Chapter 52 In The Honey Trap.
I’m honey, sweet and syrupy.
Golden glass, a wave of delicacy.
I’m such a treat! I’m a candy!
Yet, I’ll eat your teeth, they are yummy.
Mayan, the Ocean Fairy.
The next day I spend touring the city. This place is smaller than Axero and the light snow on the rooftops gives it a majestic feeling. The people are generally the same. Honest hard workers, slackers, shady people, jovial cheery people, grumpy people, just like everywhere else. And there’s me, wandering around aimlessly, shopping like a tourist, and looking for myself in the snow and the shops.
At some point, I realize that this is a waste of time. I go back to the inn, sit on the bed, and drift into meditation in order to escape the world. I work on forming my ninth mana pool, the earth mana pool. It’s going to take me a while, and I drift away to my dreamland as I regulate my breath.
I wake up when Salik shakes my shoulder. “Marisha? We have to get going, kid, everyone is waiting at the south gate for an hour! Um… what? How long was I sitting here?!
{27} Mayan (December) the 22nd
A quick calculation tells me that if they’re all waiting it should be over thirty hours. Now I am starving. I end up stalling everyone by another hour before we set out on our way back to Axero.
Now they all hate me. It’s funny how quickly they forgot that I was the one who secured their payday. But after two days of traveling the snowy roads, they also forgot that I made them wait for two to three hours.
The way back isn’t as gloomy as I had expected. They sing their road songs, and drink around camp at night, raising their cups to Sorer. Someone else takes over the cooking, a bald man named Brevor. I expected it to be different, but apparently, these people are used to seeing their friends dying. I guess it’s a part of their job description.
However, now I mostly keep to myself. I meditate in my spare time, and none of them bothers me. They are scared of me after all, especially Berthold. That shorty avoids me like fire. He keeps hiding behind others whenever he thinks I’m looking at him. If this happened on our way to Numila, I’d probably find it amusing, but now I just don’t care. It doesn’t matter. As long as he helps me with the hunts it’s good. And I’ll only need that on our next trip.
Every night is a torment. I’m plagued by nightmares. In most of these dreams, I’m a tiny creature, sometimes a bug, other times a tiny humanoid. And the pixie is larger than life, stomping me until I die and wake up, covered in cold sweat. Each time I wake up I hear the echoes of her laughter and see the green glowing dust. Only after five long nights, when we are nearing Axero, do the dreams stop.
{27} Mayan (December) the 28th
After six days we arrive back at Axero and it’s finally time to bid them all farewell. I have a feeling they’re all happy to see me go. At least some of them are, I am sure Elitar is happy to see me gone… I'll just hire another mercenary group and employ them next time, no need to make all this fuss... Before I go off, Salik takes me aside. “You alright, kid?”
“Define alright… I know they’re afraid of me. I know you told them to pretend to like me. I figure I shouldn’t bother them…”
“Oh don’t mind the bard. He’s a follower of Brigit, Goddess of Life. He’ll frown on any unnecessary killing. Just the way he is. I don’t think the others mind the way you secured our gold, and I’ve heard nothing but praise for the way you’re helping around the camp each night.”
“Are you sure the others don’t mind me?”
“Aside from Elitar and Berthold? They don’t mind you. Noro, Chegway, and Bervor even asked me to recruit you. That’s still the plan, right?”
I smile. So everything is only in my head? Probably because I only talked to Elitar Berthold and Sorer… one is dead and the other two... I guess I’ll just have to talk to the others instead… “Yes! I’ll be happy to join you whenever you visit the swamps or the shimmering tops.” I’m glad he told me that… He's a good man! “Salik?”
He raises a thick eyebrow.
“Thank you. You made me feel better! I could kiss you right now but you’re too tall for me to reach your cheek… Goodbye, send someone to the Maven's when you have another job.” I say and lead Loyal in the direction of the Kondra snake inn, parting from the Golden Thrill Company.
"Did you have fun, Loyal?"
My horse neighs in response and grab my hair with his mouth.
"Heyy, stop it!" I chuckle.
He lets it go and licks my face.
I laugh, and push his face away. "I really wish you could talk Loyal..."
He neighs and nuzzles against my hands.
"Yeah... let's go, we do have a bit of a walk in this rotten oversized city..."
*
Half an hour later I find myself at the entrance to the hag’s shop.
Why do I feel as if I am coming home? I hate that old woman, I want to kill her!
