True to her word, Maribelle had woken me and Cojisto up bright and early in the morning. The fox was still resting after coming home from the first life or death fight she had been a part of in a long time, and I wasn’t going to fault her for that. I held my tongue.
The Chief forbade any biting remarks, anyway.
Instead of dealing with the Kitsune, we were sent to a grumbling Elf who complained the whole time. About being woken up early, about his schedule shifting around to accommodate us, and even about having to send us to Alashroe of all places. Its proximity to the magic-starved desert made many members of the Mage’s Guild wary.
I much preferred him to Sophia.
Despite his attitude, we arrived safely at our destination. Alashroe had its own Mage’s Guild tower complete with teleportation room. While the city’s relationship with Laroda wasn’t at all healthy, they were still the first stop for anyone influential coming through due to sheer proximity.
Everything was in order when we arrived thanks to Maribelle’s excellent communication skills. Knowing how eager we would be to get moving, our experience had been kept brief and succinct. We even left the tower faster than we expected, and I couldn’t help but snort at Cojisto’s face as he took in the sights of the city. I was simply glad that it was still too early for most people to be up and out.
“What, never been to Alashroe before?” I asked, nudging the other man.
He shook his head, not looking at me as he tried to keep his jaw from falling. “It’s been on the list,” he said. I arched an eyebrow before looking around with him.
Alashroe, home of the Dwarves, was situated on top of and inside of a mountain that looked like a multi-tiered pyramid. The Mage’s Guild tower was situated near a sheer drop, looking down upon several other segments of the city. It wasn’t all that different from New Frausta with the influential living at the top and everyone else beneath them.
Still, it was quite a sight. Large palaces with rising towers fitted with bulbous tops filled the next plateau down. They started as a mimicry of Laroda’s architecture many, many years ago, but the styles had diverged over time. This was yet another area of contention between the two nations.
I breathed in heavily. The desert could be seen past the city and the heated winds blew in our face. Thanks to my jacket and the temperature enhancements on it I was fine, but that was going to change once it stopped working. Luckily, I was already wearing light, comfortable clothes underneath it and only needed to prepare for the area.
“Aye, Badger!” a woman called out, and I turned to see a familiar looking Dwarf heading our way.
Birkindra was dressed in slightly dirty white clothes and a wide brimmed hat. Her black hair jutted out of it at a few messy angles. Those few errant strands were a far cry from the marvelous beard that adorned her chin. It was braided into four different sections, but only one split off even further. Slung across her shoulder was a large, pink bag that was nearly bursting at the seams.
“Birk,” I greeted with a wave. We met in the middle, and I shook her hand. “It’s nice to see you. Cojisto, this is Birkindra, one of Chief Brackenhorst’s granddaughters. Birk, this is Cojisto.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Cojisto,” she said, shaking his hand as well. “Haven’t heard much about you other than you’ve been a great help to this old coot here.”
“I’m sure Badger would beg to differ, but I really have been quite helpful,” he agreed while I rolled my eyes. “Are you going to take us to the desert?”
“No, Pop Pop called and wanted me to get a few things ready for your journey,” she explained. With a tilt of her head, she gestured for us to follow her and we did. “Have you been to the Laroda Jareet Desert before?”
“No, but I’ve always wanted to,” he answered.
“Don’t recommend it myself, but from what I understand you have no choice,” she said with a sidelong glance.
“I don’t want to say too much about it, but yes, our hand has been forced,” I begrudgingly admitted.
“Say no more, I’m just here to get you what you need and to get you out of the city,” she said, holding up a hand to cut me off. “Badger, I already know you know this, but Cojisto, do you know what the desert does to magic?”
“Eats it?” he asked more than answered.
“Basically, yes,” she confirmed with a nod. “About two millennia ago, the Third Sultanate attempted to summon their god who everyone else thought was long dead.”
“Because what else can you do when you’re easily provoked and your government is a theocracy revolving around one deity,” I snorted.
Birk nodded. “Right, that. The ritual was a masterful work of art that spanned the entire country. Mages came from all over. Most didn’t care about the god; they just wanted to see what would happen.”
“Ugh, spellcasters,” Cojisto sighed.
“You know, technically, you’re something of a spellcaster now, too,” I told him, looking up at the man.
Cojisto opened his mouth to rebuke me before pausing. He lifted his hand and clenched his fist, summoning his Fluid Force and stared at it. A mix of emotions played on his face from amusement to despair to acceptance.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Damn, I guess I am,” he admitted.
“And Moose is a full fledged mage,” I added. “As in, he can actually cast spells and there’s a visible effect now.”
That made him scoff. “Moose is the best spellcaster, with Ferry a close second,” he said, crossing his arms. “I’ll never forgive the Mage’s Guild for not taking me seriously when I told them that he was magic. Neither of them should be lumped in with other mages who prefer their stuffy guild over good, old-fashioned adventuring.”
“As much as I’d like to ask about the magical moose my Pop Pop mentioned,” Birk started with a chuckle. “We really need to talk about what comes next.”
“But I like talking about Moose,” Cojisto lamented.
We used a bridge to cross a Dwarf-made river cut into the mountain before turning to follow it. Just like the mountain Sophia and I had told Ferrisdae and Maribelle about, Alashroe also had a portal leading to the Plane of Water. This one was built to be a permanent structure in ages past, however. There were people working on making the river wider, as if the Thousand Year Blizzard’s end had made the flow more powerful.
