by Eric Ugland
Lee was already there, looking at the carving of the tunnel. He had a notebook in his hands, doing a little sketching and the like. Nikolai looked over at the man, but after a heartbeat, decided it was a good enough spot for a talk.
“What is your plan for the day?” Nikolai asked.
“I can’t say you’re going to be particularly fond of it.”
He sighed at me.
“Please, ask me if I am surprised.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Then proceed, your highness.”
I nodded at him and a smile, catching the reference. “I’m concerned about a few things—”
“Just a few?”
“More than a few, okay? Just trying to downplay things ever so much because this is a whole lot of stress I wasn’t really prepared for.”
“Continue.”
“We need to get to the other side of this mountain, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’re the only person here who’s been on the other side: is it safer there than here?”
“Unknown. Certainly keeps us safer from any Empire based problem.”
“Or Osterstadt?”
“Likely, yes.”
“But other than that?”
“I cannot say.”
“Okay, but would you rather have our camp here or there?”
“There.”
“Great, so let’s use Fritz to get everyone on the other side.”
“The manticore? You would like to use the manticore to haul all these people—”
“And animals and things. I mean, I think we can put pretty much everything in the bag of holding. We’ll have to break down the wagons and reassemble them on the other side, but—”
“You cannot be serious.”
“Why not?”
“That monster cannot be trusted.”
“Sure he can.”
“You think he will be able to control himself while he carries young children? You think—”
“I do. He’s a thinking creature who has been given to me as a companion by the god of monsters. If I tell him that these people are our family and not to hurt them, he will obey me.”
“If he eats anyone—”
“I hope he starts with you.”
No response. Just a dead look.
“It will be disastrous.”
“I know that, okay?”
“And you are willing to take this risk?”
“I have. And I am. He’s flown me around.”
That got me a long, slow-burning look from Nikolai. I tried to withstand it without shrinking back at all. Despite Nikolai having lost levels and stats and most everything, he was still a viable bad ass, and I didn’t want to make him angry. Or angrier, I suppose.
“I think it is better for us to start building,” Nikolai said. “Being on the other side of the mountains will do good things for us while remaining here will waste our time and resources.”
“Then I’ll get Fritz moving.”
Chapter 41
The great ferry project started simply: with complaining. No one wanted to fly into the valley on Fritz. To be fair, Fritz wasn’t exactly keen on the idea either. But after some clever wordplay on my part as well as some shouting and Nikolai threatening to push all the food in the river, we got around to the idea that a small group would go into the valley for a quick exploration while the larger group broke everything down until it would fit into the bag of holding. Which made most everyone in the camp somewhat suspect. But then Nikolai again threatened to push everything into the river starting with the ale.
I went first. Being the leader and all.
Fritz grabbed me, pulled me close to his chest, and leapt into the air. A few beats of his huge wings, and we were up.
Again, it was amazing. Glorious. Flying. I began to wonder if flying on my own would ever be an option of some kind. Was there a flying spell? Were there flying carpets? It was a world of magic — there could very well be a way.
Fritz shot down the canyon, his wing tips mere feet from the walls, angling this way and that, like we were in a glorious little video game. I remembered that we were, and it made me smile. I was having a tremendous time and I might have hooted and hollered just a little.
Finally, we took a turn. I saw a bit of a waterfall, and everything beyond opened up. We came out of the canyon into a whole new world. (Note: in this instance, I am Alladin and Fritz is the carpet; there’s no Jasmine). Fritz flew up high, and I got a great look at the area. Once we got some height, he started going around.
This was definitely the best way to explore the little valley. Below on the southern edge, directly around the area where the river cut into the mountains, was heavily forested.
To the east, more trees and more mountains, but with a markedly harsher edge than everywhere else. It seemed as if it was less flat and more rocky, with a more gradual transition from valley into mountain. To the north, I saw a large sparkling lake — I could just make it out above the trees. Beyond that, gentle rolling hills of mostly grass. In the distance, reasonably far, more mountains stretching into the sky. Not quite as high as the ones to the south, east, or west of us, but nonetheless, each way I looked eventually ended in mountains. It was unclear how far away the mountains were, but it looked pretty sizable.
“North!” I shouted. “Take us north!”
The manticore dutifully banked, and headed north. The lake was huge, stretching out like a big ol’ bean. A river came out of the lake through something that looked tiny from where we were, a small sluice, maybe. The other side, more northeast, had a big river draining into it. However, there were a ton of smaller rivers emptying into the basin. I had a feeling that water wasn’t going to be much of a problem in the dukedom of Coggeshall.
The hills on the other side of the lake were quaint, gentle. Lots of high grass waving in the wind. There were definitely creatures down below, but we were high enough up that I could only tell that things were moving about. There were no arrows coming up at us, and I still saw nothing around to indicate anyone was living in the valley, certainly nothing sentient. Which, you know, was nice. What I was hoping for, considering I had little desire to get involved in colonialism.
