by Andur
“You are constantly updating the coordinates of the drone, aren't you Ivy?” I whisper to her while Stella is distracting the Dwemer with her well meant advices. She is keeping them occupied with her offers to help. In the meanwhile I am preparing a little magical circle, all I need are the coordinates of the helmet.
Ivy nods. “They are updated every second.”
Good. “That reminds me, do you have a dagger stored away somewhere?” I could create my own weapon from mana, but that takes time and when I set my plan in motion I have to be quick. Every second counts.
Ivy nods and pulls a blade out from under her boobs and hands it to me without attracting attention. Luckily everyone's attention is glued to the screens which display the advancing barbarian forces.
But seriously, what's wrong with Ivy? First the map and now the dagger? I've to talk with her about this at some point.
The dagger is short, but sharp and a little curved. It should be enough for my purposes, so I store it away under my jacket. Then I continue weaving the magical circle under my feet. Casting spells in a manner which doesn't attract the attention of nearby mages is a hard task, but I am taking my time to keep the glowing after-effects of the circle hidden in the ground under my feet. My ability is also a great help in keeping the mana under control and the leakage to a minimum.
The unfolding encounter between the troops of Dwem and the barbarians isn't concerning me much. It isn't very interesting to watch slowly advancing barbarian troops, while the Dwemer are waiting for them to get into range.
Though the Great Shaman and general Greywinter are enthusiastically giving commands, which makes the whole situation a little absurd. Someone could come to the conclusion that there is a full scale battle going on. I sigh, commanding troops is a hassle. I hope that I never find myself in the situation of having to do so.
By using mind magic I access a live video stream of my drone and observe the barbarian army. Right outside the Dwemer's range, the whole barbarian army suddenly stops without any obvious command. One possibility is that they were trained very well, but that doesn't seem likely when I look at their ragtag outfits. They look more like a huge mob of bandits to me.
The other possibility is that they learned the hard way how far the Dwemer can shoot, which seems more likely. The barbarians who couldn't judge the distance to the enemy artillery correctly are dead barbarians. What I am looking at are the survivors who are good at judging distances.
Finally they start a long and enduring warcry until one of them steps forward, holding a winged helmet like a holy object. Probably he is the enemy commander. His leather armour looks a little more expensive and he has his own little honour guard.
“That's it! Let the troops advance! We have to get that thing!” The Great Shaman shakes his totem at one of the video screens.
I cuff Ivy into the side and nod. “Let the operation begin!” My drone immediately turns to the target and accelerates, overloading its engine and diving down from high above the enemy army.
Switching my attention to the Dwemer's video screen I try to follow their viewpoint too while the drone rushes down to the barbarian commander.
He is holding the helmet above his head now and the barbarian army charges forward like in a well choreographed battle scene. This would be a great movie scene, unfortunately it's real. Then he lowers the helmet down onto his head and a strange aura starts surrounding him. It's like a golden light is illuminating him and his eyes start gleaming with a strange golden glow.
Then he points his finger towards the camera!
Right this moment something slams into his position from above. My drone impacted at a speed of three thousand kilometres per hour, but there is no explosion or earth thrown upwards like someone would expect. The overloading gravitational field of the drone countered the force which would have thrown earth and rocks into all directions. Instead all available forces are directed into the direction the drone was travelling in. In this case downwards.
It looks like someone took a gigantic invisible hammer and flattened the entire area around the enemy commander. The advance of the barbarian army comes to a complete halt and it seems like time stopped for a moment.
That's when I activate the magical circle, which I was weaving since quite a while now. The last coordinates of the drone serve as a perfect way to target my exit point.
The world blurs into light and a moment later I find myself beside the barbarian commander. The drone crashed just three metres from him, creating a hole two metres wide. A mass of dead bodies surrounds us, crushed like a giant lowered his foot and stepped onto them. Everything is completely flat.
Strangely enough the enemy commander is still alive and well. He just went to his knees, though he is panting heavily. Maybe the artefact protected him somehow by using his mana? Or did he get a power from the rumoured Master? No matter, it seems like blocking the drone took all his power. Then his head turns to me and his eyes widen.
“Hello.” I draw the dagger and ram it up to the hilt into his left eye. His hands twitch upwards, but I retrieve the dagger before he can grab me and he reaches through empty air. Probably it was just some kind of nerve reaction. The dagger is short, but long enough to reach his brain. It comes down at him again, this time finding the unprotected space between his leather armour and the helmet.
Retrieve, stab, retrieve, stab, retrieve, stab and so on. This is going really well. Now I understand why some people like to use daggers. They are fast and effective, of course you have to get close enough first.
He goes down, a surprised expression still on his face. “The Master's protec-” He doesn't get to say more, since I drew the dagger across his throat. Neither am I interested in his opinion, nor do I have time to listen. I am working within a tight time-frame here. His blood sprays around and his heart doesn't realize the death of the body. It continues to pump blood out of his wounds like a proper devoted heart should do.
