Spear of Destiny: Chapter 12

The first thing I did after returning to my quarters was to go into my KMS and spend almost all of our hard-won money on the three things we needed to make Myszno one of the wealthiest provinces in Vlachia.

A little over 30,000 olbia got us two destroyer-class airships from Litvy, medium-sized warships to replace the ones we'd lost battling the Demon. They were fast, quiet, and able to carry a decent number of troops. I also put in an order for a team of high-level NPCs - a mage, an artificer, a Forgebrother of Khors, miners, and archeologists - to join us from the fair city of Boros. The team would be dispatched with a couple platoons of guards and cargo ships to Krivan Pass to begin the excavation of the Vault of Heroes. I assigned the Knights of the Red Star to supervise them. Of all the soldiers in my army, they had the highest morale, the most Renown, and the strictest vows of honor. They were also tough enough to keep any curious player characters at bay.

After the shopping spree, I surfed over to the interactive map of Myszno, and finally took a good, long, hard look at Bas. Myszno had ten counties, with the population concentrated in only four of them: Litvy in the north-west, the ducal seat of Racsa in the center, Boros to the north-east, and Bas, which was due south of Racsa and only about two day’s ride by land out of Karhad. Like Racsa, Bas was very mountainous, with most settlements and villages located in steep alpine valleys. The capital, Solonovka, was a city on the edge of the Vlachian frontier that was, as my drill instructor would have said, 'locked down tighter than a nun's cooter'.

The city had not one, not two, but THREE concentric rings of tall stone walls: one around the town itself, one around the base of the switchback ridge where Hussar Manor sat, and one encircling the castle itself. From the ground, it was extremely defendable. Approaching it by air was almost as risky. For one thing, any airship or dragon coming toward the city could be spotted for miles in any direction. According to notes submitted by Kitti via Suri, there were five towers in Solonovka, and each of them was armed with anti-aircraft weaponry. In Archemi, those fell into three categories: magical defenses, blackpowder artillery, and giant ballista or other large shooty-downy devices capable of plugging a lot of metal into an airship's engine at high speed. In any case, it was bad news - assuming Zoltan Gallo actually had the manpower to field them.

My study was interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

“Suri?” I called out. “Is that you?”

“Sure is,” she drawled. “How’d you know?”

“Call it an educated-and-or-magically-augmented guess,” I said. “Come in. Door’s unlocked.”

She cracked it open and peered inside, scowling. “Why is your door unlocked?”

“Because I’m right here.” I gestured to the living room. The Ducal Suite had a central living area, with a Victorian-style sofa and chairs, fireplace, and paintings of the old Voivode and his family. There were four doors in here: one to the bathroom where I slept, one that led to the Lady’s Chambers, one that went to my bedroom and office, and one that went to Rudolph’s butler lair.

“What? One assassin wasn’t enough for you?” Suri huffed, letting herself in.

“If someone comes in the door, I’ll throw fruit at them.” I picked up an apple from the bowl and grinned at her.

“You throw that at me, you better be ready for the consequences.” Suri was still in the armor she’d been wearing when she met Karalti and I in the courtyard: a set of [Bolza Guard Armor] in the silver and green livery of the old duke. “How did the meetings go? I saw we’re back down to about five thousand olbia.”

“There was, in fact, a great Voivoding,” I replied, moving to get a glass for her. “Want anything to drink? There’s wine, wine, water and… let’s see what this jar is… I think some wine?”

“Vlachia likes its wine.” She chuckled, pointedly locking the door behind her. “Wine. Red. The sweet kind, if Rudolph put that out for you.”

“He did.” I poured two glasses, one for each of us. “You look sweaty.”

“I am. Had training with Kitti.” Suri unequipped her full-plate, then the padding underneath, stripping down to a pair of leggings and the reinforced, dusky rose-colored halter top that kept her chest under control while in armor. She unlaced it halfway as she moved to the sofa, sighing with relief as some of the compression lifted and her cleavage was allowed to breathe. She had quite a lot of it. Against all odds, I managed to keep my eyes forward and not spill the wine.

“How’s she doing?” I asked.

“Good. Girl’s a natural Berserker,” Suri said, dropping down. “Her father coddled her and tried to keep her away from swords and rough men, but he couldn’t beat the wildness out of her. That’s what you need for this Path: anger, will, and spirit. She’s got the fire in her, but she’s a kid. She doesn’t like drills, because those are boring. She can get a bit sooky when she’s tired.”

“Sooky?” I took her glass over to her and pulled up an ottoman, straddling it to sit in front of her.

“Yeah. You know. Whiny, bitchy. Whatever you wanna call it.” Suri took her glass with a smile. “Normal boot stuff. She’s just gotta break through it.”