We moved along the river. I could see another waterfall, and above it, a lake.
“Back,” I, trying to be as loud as I could against the rushing wind of flight.
Fritz heard me, and so he banked around, and we headed south.
“Drop me off near the river entrance,” I shouted.
He dropped me off in a clearing a short distance from the main river, and then dropped to the ground. He didn’t look tired in the least. Almost bored.
“You tired?” I asked.
“No,” came the gruff reply. “Go back?”
“I’ll stay here,” I said, “get Essie next.”
“Es-sie?”
“Ask Skeld. Or Nikolai.”
“Ot-ter snacks.”
“The otters are not snacks.”
“Maybe?”
“No.”
He grunted, but I think he was messing with me. Let’s just say that I hoped he was smiling and messing with me.
He flapped off, and I was alone in this new slice of the world.
It was definitely wild. Untouched. Or at least untouched for quite some time. There were no indications civilization had ever been in place. The trees were mostly pines or pine-like, in that general ‘needle instead of leaf’ family. Not a ton of undergrowth, but some clearings had lush grass. It was beautiful.
The clearing I was in happened to be about a hundred yards from where the river cut into the mountains. The cliffs on this side were even more extreme than the other. It was a sheer vertical, and high. Hundreds if not thousands of feet up. In many places, I could see water seeping out of the rock above me. Some fell in small waterfalls, but nothing really reached where I was. The dirt was a dark black, the sort of stuff I remember reading about in US history, that let the midwest beco
me such a breadbasket for the rest of the world. I had basically nothing in the way of farming experience, but this gave me the idea the place would be good for crops.
I walked a short distance to the start of the trees, and I peeked around. Old growth. Deep, loamy soil. A deer looked at me curiously, then jumped away, disappearing into the woods remarkably quickly. Closer to the river, there were thick bushes, their branches heavy with berries. My first impulse was to do nothing. Step back from the berries and pretend I hadn’t seen them. But then I thought about my skills and abilities, I’d gotten something regarding harvesting and identifying things in the wild. I could identify animals, why not fruits?
I shot my spell at the berry.
Grizzle Berry
Useful information, I suppose. I decided it would probably be best to just to wait. See if anyone knew what a Grizzle Berry tasted like, and if they were poisonous.
It was a really nice place, idyllic almost. The river was wide and peaceful until right before the waterfall. It practically teemed with fish. I had a great spot picked out for a little cabin, right next to the river. I could build a little overhanging porch and just sit down and drop a line in whenever I wanted. A little slice of heaven.
Promptly ruined as I heard someone screaming, which was sadly becoming something all too common.
Chapter 42
A moment later, Fritz burst up above the waterfall and deposited a screaming Essie into the river about five feet from me.
“What the hell, Fritz?!” I shouted up at him.
I think he was laughing.
Whatever the case, he banked low, the tip of his wing slicing through the water, and then he did a fucking barrel roll over the waterfall.
I had to dive in the water and grab Essie, pulling her to shore. Then I lay her on the bank to dry out.
She sputtered, coughed, and looked at me with violence and rage in her eyes.
“That thing is crazy,” she said.
“Yeah,” I replied, “that’s very likely true. But, would you rather have climbed through the cliff?”
She laid back down on the ground, and looked up to the sky.
“No.”
“Then we gotta truck with crazy.”
“Truck?”
“Ignore that,” I said, reaching my hand out.
She took it, and I helped her to her feet.
“This way,” I said.
I walked her over to the mountain wall. She looked up and down, then left and right, and finally put her hand against the wall.
“Where is it you would like the tunnel?” she asked.
I had no idea. Everything looked pretty much the same to me.
“Is there a place that will be easier?” I asked.
“Not here.”
“So it’s going to be hard no matter what?”
“I am making a stable tunnel large enough for two wagons to pass each other, through over a mile of some of the hardest rock in the Empire. Yes, it will be difficult.”
“Well, when you put it like that, uh, I guess, uh, over there?” I pointed at the cliff face, sort of a fair distance from the river, and about where I thought it might be closer to the clearing. I had a feeling the clearing would serve as the initial living area for our little group as we built things up.
Essie nodded, and then ran her hands across the wall while she walked in place.
She moved a little to the left, then a little to the right, then a step back to the left, and then she stood there a moment, both hands stretched out to the wall, leaning forward, almost like it was difficult to stand there. A subtle glow started out around her arms, which spread back across her whole body until it seemed like light was coming out of her. Sweat dripped from her body. I think she was even vibrating. It was pretty intense.
The rock started to get a little darker, and then shift ever so much, and then the outline of the tunnel appeared. Exactly as it was on the other side.
Essie held on one more moment, and the outline solidified a bit. But then she collapsed on the ground, and threw up.
I rushed to her side, sliding on my knees the last foot, and grabbed her. I rolled her to the side and got the vomit from her airway, and then gave her a few claps to the back. She shuddered just a bit, and then she started breathing again.
