Mourning doves hooted prettily from the high limestone towers of Verren City as a cool wind drifted in from the sea to blow away the hot afternoon air. A woman paused to appreciate the sound as she stood in the shade provided by the first wall and drank thirstily from a large canteen that she rapidly refilled at the pump outside a blacksmith's shop to his extreme amusement.
She was a short, wiry woman with tanned features and bright red hair that fell loosely from under a straw hat she'd obviously slapped together to keep off the harsh sun. Her clothes were well made but undyed linen, loose in the arms and legs, cinched with a huge leather belt at the hips. She sat comfortably upon a large travel bag as she drank more slowly and relaxed for a moment.
“That's ‘fer quenchin’ an horses lass. Won't do ta drink it, ye'll fetch yourself an ailment or somesuch.”, he paused to duck his entire head and shoulders into the barrel of water he'd been pumping as she walked by.
"Oh I'll be fine, smith. I don't really get sick, it's a minor talent.”
The burly man scrubbed the itch from his long beard and shook himself like a dog, water splashing everywhere as the woman laughed and threw her hands up defensively. The smith then heaved the barrel to the side and slid it onto a large stone tile that lifted itself and the barrel a few inches into the air effortlessly. He gave the contraption a gentle shove and it began to drift back towards the open forge where it slowly ground to a half a few inches shy of exactly where it was supposed to be.
“Fancy. Done that a few times?", the woman's voice was bright and high as she giggled a bit at his display.
“Ach, well, ya do somethin’ five times a day yer whole life ya know ", the man laughed with a shrug of his powerful shoulders and smoothed out his apron, “Ya come in with the caravan this mornin’?"
“Guard, safer than trying to cross half a desert and the plains alone. I have some combat-oriented talents but I'm not an adventurer…yet.”, the woman flipped her red hair back over her shoulders and rested her hand on the thick tool belt around her waist as she replaced the canteen.
She stood with a groan and retrieved her bag from the cobblestone only to curse loudly as she discovered the bottom covered in mud from the pump's spillage. She let the bag hang limply from the strap as she stared straight up into the sky with exasperation before turning to the smith with all the offended pride of a wet cat.
“It's been a long couple of weeks. Can I bribe you to point me at the Guild? I just wanna get this over with and find a bed.”, her voice was tired as she stepped out of the path of a few men carrying a beam of lumber and joking with each other.
“Sure lass, straight down until you come to the market proper. Ye’ll see a fountain, statue of a feller with a spear. He's aimin’ it at the Guild. Ye’ll see. Good luck lass, don't drink no more horse water.”, the smith barked good naturedly as he indicated the road before his smithy and gestured the direction.
The woman nodded and threw the bag over her shoulder, careful to keep the muddy side away from her clothes. She waved as she stepped away from the front of the smithy and into the crowd as the city bristled with activity all around her. She eyed the stalls selling fruit, fish, game meat, vegetables of all descriptions, she even saw a wide and luxurious stall with a huge sunshade selling exotic pets. Baby hearthdrakes and tiny flightless birds with fat bodies and long beaks peeked curiously as the passersby from large cages.
“Finest goods on Market Street! Copper, tin, silver! Mirrors from Tellura!”
"Fine cloth from the west! Many colors!"
“I’M NOT PAYING A SINGLE COPPER OVE-"
“Wine and spirits! Liquor! Set your feet to tapping!"
The woman smiled as the voices of the city washed over her and shouldered her way through the crowd as a few carts slowly moved in procession down the road in pace with her. The drivers barked and shouted at the crowd to clear the way as the wheels clattered on the rough cobblestone street. She stepped out behind the wagons as the crowd began to clear the way and followed along in their wake as she continued to look around at everything with wide eyes.
