Chapter 75: It Gets Worse
At the evening meeting in the grand hall, Nunuk laid out what they knew. Apparently they had received another message from Dakota concerning what had happened later in the evening. Two keeps were gone, maybe more, and they might be next.
“We should shore up the keep, not go hunting for them!” Tom protested. Rachuck nodded his approval.
“We already know there are supposed to be possible hostiles in the area. What if they are waiting for us to be weakened?” Anchor added in, clearly not pleased by the plan either.
“This is by order of the king, so it must be done,” Nunuk stated plainly. It was clear she was not gonna discuss this, as she leaned back down over the map of the island.
Tom had seen the map of the island before. He wasn’t entirely sure about the accuracy of it, since it seemed like on a hell of an island they were currently on, it was huge in fact. Nunuk had pointed out the two other keeps, named Hylsdal and Deriva. Those being the only other inhabited structures on the island. They were supposed to scout them both to see if anyone was home and if they were in trouble.
They estimated around six hours flying to Hylsdal, with four between them. In the best-case scenario, they would scout them both and rest at Deriva, returning the following day. In case a keep was hostile they would not engage and instead move to the other keep, either warning them or scouting that one if they had yet to do so. It sounded simple enough, especially now that they had Jarix on hand. He could fly for days after all, when not loaded down with tons of meat.
Tom really wanted to go. He hadn’t seen another keep yet or even much of the island apart from the area around Bizmati Keep. Yet he was also concerned about leaving. In the end Jarix settled that matter for him, by demanding Tom accompany them in case they ended up getting chased by something nastier than a darkling. Tom just elected not to argue.
“Simple enough to do, if nothing is wrong of course” Zarko stated, currently in the process of copying down what she needed from the big map. “We travel light so we can run rather than fight.”
“Very good, you got anything to add Tom?” Nunuk questioned.
“At Hylsdal can you see the keep from the tree line here?”
“Yes, they are right up against the trees if I remember correctly,” Nunuk replied
“Then I say we go in through the trees like we did hunting today. Jarix can land and we move ahead on foot to scout from cover.” Nunuk looked to Rachuck and Zarko, clearly asking for their opinions.
“What if they see you?” Rachuck went in a worried tone. “You won’t be able to run without Jarix if you don’t have altitude.”
“If they are expecting us, they will have eyes on the sky that’s for sure, likely not the ground though,” Zarko replied. “I think it’s smart.
“We can’t do that for Deriva though, unless you wanna wait for me to crawl a few kilometers across the plains.”
“Then we do it the old fashioned way there. We come in high and fast under flag. If they don’t attack us, we're good. If they do, then we use our speed advantage to outrun them.”
“What if they try and lure us in?” Tom questioned, they had clearly been more than capable of that kind of tactics during their last fight.
“Your call, Nunuk. If nothing happens should we investigate?” Zarko went, looking to the Lady.
“There might be survivors if they just came and left,” Fengi tried, optimism wavering slightly.
“If there are survivors, they are still fighting or they are hiding,” Nunuk replied.
“How would we know that without going inside though?” Tom questioned.
“Kokashi could hear them perhaps,” Fengi added.
“I’m staying here” Kokashi responded in no uncertain terms.
“I agree. Jarix, Tom, Zarko… dammit Jackalope you're going too. That way the two of you can carry Tom out if anything happens to Jarix, or you get separated.” Tom could see Jackalope do a miniature fist pump, clearly very pleased with that. He would be happy to have her if they needed to run, not to mention two days flying with Zarko might get rather dry.
“I say if a keep seems abandoned we get in close, make some noise, and make ready to run. Hopefully those inside would be able to answer,” Zarko stated, still working on her map copy.
“For all we know we might be the next target. I don’t want you gone any longer than absolutely necessary,” Rachuck went, in a dark tone. He looked up, glancing around the room. “It goes without saying that if there are darklings in these keeps then we are likely gonna be next, and if you don’t come back I doubt we would survive something that could take either of them down. They’re good people who know what they are doing. If they are gone, we need to worry.”
