A jolt shook me awake, and I gasped, flailing and clawing around me as I tried to figure out where I was. Was Bray playing a prank on me, what was happening? Why did I feel so strange? What was on my face?

I threw it off, finding that it was my blue scarf. Wait, my scarf, given to me by Esra. Oh my god, I was a girl, I was an outrageously hot girl! I smiled and laughed like a giddy, slightly crazy person. Relief and happiness rushing through me in equal measure as my brain stuttered back to full functionality. Of course, then I remembered why I had been unconscious in the first place.

Bolting upright, I looked around in bleary eyed confusion. Wait, I was in the cart. Valda was staring at me warily from the back where she sat, her legs dangling over the edge. Her posture was that of someone who was ready to strike if I so much as looked like I was going to cause trouble. Right, they knew I was a mage… they had seen me take that enormous creature and crush it like a bug.

“You’re finally awake,” she said coldly, crossing the border between wariness and downright hostility.

“U-um… Hi?” I asked cautiously, feeling my guts begin their anxious squirming as I watched her expression.

“She’s scared of you,” Cad said from up the front where he was driving, as usual. “I mean, I’m scared of you too, you’re a god’s damned mage after all, but… you seem nice too. I made her put you in the cart instead of leaving you behind.”

That honestly made me feel… nice. I think a part of the reason I was so okay with his attentions was, well… they were the attentions that a boy normally gave a girl. It was difficult to explain, but even if I didn’t want to be with him or anything, it was just nice to be treated like a girl, a regular ol’ pretty girl.

“Thank you,” I said sincerely, giving him a truly grateful smile.

Seriously though, the guy had a heart of fucking gold. Well, either that, or his heart was just a normal guy’s one and he it was the big ol’ whopping crush on me that was responsible. Probably both to be honest.

In an attempt to calm them both down a little, I activated the spell to hide my mage features, the plants back in my grove feeling almost happy to help. It would be fun when I got some big trees created, then I could talk about my happy little trees.

“You killed that thing back there like it was nothing,” Valda said out of nowhere. “Just lifted it up into the air and crushed it like a ripe fruit.”

“Yeah…” I breathed awkwardly, avoiding her eyes. “I didn’t know I could do that, actually.”

“Really?” she asked, looking surprised by my admission.

“Yeah, it’s true. I’ve only been a mage for like, two months. I have no idea what I’m doing,” I said honestly, hoping that with that honesty I could get back on her good side. I liked Valda, I didn’t want her to be scared of me, or hate me.

“Two months? I was told that some mages sequester their newborn apprentices in their Groves for years before they feel ready to come back out,” the woman said, frowning like I’d just claimed the sky was red.

"I had to leave, my teacher's grove was attacked, destroyed. I'm trying to find my old friends, from before I became like this," I replied, searching her face for any sign that she was beginning to trust me again.

She was silent for several moments before Cad spoke up again from the front of the cart. "You know… you never told us your name. Or where you're from."

I blinked, opening my mouth to deny it, then frowned. I hadn't given my name, there had never been any sort of introductions, I'd just overheard their names.

"Oh, um. My name is Ryn, I'm from a… from a town called Avonside. I don't know where it is in relation to us though," I told them earnestly, and then a thought occurred to me. "If you um, ever end up hearing about Avonside, and I make it back home, I'd vouch for you if you wanted to trade there."

"What could your Avonside have to trade for that we would be able to sell?" Cad asked, his eyes suddenly sparkling with interest.

"Well, suspension for one thing," I grimaced as we hit another bump in the road.

For some reason that got Valda laughing, and with an amused shake of her head she said, “Oh, that would be nice wouldn’t it. A ride that doesn’t break my withered, bony old ass.”

The instant I saw her laugh, relief flooded through me. If I could make her laugh, then she didn’t hate me.

“You have no idea,” I grinned, thinking almost wistfully back to Earth’s various transport systems. I had taken them for granted so hard. “I remember getting into this one reasonably expensive… uh, cart, and the ride was so smooth I thought we weren’t moving. Not a single vibration through the frame.”

“How is that even possible? Was it spelled or artificed to be that way?” Cad asked in awe.

