Midiga approached the bar with Laderic and Alleria awkwardly tailing behind. It was loud, the lively nature of the customers adding some flair to the otherwise plain and boxy room. The felid set her elbows on the bar, propping her head in one of her paws. “How much for a room for the night,” she purred, twirling her whiskers with one of her claws, her voice catching the barkeeper’s attention. He turned, and Midiga nearly leapt out of her fur.
The barkeep was a white canid with a gray-tipped muzzle. His tongue lagged lazily out of his mouth, and he stumbled across the floor toward Midiga, clearly having had some drinks himself. In his paws, he cradled a glass, which he polished with a rag. “Thrice the cost of a lager,” he said, wagging his tail and nearly brushing some of the glassware off the lower shelves, “or, if you sit down and have some drinks, it might be free, dependin’ on your tab.”
Midiga stood up, rigid, her tail stiff and fluffed from the sight of the canid. “We’ll just have some drinks then,” she said through clenched teeth, and her ears flattened against her skull from the unpleasant surprise. The barkeep wagged his tail again, gesturing over to an empty table on his left. The group headed that direction, Midiga still rigid from her encounter with the canid.
“Relax, Midiga,” Laderic said, eyes narrowed in concern. “Are you okay?”
She exhaled hard as she realized she had been holding her breath. Her ears twitched as they slowly unstuck themselves from her skull. “I’m fine,” she growled. “Just caught me off guard, and after our little encounter with those canidae the other day, you can’t blame me for not being too happy to see one running this place.” She closed her eyes, folding her paws and breathing slowly and deliberately.
“You really don’t like them, huh,” Alleria said, watching the barkeep from across the room. He was collecting three full mugs in his paws, preparing to carry them over to their table. “But he seems so nice!”
“He’s drunk,” grunted Midiga. “Any canid you meet would bite you in the back in a second if it meant he could get ahead somehow,” she said darkly, mind elsewhere. “That one is probably just waiting until we go upstairs to—”
“Midiga!” Laderic interrupted, waving his hand in front of her face. “Calm down! By the time we go upstairs, he’s probably going to be passed out on the floor.”
“Here’s a round to get you guys started!” barked the canid suddenly, appearing right behind Midiga as he reached their table. He began passing out the three nearly overflowing tankards. He sloshed some beer on Midiga, who hissed in response, but he didn’t even notice. “Now, y’all be careful with that. It’ll make you want more. Don’t wanna end up like me now!” He laughed, howling at the end of his speech. It was loud and drawn out, and answered by several other canidae in the tavern. Midiga’s body was flattened against the table, ears pulled back, tail completely fluffed. The barkeep didn’t even notice, laughing and stumbling back behind the bar.
“What has gotten into you,” Laderic said, watching Midiga carefully with concern. “It’s like you’ve never seen a canid before.”
“Usually, when I see them, I’m killing them,” she hissed, still trying to become part of the table. “Not socializing with them.”
Alleria was staring curiously at her drink. “What exactly is this?” she said, ignoring Midiga’s demeanor. Laderic grinned, pushing it closer to her.
“That’s a tasty drink right there.” There was a hint of impish joy in his tone. He laced his fingers, smirking at Alleria as she watched the drink with suspicion.
Reia, who had been quiet for quite a while, raised her little head and peeked over the table from Alleria’s lap. She put her paws on the table and stood, slowly leaning her head over the edge of the drink. Immediately, she pulled back, scrunching up her nose. “It smells awful.”
“Yeah, but,” Laderic replied, taking a drink of his own, “it tastes so good.”
Alleria looked doubtfully at her cup, watching as Laderic sipped his beer and Midiga downed her own. The elf stared as the cat-woman drank, and drank, and drank, turning her tankard upside down without stopping. She slammed her drink down on the table, glaring over at Laderic.
“Get me three more,” she said, serious. “I don’t want to go near that dog.” Laderic sighed and nodded, standing from his seat and meandering over to the bar.
