Barely a moment after stepping through the portal, I was consumed by darkness, Just as when I’d entered the dungeon. I was subjected to an infinite sense of agony in the distance between entering and exiting the portal, my sense of time and space and self expanding and contracting with the rhythm of my heartbeat. One beat, two, three, and I staggered from the portal’s exit to find myself outside the dungeon’s silver gates, several surprised association guards glaring at me. Recalling how I’d entered the dungeon, I did my best to put on a pleasantly casual air, smiling and waving at the guards and hoping they wouldn’t recognize me as I strode forward at an even pace.
“Hold there,” a vaguely familiar guard with a captain's knot on his shoulder said, holding up a hand and stepping into my path. He held his hand out as if expecting me to give him something. When all I did was lift a brow at the gesture he cleared his throat and continued. “Forgive me miss, but we need to search your packs before we can allow you to re-enter the city.”
“Oh,” I said, forcing out an awkward laugh as I scratched the back of my head and thought fast. “Of course, how could I have forgotten? Here you go.” I slid my pack from my shoulder, now empty of anything but a handful of meat cubes and some basic travel gear, and handed it to the man.
“And your association card?” The captain asked, frowning down at the near empty pack.
“I lost it,” I blurted before I could think. “Got eaten by a meatcube that took me by surprise. The little fucker took my finger too.” I held up my missing middle digit as evidence, but the man only continued to frown at me.
“Miss, I’m sorry, but I’m going to need you to come with me.”
My heart raced as the captain reached towards me, my mind spinning, wondering how I’d messed up, then I remembered, I was blessed.
In a blur, I pulled my still-sheathed rapier from my belt and slammed its pommel up into the man’s chin. His eyes rolled up in his skull as he crumpled forward and I took a step back to avoid his crashing form. The other guards all shouted and began to draw their weapons, but I was already running, flashing them a rude gesture with my one remaining middle finger.
“The hare was the fastest of all the forest animals,” I said, focusing the spell on myself, using the buff to nearly double my speed as I disappeared into the labyrinth of back alleys that made up the city proper. The guards, who all no doubt had only lesser blessings from the minor arcana, never stood a chance of catching up to me.
Once I was certain they were no longer on my trail I ducked into a nearby apothecary and tried to get my bearings. I was somewhere near the sanitation district based on the smell outside. After questioning the startled woman behind the counter and buying some flowers in apology for my abrupt entry, I knew where to go. To Tito’s emporium of entirely functional weaponry because, apparently, that smell was me, not the sanitation district.
Why Titos? Because I didn’t have enough to pay the entry fee for the bathhouses and Tito was the only shopkeep I knew who might buy materials from an illegal adventurer. About five minutes of walking later, the bell hanging above Tito’s door gave a soft ting-a-ling as I entered the small back alley shop, followed by a loud crash as a pile of adequately maintained equipment collapsed in the armor half of the store, silencing the handful of customers inside.
“Just a moment,” the grendling’s gravelly voice called from somewhere amongst the chaos, coupled with several grunts and the groaning of steel grinding against steel. A few moments later he was stumbling out into the main aisle, lop ears draping behind his diminutive form as the bulb stalks atop his head bobbed in an imitation of hair.
“How might I be of assistance to you today, miss?” he asked, giving me that familiar shark-toothed grin and clasping his three-fingered hands before him.
Experiencing a massive amount of deja vu, I returned the grin with a more subdued smile. “Nice to see you again, Tito. Actually, I was looking to replace some of my equipment and maybe sell you some monster parts?”
The grendling shopkeeper nodded at my request. “Of course, miss. It would be my pleasure. Forgive me if I don’t recognize you, I’ve had so many new customers as of late that it's difficult to keep track of you all. Now, this way, let us see what you’ve got to sell, shall we?”
“Sure thing,” I said with a shrug, following after the ankle-tall grendling as he guided me to the back of the shop. As we made our way further inside I was surprised to find nearly a dozen other people perusing the shop’s wares. “Seems business has been good for you as of late,” I couldn’t help but comment.
