A New Beginning: A Fantasy Adventure (The White Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  Vexx felt his spirits sink, but he kept his voice light and unbothered. “Four more wargs.”

  “That’s right. The rest of the pack. But, hey, you’re halfway done!” The gnome smiled, spreading his arms wide as he took in Shyola—looking indifferent, arms clasped under her ample bosom, Kaylin—wearing a skeptical expression as she counted her arrows, and Vexx—peering over at the wargs resting beside the stream. Doctor Fansee grinned and clapped his hands together. “The herbs are just over there. Come on, come on!”

  “Give me a moment,” Vexx said as he approached the nearest fallen warg. He knelt down and placed a hand on its hide before closing his eyes to concentrate on his energies. Vexx forced the necromantic magic into the warg’s corpse. Moments passed. And still…nothing.

  “What’s going on?” he said, finally, frowning down at the body.

  Shyola nodded to herself. “Ah, have you tried with creatures like these before? No, of course not. You likely are too far from the same level of power to be able to control it.”

  “Level?”

  “Yes. You’ll notice if you feel a surge of energy. That’s when you can learn new tricks or boost your powers.”

  “Oh…oh!” Vexx blinked, excitedly rising to his feet. “I just felt that after this fight.”

  “Aww,” Shyola cooed. “To be young again. Back when gaining an ability was such an easy thing that a little squabble like this would be enough to boost your power. I’d have to damn whole cities just to feel that kind of a rush.”

  Vexx snorted. “We’ll wait on it for now. Let’s just get this over with.” He left the warg behind, acutely discouraged that he couldn’t raise it to help with the rest of his pack. Somehow, even after being at this new ‘level’ of power, he didn’t think he could do it. But those were thoughts for a less pressing time.

  “That was a nice trap you used,” the gnome said approvingly to Kaylin. “Good thinking, elf! I’ve been thinking, dungeoneers,” he added, looking at all of them. “I can help out a bit on this next fight. You see, if I attract their attention, I can have them follow this game trail here…”

  33

  Ambushing the Wargs

  Vexx stretched his legs, growing increasingly cramped in his concealed position behind a weeping willow and looked over at the other dungeoneers. They were hard to find as well, all crouched behind rocks and bushes that overlooked the game trail. I just hope they really do come up this way. Over the light wind, he heard the soft padding of Doctor Fansee, his hurried footsteps moving quickly over the dirt trail.

  “Follow me, you overgrown mutts! I’m so tasty!”

  He hurtled over a small bush, his little legs pumping away, kicking stray dirt and rocks behind him as he ran his way up the game trail. It’s a clear shot from here, at least. Vexx watched Doctor Fansee come closer, a perfect target, and the wargs undoubtedly close behind him. The gnome hurried past and tossed a vial on the path behind him. Vexx fixed his attention on the potion inside. Just hit it with a fireball, the gnome had said. Vexx snapped his finger, a spark of flame blossoming, and he aimed directly at the potion. But still, they waited.

  A snarl was the first thing that announced their approach, and then a huge muzzle worked its way through the brush, sniffing away. Vexx tensed. They were supposed to be cautious. If they realized they were running into an ambush position…

  The moment lingered, but then the warg howled as it bounded up the game trail to where the dungeoneers laid in wait.

  Good, Vexx thought, seeing another warg appear. If we have to fight, then it should be on ground of our own choosing.

  An arrow sailed past, clipping a rope, and then several huge weighted nets dropped to the ground as the wargs ran up the slope. Several wargs yelped, startled, but others pushed their way past. Vexx heard the chuckle of the gnome in the distance.

  “Hit it, boy!”

  Vexx fired a powerful fireball straight at the glass vial, and an instant later, it erupted with a spectacular explosion, dousing the trapped wargs around them in a greenish haze. The gnome cackled as the procession of wargs now stumbled about in a confused, obstructed mess.

  “That poison will do them good! Now, don’t waste this moment, dungeoneers!”

