by Pirateaba
“The instant he finds me, he’ll try to take me back to our home, no objections. He’s not just protective. He’d never accept me being—crippled and continuing to adventure like this.”
“Oh. But he’s got your best interests at home. What if your family could help? I mean, with your arms…?”
Erin gingerly indicated the fused metal and flesh on Yvlon’s forearms, but the woman shook her head.
“If our family had a potion or artifact that could regenerate bones or limbs, we wouldn’t be a minor house in Izril. We’re known for having an adventurer or warrior in each generation—and having the first letter in our names be ‘y’. That’s all.”
“Well, I guess I understand. But you can’t run from your brother forever.”
“I don’t need to. As soon as he gets word of a village in trouble he’ll drop everything and run off. He is a [Knight].”
“Huh.”
“Hold up, you lot. There’s something on the road ahead.”
Termin suddenly called out in alarm, and Erma and Fox stopped in their tracks as he halted the wagon. All the adventurers immediately sat up, but they relaxed when they saw what it was.
“That’s not a monster!”
Erin chortled as she pointed at the creature that had caused Termin to stop his wagon. It was a beaver, sitting in the middle of the road.
“It’s a beaver. Why are you afraid of a beaver, Termin?”
Termin glared at Erin as he pointed to the beaver.
“That’s no ordinary beaver, Miss! It’s a Fortress Beaver, not one of your cute little rodents. See how large it is, even from here? It could bite my wheels in two in one go and probably take your leg off if you angered it. And where there’s one, there might be more. I’m not risking my wagon or my horses if I accidentally agitate it.”
Erin looked again, frowning. Now that she thought about it, the beaver certainly did look…big from so far away. It would be up to her chest—maybe up to her neck if she got close. She gulped.
“Okay, don’t pet the beaver. Well, can’t we get rid of it?”
Both she and Termin turned to look at the adventuerers. Yvlon shook her head.
“I’m not killing a beaver.”
“I volunteer—”
“No, no.”
Erin hastily pushed down Ksmvr’s hand and turned in her seat. She poked the person lying behind her.
“Ceria. Hey, Ceria.”
“Wuh?”
One of the two comatose bodies raised its head. Ceria looked pale and exhausted, drained from using up all her mana, but she managed to get up to stare at the beaver.
“Can you get rid of it? You can talk to animals, right? Can you get it off the road so Termin can keep going?”
The half-Elf glared in outrage at Erin.
“Dead gods. Erin. Just because I’m a half-Elf, doesn’t mean I…well, I do, but why do you always turn to me to—”
She looked around the wagon. Everyone was staring at her. Termin cleared his throat.
“Well, do you or don’t you? I don’t speak beaver.”
Ceria growled, and pushed herself up. Grouchily, she stood up and moved to the front of the wagon, grumbling under her breath.
“It’s not like I want to learn this stuff. Fine, I’ll get it to move.”
She cupped her hands and took a deep breath. Erin was expecting her to chitter to the beaver, or make whatever sound they made, but Ceria just started shouting. The beaver’s head turned as she yelled at it.
“Hey you! Yeah, you! Piss off!”
The Fortress Beaver stared as Ceria shouted at it. It seemed to think about what the half-Elf had said, and then waddled off of the road.
“There. Done.”
Ceria let her hands fall and turned. Everyone was staring at her, Erin with a betrayed look in her eyes. Ceria shrugged defensively.
“What? That’s how you talk to animals if you want them to move.”
She sat back down and Termin flapped his reins, shaking his head. Erin felt a rumbling on the ground and looked around.
“Hey, hurry up Termin. I think the others are catching up.”
The Fortress Beaver, which had considered going back to take a bite out of the wagon anyways, felt the rumbling and made itself scarce. A good thing too, because the army of marching Antinium would have squashed it flat if the sea of wagon wheels didn’t do that before them.
