Clarke stared at the castle, squinting through the light of the setting sun disappearing behind it. For a few moments he'd just let the others eat while he tried to process what he'd heard. Maybe half process and half mental screaming at vindication for years of searching and being called a madman. His mental cheering quieted, the avatar in his mind finally out of breath so he asked.

“And you say it looked exactly like a female version of me?”

Alouella finished her second bottle of the nasty potion. Being inside the castle had positively polluted her, the miasma hanging on her body like stink.

“It did. Maybe not exactly but there was a very strong resemblance so it very well could have been her. It was with a bunch of others that were all well taken care of, as though they held some special significance to this religion.”

Clarke entertained the thought of rushing down the hill and pounding down the castle doors and rushing to this throne room to see it. Instead he sat down and buried his face in his book, making notes in a stressed, jerky hand writing on what he'd heard.

“You want a drink? You look like you need one.”

Wade tapped his leg with a flask and Clarke considered it for a moment but shook his head.

“Thanks but no. I might actually do it after a drink of that.”

Wade looked puzzled for a moment but took a swig himself and put it away.

“Alouella.”

Clarke had noticed something in his wandering that day. In between finding a few bottles and a big cauldron he'd found something very obvious missing.

“Was there any of the glowing moss inside the castle?”

She made a quiet 'oh' when she'd thought back.

“There actually wasn't. How did you know?”

“There's not any in town, either. Maybe a few pinches but it was almost wholly picked clean and I think the scyllites here may be involved in that if there isn't any in the castle either. That means I may have to go back the way we came to pick more. What about you, Wormwood? See anything in there?”

He stopped mid bite, almost dropping his too hot shrimp skewer.

“Ow. Nothing special. It's an old castle. They're in there during the day but it's all praying and wailing in that disgusting fish language. I did manage to find the path down to where we need to be but couldn't go any further. Everything below the ground level is flooded to the knees and I'm not sure how much noise that would make or if they have some water sense.”

“Good work.”

Clarke tossed a bag at him that jangled with gold and coins he'd picked up and he managed a smirk as though he hadn't expected Clarke to come through.

“I don't mean to rain on your parade but we're forgetting something important.”

Gwen said. She pulled some of the shrimp skewers from the fire and pointed one at Alouella.

“Do you feel safe doing this Alouella? Aren't you going to be stuck around that shark lady?”

Alouella smiled.

“It's fine. She's actually very sweet. Just took some time.”

“And if you help them do you think they'll let you bring in an assistant?”

Clarke pushed.

“You getting in is fine but we need to get a few of us in there at least.”

“I'll bring it up. Go slow, make sure they know we mean no harm. We can't just stomp all over their religion, Clarke.”

Clarke sighed and nodded. He caught the castle from the corner of his eye, outlined by the moon.

Just a little bit longer...

---------------------------

“Work is going?”

The shark girl asked.

Alouella had begun a few days ago, the time passing quickly to her as she became wrapped up in the joy of detailing formula and mandala, finding how it all fit together and how to activate it. It seemed to require the unusual mana that had, so far, been kept at bay by Clarke's potion but they'd been drinking it so fast that he was having to go farther and farther for new ingredients to make it.

“It's fine. No breakthroughs but very steady work. Should be done very soon.”

The shark girl, who still either had no name or had not thought it useful to share, had stayed with her each of those days, always nervously watching from a distance. Alouella would invite her to chat a bit during breaks but about subjects other than the religion she was unusually shy. She'd known nothing about who was in the paintings except that The Priestess had said they'd been “the birthers of power”.

She came closer today, watching quietly, observing every little thing that Alouella did and understanding little as their disciplines came from two different directions. Alouella stopped to drink from a bottle Clarke had given her.

“What is? See drink every day.”

The shark asked, sniffing at it. Alouella offered it up to her which the shark took eagerly as a precious gift.

“Just a little potion for keeping...”

They seemed to revere and worship the local power which didn't kill them for whatever reason so suggesting it was poison might have been a bit rude.

