The Axe Falls 2 -ch 11-

“— roughly twenty in number when they left. Half of them supposedly rode east, the other half came down this way,” Julie explained, looking to everyone else in the room. “That means we’ll be dealing with somewhere between seven and twelve individuals. You can assume they’ll be level twenty on average.”

“Doesn’t that seem a bit much for us?” Claudia asked nervously, her hands lightly moving along Ker’s back as he laid in her lap. “There’s only six of us. They would outnumber us in the best scenario and do it twice so at the worst.”

“Rahak can help offset the numbers,” Nick said and gestured to the Corvu. “I’ll just buy her a bunch of decent bones when we get close to their location. She can carve them up and we’ll be able to move from there.”

“Ah, yes. Yes. That would be-mm-quite acceptable,” Rahak said with a croak that sounded like a laugh. “Are the required shiny coins low in number?”

“Prices aren’t bad. Most people don’t really have a use for a high-level dead body once the magic is extracted from it as well as the soul,” answered Nick. “If this goes well we can experiment with buying you bones in advance for the dungeons.”

“Yes, yes, agreeable,” Rahak confirmed. “Please purchase cheap bones as well. They would be good-mm-scouts.

“Ker is very good at this role but more is good. More scouts.”

Ker snuffed at that and then rolled out of Claudia’s lap and hit the ground. He padded over to Rahak and stuck his face into their lap.

“Yes, yes. Ker,” Rahak crooned and began to scratch at the giant Fisher’s head. “You’re a very good scout. Yes.”

Julie had been eying the big animal most of the time she’d been in Nick’s room with everyone. Her introduction had been quick and easy.

Without issue in fact.

Even Ker didn’t seem bothered by her.

Though he imagined she remembered Ker tearing her people apart. Easily killing people he had no right to be able to take down.

Except as Nick leveled up, so too would Ker.

Ker, at this moment, was a force of nature that one had to be wary of.

“Of course if it really comes down to it, we can hire temporary mercenaries,” Nick put in. “The problem with that is they’re… quite expensive. It’d take a bite out of our resources but it’s doable.

“Taking such an action would just about negate the entire point of doing such a thing, too.”

“I think it’s doable,” Jessie declared with a nod of her head. “Nick had killed more than a few people much higher than himself in a similar situation.

“As a group, we can easily do the same. We just have to make sure we’re not stupid about it.

“Running in there with a flag, declaring ourselves, and challenging them, is idiotic.”

“Exactly!” Julie agreed enthusiastically. “I was thinking that we could easily do some recon, find out where they are, and see about poisoning them.

“Or maybe doing a night assault and catch them while they’re sleeping.”

“Yes, yes,” immediately responded, turning her body toward Jessie. “Figure out where they get food and water, poison it, let that settle in, then attack that night.”

“I love it,” Julie gushed, grinning. “If we do it right, they’ll die without us needing even to do anything. If they’re not dead, we can just glide in and slit throats while they’re recovering.”

“This’ll be pretty easy if it works out like that. If it doesn’t… well, if the wind is right, we could dump poisonous gas on their camp.

“We’d just need a slight breeze and we could make that work. I’m quite competent with powders and gass types of poison. Using them in caves works really well,” Jessie suggested. “If they’re deserters and staying together, chances are they’ll become a small bandit camp. Something defensible thinking that they’d be ignored by most.”

That’s somewhat true.

Most deserters leave by themselves or immediately break away from groups if they left with one.

Do they really try to build a little encampment?

“If they’re already foolish enough to stay together, they most likely will indeed have a camp of some sort,” explained Lucian. “Think no further than the camp you crushed yourself. You got lucky in being able to find them as you did.

“In this case, it’s quite similar. This’ll be the very first encounter with bounty hunters and before this group can learn anything from being hunted.

“As well as the fact that they’re now being actively hunted. If they’ve been left alone for a time, it’s likely they’ve let some defenses fall lax.”

“How long have they been deserters?” Nick asked, turning to look at Julie.

“Two months, give or take. They were mostly ignored,” Julie said, looking away from Jessie. “Then reports started coming back that they’ve been leaning on the local populace and have been since they deserted.

“From the reports we got, they’ve gotten a bit lazy and did put up a camp. They’re acting like a little council ruling over two local cities.”

