Ethria 3: The Liberator

by Holloway, Aaron

  As I stood there waiting, the blades spinning menacingly, the raiders disengaged from the battle line and raise their hands in surrender. As I watched, I sent out a mental command and the two remaining rats I had created scurried back towards me. They were safe from the blades, as they were extensions of my will.

  I watched the crowd of raiders as they realized what was happening. A few people who were in charge or who had higher charisma stats started telling others to lower their weapons and spreading the word. Those in the rear broke and ran as they saw their comrades surrendering. There was nothing I could do about them, and nothing I really wanted to do. A moment later, Traser stepped forward and began calling for a formal surrender. One man I had identified as a potential ring leader stepped forward. He had an eye patch that covered a deep, furrowed scar that ran across his bald head and under the patch.

  As the two started talking terms, I amused myself by counting those we had captured. Ailsa landed on my shoulder a moment after the Storm of Blades ended. “Oh, thank you for bringing me back my satchel,” I whispered to her with a smile.

  “You really shouldn’t be throwing things like that around.” She accused. “But, thank you. I took almost twenty damage there.” She said it like it was a lot of health. I looked on my party icons and saw that her health bar was at three quarters.

  “Oh, hold up. How much HP do you have?” I asked, as I finished counting the raiders.

  “That’s an impolite question. But since we’re companions and you kind of need to know. Sixty three total.”

  “You’re like a bug. A high level bug, someone could accidentally sit on you. And you’d die.” I said it in awe. I didn’t mean it as an insult, I really didn’t. An angry wing buffeted me on the ear.

  “See if you get a Christmas present you ungrateful, rude—”

  “Meat head?” I asked with a smile.

  “You, you!” She paused, thinking of the right word. “Jerk!” She smacked me with her other wing and took off over the pirates to find Tol’geth. I sighed and shrugged as I met eyes with some raiders who had watched the entire exchange.

  “Women, am I right?” A few of them chuckled and though I smiled at the joke, I felt bad. I promised myself I would apologize later. I realized now though why she was always hiding, and why she always thought our best play was to shock and awe our enemies or to run away. Because those were her best survival strategies. As I thought about it I realized it made sense for me too, because until just recently I had been severely under leveled. Even now I was barely adequate for the amount of power I had.

  I was considering ways of helping my fairy friends’ survivability when the ground started shaking. I looked south along the king’s road and found a dark shadow roughly a quarter mile south, traveling fast towards us. I glared and cast several Ball of Light 1 spells before throwing them into the distance along the road. One of them hit something in the shadow and I heard an angry rider and panicked horse as the rider pulled his stallion off the road keep from causing an accident. As they neared, I made out more horses, and men in heavy armor. They were carrying spears, long thin swords, and other weapons designed for riding.

  They galloped right past us and towards the fleeing shapes of the raiders who had broken and were trying to hide in the forest. The deep snow to either side of the road had slowed their flight, so many were still out in the open when the riders broke as well and galloped through the knee high snow in a wedge formation. I watched as the snow crumpled under the horses’ hives and I thought I even saw the snow melt as some horses, those in the lead, drew close. In their wake the water refroze and snow compacted into hard ice.

  “Now that is interesting,“ I said to myself. I watched as the heavy knights rode down nearly half of those who had fled the fighting before they could get to the tree line and escape. “I bet you are all grateful you didn’t run like those morons.” There were a few whispered noises of agreement, but the group of raiders largely stayed quiet.

  The barge guards started working their way through the crowd of maybe fifty or so captured souls, taking weapons, policing items, and stripping them of anything that they might shank someone with. Someone like me. As I perused the crowd of raiders I found that many of them didn’t look like they came from Tor. Their skin was darker, tan rather than the pearl white that was common in the area. Some of them had black skin with vibrant green eyes. One had wolf ears. Wait, wolf ears? I thought, but as I went to look for the man in the crowd I couldn’t find him anywhere. Sighing, I moved on, using the opportunity to spam my Analyze skill as much as possible.

  Every time I used it, the person locked eyes with me and glared daggers. I just shrugged and moved on. As I went, I found most of the raiders were middle aged or getting close to it. They all had professions. Some of them were like the ones I had first encountered, torturer, interrogator, thief or what not. But as I analyzed more of them the older ones seemed to have regular professions. Blacksmith, farmer, guard. Their newly chosen profession of Bandit or Raider overrode these in many cases. The entire thing confused and concerned me that something else was going on.

  “Where are you all from?” I asked, as I started walking around the raiders. When I stopped, I turned so I could face both them and the oncoming calvary. I had put myself between them and the calvary knights who were now heading back towards us. The knight whose horse I had accidentally affixed one ball of light to was in the front. And well, he did not look thrilled that I was going to be the one to greet him.

  “Why should we tell you spell slinger?” One raider asked, anger evident in his voice. “You would just track down our families and punish them for our wrongs.” Several others shouted similar things as I waited for the knights. I nodded in understanding. It made me sad to hear, but it sounded like Tor practiced the old tradition of guilt by bloodline. I had seen hints of it here and there, but never as blatantly as in these men’s evident fear.

