I helped bandage up the living as Sergeant Habe dispatched a rider back to the last outpost for help. When no one was looking, I did what I could to heal each of the most seriously wounded. I was able to help three before I ran out of power; I definitely was limited there being on another plane, but apparently it was enough, none of them died before help arrived the next morning.
We had made camp there at the scene of the fight; the outpost had turned out twenty armed men and a cleric who set about healing those in need. The lieutenant who had come told us the cleric would need a day and Habe who was in charge agreed of course to stay right there until he was done. None of the Merchants argued with him either.
“I would never have expected to see Ale’arocks this far south! The king will be upset when he hears of this.” The lieutenant said.
“Aye, that’s a fact,” Habe replied nodding. Habe’s left arm and side were bandaged, he’d gotten cut up fairly well in the fight, but from what I’d seen and heard, he’d accounted for himself rather well. “There must have been forty of them. Never seen one before this, but they were everything the stories say. I thought at first they were insane to try and take us on!”
“Some say they’re all insane. I’m going to stay with you until you’re through the pass, in case there are more.”
“How many did we kill?” I asked curious. I’d been busy helping with the wounded until now, and had a few cuts of my own that needed tending. I was also exhausted, I hadn’t slept yet, I’d been too busy until the healer had gotten here.
Habe looked up at me, “Twenty seven. Of which I think you must have gotten at least six, plus that one who must have been leading them.” He turned to the lieutenant, “Citizen William here probably saved the day. When he killed their leader they turned and ran.”
The lieutenant looked at me and then back at Habe, “He killed seven of them?”
“Yes, sir. Charged right up to them and cut into them so fast it was all the rest of us could do to keep up.”
I shrugged, “I forgot that I wasn’t wearing any armor. Didn’t realize it until I was tied up with them.” I shook my head, “After that, well it’s amazing what fear can do when you realize you just did something incredibly stupid.”
“Still it sounds like a pretty brave thing to do, Citizen.”
“Call me Will please, Lieutenant. Truth be told, I’ve fought better. The only thing they had going for them was a complete lack of fear or self preservation.”
He nodded “The Ale’arocks drink a nasty brew, it makes them fearless in battle, and almost immune to pain.”
“That would explain a lot.” I nodded back and yawned.
“You’re dead on your feet. We won’t be moving on until the morning, go get yourself some sleep.”
I nodded to him, “Thanks.” I looked over at Sergeant Habe, “You did a good job yourself there, Sergeant, and if you hadn’t rode into them with me, I would probably have been killed. All of your men made a fine showing for the guard.”
He nodded and smiled, “Thank you, Will.”
“Night.” I said and went off to find my bedroll.
“Is he somebody important?” I heard the lieutenant ask as I walked off.
“After seeing the way he fought, I sure think so!” And they both chuckled.
I shook my head and sighed, Fel, if you are listening, we need to talk, I thought at him hoping he was there listening as I lay down to sleep.
“You called?”
We were at that table again, him, the empty Inn, and me.
“Yes. Is Rachel okay? How are things back home? Do you need me to come back?” I said it all in a rush; I was worried. “I could make it back to that gate in a week if I rode hard.”
Fel smiled slightly and waved me back into my seat, “Don’t worry, after you killed him, Aryanna had a little talk with him before sending him home. She promised to send not only her champion over if they should attack, but several others as well.”
I blinked. “She’d do that?”
Fel nodded, “We’re allies.”
“Umm, no insults intended here, Fel, but I’ve gathered she’s got a lot more power than you do. I’ve counted three major temples so far, and probably twenty small ones and I’ve only covered a small part of this kingdom. I know she’s got a lot more followers than you do, this kingdom is huge! Why is she willing to help us?”
“I know it sounds strange, but we actually go back a long ways. We have an arrangement. We help each other out from time to time.”
“You do?” I asked surprised.
He nodded, “Aryanna has been a goddess a lot longer than I’ve been a god. Her alliances go well beyond her own plane. She plays a much larger game than I do.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” I said honestly.
“Well I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“You will let me know if anything goes bad back home, right?”
He nodded, “Don’t worry, Will, you’re my champion. If anything happens or I need you, I will call. Nice job on Benjamin there by the way.” He laughed, “Biting his nose off was an interesting tactic.”
“He’s a bully, bullies never really experience pain or suffering. I needed to freak him out so I could take advantage of him.”
“Well it sure worked.”
“How long until he’s back anyway?”
“About a week.”
“That long?” I was surprised; I had the opinion that it was shorter than that.
“Being on another plane slows it down a few days, plus Aryanna is now hostile to him, which makes it worse. If you’d killed him on his home ground he’d be back in two or three days. But when one of you dies on another plane, you have to spend a few days there before you can move on to your own. The farther away from your home plane, the worse it can get.” He explained.
I nodded. “I suspect I’ve just made my first real enemy.”
