Chapter 9

Conquest

Graul, Torger, and Brun were in Arden and Jex’s cave near Indio. They were all exhausted and asleep after days of preparing for the tyters to come then fighting them and running for miles. Graul was having terrible night terrors and Brun woke up then woke up Graul.

Pushing him gently he said “Graul, wake up.”

Graul awoke with a start and grabbed Inferno that was laying next to his head. He saw Brun and asked “What’s wrong?”

“You were thrashing and cussing in your sleep. Want to talk about it?”

“No. It was just… never mind.”

Brun urged him to go on. Graul thought for several seconds then began. “Torger and I have been killed twice by the tyters. Once more and we die permanently. Getting stuck to the bottom of the ship and sucked into space didn’t count. We are so close to winning, but we’ve used three of our surprise attacks. We used the cannons, we used the gas in Kellogg Hill, and I used Scorched Earth. We have no more tricks up our sleeves. That ship that killed us, it just shows me that no matter how strong we get, no matter how good our weapons are, they can easily kill us any time they want to. We’re nothing more than pesky rodents to them. I got shot in the shoulder with a laser and you almost died from a semi auto RPG. They can kill us from a mile away before we even get close to them, even with all our beast gear. I don’t see how we’re going to win.”

Brun answered “They can kill us whenever they want, that’s true, but for some reason they seem to prefer hand to hand combat. It’s like they enjoy swinging a sword or thrusting a spear rather than using their ranged weapons. We have to hope that pattern holds true. As for your having no more lives left, maybe it’s time for a little religion.”

Graul scoffed. “Foxhole faith is working great for Antic. Ever since Rome turned him onto it he’s been more calm and brave, and I say good for him. I know a lot of agnostics cling to religion when confronted with imminent death, but that’s not for me. I’m going to look around for tyters.”

Graul stood up and put on his armor. Brun shrugged his shoulders and said “Suit yourself.”

Graul muttered “Thanks for trying Brun.”

It took Antic, Arden, Jex, and Rome a half hour to get to the edge of Rich Fields at a light jog. Once they arrived, they only had to wait a few minutes until Ristopan came to them. With a broad smile he said “I have found you some help, though not from my own kind I’m ashamed to say.”

Behind him came Lagwil, who was smiling kindly at them. “You have done well for yourselves humans. We were a little impressed when the message of a dead tyter appeared to us, but we were astonished when three more were killed by you. Tell me, where are your friends? We would like to congratulate all of you.”

“They are preparing for our arrival. At least we hope they are.”

Ristopan pulled out what could only be described as a crystal ball, and looked into it. After several seconds he said “They are where you expect them to be. But I must urge you to hurry.” Seeing their confused looks he explained “This is my scrying globe. Arden and Jex, it is your cave. Allow elves to enter it.”

Jex looked up Cities then found their “home” and allowed access for all Pomo elves as allies. Seconds later the humans and Lagwil all teleported there.

Torger was on guard duty of the cave while Brun and Graul were returning from scouting, looking for the tyters. Suddenly a pale green light filled the cave, then another and another. In two minutes there were a hundred elves in the cave along with all the Regulators. Torger was smiling like a moron at the sight but he couldn’t help himself.

Arden saw Torger was dumbstruck so he took the lead. “Welcome everyone! Can I have your attention please!” The chatter quieted. “Welcome to our home.” He pulled Jex into a side hug. “I’m sorry our accommodations are lacking, but we’re not here for tea and biscuits. We have a dangerous enemy out there trying to hunt us down. You elves have responded to the call to arms and come to help your allies. That is selfless and courageous of you, even if you are on a quest with the best possible reward.”

At their cheers rose up and Arden explained to Torger, Brun, and Graul about their meeting with Ristopan. Their deal was the first elf to deliver the finishing blow to a tyter and live to tell about it would receive Bone Crusher. A hundred of the best archers and scouts in the realm turned up for the chance to lay claim to the legendary weapon. Sure they were doing it for the quest, but it was the help the humans needed.

An hour later, as the humans remained in the cave, the first reports of tyter sightings started to come back. One messenger reported that because Ristopan helped the humans, commander Karzik told the hunters where they were and what was going on. Any chance of an ambush was ruined, but the elves, who averaged to be level 21, would stand little chance of winning anyways.

