Part 2

Chapter 6

"Raze the building," Winder ordered, vehemently.

Complete pandemonium reigned around my clock tower. Masonry, gears, even roofing tiles were thrown down from the top of the tower in the troops' mad effort to silence it. Finally, quiet at last, the clock gave up, its pendulum stilled, its chime disconnected, its weights strewn about.

I had enough. Ignored ever since the chime went mad, I had withdrawn to the back of the crowd. Unarmed and unarmored, I wasn't considered a threat and wherever I went my Banishment by Winder still hung over me. No merchants would deal with me and my rights as a citizen, such as they were, removed.

Invoking a small magic spell, I gated to the West Side of town and walked to the Smithy. Although news of my Banishment might have preceded me, in this case, it may not matter, as I had stashed my armor and some weapons in my old apprentice locker.

Beard wasn't there. I silently wished him luck with the Butcher, as I collected my gear, and headed home.

Buya was quiet and unnaturally beautiful, perhaps because I was worried I might be seeing for the last time. I walked through the gates unchallenged, amongst a group of young people returning from a hunt in the wilderness. Again, I owed my short stature for allowing me to blend in better, perhaps the gate guards even assumed I was one of the youngsters. Even dyed Phoenix Red, my armor would hardly have passed a close inspection. It was one of a kind, with a tiger emblazoned over a blazing sun; it was far too heavy for any youngster.

Once inside, I headed straight for home. My hut was undisturbed, the small patch of herbs and the carefully raked gravel path exactly as I had left them. It was also quiet and empty.

I sat on a bench by my cold hearth and concentrated on a Whisper spell.

"Pteri? Where are you?" I felt the Whisper go through, but it was a long wait for her reply; she couldn't be in Buya.

"Gareth? How are you?" My wife replied, "I am in Kugnae still."

"Thank the Gods," I whispered, "I thought you were arrested."

"Arrested?" Pteri repeated. "No, but many citizens and I have been brought together to talk with the King."

"So, you are free to leave?" I persisted, trying to sound calm.

"Well, no," she explained. "Some have been turned back at the door, but the King isn't here, yet."

"Just where are you?" I asked.

"We are quite a crowd, Gareth," she said with a chuckle. "The only place large enough was the Goh tournament hall!"

"One more thing, Dear," I continued. "By any chance, do you know if magic works there?"

"Funny you should ask," she replied. "It doesn't. It always used to... I guess the King is really worried about Zibong magic!"

Chapter 7

It was late evening by the time I had collected a few things from the hut and trekked back to Kugnae. These gate guards were even more inattentive than in Buya, so I had no trouble getting past them. Under the cover of darkness, I managed to get quite close to the massive tournament building without getting spotted.

Cloaked by several shrubs, I felt confident that I could hear anything said by the guards at the door. Unfortunately, these guards weren't very chatty. If the King's Magic didn't protect them, I could have easily gotten around both of them.

"That crazy priest was back in the Donjon today," one guard said, casually.

"Got arrested? Good for him!" the other chuckled. "What did he do?"

"Inciting a riot," the first guard explained. "You know him... shouting at a crowd, claiming that the whole kingdom isn't real. He says that the only true reality is love, loyalty, and friendship."

"What a nutball!" the second guard said. "Hope they threw away the key this time."

After that, they were silent again.

I had no fresh ideas. I worked my way back around the building. There was a locked back door, leading to a storeroom, but lockpicking wasn't one of my skills. I sat on one of the buttresses that supported the wood slats of the wall. Good construction! These waist high posts every few feet along the wall would support the outward force of the roof. Since designing and building my clock tower, I had started to notice these things. Instead of buttresses, on our clock tower we made the walls at the bottom many times thicker than at the top. It worked pretty much the same, though.

Now, if the buttresses were removed...

I stared at the post on which I had been sitting. A square beam as wide as my hand, who knows how deep in the ground, I would need a horse to pull it out.

The words of Sailortaurus went through my mind. "That bar of steel weighs as much as a horse." Perhaps an exaggeration, but if I could lift that weight with one hand...

By the time a Warrior reaches the end of his training and becomes one with his "shadow self", he is roughly one hundred times stronger than when he started. Such might is an awesome responsibility. Still, some of us, when we reach that point, train on and with perseverance and some luck, continue to increase our strength. Though I don't think of it much, I realized that now I was roughly twice the strength I was when I finished my training. Certainly a peasant would have no luck removing that buttress. But two hundred peasants?

