by Jez Cajiao
You have died…
Chapter Twenty
I gasped, sitting up and clutching at my chest and neck as I felt myself back in my own body. I coughed, blood frothing in my mouth, and turned to my side, spitting it out. I could hear people running about and voices raised in anger and confusion. I coughed again, spitting more blood out, and groaned. The cuts across my throat left my hand bloody, even as my mana dipped precipitously, with Oracle using it to heal me as quickly as possible.
Before I could speak, I felt something rammed into my lips, and I almost choked as liquid flooded my mouth.
“Drink it; trust me,” said a familiar voice and I looked up the arm holding the potion, to find Bane crouched there. I swallowed, trusting him immediately, and felt waves of pain running over me as my abused body rebelled against the damage.
It only took a handful of seconds, Oracle pushing as much mana as I had left into the ‘Battlefield Triage’ spell, before I was healing over, bones popping as they restructured fully, flesh knitting together, and organs returning to good health.
I finished swallowing the dregs of the potion, and I felt hands lying me back, legs behind me propping me half up, and something soft under my head, and I looked up to see Hanau helping to support me.
I glanced about, my mind slowing from its frantic post battle crash to take in the scene around me.
I was laid out on the deck, blood pooling around me, with my upper half laid across Hanau’s legs. He supported my head with a rolled-up shirt and was whispering to me to not panic, that it was all okay. His voice gentle and kind, even as Decin’s barked out orders nearby.
Bane rose from his kneeling position by my side, the empty mana potion tossed aside as he switched between looking at me and the surrounding deck. Opposite Bane stood Lydia, and in a tight circle around us were her squad, all dressed to one degree or another, but their weapons out and ready.
I forced myself up, Bane and Hanau helping me as I coughed and cleared my throat of blood and potion one last time, before calling out, even as Oracle swept me with another run of healing.
“It’s okay!” I said, waving to them. Now that I was upright, I could see the entire ship was at battle stations. Its two small cannons had been rolled out and armed, mana flickering over the runes that covered them. The crew that weren’t needed at battle stations, and even little Isabelle, all had weapons in hand and formed a protective ring around me.
“It’s okay…” I said again, a feeling of warmth filling me as I realized the way they’d all come together, determined to protect me. “Thank you, all of you, but it’s not an attack. You can stand down.”
I gingerly made my way to the railing and leaned against it, reaching up to feel the ridged faint scars on my neck from the claws, and I grinned at Oracle self-consciously as she landed before me, her beautiful, perfect face marred by a frightened scowl.
“What the hell just happened, Jax!” She cried out, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tight.
“It’s all right, honestly…” I whispered to her, hugging her gently, before raising my voice to the others, figuring the truth couldn’t make things much worse than whatever people would come up with on their own.
“Okay…looks like it’s time to let you all in on another little detail…you all know I’m different,” I began. “What you don’t know is just how different. This is a little complicated, but basically…”
I spent the next hour telling the history of the Empire, and the Emperor Amon, as I understood it, and explaining that he was my ancestor, that he created special places with bodies that could call to me and others like me, such as my brother. That we were called to protect and to defend people until the legions could arrive, and that now that the legions were no more, I was all that was left, besides Tommy.
I answered a few questions, but mostly I talked, and they listened. By the end of it, I was feeling weak as a kitten, having had my body pushed to breaking point before I’d gone to sleep, and instead of the restful nap I’d needed, I’d instead fought for my life and died in a sunken city. The mental strain and blood loss combined to leave me exhausted again, despite the healing.
Decin had shouldered his way through people and sat nearby, holding Hanau’s hand, the blood covering his partners clothes showing just how bad it’d been as I spoke.
“So laddie, whut yer tellin’ us, is tha’ yer a prince o’ th’ old Empire? A hero? Do tha’ be right?” He asked, and I paused.
“Yes, and no, I suppose.” I said, rubbing my chin in thought. “Yes, I’m of the Emperor’s bloodline, but my father, the shit biscuit that he is, is a Baron, or was, and he’s been on Nimon’s side this whole time. I don’t really know where I fall in the whole nobility thing. And I’m no hero, I just…I just kinda do what has to be done.”
