Chapter 29: Isekai Life & Three Reunions

I was shaking my head on the way back to the treasure room. I had some serious issues with Corgiel at this point. This was supposed to be my “Heaven”, a paradise just for me. But, now, I was going to be a father twice over before the end of my first year of adventuring, something I was still uncertain about. And, on top of that, I had a suicidal rape victim to care for, and twice now I’ve rescued women who were captured and (basically) tortured ... implying that the same could happen to Ashryn, Katriana, and Calliope, and our children.

Just ... yikes.

It only took a little bit of time to search through the pile of discarded elven chainmail and get what I was looking for. Buried in there were a few of the black cloaks of the Ravenwatch, so I pulled one out for the elf girl. She’s had a hard enough time that she deserves not to be paraded around naked in front of everyone.

Returning to the “bedroom”, I went to where I left the girl leaning up against one of the walls. Gently as I could, I helped her lean forward so I could wrap the cloak around her shoulders.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” she asked hoarsely.

I frowned at her. “I’m not that kind of person,” I explained, “I’m not going to pretend I know what you went through, but I’m not going to kill you either.”

She closed her eyes. “I’m tainted.”

“I don’t care,” I replied, “And anyone who does care is an asshole. Now come on, we’re getting out of here.”

I helped her to her feet, and although she resisted a moment, she eventually let m hold her upright while we went limping out of the room. It was a struggle, as she was very weak and I wasn’t all that much better off, between my low constitution and my wound. Even getting halfway down the hall to the stairs took some time ... and that’s all it took for the goblins to find us.

Eight goblins clad in leather and hides came tromping down the stairs from above, all well-armed with swords and axes, probably to try and attack Voss and Yua’s defensive line from behind, provided they were both still alive. But as they were going, one happened to glance down the hall and noticed us, letting out a shout. The girl quivered against me in fear as they began closing in, snarling and laughing among themselves.

“Well, well ... we had better make sure that the chief’s toy gets put away properly, hadn’t we boys?” snickered their leader, “Come on, then, take out the man and- ugh...”

There was a hard smacking sound, and the speaking goblin fell the the ground in a heap. Behind him, unnoticed by all of us, was a very satisfied looking Raszil, bloody mace in hand. He opened his mouth as is to make some quip, but was drowned by the sound of Haseth, charging down the stairs, yelling as battlecry of “For the Raven!”

The goblins were completely distracted from us by this turn of events. The rounded on their attackers and charged into the fray. For my part, I had the girl to take care of. I lead her over to lean once more against one of the walls, while I went through my pouches looking for more spell components.

“Don’t let them take me again, please!” The girl begged, “Kill me first!”

“Relax, I’ve got this, nobody’s going to take you,” I said, trying to reassuring as I grabbed a pinch of sand from one of my component pouches.

I chanted the words to the Hex of Lotus and Willow as I pointed, letting the sand spill out of my fingers. There were four goblins remaining upright after exchanging blows with Raszil and Haseth, two went down under the effects of the spell. After that, the fight was over quickly, as the remaining two gobbos proved no match for Haseth’s blade.

“Princess!” The elf-knight cried in elven out as he rushed over to us. He knelt before the elf-girl and took her hand, pressing his forehead to it. I had been trying to avoid the assumption, but that confirmed it- the poor, abused girl was the Princess Kythaela that Haseth was looking for, the one whose safe return would get Calliope back.

“Haseth, I...” the princess winced, as she tried to hold back tears, “I-I was a fool...”

“No, I am sorry that I fled, your grace,” he murmured.

I felt a little tug on my arm, and looked over to see Raszil, bloodied mace in hand, next to me. “That blood yours, Theodore?” he asked, nodding at the stained hole in my robes.

I nodded. “Yeah, had a little run-in with some guards on my way up here,” I explained, as the gnome murmured words of prayer and delicately waved his free hand over my wound. I immediately felt better, as the prayer soothed the ache and closed up the wound.

“Well, your girl would be very cross with me if I brought you back all dinged up,” Raszil quipped as he patted me on the sleeve, before heading towards the two elves, “Sir Haseth, mind if I said a prayer for the poor lass’s wounds?”

While Raszil healed the princess, Haseth came over and bowed to me. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Sir Theodore,” he said, rising, “I know our alliance is transactional, but truly, redeeming my honour would not have been possible without your help.”

“I’m just glad you two showed up when you did,” I said, suddenly embarrassed, “That was great timing.”

“Think nothing of it,” Raszil explained, having finished casting his spell, “We spotted that squad forming up on the floor above, and decided to follow them, hoping it would let us meet up with you. Lo and behold, here we are.”

“I’m grateful for it,” I replied.

“I don’t understand,” Kythaela said, directing her questioning look at Haseth, “This human and this gnome ... they are with you?”

“It’s a bit of a long story,” I said, waving away her question, “We have to get moving. Voss, Yua, Sir Nievan and the other former slaves are fighting below, and they’re going to need help. Haseth, come help me with the weapon and armour from the treasure room over there. Raszil, stay with the princess.”

Haseth looked uncomfortable leaving his mistress’ side so soon, but came along obediently enough, and letting me pile his arms with the coats of Elven chainmail, before I gathered up all the swords. Then, we were off, heading downstairs to meet up with the others.

I had been a little worried that the situation had worsened below, but as it turns out, I shouldn’t have worried. At some point the goblins had been driven back, and Voss and Yua were sitting on the stairs resting while Nievan and some of the other slaves overwatched the stairs.

Yua noticed me first and rose, but I brushed past her. First things first. “Sir Nievan, I have some things that belong to you.”

Our reunion was short but warm. Nievan and the remaining five members of the Ravenwatch were happy to be properly armed and armoured, and even happier to see their princess and Haseth was alive. For our group’s part, Yua was visibly relieved to see me returned safe, and Vos gave Raszil a slap on the back to see him back. I was also glad to see them all, to finally have some stability in our situation, but I was beginning to put things together.

Once the greetings and back slapping was done, and Kythaela was lead away to rest for a spell in the women slave’s room, I called a meeting with Voss, Raszil, Haseth, Nievan, and the old man, whose name turned out to be the thoroughly ridiculous Boss Gull. We stood in a circle in the slave pen area, leaving the protection of the stairs to Yua, a few of the farmers and a couple members of the Ravenwatch. Some of the farmers gathered around curiously, but none of them dared interrupt their rescuers.

“Okay, so,” I began, “Here is our situation, and someone let me know if they think I’m wrong about something.”

I laid everything out. Below us, somewhere in the tower, were literally hundreds of goblins. A few may have run off, but I suspected their mentality meant they would seek safety in numbers. There weren’t any leaders down there trying to rally them, but we knew that there were still goblin raiders out in the Lakelands somewhere, who knew that we had stolen their boats. Those raiders still had worgs with them, and were probably racing back here even now. They would have at least one respected goblin among them, possibly even the chieftain of this tribe. There were also an unknown number of goblins still in the tower above us.