Chapter Four – "A Lost Friend"
The twigs weren't really a comfortable bed but it did the job for one night. They all took on the duty of guarding each other as usual. But nothing really happened during the night. The squad that was looking for them left without a trace and they were safe to go again. Perhaps they should go back into the outpost and get some food and supplies.
Getting past the guard was easy, just as usual, in these perilous times they almost dragged you inside. All five adventurers were still a bit tired from the night, maybe the twigs were even less comfortable then they thought. Aeolus and John went for food and supplies, Phoenix and Radeon went about looking for easy money, like running some errands or something.
This was all normal day work for them and they had forgotten about Angys, who was just wandering about a bit in the outpost when he heard a familiar voice calling behind him. It was a female's voice, it could be only one though as all the others that once sounded familiar he had forgotten.
"Hey, Angys right?" it was Mirage asking, she was accompanied by a petit little girl in a white outfit, by the looks of her she had been trained in the art of healing by a monk. Angys turned around to the voice of Mirage "Yeah it's him, he saved me together with his friends" the other girl just smiled and nodded. She seemed a bit shy, nothing like Mirage at all.
"Mirage how are you today?" Angys answered in the same joyful tone, although he had nothing to be happy about, this girl stirred something in him, her look alone could make him happy. Mirage just answered with a smile.
John and Aeolus were the first of the group to see Angys was talking to the girl they saved yesterday, they walked up to them and greeted Mirage, who thanked both of them again for their efforts the day before. "I am sure they can help us again, Neveah" she finally said.
Aeolus frowned for a bit and then turned around looking for Radeon and Phoenix, when he found them and gotten their attention he motioned them over. "Well we will see what we can do" Aeolus said, "you could start by introducing yourself" he added reaching out to shake her hand.
The petit girl, referred to as Neveah by Mirage, shook Aeolus his hand "Neveah Ni Epoh" she said with a small smile on her lips as she closed them. "and I might need your help, well actually we both need your help" she said looking at Mirage.
An uncomfortable silence followed "well just standing here doesn't help any of us" Phoenix said sarcastically. It was a bit blunt but every other member of the team kind of agreed, you could see it in their eyes. "So what is it you want?" he added to make it more clear.
Neveah became silent, she really didn't like it when people talked to her like that, "Well we lost somebody, somebody very close to us" Mirage took over, she put her hand in her pocket trying to fish something out. She showed the adventurers some gold coins "We are willing to pay for your service"
Radeon quickly got the gold from her hands and counted it, "well that someone can't be very far away" he said jokingly, it was only 63 gold, and they still had to divide it. "where do we find this special somebody? And who is he?" He asked as he put the gold in his pocket.
Neveah started talking again, she was eased by Kahbouter's tone "his name is Seraph Spellweaver, he was our mentor and became a very close friend" she took a deep breath, "last thing I heard he wanted to go to the Shiverpeaks, to meet the oncoming Ascalon convoy, but the convoy arrived and Seraph never came back"
The five friends looked at each other, they knew they had to at least try and help but they also knew what happened in the Shiverpeaks and how treacherous the lands were. John finally spoke up "We can help you find him" he said it like that on purpose, he hoped that both the girls could help them with their skills they could be useful.
Mirage looked at Neveah and they both knew what they had to do, "Yes we will come with you" Mirage said and turned around, "I'll be right back" she said and walked off to a man they didn't knew. After a short talk she walked back to the group, "Ok, I'm ready" she said looking around awaiting their response.
Radeon and Phoenix both nodded without saying anything, to notify they were ready as well. John lifted his heavy hammer from the ground and rested the wood on his shoulder "ready" he said with a grin. Angys smiled "Aye ready" he said.
Without waiting a second longer Phoenix started walking towards the exit of the outpost they were in. Once outside Aeolus whistled, he couldn't take his Moa bird inside most towns and outposts so he had to leave him outside. The moa came running from the bushes where he was enjoying a tasty meal of whatever moa birds see as a delicates.
