The Grey Ghost: Book Two of the Archaic Ring Series

by Reed R. Stevens

  The four of them sat on one of the many stone benches that surrounded the waterworks, most of which were occupied. They rested for a while, occasionally commenting on things that caught their interest as they happily observed the bustling square.

  “Hey, isn’t that Kam?” Jason said.

  Nolan peered into the crowd. Sure enough, the merchant’s son was making his way into their line of sight. “Kam!”

  The young man didn’t seem to hear him, so Nolan ran over and tapped him on the arm.

  Kam flinched. “So it was you guys.” He turned to the others. “Hello everyone.”

  “Are you unwell?” said Nyla.

  It was hard not to notice the change in Kam’s appearance. His black hair was greasy and unkempt, his weary eyes bloodshot. He was still dressed in the same clothing that he’d been wearing when they parted ways, but the blue silk of his tunic was torn in two spots and smeared with mud, the creamy laces that had hugged his neckline now missing.

  “I…had a bit too much to drink last night.” As if to confirm his statement, his breath smelled strongly of stale alcohol.

  Nolan couldn’t help but remember the locket that he’d been polishing in the carriage. “Is everything okay? We were thinking of getting some drinks, you should come.”

  Kam gave a grateful smile but shook his head. “Maybe another time. I need to speak to my father. It’s best that I head home. Good day.” He turned his back and left abruptly, drawing a pitiful picture as his drooping figure disappeared into the crowd.

  “Don’t forget about the tournament!” Nolan called after him. “Be at the warrior’s statue right before the match, we’ll have a ticket for you!”

  “That was weird.” Jason spoke up a moment later. “What’s up with him, you think?”

  “I’ve got a guess.” Nolan spoke his mind regarding the deceased healer that Kam had supposedly been close to.

  “I had similar thoughts,” said Nyla.

  Jason frowned, his big eyes filled with sympathy.

  Quin suddenly strode toward the nearest street. “I’m hungry.”

  “Same.” Nolan caught up to him.

  “But we just ate,” Jason said. He and Nyla followed after them.

  After searching around for a while they managed to find a decent restaurant. Mounted candelabras spread across the purple walls, lending the room a dim yet comfortable ambience that was soft on the eyes. Dozens of people occupied most of the heavy wooden tables and chairs, their lacklustre clothing a hint that the place was a lower class establishment. A server came and took their order, returning with two trays of food a short while later.

  Nolan picked at his food as he listened in on the conversations around him. He’d been eavesdropping on people all throughout the day in an attempt to piece together a greater understanding of society in this land. He learned more in the previous restaurant than he had in all other places combined, so he didn’t mind spending another hour in such a setting.

  While the people complained about taxes and crime, they only spoke words of praise when discussing the city lord, the apparent ruler of Greenwall. From what he heard this man was a very proactive leader that rarely remained within his palace at the centre of the city, a man constantly absorbed in matters of administration. Apparently a good number of nobles had been harassing commoners as of late, and that the fair ruler was in the midst of dispensing justice for his citizens.

  “You hear what happened in Brimhaven?” one man had said. “Another village destroyed, adults refined and kids all missin’.”

  “That blasted sect again, hmm?”

  “It’s the tenth village to fall in half a year. Humph, thank the gods we don’ live there, eh?”

  Similar topics were surfacing on the other end of the room.

  “More farmhouses found empty in Maen,” a woman uttered while spooning a serving of tomato soup past a pair of chapped lips. “There’s also talk that they found dozens of hamlets completely deserted in the western side of the kingdom.”

  “Did they catch ‘em?”

  “What do you think?” the woman snapped. “They never catch them. Not there.”

  What Nolan wanted to hear most was news of the people of Earth, which was a hot topic no matter where they went. Interspatial Migrations were a very big deal in this world, and rightly so. The population of an entire planet was suddenly transported to another—who wouldn’t talk about such a bizarre phenomenon?

