Glade was toweling his hair dry as he entered his room back at the inn, enjoying the rare feeling of having just bathed. Throughout his years in the military, he had come to value the simple luxury of readily available showers back on Earth. What he wouldn’t give to have that luxury now. Indoor plumbing was one of those things that was only available to the obscenely rich, which was why he had taken full advantage of the baths in Asylum’s finest inn while he could. If everything went well, he and the others wouldn’t see a bath in a very, very long time.
As he finished packing, Glade idly wondered if he could use the magic of Storms’ Rest to include plumbing in all future construction. The weeks he had lived amongst the dwarves had been… rough. He still firmly believed that Croon’s particular brand of body odor had burned out most of his nose hairs.
The previous evening had concluded without any issue. Their purchases had been delivered shortly after the auction, where Avery and Bragden had concluded the remainder of their business. In the end, the auction had netted them a whopping 2,347 gold, a truly staggering amount given the circumstances.
The problem was, they had spent close to 4,500 gold between their auction purchases and the goods they had brokered through Helmund to rebuild and settle Storms’ Rest. That meant they had to dip into what Glade was coming to think of their emergency fund.
Their account within the Obsidian Bank had been a chance blessing, one that made their ability in reviving Storms’ Rest from vision into a possible reality. But that didn’t mean they could continue their spending sprees.
Already, Bragden had reported the excessive costs in hiring mercenary troops to protect their newly purchased goods back to Aldorna. The timing was especially bad seeing as the Abyssal threat was in that direction, which meant costs were far higher than normal and companies far less interested in exposing their people to increased risk without what they called proportional compensation.
Still, it was worth it. Glade didn’t like the idea of Bragden and Gent sticking around Asylum after the rescue they were about to pull. If everything went to plan, nobody would know who they were or where they went. But he had been around long enough to know that the best tactician always hedged their bets. That being said, the sooner they were all out of Asylum, the better.
A knock came at his door.
“Sir, it's me!” Kedryn called. “Are you ready to head out?”
“Not quite,” he called back, looking out the window. It was still a couple of hours until dawn, the time that Helmund had told them to meet him at the auction house so they could finalize their disguises. So long as it wasn’t that horrific wedding dress he had been duped into wearing he should be fine.
“Why are you here so early?” he asked, letting Kedryn in.
“I couldn’t sleep,” the Corporal said behind a yawn. “I noticed your light was on, so I thought I would come by and check on you before we… well, you know… head out?”
Kedryn said the last part while using his hands to make air quotes.
Glade rolled his eyes before turning to the gear laid out on his bed as if waiting for an inspection. He ignored the Kid as he went over every item with exacting detail, ensuring it was not only serviceable, but then donned it in the right order.
“Why do you do that?” Kedryn asked, looking at him with one of those intense looks that either meant he was trying to memorize his every move or was constipated. Honestly, it could be either based on his experience with the Kid.
“Do what?” Glade asked, pulling on his new leather armor they purchased at the previous day’s silent auction. He idly pulled up the stats as he began buckling on the intricately designed Brigandine armor set.
You have found a set of Nature’s Grace leather Brigandine armor. This dark brown leather armor has been designed, crafted, and enchanted by the Wood Elves of Pine’s Reach, increasing its bearer’s ability to move swiftly and surely wherever there is an abundance of nature.
Durability: 150/150
Attributes: +2 dexterity when surrounded by plant life. +4 defense
Grade: Well Crafted
Rarity: Uncommon
Weight: 13 lbs
The set came with matching gauntlets and a large belt that let him attach his daggers and other essential items for easy reach. He had tried it on the night before and had found it quite comfortable.
“Why do you always check your gear like you have a serious case of OCD?” Kedryn asked with a sincere look.
“I don’t always check my gear like that,” Glade said with a dismissive wave before testing the edge of his long sword. He still hadn’t had the time to train with it more than once or twice, but he felt confident he could at least make a good showing of himself if it came down to it.
“Begging your pardon, sir, but yes, you do,” Kedryn said. “Now, don’t get me wrong. I understand that we should inspect our things regularly. It's just that you double check everything. All the time. Especially when you think others aren't looking. Always top to bottom, right to left.”
Glade didn’t say anything for a long moment, taking the time to inspect his bow for wear and tear while he pondered how best to answer this most uncomfortable of questions. He didn’t like dredging up the past. Ever since the… incident, he had avoided looking back. Was it healthy? Absolutely not. But he didn’t have the time to work through that particular labyrinth of emotion. Not when he had friends to track down and save.
“I like you Kid,” Glade said after a long moment. “But I don’t like you that much. At least, not yet.”
“Oh,” Kedryn said, his eyes going wide as he realized just how sensitive a question that had been. “Sorry Captain! I didn’t mean to…”
“Are you calling me a sorry Captain?” Glade asked, looking up from his inspection.
“What?” Kedryn stammered, looking horrified. “No! I mean, no sir!”