“Poison it is,” Nick murmured and looked to the others.

“Obviously, Nicky my love, but the question is what kind,” asserted Jessie. “Now, Julie. Let’s talk about what spells you have. Can you make a light breeze? I can make more than a few powders and smokes that’d work wonderfully.”

“Ah, I can definitely work with that,” Julie confirmed. “I also have more than a few spells we could look into to possibly deliver something more potent directly to them.”

Yeah, no surprise there.

The two amoral women quickly falling in with one another.

Claudia made a light “hm” noise and turned to look at Sara, then Nick.

“I’ll go get the horses ready,” Nick suggested. He liked horses and didn’t mind getting them set up for a trip.

“I’ll go buy supplies for a trip,” added Sara. “Claudia, come with me? If it’s a man you can act in the lead and hit them with that goodie two shoes young lady smile and get a discount for us.”

“Ah, yes. It’s good that I practiced that skill as often as I did when buying clothes,” Claudia said and smiled at that.

Before the day was even out, the party had already left.

Everything loaded up onto the horses and heading straight out of the city and out west. Working their way across more than a few roads and ever decreasing sizes of the settlements they came across.

A single night of camping and they were back on the road from there.

The entirety of the trip had been dull, boring, and without anything of interest at all. It didn’t help that there wasn’t a great deal to talk about and that silence was a better tool for them at the moment.

Which was why when they finally split up into smaller groups and started a stalk and scout, Nick was overwhelming excited.

Except now, despite all that, he was just as bored, and disappointed to boot.

This is most certainly not a city.

Peering out at the small village, Nick could see ten to thirteen houses he thought and that was the entirety of the location. There was what looked like a central plaza, a few dirt roads, and that accounted for the entirety of the “city”.

“I think calling this place a city drastically oversold it,” Sara remarked in a quiet tone while turning to look to Nick. The two of them were laid out in the grass on a small hillock that was quite distant and overlooking the ‘city’ as it were. “That’s a village. At best.

“None of us could go in there without those deserters knowing that we’re here within the day. Any traveler at all would stand out in such a way that everyone would immediately assume it’s a response to the deserters.”

“You’re not wrong,” grumbled Julie on the other side of Sara. “Not wrong at all. If this is what the other ‘city’ is like then we won’t really be able to go into either of them. We’d just stand out.”

“I mean, if I dressed down, got some dirt on me, I could probably pass for a refugee. In fact I probably know the type of place that is. Kind of like the outskirts area of my own home,” Nick suggested, looking to the two women.

“That’s a no,” declared Sara with absolute conviction. “As your bodyguard that’s not something I’m going to allow you to be doing. Stronger than me or not, that’s a stupid idea and I’ll protect you from yourself as much as others.”

“It is kind of stupid, Nick,” agreed Julie.

“Fine, fine. Then that just leaves moving to the deserters camp and seeing what it looks like,” Nick countered. “Jessie and Claudia can catch up with us there.

“Ker will be able to lead them right to me after all. He really is my familiar. He’s not a pet despite you all treating him like one.”

“Ker’s a wonderful pet as well as a familiar. The fact that he loves organ meat and is just happy with a bone from an animal makes it even easier to give him treats,” Sara said with a wide grin.

“I gave him all the bones and leftovers from my fish last night. He ate it all and then went to bed with me last night,” Julie murmured with a small shrug.

He’d noticed she had lost her fear of Ker and seemingly quite quickly. It made sense now though.

She had bribed him with fish.

“Anyways, to the deserters?” Nick prompted.

Julie took a breath and held it for a moment only to let it out in a sigh. She shook her head.

“No. Stick to the plan. Meet up with the others and give them our info,” Julie argued. “We also need to check in with Rahak. They should be coming in and telling us what the bone scouts saw.

“Maybe there’s something else we’re missing here.”

“Alright, alright,” Nick muttered and laid his head back down on the grass. If they were following their original plan, they were supposed to wait here until Rahak came back, or one of their scouts found them. “Not much to watch out there. Wanna play twenty questions or something?”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” answered Sara. “I’ll start if you don’t mind.

“Are you sleeping with anyone other than Jessie right now? That’s my first question.”

