Toular turned back to his line, firing off another couple wind attacks before pausing and pulling his mana to his lips, offering a lengthy explanation before the wind pixie blasted off over the edge of the wall down to the guards below. Joe, having seen the Matriarch handle things, returned to his line and cleared it, focusing on keeping the beasts back while watching the giant. It continued to destroy its immediate area even as attacks still came, striking at it continuously from its blind side and rear. It had been about a good ten or twenty minutes since the giant had come and, Joe felt his back chill and worry come to him as he realized that the attacks were all coming from the same direction. While the giant whirled, maddened, seeking its attacker, whoever was attacking the giant did so only when its back was to the city. Every single one of the latest strikes were coming from the direction of the city. The giant’s going to be real pissed at anyone on this side… where the attacks came from!
Even as Joe was chilled by the actions of the hidden attacker, he felt a bit relieved to realize the giant was quite a bit dumber than what it had seemed before. The giant had a threatening cunning, but it also seemed to be pretty dumb to not recognize that it was being played with. Even understanding that the attacks were all coming from the direction of the city, it still hadn’t seemed to sink into the giant’s thick skull that the city was supposed to be the source of the attacks. Well… took me a bit of time to catch it as well, but… still…
Still… the field needs to be… Joe looked down at the field below, finding many of the corpses had been pulled back to the wall. Only a dozen or so were left in front of the guard’s line and this relieved Joe. But the crafters and guards hadn’t really cleared the corpses, simply piling them up at the base of the wall. Joe grimaced, angry at their greediness, but still grateful since it did leave the field free. The last dozen or so corpses were up right next to the corpse wall he’d created and guards were running out in teams, three quarters on protection detail and a quarter hauling the corpse back. Seeing that, Joe made it a point to fire a few extra arrows over their head to let them know he noticed and was working to protect them. When the last corpse was back, he felt just a bit more relief, but looked around to find the blacksmith. He grimaced to find him still gone, but he did see the water mage.
“Ah… you are here! I’m sorry I did not notice.”
“You were very focused, eccentric. The First in Line for Matriarch called to you several times, but you were busy.”
“Oh,” Joe turned back to look at Gwenvair and waved apologetically, “Sorry, Gwenvair!”
Gwenvair smiled and shook her head, her tears still visible but at least her emotions more positive, “It is of no consequence.”
Joe smiled and waved back before turning to the water mage, “Did she explain what I am seeking?”
“To a small extent. You wish help traversing the wall?”
“Yes, but secondly, if it is possible, I would ask that you offer me some defense from the giant.”
The mage paled, eyes widening and he quickly shook his head, “I am uncertain that I could possibly do such a thing!”
Joe cocked his head, surprised, “Can you not create water?”
The mage nodded, “Yes?”
Joe thought for a bit, “If you were to make a column of water, about my height in diameter, how long could you make it?”
The magic responded several times in that sentence, shockwaves of meaning translating several words which left the mage taking longer to think before responding carefully, “I believe that is possible. You mean a long tube of water as round as you are tall?”
“Yes. How long could you make that tube?”
The mage seemed to shrug, “I do not know if there is any such limit, but… easily the height of this wall… even double or longer.”
Joe nodded, grinning, “Then, if you were to make a tube half the height of this wall and I were to fall from this wall into that tube of water, what would happen to me?”
The mage seemed to pause, thinking a minute before shrugging, obviously confused, “You would get wet?”
Joe laughed at that, shook his head, then turned back to clear the field once more, setting his line again before turning back to the mage after a few minutes, “Apologies. You are correct, but let us try another way. If I were to take a crystal glass and drop it, what would happen to it?”
The mage shrugged, “It depends on the surface, but it would likely shatter.”
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“And if you were to make a tube of water the crystal glass could fall into before it hit.”
That struck a thought, the eureka moment visible on the mage’s face as he excitedly looked back at Joe, “You wish to cushion a fall!?”
Joe nodded, “I wish to cushion a blow from the giant in two ways.”
The two then settled into a rapid back and forth discussion of Joe’s desires, interrupted by a couple minutes of firing arrows. The discussion was animated and the mage became more and more excited as he heard the possibilities. Joe did have to explain mostly through examples and give some obvious warnings, but once known, the water mage seemed to grasp the concepts easily enough, even as his face revealed thoughts exploding at the new possibilities. Joe’s fear had receded by a fair amount after he’d seen how quick the mage caught on, and soon Joe was almost even enjoying the time teaching.
Every once and a while, Joe had to stop and fire off a few arrows to keep the monsters back and despite the extra time, the mage soon drifted off in his own thoughts, new ideas bouncing through his mind. Joe left him to it, and returned to keeping the beasts at bay while also keeping an eye on the giant. Man… the thing sure is stubborn… or really, really stupid? The giant still stumbled around the edge of the forest, his rage growing, however.