“You’ll be a prince when you conquer the continent.” Oracle said, and I swore I could have heard a pin drop after that statement.
“Yer gonna conquer th’ entire continent?” Decin asked after a minute, and I drew in a breath, thinking fast. Did I want to do that?
Hell, I didn’t particularly like being in charge of the people back at the Tower; it was far more hassle than I liked, and I really wasn’t very good at it…but if the alternative was assholes like my father, or Barabarattas, being in charge…
“I don’t know,” I said eventually. “I hadn’t planned that far ahead, I’m not interested in being in charge, but equally, I’m not going to leave ‘Lord Fucktard’ ruling Himnel, so it might come to that, yet.”
“And if you’re going to conquer the continent…where do we go after that?” asked Barrett quietly, watching me carefully.
“We’ll see. For now, let’s just get a society that is more interested in helping each other get built. Once we’re safe and strong, we can look at the Empire again.”
“What happened in the dream?” A voice called from the back, and I leaned back, taking a drink from the coffee I’d been passed by a sailor. I told them a sanitized version of the dream, having discussed the past and what happened generally to them before. By the time I finished, I saw Hanau, Decin, and Bane looking at each other intently.
“What is it?” I asked them, and Bane shook his head.
“Perhaps it’s something better discussed in private, my lord,” he said, and I took the hint. Decin nodded and turned to the crew, getting people moving with a few shouts and good-natured light kicks that made people laugh. In short order, Lydia’s squad was sent back down below to get fully dressed, now that the sun was beginning to rise in the east, and I called her over to join us as Decin began to speak.
“Well, laddie, it be like this…there were a load of old cities tha’ were lost, wiped off th’ face o’ th’ realm in th’ cataclysm. Some o’ them be normal, and some no; some did be floatin’, or even flyin’ cities. The stonework ye described, and th’ pool, it be makin’ a case fer it bein’ a floatin’ city tha’ be lost to time. There be one a good week’s flight to the south; th’ bits ye can reach all be long plundered now. Th’ rest be sunk to th’ bottom o’ th’ ocean. The races ye describe, though, I never heard o’ them, except th’ merrow.”
“I’ve heard tales of the other two.” Bane spoke up.
“The armored figures sound like a variation on the coastal Chuul. I’ve seen them before; as spiked and evil-looking as you say they were, I’d think a Deepwater variant. They usually raid anything they can, so other races tend to kill them whenever possible, as the Chuul only respect strength. The other, maybe a species of Sea Elf? I don’t know. The black eyes and skin don’t sound right, but the actions, maybe…”
“The fucker tore my throat out,” I said touching the ridged scars, and he nodded.
“Would you prefer to die slowly, or have it end quickly? The few Sea Elves I’ve heard of were very…blunt and practical. Flux warned us about them when I was young; he used to tell tales of the Oceans, and that would fit with them, of course it could be that they just di
dn’t like you, and wanted your gear as well.”
“They had fuck-all,” I said, nodding my head. “They were fighting with clubs and rocks.”
“They were gifted mages, I’ve heard; if something had stolen their magic, they’d have grabbed whatever they had to hand,” Bane said, shrugging. “At least that’s what I’d do. You might have found a Sea Elf nursery; the local group would have been intent on slaughtering anything they’d see as a threat to their children…”
“Or something totally different.” Said Hanau, shaking his head. “There’s really no way of telling, unless you can go back?”
“Not as far as I know,” I said, finishing my coffee and setting the mug aside. “Who knows what there was?”
“So, you could be pulled somewhere like that at any time?” Lydia asked me, and Oracle spoke up quickly.
“No! He can be called when he’s asleep as he relaxes, and his guard is down. I’ll see to it he’s protected from it from now on.”
