Pass these around.

With his teeth, Gideon carefully pulled three potions out of the makeshift bandolier he wore and dropped them into my lap. A murky brown liquid swirled inside, and each vial was warm to the touch. I could smell salt.

The five of us sat in a circle on a small ledge, the sound of roaring water and a barrage of mist ever-present around us. The others shivered despite their coats and scarves, and water glistened on their skin.

Just a couple metres in front of me the ledge dropped sharply off into the dark, a metal-caged ladder the only way up or down. The ladder was thankfully shielded by a vertical embankment of rock from the roaring water, and even now I could hear it as it splashed into the pool on the other side of the rock and then further down into the hole.

Which was in and of itself a menacing sight. It was simply nauseating to look over, a fact not helped at all by the encroaching darkness, so I kept my back solidly affixed to the cliff behind me. The Mavericks were the same, though thankfully nobody seemed to be exceptionally fearful of the height. In fact, Auro and Gideon didn’t seem to mind the fall at all, the former probably due to her upbringing here in Minua, and the latter obviously due to his wings.

The man hadn’t been kidding when he’d said it went almost straight down. Which was exceptionally frustrating for me in particular, as I quickly found the endless climb to be much more of an exercise than I’d thought possible. If it weren’t for the cage and the occasional ledge like we were on now, I probably would’ve tumbled into the abyss an hour ago.

“I’m gonna need an explanation before I drink this.” I passed the other two vials to Breale and Fredrick, who each looked at them curiously. “And maybe some health insurance.”

As if you could afford that. It’s a simple speed reinforcement. Nothing super-powered, but it should give you an edge if you need to flee.

“And you’re sure it works?” I asked. “I certainly haven’t tested any potions. That I know of, that is.”

I assumed that he wasn’t going to test it on random people, after all, so if I hadn’t drunk any then I was holding a completely untested alchemical creation. And I was a bit wary after the last time I trusted one of those.

“What’s he saying?” Breale asked. “What’s it do?”

It works in a theoretical sense.

Ah, so it probably doesn’t.

“Speed potion, though I’m not sure I woul- hey, don’t drink it immediately! How can you trust this lizard so much?”

Breale paused and reluctantly returned the cork to the potion.

“Is it a short duration? I’m not sure we’ll have time to down a potion in the middle of a battle.”

It’s about ten minutes, if I recall correctly.

“It’s for fleeing in an emergency. I’d just keep it on your person.” I sighed as she tucked it into her belt. “When’d you even have the time for this anyway?”

I set up an alchemy set on the roof, that’s where I go whenever I leave you. That or collecting ingredients. Took forever because I had to drag it up practically a piece at a time.

Ah, it must’ve been nice to not have to sleep. There would be so much more time to procrastinate if I had that power.

“I can’t say I’ve ever heard of an alchemical dragon.” Fredrick said. “How long have you practised?”

“He’s been at it a year or so I think. Actually, he’s pretty good at it too.” I grinned despite myself. “When he had the proper equipment he was even able to whip up solid forms.”

Those were very much still a work in progress though. After hearing how much the condensed version buffed up your strength, I’m just glad you didn’t obliterate your arm muscles.

“If only he had a potion to fly us down to the bottom.” Breale said. “Or maybe even telepo-”

“Absolutely not.” I interrupted.

“Eh, why not? I’ve read a few books that say it should be possible.”

“Trust me, it’s just not a good idea.”

Breale stared at me for a second before shrugging.

“If you say so.”

“Though I’ll agree that this place kind of sucks.” I said. “I mean, is the water even clean by the time it reaches Minua? It seems to have way too many openings to ensure that.”

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“What do you mean?” Breale said.

“Surely rainwater and whatever trash washes into the drains isn’t clean, right? What’s the point of bringing this down from the mountain peaks if it just gets contaminated anyway?”

The grates don’t normally go right into the aqueduct.” Auro said.”There’s a separate channel that gets purified before it enters the main supply.”

They had water filtration? I wasn’t an expert on that sort of thing, but that seemed a little high tech for a mediaeval world. Didn’t that require germ theory to know to do? And chemicals?

“Like with magic? Or physical filters?” I asked carefully.

Magic was bullshit of course, but if they were relying purely on filters it’d be a wonder that I hadn’t died of a thousand waterborne diseases yet. It wouldn’t even surprise me if we all had a couple dozen parasites swimming around our guts.

Auro hesitated for a moment as she reached the end of her knowledge, and I thought I would have to stay curious, but Breale spoke up instead.

“Physical filters don’t work. Spirits and miasma are too small for cloth to catch, so priests purify it when possible in the cities and towns. In the more isolated and starless villages or when travelling you’ll want to boil it yourself, of course.”

Ah, so that’s what they thought about it. And given that the Mavericks were actually educated that was probably the prevailing theory too. It really wasn’t that far from the truth either.

“Where’s that normally done?” I asked. “The purification that is.”

“Priests live somewhere near the outlet, I think.” Auro said. “I think Father Halend does it for the academy, which is where that grate in the chapel probably leads.”

“Magic really does everything, I suppose.” I shook my head. “Didn’t know a spell like that even existed.”

I wasn’t really sure how that worked either. Did the priests really use banishment spells? They apparently thought it was spirits that caused disease after all.

