by Sean Oswald
“So since you are gonna be gone most of the day, you better leave the spell books with me,” Mira said without even bothering to offer a morning greeting to Dave.
“Well good morning to you too, sweetie. Glad to see that my little princess is so eager to get at it today,” Dave replied, the sarcasm dripping off of each word.
‘Yeah yeah, too busy for small talk. So can I have the books or what?” Mira asked.
“Didn’t you learn anything about how to ask for something when you were little? I know you weren’t raised by wolves.” Dave’s laughter was open now.
“Please …” Mira disingenuously muttered while rolling her eyes.
“How could I turn you down when you asked so nicely?” Dave rolled his own eyes and continued, “I will leave Turgur’s book with you, and you are free to learn any Essence Magic spells, and you might as well learn Imbue Gem since that sounds like it will work better for you with your enchantments than for me anyway. But … if I find even one other spell missing tonight, you can consider yourself grounded.”
The various men in the group around them all tried to be suspiciously busy with something else so that none of them made eye contact with Mira while she was being dressed down by her dad. “Fine, whatever, just give me the book,” Mira blurted out before belatedly adding, “Please.”
Dave held his hand over the opening of the bag of holding, imagined the book he wanted, and then it was in his hand. He passed it over to Mira who he’d pulled close when she reached out for the book. He whispered in her ear, “I love you, but I’m serious. This stuff is too important for us not to talk about. Agree?”
He didn’t let her pull away until he felt her nodding yes. She then turned and walked away without another word as her brother laughed out, “Girls!”
“Oh don’t worry son, you will get to experience this particular type of heaven and hell for yourself one day before you know it,” Dave said while staring intently at Jackson. Those words brought out a chuckle from all the men standing around, with only Tabor and Jackson making feeble attempts to laugh along in their confusion.
Without waiting any longer, Dave said, “Eisuke, you lead the way please.” The forest warden offered a medium depth bow before striding towards the eastern gate. It had already been decided that they would start in the east, where the enemy had come from, and work their way around to the north and then back to the west.
Chapter Fifteen
To depend upon others for what you need is to be a prisoner. It matters not if the giver is benevolent or controlling. — Quote from the unauthorized biography of Alucien the Heretic
Eris’ Rise and security patrol- Emily and Dave Nelson
Emily continued to wander around the town most of the day. She kissed Dave goodbye this morning when he got up, early as always, and had unashamedly gone back to sleep. There was lots of work to do, but she had decided that at least one morning she should be entitled to sleep in. Today was going to be that day because there weren’t any meetings scheduled for once. All she really had to do today, at least in her mind, was spend some time with Sara and maybe try to work on a solution for Jaselm and Kraden.
Truthfully, she really needed the sleep, some nightmare-free sleep. She awoke nightly in a cold sweat with images of Sir Tradon’s face or body split in half running through her mind. Objectively, she knew it wasn’t her fault. She knew that Daichi and Dave were correct. The obvious way for her to keep her family and all the people she was coming to care for safe was for her to become stronger
That didn’t make it any easier for her to accept, nor did it alter her commitment to finding a better way to live. She was determined to reshape life in Eloria. It didn’t help that in the past three days, there had been some tension between her and Dave. She didn’t know what it was, only that it was there. Probably he was worried about their safety here and was coming up with some stupid plan to save them like they were all made of glass. Enough of that though, she needed to sleep, so she rolled over and buried her head in the pillow.
She knew she had to have fallen asleep because of the drool on her chin and the wet spot on the blanket, but if she had been sleeping, it felt like only an instant before her bed began to shake and she was practically overrun by a fast-moving miniature person.