“Yes, well, war certainly is good for business,” Tito said idly as he leaped atop the counter and dragged a ledger from the nearby shelf.
“War?” I asked frowning slightly. “When did that happen?”
Tito frowned at me, then seemed to take in my appearance for the first time and nodded slowly. “Been in the dungeon for some time, I take it?” he asked, to which I just nodded. “I see, well, representatives of both the Dash and Biblian empires arrived in the city about two weeks ago to recruit mercenaries from the local association chapter houses. Adventures from across Penil have practically been swarming Gaulbren since then.”
I nodded slowly. I’d forgotten just how much time was supposed to have passed while I was in the dungeon. A strange sense of estrangement gripped me as I thought about just how much I might have missed these last two years. “You say that as if that’s a bad thing,” I asked, trying to distract myself from my own thoughts.
“I will never say no to more business,” Tito began, thumbing through the ledger’s pages. “But I cannot say that I am thrilled by the prospect of my weapons being used against other sentients. I left my homeland to get away from such things, after all.”
He finally found an empty page and gave me a warm smile, dipping a quill pen into a messy inkwell. “Now, shall we discuss less depressing things? Our shop will buy any material we deem useful to crafting our equipment, including, but not limited to, hides, scales, claws, teeth, bones, etcetera.”
“Um, sure, got plenty of stuff like that,” I said, then mentally probed my storage ring. After a few seconds, I had a neatly rolled fregnick hide, a handful of scales the size of my palm, a pair of fregnick fangs, some pyugnaek hides, pyugnaek teeth, and even a few pyugnaek bulbs laid out on the counter between us. “I’ve got more of all of these things, and some other parts from the monsters as well.”
The grendling eyed the pyugnaek parts with a slight grimace but dutifully started working his way through the monster parts, listing the relative value of each item based on several factors I struggled to follow. Idly I wished Síle was here to help. She had always been better with money than me.
Tito paused when he reached the pyugnaek bulbs, gesturing towards them with obvious distaste. “There isn’t anything I can do with these damned things, but the stable masters might be willing to take them off your hands for a few full silver each. I hear that pyugnaek pups are quite popular in the fighting pits.”
Elation filled me as we continued to go over items. The claws, fangs, scales, and whatnot were all valued at a few full bronze coins a piece while the hides were at least four silvers for each yard. I ended up with a bit more than three gold coins after everything was accounted for. It was more money than I’d ever dreamed of having before.
“It’s not often adventurers come back with so much to sell. If you’d come in here a month ago with all of this I might not have been able to afford it all. Now that we have the ledger all worked out, let's start shopping, shall we?” Tito asked, giving me a full shark-toothed smile. I had a sneaking submission that if my experience last time was reflective of his usual attitude, I probably wouldn’t be walking out of the shop with much of that wealth left in my pocket.
“I’d like to keep at least half of the money,” I said quickly. “Preferably in silvers and bronzes, if that’s alright. I do have debts to repay, after all.”
“Not to worry,” Tito said, making another notation in their ledger. “Even then there isn’t much in this place that you couldn’t afford. Follow me into the back, will you? I think I have just the thing for a noble adventurer such as yourself.” So saying, he hopped from the counter and scurried towards a door I hadn’t seen before, clawed feet scrambling across the floorboards.
Several of the other patrons glared at me as I followed the grendling shop owner, and I couldn’t help but notice the dash emblem emblazoned on the shoulder of one of the men. “You sell to the imperial armies?” I asked once the door closed behind me.
Tito frowned at the question. “No, in fact, I specifically bar anyone affiliated with either empire from purchasing my goods. The man out there is just an inspector from the Dash empire’s branch of the association. Apparently, there've been several groups of rogue adventurers destroying their dungeons over the last few years. Supposedly he’s tracked the organization back to here, but I have no idea why he won’t leave my damn shop.”