  I doubted the Count or his court would do so of course. The man seemed pretty even handed. That these men and women feared such reprisals meant that at least in some parts of Tor it was a common enough practice.

  Sighing, I turned to meet the knights. The ground under me shaking as they rode closer.

  Chapter 11: Recognition

  "It is never too late to be who you might have been." - George Eliot

  The Kings River just north of the City of Sowers Vale, 5th Novos, 2989 AoR

  Traser came to the front, standing by me as the leader of the knights approached. “What has happened here? The watch fires were lit, and we rode to give aid.” The large bearded man said. He had a patch over one eye, similar to the raiders’ leader. His beard was well groomed, and his armor equally cared for despite clear scars from past battles evident in the metal. Two other men rode their horses next to him. One looked like what a person might, had they been a lion and then polymorphed into a human. Large, his hair burst out of his golden helmet and armor like leaves from a bush. The third man was half the size and wore a large, thick cloak that obscured every feature. His face hid in the recesses of his clothing.

  “My name is Sir Tegan Traser of the Traser family, rulers of Laketown and guards of the Count. Perhaps introductions are in order, gentlemen?” The man in the scarred full plate nodded and dismounted. His two allies followed suit and soon Tol’geth, Traser and I were face to face with our equal number. I let Traser take the lead in these discussions. After all who was I to these burly dudes but a squishy spell caster? Admittedly one with a killer aesthetic, but still.

  “I know the name. Your father fought with me and the count many years ago before he took up his station as ruler of that little city out past the edge of civilization.” The burly leader of the trio of intimidating knights motioned with his chin towards the crowd of surrendered raiders. “I see you captured yourselves quite a haul here. What do you intend to do with them?”

  “I’d just string them up. Or let them loose and give them a thirty-second head start. Would be funner, a
nd more than a fair game owed them from what they have done.” The lion man said. I heard shuffling behind me, and I cleared my throat.

  “We promised them quarter upon surrender. They did as we asked, and we will not allow our names to be destroyed by rash extra-judicial action.” I said, putting as much menace behind my words. Good heavens, Extra-judicial action? I sound like such a nerd. I want to bully myself.

  The lion man beamed at me and tried to lock eyes with me like so many jocks and bullies had in the past when I had said something that made them look stupid. I rolled my eyes and ignored him, allowing my gaze to fall on the third member of their party. If the lion guy was loud and designed to draw attention to him, this guy was the exact opposite. He was short, maybe 5’4. His shoulders were slender, and that was about all I could tell about him.

  Traser and the leader of the heavy cavalry talked about various options, including marching the entire band south and forcing them into a penal work gang. That was one I would have nixed, but Traser did it for us, noting that we had other things we needed to do. My knightly friend had everything in order, allowing me to watch the other knights as they slowly spread out. They acted as if they were getting ready to charge. When the second rank started forming, I interrupted the talks.

  “If your men try to charge our prisoners, they will not like the outcome.” I was smiling. As nonchalant about my threat as possible. Traser glared at me, but after a moment he watched the knight’s line and realized what I had seen. Tol’geth growled and unsheathed his sword from off his back.

  “What is this?!” Traser demanded as he backed up and pulled his own sword. I let the fire from my staff erupt to life as I checked my mana pool. I was at only a little above a quarter. Enough to create a wall of fire if needed, but I wouldn’t be able to do much more than that. Ailsa buzzed down onto my shoulder.

  “Rayid, they have eight knights riding to the northern side of the barges. I don’t know what they’re doing but they don’t seem thrilled.” She said as she sat there and started happily kicking her feet out as if playing in water. I watched the leader’s expression harden as he turned on the two men.

  “Lavell’dric what is the meaning of this?” The lion man shrank. A child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Take the riders and go. I will meet with you and we will talk about this when we get back to the fort.”

  “But Rodrick, these are the bastards we’ve been trying to track and kill for nearly three years! They left that entire village nothing but a burned ruin! That’s an escalation we cannot allow!” The lion argued, his voice almost a yell.

  “And I will not have the lies about us lacking honor become truth!” Rodrick said. Locking eyes with his friend. “Go, now, unless you wish to challenge me for leadership?” He stepped closer to his friend a mace, crackling with electricity, appearing in his hand. The lion backed down.

  “Of course not, I will go.” and he did. As the lion mounted his horse and began organizing the return trip back to their keep, the leader turned on the hooded figure.

  “Sedric, did you send the scouts out?” The hooded figure nodded yes. “Why?”

  “We did not know who these people were when I issued the order. They are to do nothing but observe and be ready to assist in case this was a trick.” Rodrick’s muscles eased, and he nodded his approval.

  “Acceptable. Go with Lavell’dric and ensure you fetch the scouts first.” The man bowed and quickly mounted his own horse. As the heavy cavalry rode away, I noticed there were several women in their order. Each with armor similar to the lion’s. All kinds of questions arose from that, but I put them aside for another time.

  “Your people impress me, as much as mine shame me. You must forgive my friends. They might be leaders of their orders but they are both human. These scoundrels.” Rodrick the knight motioned towards our captives. “Have plagued this side of the river for three years now. Longer perhaps, but that is when we started contending with them in earnest. They have hurt many people.”

