Defenders of the Realm

by Dave Willmarth

  Alexander felt the same twisting pain in his gut, as well as the familiar pain in his mind as Fitz crammed new knowledge in with what felt like a dull knife and spoon. He fought the urge to be sick all over his sitting room carpet. When Fitz finally removed his hand, Alexander lost that fight. He dashed for the nearby bar and puked into an ice bucket.

  Afterward Fitz said “For a smart boy, who learns magic so quickly, you’re remarkably slow to learn that particular lesson. I would say I blame myself, but I don’t. I’ve warned you repeatedly. I blame you.” He raised his eyebrows and waited for Alexander to respond.

  Alexander sat tiredly in one of the chairs. He took a drink of water to wash the bitter taste of failure and stupidity from his mouth. “You’re right Fitz. I have no excuse. The stone has become so easy to move through the earth, I just didn’t stop to think about what it would take to float it. I’m sorry.”

  Fitz said “Do you remember when I first showed you how to use Mage Sight? When you looked at Sasha and saw the various colors flowing through her? How the mana changed as she cast her spell?”

  Alexander did. He’d been fascinated at the time. He answered. “I do. It changed from a blue to green.”

  Fitz shook his head. “The actual colors don’t matter. Think on how the mana moved through her as it changed. It does the same in you. Or, it did. You’ve somehow twisted yourself up so that the flow of mana through you is… restricted. You can force it through, but there will be pain, and it will be less effective. You have always surprised me, boy. First with how fast you learn, and the level of pain you endured. Then with the way you think up new spells, leaping in without looking, so to speak. Now you’ve managed to damage yourself in a way I’ve never seen. I’ll have to consult with some others on what might be done. In the meantime, I suggest you restrict your magic use.”

  Alexander was crushed. His mentor was basically telling him he’d managed to make himself useless. An idea occurred to him right away. “Fitz, the other day when I lost my hand, I had Helga take my head. When I returned, I was whole again. Would that work here?”

  Fitz looked thoughtful for a solid minute, and said “Forgive me. I don’t naturally consider death as a cure for illness. The truth is, I don’t know. Before you try that option, give me some time to investigate. No more than a day.”

  Alexander nodded, and Fitz disappeared. It was approaching supper time, so Alexander walked downstairs. He found Silverbeard in his office. “Fitz says I should avoid casting spells until he figures out how I damaged myself.” He shared with the dwarf. “I thought I might focus on some kingdom stuff for a little while. Which reminds me, Norval will be bringing you a list of material he needs for a project I gave him. An undetectable door to my secret lab.”

  Silverbeard took it in stride, depriving Alexander of the reaction he was hoping for. Apparently secret bat cave labs weren’t as cool on Io as they were in the real world. Max and Brick would be more excited when he showed them.

  “Would you like to talk about your visit to Antalia? Or would you prefer to do that later?” He asked the old dwarf.

  “Now be good. Ye have yer permission to establish our embassy. The terms couldn’t be better. The queen be grateful to ye. She’ll charge ye no property taxes. Ever. Yer to keep both houses and have permission to build as ye see fit, if ye need more accommodations. Permission be granted to use the portal for any kingdom or guild business. Though she did ask that ye make it available for defense purposes as ye did before. Fer troops to transport back n forth fer mutual defense. She’ll be lookin fer Fitz ta make her one o’ her own as well. Guild members be Friends o’ the Realm. Citizens of Elysia be given friendly status in Antalia to start. A separate trade agreement will need to be made.” He stopped.“That trade won’t be tax free!”

  Alexander snorted. If sales tax or import fees were all he had to worry about, he had no worries at all. “She asked to order more of yer light cannons. Says she’ll pay ye a fair price.” Silverbeard continued. “Though, that may be a problem now if yer magic’s failed.”

  “Yeah, a problem.” Alexander repeated. He considered again picking a fight with Helga and letting her relieve him of his head. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced it would work. But he’d given Fitz a day, so he’d hold to it. “How are we on food and other supplies? Livestock? Weapons?”

