowned, not expecting their patrols to change configuration. She raised her bow and fired off three shots in quick succession, each slamming into the chest of the Riders. Shawn activated his Windstride ability and sprinted along the path until he was in a direct line with two of the mounts. He used Gale Intercept to close the distance and thrust his spear through both bulky torsos.

The last hyena mount snarled and leapt backwards. Shawn tugged at his spear but it was stuck. He let go of his weapon and reached for his ember of power, activating his Fire Fists. A dark streak rushed past him and Cassidy appeared before the dire hyena with her focus pressed into its throat. The central core of the wand glowed an electric blue and arcs of electricity leapt out of the hyenas body as it convulsed and smoked until it fell limp.

Cassidy turned to Shawn and arched her eyebrow, "Just because I'm really good at blowing things up doesn't mean I can't be quiet too."

"Apparently," Shawn said appreciatively.

"The bet starts now. On your honor keep count of your kills," Denza whispered to them.

"Do hyenas count?" Shawn asked, gesturing to the crispy corpse of the mount Cassidy fried.

"Animals and kobolds count as one, gnolls two, and if you can manage it, ogres are ten," Denza cleaned the blood off her arrows and stowed them away in her hip-slung quiver.

"If you kill the giant, you win automatically," Cassidy joked.

The trio split up. Denza raced toward the wall like a shadow, scaled the rough stone, and jumped onto a roof and was out of sight. Cassidy strolled casually around and found a section of wall where she could squeeze through and waved at him before disappearing as well.

Shawn shook his head at the absurdity of what was going on and took off running. Putting his spear away, he activated Windstride and leapt on top of the wall in one easy motion. When he dropped lightly onto the other side he dismissed the spell in favor of a new elemental style that he hadn't tried out, Elemental Fists: Wind Fist.

Wind swirled around his hands and feet like miniature cyclones. Eager to test out his new ability he jogged around the outskirts of the town. Shawn found his first target after passing a few deserted alleys. A pair of gnolls stood at a corner with two hyenas sitting at heel beside them. Shawn faded back into an alley and whistled sharply. The two hyena's ears shot up as did their gnoll counterparts. The group turned and stalked towards the noise, cackling to each other in low tones.

Shawn waited for the group to reach the mouth of the alley before he step out from the shadows. The gnolls' mouths hung open in surprise at seeing a human in the middle of their settlement, only their hyenas had the instinct to get defensive. With the swirling vortexes of air around his hands, Shawn sliced his hand in an arc in front of him and unleashed his magic.

A harsh vibration filled the air as a high pressure burst of wind tore through the alley towards the gnolls and their pets. Gouts of blood spurted from deep lacerations that appeared from the high pressure arc. One gnoll staggered back, staring in horror at the streaming rent in its chest, the gnoll's companion and both hyenas collectively collapsed into growing pools of gore.

Shawn frowned. His spell had been effective, but had not done what he had predicted. He dashed forward before the stunned and bleeding gnoll could recover. He struck quickly with a closed fist toward the creature. Shawn had been twenty feet away when his first attack landed and caused multiple deep cuts which had luckily been lethal. His next strike was unleashed at six feet and the effect was dramatically different.

The wounded gnoll tried to let out a panicked scream but was silenced when a fist sized hole was punched through its chest. Shawn looked down at his vortex encased hand and chastised himself, "I really need to test these abilities out before I use them in the field. That was close."

Shawn resumed his jog around the perimeter. After not finding any new targets he started to make his way into the town. He flitted from corner to corner to avoid the large groups of kobolds returning to their homes. On a hunch, Shawn followed a large group which carried mining equipment. The group led him to a long single story building that had no windows and a multitude of doors. The group of kobolds filed in the various entrances as Shawn watched from his hiding place in the shadow of a building. He glanced to the rapidly brightening sky and decided he needed to speed things up before all hell broke loose.