Glade burst out laughing as Kedryn waved his hands frantically in the air before him.
“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Glade said with a chuckle, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “Didn’t your Drill Sergeants ever pull the ‘sorry sergeant’ bit on you?”
Kedryn stared at him for a long moment before sullenly shaking his head.
“No, they didn’t,” he said, trying to stare daggers at him. Glade just chuckled some more.
After another few moments of awkward silence, where Kedryn sulked and Ember kept running the joke through his thoughts trying to understand what made it so funny, Glade decided to break the ice. Just a bit..
“I guess it started while I was in training,” Glade finally said, looking over the arrows in his quiver. “Our training officers had a penchant for hammering accountability into us. Not just our gear, but our people too. They would always come through in the middle of our training lanes, taking things or soldiers from us whenever we weren’t paying attention. Usually, we wouldn’t find out until later, and only then when they had decided upon an appropriate punishment for us.
“There was this one time that a training officer swapped the magazine in my rifle while I was taking a piss in the bushes. No one caught him and we were in such a rush I didn’t notice the weight difference until it was too late. I wasn’t even the only one who he did it to. My entire team was overrun during the exercise that day.”
“Man, that's like, totally unfair!” Kedryn balked, leaning forward on the edge of his seat.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
“No, it's not unfair,” Glade said, now running the bow string through his finger and thumb as he checked it for fraying. “It taught me to be aware of myself and my surroundings at all times. I can’t tell you how many times those lessons have saved my life, and the lives of my men, over the years.”
“But that's not the whole reason you obsess over your gear, isn’t it,” Kedryn said. Glade noticed that the Kid posed it as a statement, not a question.
“No, Corporal, it is not,” Glade said with a sigh. “I like you Kid. I genuinely do. I am comfortable enough with myself to admit I made a mistake in not trusting you when we first met. You have proven your worth time and time again. But proving your worth isn’t necessarily earning the level of trust you are casually asking for. That takes time, along with a healthy mix of blood, sweat, and not a small amount of tears.”
Kedryn slowly nodded his understanding, but Glade knew the Kid wasn’t at that stage of emotional intelligence yet. If he were, he would never have asked such an intrusive question in the first place. Some hurts can only be shared when the bearer of those pains deemed it was time to do so. The trick is being available, which, he could attest, was one of the hardest things any person could achieve.
After another minute of silence, Glade finally pulled out his combat knife. He had given it a once over the night before, finding it had lost some of its edge. He had taken the time to sharpen it before going to sleep and was now checking the razor fine finish with satisfaction.
He also took the time to admire the fading rune inscribed on the blade.
You have found a Carbon Steel Dagger! While small blades are common within Veil, there is no other known blade made with this smithing technique, making this a truly unique find!
Note: This dagger has been temporarily enchanted with a Rune of Sharpening, increasing the damage output by +2. Time remaining until enchantment fades: 14 minutes, 33 seconds.
Glade smiled at the notification. Bragden had taken some time the night before to go over the basics of enchanting with him. Unfortunately, he only had time to learn the one rune.
The process wasn’t as hard as he had imagined. He simply channeled mana to his forefinger and wrote out the rune. He hadn’t even needed to cheat with his will power in order to figure it out! The hardest part was getting the rune right. Still, after several tries he had finally gotten it right. Though, he assumed whomever was writing up the notifications wasn’t as excited as he was.
Congratulations! You have technically learned the skill Enchanting! But have you really? Can anyone call drawing a little squiggle of fading mana a successful foray into the depths of mastering the pure id of existence itself? I thought not. Stick to your grunting and leave this most sublime of all skills to those with actual talent. +.5% to enchantment strength, which is more than you deserve.
According to Bragden, whichever Adjudicator branded you was responsible for the notification messages, which narrowed the field down of which one wrote this to one culprit.
Acumen.
It was no secret he didn’t like the Adjudicator of Intellect. It was also apparent from the notification that the feeling was mutual. Which should have made Glade nervous about entering Acumen’s labyrinth. But he had already decided to treat this upcoming reunion with the same level of indifference Wildfire treated her own family reunions. So long as they don’t talk with each other, everything was going to be fine.
“I can’t wait to open my Astral mana channels,” Kedryn sighed, looking longingly at Glade’s glowing knife.
“Like Bragden said, we’ll get you there as soon as we get back to Storm’s Rest,” Glade said, sheathing his knife. He grabbed the last of his things, double checking that Ember’s egg was securely packed. The egg was more red and gold now than black. He hadn’t had the time or the energy to remove the remaining Abyssal taint while they had stayed in the city, but once they were back on the road he would resume their nightly routine.
He hoped that by removing the taint they would be able to determine exactly what type of creature Ember was. Kedryn was still hoping for a dragon, but by this point, Glade didn’t care. Whatever Ember was, he was a friend first.
Now that he was ready, both he and Kedryn headed downstairs where they met Riya and two ornery dwarves.