“Looks like Jarix gets to do his dream job then?” Radexi replied, looking up at Jarix’s head looming above. Jarix had yet to say anything, his face expressionless.
“Which is?” Nunuk questioned.
“Saving the day, of course,” Zarko replied, being answered by an approving grunt from Jarix as he cracked a smile.
She was right of course, Tom thought to himself. This plan would be damn near impossible if they didn’t have Jarix. It was still risky though. They were leaving the keep dangerously undefended. Tom had agreed to leave the shotgun with Heron, much to Jackalope’s dismay. The promise of teaching her how to properly use a revolver did seem to cheer her up though.
“Right then. So we have Tom, Jackalope, and you, Zarko,” Nunuk went in a questioning tone. “You want Radexi too, or can you manage?”
“No, leave him here. He can handle a blade if he has to, we don’t need any more weight, and I doubt we’ll need flag signals. If so I’ll just do it. Should we bring Unkai if there are wounded?”
“You probably should,” Nunuk admitted, clearly not sounding pleased about sending the healer. “Can you manage, Rachuck?”
“We’ll make do, mum, I’m sure. It’s only for a couple of days.”
‘Well then, this was certainly gonna be a strange first date,’ Tom thought to himself. He was crossing his fingers Jackalope would be back on her feet by tomorrow, as she was clearly still sore as all hell.
Nunuk then turned to Tom and Jackalope, with an uncomfortable expression.
“Tom, I trust you are staying with the kids tonight?” It took a second for Tom to figure out what was being insinuated.
“Oh, of course, ma’am.”
“And you go to bed early,” She went, looking at Jackalope. “I don’t want you looking like a nightguard tomorrow morning.”
“Fine,” Jackalope responded in a tone more akin to a kid being told they couldn't stay up late. Tom seriously wondered if she had even caught on to what Nunuk was probably referring to?
That suited him just fine though, since he hadn’t even made it to considering how that might work. If it even could? All the kids said they were hatched either late summer or autumn. So did they have a... like a mating season or something… Maybe it was him who had misunderstood what Nunuk meant?
‘Goddamnit, I have no clue what I’m doing,’ he cursed himself.
“Tom, do you have anything to help out? Other than letting Heron borrow your shotgun. That is very generous of you, and I thank you,” Rachuk went, looking a bit strained.
“Might have an idea, I’ll look at it tonight. I’m gonna need you, Shiva. So I hope you don’t plan on sleeping.”
“If I get to keep my eye on you, it will be my pleasure.” ‘Okay still not friends, fair enough,’ Tom thought to himself.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The gardens had been truly amazing, even if Sapphire would have preferred to explore them in peace. They had even seen the crown princess going for a walk with what looked like friends of hers. Sapphire couldn’t help but feel a bit of envy looking at them as they passed each other.
Who didn't want to be a princess, after all? Total freedom to do whatever you wanted. At least she was fairly sure that was how it worked. The princess had been wearing a dress too. Sapphire had only tried that once before, for the banquet following her championship win, and that one she had to rent.
It was such an odd garment, but it did look very nice. Looking around at the other frontier people she was pleased to note that she and Dakota were seemingly the best dressed amongst them, despite the rushed nature of their arrival. She put it down to Shiva’s skills when it came to making some truly exquisite pieces of armor.
Balethon looked a lot less impressive, his armor was more function than form after all. It was undeniably well made, though. The metal having a nice sheen to it, combined with the clear blue leather freshly waxed of course. They had eventually been led out to the landing platform where they had first arrived and were told politely to have a pleasant day.
So now they found themselves standing at the city square taking a quick breather, following what had thus far been one hell of a day.
“So what now?” Balethon questioned.
“Well, at some point we need to see Lady Ishain at the academy. Maybe we can see Linkosta too then.”
“Yeah, why is that again?” Dakota questioned, seemingly very confused.
“Uhm while you were… out, we were invited to the academy to answer some questions by the lady. She also wants to ask Tom some questions using the earring.” Sapphire answered cautiously. They probably should have mentioned that when Dakota came back around.