He took two steps towards the nearest entrance and stopped. Why was he so ready to slaughter a bunch of miners? He placed his hand on the door and opened it a crack and peered inside. On the opposite side of the door was another door that looked to lead into a store room that was full of digging tools. The rest of the building was covered in wooden alcoves that were full of nesting materials. The miners climbed into their respective nests alone while others were greeted by smaller kobolds and what he presumed to be their mates. The building was a den for the kobolds.

Shawn immediately forgot about the game. They had factored in that there would be noncombatants, but not how they would escape. He remembered Cassidy's fall back plan of torching the town. How many women and children would be caught in the blaze? Shawn suddenly realized he had been only thinking of the kobolds in terms of monsters to be slain, and not individual creatures that lived their own lives.

Nessa and Tricha had said that kobolds hated all other races, but would serve them if they were stronger. If he warned them to flee, would they heed his warning or turn on him and raise the alarm? Shawn was sure that the gnolls were more beast than anything and were raised to kill and consume, but the kobolds had developed further than barbaric raiding communities. Even so, did that make it a solid reason to kill them indiscriminately?

Shawn squared his shoulders. He pushed open the door into the communal nesting hall and shut it behind him. kobolds of various colors stuck their heads out of their nests to look at the new arrival. The nest filled with low hisses as the bigger males scrambled out of their nests and clustered together, fangs bared at him.

"Can any of you understand me?" Shawn asked calmly, raising his hands to show he didn't hold a weapon. His spear was secured to the back of his armor.

The group of kobolds didn't react to his words, and slowly started to advance on him. He stepped back slowly.

"I'm going to ask one more time, can anyone understand me? I don't want to kill those not involved in the assault on the human caravan," Shawn said as loudly he could manage without drawing any undue attention to himself from the outside.

A slender gold and white scaled kobold poked its head out of a nest by the rear wall. It's voice was high pitched and sibilent, although distinctly feminine, "Who are you, Human? Why have you come to our nest?"

"My name is Shawn, and I have come in response to the attack and capture of a caravan that came through the mountains a handful of weeks ago, and to the disappearance of the expeditionaries that came to investigate," Shawn said, his back hit the wall behind him, halting his backpedaling. The group of bigger male kobolds still advanced slowly, hissing and snapping their crocodile like maws.

"You have come in vain, Shawn of the humans. The mighty one and his servants own this land and will take what they desire," The white kobold hissed dispassionately.

"As we speak, my team is sweeping through this town and killing any armed creature they find. The guilds have marked this place for destruction. I'll say it again, I don't want to kill the innocent. If you don't want to get caught up in the battle, I recommend you evacuate the women, children, and any of those who do not wish to fight," Shawn lowered his hands and activating his Wind Fist, encasing his hands in cutting vortexes of air.

The female kobold spoke in her sibilant language to the other kobolds who halted their advance, looking wearily at Shawn's hands. The kobold got out of her nest and walked towards Shawn. She only came up to the middle of Shawn's thigh, but looked up at him without fear in her golden eyes, "You are soft to show compassion towards your enemies. A kobold would show you no mercy if the roles had been reversed."

Shawn felt his stomach twist into a knot. kobolds were considered evil after all, so why did such a statement make his blood run cold? He knelt down to bring himself face to face with the kobold female, "So if I let you and your kind live, you are telling me that you would attack and kill defenseless people?"

The kobold blinked slowly and tilted her head, "We do not seek out bloodshed, nor do we shy away from it. Kobolds grow more quickly than other races and we expand just as expediently. When our territory pushes against borders of bigger creatures, there is always war. We hunt, we kill, we eat, and we take what we need. Is that not the way humans operate as well?"

"You aren't wrong," Shawn shrugged. He knew his time was slipping away quickly, so he didn't have time for a debate. He had to make a choice, and he decided to go the route he wouldn't feel regret over. "We are going to wipe out this compound. We will kill anyone who fights against us. I have given you fair warning. I don't want to see innocent creatures die, so the choice is yours."

The white kobold nodded to herself and looked back at her nest and the tiny heads staring at her with wide eyes, "Then we owe you a debt, Shawn of the humans. We are not here by choice, so your presence here gives us the opportunity to escape from our task masters."