“I’m tellin ye, I can’t leave ‘em behind!” Gent growled, glaring at Bragden with his arms folded as he stood in front of several small kegs. “Like I done said, you just run over to the auction house and bring me back a wagon. Only then will I start movin, ye sorry excuse for a beardless gnome!”
“Who are ye callin a beardless gnome?”” Bragden spat, not caring if his voice carried. It wasn’t quite morning yet, the dark sky having turned gray in the pre-dawn light. “If’n anyone is a beardless gnome, it be you! Now, afore ye get off on a tangent, please tell me what made ye think we could transport all that beer when we’re bloody well leavin afore the crack o’ dawn!? I say yer beardless and brainless, ye sorry excuse fer a goblin and gnome’s love child!”
“Now see here, ye bald Banshee! I’m not leavin this here sweet nectar straight from the Mother’s embrace, and thats final!” Gent roared.
“Here’s where we part ways!” Glade said, trying to get their attention. Neither of the two responded, instead they began posturing, which meant they were about 10 minutes away from a full on fight.
“Aren’t they overselling this a tad bit?” Kedryn whispered.
Riya elbowed him in his ribs.
“Right, sorry,” Kedryn hissed, rubbing his side.
Glade fought the impulse to roll his eyes, instead looking at the inn’s staff with a helpless look.
“They’re blocking the entrance, do you have a back door we can use?” Glade asked one of the early morning servers who was looking at the two dwarves in alarm.
“What is happening?” she squeaked in horror.
“Dwarven politics,” Glade said with a pat on her shoulder. She dumbly pointed toward the rear of the building.
Glade waved good-bye to the two dwarves. Neither Bragden nor Gent replied, still arguing.
He then led both Riya and Kedryn out the back of the inn, through a couple of sidestreets, across the main thoroughfare, and into the previously agreed upon side entrance of the auction house where Helmund quickly ushered them inside.
“Where are the dwarves?” he asked quickly as Jirea calmly looked up and down the alley before closing the door.
“Arguing at the inn over beer,” Glade explained.
“So, it worked?” Helmund asked.
“I assume so,” Glade said. “I would be surprised if they haven’t drawn every eye that might, or might not, have been scouting the inn.”
Helmund nodded curtly. “Jirea, dear, can you go and inform Avery that it's time he go and pick up master Bragden and Master Gent?”
The large woman nodded, disappearing down the hall.
“Here are your disguises,” Helmund said after his wife had disappeared, handing over two bundles.
“No toad princess dresses?” Glade asked with a skeptical look.
“No,” Helmund chuckled. “Though I can make the change if you’re interested. These are simple cloaks and masks, enchanted to hide your identities from both magical and physical senses. And before you ask, I just got them in last night, so no complaining about me not sharing them yesterday. Now hurry and put them on. Do you have your gear with you?”
“It's here,” Glade said, handing over his things in a separate bag. He wasn’t about to hand over Ember to the money grubbing half elf, no matter how much they had gotten to know each other over the past several days.
Kedryn also handed over his things.
“Good,” Helmund said, “I’ll lead you to where the representatives from house Lensher will meet you. What happens inside the labyrinth is none of my business, which is what I will continue to tell everyone for the remainder of my life.”
“Understood,” Glade said, donning the cloak. “On a completely unrelated topic, are the horses in place?”
“Yes,” Helmund said, peeking out of a curtain into the slowly brightening morning. “One of my men is delivering the horses to the stable down the street from the labyrinth entrance as we speak. They will be ready to ride in a couple of hours.”
“Thank you,” Glade said. They had purchased some horses through one of Helmund’s contacts for their upcoming travels. With any luck, they wouldn’t need to make a quick getaway, but it was always best to be prepared for when, not if, things went wrong.
“It's time,” Helmund said. “Riya, darling, can you wait here? Jirea will be back momentarily. She will take you to the stables where you, me, and her, along with Lun’Svet, will depart the city before there are too many people about and before the guards at the gate change up.”
Riya nodded her understanding, giving both Glade and Kedryn a worried look.
“May the Adjudicators guide you,” she whispered.
“And you,” Kedryn said, giving her his best rendition of a comforting smile. Glade tried hard not to roll his eyes. They had gone over this plan so many times that everyone knew their parts by heart. Naturally, Bragden and Gent had played their roles as a distraction should anyone be watching the entrance to the inn. Avery, who wasn’t in on the plan, was to take them directly to a ship to be transported to Aldorna. Cirea was with him.
Riya and the others would meet them about twenty miles outside of the city on the road north.
The only ones doing anything dangerous were Kedryn and Glade. With any luck, they would have both Vlad and Rem in tow when they met up with their group later.
He knew there were gaps in their plan, but they had accounted for them as best they could with the time they had. Everything from here on out was what Sun Tzu called the fog of uncertainty.
“No time like the present,” he said, placing the mask on his face before following Helmund out the door..