Chapter 33 The Mysterious Door.
To learn is to question.
Even the most obvious of facts.
The moment you accept things as given is the moment you regress.
Tukado, the Creator.
Loyal stands on his back legs. He kicks the air in a threatening manner, causing the guards to back off. Six more guards leave their small station, all aiming spears at Loyal. “Get your horse under control or we’ll kill it!” one of them threatens.
“Loyal? It’s ok, please calm down?” I say in Tom’la, I’m surprised when the horse responds to my command. The guards lead it with us through the streets.
*
An hour later, I find myself in a dark prison cell. The cell is a dusty four walls with a plank chained to the wall to serve as both bed and a chair. The only other piece of furniture is a wooden chamber pot at a corner. Rats crawl around with annoying squeaks that bring a number of unpleasant memories from my time as a slave. I hate rats! Stupid things! I'd burn them if it wasn't for these stupid iron cuffs!
I spend the next hour sitting in a dark cell bored out of my mind, spending my time in a game of cat and mouse with the rats. I'm the cat of course, but I only managed to stomp one of them to death.
“Oy you! What’s a Chupanga like you doing here?” One of the two men in the opposite cell decides to relieve his boredom by talking to me.
“No idea, must be a mistake.” Despite my drumming heart, I keep my voice as calm as I can. I can’t admit to anything, the guards might be listening in…
“You’re very calm for a mistake.”
“I’m terrified…” I let my fear sneak into my voice.
“Ah yeah, Gama lokro calm eh? What’s your name?” The man with the tenor voice asks. He sticks his head between the bronze bars, holding onto them.
“Marisha, you?”
“Me? I’m Berthold, a mercenary and the best archer you’ll ever meet!”
I observe the young man standing in the other cell. He’s short and lean with messy unkempt black hair. His only redeeming quality is a pair of sparkling blue eyes. “What are you here for?”
“Me? Just a brawl with Sorer here.” He pats his friend’s shoulder. The other man has a large figure, I can't see him well in the darker cell. “Say hello to the lady, Sorer.”
“What for?” The bear-like man shrugs.
I have a hard time picturing these two fight, from the way they look, Sorer would tear Berthold apart in an instant.
“It’s called being polite. You want to be polite with the ladies,” Berthold chides the older man.
“You do remember I’m Salkonin, right?” Sorer's voice is filled with ridicule.
“Oh yeah, you got yourself stuck with one woman.”
Sorer pushes Berthold away from his shoulder. “Bah, you always talk big, when have you ever been with a classa? You don’t even go to the temple of Koshavi.”
“I’ve been with plenty of women! What do you think lady Marisha? Am I Balitaro?” Berthold turns to me again, seeking confirmation.
Lady Marisha… it’s weird hearing it in another language… I miss Kolag… I wish he was here…
He’s not… and I’m unlikely to ever see him again… it’s time to move on…
“Yeah… sure…” I reply absent-minded. Let’s not hurt his feelings… he’s way too short… not even taller than me… and he could use a damn bath… he stinks…
“Bah! Don’t make me laugh woman! Would you let him pakka you?” Sorer gets up to his feet and looms near the bars with a smirk that reaches his brown eyes.
I assume they mean sex... “Maybe, if I get to know him better and he takes a bath first.” I lie. There’s no reason to be mean, unlikely to happen anyway…
“See? Told you!” Berthold exclaims excitingly.
Sorer laughs in his face. “Yeah. Once she gets to know you, she wouldn’t want anything to do with you! You crazy korlako lover.”
“Hey! Korlako are real!”
*tok… tok… tok…*
The sound of a walking stick tapping the floor can be heard. As it gets closer, we all quiet down and eye the entrance to this prison.
I easily recognize the raging power as the Maven’s mana. This is like staring at the sun, way too bright. Only, it doesn’t really hurt my eyes or my mana sense. Soon, the Maven of Mysteries herself shows herself outside of my cage-like cell door.
She bends forward toward the bars, her eyes gleaming like gold in the dim light of the cells. “I see you got caught, chicky! Avoiding the city guards was harder than you thought, yes?”
“Yes.”
She cackles. “You have to get better at this, chicky. You waltzed in there like Kilako’s own peacock on his mating ritual!”
