Trailblazer

by Zen DiPietro

  “No experience,” she said, irritated. Surely, she should have earned some kind of new skill or something.

  Essley and Darthrok laughed, and she realized he’d been joking again.

  She smiled at him. She was starting to like his humor. She giggled.

  “There you go,” he said, giving her a final pat and stepping back. “There’s our Sally Strong. You can cry whenever you want to. We’ll be right here.”

  Sally steeled herself and focused on her words. “I’m fine.”

  Woohoo! That had sounded natural!

  “Anyway,” Essley said, smiling, “what about your quest? You think reading and learning will do it? You intend to drop a bunch of knowledge on Sujan to impress him?”

  Put that way, it did seem a little weak. Sally frowned, thinking. “I’ll do something. We’ll see.”

  “Winging it has gotten you this far,” Essley said. “Might as well keep going with it.”

  “Don’t fix what isn’t broken,” Darthrok said. His tone indicated that he agreed with Essley, but Sally didn’t grasp his meaning. She tucked the phrase away for future investigation.

  She knew what “winging it” meant though, and that wasn’t what she was doing. “Winging it” meant having no plan. Sally had a plan. Or at least, she was devising one as she went, and adjusting it every time she gained new information.

  She just had a lot to learn before she could uncover all the information she would ultimately need. She was only just beginning to learn about Everternia, so she had a lot to catch up on.

  She was doing her best. She hoped finding the key to getting Sujan to accept her as an apprentice wasn’t too difficult.

  Two days of studying her books made Sally feel smarter, but brought her no closer to impressing Sujan.

  Keeping her books behind the counter and studying between customers turned out to be remarkably easy to do. The new location of the town had proved to be more arduous for travelers to reach, and the number of visitors diminished. Only those with an immediate need came to Pivot. The others were either waiting until the town shifted again or getting what they needed from another town.

  Of course, new adventurers had no choice but to find Pivot. It was their first goal, and the only way to begin. As a result, Sally’s customers during this time were mostly young, somewhat peeved travelers with basic needs.

  “There you go.” She handed a basic knife and a metal cutter to a freshly-minted mercenary. Having a newfound sympathy for how it felt to start out, Sally would have given the tools away for free if she could. She couldn’t do that, though. She had to get coin in exchange for goods in order to make the transaction work.

  “Wow, these are pretty good for only five copper. Thanks, Sally!”

  Sally smiled at the mercenary. Newbies often used her name for their first visit or two. When they realized it made no difference, they’d quit doing that. But it was nice to be acknowledged, for the moment.

  She said, “My best price for you. Don’t tell your friends.”

  “Okay.” The happy customer hurried out, toward whatever adventure came next.

  Sally checked her pocket watch. Time to go to Sujan’s. Darthrok had said he’d go with her if he could, but he must not have made it back to Pivot in time. He’d run off to do some hunting.

  Essley had said she’d be sleeping, and apologized in advance for not being able to come. Sally thought it odd to sleep in the middle of the day, but who was she to judge? She hardly ever needed to sleep.

  Sally’s second time entering Sujan’s shop was just as thrilling as the first. Maybe even more so because she was excited to receive her alert system and to try to earn an apprenticeship.

  He sat at a workbench, absorbed in looking at a tiny device. He straightened and pushed his goggles up on his head when she entered. “Ah, yes. Your order is ready.”

  He stood up gracefully and strode over to a storage bin. He reached in, extracted a box, then brought it to Sally. “Have a good day.”

  He was dismissing her before she’d even said a word? No way.

  “Can you demonstrate it for me?” she asked.

  Halfway back to the table and whatever had been occupying his attention before, he stopped and turned with a sigh. “Very well.”

  He took the box from her, set it on an empty table, and laid its contents out. “The device installs on the door jamb in two parts. One piece on the frame and the other on the door itself. When the door opens, it will log the person who enters, and hold that name until the person leaves again.”

  He picked up a small, flat disc about the size of a fingernail and handed it to her. “The device will transmit the information to this. As long as this device is on your person, you’ll be able to access the information. You’ll see that someone has entered, or exited, and who’s currently inside. You can adjust the options to give you notifications of all, some, or none of these events. That’s it. Questions?”

  She looked at the tiny disc pinched between her thumb and index finger. “This seems like it would be easy to lose. Can I make it into something I can wear? Like a necklace or something?”

  He shrugged. “As long as you don’t puncture the device, it can be altered however you choose.”

  She nodded.

  “Very well. Have a good day.”

  “Hang on,” she said, exasperated. “Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?”

  “I have work to do,” he answered tersely.

  “Don’t we all?” she muttered. “I’ve been studying almost nonstop since I was last here. Do you want to test my knowledge?”

  “Why would I do that?” He squinted at her.

  “For the apprenticeship.”

  He gave her a withering stare. “No. Anyone can memorize books. If you want to learn from me, you have to prove your worth.”

  “So, what, practical application, then?”

  He said nothing.

