Mark left George's workstation late, heading back towards the Knights camp. George had been all too happy to take the ingots and had even waived the lesson fee in exchange. Mark had kept experimenting with the manifested iron and found that as long as he could perfectly picture what he wanted to create it was simple enough to do. For example, a pair of scissors took shape and once he had released them they were perfectly useable, if not a little too large. Basic things like that were his limit because if he couldn’t create a perfect image in his mind then it would come out as a shaped block of iron. He’d had fantasies of creating an engine, only for him to realize he had no idea how exactly a combustion engine worked and where all the interlocking pieces went.
Complex things like that would require extreme knowledge of what one was working on and how each piece fit into the other.
Lost in thought Mark didn’t notice he had arrived in the area and had been moving on autopilot. By the looks of things, he had gotten there at the right time. It looked like the Knights were just getting out of a meeting, consisting of nearly everyone, and the sudden influx of bodies almost swept Mark away. Moving against the flow Mark spotted Daphne along with Sandy, Tom, Ethel, and a couple more people discussing something in the center of the large open space, people around them moved chaotically, preparing for the night's battle.
By the time Mark got to them they had just finished up conversation. Ethel was the one to spot Mark's approach and greeted him.
“Perfect timing Mark my boy, Daphne do you want to tell him the bad news or should I?”
Mark turned to look at Daphne fearing the worst.
Only when he saw Daphne's long-suffering face did he know Ethel was up to her old tricks.
“Ethel, please… Mark we’ve discussed it and my Knights are willing to lend aid to this mission. I’ve had my fastest man deliver the message to Major Karter to ask where they need us. Now we are just waiting on their response”
Mark was impressed, when they made their decisions they made them fast. They must have informed everyone as soon as it was confirmed. As far as they could tell the majority of people were for the idea. Whatever happened they were in.
Mark was relieved it had worked out so painlessly.
“That's incredible to hear, everyone will be reassured to know that you’re coming along”
They continued to chat but the group was breaking up heading for their different tasks. Tommis and Sandy stuck around, apparently, Tom had been watching Mark's thread and seen the update. He wanted to know if Mark could explain something about one of the intents. Sandy stuck around because Tom did.
Mark agreed but first, he pulled Daphne aside.
“Daph we need to speak about Donny. I’ve managed to clear him of Grace's influence, but his memory is damaged. I don’t know if he will remember you, as far as I can tell he’s stable. I’ve told him to head here when he's ready, If you are able to put him up for a while I’d really appreciate it.”
Daphne was an intelligent woman, so she immediately got to the core of the matter.
“Sure Mark, you forget the guy saved me in the beginning too, I owe him. Though memory loss is worrying, you say he might not remember me? What about you?”
Mark's jaw tightened in anger just slightly, though the emotion was aimed at Grace above all else.
“No… He has no clue who I am, and for the sake of not causing any more harm to his mind, I don't intend to tell him until I can get a proper look at the damage”
Daphne's eyes softened and a sad smile graced her lips. She drew Mark nearer and bumped her forehead against his in a comforting gesture. Mark relaxed into the gesture, his muscles unwinding.
“And I’m sure you will. But in the meantime would telling him really be so bad?”
Mark grimaced.
“Until I can be sure it won’t do more damage than good, I’ll live with it”
Mark felt the slightest nod of her head from their connected foreheads. What she said next though made him still.
“You are doing that thing again where you put everyone's needs before your own…”
Before he could answer she continued.
“It’s an observation, take what you need from it”
Mark didn’t say anything but it was his turn to nod.
He understood where she was coming from and the fact that she was worrying for him felt good.
They gradually broke away from one another.
“I will keep that in mind…”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Mark noticed several heads turned their way and one very smug-looking Sandy watching them.
After everything Mark had done today, the forging had taken the longest and at this point, it was almost time for the night wall.
Mark decided to just move out with the Knights, as they traveled, Mark chatted with Tom and tried to help the guy understand [Corruption recovery] where he could.
On their way there Mark noted an animated energy suffusing the camp. People were equal parts nervous and excited for tomorrow. This led to a good portion of the population preparing nervously for the trip to come.
The Knights arrived near the wall at around six-thirty, Mark noticed that there was definitely a lower soldier presence than normal.
More and more volunteers were on the wall permanently, to make up for this fact. If everything went to plan then this was probably the last night this wall would be manned.