I shook my head, “No, just very good… um, artisans. I have no idea how it worked, but my friend might know. He studies metallurgy. He’s one of the friends I’m trying to find actually.”

Sounding saddened, Cad asked quietly, “How long will it take to find them?”

“Four are um,” I started, then looked down at the ring and quickly cast the spell, which to a non mage’s eyes flashed with white light. My arms were briefly enveloped in a bouquet of black and white flowers before the display dissipated. “Four are that way,” I said, pointing towards where Avonside was. “That’s probably where my… homeland is, but two are much closer and moving towards the same point we are. I have no idea why but… yeah.”

“Interesting. You will be leaving us in Rotodunum then?” Valda mused, giving me a long look that I couldn’t interpret. The woman was a damn mystery sometimes. Maybe she was relieved to have the volatile mage out of her hair.

“Uh, yeah probably. No more mage problems for you,” I joked half heartedly. It still hurt the way they had reacted to my being a mage, despite how well we had all gotten along up until that point. It made me worried for my eventual reunion with my friends.

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“So far you have just made a boring journey far more interesting, and of course, slain a magical beast that would have been certain to kill us otherwise,” Valda shook her head. “Mages are generally bad news for common people like us, but you seem like that rare, good sort.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, feeling some of that hurt I had just mentioned ease. “My mentor was nice enough, but I get the feeling that she might not have been so nice before.”

“Aye, most mages come from the nobility and have very little regard for people below their station. Their mage fruit are usually paid for years in advance,” Valda nodded. “Who was your mentor, if I might ask?”

“Um… Esra Rihm,” I said cautiously.

“No way!” Cad blurted, staring at me in shock. “Esra Rihm was the one who made your fruit? How did you get it? What happened? Everyone says she died!”

“Uh, well… I actually stumbled on it. She put it in the middle of a forest because she didn’t want to deal with another apprentice after her last one,” I replied, thinking back to Lord Fennimore with a shudder.

“Yeah I can bloody well see why, her last apprentice is a fucking sadist. The man can be charming, or he tries to be, the nobility lap it up, but by the gods…” Valda exclaimed, her face screwed up in disgust. “Apologies, I have strong feelings about that man. Watched him kill four hundred prisoners because they were too expensive to keep around or something. The man has no honor whatsoever.”

“You fought beside him?” Cad asked, looking a little appalled.

“Not by any fucking choice of mine,” she spat, shaking her head. “No, he and the other new Lords of Anverleik conscripted every mercenary company they could find. It was either fight for them and get paid, or die by their magic. We chose life.”

“That is… rough,” I grimaced, shaking my head. “No matter where you go, it’s the same shit.”

“Aye, that’s damn right. Us common folk just got to keep our heads down and live the best we can,” Valda sighed, but her hand went to the hilt of her sword, tracing the ridges of leather she found there.

A thought occurred to me as I dwelt on the nature of people in power. What had Esra been like? Was she just like the rest of the mages? Self centered and power hungry? Or was she better than that? She’d seemed… not entirely good, but she’d seemed to have a good sense of morality and fairness. She’d had a heart too, the way she’d been beginning to care about me.

“Was Esra a bad mage?” I asked quietly after a few minutes had passed.

“She was better than some, worse than others,” Valda shrugged. “Not all terribly spectacular as a battle mage, but she made up for it in other ways. I heard talk that she was one of the best, before... you know what. Advocated for a sewer system to be built in Anverkeit, although unfortunately the old lord was just as bad as the new one and he threw that idea out. Said it would cost too much or something.”

“That’s a relief, at least she wasn’t evil,” I sighed, my fears somewhat assuaged. It was nice to know my mentor hadn’t secretly been a monster.

The city of Rotodunum wasn’t too far away now, the whole region being packed together the way it was, like rowdy music fans in a mosh pit. Complete with all the pushing and shoving that it entailed. What was different about Rotodunum was that it was ancient. The island it had been built on and subsequently expanded out from had been inhabited for as long as anyone could remember. I had to move up to the front with Cad so I could get a better view of the incredible sights.

Not as long as the land and the ring remembered though, because Rotodunum was built on some even more ancient ruins. I saw the first signs of them as we approached from the opposite side of the river from the main city, a huge bridge that was so utterly at odds with everything I had seen so far that I had to just stare at it and let my mind come to grips with the thing.

