C H A P T E R  5

CRAGSTEP

"Vi."

Vi came awake to Sorya shaking her. Groaning into her pillow, she swatted her friend's arms away. She was so tired. Her dream last night had been bad even by her standards. Something had been hunting her through the temple, and she kept turning corners to find dead bodies and shadow shapes waiting for her.

"Vi, get up," continued Sorya, stepping back and delivering a solid kick to Vi's blanket-wrapped form.

"Ow!" Vi turned over and wiggled her way deeper into her cot. "You said I got to rest for a few days after I learned the spell. I learned the spell. I should have known it was all lies. All liiiiiieeeees."

Sorya crossed her arms and stared down at Vi disapprovingly. "There's been a change of plans. Avri wants you to come with me and Kett to Cragstep." Seizing an opening, Sorya ripped the blanket from Vi's grasp and started to roll it up. "Oh poor thing, you look so cold without your blankie," Sorya mocked. "Maybe you want to go to the kitchens where it's nice and warm? Doesn't that sound so much better than moping?"

Vi scowled and rolled into a sitting position. Her body sagged under its own weight, pulling her down towards the floor. It was only with great effort and many creaking joints that she pushed herself to her feet. She looked expectantly into Sorya's stupid, smug face. They really did look a lot a like, when Vi actually stopped to notice. It was uncanny.

"Fine. Let's go, and while we're walking you can explain what the fuck Cragstaff is."

"Of course!" Sorya beamed. She was too excited too early in the morning, and for some reason that only annoyed Vi more. "And it's Cragstep."

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"So we're going to an actual city?"

"Well," Sorya began tentatively as she stirred her spoon through a thick root vegetable soup. Vi had already finished her portion and was politely waiting for a second. "It's more of a large town. It's the primary stop for merchant caravans this side of the Inner Sea. They either can't afford sea travel or they don't want to travel through the desert."

Vi tried to recall anything she'd learned about this world's geography and failed utterly. "What's so bad about the desert? Besides the heat and the sand, I mean."

"A Warden escort is ridiculously expensive, and between the undead and the serpent cult, there's a high mortality rate. Most caravans just disappear."

Vi clacked her spoon against her empty dish. If she had any food in her mouth she would have done a spit take. "Undead serpent cult?"

"No, no, it's... it's two different things that happen to be nearby one another. I haven't told you about this?"

Vi shook her head. "I'm like, a hundred percent sure you haven't mentioned anything like that. Are there any other massive evil things you've left out of your stories?"

Sorya spooned some soup into her mouth while she thought, cupping her chin. When she swallowed, she started right in. "Well, a Demon destroyed Old Aihu. It's completely uninhabitable now except for the northern provinces. A lot of people say the Traveler -- he's something like a child of a god, not a whole one in his own right -- secretly eats children. In some parts of the world people have to stay inside at night or they'll die. The City of Bells was razed in an hour a few years ago and nobody knows how it happened. There are stories about oceandwelling monsters raiding coastal villages and eating everything they find. Um... I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head. Mostly it's just the undead and the serpent cult. I'm not an expert on any of this, so if you have any more questions, you should probably ask Avri or Kett."

To describe Vi as stunned would be an understatement. "And what you're saying... is that these are all real things that really happened for real? This is some wicked crazy shit, Sorya."

"I've obviously never seen any of it for myself, except for that one time I mentioned earlier. But you wouldn't be wrong to say this 'wicked crazy shit' was real. I must have misunderstood the sorts of things you were accustomed to in your homeland. What sort of threats do your people have to face?"

"Fucking..." Vi struggled to think of something. "Rednecks? Mosh pits?"

Sorya nodded sagely. "Barbarian savages are indeed a great threat. I do not envy you. And the creature you call a Mosh has claimed many lives. The tales say it is incredibly difficult to kill."

