Ayuen
Road towards Herhor's End, Grasping Isle
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Then, with a thud, Rove suddenly crashed back down into a sitting position, panting heavily. With a quick stab, he pinned the dagger to the ground beside him. Ayuen looked at him, bewildered. Utterly confused and unable to form a coherent thought out of the maelstrom of emotions that was her current state of mind, she just stared at him with blank eyes. He had his eyes closed for a few seconds, while he regained his breath, after which he looked in her direction. A wry smile appeared on his face upon seeing her stare. Ayuen’s turmoil slowly calmed as annoyance and anger settled in her stomach.
“What? Did you think I was going to hike back to town in this sorry state? I do not think so. I was dying a while ago, remember? Plus, I have a reputation to maintain. Especially that. Can’t just abandon a contract. Even if I think that you deserve it.”
The only thing Ayuen could do was stare at the herhor with empty eyes. Her head still couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. Did this dick just... test her?
Rove let out a rasping laugh, which quickly turned into a coughing fit. It took him a few moments before he seemed able to speak again.
“Good way to test your client. Need to remember this one. Threatening to abandon the job at a dire time and threatening to leave them to their own devices. You broke down pretty spectacularly, so I’m inclined to believe your intentions are honest. For now. I’m not going anywhere anyway with these kinds of wounds.”
The truth slowly started to sink into Ayuen mind, and the void within her stopped growing.
“Th-… that… how… why?…” She stammered with rising indignation. This sudden switch in attitude was more she could wrap her mind around. How could somebody do something like that to another? Instead of desperation and fear, she started feeling rage and irritation, directed at the severely injured person sitting right in front of her.
Rove let out another bout of laughter, which then ended in a bout of coughing again.
“Oh, you have it rough, eh? Put yourself in my position, ‘miss’. Almost died while defending an old woman, then waking up to a whole other woman. Then, that woman turns out to have been your freaking client from the start. My conclusion, my client has been withholding crucial information from me. Think you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around things? Think again, missy.”
Ayuen felt her face getting flushed, and her voice finally came back to her. “There ….there was no other way! If you knew what we were going to do you’d-“
Rove interrupted her with a groan of pain as he spoke.
“And that is your great mistake. In these parts, we make deals and sign contracts based on trust, miss Ay-”
“Your verbal assault was uncalled for!”
“Welcome to a Herhor’s world, miss Aya. I suggest you get used to it. So here is what you are going to do now. You are going to sit down and tell me everything about this contract. For real this time. You’ll hide nothing, I want every bit of information. If I notice you are holding back intel, I will walk away as soon as I can walk again. Do you understand?”
Before she fully knew what she was doing, Ayuen rushed forward and struck. With a loud smack that echoed through the woods, she slapped Rove in the face as hard she could, and Rove’s head was flung to one side. He slowly raised his head and looked her in the eye, only faint amusement on his reddened face.
“I guess you do not. Did that feel good? Can we get down to business now?”
Letting out a frustrated yell, Ayuen stormed off into the surrounding woods, leaving that damned Herhor alone.
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A good half an hour and a fair number of kicked trees later, after she had collected her thoughts and composure again, Ayuen returned to the campsite. Rove was still sitting in the exact spot she left him in, eyes closed.
“Wake up. Did you want business? You can get your Aral-forsaken business.” Ayuen said briskly.
Rove opened his eyes and readjusted his position, yawning when he did. “Good, good. Well then, let’s begin with your real name.”
“I really, really hate you.”
“Not my concern, ‘really really hate you’. I will complete our contract and get you where you need to go, safely. Name, please. And please do write it all down.”
Ayuen took out her paper and quill and sat down. She began scribbling.
“Fine. Have it your way.” She answered with a huff, eyes full of thunder.
And so, she and Rove began hashing out the details of the mission she had in mind, beginning with broadening the information on the first contract. And after some basic information, Rove asked the question of which answer she wanted to hide most.
“And what is the ultimate purpose of your journey? Both of the journey itself and what comes after it.”
Ayuen glared at Rove for a second before taking her amulet out from under her clothing. She held it up for the man to see.
“In summary, I am travelling to find the Dawn of Life. My purpose is to revive Baros Minas, the late leader of the Pyrn people, and save my people from a cruel and unjust fate.”
To her infinite amusement, Rove’s face became riddled with confusion, which quickly changed to annoyance.
“Very funny, now do tell the truth.”
“I told you the truth.”
“So, you’re hunting for a bloody myth?”
“That's correct.”
