BECMI Chapter 57 – All the way here to Thisbean Inn
Guyver led the advance team upstairs, more as an honor guard clearing the way than as a racing threat.
To say we caused some alarm as we came up out of the pantry was not a misnomer, but the Sound Bubbles cut off the spread of the alarm, even if the team in front did little more than push the startled kitchen workers out of the way.
There were indeed a bunch of soldiers and other people of importance, many post-Tens, gathered in the taproom, bored expressions turning astonished and lively as my company came marching out of the kitchen, clearing a path through those on their feet with hard eyes and firm hands. Their glowing Blades, shields, ghostly Force Armor, and golden skin didn’t hurt at all.
Buck bounced over to the till, the woman in a well-cut serving uniform there retreating in alarm as he flipped up to the counter and stared at the ranks of coins layered there, both in recent payment and for change.
“Lady Edge, they are different!” he breathed out.
The soldiers present were starting to shout and gather, swords drawn forth, while the various heroes or nobles were also shouting questions. One fellow, a big brawler of a blond who could look down on Bjorn, grinned wildly, clutched at a battle axe, and raised it up as he started forwards.
Then he was shooting up into the air, his head crashed into the ceiling twenty feet up, his glowing Axe fell from his hand and dropped to the ground with a thunk as it buried itself six inches into the boards, and a dozen shadowy black-thorned rose vines drove him off the floor. A second later one of the elves condense-Webbed him to the ceiling, basically burying him in white goo and leaving him wrapped up on the beams there as the vines dissipated.
The utter deftness of the maneuvers startled the natives long enough for us to arrive at the door.
I waved it open, and stared at the scene outside.
There was someone seated right by the door, an older human male, slowly turning around to look at me standing there and blinking in surprise at the sight of me. Beyond him, a clear line of soldiers had set up camp on what was effectively a walled front yard and circular drive in front of the place, effectively barring anyone from coming out or in.
I didn’t care, even as the scarred fellow, probably a former soldier himself, said something in alarm and got to his feet, shadows of motion indicating there were other guards close to him.
I tapped Dread to the Doorward, and Time peeled away, bringing in the sounds and smells of the outside.
Horses. Curses. Shouts of alarm, much like those going on behind us as they realized I’d breached the Doorward. The sights of houses clear in the reddening sky to the east, even the early morning calls of birds, the smell of grass and flowers and men who didn’t want to be doing what they were doing.
“What the…” the man outside murmured, as I flicked forth a copper coin from three thousand years in the future and flipped it through the door. His eyes bulged as it actually passed through, spinning, hitting the wooden porch with a clatter, rolling past his shoe, and then falling flat as a lot of eyes followed it.
Especially ours.
Time swirled about it… and let it be.
We were now in a separate timestream.
“We exit!” I stated, and the roar and cheers behind me completely drowned out the calls and cries from the locals as I stepped through the door, and they surged out after me.
The men outside stumbled back in shock as I stepped forth, and then the company following me was coming out of the doors with speed and surety, wide smiles on their faces, lifting their arms to the sky, half of them breaking out in tears as they did so.
That didn’t stop them from immediately forcing back the local soldiers who were gaping at them in confusion and disbelief, setting up a half-circle perimeter for everyone and everything to fit out the door and let them look up at the sky themselves.
The soldiers, although caught off-guard, were starting to organize as their NCO’s shouted orders and wondered what was going on.
Hanvol came through last, pushing the last Disk of loot.
I glanced once at the whelming line of soldiers gathering to stop us, none of which really threatened us at all.
“Today, we greet the morning under the open air!” I announced to everyone, and even the locals understood what I was saying. “And then we feast! Everyone on board!”
With a crinkle, black Disks wound with patterns of skulls and roses materialized around all my people. Without any hesitation, the men and women hopped back or forward onto them.
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My Wings snapped out, buttressed with Flight magic and filled with stars, and without any hesitation, I took wing.
Naturally, my Disks came right along with me.
The soldiers had no time to respond as abruptly we were all airborne, heading north and east as I rose above the circling walls and the city sprawled out below us, heading for an area with an open view.
The city wasn’t too large, more a large town, laid out around a small port that accessed the sea that glimmered to the north of us, cold and blue and inviting. Cliffs dropped away to east and west, the town spreading up to them, with a large dour castle built entirely of black stone overlooking the place on a lonely promontory to the west.
There were boats and ships out on the harbor, both masted sailing ships of old designs and open boats of the local fishermen. Enough dock space for maybe a dozen ships.
