Chapter 47 - Intercontinental Ballistic Lillia

Lillia shot up in the cathedral. Before she had even processed that she was standing, she was crushing thundermite cloth between her palms to summon clothing. This immediately made her more clothed than Havoc, who had, at some point, taken off his shirt in front of the flames.
Sweat was running down Havoc’s brow and dripping across his eyes as he turned to see Lillia stomping her way away from the Hearth. There was no new weapon beside him, but there were materials missing.
Havoc gave Lillia the once-over. “That was fast.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Havoc.”
“You didn’t even come back that fast the first time,” Havoc said.
“Spent less time in the land between this go around,” Lillia said. “Starting to get used to coming back to life.” She sighed. “Wasn’t high on the list of skills I thought I’d learn in life, but here we are.”
Lillia stared across the cathedral and down the stairway. Her mind lingered on the third floor. On what her options were, beyond just getting hit by a trebuchet. There was a weird, unrecognizable part of her that wanted to go back as soon as she could.
She could do better. She knew it.
“Any progress for Rickshaw?” Lillia asked.
“Nothin’ yet. Working on it. You ain’t been gone that long, kid.”
She wouldn’t have Cathria this time unless she rested. But if she made her way to the ballista quickly enough there was a chance she could fire a shot at each of the siege towers before the trebuchet fired on her. From there, she would have to figure out whether it was smart to defend the walls or to retreat from the siege fire and head down to the courtyard.
“Kid?”
“Sorry,” Lillia said.
“All good?”
“Yeah.”
Havoc put down the tongs in his hand and walked over to Lillia. She could see that he was literally glistening and winced at the idea of him placing a hand on her.
He did. It was reassuring despite the sweat.
“It’s okay if you’re a little distant. You’re new to this whole dying thing. Luckily, you got a professional right here.”
“Huh.” Lillia hadn’t been thinking about the ramifications of her repeated deaths until Havoc mentioned them. She didn’t feel any different. She certainly should have felt different. Death was supposed to be final. Death of any sort should probably change a person more than Lillia thought it had changed her.
Maybe she just couldn’t see the changes from the inside.
Havoc patted her on the shoulder and let go. “Like I said, a little distant.”
“I am fine, Havoc. Just thinking about the room.”
“What is it?”
“A massive castle siege? Seems like the dungeon wants me to stop it.”
“Stop a siege on your own?” Havoc asked. “How big is the castle?”
“There are soldiers there too. Just…” Had the soldiers even been there? They were certainly around Lillia, but they were sets of actors playing parts, as opposed to active participants in the siege. It had almost been like the only parts that were real were the parts Lillia touched.
“I think I just need to make enough of a difference. Like I just needed to hunt something big enough for Thorne.”
“So you need to kill enough of the people invading?”
“Maybe,” Lillia said. “Or some other threshold, the dungeon hasn’t exactly been that clear about what it needs from me.”
“And now you’re stuck thinkin’ about it?” Havoc asked. He walked over to his forge as he spoke. The flames surged as he approached.
“I guess.”
“Well, that just makes sense, kid. I know you ain’t worked a single full day in your life, but that’s what a job half done feels like.” He held his hand out to the forge and something glowed on his fingertips. He lowered it before using any of his skills. “Long as you’re doing good work, it’ll eat you until you get it done.”
Lillia shook her head at Havoc’s comment about work. He wasn’t looking to see it.
“Lose anything in there? Need anything?”
“No actually,” Lillia said. “I put it all back in my inventory before the trebuchet hit me.”
Havoc spat at the word trebuchet. “You humans and your stupid walls. Keep building them bigger and keep building bigger things to knock them down. Just keep them the size of a good ladder, and all you gotta deal with is a good man and a good steel.”
“The walls are for the women and children, Havoc.”
“A woman can hold a blade just as well as a man can. Gotta use it differently, but she can hold it.”
“And children?”
“How old are we talking?”
“Ok, if you’re still working on the items, I think I’m going to go see if I can’t figure something out about the room.”
Lillia did a quick check of her inventory.
“I got some cloth, which I can use, and then a potion of Siegecraft.” She pulled out the potion for the first time as she mentioned it. It was in a grey, opaque glass bottle that was rough to the touch, like glass was trying to emulate stone. Lillia swirled it and could feel the liquid moving inside, even if she couldn’t see it.
[Potion of Siegecraft - Level 1]
[For a brief period, all of the user’s weapon attacks will do greatly increased damage to structures and constructs.]
Lillia read the potion’s description out loud.
“Wonder if you could use that to just knock down a dungeon wall?” Havoc asked.
“Or break through part of a castle.”
“Damn. You really are in the thick of that.”
Lillia put the potion into her dress to shove it back into her inventory. “Guess I am. Be back.”
“Be back. Not very optimistic of you.”
“Havoc, I don’t think you were going to bet on me to figure this out on the second try either.”
“Yeah, well, you’re the one always going on about me needing to believe in you.”
“Believe that I’ll do it eventually.”
“You’re stubborn enough.”
