by Tj Dixon
We wait until the last people port away and then I hold out my hands. Rin, Hermes and Midori all hold onto me and I port us to the spot in the forest where we fought the huge bug. I can sense the walls of Utopia Camerona and they seem charged with magical energy. Naturally there is a port barrier up around the walls. I also sense a vast mass of auras gathered around the other side of the city walls at a safe distance. This side I can’t sense a single aura outside the city, other than our own.
“We seem to have picked the safer side of the city to port in to.” I tell everyone in relief.
“Why are the enemy only on the other side of the city though?” Hermes asks nervously.
“Maybe they’re massing to assault the city.” Rin suggests.
“They’re probably encouraging the city guard to focus their defences on just one side of the city.” Midori tells us with a worried frown. “Then they’ll attack from this side with a small but elite force.”
“Then it may not be very safe here at all.” I say, remembering how well that bounty hunter hid himself. If he hadn’t been using those daggers with the auras I wouldn’t have sensed his attacks until they hit me.
“Any ideas how we get into the city?” Midori asks.
“I was so focused on getting here that I hadn’t really given it much thought.” I admit.
“Why don’t we just walk up to the gates and ask them to let us in?” Rin asks and I look at her as if she’s gone mad.
“Because the city is under siege.” Midori tells Rin, clearly with the same opinion as me.
“But we’re not enemies.” Rin protests.
“They’ll kill us before asking who we are.” Midori tells Rin rather bluntly. Rin looks to me for support but I nod apologetically. Rin is clearly embarrassed but seems to accept it.
“How did the refugees get inside the city?” Hermes asks.
“The teachers and whoever else brought refugees here probably contacted the city guard first.” I sigh.
“Didn’t you say Hinata was in the city?” Rin asks me.
“Yes! Why didn’t I think of that?” I laugh. “She can contact the city guard. She’s even a noble so they should take her seriously despite her age. Of course that’s assuming I can get through to her.”
Chapter 28 (Hinata)
(Flashback)
With Jenny, the elves and the faeries helping protect my people I feel safe. I’ve lost so much that I can never get back, but I am determined I will not lose any more. With help from everyone I am training myself so that one day I can protect my people myself.
I am also using my earth magic to help everyone rebuild or repair their homes. Everyone is very grateful. Like me they’ve lost family and friends. I had a chance to talk to Lena yesterday whilst I was replacing the roof on a small house. It seems she is doing well, though she was as curious and worried as I am about Asuna.
Right now I’m sitting waiting behind my home. The area here is huge and used to be a forest, but is now just dead tree stumps and burnt ground. It is good for magic training though, because even if I use fire magic I can’t do any real harm to anything. Also nobody else comes here so nobody will get hurt if my magic goes wrong.
I have a small fire going to keep me warm whilst I wait, because it is a miserable overcast and freezing winter day. It is only just gone midday but it is dark enough that it feels more like early evening.
Jenny and Elucia got called away to deal with some monsters in the middle of my latest fire lesson. Not that it was exactly going well. Jenny is always very nice to me but I find her lessons harder than anyone else’s. Of course fire has never been a Hoshi element so it is probably more to do with the element than the teacher. Elucia hasn’t tried teaching me anything but she is nice too and her presence is always reassuring as she watches my lessons.
“Are you ready to continue?” Jimmy asks me as he ports in front of me.
“Yes.” I nod eagerly.
Jimmy, being male and human, is the worst mage amongst my guests but I like his lessons best. He seems to understand better than anyone why I have trouble and like Jenny he is always nice to me. The elves try to be patient with me but sometimes they look at me like I’m an idiot when I can’t follow their lessons. The faeries are the worst though, because they always insult me even when I manage to follow the lesson perfectly, which is very rare.
“Today I’ll be showing you how to summon a lightning bolt.” Jimmy tells me and I smile. So far we’ve only worked on defensive and helpful magic like wind shields and flight.
“I’ll do my best.” I tell him with a smile.
“There’s more than one way to create a lightning bolt but this way works for me. To start with, face that way and focus on a tree stump. Now close your eyes, but keep the image of that tree stump in your mind. Feel the slight wind in the air. Now breathe deeply and slowly, just like with flight magic. The air is cold, so it takes a bit more to spark a lightning bolt than it would in summer.
“Draw a line in your mind between yourself and your target. Now near the start of that line, but not too close to you, grind the air together on either side of the line. Yes, like that, but faster. Even faster.” Jimmy tells me and I grind the air even faster just as he said.
There is a huge thunderous roar and even with my eyes closed I can see the flash of lightning. I open my eyes and the tree stump is blackened, but to my horror there is a small blackened corpse the size of a child in front of the tree stump.
“Goblin…” Jimmy says in shock. I am relieved as he says it though, because I was sure I had killed a child. Then five fireballs race at us from around the corpse, but behind them are snarling green goblins. I shiver and panic, but Jimmy quickly raises a wind shield and the fireballs are thrown back and explode a couple of feet in front of us. More goblins appear and the huge area in front of us is now filled with goblins.
