A Soldier's Life - 400 - I Invited the Neighbors Over (edited 5-31-25 +100 words)

Chapter 400: I Invited The Neighbors Over

“Last arrow,” Blaze muttered bitterly. Blaze aimed and released and cursed a second later, “Dragon shit.”

We watched the wisp as it fluttered in circles high above before drifting away from us. It had been a good night: eight will-o'-the-wisps and two gremlins yielding five lesser aether pool essences, three lesser energy essences, and two lesser dexterity essences. There was a thick cloud cover, and the wisps were flying higher tonight, making it harder for Blaze to judge the distance, but I thought he was improving at hitting the inconsistent targets.

I pulled out the two dexterity essences and one of the aether pool essences, handing them to him. “You can wait for me near the main gate.” I indicated the sack with the two gremlin heads.

“Don’t be a pixie prick, I am not leaving you.” Blaze hissed, annoyed.

I arched my eyebrow even though he probably couldn’t see it in the low light, “You are out of arrows.”

“Good thing I am with someone who can talk to the earth and find some of my lost children,” Blaze tittered merrily. Earlier in our hunt, I had found two arrows he had shot the previous night using earth speak. Most of his arrows probably landed high in the trees, and would not show up with my earth pulses.

“You don’t have good night vision,” I replied, trying to make him understand he was a liability.

Blaze shrugged, unconcerned. “We should have brought Lesna, but I will make do with the wisp night lights.” I had similar thoughts, as Lesna’s invisibility would have been ideal for scouting the bugbear encampment.

I recognized the pointlessness of arguing with him, so I simply started walking toward the dungeon. The line of wisps in the sky resembled a runway, indicating the correct direction. I discovered three more arrows for Blaze, and he smugly slid them into his quiver. The chorus of crickets concealed our movement, but I winced every time Blaze misstepped on dry twigs. It wasn’t that he lacked skill in stealth; it was that his vision was limited.

I stopped Blaze. “I am going to scout their defenses and try to eliminate one of their patrols. Wait here and be prepared to cover my retreat if necessary,” I ordered. We could smell burning oil and see a glow in the distance. I knew the dungeon room where the bugbears came from was lit by torches wrapped in oil rags that burned for days. The distant glow was probably the Adventurer’s Guild fortification they had taken over. I waited while Blaze situated himself between two massive evergreens. If I had to retreat, I would know which direction to go now. I gave him some smoke and blindness pellets and moved off toward the glow.

Even from half a mile away, I could hear the fighting: growling, snarling, grunts, and restrained cries of pain. I froze before I got close to the wooden wall. My earth pulse hadn't picked it up the danger, but with my aether sight, I noticed two harpies thirty feet above. Both were perched on a thick branch, looking down into the compound over the twenty-foot wall. It definitely sounded like the goblinoids were fighting, and the harpies were enjoying the show.

I hugged the base of the tree they were in so they couldn’t see me as I thought up a plan to take the harpies out quietly. It was extremely rare for harpies to cooperate with any other creatures, but from what Kyrenic had said, it was clear these harpies were supporting the bugbears.

One of the harpies shifted on the branch, stretched her wings, relieved herself, and resettled to watch the entertainment. I was considering climbing the tree with my air shields when the other harpy glided to the ground fifty feet away. She seemed to be getting a drink at a stream that flowed alongside the wall. I took advantage of the moment and quickly scaled the tree using air shields. When I got close enough to the other harpy, I pulled the entire creature into my dimensional space. My aether depleted, I quickly drank a restorative.

I drew magebane and waited for the other harpy to return. I wasn’t disappointed as the flurry of wings and buffeting foul air brought the hideous creature back to the branch. It was oblivious to its partner’s absence as it landed and resumed watching the show inside the walls. For this creature, I moved everything but the harpy's head to my space, bottoming out my aether again. I stepped out onto the branch, catching the shocked head by its wiry hair before it crashed through the branches.

My action wasn’t quite as slick as I would have liked it, because I almost had to drop magebane to keep my balance or risk slipping off the branch when I lunged for the head. I set the harpy head in the crook of the tree and turned to scout the bugbear encampment.

The sturdy wooden walls enclosed four large buildings. These buildings were positioned at the corners of the enclosure, surrounding a stone-paved courtyard that currently featured a large circle of hairy goblins cheering on a pair of wrestlers in the center. Oil torches mounted on poles encircled the fighting ring, casting light and releasing thick, acrid black smoke.

I was almost a hundred feet from the action, in the shadow of the branches. None of the bugbears seemed alerted to my attack or even appeared to be on watch. Maybe the harpies were keeping watch instead. I settled in to figure out what was going on.

