by Pirateaba
“Then to war! Bring me my horse, my armor and armies! We will ride forth until the Empire of Sands is dust in the wind! To me! For vengeance and fury!”
He leapt off the dais and thundered down the steps. He moved so fast that Trey saw him at one end of the room and then throwing open the doors. Orthenon was right behind him, and Mars was already holding the massive shield and her sword, shouting in fury as she followed.
Takhatres was right behind them, and Gazi was last. But she stopped. Gazi paused at the door, and her four eyes found the twins. She smiled, briefly, and touched the sword on her back.
“To victory, children. Victory, and the glory of our King.”
Her tone said quite clearly there could be no other option.
2.20
Erin sat in her inn, covering her face. But when she took her hands away, the flowers were still there.
Flowers, instead of gold. It was…well, the thing was…
She should have seen it coming. Erin realized that in the obvious clarity of hindsight. Why would a bunch of tiny faeries be carrying around a pile of gold, and even if they did have gold, why would they give it to her when they could trick her?
Because that was what faeries did! Erin had read the stories. True—she was more of a Peter Pan fan than Brothers Grimm, but she vaguely recalled something about faerie gold now that she thought of it.
“I need to remember everything.”
Everything she’d ever read about monsters and myths, from Harry Potter to that one book from the Spiderwick Chronicles she’d read while teaching chess to kids. Erin wished her memory were perfect, but [Perfect Recall] was apparently only perfect when it came to artsy things.
Song lyrics, lines from Romeo and Juliet—even movie quotes popped into Erin’s mind with ease if she concentrated. But books? Apparently, they didn’t count.
But none of that should have mattered, because Erin should have known better. It was just—she’d had that dream which had been almost true, and she’d been caught up in the past. She’d done something magical, so it was fine that she’d gotten caught up in the moment, right, right?
Erin looked at the pile of golden flowers.
“…No.”
This was unacceptable. This was horrible. This was a pile of her owns coin and a day of frantic effort down the drain. All she’d gotten were…four levels. Which was great. But it wasn’t money, and Erin didn’t even know what those two skills she’d gotten did.
What were they again? Erin frowned and massaged her head. She was still waking up. Um. It was [Inn’s Aura] and…
Um…
It was…[Wondrous Fare], right?
[Magical Cooking]? No, that wasn’t right. Clearly it was the other one. But what did it mean?
“[Wondrous Fare]. Like food? Or bus fare?”
Erin imagined getting into a bus and giving the bus driver a handful of the magical gold coins the faeries had tricked her into accepting. Yeah. That would be nice.
Faint clicking of bone on floorboard made her turn around. Toren had entered the inn, looking around warily. He was probably wondering if she was hurt. Erin sighed.
“It’s fine, Toren. I uh, I just realized I got scammed, that’s all.’”
Toren looked at the pile of flowers and back at Erin. She picked up one and sniffed at it and then sneezed.
“Achoo! Great. They even smell funny.”
They smelled like some kind of spice, rather than a floral scent. Erin scowled at the flower.
“I thought they were starting to like me! But this is what I get? Those—those—”
She trailed off. Toren looked at Erin quizzically, but the girl was thinking.
“Oh. Right. Turn bad things into good things. And they gave me something—even if it wasn’t what I thought. Faerie gifts. Okay, okay…”
Erin frowned at the flower. She sniffed at it again. It didn’t smell bad. And the faeries had given it to her. Maybe it was a trick. No—it was a trick. But were they completely useless or…?
“Maybe they’re edible?”
It was a long shot, but Erin gingerly tasted the flower. She was fairly certain that while jerks the faeries might be, they wouldn’t give her poison.
To Erin’s surprise, the flower was wet. No—it had a bit of nectar gathered where the petals met. It was tasteless, but it fizzed on Erin’s tongue.
Immediately she spat onto her palm and looked for somewhere to put the flower as she scrubbed at her mouth. Toren approached, holding his hand out. Gratefully, Erin turned to give the flower to him—
And began to shrink.