  “Only those who stole from us first!” shouted someone from the crowd.

  “Slavers, murders themselves!” another shouted. I whispered something to Ailsa and a high-pitched whistling sound filled the air, stopping the conflict before it could boil over.

  “Thanks, that could have been bad.” Ailsa hummed happily to herself. “You will all get your chance to explain your actions later. For now, shut up!” I shouted over the crowd. There was grumbling, but even that died as several of the raider leaders began enforcing order on their men. They had made a deal with Traser, the specifics of which I didn’t know, but I knew the man. It would be fair and even handed.

  After a few more exchanges with the knight where they walked around and inspected the prisoners, Traser returned and Rodcrick left. Waving as he mounted his horse and galloped away.

  “So, what’s the outcome?” I asked.

  “Lets get marching, we’re going to take them into the city. Lets me and you talk as we go.” I agreed. As Tol’geth and Traser along with the handful of guards from the barges, began organizing people to move south towards the large stone bridge, I spoke to the bargemen. Save for six guards who had died in the fighting, they had lost no one. Though there were several injuries. As I visited them using my Cure Light Wounds spell, we chatted about what had happened. The bandits had grappled the lead barge with chains and ropes. I learned that the barges had to stay close to shore in order to make their way upriver using ores and push polls.

  They beached the first, essentially empty barge and began harassing the guards. The other two barges beached themselves at that point, and the guard captain had charged the enemy line. The raiders were pushed south along the shore. What I had encountered was the raiders last-ditch attempt to take one barge.

  “We expect them to try to steal from us. Distract us and our guards while others sneak onto the boat and steal our goods. Food, blankets, refined fabrics, metal work that can’t be made in a simple smithy. Things like that are common enough orders from the Twins during winter.” Harsker said as I sat healing his son’s arm. The young man was fine, just a deep cut across his bicep. But it was the last injury I could do anything about. Ailsa was doing her best with the guards, who had taken the worst of the attack.

  “But they didn’t this time? What was different?” I asked as I rolled his son’s sleeve down and offered my hand to help him stand.

  “No, it was different. Most of us barge men know to leave some easily stolen food or trinkets around on the top of our decks when we’re heading north. Just for this kind of thing. But they ignored our goods and just started attacking us.” He patted his boy on the back and sent him to clean up, then sat down next to me. “By the river lady, I think they were trying to steal the barges themselves.” I patted my friend on the back and excused myself.

  I found Ailsa among the wounded guardsmen. She landed on my shoulder and I offered her access to my mana pool. I could tell she was exhausted and at her limit. She took half of what I had left, three thousand mana. She perked up a little as she felt the influx of power.

  “Ah, okay. See, I knew there was a reason I kept you around meathead.” She teased. “The conversion rate sucks, but even a few hundred mana takes the edge off.” I shook my head as I realized that the mana I offered her didn’t translate 1 to 1. It was more like 1 - 0.25. When asked she said “Oh, well human mana isn’t as dense as fae mana is. Its riddled with emotional impurities that your will usually compensates for. Its why you are all susceptible to mana madness. Fae get it occasionally, but only when wielding truly massive amounts of energy.”

  The conversation died as she laid back and focused on absorbing the mana I had given her. A few moments later I broke the silence. “How do the guards look?” I examined the group of four she had been healing. They were covered in dried blood, their own or that of the raiders, I wasn’t sure.

  “They’re doing better. Stable at lest. But this storm and their blood loss is going to take all of them if we can�
��t get them indoors soon.” She said as she sighed and leaned against my head. “Whats up? I can tell something is bothering you.”

  “It’s just, I don’t know. The bargemen all said that this raid was different from others they’ve encountered. That instead of going for the goods, for food and winter gear to stay alive like most bandit bands do, these tried to just take the barges.” Someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned to meet whoever it was. The man was shorter than me, bald, with a full beard. He wore heavy furs on top of his chain shirt, and his metal helmet was thickly padded in furs. The man looked like a viking. The historical kind, not the fantasy kind. The simple but deadly axe he carried in his hands only added to the comparison.

  “You are correct, Mage. They nearly took the first barge, but we beached in time to cover them. When we left only a handful of guards and went to help, this group of rabble rousers came in behind us. We were about to launch a second counter attack to beat them back when you and your friends showed up. My name is Captain Woldrin, Blackwolf Guard Services, at your service.” The man was a mercenary, but I shook the offered hand, anyway. Not all mercenaries were bad, despite what every TV show back home portrayed them as.

  “Nice to meet you, and glad to be of help. How many men did you lose in the fighting?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t over stepping.

  “Well, as your little fairy said, none if we can get them all back in time.” I was stunned. I just looked at him, almost slack jawed. “Ha! It’s not as uncommon as you would think for fights like this to end with no deaths. At least, on the part of professionals. Though I’ll admit, it got hairy there before the end.” That made me evaluate the entire situation in a different light.

  “Well, the bargemen lost little in the way of material goods. So, I’d have to say, job well done.” Captain Woldrin nodded, accepting the praise with a smile. One hand hooked in his thick leather belt where he kept a sheathed short sword, the other on his axe.