Alleria looked down at her own drink once again, picking it up gingerly by the handle. Reia jumped back down into her lap as she brought the drink toward her nose. The elf sniffed, immediately regretting her decision. The lager was pungent in smell, and she didn’t want to imagine what it might taste like. Nevertheless, wanting to make a good impression on her new friends, she took a sip. It bubbled in her mouth, stinging almost. She swallowed quickly, but the awful taste lingered. She forced a smile.
“Wow, this is good,” she said, watering eyes turning pale yellow with the lie. Midiga watched her, whiskers glistening with droplets of beer.
“Just don’t drink too much,” she warned monotonously. “You don’t want to get like Laderic does after two of them.” Slowly, but surely, she had been sitting up in her seat, no longer trying to blend in with the table.
Laderic came back, holding the three beers. He dropped them in front of Midiga, who immediately picked up a new one and started chugging again. Alleria took another drink, eyes leaking in protest of the flavor. “This is good,” she repeated, unable to concentrate enough to think of anything else to say. Laderic watched, knowingly.
“You don’t have to drink it,” he said, remembering the first time he had tasted beer. Growing up with two older brothers, he was just nine. The experience, he remembered, hadn’t been a pleasant one. His two older brothers hadn’t been nearly as nice to him as he was being to Alleria about it. “If you don’t like it, don’t worry about it.”
Alleria shook her head, taking another indignant drink. “I do like it,” she said, after forcing the bubbling lava down her throat. She was going to like beer whether she liked it or not.
Laderic shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said, taking another sip of his own. He was gonna stick with just one tonight. He couldn’t admit it to himself, but he really just didn’t want to look foolish in front of Alleria.
Reia leapt off Alleria’s lap, jumping back up to sit in the empty fourth seat at their table. She watched the three silently drink the gross tasting liquid, not quite understanding why they would put themselves through drinking such nastiness. Humans, she thought, shaking her tiny head in wonder. I don’t think I’ll ever understand them.
Suddenly, a man in a blue cloak swooped through the door, approaching the canid at the bar. Reia couldn’t quite hear what the man said through the deafening noise of the rowdy drinkers in the tavern, but she saw the canid laugh and gesture the man over to the empty stage in the corner.
“Hey, guys,” she chirped to the three silent drinkers.
Midiga put down her third beer, picking up her fourth. “What?”
“I think that guy is gonna perform,” said the kitsune, perking up her ears and watching him weave his way through the tables and chairs. As he passed other people, they grew quiet, whispering to each other in excitement. Soon, the room was silent, all eyes on the stage.
Once he settled on stage, the man pulled off his cloak to reveal his bare chest, covered in intricate tattoos on his blue-tinged skin. The tattoos appeared to ebb and flow, floating on his skin as if it were a lake. A large golden pendant hung from his neck, the gemstone inside shining with dazzling blue light. The audience clapped, cheering and hooting for the water-breather spectral. His head was shaved, face hairless, save for a single, long ponytail of black hair jutting out from the back of his head.
Alleria clapped too. “Oh, he’s gonna do magic! This is going to be good!” she cheered. Laderic watched silently, observant. Midiga continued to drink.
The water-breather lifted his cloak from the ground, revealing a glass vase that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. The audience clapped again. He closed his
eyes, hand hovering over the vase. The water from inside rose into the air in a delicate spiral pattern, sparkling in the tavern light. When it reached his palm, it gathered into a sphere. Once all of the water was in his hand, he tossed the ball into the air, letting it fall until it nearly touched the ground, and then he held out his hand, stopping it just inches from the floor, letting it hover. A murmur of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ filled the room.
He concentrated again, the large sphere now splitting up into hundreds of smaller spheres, each one only as large as a single coin. He levitated them, surrounding his body with the water. He made two circles around himself, both of them meeting right in front of his body, forming an X. The circles began to spin, the droplets intersecting perfectly, so they didn’t touch. The crowd applauded once more.