“Contact Peter!” Jimmy tells me. Then he picks me up and jumps into the air. He has one arm under my legs and one hand under my bum. He isn’t very good at using flight magic on more than one person at a time, so he is using flight magic on himself and carrying me like this instead of trying to pick us both up with flight magic.
Fireballs race up at us, lighting the overcast afternoon sky. Jimmy dodges them desperately, but even though wind magic is his best element he isn’t Peter. He can’t dodge this many fireballs and he has to shield too.
“Peter!” I call desperately through the mind stone but he doesn’t answer. I call again and again but there’s still no answer. “He’s not answering me.”
“Don’t worry. It looks like we have help already.” Jimmy says with relief.
Below us there are lightning bolts blasting goblins from above the mansion. It must be the faeries, though I can’t see them. The goblins that are still alive have changed their targets and are sending their fireballs at the faeries instead of us. Since the faeries are hidden the goblins must simply be targeting the start of the lightning bolts or perhaps just throwing fireballs at random.
“We’re saved.” I sigh in relief. I am just as relieved for the sake of my people as for my own sake. They’ve suffered more than enough already.
There is a huge explosion, bigger than my mansion, from the other side of town. I look at it in horror before realising it was outside of the town. There are goblins the other side of the explosion. Then lightning blasts form near it and strike the goblins with deadly precision.
“Dairon and the wind sisters.” Jimmy smiles, looking as relieved as I feel. Even though I am relieved I am still shocked and confused.
“Why was our little town attacked by so many goblins?” I ask Jimmy.
“I don’t know.” Jimmy admits with a frown. There is a second huge explosion, but it isn’t as big as the first and the elves manage to shield against it. Then the lightning continues to slaughter the goblins.
“What’s going on?” Jenny asks, floating beside us now. I didn’t sense her port, but I was rather distracted!
�
��Goblins. Lots of goblins. The faeries and elves seem to have everything under control though.” Jimmy tells her.
“At least you’re both safe. I’m going to help the elves take care of those wretched goblins.” Jenny says but before she can do it she turns her head suddenly to the left and ports away. A huge wall of fire rises up near where she ported to, burning the land below her. The flames race away from the town and as it moves fireballs leap up at her. There are yet more goblins attacking from that direction but she clearly killed quite a few before they got their shields up.
I feel Jimmy port us and then he is blasting lightning bolts at the goblins. They are shielding themselves now so neither the lightning nor the flames are proving effective, but at least we are keeping them busy so the people of the town are safe for now. We however are certainly not safe as the goblins send fireballs up at us. I summon a wind shield, because Jimmy is so busy attacking and dodging that he doesn’t have one up. I’m glad I do because no sooner have I done so than a fireball hits it.
It seems the faeries have taken care of the first horde of goblins because the air is suddenly filled with their lightning, raining down on the goblins below us. It isn’t long before the goblins here are all dead and it seems the elves have dealt with their goblins too.
“There don’t seem to be any more enemies nearby. For now let’s land.” Jenny tells us and ports to the ground. Jimmy ports next to her a moment later and gently puts me down. I get up and see Dairon and the elves are here too. I can’t see the faeries but they are probably just hidden like usual.
“Why were we attacked by so many enemies?” I ask everyone nervously. “We’re only a small town and nowhere near anything important.”
“We can sense dimensional energy across this whole world and there have been goblins and worse appearing everywhere.” A faery says without revealing her presence.
“Your senses extend over the whole world?” I ask in shock.
“Only our dimensional senses.” She says and I can hear a shrug in her voice.
“If the situation is that bad, we’ll be attacked again if we stay here.” Dairon says. Then a chill runs down my back.
“What about the villages? Have they been attacked?” I ask in a panic.
“At least based on the dimensional energy we can sense I would say no, but it is only a matter of time.” Sakura tells me calmly.
“We need to save the villagers too, but where can we go if the whole world is under attack?” I ask fearfully.
“A city should be able to withstand the enemy. We were always wary of attacking Contractian cities. They are always well defended.” Dairon says.
“So we should go to the nearest city?” I ask.
“Sakura, can you send the humans to the nearest large city?” Dairon asks.
“Yes, but we may as well open a portal, your majesty. Sending all the humans in this rotten place that far one by one would use a lot of mana.” A faery, presumably Sakura, replies.
“Hinata, can you get everyone to gather here as quickly as possible?” Dairon asks me.
“Yes, right away.” I agree and turn towards the town.
“We’ll get the people who are in the mansion.” Jimmy says and I turn back for a moment.
“Thanks Jimmy.” I say with a smile.
As it happens the townspeople are already on their way towards me. The battle didn’t exactly escape their notice and there is worry on every face I see. They are all too familiar with losing the people they love or care about and are clearly worried that is exactly what they are about to go through again.
“Everyone gather around the elves! They’re going to send us to safety!” I call out and then remember that I am meant to be hiding the fact that they are elves. Oh well, it’s too late to worry about it now. At least everyone seems reassured to hear that we have elves on our side!