It was time for the humans to put their final plan into place. They left the cave and started marching to battle. There was a strong wind blowing sand and obscuring their vision beyond a quarter mile. That was good news for them. From a few hundred yards away, they saw a flash of red, the red of a tyter laser striking an elf. This was their time to exit.

They turned left and told elves they passed they were going to flank the tyters from that side. The elves left the area to get into the thick of battle. Once they were alone, the Regulators ran southwest as far and fast as they could. After a few minutes, they saw a tyter chasing them. The command ship must be reporting their location!

They ran for a few more minutes before they saw they would never make it. The tyter kept pounding speed and stamina potions, and the humans had neither of those.

“We’re going to have to kill it!” Torger yelled.

“No, let’s stick to the plan” cried Jex.

Torger looked at her grief and saw the fear in everyone’s eyes. He drew his sword. “You guys go, I’ll hold him.”

“Torger, no. You don’t need to do this.”

“Graul, get back home. If I have to sacrifice my life permanently for all of you, I will do it gladly.”

“I will stay and fight” said Rome.

“Me too” said Brun.

Graul merely nodded his resolve to stay and fight.

Jex looked panic stricken, not for herself but for her daughter. Antic had always feared death and pain, and having a solid plan to run to Catalina leaving the elves behind as fodder only bothered him a little bit. Arden was torn between staying to help his friends and protecting his family, including his brother Brun.

Arden said “OK, we stick to the plan. Let’s waste this reptile then keep going to the island.”

By then the tyter was in range of Jex’s Bow. Without the verbal command they got into their well oiled battle positions. Jex shot a silver arrowhead and they all watched in suspense waiting to see what would happen when it struck the tyter.

He dodged to his right, but the Bow imbued the arrow with magic and it slightly changed course hitting the tyter in the shoulder. The Kevlar suit rippled, then the arrow shattered. No harm was done to the hunter. This would have to be done hand to hand.

Torger called out “All mana for healing only! That suit absorbs all spells.”

The tyter raised his left arm and fired the laser at Jex. Arden was anticipating it and had the tower shield in front of her on time. The laser struck it in a corner and it hissed. Everyone looked on at the smoking dragon scale tower shield, which now had a golf ball sized dent in it and a scale had dissolved.

“OK, if it hits my shield in the same spot twice, it’s going through. Careful guys.”

The tyter raised his left hand to fire again, but seemed to be waiting for something. Jex took the opportunity to shoot an arrow at its exposed foot. Just before the arrow arrived, another laser shot out, but it went wide as the tyter’s focus was on the arrow. It hopped out of the way but the arrow still nicked its foot. The spells activated and the tyter was hit with Fire 2, Lighting 2, and Ice 2, each amplified by 50% because it was a silver arrowhead. Brun read the Analyze 2 out loud.

Tyter Level 75

Health 768/850 Stamina 83/125 Strength 37 Mana 0

Rome called out “I think the laser takes about five seconds to recharge.”

The others nodded, understanding what that meant without having to speak it. The tyter raised his arm again to fire and while they waited, Torger checked his stamina. It should be about the same as everyone else’s, which was 31/100.

The laser fired and Arden moved quickly to block Antic from getting hit. He was the strongest at 22 and the lowest on stamina at 29/90, making him the biggest threat. A new dent formed on the shield and Antic, Torger and Graul rushed forward. Jex unleashed arrows at a rate a little faster than one every one and a half seconds. That kept the tyter moving so he couldn’t get another shot off. Then the four supporters steadily moved closer to the battle.

Antic stayed away with his halberd pointed at the tyter’s head while Graul and Torger flanked him. They circled around and around, no one making the first move. After several seconds Torger called out “He’s waiting for something! Watch for reinforcements.”

Brun pointed in the distance as another tyter was running towards them, occasionally firing a laser at the dozen elves chasing him. It seemed the tyters were so arrogant they had disdain for the pesky elves and didn’t see a dozen of them as a real threat. But then again arrows were bouncing harmlessly off its suit, and he seemed undamaged. The humans were the real threat.

