by Stone Thomas
“Fine people of Valleyvale,” he continued. “I do regret that you felt the need to come here to this pile of detritus masquerading as a village. With your help, we may yet negotiate for a peaceable coexistence in our fair home. Arden would have you fight without attempting diplomacy first. I’d hate to see any of you injured, or worse, unnecessarily.”
A few people started to grumble. “Vix,” I said, leaning toward the foxkin builder’s soft, pointy ear. “Have your workers start building a prison. Seriously.”
“Over the last day,” he continued, “I have spoken with many of you one on one. It seems that the residents of former Meadowdale and Landondowns have declined to accept you as their own. They are petty, and you are better than them. Come back to the place you belong.”
As the people nodded in lukewarm agreement, I noticed the few fighters from Meadowdale and Landondowns in the group slink away. I couldn’t blame them. They were outnumbered.
“Enough,” I said. “You will not stand here and insult good people that worked hard to make this place a home.”
“Let’s not forget,” the Mayor said, “Arden was banished from Valleyvale, and yet here he is, defying the law as he plans to enter the city again. He’s a criminal, unworthy of your allegiance.”
Yurip poked me in the arm. “Arden!” His voice squeaked. “A word?”
“Yes, Yurip,” I said, taking a few paces from the group.
“Is this true?” he asked. “You didn’t mention that Mayor Ingriss had invoked the Free City Pact.”
“He didn’t,” I said. “I saved his ass from Duul’s cretins a while back, and in return he blamed me for some minor damage to the town and kicked me out.”
“No,” Yurip said. “Banishment is a very specific remedy under the Free City Pact. Here, take my pocket copy. I have more in my office.”
“Let me guess,” I said, “you’re going to stop me from going to Valleyvale.”
“On the contrary,” he said. “The Mayor has been ousted by Kāya’s regime, so his prior banishments are of no effect. If he returns to power, however, all bets are off. Returning to a city you’ve been banished from carries a penalty, up to capital punishment, dependent on the Mayor’s decision.”
“Wonderful,” I said, tucking the legal pamphlet into my pocket. “Maybe he’ll let Lily chop off my head.”
“Maybe,” Yurip said, “but I’m sure they’ll want to put you in the stocks first, after tarring and worming you.”
“I thought it was tar and feather.”
“It was,” he said. “The goal was to humiliate the wrongdoer, but the effect wore off as people got used to that one. One city switched to dung and feather, but that made the summer months unbearable for everyone involved. A recent trend has been to use worms. Sounds worse than feathers at least, don’t you think?”
“Those of you who prefer peace,” the Mayor shouted, “find me in my guest house. The rest of you, I shall pray for.” He walked back through the crowd and was gone.
I stepped back toward Lily and Ambry. “I really hate that guy,” I said. “No offense.”
“We love him,” Lily said, “but even we hate him.”
“Mayor Ingriss said his piece,” I yelled, “now hear mine. Tomorrow morning, we free Valleyvale from the clutches of war. Many of you have loved ones there, and all will be welcome here in Halcyon if they choose to leave. We’ll build this village into a well-defended city that will stand against Duul to the end. It will mean hard work and—”
Yurip gestured for me to stop by slicing his pointer finger across his neck. He hurried toward me and turned me aside.
“The survey results,” he said, “show that people are overworked and under-funned.”
“We’re working on getting funds,” I said.
“No,” he replied, “funned. They’re starting to wonder what they’re fighting for if there’s no hope of ever relaxing or enjoying life here.”
Lily pulled me aside next. “He’s right. Gowes has been wandering around and cheering people up, but that’s a short term solution. As soon as he leaves, people remember that it’s all work and no play in Halcyon.”
“We’re at war!” I said.
Cindra took my hand and turned me aside. “People didn’t come here for war. They came here to escape it. You welcomed people in and offered them protection. I don’t think they realized they’d be the ones providing that protection.”
After being turned aside three times, I was facing forward again. I puzzled over how to proceed. “Show of hands, who’s willing to fight with us?”
Not a single person raised an arm in the air. One man, however, did step forward. He stared at his feet and held a hat in nervous hands.
“Master Arden, sir,” he said. “Some of us just feel that, given the circumstances, fighting would be a mistake. We aren’t trained in combat. We’re just normal people who want to live normal lives. Defending against attacks was terrifying enough without going out there and looking for more of them.”
I scanned the crowd. These were people we had welcomed after an exodus from Valleyvale, rescued from the crumbling catacombs in Meadowdale, and invited here after Landondowns fell to Duul. Their clothes were dusty from their daily construction duty, their eyes pleaded for a break.
“No one has to fight,” I said. “I will, because I believe that freeing Valleyvale will make all of our lives safer, but that’s my choice. Anyone willing to fight with us, meet at the portal arch at dawn. But please, don’t give up on building Halcyon into the city it was destined to become. We’ll find a way to bring culture and happiness here, just give us time.”
The crowd dispersed. “Now,” I said. “Someone tell me something good. Mayblin, how much gold have you mined?”