  Rumours about the feeble Otherworlders had spread like wildfire to all corners of the continent. Hundreds of encounters had been reported throughout the kingdom, most of which ended in tragedy for those from Earth. It was difficult to believe these rumours, at least some of them. Not even a thousand people from Earth had been found in Verdure after all these weeks? He’d seen a few maps of the kingdom while shopping earlier, knew that the province of Flora was larger than modern day France. On the day of the Interspatial Migration, he’d bumped into several people both dead and alive, and that was within a single forest. Had so few people survived long enough to encounter the locals?

  They paid for their meal and began making their way back to the inn, though they had to stop when a trio of ornate carriages rolled down the middle of the street. Everyone stopped and bowed their heads, though things reverted back to normal after a minute.

  Nolan did his best not to think too deeply into things, though eating out at a presentable restaurant had revived many lost memories of his childhood, fond recollections of the days when his family was still functional. Such thoughts stayed on his mind even after Nyla and Quin had retired to their room, and he and Jason had gone to bed, smoke still trailing up from their extinguished candles.

  Jason was snoring lightly beneath his blankets, his honest face more rugged and worn in the lamplight than ever before. Many stress lines filled his face, which had thinned out along with the rest of his body, with no traces of the pudgy youth that Nolan had come to know in recent months.

  He smiled as he recalled a memory from another lifetime. Back when he was fourteen, he and his best friend Kyle had been jumped by a few guys that’d tried to push him around the day before. Earlier, he’d fended them off without much trouble and only earned himself a bloody nose in the process. That day, however, they’d come back with a bunch of their buddies. In such a situation Nolan normally wouldn’t have hesitated to sprint away at his fastest pace, but one of the guys had put Kyle in a headlock almost immediately.

  Kyle wasn’t a strong guy, nor was he tough in any sense. Even so, was that reason enough to abandon him? Nolan had been frantic at the sight of his best friend getting choked out while another guy sent punch after punch into his exposed gut. He hadn’t hesitated to fight his way through a downpour of punches and kicks to try to get to Kyle. He’d been knocked out and then mob stomped before he could do more than take down a couple of guys, but at least he hadn’t let his friend down, nor himself. That was the first time he’d been hospitalized after getting jumped. Kyle never forgot what he did for him.

  Nolan smiled bitterly as he remembered that day. That feeling of being cornered, it had become frustratingly familiar in recent weeks. Every time they got into trouble, he’d have to be the one to deal with it. But so what? True friends lived and died together.

  Kyle…I wonder how you’re doing? Though his blankets were thick, Nolan felt quite cold. I hope you’re safe, man. I hope you’re all safe.

  Time passed slowly within the moonlit room as worries of bandits and the murderous members of the Bloodhand Sect dominated Nolan’s thoughts. Mixed in with these anxieties were memories of his family and all of the strange things that he’d encountered since his last night in Collinsville.

  I’d even be happy to see one of those fuckers that robbed Thomas.

  At this point he was pretty sure that everyone he’d known up until the Interspatial Migration was dead. With all of the dangers of his day-to-day lifestyle, he hadn’t had time to properly mourn them, or even reminisce more than once in a b
lue moon. Lying there in silence, he was hit by the full force of the fact that his entire family had died, and all of his friends and acquaintances too.

  Just how the hell am I supposed to handle this?

  After his saint of a grandmother had passed away, he’d been devastated for weeks, months even. If losing one person caused him such trauma, then why wasn’t he able to shed a single tear at the thought of his family’s demise? He felt empty, as if something were suppressing his emotions.

  Thinking of Kyle had reminded him of his first girlfriend, Rebecca, who was actually the former’s cousin. They’d dated for a few months at the end of the eighth grade, nothing too serious but his first taste of romance nonetheless. Her family had abruptly moved away in the summer before high school and just like that, he’d never seen her again. She hadn’t hinted so much as a single word toward her family relocating to another city, which had bothered him up until the day of the Interspatial Migration.

