“Nobody but Mona calls me that,” Colt growled, leaning in towards Pacian threateningly. Mona sighed in exasperation.
“There it is again,” she remarked. “And you wonder why I didn’t want to be with you after the incident.”
“What, because I defended your honor?” Colt exclaimed, turning to face her again. “I’m not a regular bloke, Mona. Sure, I’m a little rough around the edges, but don’t ever doubt that I love you.”
An uncomfortable silence descended upon them for several seconds as Mona locked eyes with Colt.
“You can be quite endearing when you want to, Dante, so much like a little boy in some ways; yet you can’t hide what you are deep inside. More than once, you’ve proven yourself to be as brutal as your predecessors, and striking Commander Armin just because he was being nice to me was so very human. I couldn’t even voice how disappointed I was, Dante.”
“For some reason, you thought the world of me, Mona, but I never asked you to,” Colt muttered. “I’ve never tried to hide who I am, warts and all. So I’m gonna ask you a question, and I want a straight answer. After that, we’ll know where we stand.”
“I’m listening,” she replied, a hint of anticipation in her voice.
“Do you love me enough to forgive me?”
The question hung in the air for a long moment as the attention of everyone present centered on the tall elf-maiden.
“I do forgive you; but Armin has made his intentions clear,” she answered. “I’ve started seeing him on a regular basis. I’m sorry Dante.”
Colt nodded, evidently not trusting himself to speak. Aiden saw the look in his eyes, though; he was barely holding himself together.
“Armin is a kind, stable man,” she continued, “and frankly, he’s a little closer to my age. I mean, when you think about it, you and I being together is almost like robbing the cradle, right?”
“Yeah, makes perfect sense,” Colt replied unemotionally. “Well, if you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Mona smiled faintly, then stood and reached for her equipment. “I’ve hurt you, I can tell. Now that you and your friends are recovering, I think it’s best for me to take my leave. I’ve left food and warm clothing here for you to use, but don’t stay here longer than you need to.”
“You should probably be aware that we were chased out of those caves by some dwarves who’ve been holed up down there for a long time,” Aiden advised. “I don’t know if they’d try to follow us, but you should keep an eye out.”
“I will; thank you for the warning,” Mona answered. “Commander Armin is still quite put out with you, Dante, so I suggest you steer clear of the area for another week or two. If you find it within you to apologize for knocking two of his teeth out, I’ll put in a good word for you when it’s time.”
“I’ll consider it,” Colt said with a shrug, as stubborn as ever. “Take care of yourself, Mona.”
“Be well,” she said, in a husky voice. On her way out the door, Aiden thought he spotted a tear rolling down her cheek, but he couldn’t be sure.
“You knocked his teeth out?” Pacian blurted as soon as the door was closed.
“He was moving in on my woman; what’s a man supposed to do?” the big man grunted.
“Use words instead of fists,” Nellise advised, clearly unimpressed with his actions. “All right, Aiden, that’s as much as I can do for you now. Take it easy for the next day or two and you’ll be fine.”
“Thanks,” he replied, distracted by the growling in his stomach. He dressed in his dry clothes, and together, the group ate the stew Mona had left for them. All things considered, everyone seemed to be in fairly good shape as they finished off the contents of the pot and rested next to the fire.
“That hit the spot, but our supplies are ruined and there’s nothing else to eat,” Colt grumbled. “If we’re all able to move now, I think we should get back to Bracksford right away. I dreamed of roast pork last night and after what we just went through, I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit around here all day and go hungry.”
“I suppose they’d have fresh supplies coming in by now,” Aiden mused. “Maybe we can have a drink in the memory of Clavis MacAliese, without whom we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
“In more ways than one,” Pacian added caustically. “And before you get cross with me, remember that he tricked us into going with him, with lies.”
