Galen Vesa

Ok, here I go. Three, two, one… sigh. Not good. That still felt fake. Well, I tried. I really tried. What have I ever done in my life to deserve this?

*I think I can ~Name~ a reason or two. *

Erta chittered through tears.

*Dolt, you have my full sympathy. *

She coughed out and went back to rolling in laughter. One thing seemed sure, gods of this place hate me.

Other than that, everything went as usual. From bad to worse. The guild master and my almost ex employer rested on the couch with her face covered by a wet napkin, sprinkled with herbal extracts. When the queens arrived to witness my oath, the poor wolf had a heart attack. Spirits hardly attached themselves to random people and spirit queens never did. To see four of those in person, that must’ve been a shock.

She stirred again after a long while and sat up. Her ears were still twitching and her breathing seemed forced.

“I’m sorry. I understand you may not want me here. You can cancel our deal and I shall leave at once.”

“No!”

She grabbed and held my wrist, scared I will vanish into thin air. Unsure whether I was real or just her imagination.

“May the great Shamuu shave me! Stay, you will stay. I indeed have a job for someone like you. Let fates be praised! You can stay as long as you desire.”

She stood up and began pacing her office.

*Well dolt, you do have a way with women. *

Whatever you are implying.

“Your mana,”

The wolf addressed me again.

“I cannot sense it. Is that the spirit's doing?”

She figured that out so soon? So far people just assumed that my life got spent in some outrageous magic and the end held near.

*You can speak freely with her. She is under the contract, just like we are. If she tries to break it, death shall be the least of her worries. Also, the charms on this office can rival my own. *

Uh-huh. And what about us? Something told me that works both ways.

“Yes.”

She expected more of an answer but did not press the issue. Instead, Altina fetched an object from her desk. A brooch.

“It is an artifact. My family heirloom. It is old and broken. A child should be able to trigger the spell it contains but due to the damage it took during a duel, to make it work one must exert a formidable strength.”

Erta, you’re so jolly at the moment. Pry do the honors. Unless you want me to blow this place up as well?

*Ah, right away my tiny one. *

Tiny one… A chirruping bird tells me I will hear that a lot. The name I was given. Nothing particular about it. If you were to call it on the street, no one would bat an eye. Karin. Just a name. The devil’s hidden in how it’s written. The runes are old and scarcely used. That much I can feel about them. Like Chinese characters, these letters have more than a sound given to them.

It starts with Kha, a boxy shape almost like a flower. It can be read like one too if used alone in a sentence. Most often, rose, red rose since the second imperial meaning of the rune is red. Blood red. Or blood. However here used next to ree, the second rune, it swaps into soft. Soft like rose petals.

Ree, the sound Erta kept alluding to, means small, tiny, insignificant. Written as ri, takes the smaller property of the preceding sounds. Smaller part of a rose is a petal. Petals are soft. There goes the logic.

The last one is a problem child, read as nnnn. Imagine the sound you'd make while peeing out a kidney stone. That’s about it. That’s what it means. Though, the official imperial meaning ascribed to it is wet.

Where does that lead me? Small, soft and wet. Give that to a dragon and she won’t shut up about possible readings. Not that I care. I’m more troubled by why and how I know it. As if my mind always had that knowledge.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

*I am ready. *

I extended my palm and the wolf put the brooch on it. Erta stirred and slowly but steadily the mana moved through my arm. The alien feeling of something sloshing within me. Oddly unpleasant but not yet painful. Warm.

As moments trickled by, light gathered within the cracked stone of the heirloom. Soft sunny glow spilled from my palm and inside the cone it formed in the air, a man appeared. A human. Handsome and smartly dressed, he radiated an aura of noble elegance and calm.

“Altina,”

His voice rang in our ears.

“Be proud and remember. Of all the things that happened in my life, you are the most beautiful and precious gift I received. My daughter, I love you and I always will. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You are blood of mine.”

“In sixty years, I have not heard that voice. I have no words to describe the joy of my heart.”

She clasps her hands around my palm while tears were forming in her eyes.

“Thank you.”

A crying wolf. I'd pinch myself if that would help but instead, I bobbed my head in acknowledgement and gave her back the brooch. Not the kind of job interview I would expect.

“When can you start? Do you have any unfinished business in the city?”

“None. I can start right away.”

