I got up and walked toward the horizon, hoping to find some clarity. I brushed my hands together with a tired sigh, and then prepared to use my emergency teleportation crystal.
My hands clenched onto the damn thing like it owed me answers. I was torn between pursuing the prism and moving along with my original plan of finding the next shield on my own. “Make an alliance with fae… well, I had friends now in a couple places. Nothing that’d make nationwide news but, it was something. Citron, Lady Gavori, a sweet baker girl in fae paradise, Headmaster Gua… hmmm, we were still talking about tackling the big bosses here, though. The High Order.” I snorted. “Man, Senterrians really do know how to gas a guy up. How the hell was I seriously going to do this by myself?”
Then suddenly I winced, the side of my head throbbing. I tucked my crystal away, figuring I was getting attacked by a defective cyber sense unit. Despite not seeing a warning pop up on my screen, I readied myself to fight, until a familiar voice echoed in my head:
‘Sir Silas? Sir Silas, are you there?’
“What the hell?!”
‘This is Shaman Etorl. Your best friend.’
“Shit, don’t freak me out like that!” I retorted. “A warning would have been nice. I thought I was getting ambushed!”
‘Oh, you are, by my musical voice!’ he cooed, before breaking into half broken notes and a cracked voice.
“Are you drunk?!”
‘Hehe, when am I not?’
“Got me there…”
‘In all seriousness, we have some daunting news, and I was checking in on your progress.’
‘What’s up?’
‘The dragons, they’ve taken over Renekkgar. The push to Abok is now a necessity, and it also may be our only refuge point very soon.’
‘They took another stronghold? Already?’
‘They are pushing in hard, hero. Even after word of possibly being attacked.’
‘Attacked? By who?’
‘Goblins.’
‘Say what? How?’
‘Not entirely sure. A lot of people are still saying it’s pure rumors to get our spirits up. But we are suffering, hero. Not only have we lost Renekkgar, we are also losing land to this sudden wide-sweep of plague. Sick animals, dying crops—our orcs cannot survive, and many of them are reverting to cannibalism…’
‘I’m sorry. I’m in Mavriel right now but I’ve reached a stump on the road.’
‘No one is blaming you for this, Silas. I channeled to you to ask if you need assistance in finding the next shard. The quicker, the better.’
‘Well what is the warchief doing?’
‘Continuing his work in Abok. He is helping the others bring in as much food and water as they can. We are hoping that it will be enough to hold us over until we can push back against the dragons.’
I sighed deeply, running my hand through my hair. ‘I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if you can even afford to send me anyone right now. I haven’t found any leads on the next shard yet, but you need as many warriors in Abok as you can get your hands on. Besides, I’d have no way of disguising the warchief. He’d be exposed in the land of the fae.’
‘Are you saying that you have managed to remain hidden all this time?!’
‘Yeah..er-m, long story.’ I paused, thinking about what he said about the goblin attack. ‘I’m curious, if this news about the dragons being swept by goblins is true, then what is the princess doing in all of this? Has there been records of the goblins being swarmed?’
‘None, which is irregular. This supports my theory about it not actually happening. False hope in desperate times, I am afraid.’
‘What do you honestly think?’
He chuckled. ‘I think that we are all at the mercy of you, hero.’
I snorted. ‘No pressure, right?’
‘To be frank, I’d hoped you’d rallied yourself some outwardly assistance, a fae guild of sorts. But I understand that not all fae can be trusted.’
‘Yeah, you got that right…’
‘The last we spoke, well…’ he froze. ‘has anything changed?’
‘No… not yet.’
‘Don’t fret, hero. She is with you in spirit. Are you sure you want to reject our assistance?’
‘Yeah, I’m… fine. I’ll figure it out. Thanks, Master Etorl.’
He snickered. ‘We understand, hero. It is a difficult task. I hate to put so much pressure on you, but we believe you will succeed.’
‘Hopefully in time enough for there to be a Guedmar left to repair.’
‘Should I leave this channel open for support?’
