Chương 67: Chapter 68: Breaking Out

At sunset, I was standing just behind the man-door at the western gate. With me were Militia Captain Castell, Fire Wizard Rupert, Earth Wizard Neil, and Wind Wizard Bruce. Castell looked up at the sky and said, "Well gentlemen, I think it's time." He looked my way and said, "You're sure your tractor can do what you said?" I nodded. He shook his head.

"It better. Otherwise we are all dead." Well that was reassuring… He looked at the Wizards and said, "What do you need from me?" It was Wizard Bruce who spoke up. He smiled and said, "Nothing. My fellow wizards and I will be enough. Let's see if we can't kill a few goblins on our way out while we're at it. Just make sure you sortie out when we get back." Castell gave Bruce an even look, and said, "We will be ready at 3 a. m. for the attack. I assume the signal will be clear." Bruce laughed, then looked at me.

He said, "We're going to form a diamond around you. You have to stay in the middle. I'm going to lead with a wind blast. Rupert will be blasting a fire spell right into my wind blast for maximum effect. Neil is going to be in the back with an earth ripple to knock them off their feet." I felt like I was about to throw up, but I just nodded and mounted my horse. I didn't have to do anything but stay on my horse and keep up with them. The horse was military-trained so it shouldn't panic and throw me.

Castell pulled the door open, and suddenly the horse beneath me was galloping and I just tried to hang on and keep my head down. We galloped along with no resistance for several hundred yards. Our breakout having been unexpected. When we neared the goblin lines, the air was suddenly filled with shouts and cries from the goblins. An arrow whisked past my cheek, and another embedded itself in my right forearm. I cried out and leaned as close to the horse's neck as I could.

The pain was intense, but I didn't dare try to do something to the arrow. I heard Bruce yell out, "Casting Now!" I opened my eyes and sawdust and debris begin to whirl around where the goblins were rallying in front of us. Then, it felt like an inferno opened up in front of us as Neil added his spell to the mix. The wind and fire spells reacted together to create a wall of fire that caused the goblins in front of us to shriek and give way as they attempted to flee the flames. Behind me, I heard Rupert curse.

It was so loud I couldn't make out any words, but a quick glance behind me showed that whatever he'd tried; it hadn't worked. Once we were free of the back of the goblin lines, all I could hear were the hoofbeats of galloping horses and my own heartbeat for a good thirty seconds. Then, I heard the howls of several wargs. I looked behind to see what was happening and saw that at least half a dozen of the beasts, along with riders, were fast on our trail.

I saw a manic grin on Rupert's face and I could see the glee in his eyes as we made eye contact. He held up a hand and dropped first his thumb, then each finger starting with his index finger. When his last finger closed, he raised his fist, and suddenly the earth rippled behind us. All six of the wargs were sent tumbling to the ground, their riders thrown off. After that, we had no more pursuit. We rode the horses hard for about ten minutes before Bruce called for a halt.

The horses were in a lather, breathing heavily. Ten minutes was a long time for a horse to be at a full gallop. Bruce instructed me to get off my horse and saddle my remount. It was pretty winded too, but it hadn't had to carry a rider yet.

"Alright," he said.

"We'll walk the horses for a few minutes then get back on. We have about eighteen miles to your homestead, right?"

"I think so." I said.

"We need to go north off the road once we get closer." That's when he noticed the arrow in my forearm. I hadn't even broken the shaft off. I didn't know if I was supposed to or if it was a bleeding hazard. I definitely wasn't an expert in arrow wounds; it didn't seem like the kind of knowledge I'd ever need in my old life.

"Shit, you got hit. I should have started the wind spell a hare quicker. Can't start too early though or it would have been diffused before it hit their lines. Neil, help him out." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Neil walked up to me and touched his finger to the shaft, right before the arrowhead. The wood burned away. Then he grabbed the other end, looked at me, and said, "This is gonna hurt."

I felt a flash of pain, and he pulled the arrow out. I did my best to remain silent. The manly, macho stuff from my dad and brothers could be toxic, but it served me well here. The Wizards looked impressed with my pain tolerance. Neil touched his finger to my arm and said, "I'm just gonna burn the wounds, not all the way through. None of us have any healing spells. This is gonna hurt like a bitch." He was correct. I did let out a little grunt this time. Once that was done, Bruce said we needed to get moving again.

As we walked along the road, Rupert looked at me and gave me a wide grin.

"That was pretty awesome back there eh." Neil groaned.

