That had been about one and a half weeks, five hangovers and three nights of sensory overload ago. Sure, ships were sailing there – about every three to four weeks. With them just having missed one, meaning they would have to wait another one by now. At least, so Nic thought, there had been no disaster happening up until now, he prayed it would stay that way.

Thankfully there was still much to see, though he was regularly out and about solely in company of Kwez. If he did see Gertie it was either on early evenings or shortly past daybreak. With her being on the way to bed, most of the time. She had some things to check, she had said. As he could very well guess the what he ignored it for his sanity. And plausible deniability. So, making sure to be seen to together as little as possible was for his own peace of mind as well.

The different levels were fascinating, especially that one in the second had been of interest to him. Nic had found all kinds of spices and obscure ingredients that he could use for a good number, if not all, that had been mentioned in the book. And for astonishingly good prices as well19. Though the upper levels were also nothing to sneeze at. Clothing in exotics cuts and patterns, good regional food, art and the many fountains with their features were something else.

Much of his time was spent studying the book. It was written in old writing of a language he was anything but familiar with. For that alone Kou would be an important stop, many languages had been explored and documented there, many of them long since fallen out of use, not only from the continent but from far away regions as well.

Funnily enough he had found one book around here on the language, at least the signs were rather similar, so he could identify the stuff and string most things haphazardly together, but still.

Many of the rituals were out of reach for the time being, as too much was up in the air and Nic had only rough ideas what their purpose or their price was. Plus, well, one thing the druid had drilled into his head back home was that you do not do a ritual you know too little about.

And Kwez cajoling would no be changing his stance on that, come hell or high water.

“But master, it is simple enough! Besides,” the animal explained excitedly, tail waving about – wait, was it one or two? – and happily continuing, “the thief would sure be happy with this thing!”

What was another reason for his continuous headaches lasting now into the third day. Yes, Kwez had been harping about it that long and just kept doing so. And brought it up with about every conversation. Every. Single. Damned. Time.

The ritual itself was simple, that much Kwez was right about. And the creature you called upon didn’t seem all that harmful either. The evocation called upon a small, spectral dog, conjuring essentially, if he understood that right, that is, a puppy. That could make itself invisible and could move about without a sound. Even the ingredients were nothing special, spices and herbs that you could find in any run of the mill kitchen. Regarding this country, at least. Seriously, you could buy them around the corner, about every merchant had them. Then a candle, a small bowl, a drop of blood from the evoker himself and another one for the person who was supposed to be the master of the thing. So, meaning a drop of Gertie’s blood and done.

Why Kwez was so eager that he got it done was suspicious though. However he looked at it, there was no reason for it. Let alone a good one or why this exactly.

“And I should do it, because...?"

“Well, obviously the thief will quiet down and you will have fulfilled your obligation of course! And there is nothing that could go wrong here!” metallic screeching exclaimed as if it was that easy. Nodding his head enthusiastically.

Which brought him right back to where he had started. Sure, on the first look it did seem rather tame and even benign, sure. But that was the point, he couldn’t make sure. Heck, he didn’t even understand half of what was written about it besides that and well, Kwez was not exactly trustworthy in that regard. He still had the bird’s screeching in his ears whenever he thought of the thing and he really was worried what could happen if Kwez decided to intervene with this one, again.

In the end he gave in after having had to suffer the harping on both sides and just got it over with two days before they would be setting sail. Why though? To be honest, one of them he could ignore, but both ganging up on him? Nope, his nerves weren’t made for that. And they were coordinating with each other on top of it!

No sooner said than done – it was time. He had gotten ready, herbs and his blood were mixed and concentratedly he murmured the short incantation. Taking the lit candle he set the mixture on fire, dark, strangely colored smoke rose up from it. In the background a slight whirring could be heard.

Srrrrr.

With a small dagger and a quick prick another was added from Gertie herself. A soft pling could be heard.

Suddenly all the lights went out, every sound vanishing. Then, softly, just on the verge of being still audible, whining could be heard. Something was poking Gerties still raised hand.

