Chapter 406 - A Matter of Wants

Chris

East Fort

I spent most of the first day resting. A Healer also finally closed the wound in my side, but by then, my Vitality had done a lot of the work. [Cold Meditation] helped, but it was too low a grade to do much.

My Body and Fortitude made me hard to heal.

The second day was spent… differently.

I walked the walls, exploring the Fort and its surroundings. The construction of it was solid, but Jonathan would know better than I would. He could feel the stone, while I could only estimate.

She made 18 of these…

I had to give Vanessa credit there; I wasn’t sure we would have been able to do the same. We didn’t have the people to quarry that much stone, transport it, and then build the fort. Phillip did great work, but he was only one man.

Buying it was… similarly challenging. The cost would be in gold. We estimated our tax in silver per month.

It all came down to people. Population size would be our bane perpetually. Zuri’s on the flip side. She has too many people. From what I’d felt, her fighters were weak. They didn’t have the opportunities we did. Dungeons were full to bursting with people willing to delve them.

That weakness was probably the only reason that Vanessa was still holding them without being instantly overrun.

As I walked the walls, I saw people going about their tasks. Men and women moving with practiced efficiency and experienced hands. It was to be expected, after days of battle, but it was still impressive.

“Launch the jammers!”

The catapults along the walls had been firing intermittently, paused as the order sounded out.

I was confused as I watched the people manning the weapons grab metal spheres from a pile separate from the stones they had been throwing before.

Intrigued, I looked closer at the spheres and noticed the runework etched into the surfaces. The enchantment was unknown to me, but I was beginning to puzzle out what it did as four of the spheres were loaded into the catapult’s basket.

The Runes weren’t immediately familiar, but [Rune Repository] helped understand them. I hadn’t spent much time with my new Profession skill, but I’d filled it with every Rune we had in our libraries.

Most of the pathways were a chaotic mess, twisted in on itself and knotted in ways I didn’t understand and didn’t seem beneficial. There was a Mana Storage Rune, followed by a Disruption Rune, with a few other seemingly random Runes placed throughout the enchantment.

Before I could peer deeper, the order to launch was given, and arms snapped forward, sending their payloads flying through the air. More than that, there was a Wind Mage who sent out a powerful gale of wind to send them even further.

Based on the angles and speed, they would wildly overshoot the enemy camp. They’d been on target just moments before, so I believed this to be deliberate.

Based on the fact that they were called Jammers, I could guess what they did, but I still hadn’t puzzled out how. I got some looks as I walked over and picked a sphere up, but no one made to stop me.

The work was… hard to look at. Messy didn’t even begin to describe it. Following the tangle of chaos took some time, but I gained a clearer picture the longer I studied.

It was eerily similar to the device I had made for Rachel a year prior. She’d called it a monstrosity, and now I could see why she’d said that. At the time, I’d been too close to the project to understand, but now, I did.

The pathways were designed to tangle and disrupt one another. It slowed down the flow from the Storage Rune, turning the consumable enchantment into a slow release, rather than an intense burst.

There were limiters and other methods to achieve the same effect, but this… got the job done.

Pulling out my Message Stone, I examined it closely and compared the two. Expectedly, it looked like one was designed specifically to counter the other. The Stone already had trouble sending through patches of chaotic mana, and the sphere artificially induced such a situation.

A jammer, just as described. Ramshackle and cobbled together, but a jammer all the same. Clever. I’d have to refine the idea. Rework the delayed release. Expand the Disruption area.

It would hold mana for around six hours before it ran out, forcing another sphere to be activated. The area was large, but still required four of the spheres to cover the enemy camp.

I put the sphere back and filed away my ideas for later.

The next interesting thing to draw my attention was when the western gate opened. A small group of cloaked figures entered swiftly before the gate closed behind them. The group was too small for reinforcements, and the power radiating from them was… odd. Concealed. If I hadn’t been looking directly at them, I’d have missed them even with [Aura Detection].

Stealth experts.

“We got a dozen, but they increased the number of guards they sent. I don’t think we’ll be able to hit any more without more support.” One complained.

“Don’t be a wuss. We don’t have to kill them all, just destroy the supplies. A well-placed [Fire Bolt] would do the trick.” A different one said.

They walked off towards Michael's office before I caught anymore, but I didn’t really need to. That was enough. This is larger than I thought. Jammers, raids on supplies, more, I don’t even know about.

I’d wrongly assumed this was just a game of attack and defense. I wasn’t sure why I assumed that, but the bigger picture was being revealed to me now that I’d thrown away that thinking.

Probably Assassins somewhere too. Rogues and Rangers out behind enemy lines.

I needed to expand my thinking. And I needed to do it before Frostheim was in this position. My straightforward fighting style had influenced me into thinking war was the same.

