Chapter 30: Chapter Twenty-Nine: Being King—First Baby Steps            

Elgin Isle was a mega-engineering project. It had been modified by the Averian elves during the height of the empire. They had carved out a huge segment of the land with magic, whisking the earth away to who-knew-where, in order to make a tiny bay to protect their galleys.

The bay was on the north side of the island, where the river flowed against it. Despite that, the inside was calm, the currents pushed along the outside mostly, by Water magic, according to Lily’s impromptu history lesson.

The inside of that bay were old piers and sunken ships. But the basic bay remained, and three marble piers were still useable. Assuming they didn’t have sunken ships right below the surface, ready to poke holes in the hulls of Leo’s new ships.

Especially since they were sailing right toward them.

“All right, buddy, check it out,” Leo said to Hugh.

“I’ll be back in a bit.” Hugh scrambled over the edge of the galley, leaving slight gashes in the wood. As he left the ship and hit the water, the boat bobbed a bit.

The rowers kept the ship where it was, fighting the gentle current of the river with backstrokes. Most of them had extremely impressive arm muscles—Leo assumed they’d been doing this as a career for a quite some time.

A few minutes later, Hugh popped up on the other side of the boat and spit water at Leo, trying to scream, “Dragon’s Breath!” as he did, but he garbled his words and just sprayed water everywhere.

“Oh, misfire,” Leo said. “What’d you find?”

“The third pier, closest to the Calasti side of the river, is totally clear. Only one small boat sunk on the next one over, and I can break it up and clear it in an hour. Last pier will take me a day or two. Probably two. It’s got four boats down there, bigger ones. And if I find treasure, I’m keeping it.”

Leo laughed. “Is your greed just weirdly reflexive, like it’s just a dragon thing? I mean, you did just donate most of your hoard to the cause. Why get possessive now?”

“Maybe it is just a dragon thing,” Hugh said. “But I still want the treasure. I feel like most people would want to keep the lost treasure if they did a bunch of work to get it.”

“We’ll need to set some kind of fair tax rate for people looting the remains of Old Calasti,” Leo muttered. “I mean, it’s arguably treasure that belongs to me as the heir to the old kingdom. But mostly because we should get a slight cut as the base of operations and police force and guards for said base of operations—or perhaps just as income tax.”

“Income tax? Is that a thing?” Hugh squinted suspiciously at Leo.

Right, Leo realized. Not usually used until way later in societal development. They had land taxes and duties and other, older forms of taxation. I’ll need to use those more archaic means of collecting revenue most likely.

“A tax of some sort that represents the income paid to the state to offer protection, roads, and governance,” Leo said. “Like what we plan on doing for the people adventuring in Calasti.”

“Sounds like bird logic, but I guess as long as it’s reasonable, I won’t set you on fire.”

Leo rolled his eyes. “For your generous and wise spirit, I thank you.”

Hugh squinted at him again but didn’t say anything.

Leo went and found Captain Whitewater, who’d temporarily assumed ‘commodore’ status over the ten boats of his flotilla, and told her the information.

Then Leo, Lily, the Commodore, Commander Meryl Cavendil, and the eight leaders assigned to ex-slaves had a talk about the logistics of offloading the groups. They could have ships take turns offloading, since the number of piers was limited.

In the long run, however, even two days from now, more than six ships could permanently dock until they rebuilt all the piers—and they’d need to clear the space for when the much larger flotilla of ships, under George Orsini, showed up to drop everyone—and everything—off. Rebuilding the piers would take priority once one of the Earth builder mages with the flotilla arrived, since the piers were the weird, solid block stone piers the Averian kingdom of old used for some reason.

The other Earth mage would be needed for the bridges.

Twenty minutes later, they had their plan, and Leo’s lead ship, the Averia Reborn, rowed next to the pier. The pier led to a fifteen-foot stone wall that ran around the entire bay, with long ramps leading up to the main island. As if the unloading wouldn’t be hard enough without the climb.

            “A huge job, isn’t it?” Lily asked, coming up behind him and placing one delicate hand on his shoulder, her voice soothing.

            Leo nodded. “Yeah. It is. But it’s worth doing.”

***

It had been a very busy afternoon and evening, one of non-stop unloading, each group of ex-slaves moved onto shore and given tents in the smashed wreckage of the old marine barracks, sailors’ hall, and admiralty office.

The extremely fancy taverns, inns, and brothels were the only other things that had once been on the island, and they’d been smashed to pieces as well. Just clearing the island was going to be a huge hassle. Although, Leo figured they would have plenty of building material they could repurpose, which was a silver lining.

They were going to need a lot of easily acquired building material.

