Last One to Fall

It was a normal day in Gama, a small mountain village in the middle of nowhere.

A normal day like any other, thought Nicole, as she prepared to get outside.

Being the Mayor's daughter had its privileges, such as a house in the middle of the village, right in front of the main plaza and the stone fountain at its center.

She opened her window, gazing out.

Fresh air rushed into her room, the sun was shining over the village, and from there she could see most of the houses. The village was quite small, there were a hundred houses in total, give or take, but they had all the necessities: farms in the outskirts, a mill and baker, tailors and a smithy.

Up the mountain a little, ten minutes away from the rest of the houses, a small tower sat lazily.

There, the town's mage and alchemist lived, Gareth was his name, and he was friendly to all, even though his skills were... lacking, at least where magic was concerned.

The village was also surrounded by old stone walls, a relic of the past, back when this place had been a staging point in the war against the neighbouring state.

It had been so long ago that nobody could remember what the state was called, and nobody really cared here, most people lived their lives without concerning themselves with battles from the past.

The sun was still rising, the colors of sunrise giving a magical feel to the view, and Nicole rested herself on the windowstill for a few minutes, gazing at the trees and flowers, spring was just starting and the world was becoming more and more colorful by the day.

'Oh, how I wish I had more time, but alas, we cannot be late'

She suddently exclaimed, as she finished preparing.

Exiting her room, she headed for the one opposite in the hallway, where a male figure was already hard at work, its back curved over a desk, stacks of paper to either side of him.

'Good morning, father'

He did not bother to respond, or if he did, she could not hear him.

Janus Orman was his name, he was just about 40, a short man with graying hair, but his demeanour and refined air gave him an aura of importance, while his powerful voice earned him the respect of his town.

'I'm going to the smithy today, see you later!'

With those words she was about to exit the room, when her father turned towards her

'Take care, dear.

Ah, if you have time to spare, could you go and see Gareth? I think I'm out of that sleeping concoction of his'

'Out already? You know he said not to overuse it'

She tried her best to make a stern face

'Already lecturing me, I see. Well, in that case you could take over my job with these documents...'

'One bottle will be enough right?'

'Yes, dear. And thanks'

Nicole went out of her father's room, and headed out, after a quick greeting with the maid.

Stepping outside, she started going towards the markets.

'Good morning, Nicole, might I interest you in some jam? Freshly made, too!'

'Morning to you, Tobias, sorry, I can't right now'

'No worries. Ah, before I forget, Nosh was looking for you'

'Do he tell you what for?'

'... Not that I can remember, but he sounded troubled'

'You know he loves to exaggerate, it's probably something trivial'

'We're still talking about our resident protector, I'd suggest you go speak with him'

'Don't worry, I will'

Protectors were retired adventurers, mostly, experts in anything that concerned monsters, and Nosh was the one assigned to this village.

Nosh was an Half-Orc as well, and while he was courteus and kind, his race had been a problem for many villages. Only recently, after three years of Protector duty, the people finally accepted him.

But Nosh wasn't used still at life in the city, and overestimated each threat.

Last week a small group of goblins wandered into these lands, and he sounded as if an army straight from Hell came to raze everything to the ground.

That meant he could wait, what could have been this time, a pack of giant rats? 

Nicole arrived at the smithy, and entered the shop without Yofandel even noticing

The smith was hard at work, hammering away at a thin sword, another piece for his collection, most likely.

A mountain village had no need for weapons, and villagers couldn't appreciate elvish crafmanship, there was no reason to make weapons.

She decided not to bother the elf while he was so inspired, and she sat on a bench, sorting through some scrolls as she waited.

'Nicole! To what I owe the pleasure'

Yofandel had just stopped his work, and was now approaching the girl

'Master Yofandel, it's a pleasure to see you. Unfortunately it's that time of the year again'

'Taxes, right. Why are you humans so impatient about getting your gold?'

'An entire year is a long time for us'

'Clearly so'

'And there is that other matter...'

She said, pretending to be casual about it, but she did blush a little

'I don't think your father would approve-'

'My father doesn't need to know' She cut him off

Her expression was clear: no had never been an option

'You know this is going to be a problem'

'But I also know you won't say no'

And she was right.

Nobody expected the daughter of the mayor to take combat lesson, especially not form the local smith, they started a month prior, almost as a joke, but it quickly became her favourite pastime, and they met at least once a week. There was no true need for secrecy, and some villagers knew anyway - although some were assuming the encounters were romantic in nature - , but having secret lessons made it more exciting for her. 

Yofandel was taller than her, his reflexes were inhumane, as were his senses, and while elves are usually weaker than humans, years spent at the forge made him stronger than most in the village.

They alternated between archery and swordsmanship, training for a few hours

'That will be enough'

Yofandel proclaimed after Nicole shot her last arrow of the day

'But-'

'No, any more training and you'll regret it tomorrow. Besides, I bet you still have errands to run'

She tried to argue back, but the elf was having none of it.

'I'll be back tomorrow'

'I'd rather if you didn't'

So he said, but in truth he was happy to teach her.

She exited the shop, and stopped for a bit to consider her next stop.

Just as she was departing for Gareth's tower, Nosh came running at her.

'Miss Orman! A moment if you please! I have terrible news!'

She turned around to greet the overly polite Protector

'Nosh, I was looking for you'

An obvious lie, but the adventurer was known for trusting everyone a bit too much

'Terrible, terrible news, miss!'

'Yes, you said that. Calm down, what happened? Is it goblins again?'

'Much, much worse, miss. Undead. In the marshes! Just half a day away from us!'

Another minor threat, she thought, the undead were a common enough problem: whenever somebody died with enough resentment, or with an overwhelming desire or ambition, his spirit would refuse to leave the body, transforming it into a skeleton or a zombie.

There were other undead creatures, but most of them were born from a curse, and there was simply no way that in this peaceful region something as powerful would arrive.

Now that she thought about it, there was a story about a group of mages, in the near city of Lannsport, who tried to artificially make skeletons, but it all ended when the city guard heroically saved the city, destroying the evil cult before they had the time to complete their research.

'And how many did you see?'

'Hundreds'