BECMI Chapter 42 – One Last Night before we Rest
“Get in formation! We go for freedom or death, and I will not let you die!”
“FREEDOM OR DEATH!” the men and dwarves with glowing Weapons, Shields, and flickering Force Armor over themselves shouted back enthusiastically.
So our third night of temporal conflicts began.
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None of the time-jumps were empty. Most were extremely hostile, and we could clear them without remorse.
Twice more it was more undead being led by a powerful commander. Once it was mated chimeras, another time a hydra with regenerating heads too big to get in the door, so it was likely trapped in here when young and had been killing everything entering for months or years to get as big as it was… as well as glutting itself down on the pantry ceaselessly at dawn, which was where we found it when we first came up.
Blooding took care of its regeneration, and then its corpse was vivisized down.
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“Advance no farther!” a half-musical, half-shrill voice called down from above the stairs, first in Common, then in Goblin. “Declare yourselves and your intentions!”
I tilted my head. “Brother of the forest, you do not sound well,” I responded in Elven, holding up my hand to the warriors tensed up behind me. “Our intentions are to clear this accursed Inn of hostile parties with all speed, then re-enter the Portal and continue our fight to freedom. Now, what are your intentions? If they include tossing a Fireball or three down here to soften us all up, not only will that not work, I will be very angry!” I warned him.
“You, you are elven?” the voice from above half-sobbed in relief.
“I have been accused of being so, and accused of not being so. Judge for yourself,” I replied coolly, advancing over to the stairs undeterred.
I stepped up to the first landing, and presented myself to the elves at the top there.
There were four of them, all with bows drawn and now aiming at me, naturally unaware that if they released they might well kill themselves. All of them were slender, clad in wonderfully tooled leathers, fair of skin, blue or green of eye, and golden-haired. All were at least Sixes, which meant my Fireball tactic was exactly something that they might have been planning to eliminate any hostile parties coming in.
I had Heat Sink ready to go off, so that would not have done anything to anyone, but the killing intent behind it would certainly have justified killing them all.
“I am the Lady Edge,” I introduced myself with the slightest of bows, still speaking in Elven, not looking away from them.
He hesitated, but the sharp-eyed and decisive elfin behind him spoke up quickly, “We are of the clan of Luswyr! Eryis, Nymthaiel, Rusafiel, and Yvryn!” she introduced them all in turn.
“A fair morning and a free wind upon you,” I greeted them formally.
“Open skies and a gentle sun,” she responded, finally lowering her bow, relief clear upon her face, even as she was intensely curious about my appearance.
“The Luswyr are known as a family of the Uainel in my time,” I replied easily. “The Uainel have a reputation as rangers and monster slayers of note among the clans. Does this vocation hold true among the Luswyr in this day and age?” I asked calmly.
“It does! We were tracking some marauding dragons into these lands when we chanced upon this human edifice. The magic admitted us in, and would not let us leave!” she exclaimed in great irritation and stress.
“So it is with all of us.” I turned back to the others following me. “Reform to depart shortly, and wait a few moments. I will be back.”
I advanced up the stairs, undisturbed by their caution and wariness of my appearance, my attire and coloration certainly far different from anything else they knew.
The elves backed away from the door and into the kitchen to give me space, and I waited there while they cautiously looked me over from head to toe.
I, on the other hand, brought up power and sent a pulse of Healing over them, as all of them had bandages, stitched wounds, and bruises from prior fighting, as well as some tears and rips in their leathers that were not fully repaired. Obviously they were keeping combat spells in memory, at least while the Portal was a threat.
“How long have you been prisoner in this Inn, blood of Luswyr?” I asked them respectfully, but not deferentially, while they gasped and patted at their injuries, rapidly removing bandages to find all their wounds were completely gone after an idle spell from me!
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“An Elf-Mage of power!” Eryis, the senior as an Eight and the leader, bowed hastily to me. The other elves quickly matched her.
“My magic manifests differently from other elves. My natural dominion is in blood and souls, not life and light,” I informed them without a trace of care. “Do you have any belongings you wish to take with you, trophies or other supplies? You should know by now that all food and drink are replenished in the Inn, so you need not consume your own.” They all nodded quickly to confirm they knew that.
“We will be once again entering the Portal, and you are welcome to join us. I have humans, dwarves, and even a hyn below, as well as a dragon. All of us wish to be free, and the only way to be free is to go to the end of the cycle, and then return to the future we were from. The Portal is sending us backwards in time, if you have not figured that out yet, and we might have a very long series of jumps to go before we reach it.
“It is better to make the attempt with friends and allies than to attempt it alone.”
The elves looked at one another, only a little hesitation showing. Then Eryis nodded, and the others all fell in line with her. “Allow us a moment to retrieve our packs, and we will join you.”
