Woad Children (Challenger's Call Book 3)

by Nathan Thompson

  “Can you tell me the weapon’s name again?” I asked, rotating the surprisingly light one-handed axe in my hand.

  “Toirneach agus Buir,” Breyn repeated, nodding confidently. For a moment the name was meaningless to me. Then my mindscreen translated it into English.

  “Thunder and Roar?” I asked slowly. “Is that right?”

  “That’s what I just sa—oh, right.” Alum’s son blinked. “Translation magic. You probably can’t talk to us without it.”

  “Definitely not,” I admitted. “I know just a handful of words outside my native tongue in a couple of languages, and I could maybe understand about five minutes of Spanish. But no, none of the languages outside of Earth are still taught on my planet.”

  Again, though, I could have sworn the axe’s name could have come out of a Celtic language, but then everything about the Woadlands felt like it came out of the Celtic stuff back on Earth.

  “Why?” the young Gaelguard asked, baffled. “Even with your translation magics, your people are usually very curious. Did our worlds offend yours, somehow?”

  I shook my head. I had already touched on this subject but most of the Gaelguard still had trouble believing it.

  “Earth is currently isolated from every habitable planet, remember?”

  “Right.” Alum’s son nodded. “But why don’t you use your magic to contact anyone?”

  I sighed. This was the hardest part of the matter for Alum’s people to grasp. Because back in his time period, every single person in the Expanse had apparently at least heard of magic, and almost everybody could at least perform some minor cantrip.

  “No one can practice magic on Earth unless they leave it,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. “And no one can travel to another planet without the Starsown’s help.”

  “Right.” Breyn nodded, finally getting it (I hoped). “The Steward. I remember you mentioning her.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  “Well, when she was on Avalon she had the ability to call a person from Earth every now and then and—”

  “Is she pretty?” Breyn suddenly interrupted.

  I stared at him for a moment.

  “I’m sorry?” I asked, not sure where he was going with this. But something inside of me really didn’t like the idea of him being interested in her.

  Damn straight, Teeth agreed.

  Shut the hell up, I snapped at him. You weren’t even paying attention when she was with us.

  “I’m sorry, my lord,” Breyn said quickly. “I didn’t mean to pry. And I certainly don’t mean to forget my place. It’s just that… well… we’re close to the same age, and I thought I’d…”

  “You thought what?” I asked slowly, trying to tone down my annoyance for a guy that didn’t really deserve it, no matter what Dragon-Me was trying to tell me.

  “Well, I remember my first deep love,” the young man finally blurted. “And I remember not being brave enough to court her. And then that arsehole Connorn stole her away.”

  The young man was looking at me intently now. Arguably more intently than when he was hacking apart Arachknights in pitched combat.

  “I don’t want to see that happen again, Lord Earthborn. Not to a man like you.”

  I take it all back, Teeth interjected. Do we have a chief lieutenant? Let’s make him our chief lieutenant.

  “Wait,” I asked, grabbing my head and fighting off another migraine. “You think I have a crush on Stell?”

  “No, my lord,” Breyn said fiercely. “I know you love her. I remember what it’s like. And I hear how much you’re worried about her.”

  “Because she’s in danger,” I replied. “It’s more that I want to make sure she stays safe.”

  “Exactly, my lord,” the young Gaelguard said, not getting it at all. “But you can help her right now. Just tell her how you feel.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, getting irritable. “I don’t even know where she is. That’s why I’m looking for her, remember? Remember how we just talked about that?”

  “My lord,” Breyn insisted, getting exasperated as well. “She’s a Starsown. You always know where at least a piece of her is. She bound part of herself to you, remember?”

  I stared at him for a moment.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to start confusing Breena with Stell, Breyn,” I said slowly. “Or Guineve with Stell, for that matter.”

  And shut up, I said in advance to FNG.

  “Forgive me, my lord,” Breyn said, taking a breath. “I didn’t mean to be presumptuous.”

