by Kimbro West
“What? What did you say about my brother?”
Heinrich turned and strutted away, his hands behind his back as if he had not a care in the world. The boys looked at each other, confused. Availia put her hand on Ethan’s shoulder.
“What do you think he meant by that?” asked Ethan, still upset over the comment.
“Not sure; but it sounds like he may know where your brother is,” replied Availia.
“Yeah, but no way he’s gonna say … it’s pretty obvious he hates us,” replied Auren.
“Hates me anyways,” said Ethan.
“Don’t look now, but here comes pasty again,” said Auren, looking over his shoulder. Availia looked over and saw Stanley headed in their direction, and she promptly smacked Auren in the back of the head. “Ow, what was that for?!”
Availia looked upset. “His name is Stanley!” she said, appalled.
“All right, you don’t have to hit me ya lunatic, I just forgot his name is all!”
The pale boy wandered past and leaned against the adjacent building, looked down, and stared at his shoes. He started to play with the hole in his shirt.
“Hey there — Stanley!” called out Ethan. Stanley looked up at the three and smiled. “Do you have a few minutes to show us around then?”
In his haste, Stanley tripped over his own feet. “Yyy … yyy … ngh …” he stuttered, then finally nodded.
“Sounds good then,” answered Auren. “Can you show us where to get some armor? We’re the only idiots who didn’t bring any.”
“We aren’t all idiots,” stated Availia, smiling.
“What do you mean?”
“My sister has mine, I just have to go pick it up.”
“You have armor?” asked Auren, jealous.
“Of course, I came here to join the Guard, didn’t I?” shrilled Availia, getting ready to smack Auren in the shoulder this time. Auren put his hands up in submission.
“Ok, ok … sorry,” he pleaded.
“Well, we may need armor too. Stanley, do you know where we can look for some armor?” asked Ethan.
Stanley nodded again and pointed back toward the market district. He smiled, and started in that direction. Ethan, Auren and Availia paused for a moment.
“Looks like it’s that way then,” said Auren smartly. It was apparent by his pace that Stanley wasn’t going to wait up, so the trio ran to catch up with him.
Chapter 12
Ordo Electus
“Djinn!” screamed a voice. Stanley stopped in his tracks as a hooded figure pointed directly at the group. Auren walked right into the back of Stanley and stepped on the heels of his shoes. Stanley looked down and inspected his shoes, as if to ensure they were alright.
“You know, this is really getting annoying — you people calling him names!” yelled Auren, attracting passersby. Availia seemed impressed that Auren was standing up for Stanley.
“Djinn! Djinn!” yelled the figure, still pointing. The group could now see that the hooded figure was a wrinkled old woman. Her twisted face had a faded tattoo that encircled both eyes, which themselves were milky and disturbing to look at. Ethan would have thought her to be blind if she wasn’t pointing right at them.
“I don’t think she’s talking to Stanley. I think she’s … talking to you, Ethan,” muttered Availia. Indeed, Stanley took a step to the side, and it became clear that the old hooded woman was pointing directly at Ethan.
“Me?” Ethan took several steps forward to study the old woman. Her teeth were rotten, her robe was filthy, and she had a particular odor of something spoiled. The smell was like one of Wegnel’s experimental mystery pastes gone awry.
“I know … you speak for the dead,” continued the woman.
Ethan examined the tattoo more closely. It looked decorative but very strange. “I don’t speak for anybody,” stated Ethan. “Do you recognize me?”
“Yes …”
“So you’re talking about Ethan’s twin brother then,” interrupted Auren.
“No, him,” answered the old woman, pointing at Ethan’s face.
“You can buy armor over there,” stated the old woman. Not breaking eye contact, she swung her pointed finger at a small building to Ethan’s left. “But you …” She stuck her finger back at Ethan’s forehead. “…won’t need it — what you want is behind you.” She turned and walked around a corner toward the alleyway of the armor shop.
“Wait!” Ethan dashed around the corner, but the old woman had disappeared. “That was strange,” he said to himself.
“What the heck is ‘djinn’ anyways?” asked Auren.
“Sssss, nnggh … spirit,” answered Stanley. “Nnnggh, ngghh … dead,” he added, playing with the hole in his shirt again.
“Dead?” whispered Ethan to himself. He stood in the walkway motionless. The thought of his brother being dead had crossed his mind, but he didn’t like to dwell on it.
“She looked a bit shallow in the eyesight department, maybe she was talkin’ to you, Stanley,” ventured Auren.
“No … at least, not unless Stanley has a twin brother too — think she meant me for sure,” responded Ethan.
“Well, let’s pick out some armor then, before it’s all gone” said Auren, smiling while pointing at the armor shop.
The four looked up at the armor shop, only to see a sign in the window that read ‘Sold Out.’
“Sold out?” whined Auren as he stomped his feet.
“What you want is behind you,” murmured Ethan.
“What?!” asked Auren.
