Chapter 13: The Party

Rebecka chewed on an apple in her room as she looked over the maps she had been given. Nothing about the shape of Gullborg looked like any area she knew on Earth. The continents on the larger map of Utgard also didn't match anything she knew from home. The precision of the maps and way they had obviously been mechanically printed surprised her. That is, until she remembered that the larger knights were wearing mechanized suits and the 'magic' crystals lighting the buildings she'd seen so far were run via electricity.

Not to mention the sentient talking robot axe living in her body.

She spread the map of Gullborg out on the floor of her room and took a photo of it with her cellphone. Then, she did the same for the map of Utgard. It wasn't a fool-proof idea, but if something were to happen and she lost her paper maps she could have a digital backup. She had downloaded a bunch of shows to her phone, just in case the power went out during the ice storm. It was a shame she wouldn't be able to watch them since the battery was in the red. Which also made her plan of having a digital backup of the maps pointless.

She sighed to herself.

Maybe someone here has something I can charge this with?

Scanning.

Of course, Aettartangi would butt in.

Can you charge my phone, Aetty?

I believe so. May I try?

"Go for it," Rebecka said out loud.

A thin metal vine emerged from Rebecka's left wrist, twisted itself around, then flattened out a bit before connecting to the phone's charging port. After a second the battery symbol in the corner showed it was charging.

"Okay, but I can't hold my phone the whole time. I need both my hands so I can finish packing up the maps and stuff," she said.

Would you like another arm? Aettartangi asked, a hint of excitement in its voice.

Gods no.

Oh.

Several more vines grew from Rebecka's arm, wrapping around her phone, then moved the it to the back of her forearm into a wrist mounted phone harness created from more brass colored vines. She moved her arm up and down, the phone securely in place.

"That works," Rebecka said.

***

She had hoped to quietly leave before sunrise with just herself, Aettartangi, her throwing axes, shotgun, and go-bag. What Rebecka got instead was an understated royal send-off with a horse drawn cart full of supplies, and audience that included Steve, Quincey, and Barbara as well as a small group of five people who looked to be royal officials and about ten knights, only two of which were in robot armor.

"Thank you all for gathering so early this morning," King Nygard said loudly as he stood next to a bald human wearing a similar crown and cape. "The Merciful Blade Wielder Rebecka is leaving to slay Yggdrasil and free us from the horrors it has wrought upon all of our worlds. My husband, King Finehair, and I, King Nygard, both wish you godspeed and protection on your journey."

The bald guy's King Finehair?

Yes.

"Thank you," Rebecka said. "But, I don't need all this stuff."

"Nonsense. You can't go on a journey to South Port without supplies. It will take you at least a week," King Finehair said. The light skin of his bald head was a little pink from having been in the sun at some point.

"I have my supplies, they'll be enough."

"For three people?" King Finehair asked.

Rebecka scowled at King Nygard. "No matter what they told you, Steve and Quincey are staying here."

"What'd she say?" Quincey asked Steve.

"That we're staying here," he replied.

"Damn straight," Quincey said while crossing his arms.

Rebecka glanced at them, then to two knights who stepped forward and knelt near the cart. Even with the shiny steel helmets on, she recognized the faces of the two formerly condemned elves King Nygard had presented her with the previous day.

"Nope. They're staying here too."

"Please. You've spared them their lives. They wish to go with you to aid on your quest," King Nygard said.

"It would be an insult to the kingdom to reject them," King Finehair added more firmly.

I guess we can make an excuse to send them back after a couple days, Rebecka said.

Would you like me to set a timer?

You're really playing up the 'robot assistant' thing, aren't you?

I learned many things from connecting to your phone.

Godsdamn it.

"Alright. They can come with me, but just to South Port."

The knights and kings looked relieved, as did just about everyone else in the area. She wondered if they thought she might react the way Aettartangi had when it had eaten the skinhead. Just gobble up the kings? Until now that thought hadn't even crossed her mind. Aettartangi didn't say anything to the thought, which only made Rebecka wonder if that's what both kings had obviously been fearing up until this point. Steve finished translating the conversation for Quincey and Barbara.

Poor Barb, she still looks exhausted and confused.

"Steve, Quincey, Barbara, please stay here and stay safe, okay? I love you guys," Rebecka said.

Steve raced over to give her a quick hug. "I know telling you not to do anything dangerous won't work. So, just stay safe, kick ass, and come back to us, okay, Beck?"

She gently returned the hug. "Will do."

***

Rebecka was surprised there wasn't a bunch of villagers waiting for her as they walked through part of the city of Heiligvagr outside the castle grounds. There were people here and there going about their normal morning business. Some of them looked to be human, others elves, and still others some form of beast people with animal ears and tails like the cat kid from the Temple the day before. Just outside of the city they reached the area where refugees were being housed in temporary tents and buildings. Knights and other locals were visible among refugees who, much like the locals, weren't all humans. Sigyn the dragon woman wasn't human, so it made sense that other humanoids from different worlds had been dumped on Utgard the same way.

No one gave Rebecka and the two knights with her a second look, for which she was thankful as they continued down the wide road into the forest as the morning sunlight began to filter through the trees.

***

"We must rest," one of the knights finally said after a couple hours of following her on the trail.

Rebecka turned to see both of them were looking a little worse for wear. Neither of them had been riding in the wagon, which surprised her. The horse was smart enough to follow Rebecka and had been doing so without complaint. And while these knights were in good physical condition, they were also in full armor, and had been walking nonstop. Not to mention they probably still had to deal with the health effects of having been tortured.