I snorted. “Hand her over to Istvan and he’ll sort her out. Have you seen how that man drills the recruits?”

“Oh my god.” She let out a short laugh. “I heard him ranting at the new fish in the barracks the other morning. Funniest shit I’ve heard in my whole fuckin’ life.”

“Dooo tellll.” I leaned in.

“He was yellin’ at the top of his lungs at some of the new guys I hired on the first day back here. And I swear, this is a direct quote.” Suri waved her hand for a moment, gaining her composure, and then put on her best Barking Sergeant Istvan voice, complete with accent. “‘I take great offence at walking into a room full of men to find that somebody has the audacity to stand at the end of his bed with an erection! And I want you all to pay very close attention, because if I see that erection again, I will kick it until such a time as it becomes un-erect! Do you hear me, you little wankstains!?’”

I started laughing about halfway through, and then kept laughing until I was rolling on the ottoman.

“I swear to god, Hector, I just about lost half a cup of coffee up my nose,” Suri was laughing too, by now. “I don’t think I’d hand Kitti over to him, though. She’d come out the end of his training with half a dozen tattoos and a drinking problem.”

“Hey, come on now. He’s gotten better with the booze,” I said. “Vash has been good for him.”

“He sure has.” Suri shook her head. “Jeez… Anyways,  taken a look at Bas, yet?”

“Yeah. Operation Girlpower looks like it’s going to be a doozy,” I said.

She stared at me in disbelief. “Operation Girlpower.”

“Kitti’s still a girl. We’re restoring her family to power. The name checks out.”

Suri sighed, leaning back against the sofa. “Remind me again why I put up with you?”

“I found and implemented the clitoris despite never having attended a training course.” I nodded.

“There is that,” she replied dryly. “I’ll have to design an award we can pin to your forehead.”

I beamed at her. “The Pink Pearl Badge.”

“Pffft.” She chuckled as she drank, shaking her head. “Anyway… you reckon we’re gonna be able to finish the quest on time?”

"Yeah. I think so. Between the Orphans Company and the Royal 2nd Company, we’ve got more than enough troops." I straightened up and cracked my back, then my hands. "We won't know exactly what we're dealing with until your scouts return. Has Kitti been able to fill you in on any details?”

“A few,” she replied. “Namely that Zoltan isn’t exactly popular in Solonovka. Like most knights, he had his own little patch of land with a few tenants to farm it. He treated them like shit, and it seems likely he’s treating everyone down there the same way.”

“That’s helpful,” I said. “If we can break his hold over the populace, they’ll turn on him.”

“If we can get to him,” Suri said. “Solonovka is probably the best-defended town in Myszno. The Demon was the first man to take it by land or air since it was built, and he only did that by tricking his way in past the first two layers of walls.”

“Sure. But from what I remember of Kitti's description of events, there's only so many people who could be working with Zoltan. The problem with big, heavily entrenched positions is that they take a lot of manpower to maintain. Towers have to be guarded, posts staffed, weapons made and repaired."

"Right. And I think it’s safe to assume he’s relying on air defense," Suri added. "He knows the new Voivode has a dragon. He has to know."

"Right." I said. "In a place like Solonovka, he'll be worried about airships, dragons, and cannons."

"Mhhm." Suri swirled her wine around, then threw the rest back. I did the same, then sidled over onto the sofa. Suri promptly rested both her feet in my lap.

“Sooo…” I began to absently rub her toes, settling back against the armrest. "Before I can wind down for the day, I need to see the recording on the Heart of Memory. I don't know if I can share the feed with you or not. If I can, do you want to see it?"

She groaned, and tipped her head back against the cushions. “Sure. I was just taking a break, to be honest. I was hoping I could ask for a favor.”

“Go ahead.”

"I want to get my gear back as soon as we can. Tonight, if possible. When I died in Withering Rose’s cockpit, my Inventory dropped there." Suri said, looking over her chest at me. “I feel naked without my bloody armor. This guard equipment doesn’t even have half the rating of the full-plate Rin made me.”

I nodded. “Consider it done. Karalti needs to finish eating, but after that, I’ll see if she’s up to it.”

“Thanks. Hopefully we can just teleport in, grab the bag, and teleport out.” Suri gave me a wan smile. "I missed you. Being a titled Lady in a big castle wasn't nearly as much fun without you and Special-K around."

"Don't enjoy Voivoding?" I let go of her foot and took the Heart of Memory from my Inventory. I sent off a quick party message to Rin: "Hey, sorry to bug you: is there any way to stream the information on the Heart so Suri can see it?"

