Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Nine – 179Felix secured some replacement clothes, similar to the natural ivory and taupe color of Evie's own get-up. Felix had asked her about her armor, but she'd just muttered something about it being ruined and a new set was being made. Apparently Rafny had made it back and was doing some work on new equipment for people.
I never did get back to them about armor, did I? Felix had wanted to get some armor since he got into town, but one thing or another kept it off the table for him. Now with the unnatural armor provided by his Sovereign of Flesh, should he even bother? He figured he'd check, at the very least.
He'd left his Khellish tunic and trousers near Pit. The enchantments on them would use ambient Mana to repair them eventually.
Outside the warehouse it was pushing toward midday. His Tempering and Gauntlet attempts had taken up more time than he had figured, yet Felix didn't feel a bit tired. Quite the opposite, as those occasional surges through his core kept jolting his nerves into high alert, as if he'd injected a bit of adrenaline each time. So he tried to keep himself even-keeled as they walked out into the glaring summer day.
It was hot. Hotter by far than Felix had experienced on the Continent, comparable to some of the worst days in July back home. Regardless, people rushed to and fro outside, intent on their errands and tasks. It almost felt normal if he only ignored the looks of gaunt dismay and desperation everyone wore. A dangerous undercurrent thrummed through everything, a rapid tattoo that Felix could feel as a rising anxiety through his Affinity stat. He gasped.
"What? Felix, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I," Felix took a breath and tried to shrug off the sensation. It took him two more attempts before his attention shifted. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"You sure? Cuz you're sweating. Like a lot," Evie pointed out.
Felix didn't answer, just kept walking out into the broken cobbles of what was being called the courtyard. Central between the three main warehouses, this was the area protected the most by the trash wall that had been erected from stray debris. People were everywhere, many of them carrying bulging sacks that likely were all their worldly possessions, most with children of varying ages. Felix had recognized a few when he'd arrived, and he saw even more that rang a familiar bell of recognition in his Mind. His perfect recall matched their faces to ones he'd seen in the Dust, Wall, even the Crafters Quarter.
A long way to go during a monster attack, he thought, pairing a few faces to ones he'd seen revelling back the night of the clandestine chorister gathering. How'd they end up way over here?
The city of Haarwatch was divided into four Quarters. The northernmost was the Dust, home to those that labored in the nearby mines or on the Ianus River docks that snaked through the city. It was the poorest Quarter, but also the most heavily populated; citizens lived piled atop one another in towering, ramshackle tenements and ill-repaired multi-generational homes. To the west was the Wall Quarter, which was mostly weapon and armor shops, taverns, and the ubiquitous Wall, a magical construct made of mystical metal and heavily enchanted in some way. The south had the Crafters Quarter, within which dwelled most of the skilled craftsmen in the city, your wainwrights and tailors and artists, as well as many merchants. Finally, the Sunrise Quarter was to the east, filled predominantly with minor nobility. When the Eyrie fell, it fell down toward the Crafter and Wall Quarters, doing heavy damage to those parts of the city and likely killing more than the Revenants had.
So far.
Water was being hauled across the crooked cobbles and the sounds of disorganized shouts and cries came from all over. It was a mess of flesh and noise and heat and smell. Evie came up behind him and nudged his arm.
"So how'd you wanna help?" Evie asked. "I think there's lots that needs to be done, but I'm not keen on running errands for the smiths or anythin'."
"I figured we could run patrols or train people or, I dunno," Felix shook his head. "I'm not sure what the camp needs, other than more weapons, more fighters, and better walls."
"Then let's start there," Vess said. She gently tugged on both of their shoulders and they were swept along behind her as people hurried to get out of the heiress' way. She gave off an aura of nobility, somehow, intangible and not at all like an aura of power. It was an aura of attitude. Vess was in charge, and apparently people started to recognize that.
She led them toward the debris mound that acted as their impromptu wall. "We need to flag down whoever is captain of the guard here."
"Cal's inside, so that means Bodie," Evie offered, already panning the area for the man. "There he is."
It was easy enough to find him, as he was often head and shoulders taller than most Humans and half again as wide. He stood atop one of the mounds and was speaking in low tones to a group of barely armored volunteers.