“You have to give him a name,” Kwez patiently whispered, oddly in contrast with his usual behavior.

“Archie,” she finally mumbled, voice equally soft.

Happy barking brought the light back. And made something viewable that seemingly was made up of hair. A lot of hair, like a collie, just a bit bigger than a rat in size and except the nose poking up and sniffing around it did look like a fluffy ball of fur moving around. It may have been waging its tail, it was a bit hard to tell with all that fluffy fur.

Nic blinked, staring at Gertie in slight disbelief. “Seriously? Archie?”

“Fits’ith Gertie, righ’?” was the closing statement to it all.

How long did it take for Nic to regret doing it? Not all that long, in all honesty.

Originally he had bought a ticket to a ship, as it had been cheaper than he had expected and had been looking forward to a quiet time travelling to Kou’alSol. And even if it had been cheaper than he had been expecting, it was still a notable sum, as he would not have had to do anything, except get himself on board. But alas...

“Grab’on, gonna be wild!”

Instead of this he was desperately clinging to the mast of the small dinghy Gertie had stolen – “Borrowed, dammit, I tell’ya!” – and besides him the small panting ball of fur, four big bags full of stolen goods, his own stuff and a hooting Kwez on his head. Two hastily called upon Windmakers doing just what their name implied, making for a rather speedy getaway, while he was fearing either falling out or the boat giving in as he was rather sure it wasn’t built for such high speed.

The windmakers themselves

looked a little like overinflated bellows, made up entirely out of clouds. One blowing wind into their own sail and giving them incredible speed, while the other did the opposite to the people chasing them. Still, he was a bit surprised about the size of things, in his imagination he had been a bit doubtful they would be of any use at all. There was some mentioning of alchemy or something, he wasn’t that sure, but when he did call on them Kwez did something and well. Nic was regardless rather sure that what happened was way out of what should have happened.

“Hehe, with’im blowin’ like’at we’ll be in Kou inna breeze,” Gertie hollered laughing wildly. Her voice still was a point of deep irritation to Nic, he couldn’t help but think of a rough guy.

Still holding on for dear life he started moaning breathlessly, “Why, oh why did it come to this?!”

Why indeed? It might be that Nic had managed to upset any kind of god or goddess at some point and was now paying the penalty for that. Or someone wished him interesting times. Mayhap he just was a walking disaster area, who knew?

In any case they had to flee head over heels as Gertie’s operations pertaining robbery had become known and his association with her as well. So, they had to get out of Aquatica asap and keep away from the city for a good long while. How had that even happened in the first place? Well, let’s just say that an invisible dog wasn’t noticeable as long as it didn’t go and peed or took a dump somewhere. Seeing as it was but a puppy that was not house trained yet, well. One might imagine how that exactly went.

People might get frightened of unusual sounds but were less terrified when stepping into a puddle of canine pee or poop. No, they were rather angry, as that usually happened being bare-footed – totally normal in your own house and home, mind – and without warning. The accompanying smell did about the rest. Still, that had not been the thing that had been the problem.

Yeah, nice and well to go and steal from people well off, but trying to sell the stuff on the black market in the same city was a bit of a no-no. Especially if the black market dealers were not exactly inclined to try selling the stolen goods to their former owners, as there were too little differing aristocratical families with severe enough feuds going on to pull such stunts, even it trying to sell to the rivaling family.

Meaning Gertie had mainly been caught as she had been trying to sell the stolen goods in the city itself. The criminal underworld was on rather good and working terms with the local aristocrats, so well, the result was rather predestined in that case.

Normally, if you were a thief, you’d not try to sell what you took from others in the same city. That much was something that Nic knew, even with him being regarded as a country bumpkin, even it a well-read one. That was logical, even with being not, that much Nic was sure about.

Worried he looked back and couldn’t help but goggle. He rubbed his eyes with one hand he painstakingly took of the mast and still, speechlessly his mouth opened and closed on his own accord.

“Where’s the city?” he asked after a while, not quite believing what he was seeing.

Stolen novel; please report.

