by Kevin Culp
After breakfast, I sent the Prince a letter letting him know I would form a plan of attack while waiting for the army to arrive, and we made our way to Gregory’s house. He hadn’t been there yesterday, but I was certain by now he had heard what had happened. Of course, he didn’t disappoint and probably already had more information about it than I did. When we arrived, Korana was already there. He invited us in and gestured for us to take a seat at a table in the center of the room.
There was a map rolled out on the table with several locations marked. It seemed to be a map of what seemed to be the north-eastern edge of the continent. I had only glanced at larger maps so far, but this one showed the Maine shaped Varnelion Kingdom in the top right which was only separated from the ocean by a long sliver of a country labeled as Irisia. Irisia was probably a quarter as wide as the Varnelion Kingdom but stretched down the coast nearly twice as far covering the eastern border of the Varnelion Kingdom and the Largon Empire. The Largon Empire was almost a perfect rectangle going straight across the southern border of the Varnelion kingdom and making a rectangle beneath cutting off at the bottom of Irisia. The map also showed three other countries to the west.
One fit in with the side of the Varnelion Kingdom and followed the edge of a huge jagged mountain range that cut down from the North heading Southwest called Emera. There was a tiny country that shared a border with the previous three that was roughly the shape of Switzerland called Pinweigh and making a C shape around it to meet up with the Largon Empire and Emera was the Kanna Republic which Lianamyr had told me about.
I didn’t sit but began observing the map, particularly the northeast of the Largon Empire. “Where is Gurknille?”
“Right here.” Gregory pointed right around where I was looking but nothing was marked. It was probably about a day’s walk from the southern border of the Varnelion Kingdom and about the same from a town to the south called Bornur.
“Rin said that if we traveled straight south from here that it would be about three weeks on foot which I would assume makes it only about a week and a half on horseback. Do you think there would be any trouble crossing the border?”
“As long as it’s only a few people, I don’t see there being a big problem. That being said, you definitely want to cross at a road which may take you a day or two out of the way. They do patrol the border on a decent basis, and you don’t want it to look like you are trying to sneak in. Even if the Largon Empire has something to do with this, I doubt their citizens, common soldiers included, are aware of it, so I don’t think there would be any problems.”
“Well, I’m thinking it will be myself, Christina, Phillip, Kayden, and Vincent that go. I may also see if Jason would be willing to go. It would be nice to have someone else there with a little more fighting experience.”
“I think you may want to keep it to four or less. Not that I doubt your strength Archaeus, but this isn’t necessarily fighting in a confined cave. The more people you have with you, the harder it will be to protect them all. Also, I would like Korana to go with you.”
Korana showed a clear look of shock on her face when he said this.
I was kind of confused myself as to why he would want to put the student he was so excited to have in harm’s way. “Not that I doubt her skills as a fighter, and I know you have had a few weeks now to help with her magic but is there a reason you want her to join in on this quest? I’m sure she is a great student, but I’m not sure how much magic you can learn in a few weeks.”
“First, Korana is a natural when it comes to magic and having someone with a bit of magical ability could prove to be useful. Also, sorcerers learn magic by truly putting it to the test. They have to experience new things and using their magic in high-stress situations is absolutely the best way to evolve their abilities. I’m sure you noticed the same when you took your students into their first combat situation. You likely saw more improvement in them from the one day of life or death combat than you see in them from weeks of training.”
Maybe it shouldn’t have been, but it was surprising to me that he recognized this. I had considered initially the possibility that people of this world had character sheets and experience they could access, but they didn’t seem to. I was starting to assume that they did have them just no way to access it based on the fact that I could now see Christina’s. It was correct that she only really seemed to gain experience from actual fighting, but that still didn’t seem logical to me. People could become masters of martial arts in my world without ever being in life or death combat. Here though it seemed that was a requirement, and not only did Gregory understand that, but he put it in a way that seemed to be perfectly logical at least to him.
“I’d certainly be happy to have Korana accompany us, but do you think she will stick out too much and draw attention to us at the border? I mean she was recently traveling, so maybe it won’t cause issues, but if she becomes associated with the attack on Gurknille, it is easy to recognize her.”
“I can see to it that she will not stick out.”
I turned to face Korana. “Do you want to come with us, Korana?”
She seemed to take a moment to steel her nerves and then gave a firm nod. So, now our party was me, Christina, and Korana. Gregory seemed to think I should keep it around four people so that would leave room for one more in our party. I wanted to bring someone else with some decent fighting experience, but I also wanted more of my students to have the opportunity to partake in this. At the end of the day though, it needed to be their decision.
“Can I borrow this map, Gregory?”
“One moment.”
He snapped his fingers and a giant piece of parchment came into existence. He waved his hands further, and an inkpot and quill escaped from the desk towards the front of the room and began to recreate the map in perfect detail. The old man’s magic impressed me, but I also questioned if he could do this why he couldn’t just instantly create the map ink and all. As I watched, I questioned whether what was happening was just Gregory enjoying showing off his magic or actually necessary. Once it was complete, the map rolled itself up and flew to me where I grabbed it out of the air.
