Chapter 23: Team Work and Mentorship

As Olynka unslung her bow, ready to begin her training, Maluhk stepped to the side and introduced the black-clad half-elf. “Comrades, this is Dagmir van Lepp. I call her Leppie for short, even though she hates it. She is a healer with the Elemental Hand Guild, as I’m sure you can all tell from the outfit.

Alcar nodded in the healer’s direction. “Are you here to fix Lox’aar’s leg?”

The woman nodded and then knelt, unslinging a dark shoulder bag, and began to prod gently at the lizardwoman’s injury. “I will take a look, yes. But you should know that it is not me that heals, but Tara, the earth mother. All we do is channel the power of the great goddess of nature.”

Etienne snorted. “Whatever, pal. Just do your work.”

Dagmir van Lepp paused, glaring up at the halfling. “It isn’t work. It’s my sacred duty.”

“Is that why your guild takes payment?” he shot back.

But the healer ignored him, returning to the task.

Maluhk cleared his throat. “It’s good to see you two getting along so well,” he said, “for I had thought that Leppie here might accompany you on your first scouting mission. She is trustworthy, and I have been having a word in her ear about the challenge that faces us.”

Etienne threw his hands in the air in a mockery of praying. “A religious fanatic on the team? We really are blessed.”

Now Leppie rose up, snarling and shoved Etienne hard in the chest, causing him to stagger back. He stepped back towards her with his fists balled.

“Okay, okay,” said Alcar, stepping between the pair and holding them apart with outstretched arms. “If you’re to be part of my adventuring team, then you need to get along. We are going to have to put philosophical differences aside. It’s not about liking – it’s about the mission.”

Etienne snorted mockingly again, but when he saw that everyone was now glaring furiously at him, he shrugged, and stepped away, pulling out his pipe again.

“Go ahead and take a few shots at that target,” Lox’aar said to Olynka. “I’ll come over when Leppie’s done with her healing.”

“It’s Dagmir von Lepp, actually,” said Leppie.

“All right then.”

Straight away, Olynka hurried over towards the targets by the city wall. As she did so, Alcar looked to Master Maluhk.“Are we going to hit the books straight away, Master?”

Maluhk smiled thoughtfully. “No. There’s plenty of time for reading at night. For now, I think it would be more efficient if I instructed you at the same time as preparing you for your first mission.”

“Preparing... how, exactly?”

“You have a journey ahead, and you will need certain items to do what we have discussed. It’s not going to be a straightforward matter to find this book – believe me, I’ve tried.”

Alcar glanced around; Warlik and Etienne had now moved over to the tower steps, and they stood quietly discussing the construction of traps. “We’re... gathering up some adventuring gear, then?” Alcar felt giddy with excitement at the prospect. Perhaps this was how Olynka felt about archery practice, he reflected. Did Maluhk really have all the things that they would need? If so, that was fantastic news.

“Indeed – you can’t go to the hills or to the swamp like that. You have Golgrasanna’s dagger now, I can see, but very little else. You don’t even have a backpack!”

“Ugh. I don’t like wearing things on my back, sir.”

“Well, we will get to that. But there are other things that will be important if you are to succeed. We’re going to see a merchant that runs a small supplies business – all kinds of magical equipment, travel goods, and lots more.”

Alcar’s face fell. “We’re going shopping? But I only have one copper piece!”

Maluhk spread his hands in an exaggerated shrug. “Kid, we’re a team now. I’m not paying you, mind, you know that. But we are working towards a common objective.”

“Right, right.”

“Besides...”

“Yes?”

“I have to use the dwarves’ money for something, right?”

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Alcar chuckled.

“So let’s grab what we need from here before setting out,” continued Maluhk, walking back to the tower. “Coins and such. Leppie, if you can wait here a moment, I’ll get your fee.”

They proceeded together up the stone steps. “I see you are wearing a hood today, kid,” added Maluhk as he unlocked the tower’s main door. “That’s wise – we don’t want to attract attention. Put it up when we leave, and keep your face low. I also think you should leave the dog.”

“Oh, but I really don’t want to leave...”

But Maluhk interrupted:

“It’s just for a little while, kid. The place where we are going is only a few streets away. Let the dog have a nap. Besides, you’re going to need your hands free.”

“Well, all right, then.”

“But not on my bed again, okay?” He smirked. “Yes, I saw the dog hairs. I’m not an idiot – though I suppose Lox’aar is at least partly to blame.”

“Yes, Master Maluhk.”

“Wait here.”

Alcar waited while the sorcerer descended to his basement, and he heard the clinking of coins – that would be the dwarves’ chest. He then led Brutus back into the main lounge. The books were still stacked against the side walls, and there was a sour smell in the air. Alcar sighed. His first day hadn’t gone as planned, certainly, but hopefully this one would be better. If nothing else, he could help Maluhk get his tower back into a better state.

