After a few more days of travel we arrived in Buryn. The roundabout route had taken more time than I’d have liked, but I had enjoyed spending it with my companions. Stone and Dorsia briefly went to the market to see what kind of profit could be made from Turnips, which turned out to be surprisingly high this close to where the war effort was being supplied.

Once we were safely ensconced in one of Dorsia’s many hideaways I reassembled myself. Being only a head for so long had been disorienting, but the ease with which it had allowed us to travel had been worth it. The team watched me rebuild myself before they spoke.

“That was about the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen,” said Jade as I finished screwing on my head.

“After seeing him eat a ten foot pole of metal and spin his head like a top it just doesn’t faze me like it used to,” said Kyren sighing disappointingly.

“I’m sorry I’ve grown so one note. I’ll try and find a way to surprise you.”

“Please see that you do,” she replied with a smirk.

Stone chuckled. “Nobles. So entitled.”

Jade looked me over. “Those gold lines of yours are going to make it even harder to get you into the capital.”

“They do stand out a bit, don’t they?” I asked.

“Well, hopefully our contact will have something figured out for us. He’s been looking for a direct way to help for quite some time. He’s been instrumental in starting to peel off the king's support, particularly among the common folk,” said Kyren.

There was a knock on the door, two raps, followed by three more in an odd cadence. Dorsia opened it and two rough looking men walked in followed by a dwarf that wore a cloak over his head. The two rough looking ones had a brief word with Dorsia, who clapped one of them on the shoulder, put a pile of coins in the other’s hand and sent them out. Once the door was closed the cloaked dwarf removed his hood revealing a clean shaven face.

It was odd to see a dwarf without a beard. Even some dwarven women liked to maintain them. I was used to the close cut ones in Usulaum, but a bare faced dwarf was in many ways stranger than a living suit of armor.

“Hello everyone,” said the man in a soft tone.

“Hello Jun,” responded Kyren. She looked over at me and Hrig, “This is our contact, in case that wasn’t clear, he’s the head of the church in the capital and a priest of all gods.”

“Well met,” I said, extending my hand.

He grabbed my wrist and gave a firm shake, smiling up at me as he did so. “Well met indeed. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Don’t believe everything Kyren says,” I responded, drawing some side eye from her.

“Oh, I didn’t hear it from Kyren.”

He didn’t elaborate further, though I had a feeling I knew who he was talking about.

“So, you can get us into the capital?” asked Stone.

Jun nodded. “I can, though luckily I don’t need to.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“The king is about to leave the capital to head for Sylfen’s border. He’s planning to meet with the forces he’s gathered there. I found out just this morning from a courier. It’s unfortunate, I spent so much time developing a way to smuggle all of you in. The plan had coffins, arson, and even a short trip through some sewers.”

“You sound disappointed,” said Kyren.

“I haven’t gotten to experience the life of an adventurer like you. It was nice to be able to turn my focus to something earthly rather than celestial.” He sighed heavily. “I doubt it'll be any easier to get to him in the middle of an army than it would've been to go through gates, walls, and guards.”

“It’ll be hard. Any chance we can catch up with him before he reaches his main force?” asked Hrig.

“No, his group is travelling on horseback to get there. He apparently wants to give some kind of demonstration,” said Jun.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” I said.

Jun nodded. “He was also travelling with at least three golden eyed bodyguards as well as more than a hundred additional men. I have enough contacts in the main force on the border that we can likely slip you into the lines, but getting you all there before the king’s planned demonstration is going to be tight.”

…

Between Dorsia and Jun we acquired two horses each. I had been given a large spotted brown one and a solid black one, both of which I gained an immediate fondness of. Sevald had trained with horses since he was a young boy, and I found myself awash with the warm feelings he’d had toward the creatures as I lifted myself up onto the back of the brown one. I hadn’t ever ridden one, my own ability to distance run and cut across thick underbrush was usually more useful, especially since I was able to do so without breaks. This time however we would be travelling straight west across major roads and taking only minimal breaks. With time being a factor, horses were the best option. I also wasn’t sure it would be wise for me to travel alone into enemy lines. I was stronger than I’d ever been before, but there were certainly limits to what I could do.

While we rode I decided to explore those limits. The insights that Rubrus had given me into my own functions had already yielded some impressive results. Knowing that I was using the metal I’d stored internally to repair myself let me strengthen my body with elyrium, and absorbing enchantments meant I could now summon multi swords at will and absorb energy from people’s blows against me. Not to mention that I could absorb and then return those enchantments as I had with Stone’s boots. He’d tried to charge me a rental fee, but we agreed to call it even.