"Um... yeah, okay. Anyway, tell me more about Cragstep." Sorya finally finished eating, so they both went back to the pot for more. Technically, they weren't supposed to get seconds, something something piety blah blah blah, but Effran was the one stirring the pot. The boy grinned and gave Sorya a suggestive wink as he ladled the thick orange soup into their bowls with unbridled speed and precision. By the time Marya turned her suspicious gaze in their direction, Vi and Sorya had already returned to their seats and Effran had somehow managed to look worn down again.

"There isn't much to tell. It's a nice little place. The Baron doesn't worship Sheksetir, but he pays homage to the old gods. The merchants know not to fleece us, and many of them will donate some of their goods. Usually it's just me, Kett, Furman the village smith, and one of the herbalists who go, but Avri wants you to come with us this time. It'll be fun!"

The girls finished their food and walked back to the dormitory to collect their meager belongings. "We'll spend most of today traveling," explained Sorya. "Then we'll spend all of the next day shopping, and leave early on the third day so we can be back here in time for supper."

Vi nodded along hesitantly. While she'd left the temple grounds before, she hadn't exactly been anywhere else. She hadn't even been allowed to go to the nearby village that supported the temple. This would be a first. I should be excited for this, thought Vi. She was still trying to convince herself to lighten up when they climbed into a small covered wagon and the driver set their draft horses with a snap of the reins.

Kett, she decided, was the reason she wasn't excited about this. The nervous brother still treated her equal parts like a nuisance and a threat. Even in this wagon, with Sorya and a burly man she assumed to be Furman carrying on a boistrous conversation, she and Kett sat slumped, staring at their feet. Occasionally, they would glance up at the other's feet and frown.

The poor, lanky, balding herbalist brother, Tomas, was caught off guard by their awkward behavior. His half-hearted attempts at conversation with Kett were ignored, and eventually he was staring at his feet too.

"And I said, woman, that's not a nail. That's a blank!" Furman and Sorya burst into uprorious laughter at a joke that went so far over Vi's head that she didn't realize it was a joke until they'd stopped laughing.

For the most part, Vi was lost in her own thoughts. The other four made this trip together often. They were used to each other's company. Now, with Vi here, their dynamic was ruined. Half of them weren't talking, and the other half were obviously trying to make up for it. She was the fifth wheel. It was a solemn reminder that she was a stranger here. Different.

I guess this is my lot in life. To drift through it, never quite fitting in, never doing anything important. Has being here changed anything? Was I dreaming to think it would? Am I dreaming now?

The darkness stirred, and Vi slapped herself hard across the cheek.

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Silence descended as everyone stared at her, Sorya and Furman with clear concern, Kett and Tomas with fear. "Sorry," said Vi. "I was falling asleep."

Conversation was sparse for the remaining hours of the trip, but as the sun's glow began to cast long shadows, they crested a hill and Vi beheld Cragstep at last.

It looked like a fort. Not a fortress, that implied it was big and impressive. No, Cragstep was a squat settlement situated in a basin. It had wooden walls about twice as tall as a person, sharpened into stakes on their uneven tops. A palisade, Vi remembered it was called. On the southern side, a rickety gate held open by ropes and pulleys let a small trickle of merchants and farmers through. On the other side, Vi could see a dirt road snaking through the beginnings of a thick forest, up into the foothills and toward the mountains that dominated the horizon.

"The Craglorns," Sorya offered. "Impressive, yeah?"

They were certainly a lot different from the mountains in Maine. Even from this far away, Vi could see steep cliffs, plateaus, and a small white line she thought might be a waterfall. The range stretched as far as she could see in either direction, and the smallest peak was about the size of Mount Katahdin, the largest mountain she'd ever personally climbed.

"Yeah," said Vi, at a loss for words.

The wagon rounded the walls at a good clip and met the southern road, their driver easing them into what Vi realized was a line behind a family of farmers circled around a huge ox. Their little boy jumped up to catch a glimpse at them before his mother shuffled him away, muttering about how he was being rude. The father nodded his head respectfully. "Fair afternoon, brothers."

