Since strength and brute force didn't seem to work, I decided to try something else.

My first thought was to try and carve runes into the gem to disrupt the magical enchantment. Similar to what I did when I created my impromptu explosives using the slave collars. It may have actually worked... if I could scratch the damn gem. Nothing I tried was leaving so much as a tiny scratch.

I could paint the designs on but the ink ran and bled across the surface, causing it to be useless. I sighed in defeat, nothing I was capable of would solve this issue. I had one more idea but I needed to go back to Biloxi to talk with someone in the Bazaar.

This whole back and forth business was getting exhausting.

Before I could head out back for Bella a bright light streaked out of the sky toward me. I was so startled by the unexpected encounter that I failed to react. That was probably for the best. The light came to a stop a few feet from me, floating in the air motionless.

An alien voice spoke from the floating light. "Greetings, Paul Fuller, I am a magical delivery construct, hired by Frathsar to deliver a package. Thank you for choosing our service and have a wonderful day."

The glowing orb disappeared in a flash of light and on the ground sat a package with a note attached.

My first question was how the hell Frathsar had known where to find me.

I walked up to the box and picked up the note.

Greetings Paul,

I hope you are well. Since I didn't know your location this package may take time to arrive but it will arrive. Seeing as you are far away and unlikely to return anytime soon I decided to send your reward to you. I have received your messages and they were instrumental in safely getting to the Bazaar. I have heard of your exploits by some of the locals and the body of the soldier you traveled south with was located.

I did run into the kingdom's envoy. He had been unable to complete his assignment as his only guide was dead. With my help and some people heading north, he was able to continue. This happened before I got your most recent message so I forwarded what you told me to the Commander... I would still advise against ever returning to that town.

Until I see you again, stay safe.

Frathsar, Merchant Extraordinaire

I was glad to hear that Frathsar made it safely. I was not so glad to hear about the Commander but now that I knew items could be sent magically, maybe I could send Fiona's sword to him.

I would only entertain that notion after I freed Fiona from her prison.

I picked up the small package and set it on the picnic table. Frathsar had wrapped it up like a fancy package, ribbon and all. I had to roll my eyes as I unwrapped the package. While it was nice of him it was unnecessary. After I removed the ribbon and the paper lining all that was left was a simple wooden box. Sliding off the top revealed a mana pistol and a note.

I saw that you admired this weapon, hopefully, it will be an acceptable reward for your hard work.

While it had been true at the time, I'm not sure how much use I would get out of the item now. Since it couldn't hurt I powered up the pistol and blasted the mana heart I had been using as a test.

While it didn't break or crack I did get a surprising effect. The mana heart absorbed all of the energy I fired from the pistol and started glowing and didn't stop. This wasn't normal from my experience, so when I checked the gem and found it contained more mana than it should, it gave me an idea.

"Martin!"

The man rushed out from the building, "what's up?"

"I think I know how we can break Fiona out," I said enthusiastically.

"Really?"

I nodded. "I believe we can overcharge the item she is contained in."

"You think it will work?"

"I think it might work. If we can feed enough mana fast enough into the item. We should try it with the little ones first."

"Alright, do you need me to help?"

"Yea, do you know how to feed mana into an item?"

Martin shook his head.

"It's easy, just imagine your mana flowing through your body and out the through your fingers. Practice with this," I said, handing him one of the tiny mana hearts.

It took him a few minutes but he got the hang of feeding his mana into the gem.

"Alright, let's do this," I said, placing my finger on the tiny gem along with Martin.

It was slow going feeding additional mana into the gem, every mana above the gem's limit cost ten mana. In an effort to be as safe as possible I cast Second Chance on Martin. I didn't stop there, buffing him with every skill I had that could help protect him. I wasn't certain what would happen when we hit the gem's limit but I doubted it was anything good.

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My mana regen was high enough to keep me going at the rate we were able to fill the gem, Martin's wasn't quite there. He had to stop and recharge every few minutes.

As we neared five hundred mana in the gem, I felt a change.

"Backup, I think it's going to blow!"

Martin jumped back from the table and threw a shield around himself. I popped Area of Denial as the gem started vibrating uncontrollably. It contained so much energy that it started spinning and stood up like a top. It kept spinning faster and faster, producing a high-pitched whine. It reminded me of a dentist's drill.

There was no explosion or massive discharge of mana as I had feared. As the gem hit a critical point of failure it just burst apart into tiny specs.

The sand-sized particulates rained down across the table and my shield.

I looked towards Martin with a smile. I really should have waited until we succeeded with the item containing Fiona.

After two hours of trying to fill her gem to the limit we had to stop, both of us were exhausted as the gem seemed to drink in every bit of mana we could feed it without hitting a limit. Last I checked it had hit three thousand mana. By that point, it was bleeding off mana faster than we could fill it.

"I think we need more people," I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead with a rag.

"Yeah, I'll go round up some folks to help. How many you think we need?"

