Chapter 94 A Great Help.

  “What year is it?” Isaac asked with a groan. It looked to be sometime in the afternoon. He had been awake and asleep so many times but Lady Jikan’s time manipulation had his internal clock all kinds of messed up.

  “I have been here for sixteen and a half hours, real time.” Lady Jikan told him. “Lady V’Nova has been healing better than I had hoped. She can exist while conscious and not die now. However, it would still be best if you waited to meditate for a while longer.”

  “Because it screws with the mana ratios?” Isaac wondered. There was no way that him cycling only black mana would leave everything in any way even slightly resembling balance.

  “Just so.” Lady Jikan agreed. “Now, would you like to recover naturally from here on? That way you could at least interact with the world around you again. If not, I can continue altering your timeflow.”

  Isaac looked at Lenna who shrugged.

  “If I may?” The healer spoke from where he had been sitting in the doorway. “I have some messages to deliver.”

  “Oh! Yes, I completely forgot. What are they? I hadn’t expected you to stick around. What happened to Jala?” Isaac fired off in quick succession. It wasn’t that moving around, or talking, didn’t hurt at all but simply that Isaac was getting used to it. He had also been forced to be more or less entirely silent, for only Lady Jikan knew how long, and he left like he was going to go mute if he didn’t talk a bit for at least a little while.

  “The fa- the dark elven wizard that was here left a little while after Lady Time arrived.” The healer told Isaac. “I stayed because I told everyone that came by that I would be here until the two of you could take care of yourselves again. You both are too important to the kingdom, and are likely to get a medal from the king for everything you have done here.” He went on answering Isaac’s questions and statements one at a time. “Sir Solomon just wanted you to know that he will take care of everything else.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a piece of paper. “The Guild Master is up and about. He is not in fighting shape either but he was able to send you this letter at least.”

  Alexander walked in with half of a loaf of freshly baked bread lathered in melted butter. His face was completely stuffed because he had obviously stuffed as much bread into his mouth as he could. He covered his mouth and struggled to quickly chew and swallow it. A moment later he finally opened his mouth. “Good, you’re awake.” He told Isaac and Lenna. He grabbed the letter from the healer’s outstretched hand and walked over to Isaac.

  “Thanks.” Isaac told Alexander. “Were you able to learn anything?” He asked and gestured towards the crater.

  “Yes and no.” Alexander replied and sat down to finish his bread. “I can tell you that they went southwest. Somewhere between one hundred and three hundred miles to another teleportation circle. From what I know, about all of the preexisting teleportation circles, they went to one that is not a part of any existing network. That is all that I can tell you. I’m sorry that I can’t be more helpful. I would have had to be here when they teleported to be able to give you any more accurate information. The accuracy drops by a percent per second once the teleportation has been completed.” He explained to Isaac and then took another bite of his bread that was making Isaac’s mouth water.

  The healer got up and grabbed a bowl out of his Bottomless Bag. There was a pot on a magically powered heating plate nearby that was giving off some alluring odors. Isaac was famished. “I know that you did the best that you could with what you have.” Isaac assured Alexander before he looked over at Lady Jikan. “Did Jala make an attempt to figure out where they had gone before she left?”

  Ori shrugged. “She was doing something with the crater, but I am not well versed in whatever forms of magic that old elf uses. Some of her spells look like witchcraft but use mana instead of lifeforce. I did recognize something space related, but that was it. Maybe Klein could figure out exactly where they went but he will not help you. We agreed to a neutral stance when it came to you two.”

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  Isaac sighed and then smiled up at the healer as the elf handed him a bowl of the same soup that Lenna had just finished. “Thanks.” He told the healer with a nod and then turned back to Lady Jikan. “That is unfortunately not very helpful. She is too unpredictable.”

  “Agreed.” Ori replied flatly. “She has been a thorn in my side on more than one occasion, and not just mine. Klein had to close a portal that she had opened before it caused any real damage to Primatia. She seems to really enjoy playing with things that she shouldn’t.”

  “Wait, if you’ve been in drow territory before, why didn’t you do anything about Jallen V’Nova or all of the captured slaves?” Isaac wondered.

  “Because if we did, hundreds of thousands would die. It would be another War of the Worlds. The Innerworld would invade the Outerworld in an act of vengeance fueled defiance of the rest of existence.” Ori explained. “That, and we agreed to not interfere with them directly in exchange for a combined front against the dragons during the next Dragon Surge. The Drow came out of the last one quite a bit better than the rest of us. It would be better if we all came out on top this time.”