The river itself was several hundred yards across, a deep and ponderous thing. The bridge that spanned it was a wild mess of ordered geometry, steel beams and cables held up a vast walkway, almost as wide as the river was, and all of it was showing signs of corrosion and age. Across that bridge the people of Rotodunum had built houses, shops and any other number of buildings. It was a suburb in and of itself.

“Who built that bridge?” I asked in wonder. I knew the answer of course, it was the same people who had built this world, but I wanted to know more.

“No one knows who built all the ruins,” Valda shrugged. “Same as all the others, it’s a mystery.”

“Some people say it was the gods! That they lived on the world like us, but that the steel ones drove them back into the stars!” Cad whispered excitedly, leaning against me as he told his story. I fought against my inner desire to cringe away from the contact. Not a fan of that kind of thing. “The gods lived on the world back when it was a paradise, no one had any need of anything, but then the Steel Ones came, and they fought a war that made the very world begin to shake!”

Valda’s expression told me all I needed to know about her opinions on the subject, but I was more interested. Myths like this one always had a bearing on reality in some way or another, and that meant I might be able to get some insight into who the builders of this ring were.

“Who are the Steel Ones?” I asked, fishing for information now.

“The Steel Ones!” he exclaimed, like that would tell me everything. When I gave him a blank look, he continued, “They’re the Steel Ones, they’re made of metal and they’re really old. Most of them are dead, but the ones that aren’t are really scary. I heard that there was once a kingdom to the north, a big one, but one day out of nowhere, the biggest Steel One that anyone had ever seen just attacked them! It was bigger than a castle, and it killed them! Destroyed their capital like it was never there!”

“The Steel Ones are no more than magical beasts,” Valda cut in, “Like that thing we killed back in the woods. They are wielders of strange magicks though, throwing spells and the like that no mage has been able to replicate.”

Interesting. That sounded an awful lot like they were really just robots romping around with like, guns and lasers and shit. Future tech that everyone was just writing off as magic. I’d have to see one for myself to know for sure though.

As we neared the bridge, I cast the tracking spell again, and to my surprise I found that it was pointing towards the city proper. Two of my friends were in the city! They were moving around a bit, but they were definitely in there.

Nervous excitement must have been pouring off me in waves, because Cad was giving me the side eye like nothing else. We entered the city just fine, no problems from the guards, other than a few odd glances at the way I had covered myself back up again.

The trip across the bridge was a blur, I couldn’t focus on the incredible sights around me because I was practically crawling up the canvas of the cart from the sheer excited energy running through me. I wonder which of my friends it was in front of me? Was it the two big guys? That would make sense, but it could be any of them. What were they even doing out here too?

When we reached the end of the bridge and turned down a side street to stop in front of an inn, the two I had been travelling with turned to me expectantly.

“I’m guessing this is as far as you’ll be coming with us?” Valda smiled, clearly amused by the way I was almost bouncing around like a rubber ball.

“Yeah,” I nodded gratefully. “Thank you so much, both of you. I might not have even caught up to them if it wasn’t for your help.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” Cad blushed, giving me a shy smile.

I almost hugged them, but then thought better of it. Instead, I said, “Seriously, if either of you need anything in the future… I’ll help. I mean, you’d have to find me, but a good place to find me will be Avonside.”

“We don’t know where that is though!” Cad protested, looking like he might get upset now.

“Trust me, I think you’ll know where it is before the year is out, but just in case,” I said, then pointed in the direction of where I thought it was. “It’s in that direction. I don’t know how far.”

“Alright, we’ll keep that in mind. Thanks again, by the way. For saving my life,” Valda said, offering a hand. “And for saving Cadrick’s too.”

“Cadrick huh?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I hate that name,” he grimaced. “Cad’s better.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I smiled. “See you both again some day.”

“We’ll look forward to it,” Valda nodded, and then I turned and moved through the city, following the call of my friends. I really hoped I could find them, I had an image of where they had been in my mind, but I couldn’t cast the spell again for fear I’d be seen. I’d just have to scope them out the old fashioned way.