“Oh this day just keeps getting better,” Dakota replied, sounding defeated. Sapphire was inclined to agree on that front. “And we can hardly even deny her. Not if my sister is to have a hope of staying there. Dammit!”
“That sounds like a tomorrow problem. Haven’t we done enough for today?” Baltehon replied.
“You want to go see the city, don’t you?” Dakota replied in a tired tone.
“I was thinking the tavern.” Sapphire couldn’t really fault him for that; they had just seen the most exquisite place the city had to offer after all. She was guessing he had an ulterior motive though.
“You wouldn’t just want to get back to Canabrera now, would you?” Sapphire replied teasingly.
“I mean, I just got praised by the king… that can’t hurt my chances. I think she likes me.”
‘Yep, there he goes again,’ Sapphire thought to herself. At least that meant he wouldn’t be pestering her for quite a while.
“Well, I need to report what we found out back to Nunuk. I don’t know about you, but I'm tired as all hell after using that thing.”
“Sure thing, you sleep it out, I get to hang out with Haiko, and Bale boy gets to hit on the girl who only wants him for her time on the ground.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Hey! She likes me okay.”
‘Yeah, but for how long,’ Sapphire mused to herself.
It was perhaps more than a little unfair to have assumed they would be getting a quiet evening. When they entered the tavern they found Haiko busy bragging about his little sister, who was currently up seeing the king himself.
Sapphire walked up behind her brother, who seemed none the wiser to her presence. “We went to a council meeting, not an audience,” Sapphire went, in a slightly hard tone. Causing him to stop mid-sentence. Then she stepped up next to him sitting down. “Though we did end up getting praised to high heaven in front of the entire council, as well as getting hired to scout two keeps who might be in pretty bad shape, by the king himself,” she continued switching over into happy banter, taking the mug of ale she suspected he had been bought to continue telling his story.
“Not to mention being invited to the Royal Academy,” Balethon added from behind. Sapphire guessed he was already looking for Canabrera, she didn’t seem to be here right now though.
“Well you two enjoy telling the world how amazing you are, I’ll be upstairs,” Dakota went, going up to the room. Sapphire saluted her with the newly acquired mug of ale before turning back to her new audience.
“So, how many in here have been inside The Council Building?” Sapphire started, looking around at the expectant faces. One guy did raise his hand though.
“It was a long time ago,” He replied in a meek tone. He lowered his hand again, as a few faces shifted to him
“Right so, you gotta hear about this. Today we got something called ‘ice cream…’ ”
As tempting as it was to go for another night of partying, especially as she seemed to have no problem getting her drinks paid for, she should probably be heading off to bed. Dakota had come down for the evening meal and gone straight to bed. She had looked like she was ready to drop too.
“Right, I’ll be heading off,” She went, getting up from the table. “I have a big day tomorrow as well.”
“Oh, but we were just getting started. I’ll buy you another round if that helps,” the latest dude who had been trying to chat her up went. She was done for the evening though.
“Sorry, can’t do. See you around though,” she went climbing up the stairs. She chuckled at the sound of his mates having fun at his expense. ‘what a day, wonder what they are doing back home?’
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Tom and Jacky sitting in a tree.”
“Nuzzling close as they can be.”
“Lovers sitting high in the tree.”
Of all the problems Tom had failed to consider the result of eight kids learning you have a sort of girlfriend was not on the list either. He currently sat contemplating just how long it would take before the little buggers ran out of energy for the night. He had completely given up on the idea of going ahead with the lesson and boring them to sleep, like he had originally planned. Not even storytime seemed to work.
Only Kiran didn’t seem too riled up, instead walking over and looking up at him.
“You’ll still sleep here, right?” he asked, sounding very concerned. Oh come on, how was he supposed to answer that one.
“Perhaps not every night, but I promise I’ll be here sometimes. Okay?”
“Okay,” Kiran replied, clearly not entirely happy with that answer. Tom had picked up Kiran doing his best to ignore the taunting kids, instead just sitting with Kiran giving him some head scritches. He was gonna be going further away from the keep than he had ever been tomorrow and perhaps going straight into the arms of waiting hostiles.