It didn’t help that all of our conflicts were relatively straightforward, cementing that thought process.

When the attack finally came that day, I watched.

When boulders and spells rained down, I let the [Mana Shields] take care of it. When attackers charged the walls, I let the defenders take care of it.

It was… difficult.

My hands itched to rip my hammer free and start swinging, but I held off on jumping into the fray. When every instinct said to blast the area with [Tundra’s Descent], I held off.

It… frustrated me. When the enemy was nearing the walls, I couldn’t hold myself back from sending a few [Ice Arrows] their way. The attack was weak, compared to what else I could do, but still felled a few. Enough to ease the frustration, albeit barely.

When an attacker stepped forward with a power above the rest, I conjured a javelin of ice and threw it his way, skewering him through with ease.

I got looks, as I was the only Ice affinity, but nothing more than that. The essence was… poor. After Tasunka, even the Baron didn’t amount to much, and even he had more than what I was gaining.

With both Michael and me easing the pressure, the attack was easily rebuffed. I ended up sending around a dozen [Ice Arrows] and a few conjured javelins. It was the bare minimum I could do. Literally.

Michael gave me an appreciative nod, but I didn’t respond in kind.

I want this to be over. I walked off to my room, frustrated.

___

My wish came a day later, on the morning of the third day. Vanessa still hadn’t arrived, but [Aura Detection] felt someone powerful coming close. Except it wasn’t from the west, where Vanessa would arrive.

It was coming from the west.

I woke with a start, and my armor was on in a flash. In moments, I was atop the walls looking out, looking for who was behind the beacon of power.

This wasn’t like the Baron from before. This was deeper, denser, and… radiant. Like Austin, but different. Less blazingly bright, but still luminescent.

Zuri.

Michael was next to me a moment later, staff in hand and a heat radiating out from him. It prickled my skin, but I held off from flaring my ice.

“She’s here,” Michael whispered under his breath.

“It would seem so,” I said.

I set my hammer down upon the stone. “Will you face her or shall I?”

His head whipped toward me, “You would do that?”

It was then that I noticed his hands shaking slightly and his eyes wider than normal. His measured expression was slipping. He was afraid. Rightly so, based on what I could feel.

“It is why I am here,” I said simply.

We stood in silence as we felt Zuri approach her Faction’s camp. She remained in the camp for a few moments before she soon departed, but not for the Fort to attack. To the side, to an empty snowy plain, devoid of any cover or trees.

“What is she doing?” Michael asked, confused.

She pulsed her aura, as if to call out to both of us.

I gave him a pat on the shoulder, “It seems she wants to talk.”

Before he could respond, I leaped from the walls and crashed into the muddy ground below. Michael hesitantly followed but landed much more gracefully. Instead of crashing down, he floated almost.

We walked together toward where the lone woman stood.

In the snow with winter by my side, I feared no one. Even if her aura was strong, a near match for my own, I wasn’t going to shy away from a talk.

As we neared, I saw the robes she was wearing and felt the enchantments laid upon them. I felt the staff and the mana it radiated. Powerful didn’t begin to describe it.

They have good craftsmen, I noted. Her staff seemed a match for my hammer, which wasn’t something I’d ever felt before. A summon skill like mine?

The snow crunched underfoot with every step, and we drew to a halt around a hundred feet away.

Her robes were stark white, the color of pristine snow with black accents to give it depth. It meshed with her skin well. Dark skin highlighted by glowing white freckles on her face. Her eyes blazed with a similar light.

Her hair was braided and tied back, and she stood at ease, but ready to respond.

Her eyes were locked on me. “Why are you meddling in a war that is not yours?”

A confusing way to start things, but I answered all the same, “Because I was called.”

She scoffed, “You’d fight just because of that? My people starve, and you oppose us because you were called.”

“You assume that the two are related,” I said, “But they are not. I do not oppose you for any other reason beyond the fact that you are the aggressor. You could have done as I have, and sought land to develop where there was no one. You could have sought areas elsewhere, but you didn’t. You sought to claim what someone else had, and that is why I am here.”

“There is nowhere else,” she said angrily, “Do you think I want this? The bloodshed and death?”

“It is not a matter of wants. I did not want to be here either, yet here I stand.” I responded.

“We-” she was cut off as four more auras made themselves known.

A raging fire coming from behind us, signaling Vanessa’s arrival, and three others from behind Zuri, two of which were unknown to me, and one whom I’d only ever heard about.

Ryan Clairmont was here, and with him, I assumed, was the Leader of the third and final Faction involved in this affair. I’d not seen hide nor tail of them so far, but that was about to change.

Of the four new arrivals, only one drew my attention. It lacked the tint I’d come to understand was related to noble titles.

It lacked the title, but stood at a level comparable to mine.

Interesting.