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Chapter 230: Heart of the Mountain
Bee nodded in return at Arthur's suggestion, "I think we can do better than having the Nighty Knights run messages. But yes, I agree. Something along those lines would be great. It should help to get them involved, but keep them safe. I don't know if you're aware, but their commander, Felix, has the ability to talk to anyone in his command over a large distance. I think we can use them to send almost instantaneous messages across the castle and maybe even the whole valley."
Arthur's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What is the skill's name?"
Bee frowned. "I'm not sure. It seemed unique, like many of them. It's not something I've ever read about."
Arthur nodded emphatically. "I've never even heard of anything of the sort."
"It seems insanely useful, though." Bee said with a shrug. "So far, we haven't really been able to explore it much aside from calling them together for dinner and such. But I imagine when it comes to coordinating battlefield tactics, it will be invaluable."
Arthur leaned back in his chair, thinking. "Well, I'll get one of my more experienced captains to debrief them. We'll see if we can learn anything about their talents that we can use in a more nontraditional role. I want to put some with the engineers, some as messengers, some with the archers. And if the commander... you said Felix was his name? If his messaging skill is as powerful as you said. I'll definitely want him with me. In fact, I might make him my squire or something if he's going to be commanding the Nighty Knights into the future.
"Between him and Bradley, I imagine we'll be able to help wrangle them into shape." The older man nodded to himself. "Perhaps I might be able to help set him on a path that would make him a better commander than someone simply trying to keep the men in line."
" I would like that," Bee said. "I'll make sure they're where they need to be. Let's assume we start this sometime tomorrow, since they'll have to finish reuniting with their families. But I need to go make sure that they don't try to sneak off again."
"All right then." As Bee got up to leave, the commander stopped her. "Oh, one more thing. Do you have any idea when Void might return?"
Bee shook her head. "None. Should we be worried?"
Arthur shrugged noncommittally. "You can never tell what surprises the enemy might have. We shouldn't need any backup by a long shot. But I'd be a fool not to know exactly what I have in store."
—-
I soared over the rock golems that were now wandering around the mountain aimlessly. I had considered going to find Daedalus, but I couldn't locate him anywhere on the mountain, and I was hesitant to leave the snowman undefended as they were for too long. But I found if I stayed high enough out of range, the rock golems would ignore me, and I could just observe.
The runes spoke of containment of a deep and ancient evil, one stuck here forever till the end of time. On and on they went. But he could feel that they were quite powerful. Surprisingly so. For something not made by a dragon.
"Huh. I didn't realize that they had moved the other Lieutenants after we bound them." Daedalus told his little brother.
"I hadn't heard about it, either." Thucydides said casually, shrugging.
"It appears they couldn't move him far," Daedalus snorted. "This wasn't that far away from where we had captured him. This one was the Death of Hope, I think? Anyway, it looks like they took the binding Archimedes made and reinforced it a lot and then hid them so that they wouldn't be tampered with. That was smart. I should find out who did that and thank them."
"It didn't appear to be enough, though." Thucydides remarked as they looked at the empty pedestal in the center of the circle.
"No. No, it did not." Daedalus said, rather disappointed. "It appears that everything is falling apart."
"Yeah, that's not good." Thucydides echoed. "Do you think we need to go track down Archimedes? I really have no idea where he's resting nowadays, but from what I heard, he was the only one who managed to do anything about this. With your help, of course."
"Of course. He wasn't the only one. And also, I wasn't involved with all their captures." Daedalus felt a surge of pride at how humble he sounded. "But it would be nice to find him again. I, unfortunately, also have really no idea where to look though. After we had rid the world of the last one, I mostly just stuck around and waited for Archibald to awaken."
Thucydides just rolled his eyes. Daedalus ignored the gesture and continued, "But, I don't think we really need to find him urgently. Well, it would be a nice backup. But we don't really have to worry. We have Spot, after all."
"Spot? The little guy you came with?" Thucydides asked with obvious skepticism. "Are you sure about that? I mean, he seemed nice and polite and all, but he's not even a dragon. What can he possibly do?"
Daedalus let out a deep belly laugh that shook the walls around them. "Oh, little bro. You have no idea. Spot may not be a dragon, but he's the next best thing. No, no. He's a godling."
"A– a what?" Thucydides asked.
"Ah, I forgot. Before your time, probably. I think the last godling died when you were but a hatchling. Suffice it to say, he's stronger than you. By a lot. A lot, a lot." Daedalus didn't add that Spot was likely stronger than him, too. It was close, but he wouldn't want to risk a one-on-one fight with the nascent deity. It's a good thing that the little terror was friendly.
Thucydides blinked, stunned. "Really? You're going to have to explain this whole godling thing to me. They sound interesting."
"That's one way of putting it. Anyway, we should probably head back and go see if we can find the little guy. It would be good to have him around if a Lieutenant makes an appearance." Thucydides shrugged, and without further ado, they beat their wings and rose from the cavern. It was time to go talk to a god.