blows, and took advantage of the hefty power supply to make the barrier
considerably stronger than the ones I’d been using as well. With that running I
might actually make it through the next fight without getting covered in blood.
But I couldn’t count on it withstanding every attack, so the next function I
build in was automatic healing. There was no way to make it especially
intelligent about how it dealt with complicated injuries, but it was surprisingly
straightforward to have it just indiscriminately dump healing energy into the
wearer. The result should look like natural healing sped up by a factor of a few
hundred, which ought to make even really serious injuries survivable.
I had a thousand other ideas, but my crafting was interrupted by dinner.
That was a communal affair for the whole group, although I was surprised
to note that Avilla seemed to be running things. She stood at the hot stone
surrounded by a clump of peasant women, who seemed happy enough to follow
her directions even if most of them were older than she was. The younger ones
passed around plates of flatbread and bowls of a surprisingly Asian-looking
vegetable stir fry, although I doubt sliced wolf flank was a common ingredient
even in China. A couple of the older women stood by the improvised stove
slicing vegetables and filling bowls, while Avilla merrily cooked and gave
directions at the same time.
There was no table, of course, but Beri led me to an empty stretch of floor
she and Tina had apparently staked out for me. Cerise brought me food with a
little grin that said she was amused at playing servant, or perhaps it was just
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the way her girlfriend was taking charge again.
“I see Avilla has things in hand here,” I commented.
“Looks like it.” She shook her head. “Don’t let her fool you. She acts all
meek and innocent, but when she decides she wants something she always
makes it happen.”
“She’s a good woman,” Sergeant Thomas put in from where he was
sitting a few feet away. “Brave, a good cook, and a real beauty. If she wasn’t
taken already some noble’d snatch her right up when we get to town.”
“When’s that like to be?” Another voice put in, and I turned to find that
old Hrodir had made his way over to join us. “If we’re still headed to Lanrest
we’ll be out of supplies before we make it, unless you mean us to eat
monsters.”
I was too busy eating to answer for a moment. Damn, but Avilla could
cook. Most of the vegetables were unfamiliar, but if I closed my eyes I could
almost imagine I was back on Earth in some fancy Asian restaurant.
But these people needed leadership, and Captain Rain was still in no
shape to give it. As crowded as the room was quite a few of the refugees could
hear our conversation, and I had no doubt they’d pass on anything interesting
they overheard. Time to get my game face back on.
“The wolves seem pretty tasty, actually,” I observed. “I’m sure I can hunt
down another one if need be, and turnabout is fair play.”
Several of the young men laughed at that, and one of them made some
comment about getting a taste for wolf heart. The bravado was encouraging,
but what surprised me was the feral grins from some of the young women.
Maybe the local villagers were made of sterner stuff than I’d thought?
Hmm. Or maybe Avilla’s magic was having more of an effect that
anticipated. That could be useful.
“As for our destination, I’m open to suggestions,” I went on. “I’m not
crazy about spending a week walking through the woods fighting off every troll
and goblin in the area, so I’m looking into some magic to help us all travel
faster.”
One of the older men shook his head. “Ain’t nothin good ever comes of
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common folk messing with dark forces,” he grumbled.
“Ah, shut it, Jed,” another one exclaimed. “The wizard knows what he’s
doing.”
Judging from the expressions that was a contentious issue. Several men
had nodded knowingly at Jed’s comment, and now others were looking angry.
“No, he has a point,” I interrupted before an argument could get going.
Startled faces turned to me, and I went on. “Magic is a dangerous tool,
especially if you can’t see the power you’re working with. It’s like a
blacksmith trying to use an invisible flame - even if you’re careful you’re going
to get burned sooner or later. Normally I’d advise you all to stay well away
from it, unless one of you had natural talent and wanted to spend a few years
training to master it.”
“But with the woods full of monsters and the weather getting worse,
magical dangers are the least of your problems right now. If we keep on the
way we have been we’re going to keep losing people, and the slower we move
the worse it will be. So unless you think you’re lucky enough to walk from here
to Lanrest on your own without getting eaten, you’re going to have to risk it.
I’ll do my best to make this as safe for you all as I can, but you’d better listen
close when my apprentices and I are giving directions or you never know what
might happen.”
Hrodir nodded. “You’ve been a godsend so far, sir wizard. We’ll trust
you to see us through.”
That seemed to settle the issue, at least for most of the group.
Unfortunately the conversation then turned to the topic of our destination and its
likely safety, or lack thereof.
No one in the group had a map, so I had to struggle to piece together a
mental picture of this land’s geography as the older villagers discussed the
various towns and castles they’d heard of. I quickly gathered that the
reputations of the local lords were a bigger factor in their minds than the
defenses of their settlements, for reasons that would never have occurred to
me.
“Baron Stein might take us all in if we make it to Lanrest,” Hrodir
explained when I brought it up. “But then again he might not. He’s not the sort
of lord who forgives taxes during a famine, if you take my meaning. Like as not
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he’ll decide we’re just more mouths to feed, unless he figures he’s got a use
for us.”
“Yeah, but no one else has any obligation to us at all,” Gronir pointed out.
Hrodir shrugged. “Fair enough. But it ain’t like they’re going to be
checking close about what village we came from, is it?”
I chuckled. “Well, I’ll say one thing. I can see a lot of lords might panic
and shut everyone out of their towns, especially if they aren’t stocked for a
siege and their priests are warning them about what’s coming. But a man who
reacts like that only a week into a crisis isn’t going to hold his people together
for long. Panic spreads, and once his vassals start looking out for themselves
instead of pulling together their defenses will fall apart quick. I’m not
interested in getting my own people caught in a mess like that, so if that’s what
we find at Lanrest I’ll be moving on with you.”
Most of the group seemed shocked at that, but Hrodir just nodded. “I
thought you might see it that way, sir.”
“I, ah, that’d put us in a bad spot, sir,” Sergeant Thomas said hesitantly.