Chương 167: AF Chapter 166 – Overlook Fortress

The rebuilt fortress was visible from miles away if you knew what to look for, being built on a leveled spot on the mountainside, right up to the edge so it would be visible. Flags flew from tower tops, there to draw attention, there to proclaim there were living folk inside, and this territory was now something they would once again be fighting for. The Gotrok and the Hea had come a couple of times since then, and they had been beaten back with bloody losses that had surprised the heck out of them.

There was a long pier extending out from the shores below the fortress, Shaped from the living stone and solid as they come, tapping the ley line just enough to deny the wind and waves and the degradation they might bring. It extended right up to the edge of the Shoreward, high enough above the waters a fisherman could easily sail right under it, not impeding the tides or water currents much at all.

It was there for the Wagon, and mayhap in the future, actual boats and ships that might cross the waters back and forth from the Vesayan Islands with cargoes of sufficient size to merit them. The Big Jump only did so much, after all, although it was a fast way to move higher-Level people who could afford the price of mana that it demanded to work. The cottages that had composed the settlement were gone, disassembled and integrated into the fortress itself.

T heir ley line links were now feeding into the stones that had flowed up out of the ground, building the walls, bailey, buildings, barracks, and the dungeons beneath, dungeons that opened up on sheer cliffsides if you knew what to look for, providing living quarters below-ground that were actually quite livable.

There weren't any farms or anything yet in the surrounding area, although mines long laid empty had been scouted, cleared, and were ready to accept men willing to pull the wealth of the earth out of the ground once more. The new magic of Summoning Earth Elementals to help with that and making the mining tunnels stronger, safer, and stabler had the knowledgeable excited about that, too.

Already iron and copper were coming out of the mines, smiths were coming in to work the metal and send it on to the islands, and the Mick knew an old pyreal mine was waiting its turn to be opened up now. Crafted pyreal was worth a LOT in goldweight for making more items of magic, and the new Artificers were hungry for anything and everything that could drive the making of more Artifice forward!

Princess Kristie Rantha skated up to the edge of the pier fifteen feet above the water and leapt without slowing down, the Mick following her. Those atop the Wagon and the cargo Trailer held on as she easily cleared the height, she and the Mick touching down without breaking stride, the Disk-borne vessels rising and drawn along behind them as her Null punched through the Shoreward without any difficulty to let them through.

The Mick turned his head just enough to watch Magos Ryin wave her Staff Crown back at the hole they'd made. Argent sparkles closed about the gap, rapidly mending the empty space back closed before anything could follow them. A casual exercise of power, but one nobody else here could do, once again. A rising horn above saluted their coming, and his student Rogar pulled out his own horn to blow the return notes.

Not that they needed to do so, as there were Marked up above who'd been following their progress with great interest while keeping their mouths totally shut about what was going on. The communication ability of the Marks was one of their great leverage tools, and the people who knew about it were few, and those who were Marked even fewer.

Those who qualified to be Marked were special folks, and unlike the old times, not just anyone was going to get the Marks and the advantages of them, like it or not, the Mick mused for the umpteenth time. There were multiple ways up to Overlook, all of them made by Magos Ryin with an eye for use. There was the long cutback that rose from the shore in easy, gradual slopes that could be used by normal wheeled wagons or the elderly, although they were a bit of walking to go up them.

There were stairs that cut through the cutback, steep but getting you directly up five hundred feet to the fortress above, with landings and defensive posts for sentries and seats to rest and what not… and all within clear view of archers on the walls above, and even on the balconies from the cliff-sides, which he knew had shield-mantlets that could be wheeled out to provide cover for archers there.

There was also a simple ladder of rungs, carved right into the cliff-side for the adventurous, right next to a spinning chute that would slide you right down to the bottom in short order, or spin you off onto one of the landings there. Said landings could also have poles reaching down to the next level, just hop and grab and slide directly down to a linking tunnel… or, if you were strong enough, haul yourself up them. Lastly were the Scaffold Steps, from which sometimes hung flags or banners or other things.

Those were intended for the lightfooters. Naturally, Kris headed directly for them without hesitation. Up close, the Scaffold Steps didn't look like much, although how readily the flags could be changed might make a thinker frown. They were staggered at ten-foot intervals, ten feet up and twenty feet sideways each one, hard limbs of stone extending out from the cliff with their loads of cloth flapping in the wind. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Kris headed right for the face of the stone as the Mick slid off to the side and back, letting the Wagon and its Trailer pass him by with casual ease. He always enjoy ed the sight, especially the reactions of the first-timers as it looked like they'd go crashing into the wall, when suddenly Princess Rantha jumped up. It was clearly effortless, her forward momentum abruptly becoming vertical, and she landed on the first beam twenty feet off the ground with the grace of a dancer and lightness of a leaf.