The first thing I noticed was that every single bugbear was male and made no effort to hide this fact. That was good news for the town, as they would not be breeding anytime soon. Their fighting seemed to be driven to establish some sort of hierarchy among the smaller goblinoids. Seven much larger bugbears watched imperiously. The more I watched, the more certain I became that the chieftains each appeared to have their own small following. No one had unified all the bugbears yet.

Three gremlins in shackles shuffled among the bugbears, distributing wine and food. The bugbears frequently punched and kicked the stunted creatures. As my vision drifted from the fighting to studying the compound, my stomach churned, and I pulled out my spyglass to confirm what I was seeing.

Outside the only gate were a line of shadowy pikes, each one capped with a human head. At least, I was assuming they were human in the limited light. It was a common intimidation tactic from my readings, but my stomach had lurched because I knew what they did with the rest of the bodies. These creatures all needed to die, but not tonight.

The wisps high in the sky were slowly descending, which meant the sun was likely coming in an hour or two. I placed the harpy head in my space and descended the tree. When my feet touched the earth, I sent out an earth pulse, and the area was clear. I planned to make my way back to Blaze and hopefully catch one or two of the descending wisps before returning to Brausis.

I slipped among the trees as I circled wide of the two large pines in hopes of surprising Blaze. My movement caused the crickets to pause their song and put my friend on alert. He spotted me when I got within thirty feet of his position. “You were gone a long time. I was about to come look for you,” Blaze said gruffly.

“I was picking you out a present,” I said with a smirk and held out the harpy head to him. Unprepared, he inhaled the foul stench and coughed. He opened his gremlin sack, and I deposited the head.

“Can I pick out my own present next time?” Blaze asked, somewhat amused.

I reminded him of the bounty, “You are a tough date, that head is worth a gold coin.” As Blaze was digesting my humor, the harpy's headless body appeared on the ground with a soft thud. “I have a live one we need to take care of. You want that head, too?”

“A live one?” he asked incredulously as I worked the collector on the headless body. The aetheric smoke was strong and yielded a major charm essence to my satisfaction. I didn’t hesitate to consume it. It would strengthen my mind affinity and, by extension, my mind fortress spell form. I savored the essence as it worked, then returned to our business.

I stood and looked around the area. We were about half a mile from the stronghold, and I hadn’t seen any patrols. The wisps were still descending, so we had time. “Stand over there, and I will release the live one here. I will target its head, and you can put an arrow into it in case I miss.” Blaze suddenly got serious and moved to prepare himself, stuffing his ears and notching his bow. With magebane ready, I released the creature facing away from me, but it didn’t go as planned.

The harpy flapped its wings as soon as it appeared, and I cut into a wing instead of its neck. Blaze hit feathers as well with his first arrow. The harpy screamed in pain and flapped its bloody wings, spraying me with blood as it attempted to take flight. I chased it down and hacked away at its back, but it didn’t stop flapping its wings and screaming obnoxiously. My head ached, but my mind fortress protected me from the effects. Maybe my headache was just from the noise, as the magebane poison should have neutralized the harpy’s song.

Frustrated, the black spear appeared in my hand, and I thrust it through the harpy’s back, silencing it for good. I drove the spear into the ground to pin the body face down. Blaze came running up, “That is probably going to draw some attention,” he noted restlessly.

As the collector worked, I looked up wistfully at the wisps. It looked like we wouldn't have a chance for more tonight. Either the other harpies or the bugbears would be coming to investigate. The collector seemed frustratingly slow, but eventually formed another major charm essence. Using purified convergence essence was enhancing the collector.

Heated calls in the goblinoid language began to erupt from the direction of the dungeon and their camp. It was a three-mile run back to Brausis. Blaze didn’t need any encouragement as we raced through the woods. He tripped over roots multiple times, but I was always right behind him to pick him up. Out of breath, he yelled back at me, “You know we forgot to collect the other harpy head.”

“You're right, we should turn around and go get it,” I said, my tone serious, but Blaze didn’t stop running until we reached the walls, though. A dozen men with bows stood on the ramparts, with more coming to reinforce. With the adrenaline and blood rushing in our ears, we hadn’t heard the forest stirring.

Kyrenic’s voice rang down from above, “Open the gates for them!” Even though this was against the protocols, Kyrenic’s word carried weight, and the gate was soon opened for us. We joined the defense atop the wall as the sky had just a hint of gray in it.

“How was your night?” Kyrenic asked glibly. Blaze dropped his sack of heads at his feet in response.

I replied with a grin, “We invited the neighbors over, and I think they accepted.” From all parts of the woods, goblinoid shouts were echoing, distant torches could be seen, and I could imagine each chieftain pushing his company toward our city. They were organizing for an assault, probably upset after they had found the harpy watchers dead. It was going to be an eventful morning.

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