Mirage wanted to unfold a map to figure out were they had to go but before she could even figure out where they were at the moment Aeolus said "This way" and started walking in the direction he pointed out. Mirage looked a bit confused, Neveah just lifter her shoulders and followed Aeolus.
They walked for quite some time without much trouble and the soil under their feet became colder and more dead, they were getting closer to the Shiverpeaks and didn't slow down. The two girls, who never actually gotten beyond Lion's Arch on market day, were getting weary but dared not to ask if they could take a short break to catch their breath.
For another 15 minutes they kept their mouths shut but then Neveah couldn't walk another mile, with her short legs she had to walk the fastest, she was exhausted. They had entered the snowy regions of the Shiverpeaks and the path was climbing slightly. "Can we please take a short break" Neveah finally asked before her legs gave up on her and she landed quite hard on a trunk.
Her legs tingled heavily, "Sorry I'm not used to these kind of distances" she said apologizing to the group who now stopped and put their bags on the ground. The moa bird came closer to her and looked at her wondering what she was doing.
"I was wondering how much longer you could keep it up" Angys said, he had noticed that she was having trouble keeping up for quite some time now. He was surprised that she kept walking for another 30 minutes when he thought she would most certainly fall down.
Phoenix managed to set fire to a piece of wood, it was not night yet but in the Shiverpeaks it was always cold. Neveah looked at him thankfully as she warmed herself on the lit twigs. The seven adventurers were enjoying a small meal as they all caught their breath, they were all tired it was only a matter of who admitted first.
For about five minutes it was silent in the group, nothing happened they were just enjoying a meal. Suddenly Aeolus jumped to his legs and grabbed his Bow and arrow. In response John leaped to his Hammer which was on the other side of the campfire. As usually Phoenix stood up silently and easily, no rush at all, he knew there was no need. Angys was leaning against a tree and pulled his sword from the ground. Radeon pulled himself up on the arm of Angys and they all stood in the direction Aeolus was facing.
Neveah and Mirage had no idea what was happening but they knew something was wrong, heavy footsteps shook the ground and the low tone voices of Dwarves were heard. That could only mean one thing, "Stonesummit" Aeolus said, his moa bird looked at him and spread his wings, Stonesummit stirred something in the beast as they fought them before. In stead of working together with animals they enslaved them and used them as war machines.
The army that came over the hill was quite big, two dolyak masters, one Sage, one Gnasher, four warriors tow hammer and two axe, two rangers and finally two Beast masters. This was going to be a tough fight, were they glad Neveah studied the techniques of the monk from the age of five.
Neveah and Mirage now also stood with the five adventurers, "Get ready to kick some ass!" John shouted as the dwarves spotted them. He threw his hammer back dashing for the leading warriors, Angys followed with his shield in front of him and his sword in the sky. The moa bird hesitated a second but finally followed the two warriors into that battle.
Phoenix was already channeling his energy towards forming a fire ball and Aeolus was preparing his arrows by dipping them into some kind of poisonous liquid. Mirage had never really been in a fight like this so she stalled for a moment to look in awe. When she snapped back to her senses she immediately started chanting the words of a Mesmer hex. Radeon was already franticly trying to bee a pain in the ass for the Dolyak masters.
Neveah was getting ready to help those who were in need, she had no eye for the enemies, she was far to anxious to keep an eye on the enemies. Concentrating heavily on the task at hand and preparing some spells by running the words through her head faster and faster until they flowed into each other seamlessly, in her head that was.
John reached the first hammer wielding dwarf, his hammer came crashing down towards the head of his foe but several centimeters before the stone of his hammer head met the helmet that protected his head John his hammer seem to refuse to go on. The dwarf looked at him with an evil grin, "they have an enchantment on them!" he shouted to Angys who just stabbed his blade to meet the axe wielding dwarf his shield.
Strike after strike bounced off the shield, Angys couldn't find any opening in his defenses and he was taking a beating himself trying to keep off the two axe wielders. Out of frustration he shouted, first a meaningless roar but then he shouted "Stop Blocking And Start Bleeding!" as he sliced his sword across for another near miss.
