Second Skin Omnibus

by M Damon Baker

  “What will you do now?”

  “I do not know,” the orc responded flatly. “Both our Chieftain and Shaman lay dead on this killing field. We have no leaders and will be hunted by the other orc tribes for what we have done to them in the past. If you do not kill us, I will try to return home, to gather those we left behind and find a safe place for them. Although with both our kind and yours trying to slaughter us, I do not have much hope that we will succeed, but I have to at least try.”

  Her goals seemed much like my own, and despite all that had happened, I found myself feeling sympathy for her plight. The words she spoke were still tinted in blue, and I trusted her intentions.

  “You will not die this day, not by our hands,” I told her. “The leaders that forced us into this conflict are dead. If you do not pursue it, we will not attack you either. You may go, but do not return here seeking revenge.”

  “You will not see us again,” the orc female replied in obvious relief.

  When she spoke, she stood up straighter and then took a more authoritative stance as she began ordering her few companions to leave. They had just begun to walk away when I called her back.

  “You will be crossing dangerous lands,” I reminded her when she returned hesitantly. “Things will not go well for you if you leave your armor and weapons behind.”

  She stared at me in stunned silence and it seemed to take a moment for my words to penetrate her mind. Allowing a defeated enemy to retreat was something complete foreign to her. Letting them keep their arms while doing so must have seemed like pure insanity.

  “You have shown far more restraint than you would have received if our positions were reversed,” the orc finally managed to say.

  “I know,” I replied to her. “But I’m trying to change this world. My way means showing mercy to the helpless, not slaughtering them needlessly. Believe this; if you come against me again, I will end you. But right now, you are no threat to us. I’m willing to take a chance on you. Do not make me regret that decision.”

  The orc simply nodded as she picked up her gear. The rest of the defeated group followed suit and hurried away quickly, unwilling to linger long enough for us to possibly change our minds.

  “I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt us,” Broda bemoaned. “They may not come back, but when word of this spreads to other tribes, we may be facing an entirely new threat.”

  “The word they will spread is one of complete defeat, Broda,” I answered her. “If anything, I think the tale will discourage further attacks.”

  “Perhaps,” Stel offered. “Either way, it was a gamble. Even if we killed them, one tribe or another would eventually capture those they left behind. The vague tale of their entire army heading off to battle and then disappearing might have enticed an ambitious Chieftain to seek out what had happened to them.”

  “There was no right answer,” Venna added. “Kill them or set them free, one way or another, it didn’t matter—the risk was the same. In the end, what you chose to do only matters to yourself, Dreya. Your decision is a measure of you, not the risk involved.”

  I scanned the battlefield as I contemplated Venna’s words. The ground was littered with bodies of dead orcs and the giant corpses of the ogres. The stones of the gateway still smoldered with intense heat and the smoke from the charred bodies inside wafted up into the sky. We had won a resounding victory, but recovering from the aftermath of the battle would be a daunting task.

  Our path back to normalcy would be much easier with Ridge’s help, so I took a moment to summon him while my companions continued to survey the battlefield.

  “How can I serve you, Mistress?” Ridge intoned as he rose from the Earth.

  “We have won our battle against the orcs,” I told him. “But we incurred a great deal of damage in the process. I need your help to speed up the repairs. We will be vulnerable until we can get another gate built.”

  “I will begin immediately, Mistress,” Ridge said before setting off towards the fortifications. He hadn’t bothered to ask what my priorities were, but I trusted his judgement and let him do as he saw fit. Besides, I could always redirect him later if I needed his efforts focused somewhere specific.

  Once we walked back to the fortifications, we were able to get a close-up look at the damage that had been done by the intense heat of the fire. The stones of the passageway were scorched black and the timbers of the drawbridge had completely burnt away. All that remained of the gate were some twisted pieces of metal strewn about where the span had once been. Our victory was well-worth the loss of the barrier, but until it was replaced, the dry moat with its stone spikes would have to suffice as our first line of defense.

