Kara opted for a very lightweight leather armor that was much better than her heavy robes. She kept them, since she wasn't abandoning her ways or beliefs, and the man at the next stall gave her a bag of holding. She was amazed that it could hold a lot of things and the weight didn't affect her. She took two swords from the blacksmith that were approximately the same size and length as her Light sword. One she hung on her hip and one on her back. She was tempted to put one in the bag of holding, then decided that if she needed it, trying to go look for it wasn't a good idea.
Jessica was an archmage, so she settled for two different staffs. One was for power and attack spells and one was for defense and party boosting. She chose a light leather armor that wouldn't impede her spell casting and she also accepted a bag of holding from the stall next door. She tucked her dress into it and thought about asking for a sword. When she tried to pick one up, she couldn't lift it.
“Are you that weak?” Steven asked and picked up the sword with his fingertips and held it out to her.
“No.” Jessica snapped. “I think I can't take it because I'm not supposed to.”
“Come on, everyone can at least hold a sword.” Steven said and flipped it over and held the handle out to Josh. “Grab this, will you?”
Josh put his hand around the handle and Steven let it go. The sword pulled itself out of Josh's hand and dropped to the ground as if no one was holding it.
“Well, damn. Would you look at that.” Steven said with a grin. “She was right.”
“Here, smart ass.” Jessica said and held one of her staffs out to him. He smiled and put his hand around it, held on tight, and she let it go. It dropped to the ground and dragged Steven with it.
“Gah!” Steven grunted as it crushed his fingers. “Okay! Okay! I get it!”
Jessica picked up the staff as if it weighed nothing and Steven stood up.
“Hey, Josh. Do you feel like giving me a hand?” Steven asked and held out his hand with the broken fingers on it.
Josh touched the hand and it healed.
“Thanks, bud.” Steven said. He had chosen the fancy armor and one of the best swords that the blacksmith had. It was even enchanted to do extra damage depending on how much mana he wanted to add to it. Since he knew that he only had self buff abilities that barely used any mana, adding it to his weapon to charge it up wasn't going to impact his other abilities. It seemed the longer they were in this new world, the more their inherent knowledge of their classes made itself known to them.
Josh had taken Evangeline's advice and only chose basic robes to cover himself and a bag of holding. He had been very tempted to add a focusing wand to help him with the spells he was starting to remember that he had access to, and Evangeline told him that he was the focus already and getting a wand to do the same thing wouldn't work.
“I think we should stay here and rest for the night before we start on our journey.” Jessica said. “I'm getting the feeling that we can't leave quite yet.”
“Me, too.” Josh said.
“You're just horny.” Steven whispered to Josh, who closed his mouth and didn't respond.
“Well, I suppose I do need some time to adjust to these new items.” Kara admitted reluctantly, even though she wanted to leave immediately to go and get Ullir. Steven nodded agreement and they walked in the direction that Gavell had gone. They saw him talking to a kid that looked to be about eight.
“Yes, I'll give you an entire gold coin when you return.” Gavell said and held the coin out.
“Half now and half when I come back.” The kid said.
“No, you'll just take off again and I won't see you for a month.” Gavell said. “You left the last group high and dry next to that gorge.”
“Hey, it's not my fault they thought the bridge was safe.” The kid said.
“You were supposed to take them to a safe way to cross.” Gavell said, angrily.
“They could swim.” The kid responded.
Kara walked over to them and looked down at the kid as she concentrated on him. “Will you do a good job or will you slack off and delay us?”
“I'll slack off.” The kid said right away. “Hey! I mean that...”
“Your first utterance is always the truth.” Kara said with a smile and turned to Gavell. “We won't be using this... child as a guide.”
“I'm the only one that knows the way.” The kid said.
Kara felt a slight waver in the Presence. “It seems there are others that know the proper way.” She said. “Gavell, keep looking for someone else.”
Gavell nodded and started to walk away.
“All right!” The kid exclaimed. “A gold when I come back.”
“Nothing upfront?” Gavell asked.
“I'll need a few silvers for food along the way.” The kid said, slightly disgusted.
Gavell smiled and handed the kid a handful of silver coins. “Get your travelling supplies and...”