I bend down and try to pull the helmet from his head, but the thing doesn't come off! Huh? That wasn't within my calculations! Hastily I place my knee on his chest and grab the helmet with my right hand, then I start happily hacking away at his throat with the dagger.
Normally I don't really enjoy killing people. Sometimes it's a necessity of life and simply has to be done. There is not really a reason to be happy or feel bad about it. If you want to keep what you have, others have to suffer and sometimes they have to die.
It's a whole other story if the person in question is threatening my peaceful life, or has something which he doesn't deserve. Like this helmet.
Finally his head comes off and I stand up, returning to a straight position with the helmet between my hands. It seems to be made out of gold and silver, one of the wings is a little bent. Probably it got damaged by the drone attack. There is a thin slit for the eyes and metal protectors go down to the chin to protect the cheeks. There are some engravings on the helmet, but I don't recognize them as something which fulfils a purpose. They are probably only there for style.
I look up and realize that I am facing an entire army of barbarians. Now that the initial shock is over they finally start moving and rapidly bridge the fifty metre wide gap between me and them, stumbling over their crushed comrades.
Time to go back I guess? I place the helmet under my right arm and take a look at my beloved wristwatch. I built it myself and it's loyally counting the time since I created it in elementary school.
Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty seconds! The delayed recast of my teleportation spell activates the magical circle in Dwem's capital in reverse. The world blurs and I find myself back at Ivy's side. The Dwemer and Stella are still staring at the video screens. The gazes of the guards are fixated on the screens too. I hand the bloody dagger back to Ivy and she takes it between two fingers, pulling out a handkerchief to clean it.
My attention turns to the helmet. There is still the barbarian's head inside it. It seems to be stuck, what a mess. I hold the helmet betw
een my arm and chest, then grab the spinal cord which is protruding from the neck and pull.
Slowly the head comes out. With a final jerk it comes free, but it's bloody and slips my fingers. The head rolls and slithers across the ground, leaving a bloody trail behind. It comes to rest in front of the Dwemer and Stella, who are looking at me with shocked expressions.
Seriously, what's their problem, didn't I just save the day? They should celebrate me as the hero who went out alone, faced the enemy army and stole the super weapon! Doesn't being heroic count for anything these days?
But that doesn't concern me right now. I wanted the helmet solely to take a look at it! Turning it in my hands I look inside and trace the runes there with my fingers. Then I realize that someone entered my comfort zone and I avert my eyes from the artefact.
It's the Great Shaman and he is looking at me like I am a wild animal, which just started playing with a gun. “Would you... mind giving me that?”
I hold the helmet to my chest. “Why should I? I got it through my own efforts. Steal your own super weapon.”
Stella comes closer and attempts to touch me, but decides not to do so. I look down on myself and realize that I am dirty all over. There is blood everywhere. Geez, I'll refrain from using a dagger in the future. Cleaning this mess will be a bother.
She places her hands in a pleading gesture in front of her chest and smiles at me. “Please honey, we are just a little concerned that it could call down this Light from the scriptures. We should handle such a dangerous artefact with great care.”
“... why do you think I secured it for myself?”
59. ~New friends.~
“One shall not call the Great Shaman by his real name, as he forsakes it in order to serve well. In the long history of Dwem are four hundred and seventy nine Great Shamans recorded. All of their worldly names are remembered as engravings on the Great Shaman's tower.”
-The writings of Dwem.
Dwem, Capital
Azir
Stella's expression turns concerned and she steps closer to me. “Is that thing really that dangerous?” I take another look at the runes inside the helmet and whisper. “Probably!” There is no way to tell for sure without giving me time to take a proper look at it. The barbarians thought that it could take care of Dwem's artillery, so it's a safe bet in my opinion.
The Great Shaman forces a smile onto his face. “You surprised me. I didn't expect your personal intervention in this war. Technically you jumped in and snatched our spoils of war away. How about turning over this item to the proper authorities?”
I furrow my eyebrows. Politics isn't my strength at all and I am certainly not the social type. “How about seeing it like this. The evil Master was about to rape your sorry asses and destroy your country. Luckily for you he pissed off a third party, namely me, who happened to take away his toy before he could use it against you.”
You have to see this situation from the practical side. “How about telling your army to retreat? There is no point in meeting the enemy head on now.”
He nods. “The general is already taking care of that. You are really sure that you want to keep that? I am just really worried about having such an item that close to me.”
There he goes and turns the situation into something stressful. My eyes wander to the guards who tense up. “Don't worry. I am a perfectly qualified techno mage. Do you know anyone else who could pull off teleporting across the country and stealing the enemy general's helmet?”
The Great Shaman's looks at the head on the floor. “You didn't steal only his helmet.”
Stella steps in. “How about a little agreement? This artefact is obviously very dangerous if its rumoured powers come even close to reality.” She gestures at the helmet in my hands. “Having control over something like this is a very powerful asset to every country.” She points at the video screens which are displaying the barbarian army being mowed down like grass. They continued their charge even after their general fell, not realizing that their secret weapon won't help them now. Explosions are throwing body parts left and right while Dwem's artillery is carpet bombing the entire area. “You don't really need the helmet to defend yourselves and if Azir has it, we may be able to use it against our enemies in the future.”
