Falling with folded wing.., p.60
Falling with Folded Wings: A LitRPG Progression Fantasy, page 60
“Yeah, this is Issa, and she’s a friend. Her people are sending Hunters to help fight the Urghat. This is Ykleedra,” he said, pointing to the Yovashi. “I need to get her to my tower. She’s uncomfortable out here in the light around so many strangers. I’ll be glad to tell you all about the mounts another time.” The guards all backed up and waved them through the open gate. Issa waved at them as they passed, saying hello, and the guards, giving Morgan a small surge of pride for his people, cheerfully greeted her in turn.
The first thing Morgan noticed was that a gatehouse had been added with a guard station attached. He counted at least five other guards hanging around the gates, all armed with spears. Looking over his shoulder, he saw several guards within sight on top of the wall also, and they had muskets slung over their shoulders. He wondered how effective the weapons would be against the Urghat. They hadn’t seemed to be particularly powerful in the Crucible, and he didn’t remember any of them having especially strong defensive skills. He figured the muskets would probably prove quite helpful in a potential conflict with the creatures. According to Olivia, the System had warned the people here not to become reliant on technology because, in the long run, powerful Energy users would shrug off their tech-based defenses. Still, Morgan didn’t see that being a problem with Urghat. Besides, he felt like it was good to explore all avenues—he didn’t trust the System’s assessment that tech would be useless in the face of an Energy-rich environment.
The party rode their mounts slowly, waving to the guards, up the cobbled road toward Morgan’s tower. The road was new, and it went in a straight line up the gentle slope toward the hill where the Colony Stone rose like a dark gray finger. They could see many more people moving around up there and several new buildings. Morgan’s tower was off to the left, though, so they rode into the grass toward it. Once again, Morgan noticed the large villa that had been constructed near his tower, and he wondered who lived in it. “Hey, Olivia, who lives in that villa?”
“Oh, we bought that as a reward and incentive for the leaderboard. Some guy named Reggie. Kind of a weird guy but very enthusiastic about earning points for the colony. He lives there with some of his friends.”
“That tower is yours? The one from the Crucible?” Issa asked.
“Yeah, there it is! Unfortunately, we can only access up to the third floor. I still need to deal with the guardians higher than that.”
“Oh? You didn’t tell me about that. What’s the deal with the guardians?”
“I don’t know. I guess the guy who built the tower put a guardian on each floor. I have to fight each guardian by myself to access the rooms on that level. There are eight floors.”
“We can’t help you?”
“No, the stairs are magical—if you take a couple of steps on them, you arrive at the next floor. They’ll separate me from anyone trying to help me.” Issa huffed at that explanation. Soon they were in front of the short set of steps leading to the tower door, and Morgan and Issa tied their roladii to the railing with long lengths of rope, giving them room to forage for grass. “I guess I’ll need to build a stable.”
“I’m going to go find Bronwyn and Arthur and tell them about our trip,” Olivia said, turning her roladii toward the center of the settlement. “Come find us after you get Ykleedra settled—I’m sure the council will want to hear from Issa.”
“Alright, we will.” Morgan climbed the steps and motioned for Ykleedra and Issa to follow. Olivia watched them for a moment, then nodded and rode off. Morgan put his hand on the door handle, and a loud click reverberated, indicating the lock had disengaged. He pulled open the door and held it for Issa and Ykleedra. Ykleedra scurried in, happy to move out of the bright sunlight. Issa smiled at him and also walked in, and Morgan followed. They’d only managed a handful of steps into the foyer when Ykleedra hissed and scurried back, scrunching herself into a ball of angular limbs behind Morgan. A tinkling flashing of lights indicated that Tiladia had made an appearance, and her voice soon followed.
“Morgan, welcome home. I see you’ve brought company!” Ykleedra shivered from behind Morgan, clearly distressed by the appearance and sound of the spirit. Issa just smiled, looking at Morgan with an arched eyebrow.
“Yeah, Tiladia, thank you. This is Issa, and this is Ykleedra,” he said, gesturing to them. “They’re guests and should be allowed to come and go. Can you make it so that they can open the front door?”