Rove looked at her, his mouth open in a half-response as if he was unsure how to react to this new revelation. Ayuen took his silence as consent for her to continue. Who didn’t say anything, gave permission. She traced the inscriptions on the amulet, consisting of a few words along the outer rim and a picture in the middle. She began to explain it to her bodyguard.
“This amulet shows a mountain, assaulted by waves and held in place by a massive clawed hand. The outside scriptures say this: ‘Where the waters that clamp onto rock surface from the darkness, you will find the key to the Dawn.’. The picture refers to the Grasping Isle as far as I know, and the little riddle on the sides refers to the Clasp River’s origin, the Clasp’s Spring. It’s pretty clear really if you just do your research. Quite understandable why the elders decided to keep it under strict lock and key, otherwise anyone could go and look for the Dawn of Life.”
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As she ran through her explanation, Rove’s face returned to neutral and he listened attentively.
“Hold on. If the elders of your people were so careful with that amulet, how in Terraz’ name did you get a hold of it?”
“They may not have approved me... borrowing it.”
Rove’s face told her he didn’t buy it for even a second.
“So you stole it.”
“Quite inelegant to put it that way, but yes.” Ayuen pouted her lips. “Those old geezers weren’t planning on pursuing this solution even if it were the best one to our current predicament, so I took matters into my own hands.”
Rove let out a groan. Ayuen looked at him with a smug smile. “Your wounds still hurt?”
"Let's… just keep it at that, shall we? So, were they the ones who sent those mercs after us?”
Ayuen frowned. Could the elders have sent those people to kill her? Memories of her home flooded her mind, rows of old men discussing diplomacy, trade, and other boring yet important stuff.
“No, I’m sure the elders were not the ones who commanded the attack. I mean, they would send people after me, but not with hostile intent. Not like these…” She stammered and shivered as she thought back to the three mercenaries who attacked them. “Not like these mercenaries.”
Rove kept silent, raising one eyebrow. She felt another shivering surge of irritation go through her.
“I have no idea who might have sent them. For all I know, they could’ve been a group of random mercs out for money. Which seems like as good an explanation as any.”
Rove’s eyes darkened and his expression went sombre.
“No, they were sent. There is no doubt about that. They offered me fifteen golden hands to hand you over to them.”
“So why didn’t you accept?”
“A contract is a contract. I signed, so I will fulfil my part. Simple. The better question is, how did they get that kind of money?”
Rove stroked his chin in thought.
“They said they would pay specifically Marlight hands. I can’t say I heard of that place before. Does it ring a bell with you, Ayuen?” The sarcasm was gone from his voice. Grudgingly, Ayuen admired the way he kept his emotions under control.
“Yes, Marlight is my home town. A big city of the Hybrid people on the eastern coast of the Arcane sea. Although I still have no idea who might try to kill me.” Trying to imitate Rove, she tried to keep her voice flat and devoid of emotion, to limited success.
“At least it’s a start.” The herhor responded. “Let’s continue with the details of the mission itself. This Dawn of Life thing, what is it?”
“I’ll give you the short version. It is a place where a certain type of plant grows. Once every hundred years, it produces one fruit. This fruit is rumoured to bring the dead back to life, provided they have not been in the realm of the dead for too long after the fruit is used.”
“Very well. So at the Clasp’s spring, what do we find?”
Ayuen shrugged. “No idea. My next destination I hope. You don’t need to accompany me in whatever structure we are going to find. It’s not in your contract after all.”
“I need to know regardless.” Rove waved her comment away. “So after that, you’re travelling back to Marlight, and we’ll be done, right?”
“That is correct.”
“Alright. One more thing before we leave. What kind of magic can you use? I’ve seen both healing magic and some sort of cold magic from you.”
“Well, this ‘healing magic’ is called Beacon magic, and the ‘cold magic’ is Chain magic. At least use the right names for them.”
“Yes, yes, all very fascinating.” Rove’s voice couldn’t be less flat. “Can you use them again? And why in the blazes didn’t you use it earlier in the fight? Could’ve saved me a ton of bloody pain.”
A cold feeling started spreading through Ayuen’s body again as she remembered the surge of power coursing through her body as she cast her destructive spells upon the mercs.
“I am not supposed to use Chain magic. It... went wrong before. And it’s not that I could have used it any faster. The soul requires time to unleash the more potent magic.”
“So what happened?”
“None of your concern,” Ayuen said. “Some things happened in my past, that’s all the information you require. Suffice it to say it doesn’t have anything to do with our current contract.”
Some things the herhor didn’t need to know, even if he thought he would. She had her limits.