Lillia nodded and bit her lip. She chose to take that as the compliment Havoc probably meant it as, and used it as the end of their conversation.
Back down the stairs. Back to the third floor landing. A quick look at Nennia’s door. Back through the void.
“What are you doing there, soldier? Defend these walls!”
Lillia opened her eyes, though she didn’t remember ever closing them. She was back on the ramparts of the castle. The sky was glowing with the light from a hundred fires in the army before her and the city behind. Now that she knew where to look, she could see the specific siege tower that would be upon the walls within the next minute.
This time, she had a plan.
As soon as she tried to step forward, Lillia was caught in the throng of soldiers that were waiting for the arrival of the siege tower. Each of them was taller and broader than her, and wearing full plate instead of an undersized skirt and embroidered corset. She wasn’t getting past them any time soon, but she only had so much time before the ballista would be lost to the trebuchet fire.
Lillia tried once more to push through the ranks of soldiers, to no avail. She was too dainty to shove her way through, and not small enough to duck between legs and under shoulders. She needed to get over there.
One more idea.
“This is my court and you will listen to me!” Lillia called out.
[Lillia Activated Run the Court!]
“Now follow my orders—”
Lillia hopped in place to try and see the furthest person she could.
“You! The one up there!”
The world slowed. Massive flaming stones hung in the air. Vapor lingered in the air from the soldier’s hot breath. Lillia vanished. Appeared.
Now that she was on the far side of the crowd, with most of the soldiers facing away from her in their eagerness to meet the siege tower, Lillia was able to slip between the shoulders of the men who wanted to take her place in the line for slaughter. None of them said anything as she passed, they simply wordlessly stepped into each space she left unoccupied.
Before the first siege tower had locked its bridge to the walls, Lillia was already climbing the stairs to the ballista. She allowed herself a small celebratory twirl before changing into the chitterpede battlegown.
“You! Man the ballista! We will keep—”
“Right!” Lillia cut him off. The siege weapon groaned as Lillia’s small team of soldiers pushed it into place. Several times they stopped, and several times Lillia had to emphatically encourage them to keep turning towards the wall.
The first siege tower dropped its bridge, hooking itself onto the rampart. Defender and invader both screamed rallying cries.
Lillia strained against the lever. The wood dug into her shoulder as she shoved.
CA-CHUNK.
SNAP.
The bolt crashed through the core of the siege tower from close range. Wood and metal shattered inward and out the other side. Men screamed as they tumbled off the walls. Lillia blocked out the sound to bark orders. The tower’s iron teeth pulled stones loose as they tore free of the wall.
“Left!” Lillia called. “Left!”
[Siege Tower Broken - Yay!]
[Gained - Invader’s Cloth x 1]
The sky changed colour, flaring a deeper orange in Lillia’s periphery. The sound reached her just before impact: a low, rushing howl, like the air itself trying to get out of the way.
The boulder smashed into the wall, obliterating the rampart to the right of the ballista platform. The foundations shuddered beneath her feet. Stones shook loose. Fire plumed from the point of impact, and scorching heat washed over Lillia’s exposed skin.
Her ears rang. She tried to shout more orders, but she couldn’t hear herself think, let alone speak.
Lillia shook her head, trying to dislodge the ringing long enough to finish commanding her men.
The ground shook under her feet again. More stones tore themselves free of the wall in the aftermath of the impact.
The same low rushing howl filled the air.
Lillia ran.
She didn’t make it.
Stone crashed into stone behind her as soon as she reached the first step. The landing shattered, exploding into flame and debris. The force sent Lillia flying through the air. She crossed the open air over the city.
There was so much fire.
The streets looked familiar, but she had always lived in a castle town.
The landscape turned into a blur as Lillia turned over in the air again and again. She flailed against the wind. She thrashed against the ringing in her ears. Glittering chitinous scales followed in her wake, a sign that they had absorbed the impact of the trebuchet.
Lillia swapped to her Ambusher boots. Kicked the air as she careened toward the ground, spinning.
She kicked in the wrong direction, accelerating herself into the dirt even faster than she had before. Lillia hit earth and cobblestone chest-first. She bounced once, then again. Her spine bent wrong. One arm folded underneath her with a sound she felt more than heard.
Lillia skidded to a stop on the ground. Scales scattered around her. Despite every injury she should have taken, she was fine. She was barely sore.
A system message popped up.
[You’re really pushing it with the damage immunity, aren’t you?]
Lillia groaned. Even if she wasn’t hurt it felt like she should have been. “What the hell? You’re not supposed to be offering commentary. Tell me something useful.”
[Lillia used Indignance—”
“Yeah.”
Lillia looked past the message before it could finish forming as she climbed to her feet. The scales of the battlegown fell off her in iridescent green waves, like they were water and Lillia was climbing out of the bath. Under all the falling scales there was a fine green mesh. Lillia shook herself down and let more of the scales scatter around. They made a lovely sound as they clattered.
In the moderate quiet of the city street she’d crashed into, Lillia took a moment to herself. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the inherent trial and error that was going to come with figuring this whole thing out.
She also tried to ignore that both trial and error in this circumstance meant death.