“Second actually, but the champion you’ve already killed is beyond being resurrected, so you don’t have to worry about him.”
“Still, I’m shocked by it, I must admit. I had no idea they were so concerned.”
Fel shrugged, “I told you I was catching grief over it. But I wouldn’t worry, it was more bluster and bluff than a real threat. I must say though, I’m glad you didn’t take them up on their offer. They really could have offered you a lot more than I can. You could have gone back to your ‘earth’ a very wealthy and powerful man.”
I shrugged. “I’m still very new to all of this Fel. But I don’t like quitting something I’ve just started. Besides you did set me up with Rachel and I definitely don’t want to lose her.”
“Figured that one out did you?” He grinned.
“I’m not complaining!” I laughed. “You’ve done right be me and loyalty’s one of those things that’s pretty important to me so I’m going to stick around.”
“Until next time then.”
“Later, Fel.”
And he was gone and I fell into a deeper sleep.
Two days later we started up into the pass. We came across a patrol almost immediately, the pass outposts had been reopened, and they were out in force doing their initial sweep. Seeing that we were in good hands, the lieutenant took his men and returned to his outpost wanting to help run down any stragglers from the band that had attacked us. So we traveled through the pass and out onto the plains completely unmolested.
As we came out of the hills the territory changed once again, it was grasslands as far as the eye could see, the weather far less wet now than it had been as well. The three of us left the caravan behind and rode off on our own making better time now.
“What do they farm around here then Habe?”
“Cattle and sheep. This is grazing land; they grow cattle for meat and leather, sheep for wool, and some meat as well.”
I found that interesting, I’d seen wool, but hadn’t thought about if there were sheep or not.
“Didn’t you have any fights between the cattle o
wners and the sheep owners?” I was thinking about the large range wars that had taken place in the past of my own world.
Habe laughed, “Why? Few ranchers run just cattle or sheep, most tend to run both. The demand is pretty high, and the royal family has never been very tolerant of people fighting over stupid issues.”
I had forgotten about that, this was pretty close to the royal seat, and Kings and Queens probably wouldn’t care for such arguments taking place in their Kingdom.
As we rode out onto the plains the guard posts were spread a lot further apart than they were to the west of the mountains. We were definitely close to the center of the kingdom’s power and without the caravan slowing us down we were making far better time than before.
The next week passed rather quickly, there were a lot more farms and settlements along the road, and they got more numerous the further we traveled, even more numerous than they were around Riverhead or Portsmouth. The first town we came across was rather large, but the next one was almost as big as Riverhead itself.
“This is Iron Town,” Habe informed me.
“Iron Town?” I had noticed quite a bit of black smoke rising from the northern part of town.
“There’s a ravine to the north of here, there’s a lot of coal in the ground there, they’ve been mining it for ages, and then here they use it to smelt and work iron.”
“Makes sense I guess.”
He nodded, “Yeah, and the kings and queens didn’t like having black soot falling all over their pretty city, or the smells and the noise of the iron works, so they banished them out there closer to the coal mines a very long time ago.” He grinned, “Plus the workers are a pretty rowdy bunch. Between them and the people working the livestock, it gets pretty busy out here for the guard at times.”
I laughed, “An even better reason then.”
He nodded. “When I first entered the guard I spent two years here. It was quite an experience for a farm boy like me. Especially as Kingstown is only a four day ride away.”
We spent the night at the local garrison, which was larger than any I’d seen in the kingdom to date. For the rest of the trip we stayed at a local garrison outpost each night. It was almost the medieval equivalent of suburbia. There was town after town along the road now, and not just shops, but rather large concerns in some cases as well. A lot of people lived in this region and that required a lot of goods to be made, sold, and delivered.
“I think I’m finally getting an idea of just how big Hillshire is.” I said to Habe the morning we were due to arrive at Kingstown. I was thinking we must have ridden at least five hundred miles.
“Wait until you see the city,” he said sounding rather proud. “I doubt you have ever seen its like.”
I doubted that, having seen New York City many times growing up, but I was wrong.
We crested a rise shortly after noon and the city came into sight. It was huge. I stopped my horse and took a few moments to take it all in. I could make out the thoroughfares that led from the center out in all directions, the sheltered bay to the east that opened to the ocean, the wide river that ran through the western third of the city with numerous bridges across it. The city sprawled in all directions filling the valley, there were no walls around it, something this size and so far from any neighbors really did not need one.
As I looked closer I noticed the valley floor was higher than the waters in the bay, and there were several sets of locks along the river. I then picked out the old city wall that surrounded the castle and what I guessed were the original boundaries of the city rising up above everything else. The castle itself must have been built on a butte rising out of the center of the plain; it resembled a large skyscraper done in a gothic style as best as I could describe it. It was at least as tall as the Empire State Building, and easily ten square city blocks in size at the base.
“Takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” Habe said laughing.