“Mommy, mommy get up! Today is the day you said we could spend together.” Childish enthusiasm practically bubbled off of Sara. Emily couldn’t blame her though. She was struggling to make friends, at least real friends like back on earth. She had no tv or tablet or even school to occupy her time. Absently, Emily pondered that they could be sleeping in the tabernacle every night, but she just didn’t feel right about it. The luxuries they could experience there would forever keep them apart from the community here, so no matter how much Mira or Jackson had begged, she refused to use it except for emergencies. She had learned long ago that the best way to be accepted into a new people group was to live as much like them as you could.
Not that she could hold onto those thoughts. Sara was shaking her and threatening to pull the warm blanket off of her. “Sweetie,” she said, but it sounded more like a groan. “Mommy is still sleeping.”
“But daddy and Jackson are gone. Mira is looking at that stupid book again and doesn’t even look up when I call her name,” Sara whined.
“Ugh, is it that time already? What I wouldn’t give for some good coffee. Oh and don’t bother your sister when she is learning new spells. We already talked about that sweetie.”
“But, I’m bored …” Her high-pitched voice drug out the final syllable of the word like a death sentence. “Nobody wants to play with me. You promised we would spend the day together.”
Emily groaned and went to pull the pillow over her head again. The fabric wasn’t exactly the eight hundred thread count that Dave had bought her for her last birthday, but it was soft at least and most importantly, it blocked out the early morning light. Then suddenly, she heard a voice that had her sitting up clutching at the blanket.
“Krinnk say he play with you Sara. Play seek-n-hide. Play ballee. Play what’s game Sara likes.”
Reluctantly, Emily had been getting accustomed to Krinnk and trusted that he didn’t want to eat Sara anymore, but that didn’t mean she wanted him in her bedroom. She looked across her room, which had only been repaired yesterday, and to the doorway through a combination of hard work and elven magic. Looking back at her was the lopsided grin from Krinnk as he stared adoringly at Sara. The tip of his tongue absentmindedly stuck out like he was lost in thought, when in reality he just let his tongue loll out all the time.
“Krinnk, get out of my bedroom. Sara you too.” Emily was afraid she might have sounded too harsh, but she felt insecure with the creepy little goblin mere feet from her bed while she was only in a silken night gown, which Dave had somehow obtained for her.
Sara jumped up at her mother’s tone, perhaps because she was genuinely scared or because she simply was always going out of her way to make sure that people didn’t get mad at Krinnk. The two of them scurried out the door, and Sara started to close the door when one of the elven guards blocked it, and without looking up, stuck his head in. “Is everything okay, Lady Emiri?”
“Yes, yes, I was just startled when my daughter woke me. Would you please see though that the goblin isn’t allowed into my room again?” Though Emily made the command sound like a request, the guard knew what she meant. A part of her shriveled up at how casually she could assume the role of noble, but the idea of being peeked at by Krinnk was enough to get her past her feelings of hypocrisy.
A short time later, Emily walked out of her room and headed to the kitchen. She knew that the town’s official policy was that everyone ate together at the now mostly finished mess hall, but it was still good to be queen, so to speak, and get breakfast brought to her in her own home. Just about the time that she finished drinking her kaf and eating a dish comprised of eggs, some strange elven leafy vegetables, and a side of kirashemi, Sara poked her head into
the door again.
“I’m sorry, mommy. I didn’t mean to make you mad,” the child said contritely.
“No, honey, I’m sorry for yelling. Krinnk just startled me,” Emily replied.
“He really didn’t mean to do anything wrong. Krinnk really does like you too mommy,” Sara said, a dash of her usual enthusiasm returning to her voice.
“I know honey. Krinnk is fine. He isn’t in trouble.” The tension faded out of Sara’s face as Emily spoke, “Just promise me that you will tell him not to come into my bedroom anymore. Okay?”
“I promise mommy.” Sara ran over and gave her mother a hug. Emily was constantly amazed by how life in Eloria had made Sara both more mature and more open-hearted and childish at the same time.
“Well what do you want to go see first? I need to check on some of the workmen and walk around town a bit. Is that okay?” Emily asked changing the subject.
