With a grinding rasp, the poorly maintained mechanism turned. Another set of shackles fell away and another slave rubbed their ankles, hardly believing the sudden change. It would have been faster to simply hand out my keys, but I wanted them to see me physically freeing them. Each time a set of shackles fell away I received a flood of reputation points. After passing out a hunk of bread to each newly freed man, each and every one of them “Respected” me.

I’d only reached that reputation rank with Finnegan before. I still wasn’t sure what significance that increased reputation would hold in this case, but I had learned not to squander any opportunity.

The gang took my shields with a sour look on their faces. They knew what it meant to be in a shield-wall. It was hardly a comfortable position. They were much happier when I handed them a pair of cudgels taken from the fallen guards. I was thankful to have them on my side, they had little issue with moving the dead guards and stripping them of their uniforms.

When everyone was freed and fed, I explained the plan.

“My plan is simple, but it hinges entirely on the tower. We can come out on top either way, but taking the tower is our best chance at doing it without any of us dying. Who here has skill with Crossbows?”

Three hands went up.

“Good, there is no way for us to break down the tower door without waking all the guards at once, but when the guards change, they will open the door for us. I need you three to wait for that moment and then fill those two guards with bolts before they can close the door again. Two of our shield-bearers will accompany you to rush in after your opening volley. Once we have the tower, we can hold up inside while our crossbowmen protect the approach.”

“What use is the tower when the guards can just stay in their cabin and wait for reinforcements. We should rush them while they’re sleeping!” Objected one of the slaves. There was a murmur of agreement.

“We could attack them now, we outnumber them after all. We’ve also been working all day. Even with the little food I just gave you we won’t last long in a stand-up fight, especially without weapons. Our biggest advantage right now is that they don’t know they’re under attack yet. The longer we keep them in the dark, the easier the eventual fight will be. I’ve already poisoned two of them. Bodrin and I just killed another two. That leaves eight guards and the captain. If we pull off the plan, another two pairs of guards will fall. At that point, we’ll have them five to one. All that will be left is to force the guards out of their hidey-hole and I can take care of that.”

My high reputation must have had some effect because no more objections were raised. Maybe they were just waiting for my plan to fail so we could default to a bum-rush. Either way, the bloodied guard-uniform itched something awful. Bodrin and I stood around the brazier, warming our hands. The blood should be invisible, silhouetted as we were against the light. My ears constantly strained for the sound of approaching boots but the tension was thinning and boredom was asserting itself. I yawned, unable to control it. Bodrin mirrored the action.

“Damnit, don’t start that now. You at least got some sleep tonight.”

“Oh, excuuuse me, your highness. I spent all last night scouting. You should be glad I woke up for this little event in the first place.”

Bodrin gave me an unimpressed look from the corner of his eye. Message received, the middle of a slave uprising wasn’t the right time to get sarcastic and air petty grievances. I fumed inwardly. He should be a little more understanding considering the risk I took by coming here. That simmering anger served to keep me awake until I heard the tromp of approaching boots. My back went rigid as I tried to act natural.

“Hey Simmons, any trouble? Simmons?” The hesitance in the voice compelled me to act. I spun and blasted one of the guards with my stunning wand. A second later, Bodrin released a stone from his sling. The man had hunted on occasion and besides moving silently, he was skilled with slings and snares. It was his idea to turn my roughspun clothes into so many slings. If his aim was off, there were a dozen more slaves hidden to the sides and ready to hurl stones. Bodrin’s aim was true however and the followup volley was unnecessary. I shook my head at the fact that a rock and strap of cloth could achieve the same effect as my expensive wand. We both quickly finished our stunned targets. I was careful to avoid a second bloodbath as I studiously looked anywhere but in the guard’s eyes.

Jordy and his old leader stepped forward to take the dropped cudgels and then the slaves moved as one towards the tower. I stopped them.

“Wait. It will take longer for the guard to get to the tower. They might spot you if you all move out at once. Bodrin, you take point. Watch for the door to open and then get everyone up that hill.”

“What about you?”

“The guard at the tower might expect to see someone heading back to the cabin from here. We’ve got to keep up appearances now don’t we?”

That was how I ended up walking towards the cabin with a torch in hand. Shortly before I made it, I heard the distinctive release of crossbows. I’d never heard it before, but it was unmistakable, so was the screaming that started at the top of the hill. Luckily, unloading my inventory of all the weapons let me carry something new.

I ran the last few dozen yards to the cabin and wedged a stout timber under the door handle just as someone slammed into it from the other side. The heavy plank slid a few inches before catching on a stone spur. The shouting and banging coming from the other side of the door grew louder. As I watched, the door cracked under a particularly heavy blow. I took the time to send a crossbow bolt through the partly-opened door, followed by a blast from my stunning wand. Two guards fell to the floor. It was like shooting fish in a barrel but I couldn’t reload my crossbow fast enough to take full advantage of the situation before the door would give. My original plan was to block their chimney. I wouldn’t have time to climb up to the roof now but I had to make sure they wouldn’t just head back inside for cover from the crossbows. Running around the side of the building, I tore open the door to the woodshed. It only took a second to empty my lantern over the seasoned logs. I touched my torch to the logs and backed away as the flames billowed up the dribbling streams of oil.

After the original fireball, the flames died down considerably. It was making a lot of smoke, but it wasn’t spreading as quickly as I hoped. A splintering crash from the front of the cabin reminded me to hurry, but there was one more thing to try. I donned my circlet, took out my violin and put bow to string.