Once the second tyter arrived, they stood back to back facing the three melee humans. They showed no fear being outnumbered seven to two. One held a mace and the other a long sword. Both stood a little over eight feet tall and had a huge reach advantage. Seeing their impressive reach, Torger told Graul “You know what you have to do.”

Graul nodded and Torger and Antic gave simultaneous feints to the one with the mace. Both tyters countered the attack, knocking the halberd from Antic and the two handed long sword from Torger. At the same time Graul jumped into a forward summersault and raised his shield above his head for the expected blow, but it never came. He wound up as big as he could and as he heard Antic cry out from the jarring in his hands and dropping the halberd, Graul swung as hard as he could at an exposed foot. The blade sunk deep and dealt the extra seventeen health damage from Fire 1 and Lightning 1. The blade stopped at the bone with a thud, much to the chagrin of Graul. He had fully expected to amputate the lizard foot, and the failure to accomplish that meant bad things would happen.

Graul quickly pulled the blade free while still holding the steel shield above his head, but as he was backing away there was a BOOM on his shield as the pommel of the tyter’s long sword struck it with all the tyter’s off balance might. The tyter to his credit was able to land a powerful backhanded blow to Graul’s pauldron as he was falling and hit the ground with a big grunt. Graul had barely escaped getting crushed under his weight, but his left forearm hurt like hell and the shield was dented. He took a couple hasty steps back and cast Cure 2 on himself, relieving some of the pain.

“Torger, I gotta get a good heal from Rome! Be back in ten seconds.”

As Graul was running toward the others, Jex landed two cleanly placed arrows in the injured tyter’s sword hand that was clutching his foot. The tyter bellowed and pulled out a vial, but before he could drink the potion it went flying from his injured hand. Sixty yards away there was a cheer as the dozen elves arrived for the fight. The top shot of the tribe had hit a three inch glass vial while at a full sprint from sixty yards away!

More and more elves began shooting arrows at both tyters. The one that was bludgeoning Torger and Antic with a mace turned to fire his laser at the approaching posse. As he did Torger heard a faint charge before the laser activated. Even in his splitting headache and blood flowing in his eyes from getting hit in the face by the mace, he knew that one and a half second charge might come in useful later, but at the moment he was wobbly on his feet and barely able to grasp the sword, but a glance at Antic showed that his friend was far worse. Antic was on his hands and knees and wheezing while coughing up blood. Torger was no EMT but it was clear Antic had multiple broken ribs and Torger merely had a broken cheek bone.

The elves fanned out into a semi-circle and began launching volleys of arrows at the two hunters, drawing their full attention away from the injured humans. The tyters had to dodge a little as the aim of all twelve elves was phenomenal, targeting the exposed feet, right hand, and face of each tyter. But the enormous lizards were surprisingly agile and dodged the first two volleys, then returned using the lasers attached to their left hand gauntlets. Two elves were hit in the chest and died instantly.

Torger used the distraction and swung his sword as high as he could from behind the uninjured tyter. He was trying to hit it in the side of the head but aimed a little too high. Instead the sword cut cleanly through three of the six antennae on top of the head. The other antennae began moving wildly and the tyter shrieked in pain. He spun around to his left bringing his gauntlet around first, leading with the axe head, which ran nearly the length of his forearm. Torger was still a little off balance from the full power two handed swing, and he was only able to partially duck. The axe part struck the top of his steel helm and got embedded. The helm saved Torger’s life, but the blow was powerful enough to knock him unconscious.

As Torger went limp and dropped to the ground, Jex took an excellent shot and hit the tyter in the cheek. The tyter tried to shake off Torger, but the metals were twisted together. At the same time Graul had returned and seeing blood pouring from the helm of his brother sent him into a panic. He rushed forward and was going to swing at the tyter’s side, but the tyter held up his mace to block. Graul switched his grip and at the last second thrust forward with all the power he had. His blade struck his foe in the protected chest, but the Kevlar suit won. Graul’s sword Inferno skimmed off it leaving a deep gash in the suit. Just as before, the suit released an electric shock to Graul through his iron sword, and the whole thing glowed blue for a second before fading out.

