Charomera

The 15th of Thargelion

The Year 4631 in the Era of Mortals

Night fell on Ship’s Shape, ushering in a completely new feeling to the city. During the day, vendors loudly called their wares, advertisers tried to convince passersby to enter various shops, people milled about from place to place, chatting and conducting everyday errands. When night fell, however, the city turned over and became an entirely different place. Performers cropped up everywhere. People danced in the streets. Very few businesses remained open if they were not serving food and drink. Lights lit up the sky and reflected against the clouds above, bathing the city in a kaleidoscope.

It was like the whole world had gone suddenly and irreversibly mad.

At least, that was how Tess explained it to Arche from the view granted by the small window in their room while he sat on the bed, carefully sipping a bowl of stew beneath the fresh bandages that covered his eyes. As much as he burned to fix his sight, they needed to reunite with the rest of their group before moving onward. Though they had both agreed to it, Arche chafed at the thought of a potential cure being so close, yet still out of reach. The descriptions of the city did little to brighten his mood. He wanted to see the floating lights for himself and experience the fullness of the nocturnal agora. The distant hum of music sent vibrations through the building and he felt it most keenly, a world just outside his door that he was not privy to.

At an hour past nightfall, allegedly, Arche was beginning to wonder at the sleeping arrangement when someone knocked at the door. It sounded three times in quick succession. Arche stood from the bed, food forgotten as he gripped the Tridory. Tess laid a hand on Arche’s shoulder and called out.

“Who’s there?”

“Tess?” a familiar voice called back. “It’s us.”

The door opened.

“Helwan! You made it.”

Arche moved forward with one hand outstretched to find the satyr. Helwan found him instead, giving him a hug around his middle. A foolish grin spread across Arche’s face, but it didn’t matter. They were here. They were safe.

“Who else?” he asked.

“Basil and Cora are with me,” Helwan said as the others stepped into the room. “We were separated from Efterpi shortly after leaving the inn.”

The smile disappeared, leaving only an aching hole in Arche’s chest.

“What happened?”

Arche heard the door to the room shut and Basil picked up the story.

“The Hekatonkheires followed us. We tried to give them the slip, but Efterpi got lost in the crowd. One of them split off to follow her while the other two came after us. We had to move quickly. That was the last we saw of her.”

“We heard a rumor,” Tess said quietly. “A body was found near the inn.”

The air thickened as everyone digested the news.

“We don’t know that it’s her,” Cora said. “It might be the Hekatonkheires.”

Arche nodded.

“Something must be done.”

“Something will be done,” Tess said. “But not now. Do you three have rooms?”

“Yes,” Helwan said. “The proprietor—Pyrrhos, I think—he gave us the room next door. He also pointed us in your direction. I, for one, am glad it wasn’t a trap.”

Arche lowered himself to the bed and took another bite of stew.

“What do we do?” he asked, his thoughts quickly turning back to his own situation. “What time does the Lyceum open? For that matter, what time is it now?”

“The Lyceum doesn’t close,” Helwan said. “It operates in limited capacity at night but it doesn’t truly close. We could go now, if you’re up to it, or we could wait until morning. The daylight may limit how openly the Hekatonkheires can move against us but it might be easier to lose them in the bustle at night.”

Arche turned his head in Tess’s direction. He needed to go but, as he was forced to learn, things weren’t always up to him. Her hand touched his cheek.

“Go.”

He’d have kissed her if they hadn’t had an audience. Instead, he turned toward Helwan.

“Let’s not waste time. The sooner I can see, the sooner I can help.”

Arche’s dinner laid forgotten as they prepared to leave. Arche left his pack of dwarven treasure in Tess’s room. Cora and Basil would stay behind to keep an eye on things and wait for Efterpi, should she show up. The rest of Arche’s things would be coming with him in his personal inventory space. It didn’t amount to much. Trail rations, the sword made from the revenant’s rib bone, his bow, two quivers of arrows, fresh bandages, two sets of clothes, and his armor. He continued to wear his cloak due to the Stealth bonus it offered, but it was agreed that his armor was too recognizable for him to go walking about the city. Armor wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary, but it tended to denote someone as either an adventurer or a guard and both drew attention in Ship’s Shape, sometimes from each other. What was more, the Hekatonkheires knew him by his bandages and red armor, without the armor, he was slightly less recognizable. The Tridory, naturally, came with him.

After Helwan had the chance to eat—which he used to scarf down a salad and slurp a meaty broth in record time—the three set off. Leaving the inn was an affront to the senses. Arche felt the beat of music vibrate through the air and through the ground beneath his shoes. People whirled nearby in a flutter of fabrics, often stamping their feet, laughing and singing.

“Is there a holiday? Some kind of celebration?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Most of Ship’s Shape is like this,” Helwan shouted over the noise. “The people here believe life itself is a gift worth celebrating and they dance each night to give thanks for the day gone by and the new day to come.”

“A gift from who?”

“Nobody knows!” Helwan laughed. “But it feels good to do, all the same.”

The air was electric. Perfume and sweat mixed in nearly equal measure, making the whole place feel alive and sensual. Arche was very aware of the grip of Tess’s hand on his arm as they skirted the outsides of the frolicking throng. It brought to mind the memory of her wet back beneath his hands, the way her shoulders moved under his fingers. Without bright lights to occupy his vision, his mind’s eye was quite distracted by other imagery.

Their pace was faster than a walk but not quite a run. It was impossible to move slowly with the music playing all around them, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Arche heard Helwan’s hooves tap against cobbled stone as the satyr danced along, staying close but joining in. The whole thing was mesmerizing. Arche wanted to dance, to take Tess in his arms, to join these people in primal celebration, but he continued on, doing his best not to trip for fear of being trampled.

