Again Dave paused for effect. “Nor, however, can we rely upon the same old strategies of yesterday. I earnestly believe that we will win the battle if they come to our gates. I believe that with all my being. I also believe, though, that the cost will be too high. Too many mothers and fathers will not go home to their spouses or children. And because we will be fighting in our home, every foot that is damaged, every building that is burnt, every bit of land that is soaked with blood will be a loss to us.

  “No, I want to take the fight to them. Let it not be our farms and shops that are destroyed but open land in the wilderness.”

  “Begging your pardon, Baron Murkwood”—Sir Mun Hagen emphasized the title as he asked his question—“but isn’t this all moot. You are the lord here. We are sworn to obey you. If you say we fight here, we fight here. If you say we fight there, then we fight there. I know you are more open to feedback from your subordinates than any other leader I have served under, but that hasn’t changed, has it?”

  Dave smiled at him. The man had originally been a bit of a thorn in his side, but now had proven that he would work as hard as anyone for the growth of Eris’ Rise. “No, I don’t suppose that has changed, but you have often heard Lady Emiri and myself say that we are a different type of noble, that we want to hear what you have to say. Well, those words were not empty. So yes, in the end I will make the decision about our strategy; that doesn’t mean that I don’t want your input and support. More than that, part of this mission will be for volunteers only.”

  Some heads nodded, but no one asked another question, so Dave was able to continue, “Sometimes the way things are is only that way because no one has ever questioned it. There is an expression in my homeland, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’ What that means is that absent a true need, many times nothing changes. Well, we are faced with need now. So I look back to another example from my homeland. Often when one group had no chance against another in an open fight, they engaged in something called guerilla warfare. That is what I am proposing now.

  “I have spoken to the various military officers from both races and even Rak’kar to ask about how his people handle warfare. They were all familiar with the idea of a surprise attack or of an ambush, but none of them were accustomed to that being the primary tactic. In guerilla warfare we will use those as well as sabotage, hit-and-run attacks, and psychological warfare.”

  “M’lord, I’m not familiar with that term,” one of the priests said.

  “You mean psychological warfare?” Dave asked.

  After the nods, Dave continued, “What I mean by the term is that our warfare will be meant to affect them just as much mentally as physically. Goblins are afraid all the time, but we will also attempt to get them turning on one another. We will attempt to create division between the goblins and the other races. Our attacks will be meant to keep them off balance and on the defensive. If we are attacking, then they won’t be in control. We will be in charge. I personally would like to feel like we are on top rather than always reacting to them.”

  Dave could see that his words were resonating with the people, so he continued, “At first, this attack force would be limited to less than 10% of our military. Depending on how the first few days of it go, we might either call it off and settle back in to defend, or increase our attack. We may decide to split into separate attack groups or to keep more consolidated.”

  “I would like to volunteer to join the attack,” Jaselm said.

  A moment later, Mira added, “Me too.”

  From there the floodgates opened, and fully half the voices in the room were raised to say they wanted to volunteer. Dave had to call for quiet before saying, “Everyone who wants to volunteer, please leave your name with Talvenicus. If there are any changes in your level or abilities, please let him know. I will advise you that I will only be accepting level twenty and above for the first group, but that doesn’t mean that future volunteers won’t be needed. A decision will be made tonight, and hopefully we will be able to leave on the mission tomorrow.”

  After that Dave turned to Emiri and took her by the hand. They walked out the back of the town hall while Talvenicus was being flooded up front by volunteers. Mira followed them out, along with two bodyguards for each.

  As soon as they were out of the building, Emiri looked at him. “Don’t you think you should have discussed this with me before telling everyone else?”

  Dave shrugged and said, “I know you hate it when I say this, but better to ask forgiveness than permission. Besides, we have agreed that in military matters, I will be in charge while you are to have the final say-so in all domestic developments.”

  “I would have thought that by now I had proven I can do more than heal. I hit Tier 4 last week. I am clearly the strongest healer, and you know my other skills,” Emiri said.

  “We have discussed this before. You know that your class has restrictions. It is one thing for you to act defensively, another for you to go on the attack. Killing must be a matter of saving lives for you. Can you convince yourself of that if you are raiding the enemy in the middle of the night? How will Shanelle respond to this?”

  Emiri growled at him. It made Dave chuckle because it was the sound that she made when she knew he was right but didn’t want to admit it. At least that was his take on it. It was also a reminder to him that she had been changing of late.

  He and the kids used to joke when she went on her mission trips that Emily would go native. She would come back unable to look at a big-box store just because it was so much stuff when she had just come from a place where they had so little. It had definitely taken her longer to adapt to Eloria, but she now seemed to be adapting more thoroughly than any of them. She was taking the fierce elf to a new level and soon was gonna be the most elven elf in all of Eris’ Rise.

  She finally managed to say, “Fine, but I still wish you would have brought it up with me ahead of time.”

  “Sorry, it just sorta fell into place. I’m actually very excited to think about taking the fight to them. If we can weaken them enough for the wall to hold, then we won’t be losing people’s homes, and we won’t risk children dying,” Dave replied.