“You wouldn’t have that axe without him,” Aiden reminded him, pointing at the gleaming axe lying next to Pacian’s bed. “You know it’s going to be worth a fortune when you go to sell it, so don’t try telling us you didn’t benefit from all this.”
“I don’t even care about the axe,” Pacian shot back; “it seemed a waste to leave it there, that’s all. His family might like it back, maybe.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t try selling it to them for a king’s ransom,” Colt growled sarcastically.
“You know what? I don’t even want this damned thing anymore,” Pacian yelled with a rising temper. “I didn’t take it to get rich, but you don’t want to believe me? I’m fine with that. Here, Sy, have a priceless heirloom.”
He grabbed the axe and passed it over to the wild girl, who was starting to look like she wanted to run away from this heated argument. “Okay,” she offered weakly, clutching the magnificent weapon.
Pacian glared at Colt. “There, happy now? Oh, wait, I forgot who I was talking to for a moment there.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Colt growled dangerously.
“I think we should cool things down a little,” Nellise offered, becoming distressed by the direction of the discussion.
“You know what I mean,” Pacian continued. “Pining away over a woman so far out of your class you wouldn’t have a shot with her even if you had a thousand sovereigns to your name,” he continued, making Aiden wonder if he was referring to Pacian’s own infatuation.
Colt’s answer came in the form of a fist smashing Pacian in the nose with a loud crack, making him stumble back as Nellise moved between them, arms held high to keep them apart.
“Enough of this!” she ordered. “We’re all tired from the ordeal we went through, and this is not the time to be throwing around either wild accusations or fists.”
“Good point; we did go through an ordeal,” Colt agreed, but with an edge to his voice as he turned to look at Aiden. “You were in favor of it from the beginning, weren’t you, Aiden? When we fought those bloody borer things and were thinking about turning around, you were quick to make us keep going.”
“Colt, this isn’t helping,” Nellise chastised.
“You were up in that little room for a long time, Aiden,” Pacian added, his voice sounding odd because of his broken nose, which he was tending to with a bloodied piece of cloth.
“You were looking for something, right from the beginning, weren’t you?” Colt accused Aiden. He glanced briefly at Sayana, who slowly nodded her head in answer to the unasked question — it was time for an explanation.
“Settle down; it’s not a conspiracy,” Aiden assured them, trying to calm the situation. “I had come to Bracksford to buy a book from the local antique shop. In this book, I had hoped to find some answers to a problem that’s plagued for me for years.
“Instead, I found clues which indicated that what I was looking for was deep within Ferrumgaard. Once I heard it was a long-abandoned city, I knew I’d have trouble getting in there without help. Clavis offered to join up with us, for his own reasons, of course, which I knew nothing about. But it’s true, I haven’t been completely honest with you. I’m sorry, so sorry for getting you into this mess.”
Colt took an ominous step towards him, which was disturbing in itself, but made even more so by the fact that Nellise didn’t try to stop him.
“So yes, I was striving to get to the information I sought the whole time,” Aiden admitted, “but like Clavis, if you were all adamant about not pressing forward due to the risk, I would have gladly turned around and
left with you.”
“You cold bastard,” Colt spat. “This kingdom is tearing itself apart, yet you have us on some wild goose chase in an old abandoned city, on the slim chance you might find some musty old book that tells you ... what, exactly?”
This was the part Aiden had been trying to avoid mentioning in the first place, but now he had no choice. So he told them of his thirteenth birthday, the day he had fallen down into that strange cave, discovered the glowing orb that let him see the Battle of Fort Highmarch, but not as it appeared in the historical records.
“All of that was traumatic enough, but the recurring dream I’ve been experiencing ever since ensures I will never forget it,” Aiden finished.
“Except that it isn’t a dream,” Sayana added, speaking for the first time in a while. “That shard of crystal he wears around his neck carries a strange power. When he has that dream, it glows, and I was unfortunate enough to be drawn into his vision.”
