Max looked to the direction Gorgoron had run. Trying to lead the Ralynn Guards away would give them a chance to rest. But Max didn’t trust Gorgoron. In fact, he didn’t know how much he trusted Elderon at the moment. Did Elderon want to sacrifice him to the dark portal? Had Elderon been hunting him all along? He had a charcoal portrait of him, just like the assassins had.
But the Bandits had been hunting him too. He remembered how the leader had said to take him alive and kill the others. Had Elderon acted to save only himself, or was Max a prize these hunters were all fighting over?
Anita had been searching for an answer to the darkness. Had she tracked him down as well? Why?
Anita summoned a meadowland creature, a dormouse, to check on Gorgoron’s progress. She sat cross-legged in the soft grass. Her eyes closed, but Max could see the eyes darting this way and that under her closed eyelids.
Anita had found Max, but she had never asked anything of him. He stared at her, captivated by her. He watched her as she used her ability to see through the eyes of another creature and realized that he was admiring her features. She was possibly the prettiest girl he’d ever met. Thick dark hair, full lips, and her choice of attire, tight leather, was clearly a practical choice offering movement and protection against damage, but it was also very alluring. Max watched her eyes darting about, and her chest rising and falling. She opened her eyes suddenly, staring right at Max. Max was startled, a little embarrassed to be found staring at her. She smiled widely at him.
“Gorgoron has led the guards away. The red Mage can move fast. We are clear to approach the city.”
“We wait for dusk,” Elderon said, “and approach far from any gates. When darkness falls, we will sneak into the city.”
“My nephew will be in the castle kitchens. We should make our way to the castle immediately.”
“Do we walk up to the main gates?” Max said, his eyes still lingering on Anita.
“I know a way in,” Jahrod said, but his nose wrinkled in disgust.
Max didn’t like the sound of displeasure in Jahrod’s voice. If the dwarf was not looking forward to it, whatever it was must be awful.
“We can rest a while here,” Elderon said. “No fire. No noise.”
Max squinted at Elderon and could not shake his feelings of suspicion. Elderon sensed it.
“What is it young Mage?”
“Where did you get the charcoal portrait of me?”
Elderon’s countenance turned hard. “Are you spying on me, Max?”
“Answer the question.” Max spoke plainly and firmly. He was in no mood for the student-and-mentor stuff right now.
Anita and Jahrod fell silent. Elderon pulled out the parchment and dropped it for all to see. “Do you mean this?”
Anita scooped it up. “It’s Max.” She turned to Elderon. “Where did you get this?”
“I took it from a defeated assassin. When Max was letting vile wood Nymphs run their claws over his skin, we were fleeing from the assassins outside White Raven. I took this from one I defeated. But maybe this is a good time to ask Max a question. Why are assassins hunting for you?”
Anita and Jahrod looked at Max.
Max bowed his head. “I don’t know.” He pulled out the portrait he’d taken from the assassin. “Someone is hunting me.”
“Who?” Elderon said.
Max shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know anyone in this world. How could they even have my picture?”
Elderon laid a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Maybe your visions of the dark portal have alerted dark enemies to find you.”
Max nodded, his head downcast.
Elderon tore up the parchment into small pieces and covered them with his hands. His hands glowed brightly for a moment, and when he opened them, the parchment had turned to dust.
“Maybe we keep fewer secrets from each other from now on,” Elderon said. “Prepare your spells, young Mage.”
Max took no time in checking his Mage Book. He hated to have accused Elderon. The old Mage had only ever looked out for him.
“Elderon,” Max said as diplomatically as possible, “is there a way to clear the Fireball spell from my active spells?”
Elderon sighed. “Only by casting it, young Mage. You will have to carry it until I can help you safely discharge it. Until then, please do as I ask and stick to Magic Missiles. You seem to have a very good grasp of them.”
Max looked at his Mage Book. He had five open slots for Level One spells. He had only learned two Level One spells, Magic Missile and Detect Enemies. He was heading into Ralynn City where the guards had already proven they would attack him, and they were in league with the Skarak. He was pretty sure there would be enemies on all sides at all times. He didn’t need to detect them. He needed to defeat them.
