Chapter 34: Isekai Life & Drink Circle

The funeral was held by midmorning. We scavenged a few leaky derelicts from the ancient boat house in which our party hid our perfectly good boats. I was able to use Mending to make them seaworthy, and the bodies of Nievan and the other member of the Ravenwatch who died, Galtrath, were laid in. Their armor and shields were kept to be delivered to their families, but the mist elves did not send their people to the grave unarmed, and so each one clasped at their breast a shining longsword. After, earth and stones were packed around the body, covering their legs and abdomen.

I didn’t know Nievan well, and I didn’t know Galtrath at all. But as Raszil spoke some quiet words of prayer over the two bodies, I couldn’t help but reflect on my own mortality. These two men had given up centuries of their lives to protect a handful of human farmers and a princess who had led them to their doom. It was difficult to comprehend the enormity of it. I couldn’t tell if they were heroes or fools, to have sold so much for so little.

If only we had access to some of their griffons still, they could be whisked off to the Mist Kingdom in time to be resurrected, but in our current situation it was impossible to get them to a strong enough cleric within a week.

“Interred in earth, water or sky, the destination is the same for all mortal beings who walk this earth,” Raszil said solemnly, “Suleyar, we ask that you greet these men as brothers, give to them the final Answer, and lay bare all earthly secrets to them, so they may rest at peace, full of the knowledge that they had served their purpose under the heavens.”

Haseth, as their commanding officer, waded out into the river, holding each skiff steady so that Kythaela could kiss each man on the brow, before sending them on their way, out to sea.

It was a solemn moment for us all, but unfortunately that didn’t get to last.

By noon, our number of farmers on hand had been cut in half. A few strong rowers had taken a quarter of the supplies and all the teenagers and children onto our commandeered goblin boats, and started off upstream to Rhymer’s Cross. They would arrive a few days ahead of the rest of us, and bring news to the town of the goblins’ defeat.

The rest of us would be travelling overland, on a meandering course that would take us days to find the closest road. Boss Gull swore that he knew these woods like the back of his hand, and could get us town within a week. As escorts against the threat of goblins, my party and the Ravenwatch would be accompanying them.

However, not all of us would be going.

“I’m staying here,” Moruca told me in a defiant tone, as we were distributing the supplies evenly among everyone travelling, “You lot are leaving the job half-done.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, “The goblins are done. It’ll take years before they get together into a concentrated force, and that might never happen, depending on how winter turns out. They’re certainly no longer a threat to the people here.”

“I signed up to kill goblins, and there are still goblins, hundreds of them,” was all she offered as explanation.

That was partly my fault. I didn’t truly appreciate just how many goblins there were. We killed hundreds over the course of the battle- the goblins had even gone so far as to send their own children against us, a fact I had mixed feelings about- but as far as anyone could tell from the tracks and their own recollections, it was only about half their total number. The rest were scattered and leaderless, but still vastly outnumbered us.

It suddenly dawned on me what might be going on here. “ ... You used to have grandchildren, didn’t you?”

It didn’t seem possible, but Moruca’s face hardened even more. Where before she resemble a tough old tree root, now she seemed to be chiselled from stone. “Maybe, maybe not. If I did, they ain’t around no more.”

I had been thinking about what Raszil had said to me two nights previous. I put a hand on the old woman’s shoulder. “Take as many arrows as you think you’ll need.”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What do you mean?”

I gestured at everyone here, rigging up makeshift packs on the bottom floor of the tower. “Voss, Yua and I need to go take care of our companion, Calliope. The elves need to get their princess home. The farmers need to get to work on their crops before autumn. For the rest of us, this job is done, and it’s time to move on.” I turned back to Moruca. “If you say your calling is to hunt down the rest of these goblins, we’ll leave you with whatever we can spare, and all the arrows you need. You will want to avoid camping near the coast here, because of the lacedons, of course.”

She was silent for a while, then turned away. “Good.”

I took that as thanks, and went back to helping people with their packs.

We set off shortly after noon, heading into the forest, moving east and slightly north towards the nearest ford. The goblin encampment wasn’t abandoned, but the handful of goblins there avoided us, fleeing out of their crude lean-tos and shelters as we went. Nobody bothered them- after all, we had just left the tower which, at this point, was almost a charnel house with all the dead clustered around it.

Once we were past that point, I hustled ahead a bit and fell in beside Haseth and Kythaela. The princess didn’t react to my presence, although Haseth gave me a nod. “Sir Theodore. To what do I owe the honour?”

“Um, sorry if this is awkward,” I began, “But I just wanted to make sure you got word to Seran that we rescued your princess. So he can arrange to have Calliope raised from the dead.”

“How would I do that?” Haseth asked, confused, “I don’t have a messenger bird or anything...”

My dismay must have been obvious, because the battle-scarred elf allowed himself a small smile. “Ah, I see. Our agreement was to raise your lady in exchange for your cooperation. I never intended to hold her life hostage in exchange for the rescue of Princess Kythaela.”

I shook my head, disbelieving. “What exactly do you mean?”

“If the winds favoured Seran’s flight, and the king accepted Seran’s explanation, Lady Calliope should have been among the living since the day before last.”

“Wait, what? Why would you... ?”

Haseth help up a hand to stop me. “You agreed to lend your cooperation, we agreed to raise Lady Calliope. Actually freeing the prisoners is merely a happy consequence of our agreement. Had we failed, your lady will have still returned to the living.”

“Ah, I see.” This must be what it feels like to make a deal with a straight-up Lawful Good person. It had never even occurred to me that our deal would play out that way.

Abruptly, I realized that the elven princess was staring at me, with that wide-eyed, owl look of hers. I thought initially it was from her being shell shocked within the tower, but it seemed like it was more of a habit of hers.

“Uh, sorry,” I replied, running a hand through my hair, “I didn’t ... I mean, I guess I didn’t full think things through.”

“It is alright, Sir Theodore,” Haseth replied, “I am a man of honour, I would never ask someone to put their life on the line for a reward they may never get to enjoy. A fool pays for victory, a wise man pays for loyalty.”