Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-One - Mutually Assured Hugging

By early evening, the scouts were able to see the tower. I could only catch a few glimpses of it in the distance, and it looked... like a large tower. It was octagonal and had balconies running around some floors, but it was still distant enough that I couldn’t make out much more about it.

We had no choice but to stop eventually and set up camp. We were still maybe an hour’s walk from the tower itself, at least according to the scout who’d snuck up to it.

The camp we set was different from what I was used to. The sylph found some fallen branches from the huge trees around us and used those and some Earth magic to create a palisade around our campsite. The smaller tents they carried were laid out in a circle around a larger one which sat in the middle and which my friends and I were currently standing within while the soldiers prepared for a big fight that we all hoped wouldn’t happen.

“This is the tower,” the scout said. He tapped on an octagonal shape he’d drawn on a sheet of looseleaf. “And this is the path I uncovered leading to it. As you can see, it’s a switchback. It’s difficult to tell from here, but what we see of the tower is merely the upper half. Most of it is hidden by this rise here.”

I nodded along as I followed on his map.

“Where are their ships docked?” Amaryllis asked.

“Along here, ma’am,” the scout said. He drew a circle with his fingertip. “There are structures here for the ships. They’re made of wood, probably sourced from this forest. They seem sturdy from afar. There are also buildings here and here.” He tapped two spots.

“What sort of buildings?” Awen asked.

“I couldn’t say with any certainty,” the scout replied. “They seem to be newer constructions than the tower itself.”

“Number of ships?” Bastion asked.

“Seven. Five look like Snowlander vessels, the other two are definitely harpy ships. One might be the main diplomatic vessel, it’s quite large and... ostentatious.”

“Five Snowlander ships,” Amaryllis muttered. “Does that match up with what we know of their attack on the delegation?”

“That's about the right number, yes, if we accept the accuracy of that ship's log from the Remiges Crown,” Awen said.

Amaryllis nodded. “A good source,but the captain may not have managed to get an accurate number into the log. We should err on the side of caution and assume that they have more ships than that.”

“And a large base of groundcrew working for them as well,” Caprica said. “Seven ships, even if they’re not all in use, is still a good-sized squadron. Any sign of the captives?”

“No, your highness.”

“Guards?” Bastions asked.

“Few,” the scout said. “I only saw three, and I’m uncertain if two of them were actually guards or if they were just pirates stepping out for some air. They mostly seem to be sequestered within the tower, but it has parapets which allow them to see quite far into the forest. Anyone trying to move towards the tower will have to move along these rocks. There’s cover, but it’s sparse.” He traced a finger along the path again, and I could imagine someone standing atop the tower having a great view.

“So, we can’t sneak in?” I asked.

Caprica frowned. “Maybe not with our entire unit. The scouts can, certainly. I have full confidence in their ability to go unnoticed. Perhaps the royal guards we have as well, they have skills to go unnoticed.”

The scout stood a little taller. “I’m certain my brothers in arms and I can reach the tower without being seen, your highness.”

“I think I could make it,” Calamity mused. “If nya give me some time and the guards aren’t paying full attention.”

“A distraction, then?” Awen asked.

“Not as good of an idea as you might think,” Bastion said. “Any guards with even half-decent training will sound the alarm at an obvious distraction.”

“It’s nearing evening,” Caprica said. “If we time things correctly, the Royal Pride will be passing by in the early morning. It might be the distraction we need, especially if they take the bait.”

“Then we can have our ships launch just before we swoop in ourselves,” Amaryllis said. “It'll take them two, maybe three hours to reach us, I imagine.”

I hummed. “So, we wait here until morning and try to be well-rested?” I asked. “That doesn’t sound very heroic.”

Bastion rubbed at his jaw. “Well, a morning attack is our only good option. Moving in at dusk is too risky. The soldiers, with a few exceptions, aren’t trained for night operations, and we’re all a little tired from the trek we had to endure today.”

I crossed my arms. I wanted to protest, but he wasn’t exactly wrong. I was a smidge tired. Not too bad. After all, I’d been adventuring for a little while and it involved a lot of long, long walks and lots of cardio.

Bastion probably knew better, so we’d follow his advice and stay back. Besides, I kinda wanted to succeed without too much violence. If we barged up to the tower with overwhelming strength then we could tell the pirates to surrender and just grab the prisoners and run.

A quick in-and-out, no one needed to get hurt, and at the end of the day we’d all be big old heroes.

I liked the idea.

“In that case,” Caprica said. “I have a few notes to send. I imagine you’d enjoy a warm meal.”

The scout nodded. “That would be welcome, ma’am,” he replied.

“Good. Let’s get everything sorted while we can. Tomorrow will prove to be a busy day, I imagine. Broccoli, could you follow me for a moment?”

I blinked, then nodded and followed Caprica into the deeper parts of the tent where a section was walled off by a hanging curtain. There was a small bed behind that, mostly just a padded cushion with some blankets atop of it, but it looked leagues comfier than sleeping on the ground.