To myself, I wondered if it was the reputation of selling to almost anyone, but I kept that to myself. Someone who refused to sell to soldiers probably wouldn’t appreciate that statement, and I very much wanted some new gear.
The back of the shop was even more of a mess than the front, which was honestly just impressive. Random gear laid scattered across the floor, and boxes were stacked haphazardly, most half-opened or cracked along one side, spilling out their contents.
“Don’t mind the mess,” Tito said as we walked further into the chaos. “None of this stuff is even worth selling. No, we keep the good things down here.” With a low grunt, he pushed aside a thick crate lid, revealing a trapdoor hidden beneath it. At my shocked expression, the grendling flashed a half-feral grin. “You’re kind might not think much of mine, but we are clever enough. Now, an oath, if you don’t mind.”
I frowned in slight confusion. “An oath? What for? You got some illegal operation down there or something?” I asked, mostly joking, but not entirely, suddenly reminded of the strange thumping sounds I'd heard coming from beneath the floorboards last time I’d visited Tito’s.
“Not illegal, not exactly anyway,” Tito said, wringing his three-fingered hands and smiling uncomfortably. “But this is my home, where my family lives and works. We’ve faced difficulties from others of your kind who are less… understanding of our ways and forms than you appear to be, young miss.”
“Ah,” I said, drawing out the single syllable as I smiled. “I understand. Here.” I crouched down on my heels and held out my hand to the grendling. Tito took it in his with a breath of relief, a short silvery oath blade appearing in his other hand in a flash, looking much like an ordinary belt knife save for the divine designs engraved in the steel. It was technically illegal for anyone outside the association or its churches to own oath blades, but over the years plenty of the knives had found their way into the less reputable markets. The city guards more or less ignored the problem, since they usually had bigger things to worry about, so it wasn’t all that strange to see a shop owner like Tito with one.
The grendling drew two quick painless lines across both our palms with the blade, red and white blood trickling from our respective palms an instant later. “I swear an oath of blood to keep your family’s secrets. May the arcana strike me down should my resolve waver,” I said and felt a slight surge of divine energy flash through my veins as two black blots of divine power appeared in the air between us, swirling down to cover our slashed palms. The lines of blood vanished as the dark energy seeped into our skin, leaving only a faint tingling in my hand as the oath settled into place.
“There we are,” Tito said with a broad, sharp smile. “Now, let's get on with this. I’m sure you're quite the busy woman after all.” With a great heave, he pulled open the hatch and disappeared down the revealed ladder.
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A smile flashed across my face to match the shopkeeper’s as I followed Tito into the dark basement. My feet hit the stone floor and my eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. I was surprised to find a space matched in size to the shop above with what must have been dozens of small grendlings staring up at me, the tallest of which barely reached Tito’s shoulder.
“What are you all staring at?” Tito demanded with a grand parental air. “Get back to work! I seriously doubt you’ve all finished your assignments for the day.” At his words the mini Titos all jumped back to work, scurrying about the camber in organized chaos. “Kids,” Tito said, shaking his head with a smile that spoke of parental satisfaction. It was honestly kind of heartwarming. Made me look forward to the day when I could look at mine and Síle’s children that way.
I followed the grendling to one side of the space where an array of well-polished armaments sat in a well-maintained glass display. Chainmail under a plain but utterly beautiful blue gambeson, padded black leggings and mail chausses with a matching black coif and gorget of similar padded make, a pair of thick leather boots, sturdy mail gloves, and a long, lightly curved sword that stood taller than myself all shone with a plain brilliance that made my heart stop in awe. It was like the equipment was made for me. Except for the sword, of course, but well, I figured I could learn to wield it, and I still had my rapier until then.
Though plain, even I could tell that the materials used in the armor were far beyond the plain armaments I currently wore. The equipment all appeared to buzz with a hint of something magical. Even the steel, if that was indeed the metal used, seemed to whisper with power. Overcome by desire, I no longer cared how much gold it would cost, I wanted it all.
