Dim prisons and Drakes, chapter 50. (Patreon)

Apparently This one either wasn't posted or somehow the site ate it. Either way, I didn't notice, and that's my bad. The good news is, it's here now! So, a little out of order but... please enjoy?

The night was bright yet dark at the same time. The torches lit around the green made a hash of my more sensitive nightvision, but in the space between, it was almost like looking at dusk. The moon was full and bright and hung low in the sky.

It looked the same as always, yet there seemed to be something different. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Idly I wondered if the moon lander was still up there, and our flag. How far did this thing, whatever it was, truly reach? Was it local to us or the region, or far worse?

There hadn't been any airplanes or helicopters to reach us. No word of large ships coming in from the ocean. No evidence of the other continents at all, not that we had a way to check.

Maybe a crystal radio? Those didn't need much in the way of tech. Had I even seen the tech for that much? I don't believe I had.

No, focus. Those people moving in what they thought were the shadows there, all bunched up. they were planning something. It was a good thing I'd stuck Poe outside my tent, just in case. Randolf was good, but he was only human: his eyes were worse in general and had night vision ruined even worse by foreign light sources than mine were.

Well, mine or Poe's.

Poe had been sleeping, but woke up from... well I don't know what from. Even so, his waking up had woke me up, and now I was staring past my happily crackling fire elemental deterrent, past some very bright torches, and squinting at a group of people gathered up, apparently whispering to each other.

Not even I could make out the words over this distance with all the other noise pollution about.

Even without his eyes, though, it seemed Randolf knew something was going on. He just wasn't looking. I met his eyes and nodded, then popped back in my tent before someone caught on. Poe would be enough to warn me if they went against us.

Randolf would also do the job, unless he took an arrow in the back or something first. Poe would at least be harder to hit... and had a few other protections, besides.

If they had 2 archers, well, the elemental was small, but wasn't just for show. A quick flare up would wake any of us. Until then, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie. Not that my companions were dogs - they just needed the beauty rest.

The real question was, should I go back to sleep myself? Something had startled my familiar awake, after all. I wanted to know what it was. After all, if could have been that group hanging out and obviously plotting something in the shadows - or it could be something else, using that very obvious reason for cover.

It was only paranoia if they weren't out to get you, after all.

I needed Poe here though, so how best to determine there wasn't anything else going on?

Maybe I could use that one spell I'd used with Les before, in the castle. It had made a pretty good scout, but it felt like a bit of a waste when I was just making assumptions. After all, if I spent power on it now, I might need the power later and not have it.

Whatever, I was awake, so I might as well get some reading done. At least until the action kicks off. I didn't need my candle with this much light around, so there was no reason to worry about making myself a target or tipping people off.

Hm, maybe one of those white noise generator things or a nice portable music system would help. I could make one if I put my mind to it. If I had time. If I needed to, after this quest.

I'd love a nice phone with ear buds, or even an old mp3 player. Others would too.

Let's see... the forces of lightning, or of electricity that I was using to mix with light itself in order to teleport could be mixed with other things, or even used on their own. On its' own, couldn't I use that to increase the range of most of my attacks of that type?

I could mix it with darkness. What would happen if I did that? I think I'd need a different catalyst since darkness as an element was pretty inert by itself.

The people were moving now. No arrows from the dark or anything first, just a mob moving closer. How foolish.

My fire elemental puffed up, shedding light and heat in a hiss. That meant someone had closed to within thirty feet of us. Matt was already rolling to his feet as I popped out of the tent, and Karl was right behind him. Randolf was already up of course, glaring into the night, daring those he couldn't even properly see to challenge him.

The crowd was already melding back into the shadows, which they no doubt found comforting. The light, the noise, seemed to break whatever they wanted to do. Just as planned.

The rather cartoonish angry face that was directed toward the largest group of them might have also had something to do with it. I mean, you see something like that, you'd at least pause, right? It looked more cute than fearsome, though. Fearsome was for this little guy's big brother, or brothers.

"Bastards." Karl muttered.

