Born a Monster

Chapter 74

Inside

At the river, there was an encampment.

“Are those dogs walking upright?” Awda asked.

“Domugs.” Philecto said.

My spirits lifted slightly. “Allies.” I waved.

.....

Deek waved back. We came to their encampment, and I made introductions before collapsing near a rock.

“You seem – less.” Snowflake said.

“Too many head injuries in too short a time.”

“No,” she put a paw on my hand, “you seem LESS.”

“Black Snake is gone; I am less.”

“How did she go?”

“I imagine alone, and in pain, drained to fuel the enemy’s magic. I don’t know.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I haven’t ... been able to process much.” I rubbed my head.

“We may be able to help with that.” Deek said. “The red axe flag is moving north from Montu’s Glory. It will be here within three days.”

“What? That? No, the trenches aren’t even complete...”

Deek spread his paws. “And yet, the flag moves.”

“It is all the more urgent that we get inside the walls, then, if we are to confront Rakkal.”

“We may have an idea on how to go about that.” Deek said. But it will require someone with a good bit of woodcrafting experience.”

Deek looked at me. Everyone looked at me.

“I am easily two dozen XP from unlocking Carpenter. My divisor is in the twenty-somethings.”

“Neh said about classes. Can you fuse boards together into an airtight bowl?”

“Anyone can make bowls. Wait, airtight?”

The device was called a turtle, and effectively it was a giant bowl or ship hull, turned upside down, and weighted to travel underwater. It only held enough air for an hour or so, but it might be enough for us to slip past the trenchworks.

“This requires too much woodwork.” I said, looking at the design. “The tools we would need-”

The tools were available from the camp. The trees had already been cut down and made into flat boards by the centaurs. But the time to bend them properly...”

“I can do a big box in that time frame. It’ll be ugly, it’ll be bulky, it will look stupid, and no bard will sing songs about it, but I can at least make a box.”

“And handles?” Philecto asked.

“And handles.” I said.

We had to go without the resin, a mix of tree gum and tree sap, having fully dried. The first leak sprung while Philecto and Rina were sawing through the hemp net the Uruk had strung across the river. I also did what I could, and together we were able to get through.

If they’d have put up a second net, we’d have been toast.

The turtle filled rapidly, and we had to abandon it within bowshot of the town wall.

Faraj took an arrow in his lower back, but Philecto and Awda kept him running.

Once we were inside the gate, gasping, collapsing, saying Kathani prayers of thanks, I tapped Philecto. “I owe you an apology, Sir Philecto. They did open the gates for us.”

We had no time to celebrate.

#

I had expected the team to dissolve upon being paid, to claim they’d done enough work to earn their coin, and they were done with the quest. That isn’t what happened.

Awda played with the golden coin in her hand, tilting it to examine the hue. “I never thought we would actually get paid.” She said.

“This makes all the effort worth it.” Her brother said.

“Now we need only live long enough to spend it.” Achmed said.

“I am taking a bath.” Said Rina.

“Yes, and drinks all around! My treat!” Philecto said.

My head throbbed, begged me to just lie down for a week or so. “I have clothes at the Guild. I’ll meet you at the inn.”

Given a choice between fancy clothes and rags, the rags were the obvious choice. The patchwork linens were almost too small for me, even gaunt as I was. But it was better than naked.

I felt like that garment; that I was past my breaking point. I had been riding a wave of success brought about by a biomass loan. A loan.

Like the funds for the quest, also now all gone. There were no reserves, nothing left. Weeks of planning had come to this. Either we would succeed or we would die, and I was just. So. Tired.

I rejoined the others at the inn, and discovered that I was the only one feeling that way. The heroes were jubilant, as if the coins had given them new life, recharged their health meters, and refreshed their very souls.

[You have earned a point of Envy XP. After sin armor, no XP has been awarded.]

I could live with that.

Food may become scarce during a siege, but the town stockpiles were higher than they had been last siege, and we were at an earlier stage. Food and drink were certainly available in that room.

Water was drawn from wells; the women bathed first, then the men. Both changed into civilian garb, brightly colored and lightly perfumed.

And then they went shopping, as though nothing was wrong.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Philecto. If I don’t get to sleep soon, my head feels like it might burst.”

He slapped a hand down on the crown of my head in total disregard of my recent head traumas. “You need fear nothing. We’ve taken coin to do a job, and as professionals, you can count on us to do it. Just – don’t be too early in the morning, or too loud.”

Cosimo located me in the hallway, and I gave Reynard and him a private debriefing. “You have, I trust, also reported to the priestess?”

No, because I need sleep to recover from my head injuries.

“Not yet, sir.”

“Do that before you get your sleep. Dismissed.”

Crap.

At the shrine, there was some manner of gathering. In fact, every shrine on the street of shrines had a crowd before it. The wording was different, but the message seemed to be unanimous. The gods were with us.