  Vexx grunted, standing up high, both hands sending fireball after fireball that knocked the struggling wargs off their feet just as they managed to rise. Kaylin rose from the forest, looking every bit an elf as she narrowed her eyes and released an arrow that caught a warg in the throat. Shyola stepped forward casually before lunging forward and unfurling her whip to its maximum distance, catching a warg with a solid crack but keeping away from the poisonous mist.

  Doctor Fansee rushed forward and danced maniacally by the commotion. Vexx tried to ignore the bizarre sight, instead pounding the wargs with fireball after fireball, until finally he felt woozy and reached for a magic potion. He popped it open, swigging deeply, then fired at one warg that had managed to free itself from the net.

  The great beast rocked to the side, breathing heavily as it suffered from the poisonous gasses, then Kaylin’s arrow took it through the heart. Doctor Fansee did a backflip at the sight.

  “Very good, very good!” he shouted. “Just a couple left!”

  Vexx was moving forward now, out into the open, picking his targets one by one. The wargs were tough, but Vexx allowed himself a moment of consternation. Just one of his fireballs could take down a goblin and even a few around them, but…

  Ugh, I have to hammer away at these wargs. The good doctor said he’d give me all the magic potions I need after this, though, so there’s no point in holding back!

  At that, Vexx fired two fireballs that knocked down another, reaching again for his half-filled magic potion. By the time he’d corked and put it down, the final warg was dead. Shyola stood over it triumphantly as she vanished her whip.

  She breathed in for a long moment.“It smells like victory, Master.”

  “Ah, that could be the poison mist,” the gnome suggested as he clambered to his feet. “Your ‘master’ did a good job of exploding that little vial.”

  “No, no, that’s mostly faded away,” the succubus replied, coughing and waving a hand in the air. “Though you young ones might want to keep away for another minute.”

  Kaylin emerged from the forest, barely glancing at the fallen wargs and Shyola. She turned to Vexx and her ears twitched in excitement. “Do you hear it?” she asked, smiling at Vexx.

  “Hear…what?”

  “The stream!”

  Now that the silence had settled, Vexx could indeed make out the gentle babbling of the nearby stream. He cracked his knuckles and stretched. “Are you ready, Doctor?”

  “Absolutely,” the potion vendor replied as he stepped over the mangled corpses of the wargs. “Let’s get those herbs!”

  34

  Gathering Herbs

  The hidden glade just outside Cloudbury seemed as if it was from another world entirely. With the dead wargs behind them, Vexx could almost pretend life was peaceful and carefree. The soft croaking of frogs broke the silence, along with Doctor Farnasee’s cheerful whistling as he bustled about from one crop of herbs to the other.

  “So you don’t need us to do anything?” Vexx asked again, still feeling somewhat dubious. It seemed strange to suddenly be so unneeded.

  “Not a thing, my boy, not a thing. Just take it easy for now. I’m going to get as much as I can carry. You never know what might move in here next time I need supplies. Centaurs, probably.”

  Kaylin splashed into the shallows, hands dipped into the water, and splashed them on her face. “It’s nice and cool here, Vexx!” She poured a handful of water into her mouth.

  Sluggishly, Vexx moved to join her. “You’re sure looking cheerful,” he said. “Those wargs were no joke though, huh?”

  “Oh yes! It’ll be quite the tale when I return to my forest village next.”

  “Oh? Are you looking to do that?”

  “Hmm? Oh, not any time soon.
You know, after that last battle, I felt something strange. Like…I’d gained a new ability somehow, but I don’t know what! I got one of those feelings earlier, back when I learned how to use those nets.”

  “Oh yeah,” Vexx said, blinking. “I did too.”

  Shyola’s soft chuckle echoed around them. She bent to pick up a stone and flung it along the water’s surface, sending it skipping two or three times along the stream. “Ah, to be young again! You see, you both need to choose a new skill. You’ve increased the level of your combat power…somehow.”

  Vexx nodded. “So we can learn new skills? That sure makes magic easier. It took years of study to get to this point.”

  “Easier?” Shyola shrugged. “You have to kill a good deal to get to that point, and by the time you get where I am…I can drain a room full of souls, but that barely makes a dent in my progress. But it is fun, so I’m not complaining at all.”