“Of course, Morgan. It is done,” Tiladia’s voice replied with a melodic cascade of harmonic tinkling sounds.
“Ykleedra, it’s okay. Tiladia is a friend; she’s a spirit bound to this tower.” Slowly, Ykleedra peered out from around Morgan, and then she scurried past the glowing misty form of Tiladia into the central hall of the tower. Tiladia flashed slightly and seemed to rotate, almost as if she watched the Yovashi pass by.
“It’s good to meet you, Mistress Issa,” she said after a brief pause.
“And you, Tiladia. Please just call me Issa.”
“Come on, I’ll show you around,” Morgan said, taking Issa’s hand and walking forward. “The only real problem is that I haven’t cleared the floor where the bedrooms are. What floor is that again, Tiladia? The fifth?”
“Yes, Morgan. I’ve taken the liberty of closely examining you. I think you stand a good chance versus the fourth level guardian now, but attempting the fifth would be quite risky.” Morgan frowned at Tiladia.
“Hey, what the hell? What if I were trying to impress my guests? It’s not very helpful for my home’s spirit to announce my capabilities.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Issa said, squeezing his hand, “I think you’re impressive!” She had a wicked grin on her face.
“That’s not the point, and besides, I know you’re teasing now.”
“Feeling sensitive?” Issa’s grin only widened.
“I’m sorry, Lord Morgan!” Tiladia’s chime sounded slightly discordant and high-pitched with concern.
“Oh, relax, you two. It’s fine. I have no secrets from Issa, Tiladia, but for future reference, please don’t advertise my strength to anyone who comes into this tower.” Morgan led Issa around the first floor, finding Ykleedra skulking around in the darkened kitchen. They managed to coax her into following them around for the rest of the tour. He explained to them that he’d been sleeping in the library on one of the couches and was about to lead them out to go up the stairs to the second floor when he saw Ykleedra standing near the table where he’d stacked the Yovashi books. “Oh, hey, yeah, those books are from your home, Ykleedra. I’m sorry, but when I took them, I considered your kind to be my enemies.”
“I’m glad they aren’t lost. My mother often spoke to me about how important they are, and I had to study this one”—she pointed at one of the thinner books—“almost every day.”
“So, you can read them?”
“Some, but I’ve never been allowed to look in most of them.”
“I was making some progress with the language, Morgan, but knowing that Ykleedra can read some of it will make things much faster.” Morgan jumped slightly. He didn’t realize Tiladia had come up behind him. Ykleedra also cringed, shrinking down, but she didn’t flee this time.
“What do you say, Ykleedra? Can you help Tiladia to learn the language?” Morgan could see Ykleedra visibly steel herself and stand up straighter, then she nodded.
“I will do my best to help your spirit, Morgan. Thank you for bringing me here to your home.”
MORGAN
Morgan spent the next few minutes showing Issa and Ykleedra around the tower, at least the parts he had access to. Both of his guests were impressed when they saw the atrium, but Ykleedra scurried into the thick foliage with a squeal of delight. Morgan could hear her moving through the hedges and trees, and though he had spent a lot of time cutting back the overgrowth, there was a lot of shadow-dappled space for her to explore. After a time, she returned and asked, “Morgan, is that bright sun always there?”
“No, Tiladia says it follows a day-night schedule.”
“I’d like to stay in here for now, if you don’t mind. There are even fruits for me to eat, though I wouldn’t mind some small animals or meat if you get a chance to bring me some.”
“Um, yeah, you can stay in here, but not all the time, Ykleedra. It’s important that you have company. If I’m not home, spend time with Tiladia, and after you’re more comfortable, I’d like to introduce you to more colonists.”
“As you say, Morgan. Thank you!” With that, the young Yovashi scuttled back into the shadowy depths of the atrium.
“Well, Issa, are you ready to go and meet a bunch more humans?”