The first arrows and fireballs began to fly over their heads, landing not on the warrior dwarves but on one of the two Dolyak masters, these dwarven riders specialized in the art of healing and were a real bane if it came to killing a lot of dwarves. The curses that Radeon had successfully cast upon the foul beasts seemed to have little to no effect.
Angys his blade kept striking the shields of the two dwarven axe wielders while John had quite a hard time trying to evade the thundering strikes from the hammer warriors and landing some blows himself as well. Up until now the enchantment protecting the warriors held but all of a sudden the hammer came closer to the head of the Dwarf, he looked surprised but not for long as John threw in a second blow shortly after.
The shielding enchantment that held the dwarf safe until now buckled under the pressure of the hammer, with a short shock in mid air the hammer penetrated the shield and landed on the head of the dwarf, immediately shattering his helmet and the skull that it kept safe.
More fire balls and now lighten arrows flew across the battle field, the target, a heavily crippled and cursed Dolyak master. He was about to fall off his ride and he knew it as well. Then he spotted the Necromancer in the back of the group and grinned. His lips could exclaim a holy spell that wasn't meant to aid his allies. A light divine flash headed for Radeon and before he realized what it was it hit him on the middle of the chest.
The holy damage it carried seemed to have done more damage then normal, the dolyak master laughed evilly coughing up blood in the process. Two more burning arrows landed in his chest and there was nothing his healing friend could do but watch him fall off his creature to his death.
Shocking and screaming on the ground Radeon didn't know where to turn for help. Neveah who had been repeating the chants over and over again in her head suddenly blurred out several spells her master had taught her.
With the same blue light that struck him down Radeon felt as if reborn, his strength flowed through his body and he leaped to his feet again to keep on fighting. "Mirage, please keep them from doing that again" Radeon said, he didn't know a lot about Mirage but he did know that mesmers could generally stop most spells from reaching target.
In the meanwhile Angys wanted to strike again with his sword, right before he hit he felt something sting in his chest, it sapped away his strength but disappeared right after he lowered his sword. He lifted his sword again for yet another strike but again he was stopped by the immense pain now traveling throughout his entire body.
Then he suddenly realized what it was that hurt him so badly, he looked at the Stone summit Sage and shouted "Empathy is for sissies!" across the battlefield. Mirage looked surprised and reacted "hey! I use empathy!" on the same volume level. Angys didn't react to that immediately but when he finally got a swing in, regardless of the pain, he whispered to himself "I rest my case"
While the necromancer, elementalist and ranger were still trying to bring the second Dolyak down John finally hit the last Hammer wielding dwarf in his head, breaking his head, skull, neck and almost everything that was connected to that.
Angys finally was able to break through the shield and armor of one of his enemies, to his surprise he didn't hurt himself by doing so, Neveah just finished casting an any hex spell on him. Angys was very open to attack from the second axe warrior and this little maggot saw his chance to cleave Angys on his axe. But when he swung his axe to strike his entire body was in agony. He dropped to his knees wondering what the hell had happened.
For a moment Angys had no idea what happened but then remembered what Mirage said earlier, she uses empathy as well. He smiled as his blade cut right through the exposed throat of the dwarf that fell in front of him. A clean cut immediately killing the dwarf was the result.
The Gnasher and Radeon were franticly casting necromancer spells to exploit the bodies that had fallen. One bone horror was an aid to the four friends another corpse exploded in the face of the Moa bird, the third turned into a unholy shrine of blood giving John and Angys some of their strength back. But the final one turned into another form of Bone minion, made by the Gnasher.
"Damn bone fiends" Radeon said before looking over his shoulder to Neveah, "Take cover" he said knowing that by now they must've gotten the clue that Neveah was there to patch up her friends. The bone fiends normally targeted these healers, as they were called by most.
Neveah was wondering what Radeon was talking about and didn't take cover yet. The bone fiend spat out a projectile towards Neveah, just like Radeon suspected. But the projectile was stopped by the Moa Bird who took a short leap through the air to block it. Weakened by the exploding corpse and now by the projectile and out of reach from the enchanted well of blood.