Shawn smiled at the kobold who grinned back at him toothily. She extended her tiny hand which he took and gently shook, "The riders have been slain on the outskirts, so your path is clear. Try to bring as many with you as possible."

"I can only promise I will spread the word. Many of my kind are not as...rational as I am. They are consumed with hatred towards the larger races, so I will warn you to be cautious," The kobold turned and spoke to her fellows. The mob of larger kobolds looked at Shawn suspiciously before hurrying to gather their things.

Shawn exited the nest without looking back, satisfied he had given the small lizards a chance. The game was back on and Shawn was on the hunt for new targets. He figured Denza and Cassidy were ahead of him by a solid margin, so he needed to make up points quickly. He turned sharply around a corner, and with his mind wondering, collided with something solid, furry, and wearing leather armor.

He nearly fell over as he reeled back. Shawn looked up to see a towering gnoll raider that stood a foot taller than himself and rippled with muscle under its spotted fur. The raider was accompanied by two other gnolls with similar armor and four kobolds that wore ill fitting sections of plate that appeared to be held together with bits of rope.

The raider narrowed its beady eyes at him and let loose a guttural growl that made the hair on his neck stand on end. He figured he had mere seconds to act before the situation sunk in and the raider's goons alerted the compound to his presence. The raider stalked towards him with its clawed hands raised to grab him.

Shawn took three steps to meet the raider, a move the towering beastman didn't account for, and slammed the side of his hand against its neck in a vicious chop. His hand sunk deep into the fur but the thick muscle underneath absorbed the blow. The gnoll gave him a vicious grin and cackled maddly. Shawn joined in on its laughter and activated his Wind Fist and blades of air slashed deep into the hide of the raider, neatly severing its head from its shoulders.

Shawn shoved the headless body of the raider back into the group. The closest gnolls reflexively caught the body of their leader looking stunned. Shawn pushed forward and coiled himself like a spring and lashed out with a vortex encased kick that blasted a column of slicing wind in an arc at point blank range. The blades of air cut down the ragtag group as if they were wheat harvested by a sickle.

"And that makes fourteen points," Shawn's lip curled at the gore coating the ground and walls in front of him like that of a charnel house.

He moved with renewed purpose as he raced the dawn and his compatriots. Nearby Shawn heard a furious bellow erupt into the silent early morning air. Figuring the game was up, he leapt onto the nearest low roof and skipped over three lanes and skidded to a stop when he saw a large armored head winding towards him. He looked down into the alley bellow and saw a small red and black kobold running for it's life, carrying a bulging sack in its tiny arms.

Shawn debated on whether or not he should intervene when Denza appeared across from him with her bow at full draw. They stared at each other in silence until they heard Cassidy whistle sharply from below. She looked up at them and called, "Looks like the game is over. Whoever kills the ogre gets ten points!"

The three exploded into action. Cassidy brought her critical mass fireball to bear and hurled it into the retreating backside of the hulking brute chasing the tiny lizard. Denza rapidly drew and fired five arrows that raced Shawn as he activated his Gale Intercept ability. Denza's first arrow struck home a fraction of a second before Shawn could deliver a heavy blow with his explosive Detonation Fist. Shawn's strike blasted a massive crater into the ogres thick armor, the force of the explosion set it reeling into a nearby wall which buckled under its enormous weight.

Cassidy whooped as the massive creature was brought low. Her celebration proved to be premature because it rose to one knee and roared deafeningly. Shawn landed well within the ogre's reach and was the target for its retribution. A massive hand rocketed out to grab him. Shawn's reflexes kicked in and he flipped backwards three times in a manner that would have made a gymnast envious. He landed and immediately launched himself forward, his fist bursting into bright charing flames.

Denza moved closer to the ogre and fired arrows with unerring accuracy into the gaping rent Shawn had torn open in its armor moments before. The ogre's roar of pain twisted up several octaves when Cassidy slid between its legs and thrust two hands cloaked in crackling electricity between its legs. Arcs of blue energy swarmed over the hulking body as the electricity arced between the armored plates adorning its body.