  On the other side, the portcullis hadn’t fared much better. The metal had twisted and buckled under the intense heat. Although it remained in place, the metal had warped so badly that it could no longer be raised. We decided to leave the portcullis locked in place for security until Dellon and Hilgreth could craft a new drawbridge.

  But the damage to the wood and stone defenses were not the worst losses we had suffered. Twenty-three of our people had fallen during the course of the battle, and over double that number had been injured to some degree as well. While the orcs had never gained the top of our walls, they’d still managed to launch a surprising number of missiles our way. Bolts, arrows, and even sling stones had rained down upon our defenders while our efforts had been focused on repelling the ogres. The cost of ignoring the enemy archers had been high, but our losses would have likely been complete if we’d allowed even a single gangway to breach our defenses.

  Venna and Tási immediately began to tend to the injured when we returned to the canyon. While they saw to the living, I had Broda and Stel escort me to the makeshift morgue that had been erected for our dead.

  “I do not know these people as well as I should,” I said regretfully. “You will have to tell me which of them to bring back.”

  Stel and Broda glanced at each other briefly before they each looked over the corpses arrayed about the tent. After a few moments, they came together and discussed the merits of the decision that each of them had made. In the end, they seemed to come to an agreement, and they made their decision known to me.

  “We recommend that you resurrect Faine,” Stel offered, indicating a young female elf. “She alone among the dead has family here with us, a sister.”

  “What about those shrouded bodies,” I said, indicating several covered corpses the two of them hadn’t even bothered to review.

  “They fell along my section of the wall, Dreya,” Broda informed me with regret. “The orcs’ Shaman got close enough to cast some corruption spell on them. The archers were able to kill him for it, but the magic claimed their lives. The damage the dark energy did to them renders their bodies beyond your power to restore, unfortunately.”

  I nodded in understanding. There were limits to the power of resurrection magic here. Too much damage or the presence of corruption meant the spell could not restore life to the fallen body. Accepting their verdict, I sat down beside the fallen elf’s corpse and withdrew one of my few remaining resurrection scrolls.

  The shaft that had pierced her heart had already been removed, so I was spared the gruesome duty of freeing the bolt from her chest. So, as I unrolled the scroll, I immediately began scanning the inscription, invoking the magic contained in it.

  The power started coursing over me almost instantly. The now-familiar feeling of unlimited energy flowing through my body took over, overwhelming my senses completely during the scant second it took for the magic to perform its miracle. The energy abated abruptly, and I nearly fell over when it released me from its grip. I rose hesitantly to my feet, almost stumbling as I turned to face Broda.

  “Who’s next?” I asked her, in a tone barely above a whisper.

  “No one,” an unfamiliar voice replied.

  I looked in the direction of the voice that had spoken, and was shocked to see Madren standing there, the young dw
arf I had resurrected after the last battle, incurring Tási’s wrath in the process. The effort had come close to killing me then, and he seemed determined to stop me from repeating the actions that had spared his own life.

  “I know what you intend to do,” he continued as I teetered in front of him. “I cannot let you take that risk. They told us what really happened to you last time, explained just how close you were to death from the toll it took on you. No one understands what it means more than I when we tell you this, but you cannot do this to yourself. You’re too important to us—to all of us. You’ve done enough already just bringing back one of the fallen, and it is more than any other ruler would do in your place. We will mourn our dead, and you need to accept our losses, not add yourself to their number.”

  A hand reached out to mine, and I felt gentle pressure as it held onto me. I looked down to see Faine, newly reborn, looking up at me while still sitting on the ground where her body had been laid to rest. Her eyed filled with tears as she held my hand and her voice cracked when she finally spoke.

  “Do not do this to yourself,” Faine spoke softly. “None of us would want you to take the risk. We all agreed that we would do whatever it takes to prevent you from even trying. I am glad to be alive, but if you had chosen to bring back another instead, I would rest peacefully knowing that you chose someone else for the honor. It’s alright to let them go, you have done your part.”