"At least ten, that way a few can cycle out and recharge mana."

"Hmm, that might be tough but I'll see what I can do. They may want payment in the form of rune-crafted items. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine... just don't bring your sister."

"Yeah, don't worry about that. She hasn't spoken to me since I rescued you after the fight."

I nodded.

Martin left to go get some volunteers while I cleaned up.

He returned about an hour later.

"I managed to get eight people, they should be here shortly. I couldn't talk anyone else into helping, my sister is on the warpath to try and push you out of town and she has convinced most people that you only bring more problems," he said in disgust.

I shrugged, his sister could play her stupid games.

"It will have to do, and fuck your sister. I have an idea about getting out from under her thumb but that will take some time to setup. For now, let's get ready for our guests."

Martin added a few chairs around the table. There wasn't enough room for all ten of us to touch the item at the same time but that was fine.

I spoke with each person as they arrived and negotiated what I was willing to offer in exchange for their help. One person thought his assistance was worth far more than the rest and we weren't able to come to a deal, even though I offered him two rune-crafted items to try and get him to stay.

It wasn't enough and he left in a huff. 'Fuck him,' I thought, switching my focus back to the remaining people.

"Thank you all for coming to help. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you being here. Martin and I are going to show you how to feed mana into items. Once everyone learns how to do that we will have two of you rotate with helping feed mana into the item. Any questions?"

"Um, is this dangerous?" a rail-thin man asked.

I took the time to use Identify on him

Henry | Arborist | 7

It wasn't the most impressive class or level I had ever seen but I imagined it came in handy for growing fruit trees. I did recall seeing quite a bit of fresh fruit in the town.

"No, with our tests the item turned into sand, there was plenty of warning beforehand and Martin has a shield to protect anyone, just in case. Any other questions?"

Everyone seemed to be mollified by my answer and no more questions were forthcoming.

I expected it to be easy to teach the volunteers how to feed mana into items as it had been with Martin. I was mistaken.

We did eventually teach the remaining seven people, it only took five hours.

After that, we finally got started on the whole reason they were here.

I wasn't surprised to see that the item containing Fiona, had drained all of the accumulated mana that we had worked hard to fill into it.

Three others joined me at the table, placing a finger on the smokey-silver swirling gem. I kept track of the mana level as the four of us pumped mana into the item. Two had to stop after less than ten minutes as another two stepped in to take their place.

When the third one stepped away, Martin took her place. By this point, we were only up to two thousand mana in the item. After another hour we passed the three thousand mark and were still climbing. We passed four, then five when our progress started to slow.

"I need two more people on the item," I spoke quickly.

Two others rushed over to add their mana into the item. The count started to climb faster again. The gem climbed over six, then seven before it slowed again. I decided to wait until it stopped completely to call over the remaining volunteers.

This allowed a few people to cycle out and recharge before everyone had to commit fully. We reached ninety-five hundred when the gem started to vibrate slightly.

"Only a little more," I said, sweat and exhaustion on my face.

The last bit was slow, the gem trying to absorb the massive amount of mana before we could pour more in. As we got closer to ten thousand the gem got harder to hold onto, the vibrations were getting quite intense. 'Only a hundred more to go,' I thought, sweat pouring from my face ad I poured every ounce of mana I could into the gem.

One of the men passed out from mana fatigue, flopping to the table.

"Hold on, we're... almost... there."

As soon as the gem hit ten thousand it started violently shaking.

"Alright, everyone, clear the table. Martin, grab the unconscious man."

As soon as everyone stopped pressing down on the gem it started spinning wildly, matching what happened with its smaller twin. Martin dragged the unconscious man to the far side of the yard where everyone besides me gathered. He placed his barrier over the group after sucking down a mana potion.

I did the same but waited to use my Area of Denial. As the gem spun wildly, coming upright the first thing that failed was the attached chain. It went flying off into the yard. Unlike the tiny test gem, this one was emitting beams of light as it rose into the air. It hovered about a foot off the table as it spun so fast I couldn't see the shape of the gem, it was just a blur.

I decided it was a good time to activate my shield.

Ten seconds later I heard a loud crack that echoed across the yard. The light winked out and the gem clattered against the table, no longer glowing. A large crack ran down the length of the now dull clear gem.

"Did it work?" Martin called.

I nodded my head, "I believe so."

Ethereal smoke started to pour from the crack and I smiled. It took twenty minutes for the ghostly smoke to finish pouring from the item. It was forming a tight ball of white a few feet away. After the ball completely formed it started taking on a more humanoid appearance. I had a brief flash of worry that maybe the Psion trapped another spirit and this was his final revenge.

Luckily that fear was proven wrong as I saw Fiona's form materialize. She collapsed to her knees and started shuddering and crying. I ran over to comfort her as much as I could. Without the ability to physically interact with her I could only reassure her with my words.

I vaguely heard Martin thank the others and escort them out.

I stayed with Fiona throughout the night while she dealt with her experience.