Chapter 14: Meeting the Locals.
The men who’d been helping me over to the town looked the part of grizzled warriors, scarred and hardened by years of defending the town from bandits, Shadelock’s, wolves, Grass-Crawlers, goblins and the occasional ogre. And yet because of the way levels worked Luna could take 2 of them by herself. The guards gained 1-3 hit points per profession level and occasionally completed feats that would grant additional, usually randomised perks or abilities while Luna gained Class Levels faster than they could level their professions and her levels granted 5 to 10 hitpoints as well as guaranteed access to perks, abilities, maneuvers and skill boosts that vastly improved her ability over theirs. It was why she didn’t want to be a Lady, cowering behind the walls while these people fought for her, she wanted to take the risks, to adventure yes. But mostly Luna wanted to help people, to protect them from threats that might be doable for her but insurmountable or deadly for them.
Three more guards poured out of a small guard station built into the rocks that guarded the mountain path toward the Delacroft holdings. A fourth fired an arrow into the sky that exploded into blue light and hung there for over a minute before falling back to earth.
The whole time this was going on I was battling with myself, body feeling refreshed and revitalised while my mind still believed I was badly burnt, in need of weeks of bed rest. In the background of this internal struggle Luna was explaining herself to the guards and I was absently listening to snippets of her side of the story, unable to properly concentrate until I got back into the right headspace. “I’m sorry I caused you trouble, Mother should never have sent anyone into the forests at night. I know Jax, I’m sorry for not thinking of your men, I just can’t stay behind the walls forever and they had a lead on a dungeon. No, they're all dead, except for Balthazar. Let him in if he comes back. Yeah, I’m sorry again.”
There was an expression of real shame on the young noble’s face when she broke off the conversation and joined me on the path. I shot her a questioning look as we started walking again. Luna sighed, explaining with no small degree of shame. “That blue arrow calls the search parties back, search parties sent out for me. Apparently mother sent them out at night despite knowing the risks and, well, the search team was attacked and thanks to me a man will probably need to have his arm amputated if they can’t stop infection from setting in."
I was going to suggest looking on the bright side but she quashed that with a deadpan. "Shadelock barbs always cause infection.”
We kept walking but i wouldn't let the silence consume us and tried to change the subject by asking what a Shadelock actually was. It turned out to be the adult form of the iron-clawed mantis I’d fought earlier. It seemed that when they grew up the creature entered a cocoon and emerged with iron sections of carapace based on the amount of, believe it or not, iron they’d consumed. That adult form only hunted at night, had claws that left behind barbs capable of fucking up just about any wound they got into, and would have overrun the town a dozen times already if the local guard didn’t clear their spawning grounds and conduct successful extermination campaigns against the juvenile and diurnal stage of the creature.
The path took us through another two checkpoints where the guards were respectful but didn’t engage us in conversation and then reached the heavy oaken gates that led into the Delacroft Settlement atop the mountain plateau.
Iron bands protected the gate from anything up to a battering ram and crossbowmen would make anyone who tried that pay with their lives. Again, we were passed through rather quickly and I got my first look at how the people here lived. “What is this town called?” I asked stupidly. Luna rolled her eyes and gave me a one word response. “Croftop” I blinked. “Crop top?”
Luna glared at me. “Croft-Top” I nodded my understanding. “Oh, ok”.
The two of us kept going, walking past farms built just inside the walls, vulnerable to catapult fire but protected from monsters by multiple layers of walls and guards.
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After the farms that ringed the outskirts, we saw a tavern called the Hophouse, true to the name it was a converted house with a large garden of what looked like hops and potatoes growing on both sides as well as behind and in front of it.
There was also a cobbler, a baker, an apothecary and a blacksmith set apart from the wooden houses and protected by high stone walls. I didn’t notice much more as we passed the majority of the town to beeline straight for the estate, a final sloping path wound its way up to a much smaller plateau almost entirely taken up by a 3 story manor, decorative and fruit gardens, a stable full of painted horses and a small barracks connected to the manor. “We’re here Jack, look as scruffy as you want but be well behaved, I don’t want to wind her up to much.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “Your mother loves you, she wouldn’t have risked those men if she didn’t.”