“See’at sma’point? That’s’e city,” Gertie shouted, still keeping direction. The boat was flying over the waves. Foaming the water flew about where they were crossing it, wetness spraying them time and again.

Had they really gotten that far away in such a short time? Nic was astounded, Aquatica was just barely visible in the distance. Remarkable, really.

“Gonna leave’ehind da Sweet Ocean soon’nough. From’ere we’re jus’following da river. Is like a boarder or somethin’,” Gertie announced while they were still speeding in.

“Master, the windmakers are going to vanish soon,” Kwez casually remarked.

Frowning Nic nodded, trying to recall what he had been able to piece together about the creatures. You could evoke the windmakers every two days and for a couple of hours they would do as their name already explained. Though there was something else, he just couldn’t quite remember what that exactly was.

Right, could be called upon every two days, a few hours of wind and then they’d either... Oh. Oh.

That was the exact moment Nic started letting lose a string of all the expletives known to him, and then some –he was fluid at least in cursing in quite a number of languages. It was hardly visible, but even the usually crass Gertie was red like a tomato underneath all that hair.

After the fiasco that had been them leaving Aquatica Nic was glad when the two-day mark had finally passed. Wonderful helpers windmakers might be, but after vanishing there there would be no wind whatsoever until the moment they could be called upon again had passed. Meaning it had been absolutely windless within the area they had been doing his bidding. There was nothing, no slight breeze, no movement in the air at all. As they had been called upon in Aquatica herself, well...

He had an inkling that the air wasn’t moving much there either, so at least if someone was after them they’d be faced with the same problem of sails being absolutely of no use. Though they at least slowly passed some distance, thankfully they had reached the river the other day before the creatures had just vanished.

As he didn’t know what about the goods was how important to whom he didn’t want to unnecessarily jinx it though. If there were important enough pieces within there then Nic was reasonably sure that there were nobles wanting to get them back and paying a pretty enough penny would attract adventurers or bounty hunters easily enough. But for making an accurate guess he was missing too much information about Aquatica and its infrastructure in general20. So, a lot of his ideas and fears were just assumptions and guesswork.

Anyway, they were on the river and though slowly they did not have to wait on one spot. It just felt utterly baffling as to not even feel a slight breeze of any kind. There had been a reason they had just spanned the sail a bit differently to have at least a bit of shade. It would be another thing, but the river itself was known for having many windless days, the why did elude him though. And though slowly, he noticed the landscape passing. The river was broad after all, so the currents weren’t all that strong. Yesterday had been hell, his skin was toasted and the sunburn he had gotten was annoying as hell. How Gertie kept wearing her clothes with all the leather and gloves was a mystery to him. He had been wearing fireproofed robes, they did help a bit with the heat, but when he took them off he felt like he was toasted like sliced bread, the sun was that strong. The weather didn’t much agree with him, so he was laying around and trying not to move, even breathing felt exhausting at times.

At least there was a slight breeze now, that felt surprisingly nice all things considered. Nic sighed, still contemplating if it was really worth it to call upon the things once more, as with the current tempo they’d be on the river for a few weeks.

On the other hand he was worried what might happen when they just disappeared around the city itself and shuddered. Kou was a big trade port and the capital of the country, such a strange phenomenon would sure throw it into chaos.

Kwez was very supportive of calling them up, so he was probably very rightfully weary of doing so. On the other hand, the critter didn’t seem much of a fan of the heat either, so his usual enthusiasm was a bit absent as he was often lamenting about the unbearable heat.

“I really don’t see a problem with this,” Kwez explained in a way with his head lolling to one side. His whole posture was very much a picture of not quite understanding what the master had to harp on.

Gnashing his teeth Nic gestured wildly to the large head behind him. “Thanks to your help I have called a huge serpent instead of the windmakers! Look at that thing! It’s huge enough to swallow me up in a go!”

His facial expression was rapidly changing as he couldn’t quite decide whether to focus on his anger and irritation or his bone-deep fear, as the animal was certainly large enough to probably give a leviathan a run for his money if need be.

The boat they were on was so small in comparison, Nic was feeling anything but safe.