It was interesting to think about all the things that were changing now that there was more ambient magic in the air.
“Some other time then, definitely,” Birk laughed. “Anyways, back to it. The stories say that the Third Sultanate managed to summon something, but whatever it was scarred the land. They, of course, denied that it was their god because to admit that would be to admit that whatever they were worshiping was either dead or destructive. Both were bad news for them. The landscape slowly started turning to desert over the next few centuries, and it’s looked like this ever since.”
The Dwarf gestured towards the desert. There was nothing but blue skies and sand for as far as the eye could see.
“If anything magical goes into the desert, then it starts losing energy,” I told Cojisto. “That includes items, spells, and even people. You go into the Laroda Jareet Desert, then you’ll need to recharge all of your gear with magic crystals when you come back out.”
“Magic recharge is a very lucrative field here in Alashroe,” Birk said with a nod. “What people don’t realize is that storage is, too. The lowest level of the city contains several vaults, many of which are considered to be the most protected place on the continent. Instead of having to recharge goods, which can be expensive, you can instead store everything for a fraction of the cost.”
I gave Birk a sharp look. “The Chief isn’t skimping out on us, is he?” I asked, frowning. “We don’t have time to go to the vaults to drop off our stuff.”
She gave me an easygoing grin. “Nah, I managed to procure two Shashilly Bags, one for each of you. Whatever Ferrisdae and Moose have on them will have to be recharged, but you’ll be fine,” she said, and I relaxed. Then she hit me with a stern look of her own. “Those are on loan, by the way, so I’m going to need them back. I’m only letting you borrow them as a favor to Pop Pop. They’re expensive, so don’t go ripping or losing them.”
Cojisto slowly raised his hand, and I gestured for him to put it down. “Shashilly Bags are woven from the fronds of the Shashilly Tree,” I explained, gesturing towards the desert. “They grow around a few of the oasis and are quite possibly the only magical things to exist out there. The fronds keep the magic of whatever’s inside from filtering out.”
“You’ll have your gear available for a few good minutes before they go inert, but you need to be careful,” Birk warned as she reached into her bag. “The moment the bag’s open, you’re going to lose precious energy, so only do it in an emergency.”
“Could people not use the wood of the tree or something to stave off the magic void?” Cojisto asked.
“Nah, it’s just the fronds that have the property to contain magic,” she answered with a shake of her head. “The whole enterprise is highly regulated because they only last so long. They’re rare enough without everyone trying to build magic vaults, and they don’t last forever on account of being leaves. The Sultan is said to have a small room no bigger than a shack lined with the stuff, but that’s just rumors.”
“That might explain what’s going on,” Cojisto said, looking at me.
“We’ll discuss it,” I said, leaving it at that.
I knew that the Sultan did have a room like that. It was in one of Justisius’ reports, but it wasn’t the one I saw through the portal. What I had seen was open air, like somebody’s living space, and definitely wasn’t lined with Shashilly fronds.
We came to a stop at the end of the river, which was situated at the edge of the cliff. The water continued onto a long aqueduct that led to an oasis barely visible on the horizon. It was a marvelous piece of architecture that Alashroe had claimed was one of the greatest wonders of the world. Now that the water was flowing more heavily, greenery grew where it splashed out underneath the stone structure.
Birk retrieved two stiff bags made from long, thin red leaves. Each one was the size of a pillowcase, and she handed one to each of us. Cojisto gingerly took his, worried about how durable it was after the Dwarf’s warning, but I handled mine normally.
Retrieving a backpack out of my Pocket, I pushed the Shashilly Bag into it and started pulling out the necessities I would need on this excursion. There would be no way to retrieve items from the dimensional space, so I needed them handy. Cojisto began doing the same.
I had a scabbard for every sword in my Hilt of Holding, and I thumbed the rune for the flaming longsword before hanging it from my belt. Out of all of the blades, this one was the longest and most versatile. While I did think to keep my adamantine letter opener around, I wanted something that would be more useful in the fight I knew was coming.
Next was my shield. I brought it against my chest and opened it, looking through the transparent metal before hanging it on my backpack. That enchantment was going to go away until I could get it recharged, but I still needed my shield.
Aside from that, I pulled out my Department of Dungeons badge, my alchemical potions, and several waterskins. My magical potions stayed in the Dimensional Pocket as there was no way to recharge those once they were exposed to the desert. Next, I took off my jacket. It was folded and placed into the Shashilly Bag before I closed it completely and slung the backpack over my shoulders.
“Ready?” I asked Cojisto.
He had done the same as I had, though his weapons were his fists. His crossbow did hang from his own backpack, however, which was good. Even though we probably didn’t need it in a dungeon in a palace, we could find a use for it.
“I’m ready,” he said, looking over the edge. “Are there stairs? Or some other way down?”
“Something faster,” I replied. “There’ll be camels for us to take at the oasis.”
Cojisto gave me a confused look. “At the oasis?”
“Yeah. You’re going to like this way too much, I think,” I said with a thin smile before turning to Birk. “Thank you. We’ll make sure you get everything back in one piece.”
“I appreciate that, Badger. Don’t be a stranger,” she returned with a smile.
“Wait, are we-”
Before Cojisto could get the question out, I started running. Jumping into the air, I dove into the water. The rapids grabbed me, but they were shallow enough that I could ride them. Behind me, I heard the man yell enthusiastically before jumping in after me.