I wouldn’t hurt to give Kiran an extra scratch or two tonight. Did he even want to go? Sure it was going to be exciting, but what if it went wrong?
That made something click for him. He had come here with nothing to lose. At least not much that he cared about. Leaving everything behind possibly forever and now... He was worried about leaving the keep for a couple of days, fearing he wouldn’t be making it back… ‘How the hell did this happen?’ he sat questioning himself.
Not to mention, he had traveled to another world and then immediately settled down the first place he found. He hadn’t even been off the island. Hell, tomorrow would be the first time he gets to properly see much of the island.
“It’s a strange world we live in Kiran.”
“You the strange one,” Kiran replied, nuzzling in for warmth.
“If we were where I am from you would be the strange one, you know that right?”
“No, you strange, you like vegetables,” Oh come on now. He ate fifty-fifty tops, which was more meat than he was used to already.
To his relief the kids eventually ran out of steam, it was getting late after all, at least for them. It was damn handy they didn’t have the endurance of human kids, Tom thought as he tucked them in one by one. The fuzes should be dry now too so it was time to get to work.
Shiva had protested fiercely, as per usual, but for once had agreed to not give a shit about how something looks. The result was a box of ten metal cylinders forged from scrap armor plates in a hurry.
“Right, let’s make some frag grenades.” Tom could see the old smith try to remain coldly indifferent. It was clear that she was struggling though. He had hoped this would serve as a bit of a peace offering. She was second only to Jackalope when it came to her love for explosions after all, and even that was a disputed topic. She didn't seem happy or excited in the least though. In fact, she seemed on edge and tense, to him.
“Is it true, what she said?” Shiva went during a lull in the work, looking at Tom with a very cold stern face. “You didn’t offer her anything?”
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘offer?’ ” Tom tried carefully, not quite sure what she was insinuating. She took a step back putting down her tools, clenching a fist, expression going pained.
“Gods dammit did you buy my daughter with guns?!” She finally let out.
“What the fuck, no!” Was that why she had been angry? Did she think that… ‘fuck me,’ Tom thought to himself.
“Nrrah!” Shiva went in an annoyed growl, turning away from him. “I don’t buy it. I just don’t.”
“She asked me, okay!” Surely she couldn’t be serious, could she? “Do… do you think that’s why?” Shiva’s shoulders sagged a bit.
“I really hope not,” she replied in an angry tone.
Tom looked down at the box of would-be grenades. Jackalope had seemed as genuine as he could imagine… Then again, he knew she had cried over not being allowed to ride the quadbike… or was that because he had denied her?
“Fucking hell,” Tom went, leaning against a table. Shiva then turned back to him, raising her hand to point at him.
“I swear I will bribe Kokashi with whatever it takes. If you try and get her to do something she doesn't want to, I will know and you will not survive!”
“Jesus, I get it! Why do you all of a sudden think I’m an arsehole!? What happens if she’s the one doing the bribing, huh?” Tom didn’t really believe that scenario, that was a horrible thing to say about her too. “Sorry… Just sort of slipped out.”
She looked ready to scream in his face, instead walking over speaking in a low growling voice, “My daughter is no whore!” There was venom in her voice, though clearly, she was worried about the whole keep learning of this conversation if they got too loud.
“No I didn’t mean I like that. For god's sake, I don’t even know if it’s possible,” Tom tried to reply in a hushed tone, leaning further back over the table. Shiva just stood there staring at him. She looked ready to punch him for a second, face contorted, before she backed off, kicking a bucket across the room.
“Gods dammit I hate this!” Shiva let out, smashing a fist into a table for emphasis. She stood there for a second rubbing her face with the other hand. Apparently calming down a bit, shoulders sagging and head hanging low with drooping ears. “If she tries that please… I beg of you... don’t.” Shiva sounded genuinely defeated at that. Did she really think that was a possibility? Now Tom felt even more shitty for saying that...
