by Skyler Grant
Knowing that soon he would pass out, Alex dragged himself away from the lake as far as he could. When he felt his grip on reality slipping completely, he wondered if he'd ever wake up again.
Alex awoke to a squirrel scampering across his face. It seemed less than pleased when he stirred to life and scurried away. Alex's first thought was gratitude that he was alive, if in pain. The healing potion had worked well against his mundane injuries. The dissonant portions were another matter. He was mangled, but alive. That would do, he'd eventually heal.
The corpses were still sprawled out by the lake. He stumbled over to them to reclaim his weapons. Yasmine would be horrified at how long he'd let them sit after the fight.
With no sign of the dead Deep Spawn being disturbed and the fact that nothing had taken the opportunity to kill him as he lay unconscious, it all likely meant he'd cleared out what evil dwelt in these woods.
The Deep Maiden must have returned to the ocean. Alex wished he had a way to make sure of that.
With his wounds slowing him down Alex spent the rest of the day scouting through the woods and finding the bodies of the lumberjacks, dragging them to a clearing to burn. In all he found six, four killed by a Deep Maiden and two by Deep Spawn. He burned them all, it was better to be safe than sorry. Where he could he retrieved a personal effect from each corpse to identify the victims.
It was near to dusk when he returned to town and Alex turned everything over to the foreman so that he could inform their families.
Then it was another stop by the inn to see if he could connect with Yasmine. The innkeeper said she still hadn't returned. Alex left a second message asking if she could help refill his potions out of his share of what they'd gotten from the wagons.
Back at the keep for the night, Sabrina was less than thrilled with what he'd done to the armor she'd had so recently repaired and soon enough had him out of it to go back to the armorer.
There was a note from Yasmine delivered after he left that morning.
Glaive,
Following a lead I got about a tomb in the mountains. Give me up to three days without hearing from me. If longer than that I'm in trouble and you shouldn't follow. Your share of what we've taken is being held by Cassandra Windicott, a merchant in town. If you must, you can trust her. Be careful of Kationa and fight smart.
Cinquendea
Today would be one day, so he had no cause to worry yet. Except he wouldn't be able to replenish his lost potions. In the morning he'd ask Kationa if there was anything the Magess could do. Yasmine might not get along with her, but Kationa was going to be the most likely source for supplies. She clearly had some skills in magic and so far hadn't been unwilling to help out, for a price. Alex was hardly one to complain about being mercenary, it seemed the Glitch Hunter credo.
22
“Glitch are a culinary delight, their unique flavors something the refined palette hungers for. Certainly, eating them is dangerous but what is danger but another spice?” Chef Antonia Weiss
Despite his wounds Sabrina wasn't interested in taking a night off in the bedroom. If anything his injuries seemed to drive her to even greater heights of passion. Alex didn't really mind, it was a pleasant contrast to get hurt doing something enjoyable.
He spent another night desperately short of sleep. Even with his Glitch physiology it had an impact, and he was distinctly bleary-eyed the next morning. Sabrina had woken before him and left to go about her business, ordering the servants to have a hearty breakfast waiting for Alex.
Alex ate more than seemed plausible. When healing his appetite got particularly steep, and the dissonance damage lingered. When he was done he sought out Kationa.
The Magess had a lab in one of the keep’s towers, Alex wondered just what it was that attracted magic users to towers all the time.
The walls were lined with bookcases full of worn-looking tomes. The room was crowded with tables covered by a variety of alchemical equipment.
Kationa looked up at his arrival from the stairs, and frowned.
"Glitch Hunter. I heard you almost got yourself killed pursuing the lead that was almost definitely not related to your quest. I'd congratulate you, but I really don't want to encourage that sort of idiotic behavior."
"No wonder Yasmine threw you out a window. I'm not here for a fight though. I'm hoping that you can help me."
"Well, of course you are. I hardly think that you sought me out for the company. First, tell me exactly what happened yesterday. I heard the story second-hand and I'd prefer to hear it from you."
Alex told her all that had happened and found her an attentive listener who pressed him for details even he had forgotten.
Kationa said, "Curious that the Maiden wasn't to be found. They are typically territorial."
"She had obviously been there, but there was no sign of her at the lake. I have to assume she went back to the ocean."
"Perhaps," Kationa said, she shook her head. "No, I still don't see any relation to your true quest. I wish Sabrina hadn't insisted you waste your time with it."
"It was my choice. You two seem to have an ... unusual relationship," Alex said.
"Do we? I suppose we do snap at each other an uncommon amount."
"Yet there seems to be some fondness behind it."
"I know that you two have been ... intimate. How much has she confided in you about her history?" Kationa asked.
"I know that she came to her position young and found it hard."
"A bit of an understatement. I was originally adviser to her father, who was the Lord of this keep," Kationa said.
Alex was surprised. "You don't look older than Sabrina, and you'd have been young for an advisor."
"Perhaps, although members of the House of Towers age slower than your typical human, just as you do. I won't go into my actual age, but I do have more years than it appears. Falkirk belonged to the Kingdom of Youlash at the time."
