Ch. 14 The Unexpected Rescue?

As soon as I stepped through the Rift I could feel something different. Looking around I noticed two things, first we weren't in a cave like normal, but most importantly I could see twin suns.

"I thought that we didn't start hitting forest zones until levels 21-30 Mario?" one of the melee DPS asked our leader. He shook his head "We shouldn't be. I don't know what this is or what is going on."

I sighed and spoke up "I saw something happen to the Rift just as I stepped through. Everyone turned to me "What happened?"

I told them what I saw and Mario actually looked surprised for a moment. "I have no idea what that means. I mean I have seen some stuff in these Rifts, but this baffles me."

Everyone else nodded agreement. "So what direction do you think the boss is?" and as the words left my mouth we all heard a high pitched scream, that definitely sounded human.

Mario started us chasing after the direction of the scream. Bella was right next to him, sniffing the air. I had both crossbows drawn and loaded with Mana Arrows, Claire had a regular arrow nocked.

As we got closer we could hear excited chatter, voices that were not human, but not Goblin either. It wasn't Kobold as Mario shook his head so I volunteered to try and move up to see what it was.

Using my limited Stealth Skill, I did everything I could to not be heard. Stepping carefully, moving between the trees that packed the forest we were in and being very cautious. It took me a couple of minutes to get up there and I heard several 'Dings' before I got to the edge of the tree line.

When I looked I was horrified. There were five people, all tied together on a raised platform. they were hanging side by side from a beam, not from their necks, but from their wrists. Three of them dangled there limply, although they were still alive, one was just barely struggling to keep himself standing.

The third though was the scream we heard as she belted out another scream. Other than the fact all five of them were naked, the thing I noticed was different about her was that all of her wounds were recent. The others' wounds had already scabbed up.

She started screaming again as one of the creatures raised a knife and cut a chunk of flesh from her leg, placing it on a plate that another of the creatures brought over to a giant kettle. Her blood was being collected in a huge basin at her feet.

I knew I needed to get this info back to the group, but I felt my stomach turn and twist watching this, but at the same time a burning rage in me that demanded I charge in there and save them all. I had to force my eyes from the strung up Humans and study the creatures.

I studied the creatures for a minute, before heading back and telling everyone. "So they are about as tall as Goblins, but their skin is bone white. They have claws and three toes and fingers. Huge bulbous eyes and sharp teeth and a long beard, but the wierdest part was I thought they looked familiar with their conical hats."

Mario groaned "Fucking Gnomes." I smacked my head "of course they'd be Gnomes. Wait, does that mean we are fucked?" I asked and he shook his head "Not necessarily. I have heard that very few Rifts below ten have Gnomes in them, the clan would have to be small to appear in that weak of a Rift."

"The biggest challenge we face right now is their magic. They are nasty little buggers with a wide array of attacks and shields they can employ."

I looked over at Claire and she nodded "Claire and I can distract them, I have a few ideas to surprise them. While we are doing that, you take the rest of the group and be as silent as you can until you get to the tree line. Once there charge. Oh and don't worry about the huge blue and pink ball you will see."

He scratched his head as Claire and I began to stealthily move through the forest. Again I got several more dings before we got to the tree line. I felt Claire punch the air and chuckled as she did.

We got to the tree line and I could see more of the Gnomes gathering around the pot, by my count there were somewhere around thirty. We took a few steps back behind a tree and interlocked her right hand with my left.

Our other hands moved to almost touching, then began spreading further apart as our Mana connected and we used that connection to create another combination Force Missile.

I heard a gasp from our team, but we didn't stop as we continued to pour in Mana. I left myself with 80 Mana and Claire had 50 left when the circle was big enough. We had both poured 350 Mana into this thing.

We turned as one and released the giant ball and watched as it wound its way around two trees and into the open.

All of the Gnomes we saw were just standing there, watching the ball with big curious eyes. Then they gasped as the ball broke into 35 different smaller blue and pink balls.

The balls shot downward and began slamming into the Gnomes and this time I didn't pass out so Claire, who was slightly woozy, and I watched our combined Ball of Missiles.

They struck the Gnomes, two missiles per Gnome. Half the Gnomes had an appendage blasted off, the others had holes blasted through body parts. The ones that realized what this meant put up shields and were able to block most of the damage. I grinned and pulled my Crossbows, then aimed my crossbows loaded with Mana Arrows at the Gnomes.

At that time Mario and the rest charged out of the tree line and all hell broke loose.

Mario stabbed his bladed night stick into one Gnome as another threw a fireball at him. He raised his shield and the smaller explosion pushed him back a foot, but then he set his feet and charged, slamming into the little Gnome.

The rest of the team wasn't Idle either. They were all using everything they had, swords and axes cleaved off body parts and blocked knife thrusts. One of ours even used a Glaive, twirling it and opening up Gnome after Gnome.

Claire was shooting her arrows at the human prisoners' ropes, cutting them free as Bella and I were running through the Gnomes to get to the prisoners. I was shooting both crossbows at whatever Gnome came close enough that I could aim at while running.

Once on the platform I laid the four that were barely able to move across Bella's back, she was struggling slightly under the weight, but I could definitely feel she was going to be fine. Grabbing the woman as she fell I threw her over my left shoulder and slung that crossbow in its holster.