“We're staying here for the night.” Kara said.
Gavell turned to her with surprise on her face. “I thought you needed to leave right away?”
“We should... and I want to... but, I'm not the leader.” Kara said. “We will leave in the morning.”
“I will have rooms prepared in the castle for...”
“They are staying with us.” The head acolyte said. “They need to bask in the Goddess' embrace before heading off into the world.”
Gavell looked down his nose at the woman for a moment, then sighed. “I will inform the queen.” He said and took out a small sack of money to hand to Kara. “I was told to give this to the head of your party. It's to cover any expenses you may have along the way while you venture forth to find your companion.”
Kara took the sack and put it right into her bag of holding. She heard a disgusted grunt from the kid and assumed, quite correctly, that the money couldn't be stolen from a bag that only she could open.
“I will have the carriage sent to you in the morning.” Gavell said and walked away.
“We should get to the house.” Evangeline said, excitedly. “We've never had guests before!”
“We will eat a good meal and thank the Goddess for our good fortune.” The head acolyte said and then chuckled. “She sent us five champions instead of only four!”
“Everyone will be talking about it.” One of the other acolytes said as they left the large courtyard and walked down the road towards the town.
Of course, seeing twelve women dressed in white and gold robes wouldn't be enough to make people talk all on its own. Steven thought in amusement as he overheard people talking about them as they passed by. They walked through town and came to a one storey house and the head acolyte opened the door.
Evangeline pulled Josh inside and into the living room. “This is where we gather and pray.”
Josh looked around the room and he could see and feel all of the mana that had been used and gathered in the room. It was pretty sparse, considering it was supposed to be the regular meeting place for twelve people. The others came in and the living room became pretty crowded, then several sat down on the few chairs that were there and the others sat down on the floor near the walls. It left him, Evangeline, Kara, Jessica, and Steven standing in the middle of the room.
“I need to go chant.” Evangeline said and Josh looked at her, then at their clasped hands.
“Oh! Sure.” Josh said and opened his hand.
Evangeline held on to his hand for a moment longer and then let go. She walked over to the wall and sat down with poise, then they all started chanting in a whisper. Josh understood what they were saying right away, without having to wait and hear it first.
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“Bless this house and bless your followers, Chaiya, Goddess of Light. Forgive those who mock us for they are without understanding.” All twelve of them said as one. Their voices matched in pitch and tremble, so it sounded like it was the same person saying it twelve times. “Protect us and guide us...”
They must do this a lot. Josh thought and he felt mana start to emanate from them almost immediately. He felt that it was without direction and held a hand out, palm up. The mana quickly flowed to his hand and swirled around it, so he turned his hand over and faced it towards the head acolyte. That seemed the right thing to do, because mana flowed back to her and she started to glow. It jumped from her to Evangeline and Josh knew immediately that she was her daughter.
The mana jumped to each woman in the circle and the chant grew from a low whisper to speaking normally. As the volume increased, so did the flow of mana. The acolytes became eager as the mana travelled through them and grew in strength, unlike what it had done every other time they had chanted like this. Their talking chant grew into almost yells as they stood.
Kara felt the Goddess Chaiya's Presence grow and weigh down on her, so she grabbed Jessica and Steven by the arms and pulled them out of the circle. When that slight obstruction was gone, all twelve women shivered and glowed brightly with mana.
“What's going on?” Steven asked as the women put one of their hands into Josh's outstretched one.
“I believe Josh is starting to understand what it means to be a Sorcerer Priest of Light for the Acolytes of Light.” Kara said. “I'm not really sure why the energy is growing and not dissipating, though.”
“This is all new to us, so I'm sure there's things we're going to need to discover about ourselves before we can be an effective fighting force.” Jessica said.
“That's very mature of you.” Kara said, surprised.
“I'm not sure why I said that.” Jessica said, her face slightly red.
“You just answered that.” Kara pointed out, and Jessica reluctantly nodded. The chanting stopped and the three of them turned to look at the group of slightly glowing acolytes with Josh in the center.
“Jessica, you need to visit the library in the castle.” Josh said. “Aimee will take you right away and show you what to look at first.”
“Are you sure?” Jessica asked. “I don't think we should separate...”
