LXXXI
When Niall awoke at daybreak, he found a large tyger in bed next to him. He understood the message and dressed quickly. He smiled at her before leaving.
When Nerdraaage made his morning visit to the tavern, he was surprised to see Dangalf already at a table and drinking. He joined his friend and ordered a beer. Dangalf nodded to him but was otherwise silent. Nerdraaage could see that his friend was hurting, and it was up to him to make everything better. “Everyone’s gotten laid except you,” he said.
“Are you casting aspersions on our innocent Ashlyn?” asked Dangalf.
“Didn’t you hear them fucking all night?”
“I thought it was just the boat creaking.”
“No,” said Nerdraaage. “They were fucking all night.” Dangalf realized subtlety was wasted on a dwarf. And he remembered how Nerdraaage didn’t necessarily get subtlety even before he was a dwarf. “I say we stay another night and you get one of those tarts that was in here last night,” said Nerdraaage. “And maybe I’ll get one too.”
“Didn’t you just get married?”
“Angus said it’s the bucket that taints the well. The well doesn’t taint the bucket.”
“And what would a dwarf know about water?”
“Well, it’s just an expression. It means—”
“I know what it means.”
With Niall gone, Ashlyn returned to bipedal form. It wasn’t that she hadn’t enjoyed what happened last night—no, it certainly wasn’t that—but the daylight made her self-conscious so close to her friends’ quarters, and she thought that tyger form was the best way to get him to depart before there were any other happenings.
“What?” was the only response Ashlyn got when she knocked on Doppelganger’s door, but she entered anyway. He was shirtless and still in bed and looked at her impassively. She smiled and sat on the bed next to him. She touched the long pink scar on his stomach, and he quivered.
“I can put some extracts on this. There would be no scar.”
“No.”
She took her hand away. Ciar had told her Red Schoolers would want to keep their scars. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.”
“You look good,” she said. “I wanted to tell you about last night.”
“Please don’t.”
She glared at him, and he turned away. “I wanted to tell you about his tattoo.”
“Why?”
“It was a rune. A dragon bloodrune he called it. Burned into his skin orc style with a hot iron.”
“What does that mean?”
“He was a dragoon,” she said. “1337.” The numbers stood for “leet”: elite in game jargon. She hoped this old reference would humor him a bit. “You dueled a dragoon. He thought you did very well for your rank.”
“For my rank,” muttered Doppelganger.
“And you’re only going to get better. He told me.” She put her hand on his chest. His breathing grew heavy, and his heart pounded.
“You should leave,” he said. And she did. She was apprehensive when she joined her friends in the tavern, but she smiled bravely and her friends greeted her without judgment or ridicule. Everything seemed perfectly normal, but she was distressed to see Dangalf already drinking. (It was not unusual or of concern for Nerdraaage to drink in the morning.)
For his part Dangalf only had to look at the shining Ashlyn to forgive her. After all, she likely didn’t know that she had betrayed him. He also had the small consolation of knowing that two more of his divinations had been realized: Ashlyn had taken a lover, and his own heart had been broken. He kept these revelations to himself. He wanted to use his divination deck further, but he was still chilled by the memory of his ghostly pursuer. There was no reason to believe she was out of the picture. Just lagging behind them. Abigail the elf seer had called her.
It wasn’t long before Doppelganger joined them. They ordered breakfast from a wench of about thirteen but, like all the young workers they had met, mature beyond her years. It was a revelation to see clever and polite children after coming from a world where most of the adults were not. After finishing breakfast they ordered extra food to take for lunch and the rescued children and in case Longfellow was hungry.
Ashlyn presented a small package to Gordon, and he gingerly unwrapped the gravewhisper flower. “One healing potion for me,” said Gordon. “Another for the alchemist who makes them, and the third I will send off to you.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said.
“I don’t want more than what is coming to me,” he insisted. “Besides, you adventurers will likely need it before I do.” And so they bid farewell to Captain Gordon, the port-reeve, the smithy, and some drunk who wandered into the line of town dignitaries.
