by Hans Bezdek
"They want us to get up there so they can throw tomatoes or somethin at us!" agreed Braun.
"I'll do it," I grumbled, moving through the crowd. I knew the most about magic and summoners, anyway. If someone was going to get to the bottom of this, it'd be me.
I gave the woman an apologetic look as I got on and she left, and she returned it with a look of pure hatred before running after the chicken. I might've deserved that.
"You suck!" came a voice from behind me.
"Who said that?!" I demanded, spinning around as I reached Martin.
"Now, now," smiled Martin the Magnificent Swindler at the crowd. "Please treat our guest with respect, even if he hasn't given us the same. The point of my show is to fill our hearts with wonder and love. This young man will soon find out the joy that we already know."
Fortunately or unfortunately, the crowd was eating this up. I had no idea when the little magic show became a commentary on how to live your life, but it seemed to be working for them.
"Know then," said Martin, turning toward me. "What if I could summon any animal that you think of, and I mean any one! Would that cause you to believe?"
"That you're a summoner or that you hold the secrets to life and happiness?" I chuckled.
Martin waited without smiling.
"Um, I guess that would work," I shrugged.
"And you'll admit before all the people that stand here today that you and your friends were wrong?" he continued.
I rolled my eyes. "Uh, sure."
"And you'll acknowledge that Martin the Magnificent is the greatest wizard you've ever met?"
"Look, buddy, you're starting to push it."
"Just having some fun," laughed Martin, turning back to the crowd and playing it up. The crowd laughed in response. "We like to have fun here."
I could see Dhot shaking his head in the crowd. At least someone else was feeling the same way I was.
I thought for a moment as Martin showboated. There was a decent chance that Martin had some sort of trick setup underneath the stage, where someone would push the animal up through a trapdoor. That would mean they could have a wide array of farm animals at the ready, probably along with a couple other rare ones. If I picked something too ordinary, they'd have it and then I'd be the one looking like a fool. I needed something hard to find, that this guy and his operation had no chance of having.
"Alright," I said loudly, tapping Martin the Magnificent Tool on the shoulder. "I think I got one."
"Everyone quiet down," said Martin, holding up his hands. "I want everyone to hear so there can be no denying what he asked for! Now, young man... What shall I summon for you?"
I smiled broadly at him. "A baby griffin."
I glanced out at the crowd, gloating at the impossibility of the request. Sure, baby griffins existed, but the odds of some hack in Grisam having one? There was no way. As I looked over the crowd, my eyes fell on a female gnome with pink and green hair in the front row. It was a unique look, and there was something about her that made me do a double take. Unlike the rest of the crowd, which were excited looking up at Martin, she had a serious look of concentration on her face.
"One baby griffin, coming up!" smiled Martin. The man snapped his fingers.
The crowd gasped as to the right of us a burst of light appeared, followed by a small creature. The thing was half eagle half lion, and looked as surprised to see us as we were to see it.
The crowd cheered louder than ever, everyone throwing some quat into the bucket. Cassandra, Dhot, and Braun even looked impressed. To the crowd, I must've looked it, too. But my mouth had dropped open, not because of Martin, but because of the gnome in the front. Right before the baby griffin spawned, her eyes had flashed with a bright blue light.
Martin the Magnificent wasn’t the summoner… she was.
Chapter 7
"Do you have something you'd like to say?" asked Martin the Magnificent, a pleased smirk on his face.
"Do I ever!" I said, pointing down at the gnome. "She's the summoner, not you!"
I heard Martin cough uncomfortably as the crowd shifted to look at the gnome woman. She glanced around in a panic, unsure of what to do with all of this attention.
"W-What are you talking about?" laughed Martin nervously. "I-I'm clearly the one up here doing all the magic. Why... Why would someone out in the crowd be doing it for me?"
"Because you're a hack," I said, puffing my chest out and pointing up to him. I spoke loudly to make sure the crowd could hear me. "You've been using someone else's powers to get rich off of it! Martin the Magnificent? More like Martin the... the Worst!"
