The Storm King

Leon’s blood sang at the prospect of not only an adventure on this mountain but also that of a good hunt. Some mysterious monster that Grandin wanted dead, and then they could go straight to the top.

Hopefully, anyway. Somehow, he doubted that this would be so easy…

Their climb began on the pavilion. Kavad’s Lance floated hundreds of feet off the ground, but since flying around the mountain was dangerous, leaving the mage in question vulnerable to razor wind, lightning strikes, and beast attacks, the only way to reach the mountain was by a wind current that could carry a mage from a platform on the pavilion to the base of the mountain. Another current would return a mage to Lancefoot’s pavilion from the mountain’s base.

Grandin, with practiced ease and clear eagerness, led the way onto the pavilion’s departure platform. Given there wasn’t a contest for climbing the mountain, there weren’t any lines to reach Kavad’s Lance, which Grandin saw fit to point out.

There were several gold-sashed guards on the platform, one of them tasked to help people enter the current. Leon’s party didn’t need such help, however, as Grandin didn’t stop to let that particular guard get a word in edgewise, walking right past him and lightly jumping into the wind current. Leon, not wanting to get left behind, followed closely.

As soon as his feet left the stone platform, the wind picked up beneath him, gathering under his arms in a way that could never be mistaken for natural. With this thick air beneath him lifting him, the current swiftly carried him up and to the receiving platform at the mountain’s base.

On the short journey, Leon stared up at the mountain while keeping his magic senses trained on his followers—the mountain’s magic was still scattering his magic senses when they were projected too far, leaving him with only his physical senses to see ahead of him. The titanic, imposing heap of stone was covered in dense vegetation. While it rose straight as a finger into the air, with sheer cliffs on every side, there were many flat plateaus, dark caves, and deep alcoves from which sprouted veritable forests. Combined with abundant plant life sprouting from just about every crack in every cliff, the mountain, despite being primarily made of gray stone, was nearly covered in greenery.

Much the same could be said for the countless rock formations that orbited the Lance, from the smallest boulders to the largest mountains. All were covered in such abundant foliage that Leon found it no wonder that thousands of people could attempt to climb the mountain simultaneously yet see so few ever run into each other.

He reached the receiving platform in moments and found Grandin standing there already looking impatient.

“That thing hardly ever leaves its lair,” Grandin bitterly stated.

Behind Leon, Maia soon appeared, followed by Valeria. Leon had the opportunity to press Grandin a bit about the nature of this monster he wanted dead, but instead, he kept his eyes and magic senses trained backward, watching his people enter the current and be carried to the platform. He was worried about them all, but especially about the giant Tempest Knight. The current was strong and swift, more than enough to keep even heavy Ulta suits aloft, but he wanted to be sure that his people were safe.

Fortunately, they all reached the platform safely, the current not letting them down. Alix took the rear of the formation for much the same reason as Leon had, watching her Tempest Knights and the rest of the party from behind.

“Woohee!” she exclaimed as the current deposited her on the platform, elation not only at the ride itself but also at everyone else’s safe arrival evident in her demeanor. “What a ride! Hey, how difficult would it be to set up windy transport things like this at Artorion?”

Her question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, but Leon, as the one most skilled in enchanting among the party, was the one to answer.

“Difficult. It’s not necessarily the most efficient method of travel, especially since it seems to be always operating. Better to have everyone have their own method of travel so that magic power isn’t wasted. As for the specific mechanics… I’m not even sure how this one is made, I can’t sense the enchantment itself, so to make something similar we would have to start from scratch.”

“Disappointing,” Alix bemoaned, disappointment practically dripping from her voice.

Leon shrugged. “It is what it is.” He glanced at Grandin, who looked more impatient now than ever. “I don’t suppose you know where the enchantment that powers this is, do you?”

Grandin arched an eyebrow. With some exasperation, he claimed, “No such enchantment exists. This is natural. Similar natural phenomena connect all of the floating mountains to the Lance, too.”

Incredulity blossomed within Leon. “This is natural?” he asked with great skepticism.

“Yes,” Grandin unequivocally claimed.

Leon stared at him doubtfully but didn’t press the issue. Instead, he decided to service not only Grandin’s impatience but his own as well. “Fine. Let’s get a move on. And while we move, why don’t you furnish us with greater details on this monster you want dead?”

“Easily done,” Grandin said as he turned to step off the platform and enter the rather small compound staffed by Gold Sashes that secured the Lance’s base. “I can even do you one better. Check this out…”

He led the way to a large building on one side of the receiving courtyard. Two doorless gateways on either side of the building led to the narrow street that in turn led to the mountain itself. Beside the gates were large boards upon which many posters had been pinned.

“Bounties are usually put here,” Grandin said as he indicated the boards. “Private citizens can put in requests for resources and the like from the mountain, while the city will put out bounties for particularly dangerous beasts or valuable materials.”

