As Elijah followed Kurik from the amphitheater, he caught sight of one of the men he’d healed in the infirmary. Normally, when he engaged in mass healing as he had alongside Rob, the patients’ identities tended to devolve into blurs. However, he remembered this man for two reasons. First, he was painfully handsome, with almost pale, elven features framed by black ringlets that spilled down to his shoulders. Upon seeing him, Elijah’s first thought was that he would have been perfectly at home in an Anne Rice vampire story.
His attire did nothing to mitigate that impression, either. Though his clothing was torn and dirty, he’d clearly played into that stereotype. Most notably, with his long, leather coat, flowing, blouse-like shirt, and black leather pants.
That appearance definitely made him stand out from the crowd.
But the second reason factored more into Elijah’s notice than the first. He was strong. Very, very strong. Elijah was incapable of perfectly gauging someone’s level, but he had noted that the more powerful someone was, the more effort it took to heal them. And the dark-haired man had required more casts than any other three people combined. Part of that was due to a nasty infection he’d incurred, but that only supported Elijah’s supposition that he was strong. Most other people would have succumbed well before even reaching the Nexus.
The pair exchanged a nod before the man disappeared into the crowd. However, Elijah couldn’t help but notice that quite a few people gave the man a wide berth as well as more than couple of suspicious looks.
Elijah pushed that out of mind as he followed Kurik out of the arena and to a building nearby. As was the case with every other structure in the Nexus, it was entirely devoid of furnishings, save for what the group of people inside had brought with them. Elijah recognized some of them as people from Ironshore, but there were a couple that he didn’t know, even in passing. However, he couldn’t help but notice a few missing faces.
“Robolo? Nia?” he asked.
Kurik shook his head. “The girl didn’t make it,” he said. “She appeared with a group of noncombatants. Only one made it to the Nexus. Robolo made it back, but he was…he decided to go home. I’m strongly considerin’ it, too. We all are.”
“Damn,” Elijah said.
In truth, he understood the reasoning behind it. The Trial was far more dangerous than any of them had expected. Even Elijah had underestimated it, and he’d spent months specifically preparing. So, for those people who lacked his power, it probably seemed like a hellish risk to remain. The Nexus wasn’t completely safe, either. The natives weren’t supposed to threaten them within the town, but that said nothing about the Trial-takers. As proven by the presence of the Immortals and war elves, there were plenty of people in the Trial who wouldn’t think twice about asserting their dominance over others.
“What if we teamed up?” Elijah asked. Normally, he went solo, but the dangers of the Trial had made him rethink that policy. Already, he’d promised cooperation with Sadie and Dat, so bringing Kurik along made some sense. Besides, he wanted to help his friend get stronger, partially due to that relationship, but also because he was the strongest fighter in Ironshore – other than Colt, at least. His power would help protect the city and, in turn, the grove as well.
Kurik tapped his bearded chin.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “You ain’t exactly known for bein’ a team player.”
“What? I did fine during the orc invasion!”
“Orc invasion?” asked Atticus, who’d tagged along. “You never mentioned that.”
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was,” said Kurik. “Could’ve been a planet killer.”
“What?”
“It wouldn’t have come to that,” Elijah insisted. “They were a long way from getting to that point.”
“Not that long of a way,” Kurik deadpanned. “But that ain’t the point. The point is that you tend to go off traipsin’ through the wilderness all alone, doin’ whatever takes your fancy.”
“Uh…and?”
“Can’t do that if you’re with other folks,” Kurik pointed out. “You gotta be part of a team. That means we’ll probably slow you down. You good with that?”
Elijah hadn’t thought of it like that. Instead, he’d only considered the benefits, chiefly that he could have someone to watch his back while he helped them improve. But looking back, he’d only really teamed up with other people a pair of times. First, in the aforementioned orc invasion, which wasn’t so much functioning as a group as it was him doing his own thing in conjunction with others going their own way. The second time was when he’d tried to help the elves in their tower. That had not ended well, though in his defense, he’d been saddled with an idiot of a sand elf who didn’t know how to stick to his job. Elijah had tried to play his own role, but he’d had to go off alone when all the others were incapacitated.
Regardless of the reasons, Elijah’s experiences with grouping had not gone well, so he understood Kurik’s hesitation. He said, “I’ll be fine with it. I promise.”
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Kurik nodded. “I’ll have to talk to my people about it. They came expectin’ my protection,” he said. “Don’t want to abandon them.”
“Ah – I might be able to help with that, my new friend,” Atticus piped up. “Before embarking on this Trial, I was toying with creating an alliance of Merchants and Tradesmen. For our protection, of course. I’ve made some headway in doing just that, but the addition of your people will surely go a long way to solidifying the arrangement. I’ve already picked out a venue, and now, we just need to populate it with likeminded individuals.”
“I see,” Kurik said. “That just might work.”
Then, the pair descended into negotiations concerning the particulars of the alliance. That bored Elijah to tears, so he excused himself and went in search of the other two members of his potential party.
Along the way, he saw a curious man surrounded by dogs.
The man wandered through town, looking both lost and as if he was on a mission. It was a curious mixture, characterized by a distracted expression and a purposeful gait. The fellow was also dressed in what looked like rags, with a few odds and ends that pulsed with powerful ethera.
More importantly, Elijah felt something of an affinity with the man – or more accurately, with his dogs.