“I won't, I swear,” He replied, getting back to his feet. “She hasn’t done so yet. We haven't even talked about… that.” He tried, attempting to cheer her up. It was true too, of course. Apart from Jackalope asking if she could try a gun, which was pretty damn understandable. Nor had she insinuated anything of the like, yet.
“Right…” Shiva replied clearly not sure what to do either right now, still rubbing her face. “Why is Itova so cruel today?” she questioned almost pleadingly.
“Uhm… who?” Tom had to ask.
“Goddess of love, numbnuts,” Shiva went, turning her head to look at him like he was a fucking idiot. “And she’s an arsehole today!” Shiva continued, looking to the ceiling. Okay, Tom had to do something about this; it was getting ridiculous.
“I swear I’m not gonna do anything like that, nor allow her that’s just not right” He went, placing a hand on Shiva's shoulder, which she immediately brushed off. “Please, let’s be friends about this. Fengi told me what happened last time. I won’t do that, I swear. Hell, as Fengi put it ‘I don’t know what's going on either.’ ” Tom tried a bit of the chuckle at the end, hoping Shiva could see the absurdity of all this.
Shiva just sat down on the floor shaking her head. “I guess it’s better than some escort or, gods forbid it, a mercenary getting their claws into her.” She went, voice calmer than before “I wanted grandkids though,” she went with a sniff.
“Uhmm...” Tom went in an uncomfortable tone, not quite sure how to take that part.
“My threat stands. You do something or let her do something… untoward.”
“You’ll kill me and eat me,” Tom went, trying to sound sarcastic, despite that probably not being an empty threat.
“Guess I need to trust you not to be an arsehole then,” she went with a sigh. “Fucking shit day. Let’s make just those grenades and be done with it,” she continued, straightening up a bit, clearly still troubled.
‘Fucking hell, what's with this day,’ Tom thought to himself as he got back to work. It was already getting late and they had a lot to do.
“Right uhmm, where’s the wax at?”
The cylinders had been filled with the homemade Boom powder, which Tom had made from flash powder and saltpeter. He gutted some shotgun shells for the steel shot, throwing it in too for good measure. The outside was lined with nails secured with twine and wax. The homemade 5 second, or thereabouts, fuzes sticking out the top. Kulinger was likely going to be complaining about most of the keep’s nails being gone, and even Tom had to admit this was extremely far from safe.
Shiva had managed to fashion some protective caps out of lead. The spark free metal was likely their best shot at preventing premature detonation, even if using your teeth to pull it off was a definite no go.
They had worked into the early hours of the morning, Shiva clearly being utterly exhausted by the time they were done, but they now had 10 Mad Max frag grenades to show for it.
They were gonna bring four on the trip, leaving the remainder here. Tom had elected that they really should test one before lives depended on it. Everyone had gathered on the firing range the next morning to see the new weapon in action.
“That looks incredibly crude,” Zarko had commented. “A proper grenade is a fine round ball. Are those nails!?”
“Yes, for more fragmentation. Cuts the enemy to pieces. There are more metal bits inside.” The horrified expression on Zarko’s and quite a few of the others' faces betrayed that this was definitely news to them.
“Now, first off you remove the cap, then you get your torch, lantern, lighter, or whatever. You hold it against the fuze it will light off throwing off smoke and sparks. Then you have 5 seconds, tops. Always assume less. I can’t stress this enough, these are not reliable. So light them and throw them immediately! Then you need to take cover. This thing can hurt you from quite far away.” he looked around to emphasize his point, he certainly had the full attention of everyone present “Now everyone get down on your belly.” To no one's surprise, that order was obeyed as everyone got down. Jarix did look a little stumped at what to do though. “You need to back off a bit... maybe”
“Uhm sure,” he replied in an uncertain tone, taking a fair amount of steps back.
“Very good. Jackalope would you like to throw?”
“Fuck yeah!” She replied, getting back up. Tom looked to Shiva, who looked rather displeased at that, it would seem she was currently too tired to protest though.
“Just hold it like this. I’ll light it, then throw it as far as you can, okay?”