Alleria was starstruck, eyes vibrant green in her awe. She sipped on her beer as she watched, hardly noticing the harshness of the flavor anymore. Laderic watched her, amused. Spectral street performers had lost their luster with him as he traveled. He had seen performances of almost every kind of magic. The current performer was only sub-par in his eyes.
The water-breather let the droplets merge once again until they formed four larger spheres. Two of them he held in his hands, and two of them he sent to the floor, forming thin planks beneath his feet. Then, he closed his eyes, and his body began to rise as he stood on the water under his feet, using the spheres in his hands to balance. The audience went wild. He held his hands in front of him, the water pulling him forward as he ‘flew’ around the room. The drunks in the bar whistled and laughed as he soared by their tables. Alleria clapped, giddy, as he whizzed by their own.
Midiga stood, moving to the bar, now at a point where she didn’t care about facing the bartender alone. She sat at a barstool and ordered two more for herself.
Laderic sighed, propping his feet on Midiga’s empty chair. He watched Alleria, entertained by her reaction. She must have never seen magic done this way before, he thought. Alleria had received no training, so her own magic was based more on emotion rather than will.
The spectral brought himself back to the stage, raising his body higher and higher in the air. He maneuvered the water so that he was eventually lying flat on the ceiling upside down. Suddenly, the water below him gave way, and he fell to the floor. The audience gasped, some people even standing from their seats to watch, but just as he was going to hit the floor, the droplets formed a cushion beneath him, catching him in the air.
The room burst into whistles and cheers, but Laderic shook his head, unamused. As if no one has ever used that trick, he thought sarcastically. He was, however, amused by Alleria’s reaction.
“That was amazing!” she said, the water-breather taking his bows, passing the vase around and collecting coins from the crowd. “I’ve never seen magic used in such a… pretty way! And so artistic! And wonderful!”
“You know, you could probably do that too,” Laderic told her. She sat back down, taking another drink of her beer, which was almost gone. It wasn’t burning her mouth anymore, and it was starting to taste… good.
“You mean with my magic?” she asked, unsure. Laderic nodded. “I’ve never been able to use it on command… Only when I’m upset or scared.”
“That’s just something you’ll have to work on,” he said, studying her curiously.
“Could you teach me?” Alleria asked with eyes wide and golden once more.
Laderic paused for a moment, unsure. “I can’t use magic myself, but I’m sure the techniques for controlling that kind of thing are similar to learning swordplay or footwork.” He grinned to himself. “Concentration, meditation, execution.”
“Concentration, meditation, execution,” Alleria repeated to herself. “Can you show me that stuff?”
“I’m sure I can,” he said, more than happy to educate someone else on something that he himself was good at—especially if it could help all of them in the end.
“Also… Laderic?”
“Yes?” he said absentmindedly, now lost in thought, pondering various exercises he could come up with to help her practice.
“Can I have another beer? That one was good.” The elf’s eyes were bright gold still, not paling in the slightest.
“You… don’t have to have another one if you don’t want to,” he said hesitantly.
“But I do,” she said, excited. “I really do.”
Laderic sighed, standing up to walk back over to the bar. He flagged down the white canid. “Can I get another beer, and a room for the night?”
Later that night, when the tavern itself was nearly bare, Laderic finally managed to get Alleria up the stairs and into their room.
“That was ssssooooo much fun!” she slurred, concentrating on moving her feet. Laderic was essentially holding her up, scared to let her go to try to walk on her own.
“Mmhmm,” he agreed, without even listening to what she said. “Let’s get to bed now.”
“Where’s Midiga?” she asked, sounding like her mouth was moving in slow motion.
“She’s already in the room, sleeping on a blanket on the floor. We’re gonna sleep in the bed, okay?”
Her eyes widened, their color swimming back and forth from green to red to yellow and back again like they couldn’t make up their mind. “But we can’t sssleep in the same bed!” she cried. She stood up straight suddenly, glaring at Laderic. “I bar-e-ly even know you.”
