SS [66] Portal Maker

There were only two hundred dwarves that had survived the monster attack. Far too few of them were children. Bjorn watched as Tanisha helped the last of the elderly into their wagon. They only let those that were too injured to make it on their own, children and the elderly ride inside. The benefit of the dwarves being small was that they could fit forty of them inside. Unfortunately to save weight and space Aurelius and Tanisha had thrown out their beds.  

The Consortium had given them the promised twenty rejuvenation potions. Bjorn only knew the basic difference between rejuvenation and health potions. A health potion was infused with magic, a chemical spellform that was partially or fully empowered on its own. A rejuvenation potion is a chemical spellform that is not complete without someone drinking it. They draw in mana from the one that consumes it to heal wounds. Rejuvenation potions take much longer for the effects to run their course especially with normal civilians that do not have much mana anyway. 

Despite Bjorn’s earlier warning Jocasta decided to stay with them to drive the wagon. Knock and Bolder were stationed on opposite sides so they could react quickly if something attacked from the treeline. Everyone on the team had to keep watch over the refugees. The last thing they needed was to hold up a fighter with reins. Thankfully the dwarves were hardy people. They moved without much complaint.

“I wish we could have kept the beds.” Tanisha muttered to herself.

“You will get a new one soon.” Bjorn said.

“I know.” Tanisha said then looked back to the wagon. “Why does he get to be on the wagon?”

Soren was standing on the leather canopy. Several of his talismans were floating around as he scanned the area.

“He is an archer giving him the high ground—”

“I know, Big Man.” Tanisha said airily.

“He did a good job during the attack in the town.” Bjorn said.

“He did alright,” Tanisha admitted reluctantly. “I know what you are doing. He can be competent, that doesn’t mean anything. He is still a druid.”

“I am not doing anything,” Bjorn said.

“He is not Adelheid. He saved me once, that doesn’t change what he is.” Tanisha said.

“Ah, sure. Adelheid’s people did try to kill me. Nearly succeeded too,” Bjorn said. “What has Soren done though? Attack us, no. Try to assassinate me, no. Call you out on being a butt, not even that. Hmm.”

“Did you forget about Joha? Those were his people.” Tanisha said.

“I don’t remember him being there. I don’t remember him giving orders. He is the same species—sure, but not the same people.” Bjorn said.

Tanisha grumbled under her breath and they walked silently for a while.

“You think I am wrong?” Tanisha said.

“No.” Bjorn said.

“What? Why are you defending him then?” Tanisha said.

“You can dislike whoever you want. Just don’t let it cloud judgement. Hate him or not, he’s useful, not hostile, even helpful. Working with someone does not mean you suddenly have to endorse everything they—or their people have ever done.”

“Were is Ana?” Tanisha asked.

Bjorn knew she was changing the subject but decided to play along.

“You were the one that woke her up.” Bjorn said.

“You are her dad.” Tanisha said.

“I told her to fly overhead and let us know if she sees more monsters.” Bjorn said.

Tanisha looked upward but didn’t seem to find her. The only reason he knew where she was in the sky was because of her scent in the air.

“She is up there somewhere?” Tanisha questioned.

“I also told her to stay hidden.” Bjorn said.

“We are going to have to do something with her soon.” Tanisha said.

“What do you mean?” Bjorn asked.

“People can mistake her for a wild animal. The reason people are comfortable around you is because you are a familiar. I mean that and you are quite handsome.” Tanisha said.

“You want to turn her into a familiar as well?” Bjorn questioned.

“I don’t know if that is possible.” Tanisha admitted. She switched languages to Valish. “Also I don’t want to be tied to another True. I already lost my antlers being connected to you. I can only imagine what would happen if I were connected to her too.”

“You have gotten used to the tail.” Bjorn said.

“Yeah but having to cut a hole in all my pants is annoying.” Tanisha shook her head. “Look, I love Ana but I don’t want to start growing spikes or be covered in scales… or become a reptile.”

“Point taken. So what do you want to do with her then?” Bjorn asked.

“She is already learning how to talk. I think after she becomes more proficient we have her stay in a humanoid form around other people. Maybe we can pass her off as a cambion.” Tanisha said.

“She can only use that ability for about four hours and that is if she uses all of her maya to maintain it.” Bjorn said.

There was a brief silence as Tanisha thought about the situation. 

“Wait… isn’t she controlling maya from instinct? Nobody taught her maya control or anything? Maybe I should become her teacher. Once she can understand me fully. If her control increases she can maintain the form longer. I will also make sure she remains disciplined.” Tanisha said.

“Huh… you know that’s true. From what I can tell she has some instinctual knowledge. She knows things without anyone having taught her. But I never thought to test her knowledge of maya because… well she is better at manipulating it than I am.”

“Dad,” Anasuya said as she landed on his back. “There are monsters up ahead.”

“How many?” Bjorn asked.

“Lots.” Anasuya responded. “They are swaying back and forth but aren’t moving.”