  Before I could reply, Tási burst into the tent. She looked at me crossly before reining in her anger and speaking to me.

  “You weren’t considering doing something foolish, were you?”

  “Truthfully, I was,” I replied to her honestly. “But Madren and Faine have reminded me of my promise and my duty.”

  “Good,” Tási answered as she looked me over critically. “You don’t look well. I’m declaring you one of the wounded. You are restricted to bed rest until I have time to check on you later.”

  “I’m fine, I just need a moment to rest before I get back to work,” I replied, dismissing her pronouncement. “There’s too much that needs to be done for me to simply take a nap.”

  “You don’t seem to understand how this works, Dreya,” Tási responded testily. “I am the healer here. What I say goes in these matters, and as long as you defy me, no one will follow your orders. You can resist as long as you want, but you will accomplish nothing so long as you do so.”

  I looked around in dismay and saw both Broda and Stel nodding their heads in agreement with Tási’s words. Tási watched me casting about, searching in vain for some support before speaking again.

  “Stel will help you to your tent,” she said more gently. “I will come for you as soon as I have seen to the rest of the wounded.”

  Stel was at my side before Tási finished speaking. He walked me carefully out of the tent, helping me stay on my unsteady feet as we made our way through the canyon.

  “Do you need any help with your equipment?” He asked tactfully as he led me the final few steps to my tent.

  “Thank you, but I think I’ll be fine,” I replied sincerely.

  As I slipped inside my tent, Bane ambushed me, jumping on top of me before I had made it past the tent flaps. His small, delicate build was not suited for the battlefield, and his presence would only have served to distract me as I constantly worried over his safety. So, I had made him promise to wait for me here during the battle. Bane had agreed reluctantly, finally admitting the truth of my concerns, but he hadn’t been happy about the arrangement.

  You are back, Sintári! I was so worried. Has the battle been won?

  ‘We won, Bane,’ I sent back to him. ‘But we also suffered some losses. I brought back one of our dead and Tási ordered me to rest afterwards.’

  Bane responded by nuzzling his tiny head against my face while purring softly. The sound of his gentle thrum soothed me almost instantly, and I removed my weapons and laid down on the blankets with him. I closed my eyes and the combination of my exertions and Bane’s rhythmic purring soon lulled me to sleep.

  I woke up some time later to the rustling of the tent flaps as Tási entered. She smiled back at me as I stared at her through half-lidded eyes.

  “I’m glad you took my advice,” she said as she sat down beside me. “Otherwise, I might have been upset with you.”

  “How are things going?” I asked her, ignoring the implied threat.

  “About as good as can be expected,” she sighed as she took my pulse. “Ridge cleared the passageway for us, thankfully. That would not have been a pleasant duty for anyone. He’s repairing the stonework in there now. We have teams out on the battlefield salvaging what they can and dealing with the corpses.”

  “You know,” she continued. “With the orc threat gone, we can finally focus on making this place something more than just a fortress.”

  “While that’s true,” I replied. “I have a feeling we will always face some new danger. We can never get complacent. Even while we try to make something more here, we’ll never be able to let down our guard.”

  “Maybe,” she said as she gently stroked my forehead. “But we can at least pretend for a while.”

  “Are you going to let me out?” I implored her. “I feel better now, and I can’t just lay here while there’s so much to do.”

  “Yes,” she said before cautioning me. “But I’m coming with you. If you strain yourself again, I will send you right back here.”

  “I thought I was in charge here?” I replied in frustration.

  “You are,” Tási answered with an innocent smile. “But only so long as you don’t do anything stupid.”

  I quickly strapped my weapons back in place before she could change her mind, and then picked up Bane as we exited the tent and set him on my shoulder. His presence there always reassured me, but as he coiled his tail around my arm, I couldn’t help but notice that he did in fact feel noticeably heavier.

