Coastal Sabbatical

Viv swiftly stormed off in a huff. She barked out an incantation, clearly enraged, and a fell blood-red twister sprang up over her position. It stayed there for only a moment. When it dissipated, the elf-lady was gone.

Must have warped out with that teleport blood magic, Skott supposed.

A few of the higher-ranking elvan cast their own quick-escape spells as well. Most of the elvan ‘foot soldiers,’ however, did not possess such a blood rite. They were let in via Vivian’s permission, but did not necessarily have a way back out under their own power. The garrison waiting out in the annex kicked the doors down and stormed into the meeting hall. With their leadership run off and the fight out of ‘em, the robed, masked elvan Redeemers swiftly surrendered.

The day was saved. Still, they had several hundred prisoners to detain. Lamora, to say nothing of her corporal sons, would be quite busy all night.

Coalition soldiers swiftly went about relieving the Redeemers of their long-robed face masks.

“All that trouble to invade this place, and they leave half their guys to get arrested?” Lucy-Kignora asked. “It’s a miracle anyone follows these elvan aristocrats at all. They’ll run out of foot soldiers at this rate.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Skott said. “They’ll probably make a big show of casting these lackeys as beleaguered political prisoners and then use their ‘plight’ to gain further sympathy amongst elvan who have been negatively affected by the failure of the tree-plantation feudalism. Rest assured, Lucy, they fully expected to take over the joint or at least kick off an anti-coalition rebellion here and now.”

“Hmm. Yes, father, I see,” Lucy said. “But you provided a verbal riposte that left their leadership in retreat. Surely there is no coming back from such humiliation!”

Skott shook his head. “Don’t be so sure. Nobody in that crowd was open to being convinced.”

Up to half of the capital’s diplomatic escort remained back at the border fort. At Lamora’s signal, they would be coming to keep order in the city of Elvwood. This was intentional insurance against just such an attack.

“Well, these kinds of social issues aren’t exactly going to be resolved in a two-week work sabbatical,” Skott declared. “Hell, the whole rebellion didn’t solve these issues. Going to have to head back to Earth in, what, a week. We’ll have to make this a long-term project. Hey, Lucy, you got the portal ring?”

Security would be going through the treehouse tower room by room. It would take all night. If they could use Skott’s suburban abode back on Earth as a temporary dwelling, it might help someone in the delegation to get some sleep.

“Ay, maybe we can find a weaker point in the veil between worlds.” Lucy brought her hand up and tapped the portal ring. Immediately, she frowned. “Uh-oh.”

Skott was busy yawning. But the ‘uh-oh’ swiftly caused him to lock in.

“W-what do you mean ‘uh-oh’?”

“It’s… well.” Lucy held her hand out.

A crimson gem—a powerful medium for blood magic—sat embedded in the silver band of the ring. Only, the gem was cracked.

“Lucy.” Skott felt the breath leave him. “The portal magic is still going to work, right?”

“It must have been damaged when I got thrown through that clerk’s window,” Lucy said all matter-of-factly. Then she began to laugh nervously.

Skott didn’t say anything. He collapsed into the nearest chair, room spinning.

Am I… permanently isekai’d here? Again?

It took a year to get back home last time, and he didn’t have any jobs or responsibilities back then! Who was going to pay his mortgage?! What would Nessa think if he disappeared with no actual record of heading to Switzerland? Even assuming he could get back without this essential lifeline was a stretch. 

Why, maybe returning to Earth last time was the fluke? People went missing all the time. What percentage of them were marooned through weird portals with no way of returning home at all? Probably low, sure, but now that it was clearly possible, the answer had to be more than ‘zero.’

Lucy put a consoling hand on spiraling Skott’s shoulder.

“Worry not, father. The next location on this diplomatic mission shall be on the coast!”

Skott sorted out the geography in his head.

“That’s right,” Lucy continued. “We can get this repaired at the Mage’s College!”

“How long are we been talking here?” asked Skott.

“Once we arrive, no more than three days, tops?” Lucy gave a fang-bearing smile. “Many advancements in portal tech have been made since your time, father!”

Skott breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps he was not doomed to a second exile in this magical land after all.

“That’s fortunate,” Skott began. “And it still is my time! I’m barely in my mid-thirties, kid.”

Both Lucy and Skott were left without duties during the long night of cleanup and security weak point plugging. With the portal out of commission, they had no choice but to go to sleep.

Night passed, with soldiers occasionally checking in or milling about in the residential section of the tower. Needless to say, the violent interruption of peaceful diplomatic meetings at Elvwood put an early stop to their mission in this town.

The security professionals wanted to call the whole diplomatic tour off and return back to the capital. Lamora, Lucy, and Skott all vehemently refused. The latter two weren’t going to miss a chance to get to the mage’s college and a chance to repair the portal back to Earth. As for the prime ministress, well, the coastal regions were the heartland of her electoral coalition. Elvan would no doubt claim she was slinking back to friendlier constituencies with her proverbial tail between her legs, but the destination itinerary had been set long ago.

In the morning, with the governmental quarter newly flush with reinforcements in coalition blue, Lamora’s convoy set forth. They returned to the border fort, then cut to the east along a less-traveled road. Coalition roads were ramrod straight, cutting through many obstacles that would slow journeys down by several days with a more casual route. It only took two days of travel to see the emerald-green inland sea of Aeirun. By the time they reached the coast, the towering Mage’s College, largest building on the continent, was visible in the distance.

And, of course, Skott was eager to meet the ‘oldest’ child in Lamora and his litter. The mage-aspirant, Grognar.