by Hans Bezdek
“He did,” nodded Kriket.
“So he’s just injured somewhere in town?” asked Sloane, taking a few steps away and towards the bridge. “Can you take us to him?”
“I can’t,” said Kriket, shaking his head. “He’s not in Burston.”
“Then where did he go?” asked Delvin. “To one of the northern town on his way to the Juentes Canyons?”
“He was taken,” said Kriket, spitting in disdain. “I did all I could, but she was too powerful. If it weren’t for my broken arm, I might’ve been able to do something.”
“Taken?” asked Sloane. “Who took him?”
Kriket sighed as he looked her in the eye. “A fae.”
Chapter 2
Zeke’s eyes fluttered open. He ran his hands over his face and rubbed his eyes, trying to shake the sleep off. He felt like he had been hit by a mountain of bricks, and then run over by a couple hundred horses. It took him a minute to remember the explosion of magic from the Arcane Staff, and how everything around him had been annihilated.
He groaned as he sat up. He was in a fairly comfortable bed and under some covers. There were wood boards making up the room, and a small nightstand next to him.
He must’ve been in an inn… how did he get there? Maybe Kriket or someone else from Burston came back and carried him to safety. Maybe the battle was over.
“Ah, he finally awakens!” came a woman’s voice off to the right.
Hearing the voice triggered something in his brain, and he suddenly remembered hearing it before he was knocked out.
To his left was a woman in a blue cape. The hood was down, revealing dark hair, black eyes, and purple skin. The fae woman he first saw back in Tunil was less than six feet away, smiling down at him.
Zeke quickly fanned his arms out, frantically looking for Lucky. He spun over to the nightstand, checking all the drawers to find them empty. Zeke closed his eyes and sighed. He didn’t know what he was expecting. Of course she wouldn’t leave any weapons on him.
“Looking for this?” she asked.
Zeke turned back to the fae, who was holding his scabbard up, Lucky inside of it.
“Actually, yes,” he said, immediately bursting into a coughing fit.
“Here, your throat must be insanely dry,” she said, walking over and placing a cup of water down on the nightstand.
Zeke picked up the cup and stared at it as the fae went back around him. He wondered what the were this was poisoned. Probably pretty good. Unfortunately, he was parched and didn’t know when his next chance to get some water would be. He decided to risk it and downed the cup.
“Thanks,” coughed Zeke. “Much better.”
“Happy to help,” smiled the fae.
“Getting my dagger back would be pretty helpful, you know,” he tried.
The fae studied him for a moment with a playful smirk. She ultimately shrugged and tossed him the scabbard. “I don’t see why not.”
“Lovely,” he smiled, grabbing the scabbard and pulling it close to him. He couldn’t believe his luck! Looked like his dagger was living up to his name again. He thought fae were supposed to be intelligent creatures!
“I hope you can see now that I don’t mean you-”
As fast as he could, Zeke pulled Lucky out, drew his arm back, and shot it forward towards the fae. Or rather, he tried to shoot it towards the woman. His arm suddenly stopped right as he began to flick it forward.
Zeke looked back, seeing a black circle of some type of magic surrounding his wrist.
“That wasn’t a very nice thing to attempt,” said the fae, shaking her head in disappointment.
“Can you blame me?” asked Zeke, painting on a smile.
The fae paused, then smiled. “I guess I can’t. Given the circumstances, I’d have done the same thing.”
“Would you mind letting my arm go, then?” he asked. “Promise I won’t do it again!”
“I may be forgiving, but I’m not an idiot,” giggled the fae.
Zeke frowned. He was hoping she was.
“How long have I been out?” he asked.
“Nearly three whole days,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you to be out for so long. I didn’t think I swung my mace that hard…”
Three days? No, that must not have been just from her walloping him on the back of the head. Zeke suspected that had more to do with him surviving the blast from the Arcane Staff. He remembered that strange flicker of energy he saw in his eyes. Had the weapon done something to him to protect him?