  “Hmm…” Kaylin said, grabbing a stone of her own. She tried to skip it across the placid surface of the stream but it simply sank at once. “I wonder what I’ll go for. Any ideas, Vexx?”

  “For you? I don’t know, not being so damn clumsy. That would be good.” He grinned as Kaylin stuck her tongue out at him. “I think, maybe…I need a stronger kind of fire magic. I wasn’t doing much more than tickling those wargs.”

  “Another piece of advice, darling,” Shyola called out, now lounging against a tree. “Don’t fight things much tougher than you are. I want you to live for a long while, Master. I have plans for you.” She winked.

  “Duly noted,” Vexx muttered, but he was thinking of different ways he could improve his fireballs. “A scorching missile, maybe?” he said to himself, thinking of combining the longer-term effects of his burst of flames with his normal fireball attack.

  “Why do you like fire so much?” Kaylin asked, poking her bow at a frog, which hopped away with a slightly frantic croak. “Why not frost or something?”

  “Because fire is awesome,” Vexx replied as he snapped his fingers and made an approving sound when the flames warmed his face. He blew it out, then settled down with a sigh. A scorching missile, I think that’s the way to go. “Why do you like your bow so much?”

  “Well, my family always said elves have to be good with a bow,” Kaylin responded in a very serious tone. “And I’ve always been…less graceful than an elf should be. So I guess…I guess I didn’t want to disappoint them in everything.”

  “Oh. So you don’t really care about the bow?”

  “No, it’s not that,” Kaylin replied as she clutched her bow to her chest. “I like it fine. It’s just…it’d be so much easier if the arrow just went where I wanted it to go, you know?”

  “Oh, like a guided missile? Couldn’t you learn that skill? It’s common enough with mages.”

  “Huh…” Kaylin blinked, looked down at her bow. “A guided missile…”

  Vexx had already lost interest in the conversation, having decided to pursue a scorching missile of his own. He closed his eyes, focusing his training on his new ability, then snapped his eyes open. He focused on a nearby pine tree and pointed at it. With a rush of energy, he fired a monstrous fireball that hissed as it rushed by. Shy whistled appreciatively as it slammed into the tree and split into a few smaller fires that landed on the ground nearby and sizzled. The fireball had caught in the branches above and the crackling of the blackened wood grew louder until the fire spread to engulf the entire tree.

  “You scared me there, sonny!” Doctor Fansee called out as he warily backed away from the tree, holding freshly cut herbs in one hand and a small knife in the other. “At least warn me!”

  Vexx just grinned. “Well, I made my decision. What do you think, Kaylin?”

  She clapped approvingly. “That will come in handy if we need to burn any trees. Hey Vexx, you got something you can throw?”

  “Uh… yeah,” he said, rummaging around in his robes and producing the empty bottle of magic potion. “Will this do?”

  “Perfect,” she said, already nocking an arrow and drawing her bow. “Throw it up real high!”

  “Alright, here goes!” Vexx shouted, tossing it up in the air.

  Kaylin loosed an arrow in an instant, and as Vexx watched, it went a bit wide…then suddenly curved toward it, the tip of the arrow flared a vibrant blue. The arrowhead took the empty glass through the middle and it cracked open, sprinkling shards of glass down. Doctor Fansee yelped, cursing the apprentice dungeoneers. Vexx looked over at Kaylin with a raised eyebrow.

  Kaylin lowered her bow. “A guided missile, like you said!”

  Shyola snorted. “A potion-seeking arrow? Yeah, like that’s going to be useful. Ah, but it is peculiar to watch your excitement.” She crossed one long leg over the other and idly examined her fingernails. “Young apprentice dungeoneers grow up so quickly. A job like a succubus is far too prestigious to learn new skills after playing around with a pack of overgrown mutts.”

  “How is succubus a job?” Kaylin asked. “Or prestigious?”