I grit my teeth. She has a point, I wasn’t exactly subtle… ”How do I get better?” Not like I ever had to assassinate someone... I've sent assassins to deal with crime lords, that's what you have money for, but never had to do the job myself... it's weird... I had no idea how it feels like... how easy it is to just... take a life...
“The more we experience the better we get, my little chick.” The cell door opens with a creak. “I gave you a week, yes? Next time use the week to hide. Now, come!” She gestures for me to follow her.
“Ma’am…” The guard captain mutters as he bows to the hag respectfully. He hands her the crystalline bottle. I recognize the man, I delivered him a glitter potion a few days ago, directly to his house.
She takes the bottle in her talons and turns it, looking at the liquid inside with a cackle. “Ki ki ki… a job well done Muasi, here is your reward.” She hands him a brass bottle with her so-called “glitter” along with a pouch full of gold, and the realization dawns on me.
There is no way the city guards would know who to look for. She tipped them off! She sold me out! Just so she won’t have to pay me the higher wage she promised! ”You said this game wasn’t rigged! Why tip off the guards about me?” I ask, barely holding my fury back.
The hag pockets the wrapped glass bottle in her black robes, and steps forward without sparing a glance in my direction. “Why not? You are my servant, and they are my servants. I have to use all of my servants, yes?”
The cryptic answer doesn’t make sense, I erupt in rage. “You just didn't want to pay me! You greedy bitch! Just don't promise me any pay and avoid the whole show with the damn guards! Why the manipulation?! Why the games?!”
“I wonder why! I wonder why!” Her walking stick keeps knocking on the ground with each step she takes.
“I don’t want to figure it out on my own! Stop with playing the cryptic wise mage from the bards’ tales and just tell me, damn you!”
“Kikikikik… You will have to gain experience! And my servants are there to provide it, yes?”
What does that even mean?!
Oh… she’s grooming me to be a better assassin? She’s training me… she’s training me how to avoid the authorities after finishing a job. No wonder it was so easy to kill that thug, he was an easy target tailored specifically for me…
An easy target, with one of the eleven masks… he must be new… probably killed the former owner of that mask and was dumb enough to openly display it… My rage disappears. “I’m sorry.”
“Good! Acknowledging one’s mistake is a proof of wisdom. One should listen to the stories of old, there’s much wisdom in them, yes?” She strides forward, her walking stick knocking on the floor. “You haven’t harmed a single soul, and you’ve eliminated your target. That’s more than what I’ve expected from you on your first try, young woman, here’s your reward.” She hands me a small purse of gems.
"I..." I take a deep breathe and stop myself from saying that I don't want her charity. I need all the gems I can get, pointless pride won't get me more cantrips or more energy for meditation, I'll take what I can get!
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Complaints?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Good! Let's go home, chicky!"
*
{27} Rakisha (September) the 29th
“Marisha! Oh, by Tiyadi’s breath, you’re just in time! You’ve got to help me!” Sharla’s sighs in relief when she sees me entering the Kondra snake inn, right after my weekly visit to Loyal at the stables.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“A rich merchant’s son, he won’t stop harassing me, no matter how many times I tell him no! Now he’s buying my contract from Mrs. Innkeeper!” She's visibly trembling.
“Right now?!”
“Yes! Right now! What am I going to do?! I can’t leave this place I just… I…” She begins hyperventilating.
I put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down, take me there! I believe I have enough money to purchase your contract.”
She nods and leads me through the corridors. She’s tense, and her breathing is still erratic.
“It’s going to be fine Sharla, just breathe…” I should’ve bought her contact weeks ago…
I don’t think she wanted me to… she seemed happy to work here…
Or maybe she didn’t feel like she could ask me to… I should’ve asked her… I was so busy getting my life back together... getting used to my new life... That's no excuse!
“Then I believe our deal is concluded?” I hear the masculine voice behind the door.
“Yes,” I recognize the Innkeeper’s tired voice.
“Hold on!” I call out, opening the door. “Whatever he offered you for her, I’ll offer you double!” The office has a few red flower pots and a small dead fireplace. The innkeeper behind the table wears her usual green coif that frames her tanned face. The crow feet near her eyes wrinkle with confusion and worry.
The rich man burst into a mocking laughter. He’s a middle-aged man and isn’t very good-looking. His eyebrows and lips are too thick, and there’s too much space between his brown eyes. He’s both short, and obese. Not surprising that he goes around buying women as his concubines. Behind him are a pair of armed guards wearing iron arms and armor.