"Nah, I do," she said. "I enjoyed lording over people more than I thought I would, actually. We really need to get a new throne, though. Your skinny Tuun arse fits in it alright, but I've got hips. It pinches the shit out of me."

"We kind of need to get a new everything," I said, turning the Heart over in my hands. The ruby mana core was pulsing softly, radiating warmth against my palms. "I like green things, like plants and shit, but I’m not too big on the green brontosaurus decor. We'll hopefully be able to fix the castle soon, but the province comes first. I'd live in a mud hut before I let anyone in Karhad starve or freeze to death."

"You know some people are gonna die no matter how good we do, right?" Suri said. "That's how that goes."

I wasn't sure why what she said pissed me off as it did - but it did. "Willingly, Suri. I know I can't save everyone, but I won't willingly let them starve."

She paused for a moment, realized she'd hit a nerve, and reached out to squeeze my arm. "Right. I get what you mean. And I agree. I saw enough of that in prison."

"So did I," I blurted. Then paused, blinking, as it occurred to me what I'd just said.

"You served time?" Suri cocked her head. “You never told me. When?”

"I... uhh... haven't. Been in prison. I mean, I was born in an internment camp in Orange County, but, I was like... one year old when we were released. Don't think anyone ever starved in there." I rubbed my eyes and forehead. "I'm not sure why I said that. I'm just tired, I guess."

"Eh. Slip of the tongue." Suri looked faintly troubled, and I saw her glance at my left shoulder. "On that note: how's your pet black hole doing?"

"What?

“Your shoulder.”

“Oh, that. I haven't checked." I shrugged, then pulled my shirt off and had a look at what she was talking about. The hole in question was an eerie triangular patch of black nothingness that took up most of my left shoulder. It was a scar, kind of. The surface was solid, but it didn't feel like skin. It didn't feel like anything. You couldn't push your fingers through it, but you couldn't feel it with your fingers, either. I'd earned it during an airship crash soon after entering Archemi.

Suri leaned in to look at it as well. "It's bigger."

"This? Nah." I pointed at the black space.  "It's always been that size."

"Hector. It's bigger." She reached up to probe it. "It didn't used to touch your collarbone like that. You need to show the Masterhealer."

I frowned, turning my head to look at it again. Now she mentioned it, had it spread from my shoulder to my chest a little? "It's fine, okay? It's just the light. Even if it has gotten bigger, the Masterhealer isn't going to be able to do shit about it."

"We don't know that," she insisted.

I was saved from having to respond by an [Incoming Voice Call] popup. I kissed Suri on the side of the head and held up a hand. “Hang on: Rin’s calling.”

Suri rolled her eyes, and sat back with a sigh.

"Heya Hector! Sorry it took me a while to get back, I'm setting up a workshop in the smithy quarters," Rin chirped. "Thanks for the materials!"

"Uhh... no problem." I didn't remember leaving Rin any materials, but maybe someone else had. "So yeah: is there a way to stream this thing you gave me?"

"Hmmm... ahhh.... " I could almost hear the gears turning in her head. "Oh! I'm pretty sure there was meant to be a first-person streaming function, but I don't know if it was actually included in Archemi's beta launch. If you watch it while streaming a first-person POV in a video chat channel, you should be able to share it with us."

"You want to see it too?" I asked her.

"Sure! A-as long as it's not too gory, or a-anything!" She stuttered off. "I mean, you did, like… die."

"I can’t guarantee it wasn't gory," I said. "This is Oral Gel the Wonder King we're talking about. For all I know, he whipped it out and assaulted my tender innocent corpse."

"R-Right. I'll pass for now, then. Even though I don't have a stomach any more, there’s some things I really don’t want to know about Michael."

Once Rin DC'd, I opened a new video chat with Suri. Then, I ordered it to stream. Sure enough, a first-person video feed appeared in a small frame. When Suri accepted the invite, suddenly she could see what I was looking at. Her face split into a broad grin.

"Hey, mate. My face is up here, you know." She pointed at her eyes.

"Face? What face?" I managed to tear myself away, also grinning. "Oh! There she is! Sorry, I must have missed you there. It was hidden behind this amazing pair of... chin... pillows."

"'Chin pillows'." She laughed, throwing a cushion at me. "Fuck you and your prim Yankee bullshit. You will address Colonels Knockers and Norks with all due respect, soldier!"

"Apologies, ma'am. Ma'am. Ma'am." I nodded to her, and saluted to each side of her chest. "So, ready to watch me die pathetically at the hands of my arch-nemesis over and over again?"

"Not really, but let's get on with it." Suri looped an arm over the back of the sofa, closing her eyes.

I rattled off the words of power to the Heart of Memory and did the same. A warm sensation spread through my head, and then the playback started.