Leon scanned the board that Grandin led them to. Dozens of posters were advertising bounties for the pelts of certain beasts—mostly wolves and foxes—bird feathers, and various herbs. He counted no less than half a dozen bounties from various bars in the city seeking lanceberries, promising to pay by the basket. Judging by the prices, gathering lanceberries could be lucrative work.

“Over here,” Grandin continued, “are the more official bounties.” The guide indicated more formally structured posters beside the more haphazardly arranged private bounties. Leon noted that most of these bounties were for killing monsters, though a few were for gathering materials on the mountain—notably, some kind of ore that seemed to gather around the most lightning-blasted parts of the mountain. He was intrigued enough to rue the lack of time he had to properly explore the mountain.

Grandin gestured specifically to the monster bounties, which were arranged in order of payout, from least expensive further down and to the left, while higher payouts—and presumably greater risks—were higher and further to the right.

“That one is what we’re here for,” Grandin said as he pointed to the highest, rightmost bounty poster.

Some of the posters depicted creatures in fine detail, a couple even looking like they were lifelike pictures magically imprinted on the bounty posters. Others were less detailed, apparently sketched by someone going off another person’s description. Grandin’s poster was perhaps the least detailed of them all, showing what appeared to be some kind of tiger-like creature with a serpentine tail and scales on its legs. Beneath the almost crudely drawn picture was the bounty.

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Ten million khosrids. As Leon recalled, the prize for the last climbing competition on the mountain was only half that sum. Such an amount wouldn’t buy that much in the way of strategic materials or sustain a Kingdom like he wished to establish for even a single day, but it was a vast fortune for private citizens, as far as he knew. Still, it served to underscore the danger of the creature that they were now hunting.

“Our quarry is fast and old,” Grandin said. Continuing with the bitter tone of one all too familiar with the creature, he explained, “No less than eight times in my life has this bounty been raised as more and more mages have fallen to it. Its claws are like swords, its tail like a whip. It can bite through steel like paper, and its hide is strong enough to resist blows from tenth-tier mages with ease. Its most dangerous trait is its eyes, which if one gazes into directly, can petrify the unprepared.”

“Petrification?” Anna asked exasperatedly. “You couldn’t have mentioned this before? Such threats require preparation!”

“And I’m prepared for it,” Grandin claimed with a cheeky smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

Leon joined Anna in frowning at the man. “You know, for someone who requested we help you in killing this thing, you’re not doing a very good job of readying this group to actually fight it.”

“Because I already know what to do,” Grandin claimed. “Just do what I tell you and everything’ll be fine. I promise.”

“What value is a promise from someone we don’t know?” Anna bitterly stated as she closed her eyes and paused a moment. Then she opened her eyes and said to Leon, “I have five doses of my sister’s anti-petrification salve.”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment. Five doses wasn’t much—each dose was enough to reverse petrification over a large part of the body, though not a full-grown human’s entire body. Five doses, though, was enough to reverse perhaps one person’s full-body petrification…

‘… if they’re not too large…’ Leon thought, noting that he, while not overly tall, was likely still too large to be completely freed of petrification by only five doses.

“I have plenty more anti-petrification shit, don’t worry,” Grandin claimed. “We can just get moving.”

“And if you get petrified, what do we do then?” Valeria pointed out.

Grandin sighed in exasperation. “Look. We’re here now. Let’s go kill this fucking thing and then I can get you to the top of the mountain real quick like. You accepted this deal. Now let’s go, we have what we need.”

Without waiting for further questioning, Grandin turned and strode through the gateway to the street, turning toward the mountain.

“I hate him,” Valeria stated. “Irresponsible fool. He’ll lead us to our deaths. Or at least, to our peril.”

“He knows the place,” Leon said. “Pilos claimed he was the best guide on the mountain… Let’s just go. Get this done. Artorion’s time is limited.” He followed Grandin’s footsteps out of the courtyard, the rest of his party close behind him, but Valeria wasn’t quite done expressing her antipathy.

“He’s still hiding something from us. It’s clear to me that he doesn’t want to talk about this beast that much.”

[He’s afraid we’ll back out if we know too much,] Maia intuited with a dark look boring a hole into Grandin’s back. [This creature must be more powerful than we realize…]

“And we’re risking ourselves solving someone else’s personal problems just so that we can climb a mountain faster,” Valeria continued. “We’re strong. Why don’t we just try climbing the mountain ourselves, then get a guide later if we run into difficulties?”

“Time,” Leon simply said as he moved to catch up with Grandin. As he did, he asked the guide, “How long will it take to reach our quarry’s lair?”

Grandin glanced at him and smiled. “Shouldn’t be too long. Maybe a day. Its lair will drift into sight soon, if you want to know. But it’ll take some hours to get to a point where we can get to it. We have to scale the cliffs, move through the south-low jungle, and then we’ll get to an outcropping from which we jump into a current that’ll take us right to the flying island. From there, another hour or so moving through the island’s jungle, and we’ll reach our destination.”