  I thought that was the end of it, so I nodded and began to turn around.

  “And I forget how new you are to the other races,” he continued anyway. “Breena is to this Stell as my lord’s arm is to my lord. What the arm feels, the rest of the body will feel as well. So it is with the Starsown, my lord. Perhaps that is why so few of the other races dare to even consider courting one,” Breyn said after a moment, before his eyes began blazing again. “But don’t let that stop my lord! You’ve gained the right to rule Avalon! You saved my people and my woods from extinction! Don’t think yourself unworthy, like I did! Don’t miss the chance to tell her how you feel, like I did! Or you’ll regret it forever!”

  He was so intense that I actually rocked back on my feet from him, staring at him as he finished speaking and began panting from the effort. I felt power roll off of him, as he had just conquered a personal Challenge, related only to himself.

  Failure is non-permanent, a voice echoed in my mind.

  “That’s it, my lord,” Breyn stood up and clenched a fist over his heart, in some form of salute. “I’ve said my piece. I accept the consequences.”

  “There are none,” I said quietly. “But thank you. I’ll think about your words.”

  He nodded at that.

  “Is your gear ready?” I asked. “The Pathway is probably ready by now.”

  The young man nodded, pointing to a corner of the room where our equipment was ready. I had taken my personal gear out of my magical storage space to do maintenance on it, and I had been pleasantly surprised when Breyn offered to help me with it. We had cleaned and repaired all of my weapons in half the time, and Breyn also showed me some tricks his people used that helped a weapon’s own vital guard repair itself. Then he did the same thing with my armor, and I began to hope that my equipment might actually start surviving Challenges on a regular basis.

  Breyn helped me don a light shirt of green metal links that went over my aketon and wolf-leather tabard, and then I helped him do the same.

  “Hey Breyn?” I asked after we had put on our mail and padding. “Why weren’t your people wearing armor before?”

  “Most of us don’t actually wear it,” Breyn admitted uncomfortably. “Our tattoos provide a great deal of protection on their own, and covering them can get in the way unless you use expensive magical materials. But the truth is that until Avalon was invaded they were all the protection we really needed. We—” he swallowed—“we put too much pride in them. That’s not easy to admit.”

  “Well, at least you’re learning now,” I offered. Breyn still looked uncomfortable.

  “I am, at least, but others aren’t,” the young warrior admitted uncomfortably. “My mother’s still being stubborn about it, for instance. But my tattoos are still weak, compared to my parents, so it’s easier for me to realize it, I guess.” He shuffled the links to fit better on his chest, giving his gear one final check. I saw his tattoos glow faintly through the padding and green rings.

  His admission had impressed me. Being a young male myself, I knew for a fact that it was absolutely not easy to admit I needed help, and a lot of the enthusiasm I had displayed during training and my early Challenges was partly just to prove that I was not really weak, was not really disabled, and that I really did have what it takes. That had worked out for me so far, but Breyn helped remind me that no one was indestructible.

  We gathered our wea
pons and new woad-painted shields and walked toward the caverns. I passed Virtus on the way, and the giant hoplite nodded at me.

  “I wish I could come with you,” the skeleton said.

  “So do I, but from what Guineve and Breena say, you’re tightly bound to Avalon now,” I reminded him. “Maybe we’ll find a way for you to retain another world’s mana, but for now, I’m going to need you to help Guineve guard the population, and to keep training the people here for war.”

  “Are you sure that’s still necessary?” he asked. “You have both Guineve and the Gaelguard now.”

  “I do, and neither of them were enough before,” I said bluntly. “Neither was I, for that matter. I’m taking some of the Gaelguard with me this time, but I’ll never have enough people or resources. My enemies are raising up Dark Icons to hunt me now. I’ll need every edge I can get or Avalon will fall again.”

  “Fair enough,” Virtus nodded. “I’ll find a way to incorporate the Gaelguard into my tactics. And uh, maybe I’ll teach them to wear more clothes. That seems like a good idea.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I get it’s part of their culture, but I could do with a bit less man-flesh in my life.”

