The champion walked the dark streets home. He took some comfort in knowing that no one would be able to see him in his current condition. He also knew that tomorrow would be a new day, and he’d make everyone forget the events of tonight.
“How many people have you killed?” asked a voice by his right ear. He started turning, but stopped when he felt a steel tip piercing his back. “How many people have you killed?” the voice repeated.
“I … I don’t know. Look—“
“You don’t know because you can’t even keep track of how many, right?”
“I was just doing my job. If I didn’t do it—“
“No, you weren’t just doing your job. You enjoyed it. You can’t deny it. How many times did you kill your defenseless opponents tonight, and then brag about it?”
“It’s part of the show!”
“My friends seem to think that your humiliation is punishment enough for what you’ve done. I don’t. First chance you get, you’re going to go right back to doing that, aren’t you?”
“No,” the champion lied.
“Klavin’s a good man. A bit naïve, but still a good man. He didn’t deserve what you did to him, did he?”
“No,” the champion admitted.
“And you’re never going to do that to anyone else, ever again, right?”
“No,” the champion lied.
“Good. That’s all I wanted to hear. I’m glad we’re in agreement.”
The champion felt the pressure removed from his back, but remained still for several minutes. He finally dared to look behind, and found that he was alone. He chuckled, imagining tracking down the person who embarrassed him like this, and making him pay over and over.
The laughter stopped when he felt the knife being pushed into his back, and then pushed upward. He collapsed to the ground, never knowing for sure who it was who did this.
Maurya wiped the blade, stepped over the body, and walked away.
18
Vosko sat in the tavern, a beautiful woman on each arm, his hands helping themselves to whatever part of them they could reach. It was clear from their expressions that neither of them wanted to be there. His men milled about the room. One of the townspeople nervously stepped forward.
“You own this place?” Vosko asked. To him, one townsperson looked like another.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, sir.”
Vosko’s men laughed.
“So I hear you’ve run out of liquor,” Vosko accused.
The man stared at the floor. “Yes. I mean … yes, sir.”
“And how did you let that happen?”
The man hesitated. Of course, the honest answer would have been, “You and your men drank it all. You haven’t allowed us to leave this town, so we haven’t been able to get more. When the new supply comes tomorrow, you’ll probably drink that up by the end of the day as well.”
However, “I’m sorry, sir,” was what he actually said.
Vosko stood. The women were happy to finally get a break from him.
“You’re sorry?” he asked, feigning shock. “You’re sorry? What good does that do me? I don’t know how to tell you this but your town is boring. Boring. What am I supposed to do for fun?”
“Maybe we should start killing people,” one of his men suggested with a big grin on his face.
The tavern owner turned pale.
“Nah, not yet. I’m sure we can still squeeze a little fun out of this place. Hey, I’ve got an idea. Old man!”
The tavern owner, who wasn’t particularly old, nodded.
“Can you dance?”
“Not particularly well, no,” he answered honestly.
“Well that’s really a shame. I guess there’s no reason to keep you around then.”
“Oh, dance? I thought you said something else. Of course I can dance!”
Vosko smiled. “Good. Why don’t you show me what you’ve got.”
The man started dancing. It was painful to watch. He didn’t seem to be able to get the top of his body to move at the same time as his bottom. Every so often he swung his hips back and forth. Once he spun around, and got himself dizzy. Vosko frowned.
“No, this isn’t good at all. I’m going blind just from looking at you.”
“I’m sorry, um, sir. This is the best I can do.”
“Maybe I can help you out. You probably didn’t know this, but I happen to be a dance instructor.”
“You are?” the tavern owner asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
Vosko motioned and one of his men came over, handing him a crossbow. He loaded a bolt in its groove and pointed it at the tavern owner. Smirking, he lowered the weapon’s angle.
“Now, dance for me,” Vosko ordered, firing the bolt into the ground at the man’s feet. He hopped out of the way. “That’s more like it!” Vosko encouraged, loading the crossbow once again. The tavern owner found himself hopping from one foot to the other, and back and forth, to avoid getting shot. Meanwhile, Vosko and his men roared with laughter.
“I see the legends of your bravery don’t even begin to do you justice,” a voice behind them said.
Vosko dropped the crossbow and turned, seeing Klavin, Simko, and Maurya behind him. “Who are you?” he asked.
One of the men leaned in and whispered something to him. He laughed.
“You three are the ones my men just ran out of town? Seriously? And you came back for more?”
The room was filled with laughter. The tavern owner, not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, took advantage of the distraction to slip out.
“It won’t be the same as before,” Klavin said so matter-of-factly that it actually shook Vosko, although the rest of his gang continued laughing.
“How’d you get in here anyway? How’d you get past the men I stationed on the borders of town?” Vosko asked, partly to change the subject, and partly because he was truly curious how they did it.
“Oh, we saw your men. They suddenly decided they had better things to do than hang around here,” Klavin answered, drawing his sword. Vosko found that he couldn’t take his eyes away from it.