First, I searched through my pack for any item that might magically enhance my strength. I put on all of them, some I had to tie to my arms, one I strung around my neck. Then, I squatted next to my chosen buttress and got a good grip with my gauntlets. I tried slowly increasing pressure with my legs, but before I could apply more than a fraction of my strength, my hands slipped off the worn, smooth wood.

Each buttress post was about an arm's length from its neighbor, so I tried bracing my back against one and planting my boots at the top of the next. I pushed hard.

With a loud snap, both posts broke off at ground level, and I fell in a well-armored pile on top of them. I lay quietly for a few minutes, expecting the guards to investigate, but they must be used to strange noises. This was Kugnae! Not civilized--like my home in Buya.

Quietly, I got to my feet and inspected my handiwork. The builder had designed the board to be hidden behind the buttresses. Now the ends were bowed out as pressure from above had no where to go.

With the tip of my Runed dagger, I pried out the loose boards, quickly making a hole large enough for myself, and therefore anyone else inside the building. I had to rely on moonlight coming in through the hole in the wall, but it seemed likely that I was in the storeroom. A bolted door was at one end of the room; the other end must be the outside door, locked from the outside. Benches were stacked against the wall, except for a small broken pile of wood that used to be benches in front of the new hole. In the minute that it had taken me to get used to the dark, I had stepped on them. Unless I am dodging a sword, I am not too graceful. I slipped the bolt on the door and slowly opened it. There wasn't much light coming from the main room; they must have dimmed the lights for sleeping. Makeshift bedrolls were scattered all over the floor; I stopped counting at more than a hundred Reborn.

That many? I wondered. Perhaps some of their family accompanied them. I guess when you take into account the years Spellblaster had collected souls for his Zibong army, a hundred or even more might not be so hard to believe.

Most of the lamps were in one corner where a small group--mostly Mages, from their robes--was huddled together around a familiar figure.

"PteriDae," I whispered, then made my way across the room, stepping over children wrapped in their parents' cloaks. No true bedding here, the guards must have been in a hurry.

"All we can do is wait..." I heard my wife caution.

"Not anymore!" I announced, pushing through the crowd to my wife. Lifting her in a tremendous bear hug, I prayed the King's Magic would keep her from harm from my almost uncontrollable desire to squeeze her.

When I set her down, she was smiling, so I guess it did.

"We've been released?" she asked.

"In a manner of speaking," I told the small group of Mages. "I am busting you out of here!"

"You're what?" PteriDae gasped, in disbelief.

"I knocked a hole in the back wall," I explained. "As long as the guards don't check on us, we can just walk out."

The Mages seemed thrilled but watched PteriDae for a reaction. She seemed unusually calm.

"Gareth," she said, evenly, "May I speak to you for a moment?"

"Uh oh," said one of the Mages. "I think someone is going to have to stay after school."

"Did you give this ANY thought before you broke in here?" my wife asked when we had found a relatively quiet corner to ourselves.

"Well, yes, of course," I defended myself, not understanding why this was a problem. "I planned the escape and the route to Sanhae... Why aren't you happy?"

"Happy?" she said, just loud enough to make a few of the sleepers around us start to grumble. "What do I have to be happy about?"

"Living another day sounds nice for a start," I explained. Then I told her about Gaku.

"That poor boy," she said quietly. Tears welled in her eyes but remained unshed. "But I don't see what that has to do with us."

"They Revoked him because he was Reborn." I was exasperated. "Even without Zibong powers! What will they do to your students? Or, to YOU? Remember, you are the strongest of them all!"

"They won't Revoke everyone," she said firmly. "How could they? We have many children among the Reborn, and very well known citizens. The Gods wouldn't do that."

"Maybe not the Gods," I said. "But the Angels, Pawns, Archons, and other Immortals seem determined to get rid of Reborn."

Then" we cannot give them any excuse that justifies themselves before the Elder Gods," Pteri said. "I insist the Reborn stay here."

"Rabsha Revoked Gaku without blinking an eye; he will do the same to you." I held her hands firmly in mine. "You have to come with me!"

"No, you stay," she insisted, just as firm in her resolve. "Together we can make the Gods listen.

"If we got the chance..." I muttered. "Oh, yeah, I may have forgotten to mention something. I cannot stay."

