The fire crackles as the damp logs slowly burn causing the shadows in the cave to dance to a silent irregular beat. I slowly sit up and hold my head in my hands as I do so. Guess mana depletion feels like a hangover, cause that’s exactly what this feels like. I look around to take stock of my situation.
Thavim is laying on the far side of the fire facing the wall and lightly snoring. Analise is leaning against the rock in the opening of the cave, probably keeping watch. I slowly get up and shiver in the cold. I grab my cloak that slid off when I awoke and drape around my shoulders to go join her.
“How are you feeling?” I ask. I’m not sure if I had actually healed all of her injuries. I just thought I’d gotten most of them.
“Alvis!” she excitedly stage whispers. “I’m so glad you’re alright! I was worried when we found you lying limp against that tree.”
“Ah. Yeah, I think I may have run out of mana. I need to figure out a better way to track that. Speaking of, I’m not sure I was able to heal all of your injuries. I tried to get most of them, but there was a lot going on. Anywhere still hurt?” I ask, mostly in a low voice as to not wake Thavim. They probably won’t let me take a turn on watch anyway as a seven winter old.
“Nothing that can’t wait til morning,” she said, but I see her turn slightly away while holding her arm. It was dangling uselessly, wasn’t it? Guess I didn’t fix it enough.
“It’s probably best if I regain some more mana before attempting more healing magic anyway,” I admit. “What about Thavim? Will he make it til morning?”
“He took about the same amount of damage as I did I think, but he’s a dwarf. They’re built a bit sturdier. I don’t think you’ll need to worry about him,” she replies glancing at the snoring lump beside the fire.
We both stare off into the darkness for a bit. “Sorry about Danté. I was too late to do anything for him. I think I’m pretty okay at healing magic, but I don’t know how to heal death.”
She emits an almost inaudible sniffle but otherwise just shakes her head.
“You want me to take over watch for a bit?” I offer, fully expecting to be turned down.
She lets out a half laugh and sniffles again, “Were you not so young, I’d say yes.”
“It’s alrigh’, lass. Ye can get yerself some shuteye,” Thavim says from right behind us giving us both a scare.
“Sorry if we woke you,” starts Analise but Thavim holds his hand up to forestall any further apologies. She just nods and goes to lie down.
“How ye feelin’ lad?” Thavim asks replacing Analise in propping up the cave wall.
Like I spent the last thirty hours drinking, though I probably shouldn’t spill the beans that I know what a hangover feels like.
“Light and sound hurt my head a bit. Think it’s just mana depletion. What about you? You were roughed up a bit, I believe.”
“Aye, but some kind soul seems t’ have pieced me together while I took a nap,” he replies with a grin.
We both take to looking into the dark as Analise and I had done. “Brokdruc get away?”
“Nah. He was missing a few limbs. Wasn’t much able t’ run t’ get away. Mae’ have died from blood loss.”
“I was hoping to question him. Considering the king sent both him and that rude wizard, I’m thinking we cut the king out of discussions. Or maybe I just leave the mountain altogether,” I pause and look at the stars for a bit.
“I don’t suppose you know of any schools or academies I could attend, would you?”
Thavim strokes his beard for a bit, “There be tha’ ‘Sorcery Consociation’ up in Granite Peeks. Yer a wee bit young for tha.’ Not t’ mention tha’ ye’d need a title. Only fer nobles tha’ one.”
“A school where they study magic? That sounds exciting! I have to have special guarded excursions to test magic theories here, and even then it seems that half my guard is out to kill me. How does someone get a noble title anyway?”
“Some’re born into it, an’ those’re usually th’ least deservin’ o’ it. Others get recognized by some king or other an’ are rewarded with a title for tha’.”
“So what you’re saying is that Thrumgar can get me in.”
“Mae’ have t’ be a human king fer ye, but aye. Can’t hurt t’ give it a shot.”
I let out a particularly long yawn.
“Go on lad, get some shuteye. We be leavin’ at first light. Donkey ran off so ye’ll be walkin’ yer way back with this lot, ‘less you know a better method, tha’ is.” We both glance at Analise’s sleeping form but say nothing else and I lie down.
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“Just tell me what else hurts or I’m going to waste tons of mana trying to find it.”
“I’m fine,” Analise replies sourly.
I let out a huff and start searching and finally wind up healing her shoulder. “If we got attacked on the way back, was the plan to flop your arm at the attacker to ward them off?”
She experimentally opens and closes her hand before trying out the rotator cuff as well.
“Sorry,” she mumbles.
I pat her hand and get up from beside her sitting at the fire. Thavim woke us both since the rising sun is hitting the top of the cave.
