Spear of Destiny: Chapter 9

Thanks to the fact that Karalti could now carry about a thousand pounds of stuff, we were able to pack in a LOT of treasure. I threw out every item I didn't need from my own Inventory, and we crammed in everything we could loot. And then, with the protective spells over Lahati's Tomb deactivated, we teleported home.

We appeared in the air right over my castle – a statement which still felt weird to think, even though Kalla Sahasi had been ours for almost a month. The castle loomed over Myszno's administrative capital, Karhad, perched at the edge of a tall mesa overlooking the narrow river valley. The city looked better than it had three weeks ago. There were fewer tents, less rubble, and more scaffolding. As for the castle…

Ehhhh. Not so much.

In its hey-day, Kalla Sahasi had been a masterwork of soaring black stone towers, intricate gothic buttressing, and tall golden roofs surrounding a trio of towers around a triangular courtyard, the Inner Ward. Right now, Kalla Sahasi was barely livable, let alone defendable. The roof and upper floors of the tower closest to the road had been crushed by the Demon’s siege engines. Unfortunately, that tower contained the library, guest suites, the War Room, and our nice meeting rooms, all which had put a bit of a crimp on inviting the nobility of Myszno to come and visit.

The Administration Tower wasn’t the only casualty from the invasion of Myszno. All of the outbuildings on that northern side - the bakery, two granaries, servant housing, and one of the barracks - were unusable, heavily damaged in the vicious assault the Demon's army had leveled on the castle. Our curtain wall was more curtain than wall. We'd even had to burn most of the remaining furniture, because Ashur and his undead minions had left mysterious brown stains on the upholstery.

Sadly, no repairs had been made on the castle since we’d left it for Dakhdir a couple weeks ago, either… because Ashur had also looted the treasury and shipped the majority of the Voivode's gold stock back to his home country of Napath. So, for now, we made do. The castle garrison had patched together the shattered ramparts with scaffolding. The castle’s garrison was crammed into the one remaining barracks and had the guest rooms in the Residential Tower for overflow. My Warden, the chief of security, was bunked in the caretaker’s hut near the hookwing stables. We ran meetings out of the private dining room adjacent to the Great Hall, the main building at the heart of the Inner Ward. Access to the residential tower was via an arrangement of narrow plank walkways and ladders. On the upside, we got to train our Dex stat every time we needed to go to bed or use the bathroom.

But one thing about Kalla Sahasi had changed. A huge encampment had sprung up across the northern mesa, down the road, and onto the alpine meadows beneath the shadow of the castle. Rows and rows of pup tents and canvas marquees, hundreds of cooking fires, hookwings, wagons and latrines sprawled in all directions, bustling with soldiers. Two large and three small airships were moored at the skydock that jutted over the southern cliff face. My army had arrived from the north and south.

“Holy shit. I didn't expect them to set camp right outside the castle.” I held onto the saddle grips as Karalti swooped into a fast glide, kiting around the skydock to line up with the southern face of the Inner Ward. “At least we can pay The Orphans now. They saved us a whole lot of trouble in Vyeshniki.”

“Did they get the bandits?” Karalti asked.

“They sure did. Kicked their asses up and down the row.”

The blare of a war horn followed us as Karalti passed over the airships, rocking them in their bays. Down below, the doors of the Great Hall flew open, letting out a stream of people. Suri was in the lead, her expression as shocked as it was hopeful. Vash Dorha and Istvan Arshak were right behind her, shading their eyes against the midday glare. There were others trailing them: the tall, mustachioed Captain Vilmos and the curvaceous silver figure of Rin, who squealed and hugged the burly Warden around the waist before he could react.

Karalti let out a musical, bugling cry as she slung her long hind legs forward, then backwinged before touching down on the pavement. Suri stormed forward as I slid down to the ground, her golden eyes flashing and dark. For a moment, I thought she was about to slap me. Instead, she caught me in a tight embrace, pressed her lips to my forehead, then kissed me fiercely on the mouth.