More Untempered folk, looking to fight, Felix mused. Why aren't they huddling in the camp where it's safer? He looked at the shoddy wall again. Relatively safer.
"Hey! Bodie!" Evie shouted, startling Felix and causing a crowd of people to turn and stare at her. "We need to talk to you!"
Evie looked back and met Felix and Vess' stares. "What? It's easier this way."
Bodie looked up and spotted them. He gave Evie a wide smile and jumped straight up into the air. Well, straight up wasn't quite right. It was more of an angle, and his parabolic arc had him land before them with a muffled thud.
Bodie was a big guy, easily six and a half feet tall, with short, curly hair and built like a wall. He wore the usual half-plate and leather armor Guilders preferred, a mish-mash of styles more concerned with protection than looks. A huge mace hung at his hip, lightly enchanted according to Felix's Eye, but he bore no other weapons aside from a small dagger across his chestplate. Felix had sparred against him once or twice, and his body still remembered some of the bruises.
Behind him, the dirt wall he'd leaped from half crumbled under the force of his jump. Bodie winced before brightening again.
"Evie! And your friends too! Glad to see you all. Especially you, Felix," Bodie rumbled with a barely concealed laugh. "You won me quite a few crowns, coming back when you did."
"So I keep hearing. People were really betting on me living or dying?" Felix asked.
"Some maybe," Bodie laughed. "But mine was on when you'd come back." He clapped Felix on the back, before grunting and grinning even harder. Felix had barely moved.
"Bodie, we wanna help around here. What've you got for us?" Evie asked.
The large warrior fingered his dark chin and lowered his voice. "I could always use more patrols. The Untempered here are enthusiastic but...let's say I only have so many skilled warriors to babysit them."
They all nodded. Felix had seen that first hand with Yan and his team. "I'm up for patrol duty, but...I was thinking I could do something for the camp."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Your wall--" Felix started, grasping for the words.
"It's shit," Evie said. "You just knocked it over by jumping too hard."
Vess smacked her shoulder, but Bodie only chuckled with a grim sort of humor. "It needs improving, that's the truth. Problem is, none of us are engineers, and the only one with a good shaping talent is some Untempered Dwarf lady. She can't use it more than a few seconds, let alone long enough to make anything proper."
"Well, I have Stone Shaping nearly to Journeyman. I think I could help with that."
"Can you make stone blocks?" Bodie asked, suddenly excited.
"Yeah, I think so. Never tried before but I made a boat once. How hard could a few blocks be?" Felix said.
Bodie clapped his big hands together and grinned. "That's the best news I've had today. I'll clear the way and let you know where to start." He took off with another leap.
"See? Easy enough to help," Vess said with a smile.
"Why's he jumping around?" Felix asked. Evie snorted.
"Low Agility, high Strength. Bodie can't run for beans, but he's strong. Jumping's faster."
In a few short minutes, the area was cleared of patrolling guards. Unfortunately, that meant a whole lot of people had stopped what they were doing and were now watching them. Felix felt his skin crawl under their gazes, like there was an extra heat in the air entirely separate from the noonday sun.
"Just ignore em," Evie muttered.
"Sure. They're not staring at you like you've grown an extra head, though."
"It's just overworked rumors," Evie said. "People're all in a tizzy over, uh, everythin'."
"She is right," Vess added. "Once they get used to you the attention will fade."
"Yeah, just try not to do anythin' too flashy," Evie suggested.
Bodie walked over to them and gestured toward the packed earth of the wall. "You've got the floor, Felix. Do what you can, and my people can take it from there."
Felix nodded and took a steadying breath. The extra attention on him was a bit more unnerving than he had anticipated, but he tried to shrug it off as he flared his Manavision. Weaving threads of vibrating light burst into being all around him. The stone, the dirt, the people, the air itself; everything was Mana, everything was fed by it and gave it off in some measure. Zara called it the Grand Harmony and she wasn't wrong, as Felix could hear a rousing chorus of infinite complexity the further he focused...but he pulled back. He wasn't here for that.