Longfellow refused the food with a shake of his head, and they launched. It was pleasant enough sailing, and after several hours they could see the sky before them getting red too early and in the wrong direction for sunset. Longfellow said it was Brimstone, the goblin lands, where smoking craters colored the sky. Ashlyn could smell the sulfur. But they would not travel that far. The goblin slave camp was known to be on the coast of elven-occupied lands, and Longfellow said he thought he knew where it was.
The enchanted map changed to show their slow progress toward their destination, a ruined temple for Sirona. Longfellow pulled into a hidden cove and grounded his boat. It was agreed that they would approach the camp from the woods. Once they had the children, they would either return to the ship or Dangalf would signal with a fireball for a pickup on the run. “The sky is full of fire in these parts,” puffed Longfellow. “How will I know yours?”
“Mine will be green,” said Dangalf.
“Can you do that?” asked Ashlyn.
“Give me a farthing.”
“For doubting you?”
“I can make copper burn green.” And Ashlyn smiled and demanded a farthing from Nerdraaage, and he gave it without protest because Ashlyn was their healer and they were going into combat.
The four stepped from the boat onto the ground, and Doppelganger pushed the ship back until it was floating free again, and Longfellow dropped anchor. Nerdraaage made himself unappear and took point.
After a few hours, Ashlyn stopped them as Nerdraaage returned and became visible again. He had found the slave camp up ahead. He saw half a dozen human children and at least one each of dwarfling and elfling in cages. There were a dozen goblins, but they didn’t seem to be guarding their captives so much as they were gambling and eating and sleeping. They pressed on with Nerdraaage still unappeared and on point but not so far ahead of his friends. They met with him again in the cover of trees just outside the goblin camp.
The goblins were green-skinned endomorphs with a variety of displeasing characteristics: short, bow legged, hunchbacked, potbellied, wrinkled, beady eyed, and cloven hoofed. They all had at least one gold tooth and some a mouthful. Doppelganger saw one especially repugnant goblin poking a stick into a cage, teasing a small red-haired girl, and decided he would kill him first.
The goblins were in fact using the ruins of an old temple. Dangalf thought it was clear evidence that if the gods ever did walk upon this world, they had since departed. What just god could allow one of his or her temples to be used for such an abomination?
It was decided that Doppelganger would charge the camp and just start killing. The goblins didn’t seem to pose much of a threat to him, and he would have Dangalf’s firepower and Ashlyn’s healing from the trees to support him. Nerdraaage would watch his back, striking and unappearing as needed. Dangalf initiated a ready check. Doppelganger and Nerdraaage answered in the affirmative. Ashlyn answered in the affirmative as well, only not as quickly or confidently.
“Okay,” said Dangalf with a nod. Doppelganger charged the temple grounds and let rip a horrendous war cry just before he split the skull of the goblin girl-teaser. He killed another startled goblin with one blow before the goblins even knew what was happening. When they realized they were under attack, str
ange Gobspeak cries sounded through the camp.
A readied goblin appeared before Doppelganger. Doppelganger charged, and the goblin threw a weighted net that wrapped around Doppelganger’s legs and brought him tumbling down. Other goblins appeared and started pelting the fallen giant with stones from slings and small arrows from wrist-mounted crossbows. Ashlyn was furiously healing Doppelganger. His wounds brought on his bloodwarp, and he tore through the net that entwined him.
Nerdraaage killed the goblin who netted Doppelganger. Now that he was visible, the goblins targeted him also. Doppelganger charged his attackers on the temple altar. He swung his axe horizontally and beheaded one and bisected another goblin with one blow. By the time Dangalf got off his first fireball—an enormous blast that incinerated one, killed two others, and knocked back half a dozen—the goblins had had enough. Doppelganger had to chase after them to kill two more. When he returned to camp, Nerdraaage was already picking at the cage locks to free the children.
“That was some nice healing,” Dangalf told Ashlyn.
“Thanks,” said Ashlyn. “There’s a lot of magic on these grounds to draw upon. Nice fireball by the way.” But before they could congratulate each other further, a second wave of attackers appeared. Four armored and oversized goblins charged at them. Doppelganger parried and pushed back one of the attackers, who lost his helmet. They were not oversized goblins; they were dwarves!
