“Nick, you know as well as I do that we were raised in the ice mountain dungeon of Gold’s Guild, we all have ice control,” Seo-ah said, creating a small snow ball that she then began to spin incredibly fast, expanding and contracting the outer edges as she morphed it from a ball to a disc and then back into a ball again in front of her to demonstrate, “whatever you need us to do, we can all do it.”
“Great, then let’s build an ice sled here, and we can use some chains and ropes to hook into the ice and tow it. It’ll save the people from having to walk,” Nick told the others as he began to show them what he meant by creating the first sled: a long, flat sheet of ice with two long, thin runners underneath to allow the sled to glide across the snow and ice of the tundra.
While he was confident that the magically reinforced ice would support its passengers, to prevent the sleds from running afoul and breaking the moment they struck a rock, he made sure to keep them small. He made the first sled so that only two people could fit on it comfortably and then created sturdy holes where rope or chains could be attached to the front and back of the sled.
Seeing what he was doing, Seo-ah, Maria, Elizabeth, and a few others without healing abilities to help the wounded began using their magic to make transports as well.
“So,” Christina began, turning to Nick after finishing four sleds of her own, “do we have any dogs to pull these?”
“Dogs? What do you mean, dogs? Are you gonna put on the collar and bark if we have you lead the team?” Topaz asked, a mischievous grin on her face as the question popped out.
“Maybe she should save that for her private time with Reggie,” Nick joked, smirking as he added extra fuel to the fire.
“What? Why would you mention Reggie?” Christina responded, looking rather embarrassed. She turned to Reggie for back up, only for him to turn his head away as he began cackling. “What? Why are you laughing at me too?”
“What? Laughing at you? Never. I was just . . . thinking of something pleasant,” Reggie answered with a grin as Nick tossed a rope to Christina.
“There,” Nick said as Christina caught the rope. “You can start prepping your sleds for the journey.”
“I’m not a husky. How do you expect me to do this?” Christina asked as she looked between the rope and the hitches in each of the sleds.
“I never said you were, but we need to get these people out of here. There’s 167 of them in total. We have three on some sleds, two on others, and only twelve of us. Not to mention, one of us has been skipping leg day like he’s allergic to it.” Nick paused, shooting Allen a glance to let him know he knew that the artificer, while still quite buff compared to most mages, had been missing leg day workouts to fiddle with his drones. “So, yeah. Start hooking the sleds up, create a daisy chain for them, and let’s get moving.”
“You really think each of us can pull over six to seven sleds?” Reggie asked even as his hands went to work, doing exactly what he was told.
“You really think I’m going to let you get away with that type of talk around me?” Mr. Walters asked, silencing the whole lot. “I once saw a man twice my age pull a 70,000-pound semi and trailer down a road with nothing but his teeth. There is no limit to what the human body can accomplish if you put your mind to it! We will prove that a man who has offered sweat, time, and pain upon the altar of steel has no limits!”
“Yeah, but I bet that guy pulling the truck wasn’t doing it up a hill,” Reggie grumbled.
“If my dad says you can do it, then you better figure out how to do it,” Elizabeth shot back at him as she pulled out her medicine ball, a friendly reminder of what failure meant.
What a loving and supportive daughter she is, Nick thought as he chuckled under his breath.
“Alright, enough talk. We’re burning daylight,” Nick then ordered the group, focusing on the task at hand. “Let’s get these people back quickly.”
“There’s still the matter of actually getting them on the sleds though,” said Topaz, who seemed to be failing in that regard.
“I can handle that,” Adele replied, pulling Nick’s attention to where she was. She had gotten eight of them to sit on the little sleds already, showing them with expert-level charades to not only sit but also grab the sides of the sled for stability. The more people she showed, the more people followed suit.
Nick chalked up her ability to maneuver the people to the fact she had been healing them so well, and she had likely garnered a ton of experience dealing with immigrants she couldn’t communicate with while volunteering at the church.
That’s our priestess for you, Nick thought as he went over to help her hook up the ropes to the sleds while she gathered the people, calming them and sitting them on the sleds one after the other.
