Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

rolled my shoulders and slid down her flank to dismount. “I can’t believe she bequeathed everything to us. There’s got to be a million olbia’s worth of treasure in the Vault of Heroes. There’s probably fifty grand’s worth just in here. Not to mention the mana.”

“I can,” Karalti said. “Believe it, that is. Lahati told us why. I’m her hope for the future. We both are... because if the Drachan get out of their prison and win, none of this gold will mean anything. There won’t be a world to spend it in.”

Chapter 9

Thanks to the fact that Karalti could now carry about a thousand pounds of stuff, we could pack in a LOT of treasure. I cleaned all the junk I didn’t need out of my Inventory, and we crammed in everything we could loot. And then, with the protective spells over Lahati’s Tomb deactivated, we teleported home.

We appeared in the air right over my castle—a statement which still felt weird to think, even though Kalla Sahasi had been ours for almost a month. The castle loomed over Myszno’s administrative capital, Karhad, perched at the edge of a tall mesa overlooking the narrow river valley. The city looked better than it had three weeks ago. There were fewer tents, less rubble, and more scaffolding. As for the castle... Ehhhh. Not so much.

In its hey-day, Kalla Sahasi had been a masterwork of soaring black towers, intricate gothic buttressing, and tall golden roofs surrounding a trio of towers around a triangular courtyard, the Inner Ward. Right now, Kalla Sahasi was barely livable, let alone defendable. The roof and upper floors of the tower closest to the road had been crushed by the Demon’s siege engines. Unfortunately, that tower contained the library, guest suites, the War Room, and our nice meeting rooms, all which had put a bit of a crimp on inviting the nobility of Myszno to come and visit.

The Administration Tower wasn’t the only casualty from the invasion of Myszno. All the outbuildings on that northern side—the bakery, two granaries, servant housing, and one of the barracks—were unusable, heavily damaged in the vicious assault the Demon’s army had leveled on the castle. Our curtain wall was more curtain than wall. We’d even had to burn most of the remaining furniture, because Ashur and his undead minions had left mysterious brown stains on the upholstery.

Sadly, no repairs had been made on the castle since we’d left it for Dakhdir a couple weeks ago... because Ashur had also looted the treasury and shipped most of the Voivode’s gold stock back to his home country of Napath. So, for now, we made do. The castle garrison had patched together the shattered ramparts with scaffolding. Said garrison was crammed into the one remaining barracks and used the guest rooms in the residential tower for overflow. My Warden, the castle’s chief of security, had bunked in the ruins of the gatehouse. We ran meetings out of the private dining room next to the great hall, the main building at the heart of the inner ward. Access to the residential tower was via an arrangement of narrow plank walkways and ladders. On the upside, we got to train our Dex stat every time we needed to go to bed or use the bathroom.

But one thing about Kalla Sahasi had changed. A huge encampment had sprung up across the northern mesa, down the road, and onto the alpine meadows beneath the shadow of the castle. Rows and rows of pup tents and canvas marquees, hundreds of cooking fires, hookwings, wagons, and latrines sprawled in all directions, bustling with soldiers. Two large and three small airships were moored at the skydock that jutted over the southern cliff face. My army had arrived from the north and south.

“What the... ohhh fuck. I didn’t expect them to set camp right outside the castle.” I held onto the saddle grips as Karalti swooped into a fast glide, kiting around the skydock to line up with the southern face of the Inner Ward. “Jeez. At least we can pay The Orphans now. They saved us a whole lot of trouble in Vyeshniki.”

“Did they get the bandits?” Karalti asked.

“They sure did. Kicked their asses up and down the row.”

The blare of a war horn followed us as Karalti passed over the airships, rocking them in their bays. Down below, the doors of the Great Hall flew open, letting out a stream of people. Suri was in the lead, her expression as shocked as it was hopeful. Vash Dorha and Istvan Arshak were right behind her, shading their eyes against the midday glare. There were others trailing them: the tall, mustachioed Captain Vilmos and the curvaceous silver figure of Rin, who squealed and hugged the startled Warden around the waist before he could react.

Karalti let out a musical, bugling cry as she slung her long hind legs forward, then backwinged before touching down on the pavement. Suri stormed forward as I slid down to the ground, her golden eyes flashing. For a moment, I thought she was about to slap me. Instead, she caught me in a tight embrace, pressed her lips to my forehead, then kissed me fiercely on the mouth.

“Ummf!” I groaned as my spine cracked under the pressure of her arms. Suri was about five inches taller than me and had about 50 more points of Strength.

“Hi babe,” I croaked.

“Don’t you fuckin’ ‘babe’ me, you... you...!” She leaned back, gripping me by the shoulders. “Where the fuckin’ hell were you two!? We were worried sick!”

“Uhh... long story. I don’t remember all of it. I’m pretty sure Baldr kicked my ass, and we woke in a dungeon we had to clear before we could teleport home.” I pulled out a couple of handfuls of jewels from my Inventory: strings of gold coins, pearls, and jewels. “But hey, look! Shinies!”

Suri’s expression darkened, but she didn’t