232. Emergency: Tabitha

Rampage takes its toll. I levelled it over the hump into Journeyman. I slept for six hours straight after that and, even then, felt weak. I didn’t kill 30+ specialised warriors by myself, though. With the wyvern down, Nyx and I were free to use our shadows, and we Engulfed the whole area. I ensured the Duke was bound until I could get to him, but that was about the limit of my conscious thought. I was tired and very angry, and I just let it flow.

When the guards lost visibility, they grouped into twos and threes to watch each other's backs, but they had no chance, really. It was a slaughter. They never had the chance to doge when Dusk charged out of the shadows and trampled them. They never saw Modrica’s flail until they were splattered with their comrade's brains, or a blood-covered lion would pounce and rip them apart. Runa was in there with her shield charge and sword, and Težka meandered from one group to another, leaving destruction in his wake. It was the stuff of nightmares, but none of them would ever have any again.

For myself, I had one target, the Duke. I cut my way through to him and then proceeded to cut him to pieces. The whole thing was over in less than five minutes. Ruku hadn’t even limped all the way over when I lifted the shadows and basically collapsed. Ruku took charge. He had a broken leg, but once it was in a splint, he was fine. Astrid was pouring all her energy into keeping Kelda alive.

The sun was well up when I woke, and the first thing I saw was Horny. He was lying not far from me with his leg in a splint at an awkward angle. I worked out we were in the fort, in one of the completed barracks. I was in a bottom bunk. As my Spatial Awareness expanded, I was aware that Modrica and Težka were just outside and had a small fire going. There was food, which was what I was interested in. I levered myself up. I was going to be weak and sore for a while. When I got to my feet, I checked on Tāoke, who was in the top bunk, still in his large form. He seemed to be healing fine.

Modrica grunted at me when I came out of the barracks and handed me a plate of food. I sat down on the ground and leaned my back against Težka as I ate. I could hear shouting outside the walls, but some of it was Ruku and Runa, so I didn’t worry. About half an hour later, I got up and washed off most of the blood and grime and made myself look presentable. Yes, that took a minor application of my Body Image Skill. I then went out to see what was going on.

Ruku had called in the army to take charge of the mansion and the clean-up. The Captian was there in person with two squads. Ruku and Runa were making sure the Monster cores and materials were not going where they shouldn’t. The army had not met Runa, but once they found out she was a member of the King’s Guard, they were all very proper and efficient. Apparently, you have to be pretty special to become a member of the King’s Guard. Having met several of them, I didn’t see anything particularly special about them, but whatever. It was almost like she was a celebrity to them. A particularly badass celebrity they were half afraid of.

Astrid, Mayakku and their bonds had taken Kelda into the city to the best healer they had.

“Astrid is worried some of the damage is going to be permanent. They are with the local specialist but may need to wait till we get to Waiouru to know.” Ruku said.

“What damage are we talking about?”

“Permanent scarring and potentially permanent eyesight loss. Both eyes are gone, and there is acid damage to the optic nerve. She is still unconscious and is lucky to be alive. Without Tressig getting a potion into her so quickly, she wouldn’t be.”

“I am not sure that is going to be any consolation to her when her whole class is orientated around observing.”

Ruku just nodded, and I could tell he was very worried as well. My anger was rising again. The stupid army trained her as a Warrior, for which she was totally unsuited. If they had trained her as an Archer, she would have specialised by now and probably have the Monster Hunter Class with the Regeneration Skill. But she doesn’t, and there is no way she could get it now, and it may not work with existing permanent injuries.

“Let’s hope it is not permanent,” Ruku said.

I was worried about Wiremus's reaction. He really cared for Kelda. If I am angry, he may be furious enough to go on the warpath.

Ruku updated me on things. There were three monster cores. Ruku and Modrica got the credit for a griffon each. Surprisingly Cōmpēṟi got the credit for the wyvern kill even though Tāoke did most of the work. This should make for an interesting class opening up for Mayakku. I have no idea what class an enchanter with a monster kill would get. Has there ever been such a thing before?