“Good.”

She rang a bell and moments later the familiar head maid slide in through the door.

“Beatrice, this is Karin. Please guide her to the dormitory and make sure she is comfortable. Second floor, left wing if you please. Also notify Mrs. Adelbert. We'll be needing her services again. Karin is to begin clerk training as soon as possible.”

That elected a surprised stare and a raised eyebrow from the maid but all she said amounted to, right away.

We excused ourselves and, yet again, I followed a stranger on a path into unknown. Or at least to the next building. Two stories tall dormitory did not differ much from the white walled houses of the entire city. It sat hidden behind the guild hall and shared its yard with a small stable. Opposite the stable one more building stood, its lower floor converted to a gate that lead to one of the city streets.

“Guard barracks. Avoiding that place and the animals that live there is in your best interest.”

Beatrice spoke when I stopped to look around.

*I do have to agree with her. Those that live by the sword hardly ever know a different way. *

Several people present in the yard were already starting. Those were not kind stares. I pulled my hood up and followed along.

The female guards posted at the entrance to the dormitory stared as well while we waited for the iron gate to open for us.

“Males are not allowed into the dormitory. Intimate relationship between guild members are not allowed as well. While your free time is yours to waste, do not get yourself pregnant or otherwise unable to work. Falling to observe these rules will result in your instant dismissal with no pay.”

She lectured me as we climbed up the stone stairs, worn down by heavy use and peppered by black dots of stiletto heels. Here and there I could see red stains, a testament of events that necessitates the iron gates and heavy bars in each window.

“This will be your room.”

As we reached the end of a hall on the second floor, she opened one of the Iron plated doors of four-inch-thick wood. A reminiscence of the bullet proof gate we had in the lobby of the company I worked for. Dents in iron and cuts in the wood testified of their usefulness.

“As you can see, this is a shared room. Make no mistake, theft and misbehavior will not be tolerated.”

She walked over to one of the three king sized beds present in the room.

“Write your name on the slate and hang it over your bed. The bed, that desk and the drawer are reserved for your private use. The rest of it is common property. Do not abuse that. Any damage done to any of the guild’s belongings shall be deducted from your pay. Work starts at the second morning bell. Breakfast is served in the common rooms since the first morning bell, the three of you will eat in the room. The meals are served by the four maids attached to this wing. If you need anything, notify any of them.”

A long snore followed by a thundering gaseous expulsion, came from the bed in the corner.

“You will find a lavatory in each wing. There is also and outhouse behind the dormitory but avoid using that if you must. It is frequent by the guards and incidents been reported.”

She bent over the source of the noise and checked for pulse.

“… yam not dead…”

A voice crooked back at her.

“Not much of a difference. You stink like one already. Get yourself cleaned up, you have work to do.”

In response, the snoring redhead launched another fart. This time much louder and much deadlier. Suddenly breathing through mana became very convenient. An ability Beatrice lacked.

“If you can stir some life into that trash then make her show you around. As it is, I cannot spare anyone else to do so. You start your training on third bell in the morning.”

And that was that. She left in a hurry. Just in time to avoid one more retaliation.

“Wha ya want?”

Since I still stood there, the redhead cast her bloodshot eyes at me.

“Do you intend to get up?”

“ya ev amthing a drink?”

“No.”

“ zen scram…”

Her trumpet thundered out another serenade.

A party girl. Sad, drunken and stinky. And I have met too many of those in my life. Shortly before his death, my father told me about two most miserable things he saw in his life. One, dead drunk woman sleeping on the street in her own pee and puke covered party dress. And the second, his own reflection looking at him from the puddle next to her. It took me years to understand what he meant and not much more to learn you can’t help someone that doesn’t want your help.

So, I left the drunk alone and opened all the windows. Somehow, the air did not wish to come in while the stench kept on coming out.

*Galen, have mercy. I can smell her from here. *

I’m open for suggestions. Ones that don’t include using fire or we may go out with her.

*Fear not. Some chalk shall suffice. *

I still had the piece Beatrice gave me to write my name.

*Now, since I have more resources at my disposal. Let us try your illusion idea. *

Suddenly my eyes stung as if I just chopped and enormous onion and a line of symbols appeared along the floor.

*Trace that with the chalk. *

I did and Erta sent some mana through the chalk while wind finished our work.