Half a minute later of moving through this medieval town Spade found himself at a blockage. A cart had been placed across the pathway. There was no planning for these structures so they were very close to each other here compared to elsewhere. There were bodies too. Humans and those yellow goblins, all had cuts and blood strewn across them and the ground. The sound of fighting was close now, the grunts yells and the ringing of metal was the loudest yet.
The cart blocked his passage but not his sight. He moved around, finally finding a spot to see through between some boxes. There was a fight on the other side; humans and yellow goblins fighting one another to the death, blood and flesh spraying everywhere.
The humans appeared to have the raw strength over these creatures but there were hundreds more goblins than humans. They would overwhelm them and soon judging by the look of exhaustion on the human's faces.
His eyes darted around, hoping to find a better vantage point. To the side lay a stack of wooden crates, there were scratch marks on it. This was possibly how the yellow goblins got to the humans.
Spade scrambled his way on top of the house overlooking the battle. He kept low, less anyone saw what he was doing. From his vantage point he could see the battle before him.
The battle was occurring in a large plaza area. The wooden houses formed a circle surrounding this plaza area. The gaps between the houses had been filled with carts as well, though some had been broken and were on fire.
The battle wasn't good for the humans. There were many bodies on the ground but those that were standing were bloody, their movements were slow and had no energy to them. The goblins were still spritely and picking off wounded and isolated humans.
I can help these people. I'm not going to let these people die, especially when I can do something about it. Well, here goes nothing then.
He gathered all the Mana he could, the feeling flowed from every part of his body to his fingers. It felt like all the energy from his body was gathering in his hands. His feet felt numb but he paid it no mind.
With an almighty bang the lighting exploded out towards the center of the goblin mass. It wasn't accurate but each bolt killed everything it touched. In an instant almost all the goblins were dead, their bodies twitching while some had exploded or smoldering limbs where they had been blown off. The goblin survivors looked towards Spade but the humans didn't.
"Charge!!"
The humans that could still move grabbed their weapons; spears, forks and even sticks, and charged. The goblins were stunned. Those few alive panicked, some bumping into each other as they tried to scramble out of the area towards the broken carts.
Spade felt his mind feeling weak. The Mana was gone and so was his sense of balance. His consciousness began to fade once again.
This is becoming irritating…
"Quickly, they were up there."
Spade saw one of the humans point to where he was still hiding before he felt his body become numb and began to slide down the roof.
Spade awoke for the third time. Every part of his body hurt; head, neck, shoulders, arms, back and legs. It felt like he had gone through another beating, though it was good that there was an actual feeling rather than numbness. Images of what he had done came back into his mind; killing hundreds of those yellow goblins then passing out as the Heaviness disappeared.
The last thing he remembered was sliding down the roof plummeting to the ground. He was lucky to have survived without breaking his neck.
Luckily he wasn't on the ground outside, he was on a bed of some sort. The timber creaked and groaned as he moved ever so slightly. The mattress crunched as he moved, it sounded just like the straw that he landed on.
There was some sort of fur to protect the skin from the straw, it was a light brown and soft to the touch. However it did have large patches missing, it must be quite well used. Some thick material was used as the blanket. It was coarse but there was another layer of worn fur underneath. It was actually quite nice.
The rest of the room was similarly old but well cared for. Only a rudimentary table and two chairs furnished the rest of the room. The floors were wooden but looked like that had seen a lot of traffic with flakes of dirt compacted in. The walls looked like the handmade ones in the village. He must be inside one of those houses. The wooden windows were also open, letting in some of the morning light.
There was a flicker of a shadow, movement.
Ah shit, I could still be in trouble here.
After throwing off the covers he swung his legs out and onto the floor. Pain surged through his legs as he tried to apply weight.
As he slumped back he noticed his chest felt something other than pain and soreness. He still wore the pajamas and his socks but his shirt had been removed.
His chest was now covered in bloodied bandages, cuts and bruises. Hopefully, the blood on the bandages was his. The idea of getting some blood-borne disease after all this didn't thrill him. Though the fact that others could have seen his back thrilled him even less.
He tried to stand up again but the pain cut his legs out.
I'm never getting up like this.
His eyes drifted to his marked hand. The gods' powers seemed simple enough. The fire magic could have burnt this entire place down but the lightning did its job well. That left the prayer mark. Those eccentric gods had never explained what Alena' abilities were. However, prayer was associated with healing, hopefully. It was worth a shot.
Spade focused the feeling to his hands but imagining the prayer was difficult. The moment his image of a prayer wavered, the Heaviness broke and flew back through his body.
