Nighttime – Back at Camp

” ‘nd ‘e says ‘I knew ye had ah heart, I jus had ta dig deep enough ta fin it’ ” One of the dwarvern riflemen said while gesticulating with a knife with a chunk of hog meat on it. He was already quite deep into his cups, reciting the day’s events to the soldiers who were gathered around the fire. 

It wasn’t the first time the story had been told; in fact, it seemed to have become a competition between the dwarves over who could tell the tallest tale of the short battle with the old wyrm. The soldiers all seemed to be eating it up, though, listening attentively to each recounting of the battle, then turning to look over at John in awe. 

John just sighed. 

After the dragon died, they pulled him out of its gullet with a laugh, then proceeded to cut out its heart. They had brought it back to the pair of dwarves with the artillery gear who had remained behind at the blacksmith, Feranor and Ferador Steeltoe. The brothers rushed into the shop with it, made a lot of crashing and banging noises inside, and came out with the red orb John was holding now. 

“Listen, Laddie, just keep this on yer person, and your attacks will be imbued with fire magic,” Ferador said, the spotter handing him the palm-sized crystal ball. “Now, as fer helping ya with the orcs, lemme tell ya about some of the things me brudder, and me can do fer ya…”

And this is how they ended up back at the camp, sitting on log seating around the fire and eating roasted pig, waiting for the brothers to upgrade their unit’s equipment. They required some gold and materials to pay the dwarves for the service, but Lord Uther covered the cost immediately, no questions asked. When John questioned why he was so willing to pay their price, the older paladin had just laughed.

“The basic stuff we equip our troops with is fine and all, but if you have a chance to get a couple of dwarven craftsmen to upgrade your units’ gear before a big battle, you should always go for it. There is a reason the dwarves of Ironforge are highly sought after for their talents. Good work today, Lad, or should I be calling you ‘Lord Dragon Slayer’ now?” Uther had told him while laughing heartily. 

John had tentatively laughed along with him, but inside, he was still shaking from falling into the dragon’s gullet. He was still shaking hours later, even after calming down and eating a slab of the pig meat the men had roasted over the fire. He raised a hand in front of him, and it was vibrating like a tuning fork, and he couldn’t stop it.

“Heal!” He chanted the spell. The green magic flowed through his limb, slowing the uncontrolled movement of his hand, but it didn’t stop it altogether.

Is this just my nerves from facing that beast? Or is it something else? Alec did say I had ALS…but I can’t recall what all of the symptoms are… am I going to just shake like this from now on?

Once they finished with the orc camp tomorrow, John was considering heading back to DEN in search of answers. He wanted to leave this world in a less stressful spot than he had left most of the others in case the resurrection spell he needed was here, waiting for him to find it. Conversely, he wanted to explore this world further, taking advantage of the seemingly constant strife to both save the people and further improve his expanding arsenal of skills. 

He was at an impasse with his thoughts when Eh sat down beside him, carrying a plate of meat. “Are you okay, Milord? You are not looking well.”

“Just thinking about the day’s events, Eh. I had a fear of drakes, but that fight seems to have calmed that down a bit. What can I do for you?” John replied, bringing his mind back to the present. 

“Just an observation and a request, Sire.” Eh said. The footman took a moment to muster his thoughts before continuing. “Since yesterday, you have constantly thrown yourself into the front lines of battle. The men and I respect you for it, some of them downright worshipping you for fighting shoulder to shoulder with them.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming.”

“Yes, Milord. You are the crown prince, and your father, as you know, is in poor health. You cannot be so reckless with your life when the nation’s future is riding on your shoulders.” He continued, looking John in the eye. “I won’t tell you not to fight, as sometimes it will be necessary, but you need to rely on us to be your shield and your sword. That is the oath we gave, to protect your life at the cost of our own, and you wading into battles where it is unnecessary is making it difficult for us to honour that oath and keep you safe. So please, Sire, will you stop unnecessarily putting your life at risk? We are expendable, you are not.”

The question caught John off guard. With all the joking and merry-making around the bonfire this evening, and Uther’s men guarding the camp so they could rest before assaulting the orc base, John did not expect to have a serious conversation about his conduct on the battlefield.

John’s memory fragments told him what Eh was saying was true: his father in this world was old and frail, and he would be succeeding the throne sooner rather than later. Millions of people were counting on him to assume the mantle of King, and falling on the battlefield could end in a messy power struggle as the high nobles tried to consolidate power. 

John took a swig of the watered-down beer they were drinking, giving himself a few moments to chew on that thought before replying to Eh.

Is Eh telling me it’s time to stop leading from the frontline and instead step back and look at the greater picture? Maybe… maybe he is right. I am the prince of the nation after all. Maybe it is time to return to the capital and prepare to take over the throne, instead of running around and putting down orc uprisings.