  For the next hour he and Silverbeard discussed the state of Elysia. They made plans, then they made contingency plans. Always in the back of Alexander’s mind was the army of undead and demons waiting to be freed from the nearby caverns. He had a decision to make. He could await them here behind the high walls, on land now blessed by several gods of light. But doing so would be putting hundreds of citizens at risk. He could gather his players and take the fight to them. Open up a small gap in the rock currently sealing the cavern, and kill them as they funnel through. There again, if he and his guildmates failed to keep them contained, the army would roll over them and head straight to the keep.

  Before he could fight anywhere, he needed to bring his people up to proper strength. His core group were all around level 60. Misty, Warren, and Lyra were in their 50’s, as was Grumpy. High enough to fight the creatures in the cavern, but it wouldn’t hurt to get them more xp. Pollock and his guys were approaching 50 now as well, even though they’d each lost a level in their suicidal charge at the Chaos Nation house. Lugs, Helga, Benny, and Beatrix had just hit level 20, and had a lot of work to do. To add to the equation, they were about to offer Grumpy, Pollock, and his group the chance to become immersion players. Which would start them over as noobs. The same with the officer healers from the old PWP who might join them in the fight.

  He could take the fight to the undead army at a time of his choosing. Let Lugs and company level up for a few more days, and go on the offensive. Then let the others go immersive afterwards. Or he could have them go now, and hope they had enough time for everyone to level back up before the army got loose.

  All of this was going through Alexander’s mind as he and Silverbeard left the Chancellor’s office and made their way to the dining area. They met up with Sasha and Jules there, and enjoyed a pleasant evening meal chatting with citizens and talking about their day.

  When the meal ended, Alexander and Jules retired to their room. He showed her where he was going to have his secret lab, then crawled into bed. As she snuggled up next to him, he told her about his mishap with the levitation spell, and that Fitz had told him not to use his magic. She hugged him tight as he talked about his theory of dying to reset his body and hopefully curing the problem. When he was done, she leaned her head close and kissed him softly. In her sweetest voice, she said “If that’s what you decide to do… can I be the one… to kill you?”

  Chapter 3

  Friends in High Places

  The following day was all about business. Alexander woke up early, leaving the pink bunnymonster snoring into her pillow and grabbing a quick breakfast. As he ate, he planned his day.

  First order of business was the embassy.

  He and Silverbeard met at the portal just as the sun rose above the trees. Alexander was about to go through, when Sergeant Taylor showed up with his squad.

  “We’re ready to escort you, Alexander.” The sergeant saluted with a fist to his chest. The guards in his squad copied the gesture.

  With a sigh, Alexander accepted the inevitable. “Thank you, sergeant. We won’t be going anywhere but the guild house. Embassy. Whatever.”

  Silverbeard opened the portal, and they all stepped through, Taylor leading the way and the other guards in a formation surrounding Alexander. As soon as they were through, one of the guards jogged forward into the house.

  Alexander appreciated the gesture, but said. “Taylor, you know that Jeeves can tell us if anyone is inside the structure, right?”

  Taylor nodded, as he said. “I do. But they need to train for when we’re someplace Jeeves can’t see.” His guard came back out and waved that the building
was clear.

  “That’s a very good point, sergeant. Thank you.” Alexander wasn’t too proud to admit when he was wrong. He resolved to try and let his people do their thing without too much interference from him. “Let’s get this done.”

  He turned to Silverbeard “Is there anything special we need to say?”. When the dwarf shook his head, Alexander thought about it for a moment. “Oh, hell. I’ll just wing it.” He said.

  Standing tall and raising his arms to the sides, he said “I, Alexander, King of Elysia do hereby declare these two properties to be the Embassy of Elysia in Antalia!”

  There was a gong, accompanied by a flash of light. Flags appeared above both the former PWP and Chaos Nation guild houses that looked identical to the banner that Jules had made. A black dragon on a field of grey. A notification spread across Alexander’s UI.

  System Alert!: King Alexander of Elysia has established an embassy in the City of Antalia.

  Jules’ sleepy voice came to him through guild chat “What did you do? And whyyy? Too early!”

