Axel and Rayner, teens from another world, are getting used to life at the brothel, until a new threat appears.
Rayner stood in front of Tessa’s shack, his hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the sun’s heat. He’d only just arrived. The usual riot of pickpockets and women soliciting him slowed him down. Visiting Tessa had become a regular event for him and he truly enjoyed the woman’s company to Axel’s amazement.
She was a severe woman at times, with admittedly prudish and old-fashioned notions. Other than that, she was a very good listener with cute kids. They reminded Rayner of the kids he cared for back home. The kids he ultimately failed to help.
From behind him came a tap on his shoulder and he turned to see Tessa. “You move silently. How long were you behind me?”
“With the way things are going in town, I have learned to move quietly and with a sense of haste.” She moved past him to open the door. She muttered and clasped her hands in prayer and the rickety door swung open. “You could have let yourself in.”
“Don’t I need your skill for that, what was it called again? ... Closed Entrance.”
“Yes, it is not very useful though. It locks doors but does not make the door itself any stronger than a proper lock, just difficult to break in silently.”
“Why not bless the shack?”
She smiled indulgently. “Not even Alta’s petty gods would bother blessing such a place. That whorehouse does get blessings though.” Her face twisted as she spoke of the brothel.
Stepping inside the well-managed room and taking a seat on the blanketed floor, Rayner stated the reason for his visit. “Madam Grace wanted me to ask you if you could convince the refugee women to stop selling themselves. We know you disapprove.” Tessa was nodding in agreement. “And because of your position as representative of the caravan’s refugees, you could step in and—I don’t know, preach to them or something.”
“I would hate to do that woman a favor but I do owe her for letting me stay at her den of sin for as long as she did. The problem is I have already tried to show the ladies of the streets a different path and they have chosen whoring instead. Also, I am no longer the representative for the refugees.”
“Oh, I’m sorry Tessa.”
“I’m not. I could do very little in the position as events settled down. More competent leadership took over.”
“If that is what you want, then great. But why no luck with the streetwalkers?”
“They owe money and the thugs control the ones who don’t using violence.”
“You mean pimps?”
She sat confused. “I don’t know that word. But if you mean women like Madam Grace, then yes.”
“Madam Grace thinks we can do something about the crime, about everything. Axel doesn’t want to and I don’t think we could help even if he wanted to.”
Their talks always came to this. He would ask her about her troubles but he really wanted to talk of his. She didn’t seem to mind in the least. Rather, she gestured to her lap for him to rest his head.
As the back of his head laid on her thighs, she wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke gently to him. “Just because people do not speak of you two as openly as before does not mean they have completely forgotten what you boys did. They know that when you left and came back their situation improved. But they do not know how.”
“Everyone had a part to play,” Rayner said humbly. “Besides, I can’t fix systemic poverty and entrenched crime.”
She idled before responding, then stopped wiping his sweat and began to brush his blond hair. “When you left Ridgehill so soon after aiding me and the others, did you do so in order to save Ridgehill?”
Blinking at her question he answered, “No, we got hired to escort Fred Copper’s wife and daughter from the Alea region to Ridgehill.”
The mission had truly gone off the rails, ending with a fight with a dragon. Fred’s wife even ended up being used as a living flame shield by Axel when fighting off a Coalition bandit mage. He struggled not to judge Axel’s brutal choice.
“Exactly, and yet you saved Ridgehill because you moved forward.”
“So, people just want me to try.”
“What else is there but to try. If we fail,” Tessa shrugged, “then we fail. This is the way of life. We are blessed and cursed by the whims of the gods.”
He took her nugget of wisdom to heart, clutching it like a child. He could try. It was the very least he could do. Because unlike others of this world, he was Faithless. A title that prevented him from worshiping gods.
He couldn’t rely on them. He didn’t have to.
Rayner heard an insistent rapping on the door and calls for Tessa to open up. Rising from her lap, he motioned for her to stay behind him.
Rayner greeted the men outside. “Hello, can I help you with something?”