They left the festival and entered a courtyard of some kind. Arche could only tell it as such because he could hear the sound of the music behind them echoing back to him. The sensual feeling that had overtaken him faded and he found he was sweating. Next to him, Tess gasped heavy breaths, a sound that seared into his mind as her fingers relaxed their tight grip on his bicep. Before he had quite recovered from the experience, Arche felt himself ushered through a door and into a building.

“Can I help you?” a kindly, feminine voice said.

“My friend had an accident some time back. We were hoping that the asklepieion would be able to help him. We’ve come a long way.”

“Is it an injury or an infection?”

“Injury.”

“Is he a member of the Lyceum?”

“No,” Helwan hesitated for a moment. “But I’m a former student and he’s a prospective future student.”

“Understood. We’ll admit him for care, then. We have some documentation for you to sign. Are you his wife, miss?”

“No!”

He couldn’t see her face, but Arche would have wagered the entire dwarven hoard that Tess’s cheeks were cherry red. He’d have given away half the hoard to see it.

“My apologies. We only allow family in the patient rooms.”

“I don’t have family,” Arche said. “But they’re as close as I’ve got. I’d like you to let them in.”

“Very well. If you’ll follow me.”

The attendant led them through a door, down a hall, and into a vacant room. Arche was made to lie down in a strange, uncomfortable bed while Helwan and Tess took chairs nearby.

“I’ll fetch a physician to see you,” the attendant said, then left them alone.

Arche felt anticipation rising in his chest. He had been dealing with his blindness for weeks, hoping that a healer would be able to restore his vision. Now, with nothing left to do but wait, he felt restless. It was only when Tess put her hand onto his that he realized he had been clenching and unclenching his fists. After an eternity, or about five minutes, someone entered the room.

“Hello, everyone. My name is Polybus, I’ll be your attending physician. Now, what seems to be the problem?”

A masculine voice with a subtle accent that sounded vaguely elven. Arche cocked his head in Polybus’s direction and smiled.

“I’ll give you three guesses.”

Polybus laughed.

“Humor may not be one of the four humors, but I believe it to be better than most biomancy for curing what ails you. If you’ll allow me, I have some examinations to perform. Your friends may wait outside.”

“I’d like to keep them with me, if it’s all the same to you.”

“No.” Polybus’s voice was polite but firm. “This is not a menagerie and I do not perform with an audience. I assure you; you are quite safe in our care. Your friends may return when I am done.”

Arche grit his teeth. For a moment, he thought about refusing – then he considered if his sight was worth his pride.

“Fine.”

“We’ll be close by,” Tess whispered. “Don’t worry.”

The door opened and shut, and Arche was left alone with the physician. Polybus moved to the bedside humming and murmuring under his breath. Arche did his best to stay still as the bandages around his head were swiftly but delicately removed.

“Now this is fascinating. How did you come by this injury?”

“A building fell on me.”

Polybus snorted.

“I appreciate your good attitude, but I’m afraid I need accurate details if I am to ascertain the best way to treat you.”

“I’m not joking. A huge wall fell onto me. It crushed most of my bones, especially those in my face. I was told that my eyes were pierced by my orbital bones.”

“Orbital bones,” Polybus repeated, more to himself. “And who told you this?”

“A biomancer. She told me she lacked the requisite skill to heal me and directed me this way.”

“You are lucky to be alive, if that is the case. I am surprised that this is the only injury you bear from the matter. Have you gained a level since then?”

Arche grit his teeth.

“No, and I’m quite a ways off from the next one.”

“Your biomancer has done a remarkable job patching you up, then. One moment, I’m going to scan you.”

Polybus muttered a few arcane words and Arche felt the air in the room shift, prickling his skin. Magic filtered through him, reaching deeper into his body, and the prickling sensation turned to one of mild discomfort. Before the discomfort could grow, it stopped.

“Oh dear,” Polybus said, his voice sounding troubled now. “You have some pretty extensive Mana scarring. Are you a mage?”

“Not exactly. I have a skill that uses Mana. It was overtaxed during the accident.”

“Right.” Polybus’s voice made it clear that he was thinking hard. “Well, the good news is that I do believe I can restore your eyesight. The bad news is that it may come with side effects.”

“What kind of side effects?”

“Your facial structure has been altered, somewhat. You have spurs of bone that jut into your eye sockets, pressing against the nerve at the back of your eyes. This may get better over time, if you have a high Comeliness, but such changes are gradual. Your eyes themselves have been filled with blood for a long time. I will be able to remove much of it during the procedure, but it is likely your eyes will remain stained. This might affect your vision or it might not. Regardless, your eyes will make you an oddity. Though, with the extent of scarring you have, it may not be anything you aren’t used to.”

Arche felt his mouth go slack. There were so many threads he wanted to pull on, but he had to stay focused.

“Can you reset the bones? Put them back into the proper place?”

“Yes, I believe I can. We do offer anesthetic, which I would highly recommend taking advantage of. The cost is high but worth it for a procedure like this.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What about the Mana scars?”

“There’s nothing I can do for that, I’m afraid. There may be others in the Lyceum that deal in such things, but it is not within the realm of biomancy or the medical arts.”

Arche had to manually unclench his jaw to ask his next question.

“Very well. How soon can we start the procedure?”

“I will prepare some assistants. We can start within the hour. Don’t worry. With no complications, we’ll have you seeing dawn’s light.”