“Regardless, the writing I’d seen on the orb before it shattered is unique,” Aiden continued, trying to keep things grounded in reality. “I spent years researching languages and arcane tomes looking for a clue, so maybe I could find out what the orb was, and why I see what I see.”
The only sounds to be heard after he’d finished speaking were the crackling of the fireplace and the wind blowing through the trees outside. “This is all very dubious,” Nellise said after a long minute of digesting this information. “Fascinating, certainly, but to risk all that you have over a dream?
“And one that isn’t even accurate, either, for nobody has seen a dragon in these lands in centuries, and definitely not at the Battle of Fort Highmarch. I’m sorry to say this, Aiden, but this is more likely due to the trauma you suffered in that cave than any other factor.”
“But what gets me,” Colt added with a disappointed voice, “is that you risked our lives over this, and you didn’t even have the guts to tell us what was going on.”
“As a boy, I told people about this after it started happening,” Aiden countered, “but they all thought I was crazy, even my parents. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t go around telling people that the dragon in my dreams wants to eat me, and that I have to get it out of my head.”
“You should have trusted us, Aiden,” Colt muttered, heading back over to his bed and grabbing his gear. “You don’t go risking people’s lives, your friends’ lives, without telling them why. It just isn’t done. I’m going to head back to Bracksford and get drunk, and I’m not interested in anything any of you have to say about that.”
With his gear strapped on, Colt opened the door and stepped out into the bitter cold of the Calespur ranges. Nellise turned and started to tend to Pacian’s broken nose, while Sayana looked to Aiden for what to do next. He didn’t have an answer.
By the time they had packed and left the warm confines of the cabin, none of them were really talking to each other. Nellise was cross with Pacian for his behavior, and Aiden for his duplicity.
In the end, Aiden could see that everyone was tired, stressed, and trying to cope with events they had barely survived. His guilt at lying to them wasn’t helping either, and he wondered if they were going to accept his apology and forgive him.
Sayana seemed to be okay with him, though she remained quiet as she walked nearby. “People are complex,” she answered when Aiden asked if she was okay. She wasn’t wrong, and remained silent for the rest of the journey.
The weather was gloomy as they reached the outskirts of Bracksford at twilight. The gates were still open, and the militia guards welcomed them on their way through, though Aiden didn’t recognize any of their faces.
A number of large merchant wagons were parked nearby, surrounded by townsfolk busily buying up everything in sight, indicating a return to normal life for the men and women of the small farming community.
The alluring smells of roasted meat wafted along the wind as the people of Bracksford made up for weeks of sparse rations with their own little celebrations. It made Aiden’s mouth water and put a spring in his step as he pictured a huge, hot meal laid out before him.
“Do you smell all that great food?” Pacian asked Aiden when he approached the front of the Bracksfordshire Arms. “I’m going to eat until I burst.”
“You’re talking to me again?” Aiden answered as they stepped through the doorway. “I thought you were upset with me.”
“Why would I be upset? You told me most of that dream stuff before, remember? And I knew you wanted to go to Ferrumgaard before we left here, too, though I didn’t know what for exactly.”
Pacian shrugged. “So yeah, we’re good. Just give Colt and Nel a chance to cool down before you speak with them, yeah?”
“I don’t think we really need to talk at the moment anyway,” Aiden agreed, seeing Colt sitting at the bar nursing a large pitcher of beer. There was no sign of Nellise, and Sayana wandered upstairs for some rest. “But what about you? You did kind of cross a line back there in the cabin.”
“I’m sort of counting on the beer to erase Colt’s memory. As for Nel, well ... she’ll come around. No woman can resist my charms forever. The only question is, how will she survive without me in the meantime?”
Aiden grinned, shaking his head at his friend’s unshakable cockiness. “We should probably get our money from Olaf, though it might be too late now,” Aiden added.
“Don’t worry about it; I’ll take care of it first thing,” Pacian assured him. They looked around, taking in the simple splendor of the common room and its familiar sights and smells.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Aiden said, “I have to eat everything in this building right now.”