“The castle, it’s unbelievable!” I said shocked. I’d seen pictures of many a medieval castle back home and nothing had ever approached this in size.
Habe nodded “Carved from the living rock it was. Took hundreds of years, they just keep adding on to it. Kingstown hasn’t been attacked in over five hundred years they say; it’s the oldest kingdom on the continent.”
“Wow,” was all I could say, and giving my horse a gentle nudge I started moving again and followed Habe down into the city.
Eight
A city is a city is a city. I think I can now say this is true. Yes, people rode on horseback or in horse drawn carriages and there wasn’t an internal combustion engine to be seen. But I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing. I know I did not miss the sounds of car horns and engines, but it was by no means quiet. There was a hustle and a bustle of people and commerce. A visible and well-trained garbage detail I noticed on several occasions keeping the streets clean of the usual leavings of all the horse traffic. Which helped explained the clean streets and lack of smell.
It took us hours to reach the castle, which got larger as we drew closer, I listened as Habe told me of the many gardens and terraces it sported. He steered us aside to a nice place for a late lunch that he was particularly fond of. I wasn’t surprised to see a large number of guardsmen in the place and they exchanged greetings with Habe and asked for news of the western parts of the kingdom. That alone killed nearly an hour, and got us an invite to the guard’s mess for tonight so they could hear the rest.
Habe checked in with the commander of the guard after that and delivered his dispatches, there was a considerable amount of paperwork involved in running a kingdom of this size I guess, each of the guards had been carrying a large dispatch bag, and one had been towing an extra horse with even more.
The next several days were interesting; I got a few tours of the castle, and the local areas of the city. While I did not meet with the king, I did meet briefly with the seneschal, who convened to me personally the king’s thanks for helping out in the little fracas in the mountains. I was even staying as a guest of the king and the castle, in thanks for my service in that fight. Habe had made sure my role was well known that night at the mess, and apparently the lieutenant from that outpost had included a note as well. I did make a gift of a bow to the king via the seneschal figuring it couldn’t hurt, and that would be one less thing to carry back with me.
On the fourth day, I went to the cathedral of Aryanna. Calling it a temple was simply too much of an understatement, this was her main temple in the kingdom, the largest of her following. It took me a half hour to walk there from the castle and I was met at the entrance by an acolyte.
“May I help you, good sir?” He said noticing the clasp on my cloak, I think it confused him, he didn’t recognize it obviously.
I paused a moment unsure of how to proceed, “I guess I’d like to see the temple and speak with the head priest or priestess.”
He bristled a little at my request, but didn’t look hostile at least.
“I’m not sure about the latter request, sir,” he said, “but I can show you the outer temple if you wish.”
“But not the inner one?” I said with a grin.
“Only followers of Aryanna are allowed inside, sir!” He said almost scandalized.
“Uh huh. Lead on then.” I said and gestured.
“May I enquire as to the nature of this visit?” He asked as he turned and led me through the rather large front doors.
“Courtesy call,” I said. “Also I’ve a few questions I’d like to ask the champion if she’s about.”
“Lady Champion Stephanie?” He said looking back at me almost scandalized once again, “Beggin your pardon, sir, but what would she want with the likes of you?”
“Well I was sort of hoping on professional courtesy I guess.” I replied honestly, “Guess we’ll have to see won’t we?”
He looked back at me yet again, rather mystified and led me further inside.
I was rather impressed. The outer temple was obviously fo
r the large masses, it probably sat several thousand. I walked down the main aisle to the altar, past my guide, though I did not enter the sacristy standing just outside the low railing. I had a feeling that entering unbidden would be considered an insult, for all that Aryanna seemed to like me.
“Well, I’m here, Aryanna,” I said out loud as the protesting acolyte caught up with me, apparently scandalized at my behavior. “Nice place you have here, the city is amazing I must say. Any chance I can chat with your champion for a while? I have a lot of questions.”
“Sir! I must....” The acolyte was starting to say.
“Of course!” Came that voice I’d heard in my head before, only this time it was out loud and could be heard in the entire temple. The acolyte’s eyes went wide and he shut up instantly. “Roebert, if you would escort William here to the prime’s office.” Her voice making it a command and not a question.
“Yes, Aryanna!” he said and bowed deeply to the altar, then looked at me rather shocked. “This way if you please, sir?”
I smiled, “Lead on.”
He led me around the sacristy and through a side door, then down a long hallway to a room at the end. Opening the door he ushered me inside.
The room was fairly large, with a desk, table, and chairs. Obviously an office for someone important.
Standing by the window was a woman; I found my eyes drawn to her quickly. She was attractive, not beautiful, but attractive in the way that brought your eyes back again and again. She looked strong, but not muscular, her clothing was simple, but well cut in the matter that says you’re a person of means without flaunting it.
“Thank you, Roebert, you may go,” she said and turned to me. “You must be William.”
Portals of Infinity: Book One: Champion for Hire Page 15