I focused internally and regarded the three elyrium bars I had in my inventory. One was missing about two feet of its initial length. I began pulling it, using it to thicken my armor beneath the areas that were still steel, while simultaneously layering steel over where I’d already patched myself with elyrium. By the time I was done I looked how I had before. I felt a tinge of vanity as I’d enjoyed how I’d looked with the threads, but they made me far more noticeable than was desirable now. Aside from that I’d now be able to surprise my foes with my durability even if they’d normally be strong enough to pierce steel.

After that was done I thought about the enchantments I had on me. I focused on the storage space I had and found that I could actually manifest multi swords within myself. They still faded over time, but I could create them almost instantly since I no longer had to pull them apart and could instead summon them at will. I summoned as many as possible internally as quickly as I could and I was able to completely fill the space before the first of them I’d manifested dematerialized. That gave me some interesting options.

My other enchantment, the ability to absorb energy, was not something I could stretch in the same way. It was certainly useful, particularly against my more mundane foes, but against Children of Aurum it had limited uses.

We stopped to water and change our horses and allow everyone a brief meal of trail rations.

“No more scars?” asked Hrig, a bit of disappointment leaking into her voice.

“I thought inconspicuous may be the way to go this time. I’m sure I’ll have some new ones by the end of things.”

She patted me on the shoulder and went to tend to her horse. I needed to be certain that I didn’t discount the way my allies could contribute. All of them were stronger than they were before, more capable. I could rely on them now the same that they could rely on me, but perhaps I could still help them to be even more reliable.

“Hrig, can I see your axe for a moment?” I asked.

“Finally thinking of switching to a true warrior’s weapon?” she asked with a smile, drawing her axe and extending the handle of it toward me.

“Now that swords are built into me, I think they’re what I’ll stick with. I just wanted to give you a little gift.” I held her axe, feeling it become an extension of myself, and I channeled the elyrium from within me onto the edge of her axe, leaving it gold. I handed it back to her.

“I know you're strong enough now to cut through their scales, but I figured this may help.”

Hrig took her axe, smiling as she ran a finger down the edge, drawing a little blood. “I don’t think I’ve received such a nice gift in some time.”

Jade and Dorsia approached after that and I did the same for them, leaving Dorsia with an elyrium edged rapier and Jade with bronze colored claws. Kyren and Stone’s weaponry wasn’t really in need of reinforcement in that way, a hammer still hammers fine without an elyrium edge, and magic was not so easy to strengthen.

“Did everyone thank you for that?” asked Kyren.

“Yes, though a thank you from Jade is usually more like a grunt.”

“Well, they seem to have forgotten to thank me,” she said with her small smile.

“Thank you?” I thought for a moment. “Oh..right.”

She laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not serious. This is more important than the gold those bars may have made me. Besides, the ones I already sold were more than enough to cover the expenses of the estate, and my brother’s heads also helped to make sure I wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of thing any time soon either.”

I returned to the horses, taking the time to make sure they were in good enough shape to keep travelling. We were planning on riding them hard, but that didn’t mean I wanted them to be uncomfortable. Once I was sure they were okay to ride, we all mounted back up and continued on.

We were near the capital and so would need to loop around, using side roads to avoid any patrols or random encounters with those loyal to Caedus. Luckily the roads were well cleared. Jun had said he’d have a temple holiday scheduled to celebrate with a large feast, which seemed to have had a positive impact on the traffic. Aside from that I was relatively certain that Caedus was simply no longer concerned about us. He was nearing what he believed to be an ascension. The culmination of dozens of plans and tremendous effort. It was a shame all of his work was for naught.

It was early morning by the time we reached the edges of the camp. We lit a metal lantern and opened and closed the front of it three times. A few minutes later we were met by two young men in what had become the standard soldier's garb of a simple tunic with the emblem of an eagle's claw.

Kyren approached and spoke with them in hushed tones before they led us into a tent on the outskirts of the camp. Inside were some simple beds and a table with a small map of the encampment. The men said a few final words to Kyren and then they slipped out.

We all approached the table.

“They say that the king plans to begin things here, in just an hour or so. We have a few extra uniforms for all of us and all the attention will likely be focused on the stage.”

“What if we try something now, before he’s even up there?” asked Jade.

“The king is already on the stage making preparations. We’ll benefit more from striking while everyone is focused on him rather than all the wandering eyes there now,” said Stone.

“Less than an hour then? I suppose we’re lucky we got here before it started at all,” I said, crossing my arms. “No real time to plan. I guess we’ll just get as close as we can and try to stop him. Will we have any help?”

“Jun’s people are too afraid to help directly. I’m afraid we’re on our own,” said Kyren.

“Well, there’s no group of people I’d rather have at my side.”