A deal worth making

I have been woken up at midnight. It turns out that I can take a person with me when I teleport. It just took a succubus to confirm that to me that that is what most teleporters can do and to volunteer for the first „jaunt“. I am tempted to let that distract me from what we are about to do by wondering what else I am missing due to caution. But no, if you do mass murder, you should concentrate on it, just for practical considerations.

The village has a wooden pallisade and a gatehouse made from stone. They even have two people on watch. They are rotating every few minutes. Given the temperature I can understand why they are doing so. They are even doing patrols of the palisade at irregular intervals. But they have a fire place in the gatehouse. Again, totally understandable, given the temperature. Nevertheless, the one just stepping outside has ruined his night vision.

Are they wearing armor? They do have helmets. It wouldn’t protect them from a lightning bolt or a fireball, but that would mean giving up any chance of a stealthy entry. And that is true only if we leave magic aside. I can see the magic on Marental’s armor and sword I am wearing at a distance greater than this. I am not ready to take this as a definitive answer. I will go for the neck.

Zewrepa nods. I jaunt and strike. I have severed his spine from behind. He went down without uttering a sound, dead before he hit the ground. Yet his helmet still makes a sound as it hits the ground. I stand still, as still as I can. I am listening for movement. I hear my heartbeat and the blood rushing through my ears. At least nobody calls for the dead man or yells out an alarm. I check him for armor. I can even hear the little drips as I use the sword’s magic cleaning before I sheath it. My heart is beating very fast. I put the loop on the end of the rope over a merlon and throw it over the edge. Compared to a helmet it is silent and I am too hyped to be slow. Besides I want a weapon to be ready as soon as possible.

I don’t wait for my accomplices to get up here, but take a few steps onto the wooden part of the wall to meet the guard on patrol a bit away from the gate house, while I take the crossbow from my back and put a quarrel onto it. I don’t have to wait long. The second guard isn’t wearing armor either. He grunts as he goes down. Again I strain to listen.

Zewrepa puts an upper hand on my shoulder and repeats the plan „You stay up here and watch for movement, while we two go down and open the gate. Don’t forget to look both ways. We go from house to house. You just watch until you here a commotion or see people gathering. If that happens you set a few houses on fire and give fire support. Stay in the air unless you have to land.“

I am taking a shower. I don’t feel dirty in a figurative sense. I have been sweaty and my hair smelled of smoke. That should worry me. Instead I felt powerful. I would like to feel a grim, manly determination to do whatever it take to protect me and mine. I felt that on the way to that village. On the way back, which took some time in the darkness because the wards prevent me from teleporting close to the cave, I felt emptiness. But during the slaughter I enjoyed the power.

There is a sound behind me. I whirl around. Hildegard smiles with approval and says „Do you want to talk about it?“ My hands move down a bit to cover certain parts, before I stop myself half way. She nods and comments „A bit late for that. I appreciate the concern. Yet we cannot pretend that nothing happened between us.“. I shut the shower off and dry myself, reaching a blanket serving me as a house robe. I fumble putting it on. In a soft voice she says „Take your time. It does affect you. It affected my brother.“. I manage a questioning gruntlike noise. „He was sent out to defend our fishing rights. They executed a fishing crew in retaliation. He kept looking around for weeks after that.“ she says. „I expected disgust. Instead I got a feeling of power. I am not saying that I enjoyed it. But I liked the feeling that I could do that with impunity.“ I reply. Maybe my diction was a bit faster than normal. She nods „Formally you are not nobility, but there is no point in denying that you are a High Adept in capability, even if not formally so. You are superior. In a lot of people finding satisfaction in demonstrating it this way would worry me. Not in you.“. I look at her questioning. She goes on „The infant. It was odd. It is odd. Not bad, but odd.“. In an uneven voice I reply „I think there has been an incident with a child in my past. But I absolutely will continue to care for her. Tactically speaking I think it is even an advantage. I’d rather be underestimated.“

She quotes „It is good for you to know more about your enemy than he knows about himself. It is even better for you if he thinks that the inverse is true.“ „That sounds like a quote.“ I say. „It is. I am prepared for warfare, mostly indirectly. That includes taking care of the mind and mood of .. of my future husband.“ she explains. Quickly her head turns to me and she continues „I know that it is not that simple. I do not wish to presume.“ Her hand covers her lower belly for a moment. Her look at me turns into a stare and her jaw tightens a bit „But we, all three of us, will have to talk about this. I understand that during Ragnarök formalitities have to be abandoned.“. She shakes her head and goes on „By all rights I should be in formal mourning. This is no longer just our problem in the most fundamental way possible.“ I laugh. She makes a sound of indignation. I lexplain „I never thought that I would begin a new live in another universe and start it by becoming an archmage, a warlord and opening a nursery.“. She looks at me with indignation but a twinkle in her eyes wins. „Yes, that is ridiculous. However, we need to work on your decorum. And your swordsmanship.“