“Yes, but Morgan, I think it would be nice if you could clear the way to your bedrooms sooner rather than later.” She smiled coyly, and Morgan didn’t have to use his imagination to wonder what she was thinking. They’d definitely grown closer since he found his way to Tarn’s Crossing. Plenty of hugging and kissing had taken place, but neither of them had pushed things farther than that. Part of it was that they’d never been really alone; all the way back to the colony, Olivia had been with them, and Morgan felt awkward enough trying to put the moves on Issa, not knowing her cultural norms, he certainly didn’t want to add making Olivia uncomfortable to the mix. He could take a hint, though.
“Yeah, I’ll make that a priority. After we meet with the council, let’s come back here, and I’ll see what the deal is with the fourth guardian.” Issa grinned, took his hand in hers, and led the way back down the stairs.
It was a short walk from his tower to the cobbled road that led to the center of town. Morgan walked confidently. He wasn’t wearing his armor, but he was wearing some of his new clothes, and he knew they were quite a step up from the simple outfits most of the colonists purchased from the Contribution Store. Issa walked beside him, holding his hand, and garnered even more stares than Morgan had when he’d first come back to the colony. Many people shouted out greetings, and they waved and replied. Morgan didn’t remember people ever being this friendly to him in his old life, but he had to consider that things were different. He stood out like a professional athlete would if they walked around in a small town. Issa was strikingly beautiful, at least in his mind, but even if he were biased, there was no denying her blue skin and bright yellow eyes.
In any case, they’d drawn a small crowd by the time they reached the cluster of buildings near the Colony Stone hill. On this side of the hill, Morgan recognized the smithy, but there was another large workshop next to it, and an open-air market had taken shape on the other side. Several stalls were set up, and Morgan could see people perusing the wares of the fledgling artisans and other entrepreneurs. “Things are starting to take shape around here.”
“This is new to you?” Issa asked.
“Yeah, there weren’t as many buildings and roads and stuff when we left.” Morgan gestured around. “Let’s take a right around the hill; the tavern where the council meets is over there.” They walked along the road that curved around the hill, and Morgan noticed that a set of stone steps had been built into the hillside, creating an easy pathway up to the Colony Stone. When they came around the hill, and the tavern and pond behind it came into view, Morgan was surprised to see a crowd of around fifty people standing and sitting on the hillside looking toward and listening to a large, red-haired man. He looked vaguely familiar to Morgan, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint how he knew him.
“The time for waiting is over. This supposed Urghat army that will invade ‘any moment’ may never come. Meanwhile, we have unelected people making every important decision for our community. What have they done to earn that authority? Most of them aren’t even on the leaderboard anymore. I’ve been at the top of the leaderboard since almost the beginning. Even after being awarded my home, I’ve worked to improve this community. You know I have your best interests at heart! How many of you have eaten food that I’ve hunted? Had homes built from wood that I’ve gathered? Been saved because I killed dangerous beasts? Shouldn’t someone like me be helping to make decisions about the colony’s future?” Each time the big man made a point, he hammered a fist into the palm of his other hand. Several audience members responded with affirmative exclamations, backing up his claims. By the time he finished speaking, the whole crowd seemed agitated, and Morgan could hear echoes of his speech in their conversations.
“That seems like trouble,” he said quietly to Issa.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know, to be honest. I think he might be the guy that owns the big house near my tower.” Morgan gripped Issa’s hand more tightly and led her past the crowd to the tavern. He couldn’t help noticing the large, red-bearded man turn and watch him as he walked by. Morgan returned his stare until he had to turn to open the door. The inside of the tavern had an entirely different mood. People sat around talking, drinking from mugs, smiling, and laughing. Morgan saw Alec behind the bar and called out, “Hey Alec, is the council meeting yet?”
“They are, but hey, who’s your friend?” Alec’s grin was infectious, and Morgan walked over to the bar with Issa in tow.
“This is Issa—she’s an Ardeni. They’re going to be helping us with the Urghat.” He noticed a slight frown on Issa’s face, and he continued, “Um, she’s my girlfriend, too.” He was dimly aware of the absolutely ridiculous fact that his face flushed a little. How could a grown man who’d been battling for his life over and over again suffer from such a juvenile response? He glanced down at Issa and saw that his words had brought the smile back to her face.