“How much?” I asked before Tito could even start his sales pitch, earning me a smile that split the grendling’s face from lopped ear to lopped ear, which would have been very unnerving since his ears were relatively high on his head, but I was too enamored with the beautiful gear before me to care.
“Two gold,” they said in an instant, and I felt my coin pouch aching with the sum.
“One gold and ten silver,” I immediately countered, determined to make that equipment mine and also keep at least half of my funds. We haggled for another few minutes until settling on one gold and twenty-five silver, a little more than a gold and a half, and that was only after offering to resell my old armor to him as well.
I moved to immediately take everything, but Tito stepped between me and the display. “Wait, miss, please. I have been polite so far as you are such an esteemed patron, however, I must insist that you give yourself a proper wash before taking these. To dirty them so recklessly would be an affront to the master who made them.”
I looked down at myself, remembering the layer of grime that coated my whole body and grimacing. At my expression, Tito made another offer. “For only a few coppers I’d be more than happy to let the young miss use our bathing chambers. We have quite fine heating here. I’m certain you’ll find it more than satisfactory.”
I laughed but handed over the copper coins without any haggling, they weren’t much more than pocket change to me now after all. “If I’m not careful you’ll swindle me out of every last iron penny I have, won’t you,” I said wryly, to which Tito only gave me a wink and his customary grin.
After what was likely one of the best baths in my entire life, I donned a fresh tunic and a pair of trousers provided free of charge by the benevolent shopkeeper, then took my new armor and rapier and said my farewells. “Expect me back soon!” I said as I stepped outside.
“We most certainly look forward to your return,” Tito said with a slight bow, then turned back into his shop as I walked away. I made a quick stop at the city’s stables to sell the pyugnaek pods, earning back most of what I’d spent at Tito’s emporium. All in all, I was feeling pretty good as I strode towards the tavern, storage ring on my finger, new boots on my feet, fresh clothes on my back, and the faint smell of lavender clinging to me. All I wanted now was to see my wife again, to hold her close as I declared that we would no longer struggle to survive. With my new gold, we would thrive.
A flutter of excitement lit in my chest as I stepped into the old tavern and was assailed by the sudden burst of noise inside. It must have been happy hour, I realized as I looked around the rowdy place. It looked just as it always had, smelled just as bad too, but it was the smell of home, and for the first time in weeks I felt at peace.
Síle’s mother was the first to notice me as I walked, freezing in the middle of passing a plate of food to her husband who turned and froze as well upon seeing me. I smiled and waved awkwardly. I hadn’t had the best or worst relationship with either of them before, but there was little doubt that my two-year disappearance had done much to improve their opinions of me. No matter, I thought. With my new funds, I couldn’t possibly imagine things going anywhere but up for me.
Olivia was the first to break from the spell, pushing Tom to get back to serving customers before bustling over to me. “Where have you been?” She hissed in a hushed tone that was barely audible over the racket of the crowded tavern.
I raised my hand in a calming gesture, giving her what I thought was a reassuring smile. “It’s a long story,” I said calmly. “I’ve only just returned home. Where’s Sile? I need to speak with her.”
Olivia’s mouth formed a thin line, but she just said, “go, wait downstairs. She’s out right now, but she’ll return before too long.”
Smiling at my mother-in-law I acquiesced. “Sure thing. Let me know if you need any help,” I said as I slipped away down the stairs and into the dingy room.
Mine and Síle’s room hadn’t changed much in the last two years, apart from a certain chill that seemed to sink all the way down to my bones. It had always been cool down there, but I hadn’t remembered it being quite that cold before. I lit the candle atop the nightstand and threw my bag atop the bed, flopped down beside it. I sighed contentedly as I sank into the thin bed, taking in the smell of her still lingering in the sheets and the blanket from my father, feeling almost as if I had only been gone for just a day.
After several hours of idling around, reading through my system information pages, and examining my new equipment again, I heard the door open above and quickly assembled myself in the most welcoming manner possible. Síle’s figure appeared at the bottom of the steps a moment later, her face shrouded in shadows cast by the light above.