Truth be told, I didn’t know if that was correct, her Mother might see no value in the lives of her subjects but I didn’t think so, Luna had described a woman who had taken pains to ensure her subjects had what they needed and didn’t crack the whip the way the wealthy had done in my world. Luna gave a spasmodic smile and then just as she was about to approach the gate we were interrupted by a breathless shout. We looked back to see a severely winded guard running after us with my shopping trolley-turned wagon. "You left this at the scene of your battle I believe. It was the least we could do for bringing our lady home safe." I shook the guards hand and promised to buy him a drink later. The guard agreed whole-heartedly and then left, Luna's face tightened and we approached the estate.
Guards in pastoral green Hauberks opened the gate and let us through with a mix of expressions on their faces, they were glad Luna was back but I had the distinct feeling they were hiding a certain degree of exasperation that I could certainly understand. If someone had lost an arm because I'd rebelled against my parents I wouldn’t have been able to sleep for months. Hell, It was possible I'd never really get over something like that, Luna seemed upset but she was also clearly angry at her mother for sending them out after her In the first place.
“Luna! You're ok!” A girl slightly taller than Luna, willowy where Luna was toned and with a pair of thin-lensed reading glasses pushed up on her nose burst through a side door and grabbed her into a hug. “We were so worried about you. Mother thought those thugs had taken you for ransom. Someone lost an arm out there!”
Luna’s face froze halfway to a happy smile and I saw her body tighten up in the middle of her hug. “I’m sorry Vicky, I didn’t think anyone would get hurt. I just thought I could beat a dungeon, prove myself to her and not have to pretend to be a lady anymore.”
Victoria let her sister go, pushed the glasses back into place and scrutinised her sister up close. “Level 5 Rogue... nice work but mum’s gonna be… well, she’s going to be furious I think.”
For a moment It seemed like the pale, platinum blonde bookworm was trying to joke with her sister before her relieved and laughing voice changed to a serious, formal version of itself. “Karl lost his arm just 15 minutes ago. Mother had him brought up here so he could be more comfortable than he would have been in the barracks, he screamed all night, even through the tonics. I’m really sorry Lu”
Luna shook her sisters arm away. “Its my fault, you shouldn’t be sorry for anything Vicky, one way or another though it won’t happen again.”
A chill wind swept through the courtyard and disappeared as quickly as it had hit us. The girls looked back at the house and I saw a woman as tall as Victoria but with a severe, lined face that had more frown lines than laugh and a much thicker pair of glasses pushed somehow even higher up on her nose. “Luna, we need to talk for a moment. Your friend can wait outside for now.” Lady Delacroft turned pale blue eyes on me that had none of the light or twinkle that Luna and Victoria possessed in their emerald-greens.
I felt like that wind had me in its grip again, or perhaps like the fire was rending my nerves again but it was just the cold, unflinching gaze of a woman who had watched her husband die a terrible death, raised two daughters who refused to take the path of least resistance and made tough choices, putting her people first while also maintaining a level of comfort, dignity and authority that she thought either necessary or inherent to her station in life.
Luna whispered something to her sister that I didn’t catch and then stepped past her, walking over to her mother with more bravery than I could have mustered.
The doors shut as quickly as they had opened and Victoria and I stood awkwardly outside for a moment, neither of us knowing whether to say antything to the other and wishing for something to fix the awkwardness. I was about to head back to the stables, where I’d left my newly recovered trolley and maybe try the Hophouse. However, before I could turn away Victoria cleared her throat, clearly hesitant to say something as Luna disappeared inside with her mother and a pair of guard’s stepped to the doors of the barracks and settled their watchful, slightly threatening gaze upon me.