Wizardness

“Wake up Tark.” Red’s voice said.
Tobias groaned. Yet again he was waking up after getting his ass handed to him. He opened his eyes, the dim light of the barracks stabbed his eyes. He felt a throbbing behind his eyes and tightness at the top of his head.
“Fuck me.” he muttered.
He slowly got to his feet and dressed. He grabbed some extra water and food. He strapped Draganvil and Silverthorn to his back and walked outside. The halflings were still standing there. Several of them were sleeping where they stood. Plain was staring at them.
“What are they still doing out here?” Tobias asked.
“It seems commander Lee failed to release them before he disappeared for the night. The only two missing are the ones you knocked unconscious.”
“Can you do anything for them?”
“Hmm, yes. But it would make my day harder.”
“Yea. This is wrong.”
Plain nodded. He walked up to the first halfling and hit her on the back of the head. The little body crumpled to the ground.
“Why’d you do that?” Tobias cried.
“It is the only way. I gave some energy. It made them stand better.”
“Fuck. Is there a safe way to do this?”
“I am doing so. See here. If you hit this spot. See. They are not awake.”
The halfling fell to the ground. Just as soon as his body crumpled, the other halfling, she groaned. She stood and bowed to them and returned to the barracks. Tobias joined in with the effort. mimicking Plain’s movements exactly. He felt gross attacking these slaves. Clearly it was a temporary release for them, but it was still wrong.
After the last one stood back up, he stared at Tobias. He clearly wanted to say something. He struggled and was finally able to whisper, “This changes nothing, human. You are still our enemies. You’ve done this before and will do it again.”
Tobias shrugged, “If we can’t show compassion for you now, when you’re at your weakest, then we risk become monsters.”
“To late.” He turned on his heel and sluggishly walked back to the barracks.
Tobias looked at Plain. The big man was looking thoughtfully at the halfling as he shut the door.
Plain turned to Tobias, “I think this halfling has said this to you in an echo. I think he meant it more in that echo, than now.”
Tobias snorted in response. He turned to see the rest of the Fist looking at the two of them.
“Well, let’s get going on our run. Laughing man, please outline the work plan for today.”
Giggles quickly assigned each Fist member to a task, explaining what needed to be accomplished that morning. Dar’kid asked for some clarification, but the work to be done was pretty clear.
The fist mostly ran in silence. Which was a blessing for Tobias. The first part of the run was brutal. His head pounded with every step. The left foot seemed to jar something, his right foot felt like Draganvil was bouncing against his jaw.
At the first rest he tighten his straps. It seemed to help some, but he generally felt miserable.
The five mile run felt like it was faster than ever. Ronlique seemed to need fewer breaks or was breathing slow enough that the time between breaks was increasing. Either way was fine with Tobias.
“Let’s grab our ranged weapon and get through everything but the pitched battle.” Tobias said.
When they arrived at the pitched battle, Commander Lee was standing there.
“Good to see you’re actually doing your training today, Epsilon. I take it, there’s no more power struggle?”
“There was no power struggle, sir. Everyone needs to be ready to lead at any time. It’s better to train that skill here early and often, before we get into battle.” Tobias said.
Commander Lee laughed. “Nice cover story Order Boy. Since you clearly figured out how to give orders without talking. You will be wearing this.” Lee pulled out a gag of sorts.
Tobias eyed it. He looked Lee in the eyes, “Now why would I do that?”
“Because, I’m you’re commanding officer. You are in the military. I will kill you if you mutiny again. I will kill you all. You’re lucky I chatted with my commanding officer last night. Otherwise, this would have been another echo.”
The threat hung in the air. Tobias heard the Fist shuffle behind him.
“Fine. I’ll wear the gag. Sir.” Tobias reached out for the gag.
“Oh, no, I’ll be putting that on for you.”
Tobias hesitated.
“Sir, I’ll put it on for him. I’ll make sure it’s on plenty tight.” Red said.
“You? I guess the power struggle is still on then.” He laughed and handed the gag to Red. “If I hear a SINGLE word from him, you all will be running, until sunrise tomorrow. No breaks for the fat one.” He disappeared then. Wind rushed to fill the void.
“I should have let him die. Fucker.” Ronlique muttered.
Red handed the gag to Tobias. “I’ll tighten the back when you’re ready.”
Tobias nodded. He opened his mouth, he felt it go bone dry. He pulled his water and food out. He had a bite to eat and most of a canteen of water. Then he put the gag in. Red tightened the strap, hard. His eyes watered at the tension. His nostrils flared as he struggled to breath.
Tobias felt a thick finger touch his elbow. Calm flowed from Plain into him.
“This is bullshit. A fucking gag?” Dar’kid asked behind him.
“Lee’s into some weird stuff isn’t he.” Giggles cackled.
“Get your gear ready,” Red said.
“Pick your target before we get started,” Tobias sent. Red’s head snapped back and swung towards Tobias.
“Stay the fuck out of my head.” She said, tapping her temple.
“I’m not in your head. I’m talking to you. That’s all.”
“Well, then don’t.”
Tobias stared at her. After a moment, he got Silverthorn ready. He looked at the field in front of him. “I’ll take the halfling about to gut a man in front.” He sent, he tried not to send to Red, but that hurt.
“I’m taking the halfling about to gut the man.” Red said.
“Order boy already claimed him.” Dar’kid said as Giggles laughed.
Red glared at both men then Tobias. Tobias shrugged. The other fist members called out their target. Tobias stepped into the battle.
The halfling targeting the man, got an arrow and a bolt to the chest. A man cried out. A man Red normally saved.
Tobias quickly communicated risks as he saw them. He did his best to leave out Red, but if he was shooting or avoiding an attack, he often failed to do so.
“This is so cool!” Dar’kid suddenly sent. “I can talk with Ronlique directly. Damn near saved my life.”
Eventually the team finished the pitched battle. It was messier than in the past. The Fist was exhausted. Tobias was parched, he wasn’t able to break for water the entire fight. Lee arrived and was there just long enough to take the gag. He laughed as Tobias worked the stiffness from his jaw.
“You need to use it,” Tobias heard Ronlique saying. “It’s so powerful. Skibones could tell me, exactly when he was coming to get some healing. I could tell him if it was safe or not. I was able to get help from Tark. I needed you, but you didn’t hear me.”
“What happened?”
“Bears. I was surrounded, he took out 4 of them. I cried out for you, but you didn’t answer.”
“I don’t like it. I don’t want him in my head controlling me.”
Tobias shook his head and headed off to the barracks. The rest of the Fist was ahead of him. Their shoulders looked slumped. Everyone was exhausted. Tobias hopped that after breakfast and a morning full of digging, that his head would stop throbbing.