Duke Caviston

When she arrived, she saw a very pompous-looking blonde man in blue clothes on the back of a horse. There were a handful of men in suits of armor as well. That mustachioed man from earlier was talking to the man on the horse. The hunters she met on the first day were with him, too. The air of the village had become much more tense than before.

She felt it might be best to stay back. Looking about, she saw Doctor Mirabelle leaning against the frame of her door. Ariana approached her. Mirabelle remained focused on the men. “Picked a bad time to pay a visit.” Ariana gestured to the men. “Who are they?” Mirabelle crossed her arms. “On our side, Mayor Wilben. The guy on the horse is Duke Caviston. He’s the Duke of Cavland, the province Loomholm is in. Tax time.”

Ariana thought for a moment. “Is it normal for the Duke himself to come for taxes?” Mirabelle shook her head. “Our last tax payment was short. So was the one before that. War times are rough. If we can’t pay, every able-bodied person will be conscripted.” Ariana looked at Mirabelle. “Every…” Mirabelle looked on. “Men, women, children… everyone who can pick up a sword or even carry a box.” Ariana’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible!” Mirabelle nodded again. “Duke’s come to intimidate us. Our cotton supply is crucial for the war effort. Bandages, banners, armor, clothes, they need them, and he knows that. Problem is, it’s been a bad harvest this year. If we can’t produce, we aren’t crucial.”

Ariana looked over to the men again. She saw the boy who was with the mayor before. He looked frightened. “Why was the cotton so bad?” Mirabelle sighed. “It was a dry winter.” Ariana considered the implications for a minute. “So… not enough water...” Mirabelle shrugged. After a pause of several seconds, she looked at Mirabelle again. “I want to start a tab, a bill, something. I’m going to need it.” Mirabelle seemed skeptical. “What are you up to?” Ariana's hands rose. “My magic works in plants and water. I can help.” Mirabelle raised a halting hand to her. “No. The thought’s appreciated, but that’s a bad idea.”

As they talked, a scream rang out. The Duke had grabbed the mayor’s son up off the ground and was holding him up by the collar of his shirt. Ariana felt a surge go through her body and was compelled to move. Her face contorted with anger. She strode forward at the Duke with clear purpose and violent intent while yelling out at the top of her lungs. “LET GO OF THAT BOY!!”

The village looked towards her, as did the Duke and his men. The Duke let out a shriek. “A demon!” He tossed the boy aside. “Dispatch them immediately!” He drew a sword. The armored men followed his lead. Without another word, Ariana formed a sizable water ball and commanded it to swing wide into the Duke. With a grunt, telling the wind being knocked out of him, he was launched from the back of the horse and rolled to the ground. The villagers backed well away, the mayor grabbing his son. As the Duke stumbled to get up, Ariana brought her hands up swiftly and called forth a thick tangle of roots and brambles to tie him down. With a swift pull back of her fist, the roots slammed the Duke down to the ground and pinned him there. In that time, she was surrounded by the Duke's men.

The men closed in. Ariana knew she couldn’t take them in a direct fight, not as it was, but it was too late for that now. She needed to end it as quickly as she could, no magic spared. She brought her hands up swiftly as one of them moved to strike her. Roots shot up to tangle around the man’s hands. She swept her arm out, and the roots pulled the man’s hands back over his head and down to the ground. Another man swung at her with a shout.

She barely avoided the fatal blow, but the edge of his sword clipped her back. She shouted in pain. She swung her hand out in a circle, slamming bundles of roots into the two other men to tangle and trap them. She fell to her knees, panting. She could feel her consciousness fading from the magic exhaustion. She put out too much too quickly. The warmth of the gash on her back was spreading.

Mirabelle ran to her. There was a stinging sensation on her back that made her wince. “You’re damn right I’ll open a bill for you if you’re going to do stupid stuff like that, and I’ll charge a premium! These potions aren’t cheap!” The Duke flailed underneath the roots. “I’ll have your heads, every last one of you! You’ll rue the day you harbored a demon amongst you!” His men tugged at the roots binding their hands. “Free me this instant, witch!” The Duke howled.