  ‘Bane, I’m not trying to insult you, but you are definitely growing,’ I sent him cautiously as we walked towards the fortifications.

  I should not be, Sintári. I was nearly fully grown when we met.

  ‘You didn’t say that you weren’t growing, only that you should not be,’ I replied, noting the way he had tried to sidestep what I had said.

  You are very wise, Sintári, he replied with a little reptilian smile.

  ‘That is still not an answer, dear Bane.’

  Very well. Yes, I have noticed it as well. I have no explanation for it.

  His answer was tinged with frustration. The discovery and his lack of an explanation for it clearly bothered him.

  ‘Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out,’ I reassured him with a few strokes along his scales.

  Before I could console him any further, Tási made me aware that I had a problem of my own to worry about.

  “So, what was that thing with your eyes?” She asked.

  “What ‘thing’ are you talking about?” I asked her in return. I had no idea what she was referring to, but her comment reminded of Stel’s earlier observation about my eyes taking on an even deeper shade of green.

  “You weren’t even aware of it, were you?” She inquired. Without waiting for an answer, she explained.

  “On the wall, when the orcs first appeared,” she continued. “Almost as soon as you saw them, your eyes practically glowed with a green light. It was only for a second, but they definitely flashed with light. It was kind of spooky, to be honest.”

  I remembered my vision briefly tinting green when the orc army showed up. It had happened while I was consumed with anger at them, outraged by their continued assaults against us. According to Tási, the powerful emotion had clearly triggered more than just an internal response. Realizing the connection, I reached out and took hold of Tási’s arm, bringing her to a halt beside me.

  I stared into her eyes and conjured up the rage I had felt before. As I considered the many injustices and depravities I’d encountered during my travels, my anger rose to the su
rface once more. And while I focused on the potent emotion, my vision suddenly flared green again.

  Tási gasped and took a reflexive step backwards as my eyes blazed with verdant light. Instead of letting go of my rage, I held onto it, and used my increased level of control to keep it from overwhelming me. The effect was clearly unsettling for Tási, but maintaining it seemed to have no adverse effects for me.

  “Are you alright?” Tási asked hesitantly as I glared at her.

  “I’m fine,” I replied to her reassuringly. “I didn’t notice it at the time, but it seems that this is a side effect of my anger. Now that you’ve made me aware of it, I can make it happen on purpose.”

  “Yeah, well next time you do anything that creepy, I’m keeping it to myself,” she shivered as I held her gaze. “Seriously, can you stop that now? It’s really uncomfortable to look at.”

  As soon as I let go of my anger, the world returned to its normal hues. Tási breathed a loud sigh of relief as the green glow subsided, and Bane finally spoke up.

  That was truly magnificent, Sintári.

  ‘It seemed quite disturbing to Tási,’

  She knows nothing of such things. Bane sent with adoration.

  ‘Let’s just say that the two of you have a different perspective on the matter,’ I sent back to him with a smile.

  We resumed our walk back to the defenses and were greeted by Stel and Khorim when we arrived. The two men were directing some of the repairs but stopped what they were doing when we approached.

  “Are you better, Dreya?” Stel asked with concern.

  “I’m fine, thanks to all of you,” I replied. “Madren’s appearance was no accident. I know you conspired together to keep me from pushing myself too far. I may have resented it at the time, but I’m thankful for your concern.”

  “It may take her a while, but she sees right through us eventually,” Khorim lamented.

  “Never forget that, master dwarf,” I teased him before getting back to business.

  “Now, tell me how the repairs are going.”

  My friends had coordinated everything for me in my absence. Teams had been sent out to deal with the bodies in the field before they could fester while others ferried in the equipment they salvaged from the dead. While most of it was destined to be reforged into something new, several fine blades were also recovered. The weapons were of dwarven make and had obviously been previously looted from some unfortunate victim, and we added those blades to our own store of weapons.