I was moving quickly, to the whooping of the men and women who hadn’t truly breathed fresh air under an open sky for far too long. I swung out over the city walls to the north, on the way to that lonely castle sitting there with no pennants or flags indicating anyone in residence, and spiraled down to the green grass there on the edge of the cliff.
Everyone got off, the empty Disks sliding away and stacking themselves up off to the sides, Skull emblems lining up in nice spirals with rose vines rapidly growing between them for effect.
I stood there facing the dawn. This time, everyone drew up in a long line, single file, no need to cramp up in front of doors and windows.
“Our long nights are over,” I whispered for all of them, ignoring the horns blowing and horses milling around the gates of the city, the people pointing our way. “Your next step is to remain here, or to head back to the future, as I will.
“But for now, and today, it is a new day, and you are free to choose.”
It was the moment, the Salute to Aru always knowing when to begin, and always ending once begun at the proper time, just when the sun cleared the horizon.
“Dreams of the wind at dawn,
A new day has begun.
Light chases back the dark, and the future lays before us.
Will it be something bright and new?
Walk the road before you now, and leave the night behind,
Today is a new day, and the light comes to warm you all.
Let go the shadows, and behold the sun!
The Light has come, as ever it must.
Behold the new day!”
Sunlight streamed across the world. Cirruluxul returned to her draconic form and spread her wings wide, towering over everyone and roaring her relief and exultation as the morning greeted us all, and we were free and our lives returned to us.
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“Well, sir, we moved to surround them, and, well, the elf in red waved her hand, and that Wall came up to stop us cold.”
The balding older man with the hawk-like nose and keen eyes considered the ten-foot barrier of stone that had come out of nowhere and abruptly cut off the Royal Guard from disturbing those behind it. A couple brave soldiers had climbed up on top of the stone, fully expecting to be shot full of arrows or something, and instead were being totally ignored.
There had been a very, VERY firm command NOT to interfere with the intruders, issued by Meri Veridian, who had been with the riders who had been trying to follow the strangers.
The elven agent was still a little wide-eyed. After all, she had just seen a Wall of Stone over a hundred and twenty paces long heave itself up out of the ground with the casual gesture of an arm!
That was a terrifying amount of magical power, over thrice what her own capabilities were, and twice that of the most powerful wizard in the North!
Upon hearing that, none of the Clerics or Wizards present had any intent to disturb the terrifyingly beautiful elven woman in red or her mismatched band of strangers… or the blue dragon with exotic markings that was accompanying them!
Ketcher Kociba, the Catcher, master spy of King Antius Darkmoor, sighed as he considered the problem before him.
Not only had these intruders come out of nowhere from the Portal in the basement of the Thisbean Inn, that elfin had somehow neutralized the barrier that prevented anyone from leaving without permission and in doing so breached the most secure facility in the entire kingdom! The simple knowledge that it was possible was no doubt going to set off a firestorm of investigation and questions into how she had done it, so that others might do the same…
“And what are they doing now, sergeant?” he asked up to the armored soldier standing on the wall above. The man had very prudently removed all his weapons and was just standing there watching.
“Sir, they are having a celebratory feast,” the fellow, a dependable fellow named Malliwick, eyed them very neutrally. Indeed, there were songs going up heartily, in a language nobody there knew, and even the dragon seemed to be singing along! “It’s a fine table, fit for a royal banquet, with shining silver and white lace cloths and candles and goblets and wines and the tables are groaning with fruit and bread and meats.” His stomach rumbled audibly.
“What exactly are they celebrating?” the Fetch wondered, tugging at the lace ruffle of his collar in concern. “They certainly aren’t acting like a band of kidnappers.”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but seeing the size of that dragon, I’m in no mind to go down there and start questioning them,” Malliwick said down to him with feeling.
The dragon was probably only a side threat. That elfin in red was without a doubt the most dangerous of them all, and could all by herself be a threat to the North.
Or, he considered, a great asset, if she could be recruited… no, made an ally of. Trying to recruit someone powerful enough that everyone here should simply be bending a knee to her, as even a dragon was doubtless doing, would require prudence and careful diplomacy!
If she truly had nothing to do with the disappearance of the king, of course…
“Give me a hand up there,” the spry master of spies said, looking at the top of the stone Wall. “I will see if I can speak with them. There are dwarves and elves with them, so I should be able to get by, and Griffmeier was able to be understood by them…”
The Fetch made up his mind that peaceful contact was definitely the way to go here. The strangers did not seem worried about the threat posed to them, and such… confidence could be used to their advantage...