Chương 37: Still in the Game

Except in one respect, I arrive at the edge of the forest in a sorry state: footsore; hungry; heartsad; tired. That one respect is the encouragement I take from the fact that my Wield Shortsword skill is already up to 7. Even after all these months of having the afk skill increases, I can still astonish myself by contrasting the years of practice a dedicated warrior would have had to undertake in order to reach a skill of 7 with the eight days that it took me.

Should I continue with Wield Shortsword until I reach the cap, which is now 20 for all my skills? Or do I swap to Wield Dagger and Two-Weapon Fighting and bring them both to 7 before returning to the shortsword? Because of my damage bonus for flank attacks and my Doppelganger skill, which means I can flank all by myself, I decide that a strategy of having multiple attacks is more likely to bring me victory in a duel with Amaris: I shall overcome him with a flurry of rapid, hard-stinging stabs.

I swap my afk skill to Two-Weapon Fighting.

'Thank Scrithax, we're out of that forest at last. Let's take a break. Help me gather some firewood.' Lisandra pauses only for a moment to look across the undulating, grassy plain ahead of us, then turns back to the trees. The landscape is one of grasses which are more yellow than green, the wind forming patterns out of their swaying stalks. When Mistress Withen or I tried to help with Master Cathaldus' tasks, he would push us aside, muttering, too many voices and our god stops listening.

Here, though, with everyone bringing an armful of dry branches and Lisandra's Flare spell, we very quickly have a fire made, and a pan of water with peppermint leaves warming beside it. From the satchel that contains her most precious items, Lisandra withdraws a scroll case and unfolds our sketch of the Twenty-Five Kingdoms.

'What's that?' asks Lady Horsta, squatting beside our sorceress.

'It's our plan. We started here,' Lisandra puts a fleshy finger on the area marked Kingdom of Lost Souls, 'and we rode east to your realm.'

'We had a coach then,' Belle calls over.

'The travelling was easy. Plenty of food. I miss Valiant and Lamrial.'

'Your horses?' And when Belle nods, Lady Horsta adds, 'I regret taking your carriage from you.'

'At least we still had the horses until we ran into the Arkine army,' says Belle.

'Now we have nothing. Curses upon that villainous Amaris for killing our mules.' Lisandra shakes her head. Slowly scanning the treeline, Lady Horsta says, 'I wonder what he's doing now? Is he following us? Or attempting to get another Dragon's Tooth on his own?'

'Let's not talk about that murderer,' a gust of wind lifts Belle's curls away from her face, so that her beauty lifts my spirits, 'let's talk about something cheerful.' With the tea as warm as it will get, I fill a canteen, which I take from person to person. As she returns the canteen of mint tea to me, Belle touches my hand and we share a smile.

'If we keep the Snowfell mountains on our left, we'll be walking north.' Lisandra taps the map and Lady Horsta nods.

'Toward the main city of Cantreth?' asks Belle.

'Probably.' An expression of amusement on Lisandra's face – easily given to laughter, admittedly – tells me she has something further to say on this.'"Probably"?' Belle also picks up on Lisandra's teasing tone.

'It's less of a city than a camp. These are nomadic people and they ride around their realm with a huge herd of horses, seeking fresh pasture when they've settled too long in one place.'

'How interesting,' says Belle.

'Not to me,' Lady Horsta glances out over the wide horizon.

'I prefer a city, with solid walls and buildings. And a roast meal when you want it.'

'O Scrithax mend my aching bones. I'd love a good, hot dinner. At least in a city we could buy one.' Stretching out her thick legs on the ground ahead of her, Lisandra massages her thighs with strong fingers.

'It's all Crow's fault,' the lively glance of her green eyes softens the severity of her voice.

'You know he chose me to come on this journey?' The question is directed at Gerard and Aarax, who shake their heads.