He added five Magic Missiles to his Active Spells.
Then Level Two. He only had one slot and only one spell learned. Strength would come in handy, so he selected it for his single Level Two slot. It would prepare as he rested, and he was sure he would need it soon.
There was an active Fireball in his Level Three spell slot. He regretted preparing this one. It would be much better to have a Shield spell if he was heading into danger.
>
>
> Mage Book
>
>
>
> Active spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Strength
>
> • Fireball
>
>
Elderon stood over him as he put his Mage Book away. Elderon handed him a scroll.
“What’s this?” Max said, taking the scroll and unrolling it.
“It’s a Scroll of Shield.” Elderon said.
“I already learned it,” Max said. “It’s in my Mage Book already.” Max handed it back.
“But you can’t prepare it for casting because you prepared that Fireball. You can cast the spell from the scroll too. It will be destroyed, of course. Take it just in case you need it. We will be heading into danger. It’s good to be prepared.”
Max dropped the Scroll of Shield into his satchel. “Thank you, Elderon.”
The old Mage nodded and turned away.
“Elderon?” Max said.
Elderon stopped and turned.
“I’m sorry if I disappointed you.”
Elderon smiled. “If I am honest, I was impressed you made your own choice. I would have liked you to do as I instructed, but I can’t honestly say I did everything my mentor wanted me to do.” He smiled again.
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“I don’t trust Gorgoron,” Max said.
Elderon took a step toward Max and crouched down next to him. “I have known Gorgoron for an age. He is powerful, and although chaotic in his ways, he always helps the realm of Eveirea to survive. He is a powerful ally.”
Max nodded. He was not convinced, but he did trust Elderon, and the old Mage had not handed Max over to Gorgoron. So, Max rested easily knowing his friend, his mentor, was on his side and had his back.
When Anita shook Max awake, the sun had dipped below the horizon, dusky light falling across the land. The long shadows were cold. Max pulled his tunic close to him. As soon as he started walking, he felt warmer.
He checked his Mage Book, but with only limited rest, his spells had not become available. He showed Elderon.
“Alas, our rest was only long enough to stave off fatigue. If we waited any longer, we risk being discovered by the guards. Once inside the city, we will be able to hide amongst the populace.”
That made sense to Max. Most of his life, he’d lived in the city, alone among millions, hidden within the throng.
Jahrod led the way. Max walked with Anita a few feet off to his left and Elderon a few feet off to his right. After an hour, a gray stone wall appeared in the distance. Hazy at first, but then Max spotted flaming torches being lit high on the walls as the twilight turned to night.
Approaching closer through a small, wooded area, Max could see the city walls were high and disappeared into the distance on either side of him. The city was bigger than any of the towns he’d seen on his travels so far.
Elderon and Anita were studying the wall, conferring quietly, pointing this way and that as they considered their next move. Jahrod was getting impatient and was twirling his axe. Max was sure that any moment, he would simply rush the guards at the nearest gate.
Max waited patiently for his friends to decide the best approach. He started looking through his inventory. Then he spotted the fine rope and pulled it from his satchel.
“Is this going to be long enough?” Max said.
“Long enough for what?” Elderon said.
Max dashed to the wall. The huge gray stones were held in place with mortar, and there were narrow grooves between every stone. Max climbed the side of the city wall as easily as if it had been a ladder. He reached the top in moments and climbed over to the high walk on the other side of the wall. He secured the rope and dropped it down the outside face of the wall. It just about reached the ground.
Max looked down into the darkness below. He could see the dark shadows of his friends moving around down there. Then the rope went taut, and he knew they were climbing.
Max prepared his Sneak ability and moved along the high walk checking for guards. A flickering torch nearby had a guard standing by it facing out to the wilderness beyond the city walls. He was leaning on a tall spear. As Max drew closer, he heard the guard snoring quietly. Only a city guard could perfect the art of sleeping while standing and leaning on a spear.