No, I don’t…
I don’t know…
I bend down below the staircase and walk into the shop. “Welcome back, my child, how was your hunting trip?” This old witch sounds like a mother welcoming her daughter home. I can feel the warmth in her voice, it’s not fake.
She truly treats me as her child… but she eats humans! She eats people! How can I treat her warmly?! Why am I so happy to be back here?! Why do I feel so safe in here under her care?!
“It was great! I’ve caught a couple of animals and filled all the bottles in one day!” I say cheerfully, hiding the conflict in my heart.
She rubs her hands together. “Kikikikiki… looks like you’ve proved me wrong, young woman. Come! Let’s go downstairs, and I shall view your catch.”
Following downstairs, I ask. “Ever heard of pixies?”
“Of course I’ve heard of pixies. Pesky creatures, can drive a person to insanity with their words alone… why are you asking child?”
“I’ve caught one but…”
The hag turns around sharply, looking at me with a pair of big golden eyes. “And you have it here?!” Her fingers twists like claws.
“No… she escaped because someone stupid tried to free her… I’ve been having nightmares. She’s been following me around. How dangerous is she? Will this get worse?”
“Kikiki… don’t get my hopes up like that, child. It won’t enter Axero. And as long as you don’t get close to its lair again, you have nothing to fear. Come! Let me see your catch, yes?” She rubs her hands together, looking at the magical bag she lent me.
The dreams did stop when we got closer to Axero… why won’t the pixie get close to it? Is it this weird giant tree? Something else? I hand the bag to the hag, and she digs out the animals one by one. I thought the animals would grow back to the original size and fill the room. But I am disappointed to see that the creatures she drags out are nothing but miniature versions of the animal, they look like small toys. “Ohh I see I see… did you hunt the woozy on your own?”
“Woozy?”
“This one.” she points at the bear-like badger.
“Yes, but I got buried under it,” I explain with a sheepish smile. "I needed some help to get out. ‘Lightweight’ wasn’t enough, and it was too heavy for the ‘Weightless’ spell.”
“Impressive!”
This one word alone causes my cheeks to heat up.
“You said all of the three bottles are filled, yes?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“Kikiki… You will take the bath in my cauldron tonight, yes?”
“Yes, but I could really use some sleep right now.”
She nods to herself, caressing the animal toys she got out of the bag. “Very well, my daughter. Go sleep, you've earned your rest. I shall prepare everything for you.”
“Can I ask more questions? I didn’t ask any while I wasn’t here.” The matter of the pixie keeps bothering me.
She leaves the animals that look like toys on the table and starts fiddling with one of her devices. “Ask, and I shall answer.”
“You said names have power. If I know the pixie’s name, can I use that somehow?”
“Oh yeeess… there are many ways we can use it. Do you have its name?” She turns around, her eyes blazing gold.
“Yes, I do. It’s…”
I lose sight of the hag and her hand blocks my mouth before I finish the sentence. I shudder, she crossed the whole cellar in less than a millisecond, a space of about four to five meters. “Don’t say it! Write it down! Here! Here! If you say the name it might hear you, yes?” She brings me a piece of parchment and a quill.
“I want its soul too. I don’t mind eating a piece of her, she’s not human, she’s… something else. I want her soul, you can take the rest!”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Kikiki… Now you’re thinking like a true magus, yes? You shall eat her. Yeesss... kikikiki..”
That pixie is sapient… how is she different than a human? Is it just humans I won't eat? Can I eat elves now? What about gnomes? I'm not even fully human myself... No. I was just angry… I really hate that pixie... But what about the power she can bring me?! Just let it go to waste? NO! I won't cross that line! EVER! Or I'll become that evil hag that's in front of me. “No… honestly I don’t think I can bring myself to eat someone sapient...”
“Kikiki… thought so. What if I can promise you something better than its soul in exchange for its name? A gift. Something that won't require you to consume meat. Write the name down…” she gestures at the parchment.
Something better than her soul?! I wanted the power, and I can get it without eating her. I write it down. I don’t care what the hag is going to do to that pixie. In fact, I hope the hag is going to hurt her. That pixie had tried to robe me, killed Sorer by manipulating that weird woman, and tried to bewitch me to like her despite everything she did. Then she had the nerve to say she was trying to redeem my soul and bring nightmares into my head for the past week...
I have an unsettled debt with that creature. And if the hag can kill her, I can hunt peacefully in the mountains without worrying when she’ll come to settle the score.