As Termin got his cart moving, carts appeared in the distance behind him. Carts driven by Humans, Gnolls, Drakes, and in one case, driving itself since the driver had fallen off but the horses kept going. Each one was loaded to the brim with food, supplies, and people. There were more than a hundred adventurers, [Guardspeople], and other experts such as [Healers], [Masons], [Hunters], and more who had come to aid Esthelm.
And marching to one side of the road came the Antinium. Rows upon rows of Workers, dragging primitive wooden sleds loaded with materials of their own—nails, wood, hammers, but no food since what they ate was disgusting—led by a group of Antinium including Pawn at the front.
Erin beamed as the massive group began to catch up. Termin had left with a good lead on the others, but everyone was moving fast. It wasn’t evening yet, and they were nearly at Esthelm!
“You’re lucky so many of these wagon drivers have movement Skills.”
Pisces commented to Erin as he raised his head from his bed in the wagon. Termin cackled.
“Luck’s got nothing to do with it, necromancer. Around here you either move fast or you get eaten by something sooner or later. A Skill like [Continuous Rolling] is common for all us folk.”
The necromancer sniffed.
“Well then, she was lucky you all decided the roads were safe. Why did you decide to take the journey, pray tell Mister Termin? Surely you are aware such a convoy would be at risk of being attacked? Why not travel with an army from Celum?”
“Hah! Any army the Human cities could put together wouldn’t be half as powerful as an army led by Zel Shivertail himself! Add two groups of Gold-rank adventurers to the mix, the famous Horns of Hammerad—not to mention the Antinium Soldiers, and the Goblin Lord himself would look twice before taking us on!”
Before Pisces could open his mouth again, Erin leapt up in her seat and nearly fell off the wagon.
“Oh look, look! I can see the city from here! Wow, it still looks terrible!”
Esthelm came into view, and as soon as their wagon approached, Erin heard people on the walls shouting. But as more wagons were spotted, the shouting grew confused, and then jubilant. People began cheering and streaming out of the gates before Termin’s wagon had gotten close—then they saw the Antinium and ran back into the city.
In the end, Erin drove up to the gates. The people of Esthelm didn’t exactly shut the gates, but they met her and the wagon at them. The [Soldier] who had met Erin and the Horns of Hammerad two days ago was there, with a group of armed men who looked incredulously at the approaching force. Erin waved down at Umbral excitedly.
“Hi! Remember me? Well, I came back and I brought a lot of stuff to help! And a lot of people!”
His jaw dropped.
“You? You’re that [Innkeeper]! But how did—”
“It’s supplies and a relief force! From Celum and Liscor! And the Antinium! They’ve come to help fix your walls and guard your city!”
“The Antinium? Here?”
He seemed unable to process it all. Erin jumped down from the wagon and then sat down hard. Her legs had gone to sleep.
“Ow. Um. Well, it’s a long story, but these Antinium are really nice. They’ve brought a lot of stuff, and we have food, blankets, pillows, and so on. We even have—”
She got no further, because Umbral pulled her up and into a hug. Erin heard the cheering begin again as word began to spread.
“Aid has come to Esthlem!”
“Liscor! The Drakes have come to help us!”
“Esthelm is saved!”
Everyone was being thanked, except p
erhaps the Antinium. But Pisces summed it up best. He smiled, perhaps arrogantly, but with genuine pleasure at Umbral as the man let go of Erin. He nodded to the huge convoy and then at Erin.
“You may attribute this delivery to Erin Solstice, proprietress of the Wandering Inn. We can discuss remuneration for goods and services rendered at a later—”
He got no further then that, because Erin kicked him.
—-
The city of Esthelm was saved. Only, it had already been saved. In a sense, you could say it was saved again, at least from the pressing needs of hunger, thirst, and the need for shelter. Pawn considered that this was less glamorous than saving the city from invading monsters, but no less necessary.
He stood in the ruined center of the city with his group of painted Soldiers, staring in awe at the buildings, the people, and the broken sewers that stank beyond belief. It was all new to him. He had never gone beyond Liscor, never seen so many Humans, or seen a city this badly destroyed. He knew his Soldiers hadn’t seen anything like this either, and he was glad to have shown it to them.
