(Second Book Complete!) Runeblade: A Delving & Skill Merging LitRPG

A few last fallen leaves swirled between their landyacht’s legs as it skittered out of the woods. The road ahead wound through waist high grass overflowing with late blooming dahlias and nerines — a splatter of reds and oranges that looked like the meadows were leaching the autumn glow from the forest behind them.

As they approached the crossroads in the distance, so too did the Hiwiann caravan. Judging by their pace, it looked like they’d reach the road to Tennereth at the same time.

Kaius sat at the bow of the Pegleg, dangling his feet over the edge, with his teammates sitting around him. He watched the distant wagons, enjoying the warm glow of nostalgia. Given his remote upbringing, a Hiwiann caravan train always heralded an influx of foreign goods — and sweets. That sweet and sour bite of his first piece of stonesugar, or the biting heat of red pepper as it blew into his eyes — Father had been scooping a full three pounds of the stuff into a leather pouch when the breeze had kicked up.

In the half hour since they’d first spotted the caravan, the number of people on the wagon roofs had tripled — drawn out from within by the prospect of seeing a landyacht in person, no doubt. Kaius had even spotted a few of the guards taking a peek, even though he was damn sure they were supposed to be keeping watch from the thin walkways that lined the edges of the wagons.

A sea of faces — and not all human. A man that would have towered over Ianmus, his biceps uncovered by his chainmail and thicker than Kaius’s thigh — one of the giant blood, hefting a battleaxe with a longstride-wide blade. The giant might have been the most visible from a distance, but he was not alone. On the leading wagon, Kaius saw a diminutive group of four densuan, a rodent-like race with natural darksight and sharper noses than most beasts. Others were revealed only by glimpses of ashen skin, or a quick flash of scales, or a dozen other things. Kaius even saw a few uruk, Guilewind’s people — and a few of the aen, with their bluish-tinged skin, sharp-angled features, and solid mono-colour eyes.

It wasn’t so strange — the Hiwiann were famous for being a melting pot of cultures who accepted anyone with a genuine desire to join a clan and learn their ways. It was a refuge for many — be it an entire people fleeing from dire circumstances, like the uruk, or simple individuals who grew tired of their old lives.

Though, not all he saw atop the wagons were Hiwiann themselves. They were easy to spot, be it common travellers with their earth-toned cloaks, or the more well-off in their white silks and deep greens. Most caravans were more than happy to play host to those who wished to pay or work for passage. It was a popular option — few on the roads were as well-defended or prepared as the Hiwiann.

The true Hiwiann were as bright and vibrant as the wagons themselves. Sashes of shocking pink, vests of deep lime, and leathers that had been dyed a deep maroon or ultramarine were just a few of what Kaius could see at a glance.

“What’s with the colours, anyway?” Porkchop asked, noticing where his attention had drifted. “Kenva doesn’t dress like that.”

Kenva barked out a laugh. “Bright red wouldn’t exactly help with hunting now, would it?”

The image of Kenva trying to break into Kanmost’s house while drenched in vibrant fabrics slipped into Kaius’s mind. He laughed too.

“To answer your question, it’s advertising — and a warning. Makes our caravans, and us, easy to spot. You don’t see it as much in those who live nomadically on the steppe.”

“A warning?” Ianmus asked. “For what? Bandits? You’d think they’d know better.”

He knew what the man meant. The caravan right in front of them had nearly fifty guards that were visible, and that wasn’t counting farscouts, or any combatants that might be inside the wagons. Despite being too far to sense their auras, Kaius was damned sure that the weakest of them would be Iron. Hells, he wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them were Silver by now, what with the steady flow of experience they’d be getting from wild beasts.

Kenva nodded. “Bandits, but everyone else too. It makes it obvious who we are, which removes all excuses if we’re attacked — physically or otherwise. Occasionally some guard captain tries to drum up imaginary tariffs, or a town mayor thinks they might be able to strong-arm us into a bad deal. The problems usually go away by themselves when every caravan master in a five hundred leagues avoids that settlement like the plague.”

“And if it is violent?” Porkchop asked.

“Same deal if its something minor like a robbery or a brawl in town. An actual assault on a caravan, though? That isn’t taken lightly. We protect our own, and cut the problem out by the root.”

Kaius could imagine — the communities by the Sea were similar. Nothing unified them like an external threat. He could easily imagine some group of elites wandering out of the steppe and leaving bandit camps silent and empty in their wake.

That was neither here nor there, though. He certainly didn’t intend to waylay the approaching caravan, and while the distant men and women might have had a gleam in their eyes, it was a joyous one directed at their vessel — not one of bloodlust.

“So, how do we do this?” Kaius asked. He might have been their team leader, but by no means did he intend to run this one.

“Pull up by the lead caravan when we get close, and I'll introduce us to the caravan master. Since I’m Hiwiann, and alone, tradition says he should invite us on board to share a drink before any serious discussions happens, but we have a bit of leeway to shake that up a bit,” She said, grinning as she leant down to slap the side of the Pegleg’s hull.

“Want to invite him on board?” Kaius asked.

“Of course! Most Hiwiann haven’t even seen a landyacht — and besides, in six months, when the story has bounced between caravans half a dozen times, the one my parents hear will be far more ridiculous,” Kenva said, before she grinned. “I can already imagine their faces when they find out that there is verifiable proof that I am not only Silver, but the first Zdhan to own a landyacht — at least as much as it counts to my people.”

Kaius chucked — nothing wrong with indulging in a little braggadocio.

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Their advance continued, the road disappearing beneath the relentless march of the Pegleg. Minute by minute, they grew closer and closer to the crossroads and the approaching Hiwiann.