“Let me take care of them,” one of the thugs said, stepping forward. He was one of the two who had earlier demanded a tax for passing through town. A few seconds later, his partner joined him.
Vosko, grateful for the distraction, nodded.
“Let’s step outside,” the other thug said.
“No problem,” Klavin answered.
He, Simko, and Maurya left, followed by the two thugs. Vosko hoped his relief that those three, and especially that sword, were gone wasn’t evident to his men. Losing faith in their leader usually led to them getting a new one, and the old one winding up dead.
From outside they could hear the sound of weapons being drawn and metal clashing against metal. After about a minute, they also heard the sound of footsteps retreating into the distance. Vosko grinned, while his men laughed.
The door opened, and Klavin entered. Vosko’s grin immediately disappeared. Simko and Maurya followed him inside.
“What happened? Where are my men?” Vosko asked, not quite understanding what was happening here, but confident that it wasn’t good for him.
“Last I saw it looked like they were heading into Blistok Forest,” Klavin answered.
“Blistok Forest!? No one goes in there!” Vosko exclaimed, the fear evident in his voice. He noticed several of his men had stopped whatever they were doing to glance at him.
“Well, they did. I think there’s a good chance you’re going to join them, too,” Klavin said, smiling.
“It’s a shame, too. I hear there are some really vicious monsters in there,” Simko teased.
Vosko stared at Klavin. “Are you crazy? You outnumbered my men three to two, and probably got lucky against them. Can’t you count? Don’t you see how much we outnumber you by now?”
“It really doesn’t matter,” Klavin answered calmly.
S
urprisingly, the tavern owner returned, slipping in the back of the bar. He wasn’t alone.
“My men let you go the first time. You should have been grateful and stayed away. Just remember that you brought this on yourself. Take them!” Vosko ordered.
“Why don’t you do it yourself,” Klavin suggested.
Vosko looked around. His men were all watching him very carefully. He also noticed that a number of the townspeople were in the tavern as well. He wondered where they came from.
“Yeah, why don’t you do it yourself?” one of the thugs asked. Vosko tried to figure out which one it was, but couldn’t.
“No problem,” Vosko said, feigning bravery. He was pretty sure he wasn’t fooling anyone.
Klavin drew his sword. Vosko pulled a battle axe from behind his back. He glanced from the sword to the axe, and wondered why his weapon didn’t glow like the other one did.
“You’re not going to win this one,” Klavin said, once again so matter-of-factly that Vosko felt he had no choice but to agree.
“We’ll see about that,” he responded, hoping he didn’t sound as doubtful as he felt.
Vosko swung his axe, and saw a flash before his eyes. He looked at his weapon and saw that the top of the blade was sawed clean off. After scanning the room, he finally saw the missing piece sticking into the wall on the far end of the room. It was right above a terrified thug who was still bent over, afraid that something else might come flying his way.
He turned back to see the blade of Klavin’s sword pointed right at his neck.
“Okay,” he said. It was the only thing he could think to say.
“Why do you do it?” Klavin asked.
“Excuse me?” Vosko replied. He found himself becoming more and more confused by this encounter.
“I’ve heard all about you. What you do. What you do to people like these. Why do you do it?”
Vosko smirked, despite the danger he was apparently in. “Why not? These people are cowards. If they won’t do anything to defend themselves, then they deserve to have people like us come in and treat them like this. It’s just the way the world works.”
“Wrong answer,” Klavin warned.
“Like I care. We still outnumber you by a huge margin, and even with that weapon I don’t think you can beat us all at once. So let’s try this again. Men, take them!”
The men looked at each other. None of them particularly wanted to face this strange man with the even stranger sword, but at the same time none of them wanted to look weak in front of the others. Especially since they all figured Vosko’s days as leader, and possibly being alive, were numbered, and they still wanted to get a crack at his position. Besides, he was right that they had a serious numbers advantage, and as far as they could tell the two people with the swordsman were only good for standing around and watching.
As they stepped into battle, one felt a glass shatter against the back of his head right before blacking out. The man next to him turned to see what was happening, and ducked just as he saw another glass being thrown in his direction. As one the townspeople, who had seemed perfectly willing to act as spectators this whole time, swarmed the thugs who had taken over their town. Vosko watched in amazement as his men were taken down by this unarmed mob. He started to think that maybe extolling the virutes of outnumbering your enemy wasn’t such a good idea when there were so many more townspeople than there were his men.
He retreated to the safety of the two women he had been sitting with earlier, who strangely enough hadn’t fled. As soon as he got close one kicked him in the gut. He was quite sure the only reason that happened was because she had bad aim. Moments later the two of them were kicking and scratching at him until he could finally push himself away. He ran to the door and, without looking back, fled. His men, none of whom now seemed the least bit interested in taking over the role of leadership, decided that this was no longer a battle worth fighting and ran after him.
