Ch: 238 Stand By Me
Kelli rode on the bench beside Carlos, under her terrible and annoying veil. Ellie said it was important… even though Carlos and Jerry… but Ellie said it was important. More important was the town… it was wide and open, bright and clean!
People walked and chatted with smiles on their faces, as children zipped by on wheeled boards or strange wheelie shoes. She resisted the urge to bounce on the drivers bench and clap with glee. “We should live here! I like it better.”
“Kelli, The Oddsman’s Guild is not welcome in Wheatford.” Her shadow whispered gently. You would be unable to do your work here.” Her extraplanar nanny said soothingly.
“In addition, we are here to face the duke himself, to answer for some crime perpetrated by that wretch Nesmith.”
“Are we in trouble? I don’t really understand… did we do something bad?” Elli sighed sadly, and tried to hug her charge… that mortal behavior looked as though it felt marvelous; but she was incapable of truly hugging, as an incorporeal shadow entity from beyond.
“No sweetie… as an officer of the guild, we can be summoned to give testimony… and we will have to write a report to guild headquarters.” Kellie’s eyes brightened at that; her quarterly reporting was the highlight of her job. For days leading up to the date of publication, she would calculate, compare and graph herself silly. Kelli would submerge herself in the minutiae of her orphanage fitness and training reports with a beatific smile as she scribbled and collated piles of dry government reports. She could spend hours buried alive in Adventure guild and War cult readiness and mortality stats, all with a smile on her ink stained cheeks.
“You should let me handle that part… there won’t be any statistics or numbers in that, just law stuff.” Ellie said ruefully.
“Yuck!” She whispered.
“Look there…” Carlos said gently, pointing to a sunny pasture by a deep river pool. “That’s where Gary and Shai live when they’re in town.” He went on to point out a few local features, including showing them the way to the orphanage, on their trek through town to the palace.
Wagons and carts were rare inside town, only equines on duty with War and magical familiars were allowed in town for hygiene reasons. Wheatford’s clean, white streets remained clean and white as a result.
Pulled by a pair of familiars and duly licensed, they rolled right up to the palace gates. Carlos handed the reins to Whitney, who clamped them in her teeth with a serious nod of her donkey head…
“Ducal summons! I can absolutely park there!” Carlos sang with the pure, childlike joy only a teamster who is getting away with parking illegally can feel.
The gate guards opened and closed their mouths a few times in impotent disappointment. Nothing gives a guard more joy than telling someone ‘you can’t park that there!’ Having that snatched away was a cruel blow indeed.
“You get away with it this time…” Sergeant Otis grumbled, while perusing the writ he couldn’t really read. “But I’ll be watching you, kid…”
They marched up to the palace law gate and presented the clerk with Kelli’s summons. “Kelli, no surname, master of the Oddsman’s Guild, you come to answer for the guild?” The clerk asked drily.
“Yes…” Kelli squeaked a little but it was fine, just fine… they should have practiced that more on the trip… Elli reflected wryly. She took just a little control, since Kelli was feeling very nervous and frightened. The poor dear almost forgot to pass over her credentials and the scrolls her new friends, Tawny and Gary had given her to deliver to the duke.
“I’ll stay with you if you wish, Kelli.” Carlos said softly, once she had passed the clerk a pair of wooden scroll tubes and a vellum packet sealed with the mark of the Oddsman’s guild. “Jerry offered to take my team home…”
“Oh please…” Kelli gasped in a terrified whisper, as the clerk led them to a conference room to wait.
“Why are you so kind to us, Carlos? I feel there is a tale there, please share it with us… if you would.” Elli whispered, once they were seated and the clerk was gone.
“You remind me of my aunt Carol… I was the youngest in the house by a lot, and she was… well, no one ever listened to either of us but… us.” He sighed.
“When Beast touched me, the whole family said I should Contract with Craft and Order instead. She was the only one who listened to what I wanted. No one cared what she thought, but she gave me the courage to tell them how it was going to be.”
Carlos’ voice got just a little heated at the end there. Kelli patted his knee until he calmed and was ready to continue.
“The same thing is happening again, there’s a girl I like, an orphan girl.
My family says no, forget her and move on…” He smiled sadly, lost in thought for a moment. “Auntie Carol passed on last winter, but I feel like she’s still with me… still telling me to believe in myself. She’d tell me to help you too.”
