Chapter 35
The first thing I noticed was that I hurt. Everywhere. Even my hair felt like it hurt. I opened my eyes, and wished I hadn't. I must have made a noise, because someone was at my side asking me how I felt.
"My Lord, you must drink this. It will help you," said a soft voice.
"What is it? What happened?" I asked still confused.
I drank the crap they gave me. Yes, medicine everywhere, tastes like crap. But I immediately started feeling better. I started to feel well enough; that I thought it might not be a bad thing to live, after all.
"What happened?" I asked
"You took a spell from Jorslan, my lord. Your shield softened it enough so that you lived, though you are totally bruised, head to toe. The serious damage has been repaired already," my physician told me.
"No, I meant about the battle," I said, gritting my teeth as a pounding pain came and went.
"Mirwanna arrived with reinforcements. She took the field from the enemies left rear flank. She is still chasing the enemy. Jorslan was finally driven away. He teleported away, but not before a Drebasty got a dagger into him," he told me with a smug sound in his voice.
That was a strange sentiment for a person who was supposedly a healer. Well, maybe not. If the healer was angry about the damage that was done to people during the battle, then maybe I could understand his point of view.
Whatever he gave me had me feeling better. I wanted to know everything, but my healer did not have the information I wanted. I looked around, but didn't see my Drebasty guard. I frowned. Now where had he gotten to?
(When you fell, he charged Jorslan. He is the one who got the dagger into Jorslan. Your Drebasty fell from the backlash of what he did. He is dead, and is being honored by his fellow Drebasty. Jorslan is having a bad time with a Drebasty wound, ) Svedra told me.
Wow. I had known the Drebasty were an old and powerful race, but to crash a shield and manage to get a dagger into an almost full god? Ok, Jorslan was not a full god, but he was so powerful that it took two demigods and the children of demigods even to face him.
As I was pondering this, Markus showed up. I tensed, and felt it when I did.
"Paul. I'm glad you are going to be all right. I asked to be notified when you regained consciousness," he said a bit hesitantly.
"Well, I will live, according to my healer. Nice guy. Wears a robe with a hood up all the time. You can almost see his hair when he moves wrong," I said a bit forcefully.
We looked at each other awkwardly. I was still pissed at him for his betrayals of me, and his manipulations of my memories. I guess we both thought it better not to talk about the past. We talked about the battle, instead.
Svedra's spiders had killed over 8,000 men I found out. With the dragons attack, the archers, and our magicians, we had accounted for over 12,000 of the enemy. We ourselves had gotten off lightly, but we still had our own deaths and wounded from the battle. Our losses and wounded totaled 652 dead, and 249 wounded. We lost 5 dragons without riders, and 3 dragons with riders.
Mirwanna's force was still pursuing the enemy, but had been ordered to pursue only so far, and then to return. I feared for her. Jorslan was wounded and dangerous. Plus he had hurt me with just a wave of his hand. Damn! That was POWER! My shield had caved as if it had been a soap bubble.
Markus spent another 10 minutes with me, and then left. We both could tell our relationship was damaged. I didn't really know how to fix it, or if I even wanted to.
I was poked and prodded by some assistants to the healer. Poking and prodding seems to be a universal thing with doctors.
The next day someone came by with clothes for me, and told me I should be ok to go back to my tent, but I should take it easy for at least a week. Well, I didn't really feel like running a marathon, so I agreed and limped back to my tent.
You know how boring it is to just sit around when you're healthy? It's even worse when your not feeling well, but are well enough to think you can do things. I was quickly escorted back to my tent each time I tried to go do something useful.
So here it was, my second day in my tent, when I got a brainstorm! I concentrated and summoned 'Arch Angel' my interactive magical computer interface. I didn't know if it would show or not, but it did.
"Arch angel, can you interface with computers from the other world and play programs here?" I asked it curiously.
"One moment. Yes, I can play music, videos, and games. I have access to all your programs, and of course the Internet," it finished.
"Really? You can show a video, here? How would you display it?" I asked it, intrigued.
"I can project videos on any surface, I can create a perfect hologram; or, if you wish, you can create a backdrop for me to project on," it stated.
Interesting. Just for the hell of it, I told it to project one of my favorite DVD's: "Michael Flatley's Feet Of Flame". It took a few minutes of adjustment to get it right, but I sat back with a cup of coffee, and starting watching a really good show.
I had only been watching for about 5 minutes when I noticed I was drawing a crowd. I had moved to just outside my tent, and was under the awning, so I could enjoy the air. The show was being projected holographically in the air before me.