The two men staggered back, shocked. They expected a mother of two, not a youth with bulging muscles and a hard face. “W-we are here to offer you protection but it’s expensive to keep all the men happ—”
Rayner connected his fist with the man’s nose. The man staggered back, clasping his bleeding nose with his hands. Eyes of shock and fury glared back at Rayner. Instead of waiting for the man to spew out threats, Rayner attacked again with a blow that would have broken the man’s jaw, if the attack landed. To the thug’s credit, he expanded the distance between them rather than charging in anger. Too bad.
Closing the distance, Rayner bore down on the man, hauling him up till his legs dangled off the ground. The display of strength halted the other thug who stood positioned to stab Rayner with his knife. Perfect.
Rayner chucked the man into his partner in crime, leaving them a heap on the floor. Then, clapping?
Others had gathered outside of Tessa’s shack to watch what they thought would be a beat-down. They found the thugs being handled like squalling babes instead.
He felt like giving them a bow but showed them his blushing face instead.
Then he took in his actions. These men didn’t work alone. Their partners would make life harder for Tessa now.
Far from helping her and being the hero, he’d put her life in danger. And dear lord what of her young children? Turning to apologize he saw Tessa, beaming.
“All we can do is try.” She patted him on his broad shoulders. “Too often people use the excuse of not wanting to start trouble to mask doubt, fear, or lack of ability. They will come back after they licked their wounds. I will use that time to prepare. Thank you.”
Rayner wanted to hug her.
Then came the screams from all around the town. He looked to Tessa.
She nodded. “Go, Rayner. You are needed.”
Rushing into the convergence of blood and steel, Rayner took in the scene outside of Ridgehill. The camps, all three armies of them, were under attack by kobolds. Their volcanic skin covered lean muscle and they swung swords of steel. They wreaked havoc throughout the camp.
These kobolds were unlike the ones he fought before. They were armed with proper swords instead of clubs and short-bows rather than rock-throwing slings.
He didn’t have to wade into the battle. The kobolds came for him. Grabbing the hammer Madam Grace supplied for him to replace his own, he met the monsters. They had nice swords but didn’t know how to use them. The kobolds chopped at their enemies gleefully, using their swords more like a hammer or an axe. These were children playing with new toys.
Rayner would show them how an adult played games.
A kobold swung his sword down, aiming to cleave Rayner in half and was halted by his powerful hand on his wrist. Digging his fingers into the kobold’s hot skin, Rayner smashed his hammer into the sword with the strength carried by his Force Hammer skill.
Following up his attack, he activated Force Hammer once more and drove the kobolds head down as if it were an offensive nail. The luminous green light of his skill covered the blood on his hammer and it made the other kobolds circling him hesitate.
If they would not come to him, he would come to them.
Skill still active and mana reserves fresh, he flooded down on the monsters like a waterfall. Hammers and swords clashed, with swords coming out the loser.
A wild-eyed kobold came at him from behind, forcing Rayner to turn his back on two downed kobolds before he could finish them off. This one had a skill of his own and his sword glowed red as if fresh from a blacksmiths forge.
Not wanting to introduce his blade to the unknown skill Rayner pushed more mana into his skill, Force Hammer. The green glow brightened and its range extended just enough for his weapon not to make direct contact with the kobold’s sword. Their weapons collided, red and green sparks erupted at the point of contact.
But when the kobold stepped back from the force that carried through the blade, Rayner had stepped forward and into the kobold’s space. Rayner sensed that the two kobolds had risen behind him. He threw the kobold into the others.
The last thing they saw was his smiling face as he bludgeoned them into the other world.
Yet still more came. Another group of three targeted him with their swords and their bows. The two with bows stayed back and loosed arrows upon him, covering the third’s approach. These kobolds used their weapons properly, not like toys. Underestimating them would be unwise.
He used Roar, sending out an air-distorting force tinged with green. It startled them into a moment’s incapacity and pushed away their arrows. By the time the kobold team of short-bow users re-steeled themselves for battle, Rayner had already killed their partner, letting his blood fertilize the ground.