“That is very sweet Carlos, thank you, but I doubt you can aid us in this… we should let you go…” Ellie whispered from inside their all encompassing robes.
“I can’t help you with whatever the duke wants… But I can sit with you and walk with you to your lodgings when you are done. You shouldn’t be alone in a strange town, you’re my friend.” He leaned over and kissed her veiled cheek with a fondly gentle smile. “Therese is going to love you.”
“You are a very unusual young man, Carlos.” Ellie whispered.
#
“The Oddsman is here, your grace… she has come with letters of introduction from her guild… And from lady Trelawny as well.” Mistress Shenko placed a tray bearing three documents on his desk.
It bore a velum packet sealed in blue wax and impressed with the Oddsman’s all seeing eye motif and two tubes of beautiful, laminated wood, sealed in wax as well. One bore Tawny’s seal, Healer’s open hand in golden wax, with an embossed border of twining vines… Whomever carved that seal for her was as skilled as his own jeweler.
The second tube bore a strange, looping symbol, with a single straight line slashing diagonally through its own looping whorls. Gary Ward’s ‘treble clef’ suggested more complications… ‘Where the duce did Tawny and her fool meet an Oddsman from another domain?’ He wondered silently.
“Mistress Shenko… Please tell the duchess I will need her for this… and send a runner to Order. Sir Tony and baroness Phyllicia Dunham will be interested in this meeting.”
“It will be done, your grace…” Shenko murmured hesitantly. “The Oddsman feels… uncanny. I passed her in the halls… there is something…”
“I will consider your advice carefully…” He murmured. “These are strange days indeed.” With a satisfying snap, Tawny’s scroll tube opened, and the duke slowly read her letter with growing concern on his face.
Shenko departed swiftly on her mission, as the warrior duke’s brows began clashing together, like two swordsmen crossing blades.
#
Nearly an hour after the pair were ushered into a private chamber, a terrifyingly large man in shining steel platemail slipped into the conference room and bowed slightly to the veiled woman. “Master Oddsman Kelli, Apprentice Carlos, please follow me.” His helm concealed his face, but his voice was not ungentle…
Carlos took the Oddsman’s blue gloved hand and patted her encouragingly. “I’m right here, Kelli.”
Three more men in armor bearing the crest of Order’s cult waited outside and fell in behind the giant and the nervous people. He led them on a short walk down a wide hall that was entirely empty of other people and into a large, open chamber.
A few notables and a number of clerks sat at a long table, awaiting her testimony on whatever matter had spurred this summons. Elli was more focused on the small number of armed and hard looking men and women lingering in the corners of the room.
A burly man in the robes of an Order cultist sat at the head of the long conference table, without the traditional veil and headpiece of the uniform. Elli slowly noticed that she and Kelli were the only figures in the courtroom who were so veiled. A cold knot began to coil in her essence as she peered out from the shadows of Kelli’s robe.
“Master Oddsman Kelli, thank you for answering our summons...” The man spoke firmly and clearly, with a glance at his companion. The beautiful, golden woman smiled a hard, brittle smile that looked unnatural on her face.
“Master Oddsman. We have received letters of introduction from trusted sources, indicating that you are more than you seem…” The duchess said very carefully. “We have been informed that you are no threat to our realm and wish only to ‘do your own thing’...” Her smile faded even more as she pronounced that odd phrase.
“Please remove your veil, that we may treat openly. My daughter has extended you our hospitality… You need fear nothing from us.”
Kelli was too distraught, so Elli took her in hand. The buttons securing her headpiece were designed to prevent fiddling fingers from idly removing the garment. Kelli truly despised it in every way, the poor dear, she hated the sense of isolation it brought, dividing them from the mass of humanity, roaming about unmasked and free...
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Kelli, I am going to need you to stay calm please. Lady Trelawny said we could trust these people.” She said clearly as she poured out onto the floor and assumed a humanoid shadow form.
A few soft gasps sounded in the chamber, but not nearly what Elli had expected… “You have seen beings like myself before… have you not?” She asked the assembled people, particularly the duke and duchess seated at the far end, across the table.