"You knew they were going to try us."

Matt snorted, looking over to the farmers we'd sort of adopted for awhile; they were still asleep. "We all knew that. Even these guys did."

"They likely won't try again," Phil muttered, still in his sleeping bag. I could make out the glint of knives though, and I knew he was ready.

Ethan finally managed to untangle himself. He'd somehow gotten his ax wrapped up, and now sported a new cut in his bedroll.

He frowned at it; I'd go ahead and help him with it later, once we didn't have people skulking around.

"So, sit up?" I still couldn't believe they didn't even try arrows.

"Might as well," Randolf replied. "They will be expecting it."

"They had to know this wouldn't end well for them," Thomas stated. The mob had fully retreated by now. I could still see a few of them in the distance, but they were all but running now. "What I'd like to know is who put them up to it."

A good question. Someone or someones had likely put them up to it.

But we'd never know, really. Not unless we did some very shady stuff ourselves.

"Well, I'm going back to bed. The elemental has another four hours, so wake me when it vanishes."

That would be sunrise, or near enough. I looked to my cutie, now back to normal size and face, bouncing merrily above the scorched but likely still living grass.

Les hadn't said anything. He was awake and aware, though; I saw his eyes open and taking things in as I reversed back in.

Whatever, now that the expected was over with, I could sleep at last. Probably.

As it turns out, that wasn't how it worked; I couldn't turn off my worrying brain. Any shift or muttered word had me fully awake again, and by the time I felt my elemental fade away, sending me its signal of 'mission complete', I was done with even trying.

The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, rays  first as it was wont to do. Ethan and Karl were both awake; everyone else was asleep or pretending to be.

Might as well start the day, in other words. I took two steps over and gave Matt a gentle kick.

"Ow!" The baby whined. Then he curled in like I'd really let him have it and groaned theatrically. Luckily, his acting skills sucked, and not even Karl was fooled. Heck, I doubt even Ethan would have bought it.

"Come on, get up. I need you for something." Karl gave me a look, and I stared him down. He should know what I'm after without me having to say it and embarrass us all.

"Right, sure." Matt stated immediately, jumping up as if he had springs mounted somewhere. He even had his shield in hand already - how had he managed that?

He'd been waiting on the call, clearly.

Then he ruined it of course, by asking the question: "where are we going?"

I leaned in close. "Nature is calling."

"Ah. Oh!" was his reply. Well, that and to go red in the face.

It shouldn't be a big deal; none of us should be alone of course, regardless of our situation, and if he peaked he'd be dead. That was all.

Despite the childish reaction, Matt was someone I trusted. Maybe even trusted the most, so he was coming. He'd watch my back, and I'd watch his.

Wait, I should wake Lily up. She and her family were us, at least until we left, and would be seen as us, or treated as one of us until we left. Which could mean harassment, especially since that attempt at whatever it was last night.

I walked over, and leaned in close. They were all still asleep, but Edward was stirring. As befit his profession. "Lily."

"Huh? Was?" She stirred at the sound of her name, blinking bleary eyes right into mine. "Lady Muse?"

"Yes. I'm going to walk a bit this morning. Would you like to come?"

Lily was anything but slow on the uptake. "Of course. Give me just a moment!" She jumped up herself, gathering some odds and ends like a reasonably clean looking cloth and her toothbrush.

That was a good call. I went back to my tent and snagged my smaller bag of toiletries. After all, it was better to have it and not need it...

Lily seemed to have an idea of where to go, so I'd let her lead.

She looked to me, and I waved her on. She started walking East, towards the sun. Matt opened his stride up with a sigh and took the lead: "allow me."

For once, Matt was acting the perfect gentleman; it felt a little weird. Poe would be our spotter from the air. He took off and cast his eyes below for me, showing me a whole lot of normalcy. Most of the people still seemed asleep. The few that were not, were doing their own things. Breakfast, mostly.

Lily led us out of the green and into the areas where the more awake people were. The people that weren't really professionals but were acting the part as best they were able gave us hard stares as we passed, without exception.

