Owdel started laughing at Sebastian, “Boy, you just chased off a mob of goblins with a few shots, that only actually spent a single arrow! That lot would have had to get much closer before anyone else could have done anything to stop it, and likely would have taken several volleys to chase them off. Not to mention preserving the traps you had placed in the fields, and you wonder why everyone is so shocked?”

Sebastian shrugged, “Well we shouldn’t get used to it. That took more of my mana than I probably should have spent. Completely not worth it if I hadn’t fired that last shot. If I were to guess, I would only be able to get about ten to fifteen shots before I ran completely out, and since not all of those are guaranteed to hit, well, that wouldn’t make a particularly good dent in a group that size.”

He noticed that the guards had begun to chatter excitedly about his seemingly casual display of magic, and Sarah looked slightly embarrassed, “I’m, err, just glad you turned off the glowing eye thing. It was a little distracting.”

Sebastian gave her a wry grin, “Distracting? Distracting how exactly?”

Owdel swatted him across the back of the head, “Cut that shit out boy, you can flirt all you want when we don’t have to worry about hundreds or thousands of bloody Twisted charging out of the forest at any time. I want you both to stay focused.” He trailed off into a grumble, “Bloody idiot teenagers and their bloody hormones.” He cleared his throat, “Anyways, it seems we are done for now, go rest and recover your mana as best you can for now. I have a strange feeling that we will be sorely pressed soon enough.”

Sebastian frowned. Well that wasn’t at all ominous. He nodded though, and went to find a bunk in the barracks to take a nap. He didn’t have anything to do at the tower and if something happened again, he would prefer to not have to sprint across town. He was all too aware that he would probably have to run across town anyways should they have to retreat. He was really beginning to hate this whole assuming the worst thing. He half hoped that it was over, that fighting off that group would discourage any others from trying to attack again.

He shook his head, and laid back on an empty cot. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a strange sort of almost-sleep. He was idly turning and shifting a mental image of his secret project he had been using to distract himself for weeks now. It was beautiful and deadly, quite possibly the most outrageous and advanced enchantment ever conceived, and it was flawed. He growled in frustration as he looked at the glaring hole in the schematic floating through his mind. What am I missing?! I can’t see any way to fix it, or even make it work at all! Well, I could probably get it sort of functional I suppose, but that would defeat the entire purpose of the bloody thing!

He turned his thoughts to simpler projects, abandoning his increasingly frustrating plan for now. Not like a normal craftsman could even begin to make what I would require in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time anyways. Instead he decided to pass the time working out ways to improve his personal arsenal. His bow was wonderful, but required either too much mana, or ammunition, both of which would inevitably run out, probably at the worst possible time. He was leaning towards something along the lines of assorted wands that stored enough mana to power their effects at least a couple times. That way he would have a fallback that wouldn’t drain his mana in the moment, that he could recharge whenever he wasn’t in danger.

He was also interested in trying to weaponize some of the different things he had read about in his Physics book. Stuff like plasma, or even light, although it was more than a little strange to think that light could actually hurt things. Sure, it could be really bright and hurt your eyes, but could it really do enough damage to kill something? How much power would that take? Maybe he should see how far he can take his kinetic energy manipulation first. He had eventually figured out that literally every weapon he had ever heard of relied on it to a degree. Bladed weapons applied kinetic energy over a small area in order to tear through flesh, blunt weapons used it to apply larger amounts of energy to their target than it could withstand, relying on their increased mass to amplify the amount of energy it could produce.

So what would happen if I found a way to throw something heavier than an arrow, faster than arrows go? It should do far more damage than an arrow could, of course that would force me to lug around whatever I decided to shoot, and whatever I made that shoots it. Which leaves me with the same problem of having limited shots, only it would be worse, since if they were heavier than arrows I wouldn’t be able to carry as many.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what new insanely dangerous idea you are cooking up now, careful, your lunatic mage side is showing.” Sebastian was jolted out of his thoughts by Sarah’s voice, and he turned to see that she had flopped onto the next cot over. Her grin faded and her expression turned somewhat troubled. “You think Owdel is right? That things might get really bad soon?”

Sebastian realized that she had sought him out hoping for reassurance. He tried to think of a way to offer her some hope, but the truth was that he honestly didn’t know what to say. As the silence dragged on she sighed and gloomily continued, “Yea I kind of figured you would say that.”