  Followed by Brick’s “What the… ye couldn’a waited till after me breakfast?”

  Alexander just grinned and answered, “Time to get up, sleepyheads!”

  He led Silverbeard and the others inside the first building’s back door. Pointing to the stairs leading from the kitchen down to the cellar, he said “Each of these houses has a trap door leading down to a tunnel system. We know the drow use those tunnels. Or they did. In any event, master Silverbeard please make these Norval’s next job? I want it so that the doors cannot be detected.

  The old dwarf was taking notes as Tiny Sam came stumbling into the room. “What the hell are you doing-” she froze when she saw Alexander. “Oh. G-good morning, Majesty.” She stammered and gave a quick bow. “I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “Please, Sam. No bowing. And it’s just Alexander unless we’re in court. And I apologize for waking you. I have a habit of forgetting about possible alerts when I do things. Like starting a new embassy.”

  Michael appeared behind Sam, fully dressed and belting his sword around his waist. He bowed his head so slightly it was barely a nod, saying “Good morning, Alexander. And congratulations on your new embassy.”

  “Thank you, mister Ambassador.” Alexander introduced everyone who hadn’t met yet, and they moved to a sitting room. While the four of them sat, the guards took up positions at doors and windows. Michael watched them for a moment, then nodded in approval. “Martin and the others asked me to pass on their apologies for not being here. Something about meeting your father?”

  Alexander mentally facepalmed. “Yes. They’ll be back tomorrow sometime.”

  Damn! I should have sent messages out last night. I forgot my dad would be talking to them about the new immersion tech and getting Lucas’ daughter situated.

  Silverbeard took over the conversation. He and Michael discussed the desired terms of a trade agreement, which Michael would be negotiating with one of Queen Margaret’s ministers.

  When they were through, Michael led them back outside to the portal. Alexander noted Tiny Sam looking sideways at one of the guards and blushing slightly. When he turned his head, he caught the guard smiling in the girl’s direction. He cleared his throat, and the guard snapped to attention, eyes forward. Alexander grinned. Somehow, at age 20 he was the ‘old man’ here. Keeping the youngsters in line.

  Michael stepped aside as Silverbeard opened the portal. He put his arm over Tiny Sam’s shoulders and waved goodbye as they passed through.

  The others from Alexander’s group were up and about by the time he reached the dining area. Brick was there with Bacon sitting not-so-patiently beside him looking for table scraps. Jules and Sasha were farther down the table, eating in silence. Neither looked very awake. Lainey and Max were sitting with Lugs and his group. They’d spent the previous day in the forest killing bears and boars and dire wolves that were ten to fifteen levels above them. Alexander went to go see how they’d done.

  “Lugs! Feeling a little stronger than when you took on the bunnies the other day?” he grinned at the half-ogre, taking a seat at their table. Lugs had calmed down sufficiently to be able to laugh about it now. “Ha! Indeed. Picked up five levels yesterday. All of us. Except Lainey, of course. But she picked up about a zillion hides.”

  Lainey nodded her head. “We even saw a few bunnies. Lugs was very brave.” This caused Beatrix to snort her drink, getting juice all over herself. She cast a quick water spell that seemed to clean her gear instantly.

  Alexander asked. “Are you going back out there today? Or do you have other plans?”

  This time it was Helga who spoke “Yep. We figure the forest here is good until we’re about level 35. Then we can go up top and check out the beasties there. Maybe even try that dungeon. Get us some of that legendary First Kill loot like you guys have.” She looked at his mithril chest piece.

  Alexander nodded “Yes, we need to get in there soon. But based on the surrounding forest creatures, who are all around level 60, I’d say we’ll need a full raid group. So hurry up and get there!” He looked at Lainey. “If you’re interested in testing your wings, it might be good for somebody to check in on the dungeon near Whitehall. The baron, or some other man in black, put one of those portal orbs down there for a reason. It could be that they’ve placed another one and repopulated the place.”

  Lainey stared at him, a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong?” She asked.

  Alexander cringed. She’d used her “Don’t bullshit me” tone. The one she used when he was feeling pain during a workout, and expected a complete and honest answer.