"There was a war, right?" Alex asked.
"Youlash and Olean went at it over a valley a long ways from here, but it wound up escalating. Falkirk had always been a center of trade and smuggling. In times of peace this is useful. In times of war it can appear treasonous," Kationa said.
"What happened?"
"The predictable. Things came to blows and the monarch of Youlash, King Devok, decided to send a particularly powerful message that the so-called treason in Falkirk wouldn't be tolerated."
"Do I want to know?" Alex asked.
"Probably not, but you should. They made Sabrina watch the entire thing. Soldiers chained her mother down and took their time breaking every bone in her arms and legs. When they were done they severed her limbs and made a ship’s masthead of her. They ground up what was left of her mother's limbs and force-fed them to her father through a tube until he burst like an overstuffed sausage."
For Alex it was another case of that strange hint of echoes. The awareness that something should have troubled him more than it did.
"I'm surprised that she is as well-adjusted as she is," Alex said.
"If she seems hard, it is because she has had to be. If I sometimes seem hard, it is because that is what she needed me to be. Ultimately Olean won the war and Falkirk was part of the prize, seized from Youlash."
"Does it still serve its old purpose? There doesn't seem much in the way of trade in the city," Alex said.
"Not like it used to. King Devok burned most of the docks and killed half the merchants in town along with the baroness’s parents. Olean has never offered any help to rebuild properly. The lack of any black market better suits their priorities," Kationa said.
"Unfortunate. While this is all interesting, it isn't the reason that I came."
"I know, but I thought you deserved some explanation of why I and the baroness behave as we do. So what is it you're looking for? Another magical unlock? That may be too much, too fast."
"Nothing like that, at least not yet. Like you said, it’s probably too soon. Potions, especially healing. Ammuni
tion for my potion-caster. I was hoping you might have something that can help," Alex said.
Kationa looked around the lab thoughtfully. "I probably have some things that can help. I don't have recipes, but I do have supplies. What would you need?"
"Blood of a green glitch, leaves of either the bella, sedora, atorora, or gnik. Blood of a red glitch and a binding agent."
These would at least allow Alex to make fire rounds for his potion-caster as well as some basic healing potions.
"I have some of those. Just so you know, any herbalist will usually have those leaves stockpiled. Smiths sometimes use components of red Glitch to help stoke the fires in their forge," Kationa said.
"Do you get use out of purple Glitch the same way?"
"I do. With a magical conjuration like that, the properties can usually be harvested by a member of the House of Towers in various ways to either help lessen the drain of some of our spells or to enhance them," Kationa said.
Kationa began to bustle around the workshop, soon putting together a small stack of supplies.
"You said there’s a price?" Alex asked.
"There is always a price, Glitch Hunter. Unless you've juicy political gossip to trade, we'll have to work out something else."
Alex wondered if he knew anything that might be worthwhile. He said, "Youlash has been killing Glitch Hunters. Officially, I mean, sending their army out to do it."
"You're certain?" Kationa said, looking intrigued. "We'd heard rumors, but we lacked any sort of confirmation. Do you have any idea how many?"
"I even have the bracer identifications of several. Glaive, Pike, Ranseur, Flail, Chakram and possibly Voulge."
Kationa let out a low whistle, sat down and stared off into the distance. "You've got my attention. Does the House of Bats have any idea as to why this is happening?"
Alex shrugged. "I'm new, having replaced the Glaive they killed. I haven't heard of a reason. That doesn't mean there isn't one."
"That is a lot of dead Glitch Hunters, some of who we had marked as being in their prime. How are they taking them down?"
Alex thought back to what he'd seen.
"Anti-magic manacles and burning alive. I've encountered bandits who hoped to sell some Glitch Hunters, and they had a mage working with them. I haven't seen that from the Youlash forces themselves."
Kationa scowled at that news, her fingers drumming against the table. She said, "We have appointed advisers for all royalty. Our consultant to King Devok hasn't been in communication for some time."
"You think he might be killing Glitch, House alignment or not?"
"We can't discount the possibility. It is reckless, if so. He has taken chances before and, as I already told you, he is not afraid of a little brutality when he thinks it is warranted."
"Interesting enough news to pay for my supplies?" Alex asked.
"Close enough that I'm convinced I can get the baroness to make up the difference on your behalf. Take them," Kationa said.
"I'd like to ask something else that has been on my mind. Yasmine?"
"You're wondering about the window incident?"
"I am. The one time I've really seen her lose her temper she burned cold, not hot," Alex said.
"You Glitch Hunters don't have heat inside of you."
"That’s a real thing?" Alex asked.
"It is. Once you become a Glitch, you take on some of the properties of the quintessence that defines you. We who thrive on purple become even more calculating, prone to getting lost in our thoughts and our schemes."
"And we get cold? Unfeeling?"
"You do. Even while a part of the living world, you become disassociated from it," Kationa said.