“Thank you. Your magic never ceases to amaze me.”
He chuckled a bit and started to wave us out the door. “Yes, yes, now I have business to attend to. Korana, continue to work on your breathing. It will help expand your ability to utilize your ka and help to focus the mind as well. We will not be training as you prepare to depart, but I recommend you continue your physical training. It also helps you learn to manage your breathing and your bodies’ energy as a whole.”
She seemed confused. “I still have a lot to learn and am about to be putting myself in danger. Isn’t now the best time for me to work on my magic.”
“I have little more to teach you before you have mastered control over the energy in your body. You still have trouble controlling your inherited breath weapon as well. I think this will be a good experience and help you break through to that next stage where I can teach you even more. Also, you have the advantage of being a potentially strong physical fighter when most of us spell casters can’t. Especially while you are learning, it is easy to run out of mana. Learning to be of use as a fighter when you don’t have mana will be important. Master both, and you may even give Archaeus a run for his money one day.”
Korana bowed to him. “Thank you, Gregory. I will certainly use all you have taught me.”
I was pleased to see that their relationship as student and teacher seemed to be so strong. I had been afraid that he was an eccentric pervert at first, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She respected him as a teacher, and his main goal was definitely to see her grow as a student. He had been a teacher for many years and many others had come before her. Some might see it as irresponsible for a teacher to want their student to go into battle like this, but in a world where combat was required to grow stronger and war differed greatly from my own, it made sense.
Gregory nodded to h
er then shooed us out of the house and close the door.
From there, we headed towards the cave. I’m not completely sure what I hoped to gain by going there. Something had happened the night before, but it wasn’t enough that I wanted to worry Christina in the middle of the night. My empathic link to Zeus had triggered a brief instance of what seemed to be an adrenaline rush followed by excitement then boredom. It was somewhat similar to what I felt when he hunted just it didn’t seem anything had led up to it.
When we arrived, the surviving soldier was leaning against a tree. He definitely seemed distraught. The deceased soldiers were all lined up with their arms crossed over their chests and were clean of blood. I didn’t see any goblin bodies anywhere. Zeus was in the entrance to the cave, and I could hear his snoring echo down into the dark network of tunnels. That alone was probably enough to keep most threats at bay. The soldier opened his eyes and was watching me but said nothing. I turned to look at Christina and saw tears in her eyes. Korana was looking down and seemed nervous.
The smell of blood was still thick, which made me feel a little queasy. Trying to keep a straight face and play the role of Archaeus was exhausting at times like these. I drew my sword. Archaeus, not worshipping any particular god, had always used his sword as his holy symbol. His normal weapon had a custom symbol on the hilt that he had designed, but this one was pretty plain. I went to the head of each man, held my sword to the ground, bowed my head, and said a silent prayer. It just felt like it was the right thing to do. I then approached the man.
“The loss of one’s comrades is a tragedy that can not soon be forgotten. Being the lone survivor of an attack like this can tear a man apart. I will do my best to see to it that any of your comrades that may yet draw breath are brought back.”
He looked me in the eyes. His were cold and dark. It was the expression of a man that had stared into the face of death many times before but never knew its true form until today. “I want to come with you. I want to come with you and see to it that those that killed my allies know the pain that I feel today.”
I stared back at him and could feel the pain in his voice. Truthfully, I had hoped for someone with fighting experience to come with us and help me protect both Christina and Korana, so maybe this was a good opportunity to gain that. What I couldn’t shake though was the malicious intent in his voice. He had taken care of his fallen comrades and shown them respect, so I didn’t want to view him in a negative light, but I felt if he joined us on this trip his goal was more going to be vengeance than to save his men, and he would likely care little about his own safety let alone that of Korana or Christina.
“I’m sorry. I know you have suffered a lot here, but I cannot allow you to accompany us on this mission. Your head is not in the right place and vengeance is not our goal.”
The man looked like he wanted to argue, but the pain in his face showed me that he knew I was right. “I understand.”
Once he seemed to settle down, I questioned him. “So, what has happened here since yesterday?”
“After you left, I began taking care of my comrades and organizing their bodies. The young boy showed me a nearby fresh spring where I was able to gather water and clean off the blood as best as I could. While I was taking care of my men, he dragged the gob bodies off to a nearby field where he burned them. He came by in the middle of the night, presumably after the fires had died, and let me know he was heading back to town. A short while later, before I could get back to sleep, I heard your wolf there get all excited and saw him with a goblin in his mouth. Not sure if it was a straggler, a scout, or just lost, but it didn’t end well for them. I’m actually not sure what he did with the body and don’t want to know.”