"Find a good spot to pull the cart off the road here, then take a break. When you feel better, turn around and head back to Heiligvagr," she said.

"We can't do that!" The woman protested desperately. "We owe you our lives."

"The last thing I need is someone with a life debt to me, much less two of you. Go back to Heiligvagr. That's my order."

"You do not understand," the man said.

"Please don't tell me we're all married now," Rebecka said as she palmed her face with her hand.

"What? No." The man replied confused.

"We can't go back to Heiligvagr because we're sworn to protect you," the woman said.

"Pretty sure I can protect myself."

They can both use magic. It would be good to keep them in the party for defensive purposes, Aettartangi said.

"Your firearm did little against the Gullinbursti knight you faced when you arrived here," the woman said.

"The big robot suit wearing knight?" Rebecka asked.

"Yes," both knights said.

Yes, Aettartangi said at the same time.

"You do realize I have Aettartangi, right? I know at least one of you saw it turn a guy inside out and eat him alive."

The knights nodded.

"Still, we're tasked with protecting you on your journey. We know neither of us can really do much, but..."

"Please, don't send us back," the man begged.

King Nygard and King Finehair were ready to let you kill both of them. They're frightened to return to Heiligvagr as failures. As King Finehair said it would be an insult. They would bear the punishment for it. Please, let them come with us. It's the best way to protect them both, Aettartangi said.

I can't promise I can keep them safe, Aetty.

And neither can I, but we will do a better job of it if we know where they are, it replied.

She put her hands in the air. "Fine. Aetty wants you both to come along. Let's find a good spot to park the cart and rest. The horse is probably thirsty too. After this, you both take turns driving the cart, okay?"

Rebecka ate a can of soup for lunch while the knights made a meal of bread, dried meat, and cheese. The horse silently ate from a bag of grain one of the knights had given it. After a few minutes of everyone eating in awkward silence Rebecka couldn't stand it anymore.

"My name is Rebecka Holt. You all know Aettartangi. What are your names?"

"Rifa Highwater," the woman said.

"Dyr Steinn," the man said.

"Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself before. I've just had a lot to deal with lately," Rebecka said.

Dyr put his hands in the air before him. "There's no need for you to apologize. We were both in the wrong with how we treated you and your companions. Neither of us followed protocol. We should be the ones to offer our apologies. I am sorry for injuring your arm in the Great Hall."

"And I am sorry for cutting your friend's hand off," Rifa offered as optimistically as one can say that sentence.

"Apologies accepted. Now will you go back to the capital?"

"We can't," Dyr and Rifa almost shouted.

"I figured I'd double check," Rebecka said with a sigh.

***

Anomaly detected.

Is it the same one as before?

I believe so. It is a much stronger source of magic than the one that has been following directly behind the cart for the last two miles, Aettartangi said.

Rebecka stopped walking and turned around suddenly which made Dyr nearly fall out of the cart and Rifa nearly fall on her ass. The action barely startled the horse, who Rebecka had learned was named 'Baby.' The short brown and white horse didn't even so much as snort when Rebecka yelled.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Rebecka barked.

Sigyn crossed her big gold and white scale covered arms in front of her chest and snorted without a word. Her hoodie was tied around her waist via the sleeves.

"Should we...try to fight?" Rifa asked.

Rebecka waved her hand at her. "Gods no. She's a friend. I just don't like the fact that Aetty didn't tell me she was here."

She is a friend and I wanted her to join us, so I didn't want you to scare her off, Aettartangi said.

Yeah, well fuck you, Aetty. Tell me when you detect something, next time, Rebecka shot back.

Aettartangi replied by sending Rebecka what she could only assume was every sensor reading it was getting at that moment at once. Suddenly, she knew where every bird, tree, blade of grass, vole, mouse, worm, and ant was in a one mile radius, as well as the gaping hole that was the 'anomaly,' the wind speed, air temperature, humidity, and countless other things she previously had no metrics for. Overwhelmed, she fell to her knees in the dirt. It only lasted a terrifying moment before it ended, releasing her from the crushing sea of information.

Fuck you, Rebecka. Sigyn is in the party.

She held her head, a dull headache the only evidence of the tidal wave of data, as she got to her feet. "Have you two been talking to each other this whole time?"

Sigyn snorted again then pointed to her own head. "No. I can only hear it when it speaks to you because it's using your brain. I could go into detail but it would be pointless. Why did you just collapse? What was that? I couldn't read what it was doing."

Aettaranti's being pissy, Rebecka thought.

Sigyn snorted.

I wanted you to join the party. You and Rebecka thought otherwise. I also just showed Rebecka how much data I deal with at any given moment. Telling her you were here was not in my list of priorities as you are an asset, not a threat, Aettartangi said to Sigyn, ignoring Rebecka entirely.

"What do we do?" Dyr asked.

Rebecka shook her head. "Dyr, Rifa, meet Sigyn. She's joining us on this little adventure. Even though she was very clear that she didn't want to and I was very clear that I didn't want her to either."

"The fact that I could sneak up on you is proof enough that you're in over your head," Sigyn said.

"The only reason you snuck up on us is because Aetty didn't tell me you were here," Rebecka shot back.

"I am not quiet. You should have heard me walking behind the party."

"I thought it was Baby!"

"Baby?"

"The horse."

"Oh. Still. You'll need my help. As little as I want to be on a quest, there's no where else for me here. Heiligvagr already has me and translation magic. It won't kill me to go on one more fucking quest," Sigyn huffed.

"Fine," Rebecka said.