  “And that is part of why I love you,” Emiri said.

  Dave couldn’t see her face initially, but he could practically hear the eye roll in her voice as Mira said, “Before the lovefest starts out here in the middle of the street, can we agree that I will be going on the mission?”

  “No!” both Dave and Emiri said in unison. Then they looked at each other and smiled while Mira practically stamped her foot. Dave couldn’t help but see five-year-old Mira in his mind’s eye. It was so funny to think that despite the powerhouse she had become, she was still just a teenager.

  “But I don’t have any restrictions on my class,” Mira protested.

  “I know that, but the answer is still no,” Dave replied.

  “Why? I’m the most powerful mage you have. At least I am the most versatile.”

  “You are likely the only fourth-tier caster unless you count me, and you are more powerful than me in terms of pure casting. You are also definitely the most versatile caster that we have, but you aren’t coming on the mission.”

  “It isn’t logical. You aren’t making any sense,” Mira said.

  Dave looked at her and reached out to put his hand on the side of her face. “Do you know what often keeps soldiers sharp and alive on a battlefield?”

  Mira frowned but said, “No, but I suppose you are gonna tell me.”

  “Yep, it is knowing that their family is safe back home. Knowing that the risk they are taking is keeping the ones they love safe. Eloria is a violent world, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to shield you all from it as much as possible. And before you protest any more, know that this isn’t about logic, it is about parenting. You can’t change my mind.”

  Emiri locked arms with him, and Dave saw that as she did, Mira realized they weren’t going to give in. She clearly didn’t like it but said, “Fine.”

  “This doesn’t mean that you two don’t both have important roles to play here. If I fail, then it will be on you all to protect Eris’ Rise. Even if I succeed in weakening them, it will be on you to have the defenses here ready for us.”

  After that, the conversation turned to lighter things. They gathered Sara up from where she was playing with Krinnk and some kids. Then they had dinner together.

  From there Dave returned and met with various leaders. They all wanted to go, but over the course of an hour, they narrowed it down to a team of thirty including Dave. It was felt that they would be strong enough to deliver some shock and awe while at the same time being a small enough number to be able to disappear into the forest.

  The team’s composition ended up being two-thirds elven both because there were more elves who had reached Tier 3 and simply because more of the elves were better at fighting on the run in the woods. Of the humans who made it, one was a mage who had developed an affinity for Charm Magic and focused on illusions. Another was one of the new healers. Two more human casters were brought along because of their ability to cast AoE Evocation spells.

  Sir Mun Hagen and one other paladin of Mishpat were allowed to come, but only if they left their plate mail behind. They were strong enough for the weight not to be an issue, but it still tended to be loud and not well suited to creeping through the forest. The human portion of the team was rounded out by three former lumberjacks, Dalton, Sieg, and Fritz.

  They were jokingly called the three reapers around town. They had been friends before the leveling up began and had worked diligently together. It was a boon that all of them had the potential to reach Tier 2 before the patron blessing. Each of them had earned the same class, Fel Harvester. They had a combination of axe-fighting, cleaving-type attacks, which could hit multiple foes at once, and magic.

  They each could cast Shaping and Essence Magic. Unlike most Essence Magic users though, they were not healers. They could heal, but it was in a backwards way. They would tap into the life of their enemies and drain a portion of that to heal themselves or others. It was a grim and dark type of magic, but the three men were jovial all the time, so no one worried about them.

  The elven team was led by Eisuke and nine other forest wardens. Eisuke would act as Dave’s second-in-command, with Sir Mun Hagen being third. Four of the druids were coming along, led by Fumihero. The other elves were new to their levels like the former lumberjacks. They had not originally been the fighters of their people but were all well equipped. Two of them were a class called blade dancers, two were storm mages, one was a beast master, and the final one was an alchemist.

  The other leaders hadn’t agreed with Naiku coming along at first. He had been an accomplished alchemist before coming to Eris’ Rise because he liked to try new things. One of the few Tier 3 elves and a master in his own right like Hiroto, he was now one of the few to have reached Tier 4 outside of the combat leaders. Dave insisted that since he had volunteered, he would be coming. Dave planned to try to poison the enemy’s food and wanted to have the number one expert on such things present.

  After the team was picked and divided up into five groups of six, with designated group leaders and at least one person capable of some type of healing in each of the groups, they discussed strategies and how to communicate between the mission team and the city. Dave’s magic Messenger Bird was the best spell for communicating, and it was agreed that the team would have to initiate communication because they couldn’t risk having their stealth broken by a message sent at the wrong time.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Change is part of Eloria. Every child knows this. This doesn’t make the shocks that life throws at you any less jolting, but with the right mindset, they can make life more fun.”

  Eris’ Rise, Battle in the Murkwood—Dave Nelson

  Dave was pretty satisfied with how things had turned out. He felt a smug expression creeping onto his face repeatedly. He wanted to be confident without allowing it to take over his mindset. He kept reminding himself that pride comes before a fall and that he had to look out for little ways in which this hidden master was trying to nudge him. Still, he felt like the plan was for the best.