#

I shoved my way inside the temple, letting its warmth fill me.

[You cannot focus enough to tap this location. No mana gained. You have 0/1 Sun mana.]

Yeah, yeah. Some other day, I might care about that.

I fell asleep waiting for the Hellene, who had been seeing someone. It was a shrine maiden who woke me.

I heard my voice, dull, lifeless, reciting events of the past few weeks. When we got to the part about the Kathani having accepted their payment, she summoned the shrine maiden, whispered some words to her.

She vanished, and shortly afterward there was a loud cheer that cut through my fatigue. It sounded... hopeful?

It spread both ways down the street of shrines. There were heroes in the town.

I. Was. Tired.

There was one other thing to do. I reported to the southeastern gate. Finding the sergeant in charge was fairly easy.

“Has a flag been spotted? A red axe on a white background?”

“Arrived earlier today. That’s their general, then?”

“Their living siege weapon. I think he’s in charge, but...” There were thoughts there, they just couldn’t escape.

“Well, he and his set up a pavilion tent, and two others to serve as wings. If he isn’t in charge, you can rest assured, he has the attention of whomever is.”

There were mundane questions, but none that impact this story.

I was done for the day. I didn’t even make it to my room, just walking to the infirmary and plopping down on an empty bed.

I had just enough energy to explain to Sandru what my injuries were and to hear the first two words of his first question before passing out.

.....

I am told I woke up, briefly, when the siege engines assaulted the southeast gate. There had been over a dozen of them built, and they’d been unleashed all at once, all at the one place.

I find this unlikely, as instead of rocks, the leaders of the siege were hurled into or above the city walls. Their bodies, I am told, were smashed as if by the hands of giants.

The Uruk army then mustered in the southeast, and was already beginning to depart.

I went to the southeastern wall sections, but found them lined with shoulder to shoulder citizens. Wasn’t some idiot supposed to keep them off the walls, where the enemy archers could kill them?

Why would they do that?

What was there to the southeast except...

Oh.

I hurried to the inn, holding my left wrist so that it wouldn’t jostle as much.

None of them were awake. I was told a great deal of wine and mead had been consumed.

I asked to be woken whenever they came downstairs, curled up by the fireplace, and fell asleep.

Achmed, Faraj, and Dina were awake for lunch, which seemed not to be optional in their culture.

It was early afternoon before Awda came downstairs, and a serious discussion on the issue could take place.

#

“No, we must not follow the army.” Awda said. “Fortifications or no, it is an army, and we are individuals. They will kill us and barely need to stop for coffee.”

“They are headed into battle.” I said. “Once that conflict begins, Rakkal will be in that battle. We can find him and kill him there.”

“You are a moron.” Achmed said. “In a battle, everyone is trying to kill everyone. That is the last place any of us should be at. Let the Uruk kill off the Uruk, and be done with it.”

“Those Uruk are the ones who paid you.” I pointed out.

“No.” said Rina, “The Uruk paid you, to pay Philecto, to pay us. Our duty is to Philecto, and I do not see him here.”

“Shall I go see if Philecto will come?” Faraj asked.

“If you would, please.” I said.

His hair was sticking up on one side, but he came.

“A battle is a place of chaos.” Philecto agreed. “You cannot plan, cannot hold to a formation, and cannot focus on a single target. If we do this thing, we can harass their supply lines, but we dare not participate in this main battle.”

“And our employer?”

Philecto shugged, sipping on his mug. “We must needs save him if we can, but we may end up avenging him instead. I am mindful of what people will say of our honor, but that does us no good if we are dead.”

We did not have enough for horses, or rather I did not. We left by the southeast gate, where a work detail was shoveling dirt into the trenches. There was a notable dip where we crossed, and then we headed southeast toward Hattan.

Even with me being slower, we had to divert course and parallel them. Our small band was more mobile than the hundreds of them.

I had feared that we would need to skirmish with their guards, but that first day it did not come to pass.

“So far, so good.” Philecto said. “Pull out the map of villages, let’s see where they are heading.”

“Our scouts have that map.” I said.

“I notice you lack much of equipment.” Philecto said.

“We will need to make do with spoils from ambushing their guards.” I said. Stupid as I felt, I knew it had been the head wound keeping me from thinking straight. It might be a while until that healed.

“Why is he here, anyway?” Achmed asked. “He is not fit for combat.”

“Can you cook as well as he can?” Rina asked.

And so there I was, cook and servant to heroes, who were arguing like little old ladies about how and when to do non-heroic things.

At least my left wrist was back in its socket, even if the bones of the hand were still mending.

The graveyard of Hattan was a mere four days away, possibly five.

The army had an enclave of necromancers.

When nightfall came, the army broke camp, and so did we.

We were still headed directly toward Hattan.

#