RavensDagger

  Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Nine - Anything You Do, I Do Better (Except fs)

  General Holey escorted us back out of the underground base. This time I was sure to keep my head ducked to avoid bonking my forehead against a beam again.

  Once we were out and bader the full light of the sun--there was a lot of blinking until our eyes adjusted--the general fgged down a mole person who looked like he was one of the workers, though he had a big sash over his chest that might have been a sign he was important.

  The general reyed a few quick orders, mostly telling the foremole to shift the focus of their stru for the few hours, and that he’d expin more in a moment.

  He was doing his part of the agreement with Bastion.

  “I trust,” General Holey said as he turned back to us, cwed hands on hips, “that you’ll carry out your end of all of this?”

  “We’ll do what we ,” Bastion said. “As I said, my goal is to avoid flicts, which, right now, means addressing your s.”

  The general nodded seriously. “I appreciate it, padin,” he said before extending a hand to Bastion. My smaller friend grabbed it and shook.

  “See you ter then!” I said.

  “Ah, yes, have a good afternoon, Captain Bunch, Captain Ward,” Holey said with a nod for the both of us.

  I waved goodbye. I wao hug him. He seemed very soft under all the armour. But we weren’t on those kinds of terms yet, and besides, he did have all those armoured bits in the way.

  The gate was lowered and we crossed back out of the wall, the general following us to the threshold. “Good luck, and may the skies remain clear above you.”

  “May Dirt keep you in its embrace,” Bastiourned with a small bow.

  Then we were off, heading back to the little wagon with the uards on it. “That was well done,” Captain Ward said.

  “Just a day’s work,” Bastion said. “This situation with the army disturbs me. I ’t imagiheir as being approved by the brass.”

  “You think someone’s doing something they shouldn’t?” I asked. “I mean, other than how much the army shouldn’t be mean already. The way Holey described things makes it sound almost as if the molefolk are being bullied. I kinda uand doing what the moles are doing, even if I know that being mean isn’t how you respond to someone else being mean back.”

  “I think that the local garrison has decided to ignore some rather important protocols at a time where doing such is even more irresponsible than usual,” Bastion said.

  “More than usual?” I asked. “Because of the war?”

  Bastion hen cast a guard Captain Ward, alking just a pinch stiffly. “I don’t mean to be rude, Broccoli, but maybe keep what you know about that to yourself for now. There isn’t a war yet, and hopefully there won’t be one.”

  “I uand” I said. “I keep quiet... so, where are we going now?”

  Bastion sidered it for a moment. “Captain Ward, I think it would be more expedient for you to visit the quarry. It isn’t too far from here. Maybe you get some answers from there. Meanwhile, Captain Bund I will be visiting ander Warmwood.”

  “That’s a ways away,” Captain Ward said.

  Bastion dismissed the with a wave of his hand. “I’ve been on a ship for some time, and while I did keep up with my training, there wasn’t mu food jog. The run will do me good. As for the captain... Broccoli, how would you like to race?”

  “A race? From here back to Granite Springs? I don’t know, I’ve never been really petitive.”

  Bastion shifted, his shoulders and back stretg under his armour. “That’s fioo, as long as we keep a good pace.”

  It would be fun to see how fast I could go. I liked running ba Earth, and I guess I’d done a lot of exercise sining here. It would be cool to see how much faster I lus, I had Way of the Mysti, which used to have Hopping in it. That probably made me pretty fast. Rabbits were the symbol for speed for a reason... well, at least on whrottles. “Alright,” I said.

  Bastion grihen turo the captain. “We’ll be back soon enough, I imagiay he quarry for a while. But if we haven’t returned by evening, tact the Pace.”

  Captain Ward saluted. “Yes, sir,” he said.

  Bastion stopped, then reached back while folding a leg and grabbed onto his ankle. He started to stretch, so I did the same.

  Or at least I tried, it had been a long time since I’d done any stretg, even if I k was important to do before exerg.

  “I’ll let you set the pace,” Bastion said.

  “Cool! I don’t know how fast I am now, so call out if you ’t keep up!”

  Bastion ughed. It was a very mean “as if you outrun me” sort of ugh. I’d just have to prove him wrong.

  I k, pnted my feet properly, bent my back a bit, then wiggled my rear to make sure everything was loose.

  Then I bounced.

  My feet hammered into the ground, shooting my forwards in a dead sprint that had my hair and ears fpping out behind me. Each step skipped me ahead a dozen paces, with my shoe hitting the ground with a solid stomp.

  I had to blink hard to keep the wind from blurring my vision, so I bowed my head and k into it. It was a weird way to run, more of a very fast skip than a proper sprint, but I was going really fast, the ground zooming past and trees blurring oher side of the road.

  I gnced back.

  Bastion was casually running a pace behind me, a small smile on his lips.

  I huffed and pushed myself harder.

  Bastion ran up alongside me. “So, you seemed surprised wheered the base with the general. Did something occur?”

  I started swinging my arms; that always helped.

  “It... was... a... new... skill,” I said between pants.