The whole process ended up, after they finished making the sleds at least, only taking a few minutes. The one surprising thing was how good Elizabeth was at making knots. Nick had to admire how quickly she was able to lash and bind the sleds together, as if her hands had worked with ropes a thousand times before.
“Alright, time to get a good workout in after a hard fight,” Lou, sounding exactly like his father, said as he cracked his neck and took the end of a rope binding one of the long chains of sleds.
“We’re missing one chain,” Maria noted as she looked at the eleven sled chains, each with seven or more sleds hooked together.
“Nah, the final one would be Allen’s, but since Nick pointed out how many leg days he’s been missing, I figured we could let him scout,” Seo-ah said, looking rather pleased with herself.
“I . . . I have not been missing leg day!” Allen protested with his words, but as he pulled out the monitor for ViVi, it was clear he’d already accepted his lot.
“Now, to avoid any of these sleds breaking, I think the best course of action is for one of us to lead and use ice magic where it’s needed to make smooth trails for the sleds behind us. If we make a long line, we should be able to reach the base faster than they’ll reach this location,” Nick said as he remembered the rescue order he’d given to Kaylee.
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“Let’s go then!” Mr. Walters, who had burdened himself with twelve of the sleds despite his injury, called out.
“He’s insane,” Nick muttered, shaking his head at the muscle-bro mad man that was his favorite gym leader.
Seo-ah shrugged. “Yeah, you both are.”
“Alright, Allen, take the rear in case anyone falls off. Use the drone to make sure our front is clear. You know how to scout,” Nick told his friend as he got in position himself, with Christina, as promised, taking the team lead spot and going in front.
“Kaylee, put a pause on the aid. Just get it ready for us at the base. We’re coming to you,” Nick called in over the radio before yelling out “MUSH” at Christina.
“I’m . . . I’m not a dog!” Christina complained as everyone had a little bit of a laugh.
“Of course pulling sleds doesn’t make us actual dogs. No one thinks that,” Reggie assured her as he took the spot behind her. But, the moment she started pulling the sleds, he also added, “Good view though.”
Christina didn't respond, but Nick could tell from the blush on her cheeks that she didn't entirely mind the compliment from Reggie.
Despite the difficulty setting up the whole system, getting everyone on the sleds, and then having everyone move in a single-file line, once everything was moving, Nick was surprised at how fast they went. In fact, he was even surprised at how easy it was to pull. He felt little-to-no issue getting traction and dragging the nearly sixteen people behind him across the tundra back to the base.
With the route clear and Allen having scouted far enough ahead that he knew they didn’t have to worry about being ambushed, they soon reached the base, where they were greeted with two teams of people that had blankets, thermal insulation jackets, food, water and medical supplies for the captives they had rescued.
It warmed Nick’s heart a little to see how quick and ready his people were to help others. It was a reminder to Nick of what he was fighting for, of the innate good in people. He could see the genuine worry, concern, and empathy in their faces as they ran out to help the people his team had rescued.
“Why does this remind me of a relief effort for a natural disaster?” Seo-ah asked as she walked up beside Nick, watching the people work.
“Because it’s one of the few times people are like this,” Topaz commented while changing the loadout on her grenade launcher. “Usually, if they see something bad happen, they freeze up and don’t do anything. I’ve seen burning buildings with a hundred people outside just watching, not even calling the cops.”
“I hate to ask, but did Nick light those buildings on fire? I mean . . .” Allen looked over at his friend with a disappointing frown. “Nick. How many buildings have you lit on fire since my mother’s place?”
“I . . . I’m innocent!” Nick protested, only to cause Seo-ah to chuckle.
“Sure, sure, of course you are,” Seo-ah joked, a smirk on her face.
“Wait a minute, are we not going to ask what she’s doing with the launcher?” Maria asked as she, having dropped off her sleds to the rescue people last, joined the group. “Topaz, do we need to tell you to put the gun down?”