I check everyone’s face as they pass me and to my relief everyone is here. There was a time I wouldn’t have had any idea whether they were, but sadly there are a lot less people now. Also I worked with them to rebuild the town, so I have spent time with everyone now. They are truly my people and many are my friends too. I will not let anyone else die if I can help it, but I wish I had more power to protect them myself.
I return with the last person. He’s a boy about my age called Gregory and like almost everyone in the town he looks like a typical Contractian. His mother was killed in the same attack that killed mine and like so many others in the town he doesn’t have any living family now, but the town has become his family. Somehow despite everything he always manages to keep a smile on his face. I think it’s unnatural to keep on smiling like that after everything that has happened and it can seem really creepy, but I’m glad he can still smile.
“Hinata, where will we go?” Gregory asks with his usual smile and cheerful voice.
“To a big city, where we’ll be safe.” I tell him.
“I’ve always wanted to see a city.” He grins. I wish I was as enthusiastic. “Which city?”
“I don’t know.” I admit. To my relief we have reached the elves and there is a round purple portal about ten feet by ten feet hanging in the air, so there is no more time for talk. Most of the townspeople have already gone through the portal.
“It looks fun.” The boy grins and runs past the three old women who were still ahead of us. He jumps through the portal and is followed rather less energetically by the last three women. Only Dairon, Jimmy and Jenny are here now other than the hidden faeries.
“Is everyone from the mansion through?” I ask Dairon.
“Yes. You’d better go through now. The portal will close soon.” Dairon tells me.
“Not until all of the villagers have been saved.” I tell him firmly.
“We’ll handle that but your people need a leader right now. Who knows what the situation is like on the other side of that portal?” Dairon tells me. I frown but suddenly wind magic pushes me through the portal. It is so quick that I simply don’t have time to react. Going through the portal feels like a simple port.
On the other side of the portal is a large street. The townspeople were all waiting nervously and look relieved to see me. There are a few people walking both ways along the street but they don’t seem to be bothered by a small town’s worth of people just appearing in the middle of the street. Perhaps they’re used to this sort of thing.
“Lady Hinata…? What do we do now?” Asks one of those three old women who went through the portal just before me. I’m only thirteen! How am I meant to know the answer to that!? What do you do when you take your whole town into the city having lost your homes?
“Who are you people?” A young woman asks from behind me. She ported there and turning I see she is wearing red mage robes.
“I’m Hinata Hoshi and these are my people. Who are you?” I ask politely.
“I’m with the city guard. Was your town attacked like all the others?” She asks.
“Yes.” I nod.
“Then you need to see Mayor Perry. She is personally organising accommodation and food for all refugees.” The guard says and I smile in relief.
“Where can I find her?” I ask.
“I’ll show you the way.” The guard says with a friendly smile.
(End of Flashback)
The refugee camp is crowded and all my people are squeezed into one huge brown tent, but it is warm and we have enough to eat and drink as long as we ration everything. The smell drove me a little crazy at first but somehow I got used to it.
I’m still not used to sleeping on the huge mat that covers the tent floor, squeezed between two other girls. At least it is Lena on my left. She may not be my slave anymore but she is very much my friend and the person here that I know best. On my right is Sarah. She’s a girl about my age from the town. I didn’t know her very well before we arrived and she has kept very quiet since, but like me she doesn’t have any family. Both of them are asleep and I feel like I will be soon too.
There
must be close to a thousand people in here. I know all of the people from my town and some of the people from the villages but there are so many people here I don’t know. Whether I know them or not though they are my people and I will do everything in my power to protect them.
“Hinata?” Peter’s voice calls through the mind stone and I almost jump out of my skin in surprise.
“Peter?! You’re alive?” I answer stupidly.
“Yes. I have Rin, Hermes and Midori here with me. We’re outside the city though. Can you ask the city guards to let us in? We’re at the gate furthest from the enemy.”
“That might be tricky. The mayor has us in the refugee camp at the centre of the city and we’re not allowed to leave.” I tell Peter nervously.
“Is everyone there ok?” Peter asks and I can feel the disappointment in his mental voice.
“We’re safe. How about I ask the mayor to let you in?” I suggest.
“Don’t.” Peter tells me firmly. Then there’s a pause and I can tell through the mental link that he is considering his next words very carefully. “Don’t trust Perry at all and definitely don’t tell her that you know me. Don’t make it obvious that you don’t trust her though. Have you seen Rin’s mother there?”
“No. Is she here?”
“She should be in the city.”
“We’re all being treated well so she should be ok.” I assure Peter.
“I hope so.” Peter says emotionally.
“Is everyone else ok?” I ask.
“They should be safe at the academy. It’s well protected.”
“Is Asuna back at the academy with everyone?”
“Yes. She should be fine.” Peter says and I sigh in relief.
“I’ll see if I can sneak out of here and convince the guards to let you in.” I tell Peter.
“I wish I didn’t have to ask you to do this. If it was just me I’d tell you not to take the risk, but out here we’re really vulnerable.” Peter tells me.
“I’ll do my best.” I tell Peter with as much confidence as I can muster.