The Fusionist Book 3 -- Chapter 41

Chapter 41

The morning sun seemed particularly bright when they left the following morning, each of them with stuffed packs strapped to their backs and pockets bulging with supplies. Vivienne had finagled some extra food out of the Innkeeper early in the morning for their departure, since they theoretically wouldn’t be visiting another town or city anytime soon, as it turned out to be too dangerous for them right now. While Larek had been working on his Fusions the night before, everyone else had also started to divide all the supplies, ensuring that everyone had some of the food purchased the day before, a quantity of coins, and their letters of transfer that would allow them to integrate themselves into Silverledge and Ironwall.

Strangely enough, it was actually the first time that the Fusionist had looked at the letter, but it was essentially what Shinpai had described to him before they left Copperleaf Academy. It basically noted that due to some unforeseen circumstances revolving around Copperleaf Academy and Fort Pinevalley, Larek was to be transferred immediately to Fort Ironwall; it was not only signed by the Dean but also the head of Pinevalley, Vice General Whittaker. Whether or not that was his real signature, Larek didn’t know, but he supposed it didn’t matter at this point.

It further noted that Larek was discovered to have the potential in him to become Martial at a very late age, and due to this difference in the normal assimilation into the Fort, they decided it would be best for the “experts” at Fort Ironwall to handle his education. It was couched in flowery language that Larek immediately understood was designed to flatter the people in charge of Ironwall, making it seem as though sending Larek there was because of their greater ability to train Martials and other such praise. He figured that would either blind them to his real abilities… or make them suspicious and look into him a bit more than he was comfortable with. He didn’t necessarily want to go back to hiding what he could do, especially with Fusions, but in order to unlock his Stama Subjugation Skill, learn how to fight monsters with a technique that extended beyond “pretending he was cutting down a tree”, and learn the secret of creating and activating Battle Arts, he felt that it would be worth it.

As they passed through the town, their presence drew a little more attention than the day before, as they had been transformed from dirty, exhausted newcomers to travelers appearing to be heading out on a lengthy journey with their full packs and staves camouflaged as normal walking sticks – but the extra scrutiny didn’t feel too abnormal to Larek. All he knew was that there was no sign of any SIC people watching them depart, though Vivienne noted that they were out there in the crowds.

It wasn’t until they reached the eastern gate of the town, after navigating their way through all the people and new construction that seemed to be everywhere, that they saw a familiar face.

Karley the Elementalist stood near the gate, nervously shifting from foot to foot with her new staff held upright with a tight grip. When she saw them and looked at Larek, he intuitively knew the nervousness wasn’t because she was part of an ambush that was going to be set up for them, but because she was at least a bit fearful of the power he had shown making the Fusions the night before.

“There you are!” she said, relief written all over her features when she saw them. Trotting up to them with a smile as she looked at everyone but Larek, she said in a rush, “I wanted to catch you before you left and say thank you for everything you provided to us here. In addition, I spoke with Major Kuama and she agreed not to mention anything to anyone in Thanchet about your presence here, nor will she try and steal anything from you.”

Bargaining has reached Level 6!

Bargaining has reached Level 7!

Larek dismissed the notifications and thought it was strange that his Bargaining Skill had only increased in Level now, instead of when he had negotiated with her the night before. He supposed it was because she was negotiating for the Major instead of for herself, and now that he had confirmation that it had been “successful”, the Skill increased. Not just once, though, but twice; he could only assume it was because the negotiation had been a life-or-death situation with huge stakes that could be lost if it fell through.

Of course, it didn’t take into account the fact that the Major had likely lied to her about trying to capture them and steal their stuff. But as far as the woman was concerned the negotiation was successful – and Larek could tell from the way she sounded that she really believed that.

“Thank you, Karley. I appreciate your help and hope you can get some use out of those Fusions,” Larek replied, which caused the Elementalist to look at him again. As her eyes went to his, or at least where she perceived his eyes were because of the Perceptive Misdirection Fusion on his ring, she could see that she was nervous. Swallowing audibly, all she could do was nod.