  “Fine. I’m supposed to figure it out myself.” She blinked. “Hey, I just said ‘fine’ and it was easy. I had to try so hard to say it before. Do you find me easier to talk to than most people?”

  His expression became flat and distant. He didn’t know what she was talking about. Although she felt like her ability to speak blossomed in his presence, he apparently found her no more comprehensible than any other adventurer.

  She sighed. “Right. I’ll go install this and try to figure out how to impress you.”

  “Good day,” he said.

  She was getting tired of hearing him say that. Clearly, he said it to people he wanted to get rid of. But she had no intention of letting him shoo her out so easily.

  After carefully putting her alert system into the box, she considered the little disc. She’d have to think of a way to wear it, to keep it from getting lost. For the moment, she tucked it into a tiny inside pocket at the waist of her pants. Intended to keep coins safe, it would do a decent job of carrying this, too.

  She lifted the box, which was surprisingly heavy, and glanced over at Sujan. He’d returned to leaning over the tiny device on the table, peering at it through his goggles as he shifted the lenses.

  Wondering what the thing was, and what he was looking for, she set the box down and went to peer over his shoulder. It was a pocket watch, or at least some tiny version of one. She’d never seen anything like it.

  “Quartz movement, atomically synced. Wow.” She hadn’t meant to speak. Somehow, around him, words just seemed to fall out of her mouth.

  Sujan froze for a moment, then his head turned very slightly her way. “How do you know that? You don’t even have goggles on.”

  She pointed, but given the size of the object, it was a useless gesture. She let her hand drop. “It’s all right there. Crown, mainspring, the storage of potential energy. Then, the sync to Everternia’s world clock.”

  He pushed his goggles up on his head and turned to stare at her directly.

  She stared right back. His scrutiny didn’t bother her, but she did notice at
these close quarters how unusually beautiful he was. Even the little dark, flat mole just behind his right ear was cute.

  Too bad he was rude, and not awake like her.

  “What else?” he asked.

  She pursed her lips in thought. There was a lot she could say about the device in question, but she had a feeling he sought a particular answer. What facet of this brilliant little creation would he find most noteworthy?

  “There.” She pointed to the device that doubled as both an energy source and a heat sink. “You’re drawing on an adventurer’s fatigue to power it, while shunting heat energy back into the adventurer’s pool to cool the device. It creates a null draw on the person overall, while giving the device perpetual energy. It’s brilliant.”

  Words tumbled out of her mouth just the way she thought them, which felt incredible.

  “You can see that?” he sounded more than surprised. More like dumbfounded.

  Was he kidding? It was all right there in front of them. Sure, the components were teensy, but they were unmistakable all the same.

  She extended a finger and gently poked the mole behind his ear. “As plainly as I can see this. Being small doesn’t make something less obvious.”

  He turned to look at her. For an instant, he seemed as puzzled by her ability to touch him as Sally was. But she was probably just imagining it. He didn’t know that he was the only CM she’d ever been able to make physical contact with.

  “Well.” He straightened. “You’re observant.”

  She grinned. “Observant enough to be your apprentice?”

  He gave her a withering stare. “I have high standards. I doubt you’ll be able to meet them. Now, kindly be on your way. I have work to do.”

  Only slightly deflated, Sally went to collect the box she’d set down. Picking it up also lifted her spirits right back up again. She had a neat new mechanism that would allow her to adventure more freely, and she’d impressed Sujan, albeit briefly. She was on the right track with him, surely.

  “Okay. I’ll check back in soon. I’m going to be your apprentice. Count on it!”

  She hurried out to install her new alert notification system.

  7

  “Okay.” Darthrok had admired Sally’s store upgrade, and listened to a long explanation of how it worked. “So now that you can receive instant notifications about your shop while you’re gone, what do you want to do next?”

  Judging from Darthrok’s expression, he didn’t enjoy hearing all the details behind clever engineering. Though Sally didn’t always pick up on things like that, she was getting better at it.

  “I want to meet all the CMs,” Sally answered.

  Darthrok made a strange coughing sound. “All of them?”

  “The ones in Pivot, to start,” she said.

  “Okay, that’s not too tough. I thought you meant all the CMs in all the cities.”

  “Eventually.” Sally nodded. “But for now, Pivot.”

  “Okay, but why?” he asked.

  She had known he’d ask that, and she felt triumphant that he’d proven her right. Until now, she’d been awful at predicting other people’s behavior, but the more she got to know Darthrok, the more qualified she felt to make predictive assessments. The same was true for Essley, and Sally wondered if she would get better at predicting Sujan, as well.

  “Because Sujan is different. Maybe someone else is different, too.”

  He nodded, slowly at first, but faster as he thought about it. “Fair enough. You think maybe someone else could be like you?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. Or maybe someone else is like him. I want to see. Then maybe I can figure out what happened to me. Or why it happened.”

  “All right. Let’s go. Essley’s, uh, sleeping, I guess. She can catch up with us later.”

  Sally double-checked her store’s notification system. Yep. Working great. She could see that she and Darthrok were in there. When they stepped out of the shop, the notifications updated to show an empty room.