Laderic closed his eyes, canning his frustration. “I’ll put some pillows down so there will be a wall between us. Is that okay?”
Alleria’s eyes changed instantly from an angry scarlet to a deep blue. “Okay,” she whined, sounding terribly sad all of a sudden. They hobbled over to the bed, and he helped her sit down.
“Why can’t I walk?” she slurred, looking up at Laderic in confusion.
“Because you drank four of those beers after I told you that you should slow down,” he explained bluntly, pulling back the blankets and helping her get under them. Reia, who had been following diligently behind, jumped up onto the bed beside her soul partner.
“Just… make sure she doesn’t throw up,” Laderic begged. “Or roll off the bed and hit her head on something. Or get up and start—”
“I got it,” Reia interrupted, sounding just as frustrated as Laderic. She curled up next to Alleria between the elf and the edge of the bed, covering her own face with her seven tails.
Laderic sighed as he went to close the door behind them. He locked it, putting the key on the wooden dresser. They had got the free room sometime after Midiga’s eighth drink, though the free rooms really illustrated the phrase you get what you pay for. The room had one full-sized bed, a tiny dresser, and a single lantern. One thing nice was the large window at one end, which took up nearly the entire wall, floor to ceiling. Midiga had gone to bed early, seemingly unfazed by the alcohol in her system. She had taken a blanket from the bed and made a pallet on the floor for herself, leaving the rest of the bed for Laderic and Alleria.
Laderic was forced to babysit Alleria for the next few hours after she discovered that she liked beer. He cut her off at four, though he should have at two. He didn’t even end up finishing his own. Now, he could finally get some rest, and he stripped down to his undergarments and climbed into bed on his side of the pillows. Alleria was already snoring.
Just a few hours later, something woke him once again. At first, he thought thunder had done it, for the storm outside was raging. As he lay in bed trying to go back to sleep, he realized there was another noise. Someone was quietly crying, and he sat up to see who—though he had a guess. Alleria, still somewhat tipsy, was laying in bed, stiff as a board, terror on her face.
“Did I wake you up?” she whispered shakily. “I’m sorry. I’ll get back to sleep soon.”
“What’s wrong?” Laderic asked. Lightning flashed outside, and Alleria jumped.
“I just don’t like—” she started. Suddenly, thunder that sounded like cannon fire boomed from directly o
verhead. Alleria quickly covered her mouth with her hands, muffling a tiny screech. “Storms,” she whimpered, barely audible.
“You’re scared?” Laderic said, stating the obvious. She nodded her head. For a minute, the two both sat up in bed, listening to the pounding rain. The silence between them stretched on for a while, filled only by the sound of the pouring rain.
“You know,” Laderic began after a while, speaking to her as he would a child, reminding himself that she was still intoxicated. “Things are only as scary as you make them”—he pointed to his head—“up here.” Alleria watched, drinking in his words. “When you’re scared of something, you just start thinking about it over and over until you can’t get it out of your head, right?”
“Yes.” Alleria exhaled, eyes flicking back and forth between Laderic’s face and the window. There was another flash of lightning.
“Well, if you can look at the thing—” Thunder interrupted his words, deafeningly loud. Alleria covered her face with her hands.
She stayed like that, unmoving. “I’m listening,” she squeaked after a second, keeping her face covered. Laderic rolled his eyes but held his tongue.
“I was saying that if you can look at the thing that scares you the most and say ‘I’m not afraid,’ then you’ve won.” He watched her, her face covered still. She spread her fingers apart slightly, peeking through. “Can you say it with me?”
“I’m not afraid,” she said in sync with Laderic. “I’m not afraid.” Lightning flashed again, and her body tensed up once more. She stared at Laderic through her hands. “I’m not afraid,” came her muffled voice. “I am not—” Thunder resounded overhead. “AFRAID!” she cried, squinting and then closing her eyes. Her hands began to glow slightly with a faint, golden light. Laderic’s eyes widened, nervous.
Ember: Echoes of Ashes - Book 1 Page 7