Chương 26: Chapter 25 - Not Alone

Elias drifted in and out of consciousness as an all encompassing warmth surrounded him and a gentle rocking provided a comforting sensation as he drifted along. As his previous memories drifted through his mind, the sensation of an all encompassing warmth blared a warning sound in his mind, and with a surge of will he forced himself awake. With a gasp Eli bolted upright whipping his head around in confusion, surging backwards to find himself plastered against a wall.

As he gathered his wits and the fog of dreams cleared from his mind, his racing heart slowly eased as he realized he was not in danger. Taking in his surroundings, Eli realized the all encompassing warmth was simply a blanket tucked around him and the gentle rocking was the motion of the carriage he was riding in. Eli scrubbed his hands over his face in relief and the desire to rub the sleep from his eyes only to stare at his hands and arms.

He checked his body to find that not only had all the soot, blood, and viscera been cleansed from his body, but his armor and clothes had been stripped and changed into a set of what can only be described as slightly cultish leisure wear. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt of thin but clearly well tailored linen, matched by a similar pair of mid thigh shorts of the same make. What is with this world's obsession with white linen?

Taking a deep breath at the lack of danger, he looked around the rest of the cabin, surprised to find yet another weird anachronism, as the only way to describe the interior was an old-timey faux RV. There were a series of bunks surrounded by hooks where one could strap themselves in, followed by a series of collapsible compartments leading towards a door in the back.

The shape gave away the purpose of the compartments, clearly intended to be folding tables, benches and such, the kind that would be all too familiar to anyone who spent some time in a modern RV. Eli clutched his head as a flood of memories pounded into his head yet again; his thoughts surged in confusion, this world was too much, too familiar, too weird, and too violent.

His heart lurched in his chest as his mind spiraled with the thoughts flashing through his mind of blood, pain, slaughter, fear, wonder, sadness, astra, laughter, burning, running, jumping, stabbing, astra, pride, satisfaction, safety. Flash. Adrenaline surged in his veins, a warbeat of drums ramping to a crescendo as his eyes raced around the room and his fist closed on the void of a missing spear, thoughts flickered through his mind, Bandits. Flash.

A face gasping its dying breath shedding tears up towards a cold night sky, a sneering smile in the dark followed by a descending dagger, a pair of sky blue eyes above a derisive grin glaring in defiance. Flash. A flash of silver in the dark followed by a splash of red, a flash of white teeth in dark. Flash. Silver, white, red, silver, white, red, a quiet hum in the distance. Flash. Silver, white, red, silver, red, red, red, a rising resonant chorus approaching that he could feel in his chest. Flash.

Red, silver, red, a creaking noise in the dark, and a flash of brilliant white light. Flash. Blue, sky blue, the scent of sunshine and wildflowers, a song I've heard before, a familiar hymn. Flash. Eli's eye blinked against the glare as his heart raced and his mind whirled in a disorienting swirl of discordant rhythms. Blue, warm, safe, humming-blue, singing-blue, safe.

Eli was so used to the drumbeat in his chest snarling at the slightest hint of danger, like an unruly guard dog that has to be restrained from every visitor to its home; so much so that he was genuinely startled at the speed at which it calmed. This strange response broke him from the mental spiral he found himself trapped in, Eli sighed with no small amount of relief from shedding the strange overwhelming sense of fear and existential dread and the odd memories fled from the forefront of his mind.

Turning towards the door wincing against the bright light, Eli took in the face of the one who came unwittingly to his aid, as Astra looked down on him with an exuberant gaze that softened into a slightly worried look as she took in his expression. She closed the door to the carriage, crossed the floor, and sat on the bunk across from him. She was wearing a set of white linen slacks and tunic similar to Eli's outfit, although she did have her arming sword strapped to her waist.

Astra's gaze roamed over him with a gentle smile before reaching across the aisle and taking his hand with a smile." Good Morning, troubled dreams?" Eli was surprised by how much her touch seemed to ease the turmoil in his heart and mind, rubbing a thumb across the back of her hand he croaked out a soft, " Yeah." Astra nodded, " Me too. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, surprising Eli by the genuine concern in her voice. He coughed to clear his throat, before shaking his head, " Not yet."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. She gave his hand a squeeze." Never forget, your guide is here to help whenever you need her advice, you need only ask."" Yesterday was pretty rough, ready for more?" Eli took a couple deep breaths to settle his mind, as the drums in his chest rumbled with a final emotion, safe, before settling fully to rest.

Taking a final breath to clear his mind, Eli gave Astra's hand a squeeze in return before his stomach decided to make its priorities known with an audible rumble." Does more include breakfast?" Astra snorted, rolling her eyes before giving him a smile." More like lunch, but aye. Together?" Eli smiled back, " Together." The pair stood as one and turned towards the door to face the day together.

Elias winced as his eyes adjusted to bright light outside, blinking as he trudged after Astra down a series of steps hanging off the back of one of the armored wagons. Stretching his arms out, and working loose a couple kinks from the cramped bunk as he took in his surroundings. The bandit camp from the night before was barely recognizable, and given that Eli only spotted maybe a couple dozen men and women roaming the camp, he surmised that they must be old hands at the process.