Aeolus didn't have time to help his wounded friend. He just let a rain of arrows fall over the Dolyak master finish him off just like his friend. And just like his friend he wanted to throw a holy attack on Radeon only Mirage was ready this time and stopped the attack letting it explode in his own face, finishing him off with his own weapon.
The Gnasher, sage and two rangers were on their own. Up until now the two rangers were a bit in the background giving support but after a short nod at each other they concentrated their fire at the moa bird who had just protected the monk. Although the bird had extreme endurance and willpower the fifth arrow that hit him made him fall over onto the ground.
Aeolus was paralyzed, he saw his best friend fall, he saw his best friend die, for about ten seconds he couldn't do anything. Rage filled his body and mind, like a man possessed he started firing arrows back at the two rangers, he wanted them to feel pain, he shot every of their limbs before penetrating their chests with three arrows each.
There was no much the two dwarfs could do but die. Falling over with unheard screams of agony and pain. This time Radeon was on edge, he to had lost a friend in the moa bird. The two fallen rangers changed into Bone horrors immediately making way for the Stone Summit Gnasher, out of respect he didn't extract the Moa bird his lifeless body.
Mirage made sure the enemy necromancer couldn't do anything of that sort either blocking all his attacks and spells, she owed this much to the bird that had risked his life saving her and lost his life saving her lifetime best friend.
John and Angys had no idea what just happened behind them but they had to move on, John killed the Bone fiend with one strike. Reenergized by the well that popped from a dead dwarven warrior the two friends cleaved through the Gnasher simultaneously, the hammer of John took the head clean off while Angys his slash gutted him at the same time.
Angys placed a hand on John's chest, "this one is mine" he whispered as he dashed to the Sage, his sword landed in the neck of the dwarf. He immediately pulled back his sword and stabbed it through his chest only to pull it back in almost the same second and stab the sword through his skull. That sage was a dead man.
The adrenalin in the bodies of the adventurers died off and Aeolus came to the brutal realization what had really happened. His friend, the one and only living being he had ever trusted with no suspicion. He dropped to his knees, trying desperately to keep his tears in.
It was only now that the two warriors saw what had happened behind them and why the two dwarven rangers had died so fast by a volley of anger driven arrows. Aeolus his Moa bird lay on the ground, its lifeless body penetrated by at least six arrows.
John walked towards Aeolus and sat down on one knee in front of him, he placed one hand on the ranger's shoulder "He was a good companion" John said, he knew that nothing he could say would ease the pain at this moment but he felt like he needed to say at least something.
The rest kept quiet, safe one, Neveah burst out in tears. Mirage was puzzled and walked towards her. "Why are you crying?" she asked her friend, but Neveah didn't react she just cried and now kneeled down on the frozen soil.
"I should've saved him" Neveah said in the pauses of her cries, "I should've been able to save him" for some reason she felt guilty, yes she was specialized in healing her allies but she couldn't keep an eye on everybody and everything, she was concentrating to hard on keeping the two warriors and the necromancer alive to be able to heal the Moa Bird as well.
Aeolus instantly rose to his feet "There was nothing you could do Neveah" he said as he walked to the lifeless body of his Moa Bird. He kneeled down next to it. Placing his hand on the blood stained feathers, his hand trembled. "Thanks for what you did, may your soul find rest in the mists" Aeolus spoke before getting up.
Looking out over the steep hills in front of them Aeolus sighed, "we better keep moving, there is possibly an outpost of Stonesummit who just lost a patrol" with this he started walking again. Neveah had sort of regained control over her emotions, she and Mirage followed Aeolus. Angys and John also followed Aeolus.
Phoenix stayed back for about a minute, chanting something in an ancient language only few could understand. A fireball struck the corpse of the Moa setting it on fire, "That's how a funeral should be" he said gazing at the flames. "May the flames consume all your Earthly sins and go in purity"