Pacian laughed, and the two friends sat down at a nearby table to enjoy the first decent meal they’d had in some time. When they were finally finished eating, Aiden bid his companion good night and went up to their room for a proper night’s sleep.
As he stripped down to climb into bed, Aiden glanced at his belongings and the sack containing the recovered treasures. He was tired, but the same curiosity that led him to the depths of Ferrumgaard refused to let him rest until he’d at least examined the contents. He lit a few candles and then carefully upended the contents of the sack over the bedcovers and sat down to sort through it all.
The largest of the items before him was a metal scepter, nearly two feet in length and capped with a large, ornate head shaped like a dragon’s, with a gem of considerable value clamped in its jaws. Like everything else he had taken, it was covered in a layer of moisture from the waters of Ferrumgaard, so Aiden used his torn shirt to wipe it down.
After only a few moments of cleaning, he could plainly see arcane writing etched into the metal along its length. His heart beat excitedly as he began to examine it, eventually drawing the conclusion that it was a weapon of sorts, able to focus ambient energy into a tiny focal point. He practiced whispering the arcane words without touching the handle, so as not to accidentally set it off.
It then occurred to Aiden that the real reason he was searching through his acquisitions this late at night was because he was afraid to go to sleep, as the dragon in his dream seemed to be changing, becoming more alive since Sayana had shared the vision.
A small pile of delicate parchments drew his attention next. The first one he picked up was still intact, despite its apparent age. It was folded over several times, and upon closer inspection, turned out to be a large map of Feydwiir, the vast island the elves lived on.
As he picked up the next piece of parchment, Aiden was surprised to receive a small electrical shock, as if he’d been rubbing his feet on thick carpet and then touched something metal. More curious than scared, he carefully looked at the contents of the page, and within moments his suspicions were confirmed — it was more arcane writing, the symbols of power covering the page from top to bottom. He could understand most of what was on there and concluded that it was an incantation of some sort.
Aiden had read of scrolls like this, created by
wizards to indefinitely hold a spell on the verge of being completed and invoked when the page was read aloud. The skills to create such magics were beyond Aiden, but he knew enough of the runes before him to figure out how it was supposed to work.
Precision was an absolute must for this kind of thing, and if he mispronounced any of the words, it would likely blow up in his face. Still, he whistled at some of the powerful sigils he saw inked onto the parchment; whoever had written them had access to real power. Leafing through the pile, he found several other pages just like it, and rolled them up together to keep them separate from the other papers.
The next item to pique his interest was basically two small, circular pieces of glass encased in leather straps. Aiden wasn’t sure what to make of this contraption at first, but he did notice a few arcane runes etched into the casing around each piece of glass that had something to do with sight. Curious, he put the leather strap over his head and fitted the lenses over his eyes.
What had been a dimly lit room suddenly became clearly visible to Aiden, although absent of color. He glanced around a little and suddenly noticed Sayana crouched near the door, her eyes shining like a cat’s. He gasped in surprise and took the lenses off, noting that without them, she was practically invisible in the near darkness of the dim candlelight.
“Sayana, how long have you been there?” he sighed, with a mixture of relief and mild annoyance.
“All night,” she replied quietly. “I thought you would have noticed me by now, but you were so wrapped up in your studies.”
“Yes, I — wait, did you see me undress?”
Sayana stood and walked over to the other bed and sat down.
“I didn’t want to disturb you,” she whispered, ignoring his question while gazing at the items upon his bedspread. “Have you made any interesting discoveries?”
“A few, but nothing yet that would answer any of our questions. There’s not a lot of interest here, only a few scrolls and pieces of parchment. Oh, that reminds me...”
Aiden carefully leaned over and fetched his gloves from the floor, paying particular interest to the formerly enchanted one, its gemstone still glittering in the faint light.
Soldiers of Avarice Page 24