Behind me, I heard the beat of wings and then a splash.
I shook my head, then laid Essie on her side before sprinting to the river. I dove off the bank, and grabbed Mercy.
She gave me an odd look, and then the two of us were lifted up and out of the river and placed gently on the bank by a bluish undulating tentacle of water, which promptly disappeared back into the river.
Then, Mercy sucked all the water out of my clothes with her hands. She tossed it over her shoulder. sending it went back into the river with no problems whatsoever.
“Neat trick,” I said quickly, “but I think something is wrong with Essie.”
“Something is always wrong with her,” Mercy replied.
“Like vomiting and unconscious?”
“She used too much mana—” Mercy said, already running.
I looked around for Fritz, wanting to tell him to stop dumping people in the river, but he’d already winged his way back down the canyon.
Running after Mercy, I found her sitting with her back against the cliff wall holding Essie’s head in her lap, singing something softly. Despite being rather curious about what was going on, I decided the best thing to do would be to give them some space. Essie seemed to be in good hands, and I probably had about a minute before there was someone else to save from the river.
I ran back over to the river to wait for the next drop-off.
It took quite a while to get everyone over, and even longer to get the animals over. None of them were really chill about being anywhere near Fritz, let alone being carried anywhere by the manticore, so it was a bit of a challenge. The goods were quick and dirty. I caught a ride back to the camp, and there was just a big pile of stuff. All the wagons were broken down to their component parts and sitting next to all the things they’d carried. I was remarkably impressed with the work the battenti had done. Their wagon had been broken down into battenti sized pieces. You know, tiny. I shoved everything in the bag of holding, and then had one more trip back through the canyon.
Fritz stopped dropping people in the water after I yelled at him, but he made sure to dunk me on the last trip. And then, because he’d spent the entire day flying back and forth and carrying people and animals, he took off away from us to go hunting.
There’d been some work done already by the time we were all in the valley. A few trees had been felled, some boards cut. I was grateful to have hard workers in the group, but I noticed most everyone looking at me.
I needed to dump the bag of holding. Mainly because I had no idea what I’d put in it, I’d put everything in too quickly.
“Hey, uh,” I said, “how about we have some food, and I’ll get everything out of the bag.”
Then, I signaled to Nikolai, as subtle as I could, and told him we needed to take a little walk.
Chapter 43
We walked into the bushes, pushing through until we found another clearing. This one was smaller, merely what remained when a giant tree crashed over from some recent storm. The trunk of the tree was laying down, having crushed a ton of smaller trees, providing a clear view to the river beyond. And, coincidentally, a home to some furry critters who eyed us for a brief moment before scurrying away.
“What is it this time?” Nikola asked.
“I need to dump the bag.”
“The bag of holding?“
“Yes.”
“Ooh, I want to see this,” came Ragnar’s voice.
I turned to see both lutra waltzing into view.
“Same,” Skeld said.
“Dude, this was a meeting with Nikolai.”
“This isn’t a whole hirð meeting?” Ragnar asked.
“No—”
“Guess I shou
ldn’t have invited Tarryn, then.”
The WarMancer pushed through the bushes, but got his robes stuck on some sticks, and had to be helped out of his predicament by Skeld.
“Hirð meeting?” Tarryn asked.
“I suppose it is now,” I said.
“What are we doing here?”
“He’s dumping his bag of holding,” Ragnar said.
“Dear gods, why?” Tarryn asked.
“Because he does not keep an accurate inventory of the items he places within it.”
“That seems like a recipe for disaster,” Tarryn replied, a look of genuine concern flashing across his face. “Do you have an idea of how much is in there? Have you reached its capacity?”
“Well, uh, supposedly it has no capacity.”
Tarryn crossed the space in the clearing with a remarkably short amount of time, both hands on the bag — immediately peering and pawing at it.
“Off,” I said, swatting his hands away.
“I am most excited by this,” Tarryn said. “You should ask if Mercy or Essie would like to see this. I have never experienced—”
“I wasn’t even sure I wanted you guys around to see this.”
“Are you worried about us?” Skeld asked.
“No,” I said, realizing I hadn’t thought my statement through, “that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s really the rest of them. There’s a lot of gold here, I think, or at least some gold, and some other stuff, and we’re going to need to go through a lot of it and see how it can help us here as a community.”
“Mostly,” Nikolai said, “I want you to get all the food and construction materials out so we can get some sort of structure built before nightfall, in order to have a safe place to sleep.”
“Yeah, that’d be a good idea,” I said, looking up at the sun and realizing that we were going to have to work our butts off to have any chance of doing that. “Okay, then, magic man, how do I do this?”
“Empty the bag?” Tarryn asked.
“That’s, yeah, that’s what we’ve all been talking about. That’s what I’m trying to do. So, how about we do it?”