“What? Oh no! No, no—what’s happening?”
Toren stared down at her as Erin began shrinking towards the floor. The chairs, the tables—everything got taller around her. Erin stared around, too panicked to move.
The room grew around her until suddenly she was staring up at a ceiling as high as the clouds in the sky. Toren was—a giant tall as a skyscraper, and the nearest chair leg was like the trunk of a massive tree. Erin stared around in horror.
“Oh no. It’s the drink from Alice in Wonderland!”
It was magic! The flowers! That was wonderful and totally horrible at the same time. Erin began to panic.
“I don’t have the other one to make me big! W-what do I do?”
Maybe another flower would help. But suddenly, the table was a thousand of Erin’s feet up. She stared around, at her skeleton, the table, and herself.
Erin panicked harder.
—-
Toren hadn’t been having a good day. He hadn’t been having a bad day either, but today had been decidedly subpar. Ceria had brought him out of the inn when the curious blobs of blue light had appeared, and when he’d tried to warn Erin about the flowers, he’d been silenced and sent away.
The half-Elf had gone to the city, but Toren wasn’t allowed there either. So she’d told him to wait outside till morning.
Fortunately, Toren had not been ordered to follow Ceria’s instructions, just to follow her. And since he couldn’t follow her any further or return to the inn, he’d walked back until it was in sight and then waited until morning.
That had been unpleasant. It wasn’t that Toren got bored, but he didn’t like doing nothing.
He hated it. It was a feeling in his…chest. In the very core of his being. Toren felt something, and that was resentment.
He had been created to…to serve. That was his purpose, wasn’t it? Or was it something else?
To grow. To become stronger. Toren had already realized he was more than his common brethren. They could not restore themselves, and they had no levels. He was unique.
And he was Erin’s best helper. She trusted him. She—
She had sent him away even when he’d tried to help. Stopped him from doing his job. Toren wasn’t sure how he’d felt about that.
The skeleton had wanted nothing in the first days. Those had been good days, when there was only her words and him carrying out her words. The tasks had been hard—so hard!—but he had thought and worked and sometimes she had said ‘good job, Toren’.
But now he was thinking more, and the thinking was making Toren feel…complicated. It made his head ache; only he had no head that could ache or brain, so the feelings just built up inside of him until Toren wished he could smash his skull apart.
And now, Erin was doing something Toren couldn’t understand. Again.
The skeleton stared at his mistress as she toppled off her chair and began flailing around on the ground wildly. She shouted up at him.
“Help me!”
Obediently, the skeleton reached down for her, but Erin screamed and flinched away.
“Ah! Don’t! You’ll squash me with your fingers!”
Again, her words didn’t make sense. They weren’t right. Toren hesitated, but he couldn’t disobey her. And yet in his being, for the first time Toren questioned Erin’s words. They were orders, and they were the core of his being.
But they weren’t
good orders. And it bothered the skeleton.
Erin was still thrashing around on the ground, kicking her legs and staring at a chair leg as she shouted and screamed. She turned and looked at Toren desperately.
“Go get help! Get someone! Ceria or Pisces! I need someone with magic!”
That at least was doable Toren started for the door.
“Hurry!”
There had to be something he was missing. Toren glanced back at Erin as he shut the door. But she looked completely normal, if panicked, as she squirmed around on the ground like an insect. Maybe it had to do with the flowers?
It was a fault of his that he couldn’t understand. That must be it. Toren needed more levels. Yesterday had already proved his weakness.
The Drake named Relc had threatened his mistress and she hadn’t called on him. She’d motioned for him to stand down. Because…
Because she didn’t think he could defeat Relc. And Toren didn’t think so either. If the Drake had attacked, he would have failed.
Unacceptable.
Toren was so lost in thought he nearly walked past the half-Elf as she ascended the hill, staring at the inn from which Erin’s muffled voice was still audible.
Ceria paused as Toren stopped in front of her, and pointed at the inn.