'That's right. Crow made his pitch to the necromancer and almost got himself imprisoned for being a liar. I helped persuade our lord to believe him and when Crow got to choose one of the council to come with him, he picked me. I was cursing myself for having backed him. Mind you, I really did believe him. A lad from Crumblin doesn't just appear in the high castle with a story about a visit from a god.' A pause.

'Why did you choose me, Crow?'

'Not the merry look when our eyes did meet, nor the accent of the Crumblin streets. One word says why you were my pick. That word is potent, it is "magic".'

'I knew we'd be lucky to keep the carriage and that there would be a lot of hard walking,' says Lisandra, 'but when you add in the filth; days without much to eat; cold nights; I almost wish you'd chosen someone else.'

'Almost,' Belle gets up to hug Lisandra around her broad shoulders.

'Admit it though, you'd rather be here with us, your new friends, travelling the world, than back home in Nekis.' Putting her hand on top of Belle's, Lisandra says, 'Of course I admit it.'

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Although our goal had been to walk northwards, Lady Horsta made a strong case for following a slow-moving river despite the fact that its meanders took us more westwards than northward. At least by doing so we were sure of fresh water. And, in fact, towards evening we come across a lush crop of tall nettles near the riverbank. Despite some sceptical comments about eating nettles from Gerard, we settle down and make camp.

As soon as the fire is lit, I start making a pot of nettle soup with snails and wild garlic. While concentrating on stewing as many nettles as will fit in the pan, I hear Aarax calling out, 'Look up!' Black-winged against a deep blue and mauve sky, a bird-person is slowly circling about us, descending lower and lower until I can see the brown, black and white pattern of her feathers. Falling from the figure is a tumbling stick, one that lands close to the tents.

First there is Aarax, the young man crying out, 'It's a scroll case,' before holding up a pale-yellow tube. When I look up to the sky again, the bird-woman is already far away, much higher and moving steadily back towards the forest. What a joy it must be, to beat one's wings against the cool, twilight air, while the lands below you turn orange. Surrendering the scroll to Lisandra's outstretched hand, Aarax watches her intently.

Everyone but Crow-the-cook comes to sit beside our sorceress as she shakes tightly rolled papers from within. There are five separate letters.

'For you, Gerard.'

'Me?' Our Shadow Knight is surprised.

'One for everyone, in fact. Each with different handwriting.' Lisandra sounds surprised as she unrolls the scrolls. There is a letter for me? Leaving the pot I hurry and take mine. A letter for Crow here! Address: nowhere. Sitting among the tall grasses of Cantreth with not even a path to indicate a settlement might be near. And yet – as I can tell from the handwriting – Mistress Withen has found a way to talk to me. My child, Crow. The necromancer bids me write to you.

First off, we're both very proud of you, the master and I. All of Crumblin in fact, barring one or two sour-faced types, who don't forgive your past misdemeanours. We hear you have five of the dragon's teeth. That's some achievement. The whole city knows your name and we get a lot more people at our services in the Crumblin temple as a consequence. More even than the high priest up at the Level Three temple. You can imagine how pleased that makes Master Cathaldus.

Speaking of the Master, he doesn't want to worry you and says not to mention it, but you should know that he's struggling to move around. His hips and knees are very bad. I can see it's hard for him these days to carry out the services. Which of course he insists on doing. And with everyone on a tight diet, he's not eating as much as he needs. Money isn't the problem, not after our god's gift – thank you Lord Scrithax – it's the rationing. You just can't get the meat he should be eating.

We're lucky to get a fish now and again. I'm not saying this to burden you. I feel you should know. Although Lord Scrithax promised to make the master a vampire, the fact is, if he dies soon, he'll be lucky if the necromancer even has the mana for another zombie. I believe in you, Crow, you were always brave, quick, and best of all, cunning. Even before our lord's boon. With it, I know you'll solve the problems ahead of you. Bring those dragons to our realm and bring our god victory.