“What are you doing with me?” asked Zeke. “Why haven’t you killed me already?”
“Why does everyone assume I’m going to kill them?” whined the fae to herself. “I mean, it does happen sometimes, but not always!”
Zeke stared blankly back as he waited for an answer.
The fae bent down under the bed, producing the Fourth Staff as she came back up. “The answer to both of your questions lie in my need of this weapon.”
Zeke’s eyes widened as he saw the top of the Arcane Staff remained dormant. What had happened to that purple glow? He was worried that he broke the weapon when he let loose that blast outside of Burston. On the positive side, she probably didn’t know about that yet. If she wanted to kill him with it, she’d have a rough time of it.
“If you already stole the Arcane Staff, I don’t see what you need with me,” he pointed out. “Why not just leave me where you whacked me?”
“I tried to use it, of course,” she shrugged. “I couldn’t get it to work. I’m not sure whether it’s attuned to you, or if fae simply can’t use its power for some reason. Maybe whoever crafted it had it out for us. Not that it matters.”
So she had already tried. He didn’t know much about magical weapons, let alone Arcane Staves, but if she couldn’t use it that was a good thing. Sloane and Delvin never tried to use it, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they had. He had broken the Arcane Staff, he just knew it.
While it would’ve been nice to gloat about that fact to the fae, he decided that probably wouldn’t be the best of life choices. It sounded like the only reason he was alive was because she needed him to use the weapon. While she would inevitably find out one day, he hoped it wasn’t that one.
“What do you want to use the Arcane Staff for?” asked Zeke, wiggling around in an attempt to stretch out his left arm. It was starting to get tired and was bothering him. Couldn’t the fae have let him at least put his arm down before locking it into place again?
“Now that is a good question,” giggled the fae. “What would someone like me want with an Arcane Staff, hmm? Some could want to use it to gain ultimate power, others to gather wealth, others to-”
At that moment, Zeke was still attempting to stretch out his arm. While trying to get a better angle, he accidentally relaxed the grip he had on Lucky.
That was a mistake.
The dagger fell, tip down, to the left of his hip, the edge cutting into him.
“OW!” cried Zeke, trying to pull his body away from the blade that was now dug deep into the cushion.
“Why… why would you do that?” sighed the fae, not looking amused.
“It’s not like I did it on purpose!” shouted Zeke, his arm still suspended in the air. “My arm was getting tired so I tried to reposition. That wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t keep it trapped above me like that!”
“So now it’s my fault you dropped your dagger on yourself?”
“Most definitely!”
The fae shook her head but released the black magic around Zeke’s hand.
“Maybe blaming other people for your own mistakes is why that gnome and human girl aren’t with you anymore,” pointed out the fae.
Zeke glared at her and picked up his dagger. He wanted to chuck it at her again, but figured he wouldn’t get it to work this time either.
“You were watching us in Newbridge?” asked Zeke, sheathing the blade.
“Of course,” nodded the fae. “As I told you, I need the A
rcane Staff. I’ve been following you since I first noticed it back in Tunil.”
“Then why didn’t you make a move for it earlier?” he asked.
“You have an annoying habit of always being with people,” she said. “I had to keep some distance when you camped out near Burston. That human woman, the one who betrayed you to Kutarm’s men, she actually stumbled upon me. I worried I was going to have to kill her, but I managed to convince her I was working with Lord Kutarm.”
It would’ve been a lot better if the fae had just killed her. The chain of events after that had not gone the Resistance’s way, at least not until he rounded all the demons up.
“Wait,” said Zeke, confused by the last thing the fae said. “Why would you have to convince her? Isn’t it pretty obvious you work with him?”
“Not all fae are working with Lord Kutarm,” she said.
“But you’re all evil.”
“First of all, that’s offensive,” she said, glaring at him. “Second of all, even if we were all evil, that doesn’t mean we all team up just because we’re bad. The world isn’t as black and white as that, regardless of what you were taught as a little elf.”