“What’s all the shouting about? Is Erin okay?”
Toren shrugged, and pointed to the inn. Ceria hesitated, but then she hurried towards the door. Toren watched her go. She knew magic, and she was Ceria. Well, that was that.
Job done, Toren kept walking outside. Normally he would have immediately gone back to Erin, to obey her next instructions but now he didn’t’ feel like it.
Bad orders. Weak Toren. Unacceptable.
He’d had good orders before. Gathering the mushrooms yesterday had been fine. And he’d killed the Shield Spider in a good fight, crushing the thing again and again and battering it with a rock. And Erin had even been proud of him for bringing the venom!
But the rest had not been good. And Toren had been too weak to destroy the enchanted armor. He’d battered at it for over an hour, dodging attacks, reforming himself until he was dangerously low on mana, but he hadn’t done a thing.
Yet the Goblin had slain the armor. Her tribe had destroyed the enchanted being with flying pieces of clay and the exploding bark. She had something Toren didn’t. She would be more worthy of serving Erin and carrying out her stupid orders.
Toren paused. Stupid? They weren’t stupid orders. They were just…
Just…
He had to level up. He thought more, he became more with each level. But he had to protect Erin.
And yet—protecting Erin could only happen if he was strong enough. And Toren wasn’t strong enough. Therefore, he should level up to protect Erin.
That made sense. Toren thought hard. Erin would probably be screaming and talking with Ceria for a while. She wouldn’t need him for an hour, perhaps. And so what could Toren do in that span of time?
The skeleton looked towards the north. The dungeon entrance and the Goblin’s lair was too far away even if he ran. But there were several Shield Spider nests that way, and hungry bears. And those snow creatures.
Toren began to walk away from the inn. Level. Grow. And then come back, so he could listen to more orders from Erin.
He hoped they wouldn’t be stupid ones.
—-
Justice in Liscor was harsh and swift. Selys had always known it, and even taken comfort from that fact as a child. No one was above the law, and their Watch was stronger than other cities, except for maybe the Walled Cities. Certainly better than Human cities. Criminals could expect a quick end, or at least a hefty fine they’d pay for any misdeeds.
But the same knowledge wasn’t quite as self-evident as an adult. Selys knew the Watch was strong enough to fight off bandits and monsters and even a small army, but Liscor still stood between the south and north, a gateway between species. They couldn’t act without repercussions from either side, and that meant the same justice she’d admired as a child was sometimes more of a compromise.
Perhaps the best example of that was being played out here. Selys stood in a crowd of mainly Drakes standing at the city gates. She was dressed in warm clothing, because it was a cold day and starting to snow again. Even so, it was cold for the Drake, but it had to be even colder from the Human girl.
Selys stared at a blonde-haired girl with very pale skin. She might be beautiful, or she might be ugly; Selys really had no clue. She wasn’t good with human features, anyways.
Even so, the Drake thought the girl was probably some kind of nobility. She was wearing what had once been expensive clothes, and Selys had heard of the many magical artifacts the Watch had taken off her.
Now though, the girl’s hair was tangled and dirty, and her skin was red from the cold and equally unclean. The tears and wretched expression on the girl’s face didn’t help either.
No one seemed bothered by the girl’s distress, though. Tkrn’s own face was blank and impassive as he herded the girl out the gates. Selys knew that was a bad sign. Gnolls didn’t get angry the same way Drakes did. When they got silent, that meant they were really angry.
“A silent Gnoll is death’s bell toll.”
Selys murmured the words and got a few glances from the people around her. But it was true—the other Gnolls that had gathered to watch the Human thief exiled from the city all had that blank, expressionless look on their faces.
They were furious, Selys knew. They’d wanted to tear apart the girl, but the Watch had intervened before the mob could do so. Now that the Human was being exiled, the Gnolls were even angrier than before.
It was all politics. The Watch hadn’t been able to get out where the thief was from, and they didn’t really care, not with all the Gnolls in the city outraged over the complete destruction of Krshia Silverfang’s shop.
