Terius and Malo agreed to push hard these last three days, he’s been out of touch with the Study. He needs to brief Headmaster Gale and pay a visit to Vania. He’s also curious if his special project, Teum has managed to stay out of trouble.

Malo wants to be out of the open and relishes the idea of being amongst mountains again, even if Mammatus sits on top of one, that has to be better than the planes they’ve travelled in for the most part. Seeing miles of trees ahead fuels him to run a little faster, even Chloe seems excited by the change in terrain.

They travel along an arrow straight path, which is easily four yards wide, cutting through the dense forest. The closer they get to the Rocky Waste the more foot and wagon traffic they pass. This forces them to slow down during the day. After dark the wagons pull off to the side or stop at rest areas cut into the forest for the night. Terius has Malo ride so they can add another three hours at top inu speed the first night. By the second night the incline increases, which doesn’t affect Terius but slows a burdened Chloe. At that point they found Malo’s tireless running was the faster option.

Day three they are in the Rocky Waste, thankfully Mammatus is on this side. A looping path winds up and around the first foothill, the next obstacle is a smallish mountain, but the gap between it and the foothill they just half climbed was filled in with ash seven thousand years ago. What used to be tens of thousands of miles of independent peaks is now a giant elevated desert with rocky islands amongst the clouds. Mammatus plateau, the home of the city and study by the same name is straight ahead, a flat area between three peaks.

Malo was right to look forward to coming here, the rocky mountain peaks jutting up through the ash fall desert with the clouds brushing their tops gives him the cozy feeling he’s been missing since he left his valley. Needle thin grass grows in clumps in some areas and fuzzy leaved clover carpets others. He catches a glimpse of some small mammals poking their heads out of holes in the ground, not far from the road.

The road they’ve been following for the last three days will take them to the western gate. Terius points off to the south where a steam driven train is chugging towards the looming city ahead. The tallest buildings are touched by the same clouds that obscure the highest peaks that surround them. Malo wonders what this must look like at night.

Malo’s breathing is starting to get heavy, the thin air finally finding a weakness in his inexhaustive running ability. He doesn’t feel tired, but he needs to breathe. He signals Terius to stop and ride Chloe for a while. The inu isn’t faring much better and they settle for jogging the last twenty miles.

They enter the city limits, no gate, no wall, Mammatus is an open city. Most of their trade goods come by rail, making the miniscule wagon trade not worth watching. High volume merchants declare their goods, most of them that is. Smaller merchants don’t bother at all. The black-market trade is big, but only in durable goods. The human trafficking and drug trade that takes place in other black-markets is not tolerated by the Defenders of Mammatus, due to the human toll. Stolen goods, exotic items, and highly taxed merchandise are none of their concerns.

Terius calls for a stop, to devise a strategy to get Malo to the study with the least exposure to people. Most of the plans he can think of require him to wait until nightfall, and carry him over his shoulder, while he fast travels through the streets. It would be uncomfortable for Malo, but it would be over quick. Eventually practicality won out. All the city is going to see him eventually, they’ll all be affected for the good or for the bad as it happens. Best to just walk him in as unobtrusively as possible.

“Malo pull your hood up as best you can to hide the burnt half of your face and climb on Chloe, I’ll lead you in like we don’t have a care in the world.”

“That’s alright by me. I’m looking forward to a day of rest, the sooner the better.”

Malo hopped onto Chloe and yanked his hood up and to the left, hiding half his face in the process. Terius takes the lead and starts walking. There isn’t a single structure for a hundred yards from the sign. But once they reach the first one, the density of buildings quickly increases until they are touching in some cases. Narrow alleys run between some, while others have gravel cart paths used to access the buildings discreetly and not disrupt traffic on the busy street in front.

There are homes mixed in with all manner of businesses, city planning was clearly never a consideration. No surprise when a city forms the way Mammatus came to be. It started with the lone study, the land chosen because it was remote and uninhabited. The Study of Mammatus became known for the quality of its masters. That led to an unmanageable number of applicants. Rejected students and masters alike stuck around to try and earn entry with exhibitions of their abilities. Sparing matches became popular events for gamblers. Next came spectators, within a few years a town formed. It grew along with the matches until there was a final month-long tournament to name the top fighters in each rank. The one room study and dorm kept growing until it became a multi-campus university. The town turned city grew, slowly enveloping the university, the only government being the various trade unions, the studies headmaster and of course the gambling houses.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Crime was out of control, the headmaster and the faculty had had enough, they shut down the tournament by declaring participation would preclude any chance of enrollment. The tournament now robbed of half its participants rapidly shrunk in scale. The gambling aspect became less profitable, causing the gambling houses to fold and move on, taking much of the crime with them. The city carried on, many of the residents found the lack of government oversite to be a minor problem, a city council was formed under a charter drafted by the Mammatus Study. The study gave away all but two of their campuses for the city to sell to use the proceeds to pay for a rail stop to the West-East railway company’s trans-continental railway. Along with the railway came the telegraph. Any city with a rail stop is guaranteed to succeed. Having a top study that produces the most skilled Defenders in South Cenoka means there’s no creatures living in the shadows creating chaos, destruction, or degeneracy. The people here laugh.

