by Logan Jacobs
"Ooh!" Aerin gasped, and she began to collect the money into her purse before Maruk even swung the busted lid open.
Inside, there were more coins in a velvet bag that had been torn when Maruk broke open the chest, a small silver cup, a few rings, earrings, necklaces, and finally, a parcel of documents wrapped up in a ribbon. The ribbon was embossed with silver sigils around all the edges, and they looked vaguely familiar. I hadn’t studied runes and sigils much, but as I traced over the silver writing, I realized it was an enchantment of protection, most likely meant to keep the papers from being damaged.
I untied the ribbon as Aerin happily gathered up the rest of the coins and valuables from the chest and discussed the quality of the jewelry with Maruk. The first few pages were written in a flowing hand, but as far as I could make out, the notes weren’t in any common language. There was an intricate stamped seal next to a looping signature at the bottom of each page, but I couldn’t tell what the documents were meant to be, so I shuffled them to the bottom of the pile. There would be time to go over them more carefully later, and maybe get them translated.
The next few pages I recognized all too well. They were obviously bounty documents, though they were written in the same language as the first papers. Now that I at least knew what I was looking at, I was able to recognize a few cognates, namely, the word ’mage’ repeated several times. The same seal from the bottom page had been replicated at the top of the bounty papers.
It was the next section that really interested me, however. Folded up behind the bounty documents was a map, and I could tell immediately from having studied our own maps over the past few days that it was of the Canterrose Mountains. The previous owner had scrawled multiple annotations in the margins, all of which, of course, were in the same language as the other documents.
I was about to tuck the map away again when one of the notes caught my eye and I froze. Written alongside one of the northernmost peaks, with the precise location circled in dark ink, was a name.
Aurelius Gellen.
"Guys, you’d better take a look at this," I said, and Aerin and Maruk stopped arguing about the retail value of a sapphire pendant to come and see what I’d found.
"Is that where the old guy is holed up?" Lavinia asked as she peered at the map.
"It must be," I said, "and look at these, they’re bounty documents." I lay the other papers over the map and pointed. "They’re in a different language, but I think this word translates to ’mage.’ They could be the wanted papers for Aurelius from another country. Do any of you recognize this seal?"
Maruk leaned over my shoulder.
"Oh, that’s the seal of the kingdom of Touleux," he said. "I’ve studied the language some. I might be able to translate."
"Didn’t you just learn a few lines of a poem so you could try to impress that shopkeeper you had a crush on?" Lavinia asked.
"I studied it because it is a beautiful language, Lavinia," Maruk replied moodily. "Some of us actually want to introduce some culture into our lives, you know. Now, do you want me to tell you what it says or don’t you?"
"Alright, alright." Lavinia raised her hands in surrender. "Have at it."
I handed the papers over to the orc, and he scanned them for a few moments.
"It’s a bounty for the death or capture of the rogue mage, Aurelius Gellen, issued by the Mage Academy in Touleux," Maruk explained. "It looks like he tried to hide out there for a time after he fled Ovrista. It even has a list of aliases he used. Florentine Duchemin, oh that’s dreadful … "
"Focus, Maruk," Aerin said. "What’s the reward on that?"
"Seventy-five sovereigns upon proof of his death," Maruk read.
"Only seventy-five?" Aerin complained. "He’s basically a legend. It should be two hundred, at least."
"Well, these documents are rather old," Maruk said. "Perhaps the price has gone up in recent years."
"Does that bounty say anything about the medallion?" I asked. If we could collect on both Aurelius’ bounty and the one for the medallion, we could make some major improvements to our guild hall.
"No, it doesn’t mention it," Maruk answered.
"What are all the rest of the papers?" Aerin asked. "Are there any more bounties?"
Maruk shuffled through the stack and shook his head. "Just some of the original owner’s notes and a certificate of knighthood."
"Keep them anyway," Aerin replied. "I bet I could find a buyer for them."