  Looking down at his hands, he said “I overdid a levitation spell yesterday. Fitz says I twisted something inside that messes with my mana flow. Told me not to cast any spells until he figures it out.”

  While Lainey was rolling her eyes, Helga grinned around a mouthful off eggs and said. “Lemme know if ya need me to cut yer head off again. Get me at least a couple levels…”.

  Alexander shook his head. “Jules has called dibs. I dunno what I did, but she’s excited about getting to stab me to death.” This got him roaring laughs from Lugs and Helga, and most of the others. When they quieted a bit, he said, “Fitz wants to see if he can fix it first. Which is fine with me. I’d rather not lose the xp for dying. Especially after yesterday.”

  Alexander chatted with them for a few more minutes while they finished their breakfasts. Seeing that Jules and Sasha were still eating, he moved to their table. Sitting next to Jules, he reached for a slice of bacon on her plate. His sneak attack was unsuccessful, as her fork darted in and jabbed his hand before it reached his target. “You woke me up with that stupid gongy thing” was all she said by way of explanation.

  Alexander looked hurt for a moment, then glanced at Sasha. He opened his mouth and pointed to it, a pathetic look on his face. Sasha giggled, tossing a slice of bacon up and over Jules’ head. Alexander caught it in his mouth and made exaggerated ‘nom nom’ sounds as he chewed. It was a game the two of them had played since grade school.

  Having seen the action, Bacon left Brick behind to trot over and poke his snout demandingly into Sasha’s side. Then he sat down and waited for her to toss a piece to him, as if it were rightfully his turn. Sasha picked up a slice, then paused. “Uhhh… if I feed bacon to Bacon, is that wrong?”

  “BWAHAHA!” Brick’s laughter echoed down the table. “Ye be corruptin’ me piggy!”

  Bacon, single-mindedly not caring about such silly concepts as cannibalism, nudged Sasha’s arm to remind her that he was still there and expecting his share. She tossed the treat to him, and it disappeared down his gullet without even being chewed. Much to his delight, this started a chain reaction, as everyone wanted in on feeding Bacon bacon. Alexander shook his head and rose from the table.

  “I’m going up top to check on our beastmasters. Anyone want to join me?”

  Sergeant Jenkins stepped forward seemingly from nowhere. �
��Your escort is ready, Ma… Alexander.” He saluted, then looked as if he regretted it. “Sorry, sir.” Alexander sighed, king Charles’ words echoing in his head. He was sure he’d never get used to having an escort. “Anybody besides my faithful bodyguards?

  When no one responded, not even Jules, who was busily stuffing eggs into her dainty elven mouth like a kid diving into her first birthday cake. Alexander led Jenkins and his squad to the teleport mirror that linked to the garrison tower up on the plateau. Jenkins insisted on sending two men through ahead of Alexander, and waiting for them to report through squad chat that all was clear before allowing Alexander through. Then he and the rest of the squad followed.

  Exiting the tower, Alexander made his way around to the barn that he’d created for Regina and Bodine. The place was filled with the couple’s zoo. He was greeted outside the door by the two cheeky monkeys, Jake and Bobby. They leapt up and climbed his arms to perch on his shoulders, chattering away at each other. Jake seemed to be scolding Bobby as he picked at Alexander’s hair. Bobby seemed disinterested, leaning forward to stare into Alexander’s face as he casually scratched his butt.

  Regina emerged from the barn. “Bobby! Jake! Leave poor Alexander alone. I’m sure he’s very busy and doesn’t need you two babbling in his ears.”

  Alexander shifted his eyes right to left as the monkeys just sat there staring at Regina. Seemingly sharing a thought, both of them climbed down Alexander’s torso to cling to his waist and began digging through his bag of holding. Or, trying to. Not being Alexander, they didn’t have access. He reached into the bag and produced a couple pieces of fruit, which he tossed into the air. Both monkeys leapt off in pursuit of the flying snacks.

  “I’m sorry, Alexander. Those two just have no concept of proper behavior. I try to teach them, but…” she shrugged. The smile on her face said that she wasn’t really all that upset.