Max went back to the rope and found Anita and Jahrod pulling Elderon up the last few feet. With the party on the high walk, Max regathered the rope and stuffed it back into his satchel and then pointed to the guard on the wall to their left. He made a sign to tell the party that the guard was sleeping. He signed for them to be quiet and then led the way.
Just across from the guard’s position on the high walk was a stone stairway on the inner face of the city wall leading down to ground level. A palisade just inside the city wall prevented anyone from the city from wandering up the steps to the high walk. A gate in the palisade was secured with a chain and a heavy iron lock.
Elderon moved Max aside and began to cast a spell.
>
>
> Elderon casts Open Locks.
>
>
The iron lock opened up with a heavy click, and Elderon let the party through, closing the gate and the lock behind them.
“No one will know we are here,” Elderon said and then turned to Jahrod. “Over to you, Master Dwarf.”
Jahrod nodded and led the way.
The city streets were well lit with flaming lanterns on tall posts every hundred yards, pools of flickering orange light on the ground. Light spilled out of doorways from small homes and some businesses working late. The sounds of a tavern drifted over the cold air. Jahrod stopped and sniffed the air.
“Scromble,” he said.
Max sniffed the air and detected something extremely unpleasant. It was sour at first then rotten, like a pile of dead rats decaying in a sewer on a hot day.
“Do we really have time for a tankard of ale and a bowl of scromble?” Max said, hoping not to get any closer to that horrid smell than this. He’d rather face a Ralynn Guard and a hundred Skarak than get any closer to that stink.
Jahrod took one last, longing sniff and then continued.
The castle at the center of the city stood on a small hill, and Jahrod led them toward it through a maze of narrow side streets. Once Jahrod had stopped, Max detected a new smell. It was almost as unpleasant as the scromble but more familiar. At his feet was a small drain leading underground into the city sewer.
Jahrod pulled up the heavy iron grate with one hand. Max was impressed with the dwarf’s Strength. He was also impressed at how easily Jahrod fitted into the small opening. Max wrinkled his nose against the stench and followed.
At the bottom of a set of iron rungs, Max landed in a shallow river of filth. His good boots weren’t quite so good anymore. The first chance he got, he was going to buy himself all new attire.
“No one comes down here,” Jahrod said. “My nephew said it’s been abandoned for decades.”
Max was grateful it had recently rained. At the time, he hadn’t been so happy to be out in the rain, but now he was really glad for it. He could only guess at how bad this sewer would have been if it hadn’t been for the recent rains.
At a junction in the sewer, Jahrod called a halt. He sniffed the air, sticking his head down one tunnel and then another.
“Wait here,” he said and set off, splashing through the muck.
Anita and Elderon waited patiently. Max wandered about, trying to stay to the edge of the channel and out of the filth. He saw a flickering light along one tunnel, a white-blue glow.
“Did you see that?” Max asked.
“Probably just some sewer gas burning off,” Elderon said. “There are sometimes small flares in these places.”
Max saw it again. He wandered along the tunnel, and there was the blue flash once more. He checked back and saw Elderon and Anita looking along the tunnel where Jahrod had disappeared.
Max moved toward the flash. He tripped and just managed to keep his footing without touching the damp stinking walls of the sewer. Then he looked down and saw a dead body looking up at him, partially submerged, sitting slumped against the curved sewer wall.
Max staggered back at the sight of the decomposing face, half eaten away by rats. The body was tied to a ring set in the wall by a chain around its neck.
“That’s me,” a voice behind Max said.
Max spun around and he was gaping into a glowing blue-white face of a ghostly apparition of a young man, not dissimilar to Max himself.
“What are you?” Max said, staggering backward, splashing into the sewer river.
The blue ghost pointed at the body on the ground. “I’m Eddie. I was a talented Thief, part Bard. I could charm the birds from the trees and the blouses off the ladies. Now look at me.”
Max staggered backward, splashing through the filth.
“Help me, Max,” the ghost said.