Leo had worked late into the night, his combination of magically enhanced Strength and Agility making him an extremely effective mule. Hugh was an even better one, as long as someone loaded him up. But neither of them had raised their Endurance much, and both were fatiguing, rather badly, as the last light from the dying sun disappeared, claimed by night.

Zir had tried to help, manfully carrying what little he could, over and over until he could barely move. Eventually, he’d sat down during a pause and fallen asleep—his mom had come and gotten him.

How come this world works on a nearly twenty-four-hour day, as well, if it’s so large?

Shake it off, Leo. It’s a fascinating question for later.

Leo climbed the ramp leading from the sheltered cove up to the isle proper again and looked upon his people.

They’d established fifty large tents, each with eight people crowded inside. They were set wherever there was space in the collapsed ruins around the isle, and Leo saw at least one that seemed to have extended their tent with a partially collapsed wall and some half-rotted boards.

They had smaller and fancier tents for the leaders—one each for Leo, Hugh, Lily, Meryl, and Laurel Whitewater, and one to be shared by Val and Ty Belmoria. They were in a cleared space in the old admiral’s office ruins. The tip of Hugh’s tail poked out of his tent—apparently, he’d already given up the ghost for the night.

Leo was starving and saw that the soldiers, under Meryl’s direction, had gotten the mess tent set up. They were now cooking porridge, something unnamable. Leo dragged himself over to the tent and took a bowl, waving away a bit of hare meat offered to him by a soldier who recognized him. It didn’t feel right, when his people were eating the meanest of rations. If he’d hunted it himself, or bought it, then sure—but that hare had been caught with government money, and he didn’t want to profit from his position.

Leo spooned his porridge down as fast as possible, appreciating the warm lump it made in his stomach, and then crawled himself into bed. He found Wolten already there and curled up next to his wolf buddy. Tomorrow, they’d take the next steps, but for tonight, he needed rest.

***

“I’ve got it well in hand, my lord,” Meryl said. “I know I’m just a commander, and not a fancy administrator or mayor, but we’re at the bare-bones ‘stay alive and engage in basic organization’ stage. If you need to go take care of some secret quest, that’s fine with me.”

Leo nodded, judging her statement accurate. The chow line was moving fast, and people were being assigned jobs after they ate. Cooking, cleaning, foraging, taking care of kids, clearing and sorting rubble, and a few to initial building work, to establish the first longhouse out of scavenged materials.

Leo pointed at the paper he’d drawn up. “Just make sure the initial settlement looks something like this, okay? There are efficiencies to the way I want this done.”

Leo had mapped a site on the east side of the island, where there was a sharp drop-off to the river. As gross as it sounded, he needed a place for people to defecate where it would rapidly go out to the river, so he’d set up a crap-house and ‘plumbing’ type of situation to one side of the projected long houses.

In a less gross decision, he’d also made plans for a small fortress to guard the soon-to-be-repaired bridge back to Calasti proper.

It had taken a lot of hard decision-making, but on the advice of Lily, Leo had decided to allow people to ‘adventure’ in Calasti, seeking treasures and levels by pitting themselves against the beasts. Both his own people and professionals, so long as they paid reasonable taxes and such.

The plan was then to get farms established, on the opposite side of Elgin Isle on the other shore of the Blue River. Next, move a decent percentage of the population there quickly. But until that happy point, the temporary base needed at least some basic hygiene and protection.

“Seems like a waste to haul everything another half-mile east,” Meryl said. “You sure you’ve thought this through, my lord?”

“Please do it the way I asked. I was a”—no word for ‘civil engineer’—“an experienced architect and building overseer once. Trust me on this.”

Meryl bowed her head in acknowledgement. “Well, like I said, my lord, I’ve got this part well in hand for a day. You can go do whatever it is you intend to do.”

Leo nodded. “Thank you, Commander Meryl.”

Leo went back and found some elves taking care of Wolten—something he hadn’t asked them to do. They were feeding him fish and last night’s porridge, and combing out his coat. As Leo approached, the elves gave quick bows. One, a buxom—for an elf—lady with golden hair, who looked in her late twenties, made obvious eyes at Leo as he came up, letting her gaze wander up and down him and then licking her lips.

It is good to be king, Leo thought, despite having no intention of getting into a relationship at the moment. Although, this is a dangerous job. I’ll need an heir at some point.

Leo pulled himself up onto Wolten. Although he had no saddle, he was becoming used to riding his wolf buddy—or perhaps his wolf buddy was getting used to him, and shifting around to help Leo maintain balance.

Val came out riding Helwo, and Hugh came up with Lily on his back.