And yet, Pawn was also uncertain. Because while the others who had come seemed to know what they were doing, he did not. And that was a problem, because he was in charge of the Antinium here.
Klbkch had explained it to him quickly, which was to say confusingly, a few moments before they had left. Pawn was in charge because Klbkch had to deal with the Antinium from the other Hives. He had to speak with the Antinium in armor and the beautiful blue, female Antinium for reasons unknown to Pawn. Thus, Pawn was in charge.
Which again, would be fine if Pawn knew what to do. But he didn’t. Oh, the Drakes, Gnolls, and Humans seemed well-organized enough. They were already unloading the wagons, the soldiers and guardspeople keeping order while carpenters, masons, and other groups split off to help aid the city. But Pawn was standing with over a hundred Soldiers and three hundred Workers in the middle of the city with not a clue of what to do now.
He badly wanted to go find Erin and ask, but Pawn realized that might not be an option right now. He had to do something. So he cleared his throat and looked around.
What could be done? Well, what couldn’t be done? Pawn was no expert on cities, but he felt sure that walls shouldn’t be falling down, there shouldn’t be exposed sewers, and that Humans preferred a roof over their heads as they slept. He pointed randomly at a particularly bad section of the wall and turned to his sub-leaders, Belgrade and Anand.
“Our job is to assist in repairing this city. Thus, I think that wall is…a good place to start? Belgrade, Anand, if you will take that wall and uh, effect repairs on it? Reinforce it? Make it taller or something?”
“Certainly, Pawn.”
“It will be done.”
The two [Tacticians] nodded immediately and began walking towards the wall. Workers and Soldiers both streamed after them, making Pawn jump. Belgrade and Anand needed no spoken instructions to command the Soldiers. Somehow, they’d learned the trick of Prognugators, to command without speaking, mind-to-mind.
Well, that was easy. Pawn turned and nearly had one of his hearts stop when he found Bird standing right in front of him. The Antinium seemed…focused as he held a bow in his hands. An arrow was already nocked.
“There are many birds here. I must go hunt them.”
“Oh? Certainly, Bird. Go ahead. Ah, be sure to bring the birds back so they may be eaten, alright?”
“Yes.”
Bird hurried off, already staring at the sky. Pawn turned around, and then around, and realized everyone had left. Belgrade and Anand were already having Soldiers clear the rubble while Workers moved about preparing tools and forming neat rows to expedite the work flow.
Now Pawn felt lonely. He thought about what he should do next, and remembered something Erin had told him last night. He looked around, saw a familiar tail, and hurried towards it.
—-
“I see what you mean. I see it.”
Zel Shivertail muttered to himself as he walked through the city of Esthlem, gazing at the destruction. He felt a small pang in his heart as he saw how much devastation had been done, but the rest of him just felt mystified.
Why was he here? How had he come to be here, in Esthelm, helping to distribute aid to the citizens? He could have sworn he was eating rolls with honey just this morning.
It was all because of that girl. Erin Solstice. It hadn’t been a unique idea, to help Esthelm. Anyone with at least one heart would have thought of that. And it wasn’t hard to think of a door being used to transport things like goods. That was an obvious use. But convincing two cities to send supplies and help, and asking the Antinium, the Antinium no less to render assistance?
“…Who is she?”
That was what Zel Shivertail asked himself. He could admit when he’d misjudged someone. He’d done that with Erin Solstice. He still kept part of his original opinion, but now he revised the rest. Something was off about that girl. Something was extremely off, in a way he could only attribute to one other Human before…
“Excuse me, General Shivertail?”
Zel turned. He expected to see one of the Drakes, asking for him to sign his tail or something silly like that, or a Human, asking for help. But he froze when he saw the Antinium standing meekly in front of him.
Instinct told Zel to rip the Ant’s head off. He restrained himself—with effort. Zel growled as he took a few steps back.
“What do you want?”
