40. Invasion pt. 2

Hi all! Two points to update you guys on. 1. My editor's out of town until Monday. I'm going to post my content anyway, but this means you're actually seeing another entire stage earlier in the content process. What that means is there might be a greater discrepancy between what you see here, and what goes up on RR until next week. If that bothers you, just wait to read a couple of days -- I'm going to update the text here after its first round of revision.

2. What with the additional text that I put into ch 38 earlier this week, I had to shuffle around a bit of text to keep the chapter lengths sort of even on RR. This means that the chapter cuts on RR and patreon are going to be different between ch 38 and 40. To even this out, 40 on Patreon is going to be quite short -- that's because RR ch 40 will contain quite a bit of text that you guys already read in ch 39. To make sure you have enough to sink your teeth in, I'm also putting up 41 today.

TL;DR - Ch 40 on Patreon is short because I'm trying to get the chapters lined up again for RR.

Jori watched with some trepidation as kobolds spilled out of the sewers. She’d been on her way to check in on Theresa, the bad alchemist woman, when the trumpets went off first to her right, then ahead and to the left. While the imp didn’t know what the signals that they were playing meant, she could guess. The kobolds were coming in force.

At first, she’d turned to go back the way she came, toward Bernt, but then she remembered that she couldn’t get into that stupid guard building. Instead, she decided to check on the nearest breach, which was located in the sewers near the wall on the western side – not too far from the main breach, incidentally.

Approaching the spot now, she doubted that she could even reach it – the people guarding this entrance must have been completely overrun. She needed to tell the Great Mage, Ed.

Keeping out of sight as much as possible, she climbed the nearest house and began running toward the main breach in a straight line. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop, spreading her wings to help her get a bit more distance on a few of the longer jumps. Considering what was going on, she hoped that not too many people would be looking closely enough to see and recognize her for what she was.

A short while later, she came in sight of the main breach up against the wall. There was a lot of noise – shouts, clattering noises and screams – to indicate that a fight was going on, but she could only see guards and a few people she assumed to be adventurers. Whatever the kobolds were doing here, they weren’t making much progress.

She made the last jump from the roof she was on to the slightly lower roof of the rowhouse that held the command post. This was where things were going to get tricky. 

Jori needed to reach Ed without the guards seeing her – they hadn’t immediately attacked her last time, but this was a bad time to count on good luck. Most of them were facing the other way, which was fortunate, but she knew that a few were probably guarding the door, just like the last time she was there.

She looked around consideringly. Maybe a solution would just present itself! Considering for a moment, she scampered across the shifty roof tiles to the far side, peeking down into the alley behind the house. It was a blank wall. Hmm. No windows.

Then her gaze fell to her feet.

Experimentally, she reached down and tugged on one of the roof tiles. It lifted easily, revealing the wooden skeleton underneath. Pulling up a few more tiles and setting them onto the roof beside her, she jumped through the gap between the slats, landing on the dusty, dry wooden floor of an old attic. She sneezed, choking on the dust that she’d just kicked up and flailed at a cobweb that was stuck to her face.

That wasn’t so hard.

Below she could hear Ed’s voice as he gave gruff orders to someone else below. Quickly but quietly, Jori descended the stairs, stopping in the tiny room at the base of the stairs. A moment later, she heard steps as the other person left and all she could hear was the sound of a pen scratching on paper.

She opened the door and scampered inside. Ed was sitting with his back to her, hunched forward over a small desk. A wisp of smoke was rising from his pipe, which she could just see jutting out to the side of his head.

“Great One!” she called out. “There are kobolds in the streets!”

“Hm?” The archmage turned in his seat, finding her standing behind him. He pulled his pipe out of his mouth and furrowed his brow. “How did you get in here?”

“It’s the closest breach,” she explained, pointing to her left. “That way!”

Ed’s expression shifted from confusion to comprehension and then alarm. Pulling out his pipe he quickly cast a spell that revealed a moving picture in the air in front of him. It wasn’t very detailed, but it showed a mob of small forms swarming down a blurry street – the kobolds, she guessed. 

“Shit.” He cursed, and cast another spell. Another picture formed, though this time the street was empty. He cast another and one more.

Both of these last two pictures showed small groups of kobolds running down the street. In one, they were chasing some bigger people, probably humans, until they ran into a house and slammed the door in their pursuers’ faces.

“They’re coming up all over the place.” He breathed. “There have to be new breaches involved here. How the hell did Iri miss this?”

Rising, the old man strode to the door, but he stopped, looking back at her.

“What happened to Bernt? Why aren’t you over with him?” 

Jori shrugged. “I couldn’t get into the guardhouse. Bernt is…” she felt at the familiar bond, getting just a few impressions, but no clear images or sounds. “Bernt is fighting, but not afraid. He is fine.”

Ed nodded, businesslike. “Good. I’ll check the other breaches in a moment. See if you can find Iriala and help her with whatever she’s doing. She should have seen this coming. If she didn’t, it means a stronger diviner than her was obscuring her sight. She might need help. Regardless, I could really use her here. I hate this scrying crap, and the gods know we need her sight for this.”

Then he was out the door, bellowing orders at the top of his lungs.

Jori hesitated. She wanted to go check on Bernt. But… she needed to get into Ed’s good graces, and Bernt would probably want her to help him anyway.

Making up her mind, she darted back up the stairs toward the open roof.