The hag looks at the parchment, murmurs ‘fotyr’
I watch with interest. What she does is way above what I am capable of. I can read the few Myrsha runes on the circle. One of them says, ‘fasodet’ which means ‘isolate’. But there are runes in other languages, and I have no idea what they mean.
When the hag finishes, she rubs her hands together in anticipation. “Young woman, that is a valuable thing you’ve brought me! Pixies are very hard to catch. They can feel your thoughts before they form, yes? If you intend to harm them, they know before you do. The first way to catch them is to move without intent. Try to stretch up...” she stretches “...and accidentally hit them." The back of her hand hits my cheek lightly. "That is very hard to do without intent… Kikiki…”
Now it makes sense, Sorer did a shoo motion. He wasn’t trying to harm her, just to shut her up, and she did fly right into his hand when he did that motion. “…The second way to catch a pixie is to learn its name… kikikikiki…” she puts a gold coin in the middle of the circle. Remembering the pixie’s obsession with my gold and jewelry; The circle and the gold in the middle look like an odd mousetrap. Except the cheese is switched with a gold coin.
The old woman coughs lightly, and the incantation she says next sounds like a loud whisper that sends a chill down my spine. “si to exa sustolias feti sus exaful xa-xa Milasulalariata.” I have no idea what language it is, but I stare at the circle hoping to see that pixie again. And I am not disappointed. After a minute or two, she shows up in a hail of green sparkling dust.
“Oh hey?! You wanna play?! Aww, you brought me a gift! You didn’t have to, really!” she grabs the coin and flies off, right into an invisible wall at the edge of the circle. “Hey! Let me out! Out! Out! Let me out!!! Let me out of here! I am warning you! I will unleash my magic at you!!!”
“Kikikiki… unleash all of your magic, little one, I dare you.” The hag looms over the little creature, fingers curled like talons. Her golden eyes gleaming with threat.
The pixie backs off, hugging the coin to her chest. Her butterfly wings fall down on her back, fluttering lightly.
“Well? Where is your magic? I am waiting~ kikikikikiki…”
The pixie turns her little green eyes at me. “Oh it’s you! Hey girl! You have to get me out of here! You know it’s not right! If you move that weird creepy powder away, I’ll be able to get out! I’ll grant you a wish! I promise!”
I know how evil the hag is… what she keeps in her basement… and now she’s going to torment this pure creature… the way I see it: This is an evil witch tormenting a poor little pixie… I should help her… it’s not right…
NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
Argh! She killed a man like that! She tried to rob me! She’s been plaguing my dreams for the past week! And now she has the nerve to ask for help!
But she’s just so cute… and harmless!
She’s not harmless! Get out of my damn head you stupid cunt! You’ll die here! My master will torment you! I hope you die in agony! Bitch!
But she’s the cutest thing in the world! She can become my pet! My magical familiar! I can tell the hag to back off… she’s mine after all… she…
NO I HATE YOU! STOP THIS! GET OUT!
I pant, trembling. I focus on the image of Sorer’s corpse. I focus on my hatred toward this thing. Grains of sweat form on my skin, and my heart drums in my ears.
The uncontrolled sympathy stops. And the pixie in the circle seems exhausted, drained. Her dark butterfly wings hang like wet rags behind her. Her fair skin loses its luster and turns purple. Her features turn sharp, wild. Her green hair turns dark, and her pretty green eyes turn beady and black like that of a raven.
“Kikikikikikukukukukakakakakaahhhh,” the hag ends her laugh with a scream of joy. “Excellent control of your mind, young woman. Your control over your own mind explains a lot. Now. Because you’ve brought me such a precious gift, I am going to prepare something for you. A gift for a gift as promised, yes? A magical necklace that shall provide you with mana and speed up your progress… yeessss…”
“You’re not going to use human souls for it, right?”
“Kikiki… no. I’ve made you an oath, yes? No mortal souls. You should trust me, young one. I shall use one of my old preserved souls for it. Coming from a creature without a sapient mind, far more powerful than the pixie. I have many experiments I want to run on this little thing, I'm going to keep her alive, kikikiki... You don’t mind if I take it, yes?”
“Not at all. As long as she ends up dead!”
“Yeeeessss… Should you overcome your moral dilemma, maybe we shall eat her together when I’m done with her kikikiki…”
“One more question. If someone were to sell you this pixie, how much would you pay for it? I am not going to sell it or anything. One of the mercenaries I traveled with wanted to sell it, so I’ve been wondering how much it’s worth…”
She lifts her hand slowly. “No explanation is needed, young woman. I trust you until you prove me otherwise, yes? And for worth… hmm… it’s not the most expansive or useful of the fae, but it is a rare one. Yes… thirty thousand gems, maybe?”