"Don’t you think we ought to be above all that black market dealing now?" Maruk asked with a frown, and he held the papers up to his chest almost protectively. "For goodness’ sake, Aerin, you’re a holy woman, you shouldn’t be associating with those scoundrels."
"Hey, associating with those scoundrels helped us pay rent for years," Aerin shot back as she raised her eyebrows, “and I mean, I don’t know, but I bet if I could get a good price for this stuff, we could afford to commission a tailor for some guild uniforms."
"I know you’re trying to bribe me, Aerin," Maruk replied sternly.
"You could choose the tailor," Aerin offered with a sweet smile.
"Well, obviously I should be the one to choose the tailor." Maruk’s expression was self-important. "I’m the only one around here who can recognize the charlatans from the true artists, but that’s not the point. We’re building up a real reputation now, and we need to make sure we conduct ourselves with honor and class. I don’t think pawning off a dead man’s documents to some back-alley forger is conducive to that."
"How about I hold onto those for now?" I suggested. I knew full well by now how long Aerin and Maruk were capable of going on like this, and we still had to find Aurelius.
"Excellent idea, Gabriel," Maruk said as he handed over the papers.
I rolled up everything except the map and tied the ribbon around the roll before I tucked it safely in my pack, and then I spread the map out for the others to see.
"Alright, let’s figure out where we are now, then we can decide the best route to take to find Aurelius," I said. I didn’t add that given the map’s age, Aurelius could have long since moved on, but it didn’t really matter. We knew Aurelius had to be somewhere in the northern part of the range, and we had no other leads. Even if he wasn’t where the map said he was, at least we could cross it off the list.
"This is where we left the caravan," Lavinia said as she pointed to the marker for the mountain path on the lower part of the map, and then she traced her finger upward through the valleys and foothills before she settled on another point. "So this is where the human camp is, and this means we’re right around here." She moved her finger upward and tapped a spot on one of the mountains where a small blot of ink had been spilled. "Look, that knight guy even marked it. He must have tried to camp here."
I traced the path between our ink blot and the circle with Aurelius’ name written next to it. It wasn’t far, just across the next valley.
"If we camp near here for the night, we could reach it before tomorrow afternoon," I said.
"Or maybe we should camp a few miles down the road," Aerin suggested with a sidelong look at the troll corpses that lay in the courtyard.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Lavinia said as she stretched her arms behind her head. "I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving."
"I could eat," Maruk added.
"Me, too," Lena chimed in.
With that, we picked our way back through the courtyard and behind the scattered rubble to the northern trail. Lavinia shot a rabbit along the way, and Aerin, Maruk, Lena, and I gathered dry branches and kindling for a fire. Within the hour, we had set up a comfortable camp on a ridge that overlooked the valley we would have to cross the next morning, and we had a fresh rabbit stew bubbling over the fire for dinner.
Merlin sniffed too close to the pot and burnt his nose, but Lena carried a salve that would relieve the worst of the pain, and it only took about ten minutes for the rest of us to wrangle the puca so she could apply it, t
hen another ten to monitor him and keep him from trying to lick the medicine off.
The night was cold but clear, and the dazzling stars above were just as comforting as the fire. As we ate and joked and celebrated our victory over the trolls, I was struck by how much this moment felt like a normal camping trip, like the kind of thing I’d done with my friends in college. Of course, back then, my friends didn’t consist of an orc, a pair of elves, and a dragon woman with horns growing out of her forehead, I didn’t have a shapeshifting puca for a pet, and instead of talking about finals or grad theses, my guild and I discussed the best techniques for fighting off hordes of goblins, but the sense of familiarity was the same, and I was glad to be among friends.