For everyone's sake but especially for the master. He's a good man and has been faithful to Lord Scrithax his whole, long life. I can't see how I might get another chance to write to you. So when the third day of Yelhios comes around, know that we will have a special service in the temple for your eighteenth birthday and be thinking of you, wherever you are. My regards to young Belle. You can't imagine how red-faced Mistress Aria is these days: all her plans to marry Belle to a duke are ruined.

Of course, I think Belle is much better off seeing the world with you, but I keep quiet about that. Much love, Crow, I pray for your safety every night.

'Young Belle,' I look up to see Belle shaking her head as she reads her own letter, 'Mistress Withen wishes you well.'

'That's kind of her. Sadly, my mother has nothing good to say about you. Want to hear what she writes?' I nod.

'And mind that rascal Crow. He'll have one thing on his mind. And it will ruin you for a decent marriage. You keep him at arm's length. Best of all, you should come home after reading this. I know that the city is all talking about you. They say that Crow has five of the dragon's teeth. But I doubt that. He's a good-for-nothing. Stealing apples isn't the same as getting one of those magic teeth, is it? Whether that's true or not, there's not a lot a dancer can do to help on a quest like that.

You can come home now you'd done your part and use your new reputation to advantage here.

'And she goes on like that. Honestly, she doesn't know me at all. It's sad really, because in her own way she's not a bad woman.'

'Not at all bad, I would say; it's for your sake that she insists on getting her way. But what her mind cannot conceive, is that for you to be free, you had to leave.'

'That's it.' Belle looks at me and I feel that we understand each other well, that I know Belle better than does her own mother. Then Belle breaks the moment to turn to the others.

'Any news you want to share?' Gerard looks up with a shrug.

'Not much from my wife. She reckons I'll be famous on my return and wants me to pick her up something on my travels. Some gold jewellery.' This brings a chuckle from Lisandra.

'That's a woman who knows her priorities.'

'My parents are proud for me. Worried though, as you expect them to be,' Aarax sounds nonchalant but I can see the flames of our fire glistening in moist eyes.

'Mine is from the necromancer,' Lisandra pulls herself to her feet.

'I'd better read it to you all.'

'Nothing from your family?' asks Belle.

'Ahh, Belle, love. I lost my husband a long time ago. And zombies can't write letters.' Lisandra laughs, covering a sincere note of pain contained within her words.

'Now, this is what the necromancer says: Lady Lisandra and companions. What you have achieved gives the people hope. And hope is an extremely valuable commodity, one that no amount of tinkering with the realm's menu can create. Thank you on behalf of all our citizens.

'Relative to where you began, your achievement is remarkable and deserving of praise. Unfortunately, we must measure your success against the end and not the beginning. It is Telos, muse of ends, who dominates Archia, muse of beginnings. And from the perspective of the endgame I am sorry to have to urge you to be swifter in your travels.

'After the brief respite caused by the fall of Trolland, when our eastern border re-opened for trade, we soon faced complete encirclement again. Ships from Jomskar continue to blockade the seas; an army from Southway controls the northern border and raids constantly; and, unfortunately, the Arkine Empire has joined the trade embargo of the Kingdom of Lost Souls. We had hoped for an alliance with them, but as you know, the other realms fear the power of the undead.

'Our plan, therefore is to endure. To survive until events elsewhere oblige our enemies to divert their troops and ships. This will not be easy, we have to conserve our living and undead troops, conserve our iron ore, conserve our fuel, and, above all, conserve our food. Unless something changes and we can trade once more, starvation will destroy us before the next winter is over.

'Your letter was the first welcome news to come to me in a very long time. Thank you for your efforts this far. Hurry though, always hurry, to complete your mission.' Lisandra looks up rueful, letting out a long sigh and looking to the west.

'That's a lot of walking ahead. Including up those mountains.'

'At least you have some hope for your realm,' says Lady Horsta.

'You should appreciate that. Your god is still in the game.' Yes, so long as Nekis stands, Lord Scrithax is still in the game. And I must use his boon to maximum advantage.