Chương 94: 93: Colin's Time 2

Ebril 12th Aside from a quick break to help with the planting, Colin's life had become training, training, and then more training. Right after his shooting session, the crew had whisked him out to the hill where he and John had shot an elk the previous summer. They'd set up a pretty darned impressive obstacle course with logs, boulders, and even a rope course. They made him run the course over and over for hours a day for a solid week. His only breaks were to do more shooting or to work on his camouflage gear.

Lorcan, who liked to talk with John, had John order him a set of leathers and new boots that helped conceal him in the terrain around the homestead. John had joked that was actually a valid reason to need new boots. Colin had tried to point out that he almost never scuffed his boots anymore. John responded by saying he couldn't hear him because he was looking down and his hair was covering his face.

Lorcan, who wore his hair in a braided topknot, just like the other four in his squad, had given him some grey ribbon and told him to tie his hair back all the time now. The movement could give him away. Colin wasn't sure he believed that was a real thing, but he did as he was told. Now, he was even more exhausted than he'd ever been before. It was maybe an hour before daylight, and they were coming back from a patrol that had started at midnight the previous day.

Rick and Cathan had barged into his cabin, scaring him and Aiden both half to death. They'd made him get dressed and grab his gear, then they took him out to the obstacle course and made him run it as quietly as he could until daylight. After that, they took him across the river and had him track down a herd of deer. They had him shoot a buck, then gut it, before making him pack it back to the homestead, where he butchered it. Then it was back to hiking around all day long.

Every once in a while they'd stop somewhere and make him identify different sets of tracks. He knew there were good reasons for his treatment. With the way the System had been messed with, only extreme acts of endurance and going above and beyond could get you past level 20. Cathan was even saying that maybe he didn't need to go to Riverton and join the regular army before he joined the squad now.

Colin wasn't a hundred percent sure that was the right decision, but it would certainly be epic if he went off with them and went on world-spanning adventures. He was dreaming of the glory to come when he heard Tieg give a low, sharp owl call that meant it was time to move into battle formation. Colin almost groaned before he realized he saw a faint glow coming from ahead. By the System! He thought. That's coming from the homestead! All sense of exhaustion left his body as adrenaline kicked in.

They were less than a mile from the homestead now, just west of the log to cross the river. He couldn't smell smoke since the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, but he could see some. There was way too much light for this to be on purpose. Tieg led them forward with different owl calls. Just before they reached the log, he gave the signal to put primer caps on their rifles. Colin did as he was told, and the squad quietly but quickly crossed over the log, coming out just behind the farm manor.

Right as he crossed, he heard the howl of a warg, and his blood ran cold.

"Oh shit." He muttered. Lorcan, who was the only man behind him, flicked his ear at his mutter. Colin winced, but kept his mouth shut. He knew the flick was because he'd momentarily lost restraint. After another call from Tieg, Cathan touched Colin's shoulder and pointed towards the back door of the manor. Colin nodded and followed Cathan as the other four men split off in pairs. Cathan used pistols and a longsword for weapons.

They were a lot more effective indoors, so when Cathan motioned for Colin to open the door, he immediately complied. Cathan rolled inside, but didn't fire any shots. Colin heard someone yelling, then Cathan called out to identify himself. Since no one shot back, he followed Cathan in, then locked and barred the back door. At that moment, Colin heard a rifle fire from upstairs, then heard Rupert shouting with maniacal glee. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

The man yelling at them was Stephen Roarty. Colin refocused his attention on what was in front of him, and he heard Stephen yell out, "There you are! All the women are upstairs, so are John and Rupert. Aiden, Zack and Sean have rifles and are over in the offices making sure they don't come in through the windows. I don't know where Laeth or Seamus are though."

"Do not worry." Cathan said, his voice radiating calm. He looked back at me and said, "You stay with Stephen and protect this house. I'm going outside." Colin wanted to argue that he could help, but he knew better. He would only be a hindrance to the tier 2 warrior. Cathan calmly walked to the back door, unbarred it, and told Colin to take care of it. Colin did as he was told, then turned around to Stephen.

"Do you want me to stay down here? I'm probably better upstairs."

"O-Okay, that's fine." Stephen said, with more than a little doubt in his voice.

"Just keep the doors barred and yell if you need help." Colin yelled back, already sprinting for the stairs. He made sure to yell out his approach, lest someone spook and shoot him.

"John, Rupert, I'm coming up!" When he got upstairs, he heard John yell his name from the master bedroom. Colin walked over, and when John saw him, he said, "Oh thank god you guys are back! The damned goblins attacked like thirty minutes ago! Luckily they don't seem bent on killing us, just causing damage!" Rupert looked their way and said, "The bastards are too scared of me to come in here." Colin ignored him and asked, "Why aren't you in your tractor?" It was the first thing that popped into his mind.