Joe began to get a bit worried because if the monster continued to be riled up, he feared that the giant would be so enraged that it would just go berserk. If the giant was truly berserk, he feared being able to keep it contained, or at least away from the city. As Joe began trying to find ways to draw the monster towards the city in a controlled manner, the blacksmith returned with about fifteen strange weapons. They were about the length of his forearm but its narrow edge was razor sharp before it grew out into an inch thick edge. It looked more like an extremely long wedge for splitting logs or an odd punch… or a giant chisel? He handled each one carefully, looking over them and found them all uniform. Or as uniform as Joe could tell with a quick look of his eyes. He nodded, grateful to the blacksmith.
“Thank you. I think these will be perfect,” Joe nodded with a small smile.
The blacksmith seemed to be in a foul mood, and simply grunted before nodding and walking away. The wedges were dropped on the ground and Joe hid his grimace before turning back to everyone else.
“OK. I’ll need my harnesses ready. I’ll need to be dressed quickly, OK?”
Garnedell nodded, “OK. We’ll be ready.”
“Gwenvair, could I speak with your mother? I think we’re going to have to do something about that giant. We need it to come to the city without being so angry.”
Gwenvair nodded at that, but seemed concerned, “I will… speak to my … the Matriarch.”
Joe nodded, “Sounds good. If she has an idea, or needs to talk…” he trailed off after a bit with that.
Gwenvair quickly nodded, “I’ll talk to her.”
Joe turned away and started clearing his line again, pushing back the monsters but after a few minutes Joe heard footsteps and the Matriarch came to his side.
“My daughter told me you worry over the giant.”
Joe nodded, “Yes, Matriarch. If the giant’s anger grows too great, it may simply rage. If it rages, it will be very hard to keep it in any one place or control it.”
“Do you have any idea?”
Joe grimaced, “Is there anyone who can fly above the giant… and safely? Only safely!”
“I have several flyers that could fly out there easily?”
“Could they do so and catch the attention of giant?”
The Matriarch frowned at that, “You wish them to attack?”
Joe quickly shook his head, “No. No. Definitely not. I do not wish them to attack or be harmed in anyway. Only to draw the giant this way. If we do so, the enemy that is attacking and trying to draw the monster into the city may stop trying to antagonize it. Then he might simply come without being enraged. Do you know a way?”
Her frown deepened and she shook her head, “I am sorry. Little is known of them. Few would ever wish to attack a giant. They are too strong.”
Joe sighed, and looked out at the giant, still swinging madly around it, growing ever more unstable. He frowned as he could easily see the giant really wasn’t … Ooh! That would work!
Joe turned back to the Matriarch, “Let me try something. I’ll need someone to hold my line while I fight the giant.”
“I will bring reinforcements immediately.”
Joe nodded, turning to the hardened monster killers, “I’m going to try to engage the giant on our turf. Come if and when you can.”
They each nodded or reply with a simple yes but Joe was already turning to the water mage, “Are you ready? Sure you can do everything?”
The mage nodded, “I will simply need to mark your shield.”
Joe nodded, “Do you need to mark anything else?”
The mage frowned but then spoke, “If you would allow, it would be important to mark you as well.”
Joe nodded but spoke a bit more firmly, “Mark away, but remove it after the fight, OK?” Marking … probably not something I want on me if he’s worried about it.
The mage seemed surprised, but then nodded. He immediately began casting, his movements flowing, even as he spoke and danced. The mana swirled around him even as it condensed inward, however the mage didn’t seem to be using any of that mana or have any mana points. There were some kind of free floating mana points. Joe blinked with surprise. Where are the mages points? Gotta be SOME mages with mana points, right? Are they hidden? Can you hide them? But… then… what are these … And Gwenvair didn’t have any… but … this guy seems older… shouldn’t he have… more… or some? Toular didn't have any either… So, what’s going on? Joe glanced around and focused on the vast collection of mana points everywhere. It took an odd twist to his sight to see them; a sort of focus that he was now long used to because he kept seeing his own points. He wondered why there were so many free floating points. Maybe… just can see them easier now? Got more practice? Or… something else going on? And… if Garnedell’s right… shouldn’t it be easy for them to get points? They’re… everywhere. He frowned, adding that to his ‘to study’ list. He quickly focused back on the mage and noticed that he pulled the mana from his core, just like Toular, Gwenvair, and he did. It twisted around him and began to form a complicated construct in a small bubble in front of the mage, between Joe and the mage. He continued dancing, twisting, and spinning as he spoke until the construct became more concrete. As the mage came to the end of his dance, he slowed, then stopped his body movements, while slowly bringing his hands together in front of him, directly around the construct that was forming.