Dangalf managed to freeze one in an ice block and flee. Ashlyn morphed in tyger form and escaped back to the trees. Doppelganger battered at one of the dwarves, but he was strong and well armored and would not die easily like the goblins did. Ashlyn morphed back to elf form and healed Doppelganger from a hidden position as he battled three dwarves. Nerdraaage struck and unappeared as he fought his sturdy racial brothers.
From the woods, Dangalf blasted a dwarf with a quick fireball. The battle seemed to belong to the Keepers when a dwarf blackguard appeared behind Ashlyn. Dangalf saw him, but the dwarf struck even before he could yell. He stabbed Ashlyn with a dagger, and she dropped silently to the ground. The blackguard saw Dangalf preparing a fireball to strike him, but he just smiled a black-toothed grin and unappeared. Dangalf hesitated. He wanted to run to Ashlyn, but if the blackguard was still there, he could easily kill Dangalf. “Help!” Dangalf shouted. “A blackguard has stabbed Ashlyn.” And then he spun around fearfully. Was that a blackguard stepping behind him?
Both Doppelganger and Nerdraaage ran to Ashlyn, and Dangalf joined them. Ashlyn looked glassy eyed and was barely breathing. Nerdraaage felt behind her. “Good cut,” said Nerdraaage. Nerdraaage tasted his bloodied hand. “Teatwhisker,” he said.
“What!” said an exasperated Dangalf. But before Nerdraaage could answer, Dangalf recalled the blackguard poison books he had read. The blackguards had vulgar sexual names for their poisonous plants. It helped the less literate members of their class learn their herbology.
“This blackguard is a baddie. It’s a terrible poison to use on elves.”
“What do you mean terrible!” cried Dangalf.
“Well,” said Nerdraaage calmly, “good for her.” Nerdraaage produced a small glass vial and poured it into Ashlyn’s mouth. “Try to swallow that,” he said. Ashlyn, still glassy eyed, appeared to swallow, or twitch. They watched her for some time. Ashlyn tried to speak. They leaned in more closely. Finally and hoarsely she said, “Idiots, go get the kids!”
“I’ll go,” said Doppelganger.
“There is still a blackguard about,” warned Dangalf. His eyes teared up as Nerdraaage fussed over Ashlyn. Nerdraaage, who had seemed the most unfit for his race and class and this world, had stepped up to become a brave dwarf and a skilled blackguard. And he saved Ashlyn. Soon she was sitting. She felt ill, but she smiled to comfort Dangalf, who looked sick with worry. She cast healing spells upon herself when she was able.
They found Doppelganger, who had freed and collected all the children. Ten there were: eight humans, a she-elfling, and a male dwarfling. The children who surrounded Doppelganger excitedly ran to the newcomers. They were still young enough, and rescued early enough, so that their ordeals had not compromised their innate exuberance.
Nerdraaage looted the last of the corpses, and then he and Ashlyn led the children into the woods. Doppelganger pointed to the dwarf still blinking but otherwise frozen in a block of ice. “That was quite a spell you cast,” said Doppelganger. “Counter it and I will kill him.”
“No,” said Dangalf. He began to cast an unnecessarily large fireball, the biggest he had ever cast, and shot it at the dwarf trapped in the ice block. The dwarf and ice exploded in a shower of ice shards and blood. It was overkill, and even Doppelganger thought so. And he smiled and patted Dangalf on the back. They caught up to the others, and the children marveled as Doppelganger’s bloodwarp faded and he returned to normal.
Dangalf, reflecting on his vulgar display of power, worried now that his pyrotechnics might have signaled wyvern riders or some other monstrous response. He told the others of his concerns, and they agreed he should signal for Longfellow. He took a farthing and blasted it into the air in a great, streaming, green fireball. They hunkered down near the shore until Longfellow sailed up after an eternity of twelve minutes. They rushed the children onto the boat, and Doppelganger pushed them back into the river before climbing aboard.
The stoic Longfellow counted the children and pronounced it was a “good catch.” He turned the craft back the way they had come, this time traveling with the current. They would sail straight through to Portsmouth.
The dwarfling sat with Nerdraaage, who was going through his loot. The dwarfling’s eyes, already recognizing fine jewelry, marveled at a solid silver ring. “Can I have that?” he asked.