  Holy cow, we agree on something, Teeth said in my mind.

  “You’ll take care of her, though, right?” Virtus asked worriedly. “Val, I mean?” His concern surprised me.

  “Of course I will,” I replied. “She’s my sister. That’s also why she’s going in a projected body instead of her original.”

  And that was the only reason I was still letting my adopted sister show up to these events. The fact that she was effectively immortal, at least for a couple of deaths, was just enough to override my protective instincts and acknowledge the fact that she was incredibly talented for her age, had already saved my life, and that she needed to be useful for her own healing process.

  If we all failed, she was literally the only person guaranteed to come back alive.

  We gave each other a final nod and I kept walking. So far I would be taking the three Testifiers, ten of the Gaelguard, including Alum’s family, Val, and Breena. I had already gotten a tearful goodbye hug from little Gabby and had been surprised to get a goodbye from my other two adopted sisters, Sam and Kayla. Maybe that meant we were close to being on speaking terms again.

  But I would have to hope for that later, because we had finally reached the chamber containing the Pathway to the Woadlands.

  To my baffled annoyance, the Pathway had been constructed in the same place the Woadfather forest had previously been located. It was as if Avalon was purposefully drawing attention to the fact that yes, it had moved an entire ecosystem from one place to another and yes, now I could access another world through this exact same location. After a moment, I just sighed and just went back to taking all this impossible nonsense in stride.

  The Pathway was a shimmering, silvery surface suspended by a door-framed structure made out of massive tree roots. It was tall, but only wide enough for two or three people to walk through at the same time. Which suggested that we needed to enter it carefully.

  “I’ve checked it,” a voice said from the other side of the shimmering door. White fabric fluttered as Guineve glided regally into view. “It’s safe.”

  A tiny girl with light brown skin trailed behind her, holding Ball-ee in her arms.

  “Buddy Wes,” Little Gabby said in a sniffling voice. “I said bye to you, but I didn’t get to say bye to Breena. Can I say bye to Breena?”

  A trail of pink light suddenly zoomed into the room, as if summoned by the little girl’s words.

  “I’m here! I’m here! Sorry I was checking on the kingtree and the woadfathers and then I was checking to make sure we had grabbed all the rations and then I thought maybe Wes had forgotten to pack enough water but then I remembered Guineve had already double checked everything and so I came flying down here! I’ll miss you too, Gabby!”

  The little fairy buzzed over to Gabby and began nuzzling her cheek, making the little girl giggle.

  “Don’t worry about us!” Breena chattered. “I’ll keep him safe and he’ll keep me safe and everybody will keep each other safe until we all come back nice and safe and happy!”

  Gabby’s mood brightened immediately, and I let the two say their goodbyes while I turned back to examine the portal.

  “Avalon,” I said as the rest of my group began to file in, “inform us on the process of using the Pathways.”

  Breyn had also walked in with me, and I saw his neck crane as he looked for his parents among the entering Gaelguard. He saw them enter, beamed as he saw his mother wearing the armor they had fought about, then ducked his head when she glared back at him.

  “Current power exists for the Pathway to be accessed by three individuals at a time. There will need to be a five-minute interval between groups entering to ensure sufficient power is allocated to keep the Pathway secure. Avalon once again suggests that no more than fifteen people enter this month.”

  And that was why I was not taking more of the Gaelguard. Heck, if Guineve had been able to come I would have brought her along too, but she was still bound to Avalon. Fortunately the limitations did not apply to Breena, although she had been offended to find out that the portal counted her as sentient luggage instead of a person.

  “Which means,” I sighed, “that regardless of wherever in the Woadlands this Pathway leads to, the first three people will be on their own for five minutes.”

  “Which means my lord will not be going first,” Alum said firmly. I turned to look at him.