“Not only that. I don’t mind if she keeps working here once I buy her, so you won’t have to look for another worker.” I add in order to convince the innkeeper.
“Then why are you buying her?” The innkeeper asks with a deep frown. “This is not a joke. Lord Nolidon offered me a mokisa sum of a five hundred gold pieces.”
“Yeah little girl! Can you offer six hundred gold pieces maybe?! Ha! Just go sufna back to wherever you came from!” The mockery in his eyes is replaced by astonishment when I place six glowing magical diamonds on the innkeeper’s table.
“You shouldn’t offend her Lord Nolidon, she’s…” The innkeeper doesn’t finish.
“What?! Seven hundred!” The man shouts, the astonishment disappears from his brown eyes, and hatred takes its place.
I calmly added two more gems.
“Nine hundred!” The rich youth is enraged. “If you dare to move the price up, I’ll make sure you lukema barusa nada young lady!”
“Try me.” I add two more gems.
“Miss…?” the innkeeper asks.
“Vodit, my name is Marisha nuk Vodit.”
“A noble house?! Why have I never heard of house Vodit?!” The man wouldn’t let it rest. "Who's your mage Gaslikaro?
“I’m not from around here, yes innkeeper?”
“Can you come with me for a pesa?” She leaves the room.
I follow her, once we are alone, she continues. “I don’t want to anger you. I know you’re a mage, but you’re not so bad as some of the mages I’ve seen… not that I’m implying that…” She stutters.
“Relax, I won’t get violent. Just tell me what you wanted to say,” I say dryly, trying not to roll my eyes.
“I don’t want to sell Sharla to that man, she’s a good girl. But he is a very influential man with a mage's backing. If I won’t sell her to him, I could lose my inn. If you have a way to deal with him, please use it. Otherwise, please back off.”
I narrow my eyes. “How influential?”
“He’s rumored to be sitting on the council of masks, or at least have the ear of someone who does. This rumor is more than a year old and he has stayed alive this long, so it got to be a mage…”
A way to deal with him… I could kill him here and now. Assuming I can get past his guards with magic... and even if I do, the city guards will just put me in jail again, and I can’t count on the hag to get me out for free… In fact, the guards will be after me either way, simply because I challenged this idiot’s authority… What made me waltz in there and offer a price without checking who he is first? This was stupid… I really need to learn some subtlety…
So what now? I’ll try to bluff… if it doesn’t work I’ll kill him, and deal with the consequences…
I go back to the room ignoring the innkeeper, “Lord Nolidon?”
“Yes?” He has a self-importance expression on his face.
“I really didn’t want to tell you this, because this was supposed to be hush hush. But I believe you’d change your mind about Sharla if you knew…”
“Knew what?!”
“Sharla is a…” I have no idea how to say magical experiment in Sinteo. “…Magic. She’s made of magic, she belongs to my master, and my master decided to let her go in the world. Sell her to the innkeeper, in order to try some ideas.”
“Wait she belongs to a mage?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” He looks at the innkeeper as if she had personally offended him.
“My master told her not to…”
“What’s your master’s name?”
My heart pulses the further I have to lie. I can’t use the Maven of Mysteries for this, and there is only one mage’s name I know. “Master Rushmia, from the Sapphire Tower.” I doubt he knows mages by their names.
“Then why was the innkeeper so willing to sell her before, huh?” He asks looking at the middle-aged woman in a threatening manner.
“Because she was told not to expose this to anyone. I already told you, someone like her can’t berate someone like my master. Just let the matter go!”
He nods. “Very well, thanks for telling me, I don’t want to deal with mages. Mrs. Innkeeper, I want you to sell Alina to me.”
It worked?! Wow! Everyone is really scared of mages… For a very good reason though…
I wait for his deal to conclude, before he leaves with another barmaid who actually seems happy she got bought as the man’s concubine. Afterward, I buy Sharla’s contract myself, just to make sure this incident won’t repeat itself.
*
{27} Rakisha (September) the 30th
Today I’ve fully formed my abdomen storage mana pool after two months. It's oddly fast. Even with my affinity for this pool, it should’ve taken longer to open. An hour or two a day is simply not enough.
Lately, my meditation has improved. I don’t know what causes this change. Maybe I am a naturally talented late bloomer, or maybe I’m doing something different without knowing it.