It wasn’t long before Maruk’s steady snores began, and Aerin, Lavinia, and Lena tucked themselves into their own bedrolls soon after, but I didn’t feel tired yet, so I stayed up and tried to teach Merlin how to shake. He caught on pretty quickly that he’d get a berry if he tapped my hand with his paw. Unfortunately, he then felt entitled to a treat every time he performed the trick, even if I hadn’t told him to, and he began to tap the back of my hand incessantly until I emptied out the pouch of berries onto the ground and let him take his fill.
"He’s really clever," Lena said quietly, and I looked up in surprise when she spoke. I’d assumed she’d gone to sleep already, but she sat up on her bedroll with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
"Maybe too clever," I replied as I scratched the puca behind the ears.
"Pucas tend to be." Lena smiled and scooted over so she could stroke the fur along Merlin’s back. "He’s loyal to you, though. I was surprised when he attacked those gryphons. Pucas usually flee when there’s danger, but he was ready to defend you without a second thought."
"I didn’t know that." Merlin was the only puca I’d ever met, and while I knew he was attached to me, I didn’t realize his acts of heroism were uncharacteristic of his species. I grinned as I looked up at Lena again. "You’re lucky you weren’t there when he turned into a dog and ate a giant cave spider."
Lena’s eyes went wide, and she shuddered. Merlin, meanwhile, had finished his berries and purred proudly at the mention of his past exploits.
"You sure do get into a lot of dangerous situations," she said then, and I wasn’t sure if she was addressing me or Merlin. There was something sort of sad about her tone when she said it, though, that made me wonder yet again if she was harboring any regrets over having come along with us. It had been her choice, of course, but I wondered if I should have tried harder to talk her out of it or explained the risks more. She was a civilian, after all, and she was right, we did get into a lot of dangerous situations.
"Are you doing alright?" I asked. "I mean, being out here, with the gryphons and the trolls and everything."
She hadn’t questioned it when I’d asked her to help get the sick people away from the trolls, and at the time, they were the ones I had been thinking about. I hadn’t considered if Lena would have wanted to get so involved in our battles. She’d helped us with the gryphons before, but it was one thing to toss out a bottle of smoke and quite another to try to sneak past a group of seven-foot-tall mountain trolls.
The alchemist didn’t answer right away, and her brows were furrowed in a thoughtful expression as she continued to stroke Merlin.
"It isn’t what I thought it would be," she said at length. "I’d heard about the sort of things guilds did, of course, but all the stories make it sound like one big adventure. No one talks about all the time you spend just walking." Her violet eyes twinkled when she met my gaze, and I knew she’d meant it as a joke, at least in part.
"Yeah, the books don’t usually mention that the dashing hero got kinks in his neck from sleeping on the ground for two weeks," I replied with a grin. "I guess that might hurt their sales."
"Some of it is better than the stories, though," Lena said, and then she threw her head back to look up at the sky. "Like the stars. No one ever talks about how beautiful the stars look outside of the city. And you get to meet all sorts of fascinating people, like the elf in the desert, Ellis."
"Fascinating," I repeated as I recalled the strong smell of spirits and the elf’s cluttered little cabin. "I guess that’s one word for it. Have you been able to find the alchemy ingredients you were looking for?"
Lena nodded enthusiastically. "Even more than I thought I would! It’s incredible how much is out here, and it’s all just free for the taking. I’d have to pay almost half my earnings for a month just to get a few ounces of some of these herbs."
"I’m glad you got them," I told her with a smile. "What are your plans for when we get back?"
The question seemed to surprise her, though I wasn’t sure why. Her gaze dropped, and she stopped petting Merlin which prompted the puca to trill in annoyance and headbutt her hand.
"I don’t know," Lena admitted finally, and then she began to pet Merlin again. "I guess I’ll have to go back to my shop. I’ll have the materials to try out some new recipes." She didn’t sound very enthusiastic about the prospect.
"Do you not want to go back to your shop?" I asked. I was genuinely curious. She’d been willing to risk life and limb to join us out here for the sake of collecting ingredients for her alchemy, and I knew she was looking forward to what she would be able to create.