  He let out a wistful sigh. With heavy thoughts weighing down on his mind, he slowly began to slip into a silent sleep. Just as he was about pass out he noticed a slight fluctuation of warmth within his body, which began to condense around the centre of his chest. A small amount of the inner essence within his dantian was slowly disappearing, a thin stream of dazzling energy that trickled into the rocky surface of the stone ring.

  Chapter Seven: Mortal Enemy

  Late into the following morning, Nolan was one of a few dozen people that hung around the inn’s decently sized lobby. He sat at a wooden table with half a loaf of bread in one hand and a metal mug of tea in the other. Jason had opted to sleep in, so Nolan had come downstairs to meet Nyla and Quin. They usually woke up at around the same time so he didn’t feel like he would be waiting long once he discovered that he was the first to make his way to the common area.

  To his initial delight he discovered that breakfast was complimentary for patrons of the inn, though after helping himself to a serving he couldn’t help but feel a bit ripped off.

  What is this, rationing? Wasn’t this supposed to be the best inn of the city’s southern district? The bread was decently hard, the tea bitter and unsavory.

  He observed the other guests as he ate the simple meal, recalling the strange discovery he’d made in his final moments of consciousness the night before. I’ve been feeling kind of groggy every morning. Has the ring been taking some of my inner essence while I’m asleep? He’d woken up to find that around ten percent of his energy had been depleted since he’d gone to sleep. Evidently such a modest amount was just enough to escape his notice, as any resultant lethargy could easily be mistaken for the residual effects of slumber.

  As soon as he’d cracked his eyes open that morning he had focused a large amount of energy to gather beside his heart in an effort to earn any sort of reaction from the ring. All that he managed to do was piss away the better half of an hour.

  Although he was growing more proficient at manipulating inner essence, his control and handling was crude at best. Condensing the peculiar energy was the core aspect of its proper utilization, a concept that he would have to familiarize himself with if he ever planned on mastering any martial skills.

  Pouring energy into the ring proved a surprising method of practicing his ability to control the inner essence within him, and so he silently promised to make a habit of it. The ring wouldn’t absorb energy for no reason and as far as he was aware it only had one function. There was a good chance that the ring might be able to teleport him back to that desolate glade if he managed to feed enough energy into it.

  Nolan’s eyes flashed with eagerness as he swallowed down the last bit of his bread.

  “Good morning, Nolan.”

  “Morning.” He’d noticed Nyla come down the stairs a few minutes ago, but she hadn’t seen him. She’d gone to stand in the short line where guests could order a serving of bread and tea to their tables, only she seemed to have been given her food directly.

  “Where’s Jason?”

  “In bed. What about Quin?”

  “He was in such a deep sleep, I couldn’t wake him.” She glanced at the tea in his hands. “You also heard of the complimentary breakfast?”

  She also had a piece of bread and a mug of tea, except her plate had a hunk of cheese and two strips of dried meat as well. Looking over, Nolan saw that the front desk employee from the day before was now taking the breakfast orders.

  Nyla followed his gaze and smiled. “Free is free.”

  He let out a light laugh. “So how long do you think Quin will be sleeping?”

  “All afternoon.” She offered him one of the meat strips, which he gladly accepted. “He kept saying that it’s been far too long since he’s had a proper bed. He plans to spend most of the day at rest.”

  “I don’t blame him. It’s been a while since we could relax.”

  She smiled slightly, a brief silence setting in. After a minute, she said, “I noticed you didn’t buy any robes yesterday. You prefer tunics and trousers?”

  He was wearing one of the several sets of clothing he’d bought the day before, a pair of grey trousers and a black tunic. The former was basically a loose pair of sweat pants, the latter an oversized T-shirt fastened at the waist by a simple belt with a brass buckle. His leather boots were sturdy yet flexible, and he’d picked out the pair of stockings that most resembled a pair of socks.