"And to you," intoned Kett. "What news from the Midlands?"

"That's what we call the land south of here," Sorya whispered to Vi as the farmer droned on. "It doesn't belong to any one country, even though a lot of them wish it did. It's the best farmland in this part of the world." She clapped Vi on the shoulder. "Let's go explore. We don't have to wait for the wagon."

Sorya helped Vi out the back and led her toward the gate. There were two guards in simple chain hauberks stationed there. Tabards displaying a stylized mountain in gold covered their chests, and they held long spears over their shoulders, with the shafts abutted on their boots. "Ah, sister Sorya," one of them called out. He was a younger man, probably mid twenties, with a gaptooth smile and a head of shaggy blonde hair. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."

Sorya twirled a finger through her bangs, smiling shyly as she bit her lip. No, thought Vi. Him?

"Darek, you know I come here every month. The others are in line, but I wanted to show the new girl around. Let us in?"

Darek flourished and bowed in a poor imitation of courtly ettiquette. "It would be my pleasure. Follow me." He led them through the gate, past the other guards who were busy inspecting carts and sacks of goods.

Vi found herself stepping onto a wide main street surrounded by squat wooden buildings and filled to the brim with people. The sounds and smells -- she had to cover her nose briefly -- were a departure from what she'd grown used to at the temple. Men and women from all walks of life marched about with purpose. There were wealthy merchants flanked by bodyguards, runners and messengers sliding smoothely between the marketgoers, hawkers carrying samples of their shop's wares and displaying them proudly to ayone who would pay attention.

"Market day crowds," muttered Darek as he led them to a relatively unoccupied street corner. "Well, sister, I have to get back to work. The town needs me and all that." He bowed to them again. "Sister, pleasure to meet you. Mayhaps I'll stop by your inn when my watch ends and get to know you better." Before Vi could collect her thoughts, Darek disappeared back into the throng, waving at them over his shoulder. All they could see was the top of his spear wavering back and forth, and soon even that disappeared behind a noble's carriage.

A fiendish grin crept up Sorya's face as she turned to face Vi. "Look at you," she said, crossing her arms and rubbing her chin. "Red as a beet. And all he did was offer to drink with you."

Vi pursed her lips. "I-I'm just not used to guys paying attention to me. Besides, you're the one shooting him looks. I thought priestesses were supposed to be chaste."

"Wherever did you get such an outlandish idea...?" Sorya mocked, her voice trailing off into a seductive tone. Vi sputtered and tried to think of a response, turning even more red. Curse this pale complexion!

A gaggle of children rounded the corner and slammed into Sorya, knocking her to the ground. "Ow! You urchins should know better than to run in the street!" The kids stuck their tongues out as they ran further into the crowd. "Sorry, lady," one of them called. "We've got a silver piece on our survival!"

Before Vi could ask Sorya what that meant, another group of children followed the first. These shambled and twitched and drooled, holding their limbs at odd angles. A smaller boy was balanced on the shoulders of two slightly older girls, and he wielded a long, curved tree brach in both hands. "Feast on their flesh!" he snarled, and his minions made exaggerated monster noises as they charged after the others.

Once they were gone, Vi helped Sorya back to her feet. "Children and their games," she said, rubbing her backside. "They may look innocent but sometimes they get a bit carried away."

"Oh, okay," said Vi. "That was just a bit carried away. I see how it is."

 "Yes, well," Sorya cleared her throat. "Veiga can be rough. Let's move along?"

"Sure, but tell me about Veiga. Is it like tag?" Vi queried.

Sorya pawed her way through the market, inspecting anything shiny that she saw while answering Vi's questions. "...but the survivors have to be careful that they aren't being tricked. They've been known to hide for days, trying to suss out if the game is actually over while planning their next move."

Vi chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that's way more complicated than tag."