Bjorn relayed the message to everyone and they prepared for a potential fight. What they found was much stranger. 

The monsters were standing in place. Some of them swayed others twitching but all of them seemed to watch the group as they passed through. It appeared that the Consortium might have crippled some of them while they were immoble. 

“Why are they still like this?” Tanisha asked.

“I don’t know.” Aurelius said but seemed to think a bit longer. “Maybe because the amount of monsters in the monarch's sphere of influence was so large it takes longer to fully control them. These monsters are essentially fighting for control and trying to free themselves.”

“That is a scary thought.” Soren said.

“We need to see if we can pick up the pace then.” Aurelius said. “Bjorn you might have to carry a few of the slower dwarves.”

“It will slow my response to an attack.” Bjorn said.

“If we move fast enough, hopefully that won’t matter.” Aurelius said. “Tanisha, can you open a portal to Korim?”

“I would have to have been there,” Tanisha explained. “And it would likely take several hours to make and  nearly all of my and Bjorn’s magic. Also, I would have to be stationary while I stabilize both the portal and anchor.” 

“Good to know. How long would it take you to make a portal to Highhall?” Bjorn questioned.

“About a day from here with my and Bjorn’s mana regeneration. I could probably connect it to the Runecrown Estate.” Tanisha trailed off into thought. “Yeah, that would be a good spot. I doubt that it has changed too much.”

“What do you mean? How do you know how long it will take?” Aurelius asked.

Tanisha tapped her lip while she thought about it.

“Hmm… the best way to explain would be that the portal requires for me to have an impression of the area the other portal opens. It also has to be somewhere that hasn’t changed much from that impression. From there I can just kind of tell how much mana it would take to open it. After we went through the rift I gained intrinsic knowledge of portals.” Tanisha said.

“How long would it take you to make a portal to the Force Isles?” Aurelius asked.

“I don’t have a strong enough impression of it. Or the surrounding area. Since we were still far away before the rift opened. The mountain was beautiful but I wasn’t really focused on any specific area. The closest I could probably do is to the place with the landboxs we rode on leaving Helmforað. But I don’t think that would be a good idea if the Great Serpent is looking for us.”

“How long would it take?” Aurelius asked again.

Tanisha again stopped to think about it. Someone nearly ran into her while she focused on whatever mental math she was performing. She then caught back up to the group.

“Maybe three and a half months.” Tanisha said but she sounded unsure. “Assuming I can. There could be interference from the Chaos Lands or the weird metal the walls were made out of. It is not a good idea though. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Aurelius said.

“I think we should be more worried about the monsters we are walking through right now.” Soren said.

“You are right. Bjorn, go collect the slowest people. Soren, tell Jocasta to pick up the pace and don’t worry about hitting the monsters. Run them over if you need to. Anasuya, continue to monitor from the sky. Tanisha you are on rearguard I will take vanguard.”

***

Night had fully fallen by the time they saw the mana lights of Korim breaking through the treeline. The town was only barely large enough to meet the classification of a town. Korim had once been an unimportant transit hub, but it had suddenly become the center of attention for several northern oligarchs.

Bjorn's ability to see just as well in darkness as daylight let him make out the changes even before they reached the town. New buildings already overshadowed the old ones. Construction equipment crowded the roads, while entire swaths of forest had been cleared for future expansion. The gravel road ended where the wealth concentrated, giving way to freshly laid streets and newer structures.

“It is about time.” Tanisha said.

“Once everyone is in the town we can figure out what the next plan is.” Aurelius said.

“Next plan?” Soren questioned.

“Yes.” Aurelius said.

Soren hopped down from atop the carriage.

“We have already done what we could here.” Soren said, “Unless you want to join the dwarven army, I think we continue on to Postlumia. We aren’t giving up on them. We have already saved everyone that we could.”

Aurelius looked back at the crowd of exhausted dwarves following them into the town. 

“What do you think Tanisha?” Aurelius asked.

“Ehh, if the dwarves can handle it then we keep going. My father told me once that not every battle is mine to fight,” Tanisha said.

“You are agreeing with Soren?” Bjorn interjected.

“Don’t ruin it—but it makes sense. The dwarves aren’t harmless, they will know how to handle this.” Tanisha said. 

“Didn’t you run headlong into a monster stampede to save people?” Soren asked.

“I acted to be with Bjorn. I trust him and am not going to let him fight alone. I am glad that we saved people but he was my objective.” Tanisha said.

“So you wouldn’t have fought if Bjorn wasn’t in combat?” Soren asked.

“I would have listened to my team leader as to what to do next.” Tanisha said as she grabbed Aurelius’s hand. “He’s a big softy so I am sure he would have had us jump in all the same. A little more prepared though.”

“Right.” Aurelius said as he wiggled his fingers free. “I am sure any of us would have helped.”

“I say we do more.” Bjorn said as he inserted himself. “Something tells me these rifts aren’t normal.”