And yet, killing an important Human was also out of the question. No one in Liscor wanted a war if it turned out the girl was from one of the Five Families or some lord’s daughter. So…why not just exile her? It meant they could deny involvement if she died, and it got her out of the city.
The only problem was that the Gnolls wanted her dead, not just gone. And so compromises had been made. The girl had no winter clothing, only the rags she’d had on, and she only had enough food for a day.
It was cruel, but that was Liscorian justice. Far worse would have been a group of Gnolls rioting in the streets. If the Watch had to intervene, there would have been even more bloodshed by the time it was over. After all, the Watch was mostly Drakes—if it became an issue of Drakes versus Gnolls it would be the same terrible conflict that played out across the southern part of the continent.
So the Human was exiled instead, with little chances of survival, and quickly too. No one in the crowd of watching Drakes and Gnolls had any sympathy for the thief, and the other Humans in the city had wisely stayed away from the gathering.
Only Selys had a twinge in her chest as the Tkrn forced the crying girl out into the snow. She felt…bad. Mostly for Krshia, but Selys couldn’t watch the sniveling, whimpering girl herded out the city gates without a twinge of guilt. Maybe it because she’d known Erin for so long. If it had been Erin sent to freeze or be eaten by monsters—
But Erin would never have done something so horrible. Selys glanced across the crowd at an open space. Krshia sat alone, among her own kind yes, but alone in her own small area of space. She watched the girl quietly, and Selys’ heart did hurt then.
Krshia had lost her stall, lost her goods. She had coin in her home still, but it was a crippling blow to the shopkeeper. And the Watch hadn’t repaid her. They didn’t have the coin, the city wouldn’t cover the costs, and the girl’s artifacts were almost all junk, devoid of their magic.
The Gnoll didn’t deserve this. The thief deserved punishment. But—
Selys’ eyes went back to the girl as she stopped, staring out at the snow-covered plains. The girl turned to
Tkrn, clearly arguing, but the Gnoll just pushed her forwards. The girl fell into the snow and wailed a thin, piteous sound.
—This wasn’t right. Selys knew the girl would be dead in less than an hour, even if she stuck to the main road and didn’t walk into a Shield Spider nest.
But who would help her? Selys was a citizen of Liscor, and she couldn’t assist a criminal. And whoever the girl’s folks were, even if Selys had a way to get Hawk to deliver the letter, they would never arrive in time.
She knew one person who would help. One person who would help the girl, regardless of how many people disapproved. But Selys had no way of talking to Erin. Not right now.
It was more politics. Everyone knew Selys was Erin’s friend, and so everyone, or at least a lot of them, were watching her. It was why Selys had come here to watch the girl be sent away. She had to support her kind. If people thought she favored Humans over Drakes and Gnolls…
Some of the people in the crowd felt as Selys did, the Drake knew. But they were the minority. People liked Krshia’s shop, and the thefts had hit the city even as they were rebuilding and mourning their dead. Most of the Drakes had bored expressions, or ones of contempt for the girl.
Worse still were the ones who looked like they were enjoying the girl’s misery. Selys noticed Lism in the crowd, grinning and laughing with some of his friends. The old dull-scale even had a small bag of nuts he was snacking on. He was disgusting. Selys tried not to glare as he tail thrashed on the ground with anger. This sight wasn’t fun. It was sad. It was wrong. It was—
“Quite amusing. I wonder—will that guardsmen kick her into the snow?”
Selys looked over. Pisces stood in the middle of the crowd of Drakes, eating food and watching with apparent amusement. Now there was a Human who no one would ever accuse of being speciesist.
He was eating one of the hamburgers that had become the latest fad in Liscor. This one was a triple-patty sandwich smeared with rich mustard. It was meant for Gnolls, but the mage devoured it greedily, ignoring the juice that ran onto his robes.
Selys wanted to ignore him, or at the very least, not look at him, but Pisces had seen her. He unapologetically pushed his way through the crowed until he was standing next to her.