Panicked at the proximity between them and the muscled teen before them, they retreated.
They had turned their backs on him. Big mistake. Their final mistake.
He let out a Roar at their backs and they fell to the ground next to each other where he ended their lives.
An arrow whizzed by his nose. By sheer luck or the kobold’s lack of skill, the arrow missed him. Either way he was alive and aware of a new enemy.
Rayner should thank the kobold. It gave him no time to think about how much he enjoyed the brutal combat.
Turning to the threat, Rayner saw the kobold drawing another arrow, unafraid of his murderous attentions. The reason for its bravery was the large snake it rode like a horse.
Its scaled skin was an earthy yellow and its eyes a green reminiscent of the glow given off by his own skill, Force Hammer. It bore its fangs at Rayner.
Another reptilian monster for him to fight. Big deal.
Rayner was of the barbarian class and had fought a dragon. He’d smashed its skull in until the durability of his hammer broke. What was this baby snake to him?
The creature must have sensed his confidence for it shrank away, curling in on itself like the pathetic creature Rayner believed it to be.
Unfazed, its rider had continued to loose arrows in Rayner’s direction, but by then, men in of the militia came. They wore no uniform, only a drab brown sash around their head. The snake slithered off to avoid the varied weapons of the militia soldiers.
Rayner was somewhat upset that they had driven off his kill but then accepted the interruption for what it was: cover. “All of you, make sure those short-bows stay directed at anything other than me. I will handle the rest.”
They gave him tepid nods of acceptance. Rayner and Axel had helped organize the army. But, it was at its center a hodgepodge of men and women armed with whatever weapons they could find and not all of them knew him personally.
They were without a truly charismatic leader and so would take orders from anyone who stepped forward at the right time. Right now, that was him.
To give them a boost, he let out a bellowing Battle Cry with enough force to rattle the rocks and dust around him. The militia soldiers around him straightened their backs and fingers eagerly grasped their weapons. With eyes motivated and vigor filling their bodies, they followed behind him as he waded deep into the battle.
Teeth shattered, brains scattered, and kobolds fled. It was not enough.
More and more kobolds joined the fight and as the initial shock of their attack died down, they had begun to organize to defeat their enemy more thoroughly.
A line of kobold snake riders, wielding bows, were behind a steadily marching pack of kobolds. Again, they used the tactic of covering their approach by loosing arrows on any that came near.
A group of snake riders split off from the line to circle around him and the militia soldiers. Their aim was off but their goal was to keep them from attacking the kobolds attacking the part of camp that sheltered the officers.
A woman fell beside him, an arrow protruding from her shoulder. She got right back up only to die with an arrow to the throat. Another man died in the maw of one of the snakes that had taken the risk of attacking their defensive circle setup. One more man died as the arrow blocked by his chest plate ignited in flames.
Another died from snake acid.
Another from a flaming sword slicing through his own blade.
The bodies piled up until Rayner was the only one who survived. They knew their role was that of cover. Seeing Rayner had felled more enemies in heartbeats than they had in their lives they shielded him from the arrows and watched his back for sword strikes from behind.
They died fulfilling their roles. A role Rayner had put them in.
A rising heat surged in Rayner’s heart, and the fire of rage burned through his body. He activated Rampage. He would fight until they were all dead, or he was.
Axel searched for Evans in the army camp turned battlefield. A town guard told Axel that Rayner was already deep in the battle but had no idea where. Even if the guard told him, it wasn’t as though Axel could find his way around a camp he had never been to, especially now that kobolds had flooded the camp.
He ran through the camp. Kobolds peppered tents with arrows, setting them alight. The kobolds’ skill caused the arrows to ignite. He stepped over the bodies of men and women burnt by acid.
Finding Evans was the priority. Without backup, organized kobolds could easily pick him off.