“We have seen beings composed of shadow before, yes. They have not left favorable impressions, by and large… with a few notable exceptions.” The duke replied evenly. “Despite the assurances we have received, you may be certain that we are prepared to answer any hostilities, in whatever form that may take.”
“We will not be detained or interfered with by your people?” She asked cautiously. “No surprise ‘cleansing ritual’ in the night?”
“I didn’t like that… It was scary!” Kelli fumed and pouted a little, as she always did when reminded of that night in Jaskul Town.
“I’m sorry Kelli, I didn’t mean to bring that up.” She whispered to her unhappy ward. “We have been troubled by well intentioned clerics in the past…”
“You are under my protection and summons… you will be unmolested… and since the expert I would have summoned to banish you has written you a letter of introduction… along with my own daughter and son…” He paused and turned to a robust elderly man with short shorn silver hair and wildly bushy eyebrows.
“I feel like the whole world is upside down, Otho…” He said calmly.
“Yes, fascinating, isn’t it. I simply can’t wait to see how things turn out!” The old man chirped happily. “If my young protege says we should leave them together unmolested, I am inclined to agree.” He fell silent and mused for a moment, while scratching his shorn scalp.
“If they have been in his bath and emerged together, I doubt my arts could separate them in any case.”
“That fails to inspire confidence…” The duchess murmured softly. “My goddess concurs with Joy’s beloved, husband.” The expression on her face suggested that she was not pleased to be agreeing with someone.
“That means they won’t try to hurt you, Kelli.” Carlos whispered softly to his trembling friend.
Kelli stood close to Carlos, clinging to his hand, as Elli stepped farther into the light and addressed the nobles. “In that case, may we know what matter has prompted our summons? Something of Lester Nesmith I hear?”
“We have yet to discover whom we are addressing…” The duchess replied archly.
The shadow shifted uncomfortably and made a sound that could have been someone clearing their throat. “Kelli is my host, on your plane… She is the master Oddsman and is an officer of that guild in good standing. I am called Elli by those few who know me… I am Kelli’s guardian and caregiver.” The shadow said firmly. “Kelli is fully capable of answering any questions you might have… provided they are guild business, please consider me her advocate...”
After a few heartbeats of silence, the duchess nodded to the duke. “Very well, advocate Elli. You were summoned to answer for one Lester Nesmith, master Oddsman and fugitive from my justice.” The duke leaned forward and spoke very clearly.
“Nesmith is accused of attempting to kidnap a child, assault on two additional children, including the use of offensive magic against a child under ten…” Kelli sheeted ghost pale as the duke spoke, she flinched back in horror and began to tremble again.
Carlos put his arm around the small woman and pulled her close, with a frown on his face that he almost directed at his grace…
Fortunately her grace took matters in hand, she swatted the duke on his shoulder and snarled at him. “Leo…”
The duke sat up and blushed a ruddy red. “Forgive me… Oddsman Kelli. In any case, record with your guild that Nesmith is outlawed in my realm and any person or group who knowingly shelters him will suffer my full wrath. Let us consider that business closed.” He said with much greater calm. “So long as you make your report, I am done with the matter.”
“Very well, your grace. Your judgment will be recorded in the guild’s ledgers.” Elli said firmly. “Kelli assures me that the Oddsmans Guild has no dealings, beyond our remit. The guild remains dedicated to rigorous accuracy in our reportage, attacking children is no part of guild business.”
“Interesting…” The duke replied. “That brings us to the odd case of master Oddsman Juno… who arrived and departed Wheatford unannounced and unexpectedly some few nights ago. What can you tell me of this person?”
Kelli and Elli consulted for the barest moment before Elli answered. “There is no Oddsman Juno in our guild, neither master nor journeyman. A newly inducted apprentice is possible, Kelli is rigorous in her studies of the guild ledgers and infallible in her recall, but we have not received this month’s dispatch, due to the constraints of travel...”
“You are certain?” Leopold Belen inquired forcefully of the shadow, rather than the nervous and trembling woman.
“Kelli is infallible in matters of recall and analysis, she is uniquely talented in that area due to our bond. I dwell in a portion of her cerebral anatomy closely related to… in any case… she says there is no Oddsman Juno, therefore there is none. You have an impostor on the loose.” The shadow said calmly.
“Now if you would be so kind, Kelli is very tired and would like to sit, if this is to continue.”