I’m starting to wonder if it is better to be feared because of my height rather than my power; the one I can’t do anything about, while the other is what makes me the way I actually am. Then again, both are technically because of my Gergasi ancestry, so I guess that it’s a wash.

“Take care, Karley,” Penelope said as they walked by, the blue-haired Martial trailing her fingers over the sleeve of the Elementalist as she passed. The woman froze in confusion at the touch, but before she could respond, Larek and his group had already exited Whittleton.

When they were approximately a quarter-mile from the gate as they traveled down the road, their walk so far being relatively silent, he heard Penelope and Vivienne giggling. When they saw his questioning glance, Penelope explained. “That girl has no idea what is going on, so I decided to muddy the waters a little more. She’s going to be so confused and thinking about things that she’ll likely avoid being roped into the ambush being prepared for us.”

Now it was Larek’s turn to become confused, but he restrained himself from asking questions. Whatever it was that Penelope had done was irrelevant, though he hoped it had been beneficial. If it kept the Elementalist out of what was to come, that was all to the better; she seemed like a generally good person, and didn’t want her to get caught up with everything.

Another mile down the road, Vivienne glanced back at him surreptitiously, letting him know that they were being followed. The Ranger then ran ahead of the group and acted the part of a scout, as would be expected, with the others giving no sign that anything was amiss. Larek nervously fiddled with the stones in his robe pockets as they walked before he forced his hands to stillness after a while.

It was approximately 30 minutes later that Vivienne came back, supposedly to simply just check back in with them, but the Ranger actually had information for them. As she spoke, she flashed a few hand signals they had developed the night before that Larek interpreted as “5 minutes” and “Hidden”, but any more than that was too fast for him to understand. He knew his part just as everyone else, however, so that was all that mattered.

“Looks all clear for the next few miles,” Vivienne announced loudly, which easily reached the ears of their pursuing ambushers. Instead of disappearing into the distance to scout more afterward, the Ranger only moved a hundred feet or so ahead, as if she was confident that everything was safe ahead and wanted to stay near the group.

So far, so good.

Keeping an eye on the road ahead, it soon became blatantly obvious where the ambush was going to be – even to one untrained in looking for such things. The dirt pathway had been generally straight as it cut through a relatively level landscape, with short grassland bracketing the road and the sight of a forest off to the south being the only major landmark in sight. Once they passed over a slight hill that was just barely able to conceal the pathway ahead, he could see that the road turned more to the northeast as it made its way through a short mountain of what appeared to be a mixture of stone and dirt that looked entirely out of place, as well as a small pond next to it.  It almost looked like some sort of giant had thrown a huge dirt-filled stone ball that smashed into the ground, leaving a divot for water to collect, before bouncing up and cracking apart to make the small mountain.

It was honestly more of a hill than a mountain, but with the relatively level terrain, the 40-foot-tall and 80-foot-wide dirt and stone pile was as mountainous as it was going to get in the area.

Needless to say, if they were going to be ambushed anywhere along the road, this was certainly the place to do it. The SIC could easily hide behind the mountain and attack them either by going around or over top of the stone pile, and with those coming up behind them, they would be trapped between an outcropping of rock and the might of the forces arrayed against them.

It made his plan a little harder, considering they didn’t know the terrain, but he thought it would still work.

Judging the distance to be about right, Larek reached into his pocket, grabbed one of the stones that Vivienne managed to scrounge up the night before, and dropped it on the road after activating it. It rolled to a stop next to some others just like it, blending into the pathway with ease. His dropping the stone prompted Verne and Norde to bend down and pick up some other stones as they walked, before chucking them into the nearby grass; to an outsider, they looked like just a pair of kids alleviating their boredom. Of course, every few stones they threw to the sides were replaced with ones in their pockets, but it wasn’t very obvious, even for those looking for the exchange. Meanwhile, Larek continued to drop another stone every 10 feet or so along the road, ensuring an even coverage over its length.

