Chapter 50.
Oh fuck. My money. My box of platinum coins. Oh fuckkkkkkk. I had left a fortune at the outpost, and given the way things were going, I was definitely not getting it back. Not… that there was an academy to attend anymore.
Suffice it to say, things were bleak.
Well, they really could have been worse. A few rapid and guarded expeditions into the city had taken place while the castle was being fortified and prepared for the army’s arrival. No one was really telling us anything, other than to stay put and stay calm. Some had been tasked with preparing food to feed everyone, others were working on rebuilding damaged parts of the castle, and some were just digging pits.
All those in good condition were working. That left Galine sitting out, recovering as she was, and also me out, given my lack of dexterity. Somehow, I would have preferred to do something. I had slept terribly last night. Both due to the lack of a proper bed and the horrors of the previous day.
And it was only going to get worse. The castle was preparing to be sieged. Guards patrolled the walls and the castle; there was no privacy. Some were even just collecting rocks and hauling them up to the wall walk so they could be tossed at attackers.
A whole group was fast at work assembling a hoarding, some kind of wooden structure that could be placed on top of the castle wall to protect from projectiles. Animal skins were being soaked in water to be placed on top to prevent fire.
Another group was busy cutting down one of the big trees in the courtyard. For what exactly, I couldn’t be sure, but someone had said something about bows and wood elasticity. I couldn’t keep up; everything was a whirlwind.
We slowly began to hear information trickling down; everyone was gossiping, and everyone was desperate to know what was going on. Scouts had reported that the army had likely marched through the mountain, a slow and perilous journey but one that allowed them to approach from the east, sneaking through the border line under the confusion of forest fires to ambush several of the outposts.
It had been wildly successful; the vanguard attack had nearly taken the castle, and reinforcements would be here in the next few hours, maybe a couple of days at most. Whether it was true or not, the name Sir Malle had become widespread. Lady Malle Bobellot, of the house Bobellot, a close friend of the Duke of Hator. It was all beginning to come together; even I was really struggling to keep up with who was who and why everyone had seven different names.
What seemed generally agreed upon, at least, was that Sir Malle and her men would have had to start marching before war had been declared. A dishonourable move that seemed to ruffle a few feathers, and ended up killing a lot of people. And things were just getting started.
A messenger had arrived from Sir Malle to offer her terms of surrender, presumably. Though that was recent enough that no one knew what those terms were. Sitting around with all our new neighbours in the grand hall was like the biggest game of telephone ever to exist.
On the plus side, the castle had two wells. And it was stocked with food for six months. The downside was that now there were several hundred more hungry mouths. So… supplies would not remotely last six months. That would soon be a problem, and it was a problem that was beyond our non-existent pay grade.
I did learn some more tangible and less gossipy, speculative things. The shimmery barrier wasn't a barrier at all. Or it was, but just a magic barrier. Someone had managed to get a priest talking, and he specialized in defensive magic. Apparently, a barrier to stop everything was incredibly costly, the kind of thing that was created to block a single attack at a time. But a simple spell to detect magic and counter it could be maintained nigh indefinitely with a decent team of spellcasters and enough mana.
It wouldn’t prevent mundane attacks at all, but given there was a giant stone castle, mundane attacks were far less of a concern. The downside was that it evened the playing field; neither side could effectively sling magical attacks at the other, but given that it also prevented teleportation and such, it was critical to the castle’s survival. The mages handled the magical defences, and the soldiers handled the mundane ones, and together you had a castle that would stand strong.
Whoop-dee-doo.
“Pamela!” Candy cried, jerking my attention away from all the work that was being done. “The dungeon! The centipedes are burning!l
“Fuck,” I muttered, leaning back against the castle wall. I cleared my throat; the lingering smoke had begun to manifest as a cough. “Can you save the core?” I asked, chewing on my lip.
Fuck fuck fuck, I had worked hard on that dungeon. We had worked hard to get it.
“I don’t know,” Candy shrilly replied, panicked. “I’m trying, but it’s starting to burn!”
Within minutes, Candy broke the news that it was destroyed. All the walking, all the centipedes, all for naught. All that fucking work had gone down the drain.
I didn’t have the energy to be as upset as Candy. Despite my frustration, we had bigger fish to fry. Namely, an encroaching army.
“I’m sorry,” I told Candy sincerely. “I was worried about this happening with the fires. We’ll rebuild, I promise.”
“Where?” Candy demanded.
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I need to talk with Galine, I think… I think it might be better for us to leave before things really get serious.”
“Leave the castle?” Candy mentally frowned. “But there's a whole army out there!”
“There's an army coming,” I corrected. “If we leave now… maybe we can get out of the way before… the worst of it. Galine is injured, and I’m useless in a fight. If we stay here, then we are sitting ducks, and while I don’t know much about castle sieges, I know they are slow and full of disease and psychological warfare. I think I'd much rather take my chances on the road, head for the capital.”
Candy hummed. “But would Galine go?”
I rolled my neck, uncertain of the answer. “She’s always wanted to adventure; this is her chance. I know she’s injured and can’t move fast, but it has to be better than staying here, right?”
“I… I don’t know,” Candy said.
I didn’t blame her. I didn’t know either. But the more time I spent here, the more I imagined how much worse it could get. I only had 45 pence to my name, but maybe we could sneak by the outpost so I could check for my money; we could pack a few bags and then just… go.
“What about the people here?” Candy asked. “What if they need our help? We should help, right? That is the good thing to do.”
“Maybe,” I begrudgingly agreed. “But… sometimes we need to do not-so-good things to survive. Galine and I won’t be any help; we’re just two more mouths to feed, three more mouths to feed. I really don’t want to die, Candy. People will remember us and if Galine is remotely right… then I think… I think that means no more… reincarnation shit until we’re forgotten. And given what she said about the dead, I am not willing to risk death. I have things I don’t want to lose here and now… I think hell might actually be real, and I really don’t want to wind up there.”
“I agree,” Candy said after a moment. “But it is not me you need to convince, and how would we even get out of the castle?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m going to go talk to Galine; we can worry about that… after. If it comes to it.”
“Okay,” Candy sighed.
“I don’t want to stay here,” I said. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I thought this world would be fun… It’s not. It’s cruel, and hard, and people are trying their best, but… when all else fails, we need to survive.”
“We need to survive,” Candy agreed. “Together, because we are stronger together. With Galine together.”
“Yeah, let's just hope she’s on board,” I grimaced.