Banished Pt. 19

"This skill is strength, isn't it?" I asked, and Casey raised an eyebrow at me.

"You can't recognize strength at a glance by now?" she asked, her tone disbelieving, but as I handed her the token and she peered into the core, she bit her lip. "Huh... what is that?"

"Strength five," Raul answered, and Casey's eyes went wide.

"Strength five? Are you serious?"

I chuckled at her.

"The other skill is level five too, huh?"

Raul nodded.

"I think it's the 'sword and shield' fighting style," he said, and I smirked.

"We need to get you a fucking shield."

"Yes, Herr Nathan. And I have suggestion," Alva said, and I turned to her.

"What is it?"

"We could petition Palancar for the item. There is one in their armory; an item not held in particularly high regard."

I bit my lip, as I considered the suggestion.

"You really think they'll give it up just like that?" I asked, and Alva shook her head.

"No, but we could bargain. Return to them something that they treasure," she said, and I shook my head.

"What do we have that they treasure?" I asked, and Alva swallowed uncomfortably.

"The core of their former queen."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?" Casey cut in. "You mean the former queen that they tried to murder us with?"

"Without the body, this action can never be repeated," Alva answered. "Palancar cared not for the body. But the core is of upmost import."

"Why?" I asked, eyeing Alva. "Why is it so important to them?"

Alva took a deep breath in.

"Our former queen is vital to the princess selection," the girl answered, and I bit my lip again, as I considered it.

"If it's so important to them, I kind of feel as if we're getting the short end of the stick here."

"The what?" Alva asked.

"He means we're giving more than we're getting in return," Raul explained, and Alva nodded.

"For a shield, yes. But I am confident I can convince Palancar to part with more than a mere piece."

I studied her, gesturing for her to continue, and she nodded.

"There is an armor set. One which surpasses even your own. It would serve Herr Raul honorably," she explained.

"And they would give that to him?" I asked.

"I believe they can be persuaded, but... perhaps only if Raul were to be assigned a role which elevates him above the rest of your arbiters. A role which Palancar will hold in high esteem."

"Above the rest of the arbiters, huh? Like chief arbiter, or something?"

Alva shook her head.

"Declare him 'High Protector of Eltari'. It is a title known to my people, and respected above all titles, save matron, princess, king, and queen."

"High protector... I like the sound of it. But that sounds like more than just a title," I said, and Alva nodded.

"As protector, his obligation will be to all of Eltari, not merely our own kingdom."

I turned to Casey.

"What do you think?" I asked, and she bit her lip nervously, her expression thoughtful.

"I'd prefer to know for sure that Jacinda's core won't be used against us again," she said.

"I trust Alva's advice; just as much as I would Gisela's," I offered, and Alva bowed.

"I am not worthy," she said, and I turned to Casey again.

"Part of me wants to say yes just so that you don't ever dive into that wretched thing again," she said, and I chuckled in response.

"Does the other part of you think that having someone with T-five strength and fighting skill will swing things majorly in our favor? Because, then we'd be on the same page."

Casey nodded.

"It's not far from my mind. But I doubt we can petition Palancar in time for these abilities to be of use in this conflict," she said.

I turned to Alva, and the girl shook her head.

"We will leave immediately, and return by the second segment after first light."

Raul raised a hand at this.

"Whoa. These woods aren't in cluster territory. They're dangerous enough on a normal day much less in complete darkness," he said, and Alva shook her head.

"We have no time to hesitate, mein süsser," she said, resting a hand against his cheek. "The darkness holds dangers, but none that can eclipse your light; and your liege requires this strength."

Raul seemed a bit flustered by Alva's open show of her affection in speaking to him, and I smirked a little, to his annoyance.

"Is it safe for us to make the trip?" he asked Casey, and she nodded.

"We'll put a speed two piece on her," Casey offered, and Raul nodded in agreement.

As Alva moved off to make the preparations, Casey pulled me aside.

"You're worried about that kind of strength in Raul's hands?" I asked, and she nodded.

"He'll be stronger than you," she said, and I shrugged.

"Does that make you anxious?"

"Anyone being stronger than you makes me anxious," she said, and I laughed.

"Really? Could have sworn that me being the strongest person around was your greatest fear," I teased, and she sighed.