The abdomen storage lets me store an amount of six mana gems that don’t belong to any element. I can also convert my mana from any elemental pool into general colorless mana, but most of the mana gets lost each time I do that. I need six elemental mana gems for a single general mana gem.
From here on, I begin working on my light mana pool. Tonight I am ready to begin my meditation, but first, I have something else to do.
By following the hag’s habits, I notice she’d leave her shop by the end of each month, probably meeting with her council of masks. I know for a fact that she won’t be back until midnight, and that I have at least six hours to explore the mysterious door.
It’s time to do that…
*
After she leaves, I wait for an hour, just to make sure she won’t come back due to forgetting something. Then, I head to the unlocked door that's opposite to my room. The door I’m not supposed to go into.
I look at the dark mahogany door hesitantly. My eyes fixate on the golden knob with the silver crane-like bird on it. She shouldn’t be back for five hours… and she has no reason to return early… let’s do this!
Don't go in there. It's not worth the risk. Don't, just don't.
I have to!
Why?
Because I have to...
The door opens with a click before I can stop myself. A cold wave welcomes me when I pass through the doorway. There’s a staircase, leading up and down. I can feel the wind, it feels as if this place is open to the outside, even if I can’t spot the opening above the stairs. I shouldn't have done that! She won't know, there's nothing to be afraid of...
I can hear whimpering and crying from below. I normally heard grunts and animal sounds near this mysterious door. I thought it was some creepy magical effect this door had, but this time it’s a clear whimper of a girl.
I shudder, unable to ignore the whining, I move down the wooden stairs. My heart drums in my chest as my eyes get used to the dim light, and my nose to the horrific smell.
After going two floors down, I find a wooden door. Behind it, someone is hushing the crying girl.
I open the door, and wince at the odor.
I forget to breathe once I realize what I am looking at.
Rows upon rows of metallic cages crowd this dark hall. Many of the cages have a collared person in them. Most of these people are obese. They’re sitting naked on the straw, covered by their own feces, letting out grunts. What in hell is this place?! I stare with my eyes wide open.
And to think this whole time I lived comfortably upstairs, never aware of what has been going on down here! Sure there were grunts and odd smells from this door sometimes… but I never imagined!!!
With acid up my throat, I regret not killing that hag when I could’ve. Now I have a choice, a terrible choice. Pretending I’ve never seen it, walk back and work my time in comfort. Or do my best to free these people. Will they even survive out there if I do that? Will I really sacrifice my safety for these people that I don’t even know? What good will it do?
“Marisha…” the hoarse whisper coming from one of the cages freezes my blood stiff. I don’t recognize the mass of flesh and fat inside, the long dark hair covers the face. But apparently, this person recognizes me.
I crouch near the cage holding my breath. “Medina?” I hear myself asking after seeing the individual’s face up close. This is the Muahni woman who translated for me during the first night after my escape from the tower.
She whimpers, nodding her head.
So I do know someone here… acquainted with… yeah… doesn’t mean I owe her anything… She and her tribe welcomed me with warm food and bed while I left them out there to die, I can’t leave her to die again! Why not? What’s stopping me?
The question still remains… should I pretend nothing happens, or should I free them? In their shoes, I’d want to be freed… True but I am not in their shoes, I have to look after myself… I just have to kill that hag and I can free them! Why does she even hold them here? Why are they so fat? What is she doing to them? Experiments? Why does she need so many of them?! There are at least thirty people here!
“Do you know this one, chicky?” the hag’s voice makes me jump to my feet like a startled doe. I didn’t hear her going down the wooden stairs. Her golden eyes glow in the darkness like an experienced predator.
She shouldn’t be here! Why is she here?!
*~*~*
Power level: 2nd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: formed: 1 gem replenished per five minutes.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 66
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: formed: 6 gems. Conversion ratio: 6:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 18 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 9 gems
Light: Affinity 3:
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1:
Wood: Affinity 2:
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s breeze, Shavi’s sword.
Fire: Nuriss’ flame.
Water:
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light body. Alino’s Heavy body.
Spells known:
Focus capability: 9 patterns
Social status: ?
Wealth: ?
Items:
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keep the pouches’ content fresh.
Various spell materials.
Companions:
Injuries and scars: Back, lightning scar.