Damn, well it was worth a try at least.
"Oh, here goes: If only Alena would heal me."
The mana surged to his wounds without his control. It quickly dissipated along with most of his pain, though his dizziness returned.
A minute passed before he could tell what was up or down again. The mana began to return as well, perhaps slightly faster but nowhere as thick as when he first arrived here.
Spade tried again to stand. He felt stronger than he had in a while. His mutterings must have been the prayer, he would need to do better in the future, and it probably wouldn't be that simple again his body told him.
He only made a step before he could hear steps from outside. The mana was thick enough for some lightning bolts at least though not enough for the whole village. He dived underneath the fur blanket but left his hands exposed.
The steps continued to get closer. It sounded like wood on wood. The door slowly creaked open. Spade drew some of the mana to his fingers and waited.
A small old woman emerged. For a moment Spare thought it was one of the elderly ladies sitting at the front of the bus he always rides on when going to work.
She had short dark brown hair in a bob-style, her face weathered from hard and daily work in the sun. Her clothes looked very similar to what the dead woman wore, some brown and grey thick fabric. Still, she looked harmless enough but Anton wasn't about to let his guard down.
She walked in slowly with a slight limp, each step appeared to require great effort. She put a pile of clothes on the table. They looked similar to the ones she wore but had less dirt and patches.
Very kind of them, at least they're probably not going to try and kill me now.
The woman jumped slightly when she noticed Spade looking directly at her.
"Thank the gods that you survived. How do you feel?"
Her voice was old and slightly croaky yet motherly at the same time.
"I'm fine."
Here goes nothing.
"Where are we?"
The old lady smiled, "You don't know? Hmm. We're in the Crescent Kingdom. Does that help you at all?"
Spade just shook his head. At least this wasn't Earth.
"My husband will be here too, he knows many things that I can barely understand."
She chuckled lightly and hobbled to the door.
"HE'S AWAKE!!"
The volume of the old lady was shocking. She sent Spade a playful smile. Very quickly he heard many footsteps. Three men burst in. One, the old man at the front, looked like the male version of the old lady though his hair was grey. The other two were gigantic young men; their muscles were on display, short cropped hair and many scars, all accentuated by the thin singlets they wore.
Both guards stood either side of the door, arms crossed, trying to make their chests look bigger.
You really don't need to do that, I'm not going to run away. Spade thought.
What spade did notice was the glints off their belts. Knives. They did take some precaution at least after seeing what he did the other night.
The old man and woman dragged the chairs to the right of Spade.
"Um," began the old man, "I'm not really sure how to do this right, but, who are you and why are you here?"
Shit, what should I tell them? Probably not the thing about gods and me being from another world just yet. I need to tell them something though, something harmless…
"My name is Spade, I think?"
The old man looked over at the old woman who nodded.
"I think he may have lost his memory, dear."
The old man nodded then stroked his chin. His hands were missing a few fingers. They did not look fully healed yet.
"Well Spade, my name is Bertram. I don't have a second name, not a royal or noble, no. Not that there are any left in these parts anymore. This is my wife, Sybil."
Sybil nodded.
"So, why are you here?"
Bertram's face darkened slightly and the two guards shifted so they could reach for their knives quickly.
"It's odd to see a mage out here. Even odder for one to turn up when everything's going really bad. We don't have gold or jewels to pay you and very little in the way of goods…"
Ah crap, play this gently.
"I… I don't know why I'm here or even who I am. I woke up in one of those barns, heard all that noise, two people were killed in front of me without me understanding anything that was going on. I don't know how but I knew how to use lightning magic, killing those yellow goblin things, finding the big fight in the plaza area then doing what I could. I take it that you guys won?"
Bertram took a moment to process the information, his mouth opening and closing. He was probably waiting for some ridiculous demand for saving their lives. It didn't say much for magic users in this world.
"Well, yes we did. After that Thunderous Roar that you used, the yellow goblins retreated."
"Never seen 'em run so quick." Said the guard on the right, he slurred and had something of a cockney accent. The left guard glared at the right but he didn't seem to care.
"They did retreat and we are thankful for that." Bertram glanced at the right guard then bowed still seated, "Though it may have just delayed our deaths."
Spade didn't say anything but cocked his head.
"Can you walk? It'll be easier to talk outside."
"I think I can."
Spade shuffled out of the bed and stood up. It took a moment before he was properly balanced.
"It's amazing that you can walk," Sybil said, "When we found you crumbled after having to hit some crates on the way down."
No wonder everything hurts.