“Don't worry. The queen has guards stationed around the town to protect us.” Josh said and nodded to one of the women around him. “Aimee, you know what to look for.”
Aimee nodded and walked over to Jessica. “If you'll follow me, we can get started right away.”
Jessica looked at Kara, who nodded. She wasn't going to doubt anything the Goddess wanted them to do, so Jessica left with Aimee, who was still glowing slightly.
“Kara, you need practice with your unfamiliar swords. Their weight and balance are quite different than what you're used to.” Josh said. “Helena will take you to the guard's training grounds. You'll find some familiar things there to practice on.”
Kara nodded and an older woman came over to her and they left the house. Josh didn't say anything else as he stood there and held the other women's hands, so Steven leaned against the wall to wait.
“Nothing for me to do, then?” Steven asked a minute later when he was tired of waiting and glanced at the remaining women's faces. “None of you will lead me anywhere?” He asked with a knowing smile.
“No.” Josh said adamantly.
Steven knew that he wasn't going to make any headway on the sexual front with these women.
“There's nothing for you to fight here, so you have to wait until tomorrow.” Josh clarified. “You'll get some practice in then.”
“Good to know.” Steven said. “Say, is there a bar or something in this town?”
“You don't drink.” Josh said.
“How would you know that?” Steven asked and squinted his eyes. “Were you using your bevy of women to sneak a peek on me?”
“No.” Evangeline said adamantly before Josh could respond, and Steven glanced at her. “The Goddess Chaiya blessed us with Sight for a brief moment. We all saw what needed to be done for everyone to head out tomorrow. You going for a drink wasn't one of them.”
At least he wasn't spying on me. Steven thought. “I wasn't thirsty anyway.” He said and looked around the room. “There's no way that we're all going to fit in here tonight. Did your Sight happen to show you where we're all going to be sleeping?”
Josh's face turned bright red, as did Evangeline's, and the other women's faces flushed slightly red.
“You will have the spare room all to yourself.” The head acolyte said. “Kara and Jessica will...”
“I don't need to know the rest.” Steven said and walked out of the living room. “Which one?”
“Second door on the left.” The head acolyte said and Steven went into the room and shut the door.
“We should head home ourselves.” One of the others said and slowly pulled her hand away from Josh's, as if she was reluctant to do so. “There's important work to be done for tomorrow.”
“Gather what the Goddess requested and come back here first thing in the morning.” The head acolyte said. “We need to do our utmost to give her emissaries the best chance at defeating this evil.”
“Blessed be the Goddess.” They said together, then the others seemed to have the same reluctance as they let Josh's hand go and left the house. The head acolyte, Evangeline, and Josh were now alone in the living room.
“I need to prepare something for everyone to eat when they return.” The head acolyte said and reluctantly took her hand away from Josh and left the room.
Josh waited for a moment before speaking. “I didn't imagine their reluctance to let go, did I?”
Evangeline shook her head. “We can feel the Goddess Chaiya's blessing on you.” She said. “When you pooled our mana and returned it twice as powerful, at no physical cost to yourself, we knew she had chosen you specifically for us.”
“Is that what I am now? A source of mana?” Josh asked.
Evangeline reached up with her free hand and cupped the side of his face. “You misunderstand.” She said. “You gave us our mana back. Usually it flows out while we chant and it dissipates. Some of it resides here in the room, as I'm sure you felt.”
Josh nodded and she let his face go.
“You held the mana and directed it. No one has ever done that before.” Evangeline said. “Even my mother, who is the head of the Acolytes of Light, chosen by the Goddess for that purpose, can't add to our spells and abilities like you can.”
“You mean like I did with that location spell.” Josh said, and she nodded. “That was pretty cool.”
“I didn't feel any temperature change.” Evangeline said, slightly concerned. “Was I supposed to?”
Josh chuckled. “No, that's just something people say back where I come from when we see something amazing.”
“I'd like to learn more about that place.” Evangeline said.
“That's... I don't think...” Josh took a breath and let it out. “My life there isn't something that I want to talk about. The things I had to go through there, with the...” He sighed. “I didn't enjoy them at all and I don't want to relive them.”