Lily ignored them, chatting brightly about how the weather had turned and was nice, and how soon they would leave for parts unknown. I'd tell her, once we were out of earshot of this place, where not to go. It wasn't really safe back the way we'd come from, after all. Not for a family.

Lily led us past the newly formed wall and the guards manning it with as little hesitation as she had leading us down the streets, still chatting away. I didn't miss the glances behind at those same stone-faced people as she veered off, heading toward either a stream or river.

I could smell it, just a hint of it, on the gentle breeze itself.

Through a bit of field and down an embankment cut into the earth itself over eons, we found it. It was a stream, wide and shallow, almost to river status. The water smelled fresh and clean, which meant the stuff had to speed up before reaching this point, as only running water free of contaminants smelled this way.

Good enough for our purposes. I could also tell from all the tracks and prints that others thought the same. The entire group of refugees must come to this spot for water or to bathe. I certainly wouldn't be doing that, but I could appreciate the idea; this spot had a whole 'ye old watering hole' feel to it.

"If you stay here, you can get up on that little knob there, and see anything coming for a mile in any direction," Lily informed Matt. Which was as polite a way of telling the man not to follow as he was likely to get.

Certainly better than I would do: "You heard the lady."

Matt snorted. "Sure. If something comes after you, don't forget to scream."

"As if. Come on Lily."

There didn't seem to be anyone around here, so it was probably safe. I had Poe do another pass as Lily went toward a large stand of reeds.

A few steps into it, she turned around and hiked her dress up without ceremony.

I looked back, and Matt was out of easy sight. She'd clearly done this before.

I was long past the point of awkwardness myself, so I just unbuttoned myself and joined her. What a difference a few months made. As long as I didn't say anything, no one should know. Well, other than my friends and the people who knew me.

Luckily, they weren't talking.

I passed some paper to Lily, who took it with some clear wonder, which was fair, I guess. But I wasn't a savage, and since I could have the stuff, so could she. It made me wonder a bit, on what the substances most were using for the simple things.

I finished before Lily did, only to find her checking me out. She sighed as our eyes met, and gave me a wan little smile. "We really can't compete with elves, can we?"

That was a dumb way to think. I mean, maybe she couldn't, but I'd seen plenty of women who could. "We're all human. Some of us just look different, right now."

Also, act different, but that part didn't need to be said. It wouldn't help the little reminder.

The smile died and slid off as she finished, straightening up and tossing her own borrowed paper away. "You'll never get people around here to agree with you on that. Those who are now elves have beset us of late, attacking some, driving away others. They act differently than the rest of us."

She muttered something under her breath I clearly heard, because of course I would. It was comparing elves to orcs, which wasn't something I found flattering, even if the casual racism wouldn't have disturbed me anyway.

I found myself reminding her again. "Those people, elves and orcs and every other one, were human just last spring."

Lily started off, not even a hint of apology in her tone as she answered: "Well those humans drove me, my husband, and my kids from our farm three days ago, and we'd never done a thing to them. They freed our animals and set fire to our new barn, which burned our supply of fodder and feed. They filled our yard full of arrows, shooting at anything that caught their eye while we hid ourselves away. And we were not the only ones they did this to."

Was that why they were making a wall? No, a palisade? Why the other villages around here were too? Not orcs or goblins, but elves?

There had to be more to this. Something really big. But was it our problem? Could we afford to make it our problem?

We reached the nearest part of the stream and Lily bent over. Idly, I got my washcloth and soap out. Like normal for country living, we would wash up here and then go further upstream to drink.

Lily had her own washcloth and soap, both looking a bit more ragged than mine, but that was to be expected.

"Where is your farm?"

"Further down the road, that way. Southeast."

So on our way then. Which meant the elves, or whoever was out there, were also on our way.

"Hey."

I hadn't jumped as Matt joined us, having both seen him through Poe and heard him, but Lily hadn't been so lucky. Lost in thought?

She'd gotten startled, so now I felt bad. "Sorry, guess I should have warned you."

The poor woman stopped shuddering. "It's okay."