“How do you know my name?” Max said, panicked.
“I heard your friends call you. Please help. No one can see me, but you can see ghosts, I know it.”
It was true that Max could see Janet, but she wasn’t really a ghost, just trapped between worlds. Maybe all ghosts were simply trapped between worlds.
“How do you think I can help you?”
The ghost looked down at his rotting body. “My sword. It was the only thing in the whole of Eveirea that truly belonged to me. Everything else in my life was stolen, but the sword was my family sword. My ancestors were good honest Bards, performers, and entertainers. The sword was passed on to me by my father. He hated that I became a Thief. A Rogue. But he cursed me if I should ever have my family sword taken from me. It lies here in the sewer somewhere. Taken from me by the guards who left me here to rot.” The ghost of Eddie looked upward. “Forgive me, Father.” He begged Max, “Help me, Max.”
Max staggered backward.
Max felt sorry for this young man, like him in so many ways, but how could he help? “I’ll help you look for it, but how do you even know it’s still here?”
The apparition closed its eyes. “I can sense it. I know it’s close. But even if I were to find it I wouldn’t be able to pick it up. I need your help.”
Max started to wander down the tunnel, kicking the mirky water as he went, hoping he would feel something with his boot. He hadn’t gone far when his boot landed on something hard. He kicked it to the side. A shortsword, glowing blue. He took it to the body, and the ghost looked at it, his eyes wide.
“My sword.” He looked upward. “It is returned to me.” He turned to Max. “It is the shortsword of cold,” Eddie said. “Forged in the glacier forges of Essillt and given to my ancestor by the Mage Council. Please place it in my hand that I may be free.”
Max looked down at the rotting hand, flesh hanging off, bone sticking out.
“Please,” Eddie said. “If it is returned to me, I can leave this world in peace.”
Max pressed the handle into the hand.
The ghostly form of Eddie looked up. A shaft of brilliant white light struck down from on high, and the blue shimmering form of Eddie rose up in a sudden rush.
Max regarded the remaining sword.
Max took the sword by the tip and pulled it free. He stood there for a moment, looking around for Eddie to return. He did not. He slipped the sword into his scabbard, swapping out the Shortsword of True Striking, which he dropped into his satchel.
“Thank you, Eddie,” Max said, looking down at the rotting body of the Thief.
Max checked his inventory.
>
>
> Inventory:
>
> • Light Clothes
>
> • Light boots
>
> • Good boots
>
> • Satchel
>
> • Mage Book
>
> • Shortsword
>
> • Golden Roc catapult
>
> • Rough blanket
>
> • Wooden dagger
>
> • Hood of Sneaking
>
> • Polished staff
>
> • Superior bullets
>
> • Fine rope
>
> • Collar of Control
>
> • Padded leather tunic
>
> • Dagger of Poison Blade
>
> • Potion of Intelligence
>
> • Flint tool
>
> • Scroll of Summon Storm Elemental
>
> • Scroll of Magic Shield
>
> • Ring of Shadows
>
> • Shortsword of True Striking
>
> • Ring of Extra Spells
>
> • Shortsword of Cold
>
> • 181 gold
>
>
He hadn’t realized how much gold he’d come across. A coin here and a coin there, it all added up. About time he bought some new gear! He really didn’t need three swords, and he would probably try to sell the basic shortsword if he could. It was nowhere near as good as either the Shortsword of True Striking or the Shortsword of Cold.
“Max,” the harsh whisper of Elderon echoed along the tunnel. “Max, where are you?”
Max glanced down at the body of Eddie, and he looked around for the ghost. He looked up and spoke. “If you ever want it back, Eddie, I will return it to you. I never wanted to be a Thief, and I won’t steal your sword. If you want it back, let me know.”
Max ran toward Elderon. Anita and Jahrod waited with him.
“What were you doing back there?” Anita said.
“Ghostbusting,” Max said.
Anita gave him a quizzical look.
“This way,” Jahrod said and moved off.
Max followed and headed deeper into the sewer under Castle Ralynn.