While that was going on Rome had healed Antic, and Antic was picking up his halberd. Graul saw him and yelled for everyone to hear “The magic shield protecting the suit is down!” Antic got a good strong grip, planted his feet apart and staggered, and thrust with all his strength at the center mass, just as Torger and Arden had taught him to do against the simmets. The spear point punctured the suit and went into the lizard’s chest about two inches.

By then the tyter was frantically shaking his left arm trying to dislodge the unconscious Torger. He finally succeeded while simultaneously snapping Torger’s neck. Yet still Torger didn’t die. Rome and Arden each cast a Cure 2 on him, but that only brought his health to 49/500. The powerful lizard grabbed the halberd and pulled it out of his chest, but in an unusual display of courage Antic held on and fought him for control of the solid steel weapon. The tyter started to lift his mace to bash Antic, but then dropped it. He also released the halberd with a look of rage on his face. Behind him, Antic heard Brun cheer and say “It worked!”

Brun had cast Beserk 2 on the tyter after the protective suit was destroyed. The spell description was to “mindlessly attack anyone using bare hands”, but the tyter didn’t take the time to remove the gauntlet strapped to his wrist. He dropped his mace and Antic’s halberd Power Cord, and he took a boxing stance and began throwing punches at Antic, but it was obvious the hunter had absolutely zero training in unarmed combat techniques. Antic easily dodged the punches and Graul snuck up behind him and drove his sword through the spine. His legs gave out from paralysis and with a big overhand chop, Antic used the axe part of the halberd to sink it deep into the neck of his foe, extinguishing the life of another hunter.

The elves did not do well in their battle. The tyter that had the bad ankle from Graul’s sword had multiple arrows sticking out of his right hand, both feet, and face, but he stood tall and proud and was aiming the laser at one of the two remaining elves. He couldn’t run well enough to catch them but they kept him distracted while the humans exterminated his partner. The laser fired and the elf was a little too slow to jump out of the way. The laser burned clean through the four foot scrawny ally, and he also died. The last elf nodded to the humans and ran away.

Brun cast Analyze 2 and called out the stats.

Tyter Level 72

Health 168/850 Stamina 43/125 Strength 34 Mana 0

Although he was nearly dead, his Kevlar suit was still fully operational, so magic would simply be absorbed and all but the most powerful blows would be easily turned away from the force shield embedded in the suit.

As he killed the last elf, Graul and Antic dragged Torger to their friends and Arden got in front of him with the tower shield. In line behind Arden were Torger, then Jex, then Brun, and finally Rome. Arden had to just move the shield a little left or right to block any ranged attacks coming their way, while the others stepped out to the left and to cast heal spells and Jex could shoot her arrows if she took a half step to the right.

During the brief respite the tyter pulled out a potion from a small pouch but yet again Jex shot the vial out of his hand. They were about forty yards apart, and the hunter pulled out from the same small pouch a round shield. The humans would never understand how that was possible but it wasn’t important. He held up the shield while extracting another potion. Jex was unable to hit him in the face or hand, so she hit a foot. The tyter ignored it as he drank another potion.

As he was drinking the second potion, Graul and Antic had returned. Antic used the hook part of the halberd and pulled on the shield with all his strength. The tyter was much stronger than him and held the shield in place, but that wasn’t the point. It allowed Graul to get to the side and stab him through the hand. The blade went all the way through and the tyter grunted a deep and rumbling “gaah!”

The hunter pushed out with the shield and knocked Antic on his ass, and at the same time wrenched the sword out of Graul’s hand. But the cost was to exaggerate the wound in his own hand. He stood up to his full height and kicked Antic in the leg, leaving a deep bruise beneath the now dented steel greave.

Brun had removed Torger’s helm and Rome used the last of his mana to cast another Cure 2. Torger regained consciousness but still had a slight dent in his head that was slowly seeping blood. Brun, Jex, Arden, and Torger each cast Cure 2 on him, then with 111/500 health Torger took up his sword and rushed into battle. Brun and Rome each ran around the battle to the elves’ dead bodies and drank a couple of healing and mana potions.