  “It’s closer to how people dressed in my world, at least where I was from.” He looked her over. “What about you? You never wore dresses back in Redfox Village, but did you buy anything else yesterday?”

  “Most people in the plains region wore pelts and furs, so I did the same.” Her face softened. “Would you believe that I’d never worn anything other than dresses up until the day I left the Southern Plains?”

  “Really? What were you, some sort of princess or—” Nolan was hit by an obvious reality. Nyla’s father had been the ruler of an independent city with a population of more than a hundred thousand people. Only the larger cities of Earth’s ancient world could reach such a size. As the daughter of the city’s ruler she should have held a position somewhat similar to that of a princess. “Only dresses, huh?”

  “That was long ago, at least it seems so.” She tugged at her dress, a simple design like all the others she’d bought. The ash-coloured fabric reached down to her knees, the soft material giving off a silvery sheen. “It’s a nice change.”

  “I agree.”

  She gave a weak smile. “I see no point in waiting around for Jason and my brother. Shall we set off?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “There’s still so much to see.” Her eyes brightened at the prospect. “The northern, western and central plazas, the business district, the city lord’s palace, the Emerald Keep…”

  After Nyla spent quite some time listing off places that she intended to visit throughout the city, Nolan couldn’t help but conceal a sigh. He’d just wanted to see a few sights, visit some nearby shops and then head home before dinnertime. Now that Nyla was roping him into a city-wide exploration, it was beginning to look like it would be a long day.

  “Nolan?”

  “Coming.”

  The two of them left the inn and started off toward to their first destination, a great silver monument in the southern district. It wasn’t hard to find since it was just off of the main road that led to the city centre.

  The statue was located in a large plaza that was alive with the bustling of several hundred people. Dozens of food stalls had been set up around the mass of gleaming metal, with plenty of benches spread all throughout of the area.

  They took a seat near the statue and nibbled on some skewers of meat that they’d purchased at a nearby stall as they marvelled at the splendor of the meticulous craftsmanship before them.

  A bit shorter than the bronze warrior that stood guard by the southern gate, the statue was apparently constructed of pure, reinforced silver. It depicted a modest young woman in a flowing dre
ss, barefoot amidst a patch of dazzling flowers that might have been picked from the surrounding fields. Her smile was bittersweet, like the withered lily that drooped lifelessly in her right hand.

  “They say a former city lord had this statue built to honour his lover after she’d been killed during the fall of a former kingdom.” Nyla’s voice held pity and sympathy. “I wonder if that was Mour?”

  “You know a lot about Greenwall.”

  “A friend of my father’s spent quite a bit of time here. He often brought back gifts for me and my siblings. Since I was the only one who enjoyed reading, all of the books went to me. Most of them were related to the city, though a few others had information about the province of Flora as a whole.”

  It was a beautiful day, a gentle breath of wind sweeping through the streets as a strong sun looked down upon the city with a warm gaze, the sole occupant in a bare sky bereft of clouds. Rays of light lit up the statue like a beacon, which cast the lustrous metal in a cloak of near-blinding radiance.

  Nolan squinted. “Is that a Heartrending Lily?”

  “I’m not sure. Apparently that city lord suicided after the king forbade him from leading an army out to take revenge. He filled a coffin with poisonous flowers and laid himself to rest within his family catacombs without telling anybody else. It was his son that found him.”

  “That’s grim.” He stared at the statue’s forlorn expression. “Damn it, that’s all I can think about now. Can we go somewhere that doesn’t have such a tragic backstory?”

  A long while later they found themselves traversing the busy atmosphere of the business district. This section of the city was divided into various large streets that each catered to a certain customer base. Tailors, armourers, alchemists, cobblers; all professions had designated streets where they were known to operate. The closer an establishment was to the city centre on its respective street, the higher its quality and reputation, and in many cases, the larger its size.