The Geas

Kyle scrambled to his feet and charged at the wolf rider.

That caught Dolona off guard, clearly expecting him to run or try to get a weapon. But now as she reached for another arrow, Kyle had leapt into the air and lunged towards her.

The two fell to the ground rolling away from Dolona’s wolf. Neither let the other go, exchanging blows with one another as they tumbled further and further away. But it wasn’t the sudden life or death fight that was unsettling for Kyle. It was the look of glee on Dolona’s face during the struggle.

Everything stopped on a dime when Kyle pulled an arrow from Dolona’s quiver and brought the arrowhead just short of her throat. He hesitated to finish it. Especially when there was a blade at his own throat.

Togoldor pressed the point of his knife into Kyle’s throat enough to draw blood. “Put the arrow down.”

“You’ll kill me the moment I do,” said Kyle.

Togoldor didn’t deny it. “I’ll make it a clean death.”

Kyle looked back down to Dolona, who was enjoying every moment of this.

The knife point was forced back without warning. Kyle was pulled back from Dolona and Togoldor in a translucent shell barrier. He hovered in the air as he came to a stop next to Kari, whose staff glowed gently from expended magic. “You will not harm Sir Kyle,” the princess commanded. “His life is not for sale!”

Flanking her on each side were Abagail and Meredith, who looked no worse for wear after their battle. And cracking her knuckles behind the three women was a very focused Fiona.

“And here are the women bailing you out of trouble,” scoffed Togoldor. He whistled, his horse coming back alongside him. He got back onto it, making sure Dolona did the same with her wolf. “Know this, Wheatsman. The lives of all your people rest on you. Surrender. If you try to flee, the lives of everyone you know are forfeit.”

The sky shimmered from his words. Kyle’s ring of power trembled at the sight.

Togoldor began riding out as quickly as he came with Dolona following. “You have until the next sunrise!”

-----

Panic ensued amongst the townspeople, with order barely being kept in place.

It led to an impromptu meeting of the village elders, with Kyle invited given Togoldor’s warning. Benny arrived at the last second as well.

The meeting was its own form of chaos. Each of the elders spoke over each other, none sure what to do. The prospect of serving an orcish horde was making everyone throw out the most insane ideas.

After several minutes of effort, Francis finally got the other elders to settle down. “I’ll admit,” he started, “that this is a bleak situation. At least when we had to fight out former lord, we had time to come up with a plan. We had men to spare for a fight. But this is an orcish horde. Fast, agile, skilled with bows and blades. There’s no hope of meeting them in open battle and winning. But I can’t ask Kyle to give his life for ours. Not when it comes at the cost of the freedom we sacrificed so much to gain.”

Kyle had to give it to the old man. He didn’t expect him to be such a calming presence.

“So that’s it?” asked one of the elders. “We’re all going to die.”

“As free men,” Francis insisted. “Unless Kyle wants to surrender himself, I’m going to spend the rest of tonight getting drunk and getting laid one last time,” he chuckled.

There was the Francis Kyle had expected. And now it was time to start putting his cards on the table.

“I appreciate the loyalty,” Kyle nodded. “But I’ve been preparing for this ever since we won our freedom from Demerius.”

Francis raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’ve been preparing to fight an orcish horde?”

“…Okay, maybe not this exactly,” groaned Kyle. “But I think everyone here understood Demerius was going to look for some loophole or way around the agreement we struck after we handed him his ass. This is it. And my proposal is this – we have to abandon our land.”

Over the murmuring of the elders, Kyle continued. “When the sun sets, everyone will return to their homes and pack up everything of importance. Tools, clothes, food, livestock. You come back here and you go into the mountains. When the sun comes up, we’ll set off to an area not even Demerius lays claim to.”

One of the elders pointed out the flaw in Kyle’s plan. “You expect the horde to simply let us pass through unharmed?”

“No. But I have a plan for that.”

Benny raised his hand up to grab people’s attention. “I’ve actually seen what he’s been building. I’ll give it this, I don’t think the horde’s ever seen anything like it. York and I will walk everyone through what to do once they get to the mountains.”

Another of the elders looked to Ed. “What will he be doing while this scheme plays out?”

Kyle looked back to his ring. He felt somehow that Togoldor’s words were laced with magic, and the orc would know if Kyle tried to leave town.

That left one option – the worst one. “Stall.”

----

Kyle recounted the gist of the village elders’ meeting to the women living with him over dinner.

Between the four of them, they’d made quite the feast. Whatever meat Kari hadn’t used to make a hearty stew had been cooked to a fine sear by Fiona, while the water Kyle normally drank had been replaced with a jug full of whatever blue liquid Meredith had tried to kiss down his throat earlier that day. After all, he needed to start his recovery.

It was all so thoughtful. Almost enough to let him ignore that his legs and hips were tied to the chair.

Abagail was holding a large magnifying glass to his face. “There’s no doubt about it,” she announced. “No doubt about it at all. Looks like he cast a geas on you.”

As someone with no magical education, Kyle had no idea what that meant.

“It’s a curse that prohibits you from taking a certain action,” she explained. “Or compels you to take one. Pretty powerful stuff. If you try to defy the geas, it usually leads to your immediate death. But this looks like your suspicions were right on the money. You can’t leave town or it would tell the orc exactly where you are.”

Which was as good as dying in this case.

“We could try to remove it, but he’d know the geas is broken. And you’d still be here.”

Kari dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “In other words, it appears that Sir Kyle would need to spend the night here to avoid warning that nasty brute.”

“When you’re right, you’re right,” Abagail admitted. “Anything the others can do to help speed things along tonight?”

“What do you mean, ‘the others’?” Kari glared at Abagail.

“Well, I’m sure Kyle has some last-minute things that need to get done, and he needs to let that gunk Meredith’s practically force-feeding him take effect,” Abagail smiled a bit too wide. “I’m going to stay here and make sure he gets plenty of rest.”

Kari stamped her foot. “How dare you try to take advantage of Sir Kyle’s condition! If anyone should be staying with him, it’s the experienced healer!”

Now Fiona was getting to her feet. “You’re both wrong, his fiancé should be keeping an eye on him!”

Meredith giggled at the sight of the three women fighting. “Well, I could always put him under to make sure he gets some rest and run some experiments.”

Abagail, Kari, and Fiona all turned their heads on a swivel to Meredith.

“NO WAY.” “ABSOLUTELY NOT.” “OVER MY DEAD BODY.”

As the argument continued, Kyle tried to enjoy what might be his last meal.

This wasn’t how he’d imagined his second life. Kyle had thought he’d get some insane powers and get to be the hero in some power fantasy. Do some action, get the girl, maybe save the world. He’d had to improvise just to get this far and he was proud of that.

He just wished he could’ve done it without ending up on a harem comedy.