“None,” the goblin shaman said. She seemed on edge, holding her dark green cheeks in her hands. When she spoke, it was from the side of her mouth, barely showing any of her short yellow teeth. “My people haven’t forgotten the promise you made to dig up the bones of the lord of the rocks and provide him a proper, respectful home. They demand that first, then they get back to work.”
I nodded. Of course the goblin miners were on strike. It was the day before our big battle, and everything that could go wrong, was.
“I’m going to make the rounds,” I said. “Maybe a little free skillmeistering will keep everyone from rioting just a little longer.”
+15
I woke the next morning before dawn to the sound of Nola barking out orders.
“Guardian 1,” she said. “Use your spear attack! Hmm. Okay, Guardian 2, jump kick the other guy!”
I left my chambers and walked into her temple. Five seraph guardians stood perfectly still before her altar. She stared at them and bit her lower lip.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m trying to teach them to fight,” she said. “So far, it’s not working.”
“Guardian 3,” I yelled. “Use your stand-there-and-look-tough maneuver! See? They follow commands if you lower your expectations. By a lot.”
“They just need some combat experience,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll pick up a few tricks as time goes on.”
“Even if they’re not lethal bird-faced killing machines,” I said, “I’ll take what I can get.”
Arden, she said, switching to telepathy, we still don’t know when or where you’ll encounter what we saw in the premonition. I don’t sense Duul nearby, but we can’t rely on that. My psychic powers are growing, but he’s still too powerful to track accurately. Promise me you’ll protect yourself.
I will, I said. In fact, this is probably a good time to tell you something.
You’re taking the Vile Lance, she said.
I’m taking the—. Yes, that. It’s the most effective weapon we have against Duul’s minions. I know you don’t want me to kill Kāya. You’ll just have to trust me. Also, let me maintain the illusion of private thoughts, at least sometimes.
I do trust you, she said. But having
a weapon of death in your hands will change the course of this battle. It’s not too late for Kāya to redeem herself, and killing her would deprive her of that opportunity. If she sees that spear for what it is, she’ll have no reason to think you’re any better than Duul. Also, no to the private thoughts thing. It’s all that sharing that brings us closer.
I carried my weapon toward the portal arch. From here on the hilltop, I could see that the front gates were repaired. The thick bar that fit across the doors from the inside was a solid piece of metal now, even stronger at keeping the doors closed to intruders than the wooden plank we used before. At least our construction crews had accomplished that much.
Lily, Ambry, Cindra, and Mamba headed toward me along with our five seraph guardians. Vix could hardly stand still, bouncing on the tips of her toes as she stood in front of a wooden tower two stories tall.
“Meet the lumber launcher,” she said. “I spent all night on her.”
I turned toward the wooden siege tower. “Hello, lumber launcher. My name is Arden. That’s a nice rack and pinion you’ve got there.”
“It’s for steering,” Vix said. “The tower has wheels so you can position it perfectly.”
“And what else does it do?” I asked.
“I’ve been ordering items from the smith to test out different concepts, and at first I was really excited about a cannon tower. I had to give up on it though, because you’ll want to destroy Valleyvale’s energem towers without blowing a hole through the whole city. I have no idea how to aim a cannon tower yet and besides, blast powder is rare and expensive. We don’t have any.
“Then I started thinking, is there a way to launch a projectile without blast powder? Yes! By harnessing the power of a tightly wound spring.
“So here’s how it works,” she said. “The tower has a wooden box inside filled with lumber planks to launch. There’s also a metal pole that helps you crank the spring. The tighter it is, the further and faster the lumber will launch when you pull the release lever here.
“Just pull out a wooden plank and load it into this cradle so its base rests against the spring plate. Then rotate the crank until the spring is set.” Vix demonstrated as she explained, cranking the metal pole in tight circles until at last, it wouldn’t turn anymore. “That’s the setup. Not complicated at all, right?”
“Right,” I said. “I’m a little surprised by that.”
“When you’re ready to shoot, lift this lever here and it releases the spring’s tension, launching the lumber plank on a wild path through the air that will damage anything in its way — people, buildings, you name it.”
Then she pulled the release lever and we all gasped at the loud crack of metal and wood as the base of the tower jolted into action.
A wooden two-by-four sailed in a high arc, easily flying five stories up before it started to descend. That poor plank sailed into oblivion, clearing the hill and disappearing into the surrounding forest.
“This is going to be so much fun to use,” I said. “And what does the statue do?” I glanced at a crude metal statue of a woman at the tower’s peak.
“It’s a decoy,” Vix said. “It’s meant to look like an archer kneeling on the tower’s top platform and aiming forward. That way, no one will notice the tower’s launch mechanism until it’s too late.”
“This is remarkable,” I said. “I could kiss you.”
“You should kiss me!” she said. “You’re heading off to war and leaving me, pregnant at home.”
“Oh,” I said. “Right.” I stepped forward and smiled as I looked Vix in the eyes. I tilted my head toward hers. She nuzzled her nose against mine and we kissed.
Her breathing got quick. She ran her fingers up my back and began to dig them into my leather vest, pulling me closer. Then they traveled down. I started to pull away when she grabbed my ass with both hands.
“Vix,” I said. “I know the pregnancy hormones are behind this, but we’re a little busy here.”