“I don’t think that’s how twenty questions works, Sara. In fact I—”

“Yes, that’s a good starting question,” agreed Julie, a savage and almost feral grin on her face.

Maybe I gave her too much shit in the end.

She’ll be looking for any opportunity to fuck with me in return.

“Yes, Sire. Consider this a lesson in politics amongst your immediate circle,” admonished Lucian. “Best you make some allies and soon.

“I foresee Julie and Sara working you over. I reccomend Jessie and Claudia if you can manage both. If not both, then Claudia. Her rather genteel nature lends itself to balancing others.”

“Just Jessie,” answered Nick.

“Second question, does she not do anything you wish she did?” Sara pressed.

“You’ll need her balancing others and soon. Because… you have somehow surrounded yourself with very unique women,” Lucian finished. “It’s rather surprising how you managed it since you didn’t do it on purpose.”

Let’s just hope Rahak shows up sooner rather than later.

***

Nick sat down on the log, let out a breath, and then hunched into his heavy coat.

They couldn’t make a fire or it might alert the very people they were trying to sneak up on.

In the end, the party had camped in a small grouping of trees.

The last thing he wanted to do was spend a night in the cold, but he really couldn’t think of a way to generate heat without fire.

“Hate the cold. I got enough of the cold in the dungeon,” hissed Nick. “I hate the fucking cold. Hate it.”

Julie made a curious noise, but didn’t say anything.

Both Claudia and Rahak only nodded their heads at that. The former looking a bit unsure and the latter following up the head bob with a shudder.

“It was very cold,” asserted Rahak. “Cold enough on some nights that many of my feathers-mm-broke. Snapped in half. Not always cold, though.”

“It was cold more than I wanted,” Nick bitterly hissed. “There was little in the way of warmth because we didn’t have much fuel to burn.

“Had to take my clothes off to work in the dungeon so I didn’t sweat into my clothes. The sweat would freeze later.

“Well, freeze sometimes. Not always.

“Honestly… the temperature didn’t really make sense down there. Not at all. As if there was something else going on now that I think about it.”

“Yes. Foreign magic,” Rahak agreed. All three words sounding as if they came from different people. “Still unsure of what happened. Still thinking on it.

“It was very-mm-chaotic. Random. Things happened one day, that didn’t another. Left Bone-maker very… confused.”

“When I heard about it, I had already made it to Goba,” murmured Julie. “I asked around and no one claimed ownership over it. No one even hinted at it. No one seemed to want to claim it, either.

“Whatever happened there, it’s either a lone-wolf operation, like a terrorist or something. That a separate group, removed from the Dukes of the King.”

“That last one almost seems worse than the Dukes or the King having done it to each other,” Nick put in with a shake of his head. As a possibility it really didn’t sound good at all to him. An outside influence or party attempting to strike at the heart of his realm, before it’s even his realm, made him feel quite nervous.

“Yes, I would tend to agree with that,” admitted Julie. “I’d rather it have been the Dukes or the King.

“I imagine once news gets back to them that about the threat to the Dungeon here in Goba, it’s likely they’ll want to have a talk with one another.”

“My lord,” Rahak croaked. “It would-mm-probably be best if you had a message sent to the Dukes. You should advise them that this is not you. It is not you nor is it… is it… those who work for you.

“They could very well be wondering if you’re that third force in this case.

“Perhaps even a message to the King via the Dukes. Is there a family seal you could use to signify this?”

Gramps?

“There is. It’s on the flip side of the butt-cap to The Fall,” Lucian advised. “It’s a backup that can also be used as a die stamp to make a new one.”

Well that’s neat.

“Yeah. You’re right. I’ll need to send them a message somehow,” relented Nick and leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

“I know some people. I could get a message through to the Dukes that would never get back to you. As well as a message that could be delivered to the King through the Dukes,” offered Julie. “You’d just have to trust me with the letters. I would—”

“Alright,” Nick put in before she could continue. “Thank you, my dear Court Wizard. I’ll just keep packing my trust into you. I’ve already done it so far after all.”

There was an audible pop as Julie’s mouth closed.

“I agree. There’s no reason for him to stop given how much he already did,” Claudia agreed. “That and you clearly have some breeding to you, Julie. When you care to, your manners and etiquette are quite refined.

