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Chapter 695: A Lesson on Terminal Velocity...and Lying
🕑 Added 2023-10-14 00:27:00 +0000 UTCAlex Roth had entered the trading post of Turksini, knowing two things were guaranteed.
The first was that any locals he met there would be hardened frontier folk who would see him as a foreign–which meant bad—greedy, young merchant hunter who was way out of his depth in their land.
So, he’d reinforced that image by sounding greedy, desperate, nervous and inept the entire time he was in the trading post, inviting disdain. His act had drawn scorn from Old Illiana—and the hunters and trappers—right up until the moment he’d pulled out his gold.
That was where the second guarantee came in:
Basic mortal greed.
When he’d paid Old Illiana, he’d made it a point to flash his coin pouch, giving a glimpse of its contents to every ruffian and hunter in the place. Hungry looks started immediately, and the old woman had become very interested in seeing Alex, Theresa and Brutus join some of the local hunters.
When he’d refused her suggestion, he knew that when they left the trading post, they’d be tracked.
And sure enough, he’d been right.
He smiled, looking back at the obvious tracks they’d conveniently left in the snow. “Looks like they took the bait.”
“Bait?” Theresa asked.
Alex quickly explained. “—now we have a better chance of getting some proper directions. How far are they behind us?” he whispered.
Theresa’s eyes narrowed. “About three hundred paces. They’re moving slow and quiet…I can’t see them yet. They’re using the trees for cover.”
“Right,” Alex said. “Let’s lure them a bit further away from town. Tell me if they start closing the distance.”
“I will,” she promised.
The young wizard mentally reached out to Claygon. ‘Buddy, we’re about to have trouble. Be ready, and make sure you’ve got a good grip on my staff.’
‘Yes…father…’
Theresa, Alex and Brutus continued walking along the snowy trail, their boots crunching through drifts. Trees creaked, frigid winds blew, and the calls of beasts—and other creatures—echoed through the woods.
Theresa was silent, her head slightly cocked.
One of Brutus’ heads looked behind, his nostrils flaring.
Alex reached for the power within.
An hour passed.
“They’re closing,” Theresa said. “They’re probably trying to manoeuvre themselves into bow shot.”
“Right…tell me when they’re a hundred paces away.”
The huntress listened intently.
Trees thinned. Snow-filled meadows broke the treeline. Blackened pines—seared by past forest fires—loomed, leaving clear spots for an archer.
Ahead, he spotted a tree larger than the rest, resembling a withered old man.
“A hundred paces,” Theresa said.
“Where are they exactly?” Alex pretended to stretch, glancing back toward the treeline.
He saw no one.
“Third tree to the right of the woodcutters’ path, the one with all the lichen,” Theresa whispered. Her lips hardly moved. “Two there, the other three are hidden and spread out.”
“Got it, be right back.”
“Should I shoot them?”
“Not all.”
“Got it.” Her hand reached for her bow.
Alex teleported, the forest disappeared.
A rocky outcropping beside a fjord manifested; a snowpile rose before him, revealing Claygon.
“Ready, father…” The golem handed the young wizard his staff.
“Good.” Alex touched his chest, finding it surprisingly warm.
Suddenly, he was surrounded by cries of pain and cursing voices. Nearby, five living hunters had been reduced to three; two splayed on the ground with arrows protruding from their throats.
A third desperately grappled with the now horse-sized and bone-sheathed Brutus.
The bandit was not winning that fight.
Screaming, the last two were trying to escape.
One’s bow was drawn; she fumbled with an arrow.
The other was panicking, trying to string his bow.
‘Crush the one trying to shoot Theresa,’ Alex thought.
The golem took a step forward.
His fist swung out, striking the hunter.
Both the woman and tree she hid behind were fused together.
The hard way.
A grinning Alex materialised beside the man struggling with his bowstring. “Let’s talk, shall we?”
He teleported a mile.
Straight up.
Grasping the screaming man’s wrist, he floated far above the forest, keeping the hunter at arm’s length.
“Agh! What’s happening? What’s happening?” The man’s eyes rolled in panic.
“I’ll make this short,” Alex said, his voice as cold and hard as steel. “You tried to kill my fiancee, which makes me really, really want to drop you.”