  “I’m in charge, and arguably the most powerful member of our group,” I reminded him, while quietly reminding myself that the statement was only true because Guineve couldn’t come with us. The new Gaelguard leader nodded respectfully.

  “I dare not deny that, my lord, but what if the other side opens over a thousand-foot drop? The land changes over time. Anything, or nothing, could be directly under your feet. Then Avalon would lose its lord without ever knowing how.”

  “That is a good point, but since we can’t tell what’s over there I’ll be facing uncertain death no matter what place I take in this line,” I reminded him.

  “I’ll go,” Val said suddenly. I turned to look at my adopted sister. “Send me first, instead.”

  “Why is that going to make sense again?” I asked, turning to look at my sister. “To me, your big brother?”

  “Because I’ll just come back here if I die, remember?” Val reminded, not backing down. “We’ve already talked about that. I am literally the only one guaranteed to walk away from this alive. Except maybe Breena, but she’s not sure she can still do that anymore.”

  “That’s not enough on its own,” I replied, trying not to get so angry about this idea. “Remember what happened to me?”

  There was no way I was letting Val get captured again.

  “I can go with her,” Breyn offered. “I can hold any attackers off until she escapes back, at least.”

  “It’s probably best to send our most senior warrior with her,” Alum said neutrally, as his wife glared at her son again. “But your aide’s suggestion is otherwise perfect, and I should have thought of it sooner.”

  The young Woadfolk ducked his head, not sure how to handle being chastened and praised at the same time.

  “That still leaves me one Gaelguard short if more than five minutes’ worth of trouble surface,” I answered. “Or two, if we decide to send more than one escort…” I trailed off.

  “If there is too much trouble for two of my elite warriors to handle right off the bat, there was no way we’d be able to use the Pathway anyway.”

  “Send two people with her,” I finally said, hating that this was the best idea. I was the kind of strategy player that always hated losing units in my games. “Preferably one with some kind of healing…”

  Something jumped inside Val’s backpack.

  “Di-rec-tive!” the object shouted.

  My head tried to loo
k in two places at the same time. Ball-ee was still in Gabby’s hands, cooing at her.

  “I was just going to tell you,” Guineve said with a smile. “He finally multiplied this morning.”

  “Di-rec-tive!” the voice shouted from Val’s backpack. “Grow! Heal! Hug! Di-rec-tive!”

  Right, I remembered. When we had destroyed the other two Horde pits, Ball-ee had scampered over to absorb the strange residue they had left. He had been growing bigger ever since he did so, and we had suspected he might eventually perform some kind of mitosis.

  “I figured he would be good to take with me,” Val said hesitantly. “I meant to tell you. But maybe he can help keep everyone alive? Even though he can’t fight?”

  “Fine,” I shrugged.

  I didn’t have high hopes for Ball-ee or else I would have taken him with me on the Rite. The only time he had actually accompanied me in combat he hadn’t been able to help. “Since there’s technically two of him, we can risk it. And he might be able to help the Woadlands with long-term care.”

  “Di-rec-tive!” the little heal ball agreed happily.

  “Provided he doesn’t count against our limit,” I added, looking up at the ceiling. “Does he, Avalon?”

  “Confirming that unidentified life form will count as sentient luggage for the purpose of Pathway Travel.”

  “Fantastic,” I replied. “Ryon, Bartlen, you two help Val secure the landing site. Send Val back immediately if the situation is remotely dangerous. Otherwise the next group will follow fifteen minutes later.”

  They nodded, and we began the slow, arduous process of traveling to the Woadlands.

  #

  Alum had insisted that I go last. His people were able to secure the perimeter without me, and I would just get in the way, and blah blah blah. I think he just wanted to have a few extra minutes to process how his home world had changed, and so I didn’t argue. I did insist, however, that he take Breyn with him when he traveled through, and have him ready to give me a report on everything when it was finally my turn to travel through the portal. I also said to expect me to be a minute or two late in case some of my enhancement magic needed fine tuning.