I winced and heard a Maha! in the distance. Not my finest insult, but I was still pretty surprised to find an actual summoner here.
"H-He lies!" said Martin.
"What if he's right?" asked a voice in the crowd. "What if this guy is just a scam?"
"I want my money back!" came another voice.
"What else can that gnome summon?" asked a third.
I glanced back at the gnome to see her glaring up at me. That wasn't what I expected. She was clearly being used in some way by Martin. By pointing out that she was the real one with the powers around here, I had helped her out! I smiled weakly back.
Then her eyes flashed blue.
A thick, black smoke suddenly appeared all around us. I was so dense that I could hardly see my hands, let alone anyone else. I heard Martin the Magnificent Con Artist cry out in fear, apparently not expecting the gnome to do this. I took a few steps towards his voice, grabbed him, then ran off the stage and away from the crowd.
"W-What are you doing?!" cried the man.
"I'm getting us to safety," I explained. There was no telling what else that gnome might summon inside of the smoke, or if she'd be able to ignite it. If Martin had been holding her captive, she might use the opportunity to kill him and everyone else in the area. I didn't care about the phony magician, but I had an army to protect. Even if they didn't particularly like me right now. "Then I'm going to figure out what's going on."
Once we were clear of the smoke, I hooked around a nearby alley and circled back around to the far side. When we reached alleyway that led back to the stage, we saw dozens of soldiers running away. I was relieved to see nothing bad had happened to them, at least not yet. After waiting a bit, I poked my head around the corner and looked for Cassandra and the others. The smoke was finally clearing, and I could see the three of them looking around for me.
"Maybe they kidnapped him?" Dhot asked.
"Y-Ya think so?" asked Braun, looking worried.
"I think we would've heard a lot more complaining if that was the case," said Cassandra, shaking her head.
"I'm glad to hear you thinking so highly of me," I said loudly as I approached them.
"Yer alive!" cheered a relieved Braun.
"Looks like he's the one that did the kidnapping," commented Cassandra.
"That I did," I said, pushing Martin into the middle of us. The man looked around in a panic, making quick steps like he was going to try and make a break for it. Everyone did their best mean mug, even Braun, and that quickly put an end to any escape plans. "Okay, Martin the Not-So-Magnificent... Tell us what's going on."
"T-There's nothing going on!" he said, his voice an octave or two higher than when he was on stage.
"Who was the gnome?" asked Dhot. "Your slave? Why were you forcing her to do magic for you?"
"He must have wanted to get famous," said Cassandra, giving the man a disgusted look. "He was using her to advance himself."
"T-That's not it!" whimpered Martin, putting his hands up. "I-I've been w-working with Beatrix for months now. I-I'm just the frontman for our act!"
"Doesn't make sense," I said, shaking my head. "What would she need you for?"
"S-She was always scared in front of crowds," he explained quickly. "S-She didn't want people knowing she was a summoner. I don't get it, personally, but to each their own."
"Summoners are he
avily recruited by militaries and guilds," I explained. "Usually by force. Those that want to work for organizations like that are highly compensated and can live good lives, but not everyone wants to be tied down like that. If I were a summoner, the last thing I'd want to do is make it known."
"Y-You're clearly smarter than me!" smiled Martin.
"Save the flattery for someone who cares," I said. "Continue."
"S-Sure," nodded Martin. He cleared his throat. "Beatrix goes from town to town until she's exposed, working with someone like me who can bring a crowd together. Someone that had a natural charisma, good looks, and is basically the total package. It's hard having almost everything, but missing just the magic part."
"We don't care about you," hissed Dhot. "Tell us more about the gnome and less about how great you think you are."
"Wait," said Cassandra, her eyes narrowing. "You said she goes from town to town until she's exposed... We just did that."
"Oops," I said, feeling slightly guilty. I'd hate it if people went around exposing me as a half green dragon. "Does that mean she's running off to a new town as we speak?"
"Most likely," nodded Martin.
