Battlefield Reclaimer: Epilogue (Patreon)

Two and a half months later.

A tall, broken-off cliff rose above the winding hills as a group of four people moved along the road through the rough terrain below. Calling it a road was generous, since it was little more than two cart tracks barely visible amongst the scraggly brush to either side.

The cliff in front of them was one side of a strange mountain. It was a giant chunk of stone that was very broad, but barely higher than the surrounding hills, and it stuck out on the plain like a shattered knuckle that had seen better days. The overall impression was of a mountain that had been crushed by a giant hammer, its top flattened and its slopes broken as they pressed out to the sides, leaving tumbled ravines and tangled cliffs between lumps of gnarled stone that surrounded the center.

The remaining chunks were eroded by passing storms, all the sides but this one tumbling away into sheer cliffs and sudden ridges as they descended to the plains below. Only the one that the party was approaching was passable, a more gradual rise covered in angular switchbacks.

The group traveling along the road was made up of three humans and a dwarf, all of whom were riding on horseback, although in the dwarf’s case it was more of a pony. At the front was a tall, muscular man with a bushy salt and pepper beard. He was wearing a grey cloak pushed back around his shoulders, leaving his head and face bare.

Behind him, a tall, hooded figure rode next to the dwarf. He was also wearing a grey cloak, but it was hard to make out his features, leaving only the impression that it was a man. His horse was packed with bags, several of which had runic markings. When his cloak fluttered in the wind, there were even more pouches visible at his belt. It marked him out as some type of spell caster or crafter.

If a passer-by tried to look more closely, his features blurred beneath the hood and their gaze soon found itself distracted, moving toward one of the others instead. The only thing left behind was the impression that the man was to be avoided. The next thought that crossed through their mind was usually that he seemed dangerous.

The dwarf next to the caster was cheerfully telling a story, waving her hands in the air as an illusory image flowed around them, and after a moment the man next to her chuckled.

At the back, there was a guard in full plate with a shield slung by his knee and a sword at his waist. At first glance, it looked like he was the best equipped of all, but from the way he was riding, it was clear that he was an attendant. The auras of the ones in front radiated out with far more force than his did. In particular, anyone looking at the cloaked man in the middle felt a shiver go down their spine before their gazes slid away.

As a result, they’d faced few problems on the road from Osera to Cliff’s End. There had been some monsters and the rare bandit, but Krana’s warnings had come in time to head off any real surprise, except to the bandits. In a world filled with monsters and beasts, it was a surprise to find that there were still bandits in the world, but as a result, Sam had quite a few more dimensional bags now than when they’d left the tunnels.

For the last few weeks, they’d left a path of minor destruction behind them whenever something tried to block the road. There was also a growing collection of monster cores and other materials for him to study.

Along the way, he’d taken full advantage of the opportunity to study Ayala and Krana’s gear, particularly the enchantments for weatherproofing, durability, and other useful things. In the evenings, he’d worked to add his own versions to their equipment, including their grey cloaks, which now repelled rain and were far more durable than before.

After they'd come out of the tunnels, it had taken them about a month and a half to escort Ayala back to Osera. Jeric and Sam had parted ways with her at the city gate, letting Krana take her the rest of the way home. It had given them a chance to say farewell and to avoid her father. Fortunately, the Paladin had still been absent, so the princess had been delivered silently, with only the household steward aware of what had happened. What came after that was Ayala's problem to deal with.

Krana took the opportunity to visit her family and explain the situation, asking her father to head off any potential problems from Ayala’s family. As a high-level diplomat, he was one of the best placed people in the city to accomplish it. Then she packed her bags for a longer journey and met back up with them.

She had been serious about accompanying Sam and keeping an eye on him. Among other things, she’d brought along a better forge and more smithing tools, to help him set up a real workshop. She had explained the full situation to her parents, who had listened with grave understanding and then promised to do what they could to help.

Lesat had received the entire payment from Ayala for the escort mission, since he was the last member of the guild party still alive. He’d used it to pay off his contract with the Arestes Guild and then bought a few things for the journey, including some crafting tools. As it turned out, his subclass was as a Leatherworker, so Sam had enlisted his help on the road to turn some of the hides he’d collected into new clothing.

