When CJ woke up the next day, the Duchess and Byr were arguing. He watched them push through the crowd of refugees who were just as confused as he was. Sir Byr was a step behind her, trying to get her to stop as she continued toward her tent set up in the middle of the camp. She seemed determined, he was red-faced and frustrated. But the details of what they were talking about were lost on him. CJ just heard Byr demand she stop and listen, and she kept dismissing him.
CJ walked up beside Larl, who was watching with hands on his hips as Byr vanished into the tent.
“What was that about?” CJ asked. “Byr seemed pissed off.”
Larl nodded, “I think I know, but I shouldn’t talk about it too loud.”
Larl looked both ways, then motioned for CJ to follow him. CJ followed him over to the edge of the camp, far enough away that no one would really be able to hear. Larl turned on CJ, and put an open hand up his palm to the side, like he was going to karate chop the air in front of CJ. CJ was learning that the gesture was the same as a single finger to shush someone.
“I’ve heard we are being pursued, possibly scouts from the Princedom.” Larl whispered.
“They’re chasing us?” CJ whispered back, leaning in closer. “Is it going to be those… things?”
He shivered at the thought of seeing the Ash Walkers again. You would think the media creating a hundred and one zombie movies and shows would prepare you for seeing the undead running at you, but they still crawled through his mind when he let it wander too far.
“Likely not,” Larl said. “You don’t know much about Ash Walkers, but they are not intelligent or particularly quick. Using them to pursue us would be risky. Especially if we found any means to move along quicker. This is likely to be either actual Princedom forces or…”
CJ didn’t know what Larl was thinking as the other option, but the man’s expression twisted up as if he smelled something foul. Then he shook the thought clear and went back to his normal slight grin.
“Nevermind, I wouldn’t worry about it. Sir Byr will figure out a solution.”
CJ looked back toward the tent in the middle of the camp. If it was just a matter of trying to figure out what to do next, Sir Byr probably could figure out a proper plan. Unfortunately, there was a problem that Larl probably hadn’t considered.
“How is he going to keep the civilians safe?” CJ asked, his eyes running over the people sitting around the camp. While some were helping with small tasks, packing supplies to get the camp moving or collecting firewood from the nearby trees. But many of the refugees were elderly, young, or sick. Halta did what she could to heal people, CJ saw less and less injuries daily. It seemed that while their healing magic was strong in this world, it wasn’t immediate or perfect.
Larl tilted his head to the side, “Hard to say. I wouldn’t worry about it though, we aren’t meant to lose here. Have faith, CJ.”
CJ sighed, but he knew it was pointless to argue that particular point. He thought of questioning Sir Byr directly, but then thought better of it. The man was busy. If CJ was going to be any help to them, it would be after they had time to figure out their larger plan. For now, he was as useless as any other civilian in a military scenario. He was a burden more than anything.
“Thanks, Larl,” CJ said. They headed back toward the center of camp.
Over the day, tensions rose in the camp. People flinched whenever they heard yelling from within the tent. When they started moving again, eyes would turn to Sir Byr anytime he moved between groups of soldiers marching with the camp. Everyone could tell something was happening, but the details weren’t being communicated.
When CJ went to sleep for the night, he woke up once to movement around the camp and hushed voices. But it was dark, they weren’t burning a fire so they didn’t attract attention. He eventually faded back into sleep.
He woke up the next morning, and the camp was nearly empty. A few people were seated around, backpacks on and ready. CJ could see that there were soldiers near the rear of the camp, the blue tethers spreading off of their leader. But the refugees, only a few remained. The camp had maybe a quarter of its original numbers.
CJ got up, packing the blanket he was given. He looked to where Halta’s healing was set up the night before, and the priests were gone along with all of their supplies. He couldn’t see Sir Byr or Larl. He could guess that Mae was inside her tent, but with so many people gone he had no way to check but to stick his head in there. He walked over, and a guard outside the door put a hand up to stop him.
He heard a woman yell inside. “This was reckless!”
It wasn’t Mae, the voice was too raspy. It was Alyss.
“Lady Mae?” CJ called, ignoring the guard’s hand to his chest. “You in there?”
“Come in,” Mae said back.