Ariana stared daggers directly into the Duke’s eyes. He flinched. Ariana leaned forward and shouted firmly. “You’re going to stay right there and think about what you’ve been doing to these people! Putting your hands on a little boy like that, you indecent, boorish, greedy, sniveling coward! These people are counting on you to protect them and provide for them! Shame on you for treating them like that!” She raises her hand and brings up more roots around the feet of the armored men. “No, you’re not going anywhere until you can behave like someone who deserves to be called a Duke!”

The people around her weren’t sure what to do. She could hear the hunters from before jabbing at each other about how she supposedly had no attack magic. It seemed to her that she had taken control of the situation. For now, that may be for the best, she thought. She stood up with a groan. “Thank you, Mirabelle. I know this looks bad… but could I ask you to watch these men for a while?”

Mirabelle sighed. “Not like we have much of a choice. You’ve put us in a difficult situation. It can only escalate from here.” Mirabelle was right. She should have stayed out of it. In her past life, she would have. But this world had different rules. She was a different person. She was also still a mother to a missing son, one that would be more difficult to find now that she’d done this.

What was done was done. The only way out was forward. If Ariana helped these people a little more, they might be willing to help her find Alex. As for the Duke… she needed to figure out how to deal with him. In Alex’s video games, someone had to die when fights broke out. She never approved of that. It seemed to her that this was almost what this world wanted from her. She had never lashed out like that before in her life. She decided then and there to find a peaceful solution to this. The village had hunters; they knew how to track animals. Perhaps they could help her find Alex. That was her one hope at the moment. She could do this for Alex.

Ariana stood up. First things first, the cotton, she thought. With a deal of discomfort, she walked off to the area that looked like clouds when she arrived. Sure enough, there were cotton fields. People were following her. She didn’t know the first thing about cotton, but she knew how to make plants grow, so that’s what she did. She took a deep breath and steadied her hands flat out before her. This would be the largest scale thing she’d ever attempted, in this life or the first.

She curled her fingers back a bit with a sharp breath in. A breeze came across the fields as a great rumbling came. She felt a mighty surge of energy rush through her and a faint jingle in the back of her mind again. The pain in her body subsided, and she felt completely revitalized, as if a new person. The magic filled the air with a distinctive charge. Her hands came slowly together as she strained, and the rumbling became more intense. All at once, she let out her breath and swung her arms out wide, and in that instant, a few dozen plants in her immediate vicinity puffed out with massive balls of cotton, popping up like popcorn. And then she fainted.

A short while later, she came to her senses again. She could hear a great deal of busy work going on. Mirabelle was sitting by her side. “Bumped your head on the way down. Do you know where you are?” Ariana looked around. “The… the cotton fields...” Mirabelle shook her head. “For better or worse, you’ve given us a bit of heavy lifting. This is why I said it was a bad idea. I’ll be adding this to your bill, you know.” 

Ariana looked to the side. “You wouldn’t happen to know anyone looking to hire, would you?” 

Mirabelle stood up. “As a matter of fact, we have some cotton that needs taking to the gin.”

Ariana soon after set about working. She picked off one of the cotton balls. They were as large as she was, but felt light as a feather. She saw the other villagers struggling a bit with the cotton. They sometimes required two people to carry one of these cotton puffs. Ariana was puzzled until she remembered the voice again. It told her she also had five times the strength of her previous life. She decided it would be best to play along and hold firm with two hands.

The last of the cotton was harvested by sunset. Easily, a ton of cotton was hauled back to the village. In the distance, she could still hear the Duke shouting angrily. Tired from a day of work, everyone else made their way home. Ariana thought about how best to handle the Duke. She couldn’t abide treating a child the way he did, but this was a difficult situation she put the village into. She had to do something as quickly as possible.