“Yeah, and maybe we could go to Balayria’s shop later, and you could see some of my drawings,” Sara replied eagerly.
“Hmm, I didn’t know Balayria had a shop.”
“It’s really neat. It's outside of the wall, so she won’t let me go there very often, but it would be okay if you took me I guess.”
“Of course, my love,” Emily said as she stood up and walked hand in hand with her youngest, shadowed both by a goblin and her elven honor guard.
East of Eris’ Rise, the patrol was making good time. Dave had insisted on doing it from horseback, even though Eisuke said they might miss something this way. Dave said that he trusted them to see what he didn’t and that he needed some time across the Seinna with Jackson. During the first few hours of the patrol, he and Steffen had mostly spoken. With the two nobles speaking together, he was shielded from any bickering between the paladins of Shanelle and Mishpat as none of the humans were willing to interrupt them.
A good portion of their time was spent talking about how the border baron had gone about power leveling his son. Tabor was level nine and apparently capable of moving into Tier 2, but the constant raids and open warfare on the western front had not allowed enough time to power level him any further. Steffen also firmly believed that it was bad to power level someone too far for fear that they would end up stifling their potential. He said that there was a great deal of debate about it within the nobility but that the general consensus was that levels alone didn’t make someone strong, although they were certainly a prerequisite.
After talking and crunching numbers from the XP notifications Dave got, he came to the conclusion that it would be more efficient for him and Jackson to form their own party. The two fathers agreed that after Dave power-leveled Jackson up a bit, they would let Tabor join the party and try to break into Tier 2. Dave convinced Steffen that Tabor had definitely shown the character to handle the extra power with the way that he had stood up for Jackson at the Royal Academy. Stern military man or not, General Eikhorn still enjoyed hearing the praise of his only surviving son. Dave also learned that Steffen was already capped at level twenty-nine and unable to progress any further.
They discussed with Eisuke what sort of creatures would make for the best hunting. Since it was unlikely that they would find any Tier 3 creatures close to the Sienna River, the best they could hope for was Tier 2. And even then, there were not that many of them except some of the lesser treants, cave bears, and of course, the dire crocodiles. Dave was keen on thinning out the crocodiles from the river as they seemed to pose the most risk to the people of Eris’ Rise since even the children often went to the river to wash clothing or bring back water. Until a well could be dug in town, the river would be a necessary source of water.
Dave felt safe because he knew that Eisuke, the other soldiers/archers, and even the druid would be there to save Jackson in case something went horribly wrong. Of course, when he alluded to that, his bubble got popped.
“I mean no disrespect, Baron Murkwood, but it doesn’t work like that. Even if we are not a part of your group, Eloria will not allow the XP to be added up the way you are thinking. You will be penalized for our presence as a numerical penalty is applied for the extra people on your side even if they are not in your group. We would have to move quite a distance from you before we would not count against you,” Eisuke said in his usual solemn voice.
“Oh yeah, I had forgotten about the numerical penalty. Well let me ask you this. Jackson is level zero right now does that count as Tier 0 or is he still Tier 1?”
Steffen spoke up, “There is no Tier 0. He is still Tier 1, so the two of you together will have an aggregate Tier 2 rating for the purposes of the Tier bonus. If you fight a single creature of the same Tier, then you will face no Tier penalty but will have a penalty for your numerical advantage, and so XP will be reduced by 10%. If, on the other hand, you were to fight ten Tier 1 creatures at the same time, then you would face a 50% tier penalty on the XP but an 80% bonus for the fact they outnumbered you.”
“Hmmm, so it would be better to fight a larger group of lower tier animals?” Dave asked, trying to sort out the system in his head.
“Technically yes, My Lord,” said Sir Elgin, the paladin of Shanelle. “But it depends upon your build and whether you can keep the attention of all those creatures on yourself or if you will be exposing your son to undue risk.”
Dave could tell that the man wanted to say something about not risking the life of the son of a Chosen of Shanelle, but thankfully, he didn’t actually speak it aloud.