“Did anyone actually confirm Brokdruc’s death or did we all just make assumptions?”
“Come now, lad. Ye saw ‘im. No one could survive tha’!”
“That ‘no one’ nearly just killed us all. If they’re not dead, then might they have found a way to report to whoever it is that they work for? My money is on the king.”
“Alvis!” Analise hisses at me, “he could have you killed for saying something like that!”
“The way I see, he’s just tried to do that,” I counter. “I’m gonna go see if I can find Brokdruc.”
“Not by yourself you’re not,” Analise answers and gets up from where she’d slept.
“Thavim, you coming?”
“Aye, lad,” he says, nonchalantly twirling his axe around.
“Where’d you hide that thing anyway?” I ask as we start out from the cave and toward the last seen location of our wayward dwarven knight.
“Hahahaha, I can’t be revealin’ all o’ my tricks, now can I?”
The site of the battle was a mess. Blood stains everywhere and a visible trail could be seen meandering through the bushes. I follow the trail of blood hoping to find a still breathing Brokdruc. As we push the last bush out of the way, we come to a slight clearing in the woods where the assassin lay.
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Crouched over the top half of him is a pale, emaciated, humanoid figure with gray, leathery skin, nearly naked save for a loin cloth. Our disturbance of the brush alerts it to our presence and it looks directly at us. Blood is dripping from it’s bestial maw as it removes it’s long dagger-like fingers from the corpse that was Brokdruc. I can definitively say corpse now as the dwarf is missing the top half of his head.
The creature gathers itself and looks like it’s ready to pounce until all three of us fully come out of the brush. It locks its beady yellow eyes on each of us as if it recognizes us and is assessing the situation.
“By Thrumgar’s beard!” Thavim swears, readying his ax.
Suddenly the creature leaps backward much further than what appeared possible and disappears into the brush.
“We should leave,” Analise stage whispers to us, “now!”
She backs back the way we came. Even when one arm was damaged and with a knife held to her throat she didn’t seem this scared. Thavim seems quite on edge too. This seems like one of those moments where it’s best to keep my mouth shut and do as I’m told.
After we head a sufficient amount away, Thavim hoisted me over his shoulder and the two of them took off at a sprint toward the cave. Once there, they hurriedly started making preparations to leave.
“Lad, take th’ rest o’ this firewood and place it around Danté,” Thavim orders.
After I had done so, he emptied a flask onto the body and had Analise take me from the cave. Her eyes dart around from tree to tree off in the distance. A short while later and after some odd sounds from the cave, Thavim rejoins us, a roaring bonfire ablaze at his back.
“Let’s get movin’,” he says and without another word I’m thrown back on his shoulder and the two of them begin running again. They run for maybe an hour before Thavim has to stop, panting quite heavily.
They seem less antsy now that we’ve put some distance between us and the creature so I feel like I can finally start asking questions again.
“What was that thing?”
“A demon,” is all Analise flatly states.
“More precisely, a ‘Morezhi’,” Thavim manages to get out between wheezes.
“What’s a morezhi and why are we running so hard from it?”
“It’s not just any demon. It’s a shapeshifter that gains the knowledge and power of anyone it eats,” Analise adds.
“Aye. An’ it just ate an assassin tha’ nearly killed us all. Honestly, I’ve no idea why it ran from us, but I’m damn sure happy it did,” Thavim says, just now regaining his breath.
“How come the long stop at the cave, then? Oh, it was to make sure it couldn’t get Danté's memories, wasn’t it?” I ask. Thavim just nods.
“So the reason you sent us out and those odd sounds I heard before you left…,” I trail off before finishing the sentence.
“I was splittin’ Dante’s head open and pourin’ me flask o’ booze o’er him a’fore settin’ ‘im ablaze lad. Had t’ be sure,” Thavim says weakly and gets back up. “We ought to be makin’ more distance between us an’ it.”
We start walking this time. I guess after an hour of solid running Thavim feels a little more secure in slowing the pace. That or he’s got nothing left. I pepper him with more questions on the creature as we make our way back to the mountain.
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Just inside the city gates is a half dozen royal guards. One of them approaches us, “The King has decreed that we accompany you to the palace.” So palace? Not castle.
Thavim sighs, “I though’ as much. Aye, I’ve news fer ‘im as well. Lead on, knight.”
The guard led us to the same room we’d had a meeting with the king in previously, only this time Detrouck was waiting there with the King sitting in a seat to his immediate right. Shouldn’t we be led to an empty room and have to wait on the king rather than the other way around?