Minutes later they ran out of town. They kept running until they were surrounded by a thick forest. It didn’t seem that they were being followed. Vosko threw the remains of his battle-axe to the ground.
“Now what?” one of his men asked.
“We get out of here. There are other towns. We’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, but I’m not going back into that town.”
Vosko saw an opportunity, and wasn’t about to pass it up. “Well, I was thinking that we’d lay low for a while and then head back into Farbo and really teach those people a lesson, but if none of you are up to it, that’s fine with me.”
His men weren’t complete idiots. They knew exactly what he was doing. On the other hand, not one of them was going to suggest that they actually go back into that town for fear that he might actually get his wish.
Their only available course of action was going through the forest. For the sake of appearances, even though no one seemed to actually be watching them, they walked through at a casual pace. Once they started hearing branches cracking and leaves moving behind them, they decided to walk a little faster. After the large shadows started appearing, and getting closer, one would have thought they were competing in a race.
Several minutes behind them, Klavin, Simko, Maurya, and Talb made their way through the forest as well, once again on their way to Rha.
19
After a happily uneventful journey, they arrived at their destination. Once again, it was a town like any other.
“So where do we start looking?” Simko asked.
“I might have an idea,” Klavin responded, deep in thought.
When no answer seemed forthcoming, Simko prodded, “Well?”
“Rha is known for one thing. It’s partially surrounded by a small mountain range. Right in the middle, several of the mountains form a sort of ring,” Klavin said.
Maurya smiled. “I think I know where you’re going with this.”
“Well I don’t,” Simko said. “So can someone please tell me?”
“Haven’t you ever heard of the Floating Fortress of Venatros?” Klavin asked.
“Of course. Everyone has. It’s the one thing that this town is known for. Oh,” Simko said, realization apparently dawning on him. Or maybe not. “But I still don’t understand what that has to do with anything?”
Klavin sighed. “When we found Jord in Flant, he was in the form of a statue, right?”
“Right, I remember. It wasn’t exactly that long ago.”
“Yes, I know. I’m just trying to make a point. So Jord, whose element is earth, was found as a statue, which is made of earth.”
“Okay?”
“I’m thinking that if there’s a floating fortress here, there’s a good chance that its means of support has something to do with air. Air is somewhat synonymous with wind, right?”
“Sure. I guess.”
Klavin rolled his eyes. “I’m thinking that’s got to be a clue as to which Elemental Warrior is inside.”
“But can you really be sure that there is one in there?”
“No,” Klavin admitted. “There’s no way to even prove that there’s one hidden somewhere in this town. All we have to go by is the fact that Kliger made a point of stopping here before returning home.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, maybe Simko’s right. Maybe we should ask around town and see if there’s anything else that stands out,” Maurya suggested.
Klavin nodded in agreement, and they headed into town. After asking several passersby and getting no worthwhile information, they decided to head into a tavern. Maurya knew there was usually plenty of information to be had in places like this if you had enough money … or were lucky enough to find someone who had enough alcohol in him. To their surprise, an old man sitting in the back of the room seemed very happy to see them and decided to call them over.
“Ah, welcome adventurers! Welcome! I have a treasure map for you!” he exclaimed, and they approached his table.
“A treasure map?” Simko asked, greed evident in his eyes.
“And how much will this map cost us?” Simko asked suspiciously.
The old man looked shocked. “Cost? Oh no, you completely misunderstand. I wish to give you this map. No strings attached. You could bring me a share of the treasure if you’d like, but it’s not necessary. I certainly won’t be expecting you to return,” he added with a smirk. To everyone’s surprise, he pulled a piece of canvas from, and rolled it out on the table.
“And is this treasure guarded by a dragon? Or by an army of the undead? Or do we have to travel to some other plane of reality to retrieve it?” Klavin asked.
“No. It’s just waiting for you.”
“So you’re telling us that you’ve got a map to some great treasure that isn’t even guarded, and you want to just give it to us?” Maurya asked.
“Er … yes,” the old man responded, feeling he was losing control of the situation.
“Then why don’t you come with us, and we can split the reward evenly among the five of us?” Maurya suggested. She decided to add, “After all, it’s not like there’s a gang waiting for us at the final destination, prepared to take every last thing we have, right?” She smiled at him.
“Please, I’m just an old man,” he protested, attempting to look frail.
“Save it for another group of fools. However, since you’re obviously a bit more than you seem, you might still be able to help us after all,” Maurya said.
“Wait. Is that a treasure map or not?” Simko asked, obviously not quite able to keep up with the conversation.
The old man ignored him. “What do you have in mind?” he asked, stroking his chin.
“We just want information,” Maurya said.
The old man grinned. “Ah. I assume you know that information doesn’t come cheap.”
“Of course we know that. However, I think you owe us.”
“How so?”
“We should have killed you for that stunt you just tried to pull. I’d say a little information is the least you can give to pay us back.”
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