A large snake of dirty yellow slithered past Axel, ignoring him in favor of the occupants of a Coalition tent. The screams that followed chilled his bones, and he bit his tongue to force himself to keep searching for Evans.
He wanted Rayner, but he needed Evans. Evans had fighters Axel knew and besides, Rayner could take care of himself.
The kobolds were organized. The three armies were not. None of the soldiers fought together. They stuck with their own army and fought in scattered groups, desperately looking for their leaders who were nowhere in sight.
After wading through more bloodshed, he found Evans, his group of town guardsmen protecting a cluster of families. This must be the camp followers’ portion of the camp. Naturally, Evans would gravitate here.
The handsome man jabbed his spear at any kobold that got close while watching for any arrows trying to surprise him. When Evans looked Axel’s way, his eyes filled with a renewed hope. Axel also hoped he could justify the feeling.
Unlike the other times Axel fought, the walking hammer that was his friend Rayner wasn’t here to back him up nor did he have the benefit of surprise. He would have to fight with no advantages. That was a fight asking for death.
But he had little choice. A battlefield allowed for few choices. He engaged the kobolds, knowing all the risks it entailed.
Axel rushed a kobold, aiming for his chest with dagger in hand. The kobold shifted to the side, taking a minor cut rather than a grievous wound.
This behavior by Axel’s enemies gave him an advantage in any fight. Any common-sense fighter would rather take a cut than be stabbed, wounded instead of being killed outright.
The kobold knew something was wrong. Axel had disengaged and grinned, his dagger emanating a nasty red haze. At first, the kobold covered the wound with his hand.
Next, the kobold dug his nails into his own skin. Then he bit his tongue until blood dripped from its reptilian maw. Unable to take it any longer it screeched in pain, shocking the two kobolds beside him.
Then Evans took the chance to run one of the two remaining kobolds through with his spear. Evans gave his wrist a savage twist as he removed the spear, the spearpoint now painted in blood.
And so, the brawl began in earnest. Spears broke and blood poured from wounds. The injured received no medical help in the turmoil. With so many enemies around him, Axel had difficulty fighting them all and resulted to stabbing out at anything that got too close as if he were testing hot water with his finger.
“This isn’t working,” Evans said to Axel as the battle dragged on.
A camp follower died holding his guts, his wife wailing over him. Their defensive circle was breaking and kobolds were getting through. Evans’ fighters were few and only a couple of Coalition soldiers had joined up with them for lack of anywhere better to go.
Evans bit his lip, drawing blood. “I know. I assume you have a plan.”
“We find the officers and get them out of whatever trouble they are in.”
“I don’t have enough people to protect the camp followers and go to the officers’ part of the camp.”
“I know.” Axel did Evans a favor and saved some time by forgoing the drama of letting him figure out what he meant in silence. “We need to leave. All of your guardsmen have to come with us.”
To Axel’s surprise, Evans didn’t dismiss the idea out of hand. As a former refugee Evans had been left behind before and would be reluctant to do so to others but as a fighter, he could see the need to win the larger battle.
Unfortunately, the camp followers heard the betrayal over the sounds of battle and they would not make it easy for them to leave. The children wailed, the women cried, and the men howled.
They knew the risks of becoming hangers on to an army. Soldiers would protect them only so far as it furthered their interests or if their families were under threat. As of now? They were holding them back.
If Axel had time to plan, he would find out their skills or any potential blessing given to them by their gods and use it to counterattack but he had no time.
Worse, he was somewhat drunk, having downed a barrel worth of devil’s water at the brothel.
Evans’ teeth were bared and tears moistened his cheeks. He had made a choice. “To the officers’ tents!”
The soldiers of the Coalition and the guardsmen grimaced before taking a breath and running. Behind them, the curses of the abandoned families chased him before dying down to nothing. The group ran, not from the monsters, but away from their failure and guilt.
When they came to the officers’ tent much of their work had already been accomplished. Rayner was there rampaging through the kobold lines, a small shield in hand to block arrows and bat away enemies that bothered him too much.