“That’s what the old woman said, ‘what’s behind you,’” answered Availia. “Look! There! We must’ve walked right past it.” Availia was pointing at a small rickety cart in the middle of the road. There were small metal objects hanging from it, and an old man was leaning against the cart appearing to be half-asleep.
“Is that … a pinch-shackle?” inquired Ethan.
“They sell them on carts?!” chuckled Auren. “This place is great! Need to control some weird creature? You can sit and wait for a cart to drive by and — there you go!”
Ethan pulled the large pinch-shackle out of his pack and dropped it on the small wooden table attached to the cart. It made a loud clank when it hit the table, which startled the old man.
“What! What do you want? Scram!”
“Actually, we need to ask you a few questions about this device,” announced Ethan.
“Questions?” grumbled the old man. “You gonna buy something?”
“Well, no …” started Ethan. The man gave Ethan a dirty look, but Availia intervened.
“I’m with Tanbe Trading — we only order in quantity, but before we place such a large order, we’ll be checking with your competitors first,” stated Availia smoothly.
“Competitors?” chuckled the old man. “I don’t have any … competitors — so you’ll be stuck with me, I’m afraid.” He opened a drawer on his cart and pulled out a pair of spectacles. He wiped the lenses with his shirt and slid them on his face. “Let’s take a look then.” He lifted the pinch-shackle to his face and readjusted his glasses to examine the device more closely. Suddenly, he dropped it back on the table. “Where did you get this?” he demanded.
“Did you make it?” asked Ethan.
“I’ll be asking the questions around here, sonny,” groused the old man.
Auren couldn’t hold his tongue. “Listen here, unless you want to be a part of an investigation started by the King himself, I suggest you start talking!”
“Now hold on just a second,” placated the man. “Some bandit had me make this bloody thing!”
“So you did make it?” pressed Availia.
“Yeah. This stranger wanted to control something rather large. He said it would be next to impossible, but promised me that if it worked he would pay a hefty price for it — haven’t heard from him since.”
“Who was this stranger?” asked Ethan.
“Not sure, never saw his face — he wore a cloak and only
came ‘round at night,” answered the old man.
“So you custom-made and delivered one of these things to an unidentified man that promised to pay you … if it worked?” asked Auren disbelievingly.
“Don’t judge me, boy. It was hard times back then — didn’t sell anything for months … had to take a chance.”
“Well then, tell us about this pinch-shackle. What kind of creature was the man going to use it for? What does this symbol mean?” insisted Availia.
“You already know what it was being used for, otherwise you wouldn’t be here … werewolf,” answered the man. “I told him it wouldn’t be easy, it probly wouldn’t work, unless …”
“Unless what?” asked Ethan.
“Unless he was an alchemist … a darn good one too,” he continued. “That symbol has certain alchemical properties. The trick is to use something else, like a ring or necklace, with the same symbol and alchemical properties. Then, maybe, you can get some type of control over a creature such as that — but still, not likely.”
“So you made him some type of ring then?” asked Auren.
“Of course not! I gave him the recipe to make his own — not in the business of making jewelry. Besides … this way I’m not liable. I only sell the shackle — just the shackle. By itself, the thing may as well be a dog collar.”
***
Ethan was getting tired. Stanley had taken them to nearly every armor shop in the city. Most were out of affordable armor, while others had inexpensive armor that simply would not fit. As evening descended, they approached the last armor shop in the city, only to find another sign on the front window stating it was ‘Sold Out.’
“With everyone trying to get into the Guard, we’ll never find armor,” sighed Auren. “You’d think we could find something! Used, dumpy old armor … anything!” Auren plopped down in front of the sold-out armor shop and slumped his head down. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed again.
“You do know that we only need to be in the Guard to get access to the records department, right?” asked Ethan as he looked down at Auren.
“Well, yeah …of course I know that.”
“It’s just, you seem to be taking this a bit serious — don’t ya think?”
Auren raised his head. “Well, maybe. Just wanna have another chance to best Marcus is all. He’s such an idiot. But besides that, I’m excited to see what number I’ll get picked … you know, in the lottery.”
“Yeah, I do know. We won’t need armor to find that out,” answered Ethan.
“But you do need it for the first day of class,” reminded Availia.
“It’s not even that. Just the thought of getting my own armor, going to classes, learning how to fight — being a part of something, ya know? I don’t think being in the Guard would be so bad — as long as Marcus wasn’t there, that is.” Auren stood up. “I bet I get picked in the top ten. A big guy like me, had a fair showing in the youth sword competition — I’m bound to get …”
“You were out in the third round,” reminded Availia.
“Isn’t that good?” argued Auren.
“Not really, no.”
“But I lost to the winner.”
“So did I.”
“But I made it one round further than …”
This annoyed Ethan. “You guys, I don’t think this is gonna get us closer to getting some armor, maybe if we …”
Just then a loud bell echoed throughout the city.
“What was that?”
“Nghhh nghhh ngh … the, nghhh … results,” stuttered Stanley.
“Results?” asked Ethan. “Oh! The results of the Electus have been posted?”