“Pleased to meet you, sir. I’d love to try some of your wares. Could you suggest a drink?” Thankfully, Alec had eyes only for Issa and her exotic appearance, so he left Morgan alone. He turned around and filled a mug from a tapped cask on the counter behind him.
“This is a honey mead that I think is quite delicious. I wish I could take credit for it, but our own homebrews are still fermenting. Still, it’s a cut above the cheap stuff available on the Contribution Store.”
“I, uh, I’ll take one too, Alec,” Morgan said, finally having found his voice. Alec handed him a mug, and Morgan took a deep drink. The mead was sweet, but it had a solid kick to it. Morgan cleared his throat and said, “Hey, what’s with the dude outside riling everyone up?”
“That’s Reggie, um, Gandry-Thule, I think it is. He’s been bugging the council to hold elections for a couple of weeks now. He’s starting to get a lot of people to agree with him. Arthur told me they’re thinking of going ahead with an election soon because of the pressure that guy is stirring up.”
“Huh. Alright, well, let’s go meet the council, Issa.”
“It was nice to meet you, Alec,” Issa said, following Morgan to the door leading to the back room. Morgan opened it and walked into a lively conversation. Everyone stopped talking, though, when he came in, staring as he and Issa walked over to the table. Not everyone was present; Morgan saw Bronwyn, Olivia, Arthur, Dr. Kerns, Maria Rios, and Tanya Delgado.
“Hey all, this is Issa. She’s here ahead of the other Ardeni Hunters to help with the Urghat.” Morgan gestured to Issa. She smiled pleasantly and waved. “Maybe you all could take a minute to introduce yourselves?” Morgan pulled out a chair for Issa and sat down next to her while Arthur spoke.
“Of course. Olivia has been filling us in about your journey—it sounds like a great success! I’m Arthur Ballard, Issa. I was selected to lead this colony back on our home world, but the System made our preparations moot. Still, I’m doing my best to help coordinate things here.” Morgan relaxed and drank his mead while the rest of the council members introduced themselves to Issa. They all had additional comments or questions for her, and Morgan could see that they were fascinated by her. He supposed it made sense; this was the first meeting they’d had with a friendly, conversant non-human.
After introductions, the conversation drifted to preparations for war, including a report from Tanya Delgado about the new cannons they had mounted strategically along the wall. Morgan was interested to hear about their iron supply—it seemed that some of the colonists had gotten Quests to find ore in the hills east of the forest. That was where they’d found caves with plenty of naturally occurring sulfur and potassium nitrate, in addition to the iron veins the System had sent them to find. Several dozen colonists had started mining the iron ore for rewards and had gained non-combat Skills that sped up the process remarkably, so much so that the smelter had been running nonstop for almost two weeks. The iron, combined with the ingots that came with the smithy, proved to be sufficient for creating several hundred blunderbuss and musket barrels as well as five cannons on each side of the colony.
“Considering the relatively low level of most colonists, I think it’s great that you’re working on black powder and projectile weapons, but I think we might have a smarter way of melding our technology with Energy,” Olivia chimed in as Tanya wrapped up her report.
“What do you mean?” Tanya asked.
“Well, barrels and lead balls are great, but the black powder is messy, slow to load, and proven to be unreliable. What if we were able to use Energy as a power source? What if we could create power-stones and attach them to an Artificed barrel?”
“Hmm.” Tanya drummed her fingers on the table. “We don’t know how to make power-stones. The ones we have came with the buildings we purchased. It would take a lot of experimentation.”
“Well, it’s an idea, and yes, we should do some experimenting,” Arthur interjected, “but I want us to focus on what we can do for now. Keep making the black powder. Also, now that we’ve purchased the Alchemy shop, I think the priority should be making a smokeless powder variant.”
The discussion continued in that vein for a while, but when that topic died down, Dr. Kern spoke up with a question that interested Morgan: “Issa, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your racial anatomy? I assume some of your people might be injured in the fighting that seems to be imminent, and I’d be interested in knowing the best way to treat you.”