"Come on, let's go get that drink so we can make some breakfast. Have you got any plans today? You and Edward?"

"We're going West. Away from here. The farm isn't worth our lives, and maybe we can find jobs in the city."

I had bad news for her. For all of those refugees, really. "It's not really any better to the West. We've fought bandits, orcs, and undead on the roads, and much worse besides. It isn't safe for anyone, let alone a farmer and a farmer's wife."

Let alone the children of that farmer and his wife.

Still, it seemed better to be on the road than in the village. Something uncool was going on there: "Even so, getting out is something I'd recommend. That village, its a powderkeg."

Lily frowned at me, head tilted in mid-sip. "We know. yet if we can't go West, where can we go?"

The water was just as pure as it smelled; sweet and a little cold. North was probably not much better. "South? We haven't been or heard anything about the South, it may be fine."

I wanted to tell them to just be ready to run, whichever way they went, but that would sound condescending; of course, they should be ready to run, at any moment. Speed would be their best defense. Well, speed and numbers.

"Are the others leaving today?"

Lily nodded and stood up, signaling she was done. I'd better fill my canteen; Matt was already beating me to the punch there.

"Many of them, going West."

"Well, then you should probably go West with them then, even if I wouldn't recommend it, having people to help you out should you get in trouble would be better than not." The people were her neighbors and friends, after all. They would help her.

Lily shot me a wry look. I tried to look apologetic. I think it worked because Matt stifled a laugh that was clearly at my expense.

Whatever, my canteen was full. It was time to go.

Wait, Matt. "Did you need to do anything while here?"

"Already did it while you two were chatting. I'm a bit less modest."

Right, of course. It was Matt; he'd probably unzipped from his over-watch position as soon as we disappeared, and just let fly. Jealousy, go away! I'd show him, I'd show them all! I'd make a magic toilet and live like a King! Or a Queen! Something like that!

A poke at my ribs brought me out of my thoughts: "You're plotting something stupid again."

"How dare you, sir! I'll have you know it's a very intelligent plot!"

Lily giggled, as I'd hoped. "Truly, you are good... friends."

I pretended to ignore the little hesitation there as she said the last words.

Matt replied readily enough: "The best. We've been childhood friends for forever."

Thank you Matt - shut that crap down.

The walk back was nice - at least until we met the others. The other farmers and assorted refugees, heading to the river, because of course they couldn't all use the well to wash up or use the village's facilities to go. Some likely were, but there were still many passing us.

They seemed just as beaten as Lily had before, downtrodden and low on hope.

They really shouldn't be, not after just a few days. A few months? Of whatever was going on. What had really happened here?

Whatever, we couldn't solve everything. Someone else would have to take charge of these people and lead them to safety. Maybe we'd get lucky and reverse whatever this thing was quickly. We weren't far, now. Maybe even less than a week.

Shit, I probably shouldn't have thought that - I'd probably just jinxed us.

It was in my own mind, however, so no one needed to know. I'd just bury that a bit. I guess we should worry about going East ourselves if the elves around here were causing trouble, but I wasn't. I was pretty certain I'd be able to talk to any elves we encountered, just as I had before in all the towns we'd come across. No reason to assume they wouldn't talk to me.

If they wanted to start something, if they wouldn't let us pass, I was pretty sure I could do something about that too. Failing anything else we could loop around South and then back up. Probably.

The sentries had changed by the time we got back to the village; Poe watched them trade out with high fives and other hand slaps. That was a bit odd. Why relieve people guarding you with a bunch of people out of your confines? That was just asking to get infiltrated.

Which told me they weren't worried about being infiltrated. Something about that....

We made it, and the sentries, still yawning off their own sleep, waved us through. A few cast wary eyes at Matt, some others gave me a stare or two, but no one said anything.

I didn't really blame them; Matt could hulk around when he wanted to, and he was doing his best 'I'm looking for trouble, help me find it' hulk right now. I don't know that even Randolf would take that invitation.