John looked at the ground, crestfallen.

"The first thing they did was throw a torch on one of the tracks. Luckily that triggered Rupert's ward, and he woke up and put the fire out before it did too much damage, but that tractor isn't going anywhere right now." Rupert looked over from where he was standing on the balcony, the smile on his face as manic as his voice had sounded, and said, "I taught those green bastards that did it why it was a mistake." John gave an uneasy glance toward Rupert.

"He did, then he killed their Shaman and strolled right up to the manor. That let most of the others make it in. Also stopped the goblins from trying to attack us here. They have another Shaman or two still though." Rupert spit on the floor, prompting a "Hey!" From John. Rupert looked apologetic, then said, "There's only one. He's not as strong as me, but he's neutralizing me past a couple hundred yards."

At that moment, they all heard increased shouting from the goblins, so they rushed to the railing, trying to see what was going on in the chaotic scene below. Colin could see that the farthest bunkhouse, the one no one was using right now, was fully engulfed in flames. As was one of the corncribs, and part of the barn. The equipment sheds were mercifully unharmed, despite being the farthest away. Colin couldn't exactly see what was happening, but suddenly Rupert gave a triumphant shout.

"They got the bastard!" Colin assumed they must be the soldiers. At that moment Rupert began throwing earth around, trying to put out the fires. Colin looked over at John, who seemed pissed off, but not overly scared. Then he saw movement. It was a goblin on a warg. They looked as if they were trying to flee. John saw them at the same moment. He acted first, but the shot he fired missed, a plume of dirt flying up between the legs of the warg.

Colin took a deep breath, then aimed at the front shoulder of the warg, leading just a little. He exhaled, then fired. The warg yelped and rolled. The goblin rider didn't get free, and he was crushed beneath his mount. Colin was already reloading, but out of the corner of his eye he didn't see either of them moving. As he was reloading, he pulled up his XP notifications and saw that the warg was dead and the goblin had a major injury. For now, he'd ignore the goblin.

He waited for another target, but none presented themselves to him over the next ten minutes. When Colin finally saw movement again, it was coming from the goblin rider who had been crushed by his warg. The rider was attempting to drag himself forward, but his legs weren't working. John saw it at the same moment and moved his rifle to take a shot. Colin called out, "John, wait, let me do it." John said, "You sure?" Colin nodded.

"Yeah, it's not gonna give you any XP for your tractor military class." John nodded.

"Alright, if you're sure you're okay with it." Colin didn't respond. The shot was only about two hundred yards out, and the goblin wasn't moving quickly. He aimed, let out his breath, and fired. This was nowhere near the first goblin he'd killed, and it was unlikely to be the last. That didn't mean he liked it. But this was war, and the goblin had attacked his home, not the other way around. Rupert got all the fires out, but with friendlies out there in the dark, there wasn't much more he could do.

He didn't look like he had any desire to leave the balcony, and Colin couldn't blame him. An arrow in the dark would kill a Wizard as easily as a Homesteader. They all stood in silence, watching for signs of movement for another few minutes. Finally, Colin heard a specific turkey call that everyone had been taught meant all clear. Colin relaxed, then he heard John let out a long breath as well. Only seconds later, Colin could see who he thought was Rick, carrying a man in a cradle style.

Then another large man in armor, walking, but leaning against one of the other soldiers. The two musketeers, as well as Tieg were behind and to the sides of the wounded men, weapons out. John bolted for the stairs, so Colin followed him. John shouted at Stephen to unbar the front doors, then set about grabbing one side of the beam himself. With their enhanced strength, it was a simple task for two people to remove the iron-reinforced wooden beam.

Colin pulled the doors open just before Rick brought Laeth, who was unconscious and bleeding from a head wound, inside and set him on a table. Behind them came Seamus in a set of plate mail. He had one arm around Lorcan, and in his other he still held a two-handed war hammer. Seamus was grimacing in pain, and he happily sat on the bench he was led to. Colin could see that he had multiple dents in the plate; one particularly bad dent looked like it had been driven into his thigh.

That was when Colin realized he hadn't seen his mother, or the other women who were supposed to be upstairs.

"John, where's Ma?" John looked at him and raised his brows, "Oh shit. They're up in your bedroom." He looked to Tieg, who was standing in the open doorway, peering out, and asked, "Is it safe for everyone to come down?" Tieg turned back to them and nodded. John asked Colin, "Will you go get them? Your ma will be happy seeing your face." Colin nodded and did as he was asked. Just before he hit the stairs, he heard John drop an F-bomb for the first time.

"Tieg, can you tell me what the fuck happened? Why didn't you guys catch any sign of this?"