  “Oh? What’s the skill? By the way, you don’t hat much stamina. Use it as you’re moving y, then in your thigh as y y back up. Let your body take care of most of it. The stamina you use should be to assist, not to do all the work.”

  I swallowed and tried to do as he said, then I wobbled and almost stumbled as my legs didn’t move as fast as I hem to on the bounce.

  “We don’t o be moving this fast—a smoother pace would be a lot easier. Less strain, less risk of taking a fall.”

  Relutly, I slowed down. It robably for the best. My breathing was already ing in hard, and my heart was ringing around in my chest like an arm clock going off. “Okay, okay,” I said. It robably going to be easier to talk at a quick jog anyway.

  “So, the new skill?”

  “Oh! It’s called, uh, Proportion Distortion.”

  Bastion hummed. “I’m unfamiliar with that one. What does it do?”

  “The description says it’ll help me fit in and out, but that doesn’t really help. I got it while I was following you and the general into that tunnel.”

  “Iing.”

  “Is it rare, maybe?” I asked.

  “Perhaps. There is no doubt an order of magnitude more skills I haven’t heard of than skills that I have, so my ignorance here shouldn’t t as a surprise. Still, I’d venture a guess that it might be a skill that will make it easier for you to fit into tight spaces. I’m not sure why you’d specifically gain that skill though.”

  “That... sounds kind of useless. We live on an airship, not underground,” I said.

  “It’s been my experiehat no skill is truly useless. The World isn’t so cruel as to give someone a skill they won’t need.”

  I pouted. That was a lie. I had Adorable still, and there was never a skill less useful than that. I’d have to see roportion Distortion turned into.

  “Once we reach the capital, maybe you could visit the library. There’s a se there with books entirely dedicated to skills, and there are some archivists who would love to have you describe any unique skills you have and what they do.”

  “That sounds practical,” I said. “They help people?”

  “Freely, yes. Certain skills are only unlocked while doiain as. The differences between two skills be slight, but sometimes they be fairly important. Sword Fighting Proficy is greater than Swordpy Proficy.”

  “What’s the difference?” I asked.

  “Fighting is more about the use of a sword in bat; py is ined towards fshier, more plex movements. Swordpy is certainly more impressive, but if I were a betting sylph I’d put my on whoever had Sword Fighting first.”

  “Huh,” I said as I sidered it. That made some sense. Some skills were likely very close in nature. What even was the differeween Cute and Adorable anyway? Other than the heightened insult.

  I think Bastion was trying to read my mind or something. “Getting rid of a skill is tricky business, but there are almost always a few bination skills avaible, and it’s sometimes worth losing a general skill for some time to get something that will bih another skill you dislike.”

  “That would be great,” I said.

  I added “find a way to get rid of Adorable” to the top of my priority list.

  The road moved on, our paever really slowing, even though I was chewing through my stamina with a point lost every couple of bounces. On a while I’d regain a point though, so it wasn’t all bad.

  Also, ing magic meant I wasn’t sweaty or anything, which was a bonus.

  We arrived back at Granite Springs in good time, one of the guards by the gate running out to meet us with obvious . Bastion reassured him that everything was well, but then asked if we could have a small escort over to the military base, and if there was a way to talk to whomever was Captain Ward’s sed-in-and.

  Things moved pretty fast after that. Bastion talked in quick, clipped tones with a couple of guards, then he reyed what we’d learo a lieutenant in the guard who was told to go a it all to the mayor.

  I stayed near Bastioire time, trying not to get in his way.

  I did spot the Beaver Cleaver parked above, still sitting pretty in his berth.

  Bastioured for me to follow him, and we made our way around the exterior walls of the city. They had a very small dip before the wall, not quite a ditch but almost. I wondered if that ted as a moat or not. If it did, it was a very disappointing one.

  “The base is... right there,” Bastion said as he gestured ahead.

  There was a se of the wall that looked a little newer, and that jutted out of the rest at a y-degree angle. A boxy protrusion on the side of the city, with a few additional towers and a sed gate leading out onto a packed dirt road.

  A couple of rows of young sylphs were in the back, sweating uhe sunlight while swinging swords up and down with dull monotony.

  “ you off my armour?” Bastion asked. “If it isn’t too much trouble. We’ll o be presentable for this part.”

  “No problem,” I said, fring my ing magic. “I’ll let you do the talking, you let me do any necessary hugging.”

  “Deal.”

  ***

  RavensDagger

  Are You Eained?

  oday!

  Well, I guess I could ask for people to follow, fave, and leave some stars, but I figure if you're 250+ chapters and half a million words into the story you've done all of that already!

  Joireon!

  Some of my stories are on TopWebFi!-amon Bun-Stray Cat Strut-Lever A-Dead Tired-Heart of DorknessVoting makes Broccoli smile!

  The following books are avaible as paperbacks (and as Ebooks) on Amazon. Oh, and there’s an awesome audiobook for amon Bun Volume One and Two, and also Love Crafted!

  (The images are links!)

  All proceeds go to funding my addi to buying art paying for food, rent, and other ies!

  Thank you so much for all your support everyone! And thank you extra hard for allowio do this for a living; I’ll do my best to keep you eained!