#
“So this ‘Oddsman Juno’ appeared with debt chits and demanded children from Wheatford to pay off the debts… my dear, I fear you have been enfogged by arts of mental confusion if you bought that line.” Elli glared at the young baroness and sighed.
“This list… some of Kelli’s new friends are on it. That is very troubling, considering what we have seen of them. I assure you, the guild is in the business of information, reporting on and analyzing Adventurers, not collecting them. Whatever these two were up to, I cannot say.”
“You claim my mind was clouded by some arts…” Filly murmured quietly. “I feel…. uneasy in my mind, looking back on these events.”
“There are quite a few extra planar entities wandering this world… Most are noisy, destructive and swiftly dispatched. Only a scarce few linger here, some for generations of your people, moving among you…” She shrugged her shadow shoulders. “I have no gifts to manipulate human Minds or Wills, my talents lie elsewhere. Among those who successfully dwell among humans, most use such arts.”
“So you know others, like yourself?” The duke asked, suddenly very keen.
The seating was far more intimate now, the table had been vacated in favor of a small area near the fire with couches and chairs. Three armored warriors still lingered on the periphery looking alert and nervous, but the duke and duchess, the old priest and the blonde giant were at their ease… baroness Phyllicia seemed uncomfortable as well…
Kelli, Otho Carlos and the duchess were having a lovely tea, despite the others being so moody. Otho poured, Kelli dealt out the tiny cakes and cookies and the duchess provided comfortable chatter about small things. Elli had no choice but to admire the skill of duchess Celeste, she soothed and calmed Kelli so subtly that she simply stopped trying to follow the other conversation entirely, that was a massive relief.
“Others? No, there is no real similarity between entities like myself and most other outsiders… I am an unwilling visitor, wrenched here for their nefarious purposes. I linger by choice, that Kelli might have the freedom to live as she pleases. Beyond the confines of your reality, I remain immortal and eternal.” She completely didn’t answer the duke.
“Yes, but you are aware of other entities in the area?” He pressed.
“More accurately, I am a multifarious spiritual entity, native to what you call ‘the void’. There is something like a ‘community’ of such entities in the ‘local area’... this is very tiresome…” She pretended to take a deep breath, while Kelli helped with the tea.
“There are other self willed outsiders wandering the world, fewer by a handful than there were a year ago… which is causing a general exodus of the more benign and conflict avoidant entities and drawing the attention of other beings.”
“What does that mean?” Celeste asked, fascinated by the being. “They are leaving?”
“No, your grace. Someone, somewhere on this world is doing the impossible. Someone is killing us… This new emotion, ‘fear’ is quite distressing.” She answered calmly. “I find myself largely unaffected by this, perhaps because of my bond with dear Kelli, who remains quite delightfully mortal.”
“Someone is killing immortals and that is making many of them depart?” Celeste urged her on, pressing for details.
“Kelli is exhausted, we can discuss this further another time, if you wish duchess. For the moment, let me be brief.” She sighed. “There is nothing in all the universe that should be able to slay an immortal. Were this shadow form captured and destroyed, I would remain. Were someone to harm Kelli, I would remain. When this clot of dust finally churns up an entirely new planetary surface, scrubbed clean of all life as you currently know it, I will remain.” She gazed over the chamber with interest. “Or so I have always thought. Skrigg, the mercenary worm thought as much, Vixoreath and a few others as well. They are now entirely destroyed by some mysterious means. The outsider community is quite upset and your pantheon is not answering any questions, buttoned up inside their realm... It is quite a thorny issue.”
“Something can kill an immortal entity? What could do that? Some dark demon or evil god?” Filly asked in horror.
The shadow entity sighed again. “I find myself becoming curious about mortal experiences and deeply curious as to what could slay an immortal. Certainly, whatever force or being is at work here must be mighty and terrifying.”
#
Amy was exhausted when they finally got home… but at least her mount started following directions, after a little bit of ear tugging and drumming her heels on his collarbones. She dismounted in the foyer and hopped down onto a bench. “Shai… can you make me some spurs?” She asked sweetly.
“Hey!” He complained, but nobody really listened… Dinner was a subdued affair, everyone was tired and seemed cranky, or maybe that was just Gary. He kissed the kids goodnight after the familiar ritual and staggered off to his own bed in a funk… and not the hip popping, booty rocking kind he preferred. He flopped into his bed and vanished into the fluffy clouds.