When they were within a half league of each other, a few members of their rooftop audience waved and whistled, beaming with excitement. Kaius laughed, and waved back — a faint cheer coming from a few of the caravaneers.

A little later, and the caravan slowed slightly — their draughtbeasts moving at a brisk walk, rather than a steady canter. At Kenva’s request, he matched their pace — slowly drawing together.

He met the eyes of a few guards — including the giant, who Kaius was now damn sure loomed at a massive ten strides. Taller than even a full-blooded elf and far more sturdy, the speckled sunset-orange sash around his waist looked large enough to be a cape.

The giant, and a few of his fellows, seemed a little more cautious than most — they seemed far more interested in the blade at his hip, and the size of Porkchop’s claws than the ship they were sitting on.

Kaius gave the man a smile, before he nudged Porkchop mentally.

“Let the tall one know you’re a greater beast — he looks like he’s sizing you up in case you prove dangerous.”

Porkchop snorted. “Fine, but for the record, I would eat him for breakfast.”

While he didn’t doubt that, the giant was still Silver. The aura was faint and barely there, as if the man had only just risen to the second tier, but with his lineage and raw size that still meant a terrifying physicality.

Regardless of his brother’s badgering, Kaius saw the man grip his axe just a little less tightly a few moments later.

Inevitably, they met at the crossroads, and the Pegleg edged over to move up next to the lead wagon as it took the eastern turn towards Tennereth. The draughtbeasts didn’t so much as flinch at the sudden presence of a mechanical spider.

The lead wagon was a little bigger than the rest of them — still two stories, with a fenced in roof, but long enough it had ten sets of wheels instead of the normal six or eight. Its front was a multi-tiered platform, with two coach drivers on the lower level.

The caravan master stood on the higher level. He was an aen, with a jawline that could cut glass, and solid eyes of an indigo so deep it looked almost black. He was grinning at them, standing tall with his arms crossed in front of his blood-red enamelled breastplate, a wide-brimmed feathered cap in one hand.

He did a triple take as soon as he saw Kenva.

“Kenva?!”

The ranger bolted to her feet, pointing at the caravan master.

“Ban?! Since when’ve Clan Herno run a route through the Dukedoms?”

Ban, the caravan master, spluttered. He looked from Kenva, to the Pegleg, then the rest of them, before flicking back to the ranger herself. “Don’t try to bury the lede! You were seventeen the last time I saw you. It’s been three bloody years since you got your class — how the hell are you Silver and standing on top of a fucking landyacht!”

“Does every bloody Hiwiann know each other, or what?” Porkchop asked, staring at the pair in disbelief.

Kaius just chuckled, watching his friend. He was damned sure that the woman's jaw was going to dislocate if she grinned any wider. Kenva stood a little taller, puffing up her chest as she looked down her nose at the caravan master.

“What can I say, Ban? Walking the Way has been kind to me. Perhaps you might understand, if you’d done it properly.”

“Oh, piss off, you twerp! Or do you want me to tell your friends what happened when you bragged you could bag a red-crested swallow mid-flight, and—”

Kenva went white. Before Kaius could so much as blink, she leapt across the gap between their vessels. Her hand clamped tight over the caravan master’s mouth.

“Not another gods’ damned word!” she hissed.

Kaius could see the man grinning, and the small group of rodent-like densuan on the roof chittered in amusement as they gripped the railing and leaned over to watch. He turned, giving the rest of his team a look.

“So, we’re getting that story before we part ways, right?”

“Abso-bloody-lutely,” Ianmus agreed.

…

Kaius leaned back on the couch in the Pegleg’s main room, nursing the drink in his hand. Ban was directly across from him, staring around the room in naked wonder — just like he had for the last two hours.

Most of the first hour had been spent with the caravan master swapping stories with Kenva — their journeys in the last year, and his on the road. It turned out that Ban was from another clan that called the highlands of the south-eastern edge of the steppe home. Given he was a bare ten years older than them, he and Kenva had run into each other frequently.

After that, they’d talked business. Ban had been able to update their records on Vainblood just a bit — confirming that Silvers were increasingly common, and even the odd Gold had been spotted on the outskirts. On their part, the man was ecstatic to hear that they would be clearing out the main pass between Tennereth and Sidora.

Now they were simply chatting — a perfect time to dig up some dirt on his friend.

“So, Ban,” Kaius said slowly, swirling his drink.

Kenva groaned. She knew what was coming.

“About that ‘swallow’ incident.”

The caravan master laughed, straightening. “Oh, it was brilliant. Our caravans had just made camp together, and the little braggart was riding the high of merging her archery skill. Spent damn near half an hour talking herself up.”

“And?” Kaius asked, as his friend buried her face in her hands, flushing a deep purple. “You missed?”

“She hit her damn parents window!” Ban laughed. “But it gets better — she took the silencing formation out with it. They’d been ‘busy’. And loud.”

They’d what? Kaius laughed — mostly at the way Kenva seemed to be trying to slide to the ground without any of them noticing.

“I’d managed to scour it from my memory, but thanks for reminding me,” Kenva groaned. “Why Mother thought it was a good idea to storm out and lecture me on firing lines without even stopping to put on a robe, I will never know.”

Ianmus choked. “She didn’t.”

“Oh yes she did!” Ban howled, tears streaming down his face. “Blue arsed and all!”

Now it was Kaius’s time to choke on his drink.

Ban shook his head. “Thing of fucking beauty that tear down was, I’m not surprised you high-tailed it out of the steppe the second you got your Class. We might not mind nudity as much as the rest of you city-folk, but let me tell you, that is not a sight you see every day. Or more than once, really.”

“Can we please move on!”

Still chuckling, Kaius relaxed into his seat. He’d let her off the hook — but there was no way in all of the hells he wasn’t saving this for a rainy day.

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