Before they could ride out, Zir ran over, four daggers at his belt, in slightly improved clothing—tunic and breeches and the leather-and-wooden-heel shoes they had here.

Not sure where he got that, or how.

“Take me with you!” Zir said. “Please. I need to pay you back for saving my mother and sister.”

Leo lifted an eyebrow. “I’m not going to a picnic, Zir. I’m going to go to the old throne room and the node. There are magical beasts along the route. It’s dangerous.”

Hugh scoffed. “Barely. Enemies that are, what, three levels below us? Maybe four? On the main run through town?”

Leo hadn’t technically picked his abilities for Level Seven yet, but Hugh wasn’t wrong.

“Zir’s still a kid, Hugh,” Leo said, trying to put reproach in his voice.

“A Level Two kid.” Zir strode up close to Leo. He stood so that the morning sun pushed his shadow toward Leo. The shadow itself… flickered… and there was a flickering darkness around Zir’s skin as well.

“Sentient Shadow line of abilities?” Lily asked, her voice cool.

Zir nodded once.

The kid is already picking combat powers? Leo narrowed his eyes. “When, and how, did you make Level Two? I thought I forbade you from combat.”

“I knew where some of the orcs were hiding extra coin, from when I was a slave. I used it to pay some soldiers to let me know if they found any hiding orcs. They gave me a likely site with a single orc. I took care of it, and that made three, the price in souls for Level Two.”

Oof. That’s… dark. This is the kind of thing I don’t want my society devolving into, treating life as a cheap resource to unlock magical power.

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Lily leaned over and whispered in Leo’s ear. “Sentient Shadow is like permanent, magical armor at the lower levels. And the enemies are very weak compared to us. And Zir is a politically important person you’ll want on your side. As your seneschal, I’d advise letting him come. The risk is genuinely low.”

Leo sighed. He didn’t believe in protecting children from every vagary of life, and letting a twelve-year-old go to the park by himself or to the local pizza parlor was fine. But a ruined city with magical beasts seemed beyond the pale.

But as he glanced around, he was clearly outnumbered everyone-to-him. Perhaps he wasn’t understanding how this world worked.

“All right, Zir, I trust you to come with us. If we get in a fight, let the higher-level people go in first.”

Zir whooped, then smoothed his features and bowed. “I won’t disappoint you, Lord Evans.”

“And call me ‘Leo.’”

Lily held her hand out. Zir grabbed it, and pulled himself onto the back of Hugh.

“Well, now that you’ve all browbeaten me into letting a kid fight monsters, like this was a terrible Pokémon game, shall we proceed?”

“Always with the culture specific comments,” Lily murmured, but her eyes were twinkling and her lip twitched upward.

            The four of them made their way down to the docks on the north side. They went down the large marble street that dipped down to the bottom of the fifteen-foot cliff that ran along the edge of the North Bay, and from there, walked to the pier that contained the River Darter.

            Leo waved at Captain Laurel Whitewater. “Ahoy, or whatever. You ready to ferry us to the other side?”

            Hugh turned to Leo. “We’re just going to the piers a fourth of a mile on the other side of the Blue River, right? Back in Calasti?”

            “Yeah…”

            “Merdrek’s Dive!” he screamed, and ran at the pier.

Lily cursed, and she and Zir abandoned dragon, hitting the ground and rolling in Lily’s case, and hitting running and slowing to a walk in Zir’s.

“Childish Wyrm!” Lily yelled from the ground, then touched her shoulder, healing, and then used her power to smooth her appearance again.

Hugh wasn’t paying attention to that. He ran down the pier and leaped off, belly flopping with a huge splash.

He surfaced and shot water at Leo, who easily side-stepped.

            “I’m just gonna swim it!”

            Lily sighed at Hugh’s childish display. “It’s hard to stay annoyed with him when he loves life so much.”

            Captain Whitewater reached them. “I am ready, King, if you are.”

            “Just Leo… or lord, if you must use a title.”

            “Lord.”

            As they boarded the boat, Lily turned to Leo. “Make sure you have your Earth mages fix the bridge, first. Then you won’t need a ferry. Since the bridge on the other side of Elgin Isle is fixed, it’ll also be transport from one side of the Blue River to another.”

            “Of course.”

***

            The companions walked off the boat, meeting Hugh, who had already sunned himself dry. The wharf around the entrance to the first district, with the Grand Plaza, the Palace, and the Node, was everything Leo could have wanted in the department of ruined grandeur. Hundreds of piers, most of the same ‘single-block marble’ pattern they had seen elsewhere, dotted the shore. A massive collection of shattered warehouses, ruined inns, and grandiose statues overgrown with vines dotted the cityscape. The roads here were occasionally cracked, and in a few places, a tree grew up through the shattered stone, but they were mostly intact.

