Melody

“Get down!” yelled Elvaer, the younger of the drow sisters, as she tried to shift the moisture in the air to intercept a bout of fire. Diving to the left, Melody rolled in the street for a few seconds and narrowly avoided the attack.

‘Why didn’t I think about the fact that they obviously had spies living in Annahmia?’ she chastised herself again for the umpteenth time since the first torch had come flying through the window at the inn. She should have realized that they would be watching the movements of the town based on how aggressive Ostlind’s behavior toward the town had been.

In truth, she’d assumed that they’d sent a few people to town as plants but did not want to turn anyone away. Part of it was because she only entrusted sensitive information with those she truly trusted but also because she wanted to give everyone a fair chance, something many in the kingdom had never been given. It was naive thinking but she truly thought that once their plants saw how nice things down here were, they would side with her and Annahmia.

A clash of swords directly behind Melody’s head signaled it was time to scramble a little farther away. If only she had a combat related affinity instead of the passive water affinity most gnomes were born with. Sure, she could think more clearly and was really good with numbers, but was it really worth the trade in a situation like this? Even something as simple as an active air affinity would allow her to assist in the battle. Or a crossbow, which she’d yet to acquire.

Faeryl cast another Shroud, a combination Water/Dark spell with an AoE effect, around the battle scene to snuff out the fires that were spreading. It was not powerful enough to put out the blazing buildings once they got going and had a very limited range, but it was really good to put out small fires from stray fireballs and extinguish torches. Both proved very useful in this fight.

Both of the drow had a racial affinity for dark vision, as well as spells to augment that perk and Melody had a similar trait from her water affinity. The humans attacking the village, however, had no such advantage. So far the game had been going as followed: Shroud, humans fall back and light their torches again while their Pyromancer uses his fire magic to light the area, resume normal fighting while trying to make headway toward the forest, Shroud. If Faeryl or Elvaer had been more powerful mages the fight would have ended far sooner, with most of the attackers being human as far as Melody could tell.

From all over town Melody could hear the clashing of swords, see fires blazing over the rooftops, and here screams and shouts. Her people were vastly outnumbered but many of them had been training to protect themselves their entire life. Ostlind had picked the perfect night to attack, a night were a large portion of the guard and able bodied fighters were located within the forest. A night after the forest had started kidnapping its nocturnal visitors.

Currently Melody was surrounded by 11 of her citizens, the drow sisters Faeryl and Elvaer, 6 guards of various races, and three other noncombatants who had been enjoying dinner in the inn when it was attacked. Unfortunately they were being besieged by at least three dozen attackers and had been fighting a losing battle. Had it not been for the narrow alley they were fighting from they would have been overwhelmed long ago.

Even with Elvaer trying to patch up wounds as they appeared, more thin red cuts and exhausted eyes appeared as time passed. They’d been fighting a losing battle since the start and were just trying to hold out until reinforcements arrived. Naturally as soon as Melody mentally acknowledged it was only a matter of time, something went wrong.

A swift clash of steel followed by a meaty thud let everyone know that the first casualty had fallen, and it had been one of Annahmia’s guardsmen. The townsmen, who already spread too thin, were unable to close the gap quickly enough and the humans exploited the hole in their defense.

“Grab the blue-haired bitch. Boss will pay extra for the gnome who thought she was better than us. This’ll teach ya to steal land from the humans- Urk!”

The burley human who was corralling the humans to attack was cut off by a large woodcutting axes implanted in his skull. The audible crunch was enough to cause Melody to cringe and the sickening thump as his body was reminded of the existence of gravity was not much better. A shocked silence overtook the clearing as a short man came up to the body from behind, planted his foot on between the deceased humans shoulders, and heaved his axes from its flesh sheath with wet popping noise.

“Attack, ya slackers!” Korin shouted as he brandished his oversized and bloodied axes above his head before leaping at another human. The fighting resumed quickly and far less organized than it had been before. Gone was the defensive line and attacks, replaced instead with a hectic brawl as each side tried their best to enforce the laws of mortality upon their enemies. Along with Korin, one of the dwarves of AWEco (Annahmia Woodcutting and Everything Company), the Geomancers showed up as well.