Playing into the “young and bored” theme, Bartholomew started to do the same, only his were thrown ahead more than to the side, and he used his greater Strength stat to launch the rocks at the mountain, where they impacted and sunk into the dirt portions. Larek repressed a wince as one of them ricocheted off of the stone portion of the mountain and flew far enough to plunk down in the small pond nearby. He hadn’t put any Strengthen Fusions on the stones so he was worried it might crack, but it fortunately stayed intact long enough to settle onto the bottom of the pond without a trace.

As they got closer to the mountain, Vivienne turned around from where she had already passed the front edge of it and bent down to pick up her own stones. “Hey!” she shouted, emphasizing her shout as she threw her own projectiles off to the sides. “Does this look or sound like you’re making my job any easier?” she complained, while continuing to throw out some of her stones. “Each impact or rustle in the land makes me think there’s a monster nearby.”

“Oh, come on, we’re just having a little fun,” Norde complained with a very convincing whine.

“Well, I hope you’re having fun when some monster I wasn’t able to hear eats you,” the Ranger scoffed, throwing out another handful of stones in the process in disgust.

“Fine, fine – just one more.” Norde and Verne through one more stone each, followed by Bartholomew with a smile at his fellow Martial. By that time, they were essentially right in front of the mountain, and as Vivienne joined them, she held her hand in front of her leathers and started counting down from 5. When she closed her fist, Larek activated his Repelling Barrier along with everyone else.

When nothing happened for a few seconds as the slowed their walk, he thought for a moment that Vivienne was mistaken and there was actually no ambush waiting for them. The Ranger also looked disappointed that she hadn’t timed it accurately, but a hint of a smile touched on her lips as she looked behind the rest of the group.

Larek didn’t see them, but he could only assume that the ones that were trailing them had finally decided to show themselves. His attention was on what was ahead of them, which was the appearance of dozens of Martials and Mages streaming around the mountain, along with a few cresting the top of the large hill.

“Halt!” A woman, whom he took to be Major Kuama by Vivienne’s description of the powerful Martial, appeared at the head of the pack down below and started shouting. “By the authority granted by the Scission Interception Corps, I hereby demand that you put down your weapons and surrender. In addition, you will lead us to whatever Fusions you have stolen so that they can either be returned or distributed to those who can use them. You have 5 seconds to comply.”

“You dare to interrupt our mission of importance?” Bartholomew indignantly shouted in response. “I don’t believe you understand the great task that this one is undertaking!”

It was their last ploy to avoid the confrontation from getting out of hand. They were banking on the Major being enslaved to the Gergasi, or Great Ones, and the Noble bodyguard was attempting to instill that they were traveling because of specific orders.

Unfortunately, while there was a reaction from a few of the SIC members as they arranged themselves in a large cordon a significant distance away from the group, the Major showed no reaction to Bartholomew stressing “great” and “one” in his shout.

“If you’re truly on a mission, we’ll determine the veracity of that claim back in Thanchet. Now, no more talking. This is your last warning. You now have 3 seconds to surrender. Don’t throw your lives away. Two…  Give up now and you won’t be harmed. One… I’m sorry, but the SIC needs those Fusions.  Zero… Go!”

At “Go,” the ambushing SIC members shot forward, Martials and Mages alike, to close the distance. While the Mages didn’t necessarily need to be too close in order to attack, if they needed to help restrain and break through any magical defenses, they would have to be close to counteract them.

Unfortunately for the entire SIC force, they hadn’t banked on Larek and his group being prepared for this. After they passed over a certain distance, there were flares of light that sprung up out of seemingly nowhere, highlighting a 20-square-foot section around some innocuous-looking stones. Anyone who passed through the light suddenly tumbled forward, their body collapsing as if they had suddenly lost control of it.

Larek looked around, seeing that not a single one of the ambushers was still on their feet. A movement out of the corner of his eye, however, belied that initial estimation, as he saw the Major struggling to her feet, a glow around her that signified to him that she was using her Stama in some sort of Battle Art.

Well, it was mostly a success. She must be inordinately strong for this not to have worked on her.

Sighing, he joined the others as they watched the powerful Martial struggle her way through the light that had suddenly paralyzed the rest of her forces, a grimace of anger on her face that said they were going to pay for whatever it was they did.

Or was it fear?

He couldn’t tell, but he thought he was soon going to find out.