“What? I’m just getting ready for the next expedition. Honestly, I’d like a nap, some caffeine, a minute to eat a real meal—God, I’d love some pelmeni—but I have a feeling something is going to pop up, and Nick is going to be ordering us back into the fray again before we even get a chance to settle down,” Topaz answered, sighing. “At this point, I’m just prepared for the exhaustion and ready to go. It feels like we haven’t even had five minutes for a cup of tea since hell broke loose a day ago.”
“That’s the truth . . .” Seo-ah looked as disheartened as Topaz as she turned to her alchemist companion. “You got any stims?”
“Not that I can give you without a prescription,” Topaz responded with a laugh, but then their banter was interrupted by loud shouting in the distance.
“Nick!” Kaylee’s voice could be heard more clearly the second time as she rushed over toward him, typing a message on her cell phone without even looking at the screen as she ran. “I’m so glad you made it back safely! We tracked your location, and we’re updating the drone footage now. We’ll have everything sorted and ready as soon as possible . . . but what happened? Who are these people?”
“Perhaps they are natives of this world?” Malcolm, whom Nick hadn’t seen, said as he walked up beside Kaylee. “They could even be from a realm not our own yet not this one either. Perhaps the dragons of this world might have raised them as livestock from the moment of their birth . . .”
“The dragons . . .” Nick repeated as he looked at Malcolm. He knew that the kingdom they would have originally entered, had the rift not been diverted, was the empire of the dragons, but that hadn’t happened. That was knowledge he had gotten from the black witch, and he hadn’t shared it with anyone who would leak it. Malcolm’s use of the word, despite the fact he hadn’t told anyone outside of his own guild, felt like a red flag. However, before he could focus on that further, he heard the Black Witch’s voice in his head.
You left the knights to their own devices so you could save these people. They’re saved. Shouldn’t you return to my knights? They need your help. I need your help. Now more than ever, I need you to save me from the monsters besieging our city.
He could feel the desperation in her voice, but this time, he put his foot down. Even if she was pressuring him to act, to immediately rush to the next fight, the next battle, he had things to do.
You said it was a siege. Then that means, as long as you don’t charge out and engage them, I have time, Nick told the Black Witch in his mind as he turned to his people.
“Topaz, put down the gun. Let’s get that nap and breakfast,” Nick said confidently. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but he knew that if the siege required a supply chain, which he had just disrupted, then they at least had time for breakfast.
“Are you sure that’s the best choice? What if there are others out there?” Malcolm asked.
“Then they’ll have to wait. I need to upgrade this base, heal my people, revitalize our stamina, and prepare. We have a long fight ahead of us, and I’ll let Kaylee fill everyone in on what we saw and what was happening,” Nick told the man as he turned back toward his friends.
“You good, bro?” Reggie asked before Nick could say anything else.
“Yeah, I am,” Nick assured him.
“Then you want to head back to the real world?” Allen asked.
“Real world? You think this is a virtual world or something?” Reggie chortled. “Wouldn’t that be cool though?”
“Real or virtual, we can sleep here. I want to rest, but I don’t want to risk something happening to the new base without me being here,” Nick told them as he leaned on Seo-ah. He hadn’t realized exactly how tired he was, how mentally exhausted he was, until he finally told himself and the others that they had time for a break.
You know that if my city falls, yours will be next? the Black Witch pleaded in his mind, but he ignored her as best he could and walked back into the camp with his friends. He wasn’t going to dismiss her completely or fail to aid her, but if just the fight at the supply chain had nearly cost him a close companion and been so brutal, he shuddered to think about how tough the battle ahead was going to be. The last thing he wanted to do was to try to relieve a siege only to find himself amongst the corpses on the ground because he rushed into battle unprepared.
“Alright, we have tents set up for meetings, but I can empty one out and throw some cots in for you guys,” Kaylee told him before she turned to a rather distressed-looking Malcolm. “Come on, we have more work to do. These people don’t speak our language, don’t know our customs, and won’t understand half our gestures. Isn’t that so exciting? This is your expertise, right? The unknown elements of a dungeon?”
“Yes . . .” Malcolm looked hesitant as his eyes met Nick’s, like he had something he wanted to say, but Nick put it out of his head as he walked with his group to take that much needed and well-earned nap.