The city was mostly limestone, from the streets, the closely packed buildings, to the walls themselves; it had all obviously been quarried from near the massive cliffs that separated Verren from the plains. High, narrow towers sprouted up in a perfect grid throughout the entire sprawling capital, thin ladders reaching up to the tops. Some were capped with signal mirrors, others with focusing crystals, and a few sported large ballistae. She noted the flags and banners that streamed from their heights, all adorned with the same symbol of a sword piercing a monstrous skull.
She smiled and adjusted her hat to keep the sun out of her eyes when she finally reached the crowded market and drifted out from behind the wagons with their load of crates and barrels to the middle where a huge fountain dominated the center of the square. True to the blacksmith's word, a heroic figure had been immortalized with a rather ridiculous statue, in her opinion. The armored figure crouched behind his raised shield, the spear couched in his right arm pointed outwards aggressively.
Her eyes followed the point of the spear off into the distance and found to her great annoyance that it pointed at a cluster of three large buildings on a distant hill framed neatly between two of the omnipresent towers. She rolled her eyes and growled as she mentally estimated the distance to the hill the buildings sat upon and didn't like her own answer.
“Nope. I'm not walking that far.", she glanced about until her eyes finally settled on what she was looking for.
She walked quickly, almost a jog, as she approached the group of three guards wearing tabards that matched the numerous flags and banners that flew all over the city. She waved politely to get their attention and paused a respectful distance away as one broke off to approach as the other two remained wary a short distance away. She stepped smartly in front of the man, his gleaming banded mail matching the black and gold of his tabard quite nicely.
“Complaint?", the guard said through his bushy black mustache, voice bored and uncaring.
“No, just hoping you could point me at the circles. You guys have circles right?"
“What type of ques- Oh, you here to join up?"
The woman nodded happily and grinned back at the man as he appraised her with a look of approval. He clucked a bit to himself as he paced back and forth in front of her and continued to eye her in a professional manner.
“Alright, you've got no mana I can sense so I'm hoping you've got some Talent? Gonna be hard to be accepted otherwise, not that we won't take you, just not much glory in the kitchen or farms."
“Fuck you Orick, both my brothers work the farms. You drink their beer happily enough every night.", the tallest and widest of the three rumbled behind the man threateningly.
“Oh shove it up your ass, Tenen. You know what I meant, and I married your brother's wife's sister…wow that was hard to say.”
She watched the back-and-forth with an odd expression for a few moments before she cleared her throat politely. The first guard with the mustache, Orick apparently, turned back to her with a sheepish expression and straightened his already perfectly straight tabard for a moment before he continued.
“The circles are there", he pointed to a medium sized stone building that consisted of an open hall and a brilliant red tile roof, “Good luck, lady. You have a fighty look to you, we could always use more people like that."
She nodded and immediately dashed off to the building in question while the guards' own surprised laughter followed her into the crowd. Her boots clicked against the ground as she simply muscled her way through the throngs of people buying and selling to emerge almost inside of the building. A cloud passed in front of the sun and provided some much needed shade only moments before she walked inside.
The building itself was clean, orderly, and well maintained; the dark woods and polished stone clearly well used but cared for. Several small circles that could barely admit a single person were inlayed into the floor in wooden cubicles, with a few larger circles clearly meant for groups that lined the wall farther back. A small gate divided the larger circles from the smaller and two lines had formed that were moving quickly.
She joined the line for the smaller transport circles and hummed to herself while she fidgeted with excitement. There were only three people ahead of her in line and she paid close attention to their fare and noted it was the same despite the different destinations they all selected. She tapped her foot a bit as she let her bag thump to the floor by the strap and then rolled her shoulder uncomfortably. She took a moment and dug out a few coins then examined them as if she'd never seen them before while she waited.
“NEXT!", the elderly woman behind the counter called out nastily as the affronted looking man ahead of her in line deliberately left his payment slightly out of her reach with a rude gesture.
“Hello! I need to get t-"
“Destination?!", the old woman cut her off sharply.