We all come in and take seats opposite of Detrouck and wait for the King to speak.
“I believe I made taking my court wizard a requirement for your excursion,” Thrumgar says.
“It’s a shame you didn’t have any requirements when picking out your court wizard, then,” I respond with what is probably a bit to much fire when addressing a King. “Besides, had he accompanied us, he would have died – just as your assassin did.”
“Such insolence!” Detrouck bristles.
“Assassin!?” King Thrumgar replies with shock in his voice.
“You know, the royal guard, Brokdruc, that you sent along with us,” Analise began, “that shed his plate armor to reveal assassin garb? That killed Monster Hunter Guild Member Danté? That nearly killed me? That nearly killed Thavim? You know, that one? I doubt my father will be pleased to find out that the king of this city attempted to murder the daughter of the Hunters guild. In fact, I’m fairly certain this is information that many Monster Hunter guilds would appreciate.”
I did not expect Analise to go this hard at the king. Maybe she was more than friends with Danté.
“You are speaking to the King!” shouts Detrouck, “And you will show the proper respect!”
“Why is he here?” I ask King Thrumgar directly. “I can’t imagine that he would be useful in progressing any kind of discussion save one that strokes his own ego, so what’s his purpose?”
King Thrumgar pinches the bridge of his nose and leans forward onto the table a bit.
“I am the court wizard! And--”
“He’s here,” Thrumgar cuts him off, “because I ordered him to go with you and due to a dispute you sent him back. Directly disobeying my orders. Furthermore, am I to understand that you used magic on his mouth before you sent him away?”
“Do you know of a better method to cease his yapping?” I rebut. I’m honestly impressed with this king. There’s half a room full of people talking shit and he hasn’t ordered any of our deaths.
“Let’s back up a minute. Am I to understand that your royal guard, Brokdruc, was not an assassin you sent to kill us?” I ask trying to clear things up.
“Such an accusation towards the King should be met with death!” shouts Detrouck.
“ENOUGH!” Thavim bellows and slams a fist into the table blasting a hole straight through. Two guards I hadn’t noticed step out of the shadows only to be waved back to their hard to notice spots in the drapes by Thrumgar.
He continues, quieter now, “Lad, sit back down an’ shut up.” I didn’t realize when I had stood, but Thavim speaking this quietly is honestly scarier than anytime I’ve actually seen him yelling.
“Detrouck, another word out o’ ye an’ I’ll hang ye by yer beard an’ use yer head as a clock pendulum.” Apparently this quiet voice works on Detrouck as well, who goes pale and sits back down, no longer speaking. Thavim must have actually cracked a few skulls over the years to command this kind of respect.
“Here be th’ facts. Detrouck talked down t’ Alvis an’ he sent ‘im away. Brokdruc was, in fact, dressed like an assassin and did try t’ kill us,” he pauses, “None of those are the real issue here. After we recovered ourselves through the night, we felt healthy ‘nough t’ try an’ see where our assassin had gone off t’. What we found was his head bein’ eaten by a Maurezhi.”
The room fell silent at this revelation. This demon must be a bigger deal than I thought. The king makes a gesture with his hand and a guard steps out of the shadows again.
“Triple the guard on the front gate. I want information on this ‘Brokdruc.’ Who he spoke with, where he lived, who his lovers were, all of it.”
The guard replies, “Sir, Brokdruc returned this morning.”
Another pause before I hear Analise whisper, “No! It’s already made it in the city!” She stands up, “I must warn father!”
“Analise, a moment,” King Thrumgar attempts to stall her, “I would like to keep this matter quiet so as not to cause a panic.”
Her voice loses its warmth in her reply, “The Hunters Guild is not governed by you nor this Kingdom. I will relay your preference to the guild master but after such a poor showing from not only your wizard but also your assassin, I doubt the Hunter’s Guild will have any faith remaining in the crown.” She turned on her heel and walked out. That woman has got some balls.
King Thrumgar turned back to the guard he had called forward and resumed issuing orders, “Don’t bother with the triple gate guard. Have Brokdruc brought in for questioning. Detrouck will accompany you in his detainment.”
“But sire, such a duty is below my station,” Detrouck started.
“Be silent, Detrouck. The boy is right, your tongue wags too much. Had you only held said tongue yesterday morning, perhaps you could have stopped an assassin and not soured relations with the Hunters Guild. Perhaps you even could have stopped a demon from being loosed in my city. Now go.”
After the two of them leave, the King turns back to us, seeming exhausted. “Once Brokdruc has been questioned, I will make a decision for the rest of you. I ask that you do not leave the city until that time.”
“Aye,” is all that Thavim says.