The Antinium nodded politely.
“My name is Pawn.”
“You have a name?”
Zel was incredulous. But he caught himself—this was one of the new Antinium, the ones all the damn Drake politicians and leaders were telling him to find out about. Pawn nodded.
“I am. I ah, have been sent to aid in restoring Esthelm.”
“Good. For you.”
Zel didn’t want to talk with any Antinium, even a new one. But Pawn clearly wanted to talk with him. The Antinium cleared his throat nervously.
“I was hoping I might converse with you, General Shivertail. I understand you are a famous General among the Drakes—”
“I fought in the Antinium War. Both Antinium Wars.”
“I know.”
The two stared at each other. Zel forced his fist to unclench. Pawn studied him carefully.
“I am not hostile towards you, General Shivertail. I do not wish to offend you either. I simply wish to talk.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t want to talk to you.”
Zel forced himself not to shout. Pawn tilted his head sideways.
“May I ask why?”
“You’re an Antinium. I saw your kind ravage my continent. You still do. You infest part of my home. I saw your Soldiers slaughter thousands of innocents.”
“Yes. They did. But I was created long after those wars. I am not like my people. I am not like anyone.”
There was something in the Antinium’s eyes—Zel looked away. He controlled his voice, spoke levelly.
“Look, An—Pawn. I came here to help the Humans here, because it was the right thing to do. Because it was a good cause, understand? And I tolerated your Hive sending an army here, though I’d rather kill you all, because you lot are helping too. I won’t pick a fight with your kind, but it doesn’t mean I have to like you, or talk with you. I lost too many friends, too many comrades to your species to ever think of you as anything but the enemy. Understand?”
Silence. And then Zel saw Pawn nod out of the corner of his eye.
“I understand. But I did not come here to be friends. I came to ask—you see, I have been placed in command of my own force. I am a…leader. But I do not know how to lead.”
“So? The Antinium lead themselves, or the Queens do, don’t they?”
“Yes, but she has entrusted that role to me. I must lead, but I do not know how. That is why I have come to you. You are a Drake [General], one of the greatest leaders on this continent.”
Zel Shivertail stared
incredulously at Pawn.
“You want me to give you…advice on how to lead an army?”
Pawn nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why in the name of the Ancestors would I do that?”
The Antinium shrugged. He seemed at a loss in front of Zel’s questioning stare.
“I do not know. I simply hoped you would. Because you understand the burdens of leadership.”
Zel turned away in disgust.
“I’ve never taken on a pupil. If you want to ask for training, go find Niers Astoragon, or some Human [Lord] like Lord Tyron Veltras.”
“They are far away.”
“I don’t care.”
Zel turned to go. Pawn called out behind him.
“One question, please. Answer me one question, General Shivertail.”
General Shivertail gritted his teeth and lashed his tail.
“If I do, will you go away and stop bothering me from now on?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Ask.”
Pawn was silent for a moment. Zel was about to snap when the Antinium spoke.
“What do you tell a soldier under your command when he is dying?”
The world paused. Zel turned back. Pawn went on.
“You see, I do not know what to say. I can only hold them, but I do not know what is supposed to be said. But there must be something. What do you say?”
The Drake stared at the Antinium. Down at the Antinium. He realized that Pawn was small. He wasn’t a Soldier. He was a Worker, no fighter. He didn’t even have a weapon at his side. For a second, Zel wrestled with himself, and then one part won. He sighed, and gingerly beckoned Pawn.
“Come on. Walk with me.”
Pawn hesitated, but then followed Zel. The Drake stared up at the sky, at the Antinium swarming over a wall and putting it back together bit by bit, and at the Humans, Drakes, and Gnolls all working together in this city. Because of a girl. Because of an innkeeper. And he walked side by side with an Antinium and told him what to say, what you could say, what you had to say when you held a soldier in your arms.
“You tell them this. You tell them they did a good job, that they can rest. That you’ve never seen anyone fight that hard, that it’s only a scratch. That it’s going to be okay—”