Sam pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he finished the conversation with Krana and moved up to the front of the party with his dad. He rode alongside him as they headed for the base of the cliff. There was a smile growing on his face as he looked at the path cutting up the face.

The last bit of distance passed swiftly as the cliff grew larger in their sight and a slender, feminine figure came into view near the base of the road. She was a beautiful woman with long, blond hair that flowed back from her neck in the breeze. Her eyes sparkled as she caught sight of them. Beside her, there was a young girl who was holding her hand, who was practically jumping in place.

For the past week, Aemilia had been watching them travel closer with Far Sight. She’d even been able to speak with Krana over the distance and the two Seers had shared a lot of information. Krana had already started to give her some advice on how best to use her abilities and filled her in on the most important details of their journey.

As Jeric and Sam rounded the last bend in front of them, Aemilia and Altey started to run forward, their faces beaming like the sun rising.

“Jeric! Sam!” Aemilia’s happy shout carried across the distance.

“Dad!” Altey’s delighted laugh rang out like a chime as she ran next to her mother. “You were gone for so long!”

“There they are!” Jeric let out a booming laugh as he jumped down from the horse and began to run forward. Sam jumped down from his horse too, running right behind him.

A moment later, Aemilia was swept up in Jeric’s arms and spun around like a top, her bright hair and dress flowing in the wind behind her like a streamer of celebration.

“Me too!” Altey launched herself into Sam’s arms, her laugh ringing out again as he swung her around in the same way.

“You got really tall!" 

Both his mother and sister already knew about his appearance, but it didn't make any difference in the light of him coming home. 

Laughter filled the area as the family reunited. Time faded away into the flashing form of girls being spun about in strong arms, their hair shining against the horizon.

---

A little while later, everyone was gathered in the Hasterns’ small house in the village. No one had bothered them on the way in, except to wave to Aemilia. There were some long glances at all of them, wondering who these strange visitors were, but the gazes had slid away almost as quickly when they noticed the dangerous auras that surrounded them.

It wasn’t clear whether anyone recognized Jeric, since he’d changed so much, and Sam was a mystery, which was how they wanted it. Instead of telling anyone that they had returned, they’d decided to say they were still missing and presumed dead.

As far as the village was concerned, the group that had just arrived was Jeric’s cousin and his adventuring party, and Aemilia and Altey would be leaving with them to move to a different village. It was a simpler answer and it kept their secrets.

Neither Jeric nor Aemilia wanted to bring up Sam’s transformation with the village. Even Jeric’s own class change was a subject that would raise too many questions. He had a rare combat class now that no one but a basalt gnome had ever had before. Where it would go in the future was anyone’s guess.

That plan, as well as others, had been discussed with the help of Krana on the way into the village, which was why Aemilia had known to meet them at the base of the cliff. Just as Jeric was about to ask how everything had been, however, a knock came on the door.

It was a rough, abrupt knock and very demanding. Jeric frowned as he turned toward it, his temper rising. He’d spent so long away from his family, and now that they were back, someone had come to interrupt them?

Aemilia’s eyes turned light blue, her mana shining in them as she looked toward the door.

“That’s Nelgen,” she announced, shaking her head. “He’s been pushing hard the last month or so, trying to get me to work for him as a Seer to pay for the rent.”

She’d revealed her subclass to the village a couple of months before, describing it as a stroke of fate as she searched for her family. That much was true. She just hadn’t told anyone the rest of it. Revealing it had been necessary to pick up a few small jobs that she used to pay the rent and purchase necessary things.

Telling the village she was a Seer now had raised a problem she hadn’t considered, however. The jobs had come as she learned how to use her abilities to send messages and more, but the villagers had also started to become possessive of her. Seers were rare and in very high demand, since there was no other good way to communicate between villages, especially one as small as theirs that didn't even have a weaker Visionary.

She hadn't told them of her plan to leave yet, but it was clear to those who were paying attention. What she was buying and how she was arranging the house gave it away.

Now, some of the villagers were starting to become pushy, including Nelgen, who owned their house. He was trying to use the leverage there to get her to stay, offering it to her free of rent as long as she promised not to leave.