“I know, I know,” she said. “It’s okay. I can be… self-sufficient until you get back.”
“Just keep the door closed,” I said. “Nola has a voyeuristic streak.”
I heard that, Nola said.
You were meant to, I replied.
I took Vix’s hand. “Thank you for staying and keeping the construction going while we’re gone. And don’t worry about us. We’ll be back soon.”
She nodded.
“Ess!” I yelled. I wasn’t sure how else to summon the gi-ant queen that lived among us with her hundreds of children. Yelling her name seemed to work just fine. Two large gi-ants burrowed up from the ground, followed by their mother.
Her face was pretty, even if all of her features were sharp, bulbous, and sickeningly segmented. Her demeanor, also sharp, was never pretty.
“Leader Arden,” she said. “I assume you need the kind of help that only gi-ants are skilled enough to provide. Speak it now.”
“And you’re not going to demand that I do something to appease you before you’ll help?” I asked.
“Don’t waste my time,” she said. “Appreciate my kind and peaceable disposition and tell me your request. I have a dozen newly-hatched children in need of a feeding.”
“I’ll be gone for a short while,” I said, “and while Nola hasn’t foreseen any attacks on Halcyon, I’d like you to keep your children prepared to defend it just in case.”
“It insults our loyalty that you even ask,” she said, “but wise of you not to assume. We accept.”
And with that, the prickly progenitor of Halcyon’s resident insectoid race popped back into the underground system of tunnels and chambers she and her “children” called home.
That was everything. It was time to go. We were really going to do this.
I bent down to untie and re-tie my boots.
“Arden,” Lily said. “You’re stalling.”
“I just want to wait a moment,” I said, “in case anyone changed their mind about fighting with us.”
“It’s well past dawn,” Lily said. “Only a fool would wait this long.”
She was right. Mayor Ingriss was nowhere to be seen, but the damage he caused was visible in the absence of support we had for freeing Valleyvale.
I took my place behind our siege tower and started to push its giant wooden ass toward the portal. It wouldn’t fit through the low stone arch though. I started to worry, turning toward Vix. Before I could say anything she intervened.
“Like I didn’t think of everything,” Vix said. She stood in front of the tower and put a foot against its base while her hands grasped its sides. She rolled it forward, pushing its base away from her on its wheels as the top of the tower lowered toward her. Two small wheels built into the tower’s top platform landed gently on the ground. The added wheels meant the tower could roll standing up or lying down.
Mamba took Vix by the hands and looked her in the eyes, saying, “Remember, eat whenever you’re hungry. Don’t heat the bathwater too hot. And don’t wait for the moon to tell you she’s ready to dream! Take naps as often as you need to. The recovery beds are a good choice if they’re free, to make sure you’re in perfect health.”
“Thank you, Mamba,” Vix said. She looked at me and laughed. I didn’t think she knew what to do with all of Mamba’s attention.
“Okay,” I said. “We’re going now. Bye!” I spoke the word “Valleyvale” into the arch.
“Look at him go,” Nola said. “It’s like it’s his first day of school.”
“Sure,” Vix said. “If school is a warzone full of ugly slobbering cretins all the females are trying desperately to get away from.”
“Isn’t it?” Nola replied.
+16
I pulled the lumber launcher through the portal first, with Lily and Ambry pushing the tower’s other end. The space beneath the arch provided a clear window between locations until the last fold of Ambry’s robe passed through it, then it blinked green and shut off. I had to activate it again to let th
e others travel over, but at least I didn’t have to stand inside the arch myself the whole time to keep the thing open.
Mamba and Cindra stepped out next with Nola’s familiars. Before the girls had fully passed through the portal, Nola stepped through.
“Did we forget something?” I asked as the green glow disappeared.
“Yes,” she said. “Me. One day we’ll march on Duul’s army and liberate the Imperial City, along with every other village and town he’s subdued. I won’t sit on the sidelines. If this is a dry run for our final battle, I need to be here. I need the experience.”
“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “Kāya wants to kill you! You should be in Halcyon, evolving.”
“My evolution crystal will be there when I get back,” she said. “Our people need to see that you’re not the only one willing to stick out their neck to protect them. Also, my familiars pulse with enough energy to attract Kāya’s attention. At that point, it won’t be long before she senses your psychic waves as you approach the city. I can help with that. I’ve been practicing with masking those waves.
“Duul did exactly that to hide his army during the last attack. I think I’ve figured out how he did it. I’m not as strong as he is, but I can make our approach less noticeable. Kāya will only see what I’m doing if she’s looking for distortions in the psychic field, but she’s never been the vigilant type so there’s little worry there. I can get us right up to her defensive towers without her knowing.”
“And then fly home?” I asked.
“And then get some combat experience,” she said, placing a hand on her hip. A scabbard hung from the thin golden cord around her waist with the hilt of her small iron sword showing. “The only sword skill I have right now is Sharp Mind, which improves the XP I earn but not the damage I do. I won’t unlock more powerful sword skills sleeping inside a crystal shell.”
“Alright,” I said. “But if things go badly, we head back to Halcyon to rethink our plan.”