Torger arrived as Graul and Antic were pounding on the tyter’s round shield, but the shield seemed to have taken no damage. Their stamina was almost depleted, but they had to keep it from drinking another potion and regaining more health. Torger’s arrival changed their battle tactics and Antic again hooked the shield while Torger and Graul pounded on the gauntlet. Seeing he was losing badly, the tyter pulled Antic to himself and smacked him on the head with the hook part of his own gauntlet, then he spun and fired the laser wildly at the ranged humans. Arden wasn’t expecting the shot and was a little slow to yell out to the mages. The stray laser hit Rome in the neck and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

The others yelled in rage and swung swords and halberd repeatedly at the tyter, beating him down. Rage filled minds caused Torger and Graul to hack at his exposed feet and Antic delivered the coup-de-grace driving the spear point into the prone lizard’s head. They looked up and saw Rome’s body disappear.

Chapter 10

Ocean

“You guys go ahead, I’m going back for Rome.”

“Torger this is our chance to escape this world. I’m sorry, but Rome is going to have to stay here. We need to go.”

Torger was divided in his heart and mind. He couldn’t leave his friend Rome behind, but they may not get another chance to make it back to Catalina and then back to Earth. Besides, the scroll Ristopan gave them would only teleport six of them back, someone had to stay behind. Torger always assumed it would be him, but now it may have to be Rome. Torger made a quick decision. “OK, I’m sorry for Rome, but you’re right, we do have to move quickly.”

They tried to loot the bodies of the dead tyters, but were unable to access the small pouch that seemed to hold a ton of stuff. The weapons and armor the tyters used were useless to the humans, being way too large, so they left it, taking nothing.

They travelled only eight miles until they found a rocky outcropping in the desert that gave them shelter on two sides. Jex and Arden took watch while the others slept. Everyone except them had extremely low stamina, health, or mana and needed the sleep. During the watch no tyters came, but the message of two more tyters killed by the humans came through for all the world to see.

Rome respawned in the cave in Indio. It was dark and he was alone and naked. The message of two dead tyters appeared before him, but it was a hallow victory. His friends had a thirty mile head start on him and he would never catch them before they made it to Catalina. But he had no option but to try. He put on backup leather armor and boots, losing the magic advantage that a wool robe and mantle gave, and picked up a wooden staff. His back up clothes took away all of his great bonuses as a mage, but it was all he had, and this wasn’t the time to try to figure out how to use a melee fighter’s steel armor and weapons. He had rudimentary skills in hand to hand combat, but it wasn’t his forte.

Rome walked a couple miles out of the cave and stopped cold. Spread all over the ground were dozens of dead elves. Captain Shug and his partner had slaughtered them. Rome felt guilty for their original plan. They were to trick their friends and allies into fighting the tyters while they escaped to Catalina, and it looked as if more than half the Pomo tribe died to help them. Perhaps the dwarves were right for hiding away from the battle and turning their backs on the humans in their time of need. But ultimately the humans did exactly what they told the elves they would do. They circled around and flanked the tyters, killing two of them, even if it was the tyters who chased them. The elves didn’t need to know the humans tried to trick them. It shouldn’t come up should he encounter them and he would stick to the story of their flanking attack.

Rome pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he jogged west, hoping with a slim hope he could catch his friends. But one of them had to stay behind. He could respawn one more time then it would be permanent death.

The journey of the Regulators was uneventful. It took two days to reach Long Beach and there was no sign of the remaining two Tyters. The display in their vision showed they had six days left. The first time they had built a raft it took more than a week to make it. They might be able to do it in half the time now that they had superior strength and stamina, but Graul had a better idea.

“We’re much stronger now. Last time we were afraid of the sanglers, but now we can fight them. Let’s each cut a log for buoyancy and swim across.”

Jex replied “You three are armed and armored, but me, Arden, and Brun have little protection and no steel weapons. We’ll get eaten!”

“OK, you three stay in the middle and we’ll be on the outside edges to fight.”

It was an unpleasant idea, but no one wanted to risk the tyters catching up to them and fighting in the ocean. They all got a good night’s sleep near the beach and before dawn with full strength and stamina held their logs as they paddled out past the breakers in the morning.