The figure of my wife stood frozen in the doorway for several tense moments as we just stared at each other in silence. “Is that really you?” She finally asked as a growing sense of concern urged me to straighten from the bed and stand.
“Síle,” I began trying weakly to smile again. “I know I promised you I’d only be a day, but, well, things got complicated. I know it must have been hard but-” I trailed off as I watched my wife’s expression shifting from disbelief, to dread, horror, fear, and, well, everything I didn’t want to see.
“Mairenn,” she said slowly, her voice tight as if fighting back tears. “Two years, Mairenn.”
I looked away, feeling shame burning in my cheeks. “It wasn’t for nothing,” I said weekly, pulling the coin pouch from my ring and holding it out toward her.
Síle stood there for a few more seconds, then closed the distance between us with several sharp steps and slapped the bag from my hands, sending coins flying across the room. silver and bronze glinted in the candle-lit air before clattering to the floor in a series of painfully loud clinks. “Two fucking years!” She screamed at me, tears rolling down both cheeks in an unending cascade. My heart felt as if it were being compressed as the candlelight exposed her face and I took in her eyes red-rimmed, sunken cheeks, and sallow complexion. “You’ve been gone for two arcana damned years!”
Her words struck me like a fist to the gut and I stumbled back, falling ass-first atop the bed. “But, you knew I was alive, you knew I’d come back,” I said weekly, regretting the words the moment they’d left my mouth.
Síle let out a bitter laugh. “Of course, I knew you were alive. Every day after you broke the vow, I stared at this damned bond, hoping that you’d come back home, and every day you didn’t I hoped that you’d just die already.” She raised her arm as she spoke, the violently red slash in our wedding mark only pushing the blade of guilt deeper into my gut.
I stared for a moment, frozen by the torrent of emotions working their way into my aching heart until a wave of anger surged up and washed everything else away. “I left for us!” I yelled back. “I left for you! I’m sorry that it took a bit longer than I’d promised, but I did come back. I came back with enough gold to change our lives forever, just like I said I would. I’m sorry that you got hurt, Síle, but I’m not sorry about what I did.” I gestured wildly around at the money scattered around the room. “This was all for our future. Arcana damn it all, what happened to trusting me?”
“I did trust you,” folding her arms below her breasts. “For the first few weeks at least. Then you broke your promise, you broke your vow. I’m not stupid, Mairenn. I know how vows work. At some point, you learned how long you’d actually be gone for and you had a chance to come back, but you didn’t. Instead of trusting me, you decided you knew best and just abandoned me.”
“I-” I started angrily, but she cut me off before I could get further.
“And don’t try to say you did it for us. Sure, the money would have been great, but you did this for you, to satisfy whatever fantasy you inherited from your father when he died, and I was willing to entertain you for a while. I even thought that maybe you might actually be able to do it. I chose to trust that you’d put us first, but then you decided to trample that trust as if it meant nothing to you. We were supposed to be a team, Mairenn, partners. You should have trusted me enough to come back.”
My mouth worked silently for several seconds, every word I tried to speak getting caught in my tight throat. My blood still boiled, but it was more from shame than anger.
“You should leave,” Síle said when it became clear that I couldn’t say anything. Maybe we can work this out later, but right now I just want to be alone.” I nodded and got to my feet, moving towards the stairs. “You’re forgetting something,” Síle said, and I glanced back to see her gesturing toward the coins scattered across the floor.
“Keep it,” I said sourly, scowling at the money. Without another word I turned back to the stairs and left, avoiding my inlaw’s angry gazes as I slipped out the door. I paused outside, shielding my eyes against the bright midday sun as my eyes adjusted to the light once more. I frowned as my vision cleared to reveal nearly two dozen heavily armed men and women standing in a half circle around the tavern’s entrance, an unpleasantly familiar figure standing at their head.