“Much akin to Sara and I, you realize. Though we’re going to have to keep working on Jessie.

“I don’t… want… she will never be allowed to introduce herself again as she did to Sara. That’s just vulgar in the extreme and benefits Nick not at all.”

“Do not fret, Claudia,” Rahak interjected. “Jessie was just… asserting dominance. Sara and Jessie will fight. This includes fighting for-mm-their king.”

Sara had gone quiet as the conversation turned toward her and the other Elf. Nick cracked an eye open and looked to the woman in question.

She had a look that could be best described as mild annoyance. At the same time though she was quietly polishing her sword.

For all he knew she’d found something she didn’t like on her sword, rather than them talking about her eternal struggle with Jessie.

“About the message,” Julie began.

“I will compose it,” interjected Rahak before she could continue any further. “I understand my Lord’s desires and will-mm-be able to articulate it faithfully. There won’t be an issue.”

Quest!

Objection: Send a message to declare your innocence!

Quest!

If not you, nor I, than who?: Determine who is destroying Dungeons!

“Oh, hm. Well, that answers that,” muttered Nick. “I was wondering where the land had been. It just gave me two quests. One is to declare my innocence and the other to figure out who’s actually attacking the dungeons.”

“That is so fascinating. You mentioned this earlier when you were explaining a bunch of this but I thought you were pulling my leg somewhat,” Julie murmured, turning her gaze fully to him. “It just will randomly give you quests? They’re from the land itself?”

“Yes. It really is from the land itself.

“Sometimes randomly. Sometimes not. I can somewhat provoke them if I really want to but… doing so has always been a bit of a mixed result,” answered Nick. “It even listens to my thoughts.”

“Wait, really?” Claudia asked. “Give us an example.”

“I don’t really think that’s relevant,” he argued. He really didn’t want to tell them about Plunge It In.

“I disagree,” Rahak croaked. “Explain, please?”

Letting out a slow breath that was more akin to a groan.

“The last time I prodded at it, it suddenly decided I need to get someone pregnant,” deadpanned Nick. Since they wanted to know, he would answer.

“Uhm, a bit more information, please?” Julie asked in a tight voice.

Ha.

She thinks the land wanted me to knock her up.

“The land wants me to have an heir and it seems to be getting impatient about it. It’s given me three different women as suggestions to get pregnant,” Nick explained further.

“Who?” Claudia demanded.

“Erica Fash, yourself, and Jessie,” Nick replied.

“Not me?” asked Sara in a somewhat offended tone.

“I mean, we’re not dating, pledged, or sleeping together, nor is there technically a reason to do that to you,” answered Nick with a shrug. “It selected Erica because I know her and if she were pregnant with a child it’d instantly secure the throne in a way that removes doubt. If they were both Randal and Fash, then there would be no claim that could supersede it.

“Claudia… well… she’s my fiance by agreement. It’s a bit weird that the land wants me to till her soil, so to speak, even before we’re married but… it originally just wanted me to kill Erica.

“To it, killing and child-making can be interchangeable.

“And Jessie is obvious.”

“I demand to be included,” Sara growled and then prodded at the ground with the tip of her sword. As if she could somehow provoke the land itself in this way.

“Anyways,” Nick muttered and looked to the rest of the group. “So, two new quests. Sounds like there really is someone else messing around with the Dungeons. That’s not a good thing.”

“No, it’s not,” Jessie said as she stepped out of the gloom and into the dimly lit area the party was in. “And the news I have is even worse.

“It’s three groups of deserters I think. There’s at least twenty of them that I could see. There were tracks of a patrol as well that could easily number five to ten people.

“I think we’re looking at a camp of around thirty people. No idea on their levels. I couldn’t get close enough. They actually had people on watch that might have been able to catch a glimpse of me depending on their class.”

“Well,” Nick said after a pause. “Sounds like that poison cloud is going to be our best starting point. Let’s start there.

“Rahak, have your scouts find that patrol. We should see if we can’t clean them up first and knock down some numbers.”

“This will be a wonderful introduction to small unit tactics and how to take on a larger force,” advised Lucian with a chuckle. “Ahhh, this’ll be a great lesson, my boy.”