Caprica rubbed at her face, and let her shoulders droop. “Are you okay?” I asked. I hadn’t noticed any signs that she was stressed until just then.

She smiled. “I’m fine. It’s a lot of work, but... well, I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life. Anyway.” She took a deep breath and shored up her reserves.

Then I hugged her.

“Broccoli?” she questioned, holding her arms out awkwardly.

“Back in my home world, everyone knew that thirty seconds of hugging could help you relax. I think it’s because we need physical contact to feel safe. You know, like how doggies all sleep together in a big pile.”

“I’ll thank you for not comparing me to a dog,” she said.

I squeezed a bit tighter. “Cats do it too,” I said.

“Hmm...” she paused. “Broccoli, I think it’s been more than thirty seconds.”

“That’s for humans,” I said. “I don’t know how long it is for buns or sylph, so I’m being safe.”

“I suppose we’ll need all the safety we can get.”

I squeezed harder before finally letting go. I looked her up and down. “Are you feeling a little better?” I asked.

She nodded. “I am,” she assured me. I wasn’t sure if I believed her. Medication often had to be used over a long time to help someone feel better, and I think hugs were the same. I was going to prescribe her a dose of hugs, twice daily, from here on out.

“So, what did you want? Just hugs?”

She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t looking for hugs. Though... thank you for that. I wanted to talk about something more... dangerous.”

More dangerous than hugs? That didn’t narrow it down at all, everything was more dangerous than a hug. “What is it?”

“Rainnewt,” she said, and I felt my back straightening. “Under any other circumstances, his head would have gone to the block already.”

“What?” I asked with a gasp.

She blinked. “What-what?”

“You’d kill him?” I asked.

“Broccoli, he acted as if the lawbooks were a checklist of crimes to commit. Attempted regicide, terroristic threats, attempted mass murder, actual murder. That’s not getting into all of the smuggling, conspiracy, identity theft and the use of countless illegal spells. He’s likely responsible for destroying dungeon cores, which alone would be enough. What did you expect us to do with him?”

“I... don’t know,” I said, shifting my weight from foot to foot. “I guess put him in a cell and try to reform him.”

“I don’t think there are enough hugs in the world for that,” she said. “But it’s all moot now. With him being part of the ransom demands from these pirates, the Harpy Mountains would throw a fit if we executed him.”

It sounded as if that was rather important. “You’re not going to?”

“We don’t want to spark a war. Not after we came so close to starting one because of Rainnewt. The irony would be too much, I think, if a war started because of him even after we captured and foiled his plans.”

“I guess,” I said. “Do you think he planned on using the pirates and their hostages as a sort of contingency?.”

“A lot of what Rainnewt was up to is still murky and unknown. I think we can assume that most of it wasn’t good. The telling thing is that this Commodore Megumi wants him freed. It has the feeling of a contingency plan going off.”

“Well, we’re not going to give him back, are we?” I asked.

“We can’t,” she said. Then Caprica sighed. “He escaped.”

I gasped. “He what?”

That... no, how could he? We’d worked so hard to grab him! And he wasn’t just in some little sheriff’s office or something, he’d been taken in by the sylph army. They were supposed to be competent.

Caprica placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay. We’ll find him again. We have the best investigators in the country on his trail, and we’ve captured his co-conspirator already.”

“Someone helped him?” I asked.

She nodded. “He couldn’t have gotten out without the help. As it turns out, he had more contingencies than we expected, including kidnapping some middling-ranked officer’s family and holding them hostage unless they helped him escape. It worked.”

“That’s awful,” I said. “I hope they don’t get into too much trouble.”

Caprica blinked. “Uh. I’ll make sure of that, sure. I thought you’d be more concerned about his escape?”

“Oh, I’m very concerned,” I said. “But... I don’t think he’ll come after me or my friends. Rainnewt struck me as very goal-oriented. We stopped him, but unless we meet again, he doesn’t seem very vengeance-inclined.” I tighten my fists. “But if we do meet him again, I think I might have to put my feelings aside to beat the stuffing out of him.”

“Do you want a hug?”

I blushed, then nodded. “Yes please, I think I’d like that.”

Caprica’s hug was very technically correct and also very stiff. The princess clearly lacked hugging practice. But there was a lot of heart in it, so I hugged her right back and enjoyed the contact while it lasted.

“Thanks,” I said once the hug ended. “I guess I should tell my friends?”

“You can. I’d suggest being discreet though, the news isn’t out yet, and we’re obviously keeping it quiet. It wouldn’t do for the world to learn we’ve fumbled. Especially not the harpy.”

I clasped my hand over my mouth. “They need Rainnewt for the hostages.”

“And we’re all out of Rainnewt to give,” Caprica said. “Things will get rather heated, I think, if we can’t save the day.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don't worry, Caprica. If me and my friends are good at one thing, it's kidnappings. We have a lot of experience.”

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. A moment later, she tried again: "...I am going to choose to believe that I was reassured by that."

***