They didn’t make it far before they realized the steel armor was too heavy. They headed back to shore and removed their helms, greaves, bracers, boots, and pauldrons, leaving on the chest plates and chainmail skirts.

The second attempt went much better. A few hundred yards out from shore a huge sangler approached them and Graul swam over to meet it. Brun called out the stats of a level thirty-one with three hundred and fifty health, but it was unnecessary as Graul easily sliced through any tentacle that came to him. While he was battling that one, another came from the other side and Torger killed it with a powerful thrust to the face. After the fight with the tyters and then the sanglers they each had two more ability points, and added it to their knives skill, bringing them to an average level of sixteen. The experience points seemed unnecessary now that they were so close to going home.

As they drew near the island eight hours later, they had a horrible surprise waiting. Captain Shug and the other tyter were in a hovercraft patrolling the shore! There was nothing to it but to divide and swim on.

Arden was the first one spotted and the hovercraft came directly for him. He had one of the five duffle bags and inside his was the tower shield and Jex’s arrows. He opened it up and withdrew the shield just as the first laser flew at him. The shield blocked it, making another dent in it and burning away more scales. He then tossed a quiver to Jex while Antic opened his duffle bag and was going to pass out the steel armor but Torger and Graul waved him off. They swam straight towards the shore. Brun held up his diamond staff and cast Lighting 3 at Shug, but the spell was absorbed by the suit, even though his body was damp from ocean spray.

Being in the ocean and holding logs for buoyancy put them at a huge disadvantage, and they all knew they had to get to shore. More lasers fired at them, and they felt helpless. These tyters were not looking for a fair fight. It seemed after killing six of their squad members, the hunt was no longer fun or honorable to them, they just needed to kill the humans and then go kill all the rest of the prey.

When they were just a hundred yards from shore, Antic took a shot to the shoulder. Blood mingled with the water but he pushed on through the pain. Jex and Brun had taken cover under Arden’s shield, and Torger and Graul had made it to shore. They saw the armor carrier struggling and if he died half their armor would sink.

They cast a spell each, but as expected nothing happened to the tyters. They looked around frantically for a ranged weapon, and Graul fought the temptation to run to the teleport building. It would have been futile anyway as Jex had the scroll to activate. They all agreed she was the primary responsibility to get her unborn daughter back to Earth.

Torger remembered their first battle on the island and he ran to get a small cannon. He brought it back but had no more cannonballs or gunpowder, and after the ship dropped it the metal was horribly twisted. By then their friends were almost ashore, the dragon scale shield a dented and twisted mess, but still intact. Just as importantly the hovercraft was almost to the shore too. Thinking fast Graul looked at the cannon and said “Grab one end.”

The thirty-five ponds of steel would be a great projectile. It was small, only a little over a foot in length, and was a cross between a civil war cannon and a world war one trench mortar. They each grabbed an end and hurled it towards the hovercraft. The tyters weren’t looking and it slammed into one of Shug’s knees. It bounced off the suit but the kinetic force still left a bruise and threw him off balance for a second. Torger and Graul ran to the bottom of the hill and each brought back a large stone.

While they did that the others made it to shore and took cover behind a rock. The tyters stepped out of the hovercraft and cautiously approached the boulder their prey was hiding behind. They dismissed the two humans who had thrown the scrap metal at them, distracting them long enough to allow their friends to escape. They didn’t see as a large stone flew at them from the side and smacked Shug in the side of the head. He shook off the pain and fired a laser at the relentless humans, but they dodged it.

Jex snuck up to the top of the boulder and shot an arrow hitting the other tyter in the head. He pulled out the arrow which didn’t penetrate deep, stopping when it hit the dense bone of his skull, but the spells released upon impact took off an additional seventy-two health. Brun cast Analyze 2 on Captain Shug and his jaw dropped at the amazing stats.

Tyter (Captain) Level 99

Health 971/999 Stamina 181/190 Strength 40 Mana 40/40

He had some basic spells. If one of them was healing, he wouldn’t need potions, and his strength level was double that of everyone else. Each level in strength increased strength by ten percent, and scaled up that high meant Shug was more than twice as strong as even Antic. Brun called out the stats and everyone startled but quickly recovered and took up battle positions. As usual, Torger, Graul and Antic circled the two tyters who stood back to back.