“-o the Adventurers Guild, you old hag.", the red haired woman quickly modified her statement mid sentence in response to the rudeness.
“What did you just say?!"
“I said, I need to get to the Adventurers Guild, you old hag."
She smiled prettily back at the woman's wrinkled face as their mouth gaped open and shut in shock several times before their face began to redden with anger. The redhead adjusted her hat and ramped up the sunny smile she gave the elderly attendant, her eyes remaining dead and cold as she unwaveringly held her gaze. The attendant seemed to deflate instantly, recognizing a bad idea despite herself.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“B-booth five. Six Verenin."
The woman dropped a handful of random coins on the counter after examining them for a minute and gestured for her to simply take them as she snatched up her bag and walked over to the fifth stall. She kicked the stall door open with a bang and hopped straight onto it. The circle instantly whisked her away as her vision smeared into assorted colors and shapes before settling on a stone courtyard outside the Guild itself.
“Finally, let's get on with it.", she crowed as she stormed purposefully across the distance to the largest of the three buildings.
The entryway was an impressive affair hewn of marble with an expanse of gentle steps and towering columns supporting the entire structure. Though there were no doors, the moment she crossed the threshold of the enormous building she was met with cool fresh air and a prickle of mana that cleaned her shoes within a few steps.
She raised an eyebrow at that, slightly impressed despite herself as she looked around. Though full of activity the building was simply too large to be crowded and she had an easy time maneuvering through the groups of people to a mostly abandoned concession. A slightly worn sign declared it to be for ‘preliminary registrations’ and she decided it was a good source of directions if nothing else as she approached.
“Welcome to the Adventurers Guild, are you interested in registering?"
The elven woman behind the counter looked frazzled, overworked and sleep deprived but she instantly beamed a smile from behind a gauzy veil that mostly obscured her eyes. The redhead nodded enthusiastically and dropped her bag on the floor, snatching up a stool from the counter and plopping down on it. She planted her elbows firmly on the counter as the elf produced a few sheets of parchment that seemed to be forms of some kind.
“Wonderful! We've been a bit behind on our quota lately if you don't mind me complaining a bit. May I ask your name?"
“Tiva Kal, of nowhere worth mentioning honestly.", Tiva replied as she took off her straw hat and dropped it onto her travelbag.
“Marvelous, I'll just put you down as Tiva Kal then. Now…female…red hair…look at me please? Oh, what an interesting eye color. Are you half elven by chance?”, the elf looked at her with visible interest through the veil as she spoke.
“Nah, but it is a family thing."
“Ah, my apologies. Yellow eyes…now what services do you intend to offer?"
“I'm good at fighting? My nana was a pretty famous adventurer up north about eighty years ago. After Papa died she took me in, lousy parent but great instructor. We thought the old bat was gonna live forever but…well, she made me promise I wouldn't waste my Talents.”
"Oh? Not to worry dear, that's more common than you think. Some of our strongest members have a very similar background. Alright…I'm going to put you down for a combat aptitude assessment. You said you're Talented? I'll mark it-”
"Talents. I'm multi-Talented."
The elf nearly choked on her own tongue as she dripped ink on the page in surprise. She snapped her gaze back to Tiva who was grinning that same sly grin again. They stared each other down for several seconds in silence before the elf spoke again, her voice blunt.
“Really?"
“All combat oriented talents. I lucked out. I have Nana's family talents and my Fathers family talents too. Don't gotta believe me I'll prove it.", Tiva responded confidently.
“If that's true expect a lot of attention really fast, I'll stamp you for immediate testing. Can you do me a favor and tell them Gyilla recruited you when they're busy kissing your behind?”
"Want a raise too?”
The elf laughed into her hand and nodded shyly as she pushed a stack of papers with a huge red stamp mark across the counter into Tiva’s hands, "Sure and tell them to send the commander with those tight pants down to give me the raise while you're at it. Tiva you're a hoot, I hope you're not lying. I'll show you around later if you make it. Go straight down the promenade through there and there’ll be a big ugly iron gate, just give the papers to the guards outside.”