“Ummf!” I groaned as my spine cracked under the pressure of her arms. Suri was about five inches taller than me and had about 50 more points of Strength.

“Hi babe,” I croaked. “You look nice. In a terrifying, Amazonian kind of way.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ ‘babe’ me, you… you…!” She leaned back, gripping me by the shoulders. “Where the fucking hell were you two!? We were worried sick!”

“Uhh... long story. I don't remember all of it. I'm pretty sure Baldr kicked my ass, and we woke in a dungeon we had to clear before we could teleport home.” I pulled out a couple of handfuls of jewels from my Inventory: strings of gold coins, pearls, and jewels. “But hey, look! Shinies!”

Suri’s expression darkened, but she didn’t deck me out. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me again, burying her face in the crook of my neck and shoulder. I put the treasure away and hugged her back, kissing her hair.

“I'm sorry.” I said quietly. “I knew you’d be freaked, but we couldn’t do anything to get in touch. All we could do was get back as fast as we could.”

“I thought you were gone.” Her fingers clutched the back of my armor. “I really did.”

“We’re fine!” Karalti lowered her head to nudge at Suri’s arm. “He died a couple of times, but I took good care of him.”

“I bet. You always do.” Suri wasn’t crying, but her voice was choked as reached out to lay her hand on the dragon’s nose, still resting her forehead against my shoulder.

“We were just discussing the logistics of how to take the Volod’s ships to Dakhdir to search for you both,” Istvan added, stepping forward as Suri finally let go. I shook his hand, then Captain Vilmos' as he followed up behind. Vash put his hands together, palm to palm, and gave me and Karalti both an ironic little bow.

“Well, just as well you didn't. We were nowhere near-OOF.” I staggered back as Rin ran up and threw herself into my arms. The little Mercurion was a lot heavier than she looked.

“Oh my god, w-we thought you were dead! Like dead-dead!” She accidentally headbutted me in the chest, driving the wind out of my lungs as she bounced up and down. “I-was-so-worried-you-died-and-the-spawn-glitch-happened-and-you-couldn’t-respawn-and-just-kept-dying-over-and-over-”

“We’re okay, seriously.” I gave Rin a friendly one-armed squeeze, absently bringing up the Kingdom Management menu. “The Heart of Memory you gave me recorded some info, so we’ll review it and me and Karalti’ll debrief everyone on what happened. But before I call a meeting, I need to sort out the day’s agenda. Istvan, I've got gold for you to take to the Treasury vault. Captain Vilmos, I need you to go and invite three people to report to the Great Hall: Zlaslo ul'Tiranozavir, Ur Gehlan, aaaaand...” I held up a hand as I quickly checked the Kingdom Management > Mass Combat menu. “...Wing Commander Vasoly, Ravensblood Dragoons 1st Company. We need to send scouts to Bas County to get intel so we can finish up Kitti Hussar’s quest. Vash, if you can find Taethawn, I'll schedule him for the first hearing so we can sort out his pay.”

I looked around the holographic menu screen to find my friends and companions blinking at me in a daze.

“What?” I squinted at them.

“Apparently our Lord Dog grew a couple of pants sizes while he was away, eh?” Vash’s scarred and shattered face twisted in a wolfish smile.

“We’ve already sent scouts to Bas,” Suri said. “I’ve been handling the Kingdom Quests while you and Special-K were AWOL. Check the list.”

I opened up the menu listing our Kingdom Quests, and saw she was right. We’d had about ten outstanding quests, all of which now had NPC heroes or Starborn players handling them. The biggest quest still on our list was The Last of Her House. I couldn’t remember it word for word, but as Navigail read it out, I knew the description had changed:

Kingdom Quest: The Last of Her House

Lady Kitti Hussar is the 14-year-old daughter of the Baron of Bas, Myszno’s southern-most county. Lady Hussar’s entire family perished in the Demon War.