People were stopping and watching. I watched them watching the show. They were fascinated. Still more people were arriving, and were stopping to watch. I was sorry to do it, but I stopped the show.
"Don't you people have something to be doing?" I asked them.
They sheepishly nodded, mumbled, or shuffled their feet.
"Lord, it's just... well, it was so beautiful!" a man said. The others nodded quickly.
I thought. I suddenly knew what I could do. I would show a concert! If these (I counted quickly) 9 walk people were struck like this, how would the rest of the camp view it? I sent them on their way.
I was just worried what these people would think of the costumes. I needed to talk to someone and get advice, and Mirwanna was not around. Maybe Darla could help me. No, she had been sent back to Landkur.
Who could I ask if this type of entertainment was appropriate for this world? I found myself standing outside Vostich's tent twenty minutes later. He saw me right away. As soon as I entered, he smiled and asked me how I was. Somehow, I think he knew already.
I explained what had happened at my tent a while ago, and he asked me to show him. So I summoned, 'Arch Angel' and Vostich stared at it in fascination. I then had 'Arch Angel' play "Feet Of Flames", in its entirety.
After it was over, Vostich said that he thought the people would enjoy watching the show, but how would I play it for a large group. I explained that 'Arch Angel' could adjust for size and distance, so that a very large audience could see it quite comfortably.
He nodded, and said he would have the first group assembled this evening at dusk in the first large field between our main camp and the supply camp. He thought it would be a very good thing for the people, after the fighting they had been through.
So that is how I found myself watching, as group after group of soldiers were marched in, or walked in on their own. Soon I had several thousand soldiers sitting on the grass waiting.
I was as nervous as if I were producing this show myself. Well, in a way I was, but still, I think I know now what producers go through on opening night. I gave 'Arch Angel' the command. One second, there was nothing in the center of the field; the next, "Feet Of Flames" was playing.
It was a rousing success! People were up on their feet, trying to copy the dancing, or just dancing whatever they felt like dancing. For three days, I played this show, one show each day. Everyone that was in the camp and the supply camp was rotated in to view it.
I felt pleased that I had been able to do something for the soldiers here. In the world I grew up in; there was the USO, and many support organizations to fall back on, for our military. Here, there was nothing.
Oh, there were shows that the upper middle class could see. Theater. But it was expensive for the average person. I guess theater was something that people everywhere loved to go to. I know I did all my life.
(This is a very good thing you do here, Paul, ) Svedra told me on the last night.
(This is a glimpse for me, into one aspect of art in the world that you grew up in. I am impressed anew by the creativity of those people, ) Svedra finished musingly.
"Well, if you liked this show, you should see my library! I have hundreds and hundreds of shows. If you like, I can have, 'Arch Angel' play them for you continuously," I offered.
He said he might take me up on that, but later. So my first 'concert tour' was a success. There was still a group that could not get here. Those were the wounded. So I made a trip to the tents of the wounded, and played the show for them.
That took me two more days. I did more than just one show a day for them. It wasn't until a week after I was done with my concert that it occurred to me that I probably could have had 'Arch Angel' copy itself, and it could have done the shows in the various 'wounded tents' all at once! Damn it, I was really not thinking things through!
The next day, I was finally feeling well enough to fly a patrol with a couple other dragons. At about mid-morning, I saw a large group of people riding our way from the south. I looked closely, and saw Mirwanna was riding at the head of a column of 100 calvary!
I changed directions, and made my way towards Mirwanna. It meant losing my updraft, but hell, I was sure I could either get a horse from someone down there, or I could just teleport back to camp. I had to go see Mirwanna, and find out what had happened with her.
As I got closer, I noticed that her right arm was in a sling, and she seemed to be in pain. I exerted myself, and landed very quickly indeed, right in front of the column. I then changed into my normal human form.
"Mirwanna! What happened to you?" I asked her when she reigned up.
"I was injured. It was a magical weapon of some sort. It seems to be blocking my magical abilities a lot," she said through gritted teeth.
"Why didn't you teleport or have someone teleport you back?" I asked, outraged.
"Because, there was no magic user in our group capable of teleporting anything larger than a rock," she said tiredly.
"Well, I am here, and I will teleport you back," I told her.
She smiled a pained smile, and dismounted from her horse. She almost fell. This was not good. I stepped to her side, and held her. I teleported us to a healers tent, and left her in his care.
I went off and found Fithian, and informed him of what I had done. He nodded and was gone, just like that.
I really wanted to get back to Mirwanna and see how she was doing, but just then, Svedra summoned me.
Edited by TeNderLoin