"I don't, uh... fine, I still worry about that," she said, and I smiled.

"Wouldn't expect you not to," I said. "I think you can relax over Raul, though. The conditions of that oath will keep him in check; more so than even his pledge."

"Are you sure?" she asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah. And if he breaks that oath, he stands to lose that power. Plus... maybe he can really find some atonement for what he's done this way."

Casey shook her head, letting out a sigh.

"He's killed a hell of a lot of people, Nate. I just- we'd never give someone like that a second chance on earth."

I chuckled a little.

"Someone killing that many people on earth, and someone killing that many people here, aren't exactly the same thing. How many do you think I've killed now?"

"That's different," she said. "You're fighting life or death battles; he hunted, innocent newbies."

"Like the ones we killed today?"

Casey scowled, but as she turned, I rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm not trying to be difficult; I just mean... the metrics you're trying to apply here don't necessarily account for the difference in experience between our earth lives and this one."

Casey shifted uncomfortably, but as I rubbed the spot on her shoulder a bit with my thumb, she relaxed.

"Sometimes I hate that you can calm me down like that," she said, looking over her shoulder, and I smiled.

"Well, if you prefer it, I could just let you run wild with your anxieties," I suggested, and she shook her head, placing her hand over my own.

"Sometimes I just kind of wish I had something like this back on earth. Maybe if I did, I wouldn't have ended up in this hell."

"Or, maybe you would have followed me into hell anyway," I said.

Casey eyed me, but she didn't ask, so I dropped the topic at that.

"We should get the ball rolling on this scouting mission," I said, and she nodded.

"Are you taking the same group?"

I shook my head.

"Swap Blair out for Molly. I noticed that she seems to be excelling at sensory skills," I said.

"Oof; are you really gonna drop Blair on me, though?"

I shrugged.

"If they attack us here, it's likely to be a life or death battle. She'll come in handier for that than she would on a stealth mission," I said, and Casey eyed me.

"Is that all? Or are you just trying to keep her far away from your 'precious little girl'," she teased.

"Do you know about that?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"No, I just caught the gist of it," she said. "Probably best to let your little spy-girlfriend keep an eye on that instead of tailing me all the time, though."

I chuckled a little.

"Noted," I said.

As we prepped to leave, however, Blair moved over to check on me.

"You dropping me from your squad?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Not at all; there just won't be much fighting on this trip, and I need the swords here in case they try to kill our captives."

She eyed me carefully, trying to read me for some sign or indication of my true intentions.

"Just hope you don't end up regretting it," she said, before turning and heading back to the sleeping area.

As we got everything together, however, I studied Lucia for a bit.

Earlier, when she'd used her ability in combat, I noted that her energy level had dropped sharply, and while she was more than capable of keeping up with us thanks to her armor, it did drain what limited strength she had quite quickly.

"I think I'm carrying you this time," I said, and she frowned.

I glanced at Casey, who shrugged.

"Maybe she doesn't wanna be carried all the time?" Casey suggested, and I shook my head.

As I stared at Lucia again, I suddenly felt a disorienting feeling...

Was she always that tall?

I shook the thought away, as we got ready to leave.

We were heading off without the Accalians this time, since it was unlikely that enemies would be able to pick up on us at night.

That is, if they were even out and about.

Molly swapped around her armor so that she had access to one of the T-three speed pieces, but we still opted for the armor-light set up, focusing on the pieces for speed and endurance as we headed out.

"Be careful," Casey said, and I nodded, before turning and heading into the woods.

The trip across this stretch of forest was roughly a hundred miles, and I knew that even if we pressed on at our maximum sustained speed, it'd take us at least four hours to complete it.

We started out heading west, however, before turning into the direction of the fort, as guided by Cameron's beacon, and beelining straight for it.

I kept an eye on Molly as we ran, however, and was pleasantly surprised to find that she was keeping up with the speed of our movement quite easily.

If anything, the only one who seemed a little distracted was Francesca.

Was the stress of being our 'best fighter' getting to her?

Or was it the killing?

Apart from Blair and myself, she was the one who had killed the most humans, and I'd noted on a few occasions now that her hands shook, and her spirit seemed to waver every time she'd done so.

Maybe I'd need to spend some time with her?