Sebastian tried and failed to hold back a laugh, “The truth is just that I don’t know, I want to tell you everything will be fine, but I know I can’t promise it will be, and I don’t like making promises I can’t keep, not even implied ones. We just have to keep doing what we’ve been doing, hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Look on the bright side, we will all be leaving in a couple days even if the Twisted don’t attack again, just to be safe.”

Sarah quirked an eyebrow at him, “You are really bad at the whole ‘making people feel better’ thing you know that? Sometimes a girl wants someone to lie to them and tell them everything will be okay, even when she knows it probably won’t be. But thanks anyways I guess.”

Sebastian laid back on his cot, folding his arms behind his head, and they lapsed into silence. He tried to think of a way to change the subject to something that would help distract them both but found himself at a loss. Eventually he drifted off into a fitful sleep, even though it was only a few hours past midday.

He woke with a jolt, momentarily confused as to where he was. As he got his bearings he glanced towards where Sarah had been and saw her on her side facing him with her head propped on her hand. “You know how some people snore in their sleep?” She asked him, “Well you glow in your sleep.”

“I do not glow!” Sebastian reflexively responded.

“How would you know?” She fired back with a smirk.

Sebastian grunted, “I just do!” I guess she is feeling a bit better now? He intended to go on the offensive and find something to tease her about in return, since he knew there wasn’t a way for him to know whether he glowed in his sleep or not, but his plans were derailed by a series of frantic horn blasts. They both froze for a second, then leapt to their feet and ran for the top of the wall.

Sebastian looked out across the fields and felt dread start to rise up in his chest. It was starting to get late in the evening, but there was enough light left in the day to make out what appeared to be a veritable sea of Twisted pouring from the forest. The few remaining traps along the tree line detonated, with seemingly no effect on the horde, despite the dozens that were caught in them. He heard the captain start barking orders, as guards scrambled onto the wall hauling bundles of arrows and spears. A hand clamped onto his shoulder and he spun around, startled.

“Your bow gives you better range than anyone else boy, you stay in the middle. I will go to the left and the girl to the right.” Owdel leaned close and continued in a much quieter voice, “This is too much boy, when the retreat is called I’m trusting you to get my apprentice out safely. She isn’t ready for this, and it may very well break her. So no matter what happens, get her out safely!”

Sebastian nodded numbly, he just didn’t have the capacity to be surprised at the fierceness of Owdel’s desire to protect Sarah right now. His mind was boggled by the sheer numbers pouring out of the forest. Where did they all come from?! How could this many have possibly been hiding in the forests for this long? What could they have been eating? Surely this many should have quickly killed and eaten all the wildlife and then starved! A sudden deep bass rumble shattered his thoughts. Then another, and another.

Boom!

Buh-boom!

Boom!

Buh-boom!

When he finally spotted the source of the frankly horrifying sound he froze in shock. A couple of larger figures had emerged from the forest, carrying what appeared to be massive drums, that were being rhythmically hammered on by more human sized figures. It was hard to tell in the fading light, but if he were forced to guess, there were ogres hauling the drums, while orcs played them.

Sebastian narrowed his gaze at them and nocked one of his enchanted arrows. He could feel the terror that ominous rumble was causing amongst the defenders. It was palpable, growing thicker and thicker the longer it lasted. He was almost surprised at how angry he was at being manipulated like that. He drew back his bow and took aim, impatiently waiting for them to get close enough. The Twisted were moving at a glacial pace across the fields. As the leading edge started to approach the area that was strewn with mines he finally felt confident about his shot and loosed.

The arrow vanished into the growing darkness, only to reappear in a dazzlingly spectacular blaze of fire that erupted from one of the ogres, setting the drums, orcs and other nearby ogres aflame. The guards on the wall cheered, and the entire horde froze in place. After a moment of stunned silence from the Twisted, an unnatural scream of fury burst forth from them and spread quickly across the fields. They howled and roared, and their glacial approach began to speed up. Slowly, like an avalanche, they increased in speed until they were sprinting in a massive disorganized mob at the walls.

Sebastian felt suddenly helpless as he watched that relentless tide of disgusting flesh surge towards him, could he even do anything to stop them? They suddenly seemed more like a force of nature than a flesh and blood foe. He was shaken out of his fugue by a shout, “Loose!” the thrumming song of bowstrings filled his ears as a cloud of arrows flew from the wall, and he pulled himself together, nocking another arrow to his bow. A sudden burst of light heralded the arrival of a pillar of fire that tore into the ranks of the Twisted as one of his traps went off, and the flickering light revealed a maniacal grin spreading across his face as he drew back his bowstring.