Just like that, it was tense again. At least now I know why I was getting those looks. It wasn't occurring in a vacuum; one group of people who happened to have pointy ears were pissed at another group who didn't, for some reason, and now the group that didn't have pointy ears were pissed right back.

No one started anything at least, and we made it back just in time to be treated to the sight of breakfast. Or rather, Karl ruining breakfast. Where had he even gotten the meat he was dressing? A rabbit? There were eggs in the grass beside him.

He was going to screw up my cookware, if I let him.

Thomas and Les were both sporting smiles from behind the man as they watched him make a proper hack job of cleaning the animal. Neither seemed willing to take over or offer any help. I guess I'd have to be the one.

"It's a lot easier when you hang it up. By using a tent or lantern pole, for example."

They were sharing tents now, but it was hardly the start of our journey; when I was the lone person with an actual tent, and everyone else was using tarps.

"I told him that. He could even use a nice flat rock, but no dice," Thomas commented idly, almost as if not directed at anyone at all.

"Do you see a flat rock around here?" Karl asked, blowing up just a little. "The tent pole won't take the weight and force when I start to cut, its not jammed into the ground that far, and I'm not risking snapping the thing."

It wasn't like we couldn't make another. Even here, there were trees nearby, and plenty of dead branches with enough life left in them for the task. If needed, I could shape one.

Right, first things first. I summoned another fire elemental, and set the timer on minutes instead of hours. Or rather, about an hour; we'd be gone before, and using the least amount of time would let me save a little magic.

I checked the eggs - they were unfertilized, which was cool, though I had to wonder where the chicken was. Edward certainly didn't seem to own one, and I hadn't spotted one around.

The skillet was there, and with a little oil, I made sure nothing would stick. Everyone would be getting scrambled and liking it. No one objected when I set up the rack, nor when I cracked the eggs and started them sizzling.

Karl finished, and it looked like everything was clean enough, even if not a single cut was straight. Good enough. I divvied up the eggs and then threw the meat in. Then I realized just what I was doing, and for who. Yeah, that was enough of that. "lily, your turn. I've got stuff to do."

Lily jumped, but then jumped in quickly enough. "Oh! Sure."

She took over, and I moved to begin packing up. Packing up was important because I was sure the moment most of the people left here, the others would attempt to do something stupid.

I could almost bet on the number of minutes difference it would take.

Karl was packing up himself. His hands were more clean, but certainly not clean by any stretch.  I should have brought some water back, I guess; the bucket that someone else had gathered from the well was clearly not enough.

Oh well, he could wait until breakfast was done and it was time to go.

My book, my other book, my light source, and clothes, it all went in the bag. Except for the tent itself and my cooking stuff, I was ready. Less than five, not bad at all.

Lily met me at my tent flap with my plate, a piece of perfectly fried rabbit on it. "Thanks."

The plate was a touch hot, which was odd. I hadn't set it too close to the elemental, I was certain. Still, nothing else seemed wrong, and everyone else was chowing down. Poe had been paying attention, and wasn't cawing his fool head off.

So it was probably okay.

It tasted fine too. Nothing to see here; crisis averted.

It wasn't much of a morsel, but between it and fresh eggs, I was probably good for the day. It beat stale bread at least, and that was what most of the people I could see around us were having.

I wanted to pay Lily back for it, but that would be a mistake. As soon as we left, these people would descend, and if there was an extra coin of any kind, or something physical, they would take it. I had no doubt in my mind.

They would probably be safe as long as they had nothing to steal, at least because these people were their neighbors and friends. At least I hoped so. They would be more safe outside this village though; the people living here were a little too... high-strung.

I broke my tent down and rolled it up while everyone else finished theirs. It was nice to know that Lily had served me first. Or nearly first.

Edward was staring at my pack, as were the kids and almost everyone else nearby. Right, it was a pretty obvious example of magic when I simply stuffed all my crap into it. Likely the first magic these people had actually seen, and it was one thing to know it existed but another to see it in action.

Why they hadn't goggled over the elemental was anyone's guess, though I suppose the had a little. It was hard to be afraid of a backpack though.