The guard let him pass, and CJ walked in to see Duchess Mae wearing the armor of one of Byr’s magmaguard, and Alyss looking to the ground trying to hide that she was clearly just shouting at the top of her lungs. Alyss’s face was red at the cheeks, and her hands were jittering, completely unlike the bodyguard. She had her gear on, making CJ realize he so far had never seen her without it. He also never saw her away from Mae’s side.
“Do you want to go get ready?” Mae asked Alyss. She was clearly trying to dismiss her, but Alyss shook her head no.
“What the hell is going on here?” CJ asked. “Where is everyone?”
He walked closer to the two of them. He noticed that despite looking collected, Mae’s hands were also trembling.
“A decision has been made,” Mae said. She looked at CJ and tried to stand tall with her chin up.
“Okay,” CJ said, pursing his lips and watching her. He made the ‘go on’ motion, but she didn’t catch on. “What was the decision?”
Alyss stomped toward him, and CJ stepped out of the way in time to not get barreled over as she left the tent.
Mae answered him. “We needed to get the civilians to safety. They left under the cover of night, with Sir Byr at their head. They will take an alternate path to Spineback, and we will meet them there.”
CJ’s jaw fell slack, and he looked back toward where Alyss just left, then back to Mae. “You sent the commander of the guard to deliver civilians to safety and didn’t think to include yourself? Did Alyss know about that?”
Mae tried to cross her arms, but her armor wasn’t well fitted, and she struggled with the motion. “That wasn’t her decision to make. Besides, Sir Byr needed her here to protect me.”
The idea was astoundingly stupid, and made sense out of all of Byr’s yelling. They were probably arguing the details of this plan, and Byr didn’t want anything to do with it. But if he did go with it, that meant he thought Mae would survive.
“Aren’t we being chased or something, Mae?” CJ asked.
She flared her nostrils, “Didn’t I ask you to be better about using titles? It is-”
“Are we being chased or not?!” CJ tossed a hand up as he yelled, and Mae flinched back.
She shook her head, “Our scouts believe it is just a small force. They shouldn’t attack, and if they do then we have more than enough to take care of them. But we’re in Barune’s territory now, they wouldn’t dare.”
“Unless they use mercenaries.” Larl’s voice broke in as he entered the tent. “Sorry, your highness, I heard the conversation going and thought I could add my own perspective.”
“Brother Larl!” Mae shouted, stepping toward him with a pointing finger out, “You were supposed to be with Byr’s group. I had them check to make sure you left.”
Larl smiled and shrugged. “I did leave, and then I thought better of it and came back. But that isn’t important right now.”
“By Hibe’s wisps,” Mae cursed while covering her eyes. “Is everyone going to just press me today? I make one decision and it all comes to this?”
“Mercenaries?” CJ asked.
“Ah yes,” Larl said. “I had the thought yesterday, but I didn’t want to put an evil into the world before it was created. There are mercenary companies among the Hillmen, the Princedom could use them to pursue us, and keep their hands clean.”
“Clean?!” Mae snapped. “Shirking responsibility like that doesn’t work when you kill a member of a royal family.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Larl shrugged.
CJ turned one way, then another. He looked back to Mae. “Okay so what is your plan?”
She huffed. “Sir Byr and his group took the shortest road. We will take the long trail toward Scaleback, and serve as a distraction. If the Princedom really wanted to harm us, they would force us into a situation where we would surrender, this removes that risk.”
CJ thought about it. She wasn’t wrong, it was just risky. “Now we don’t have civilians around to slow us down, except us three of course. We can run without having to carry the sick and injured.”
“Exactly,” Mae said with a grin. “See, I know what I’m doing.”
“Unless they do attack,” Larl said. “Then we have a problem.”
CJ motioned toward Mae, “I guess the scouts say the group is small enough that we should be able to handle it.”
A soldier walked in next. They didn’t have the magmaguard armor, instead wearing leathers reinforced at key points with metal plates. They were a young guy, and out of breath.
“Lady Mae, I was told to bring reports to you or Madame-”
“Yes,” Mae said, “go ahead.”
He nodded. “The forces following us are still not flying any banners, but a second force joined them on the march. Their numbers have nearly doubled.”
“Six bonds?” Mae asked, her hand squeezing into a fist at her side.
The boy nodded.
“Find Alyss and tell her,” Mae said. “Tell her that we are leaving immediately. Guards, start packing the tent!”
The boy ran out the tent to deliver his message.