Axel wanted to join his friend but knew he would be better off on his own in that state.
“I see them! I see the officers!” Evans called out. He pointed to three people garbed in white and the Coalition symbol of silver shining on their breast plates.
“Why are there only three!” Axel cursed, not expecting anyone to answer. He waved for Evans to follow and pumped his long legs toward the engaged officers.
The officers fought off a snake that had one of them in their mouths, screaming, while the others hacked and stabbed at the yellow snake.
“Spears loose!” Evans called out and a storm of spears impaled the snake. It dropped its victim from its now dead mouth.
Axel helped the man up and addressed the three of them. “Where are the rest of you?”
“We were expecting the arrival of our commander and they inspected the camp to make sure everything was prepared. The part of the camp they inspected was where the kobolds first came. They are alive but busy preventing more kobolds from overwhelming the camp.”
So, the officers were doing something.
“Does this mean we came here for nothing?” Evans said as he pulled his spear from the snake monster.
Damn it. Three officers couldn’t rally the army and there were still the other camps to consider. Axel’s shoulders slumped; he had no idea what to do.
Axel looked to Rayner destroying his enemies with no care of how the battle turned out. He didn’t hesitate because if he did, he would die.
So what if they would fail? They stood on a battlefield. It was time to fight. And so, they did.
He followed Rayner’s example and attacked any kobold in sight. He used his Fear Knife with little restraint, uncaring of the mana he would lose by such frequent use of the skill. The confused kobolds didn’t understand why their allies ran but from what Axel could tell, they thought a horde of enemy monsters were attacking.
From beside him a Coalition officer used a flag to impale a snake; she stood over it looking properly heroic. The flag of two white hands with interlocking fingers billowed proudly in the blood tainted wind.
Seeing their officers alive and thriving and the kobolds retreating in fear from a phantom horde created by Axel’s Fear Knife, more soldiers joined them. This time every army united.
Mostly they had nobody else to group up with or maybe because this was where the momentum of the battle shifted in a positive direction. Either way, they fought together. No special cooperation was needed in order to hunt down the murderous monsters.
The only tactic Axel had was to force as many enemies into the kobold grinder otherwise known as Rayner. He chased the kobolds away with the compelled fear of Fear Knife and into the very real fear of Rayner. Catching on, groups of spear-men made a semicircle around their zone of battle to better shepherd the kobolds to their slaughter.
The tactic proved effective, that was until the kobolds’ own officers showed up. Slightly larger than the others and their skin sporting bigger marks of black against their volcanic skin, snakes spat acid at any retreating kobolds. Forced to fight, the kobolds surrounded Rayner.
His friend wasn’t too battle drunk to understand his dire predicament. Axel called out to him. Better Rayner join him and Evans and stop rampaging.
Rayner ignored him.
Rayner held his hammer high above his head. Axel thought he would use a Battle Cry to further rally the troops.
Instead, Rayner’s hammer glowed green. Force Hammer would do nothing about their plight, not now that the kobold leaders had them trapped and outnumbered.
The hammer shone, its glow lighting the surroundings in green and catching the attention of the kobolds that dashed toward him. Rayner stood on an elevated mound and spears thrown by Evans’ guardsmen cut short the advancing kobolds.
The green mana around the hammer, now bursting with light, doubled, then quadrupled in size until it swelled like a miniature star.
The kobolds stopped advancing to cover their eyes from the blinding green light.
The hammer floated above them like a second sun. Waves of force pushed away all kobolds still attacking Rayner, leaving them scrambling to get up.
Releasing a mighty roar, Rayner brought down his hammer, letting it fall upon the kobolds like a descending comet.
Axel and Evans had run before the attack landed and watched from the distance.
The earth quaked and a small pillar of light towered from the point of contact. Not once had Axel seen a skill of such a scale since coming to this world. And neither had the kobolds because they didn’t waste a second gawking as the human forces now did.
They fled.
The humans would have given chase if the kobolds retreat was not so swift.
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