"I like the alchemy part," she replied quietly. "It’s just, well, I’ve never been very good at the business aspect of it. I get bored standing at that booth all day, and most people aren’t very interested in the potions and things I make."
"Well, you’re obviously a talented alchemist," I mused. "I’m sure there are more ways you could apply that, like joining a guild. The vapor you used against the gryphons was really useful. If you focused on things like that, all the guilds in Ovrista would be fighting for you to join them. I know I’d be happy to have you keep fighting alongside us."
Lena blushed deeply. "Thank you, Gabriel, that’s really nice of you to say. I’ll have to keep that in mind."
"I hope you do," I replied, “but we should probably get some sleep now. We’ll need to set out early."
"Goodnight," Lena said with a smile, her cheeks still tinged rosy pink.
"Goodnight," I echoed, and as Lena lay back, I pulled my own blanket up over my shoulders and closed my eyes.
While I lay there and listened to the wind as it sighed through the trees, I hoped Lena would take my offer seriously. I’d meant what I said about her skill as an alchemist, and I knew she would be an asset to any guild she joined if she decided to pursue that option. Obviously, I would prefer if the guild was mine. Of course, I had to admit to myself as I began to drift off, the future of the guild wasn’t the only reason I hoped Lena might stay with us. She was sweet, intelligent, and beautiful, and I wanted to get to know her better.
I fell into a dream almost instantly. It was dark, but not so dark that I couldn’t see the mist around my ankles, which was a vivid crimson and smelled of fresh blood. I was alone, and I didn’t have my pack or my weapons. Fear swelled in my chest and I tried to call out, but when I opened my mouth, I had no voice. The only thing I could hear was the deep rapid pounding of my own heart.
I lurched into wakefulness drenched in sweat, my heart still beating rapidly. It felt as though I’d only spent a minute in the dream, but as I sat up and pushed away my blankets, the cold light of dawn was already growing in the east.
I could tell that I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep again, so I quietly got up, rolled up my bedroll, and packed my things. Not even Lavinia was awake yet, so I was left alone to contemplate the meaning behind the strange dream. Merlin had gone over to sleep with Aerin at some point during the night, and he peeked his head from beneath her blanket when he heard me get up, but when he realized I didn’t have food, he settled down again with a tiny sigh.
It was still earlier than we needed to head out, so I walked far enough away from our little camp that I could pace without disturbing the others. It
was better that they got as much sleep as they could. Aurelius would no doubt put up a fight, and everyone would need to be at the top of their game if we wanted to take him down. I wanted the exercise, though. As short as it had been, the dream rocked me, and I wanted to work out some of the nervous energy it left me with.
The crisp morning air was refreshing, at least, and with my fur-lined cloak, I was comfortably warm. I didn’t plan to go far, but I strapped my belt with my dagger around my waist anyway before I’d left the camp. The weight of it was familiar and reassuring to me now, and as I drew the dagger and turned it idly in my hand, I thought about what I’d seen and felt in my dream. I knew it didn’t have to mean anything, it could have just been a random nightmare, but I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something significant about it anyway.
What I remembered the most was the blood. The bloodred mist, the pounding of blood in my ears. I’d never had a fear of it before, so why was I dreaming about it now?
Suddenly, I heard Aerin’s voice in my mind as she’d spoken about Aurelius and his taboo practices. She’d said he’d tried to make use of blood magic. Was that the connection here? Were we finally close enough to the mage that I’d begun to sense his magic?
As soon as I thought it, I knew it had to be true. I could feel the ripples of Aurelius’ curse throughout the mountains like little waves of humid air, sticky and uncomfortable, and I could sense where they were coming from. I could have followed them even without the map we’d found. My gaze went north, and I stared at the looming mountain just across the valley with its hard gray flanks and its snow-capped peak. That’s where Aurelius was now, that’s where he’d been drawing all those people.