Tiva took the forms and gathered her belongings, donned her hat, and trotted off down the expansive entryway where she passed through a large archway. Again the temperature shifted, becoming pleasantly warm and humid. All manner of flowering plants dominated what Tiva was surprised to find was a small indoor park, several groups relaxing under the trees. Sweeping her gaze over the lavish area she quickly noted the ugly gate, which proved to be an apt name.
Within a few minutes of walking through the beautiful indoor garden she stood before the entryway and was immediately intercepted by more guards in banded mail with black and gold tabards.
“Sorry, you need an appointment. Do you have your papers?"
Tiva handed them over without a word. The man who had spoken gestured for them quite professionally, even taking the time to perform a short bow as he took them from her hand. His eyes scanned the documents and widened hugely before then narrowing suspiciously as he handed them back.
“Okay go ahead. It'll be Master Shaleve for what you've got listed there. Just go straight all the way through to the double doors. It’ll be Shaleve, yourself, and likely his two apprentices. Good luck ma’am.”, with that he stood out of the way and allowed her to enter.
She resisted the urge to simply dash straight to the door and forced herself to walk in a dignified manner all the way down the thankfully short hallway. The sheer size of the place made her wonder if there was some special magic at work, at the minimum. As she entered through the large double doors at the end of the hall she heard someone make a surprised noise.
“Ah? Oh this ought to be good. Shaleve, I think they sent you one."
Tiva glanced at the man who had spoken, seated at a small bench to the side of the large sandy circle that took up most of the room. It was surrounded by a waist high stone wall of moderate thickness that had been polished smooth by long years of fighters hopping in and out of the pit. Tiva whistled appreciatively to learn it was objectively a nice, if small, dueling arena.
“Oh? Oh! Wonderful! My girl, what is your name?! Oh how rude of me, I am Shaleve. Some call me Master Shaleve, but I would ask that you do not. Shaleve will suffice.”, a flustered voice replied as an old man hopped up over the wall and into the ring.
Though obviously in his sixties at the minimum, he was a beast of a man. He dwarfed Tiva, standing almost seven feet tall and thickly muscled. He was deathly pale but didn't appear sickly when he rolled up his sleeves and loosened his shirt as he smoothed his long grey beard and stood in the center of the ring, one arm behind his back while he gestured politely for her to join him.
Tiva dropped her bag and approached the wall before simply bouncing over it entirely like a deer, to Shaleve’s delight. The man, likely one of the apprentices the guards had warned her about, laughed along with him as he joined in the praise.
“Here for a combat aptitude assessment. They gave me a red stamp when I told them about my Talents."
“Talents?", the large man said as he stressed the plural.
Tiva nodded, “Yeah I got both families Talents…and one of my own. My Nana trained me.”
Shaleve’s eyes glinted for a second before he nodded seriously and began to stretch as he questioned her.
“I see. This should prove to be a wonderful exercise then. Now, as a courtesy and in the spirit of this being a test, would you please disclose a minimum of information about your talents so that neither one of us accidentally kills the other?"
“I beg your pardon?"
“My talents are related to defense and regeneration. It is one of the reasons I am an ideal instructor.”
Tiva laughed a little as she suddenly understood, "Oh, yeah. They're related to speed and reaction time, striking power and muscle memory, and the uh…the other one is tricky, you'll just have to see it.”
“Two family lines and something resultant?"
“Yeah, how’d you guess?", Tiva asked with surprise.
“I'm something of an armchair historian on the matter when I'm not being used as a glorified punching bag.”, the old man laughed guiltily, "Now, some rules: No purely lethal techniques, we stop at first blood, and to remember that this is above all an assessment. Please take it seriously. We may begin whenever you are ready, my girl.”