“So, here is what I am wanting to try. And I would like to thank you all for your patience ahead of time. This is very important to me. I would like to see if Eisuke and Ozakai along with the druid can… Wait, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name, man. I’m sorry,” Dave rambled.
“It is Boso’ni, Consort, errr … I mean Baron Murkwood.” The druid bowed as he spoke and became a bit flustered over the mistaken honorific.
“Don’t worry about that. I know it's your word, but just trust me it means something else where I come from, and I don’t care for the mental image it conjures for me. Anyway, if Eisuke, Ozakai, and Boso’ni could herd as many of the horned frogs as possible into one area, then all of you could step back. I think I can handle a large number of them, and I do have my taunt skill to get them off of Jackson if any get past me,” Dave said.
“I’m not completely helpless you know,” Jackson said indignantly.
“I know, but your mother will kill me if I screw this up. So you will also have to wear my main health ring. It will give you 300 extra health and buy me some time to get to you if I do screw up,” Dave insisted.
“Not to get between you and your son, but I would be willing to lend my ring to the boy given that we won’t be anywhere in harm’s way–that way you will still be fully protected,” Baron Eikhorn said.
“That is very kind of you, and only because it touches upon my son’s safety, I will accept,” Dave replied.
“Think nothing of it. I too have a son, and besides, as fierce as your lady wife seems, I don’t think that I want to be left to explain to her why something happened to you either,” Steffen said with a smile.
All of the men chuckled a bit except for Sir Elgin, who still seemed uncomfortable joking about a Chosen of his Goddess, but Dave clapped his hand on the man’s back and said, “Don’t worry, she has a good sense of humor.” Then as he walked away, he said just loudly enough to be overheard, “Most of the time.”
Joking aside, the elves went into action, and Dave thought–for what must have been the thousandth time–how gracefully they moved. That brought to mind the new spell he had, and so once the elves began driving some of the frogs into the flattened area on the northern side of the Seinna River, Dave cast Lesser Gazelle’s Grace. He figured the forty mana was worth the experiment to see how the spell would affect him in combat, especially since it would regenerate in about nine minutes with his stats boosted by his lordship bonus. He had to say that, as he shuddered when the spell settled onto him, if anyone watching hi
m had been familiar with television commercials from the 80’s, they probably would have thought the expression “Mikey, I think he likes it” was appropriate.
The spell added twenty Agility, which doubled his already enhanced stat. He felt more graceful and like his steps were lighter. He felt more limber as though he could move smoothly. Just for the heck of it, he took a couple of practice jumps, enjoying how much air he could catch before finally dropping down into the splits, something he hadn’t been able to do for several years. It was amazing how much a simple change on his stat sheet could affect him, yet there it was, him moving like one of the elves.
When he finished his little exercise, he looked around and saw everyone looking at him. He blushed a bit, “Sorry, not trying to show off. Had to see what I could do.”
Steffen just laughed and said, “Whatever you have to tell yourself.”
Tabor and Jackson joined in laughing but the paladins and bodyguards seemed nervous watching one noble tease another, and all ended up looking away.
“Anyway, Jackson, you will get a notification in just a second. You need to accept the invite to join the party,” Dave said.
After that, Eisuke came running up, breathing a bit faster. “We have twelve of them. Is that too many?”
Dave had instructed them to get five or six of the beasts. It wasn’t that he was afraid of twelve, it was just he worried if it was too many for him to occupy all at once. “No, we will try it. How long do we have to wait before engaging, so that you won’t be counted against us?”
“Give it two or three minutes, and then you can engage, Baron Murkwood.” By the time Eisuke said that, the other two elves had successfully made it back there, and then the rest of the group started to ride their horses to a safe distance away.
“Jackson, I want you to follow me, but not too closely. Stay maybe thirty feet behind me, and if things go wrong, I want you to run for it.”