The would-be bandit trembled while the powerful wizard eyed the forest floor. “Ah, I can see you’re finding it a bit chilly up here; well you’re certainly well dressed for the season, but the cold’s got a stronger bite this high up—”
As he spoke, a sudden gust of wind blew. “—well, will you look at that, it seems the wind’s stronger, too! Huh, I don’t think you’ll last too long up here, friend.”
“P-please,” the man’s teeth were chattering. “S-spare me, t-take me back down! I beg of you.”
“Oh, so you can kill us and rob our dead bodies of our coin?” Alex wagged a finger in front of the man’s face. “I don’t—whoa!”
The man scrambled for the knife on his belt, fumbling it free of its sheath.
“Oh dear,” Alex said lightly.
With a strangled cry, the hunter swung the blade.
The aeld staff flared.
Call Through Ice took form, the portal opening in front of the blade. Yelping as his hand passed through the gateway, the man jerked it back, dropping the knife.
A second portal opened behind the young wizard, and the blade fell through, plunging toward the ground.
Alex whistled, shaking his head. “None of that. If you threaten me again, I’ll drop you.”
To emphasize his point, he unwrapped his pinkie and ring fingers from the hunter’s wrist.
The bandit screamed. “No, no please, don’t!”
“You know, that knife is going to hit terminal velocity from this height, right?” Alex said quietly. “Like you. Do you know what terminal velocity is?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “When something falls, it accelerates—falling faster and faster—until it hits a maximum speed. For a man your size, taking into account air resistance, I think you’d take oh…maybe fifteen hundred feet to reach it. That’s about twelve seconds.”
“P-please,” the man moaned, his teeth chattering faster, eyes looking wild.
“And at that velocity? You pick up a lot of energy. Which means that when you hit the ground, all that speed is going to instantly drop—excuse the word—to zero. All that energy will be transferred between you and the ground. Do you have any idea what an impact like that does to the human body?”
Alex peered at the ground clinically. “The snow will absorb some of the energy, but at this height—without anything to protect you—that’s not going to matter much. You’ll turn to paste, your heart will likely burst, and your bones? My friend, one would probably see piles of sand on a beach stronger than your ruptured skeleton after a fall from this height. And you might want to pray to your gods to make sure you die on impact, because if you don’t.”
The young wizard cringed, pulling his lips back from his teeth and sucking in air. “Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to go that way…ah well, my hand’s getting tired—”
“No, no, no, no! Wait, wait, wait, wait!” the hunter cried, squeezing his eyes shut. “P-please spare me. Y-you can’t!”
‘Technically, he’s right,’ Alex thought sourly. ‘As much as I’d love to whip this bastard into the ground, Uldar—in his infinite wisdom—thinks that protecting myself from bandits and monsters shouldn’t be something I can do. By the Traveller, I can’t wait to fix this…but, for now…he doesn’t know I can’t hurt him, does he?’
Alex unwrapped his middle finger from around the man’s wrist.
“Aggggh! No, no, no!” the hunter shrieked, grabbing the wizard’s thick forearm with his other hand. “I’ll do anything! I’ll give you anything!”
“Okay, okay.” Alex winced. “Not so loud, you’re going to rupture my eardrums. I tell you what: you’ve got a deal going with Old Illiana, right? She gets a cut of your spoils when you gut someone she tells you to?”
“N-no! That’s not it!” the hunter cried. “Oh, by the gods, don’t drop me!”
“The faster you talk, the more likely my hand doesn’t get numb. Oops, the feeling’s leaving my fiiiingeeeers.”
“Illiana w-works with o-others! W-we just…we take what we can get, we work by ourselves! We hunt in these woods and take what we can g-get, even from barb-I mean, good foreigners like you!”
“I see, fair enough. Which means that if you hunt the woods, you must know them real well, right? Tell me where we can find the elf and the firbolg communities in the forest.”
And the man talked.
His directions were much better than Old Illiana’s; he identified several landmarks that would guide Alex to both the giant firbogls and elves.
The young wizard smiled.
‘With so much good information, teleporting there shouldn’t be too hard at all,’ he thought.
“Alright, alright, thank you for all your woooonderful help.” Alex flashed a huge smile. His expression was that of a kindly teacher.
The man met the young wizard’s gaze. His shoulders relaxed. “S-so you won’t drop me?”
Alex’s voice dripped honey. “Of course I’m not going to drop you. You told me what I needed to know.”
Mentally, he was already talking to Claygon.
Conversation passed through their mental link.
“Let’s get you back down to the ground. You must be cold. ” Alex said. “You’ve probably wet yourself and it’ll be a long way back to town. Best you get started on your journey.”