“-for keeping me healthy. Go on, take a sip.”

She nodded and delicately raised the bottle to her mouth and poured a small amount passed her teeth. The instant it touched her tongue her eyes went wide and she spat, putting the bottle down so hard it rolled on one edge but but came to rest safely on its bottom.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Is...is awful elf drink? Like pain and poison! Like weak! Poor elf, drink such poison.”

She leaned in close and whispered as though someone might be listening.

“Made drink poison? Help?”

It took her a moment, as it sometimes did, to suss out what the shark meant but she smiled and shook her head.

“No, no! It's just a tasty- well, not tasty, but a drink for health reasons.”

One of the other scyllites entered, signaling the end of the days work and night time prayers. She quickly gathered her papers and made to move for the door when the shark grabbed her arm. She looked serious, her grip firm and Alouella felt a small twinge of the fear she'd felt before.

“Elf girl good. Never forget help.”

Alouella nodded slowly and was released to head back on her own, through the halls and out the door to her friends. Gwen waited for her this time. She and Wade had agreed to wap out every day so they'd both have a chance to get rich in the ruins.

“Ready?”

“Yes. Been waiting long?”

Gwen groaned.

“Hours. We've picked everything clean to the point that we're just sitting at the camp while we wait for you. I never thought I could get sick of shadow boxing but-”

She let the sentence hang. She did look awfully sweaty for what Alouella had thought was just sitting outside the castle door.

“Well, it's a good look for you.”

Gwen beamed at the compliment and did a little flex. That somehow made it all worthwhile.

“Did they say they'd let us in if you finished your work or what?”

“I was going to wait. Show them I wasn't just doing it to get something and then I'd ask.”

“Very manipulative. Make them think they owe you one. I like that.”

Wormwood was suddenly behind them as they made their way up the hill, both girls startling at his voice inches from their heads.

“God DAMN it, don't do that.”

“It's not on purpose.”

He turned to Alouella.

“And if your newfound friends don't let us in it's going to be a big problem.”

He pointed back at the castle.

“The entire place is very well sealed up for a crumbling keep. We'd almost certainly have to go in through the front door if Clarke demands it since all the other paths I found were far too high up and visible for anyone but me. I'd recommend just leaving myself because the odds of us going in and getting out quietly, together, are not high. But, you know Clarke.”

He nodded at her with a nasty little smile and walked around to get into the camp but Alouella stopped and looked back at the castle.

“Aww, don't listen to him. With you representing us I'm sure they know we're no threat. You're the best face of the group we could have hoped for.”

Alouella patted the dwarf on the head.

“Thanks. That's sweet of you to say and I hope it's true.”

------------------------

Alouella made the last swoop with her quill and set it down, a small glob of ink soaking the corner of the page.

Six days of writing, mental calculation and mana manipulation but I think I've got it.

She looked around, saw no one else in the throne room and looked back at the lock, her natural curiosity of several days work getting to her.

I won't open it but...I suppose I have to know if it works before I tell them it does.

With her staff pointing at the door she began the focusing and pulling at the odd local mana, moving the correct formula in her mind, the shapes and symbols coming together when she heard a mental click as though her mind connected with the lock. The local mana resisted being moved, almost grumpily fighting her like it resented being pushed by her as she guided it through the paths of the mandala. She could feel it building in her as she took it in but she did not let it rest, pushing it out as soon as she had powered the spell with it, forcing it to leave her body and fill the door before her.

She felt a bit more understanding of the power, less afraid as she came to know it.

Okay, no more of that. It's not yours.

She stopped just short of the door unlocking, denying the very last step and sweeping her staff around her like a release for the foreign mana she'd taken in. She looked at her hands as the energy bled off.

That may come in handy.

“Miss Shark? Hello?”

There was no response. She was not usually left so unattended to her knowledge, though she may have been too engrossed to notice if she was.

“Hello?”

She called louder but the sound seemed lost in the expanse of the room. She stood and looked around, her boots silent on the stones as she ascended.