“No, you won’t,” I rebutted her. “Normally when this happens, I’m all someone has, I’ve seen hundreds of villages destroyed, innocents slaughtered, and children killed over the years. I will not leave them to face the night alone, not when I could help them. You can prevent me from being pulled to them when it’s dangerous for us, like when we’re resting between battles or while we’re in the city, but otherwise no. I’ll not let people die when I could help them.” I said, and Oracle glared at me.
“You could have died if I hadn’t been here,” she said, a touch of anger and fear in her voice.
“I’ve survived hundreds of these dreams over the years, Oracle, all without healing magic. Believe me, I’d have survived; my body heals the injuries somehow, I don’t pretend to understand how, even in my old world, but it did it.”
“I still don’t like it.” She said frowning.
“You don’t have to like it.” I said. “You just have to do it. I’m sorry Oracle, but I won’t let someone face the creatures I’ve seen alone, not if I can help it. That’s an end to it,” I said the last bit firmly while looking around, fixing the others with a glare as they were about to speak.
I got a round of nods, even though some where clearly unhappy. The happiest of them all seemed to be Hanau as he gazed at Decin, and I couldn’t help but quirk an eyebrow at him, where he sat smiling faintly, patting Decin’s hand.
“You heard something you like?” I asked him and he smiled.
“Definitely. We both did, didn’t we?” He said, looking at Decin, who I saw now had tears in his eyes.
“What?” I asked confusedly.
“Ach, hell, ye’d probably no remember, hell, it may no have been ye; iff’n I understand it right, it were mebbe yer brother… but I grew up in a village in th’ forest. Miles from anywhere, a proper shithole it was… but it were home, yer know?” He sighed and shook his head in remembrance. “It no be there now. It were attacked by a creature when I were only a wee laddie. Great big thing, like a hairless wolf with six legs and scales. It tore through the village when I were a bairn, killed half o’ us before this big eejit appeared. ‘E were naked, runnin’ around wit’ a great big mace in both hands. ‘E jumped on it, an’ fair nearly beat it th’ crap out o’ it before it even knew ‘e were there.” Decin scrubbed at his face, and snorted loudly, shaking his head before going on gruffly. “Ma father, ‘e led us, and we ran. Left everythin’ in th’ village, an’ jus’ ran. The crazy bastard fightin’ it just kept shoutin’ fer us to go and kicking twelve shades o’ shit outta it. Never saw nothin’ like it.” He grinned at the memory. “Big bastard swinging his cock at it, darin’ it to try and bite it, while singing some crazy song about bein’ too sexy fer his shirt.”
“It was Tommy,” I said immediately. “That guy could piss anyone off, and that song…I hope it killed him.” I shook my head as I thought about it, remembering that phase he’d gone through, singing shit like that just to wind me up.
“Well, me Da’ went back a few days later wit’ a huntin’ party; they found the creature, but no sign o’ the mad bastard. The corpse looked like it’d been hit by a mountain by th’ end. It were th’ final straw, an’ we all moved to th’ city after tha’.”
“When the job is done, our bodies tend to last a few hours, then that’s it. We just…fall apart, becoming dust. There must have been someone in your village that knew about us, that made a sacrifice of blood to the altar and woke us.” I said, smiling. “I’m glad it worked.” I thought about if for a few seconds. I realized the vast drop off in Dreams over the last few years must have meant that Tommy was responding to them; with him being here, it probably pulled him in first.
“Well, there’s the family quest fixed!” Hanau said, grinning at Decin as he clearly read something from his own notifications.
“Aye! It’s changed!” he said, and I looked at Hanau questioningly.
“Decin’s entire clan swore to find the man that saved them; more than half the village swore along with them. It was one of the reasons we managed to get the funds together for the ship. Everyone chipped in. We’ve been asking questions for years, then you go to help someone, literally from our deck. Its fate, lending a hand.” He grinned widely as he realized something else. “Well, if you can find Tommy, then you’ll definitely have a few more villagers from Decin’s side, as most of them have been searching for him for the last ten years!”