  Isaac nodded in understanding. He didn’t like it but it made sense, especially from someone that detached from regular mortals. Isaac pulled out the letter that he had received from Heitor and started to read it. Inside, there was some context for Gretta as well as an assurance that Vespera would handle itself from then on. Heitor was still willing to get in contact with the Guild Leader for them whenever they were ready to try and invade the CSC island, but other than that, he preferred if they did not interact with each other for a while. He had been very close to Gretta, until they had broken up and gone their separate ways, and he needed time to come to terms with everything that had happened and who she had become.

  “I don’t think we will be needing to get in contact with the Guild Leader anymore, one of the people that we would’ve wanted him to contact is already here.” Isaac said and sat the letter down next to him. Alexander reached for it but waited for Isaac to give him a nod before he took it and started reading it himself.

  “Just so.” Ori agreed. “I will check out the island you spoke of. Though, I would prefer if George handled it.”

  “George?” Isaac questioned.

  “You would know him better as Gravity.” Ori replied. “Now, would you like me to alter your timeflow again?”

  Isaac nodded slowly. “Just until tonight, or tomorrow morning if that is when you would prefer to leave. Thank you for this, it means a lot that you are even helping us at all, let alone to this extent.” Isaac told her with more earnestness than he usually showed.

  Ori nodded. “I will help you until midnight.” She told them. “Eat up, do whatever else you need to do, we’ll go back to altering your timeflow in an hour.”

  Isaac and Lenna both nodded. Isaac then immediately turned to Alexander. “I need you to send a message to Arthur Von Sasston for me.” He told the Court Mage.

  Alexander nodded. “I cam do tha.” He agreed around his final mouthful of bread. Now that Isaac thought about it, there was no way that Alexander hadn’t finished the first loaf already. It made him curious as to how many loaves of fresh bread the young wizard had stuffed in his Bottomless Pockets.

  Isaac just shook his head at Alexander and then got serious. “I know that you are going to try and make this not sound as annoyed and direct as I am about to say it, so don’t.” Isaac instructed the Court Mage. “Arthur needs to know exactly how irritated I am at the moment, understand?”

  Alexander straightened slightly. “Yes.” He replied with full seriousness.

  “First, a bill for services rendered.” Isaac began.

  Alexander quickly pulled out his pen that never ran out of ink and a piece of paper. He nodded for Isaac to continue.

  “Double Platinum level bounty, times two as Lenna and I each count as separate entities for quests. Five hundred gold to replace destroyed gear. Five hundred gold for gear repairs. Ten thousand gold for healing items.” Isaac went on. “After that, I have a message that should have the descriptions of the two that got away with it. Sir Solomon will have all of that information and I want a copy of it as well.”

  Alexander nodded. “Understood.” He replied and grabbed a second piece of paper.

  “Arthur, I have never been so utterly infuriated at someone, that I cannot just turn to dust in that moment, in all of my existing memory.” Isaac began with fire in his eyes. “One of these two people that are enclosed with this message is yours. Your person that you need to take responsibility for. I don’t care how, but responsibility must be taken. Handle it.” Isaac then nodded to Alexander. “Alexander, that is all. Please get a copy of the information from Sir Solomon for me and enclose another copy in the letter. You can have Arthur’s Court Mage come and pick it up. There is no reason to make you do any more legwork than we have already made you do.”

  Alexander nodded. “I can do that.” He assured Isaac. “I have been in contact with my Lord and Lady. Duchess Arbencroft was worried about you. I will let her know that you are both on the mend. She is also going to have some choice words with Duke Sasston over his management of his vassals.”

  Isaac smiled. “Thank you, Alexander. You have been a great help.” Isaac told him.

  “Lord Darkness, I am aware that you died momentarily, but are you feeling alright?” Alexander asked Isaac with obvious worry in his face and voice. “You just seem…”

  “Nicer than usual.” Lenna finished for him. “Don’t worry about it, Alexander, I know that look on him. Lady Jikan made him go too long without a conversation and he was lonely.” Lenna teased Isaac with a smirk.

  “I was not.” Isaac shot back. “Well, maybe a little.”

  Amaranth Serentia V'Nova Wexler