“No,” said Nerdraaage, quickly putting the ring away. “But you can have a farthing.” And he handed the dwarfling a copper coin, which meant he had to give one to each of the youngsters who rushed to him with their hands out.
“Did we get any good loot?” asked Ashlyn.
“A little,” said Doppelganger. “Mostly junk.”
“Those goblin teeth will set you up just fine,” said Longfellow with a one-eyed wink.
“Goblin teeth?” asked Ashlyn.
“The gobbies,” Longfellow said between puffs. “Puts all their wealth in their heads. Silver, gold, gems.” The Keepers looked back and forth between themselves in varying degrees of distress. “Killed gobbies and didn’t take the teeth,” muttered Longfellow. “You don’t like gold?”
“Let’s go back!” demanded Nerdraaage.
“With those fireworks you set off?” scoffed Longfellow.
Dangalf stewed. He was angry that they had forgotten the goblin teeth. He especially should have known better. He had read how goblins had even healthy teeth pulled and replaced with ones of precious metals and stones. As the Cronica Acadia said, goblin mouths were “the only place that thieving race could protect their treasure one from another.” Dangalf was also angry at himself for not having a better strategy against the goblins. And he was furious that they were attacked by dwarves. Dwarves didn’t attack the Acadian Alliance of Righteous Races in the game. They were a righteous race!
He was angry about the attack on Ashlyn. She could have been killed. And he was furious that her attacker escaped unscathed. Could he be on the boat with them now? How long would Dangalf see that black-toothed grin out of the corner of his eye? He stewed further as the children recounted their experiences. Some had been taken while they slept. Still others stolen off the roads or from farms. A few had checked into closets or under beds to look for monsters only to find them. Someone mentioned parents, and soon all the children were crying.
“What kind of shite world is this where everyone knows that the goblins have a camp full of slave children and they don’t do anything about it?” demanded Dangalf. The others looked at him in surprise.
“We just did something about it,” answered Doppelganger.
“We are only four,”
shot back Dangalf. “Where are the other heroes?”
“There are a lot of fires to put out in this world,” said Longfellow, tapping the dottle out of his pipe.
“I don’t see how you people can go about fishing and drinking and buying things with the world like this.”
“We have had war and we have had peace. And right now we be in a moment of peace for the most part. You might forget how close we came to losing the last war and putting an end to good deeds evermore. And who knows. Maybe it is your deed today that sparks the next. And there are few who think the next war won’t be the last, that things will be decided once and for all. Or maybe they will just attack the folks at Dragonfly. Whatever comes of it, your good deeds will not go unanswered. The folks at Dragonfly all knew this, but none spoke to stop you.” Dangalf fell silent. Would their quest today bring retribution on their hosts? He hated to even consider it. What would be the point of any heroism then if it would be met with an equal and opposite reaction?
In time, Dangalf’s spirit buoyed as they moved swiftly on the great river. The children’s resilience was amazing, and they again reverted to boisterous laughter and play. Dangalf watched with amusement as the children attached themselves to the others. The two girls and the she-elfling gravitated to Ashlyn, who did her best to entertain them. Ashlyn had her own miniature in the she-elfling. She was a rarity, the she-elfling, permitted to be born only because another elf had died. That was how the immortal elves dealt with population control. The frightened doe had latched onto Ashlyn’s hand since she first set eyes on her. The she-elfling’s fear was gone, but she still held the hand of her big sister and looked at her adoringly. “Do you think I will be as beautiful as you when I am grown?” she asked. Ashlyn thought a moment and said, “You have a much better start than I did at your age.”
The six human boys were fascinated by Doppelganger, and his disinterest did nothing to dissuade them. The dwarfling was naturally attracted to Nerdraaage. He played with Nerdraaage’s beard, and Nerdraaage tugged gently on the child’s modest beard. “It’s a fine beard,” said Nerdraaage. “It will be ready for braiding in no time.” The others looked at each other with growing admiration for Nerdraaage. It was their first sign that the new husband would also make a good father. And then he gave the dwarfling some beer.
Cronica Acadia Page 32