“But it’s just feeding on fish,” Kwez stated confused. What was the masters on about he wondered...

“Fish in the size of grown men!” Nic hollered. He had seen that, alright, one had been a dolphin and the other a catfish bigger than himself. Kwez just wasn’t getting the point and Nic was about to rip his hair out in desperation.

Gertie was strangely relaxed through it all and went about it in her own pragmatic way. She fastened together enough rope into something of a haphazard bridle, got it on the snake and connected it with the boat itself. At some point she got Nic to point down the river, somehow making him say “That way” and it did sound like a command, though he still went back to ranting and raving at Kwez. The snake meanwhile started to pull their boat along, starting not too gently which made sure Nic fell flat on his back, finally shutting up for a moment.

Blinking he stared at the snake. It was strangely colorful too, now that he thought about it. In size it rivaled the leviathan, though he wasn’t too sure of it, maybe it was a bit smaller? He had not been that intent on looking at the creatures that had sunk the ship in that moment, busy trying not to die, to be honest.

It was striped in green and yellow, though why Nic had no idea. It probably wasn’t venomous, as he hadn’t seen any teeth for biting. Though, to be fair, not all snakes had them that visible either, so he wasn’t quite sure what was up with the thing. Heck, he wasn’t even sure what to do with it, as he had no clue whether the thing was around to stay or just would vanish after a time.

He lacked the knowledge to really reach a conclusion concerning that. And Kwez couldn’t be arsed to say anything about it. Gertie took it in stride and was happy to get to Kou a bit faster.

One day he would get back at Kwez, mark his words.

The snake was seemingly there to stay as it didn’t vanish. Roughly the same time had passed since he had called it and well, nothing much to it then. His initial fear turned into a fond kind of annoyance as the thing was rather timid and took to behaving like Archie – meaning it was really a bit hard to be afraid of the thing when it slobbered all over you. They weren’t dependant on the wind, which was good as the slight breeze just wouldn’t have been enough to be of much use and the current was slow as well. They took a break every other hour and most of the night, so they could rest and let the snake go hunting. Or rest or whatever it did then.

Whenever the animal was close to the surface or had its head above the water Kwez was sitting on it and seemingly had a blast with the thing anyway. Though the snake was a bit mischievous as well, taking a dive without warning ever so often and getting Kwez submerged. The critter kept being grumpy about it but was looking terribly amused though. Once in a while it splashed Nic and Gertie, which was nice as it cooled them throughout the days.

Still, Nic was miffed about Kwez’ casual interference and then not even coughing up what he did and why it even worked. The scroll gave him no new information either and the book was not of much use as he didn’t really understand it all that much in the first place. So, whenever he thought about it he came right back to the starting point and was by now more than frustrated.

Sometimes he really regretted having had to leave All-Mag'Ick behind like they had. After the ritual had been done there hadn’t been much time and he hadn’t been able to get his hands on more books. Or scrolls or anything that he could learn something from.

Well, Kou was said to have an extensive library, free to use for anyone able to read. If he was lucky he could find something there. Hopefully. If he didn’t end up in circumstances preventing him from doing so, that is.

He had a feeling he might just have jinxed it somehow.

Still, it wasn’t just that. If Kwez indications were anything to go by he might find something about Ivan there as well. He knew the guy was still alive, but where he had been brought to by the stupid bird was anyone’s guess.

But what was important was that he was alive. If he was well or not, that remained to be seen, but he was at least not dead.

Still, the travel itself was calm and the snake was by now not really something to be fearful of. His heart skipped a beat whenever Kwez was goofing off with the reptile though, having flashbacks to his once little Flame Sprite.

**********

20He really had no concept of the distance they had crossed by that point. Even the most ardent and powerful rowers would have trouble to get to them in a timely manner. In theory and with enough manpower one might come to their point by doing so in three to four days, yes. But for that there had to be non-stop action and the rowers would have to apply equal strength and full power for that. As they were people and not machines and ships not all that large, well. It wasn’t exactly all that feasible to begin with.