I pushed the fake summoner away and turned to the others. "We've got to go find her."
"W-We... We do?" asked Braun.
"She sounds dangerous," agreed Dhot.
"Aw," grinned Cassandra. "You want to go find her because you feel responsible. That's really big of you, Reimar."
"Stop trying to make me sound like some sort of good person!" I growled at her. "Summoners are great to have in a war, and we happen to be heading to one right now. We could really use her."
"Oh," said Cassandra, mildly disappointed.
The four of us took off through Grisam, taking all of the nearby alleys that we thought she might run down. After nearly half an hour of running, we realized her head start on us was too big. We started asking some of the residents if they had seen the pink and green haired gnome.
Most people, naturally, ignored us. Every so often, someone would be kind enough to answer that they hadn't seen her today, but knew who we were talking about. Some had seen her shopping in the market from time to time, others some saw her in the crowd at a Martin the Magnificent show, and a few mentioned seeing her frequently hanging around the Grisam Library. Figuring it was worth a shot after hearing about the library a fourth time, we asked for directions to it.
It was just a few blocks away from the stage. That had to be where she ran off to!
We hurried to the library, knowing that time was of the essence. If she was afraid of being found out, she'd be packing up and leaving as soon as she could. A couple of minutes later, and we entered the five-story tall library.
"Surprised this is open so late," commented Cassandra quietly, smiling at the goblin librarian behind the counter to our left.
"What do you mean?" asked Dhot and I.
"Shhhh!" hissed the librarian.
"Er, sorry," I whispered with a shrug.
"Most libraries close a few hours after dark," said Braun. He gave the two of us a confused look. "Do libraries in yer areas stay open late?"
"They wouldn't know," sighed Cassandra. "I bet they haven't set a foot in a library in decades."
"Maha!" laughed Dhot. "You're not wrong!"
"SHHHH!" hissed the librarian, who managed to be even louder than Dhot.
We walked a little further away from the librarian and kept our voices down.
"Should we ask that goblin if he's seen Beatrix?" asked Braun.
"Not worth it," said Cassandra, shaking her head. "He might be friends with her. He'll cover for where she is, and possibly tip her off. It's best if we just search ourselves."
"Looks like there are five floors and she doesn't seem to be down here," I reasoned. "Should we all split up and take a different floor?"
"B-But she could fight us," said Braun, nervously wringing his hands. "What if she knocks one of us out, or worse?"
"It's smarter to go in pairs," agreed Cassandra. "I'll go with Dhot and you can go with Reimar."
"Maybe I want to look with Reimar," said Dhot, crossing his arms.
"Neither of you knows what the inside of a library looks like," said Cassandra, shaking her head. "You might as well be paired with someone that knows what a book is."
"Ha, ha," I laughed dryly.
Braun and I agree to take the fourth and fifth floor while the other two would take the second and third. We took the stairs up to the fifth, figuring we'd work our way down.
"W-Why'd we take the one with all them steps?!" complained Braun as we reached the entrance of the fifth floor. He was breathing heavily and had a hand on his hip. "Shoulda made the smaller ones go to the higher floors."
"Next time," I chuckled.
While Cassandra could make fun of us all she wanted, I knew well enough what was in a library. We passed through rows and rows of shelves, peeking our heads around the corner whenever we reached one as quickly as we could. Nothing but dusty old books were around us.
Braun made a sad noise behind me, causing me to spin around quickly.
"What's the matter?!" I said, slightly annoyed to see that nothing was wrong.
"Seein all these books just makes me miss me library back home," said Braun with a heavy sigh. He ran his fingers over some of the nearest books and looked at them with sadness.
"We can look at these books later," I said. "After we catch the gnome, you can spend the whole night in here if you think that'll make you feel better."
"Aye, it might," nodded Braun.
We reached the end of the floor and, big surprise, we found nothing. I glanced out of the window at the end of the hall and looked down. I was pretty sure there was no way she could've jumped out of it. Not only would the fall have probably killed her, but it looked like there wasn’t a way to open it. Maybe she could've summoned a ladder or something, but I doubt she would've broken the window and summoned a new one in its place.
