ALL NOVEL Chapter 234: Lesson Learned.
Finlo shrugged. “That’s what he gets for not waiting for orders.”
‘Right…’ I raised my other hand to my face and slowly dragged them both down, taking a deep breath in. “Ok, I’ll grab some random guard to boss around… If we tie a harpoon to each winch and pull on the others we might be able to do something. Try not to get grabbed while you're out there… Especially you Lu… I’d rather not have nightmares about this.”
She tilted her head. “Uh… Yeah, ok.”
She was clearly confused, but you know, I was ok with that. “Let’s get to work.” All three of us headed back into the fray like we were a sports team coming out of a huddle. I grabbed a few random guards who looked like they had strength even surpassing Lu's and started giving them orders. Thankfully, in the panic of the whole thing they didn’t question them…
With our four-man crew, we tied the chains to the wenches, and on my signal, we started throwing them at the Kraken, each and every one of them landed and dug into it well, and then we started pulling it up and it actually moved. The plan seemed to work almost too well for how unrealistic it seemed in my head. Sure the wenches and slipway were both covered in dwarven Rune’s, but it was the unhuman strength that likely accounted for most of why it was so easy.
Before long We could see its body start to come up out of the water, still wiggling around in a mad panic like it was hopped up on stimulants.
“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US!” A sudden shout echoed through the courtyard as I felt my lines jerk and heard someone else snap. As I turned to the side it turned out to be Finlo, getting an earful from the fort commander. He had cut Finlo’s chains and was staring at the others in a state of shock, almost unable to move.
‘Fairy dust…’
“WE'RE ALMOST THERE KEEP PULLING!” I shouted, going so far as to use a little magic to project my voice, but I wasn’t much surprised when the guards listened to their commander over me. With just Lu helping me we didn’t have enough strength to haul it in closer, and as the commander cut more lines the winches started to give way. ‘Come on…’ He came up to me and cut my lines as well but I grabbed it, circling the chains around my hands and digging in my heels, catching my body on a large stone slab sticking out of the ground from the castle foundation. ‘We were so close…’
The weight jerked on my shoulders feeling like it would nearly tear both my arms off. If I wasn’t using magic it probably would have. I didn’t even know why I was holding on exactly, it wasn’t like we would be able to somehow still make the plan work, but for whatever reason I was.
Airsidh’s bow cracked in the air one last time and two arrows flew out, twisting through the air like heat-sinking missiles before sticking it right in the eye, the second one hitting it right above the eye, and blinding it as blood trickled down it’s face. Even through a thin layer of water, his bow was more than strong enough to do the job.
I let go and sure enough the Kraken freaked out, throwing an even bigger tantrum, this time with all its tendrils, even the ones anchored to the castle, as it let go though, it hardly landed a hit, barely grazing the wall as it was swept away by the rushing river in seconds.
‘There's no way that actually worked right?’ I was so shocked I started laughing, falling to my back as the tension suddenly left my arms. When I opened my eyes though… The commander was standing above me with a scowl fierce enough to rival my dads…
“You almost just got us all killed!” He shouted, holding himself back from saying more as slowly rolled over and stood up to face him. He wasn’t nearly as intimidating as my father, but in some ways, the fact that he was a stranger made him even more intimidating. “We had a clear plan, a good plan, and we each had a job. What made you think getting in the way of that and acting on your own would do anyone any good!”
My eyes slowly drifted to the ground. No matter how stupid he sounded… He was still a towering grown man yelling at me… Harshly… I didn’t even know what to say back… No… It was more like I knew it didn’t matter what I said back. ‘There’s no point in making an argument when you can’t win… Especially when it’s because the other side just doesn’t want to hear you…’
Lu suddenly ran up from the side and hugged me, sending chills through my whole body and shocking me almost to my core. “Haha! I knew your crazy plan would work!” She cheered.
The commander huffed. “So you were the one that orchestrated this whole thing too…” He growled. “Roth! Get over here!”
One of the soldiers who helped us out quickly made his way over before getting the same harsh words he yelled at me, only with a few more about never following orders that weren’t given by him. Then he turned and yelled at me some more, but with Lu standing next to me it all started to blur together, hurting my ears and giving me a headache as my senses were still sharpened.
“HEY!” I shouted back, cutting him off. “You’re not allowed to talk to me like that!” Everyone froze stiff and stared blankly at each other as I leaned over to Lu. “He’s not allowed to talk to me like that right? We are nobles.”
“Uhm… Well… He is too… Even if he doesn’t own land.”
“Oh, well still, then I’m a higher rank than him, right? So can I boss him around?”
“Still no… The chain of command works exclusively inside state borders, with the exception of generals and the king that is.”
I sighed, slowly shrinking back down as I realized I actually had no authority… “If I beat him up first can I boss him around?”
She slammed her fist into an open palm. “Oh, yeah that still works.”
My eyes dropped back to the floor. ‘For some reason, I really don’t feel like fighting him though…’ Out of curiosity I scanned him anyway, but his strength, speed, and everything else far outclassed me. Even my brother might have a hard time against him.
He shook his head, letting out another growl as he turned away towards Airsidh who was walking over because of all the commotion. “You must be Lord Airsidh. Please, I urge you to thoroughly educate this young lady. It would be a more effective lesson coming from family.”
Our brother just scratched his eyebrow, raising the other as he looked at me. “Take out the eyes to make it go crazy and let go?”
I nodded.
“Not a bad plan, well, you’re follow-through was lacking. Good job though.” He turned back to the commander. “Lesson taught, now where’s the food in this place? I’m not fond of Kraken tendril myself. Do you have any chicken?”