by Logan Jacobs
“That would be Yvaine Estrella,” the woman officer noted as she glanced at her sheet again.
“The Marchioness of Constello,” Miss Spoza added helpfully. “She’s an elite member.”
“Are there any mages in your group?” the male officer asked.
“We have a fire mage,” I replied. “A panthera woman named--”
“We’re not looking for a woman,” the man cut in.
“Oh, well,” I murmured. “I don’t think we can help you then.”
“But you have other men in your group,” the man with the comb over insisted.
“Yes,” I admitted. “There’s Maruk, he’s our singing orc. Dehn. He’s a halfling. And Cat. He’s an elf.”
“You’re the only human,” the officer clarified.
“I am the only human in our group,” I agreed.
The female officer frowned and leaned in closer to my face. She squinted at my chin for a moment and then pulled back with a puzzled expression.
“Do I have something caught in my beard?” I asked as I did a quick check.
“I could swear it was longer than it was a minute ago,” the woman replied.
“If only that were true,” I laughed.
I walked away from the desk at a leisurely pace, jangling the key as I went. I heard the two officers and Miss Spoza resume their conversation about the various people staying at the hotel. Miss Spoza continued to insist that no one matching the description was staying at the hotel. And no, there was no one else available at the moment to confirm or deny that statement. I wondered if that was why she was on the desk at that exact moment. It certainly made it easier for the hotel to deny any knowledge if the person on the desk hadn’t actually seen any of the guests.
Merlin scurried out from his hiding spot when I stepped into the stairwell and trotted ahead of me. We climbed to the fourth floor and stepped into a hallway lined with a plush carpet, soft lighting, and oil paintings of local scenery. I found my room about halfway down the hall.
“Please don’t be pink,” I chanted as I turned the key in the lock and opened the door.
The room was not pink. It was dark brown and maroon and smelled of leather and cedar and maybe just a hint of orange. There was a bed big enough for four adults, a writing desk in dark brown wood, and a leather armchair with a small drinks table that was currently home to an unopened bottle of wine. The picture window overlooked the hotel’s private garden and outdoor dining area, and I spotted Emeline, Imogen and Cat at a table, looking at several maps.
My chin started to itch again, and I scratched at it for a moment until I realized that the guard hadn’t been wrong. My beard did feel longer than it had when I left Lena’s room, and not nearly as neat as it had been either. I trotted to the en suite bathroom, which included a full-length mirror.
The beard was definitely longer and still growing. I realized that the constant itching along my chin wasn’t just the hair color, it was the sprouting of new and longer hairs.
“Damn it,” I sighed as Merlin joined me in the bathroom. “You’d think I’d know better than to trust one of Lena’s potions.”
I could swear the puca chuckled but when I looked at him, he simply swished his tail and stalked back to the armchair. He jumped up, and after circling the soft leather cushion six times, he finally sat down and started to clean himself.
I dug around in my pack until I found one of the extra blades Dehn had bought back in Altrua. I had a feeling I was going to need a heavier blade than my normal shaving equipment to keep a handle on this current growth.
Chapter 6
I hid in my room the rest of the night, though word of my hairy situation spread quickly among the Shadow Foxes. Aerin tapped on my door to inform me that she and Cat were ready to head to the markets and to ask if there were any items I wanted to add to the last. I tried to talk to her through the closed door which only made the red-headed healer suspicious.
I held out as long as I could, but she threatened to send Dehn to pound on the door until I relented. That would probably have led to a lot of noise, destruction of hotel property, and a bill for damages that I didn’t want to explain to Yvaine. Not to mention the possible revocation of Yvaine’s membership. I also had no desire to hear Dehn’s comments on my current appearance.
“Come in,” I finally ordered as I stepped away from the door and found a dark corner to stand in.
Aerin opened the door slowly and peered around the room. When nothing jumped out and attacked her, she stepped inside and closed the door. She spotted me in the corner and started to ask a question, but stopped when she could finally see me.
“I was at the park when the mage attacked,” I explained before she could say anything. “I stopped him, but someone saw me use magic. I think they’re looking for me, either as a witness or as the perpetrator. In any case, I asked for Lena’s help with a disguise when I got back to the hotel.”
Aerin opened and closed her mouth a few more times, then covered her mouth with her hand to hide her laughter.
“It’s supposed to change back in two days,” I added.
“You realize the only weird thing in that entire statement is that you went to Lena for help,” Aerin finally managed to say in between guffaws.
“I just wanted to change my hair color,” I said defensively. “It was Lena’s idea to add the beard.”
“And a very impressive beard it is,” she noted with a smirk.
“When does Cat think we can leave?” I queried in a hopeless attempt to divert her from my appearance.
“Tomorrow, if we want,” Aerin finally responded when she had herself under control. “We’ve got a bit of walking ahead of us, but then we have to travel through some sort of swamp. We need boats for that, and Cat knows where we can rent some.”
“I’m happy to leave tomorrow,” I replied. “I think I’ll just have dinner in my room tonight.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Aerin agreed. “Dang, it’s still growing.”
“It hasn’t stopped,” I admitted. “I’ve trimmed it three times already.”