“Wait here, boy,” he said, patting the comfortable chair at the back of the room. “Come on! This is a great place for you to sleep off those sausages.” With only a little further prompting, Brutus jumped up and yawned. “Good boy! I won’t be long. I’ll try to buy you your own blanket, if they have any.”

Alcar walked back to the entrance way, just as Maluhk’s footsteps were sounding on the stairs. “Ugh!” yelled the sorcerer loudly as he emerged from the cellar. “Man, it fucking stinks down there! She’s gone and done a shit in the middle of the carpet!”

“Who – Golgrasanna?”

“Who do you think, kid?” Maluhk was scowling deeply, shaking his fists in rage.

“That sucks,” said Alcar nervously, “though to be fair, I suppose Golgrasanna didn’t have access to the latrines.”

Maluhk roared in frustration. “It’s a foul, stinking mess, kid. And she has been rifling through my papers, too.”

Alcar decided that now was not the time to mention the fact that Olynka had gone through the papers – or to volunteer his own desire for fixing up the tower. “Well, sir, I know that Etienne is keen to do some cleaning in here – he was just saying as much. Perhaps he can sort out the cellar while we go to buy the supplies.”

“Harrumph.”

Still scowling, Maluhk led the way back outside.

“I could clean the dog hairs off your blanket, too,” added Alcar quietly.

Back outside, the pair walked past Etienne and Warlik who were now comparing blades. Olynka was already firing arrow after arrow at the targets near the city wall, with Lox’aar, no longer leaning on her crutch, looked on, calm and focused.

A few yards away on the corner of a side street that lead away towards the south, Leppie stood alone, still and upright.

“Leppie,” said Maluhk, calming a little. “At least there is still one sensible person around here. How much do we owe your guild?”

“I feel bad taking anything. The goddess does the work.”

Alcar glanced over at the others; he could well imagine Etienne rolling his eyes at the way the half-elf professed this guilt as if it was a badge of honor.

“Never mind about that,” said Maluhk, pulling out a handful of coins from inside his robes. “One silver? Two?”

“One is sufficient,” Leppie replied, apparently getting over the guilt fairly rapidly. “I would say two, but the fracture isn’t totally healed. The lizard still needs to rest.”

“That is unfortunate. Is there any way of speeding the process further.”

There was a slightly flicker of annoyance in Leppie’s eyes. “Only for followers of the Dubasan god, Bastyr. As you know, they would sacrifice one life for the health of another. I would never do such a thing.”

“Well said,” replied Maluhk. “I want the archer to get better, but we are still civilized people, after all.” He reached out and pressed two silvers into Leppie’s palm. “One for the guild and one for yourself, girl. Thanks for coming. And please, consider my offer. Return any time.”

Without any further discussion, Maluhk turned, and began to lead Alcar away down the side street, and then along a narrower street still.

“You really think she’s going to join us, Master Maluhk?”

Maluhk smiled, and then chuckled darkly. “I am confident, yes, kid. While she professes her loyalty to the goddess Tara, the fact is that Leppie is troubled. The Elemental Hand Guild are great healers, and many of them are devout and godly souls. But the truth is that more and more, the guild has been functioning as a healing corps for the evil and cruel Imperial army. Any decent human would feel conflicted at that situation.”

Alcar didn’t comment on the fact that Maluhk was now tolerating his use of the word ‘master’. It seemed that he was in!

“That reminds me – Olynka and I spoke to someone on my way here this morning. An Imperial officer by the name of General Tung. If I understood her correctly, she thinks that the duke has not been doing well enough with at recruitment and security. I think that the Empire has grown impatient with him.”

Maluhk frowned, and stroked his broad chin. “That could complicate matters for us, kid. Much as we all hate Duke Frage, it suits us to have someone so incredibly incompetent on the throne. If the Imperials are starting to take matters into their own hands...” The sorcerer tailed off, deep in thought as he walked.

“Yes, Master?”

“I will consider the issue. All in all, though, it is clearer than ever that we need to act fast.”

“Well, sir, I have made a commitment to help, as has Olynka. Hopefully Etienne will stick about, too.”

As they continued to walk, Maluhk pulled closer to the young man. “Good to hear. You know, I have realized something, Alcar. You may not be the most naturally gifted in sorcery, but you were willing to stick your neck out when I’d been captured. At this point, that’s probably worth more to us than someone that has mana dripping from their fingertips.”

Damned with feint praise, then, Alcar mused... But at the same time, more evidence he was really in – accepted.

“So, urm... if you don’t mind my asking, am I a proper apprentice now?”

Maluhk fixed Alcar with a fierce sideways stare, his yellow slit eyes narrowing. “I don’t reget setting my three conditions, kid, and generally, things have not changed. No pay, no compensation. However, under the circumstances – and the urgent nature of retrieving the Viperstar Codex – I am content to consider your actions yesterday as proof of your worth.”

“Really? So I’m an apprentice?”

The half-orc nodded with a half-smile.

“Congratulations,” he said grimly.