In the aftermath, Zoltan Gallo, a veteran knight who deserted Baron Hussar on the battlefield, has rallied a militia and declared himself the new baron. In addition to oppressing the citizens who survived the war, he has given Kitti an ultimatum - marry him, forfeit her inheritance and elevate him to the noble class, or die.

You have given Lady Hussar shelter and a reprieve from her stalker, and now, you await the return of the Yanik Rangers and Royal Dragoons who were sent to scout Zoltan’s base: the fortress city of Solonovka.

Difficulty: Moderate (Level 20-25)

Rewards: 2700 EXP, 40 Build Points, Unlock New Resources (Barley, Silver, Mana), +400 Renown (Myszno, Renown (Bas)).

Special: Quest must be completed within 7 days.

“Crap. We missed the early completion bonus for that one.” I heaved a sigh of relief anyway. “Thanks for handling those.”

“It’s my job, too,” Suri said. “Couldn’t have done it without everyone here, though. ’S been a stressful week.”

I smiled at her, then inclined my head to Captain Vilmos. “Nix the meeting with the commanders for now, then. We’ll get everyone together when the scouts return. Did they give an ETA?”

“The Ravensblood Dragoons believed their mounts could make the flight to Solonovka in half a day,” Captain Vilmos replied gruffly. “They have been gone three. We hope for their return tonight or tomorrow. As it stands, we only have ten days before the autumn harvest begins. If we don’t get him out now, Gallo will fill Solonovka’s granaries and cellars with food and dig himself in like a tick.”

“If I have to go down there and harvest it myself, I will,” I said. “Don’t worry. We can pay our soldiers, as soon as we get this gold into the treasury. Istvan, check you’ll find what you need in Karalti’s saddlebags.”

Istvan drew his heels in with a click before striding over to her. Karalti obligingly crouched down, and he unbuckled one of the huge bags on her flank to look inside. When he saw the contents, his eyes widened: he cleared his throat and closed the bag again. “It’s good to have you back, Your Grace. I will handle this.”

“With skill and discretion, no doubt,” Vash remarked. “Hrrn. What else happened while you were gone? Oh, yes – the crab merchant who claims to represent Karhad is here.”

“Mayor Bubek?” I asked him.

“I still cannot bring myself to call that self-appointed sloven ‘Mayor’,” Istvan said, scowling. “But yes, Bubek is here with some issues. Given you gave him conditional status, we put him up in one of the guest rooms in what remains of the Gatehouse.”

“Awesome. I'll see Taethawn first, then Mayor Bubek.” I swiped over to the Kingdom Management schedule, and added in the slots. “Vash, you’re the fastest. Can you notify them? I'll squeeze the ducal booty in the Voivode's throne and sort out the Orphans Company now.”

“Your Grace, I will send them.” Istvan gave me a brisk nod. “You ought to keep Vash close. After that assassination attempt in the Ducal Chambers, I think all your staff will feel better knowing he is by your side.”

“Yeah. No more dying for you,” Karalti chimed in. “The last time was kind of bad.”

“Sure.” I clapped Vash on the shoulder – the one without the prosthetic. “Guess you’re on bodyguard detail, Vash.”

Vash cackled. “I’ll be gentle.”

“You better be,” I said.  “I like a light touch and small, circular motions.”

Suri crossed her arms. “You aren't even gonna take an hour to catch up with us?”

“After all this is over and done with, sure,” I replied. “Dinner and a movie, whatever you want. I just want to make sure I hit the ground running, and get all of our admin out of the way first before we relax.”

“Yeah! Do ALL the Voivoding!” Karalti stiffly beat her wings behind us, throwing up a cloud of dust and small stones, but then dropped back down to hug at her stomach. “Urgh. Istvan? Can you hurry up and get that treasure offloaded? If I don’t get something to eat something soon, I’m gonna die.”

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