“Mairenn Crowe,” The association man who’d destroyed my life announced with a grave finality. “You are hereby under arrest for treason against the people of Penil and entering the dungeon illegally.” He paused for what was no doubt an attempted dramatic effect before continuing. “Let’s make this easy. You will either submit to our authority willingly, or we will drag you away by force. What will it be?”
“Sorry,” I said, affecting an obnoxiously pitchy voice and raising my arms above my head. “But I think you’ve got the wrong girl. I’m Marien Fiore.”
“So, the fun way it is,” The association man said, his face twisting into a vile grin that promised pain.
“Fuck you, ass hat,” I said, trying to flip the man off with my missing finger before I remembered that it wasn’t there. “Fuck.” I felt my taunt skill activate and withdrew my old rapier from my dimensional storage as the man’s eyes began to glow an angry red and he charged.
I rushed forward as he wordlessly raised a fist to swing at me, energy releasing around his strike in a yellow haze that would have crushed me two weeks ago, but Nika had trained me well. I ducked the strike, feeling the heavy power of his blow disturb the air above my head, and stabbed the man through in the heel, eliciting a grunt from the man before he fell forward, groaning in agony.
“The hare ran swiftly, each step true,” I recited and took off under the power of my spell just as several of the association guards stepped forward to close in around me. Barely thinking, I leaped into the air, somersaulting over the guards and landing with an almost unnatural degree of grace.
I didn’t even spare a glance back as I ran towards the only other place I could think of to escape. The black pyramid shell of the dungeon loomed like a portal to hell as I rounded the corner and slid into the courtyard, two dozen fighters chasing after me, nearly twice as many standing between me and the dungeon formation of spears resembling a porcupine. I cursed, wondering what the hell I’d done to warrant something like this.
I’d apparently lingered for a bit too long because someone shouted behind me and I reacted out of reflex, dropping low and twisting on the balls of my feet just as a longsword split the air above me. Launching up with my rapier still in hand I stabbed up, catching the hateful association man along the side of his face, leaving a long tearing gash up his cheek and forehead. He yelled in pain, slashing wildly with one hand as I stepped out of reach, but his sword caught the blade of my rapier, snapping the thin metal in two.
“Stop!” He shouted as I began to backpedal, and I suddenly froze, caught in the grasp of a skill. “Fuck,” he cursed, pulling a sash from his belt and pressing it to the side of his face as he began to walk towards me. “Damn it, woman. Do you even know what you're doing? You’re a liability to this whole city. If you were to step back into that dungeon there’s no telling what you might unleash.” The man towered over me, blood steadily dripping from his chin as he glared down at me. “This is for your own good. Just be a good little girl and nobody has to get hurt.”
I returned the man’s glare in full, unable to speak thanks to his skill. A second later I felt my new countercharm ability activate, but held my pose as if I were still frozen, my mind racing as I tried to think of a way out of this situation. The man drew a pair of cuffs from his belt and I decided thinking was for losers.
Quick as breaking glass, I bent my knees and sprung up, slamming my forehead into his chin, shutting his open mouth on his tongue in a spray of red. As the guards all began to shout out orders, some for healers, some for me to stop, and some for me to die, I dropped the broken rapier into my storage and drew out my new slightly curved two-handed sword. I was surprised by the weapon’s lightness, but I had no time to waste admiring the blade. I turned and ran headfirst into the spears leveled against me, the adrenaline flooding my veins allowing me to act on instinct as I used my riposte spell.
“The winds carried the raven off course,” I said, using the sudden failed jab of the nearest guard to vault into the air in a corkscrew, slashing down with my weapon towards those of the guards beneath me. I landed in a roll behind the formation and gave them one last rude gesture with my fully-fingered hand.
Just as my taunt skill activated against the roughly four dozen people pursuing me, I pushed open the dungeon gate once more and stepped into the dark portal of pain waiting beyond. As I disappeared into the depths I made a silent prayer to any arcana who would listen to keep, unable to help the laughter that burst from me as the agony washed over my entirety.