Captain Shug held a sword in his right hand and the other tyter held a spear in his right. They both had the same gauntlet/halberd/laser combo on their left hand that all the other tyters had. The one with the spear thrust at Graul who just barely dodged in time. Shug swung his sword at Antic who blocked with his halberd and there was enormous clang as metals scraped together. This time Antic held on to his weapon.

Torger swung his sword at Shug but the blade bounced harmlessly off the suit. Shug back handed Torger in the chest, denting his steel plate. Torger called out “Disengage! Graul we need our armor.”

The three ran to the boulder the others were hiding behind and Brun handed them armor one piece at a time while Jex hid behind the shield Arden was holding, shooting arrows as fast as she could. The tyters blocked all of them, but it slowed them down. They all knew from experience that it would take the melee fighters seven minutes to don all their armor in a hurry, after months of Torger drilling it into them, and they were already halfway suited when they started putting on their greaves, but the tyters were only seconds away. Arden saw the predicament and did what needed to be done. He held the tower shield slightly off the ground and charged straight at Shug. He hit with full speed, but the eight and a half foot tall lizard lowered his shoulder and braced for the impact. Shug staggered back a step, but Arden fell back on his butt. He quickly pulled the massive shield over himself as the expected counter strike from Shug’s sword impacted it. The laser battered shield held.

Jex used the opportunity to get an arrow into the other tyter’s hand. He yelped and nearly dropped his spear, but recovered just in time. He glared at her, but with an injured hand still drove the spear at the tower shield. The shield held again, and blunted the mithril spear head. Brun cast Shield 2 at Arden, and he was encircled in the magic shield. One blow from Shug shattered the shield. Brun and Jex then rapidly cast layers of Shield 1 over the top of Arden until their mana was depleted. Shug began hacking at the shields shattering each one with a single sword chop while his partner ran at Jex. With twenty-two shields covering Arden, he had half a minute of safety.

Jex shot another two arrows at the approaching tyter, but he blocked both of them with his gauntlet before he was close enough to thrust his spear at her. She jumped back off the boulder and landed hard, twisting her ankle. Graul saw what was going on and although he only had his greaves, chest plate, and chainmail skirt on he jumped up and bashed his shield into the tyter’s spear. The hunter tried to punch him with the gauntlet but Graul parried with his sword. They circled each other sizing each other up.

Torger told Antic “As soon as our boots are on we need to join the battle. Forget the bracers, gauntlets, and pauldrons, just boots and helm then we go.” Antic didn’t like it but he nodded. Footwear was essential and the helm took only seconds to put on. Torger had mithril boots with Haste 2 on them giving his footwork a thirty percent speed advantage, compared to Graul who was fighting barefoot and it was obviously slowing his normal movements.

Graul cast Haste 3 on himself giving him a forty-five percent speed advantage, then he cast Shield 1 in front of himself. As expected the tyter drove his spear straight through the invisible shield shattering it, but Graul was ready for the move and swung his sword at the spear shaft. Again metal clanged on metal. A nick was taken out of Graul’s iron sword, but the steel spear shaft bent slightly. The tyter tried to re-grip the spear and hold it differently, but the weight was unbalanced and awkward. He stepped back and with a wary eye tried to reach into his pouch while holding the spear, but it didn’t work. He dropped the spear quickly and faster than humanly possible pulled out a round shield. It seemed perhaps all the tyters had a back up round shield if their primary weapon failed. The tyter lifted his left hand and aimed the laser at Graul. Graul was only a few feet away and had no choice to dodge, so he held up his own steel round shield. The laser bored a hole in the shield, but didn’t continue on to hit his chest plate. At the same time another arrow hit the hunter in the head. He pulled it out and pointed the laser at Jex, who again ducked behind the boulder.

Arden could hear each layer of shield shattering and had no idea how many there were, as he was turtled in behind the tower shield, lying flat on his back and unable to do anything offensively. He also had the presence of mind to cast Haste 3 on himself, a spell that lasted for five minutes. He would need all the speed he could get as soon as the last shield shattered, and at the rate Shug was smashing through them, it wouldn’t be long.