Tiva nodded and tossed her hat over to the apprentice who caught it amicably and set it on the gently curving wall with a thumbs up. Shaleve assumed a pugilists ready stance, bent slightly at the waist, elbows down and face shielded by his hulking forearms as he began to bounce on the heels of his feet.
Tiva performed a graceful circular motion with her arms that ended with her snapping into a low ready stance herself, left leg forward and bent slightly as she cocked her right fist back close to her hip while extending her left arm forward. They stared at each other for a few seconds before the terrain under Tiva exploded and the woman vanished. The apprentice screeched with alarm and fell out of his chair as he was savaged by the blast of sand from her movment.
Shaleve instantly kicked down with his right foot and rocketed left, only to almost immediately cancel his momentum by kicking down with his left foot and pivoting right as he threw a brutal straight punch into the space that had been behind him only a heartbeat ago. Tiva ducked low, slithering under the blow and rifling her right fist forward at Shaleve's gut. The old man simply rotated his wrist a bit and then swung his huge fist straight down in a massive hammerblow that started in his hips and whipped up into his shoulder visibly. Tiva simply vanished again in another spray of sand.
This time Shaleve rolled, allowing the momentum of his hammerfist to carry him downward and let him tumble away. He sprang to his feet lightly at the end of the roll, somehow facing the other direction, and instantly launched into a combination of punches as Tiva swept a massive kick into the meat of his thigh. He grimaced as the attack landed with a powerful smacking sound but continued his barrage of strikes. Tiva twirled, leapt, ducked, or redirected the blows, their arms a blur as the bodies remained relatively stationary.
The two broke apart momentarily before Shaleve launched himself forward again with a vicious rising knee that earned him another resounding leg kick as Tiva used the strike to pushed herself farther away from the huge man before leaping high into the air. She flipped forwards and completed the jump with a blindingly fast axe kick aimed for the top of Shaleve's head. The old man planted his feet and crossed his arms above him, absorbing the kick with sheer muscle as the sand around him was indented by the sheer force behind the blow.
Tiva again used the recoil of the blow to disengage only for Shaleve to pursue with another rising knee. She spun low, aiming a kick at his supporting leg as she all but oozed past the strike. Shaleve transitioned from a knee to a stomp, followed by two quick spear hands before Tiva could regain her poise. She bounced away with a backwards handspring before landing, and assume an impossibly low to the ground stance as she did so. Her eyes flashed with malevolent yellow light and the sand exploded a final time.
Before Shaleve could react she was inside his guard before the sand exploded again. Then again, and again, as painful kicks were aimed at both the knees and legs of the huge pugilist while he tried to remain calm despite the enormous smile on his face. He stomped hard and the shockwave rocked the arena and briefly exposed Tiva as she was slowed just enough for Shaleve to fire a nasty hook at her head.
She vanished in a spray of sand and Shaleve began to pivot again before realizing his mistake as his eyes unfocused due to the sheer proximity she appeared at. He stomped again, using the leverage to swing his right forearm through the blow and deflect it, only to meet a faint whisper of resistance that soon fluttered past his arm as Tiva’s form unwarped and she refocused only two inches to the left.
Which happened to be exactly enough distance to unfurl her entire body into the punch that plowed into Shaleve's nose with terrifying force and smashed him bodily to the ground. Tiva rebounded with a backwards flip and landed next to him while she politely waited for him to stand.
Shaleve absolutely beamed from the ground, totally uninjured as he stood.
“THAT’LL DO MY GIRL! THAT’LL DO! HAHAHAHA! JONATHAN TAKE HER TO ESCA IMMEDIATELY! THAT WAS WONDERFUL!"
Tiva smiled prettily as they left the arena with her, laughing and joking loudly about what a good addition she would make to the Guild.
She was more than a little glad as the ring rumbled behind her and began to reset the ring after the duel, the massive holes erased just as easily as the delicate cloven hoofprints she had left in the sand.