“Is there any worry that this beast will move before then?” Leon asked.

“None,” Grandin confidently replied. “It doesn’t like to move. It’s territorial and relatively sedentary.”

Leon nodded in acknowledgment.

The base at the bottom of the Lance was small, so while he had a few more questions, they’d reached the bottom of their first cliff, so he held his tongue.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The cliff was tall, though hardly even half as tall as the tallest cliff he could see below the clouds. It was well-worn from thousands of climbers, with well-defined handholds in most places, and man-made handholds in other places.

“You’d think an earth mage would’ve carved stairs into this thing by now or something…” Gaius mused aloud.

“Many have tried,” Grandin stated a little defensively. “The magic holding the mountain in the sky seems to dislike that sort of thing. I haven’t heard of any artificial tunnel or stairs or anything like that lasting for long before collapsing, no matter how many reinforcement enchantments are applied to it.”

“That sounds… rather suspicious,” Leon said.

Grandin shrugged. “Some people down in the city believe the mountain was raised from the earth by a god. Those who are a little stronger think some spectacularly powerful mage may have built this place specifically to forge men into being stronger than they are. Or, more likely, set all of this up just to fuck with us.”

“What’s your opinion?” Leon asked.

Grandin shrugged again, a frown sprouting on his face. “I think if there are any answers to be had, they’ll be at the lance itself. I’ve laid my eyes on it, but have never reached it. If all goes well, you’ll be telling me about it, later.”

Leon softly chuckled, then turned his attention to the cliff. Two other groups of climbers were surmounting the imposing challenge ahead of them, but the cliff was so wide that there was more than enough room for them to begin their climb without interfering with anyone else.

Grandin went first, though when he stepped forward, he paused a moment and reiterated, “Remember: no flying. Unless you want to turn to fried giblets.”

With that, he turned and began hauling himself up the cliff with the confidence and dexterity of a man who had done so hundreds of times before.

Leon followed right behind him, the rest of his party staggering out a bit as they began climbing the wide cliff at other points.

The cliff wasn’t that hard to climb, especially for mages of their caliber. It was about two hundred feet high, but in only a few minutes, all of Leon’s party had reached the summit—a testament not only to their strength and power but also to the handholds all over the cliff easing the climb.

Grandin reached the top first and began helping them up as they reached the top. The plateau was relatively narrow, only sinking about forty feet into the mountain. The wall they now faced was smooth and lacked the same handholds as the other cliff, so continuing their climb here would be challenging.

Fortunately, once they were all up, Grandin didn’t make for that cliff and instead walked further up the plateau, following a steep incline that led to a large, flat area sunken more into the mountain. This area, despite being partially covered by the Lance above, was thickly forested, though several paths were open on their side.

In the opposite direction, there was a slight downward incline that led into a similarly forested section of the mountain, toward which two of the other three parties on the cliff were heading. The final party had stopped at the top of the cliff to huddle together and plan a bit more, though Leon could sense the attention of their leader, a ninth-tier mage, settle on him and rarely waver even as he and his people followed Grandin further up the incline.

“This is typically seen as the harder way,” Grandin explained. “But it’ll get us to where we’re going faster.”

“Faster’s good,” Leon said as they reached the edge of the forested section at the top of the incline. “So long as we’re not sacrificing safety.”

“This far down the mountain? The dangers are negligible for us, even when taking the more dangerous routes.”

“So you say… After you.”

Grandin smirked and then began walking down one of the three paths through the thick foliage before them. Leon could sense some magical properties to the plant life, but nothing particularly strong or dangerous, so he followed without much hesitation. He only paused at the entrance to the path just long enough to cast his gaze over his shoulder and make eye contact with the leader of the party watching them.

The ninth-tier mage held his gaze for a moment, only to avert it as the weight of Leon’s aura hit him. While Grandin was confident that no one was going to get competitive without a competition, Leon still wanted to discourage foolish behavior from anyone who looked particularly foolish.

And with that, he plunged into the forest after Grandin.

It was dark amidst the trees and thick bushes, and the calls of birds and other animals filled the air. He could smell sweet flowers and enticing fruits, some of which hung down from branches and vines over the path.

“Don’t eat anything,” Grandin warned as they passed the first of such potential bounties. “Most fruits and other such things in this part of the forest are poisonous. Unlikely to affect us much, but the last thing we need to do is slow down for someone who gets diarrhea from eating a funny berry.”

“I’m sure you’d know all about funny berries,” Valeria said in a not-at-all veiled barb.

“Sure do,” Grandin replied without even blinking. “Many of the lessons I learned on this mountain were learned the hard way. So learn from my mistakes and don’t repeat them.”

His face then turned serious as his eyes seemed to focus on the path ahead. As silence fell in the wake of his statement, Leon found Valeria’s suspicion that he was keeping something from them more and more believable…