            “How far to the plaza?” Leo asked.

            “Not far at all. It was only a few minutes’ walk to the river from the plaza as the stories told it,” Lily responded. She was swiveling her head around constantly, trying to take everything in.

            “Why are the piers comparatively empty here?” Leo asked.

            “The fleet on Elgin Isle stayed to try to fight and was destroyed, but the merchant ships, which docked here—well, they got out while the getting was good,” Lily responded.

            Hugh chuckled. “Good call by the mortals. Chao wasn’t exactly in a forgiving mood.”

            Lily started to turn, probably to chastise Hugh.

Leo interrupted her by pulling the seed out. “And this needs to be planted at the node? Do you think it’ll cause problems as it grows?”

            “What… What is that?” Zir asked, staring at the seed in fascination.

            “The Seed of Ygg’drasil. The real reason I’m becoming the king, beyond anything else we talked about. Apparently, my soul is somehow necessary for it to grow properly—and it’ll save the Kingdom of Averia.”

            “More accurately, it will help the kingdom to grow to unprecedented heights if we do the work to save it first,” Lily said. “No slacking off on our duties to our people, Zir. You’re an elf noble as well, even if you aren’t privileged to be a member of the Averian nobility.”

            Zir grimaced. “I know my duties.” Then his face cleared as he stared at the seed. “How will it do all that?”

            “It’s actually pretty fun,” Hugh said. “I’m surprised mortals made it, although they supposedly had help from beings from deeper magic worlds.”

            “You can tell me.” Zir rolled his eyes. “I’m already excited. Just spill it.”

            Lily glanced over at Leo, and he nodded. Val had sworn to him, and it felt like Zir was moving into Leo’s circle as well. But the single biggest issue was, this wouldn’t be hidden for long anyway. Showing trust now had little downside.

            “It will grow a tree that will open stable, permanent gates to other worlds,” Lily said. “It’ll become the tree between worlds, effectively.”

            Zir’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

            Lily smiled and nodded.

The group moved forward, through the Grand Plaza—where they easily slew another three of the diseased wolves, Zir staying back and throwing knives. Then they reached the giant Royal Palace of Averia, passing through its ruined gates. They passed the inner wall as well. But this time, they rode past the multiple keeps of the interior. They followed a large, statue-adorned path around the outside of the main keep and then headed another thousand feet or so, through beautiful gardens grown wild.

Their goal was visible the whole time—the glowing, green outline of a tree, shooting a hundred feet into the sky.

“So, this is the famous Calasti tree-node,” Zir said, staring at it.

Lily smiled wider. “It is. One of the sources of prosperity for the kingdom. It’s as magically strong as nodes get on this world, and most of that magic goes to tree growth, creating magical crystals, and ‘friendly’ magical beasts. Only a small portion of it goes to things mortals find unamicable.”

“What?”

“Harmful,” Leo said.

“I know all that, then,” Zir said. “Why tell me like I’m an idiot?”

“Just working on your education,” Lily said airily, twirling her finger in her hair.

“Hmph.”

They reached the base of the giant, glowing tree to find a very small, thick grove of normal, non-illuminating trees. The morning light showcased how green and healthy they looked, and a fragrant breeze from the forest blew into the palace grounds.

“What now?” Leo asked, sliding down from Wolten’s back and holding the backpack in his hands.

“Plant it?” Hugh snorted. “It needed a node, so stick that ball of magic in the soil near the base of the giant green mystic tree up ahead. Obvious.”

“I don’t have a better idea than the dragon’s,” Lily said.

Leo opened the backpack. He could always feel magic from the seed, but as he took it out, the magic intensified. It was about the size of Leo’s head, a seed more purple than any plant had a right to be. When stared at, the surface shifted to show other realms, strange things like a world of boiling skies and another where the atmosphere was so thick that giant gasbag creatures with a few long, thin tentacles floated on the wind.

And it felt magically… bizarre. If Leo focused on it, space didn’t feel right, like things were close that had been far and vise-versa, and a straight line… wasn’t.

Leo walked over and plunged the seed into the ground of the glowing, green tree.

He received a prompt.

You are about to plant, and bond with, a seed of Ygg’drasil. This action will call forth magic from the Sea of Chaos between dimensions to germinate the tree. Anyone in the surrounding area will gain substantial magical power, effectively gaining ‘experience.’ Did you wish to proceed? Yes / No?

 

            No! Leo thought, almost panicked.

            Then, when nothing went wrong, he turned back to his group. “So, amazing news…”

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