Calm her down a bit?

Initially I'd imagined that I would need to attend to Bianca who'd not only killed for the first time, but was generally much less stable than the rest of my top fighters.

But as I studied her, I noted that she seemed to be quite calm and measured, and even as we tore through the woods, she managed to shoot me a small smile as she caught my eyes on her.

I turn my gaze forward and smiled a little.

I chose well, huh?

With just two stops, we managed to make our way across this bit of forest bordered by the river, and I pulled the group to a stop as soon as I heard the faint sound of the river roaring away in the distance.

"Is that the river?" Molly asked, and I nodded.

She was the only one here who hadn't seen it yet, huh?

"I don't wanna travel along its banks, since they might have a watch placed at points along the length on the opposite side," I said. "I'm just going out a bit to check if we're along the east-west section of it, or north-south."

Francesca nodded, and the group kept low to some bushes as I headed out, but it took little more than a minute for me to confirm that we were indeed just south of the east-west section.

"So, we head west, then," Francesca said, and I nodded.

"Keep an eye out in case the river begins to turn while we're moving though."

As we headed out, we moved at a much more measured pace, being a lot more careful now of alerting any possible watches that were left nearby to snuff out a sneak attack.

It didn't take long however, before we spotted a light in the distance, and after looking around a bit, we found an area which afforded us some higher ground, and a great vantage point from which to survey the fort.

Compared to Saker, it seemed like a little thing, but as I scoped out the surroundings, I quickly realized that the fort was quite well positioned and difficult to get to, with just a narrow crossing leading to it, and a sharp rising hill on either side that made approaching it from any direction but the crossing quite difficult.

"Fucking hell. There's literally no way to sneak across there, huh?" Francesca asked, and I bit my lip as I considered it.

"Lucia, can you see anything from this distance?"

The girl nodded, then looked at my shoulder.

"You wanna climb up?" I asked, and she nodded.

As I tried to pick her up, however, she gestured to me to stoop down instead, and much to my annoyance, she climbed her way up, until she secured her footing, crouched down, on my shoulders.

Slowly, I got up, making sure she'd maintained her balance, and as I stood upright, she stood up as well, relying of some help from Francesca for support.

"Lucia can see, but is far," she said.

"Hey, brat? Can you get to this branch?" Bianca asked, gesturing to a low-hanging branch on a nearby tree, and Lucia nodded.

I made my way carefully there, and as she scrambled up, she used the branch to climb her way up the tree, until eventually she found a good vantage point.

As she surveyed the scene, however, a panicked look suddenly crossed her face.

"Nathan! Nathan, trouble!"

"What? What is it? Is something up there?"

I looked around for a way to climb up to her, but she was already making her way back down.

"No, Nathan. She's coming. She's coming here!"

Then Francesca's eyes went wide, and she shuddered a little.

"Nate, I feel it!" she said.

"Get into formation!" I called, organizing the group around the branch where Lucia was now making her way down to.

She got there, and at my urging, leapt into my arms, though quickly scurrying into position and drawing her dagger, readying herself for a fight.

"How many were coming?" I asked Lucia.

"One."

One? I could easily immobilize her and we can take her out.

As we waited, however, I suddenly remembered that on Julie's sixteenth birthday, I'd bought her a chain-link bracelet with little mustard yellow topaz gemstones, and even though she said she loved it and her eyes lit up when she saw it, she almost never wore it for any kind of-

*Woosh*

I felt slightly disoriented as the projectile zoomed past me, just narrowly deflected out of my way by Francesca's armguard, and as she eyed me, I shook my head.

Where the hell was my head at?

Then the thoughts started coming to me at a million miles an hour:

He doesn't love her alone he loves me too even if she's cute he won't get rid of me I'm important I'm special IMEANSOMETHINGTOHIMSOGETOUTOFMYHEADGETOUTOFMYHEADGETOUTOFMYHEAD!

Bianca hands were over her ears, and she was shaking her head.

"Bianca! It's not real. Someone's doing this to us!"

"Nate, I-"

"Watch out!" Francesca yelled, and I readied myself just as another projectile came flying at us, a small spear from what I could tell, but I was ready, and I swatted it out of the air with my halberd.