Right. We needed to leave, and now everyone was packing up.

"Line up everyone. Free service, just for today. Edward, Lily, you too. It's something nice, I promise."

Really, I say something and he gets instantly nervous? It wasn't like I was going to eat him or something.

Karl had to make it worse, of course. "What are you up to, Muse?"

"Nothing bad, sheesh. Can you trust me here? You're scaring the kids."

Edward and Lily both were probably twice my age. But I could always claim it was their kids I was talking about.

"...Right," Karl drawled out. "Fine."

This was a new spell idea, but I knew better than to mention that. Besides, the theory was sound anyway, and it was based on a spell I knew well. A harmless spell.

Everyone lined up and I focused; I'd actually need to think a bit for this one; A few muttered words and some thought on how I wanted this to work, and a slight blast of wind was my reward.

A blast of wind that wasn't really wind, but a breath of fresh air that carried all the dirt, sweat, and other schmootz awat from my targets, cleaning them all at once just like the weaker version of the spell was designed to clean one target at a time.

Well, almost. In the weaker version, the dirt was just supposed to disappear. With this, the assorted substances were pulled off then flung away. Far away, from the looks of things, yet it was a process I could visibly see. Hope the stuff didn't land on somebody, that'd be gross.

"Oh. So it was that," Karl's comment brought me back down to Earth. "You could have just said so."

Edward, Lily, and the kids were looking at each other in wonderment. Probably the first time they'd been fully clean in months. Which was a horrible thing to think, but likely true.

Everyone else had already started picking up their stuff.

I grabbed my now clean cookware and shoved it in my bag, and Matt laughed.

What was so funny? "What?"

"Nothing. It's just so you. You hit us all with that, just to clean your dishes didn't you? Clean them without hearing us gripe, that is."

He was onto me! "It wasn't just for that. I also wanted to thank our new friends here for sharing their spot and food with us, and this seemed the best way."

A masterful deflection. Our new friends at least seemed to buy it, if the way they all went dewey-eyed at me was any indication.

Matt seemed to need more convincing. "Besides, I did your dishes too. You should be happy to be saved another slog to the river."

Matt opened his mouth, then closed it. I knew I had him. When he opened it again it was to admit "fair."

Karl just sighed. "Can we get going now? Daylight's burning."

No one wanted to be wandering around at night. It was too soon for that. Karl wanted to find a safe harbor of sorts before that happened; we all did. This place wasn't it.

"Right, time to go. Good luck Edward, good luck Lily. Hope your journey goes smoothly."

Edward recovered quickly, I'd give him that. "You as well, Lady Muse. I hope you all find what you seek."

Right, we hadn't told them what our mission was, only that we had one. We hadn't told anyone else here either, come to think of it. Would we have gotten a better reception if we had? Well, that didn't matter right now.

We got into our usual line, and I waved goodbye. Surprisingly, so did my friends. The family before us had made an impression when I hadn't been looking.

"Good luck," I told them all and we started out, marching along just like that.

The others, the villagers, watched us all along the route, but let us pass. I knew they would; they wanted nothing so much as to be rid of us.

That held true until we reached the far end, the one part of the barricade.

A guy we hadn't seen before was waiting for us. He was older, but still looked fit, the silver in his thinning hair catching the newly minted rays of light. He was taller than even Matt, with a barrel chest that spoke of hard work. He had a frown on his face, of course. They all did here.

"Going East?"

"Southeast," Karl corrected. "Why? do you mean to stop us?"

Hands went to swords before the guy held up his own. "No, nothing like that. I was just going to wish you luck. The elves that way are on the warpath."

"We will be fine," Karl answered. The old guy shot a glance at me, and just as quickly looked away.

Which was stupid because not only had we all been looking for it, and so had caught it, but I wasn't even the reason we were going to be fine. Well, probably. The ears might draw a stay of fire for a moment, but I didn't know these people, and they didn't know me.

The others, the sentries, got out of our way, and we left, simple as that.

We didn't wave to the sentries, nor their person in charge.