Rove rolled his eyes. “Fine, have it your way. Just tell me more about the reason why you couldn’t use that spell faster before. Something with souls and time?”
Ayuen straightened up and took a moment to think about her words. Explaining things was a big forté of hers, and she wanted to show off a bit.
“For the uninitiated, it may seem that magic can solve everything instantly. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, magic is all around us, dissolved in the air and the soil, sort of like steam. The Arcane sea, for example, is just the boiling pot where the steam comes from, a sort of big reservoir if you will.”
Rove nodded, listening carefully. At least he was a decent listener.
“Now, we all have a soul, although some have bigger ones than others. The soul is the mould which we use to shape the magic we use to our will, but it’s also our essence, our self, our will comes from. If it gets damaged or destroyed, you’re going mad at best, and become a mindless empty husk at worst. The quantity of the magic around us is too great to handle when casting big flashy magic without any preparation. You’ll draw in too much magic, and destroy yourself. You need measures to counteract this.”
Ayuen began pacing, starting to gesture to get her point across as she got more enthused about having something substantial to explain.
“Imagine magic like a breeze and magic users as boats with their soul as the sail. When there is a decent amount of wind, you can use decently sized sails and have no issues with tearing the sails. In Lugon though, the wind is of hurricane proportions, so if you use big flashy spells and set up a big sail, it will get destroyed instantly. There are different ways to circumvent this. In the case of Chain magic, you steadily increase the size of your sails, starting with a small one. Users of Chain magic, also called Gaolers, erect a small sail to gain a small amount of speed, and after that, they erect progressively bigger sails which do not rip apart because the boat already gained some speed. Given enough time, Gaolers can create vast and powerful effects as you’ve seen. But it takes time, a lot of concentration and a massive amount of stamina to do it right. It still takes its toll on your soul, so you can’t use it for too long, but it’s not irreparable damage. The soul is flexible to an extent, fortunately.”
Ayuen looked at Rove. “And that is why I didn’t do it any quicker. Clear?”
The puzzled look on Rove’s face told her enough. “I didn’t get most of it, but you need lots of effort and concentration to pull it off, right? It takes some time and effort to get a big effect. That’s rather vital to know for future fights and encounters.”
The Herhor stroked his chin inquisitively.
“The only thing I’m still puzzled about is our enemy. It will most likely be the same person that killed this Baros person of yours. What was he like? Did he have any major enemies?”
Ayuen bit her lip and clenched her fists. These weren’t memories she was yet comfortable bringing up.
“Sir Baros didn’t have many enemies that I was aware of. He was a great contributor to Hybrid society and saw it as his mission to make sure the different groups within Marlight got along with one another. He was well-liked by the majority of our people.”
“Hhhmmm. I see several kinds of people that would benefit from the death of such a person. Warmongers, hungry politicians, slavers. All of those people would like to see someone like Baros removed from a high position. Are there any high-profile generals or nobles in Marlight that you know that are known to be rather power-hungry?”
“The Marlight army, as well as the city guard, is comprised of lots of different kinds of Hybrids. What Hybrids can do differs greatly from type to type, after all. The officers are also quite varied, so I think that wouldn’t make sense. I am quite sure of that, my mother has been a captain in the city guard for ages.”
Rove nodded appreciatively.
“Good, it would be a problem to deal with a force like the military. If the military isn’t involved, we can also assume that the forces that are sent our way are hired muscle for the most part. At any rate, it’s getting late. Let’s make ourselves comfortable and get a good night's rest. Tomorrow we’ll leave as soon as you patched me up, and you can tell me the rest of the information while we ride. The patching up shouldn’t take too long, even with your abilities.”
Rove tried to roll himself on his side. The fool immediately called out in agony, his face contorted.
“I would stay in your current position if you want to avoid further pain,”
Ayuen said with an overly sweet voice, taking a certain amount of pleasure in the herhor’s discomfort. Rove didn’t answer, choosing to instead send a glare her way.
Ayuen took her bedroll from the pile of supplies and laid it out some distance from Rove. The pain would probably keep the herhor awake all night, but that was something she currently did not concern herself with. Looking at Rove, she tossed a couple of blankets next to him before making herself comfortable.
“Well then, I think I’ll be off to sleep as well then. It appears I have my work cut out for me when the sun rises. Sweet dreams.”
For her courtesy, she got a grunt in return. Why couldn’t that man understand that he was supposed to be grateful to her? This wasn’t how you treated somebody who saved your life. She kept pondering this infuriating question until she fell asleep, still grumbling.
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