Another sound of shattering glass filled his ears, but Arden lay still. His ADD made it exceptionally difficult to do nothing, but his life depended on full concentration. The next shattering didn’t come, instead there was a smack against the dragon scale shield. It dented deeply just above his chest. Arden rolled to his right, keeping the shield above him. He scrambled to his feet and felt another blow hit the shield, which knocked him down. He then heard the tyter grunt. Arden got knocked down, but he got up again, this tyter wasn’t gonna keep him down.

He looked to see the cause of the grunt was an arrow sticking out of Shug’s cheek. Thank you Jex! He ran back to the boulder, just as Torger and Antic were putting on their helmets. They then charged toward the captain who was pulling out the arrow.

Torger met Shug’s gauntlet with a powerful swing, but the Kevlar gauntlet held. He swung again and again, but Shug was too big, powerful, and quick for Torger to land an effective blow. Fireballs flew at Shug’s partner but had no effect, being absorbed by the Kevlar suit. But that wasn’t the point, Antic was able to get behind Shug and hook his pouch hanging from the lizard’s side. Antic was trying to hook Shug’s gauntlet but missed, still he pulled back and sliced the cords holding the pouch. It fell to the ground and Antic swept it a few feet away with the spear tip.

Shug tried to backhand Antic, but they had all seen that move before and he ducked way down. That left an opening for Torger to swing at his armpit. The blade struck hard, but still the Kevlar suit didn’t have an electrical malfunction like the others. On the other tyters it would have surely rendered the suit useless, but Shug’s seemed to be tougher than the others. As they all repositioned to fight again, another arrow struck Shug, this time in a foot. He couldn’t take the time to pull it out, because that would give too big of an opening for Torger to hit him.

As Shug was facing his foes, Graul was in serious hand to hand combat with the other tyter. They both had bruises and Graul had a few light scrapes, but kept getting heals from Arden. It was too bad Rome wasn’t there; they needed a true healer.

Brun felt completely useless, being out of mana with no more potions of any kind. Brun couldn’t stand doing nothing while his friends were fighting for their lives. He quietly left the safety of the rock and circled around the tyter. As Graul exchanged another strike to the tyter’s shield, Brun snuck up and with a big overhand swing brought the diamond staff crashing down on the tyter’s head. The staff bent, then shattered. A massive flood of mana flowed into the tyter through his head. Unlike Captain Shug, this tyter didn’t have the ability to use mana, and his body couldn’t process it. He collapsed to the ground and convulsed, just as Graul had done the first time a dwarf had cast a spell on him. Graul casually walked up, and with a sigh of relief he ran his sword into his opponent’s eye. A second thrust ended his life.

Shug saw his partner go down, and felt the expulsion of mana. He thought “Why don’t they ever invest in the ability to use mana?” His thought was cut off as he caught a spar thrust from Antic. His gauntleted hand had little grip from the awkward contraption, but it was enough to get in a tug of war with the human. After a few pulls, Shug won. He quickly rammed the butt of the halberd into Antic’s stomach, making him collapse, doubled over in pain.

As soon as Brun left the boulder, in a moment of panic, Jex grabbed Arden’s hand and they ran to the tyter entrance building. They stepped into the glass tube portal, the glass closed around them, and she ripped open the scroll. A pale green light surrounded them and they disappeared, guilt at abandoning their friends riddled their minds, but they did what they had to do.

Torger saw his opening and with all the power he could muster he struck Shug’s suit again. This time came the expected electric discharge which ran down the sword and shocked Torger. He dropped Red Fury and Shug dropped his own sword, reached out and grabbed Torger, then picked him up like a football running back and ran into the tyter’s building and into the portal, ignoring the blows from Graul. With little health left, he touched the screen on the back wall a few times and ran into the glass tube, Graul continually swinging his sword at Shug’s back, slicing into the ruined Kevlar suit a little bit each time. Shug kicked Graul in the knee, breaking it and Graul collapsed. Shug activated the portal, holding on to a struggling Torger, and teleported them away to the mother ship.