“Well, maybe it will slow down at some point,” Aerin offered in her most solemn voice. “If not, we can probably tell everyone you’re the dog-faced boy part of our circus act. You’ll be a great pairing with our singing orc.”
“Out!” I ordered as Aerin started laughing again.
She danced from the room, and I suspected that the rest of the Foxes would soon learn of my predicament. I wasn’t wrong. One by one, they stopped by the room, and though they all professed to understand my need for a disguise, no one could understand why I had allowed myself to be the test subject for the beard formulation.
I did indeed spend the rest of the night in my room. I managed to hide from the waiter who brought my dinner by ducking into the bathroom while he set up my meal and I refused the turn down service, citing a headache brought on by too much time in the sun.
The final insult came from Merlin who leapt up on the massive bed with me when I finally gave up and crawled between the covers. He batted at the beard a couple of times, and when I shooed him away, he seemed to lose interest in my facial growth. I had just fallen asleep when I felt something pull at my chin. I opened my eyes and found the puca had morphed into a small hamster and was nesting in the beard.
Thankfully, the beard was under better control by morning. I trimmed away the night’s excessive growth and was happy to see that there wasn’t an instantaneous spurt of new hair. Merlin watched intently for several minutes, then gave a chirp of approval.
I ventured downstairs to the dining room to find Lavinia and Imogen ensconced at a table with a view of the garden. Both gave me a smirk as Merlin and I joined them.
“Well, it’s looking much better this morning,” Imogen commented. “How long until you have to trim it again?”
“I think it’s slowed down,” I contended. “I may make it through the morning without having to use the blade.”
“We
voted last night,” Lavinia said. “Though we’re sympathetic to your plight, we feel we should push on. Cat and Emeline think we can be at the edge of the Glass Swamp before nightfall.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” I replied.
“Uh-huh,” the two ladona said with a trace of sarcasm.
The waitress appeared and left a pot of tea, three cups, and five menus. We placed our orders and sat quietly while we waited for our food. Imogen and Lavinia spent the time watching my beard with smirks on their faces. I steadfastly ignored them and studied the menu as intently as if it was my old college physics book on the eve before a final exam.
Our food arrived at the same time that Cat and Dehn joined our table. Cat at least attempted not to stare but Dehn peered at me closely.
“Has it grown?” the halfling asked the two ladonae.
“No,” Lavinia sighed. “It’s been surprisingly well-behaved this morning.”
“Maybe once we’re out in the heat,” Dehn mused. “Hair grows faster in heat.”
“And you know this because?” Lavinia asked.
“It’s a well-known fact,” Dehn asserted. “Right, Cat?”
“Oh, um, I’ve never given it much thought,” the elf replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever noticed much difference, personally.”
“Well, not with that haircut,” Dehn remarked.
“Oh, it looks good this morning,” Emeline pronounced as she pushed a chair in between Dehn and Cat.
“Thank you,” I said in my sincerest voice.
“And I sort of like you as a blond,” she added.
“Oh?” I asked.
“Nope,” Lavinia insisted. “You are not going to be a blond.”
“Lavinia’s right,” Imogen added. “Your own dark brown is much better.”
“Red’s always good,” Dehn pointed out. “Even the elf here could pull off red.”
Cat looked around the table to see if any other elves had joined the group.
“We already have a red-headed elf,” Lavinia pointed out.
“Yeah, but she’s always jabbing me,” Dehn complained. “This one doesn’t jab me.”
“This one is sitting right here,” Cat finally commented. “And I haven’t jabbed you because Aerin usually beats me to it.”
And so it went, as the other members of the Shadow Foxes made their way in for breakfast. Aerin appeared with an apologetic Lena in tow. Lena offered to try to reverse the potion’s effect, which drew a round of snickers from my tablemates. I assured her that all was well and that the beard seemed to have achieved some sort of balance.
Yvaine was next, and she dutifully ignored my blond locks and scruffy chin, though she did give me a raised eyebrow. Maruk finally arrived and demanded to know why we insisted on such early starts. After all, my beard had barely had time to grow overnight. Surely that was a sign that we were up and about way too soon?
I endured the teasing in good humor, and eventually, we returned to our rooms to collect our gear and continue our journey. When I opened the door to my room, I found a folded sheet of paper just inside the entryway. It had been slipped under the door while we were in the dining room and I assumed it was the bill for the night’s stay.
What I found instead when I opened the page was a handwritten note that said: ‘I kill other manipulators just like they taught me. You can’t hide from me.’
I drew in a sharp breath and then opened up my mana to study the room. There were no lurking spells anywhere in the room or on the sheet of paper itself. There was no way to be sure, but I had a feeling that the manipulator in the park had somehow managed to leave this note for me. Which meant he had followed me from the scene and hung around long enough to find my room. All without me noticing.
But the man was hard to miss once you saw him. So did he have an invisibility cloak as well? And why bother with the note? Why not just kill me and be done with it?
Because someone had sent instructions to watch me but not kill me. And I was certain that someone was Maderel. No doubt the manipulator had already sent word to Maderel of our arrival in the city.