“Whatever,” shrugged Zeke. “I’ve never heard of any fae that wasn't working with Kutarm.”
“Surprising, since I’m sure you just know loads of us,” she said dryly.
Zeke didn’t respond.
“Here,” she said, tossing the Fourth Staff onto the bed. “There’s no point in me holding onto it since I can’t use it.”
“You trust me with it?” asked Zeke, picking it up. Not that he’d be able to do much with it, but he needed to keep her thinking that way.
“I’m confident I can stop you before you do anything against me,” she smirked. “For being The Elf Thief, you’re not that fast, you know.”
Zeke had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Now even the fae thought he was The Elf Thief? This whole thing was getting ridiculous.
“You never mentioned what you want with the Arcane Staff, and therefore me,” Zeke pointed out, hoping to change the subject. “If you think I’m going to help you kill a bunch of innocent people, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“Please, as if I’d need your help to do something so pedestrian,” she scoffed. “It’s nothing like that. I just need you to help me kill Lord Kutarm.”
Chapter 3
Sloane and Delvin followed after Kriket as he brought them into town. They had decided it would be best to continue their conversation away from the Kutarm prisoners, just in case.
The inside of the city was actively being worked on, although everyone seemed to be in a good mood. The streets were fairly crowded, many not heading in any particular direction. Sloane assumed some of them were part of the Resistance from other towns such as Newbridge. Now that the battle was won, they were trying to figure out what to do next.
“What would a fae want with Zeke?” asked Delvin.
“She said something about needing him in order to kill Kutarm,” said Kriket.
“A fae wanting to kill Kutarm?” scoffed Sloane. “Unlikely.”
“I agree it’s possible she was lying,” he nodded. “I wanted to help your friend, but the fae was a powerful spellcaster. She paralyzed me, then strangled me after talking briefly.”
“The fact that she didn’t kill you is a good sign,” mumbled Delvin, rubbing his chin as he contemplated the news.
“True,” nodded Kriket. “She mentioned that Zeke wouldn’t like it if she killed one of his friends before I passed out. Makes me think there’s at least some truth to what she said.”
“Fae aren’t exactly known for keeping their word,” noted Sloane.
“They aren’t known for listening to outsiders, either,” said Delvin, snapping his fingers as something came to his mind. “Maybe some of the fae don’t like being told what to do by a human? She could want to revolt against Kutarm for something like that!”
“I guess I didn’t think about it that way,” said Kriket, a smile appearing.
“Perhaps,” yielded Sloane, but she wasn’t convinced. She wished she could have the positive outlook on this that the other two had, but someone needed to be a realist. Whether she wanted Kutarm dead or not, that didn’t guarantee that Zeke would be safe for long. “We still need to go after them. Maybe Zeke can kill Kutarm by himself, but I’d prefer to be there to help him.”
“No offense, but they both have Arcane Staves,” pointed out Kriket. “I doubt anyone else will affect the battle much one way or the other.”
“Funny you say that, Sloa-” began Delvin.
“I still think he’d appreciate getting some backing from his friends,” interjected Sloane, quickly cutting off the gnome. Word getting out that Zeke had an Arcane Staff led to him getting kidnapped. While she didn’t have much of a reason to not trust Kriket, there were others around that might be listening in.
“Can’t argue with that,” nodded Kriket. “I haven’t chased after them yet on account of my arm, but I’d be happy to travel with you two if you’ll have me.”
“About that,” said Delvin, glancing over to some priests healing some injured men and women close to the wall. “Why haven’t you gotten that healed yet?”
“We don’t have an infinite supply of priests here,” shrugged Kriket. “They can only heal so many people at once, and there are still some with life-threatening injuries. I can survive with just one arm for the time being.”