I looked at Zeus who was still just snoring in the cave entrance, though now on his back with his paws kicking up in the air. I didn’t necessarily put it past Zeus to have eaten a goblin, but the thought of it was still disgusting. Also, while they hadn’t really seemed to have much armor most of them had a dagger, short sword, or club, and I didn’t see one by him. I’m sure it wouldn’t digest well if he did eat metal.
I walked over to Zeus and began rubbing his belly. He continued to snore, but his tail started wagging. I laughed a little bit. He definitely wasn’t the epitome of the ever-vigilant guard, but I was still pretty confident no goblins would get by him, and since he was still close enough to the village for our empathic link to work, if anything big did come up, I could summon him to me out of harm’s way and then head this way.
Zeus was going to come with me on this trip. Freid would have Rin, Lendon, and Jason as well as a decent portion of the Royal Army to guard it. Either way, Zeus would have to continue to guard the cave until the army arrived.
“I’m going to return to town and get my carriage. We will bring the men back to town, so you do not have to stay out here with them.”
I looked around and noticed all the tents and rations were gone. “I’m guessing the goblins took all of your supplies?”
“Aye, they did.”
I went back to town and hooked the horses up to the carriage. Even with the horses, the trip took about the same amount of time because there was no clear path to the cave, and the carriage made it more difficult for the horses to navigate through the trees. We did our best to take care of the bodies and were able to carefully fit four of them into the carriage. Once we were back in town, we brought the men to the unused home that had recently been built. By the time we had gotten the remaining soldiers, it was midafternoon, and we still hadn’t eaten lunch. I offered to treat the soldier, and he accepted, so we went to the tavern.
While we were waiting on our food, I realized I still knew very little about a man who had lost so much protecting our town. “I’m sorry I never asked, but what is your name?”
He leaned back in his chair. “It’s Edric.”
“Had you been fighting with those men for long, Edric?”
“Some of them I had fought with off and on over the years. I actually retired last year and only took this job at the behest of the Prince. He said he needed dependable men that would hold the detail in the utmost regard. My brother, Ethan, also retired last year. We’d been fighting together for over twenty years since we joined the Royal Army at fifteen years old.”
I understood more than ever why he was upset though. His brother was among the men we had just carried back in the carriage from the sounds of it. “I’m sorry. I know that losing family can’t be easy.”
“Aye.” He nodded.
It was probably strange to change from such a solemn topic, but I couldn’t help but wonder. “So, you are thirty-six years old? I know this is probably an odd question but is that a normal age for retirement in this kingdom?”
“Not necessarily. Most work until a little later in life, but the Royal Army offers life funding after twenty years of service and allows men to enlist at the age of fifteen. It is probably one of the reasons that we have one of the larger armies on the continent.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how many people in this unit had been retired soldiers. People who had believed their time was done risking their lives to help. That being said, I had to admit that it sounded like a pretty sweet deal. I’m sure that war here was gruesome, and I’m not sure how much money this life funding amounted to, but working for twenty years and then being set for life would be enough to tempt a lot of people. Truthfully, if something like that existed in my world, I probably would have signed up a few years ago after my lack of success in my field with all my student loan debt.
About that time, Irene set a plate of food in front of me with a mug full of water. “Is there anything else that I can get for you all?”
“Just keep these coming,” Edric said as he held up his mug of mead.
I didn’t want to bring up anything bad, but I felt the need to ask. “So, Edric. Do you think if I were to venture into the cave, I could confirm the fate of those who were in there during the attack?”
He shook h
is head. “I highly doubt it. We no longer have the maps of the caves, and I wasn’t personally working on them, so I don’t know my way around in there well. Even if I did, every day we were venturing into new unexplored tunnels, so there is no telling the direction they went even if we found the tunnel they went to explore. It’s an unbelievable maze in there. I have no clue how the goblins learned to navigate it, but there has to be more to this.”
I thought about that for a moment. He was right. With the force they had with them and the fact that the attacks were somewhat coordinated, the goblins knew where they were going. Had they not, a group probably would have stumbled into them in the days before they ended up storming the surface. How could they know their way around in there without having mapped it all out beforehand, and how could they have done that with how extensive this cave system was?
Once we were finished, I looked at Edric. “Just talk to Irene, and you can have a room here in the tavern until you are ready to return home.”
“Thanks, but if it’s all the same to you, I’ll stay in that house with my men.”
It seemed creepy to want to stay in a house with a bunch of dead people in it. At least it wasn’t the middle of the summer, so the bodies shouldn’t be too bad off before the army gets here. They would transport the deceased back home, and Edric could either join up with the Royal Army or return home with his men. I hoped he returned home given his state. I handed him the key to the house, and I guess he was done because he got up and left.
Once he had gone, Christina spoke. “I’m really worried about him. Suffering that much loss and then staying in a house alone with them can’t be good. I remember when my papa was in the room next to mine, and I knew I couldn’t speak with him and turn to him for comfort.”