I still had my doubts whether this manipulator was one of Maderel’s elite mages. He seemed too unstable, and this note proved it. He could have watched our progress and reported back to Maderel without any of us being the wiser. Instead, he had flaunted his powers and tried to scare me.
Maybe he was one of those corrupted souls who used their magic without really understanding it. Maderel might have found a way to turn such a person into a tool of his own. One that could identify other manipulators and report back to Maderel. Assuming he didn’t just kill them, like he claimed in the note.
It was definitely time to get out of Druban. I grabbed my gear, shoved the note into my pack, and returned to the lobby. Only Maruk was still missing when I finally made my own appearance. Yvaine was at the desk settling our bill with Helga while Cat and Aerin distributed new supplies to the rest of the Foxes. Helga barely reacted to my suddenly golden locks as she accepted the key though she did shoot Merlin a disapproving look when he poked his head out of my pack.
Maruk arrived as Helga offered each of us a flask of lemon flavored water for the road. We thanked her profusely and Yvaine promised to give a glowing review of the Petermore Frontier to management. Free at last, we piled through the doors and into the street.
Imogen and Emeline took the lead as we moved through side streets, careful to avoid Dancing Waters Park where, Helga had informed us in a quiet tone, the local gendarmerie were still conducting an investigation. At this hour, Druban’s streets were just coming to life, and though they were busy, we could move more quickly than we had on our arrival.
The gate we used to get out of the city was little more than a postern. Only one person could pass through at a time, and we had to take turns with people trying to enter from the other side. I was the last one through from our group and I wasn’t even sure if I would even be able to leave when a very fat man nearly got stuck. But with the guards inside the city pulling and the guards outside the city pushing, they managed to dislodge him and send him on his way.
Since we weren’t at one of the major passages, there wasn’t the usual collection of businesses, crowds, and the more dubious sorts that I had come to expect near a city gate. Instead, we found ourselves in a small, dusty field filled with wildflowers and one lone cart from which a local farmer was selling his produce. Most people just continued on their way, but the farmer clearly had his regulars, and I saw more than a few city dwellers turn around and head back towards the gate after making their purchases. I also spotted Aerin and Maruk picking through the fruits, and after a friendly bargaining session, both walked away with another sack of food.
This side of the Marash was still dry, but there were plants and animals, as well as farmsteads and villas. We passed other travelers along the way, and the road we walked on was even paved in parts. It was still hot, but there was shade from some sort of olive trees, as well as a shrub that smelled like oregano.
We ate our lunch under the wide spread limbs of an ancient cypress in the company of a family traveling to Druban to meet their son’s future wife. I wasn’t very good company during the meal as my mind kept drifting to the note I’d found. I kept glancing at the road behind us, and Lavinia gave me a questioning look. I simply shrugged and let Yvaine and Maruk entertain our new friends. Fortunately, Imogen and Cat seemed just as determined to move ahead and they had us up and moving again while the family was still arguing about which road was the fastest.
I soon understood why the ladona and elf wanted us to keep moving. We left the nice paved road and started walking across a path that was little more than old wagon ruts in the dirt. There wasn’t much shade here, and I soon had my night lenses back on, as well as one of the new frogskins Aerin and Cat had found in the marketplace.
The trail led us to an otherworldly landscape filled with rock towers and sloping gullies filled with boulders. Our pace slowed considerably as we
scrambled over strange rock formations and dodged miniature avalanches of rock and dirt from the surrounding bluffs. The only one of us who wasn’t panting was Merlin, who had buried himself in my satchel as soon as Cat had handed him his new frogskin.
I was starting to wonder how much further this strange place stretched on when I heard Aerin give a hoot of pure joy. I lifted my gaze from the rock-strewn path I was trying to navigate and let out a cry of relief myself. There were tall pine trees just ahead and an abundance of other greenery as well.
With renewed energy, we clambered and climbed and pushed our way across this strange land. When we finally reached the other side, we all dropped to the ground and soaked in the cool air beneath the boughs of the trees.
“Are we there yet?” Maruk asked as he fanned himself with one of the pamphlets from our hotel rooms.
“Almost,” Cat replied. “This is the tip of the watershed. We’ll start to see more water soon.”
“How much further to the boat rental?” Yvaine asked.
“An hour,” Cat said.
“Ugh,” Aerin protested. “I had no idea it was this far.”
“We’re really close,” Emeline added as she checked one of her maps. “And it should be much easier from now on.”
“Right,” Lavinia declared as she stood up. “Let’s get going then. If we just keep sitting here, we’ll never get there.”
We groaned, but we pulled ourselves to our feet and set off once again. My feet still hurt from all the rocks and pebbles, but there was an actual path again, cushioned with pine needles. There were songbirds and small critters that moved through the brush and even the distant sound of water. Merlin finally poked his head out and sniffed the air. Happy with what he discovered, he jumped from the bag and disappeared into a nearby bush.
We crossed a small stream and a flat plain of pines and cypress, and then we found ourselves on the edge of another large body of water. This one, though, was shallow and moved slowly as it wove a path between cypress and palm and a hundred other trees and plants that I couldn’t even begin to identify.