My memories tell me the person I replaced has already proven himself in battle time and again, so no one would question my suitability for the throne due to a lack of martial prowess. Not to mention that it would also provide me the opportunity to learn how to run a nation. Alec keeps telling me I will be a great despot in the High School of the Dead, but I have little real experience in actually leading people. This would allow me to gain that experience in an already established medieval nation instead of fumbling around in a modern world that is in the process of collapsing to a similar level. 

Still, I am not going to let someone die when I can prevent it. These men may be willing to die for me, but they are not expendable pawns for my use, to be cast aside without reason. They have families at home awaiting their return, and I will not be so cavalier with their lives that I will allow them to die when I could have stepped in to protect them.

“You’re a good man, Eh.” He said at last. “I won’t promise you that I won’t step in if the situation calls for it, but I will be more mindful of my position going forward. Now, I am going to go to bed; we have a base to destroy in the morning. I suggest you corral these men to do the same, Captain.”

“Captain?” Eh said, repeating the word.

“Yep. You want to give your prince unsolicited advice? Well, that comes with consequences. Congratulations on your promotion, Captain. Good night!” John replied with a smirk. He stood up and made his way over to the barracks, intent on finding an empty bunk for the night.

Eh, just watched his retreating form, the now official commander of the Alphabets, confused at what just happened. He was expecting to be reprimanded by the somewhat hotheaded prince, to be told to mind his business or stay in his lane. Instead, the prince calmly listened to him, mulled over his words, and then agreed to be more mindful of himself on the battlefield. Then, for his audacity in speaking up, he was promoted to Captain.

“Alright, men! Finish your drinks and find your beds, we have orcs to kill tomorrow!” Eh said to the group once John was out of earshot.

“Huh? What are you talking about, Eh? Who made you the boss?” someone said.

“The Prince did. And it’s Captain now.” Eh replied with a smile. 

Orc Base 

True to his word, John stayed back when they assaulted the orc base the following morning. It helped that he now had the dwarvern rifle, and could snipe at targets from behind the lines with more than just a few firebolts, waterballs and wind blades, spells which the orcs just seemed to shrug off. His hands had also stopped shaking, which he was grateful for as he wasn’t even sure if he would have been able to cast his spells properly like that, let alone use a rifle.

Nine footmen were arrayed in front of him, with the newly promoted Captain Eh holding the centre of the line. John and the four riflemen stood in the rear, providing fire support and healing, though John made sure they were close enough that his protection aura covered the men as well. 

The orcs had numbers on them, but charged at the formation individually or in groups of two or three, allowing The Alphabets to pick them apart. John would blind one or two of them, then the dwarves would concentrate their fire on the remaining ones, helping to bring them down quickly.  

Several raiders riding their wolves attacked them, the giant beast ripping at the footmen’s shields, exposing the soldiers to slashing attacks from the riders’ giant swords. John had to concentrate on healing then, using the Holy Light spell because of the distance he was from the line, which took a large chunk out of his mana supply every time he was forced to use it. He had to admit it was handy; his normal healing magic had only a short range, but the cost meant he would use it only for emergencies.  

Eventually, they cleared out the defenders, and the men started to set the buildings in the base on fire; the entire battle had lasted for less than an hour.

“Any sign of the captives?” John asked, looking around at the destruction. He didn’t know if they were alive or dead, but both Uther’s soldiers and some of the villagers were taken prisoner, and he hadn’t seen any sign of them here.

“No, Sire. The camp is clear.” Eh replied, the man was equally as confused as John was. “They might have been taken elsewhere.”

That would complicate things. They would have to send scouting parties out to look for them, which would mean more time wasted and less chance that the captives would still even be alive. They had already spent a lot of time yesterday getting reinforcements, which were necessary for them to assault the base successfully, though that made John wonder why Uther didn’t come with them instead. Was he testing John’s ability to operate without his support? If so, it was a rather harsh thing to do when civilian lives were on the line.

“Milord! Look over there!” Dee shouted from the edge of the camp where one of these orc burrows had been. He was pointing at something John couldn’t see through a thicket of trees. He moved over to Dee to see what the man was trying to show him. 

Through the gap between two copse of trees, John could make out several black stone pillars with what looked like red hieroglyphics etched into their surfaces. A sickly green energy seemed to be emanating from the stones, sending a shiver down John’s spine.

“What the hell are those?” He asked, not really expecting an answer.

“They look like the pillars the orcs would build to summon demons during the last war.” Eh said. The Captain, a veteran of the last war, remembered seeing similar pillars many times. “They would sacrifice captives to fuel the summoning magic.”

 “Alright, gather the men, Eh. If there are still captives alive, we need to get over there before it is too late.”

“Yes, Milord.” Eh replied, then left to assemble their forces. John stared at the pillars for a few more moments before turning away. He had a bad feeling that it was already too late.

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