Mark used [Mediation] to help recover more energy while he could. When things kicked off Mark noticed Sam had been right about the Corrupted being fewer in numbers. This made all the difference, allowing them to comfortably defend the walls, even with fewer soldiers. Mark saw Jonathan on the walls but Sam was clearly busy organizing the evacuation and could not make it. The lower number of Corrupted did not make Mark complacent, in fact, he used the wiggle room they got to secure more kills. His new spear of iron whipped around the battlefield, heavier and sharper than any stone. Something he noticed was that his Mana remained in the iron for much longer than stone. So though its base cost was more expensive to summon, it was more efficient than stone. One Manifested spear lasted three hours before he lost his fine control over it. Meaning that by the end of an hour, he could summon another one. His mental limit turned out to be three independently moving spears, which he could pull back to defend with and send out as devastating weapons. Using [bestowal] to enhance his casting ability, allowed him to use a fourth, but the combined Mana cost quickly became unsustainable.
During the downtime Mark noticed Ethel and Jonathan talking and by extension Daphne. After a time Mark noticed Jonathan trying to help Daphne with her Aura control. Fundamentally their Aura’s were different but manipulating it was still something universal.
Henry had demanded a spot on the wall and they were only too happy to let him and his people up.
Their formations were impressive and Mark realized Henry used a combination of magic because he kept throwing out what looked like liquid fire that acted very similar to napalm.
The only other thing Mark noted during his time on the wall was the twins. It seemed like they had worked out their flying magic, which was the equivalent of standing on top of a flat piece of rock and levitating it. One of them concentrated on moving the floating boulder while the other rained down spells from above. It was like a little moving fortress when they surrounded it with a shield.
When Mark finally made it down from the wall, after a night of fighting, he was exhausted, even if he still had plenty of Mana and Prana.
Daphne and Mark were on their way back to her tent when a man Mark recognized showed up, it was Marco. It felt like forever ago since he had seen the guy and his father kneeling outside the soldier's quarters.
Mark inclined his head to Marco which he returned in kind.
“Boss, you told me to give you a heads up should a man named Donavan show up. Well, he’s been waiting for a while now. I should warn you he's a good deal confused ma’am”
Daphne took it in stride.
“Alright, where is he now?”
“We have him set up in one of the single campers, it became too difficult for him to be in a communal one. People couldn’t sleep”
Mark got a bad feeling when he heard this and asked Marco to show him the way.
The tent was on the outskirts of the Knight's area, and as they neared a desperate voice could be heard coming from a hastily erected tent.
“Grace?!... Grace baby, where are you?”
Mark frowned he had thought giving the guy some space was the right thing to do but he was starting to think that had been a mistake. He was glad Daphne had assigned Marco to be the one to look after the guy.
Before he proceeded Mark whispered to Daphne.
“Give us sixty seconds then enter.”
She simply made a gesture for him to go ahead.
Mark called out.
“Donny, it's Mark, is everything alright?”
The keening voice cut off and as Mark entered the tent, he saw what little furniture was in there had been either flipped over or tossed to the side and Donny was sitting in the middle of the floor.
He looked up and there was definite recognition there.
“Mark! Dude, I’m so glad to see you. I couldn’t find Grace on any of the message boards and the people there wouldn’t help me search properly. Do you think you could come with me quickly to ask them? They won’t let me back in”
Yup, it looks like it had been a big mistake to leave him unattended.
Mark had thought Donny was presenting normally and he seemed to have all his faculties but he’d missed something.
An obsessive light burned in Donny’s eyes.
Mark nodded slowly and said.
“Sure we can, but first how are you feeling?”
His answer came out rushed.
“Yeah, sure. Headaches and… the back of my head itches like crazy but other than that I’m good.”
At this point, Daphne entered the tent.
When Donny saw her his face changed. A look of anger and then happiness flashed across his features, almost seconds apart. Almost as if he were wrestling with both emotions at the same time.
Donny suddenly clutched his head as if in pain. Fury settled on his features and surprise in his voice.
“Wait what are you doing here?! It's so good that you made it out!”
Kneeling down Mark said
“Do you know this woman Donny”
It didn’t look like he was still in pain anymore, but confusion was still heavy on his features
“Yeah she the bitch who betrayed Grace’s trust, saw it with my own eyes”
One of Daphne's eyebrows rose, but she just looked at Mark.
“Alright, how do you feel right now,” Mark asked trying to calm the guy down
Donny looked at Mark and said in an uncertain voice.
“Yeah, I dunno, I’m not feeling so great, I’ll be honest. -Daphne, I’m so sorry we left you in that mall, but Grace said you guys were sick”
Mark was at a loss for words. Were his memories returning? How else could he know that?
Something wasn’t right here. Mark wanted to take their time and give Donny space to heal but this was getting out of hand.
Mark made up his mind, this couldn’t wait. Whatever was going on inside his head needed to be fixed now.