"Did he do the countdown thing to you?" If I wasn't so winded and in pain, I would have laughed, but I did have it in me to give a smile at their words. I asked about the camp, though.

"Did the Shamans stop your spell in the camp?"

"They did," he said.

"There were only a few of them, and none had evolved, but they were pretty good. I think all three had an earth magic focus. Once we got past their range, I took out the wargs. They should have stayed back once they saw us using magic." The rest of the trip back to the stand of trees where my tractor was hidden was uneventful. I would have liked to check on my homestead, but I couldn't do anything if goblins had already attacked it. I also didn't want to lead any pursuing goblins to it.

When we got to the trees, the Wizards helped me take the tarp off the tractor, as well as a few pieces of equipment I thought might be helpful to make into a weapon for the front of my tractor. When I started the tractor up and turned the lights on, all three Wizards stood there, slack-jawed in awe. I climbed out of the cab and said, "Well, is this impressive enough?" Bruce looked at me and said, "It's bigger than a dragon!"

"You've seen a dragon before?" I said, incredulous.

"Well no, not in person," he said.

"But there're bones from dragons in the Royal Museum of Londinium." I seriously wondered if there really were dragons, or if they just had dinosaur bones. I badly wanted to ask about them, but now wasn't the time.

"Rupert, Neil, see if you can make one of those implements into a blade or something for the front of this monster." Bruce ordered. I don't think he actually outranked them, but he was the talker, and they did what he asked. I pointed out how the weight rack bars worked on this tractor. It was different from most other tractors because of the way the front of the tractor was set up.

Most tractors had a bracket that stuck out from the front of the grille, but on this Quadtrac model the grille stuck out past the front frame. It had two brackets that came off on either side, kind of looking like a moustache. After looking at what we'd need to do, I showed them the corrugator. It was the implement I was least loath to lose. I could pretty easily have another one made that would work just as well. They agreed that they could make it work.

It still weighed around six thousand pounds, so we couldn't just pick it up, but Rupert said they were going to show me some real magic tonight. Neil just shook his head at Rupert's words. Rupert didn't say a lot, but everything he did say was fairly dramatic. Neil used a fire spell to heat the straight bar of the corrugator until it was red-hot.

Once it was hot enough, Rupert raised his arms and began moving them back and forth until he'd manipulated the bar so that it would fit around the front and into the brackets on either side. While he was working, Bruce whispered to me, "He doesn't actually need to use his hands. He just likes to be dramatic." I would have laughed, but I was transfixed by the scene in front of me. I'd seen some big magic since we'd been besieged.

The two Wizards in Weston had thrown some magic around, and tonight I'd been in the midst of that inferno Neil and Bruce had conjured up. But things had been hectic then, and I hadn't been able to really appreciate what was happening. This was absolutely fascinating to me. Dramatic or not, Rupert was able to manipulate the metal every bit as well as if someone were using a hammer or a press.

In less than fifteen minutes, I was looking at a bar that had a perfect square U-shape with protrusions to fit into the weight brackets. The total width was still close to thirty-four feet. They bent the spades, so they pointed forward now. Now, I just wasn't sure how we'd get it onto the tractor.

"I know we're all above level 20 here, but this thing weighs several tons. How are we getting it on the tractor?" I asked. Neil explained, "Rupert here is gonna wave his arms around all unnecessarily, and build up an earth platform, It'll be easier than what we just did. Does your tractor have the precision to drive under it?" I laughed.

"I may not have your magic, but that tractor can move exactly how I want it to." I watched him raise dirt mounds at the edges, then I set my max speed to a half mile an hour and eased it into place. Once the bar was in place over the tractor, Rupert lowered the dirt level, and the bar settled in, tight and snug.

The display was amazing, but it was also kind of disappointing to think that this magic was out there and available in the world, and the elites of the empire were keeping it from helping the average person. It was probably good they weren't out making weapons of war like this one, but if people were allowed to level up and gain access to magical power, their lives could be transformed. Only one person could ride in the cab with me, and of course Bruce said it was his spot.

He claimed that the other two needed to be outside to make sure the new bar was up to snuff. Neither man argued with him. We left the horses behind, their saddles and bridles removed in case we didn't make it back to them. They were well-trained, and they should stay in the area if nothing disturbed them. One man stood on the steps while the other sat on the back platform and held onto the two metal bars that ran from the top of the cab to the platform. I began making my way back to Weston.

I was about to bring modern technology to a war of medieval tech and magic.