But why didn't she ever wear the bracelet? She liked it didn't she? Wait, why the fuck am I even-?

"Nate!"

Francesca had a frustrated look on her face, and I looked up just as three figures zoomed in at us out of the darkness.

Two of them had spears, and the third, two short-to-medium length blades, one in either hand.

The third one went straight at me, and as they swung, I deflected the blade, but as they began to alternate strikes between the two hands, I quickly found myself on the back foot.

Lucia and Bianca began to engage with one of the spear wielders, while Francesca and Molly were fighting the third, but I still could not for the life of me understand why it was so fucking difficult for me to stop thinking about THE GODDAMNED FUCKING BRACELET.

"I'm. Fucking. USEFUL!" Bianca yelled, in between each lunging strike, but she was pressing her opponent recklessly, and it'd be ill-advised if she weren't completely overwhelming them with her flurry of jabs and slashes.

As I tried to focus on my own opponent, however, I suddenly noted that she was a girl, and quite pretty too, and Julie's bracelet would really go well with the gilded yellow knives she was wielding, and maybe she'd have appreciated it more than Julie did, but fucking hell, get it together man!

My opponent was, thankfully, not that skilled, but as I observed the fighting, I noted that while our fighters were clearly better than theirs, they were still holding their own well enough that beating them white avoiding killing them would be much more trouble than it was worth.

"Nate! Something big is coming!"

There was panic in Francesca's voice, and her call seemed to bring the clashes to a temporary halt.

I used the interlude to activate sensory perception, and I quickly realized that threads were linking Bianca and me to the girl in front of me... who was really pretty.

She had those curly, red locks that reminded me of Julie, and the swell of her breasts were unmistakable on that skin fitted, red, leather top, and cute, youthful looking face, and I mean sure; I had a lot of babies on the way, but our babies would be really adorable, and-

Fucking hell!

I grimaced, and she caught the look on my face and smirked.

Yeah? Well maybe you can't stop thinking about what our babies would look like either! I thought, as I extended my own energy threads to her, but even as I caught the slight inflection in her expression, someone burst out of the darkness ahead of us, and it drew my eye, as the sheer presence of this otherworlder was just... intimidating.

"Brunette's mine!" the newcomer yelled; the voice was a woman's, but so commanding, I immediately felt the need to dart to Francesca's side.

"No no, mon ami. This dance is ours," the girl in front of me said, raising a knife to stop me.

As Francesca engaged the newcomer, Lucia moved off from Bianca's side to fight the otherworlder that Francesca had been engaged with, and I clicked my tongue in annoyance, as I jabbed my halberd towards my own quarry, but she evaded the thrust, then moved in and began to strike at me with those quick, fluid alternating swings.

I had to admit, this was the first time in combat that I really felt pressed while not overwhelmingly outmatched, and it was annoying me to no end.

I mean, we had a mission to carry out here. Didn't she know that, or did she just not care? Just like fucking Julie, always doing whatever the fuck she wanted without thinking about what anyone else-

The though trailed off as I noted that the threads that extended from her to me created a kind of energy pathway between us, and as I focused on it while parrying her flurry of attacks, I quickly realized that it allowed me to use my own long-range abilities with much more efficiency.

"Isn't that a bit hard? Focusing on two people at once?"

She shook her head, but I quickly saw a falter in her step, and the thread that extended to Bianca seemed to weaken.

As she stared at me and focused, however, the thread seemed to strengthen itself again, and Bianca screamed out as she made a repeated series of lunging attacks.

Fuck.

I really need Bianca to cool down!

"Or maybe it's that you just can't stop 'eye-fucking' me?" I asked, channeling my thought into the suggestion, and the girl licked her lips, as her eyes travelled up and down my body.

"There will be time for that later, mon amor," she said, but as soon she moved to attack, I activated my paralysis skill, and the girl's eyes went wide, but only for a moment, as Bianca appeared by her side, and drove her dagger through her hip.

I darted past the two and deflected a spear thrust from Bianca's quarry, but as I moved in to strike at the man, something seemed to pulse out from him, pushing me back.

Fuck.

No wonder Bianca hadn't taken him out yet.

Out of the corner of my eye, however, I saw as Lucia drove her dagger through the other man's neck, and I smiled, as we now had this under control.