Not everyone is laughing today, one in two people that notice the hooded man riding an inu, led by the Defender Terius, feels a darkness come over them. They do nothing; what could they do that Terius could not? If this dark figure deserves justice, it will receive it at the hands of Defender Terius.

They wind their way through the city, leaving a wake of people either cheerfully waving or averting their gaze in distaste. When they reach the block with the study, there isn’t as much foot traffic. There are only a few businesses and homes on this block, around half the buildings are owned by the study, used as guest housing and storage.

Terius stops and smiles, he is home, but the smile doesn’t last. Waiting at the front gate is his old friend Master Paras Robles, wearing the stole of a headmaster.

In a blink he closes the 20-yards to his friend’s side. He turns and gives a whistle calling Chloe to come. A startled Malo can only hang on as Chloe leaps forward in a dash.

“The headmaster, is he ill,” demands Terius?

Paras has been dreading this conversation for days, “Our friend Fallan is missing. He was due back days ago. Communications at the site he was investigating take a week to go in either direction. It could be nothing or a catastrophe. As acting headmaster, I’ll give you four hours to brief us on this nice man you brought us and to freshen up.”

Terius is relieved to already know that Paras is on Team Malo. It will make things much smoother to have the studies voice of reason on his side. “Paras, I’d like you to meet Malo. Malo is a most unique individual, not only is he a living and breathing runt, but he also has abilities beyond the written knowledge of this study.”

Paras takes that information in stride and helps Malo dismount Chloe.

Malo looks at the nice man who is now looking at him with that look of a million questions he’s seen before and does what he does, “I’m a runt. I am 9 years old. Yes, I am big for my age, I don’t know how big I’ll get. No, I’m not stupid, but I do need to learn the most basic stuff. I do not know words or math, or medical care, or anything unless I read about it or have it explained by a teacher. I have abilities like running without getting tired. I heal faster than most people, except for these burn scars. These are new, I don’t know why they won’t heal. This is the tough one so please listen and believe me. I am cursed, half of all people that see me will hate me for no apparent reason. The other half, which must include you like me more than they should. I am sorry, I don’t want this. I am here so you can fix me. Do you have any questions?”

Paras blinks a few times before responding, “No, that covers a lot. We will need to delve deeper into this curse business.” He looks over at Terius with one question in his eyes.

“Yes, what he described as his curse is real. You’ll see it for yourself when you witness other people’s interactions with him. Paras, when was the last time you offered a helping hand to a stranger to do something as simple as dismounting an inu?”

Master Robles scrunches his eyes as he contemplates the implication. He shakes his head in dismissal, “Let us move this inside. I’ll take the inu to the kennel. Why don’t you place Malo in a room in the E wing. He should be well isolated there, as it is unoccupied for now. Then I will catch up to you in your office in an hour.”

The recently reunited friends give each other a nod and once again part ways to complete their respective tasks.

Terius takes Malo around to the eastern wing’s entrance. He uses small jabs of kinetic energy to trigger a sequence of levers to unlock the door. Once inside they find a stairwell and head up to the third floor where the student cells are located. Terius opens the first door on the right which makes it a room facing the street and throws open the door for Malo to enter.

“I’ll have a page deliver fresh linen and some food with instructions to leave it at the door with a knock to signal its arrival. Any questions?” Terius is obviously in a hurry and sounds agitated.

“No that should do it. Did I hear that your study headmaster is missing?”

“I’m afraid that is what we both heard.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t give me another thought, he needs you more than I do.”

Terius chuckles, “Are you sure you’re only nine? I know 50-year-old men and woman that are less aware of the needs of others.” After a sad pause, “and I’m one of them.”

Terius looks around the room to assess if there is anything else to address and sees none. “Please stay put until I or Master Robles calls on you.” The door closes with a loud click as Master Leonis Terius, The Terror of Mammatus leaves on his next mission to find his missing headmaster.