Without any apparent exertion, she kicked off sideways and up, what were called ' parkour-style', to the next beam. The Wagon and its Trailer kept pace with her waist as she kicked off, one Step after another, rising with great speed towards the Fortress above. The Mick followed afterwards, taking great pleasure in the fact that he could also finally jump like this once more, with unerring precision and power. It was now more about ki than pure brute strength, although casual power also played a part.

Aye, true lightfoot was about ki control, and he'd spent thousands of hours over the past months getting that control in place, reclaiming what he'd once had, and, aye, building it as high or higher than before, and now the power was truly his, not something drawn with every step from the land. Truth be told, he could outrace Kris now, the fact he was a faux Twenty on the Isparian side of the magic giving him some advantages over her as his own Levels increased.

It didn't bother the Princess at all, regardless, as she basically told him that he was a slow turtle until he could run up the side of the cliff in six seconds, and she was in the same boat. He was looking forward to being able to do that, too.

A casual thought at and glance conveyed from Magos Ryin assured him that all the men had their eyes glued to Princess Kristie's ass as she bounced up the Steps like she was built of steel springs for artful long legs and rubber for muscles, a view that was really, really hard to get tired of. The Princess' attitude that if the men found it easy to ignore her ass they weren't red-blooded men certainly didn't hurt matters.

There were some paramounts who'd been pretty blunt and forward about their desires, and he knew that she'd indulged in a couple of them… mostly by the way she had a big shit-eating grin afterwards, and those fellows hadn't been seen for a couple days. They also got a little twitchy and pale whenever the subject of her was mentioned. The blunt propositions to the Imperial Princess had dried up among the knowledgeable, although she was deftly going through the ones with the biggest egos.

At least, that looked like the criteria she was using, although she had a preference for big, strong, hairy men she was quite unrepentant and vocal about if asked. She could also be VERY instructive on sexual techniques if you were daring enough to ask her… The Mick had indeed asked her, daring being one of his numerous middle names, and as a result found himself with a growing reputation as a fantastic and considerate lover among the fairer sex.

Night Rose Ranks really were quite handy, and he appreciated the way the Princess was using them even now. Less than an inch of extra movement, and the men were all watching her ass and legs, probably gritting their teeth and trying to keep their groins under control at the sight of that much vitality and joy in her own physicality.

The easiest way to control it was to shift their eyes to Magos Ryin, who took the White path instead of the Orange for the same Night Rose Ranks, clean and serene and put all your cares into her hands and you would be just fine. She radiated big sister and little sister and mother and mentor and perfect wife, just standing there with perfect composure and calm, somehow making the Queen Mother herself, Elysa Strathelar, look at best like a peer, and at worst a student or aspirant.

Her simple black and white attire was comfortable, her curves something more to imagine than on display like Kris in her tight leathers, but the way her silken white hair moved over skin like coffee, the harmony with the world that seemed to walk with her, aye, it could mesmerize and draw the eye every bit as much as Kris' celebration of life and her joy in living it. The Wagon and Trailer reached the top of the overhang in less than a minute of bouncing lightfooting Rantha princess.

She flipped and spun lightly over the edge, trotted forward and sideways, and the Mick was up behind her a moment later, sliding around the Wagon to draw up next to her smoothly, waving at the men on the walls happy to see them and calling out greetings below to those they knew. Without further ado, they entered the main gates of the fortress, and passed into Overlook.

Waiting to the sides inside were two groups of people. One was here to greet the Queen Mother, and the other was there to greet us. Almost all of them had arrived through the Big Jump Portal located inside the main keep of the Fortress.

Elysa didn't hold to ceremony, swinging over the side and to the ground to greet her grand-daughter as if she wasn't supposed to be this conservative picture of queendom, but was instead an experienced adventurer who'd been through all sorts of H ell at her grand-daughter's age herself. Elysa's own friends and attendants hastily spilled over after her, many of their own children or grand-children among Princess Fan's attendants.

Multiple generations of royalty, nobility, and their vassals called out and embraced as if they hadn't seen one another in weeks, instead of merely a few days. A few days could be very exciting when on Dereth, after all, a fact everyone had learned by now. I was one of the last to hop down, Kris and Lord Mick rapidly receiving visible reports from the commander of the fortress and the operating head of the local Scouts.

Lord Mick's known association with the King and open favor meant his effective rank was higher than everyone here except the Queen Mother, a quiet fact conveyed to everyone even as he never interfered with normal military matters if he could possibly help it… but for anything dealing with the Royal Scouts, he responded with an immediate protective zealotry that had earned the Scouts' undying loyalty.

Kris, however, had been named Royal Warlord of Dereth, her commands second only to the King himself, and that only in the Vesayans. On Dereth, she held ultimate authority, and was involved in every aspect of what was going on, showing boundless energy, enthusiasm, discipline, and a power to command that the wise found rather terrifying, and the less wise just followed fanatically. A Rantha Warlord, the Tip of the Spear!