  Shyola tore her eyes away from her nails to glower at the elf. Doctor Fansee grumbled to himself, knocking shards of glass out of his hair, then resumed harvesting herbs. Vexx walked over to the stream, found a nice spot on a boulder beside Kaylin, and stretched out with a yawn.

  “Feels nice here, huh?” she asked, throwing a stone along the stream. “Oh hey, it bounced once!” Kaylin grinned over at Vexx, who was wedging himself into a comfortable position, trying his best to enjoy the tranquil setting and warm sunlight.

  35

  Visitors to Cloudbury

  “Draining a fish’s soul is quite unsatisfying,” Shyola remarked as they strolled through the forest outside Cloudbury. “They don’t experience pain in quite the same thrilling way.”

  “You didn’t have to eat it,” Kaylin grumbled. “It was Vexx and I who did all the fishing.”

  “What’s that?” Shyola asked. “Do I hear my next meal talking? Vexx, can we put an end to this elf slowing us down? Her bleating is beginning to wear on me.”

  “No,” he said, making his way past a copse of trees. There’s a logging road nearby—there has to be. Damn that gnome for insisting we take a different route back to Cloudbury. Who cares where his stupid herbs are?

  “Do you hear that?” Kaylin broke in, her elven ears twitched as she bounded forward. “Come on!” she said urgently, whirling around and waving them forward. “I think there’s a fight up ahead!”

  “A fight?” Vexx asked. “Shouldn’t we be avoiding those?”

  “Come on, darling,” Shyola said as she gripped his arm and excitedly dragged him along. Her eyes swirled with glee as she pushed forward. “There could be souls for the reaping!”

  “Alright, alright,” Vexx said, shrugging her off and joining the other dungeoneers as they rushed forward. They passed bush after bush and dodged under low-hanging branches, the commotion sending frantic birds into flight as they crashed through the brush. After a few moments, Vexx heard the sounds of battle. The familiar grunting of goblins, a soft twang of a crossbow, and shouts of a struggle. A feminine voice cried out in pain, then was abruptly cut off, the wail reducing to a faint gurgle as they drew closer.

  Vexx saw it now, a wagon tilted off the road, a half-circle of desperate figures fending off a swarm of goblins. And not doing too well, judging from the fallen bodies on the road. Kaylin came to an abrupt halt and crouched by the edge of the forest. Vexx stormed forward, launching fireball after fireball, and a charging wave of goblins stumbled to the ground as the dungeoneers caught them from behind. One goblin stumbled past, but a man in tattered robes cracked a heavy crossbow over its head.

  The rest of the goblins turned in surprise, a cluster of three spear-armed goblins slashed in half as Shyola swung her magical whip through them. She lunged forward to grab a fourth by the head, and it squealed in fright as she grinned. There was a swirl of energy around them, a spreading crimson wave as she drained the goblin’s soul, the whirlwind obscur
ing them as she cackled darkly.

  That was enough to drive the other hesitating goblins away. They dashed off in all directions, one stumbling to the ground with Kaylin’s arrow jutting out from its neck, a few others falling to the ground, burning and screaming. But Vexx didn’t push it, pausing when he felt his stamina reserves depleted, simply standing by to watch as several other goblins fled through the forest. Instead, he strode forward, glancing at the mess the smirking succubus had made of her feast, and then nodding at the heavily breathing man in robes as he tossed his smashed crossbow to the ground. He seemed to be the only survivor.

  “Vexx White, dungeoneer for hire,” Vexx announced. “Seems like you had a bit of a problem along the road.”

  The man spat, a pinkish mix of blood and spittle, and wiped his nose where a goblin must have broken it. “I’ll say. They told me the Lifeless Hills was a rough country, but…” he spread his arms wide, taking in his fallen companions. He shook his head in despair.

  “Did you take any guards?”

  He sighed. “You’re standing on one of them.”

  Vexx glanced down, shuffling to the side. “Ah, sorry,” he said, examining his bloodstained boot. The fallen caravan guard seemed to have been split almost in half.

  “My name is Sophokleus Vaiglar,” the caravan leader said sadly. “Renowned fashion designer. Perhaps you’ve heard of me.”

  “I’m afraid not.”