Stanley nodded and motioned for them to follow. The four made their way through the market district and toward the orientation building. There were hundreds of would-be students standing on the cobblestone, surrounding a large board on the side of the building. Auren tried forcing his way through the crowd, but every time he pushed his way forward, someone would budge back in front of him. He started to make his way back to his friends when a small commotion broke out at the opposite side.
“Clear the way — now!” yelled Marcus. A small path opened, allowing him to approach the board. He walked through the crowd, bumping shoulders with anyone who was slightly in his way. He looked up at the board for a moment, turned, and smiled. “I was selected number one, by none other than Heinrich himself,” said Marcus in a cocky voice. As he strode back through the crowd, he noticed the four waiting to get a look at the board.
“You won’t see your names up there!” he taunted. “I had you removed from the Electus … all of you!”
Just then two figures emerged from the orientation building. The first one pushed the door so hard it nearly came off its hinges; it was Heinrich. The second figure Ethan didn’t recognize. He was an older man, a bit portly, and had small spectacles tucked in the front pocket of his white dress shirt. He was wearing a black jacket that hung nearly to the ground.
“Not exactly!” proclaimed the portly man as he approached Ethan and companions. “You must be Ethan Wright.”
“Yeah,” answered Ethan.
“My name is Edison Rupert. I will be your professor.”
Heinrich forced his way through the crowd, bumping shoulders with Edison as he passed.
“Marcus! Grab the others and get to quarters, now!” spat Heinrich, in an obvious outrage. Marcus checked the board, grabbed the three other selections made by Heinrich and followed him down the street toward the spire.
“I am afraid things didn’t exactly go according to Heinrich’s plan,” stated Edison, his wrinkled cheeks glowing from the chilled evening air. He leaned forward and shook hands with Ethan. “It is my absolute pleasure to finally meet you, Ethan.”
“You too … what didn’t go according to plan?”
“Oh, Heinrich withdrew your names from contention in the Electus,” answered Edison. “I was number twenty-six, you see.”
“Twenty-six!” yelled Auren. “That means I was selected twenty-sixth overall, that’s … that’s fantastic!”
Edison leaned over to Auren, whose face was now alight with admiration over the professor’s last comment. “Auren Faryndon, is it? I, ahh … picked you second,” revealed Edison.
“So … fifty-second?”
“No, my boy, twenty-seventh if you must know. I get the last choice in the first round, but the first choice in the second round, and so forth. But order was not important in this case.” Edison grabbed the spectacles out of his front pocket and wiped the lenses. He placed them on his face so they straddled the tip of his nose, in order to get a better look at Ethan.
“So if Heinrich removed us from contention, how were you able to pick us at all?” inquired Ethan.
“And, I thought there were only twenty-five teachers in the Electus, not twenty-six,” added Availia.
“Ah yes. Availia, youngest sister in the Tanbe family. I felt absolutely thrilled to get you in the third round. If your name hadn’t been removed from the list, you would have placed midway in the first round for certain!”
“Sir, how is it we got in the Guard?” asked Ethan again.
“My boy … you’re not in the Guard. What a waste of talent that would have been!” exclaimed Edison, while pushing his spectacles all the way up his nose, removing them and then placing them back in his front pocket.
“What?” asked Ethan.
“I came out of retirement as the twenty-sixth member of the Electus to reopen the school of alchemy. You’re going to be an alchemist.”
“WHAT?” yelled Auren. “You mean, like Wegnel?”
“Well maybe not that good, we will see though, you know … no promises,” answered Edison, smiling.
“So a retired alchemist professor is going to teach us … what exactly?” asked Availia. “I have trained with a sword for the past six years.”
“Oh, swords are most useful, and it was more like an extended sabbatical than official retirement, it
should be fun really, don’t you think?”
“Yeah … fun,” answered Auren, sighing again.
“Well, it will be for me anyhow. Let’s see. I picked the twin brother of the most famous hero in the land, the son of Ghislain the mighty, and the younger sister to one of the best strategists and swordsmen … or should I say swordswomen that this city has ever seen!”
“But that’s only three, don’t the rules say that you need four?” asked Auren.
“You certainly know your stuff, Auren. I was particularly proud of my fourth selection; it took countless nights of research. I like to think of it as sort of a long shot. And it works out perfectly because he was in the school of alchemy before it closed down, he can’t die, and he is standing right beside you — so I don’t have to go looking for him … see … perfect!”
“Stanley?” asked Auren.
“I know, Auren, you may be thinking about the rules again, but I checked into it. Since he was put into this half-dead stasis, he technically hasn’t aged a day, and therefore, isn’t too old to join, it’s simply perfect!” exclaimed Edison, clenching his hands together with a grin. “I think the only thing better than my four most perfect selections is Heinrich being angry about it!”
“And why would he get angry about it?” asked Ethan.
“Probably because he didn’t get his way, or that you will not be under the jurisdiction of the Guard — who knows for sure,” he answered as he motioned for his students to follow him. “Now then, it will get dark soon; we have to arrange for quarters. Since I just got here, and most everything was taken, we will have to settle for the school itself, at least for now.”