  He still had two things to accomplish. He needed to spend time reading the Tome of Mystical Enhancement. He had kept it up now for over three months and still not mastered it, but he felt like he was on the cusp of it. He just had to wait for the moon to be out. It was one of his concerns about the plan he had embarked upon. He worried that out in the field, he would not be able to give the required hour each night to it and that the item would be spoiled. It couldn’t be helped though, so he simply had to hope that tonight was the night it would finally come together for him.

  The other thing wasn’t so much something he wanted to accomplish as much as a person he wanted to spend time with. He and Emiri hadn’t had nearly enough time together or ‘together’ since planning for the invasion. The thought made him laugh at multiple levels. If he had gotten a body like this on Earth and, being honest, if his wife had suddenly looked twenty years younger, he probably would have been chasing her all around the house. Now they barely had time for each other. Yet he still felt closer to her than he had in years.

  The other thing that made him laugh was how he had adopted her elven name even in his private thoughts about her. She really had changed. Emily was the wife he had been married to for almost twenty years on Earth. She was a kind if a bit pushy woman who always wanted the best for others. Now she was fiercer, more… well, fierce. He couldn’t really think of a more apt word. When he thought of her on Earth, he still called her Emily, but when he thought of the ninja healer he was married to now, a grin came over his face. She and his family were going to be owed a vacation if they survived this. He absently wondered if a vacation was even a thing in Eloria.

  When he got home, Dave found that Emiri had let Sara stay up to say goodnight to him. That alone marked this as an unusual occasion, but fortunately Sara didn’t seem to notice anything. Next when he said goodnight to Mira, he knew that she was at least a little scared because she actually gave him a full hug. He held his daughter close and told her it would be okay. It was easy to say that because at his core he really believed it would be. Nothing was certain, of course, but he fully expected to see her again.

  After that he and Emiri sat down on their bed. “Do you think we should send a message to Jackson? At the distance we are from the capital, it will take a full hour to get there.”

  His wife looked at him and said, “No, don’t worry him. I’m sure he has enough to think about at school. I really want to visit him.”

  “I would suggest that you and the girls visit him now, but I know that you would never leave these people here with an invading army coming down on them. If we had somewhere safe to send the girls or at least Sara, I would suggest that too, but as far as I am concerned, the safest spot they could be is with one of us.”

  “Agreed, although talking about the kids does bring up something that I have been meaning to discuss with you. There just has never been a good time, but now with you going off to essentially start a war… well, I guess it can’t wait,” Emiri said. Her voice was heavy with emotion, and Dave suddenly felt very nervous.

  “Um, that is sorta ominous. Is something wrong? I mean besides the fact that an army of monsters is coming to kill us. I had actually felt like we were getting closer than ever before. I know Eloria has been hard on you, but it has shown me how much I love you and the kids.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing bad… well, at least I hope you don’t think it’s bad. It is just a bit shocking. I’ve known for a month now, but it’s been a thing for two months, and honestly I’m not sure how much it has contributed to the changes I have felt. I agree, though, about one thing. I might never have chosen to come to Eloria, but it has actually been a good thing for our family. As long as we all survive this, I mean,” Emily said.

  Dave scratched his chin as he said, “Now I’m completely baffled.”

  Emiri’s bubbly laughter made Dave smile. “You always were clueless.”

  “Well, are you gonna keep me waiting?”

  “I kinda like holding you in suspense like this.”

  “If you don’t tell me pretty soon, then I’m gonna have to tickle it out of you. Let’s see you ninja escape from that,” Dave said, laughing.

  “Okay, okay. So here’s the thing. You know how all those elven women have been getting pregnant since getting here, and they are all shocked…”

  “Wait. You want to adopt an elven baby?”

  “Shanelle help me, if you aren’t the most dense man in the world,” Emiri growled. Then she ran her hand over her stomach and said, “No, silly, I’m pregnant.”

  Dave just sat there stunned for a few seconds before saying, “Um, how did that happen?”

  Emiri laughed again even louder. “You were there when it happened, I promise. I thought I might have to explain this to Sara, but not to you.”

  “I mean, I had a vasectomy. You shouldn’t be able to get pregnant,” Dave protested. Then he changed his tone. “I’m sorry, this is coming out all wrong. This is amazing news. I’m just stunned. I worry about if Eloria is the right place to raise more kids, but apparently people have been doing it for thousands of years here. I worry about if we are safe here, but this only gives me more incentive to destroy those goblins. I used to worry about having enough money to pay for the kids, braces and college and weddings, etc., but now we are rich.”

  “So does that mean you are happy about this?” Emiri asked with a bit of trepidation.

  “Happy? I’m ecstatic. I just had to get over my shock. Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl, or is it too soon? Or wait. They don’t have sonograms here. You said two months, so it’s too soon anyway,” Dave rambled on.