Venomous snakes! That’s three million golden peas! And they thought it was around ten thousand gold... I should’ve just agreed and Sorer would still be alive…
“If I wanted to acquire more healing potions? Could you teach me how to make some?”
“Hmmm… Yes. However, you are limited to a single lesson a month. Think carefully of what you want to learn, yes? In the case of lesser healing potions. You may find what you’re looking for in the library.”
“What about these two potions?” I take out the potions I’ve been keeping on me, the ones I’ve taken from the mage who conjured the lightning storm and commanded the cyclops. “Can you tell me what they do?”
There are only carvings on the pewter bottles. A healing potion has the carving of a unicorn. But these other two potions are different. One has the carving of a diamond, while the other has a carving of a lightning bolt hitting a man.
“Oh? Let me see… ah yes, this is a mana potion.” She taps on the bottle with the diamond symbol. “Not the lesser mana potion you saw at the tower, that’d be rot they sell to apprentices, yes? No, this is a true medium grade mana potion. It’ll restore a thousand gems worth of mana instantly. With your current meager power, you’ll die from soul poisoning upon drinking it.”
I see… it makes sense why that mage wasn’t carrying any gems on him… There's only so many of them you can drain in one day, I guess mana potions are more effective... “What about the other one?”
“This is a potion of Lightning Body. Once you drink it, it shall drain a hundred and fifty gems of light mana. Once it has its mana, your body and equipment shall morph into a living lightning bolt for a minute. You shall move freely as lightning, and anything you pass through shall be electrocuted without absorbing you to the ground or water like natural lightning. This is a powerful potion. With your current power, this shall kill you from mana dehydration. Make sure you have enough light mana before drinking this.”
Right… “And you didn’t want to exchange one of these for a small potion that’d help me with my pain?”
“Kikiki… I can easily craft these, and you didn’t know their worth, yes?”
“You can easily craft the lightning potion too?!”
“Yeeessss…”
“Just how powerful are you?”
“Kikikikikiki… my daughter. Don’t ask something like that. We magus are very secretive about the limit of our power, yes?”
I give her a sheepish smile. Pretty sure she’s way more powerful than Rushmia… “Thanks. I am going to bed. I’ll take the bath tonight after dinner?”
“Kikiki… sleep well my child, happy dreams…”
No matter how I look at it she treats me as if I am her daughter… damn… if I could just let go of my morals and ignore the fact that she’s a cannibalistic evil hag, life would be perfect… I don’t remember much of my mother, I wouldn’t even mind adopting this hag as my mother or grandmother… If only I could ignore the fact that she keeps dozens of slaves in inhuman conditions right below my feet…
Isn’t that what I am doing? Ignoring that very fact?
No… I am not. But there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t challenge her, and leaving won’t stop her or free them. It’ll only get me killed…
I need to get stronger to be able to make changes around me, and I am simply not strong enough… And I should worry more about my family than random people… going back home and finding my sister comes first! The world is full of slaves, I can’t go around freeing each one…
But I do not agree with what the hag is doing. If I did, I would’ve joined her cannibalistic meals, I wouldn’t have made so much effort to go on that hunt.
No, I disagree with what she’s doing. But if I can ignore how she treated me during my first few months here, I owe her. I owe her for taking care of the bounty on my head, for teaching me, and for caring about me…
I both love and hate her, and these two are intertwined in my heart… I am not sure I can separate them anymore… this sucks… And it's exactly what she wants...
*~*~*
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: formed: 14 gems
Water: Affinity 6: formed: 27 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: opened: 3 gems
Wood: Affinity 2:
Gravity: Affinity 9: formed: 40/41 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Sorladika's Lesser Heating.
Light: Noxi’s Light, Lako’s Blinding Light.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet.
Earth:
Wood:
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burst. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s lesser shield. Imari’s Minor Telekinesis. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pull. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body.
Spells known:
Gravity: Alino’s weightless bodyb.
Focus capability: 10 patterns
Social status: apprentice to the maven of mysteries.
Wealth: 900 gems. 1966 golden peas, 0 silver scales, 0 copper bits.
Items:
1 simple healing potions.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh.
Fresh rose petals, 8g
Companions:
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Injuries and scars: Back, lightning scar.