The supply depot had been broken down and neatly loaded into four of the spare wagons, two of which were hitched in line to be towed behind each of the armored carriages. The watchtower, tents, and cabin had been dismantled into a large pyre that was piled high with dozens of frozen bandit corpses slowly thawing out in the midday sun.

The a group of soldiers were taking the last few piles of assorted debris and tossing them on top of the pile of corpses, while another group were walking through the remains of the camp occasionally gesturing with faintly glowing hands towards the foundation of a former structure or a firepit, which would then disappear beneath a mound of churning earth. Eli was surprised at the number of dead bandits, most of the camp must have been asleep when he and Astra arrived in the dead of night the previous evening.

I really wonder where Mira falls in the scale of things, a society of people who can drop an entire village of people with the snap of a finger sounds absolutely terrifying. Astra was right, I would never have believed it if I didn't see it for myself, she must be insanely powerful, accurate too, given she was able to shatter those chains without touching the people wearing them.

Eli followed Astra over to a cook station set up near the previous night's bonfire as a pair of men were distributing food to a short line of people. Eli could tell by numbers alone that there were more than just Astra's troops present, and by the harrowed faces and gaunt figures scarfing down their food like starving wolves while huddled under blankets on the far side of the cook station, they were most likely liberated slaves.

Eli grit his teeth in anger as he realized the number of women far outweighed the men, and given the visible bruising and silent sobbing, he could guess what purpose they had been used for. Eli took a deep breath and schooled his expression, the past was in the past, he would just have to make sure they did what they could for the victims.

As they reached the end of the line and Astra turned his way with an upbeat expression, Eli relaxed, even if he had known her for a grand total of one day, he doubted she would give them any less than her best." I am glad to see you up and about! I had the strangest feeling that you were going to wake soon. Apparently after freeing Mira last night, we both passed out, and since we decided to imitate a couple of sacks of turnips, she decided to treat us like some." She grinned in amusement, " She said…"

Eli smiled as Astra took on a deeper warm tone and stern expression that was a fair impression of Mira." I told the third squad that you thought helping out was beneath you, so told them to dunk you in a barrel and chuck you in the wagon, while the rest of us picked up the slack." She snorted as she leaned in with a feigned conspiratorial whisper." Do not let her fool you, I imagine she was much kinder than that, and was genuinely happy that we came to their aid."

Eli chuckled and waved her off, " Don't worry I know the type, if anything I bet she was damn proud of you. How long were we out?" Astra tapped a lip while squinting at the sky, " I do not have the [Timekeeper] skill, but you were out for about six or seven hours, I have been up for about an hour or so." Eli laughed, " Really? There is a skill for that? Do you guys not have watches?" Astra rolled her eyes at Eli, " Of course, we are not savages, I just don't carry one.

And yeah, there is a skill for pretty much everything, [Timekeeper] is actually a stellar skill for clerks and managers in certain fields, in addition to an internal time piece at high levels it allows for analysis of large time schedules such as a Master trader who owns multiple caravans or fleets." She gestured off in the distance, " You would be shocked what is out there, even more so what seemingly mundane skill can do at higher levels.

Ask my master some time about the man she ran into with [Whistling] in the 200's." As Eli pondered what kind of power a whistling skill could have to impress someone like Mira Astra continued." Either way we both needed the rest, it was a grueling night. We are getting close to getting under way." Eli nodded towards the soldiers combing the camp." What's left? Anything I can help with?" Astra looked back at him with a fond smile before shaking her head."

It is kind of you to ask, but after last night you have done more than enough already." Her smile softened as her gaze bored into him, as if she just looked deep enough she might get a glimpse into his mind." It is strange, yesterday you were more than willing to drop everything, run leagues, fight with all your might, and ultimately kill for someone you just met, on nothing more than a whim as if it was the easiest of decisions."

Eli shrugged, " Seemed the right thing to do, if a stranger needs a little help and it's in your power to do so, you do it." Astra fixed him with a stern expression." Eli, you did far more than offer just a little help. What a strange and wondrous place you must come from if such gallantry is commonplace." Eli laughed, " Hardly, it's full of assholes too, the stabby kind are just a little less common."

Astra smirked, " You have hardly received a fair impression of our realm, we have plenty enough of our own dangers, that the human kind tends to be fairly rare as well. As your guide I shall do what I can to correct terrible injustice."" But alas, breakfast awaits, after all it is hard to slaughter all the never do-wells on an empty stomach." Eli chuckled, " That it is, so what is on the agenda for today?"

Astra started ticking off items on her fingers, " Feed these unfortunate souls, return to our previous camp, reclaim our equipment, and then off to the village of Springdale to hunt some rats."" If all goes well then we'll be off to Emerald Grove, the nearest town with a garrison, to see about repatriating our dear citizens and hopefully uncovering the source of this tragedy." Astra grimaced before leaning close."

Mira found a few things last night, these were no simple bandits, I'll fill you in later as time permits."