  So cool!

  “Should we be systematic about it?” he suggested. “Just start at one spot and work our way all the way around town? It’s probably the best way to meet the CMs who are always at their post.”

  Like she used to be. But not anymore! “Sure.”

  “We can just skip the ones you’ve already met.”

  She hoped they’d run into Tilly Hightower, but the odds didn’t seem to be in her favor on that one. Tilly was probably out having a wild adventure with her band of toughs and thugs.

  “Let’s start at the jail,” he suggested.

  Sally stopped walking. “Why?”

  “It’s just a good starting point, the way the town is arranged right now. Is there something wrong with the jail?”

  “Seems weird.” Wouldn’t it be suspicious for them to just show up to say howdy at a place for incarcerating criminals?

  “Nah, it’s fine. People go in to check the wanted notices. You can make some good money turning in people who’ve been caught breaking the law. You don’t even have to be a mercenary to do bounty hunting. Anyone can do it and get the reward.” He gestured for her to come with him and started walking.

  “Okay.” If people regularly walked into the jail to look at notices, then they shouldn’t stick out. She really didn’t want to attract any particular notice from anyone. If Somewhat Threatening Guy heard about it, he’d show up again.

  She hadn’t told Essley and Darthrok about him. She hadn’t been able to find the right words at the time, and now that it had been a while since she’d seen the guy, she kind of just wanted to think that she didn’t need to worry about him. She had plenty of other things to focus on, and she didn’t think Somewhat Threatening Guy was a puzzle she could solve.

  Not yet, anyway. She needed to learn a whole lot more before she could tackle that quest.

  The jail looked a lot like the bank to Sally. Big and heavy, with a lot more wheels than Sally’s store had. Less attractive than any of the shops, and somehow more formal.

  Sally felt a twinge of nervousness about approaching a place filled with criminals, but Darthrok showed no concern at all, so she followed his lead, trying to play it cool.

  A short entryway led into the jail’s reception area. Somehow, she hadn’t imagined that a jail had such a thing. She’d imagined…oh, she didn’t really know. Crusty jailers who barked out orders and groups of people freestyle brawling. Or something.

  In reality, the jail was quiet, orderly, and kind of peaceful. The floors were smooth and shiny, the walls looked expensive, and the man sitting at reception looked both intimidating and friendly.

  An amazing combination. She wanted to learn how to do that.

  Darthrok gave the Southern guy a nod and began studying the wanted notifications.

  She’d expected actual posters, but these were digital screens that displayed a person’s face, both straight-on and in profile, and their vital statistics. For a few minutes she stood motionless, watching the images change. As she was about to talk to the Southern reception guy, a familiar face flashed on the screen.

  Kitria.

  Sally’s stomach rolled over and a shudder shook her whole body. What was this feeling? It was strong, and terrible. It wasn’t anger. It wasn’t fear. It was…revulsion.

  Yes. She felt truly revolted by Kitria. She despised the woman who had abused her all those years. And she did recognize the behavior as abuse now. Before, she’d ignored it as an unpleasant, inevitable event. She’d been observing how adventurers treated other adventurers, though, and realized that the way Kitria behaved wasn’t at all normal. Even though most adventurers ignored CMs or gave them the most cursory of attention, no one had ever been violent like Kitria.

  Sally noted all the details of Kitria’s criminal notice, and committed them to memory.

  When she approached the reception guy, he looked up with a polished smile and said, “Hello. How can I help you?”

  Sally liked all the regional ethnicities, but
she admired Southerners’ high intelligence and perception, and their aptitude for all professions. “Just wanted to say hello. It’s my first time here. I’m Sally.”

  His smile widened. “Always nice to meet someone who has an interest in keeping our town free of crime. I’m Jayce Briggs. If you ever need help, let me know.”

  “That’s kind of you, thanks.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  She smiled. “Okay, I won’t.”

  He returned his attention to whatever he’d been looking at before she’d arrived. Sally rejoined Darthrok, who continued to watch the wanted notices.

  “What did you think of the sheriff?” he asked without looking up.

  Sally looked around. “Where?”

  “You were talking to him.”

  “Really?” She looked back at Jayce, who bit the pad of his thumb as he scrutinized a paper.

  “Yep. He keeps his appearance plain, he says, to fool hooligans into thinking he’s nobody.”

  Sally nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.”

  “Did you feel anything different about him?”

  She shrugged. “Not really. He’s nice enough. That’s all.”

  “Okay. Flower shop next?”

  “Sure.”

  Sally took a huge bite of churro and chewed. The heavenly flavor that accompanied the sweetness, she’d learned, was called cinnamon. The doughy deliciousness took the edge off her disappointment.

  “There are other towns,” Darthrok said encouragingly. “Maybe the princess you’re looking for is in another castle.”

  Sally stared at him as she chewed. With her mouth still full, she said, “Those aren’t real things.”

  He smiled. “Not here, they aren’t. It was just a joke.”