Next he knew, Shai was shaking him awake and sunlight was pouring in through the windows. “Wake lad, ye hae slept all the night through an never did appear in the other place…”
“Yeah, I feel gross… Maybe I’ve been slacking on my cultivation…” His pools all looked tip top, but something felt off. Out of curiosity, he produced his ‘character sheet’ for the first time in a while.
Gary Ward: Demihuman Monster, Aberration
Class: Druid, Undead Craftsman, Witch
Age:18
Rank:Iron plus/Copper minus
Might:Copper minus, Beast, divine Contract, Homebody, The Hive, The Sun.
Resilience:Copper minus, Secret, divine Contract, Fractured Soul, Quietus Moon, The Moon
Agility:Iron, Spear Wanderer's Legacy, Pockets!, Sleight of Mind, The Hierophant.
Will:Copper minus, Brigid, etheric Contract, Artisan, Bound in Flesh, The Hanged Man.
Mind:Iron plus, Morrigan, etheric Contract, Interface, Unlivening, The Endless Dance of Death.
Animus:Copper minus, Joy, divine Contract, Familiar Stranger, Entrainment, The Fool.
“Huh… steaming along towards a rank up already. Need to up my spear training, that’s what’s dragging me down, I think.” He yawned deeply and staggered to his feet. “Think you can spare a few minutes to kick my ass this morning?”
“I hae business wi Ivy an Liam at the Merchant’s League. Mayhap Rolf hae time tae train wi thee ere lunch. Get thyself dressed lad, ‘tis nigh third bell.” She flitted away to the tune of merry tinkling bells, while he dragged himself out of bed and down to the baths.
Rolf, Angie and Ester were all in the private pool when he slipped into the swirling water with an exhausted sigh.
“Oh, Rolf… just who I was looking for… I need a sparring partner that I can work on my Contract spear with; that leaves you and Shai and she’s busy… care to go a few rounds this morning?”
“I am entertaining a pair of fair damsels today Gary, I’m sure that we can scuffle in the dust another time.” He replied with a smug, mocking grin.
“Aww, come on…” Gary whined, as he winked at Angie and the tiny albino blonde hiding behind her in the bath. “The girls will enjoy watching you mop the floor with me, I’m sure.”
“I’ll ask the ladies… but such brutish entertainments are…” Rolf was really hamming up his ‘refined gentleman’ act for the girls… Ester was eating it up, and smiling at the young knight, rather than glaring at Gary, or trying to find a way to murder him on the sly.
“Can you truly defeat this creature, sir Rolf Belen?” Ester demanded, popping her head out from behind Angie for the first time since Gary had come into the bath.
“It would only be a training bout, lady Ester. No one will get seriously hurt.” He soothed her. “I will be perfectly safe.”
“Drat…Well, perhaps an ‘accident’ can be arranged…” Ester muttered.
“Ester!” Angie scolded firmly. “You mustn’t say such things. It sounded like you wanted Gary or Rolf to get hurt!”
“If Rolf should slip and slay or injure the deadling…” She shrugged eloquently. “But if Rolf were injured, you must needs nurse him back to health… I have been reading some of lady Shai’s books… this is a common theme!”
“I was planning on practicing some lance work with master Khan this afternoon, since my own armor has been so ably and skillfully repaired. Perhaps you should join that training as well.” Rolf continued, ignoring the plots being hatched right before his eyes.
“Great idea… but you gotta wear your chainmail when we spar.” He gave a rueful smile. “I have to use my Contract weapon; it’s a little bloodthirsty so only Shai can spar with me usually.”
Rolf raised a golden eyebrow at that. Gary answered his unspoken question with a wide, happy grin. “Your chainmail is haunted by a faint image of my own aura, my spear won’t stab and my sword won’t cut you while you wear it.” He murmured quietly.
“Really, as long as you’re in that suit, I won’t be able to hurt you at all. You’re safe from me in that armor; safer than if we were having a pillow fight. Don’t tell Ester, she’s really hoping for blood.”
“Gary, you are truly mad.” Rolf sighed as he started putting on his arming suit. “I can fit you in for a beating before lunch, but only if you are ready now.”
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