Book 2: Chapter 70 (Patreon)

Daniel stopped arguing after that and helped them plan.

“Madi, how much did you find out?” Daniel asked. He stuck his sword into the ground and leaned against it.

Why does it look so cool when he does stupid shit like that? Orrin sighed internally.

“Only what I’ve told you. Even my father hasn’t been able to find out more information. If he knew for sure exactly where Brandt was being held, he’d have… acted by now.”

“Orrin, do you think your elf friend might know something?”

“I can ask but once we make any moves, Silas will know,” Orrin responded, pushing down the urge to kick Daniel’s leg out from underneath him. He had one foot propped up backward on Gertrude. “If all we need to do is get in and out, I can sneak in with [Camouflage]. I just need to get close enough to—”

“We are not sending you in alone,” Madi cut him off. “There are a lot of skills and safety procedures set up for [Camouflage], which is one reason people choose [Invisibility] over it.”

Daniel and Orrin tilted their heads in sync.

“What? I can study and read books, too.”

“I think we’re rubbing off on her a bit,” Daniel said, stepping away from his sword to nudge Orrin.

“She’s adorable when she tries to be like us,” Orrin smirked. “I might have a way to get us all in together.”

“We can’t [Teleport] directly into his castle. He’ll have teleport wards baked directly into the walls.”

Orrin smiled and pulled up a spell. He tossed it to both his friends.

Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “How many new spells have you bought?

Orrin muttered something and tried to change the subject. “We can probably hire someone here to get us nearby. We’d need to pay them a lot or… make sure they didn’t go straight home.”

“First, we are not killing a [Locationist]… maybe we can tie them up nicely,” Madi said, shaking her head. “Second, how long have you been able to use [Camouflage] on all of us?”

“I didn’t say kill them and how do you tie someone up nicely?”

“Orrin…” Daniel threatened.

“I bought a bunch of spells when the elves kidnapped you to give to Sanerris, alright?”

“He’s hiding something,” Madi said as she studied his face.

“I know.” Daniel had his hands on his hips.

Orrin threw his hands in the air. “Damn it, guys. I kind of created [Lightstrikes].”

Daniel frowned. “I thought you already had [Lightstrike].”

“With a ‘s’ at the end. I’ve been playing with [Merge].” Orrin scratched the back of his neck. He’d been warned about using the skill but he needed the power. He needed to be able to help his friends. If anything happened to Daniel or Madi, he’d be devasted. If the cost of protecting them was a little risk, it was something he was willing to do.

Daniel pointed his finger at Orrin. “We’ll talk about this later. It’s dangerous to create new spells, isn’t it?”

“I made one that already exists. It’s not like I went off the deep end and spent hours finding out every combination of… why are you both looking at me like that?”

“You totally spent hours doing just that, didn’t you?” Daniel’s face was drawn again. “What are we going to do with you?”

“We need more information on Sanerris’s castle and we need to find someone who knows the area and can teleport us there.” Orrin ignored Daniel and listed the plan item by item. “Should we go just the three of us? Amir would help and could heal Brandt if he needs it while I help fight any guards we come across. Tony might be able to just waltz right in and make everyone forget Brandt was ever there.”

Madi and Daniel shook their heads together.

Madi glanced at Daniel before she started to speak. “Tony reports to the lords of Dey in an unofficial capacity but he has enough power that Odrana would see it as an act of war.”

“Amir is a sweet guy but you can do anything he can do better,” Daniel added. “Hopefully, we don’t need to fight anyone.”

Orrin laughed. “You had to jynx us, didn’t you?”

After figuring out a few more details, the trio made their way back into Dey and went about the tasks they’d assigned themselves. Madi visited the Guild. She wanted to find a Quest that took place close enough to the border that it could be used as an excuse for being away. She was also going to put out some quiet questions regarding getting a [Teleport] there, dropping hints that Orrin might not be able to make it with her and the [Hero] on this outing.

Daniel went to Silas to check on the status of the Pass reconnaissance. This wouldn’t be out of the norm for him. Orrin smirked thinking about how Silas sighed every time Daniel caught his eye. The [Hero] was a micromanager who needed to feel involved and up to speed on every aspect of the plan to deal with the Demon Lord. This trip would be the same as the three other times this week that he’d annoyed Silas with questions. Only this time, he’d be fishing for a better timeline under the guise of going further afield to train. That was something that Silas would likely jump at, giving him a few days away from Daniel’s nagging.

Orrin went to half a dozen shops, buying a random assortment of things. Most of the shopkeepers knew him at this point and waved as he entered their stores. He tried to be discrete but stocked up on mana potions, health potions, and some food, grabbing a few vials from different vendors.

When they regrouped in Daniel and Orrin’s room, Madi slapped a piece of paper on the table.