The notes of the Song of Storms rang out clearly over the chaos and the wind followed. Channeling all my focus and will into the air, I sent a sustained gust into the woodshed. The burst of oxygen transformed the shed into a blast-furnace. Over the next ten seconds, the nascent fire grew into a roaring twenty-foot tall column spilling from the open doorway. The logs screamed with escaping vapor as they were greedily consumed and the shed itself began to burn. Just as I was basking in my awesomeness, an authoritative voice barked out.

“Stand aside!” The command was followed by the “Shing” sound that swords only make in movies. Next, I heard an explosion followed by the hollow tumbling sounds of wood on stone. It was time to go.

I sprinted around the back of the cabin and made for the Tower. After an initial rush to chase the vandal, the captain’s cooler head prevailed.

“Get back here and put out this fire! We’ll deal with that vermin later. He’s not going anywhere!”

Just like that, I was out of danger. It would have been better to draw them into the waiting slaves with crossbows and slings but no plan survives contact with the enemy. I was amazed it had gone off as smoothly as it had. There was always the chance that the alarm could have been raised before I even got everyone’s shackles off.

I was gratified to see that despite the sloppy execution, my people had taken the tower. The blood-streaked door was closed and a guard with two bolts in his back lay to its side. I pounded on the door.

“It’s me! The Captain stopped the last guards from chasing me but there’s only three or four left in fighting condition! We’ve got to take the fight to them before they can put out that fire!” I was running high on adrenaline and exhilaration but what I heard next made my blood run cold.

“What are you doing? Didn’t you hear him? Open the door! Now’s our chance!” The demand was followed by the familiar thunk of cudgel on skull. A familiar voice sounded out from the top of the tower.

“I think not, your lordship.” Came the gang leader’s mocking drawl. “Don’t worry, we’ll finish your mission for you. I’m sure your first mate will be very grateful when I give him your crest.”

“What the actual fuck man! I freed you and came up with the plan that took out nine of the twelve guards before the fighting even started!”

“Yeah, I don’t really care. What matters is that you’re worth more to me dead than alive. Besides, you’re too soft. I’d never follow a captain like you. All your planning and plotting, it just reveals your cowardice. A real man takes what he wants.”

“Oh yeah? Is that the philosophy that got you court-martialed and sent to this charming little labor camp?”

“I think you are asking the wrong question. You should be asking: How am I going to survive against that?” He pointed lazily down the hill. The few remaining guards were rushing to splash buckets of salt-water on their cabin but the Captain was boldly silhouetted against the flames. His unsheathed sword gleamed with moonlight one moment, and firelight the next. One of the crossbowmen released a bolt at the Captain. His sword cut through the air leaving a crescent-shaped afterimage burned into my retinas as the two halves of the bolt clattered to the ground. He didn’t say anything, and I was glad I couldn’t make out his expression.

My worst-case-scenario had come to pass. I was up against the Captain, all alone, with nowhere to run. Even my trump card, the poisoned crossbow bolts wouldn’t work on him! It was time to go for a hail-mary.

Magic was deeply reliant on imagination and visualization. After learning that core tenant of the art, I had an idea. There was one spell I always wanted to cast, even before I came to this world. I could visualize it in my sleep. That wasn't just boasting, I had literally dreamed about this spell on multiple occasions. Ironically, I didn’t have the balls to try it out for real considering how spectacularly it could backfire. That hardly seemed to matter now so I pressed my wrists together, flaring my palms out and curling my fingers in as if I was clutching an invisible ball. Then, I dropped into a stable stance and pulled my hands back to face away from the Captain. I flared mana into my Sages Cloak as hard as I could. The normally smooth layer of mana writhed and peeled away from my skin like flames. I was losing mana every second so I didn’t hesitate to begin the next step.

“Kaaaaaa” I intoned, imagining a point between my hands as a center of gravity, pulling the mana in. The wild mana escaping from my control curled inward, spiraling towards that core and a blue point of light winked into existence between my cupped hands.

“Meeeeee” I spoke this syllable slightly louder, forcing more and more mana into the cloak for it to be absorbed and compressed by the spell. It was the size of a golf ball and getting bigger by the second.

“Haaaaaa” The energy continued to spiral inward, reinforcing the growing ball between my hands. If a few MP felt like a firecracker, this was a pipe-bomb, and it only continued to grow. Finally sensing the danger he was in, the captain began to run, ignoring the hail of stones bouncing off of his armor. Despite the complete ineffectiveness of the slings, I felt better knowing that I wasn’t completely alone.

“Meeeeee” The cage of my fingers struggled to contain the growing power. The captain was nearly on top of me when chains began to rain down on him in a deafening, rattling, ringing din. One managed to wrap itself around the captain’s legs and he stumbled, sealing his fate. The last of my mana flowed from the cloak into the bowling ball sized attack just as the captain regained his feet.

“HAAAAAAA!” I shouted, thrusting my hands towards the captain while keeping my wrists locked together. The ball of light was so bright that even the guard with his abysmal Attunement saw his doom coming. With only four meters separating us, he barely had time to raise his sword in defense. With a “ping!” the sword snapped, blade spinning off into the night. The blast of energy continued forward without exploding, slamming into the guard’s chest with the force of a battering ram. The armored man was thrown back down the hill only to slam into a boulder with a satisfying “Crack!”

Unfortunately, the column of mana connecting the attack to my hands was just as solid. As soon as the Guard Captain stopped moving backward, Newton's third law took over and sent me on a trip in the opposite direction, namely up into the air. That was enough to finally break my concentration and the entire spell detonated, throwing me back even harder. I had a moment of surreal, weightless peace in which to think “No one messes with Kame House” before gravity took hold, and pulled me over the cliff.