“Then I won't speak of it again.” Evangeline said and she smiled at the relief she saw on his face. “We have several hours to wait for the others to return. Shall we get to your own lessons?”
“I'd like that.” Josh said as she led him over to the fireplace and they sat down. “I'd like that a lot.”
*
I felt a tug on the side of my head and it dragged me awake. I felt it again and grunted. There were two more hard tugs and I opened my eyes into blackness. Oh, right. My blast shield. I thought and used the mental technique Detect Presence to see through the metal. Two pretty women with long blonde hair in a ponytail stood over me with glowing hands and I stared up at them and their long pointed ears.
What the... are they elves? There's alien elves? I asked myself, surprised. Wait a minute! I was just fighting Kara! Where is she?
I reached out within my considerable detection range and didn't see or feel Kara anywhere. I didn't relax, because she had successfully masked her Presence from me before. I tried to move my arms to try and sit up, and I couldn't.
“Why isn't this thing coming off?” One of them asked.
“Maybe it really is melded to his head.” The other said.
“The healer that was here said he doesn't have any grievous wounds that needed to be tended to. That would be a grievous wound if it was real and she would have healed it.” The first one said and motioned to my blast shield. “We need to remove it before you know who arrives to check him over.”
“I don't think this is necessary, Ari.” Another voice said. “She'll either like him or not.”
I diverted my attention to another woman a few feet away. She looked to be about the same age as the other two; but, I wasn't a good judge of ages when it came to anyone besides humans.
“She needs to see his eyes.” Ari said, and I felt the Presence waver.
I think it's you that needs to. I thought and looked at myself. I could see that my wrists were shackled together and my ankles as well. At least I'm still dress... My thoughts cut off when I noticed that my mother's and father's Light swords were not attached to my belt and were missing. My anger rose at being robbed of them, again, and I tried to gather Presence to myself. Pain shot through my head for some reason and I lost my concentration. My Detect Presence technique faded and it took me a minute to get it back. The two women kept hovering their hands above my face as they tried to remove the blast shield over my eyes.
I could see my mother's locket hanging from the one called Ari's neck and that pissed me off. I used a mental technique that let me ignore pain up to a certain threshold and concentrated hard as I started to gather Presence to myself. Now that I was focusing so much, I could feel another energy floating around that was similar to Presence and yet it was different. Since the Presence was in all things, both matter and energy, I gathered that energy as well.
Pain lanced through my brain and the energy ebbed slightly. I pushed the pain aside in my desperate need, even though it had passed the threshold I was able to safely ignore, and I built the energy up. When I felt that I had enough to create a Presence Hand, I waited. I was tempted to use just the one; but, there were three people in the room with me. If I couldn't handle all three at once, then trying to resist them would mean less than nothing.
“Something's wrong.” The woman a few feet away said. “Can you feel that?”
“Sela, there's nothing going on.” Ari said. “Someone would have raised the alarm if there was.”
“No, not out there. In here.” Sela said and stepped close to me. “It's... it's from him.”
“He's still unconscious.” The other one said. “My binding spell will hold him even if he does wake up.”
“Nita, you can't just dismiss my Perception.” Sela said, slightly angry.
Now! I thought and formed three Presence Hands. I grabbed each of them by the throat and pushed them away from me. The three of them slammed into the wall and I felt my arms twitch. I smiled and discovered that I could move slightly, so her binding spell, whatever that was, seemed to be weakening. I figured I'd try to help it along and pulled Nita from the wall a few feet and slammed her against the wall again. I heard the thump sound like a melon hitting pavement and her head flopped forward as she fell unconscious.
“No! Stop!” Ari said and struggled to get free of the Presence Hand that held her against the wall. Sela didn't try to struggle at all as she hung there and stared at me. Thankfully, the binding spell faded away and I took several deep breaths before I sat up.
“Oh, I'll stop all right.” I said and shakily stood up. It was a little difficult with the powerless heavy armor suit on and my wrists and ankles shackled, and I staggered a little. I think I'm still weak from the wound Kara gave me. I thought and touched the spot. It was still tender and sore and I tried to use a healing technique on myself. The flow of Presence was still sluggish and hard to manifest, so I gave up for now. “I'll stop as soon as you return the items that you've stolen from me.”