I nodded slowly. “I and mine will await you below.” I flicked up a Disk of obsidian Force, edged in roses, and pushed it towards them as they gawked at it. “Stack your belongings on this, and take it with you. You must still be able to fight.”
“Of course!” Eryis said hesitantly, reaching out hesitantly to touch it. I released control to her, she blinked as she was suddenly aware she could move it by thought, and pushed it along without effort.
All four of them hurried away, the leader pushing the Disk ahead of her, while I turned back downstairs.
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The startled elves came down the stairs cautiously, packs and some bags of loot stacked on their Disk, and were a bit surprised to find basically everyone with their backs turned to them, preparing to move into the ghostly swirls of the Portal.
I pointed them to four dwarves with shields up. “Those are your shields. If something reaches them and injures them, you are doing something wrong. If something reaches you and injures you, they are doing something wrong. Stay behind your shield and shoot in support of any fighting or where I direct. Save your magic unless there is need.
“One hand on your shield’s shoulder.” They looked at what was being done by all of the people there, even the dragon having a claw on a tall blond human’s armored shoulder, and her tail grasped firmly along the spinal crest by a human female!
“Get into formation! We go to find freedom or death, and I will not let you die!” I repeated for all of them, watched their faces harden once again, tensing in expectation of the violence nearly certain to be found on the other side.
“Freedom or Death!” I announced, and led them inside, Oswald Brandybuck grasping my off-hand.
“FREEDOM OR DEATH!” everyone else roared out, and in smooth lines, trotted after me.
Bemused but focusing quickly, the elves tolerated the hands clasping their belts as they tensed hands on the shoulders of the dwarves before them, the other elfin Yvryn hauling their Disk after them as so many others were accompanying other warriors, and they grit their teeth as they trotted into the white haze of the Portal, too.
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The pack of werewolves hadn’t expected an entire group of attackers to be armed with magical weapons and were hewed down with remarkable speed, with strict attention being paid to not being bitten and so infected with their Curse. The bodies were summarily dumped in the midden to be disposed of by the coming dawn, and rooms claimed, cleared, and cleaning began as the morning dinner was prepared for everyone.
The four elves were a bit amazed at all the directed activity and the energetic transition from combat to recovery, repletion, and rest. All injuries were Healed, from greatest to least, the two Priests taking turns mending all wounds suffered, and I would finish up if they could not.
One of the rooms above was set aside for the elves, one that looked to have been designed with an elvish theme so as to be more comfortable, and they nodded approval for the choice, as it had been Eryis and her consort Nymthaiel’s chosen room while they had been trapped before. With more warriors here, putting all of them into the same room was a little cramped, but nothing they couldn’t overcome.
The elves all cautiously joined me at my table, the others knowing what was coming and openly waving them at me for the talk of Rule of One and Warrior’s Magic.
There was a lot to do.
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After resting...
“Outside the door is the Year 9 of the Crowning of the first human Siricilian Emperor. If you are aware of that calendar, you can compare to your own, and you know how far back in time we have come.”
The eyes looking back were somber and silent, many having already done the math ahead of time.
“It is now nearly a thousand years before my own time. We probably have another three thousand years to go, traveling back in time,” I went on, to grim frowns. “We will be facing enemies, or gaining new allies who also wish to be free, basically every time we take the Portal.
“Of course, that is assuming we can take the Portal.” Everyone’s heads rose, looking up at the sky. “Yes, the moon is no longer full. We confirmed over and over that every new time we came into, the moon remained constant in phase. Last night was the last night of the full moon, and I personally do not believe it will manifest, and thus we will not be able to enter.
“We will gear up when it is time, and if we can enter, we will do so. If not… then we face nearly three weeks of being cooped up inside this Inn, which, for all its amenities and comforts that return every day, is not made to entertain us all for so long a period of time.
“We will not be letting that time be an unending cycle of dreary days and listless nights, waiting for our path to the past to manifest. Instead, we will be undertaking that most horrible of deeds, dreaded by all warriors past and present… TRAINING!”
The macabre twist I put on the words had many of them going white as they looked at me, especially when I smiled.
I had a REALLY dangerous smile.
“You are all now my prisoners, unable to ditch your duties or slack off in the slightest bit.” I watched them all with slitted eyes, and I knew my ruby eyes were dancing with liquid malice. “Your nights with me have been a hell of combat and slaughter, of rescues and raids. Combat and monstrous foes have dominated them.
“I will be filling your nights AND your days with all the possible torment I can think up, so you best pray that we only face another night of raids! After all, I am not going to let you die.”
I let that sink in. Most of them had the grace to swallow as they stared at me.