“Ten years…” I whispered, thinking back to it, and realizing it was about right, we were in our early teens then, learning how to control the fear and just starting to get good at manipulating the mana wight bodies. They were far stronger and more flexible than our own, and we’d come to realize that, except for the pain, it could be fun, especially when we were summoned for a minor monster, like that one sounded. I snorted again at the mental image of Tommy shaking his cock at the monster and singing ‘I’m too sexy’ at it as a taunt. It made me miss him more, but knowing he was around here somewhere, and that I had a place to start looking, made it worthwhile.
We talked for a little longer, me sharing a few memories of Tommy acting like an idiot, before we drifted apart, the others returning to their respective jobs; Decin and Hanau to tend to the ship and get us moving, Barrett and Lydia to chivvy her squad to begin training and checking their gear, and Oracle making a fuss over me. Bane waited until Oracle had calmed down again, before gathering up my naginata and passing it to me.
“Again?” I asked, my heart dropping, and he nodded.
“Again. An hour until the first meal, then we will rest and meditate for an hour, before working until lunch. After that, we can prepare for tonight.”
I groaned, but I knew it had to be done, and looking like a pussy before my bodyguard was not going to help me at all.
I used some of my regenerated mana to summon a pair of springs, one for Bane to relax, and one so that I could scrub the dried blood off myself.
As soon as I was clean, we started again with a short warm up, before repeating the kata from yesterday. After a cool down, we ate a quick meal of gritty brown bread and mellow white cheese, washed down with summoned water, and meditated.
The remainder of the morning flew by, as Bane added in a few strikes and sweeping deflects before we started to spar. The sparring was frustrating, since we could only use the stabs and blocks we’d trained in that morning. My usual combination of grappling and kicks couldn’t be used, so he solidly kicked my arse.
I then spent a couple of hours using the last of the potion ingredients we had with Tel, making a good stockpile of potions before we eventually gave up and retired for a few hours’ sleep, while the crew watched over us all.
I was roused as midnight came and we reached outer edge of our search zone. Our potions had been divvied up, as per my request to Tel. Each member of the squad and Barrett had four healing and three stamina potions, Arrin had four mana in addition to his potions, and I carried ten of each in my Bag of Holding. The remainder, a couple dozen of each, was to be taken b
ack to the Tower and used however they were needed. I also decided that it would be better for the Tower if I sent my alchemy kit back with Tel, as, if I decided I needed one, I’d be able to get one in the city somehow, I had little doubt.
We gathered on the deck, speaking quietly as Barrett and Decin discussed possible landmarks from half remembered conversations he’d had years ago.
It took another hour of low flying, an hour that stretched many nerves almost to the breaking point as the sounds of the wind blowing through the tops of trees close below us stressed us all.
Eventually, Decin called a halt, and I moved back to him, everyone getting themselves ready.
“This be as close as I can get yer, even wit’ all th’ other lights out; th’ engine flare be too noticeable te go much closer…” Decin said apologetically, and I shook my head.
“It’s okay, my friend, this is close enough. We were always going to have to land and search this section on foot.” I clasped wrists with him, and got a hesitant hug from Hanau, which I laughed and returned, before I headed down onto the main deck, gathering up my team.
I looked at Barrett, and he nodded firmly; the rest of the team spread out behind him, so I let him lead the way over to the side of the ship, waiting as the rope ladder was unfurled. Jian went over first, Lydia and Bane next, then me, Miren, Stephanos, and Cam, with Arrin bringing up the rear.
Once we were down safe, in the forest, I summoned a Firebolt to my hands and waved it up at the ship, before dismissing it, and they moved away slowly, turning and picking up speed as they flew.
In just a few minutes, all was silent in the forest, and I looked around at the others, aware that only Bane and I could really see very far.
“Use one of the magelights, but keep it low powered,” I said, and Lydia handed one out, giving Arrin a whispered warning as she handed it to him. The gentle light soon illuminated the small group.
Bane moved off quickly as agreed, while the others waited with me, staring into the darkness and listening carefully, hoping against hope we’d not landed near anything too dangerous.