One of the rituals they do just involves flash boiling it, that’s the one that actually kills bacteria. Gideon clarified, seemingly reading my mind. Though they do cast some exorcising ones too. As far as I know those don’t do much, but the boiling combined with generally tougher stomachs around here make the water fairly safe to drink in Verol. I wouldn’t be so sure if we still had our old bodies.

That was good to know, I suppose. Though it did make me wonder if there really were bacteria ghosts haunting the water supply. The world was obviously more magical, after all, so why shouldn’t the germs follow the same trend?

It was probably a good idea to not underestimate this world when it came to magic.

“If you’re good to talk, you’re good to climb.” Fredrick said. “We don’t have all day to dally about. Especially not about the particularities of water management.”

I sighed. Already my limbs were screaming in protest at the thought of descending yet more rungs. Did everything in this country have to involve climbing? It was starting to feel like every significant event happened to include hours of cardio beforehand.

“Fine, fine. This better be an important goddamn demon though…”

…

”Ah, that smells good.”

We stood at the base of a cliff at the end of an empty snow-clad street, a cleverly concealed aqueduct tunnel carrying a rushing deluge just half a dozen metres overhead. It was just past midmorning, and the bustling clamour of hammers and spinning wheels could just be heard through the thin mist that had descended from the mountains with us. It was cloudy above, and chill from wind, but a few rays of sun still broke through over the eastern mountains to provide the barest hints of much-needed warmth. It seemed to me that winter had fully arrived in Verol.

What caught my attention, however, was the smell of fried vegetables and cooking smoke that wafted over the city. And faintly, but ever more enthrallingly, the subtle spices of smoked cloudfish.

“Breakfast after we’re done.” Breale declared.

“One skewer wouldn’t take too long, would it?”

“Andril and the Duke have decided to go forward with the speech despite our warnings, as Silst has demonstrated.” Fredrick said, ignoring me. “So he and Auro will split off here to try to convince them in person. The rest of us will head towards the address in Hosi’s diary and try to disrupt what we can. Any questions?”

We all shook our heads, a clammy seriousness descending upon us.

Each of the letters we had sent had been returned with polite responses trying to assuage our fears, but from Gideon’s account neither of them had ever actually reached their intended recipients. He’d been intercepted each time as he’d tried to approach them, and his letter taken first to a captain of the guard or a receptionist. Even when he’d attempted to sneak into the prince’s room personally he’d been unable to find the man before he was forced to flee, after which security was put on high alert. Our only chance at warning them now would be by having Auro force a meeting with her father, and even then, it might be too late.

“No? Then let’s be away. With luck and light.”

“With luck and light!” We cried in unison.

With one final look towards us, Gideon and Auro dashed down the street towards the palace, while the rest of us jogged after Fredrick the other way.

…

It only took twenty minutes or so to reach the address, though by that time the city had fully awoken . Merchants, workers, and soldiers clogged the narrow streets, and cooking smoke and voices filled the air. Seamstresses weaved right outside their homes, while butchers and smiths worked under balconies attached to their homes. It was altogether less organised than the sharp corners of the capital, but the buildings were no less elegantly constructed, nor were they any less carved with glyphs. Instead the claustrophobia lended itself to a more homely take on the stately Verol, one that looked infinitely denser and more lived in.

The building we ended up in front of, however, was none of those things.

At the end of a dirty alley stuck between a sketchy butcher’s and a freeman’s home, there was a small plaza with half a dozen narrow steps. These steps were then connected to half a dozen narrow homes, each with a narrow roof to fit snugly against the others. This wasn’t an uncommon setup, and we’d passed such places many times on the way over, but this was unique in that it seemed to be completely abandoned.

Trash and dirt was piled in the corners of the plaza, the neat square garden in the centre completely devoid of plant life. Broken tiles that had fallen from the roofs lay shattered like glass on the ground, and the wooden decorations had been stripped in places to reveal the raw stone underneath. Glyphs flickered with uneasy magic, their charges almost completely sapped by the passing of time. A few of the windows were planked up, and it was made to look deserted to the untrained eye.

I could see differently, of course. The dirt was imprinted with subtle boot prints, and the metal door handle on one of the homes was polished from use. Thick curtains lay behind all but one of the houses’ windows, and the steps on that one had a new plank added in the middle.

“The one in the centre’s the mark.” I said.

“Doesn’t seem very busy, does it?” Breale said.

“They are no doubt crawling around the inside. I can see three different boot prints with just a cursory inspection.” I said.

“I didn’t even notice any boot tracks at all…”

“We should hurry before they finish whatever ritual they’re performing.” Fredrick looked at the two of us carefully. “If there are too many for us to handle we’ll be downing those potions and retreating back to the palace. At worst we’re here to delay until Auro’s able to get someone over. Ah, and Saphry? I wouldn’t begrudge you if you wanted to stay-”

“Don’t even think about it.” I said. “I didn’t climb down that blasted ladder to sit outside while you two have all the fun.”

Fredrick looked at me for a long moment before passing me a thin training mask he’d apparently grabbed from the duelling yards.

“Our opponents will be real people, be ready for that.” He said. “In all probability they will use magic effectively. I’d really rather take a few months to bring you up to a passable standard, but you’ll just have to make do with grit. Don’t hold back any strikes you do, and don’t cast to maim, but to kill. You brought a weapon, right?”

I lifted my skirt over the dagger sheath on my thigh.

“Better than nothing. Stay behind Breale and I.”

“Roger.”

“Then let's go.”

With one final nod, we approached the decaying building.