It was an interesting thought, and explained a lot of what Alex had been experiencing.
"Is it reversible?" Alex asked.
"Think of it like a current in the river. It wants to sweep you along. If you are strong and determined you can hold your place, or even move upstream."
"And the window story?"
Kationa tilted her head. "I was visiting the court of Duke Artonus. Yasmine at the time was his lover and had been for several months, handling the Glitch problems by day while keeping his bed warm at night. Clearly you've taken her example to heart with the baroness."
"It wasn't really my idea."
Kationa flashed a wry smile. "And I am not as disapproving as I sound. In truth, she needs the opportunity to let go and so far, you've not proved too objectionable. That is more than could be said for Yasmine."
"What happened?" Alex asked.
"A mad necromancer and his legions of the undead. Yasmine thought that she could handle the threat alone without the help of the army, and I disagreed."
"And that was enough for her to throw you out of a window?"
"I may have disagreed vigorously. I know that she was trying to save lives, but if she couldn't handle it, then the problem could quickly grow to unmanageable proportions."
"Who did the Duke listen to?" Alex asked.
"His lover, of course. Then Yasmine wound up buried beneath a collapsed tomb for a week while the undead army swelled its ranks in the villages—and when the army finally faced it, the undead were twice as strong."
"Did the army win?" Alex asked.
"They did. Without question, you Glitch Hunters are good at what you do, but you sometimes think you are the only ones who can kill Glitch. An army can be quite capable of doing the same," Kationa said.
"Given what’s happening in Youlash you'll hear no argument from me. I'm aware of what an army is capable of," Alex said.
"Good, it will help to keep you alive. Power like yours, like mine, can lull us into overconfidence. We think it makes us unstoppable. There is a large difference between strong and invincible."
"Do you mind if I use your equipment?" Alex asked.
"I hope that is not an incredibly awkward pickup line, but is rather a desire to do alchemy."
"Your line could be misconstrued as well. Not disinterested, but was really asking about the potions," Alex said.
Kationa waved a hand. "Help yourself. If you're willing to do the House of Towers some favors, I can see what I can do about finding you some potion recipes."
"I won't commit, but again, I'm not disinterested."
A few hours later his supplies were mostly replenished. Alex was still out of lightning rounds, but his potion-caster was loaded with a fresh supply of fire rounds.
23
“Made my first thousand Kor off Glitch Hunters. See, one of the fuckers died and I took his things and sold them to the next one to appear in exchange for a few jobs for the townsfolk. When they died, I did it all over. Fifth one figured it out and broke my nose. I love this business.” Overheard in a Blangosh tavern.
Alex checked in with the keep’s armorer and was told that his armor was still being repaired. Given that, and since he was still wounded, Alex figured he shouldn't get into any fights today, or at least nothing serious. There were a few other uses he could make of his time.
Alex had enough Experience to level-up again. Yasmine told him these first few shouldn't be too traumatic, but had warned how dangerous it was and to have someone watch his back. With Yasmine out of town that limited his options. Alex didn't think Jess a threat to him. However, her sheer noise level meant bracer communication was limited and maybe risked corrupting the upgrade. In fact, if he were going to do this in the keep at all, he needed Jess well out of the way. That really left him only one choice—Sabrina.
There was also some investigating he could do. Kationa mentioned the women who had gone missing in Falkirk —Alex could put time into figuring out what had happened to them. There was his money to pick up too.
Alex decided to seek out Sabrina first and ask if she was available and willing to assist him with the level-up. Sabrina agreed and they arranged to meet in her chambers. Jess was sent out into town for the day, shopping.
"Thank you for doing this," Alex said.
; "You needed someone you can trust. I am pleased you already think of me that way. Is there anything I need to do?" Sabrina asked.
"Not really. I just give my command to the bracer and it happens. I don't even think there should be a risk with this one, but I'm told it makes me vulnerable in some ways."
"Lie down on the bed and get comfortable."
Alex stretched out on his back and she took a seat beside him, holding his left hand between the two of hers. With a deep breath Alex pulled up his Experience interface.
Experience Interface
You have 17 Black
You have 1 Green
Cumulative XP: 33
Level 3 Requirements: 20
You are eligible for a level advancement
Alex issued the command to level-up.
It was worse than last time. Alex's vision seemed to fracture into a tiny thousand shards. The world became dark. There was a thread of melody here, rage and conviction just barely glimpsed at the edges of his perceptions. Then his reality came crashing back together.
Congratulations
You are now level 3
You have gained a new mechanic
Fury
During a fight you gain Fury based on damage dealt and taken. Fury will interact with your dissonance field in various ways to amplify damage and may result in unexpected effects.
Alex was coated in sweat and his limbs ached. Sabrina was still holding his hand, so he figured not that much time could have passed.
"I'm a little envious Glitch Hunter, that looked like one hell of a climax," Sabrina said.
"Didn't much feel like one. Thank you for watching me."
"Did you get anything good out of it? Here I am hoping to see some new muscles afterward."