Braun made another sad whimper behind me.
"Get ahold of yourself, Braun," I sighed. "We can look at all the books you could ever want in just a few minutes. Well, you can, anyway. I'll be sleeping."
I knocked on the window and applied some pressure around the sides of it. There was no budging it, and it looked to all be in one piece. Surely if she summoned another window there would be some sort of evidence of it.
Braun whimpered again. I rolled my eyes and turned around. "Fine!" I said. "You can take a break and look at some..."
Beatrix stood behind Braun, a hand around his side and a dagger at his neck.
I had a feeling he was missing his library now more than ever.
Chapter 8
"Let's all be cool," I said, raising my hands in feign surrender. In actuality, I was quickly gathering magic into them. I didn't want to hurt or kill her, but if it came down to her life or Braun's, I was choosing the dwarf's. "No reason to do anything we might all regret."
"This is all your fault," she hissed at me.
"I'm not sure if it's fair to say all," I argued. "Maybe like half."
"Everyone was enjoying Martin's show and having a good time!" she shouted. "You're the one that called me out for being a summoner and made everyone stop having fun!"
"Maybe slightly more than half my fault," I yielded. "Still, you were trying to doup everyone. Do you really think that gives you the moral high ground?"
"I never claimed to be moral," she said, shaking her head. "I just wanted to make a living and continue staying here!"
"What's so good about Grisam?" I honestly asked. "It's a lame border town."
"That's the point!" she said. "It's easy to just blend in and no one messes with you. You get a lot of people passing through, so it’s easy to make a few quat. But now that's over, thanks to you!"
"R-Reimar!" whimpered Braun as the dagger pressed a little closer to his neck.
"Okay, fine!" I said. "I'm sorry that I blew your cover, okay? That was my fault, not th
e dwarf's. There's no reason to hurt him."
Beatrix seemed convinced and moved the dagger a bit farther from Braun's neck, but she didn't completely remove it. That was a good first step.
"Why did you follow me here?" she asked. "I didn't hurt anyone, and I'm not giving the bucket of quat back! We earned it, regardless of if it was me or Martin doing the summoning."
"Sure, keep it," I shrugged. "We were following you because we want to talk."
"Ain't nothing to talk about," she said. "I'm packing up to leave, and hopefully we'll never see each other ever again."
"You've no idea how often people feel that way toward me," I chuckled. "But I'd prefer that we did see each other again."
"So you can spoil my spot some more?" she asked. "Or are you trying to capture me to try and get my secrets? I can't teach other people to summon or to do magic, okay?"
"I know that," I said, summoning a small ball of flames into my hands. "Besides, I can already use magic."
Beatrix looked surprised, relaxed, then grew angry again in the span of just a few seconds. "Wait, then you should know better than to out another magic user! You know there are people that think we're evil because of what we can do!"
"Let's be honest, here," I said, letting the flames dissipate. "I wasn't really thinking about you in the least when I pointed out your existence. I was much more interested in discrediting Martin the Ordinary."
"H-He was," nodded Braun.
The gnome thought about that and nodded. "I guess Martin does have an annoying way about him. I've worked with a couple of dozen people before, and he was the most obnoxious. The dressing up was all his idea. I told him it was insulting to actual mages, but he was adamant that people loved that kind of thing."
"It clearly worked on the soldiers," I shrugged. "Which kind of brings me to the reason we're here. I wanted to see if you'd be willing to join us in a war to save Yaerna."
"I was wondering why an army was moving through here," said Beatrix. "I take it you all are a part of the Second Dragon War?"
"You've heard of it?" I asked, surprised. I figured almost nobody knew what was happening, mostly since the governments were keeping it to themselves or flat out denying that it was happening. Truska didn't exactly have much in the way of distributing news, so even if they did know what was going on and wanted to notify their citizens, I don't think they'd be able to.