"Why not?" the hurt in her eyes showed through her confusion.

"It seems that I got myself Banished," I explained. "Um, no big deal."

"You what?" she exclaimed. I explained about my clock tower.

"Oh, Gareth!""

Chapter 8

The crowd was fairly well divided. Many Reborn had shown no Zibong powers, most of these elected to stay with Pteri, trusting in the wisdom of the Elder Gods. All of Pteri's Zibong Magic 101 students were coming with me, a unanimous decision made after I described Rabsha's treatment of Gaku. Many of their friends and family chose to accompany them.

I organized my party into five groups, all with a strong Zibong Mage in charge. My plan was for everyone to invoke scrolls, returning each one to their hometown. Four small groups were all Buyan, and would each head for a different gate. The one large group was Kugnaean. Their job was the most dangerous, as they would have to all pay to be transported to Buya through the taverns. Someone was going to notice three score people in the middle of the night.

"Those of you going to the South Gate of Buya, take your time. Bring anything useful you can carry. The others will have to go through your gate, then walk around outside town, meeting everyone else outside Southgate."

"Why don't we just meet in Buya Gathering?" one young Rogue asked. "It is much shorter from there to Sanhae than through the Wilderness."

"Good question." That young kid seemed sharp, I will try to keep an eye out for him. We will need as much help as we can get. "Two reasons, first, no magic works in Buya Gathering making it a perfect ambush. Immortals aren't restricted like we are. Second, I have a bad feeling about the Kugnaean group. It is too large. Someone will get suspicious and if word gets back to Rowann, Buya Gathering is where she would meet us."

"When do we start, General?" the Rogue asked.

"General?" I exclaimed.

"Why not?" the Rogue shrugged. "You have five divisions under you. What else could you be?"

"There are advantages to a military organization," I mused, "and we do need to worry about supplies..."

"How many of you have Militia training?""

Several hands went up.

"Any Guard members?"

Several more hands were reluctantly raised. More than a few angry stares met them, even from Pteri's group.

"None of that!" I reproached. "As of now, we are all one group, the Reborn. Treat everyone EXACTLY as you would your family. It could well be those of us, and I include myself, that have had Guard training will be responsible for saving us all."

I got the senior Mages and most experienced Guard together in each group to work out a command structure. I grabbed the young Rogue and pulled him aside.

"Hope you don't have any plans," I told the young man. "I will need an Aide and you are going to get a crash course in military organization and tactics. Don't expect much sleep for the first few days. What is your name, Rogue?"

"Donatello, sir," He seemed pleased to be selected as my Aide.

That won't last long, I thought.

"Grab a few younger Rogues and get to know them," I added. "We are going to need messengers."

I weighed my pouch in my hand. Nearly full, but we had a lot of tolls to pay. The young Rogue's eyes widened as I handed the heavy bag to him.

"Make certain everyone in the Kugnae group has enough money to get them to Buya." I tried to think, but my mind kept wandering back to Pteri, waiting patiently with the others; "Keep the rest of the coins, for the moment you are this army's purser, too."

I glanced over at my wife.

"Damn the Gods!" I thought. "I can't afford to get distracted. These people are depending on me."

I opened my pack, slid out the sheathed Flamefang, and handed it over, too.

"Have one of your friends, preferably a fast one, take this to the marketplace and sell it. Get anything you can for it so long as it is in coin." Rogues seem to be born with the ability to tell valuables and this one was no different. He knew he held a small fortune in his hands.

"What should I do with all that money?" he asked, stammering slightly.

"Buy supplies... as much as you can carry," I explained. "And take a friend."

I sent the young man off with his burdens. He seemed to understand that my trust in him was a greater burden than the sword and gold. Within a few moments, another young Rogue showed up.

"I was told you needed me?" he asked, timidly.

"Messenger!" I shouted. He clapped his hands, probably trying to gate away, heads turned from all around the room. "When I yell that, I expect you at my side BEFORE I draw another breath. Tell your friends. Your first job is to inform the Mage leaders it is time to move out."

"Yes, General," he replied and ran away so fast, I swore he disappeared.

Until I met up with everyone in Buya, I was free. Pteri still stood to the side with her group. They talked to her, but she mostly stared in my direction. Come to think of it, that was exactly what I was doing. I sighed and walked over to her.