CJ looked at Mae, “Okay, so what now, are we running?”
“I don’t know for sure.” Mae said. “I need Alyss for this. She should be able to put together a plan.”
“It sounded like she just heard about this before I got in here.” CJ said.
Lady Mae opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was sputtering.
CJ’s eyes grew wider the more she flustered for a response. There was no plan for this, they were screwed. He left the tent, with Mae calling for him as he went. He needed to find Alyss.
She was easy to find. CJ left the tent and tried to wander toward the nearest group of soldiers, then heard another raspy yell toward the opposite end of the meeting tent. CJ turned and headed that way.
The messenger was running away from where she stood, head in her hands.
“Alyss?” CJ said as he approached, “I guess you heard the news huh?”
She looked up at him. Her usual quiet expression was replaced with a death glare. Stronger than any he saw from her before. She turned to face him and stood in a wide shoulder stance.
“You,” She said with venom. “This is all your fault.”
“My fault?” CJ asked. “What, do you think I wanted to get summoned to your war here? I would have gladly died at home, in the comfort of my own bed, rather than whatever this is all about. So don’t blame this on me!”
This whole situation was outrageous to him. But he could also see a big mistake piling up in front of him. While he was usually fine allowing everyone to make their own mistakes while he watched from a distance, this one had the possibility of getting him killed. With that possibility rising and rising in likelihood as this played out, CJ was searching for a way out.
“I came here to see if you had a plan,” He said.
She tilted her head at him, an expression he was getting frustrated with the more times he saw it. “A plan? We’re running. I need to get my Lady to safety, and I guess you can come along too.”
“Well I’m glad you have it all worked out,” CJ said with a shrug. “I can see why you were left in charge.”
Alyss growled at him as she rapidly closed the distance between them. It wasn’t like when Sir Byr growled in frustration, hers was somehow more gnarled and feral. She got in his face, and CJ took a step back.
“Do you want to do this?” Alyss snarled. “I know what people think you are, but I’m not convinced. You don’t get to just show up and be the most important person in the room. The sun rose and fell before you arrived, Eastman.”
He didn’t like when people tried to intimidate him. He felt an urge to get defensive, he wanted to fight back. But he also knew he was outmatched, so often was he outmatched. He had to let people win, that’s what it meant to be weak. He was weak before, and he was weak now.
“I know,” CJ said. “Hell, I didn’t mean it like that. I guess I’m just scared, and I want to help, but instead I just say… stuff.”
Alyss stepped back from him, her eyes narrowing as if he was going to spring a trap.
He shook his head. “A different question then? What am I supposed to do? I’ve been studying as much as I can while we’re traveling. I doubt it helps, but I said I was going to do what I could.”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing you can do, unless you learned to pick up a sword over the last few days.”
He tried. He at least knew how to hold one, it wasn’t as heavy as he expected. It was still awkward. Still, he shook his head no to Alyss. “Not enough to be useful.”
Alyss stared at him for a moment, then fished into a pouch at her waist. She pulled out a ring, just like the one Byr showed him before. “Until you learn to swing a sword, or learn to wear one of these, you’re a civilian to me. On the battleground, you’re slower and weaker than everyone else. You understand that?”
CJ looked at the ring. He was tempted to grab it, and try it. If he was supposed to be some big hero, then according to Byr he would have to use one of those eventually. But what if he couldn’t use it? There was the possibility that he was useless even with that ring on. When confronted with people trying to attack him, what if he collapsed under the pressure?
CJ closed his hand into a fist and turned his head down. “Okay, I get it.”
Alyss pocketed the ring and walked past him. “I’ll get you a spare shield and sword, to protect yourself out there. Stick close to me as we run and hope you never have to swing.”
She walked away, and CJ stamped his foot in frustration. He was still useless, no matter what he did.
They left before the tent was even put away. A squad was left to finish the job. Alyss was determined to get them to the upcoming city of Scaleback before the enemy even noticed they were fleeing.
They gave CJ a small kite shield and a sword. The sword didn’t have a belt to go with it, so he was jogging with the sheath and shield in his hands. They weren’t in a full run, just a jog to make good time as they went down a stone road. To the south of them was a forest, it looked dense and full of brush. Far to their north were hills that eventually lead back toward the mountain range they climbed down from. It was no surprise there was a road here, the traffic didn’t have many other places to go.