We ran back, alot slower and as we did Mario ran up to me, blocking my side with his shield. I transferred the woman to his shoulder and grabbed out my other crossbow, it was killing time, the anger and rage in me demanded it.

More and more Gnomes popped up and as they did we continued to lay our fire into them. I had gotten back to Claire and we were both firing as fast as we could. I would use my Mana Arrows until I was down to 80 Mana, then switch to my quivers. Claire would use Force Missiles and her bow changing between the two seamlessly.

Mario and the others charged in just as the last of the Gnomes came out of hiding.

They made quick work of the last 20 Gnomes and made their way back to us. Mario was grinning from ear to ear "You two are crazy, where did you learn a spell like that?"

I chuckled and told him. He just shook his head, "Shit man, that was a wicked spell. Plus you two are pretty damn good at using those bows of yours." then he heard a moan and turned "Let's go see if they're doing alright." I nodded and we all walked over to the prisoners.

The three emaciated people looked the worst and we had three of the Melee DPS try and get a little bit of food and water in them at a time. The guy who had barely been standing was holding a bologna sandwich with lettuce and drinking a bottle of water.

The woman was slowly recovering from her shock. The healer sat down and meditated for a bit, using his healing on the other four that had been in worse condition. The woman had her open wounds bandaged as best we could manage them.

A grin formed on my face as I looked over to Mario "Mind if I try my hand at healing? I got a spell that could help." he nodded and I walked over to her before I put my hand on the woman and used Necromantic Healing. I felt something off, but shook my head and concentrated.

Healing blue light flowed from my hand into her body and my mana drained quickly as I watched her flesh knit itself back together before my eyes.

I was in awe of this ability. I shouldn't have been, I had had spells like this used on me, but it was still amazing. When my MP hit 50 I felt woozy and stopped. All but the worst of her injuries were completely healed without a blemish, the worst of them had filled out and were covered with a thin pink set of new skin.

Sitting down I felt drained. I grabbed a bottle of water and gulped it down, then began to Meditate.

My thoughts were a jumbled mess. 'What the heck is this Rift? Why are there humans in it? Gnomes aren't supposed to be in the Rifts on the Western Hemisphere.' all of these thoughts went through my head as I meditated.

Once I was back at full MP I sat up. Looking around I could see everyone gathering together around the center of the clearing. I walked over to join them, Bella at my heels.

Once we joined up with them they all looked up and the woman smiled. Now that she was clothed I was able to get a clear look at her, without having to avert my eyes.

She was a shorter woman at only 5 feet 2 inches. She had a very petite build, almost like that of a young teen girl before puberty. However there was a gleam in her eyes I couldn't figure out, that same feeling I felt when I was looking at the Rift, I felt when I looked at her.

She smiled and as she was about to hug me Bella started growling. I felt what she was feeling and immediately pointed both crossbows at her. "What are you?"

The words came out of my mouth before I could piece together why I had to ask. Her *scent*. Bella could smell something off about her, she didn't smell human.

The rest of the group was watching with hands on their weapons before the woman smiled. "Well well well, it looks like this one has some brains."

I groaned as I saw the other bodies move, all getting up slowly. The woman smiled as she stepped closer "I wonder how Raccoon tastes?"

I shot her in the chest, the arrow burrowing a hole through her rib cage. She growled and jumped at me, everybody else got their weapons out and began attacking the other newly healed *people*. Bella launched herself at the woman.

I watched as the woman's fingernails turned to claws and opened a hole in Bella's stomach. I could feel the pain through our bond and my vision went red.

I lunged at her, my hands grabbing her throat just as she spun around mid air and she smiled at me. I could feel her claws in my stomach, but the pain didn't register. I don't know what exactly happened next, but I know that I could see my MP drop by 400.

Her head came off her shoulders with a surprised look on her face. The red faded from my vision and I ran to Bella. She was still alive, barely. I could hear the sounds of fighting all around me, but didn't care.

I used every bit of MP I had left, trying to heal her wounds. I could feel her fading just as I lost consciousness.

I woke up, but knew I wasn't really awake. I don't know what to call it, but there was a sense of being there and not being there.

"My Human" I saw a figure before me. We were standing in an open field full of flowers and a sparse covering of trees. I focused on the figure and smiled when I saw Bella sitting there.

She waddled over to me and I wrapped her up in a hug. She smiled up at me and I could hear her voice in my head "My Human, you can't follow me where I am going." I looked at her oddly.

"That monster killed me. My spirit is here, but because you and I have such a strong connection I am able to talk to you here before I move on."

I shook my head "No Bella. You can't die. I need you, Junior needs you and Patricia and and-" she cut me off, nuzzling her fur into my face "Oh my poor human. You know everything dies eventually, my only regret is I couldn't finish the Boss of this Rift with you."

I shook my head again, "No, I won't allow this." she smiled at me even as I tried to reach out and grab her. She was slowly beginning to fade away.

I shook my head, 'No, no she won't die. Not like this, not YET!' I roared inside my own head. My hands reached out of their own volition, they pulled in the Mana from the air around me, the plants, the trees, everything and anything that could give me Mana. I took it from them all.

Then I pointed my hands towards Bella's fading figure and it coalesced upon her form. It wrapped her up in a blue glow, just as I faded into unconsciousness again.