The Infinite Bk. 02 Ch. 02

"There isn't enough time for recon. We have to get in there now."

"Sounds like fun; let's go."

No hesitation, they charged into the town, seeing the ogres up ahead with their backs turned. "Scatter Shot!" Audrey cast. She fired an arrow with several mana counterparts, each of them burying themselves in a fleshy target and drawing howls of pain. Their alarm broke up the fight, and all of the ogres turned to face the intruders. This time, it was more females than males, but they were just as bloodthirsty and charged with weapons overhead.

Audrey was shooting at full speed, and the ogres were spreading out to flank her and Noah from all sides. Noah cast his spells, and any ogres that came close met his sword. Like on the ship, they fought back to back, Audrey keeping them at bay and Noah dealing with any that managed to avoid her arrows.

Their rhythm was then broken, quite painfully, by a shockwave in the form of a wind spell. It slammed into them like a runaway car, knocking them through the air. Noah had no idea which ogre sent it, and with his head spinning, he didn't expect to find out. The force dispersed across their entire bodies, so minus one or two broken ribs, he wasn't badly harmed, and Audrey was slowly getting back on her feet. The problem was that they had both dropped their weapons, and the ogres wouldn't let this opportunity slip by.

Noah staggered to his feet, struggling to maintain his balance while his mind and body did a hard reboot. One ogre attacked, and by the skin of his teeth, Noah managed to draw his short sword and drive it into the beast's heart, though its momentum ended up pulling the sword from his hand. Nearby, he saw Audrey grab one of her arrows and stab a charging ogre in the eye. Noah looked around, seeing a nearby corpse with a bow on its back.

"Audrey!" he shouted as he tossed the bow to her.

"Henry!" she yelled simultaneously as she tossed a sword to him.

Both weapons were caught, and the battle resumed at full fury with arrows and blood flying. The ogre that had launched the wind spell revealed itself, hurling a ball of air from its hand that glowed like a neon sign. It shot at Noah's clone and passed through it, striking a rundown cottage and causing it to collapse. Noah closed in on the mage and beheaded it with a swing while Audrey dealt with two ogres trying to launch fireballs. The last of the light came with the last of the ogres, the younglings eager to prove themselves, and they were dispatched with little trouble.

Finally, the battle was over. Noah and Audrey stood surrounded by corpses, their hands, faces, and clothes stained with blood, and their breathing ragged. Their ears were strained, trying to pick up any sounds of an ambush or survivors fleeing. Nothing.

"Thank you," Audrey said.

"You don't have to thank me."

"I do, because you're one of the few men I've ever met that I can say it to wholeheartedly."

"You did it!" they heard. Steven and Jen ran towards them, both beaten and bloody but alive.

"You saved us!" Jen exclaimed.

"How are the slaves?" Audrey asked.

"Two of them were killed before you arrived, but the rest will live."

"Are they still here?"

"Come and see."

Audrey and Noah walked to the center of town, where the slaves huddled around the fire. As the four adventurers approached, they got to their feet, both fearful and defensive.

"We're not going back," one man declared, sporting a pair of broken antlers.

"Yes, you are," said Audrey, "back to your homelands, or wherever it is you wish your feet to carry you. I did not take this job to deliver you to the capital, but to deliver you from bondage. What you do now and what happens to you is your choice. You are free."

Their reactions were mixed, some skeptical and others relieved, and most hugged each other with tears of joy pouring down their gaunt cheeks.

"So what now?" Jen asked.

"We spend the night here, and tomorrow, we'll make our way back to the channel to regroup with the others," said Audrey.

"First, we should do something about all these dead bodies before something even meaner than an ogre comes prowling," said Noah. "We can just toss them into the river and let the current carry them away. However, a female ogre stole my ring, and I absolutely can't afford to leave it behind or lose it, so we'll just move the males for now. Can I trust you all?"

A human woman stepped forward. "You helped save us and free us. We are in your debt and will do whatever we can to aid you."

While everyone carried the male ogres to the river, Noah scoured the village for the females. He had only the moon and a torch for light, but his vision went beyond that. When his invisibility was active, he became aware of the mana around him, as though his mana formed a lens over his eye.

His original hope of gauging others' strength faded long ago, and he couldn't differentiate sources, so everyone looked the same to him. Luckily, he could tell when something carried mana, such as a monster recently summoned from a magic circle or, in this case, a magic ring.

He moved through the battlefield, the soil reeking of blood and voided bowels, searching for a twinkling light in the darkness. Some ogres weren't yet dead, simply too wounded to move, and their mana gave them away. He'd finish them off, and the aura that shrouded them would vanish, like the heat leaving their corpses. He was starting to grow fearful before finally finding his ring next to a female with an arrow in her back.

The village was eventually cleared, leaving everyone too exhausted to eat, not that there was much to eat anyway. Everyone gathered around the fire in the center of town, simply falling asleep on the bare earth, though Noah and Audrey remained awake, staring into the flames.

"Tomorrow, I'll lead Steven and Jen back to the ship and make sure that the rest of the slaves are freed, then I must return home to declare the ogre tribe has been vanquished," said Audrey.

"I'll keep heading south to the capital."

They didn't speak after that, but the silence wasn't awkward. Instead, it was comforting. Nothing needed to be said; the quiet didn't need breaking. When Noah laid back, ready to fall asleep, he turned to her and spoke. "My real name is Noah, by the way."

It was the first time he had seen her smile, and then, he heard a small laugh. "I'm Alexis."

Please comment! Tell me your thoughts!