“Hello!?”

She called louder.

She looked to the throne and the pictures beyond it upon the wall and saw her one and only chance to snoop.

It's not snooping if it's in plain sight. It's fine.

She convinced herself, walking closer to the copper throne, past it to the pictures. Each one was unlabeled well painted, so realistic that they each could have been real from a distance. Each held some sort of prop, a sword, a mace, a bottle, a staff, a bowl of steaming hot soup. She stopped in front of Clarke's mother.

Come to think of it he's never told us her name. I'll have to ask.

She peered closely, looked at the same hawkish nose, the same thin frame but her eyes were brighter, more rounded with a friendly light that Clarke lacked.

Sorry Clarke.

She held in her hand a key ring, several sets of keys on it in various golds and coppers but written on the edge of it was...

...opening locks of the past for our glorious future...

“Miss Wizard! Miss Wizard!”

She snapped up and hurried to the throne, laying a hand on it to look as casually like she wasn't snooping as she could.

“Y-*ahem*-yes?”

She posed awkwardly as the shark jogged closer.

“How is?”

Alouella smiled and bowed deeply.

“I am proud to say that I have found how to open the gate for you. It can be done any time.”

The shark practically collapsed at her feet, which was a trick considering how large she was. She grasped at Alouella's robe, practically wailing.

“Thank, thank! Most greatest wizard, best elf, wizard.”

Her words were harder to understand the longer she went and Alouella just smiled and patted her head as she tried to spit out any variation of gratefulness she could put together.

“It was no trouble. Really. I was glad to help.”

“No. No, great trouble. Could not do myself. None could. Had thought group lost. You savior!”

She knelt before Alouella, prostrating herself and gently touching her fingers to the the girl's boots.

“Think good ask you be Priestess. Yes? Stay, learn from power. Strong!”

She suddenly leapt up and carried Alouella into the air, swinging the suddenly terrified elf around like a doll.

“Ceremony! You see wonders Priestess left. Become leader!”

She looked at the frightened face Alouella made but didn't recognize the emotion for what it was.

“Could you set me down, please?”

She asked as politely as she could. The shark's strength was frightening by itself but Alouella could feel the strange energy coming off her in waves and it made Alouella feel...strong. Unpleasantly strong, like she'd grown too tall too fast and she couldn't work her body properly. She was placed on the ground, her hair patted smooth and robes pulled into straight lines like a doll. Alouella made some distance, her staff in one hand just in case.

“I'm afraid I have too many things to do. We were only passing through and I was more than happy to help you and your group.”

Her shark face changed enough to tell she was frowning, her body shrinking down slightly.

“But you, you held this group together. I'm sure they'd much rather you led them. You know them and all share a passion for your religion. It's a much better fit, you think? You have magical ability, I will teach you how to open the door.”

There was silence as indeterminate thoughts went through her shark mind and Alouella began to back further away. It was the lack of any real facial cues that frightened her now. She hurried on, more nervous with each quiet second.

“But, if you're really grateful, would it...would it be okay if my friends and I came into your castle? We don't want to take anything or disturb anything. The only thing we want is to find some old papers or an office. We don't want to disrupt your church at all. We're not like some adventurers. You may come with us if you wish even.”

The shark looked at her and slowly turned away, slowly moving in a circle and then pacing around the room to circle Alouella like a predator circling prey.

Alouella prepared a spell to go off with a single thought, sweat rolling down her temple. The shark came to stop behind her and lowered her head to speak to Alouella.

“Elf done great thing. Elf may enter friends but few days. Prepare. Clean. Then welcome. Yes.”

Alouella beamed and the shark imitated her in a much worse way.

“Now know elf not Priestess. Is take time. Understand.”

Alouella nodded, overcome that she'd scored another tally for non violent adventuring and excused herself. The shark watched her leave and approached the door, rubbing her face to the cold metal and feeling what lay beyond.

“She need understand. Help Miss Wizard. Save Miss Wizard.”