“Sure, as far as I can,” Tom wasn’t sure if using Jackalope was a great or a terrible idea, she could definitely throw the furthest but she was well… Jackalope, not to mention the talk with Shiva. Still, the look on her face was worth it. She was giggling like a schoolgirl. Even if everyone else looked a tad scared.
He brought up the lighter and the fuze caught without a problem sputtering merely as it slowly began creeping up. Jackalope brought the grenade back and chucked that sucker for distance. Thinking back Tom should probably have considered the lower gravity as the grenade sailed off into the distance. He didn’t even see where it landed as he got down on his stomach to join the others. Immediately getting back up again to get Jackalope to hit the deck as well.
“Get down, Jacky!”
“Fuck sorry!”
The two of them hit the deck but nothing happened. He was almost afraid it might have gone out or broken on impact, when the *Boom* rang out as the flash of fire that the flash powder mixture created filled a considerable volume a fair distance away. That looked more like a grenade from a Hollywood movie; he could see the shockwave though, not to mention feel it. He guessed that anyone within 5 meters had just been cooked in addition to being blown up and shredded by shrapnel.
“Holy Shit!” Zarko let out in surprise. Tom had only just gotten to his feet when he was yanked off them again by an excited Jackalope who held him in close, nuzzling him with her snout before putting him down.
“That was amazing! You are amazing! Do I get one!?”
“You sure do,” Tom went with a slightly worried smile, last night very fresh in his memory.
“Yuss!” Jackalope went with a little skip, taking the grenade.
“That was no Ixankull,” Zarko then went, eyes wide.
“What's the difference?” Tom had to ask, from the description they seemed fairly similar.
“It went ‘bang’ that's what! Ours go ‘foom’ and make a large fireball.”
“Oh, you just use flash powder.” Zarko turned to look at him with an incredulous expression.
“Yeah?”
“I call that boom powder. My own little secret recipe” Zarko turned back to the blast sight eyes wide with comprehension.
“What could it kill?” Rachuck questioned, peering out toward the distant crater.
“If you get it close enough, I think it might even kill a dragon, or at least give them a very, very bad day.”
“Thank you, Tom,” The guard captain replied, sounding genuinely grateful.
“Don’t mention it. I’ll make some good ones later.”
“Those are bad ones!?” Zarko let out. “But...”
“Girl, you need to get with the program around here,” Wiperna stated plainly. “Things just sorta explode every now and again around that guy.”
“Oh yes they do,” Jackalope went, grabbing him by the shoulder for another short side hug, ruffling his hair.
“Hey, it was planned this time,” Tom protested from his current position. Gaining him some incredulous looks from Radexi and Zarko.
All in all, Tom was rather pleased how this had gone. Even if he really needed a nap right now. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of excited dragon footsteps pounding the ground behind him.
“That was awesome! I have to ask… Do they come in my size?” The clearly very excited Jarix questioned form behind him.
“That’s a bomb, Jarix,” Tom just replied, turning around.
“Ohh right. I remember those… can you make them too?”
“Uhmmm sure... Gonna be expensive as hell though.” Jarix did that, quite frankly, hilarious looking tipitap dance at that. It would appear the dragon has been sold on the idea of ‘boom’ then, Tom thought to himself.
“Wouldn’t something like that just blow up the entire keep?” Unkai questioned, looking rather nervously at the box of grenades on the ground.
“Probably,” Tom had to admit with a nod, earning him some even more concerned looks from all around.
“There should be a building for storing this stuff then,“ Rachuck added, clearly pondering the situation, rather than being terrified of it. ‘Right then adding ammo bunker construction to the list,’ Tom thought to himself with a sigh as he handed Zarko her grenade.
“And one for you,” he went, handing the very worried looking Unkai his grenade. “Or maybe you would rather I carry it?”
“No, I’ll take it. I ain’t no coward” Unkai started snatching the grenade. ‘Someone’s trying to seem brave,’ Tom noted to himself. Looking to Fengi, who was watching intently.
“Right then. Time for a scouting run.”