“A small group of bandits have popped up along the road leading into Odrana. The Guild quest is for information only since it is so close to the border. The Guild doesn’t want us attacking a patrol unit from their army if the reports are wrong,” she explained the details.

“It’s five days of travel on horseback. That puts it outside your [Teleport] range even if you knew where to go, Orrin. I was able to find a few people with [Teleport] but they can only move ten miles. The only ones who can move more are helping set up the barracks at the tip of the Pass.”

“Damn it,” Daniel cursed. “Your dad said they don’t have any concrete reports on the Demon Lord Horde. They’ve sent a few of the stealthiest people they have to check out the surrounding areas and all have returned unharmed so far. Of course, he could be lying to me but I don’t know.”

“Isn’t that good news?” Orrin asked, laying out the provisions he’d gotten on Daniel’s bed. He was trying to separate things into three piles. It would be best for Madi and Daniel to carry their own packs with some supplies, just in case they got separated for any reason. “If the scouts can’t find anything, we have more time. Let’s say one of them comes back tonight and reports movement. That would still give a day or two before the Horde reaches the front line. Even longer before they reach Dey, if we can hold them back a bit.”

“Madi, if it takes five days to get to the Odrana border, how much more do we have to go to reach Sanerris’s place?” Daniel asked and picked a blue root vegetable up from his bed. “What is this?”

Madi took the long tuber from his hand. “You’ve eaten this like five times. It’s a potato.”

“Potatoes are brown.”

“No, they are not.”

Orrin snatched it away and put it back down on the bed. “Madi, how far into Odrana do we need to go?”

“From Dey to the border is about 150 miles,” Madi answered. She turned and walked over to a pile of books sitting next to Orrin’s bed. “I think I brought… yes, here it is.”

Returning to the table, she opened the book she’d retrieved. “I gave you this book ages ago, Orrin. It has a pretty good map of… here.”

Turning a quarter of the way through the book, she spread out a two-page doodle of the world of Asmea.

“Daniel can draw better than that,” Orrin complained. “Are the distances accurate?”

“From the border here, we have to travel northeast about another hundred miles to reach Mistlight. That’s the Sanerris city stronghold. They have a school for [Mages] there.”

“It’s a port town, right?” Orrin remembered a sliver of conversation with Tony. “Could we go by boat?”

Madi shook her head. “Even if we could, it wouldn’t be safe. The elves travel by longship and oar along the coastlines. Odrana has a few trading vessels that go further out to sea but they keep track of every passenger and item on the ships. The water is dangerous.”

“Orrin could get the elves to help us,” Daniel offered. “If we can’t find someone to teleport us the whole way, that would be eight days to get there and eight days to get back. That’s too long. How long would it take to go by boat.”

“Two days, maybe three.”

“Coming back won’t be a problem if we travel on land but I don’t know if I can [Teleport] to the middle of the ocean. I have to have some image in my head of where I want to go. It won’t take eight days to come back, either. I can jump us back easy enough.”

“If you have the mana left.”

“I can always blood cycle.”

Daniel glared and then perked up. “I almost forgot. I have [Homebase]. I can get us all back in an instant.”

“So, we have multiple options.” Orrin finished separating supplies and filled two small bags with some food, a blanket each, and two potions of each type. He moved to his neglected mortar and pestle. He pulled out the penidrops he’d bought and started mashing them. A few regen potions would be helpful for all of them to have. “Go to the elves and see if we can take a boat or travel by land. The problem is the Guild quest. It gives us an excuse to get away but if Silas finds out we just jumped to the elven forest, he’ll know something is up.”

“Do you think that Arandir would tell him?” Madi asked, watching over his shoulder as Orrin boiled the smashed mush.

“I don’t want to chance it.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Orrin continued his process. He hadn’t made the regen potions again and still had one left from his first batch but the recipe was easy for him to remember. He’d made enough solo dinners over the years that his cooking skills weren’t terrible. Making the regen potions wasn’t any harder than following the directions for a box of macaroni and cheese.

After he began drying the powder residue, leeched of the poison, Madi left. She made them promise to not leave in the dead of night.

As she closed the door behind her, Daniel chuckled. “She knows us so well.”

“We should hide in the morning just to mess with her,” Orrin agreed and kept stirring his powder around the small flame.

“In the cellar or on the roof?” Daniel suggested half-jokingly. “You know there is a ladder to the roof in the training yard? There’s a nice view of the sunset against the Wall. Silas has a great spot here. You can see for miles in either direction.”

“… that could work,” Orrin muttered, forgetting to stir penidrop filtrate for a moment and nearly ruining the entire batch. He quickly stirred once and turned to Daniel. “How high in the air do you think you could throw me?”