Sloane nodded her respect at the lizardman. That was an honorable decision to make. She was a bit apprehensive to bring him with since he was injured, but perhaps he’d still prove useful. Besides, it sounds like he and Zeke grew close after Sloane and the elf’s unfortunate split.
“We’ll be glad to have you come with us,” smiled Sloane.
“Yay!” cheered Delvin. “The more the merrier!”
“Actually, we’ll want to move in a small group,” said Sloane, casting an eye at Delvin. “If we move with too many people, we’ll be noticed. I’m fine with Kriket joining us, but we shouldn’t bring anyone else.”
“That’s too bad,” said Kriket, coming to a stop as they reached the middle of the city. He gesturing around them. “The Resistance fighters don’t have much to do now besides wait. We figure Kutarm will launch another assault sooner rather than later, but it’s not like they all need to wait here.”
While most of the streets they passed had people without much to do, the center of town took it to another level. Makeshift tents were set up sporadically over the street, and what looked like hundreds of Resistance fighters sat on the ground around them. In the center of it all was a raised wooden platform, where Sloane imagined politicians and city leaders would give talks during normal circumstances.
“You had this many fighters against Kutarm?” gasped Delvin, spinning around.
“Not quite,” said Kriket, shaking his head. “A couple hundred more showed up after the fight was done. We didn’t have a clear line of communication to some of the other towns, so they had no idea that the battle already took place.”
“You know… we could work with this,” said Sloane, looking over the men and women. There were more here than she thought. Combined with the forces they had passed already and the countless more that were waiting in other parts of Burston, they made up quite the army.
“I thought you wanted to move in secret?” asked Kriket.
“I do,” she nodded. “But the towns we pass through will be less suspicious of a few people passing through town if there is news of a giant army pushing into Kutarm’s territory.”
“Oh, there’s a military force doing that?” asked Kriket. “Where from?”
Sloane looked at Delvin and smirked.
“Yeah, where?” asked Delvin. “You mean the group from Nurem?”
Sloane sighed. Neither of them understood what she was getting at.
“Just… just follow me up,” she mumbled, pushing through the crowd towards the wooden platform.
>
Delvin and Kriket shared a confused look but followed after her.
Sloane climbed the steps up, glancing around at the masses around her. While she had come up with a plan on her way up here, she suddenly felt less sure. Her legs shook slightly and she had to control her breathing. She thought back to when she was in school and the last presentation she gave… It ended with her losing her lunch as she ran out of the room. Not one of her finer moments.
“What’s the matter?” asked Delvin, looking her up and down. “Are you feeling sick?”
“I-I’m not really one for public speaking,” she mumbled.
“You’re afraid of speaking in front of crowds!?” asked Delvin, before bursting into laughter.
“I-It’s not funny!” she hissed.
“Sloane is never afraid of anything,” the gnome informed Kriket as he tried to catch his breath. “I’d not have expected her to be scared of something so simple!”
“If it’s so simple, y-you do it!” stuttered Sloane.
“Sure,” shrugged Delvin. “What do you want me to say?”
Sloane was shocked. “T-This doesn’t scare you?”
“Of course not,” shrugged the gnome. “I’ve given thousands of lectures to other mages.”
What were the odds that something that scared so many people didn’t even phase Delvin? He was even scared of his own illusions sometimes!
“Well… if you’re okay with it,” she said, taking a step back. “We need to rally the people up to invade Kutarm’s territory.”
“We’ll want to start with Westdale, by the way,” added Kriket.
“Easy enough,” said Delvin, clearing his throat and walking towards the edge of the platform.
“Why Westdale?” whispered Sloane to Kriket.
“Since she wants to kill Kutarm, I’m assuming she’s heading for Morehill, the capital,” he shrugged. “The fastest way there is through Westdale, and on to Stedforge.”
Sloane nodded, shifting her attention to Delvin. The gnome closed his eyes and raised his hands up. The air around him shimmered slightly, going up nearly thirty more feet. The gnome opened his eyes and smiled out over the crowd.