Everybody was wanting to know why the Duke would attack us. A fast rider had summoned his Heir, but it would take a week for her to get here. Many were wondering if the Duke did attack us or if we attacked the Duke. Some of the servants in the mansion verified the Duke attacked us, and the army Captain was satisfied, but that wouldn’t stop the rumours. Or the questions about why.

Why? What links the Duke to the Dragon farters, to the beast attacks on his own city, to an empty fort with a view to the road to Waiouru? Then there are the missing taxes, the sabotaged communications… the total lack of communication with Waiouru, either by messenger or courier. The courier company has had personnel losses.

“Tell me about this Countess and the wolfkin to the south,” I asked Ruku.

“I don’t know anything about the countess. Krov’ runs the city-state to the south. He is a large, aggressive wolfkin and proudly displays his blood affinity. He has proved very hard to kill. Four years ago, he took over an adjacent city and took the title of Warlord. It was a nasty fight, and the kingdom was hoping it would be his death. His blood affinity brought him through to victory. He always travels with two hundred elite wolfkin warriors called the Blood Bitches.”

“I am sure any competent healer could fix that,” I said before the realisation hit me. Ruku and I both turned and looked at the fort at the same time. “That troll turd sold us out.” I looked at Ruku, “Did Mayakku fix the emergency rune communication system?” I asked.

“She thinks so, but it hasn’t been tested yet.”

“Captian!” I yelled at the army captain, “I need you and your communications officer at the compound now! It is a category 1 emergency!” Dusk came out from the fort.

“Runa, go with her!” Ruku said, obviously regretting his still broken leg.

“What, on that mountain?” she said, eyeing Dusk suspiciously. “Dwarves avoid heights, and for good reason!” She still trotted forward and allowed herself to be hoisted up.

The Captain and I galloped back to town, straight to the compound. The Captain called for his officer, and we gathered in the communications room.

“What do I send and to whom?” the officer asked, then tacked on “Ma’am” after a look from his Captain.

“You send this immediately to Waiouru,” I handed a sheet Runa had just written for me. It looked like gibberish to me.

The communications officer and the Captian both understood it and went white.

“I can’t send this,” the officer stammered. “It says Invasion Imminent. Nobody ever sends this.”

“You will send it to Waiouru and then repeat it to Kirghiz on my authority as Countess Auditor.”

“And on my authority as a King's Guard,” Runa added. I didn’t know the King’s Guard had any authority outside of protecting his majesty’s hairy arse.

He looked to his Captain, who nodded to him, and he got to work sending the message. Then he took a deep breath, changed some settings, and sent the same thing to Kirghiz. He looked exhausted after five minutes of work. It must have taken a lot of energy.

“Nobody is to speak of this. If I hear one whisper, neither of you two will make it to the court marshall.” I didn’t want a whisper to get out to the inevitable spies in the town. I needed the army to get her first, and at their best speed, they were two weeks away. I hope Krov’ and his bitches were longer. I was pretty sure they were due to the expected completion of the fort. I debated killing the communications officer because we had not found out who sabotaged the runes, and he could be a traitor. In the end, I decided against it. Even a barely competent communication Officer should be able to do a better sabotage job than that.

The Captain contained my problem by declaring an emergency. I thought I had already done that, but whatever. This made the one and only communications officer required to be on the compound and almost living in the communications room for the duration.

Sure enough, the runes lit up, and a signal chimed with a message from Waiouru, asking for code confirmation. I told him to resend it with Runa and my IDs as verification. Then they chimed again with confirmation that the Second Infantry Division was on emergency mobilisation to Skog.

The communications officer was exhausted. There would be no more messages out for a day or so while he recovered. There should have been at least two of them here. Mayakku might be able to send something with directions, but it was done. Now, it was all down to timing.

Now, I had a more difficult task of checking on Kelda and keeping Wiremu from going on a rampage. He is the one who normally holds me in check. I don’t know how to do this.