To the village, having a Seer in it was a huge advantage and none of them wanted to let her go. Aemilia had the spells to defend herself, so nothing serious had happened yet, but the pressure was building. The arrival of the party must have brought the matter to a head.

“Is that so?” Jeric rumbled dangerously as he stood up and walked toward the door.

To one side of the room, Sam pulled out his walking staff and leaned on it, a flicker of crystal flame surrounding his hand before he pulled it back in. The journey home had done a lot to familiarize him more with his abilities, and if someone was going to bother them, he didn’t mind showing them why it was a bad idea. He’d never liked Nelgen, but before this it had just been because he charged them rent.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal a slightly pudgy man with a goatee, whose eyes were deepset and tired. His hair had seen better days and his hand was raised to pound again on the door. He stumbled back a few steps in shock as he looked up toward Jeric, whose brawny form was filling the entrance.

Jeric towered over Nelgen by more than a foot and his arms were crossed over his chest as he looked down at him. The frown on his face was deepening by the second.

“What?” he growled out, his irritation growing.

“Ahh...the...Aemilia,” Nelgen mumbled as he stared upward. “I need to....”

Jeric’s frown continued to deepen as his nostrils flared in disgust. Old dislikes that he’d bottled up for years were rising up again as he looked down at Nelgen.

The man had never been understanding or helpful. He’d only cared about the rent and tried to charge extra if it came late, despite the fact that he knew how hard Jeric worked and how much he helped his neighbors.

The man was one of the worst parts of the village and as much of a landlord as it had, since he seemed to own half of it, although no one knew where his money came from. He’d set himself up for years on rent profits, doing nothing to help the village while slowly raising the amount. He even tried to get others to defend the wall in his place when beasts attacked.

“See here...” Nelgen mumbled again as he started to sort himself out. He brushed off the dust from his vest and reached up to straighten his hair before he stepped forward again. “Step aside and let me into my house. I own this place and I demand to see the Seer who lives here! She owes me....”

Jeric’s hand reached down and closed around Nelgen’s face, silencing his words as his fingers tightened. Nelgen dangled there like a dead goose, his voice muffled, as Jeric’s arm straightened.

He lifted him into the air and walked a few steps away from the house as he held Nelgen out with a straight arm. The landlord’s eyes were visible between Jeric’s fingers and growing wider by the moment.

Jeric’s eyes bored into his as he looked through his fingers at him. There was no difficulty in holding him up. Jeric could have done the same to three or even four Nelgens without it stressing his arm.

“No,” Jeric growled, his voice coming out in a slow, angry rumble like a volcano about to explode.

There was a short path that led from the main road through the village to their front door and he walked Nelgen to the end of it, letting the man dangle from his arm. Nelgen’s feet kicked a few times, but every time he twitched, Jeric’s fingers tightened slightly.

He probably should have been a little more patient, but Nelgen had always gotten on his nerves. From Aemilia’s messages, he knew that they owed nothing on the rent. Her work as a Seer and their savings had taken care of it, so there was no justification for bothering them. The man simply thought he deserved something that he didn’t.

When they reached the main road, Jeric’s arm swung out and his fingers opened, dropping Nelgen to the ground. The landlord collapsed like a sack of rotten potatoes, landing with a dull thump as he sprawled out across the dirt.

A gold coin spun through the air and fell on his chest, landing on top of his pudgy stomach.

“Go,” Jeric growled again, his voice dark and deep. He didn’t trust himself to speak more. The gold coin was enough to pay the rent for ten months.

“Don’t come back,” he added, his voice dropping even lower until it was a threatening boom. “This isn’t the family you remember.”

With that, he ignored the man in the dirt as he turned around and walked back into the house. Nelgen lay stunned on the ground behind him, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

When Jeric got back to the others, he looked around at his family, and a smile creased his face, wiping away the threat that had been there a moment before. He reached out and picked up Altey, scooping her into one arm as he brought her up to sit on his arm.

He swept Aemilia into the same hug and pulled Sam into it as well with his free hand. All four of them leaned against each other in the center of the room. Their heads nearly touched as tears shined at the corner of their eyes.

Everyone was safe and together again.

The words tumbled out of him as he voiced his thoughts, announcing what all of them were thinking.

“It’s time to find a new place to live.”