Chapter Fifty-Nine: Fiery Surprise

FIFTY-NINE

Six climbers turned to blazing torches in the blink of an eye. The ogres staggered back, roaring in displeasure, but it wasn’t enough to drown at the screams of burning men and women. Roan looked to see the pulsing, glowing stone in the dark forest. Already it was fading, but it marked where the shaman was at.

“Darren, we’re dead if that shaman stays alive,” Roan said, already sliding toward its position. Darren cursed but barked out orders as a new rearguard formed, then the man was running besides him. Roan could feel the difference instantly as he started to pull ahead. Even at near full speed Darren couldn’t keep up with him. But in the dark of the cluttered forest, the man’s bloodline made its worth known.

Increased perception allowed him to navigate the area with ease instead of running face first into a tree. Roan let him take the lead, slowing down and following his shadowy figure as they ran toward the shaman.

“Will need some way to see in the dark. And a ranged attack.” Roan catalogued his weaknesses as a goblin leapt at him. Its dagger cut him above the hip, but he swatted it out of the air and into a tree with a sickening crack. Hot blood ran over his leg as he continued to run after Darren. The other man slipped and dodged the ambushes with ease, leaving the goblins confused as Roan ran into them like a freight train.

“Not as flashy as Taoya, but it’s a powerful ability,” Roan conceded to himself. Five goblins died to his hammer by the time they reached where the shaman had been. The forest area was empty but the smell of woodsmoke hung in the air. All the screaming had blissfully ended as the six climbers had collapsed.

“It’s close,” Darren whispered, head tracking back and forth like a bloodhound. His sword led him, extended outward as he slowly moved away from the site of the battle. Roan crouched instinctively, trying to move slower, smoother, as he searched for the hiding shaman.

Red light burned away the darkness. Roan threw himself to the side even as Darren shouted a warning. A bolt of flame splashed the area Roan had just stood and trees exploded as flames climbed their trunks. Grass burned around him as Roan rolled to a stop, popped to his feet, and ran toward the shaman.

Darren had rolled the opposite way but had the same idea, the two of them closing in on the shaman in a rapidly closing V. An ogre lunged out of the tree in front of Roan, its wide club filling his view.

“Fuck!” Roan spat as he dropped into a slide. The thick grass was slick enough he slid a few feet past the ogre which was slowly turning around to face him.

“Shouldn’t have forgotten about them!” Roan scolded himself as he looked over to see Darren backpedaling as the other ogre came after him. Further in the forest the fiery gem began to glow.

“Bad position to be in. Kill the ogre and run.” The voice in his head urged him to run, abandon Darren, and try to escape before he was pinned down and immolated. He pushed that voice away, he had made his choice and he wasn’t going to break his word.

Roan dodged around the slow footed ogre and rushed toward the shaman before they could fire again. Instincts warned him, a shift of the air or perhaps the quiet grunt of effort, but he jumped to the side and fell to his knees in a slide.

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The ogre’s club sailed by him tumbling end over end until it cracked into a tree trunk and exploded in a spray of wooden shrapnel. Bits of wood peppered his face and arms as he stumbled back to his feet, stumbling forward as he regained his balance.