The Great Shaman tilts his head. “Our enemies?”
Stella nods. “Of course! Didn't we just determine that the southerners, barbarians and dark magicians are all just foot soldiers of the so called Master? That means that your enemy is our enemy. We already explained that we wouldn't like it if our northern border became unstable. So let's say that you give this helmet to us. It would be very likely that we use it for your sake in the near future. On top the helmet wasn't just acquired by our own power, but Azir is also a very qualified person in analysing the helmet.”
The Great Shaman's eyes wander to Padma and she nods enthusiastically. His left eye starts twitching like he is trying to make a very stressful decision. No wonder, who can blame him? I, someone from a foreign power, am standing in front of him, a weapon of mass destruction in my hands.
Stella kneels down to be on eye-height with him and smiles. “If it helps Dwem's war efforts, I can even imagine that Nict could help out with resources. Since I am the second princess, it's within my power to assure you that at least a few Gejene can be dispatched to help with materials like metals and chemicals. Your war machines look awfully expensive. I am not an expert, but isn't mining everything you need for them really troublesome?”
The Great Shaman attempts and answer, but Adala steps closer and whispers something into his ear. He pulls her off into a far away corner and we watch them gesturing for a while. After a minute he returns to Stella and me. “So you Gejene can transmute stuff? How much can a Gejene transmute within a day?” He pulls a fist of beans from his pocket and hands it to Stella. “Show me. How about iron, coal, sulphur or copper?”
Stella performs her magic and flicks the beans one by one back to him. “Whatever you wish. An average member of a branch family can transmute between one and five tons of mass per day.” She places her fingertips together in front of her. “But I am sure that if our friends from Dwem, who keep the northern borders safe, tell us that they need a little help with resources my mother won't deny helping them.”
The Great Shaman scratches himself with his totem behind the left ear and inspects the transmuted beans in his hand. “It's not like we are in big trouble, but if you could prepare a hundred tons of iron, eighty tons potassium nitrate, fifteen tons coal and ten tons of sulphur every two months? It would be seen as a helpful gesture between two friendly nations. Of course only until the barbarians decide that running into our gunfire isn't worth their time.”
My girlfriend smiles a devilish grin. “I am sure that if I tell my mother that this will keep the northern border peaceful, she will happily order a few members of our clan to invest their time into such an important task.”
So she bribed them? I guess that works with everyone. No wonder that the Gejene are Nict's rulers. I relax, looks like we don't have to make a run for it. The helmet is an interesting and dangerous item if I interpret the runes on the inside correctly. Certainly nothing which can be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Maybe I should add a little bonus to Stella's efforts in keeping the helmet while not damaging our new relationship to Dwem? “I could provide a few of the teleportation discs to transport the material. Just a little gesture of good will.”
The Great Shaman smiles and offers Stella a hand. “Maybe Dwem and Nict should stop ignoring each other.” She shakes it. “It's good to find a friend among so many foes around us.”
Probably I should shake his hand too? I am here as a representative too after all. “I'll make sure to inform you about the helmet's secrets.” I shake the shaman's hand and he stiffens.
“Thank you. I already had the feeling that you are an interesting fellow. Though I realize that I didn't fully comprehend how unique you are.” He holds out one hand and his
old aide comes running with a cloth.
Oh, I made him dirty! I completely forgot about the blood on my hand. I press my lips together and ponder over the situation. My eyes wander to Stella who looks very embarrassed. Sorry, Stella. I am simply bad when it comes to relationships with other people.
Now that I think about it, the only people close to me who aren't related by blood are Stella and Karsen, Talia and... and Louise. One moment! Only four people! That's all I achieved during my entire life on this world? Isn't that kinda pathetic?
No! I can count Ivy too, yes that's it! Five! I look at Ivy and she answers me with a questioning expression. “Is something wrong, Creator?”
Four... maybe I can count Ghost? But counting a pet to my circle of friends is even more pathetic than having only a few of them.
The problem is that there are simply no people worth talking to. Having friends for the sake of having friends isn't fun at all. Friends are friends because you share a common interests and emotional bonds with them. Why should I want to have a friend who bores me to death.
Stella is... well she is Stella. I don't really get myself why I got hooked to her in the first place. Maybe because she has this dependable side and her ass is top notch. There is nothing bad about being physically attracted to someone. I feel sorry for those people who think that love is only about mental compatibility. Though Stella and I are working together in that aspect too, because she is smart. It's not like we are boring to each other.
Karsen is... a guy to whom I can talk about sensitive things. It's not like we share any particular interests, but it's good to have a buddy to whom I can talk about gender sensitive stuff.
Louise has an outstanding mind and it's fun to talk to her about all kinds of things. So there are no problems in that aspect.
Talia is... well. Talia is Talia. She is more like a tag along buddy of Karsen and the others. Our relationship is kind of hindered by the fact that she is a member of a branch family and has to listen to me. Argh! My friend count just went down to three! Two if I exclude my girlfriend.