Larl was jogging while beside the Duchess who was in her armor. He didn’t question it before, but it did look like the armor of her guards, down to a helmet that hid her face pretty well. She was incognito. If they were spotted, the hope had to be that their group would look like a random group of soldiers making their way to the group’s destination. The juicy targets would be among Byr’s group, a bunch of refugees and nobles.
Alyss was just ahead of them, and she was tethered to Mae’s guards.
The scout from before ran up behind them, calling out to Alyss.
“Keep jogging,” She said to CJ and Mae as she slowed down to speak with the messenger.
In his right-eye, the ‘Mysterious Eye’ as the field guide described it, he could see a map of the area. It had him marked by the same blue puck, but there was also one to represent Alyss, it was marked with a sword and axe crossed over each other. The map was tucked in close, and mostly showed the road they were on. But now that he had an allegiance with Akahi, the edges didn’t fade to black. He could tell there was more beyond that, and he had to guess that was because of the other soldiers lagging behind them, or the ones sent ahead of them.
He focused his thoughts on seeing more, and the map obliged. It zoomed out, and kept progressively getting further. He could see the road some way ahead of them, and there was another sword and axe cross puck up ahead. Back behind was another one.
CJ was going to stop the zoom, but it stopped itself. It reached a maximum, as the edges were faded out black again. But he was still curious. ‘Who is that group?’ he thought while focusing on the Bond at the rear.
|Mak’s Bond 20% Bond Affinity
|3 Unit Bond Healthy
|Members: Mak, Shell, Jai.
|M. Spd Avg
|>Facets
When he examined Bonds, it was a different set of attributes. But it still had a facet menu. So far he didn’t understand facets, except he knew that was related to their magic. Talking to Larl about it got him noncommittal answers from the priest. But CJ’s weird eye was considered a Facet power, and it was ‘crystalized’. If he survived this, he would have to ask Larl what that meant.
The Bond sheet came with a visual of everyone in the Bond, showing CJ a simplified portrait of Mak, Shell, and Jai. They were all in their armor, so he mostly saw three people wearing helmets. A green circle was next to each of them, and it throbbed in a rhythmic fashion.
Something appeared on the edge of the map, near Mak’s Bond. It was red, an arrow pointing toward Mak’s bond like a chevron.
“Keep up,” Mae said.
CJ snapped back to reality, realizing that he was falling behind. He wasn’t as tired as he expected, but the run was starting to wear him down.
“Sorry,” He said, “I think… something is happening at the back.”
He looked over his shoulder, but he couldn’t actually see them from this distance. The eye was giving him an insight well beyond his vision range. The red chevron caught up with Mak’s Bond, and the two slid in place next to each other like they were locking in place.
“I think, I think we’re being attacked,” CJ said.
Larl looked at CJ, and then over at Lady Mae, then back to CJ. “Any reason you think that?”
Words flashed across his right eye.
* Objective: Survive the Battle of Scaleback Fields *
Win the battle, or successfully retreat.
Alyss called forward as she caught up with them. “We need to run faster! The unit in the rear reported the enemy getting closer!”
Larl and Mae looked at CJ. He couldn’t read Mae’s face with the helmet, but Larl definitely looked like he was questioning CJ.
“It’s the eye, okay,” CJ gasped as they jogged. “I don’t understand it yet, I’ll fill you in when I know more.”
He already didn’t expect it to be this useful. Being able to see around him was one thing, but a map that extended this far, that was a whole new perspective.
“Hurry ahead,” Alyss said to the messenger. He sprinted ahead of them, going off to catch up with the forward group.
CJ already missed cell phones.
Two chevrons in the back, they were surrounding Mak’s group.
“Mak won’t be catching up with us,” CJ said to Alyss as she jogged up alongside them. “Two groups are attacking them already.”
“How exactly do you-” She stopped the question mid-sentence, and then shook her head. “Dragon Spit, we’re going to have to fight if they catch us.”
It was as if the thought just caught up to her. They were being chased, and they might have to fight.
“Down this road is a bridge,” Alyss said to CJ. “If we make it there, we should be safe. They wouldn’t dare attack so close to Scaleback.”
CJ couldn’t see the bridge yet, not with his eyes or in his special eye. His lungs were already burning, it felt like his very essence was running dry. This was going to be a problem.