He teleported into the forest, some fifty paces from where the hunters had set up their ambush. The bandit’s eyes rolled with shock as his feet touched the snow, body shaking, legs buckling.
“T-thank you!” he cried. “I-I swear I won’t tell anyone anything about you!”
“I know you won’t,” the young wizard’s voice was ice. “You tried to kill my fiancee. Why in every hell should you get to live?”
The man’s eyes grew wide.
Alex casually stepped to the side, one hand folded behind his back.
Something crashed through the trees.
Claygon’s war-spear shot from bare brush, striking the bandit, pinning him to a trunk. A creaking sound followed as the tree toppled to the reddening snow.
The wizard’s expression was sour as he looked at the dead hunter.
‘There was a time when I would have balked at doing something like that. But, people like you never do, and people like me end up dead. It’s time we stopped being the ones to die,’ he thought, turning his back on the corpse.
He teleported back to find Theresa and Claygon cleaning their weapons and fists.
Alex could hear Brutus crunching on something behind a tree.
“Is everyone alright?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” Theresa said. “Those murderous bastards might have been good enough to kill some hapless travellers, but we’re not a bunch of poor unsuspecting travellers. They more than met their match, so we’re just fine. The only way they’d have a chance of scratching me is if I was asleep. Brutus is fine too.”
“And…so am I…did I get that bandit?” Claygon asked.
“Your aim is better than ever, buddy,” Alex confirmed. “And speaking of aim; we got what I was aiming for. That bandit gave us proper directions to the firbolgs. We can stop walking, go invisible, and teleport.”
“Sounds like a much better way to travel,” Theresa smiled.
“Agreed…father…” Claygon said.
Brutus stepped out from behind the tree, licking three sets of lips.
Casting invisibility and flight magic, Alex teleported himself and his companions over the treetops, watching for landmarks the bandit had described.
He soon caught sight of the first one, then continued on, teleporting to the next landmark and the next. But as they travelled, he noticed a problem.
“Wait, is it getting dark or am I going crazy?” Alex asked.
“It is getting dark.” Theresa squinted at the dimming horizon.
“Shit,” Alex cursed. “We’re so far up north, the days end earlier. Nightfall’s going to be here soon.”
“What do you want to do?” Theresa asked.
“Let’s find the firbolg settlement, but we won’t make contact today. We’ll save that for our next trip up here. It’ll also give me a chance to research them.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Theresa said. “Are you going to tell Professor Jules what we found?”
“Yeah,” Alex said, “I can do that before meeting with Professor Mangal. She and I are going to really start working on Relational Contract Summoning tomorrow.”
###
The rune-marked stood over the ruined corpses of the hunters.
Some had been split apart. Others, crushed. One looked to have been impaled by an immense weapon; a weapon that was now gone.
“New violence…” their warleader whispered, his breath misting through his visor. “New enemies to slay.”
“Shall we track them?” a warrior asked, rifling through the clothing of a broken body.
“Later. For now, blood calls to us. Giant blood. The portents say that we must seek something.”
His voice was like two boulders grinding together. “Something the firbolgs have.”
###
Author's Note
Hello thirty-four cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
I REALLY enjoyed writing Alex's lesson on terminal velocity. REALLY enjoyed it, haha.
Cya tomorrow!
Comments
George R
Awesome chapter
Goodie
Alex hunting the hunters to get information was a smart move though I was surprised he hadn’t discussed this with Theresa. To setup an attack well OK, but to leave her as the target, not OK, and to intentionally kill in retaliation in something he set up, really not OK. And to use Clayton as an executioner is definitely NOT OK. Not sure why the author is dehumanising Alex here (into a ‘barbarian’).
Logrus
Gotta be honest: I think this is the weakest chapter you've ever written. People simply don't pivot from being a regular civilian to being capable of murdering other people in cold blood like this. It feels extremely out of character for Alex, especially since the bandits never posed any real danger to him. Killing them incidentally when they attack? Sure. But straight up murdering them after he's neutralized the threat? That seems pretty far from who Alex is as a person. The entire mental torture schtik also seemed very out of place. Again, it is one thing to threaten, another to revel in causing mental anguish and pain. I think you should re-write this to be significantly less brutal. He can still kill a few bandits, but I think taking all of their shit and telling them to get the fuck out of dodge would be FAR more in character.