So, when he saw the group stop for a few moments, Elijah approached, then knelt next to the largest dog. He was huge and rippling with muscle, with markings reminiscent of a rottweiler, though with a slightly shaggier coat. Elijah held out his hand to the animal, saying, “Aren’t you a big boy. There we go. Who’s a good boy?”
The dog was very excited to see Elijah, and he turned a couple of circles before letting out an enthusiastic bark. “You’re a good boy,” Elijah said.
The man just stared at Elijah like he’d grown a third eye.
The other dogs reacted just like the rottweiler mix, and they quickly surrounded Elijah as they vied for his attention. Elijah couldn’t contain his own glee, and he grinned as he let out a relieved laugh. There was nothing quite like a dog’s attention to improve a person’s mood.
Finally, the man asked, “What are you doing?”
“Uh…sorry,” Elijah said, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ve always loved dogs, I guess. And I couldn’t resist. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I…no. It’s not…we need to go,” the fellow stated awkwardly. Then, without further discussion, he strode away. The dogs did not follow – not until the man let out a low growl. That got their attention, and they sunk their heads to the ground and, somewhat regretfully, padded after the man. The curious group disappeared around a corner a couple of seconds later, though Elijah kept track of them via One with Nature for almost another minute.
“What a weird guy,” he said to himself before continuing on his way. “Nice dogs, though.”
Eventually, he found Sadie and Dat in a restaurant that had sprung up seemingly overnight. Judging by the ethera wafting off of the food on offer, there was at least one Cook who’d decided to participate in the Trials.
Elijah grabbed a chair from a nearby table – where the furniture had come from, he didn’t know, but he didn’t question it too much – and sat down perpendicular to the pair. “So, what’s up?”
“What do you want?” asked Sadie.
“Ouch. I thought we were past the animosity. But that’s fine. I’ll grow on you eventually,” he said without pause. “Anyway, I thought we could team up. You know, support one another.”
“Sounds good, bro.”
“It does not sound good, Dat,” Sadie interjected. Then, to Elijah, she asked, “Why would we want to group up with you? We’re perfectly capable of tackling the challenges of this Trial alone.”
“I doubt it,” Elijah said. “Think about it. This place was designed to push the best of the best to their limits. Even if you’re strong enough to tackle it alone, why would you chance it? I think if we’re going to stand any chance of getting the top spots, we need to work together. But that’s only one of the reasons.”
“And the others?”
“Well, if I’m going to help you in Hong Kong when we get back, I want to be at my best. That means we need to get to know one another. Our strengths and weaknesses,” Elijah explained. “And there’s no better way to do that than to fight together.”
“He’s right, bro. It’s like when we first started,” Dat said. “You remember how that went.”
Sadie clearly didn’t like hearing that, but after a moment, she said, “Fine.”
“Awesome,” Elijah said, reaching out to pluck a steaming vegetable from her plate. He popped it into his mouth before she could object. “Oh, that’s good. Let me get my own plate. Meal’s on me.”
Before either Sadie or Dat could say anything, he was up and crossing the room. A moment later, he was in deep conversation with the Cook, who turned out to be a huge Russian man who clearly knew his way around the cleaver he waved around as he spoke. Elijah almost took a blade to the face, but he just laughed it off as he complimented the man’s cooking.
When he returned to the table, he saw the dichotomy of a frowning Sadie and a grinning Dat. So, he turned his attention to the one who seemed far more amenable to his presence. As they ate, their conversation wandered in a host of different directions – from their adventures since the world’s transformation to life before everything had changed.
“I was a music minor,” Dat said. “I wanted to be a producer, but my mom put the stop to that. Wanted me to take over the family seafood business. But I had feelers out. My dad always supported me, though. After he died, mom was a little more accepting of my goals. When I took my archetype, I hoped I would get a Bard class. But Witch Hunter’s almost as good.”
“I was a biologist,” Elijah said, popping a fried mushroom into his mouth. He recognized it as a variety he’d seen during his time in the jungle, and it had a pleasant earthy flavor that mingled perfectly with whatever the Russian cook had used for the breading. “Not a good one, mind you. Kind of apathetic about it all, if I’m honest. I guess I expected it to be more like a National Geographic documentary than me sitting in a lab and looking at microbes.”
“The Indiana Jones effect,” supplied Sadie, primly pushing her own food around with a silver fork. It was her first contribution to the conversation.
“Huh?” asked Dat.
“After Indiana Jones came out in the eighties, there was an influx of archeology majors,” she said. “But they expected it to be something it never was – like the movies. In reality, it’s a lot more boring.”
“Ah. Less whips, too. I think I’d like a whip. That seems like it would fit the Witch Hunter thing, right?” Dat remarked.
“Maybe,” Elijah answered. “Anyway, what do you guys think? You want to be on my team?”
Sadie sighed. “I don’t think we have a choice.”
“That’s the enthusiasm I wanted to hear,” Elijah said. Then, he told them where to find him and Kurik before adding, “I’ll see you there.”
Finally, he paid their bill before heading back into the Nexus town. Along the way, he once again saw the man with the dogs, but he restrained his impulse to go and pet the good boys and girls. Instead, he headed back to where Kurik and the others had set up camp. Fortunately, he and his charges had reached an agreement with Atticus, so Kurik was free to join the team as well.
“It’s all set, then. I have a good feeling about this,” he said with a grin.