When the sun began to set, Vi and Sorya at last made their way to their inn, the Wyrmtooth. Standing four storeys tall, it towered above all the nearby buildings. Its steeply sloped roof and carved wooden ornamentation reminded Vi of nordic buildings from Earth.

"The owner is a Faynite," Vi was informed as Sorya flung the heavy oaken door to the common room open. "But he's one of the good ones, so be nice."

"Everyone keeps mentioning Faynites, but nobody's told me what they are yet." Vi huffed. Inside the inn, the bustle of the crowd was almost another world. Only a few customers were here, two at the bar and a table of five enjoying mugs of beer by the fireplace. The floor and walls were made of heavy, colorful wood with swirling grains, strong enough that Vi's footsteps made almost no sound. Rugs made from animal pelts were spread generously throughout the room, beneath tables and some even hung on the walls.

From the four corners, arching beams carved with runic markings rose ten feet up and met in the center of the ceiling, from which hung a large oil lantern. The bar was topped with an expensive looking lacquered wood, but wasn't as long as Vi was used to. Neither did she see the shelves of alcohol bottles she'd expected. Instead, there were two large kegs, one of which the innkeeper was using to dispense a brew. Above them, displayed proudly on a set of heavy bent nails, was a cracked and yellowed tooth as long as Vi's arm. The eponymous wyrmstooth, she supposed.

"Welcome," said the innkeeper as he slid the now full mug down the bar to an awaiting hand. He was thinner than Vi expected, and had tattooes running down his bare arms. He had a day's stubble growing on his chin, and the hair on his head was cropped close. In the poor lighting, Vi couldn't tell the color. "About time you lot showed up. What can I get for you?"

Sorya raised her thumb and forefinger. "Two geysas, Karl, my good man."

Karl poured two mugs of what looked like beer and passed them to Sorya. "Sit anywhere you like, you're the only guests I'm expecting."

Sorya plopped down at a corner table and motioned Vi to join her. "Try this," she said passing. "All the men say it'll put hair on your chest. Hasn't happened to me yet, but it's sure refreshing after a long day." Sorya took two big gulps of the stuff and wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her robe.

Vi had never had beer before, except for a few sips she stole out of her father's cans when he wasn't looking. She took a more tentative sip. She coughed involuntarily, sending fizzy liquid squirting out her nose. "Dis tasse like shit," grumbled, blowing her nose into a bar towel Sorya passed her out of pity.

"It tastes like a barnyard smells," Sorya said. "but after working all day, a mug of this will make you feel right as rain."

Vi and Sorya talked for what felt like hours until Kett, Tomas, and Furman finally trickled in. Furman and Sorya immediately started joking again, but the two monks were quiet. Vi let Karl take her mug away and stood up. "I'm going to go to bed early. Sorya, can you show me where I'm staying?"

Sorya chugged the rest of her drink and swayed toward Vi. "Sure, but you should stay. The night is young, and Darek isn't even here yet." She tried to wink, but it looked more like she was blinking one eye out of sync with the other.

"No, I'm tired. I don't want to bring you down. Besides, I have to rest up for tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a smart thing to say. You're smart." Sorya clapped Vi on the shoulder and led her to a room on the second floor. She had to be helped up the stairs at one point, and Vi hoped her friend could navigate her way back down on her own. She'd never seen Sorya drunk before, but living with her father had taught her all she needed to know about handling them.

"Lean forward before you fall. There you go. Grab the railing." Sorya smiled dumbly at Vi's instructions, and leaned into her until they reached the door to them room. It was a simple affair, with two small beds and a chest to store belongings. A single window overlooked the street, and Vi could see that it was getting dark out.

"I'll be in later," Sorya slurred. "Or maybe not. Depends on Darek." She did her best erotic hip sway, which in her current state was not good at all. "Either way, I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a great day."

Vi sighed and forced a smile. "Yeah, of course," she said as she shooed Sorya down the hall and closed the door. "If you say so," she said.

The darkness stirred.