Shards of rock flew to-and-fro as Geim and Helg incorporated their earthen magic into their fighting style, also wielding wicked looking woodcutting axes and making efficient use of them as well. Neither of them knew any combat oriented spells, being crafters by trade, so they were instead adapted their manipulation spells to create whistling projectiles to knock weapons aside as they swung. It made for a very jerky looking fighting style that was beautiful to watch nonetheless.

With the addition of the wildly aggressive dwarves, the tide of the battle turned quickly. In only a few minutes the humans began sounding for a retreat to regroup. A couple of them were cut down as they turned their back to the small gathering of townspeople but the citizens did not offer chase. They were, for the most part, too injured and exhausted and more than ready for a reprieve to tend wound and catch their breath.

“Gotcha, bitch.” Melody looked over her shoulder just in time to see her world go red. One second there was a disgusting looking man laying upon the ground, who she’d previously assumed a corpse, pointing his mangled hand at her, and the next moment the world got a lot brighter. Both Faeryl and Elvera were using weak healing spell to try and seal cuts so neither was nearby nor ready to intercept the rogue fire spell. Melody squeezed her eyes shut and tried to jump away, knowing she wouldn’t make it in time and accepting her fate.

Instead of seared flesh and burning flames, the half-gnome felt a powerful gust of hot steam press against her skin. While not entirely pleasant feeling, Melody was happy to have a few blisters and frizzy hair. It was much better than the alternative.

Opening her eyes she saw the fourth dwarf from AWEco, the one she’d never actually spoke to. He’d always secluded himself whenever everyone was together and concealed his face otherwise. Melody had always assumed he was a “criminal” on the run and was not trusting of other people, but now she knew better.

He was not he, but rather a she. The dwarven woman stood before Melody, snarling down at the pyromancer as he trashed about and clawed at his face, which was encompassed with water. The cut than ran across the thug’s chest, the reason he was on the ground and assumed dead, widened as he writhed in his death throes, spitting blood around the already red and bleeding walls. Only after he finally went still and his soul left his body did the snarl start to fade from the dwarven woman’s face, leaving behind a sadistic smirk.

“Fjola,” she offered Melody, along with her hand. As the half-gnome was hauled onto her feet, she couldn’t help but notice how deceptively strong the dwarven woman was. This being the first dwarven woman that Melody had ever met, she couldn’t help but take in her appearance. Unlike what the rumor mill would churn out, she was not, in-fact, bearded and fat. Actually, most men of any race would identify her as beautiful. Fjola had rounded cheeks, large brown eyes, and curly brown hair that went past her shoulders. Her frame was an inch or two taller than Melody, and a little wider around the shoulders, but by no means fat. Rounded, Melody thought, in all the right places.

The dwarven woman adjusted her grip to the inside of Melody’s wrist and brought her in for a hug, which startled her. This was followed by a lingering kiss on the cheek, which did nothing to help settle her state of mind. Part of her knew this was one of the dwarves’ traditional greetings for meetings, but she couldn’t help but be surprised by it given the train of thought it had derailed.

“Please forgive me for never properly introducing myself. Traditionally, dwarven woman never leave the mountain, given the gender discrepancy and what not. I did not want news of a female dwarf in a small settlement or party spreading, as the slavers love exotic finds.” The dwarven spat the last words out, followed by literally spitting. “I owe you a debt for trying to create somewhere safe for me and mine, and it's time that I contribute something more than furniture.”

The dwarf and gnome exchanged a few more pleasantries as she healed the scrapes Melody had gotten during her jumps and drops throughout the fight before moving on to the others. As everyone finished their very short rest, Melody rallied everybody and started making their way toward the forest, stopping whenever they could hear a fight to help the townsman and continue their advance. Everybody knew the evacuation plan, which was put out before the forest changed to its new working hours. Melody only hoped the forest god, if it existed, understood and sympathized with their plight.