“What do you mean?” Aurelius asked.

“I think it has something to do with how the Great Serpent is looking for us,” Bjorn said, one of his heads looked to Soren. “I think that unless we want to explain everything to him, we should talk separately.”

Aurelius’s gaze shifted to Soren, then to Tanisha. She shook her head negatively and Aurelius sighed.  

“Yeah, we will talk after we get settled. It would be good to get some food too.” Aurelius said.

Soren looked between everyone with some suspicion but didn’t pry into the group’s secrets.

“Just let me know what we are going to do. I will need to prep my talismans.” Soren said.

***

The Consortium’s caravan was already settling inside of the town. The team didn’t get a moment to themselves before they were pulled into an emergency town meeting. The dwarves were rightfully terrified of what it meant to have a monster horde with a jeweled winged monarch. Tanisha especially was asked to give her account. No doubt because she was the highest ranked member of their group socially and that carried weight.

Bjorn himself was too large to fit inside of the town hall so he spent his time walking around the settlement. To his surprise the dwarven military was already in the town to a sizable degree. As it turned out they were actually stationed here to fortify the border. They were in the process of building a military base in the large clearing just outside of the town. Hostilities between Isopike and Postlumia were still escalating and the opportunity to leave through that corridor would only become more strained if the monarch cut off military supply lines.

We really need to decide what we are going to be doing soon.

The military had the town under martial law with the presence of a calamity less than a day away on foot. Much closer considering it could fly. He wasn’t allowed to walk around as much as he would have like as he was limited to the main square. Military patrol ensured he didn’t drift too far from there.

Bjorn tasted a familiar scent in the air before he turned the corner and headed back to city hall. There was also the unmistakable taste of cigarette smoke. He saw Jocasta as she smoked while she leaned against the wall just outside of the government building. He assumed it was her given her scent but honestly he wasn’t sure since she was not in her full body coverings anymore. Instead she was in a rather light sleeveless blouse and dark skirt.

It was the first time he had seen her without the coverings and he just assumed it was a custom of her people. He wasn’t so sure any more. She was extremely pale to the point of being albino. Even her hair which was cut short and practical was white as snow. Her eyes were a light blue to the point they could be mistaken for silver.

“Couldn’t fit inside I am guessing.” Jocasta said.

“Jocasta?” Bjorn questioned.

She exhaled a stream of smoke then looked down at herself.

“Ah, you haven’t actually seen me before. Yep it’s me.” Jocasta said.

“You look different.”

“A lot of people say that. I have to wear the covering to keep from getting sunburned.” Jocasta took another drag. “Can’t smoke in those things though, the smell will never get out.”

“You aren’t going to go inside?” Bjorn asked.

“Me? Oh no. I am not important enough and I am sure they don’t want another elf in there. I get the feeling that we aren’t as welcome as we would normally be right now. Tight squeeze for you though.”

“Also I think half of them were afraid I would bite them.” Bjorn said.

“I can’t see why they would think that.” Jocasta said with a chuckle. 

“Thank you for taking care of the wagon.” Bjorn said.

“Of course. It’s what I do. Had to put that degree to work somehow.”

“No really. We didn’t run into any more combat on the road but it could have gone very differently. I know you know that. You had the option to go with the Consortium where you would have been far safer. It means something that you decided to continue to be our driver.”

Jocasta seemed to think on his words for a moment and he didn’t rush a response.

“You all needed to focus on keeping everyone safe. All I did was keep the wagon moving and the animals calm. Not saying I wasn’t freaking out. Especially when we came across those twitching monsters but I couldn’t just leave those people. But I didn’t do much. Nowhere near what your team did for them.”

“It still took courage. So don’t take that from yourself.” Bjorn said.

“I… uh. Thanks. You still surprise me with how smart you are. I keep trying to put you in the same category as any other animal but you aren’t, are you? You don’t have to answer that. I don’t want to pry into royal wendigo secrets or anything.”

“Are you sure? Maybe it is a secret worth dying for?” Bjorn joked.

Jocasta laughed and nearly choked.

“There are not many of those I am willing to die for. So you can keep whatever it is to yourself, thank you very much.” 

She became more solemn as she took another drag of her cigarette then dropped it and stomped it out. 

“Wish we could do more. With the monsters between here and Highhall I doubt anyone will be able to get word to there before the monarch starts moving.

“Huh.” Bjorn considered her words chewing on the thought. “Maybe we can actually. We would have to say here for a day though.”

“Uh, what?” Jocasta questioned.

“Tanisha can teleport and open portals.” Bjorn said.

“She can open one from here to Highhall?” Jocasta questioned.

“Presumibly she had mentioned earlier it was possible but it would take a day.” Bjorn said.

“I don’t think the Rufinus will want the caravan to be this close for that long. And with everything going on I wouldn’t be surprised if he wants us to leave tonight before tensions at the border escalate even more.” Jocasta said.