The next few days at the beach were accompanied by tense silence. Both of them kept their distance from one another until Daniel felt that his World Walking ability was ready to go. At first, he wondered if he should pretend it wasn’t ready yet to give Caspian more time. But the only things he seemed to care about right now were training and slaying this Corebeast.

Maybe he’ll get better if he’s back home and around more people?

Daniel switched into his Alarstardes clothes and packed up his things. He had a drawing of the town of Fordham, but this would be the first time he tried to teleport to somewhere he’d never been before. Other than the very first time, of course, when he’d landed in a random forest after first touching the monolith and gaining his power. He hoped the drawing would be enough to guide him.

Caspian was sat meditating near the water when Daniel found him. He heard Daniel approach and asked, “is it time?”

“We should arrive there a few days before Dain and the others, so we’ll get the first crack at the beast. Imagine their faces if they arrive to find out that we’ve killed it already.”

Caspian didn’t smile. He merely nodded and went to grab his pack. When he returned, he frowned at the drawing that Daniel was holding.

“What is that?” he asked.

“It’s Fordham. It’s just to help me concentrate. Now put your hand on my shoulder.”

Caspian did, and Daniel stared hard at the picture. He felt the vibrations and suddenly, in a blink, they were standing behind a large building in the dark. In Daniel’s haste, he’d forgotten to check the time before teleporting. Luckily, it being night worked in their favor as there was less chance of being seen. Daniel looked up at the building and saw what it was. They were behind the village church, exactly where he’d planned to be. In the drawing, the church was at the end of the village and only open field and then a forest could be seen behind it. If there was anywhere to teleport where the odds of being seen were low, it was this spot.

“We should go to the mayor’s house and announce ourselves,” said Caspian.

“What? That’s absurd. It’s the middle of the night.”

“It’s customary,” Caspian replied in a tight voice. “For a visiting noble to present themselves to the local ruler upon arrival.”

He moved to leave, but Daniel grabbed his arm.

“Listen,” said Daniel. “Alanna talked about three different powerful factions here. The mayor, the church, and the cotton farmers league. If we go declaring ourselves to the mayor, then we might alienate the other two.”

“So?”

“So, we don’t know who knows what and until we do, we should keep a low profile. I’m sure they’ll be plenty of declaring when Sista Greta arrives anyway.”

That comment got a ghost of a smile from Caspian before he snuffed it out. “Alright, but I’m not sleeping outside till they arrive.”

Daniel agreed. “We should find an inn and pose as merchants that lost our goods to bandits.”

Caspian shook his head. “If we lie to these people even once, then they’ll never trust us again. We’re already at a disadvantage because we’re outsiders. But worse than that, we’re city folk. No, it’s better to say as little as possible until we get some rooms.”

They peeked around the corner of the church to see a man walking slowly down the street with a lit torch in his hand.

“It must be some sort of patrolman. Surprised to see one out at night in a village of this size,” said Caspian. “At least, he’ll be able to give us directions to an inn.”

They stepped out from the church and started to approach the man who was walking away from them.

Caspian raised his voice. “Excuse me?”

The man swiveled round. “Halt!” he barked angrily.

Daniel noted that despite his threatening demeanor, he moved no closer to them.

The pair remained where they were as the man blew a whistle; he had hanging around his neck. Suddenly, more men with torches ran in. Twelve in total. All of them looking mean and aggressive, but none stepped within twenty feet of the pair.

Caspian put on an easy fake smile before taking a step forward.

“Good people…” he began.

“Not another step!” yelled one of the men.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Daniel couldn’t tell if the men were emotionally gearing themselves up to murder them or if they were seconds away from running away in fright. He then discovered something that shattered his confidence in surviving an attempt at the former and something that made the latter far less likely. Something that Caspian had to know.

“Turn on Aura Sight,” Daniel murmured quietly.

“What? Why?”

“Just do it.”

Caspian did. His eyes widened when he did, and then he sighed. “Stupid border towns.”

He saw what Daniel saw, which was that all the men in front of them were Bronze. By border town, Caspian meant that this area was at the end of a low-essence zone and bordered with a medium-zone. With more abundant essence in the higher zones, there were bound to be fewer Stones around. People were just more likely to naturally advance when there were higher concentrations of essence around. For the pair in question, it meant that winning a fight was no longer a sure thing.

“What do we do now?” asked Caspian.

“You wait!” shouted one of the men who’d heard him. “Father Bertram will deal with you.”

The leader of one of main factions of Fordham. This wasn’t how either of them had hoped to meet one of them and truthfully, both of them had planned to avoid the church entirely until Sister Greta had arrived to smooth things over with them. Of the three groups, they trusted the church the least and considering they believed the problem was a Corebeast, hunting imaginary Scourge sounded like a waste of time.

A few minutes later, a senior gentleman in his seventies arrived in a brown robe. He was bald on top with a crown of white hair around the sides and back. The man had a kindly but tired expression, like he was too weary for this nonsense but was putting on a brave face anyway.

“What’s this then?” he asked.

“Two suspicious outsiders breaking the curfew,” said one of the men.

“Well, let’s have a look at them,” said Father Bertram.

The priest was another Bronze user, and Daniel readied himself for anything as he approached. Father Bertram got within three feet and put his hand out with the palm facing Caspian’s chest. The hand began to glow with a yellow light and that was when Daniel noticed that the priest was suddenly clutching a book in his other hand. There was a symbol on the cover that was glowing with the same light. Daniel couldn’t be certain, but he didn’t think the man was holding a book before.

The man must be Spirited but if Caspian was in any distress over the glowing hand, he didn’t show it. Father Bertram then pointed his hand at Daniel, who felt nothing. Then the light faded, and the priest lowered his hand.

“They have not been Scourge touched,” declared Father Bertram.

Interesting. He has some way of detecting whether a person is possessed or not.

Instead of being relieved at the news, the other villagers became angrier and more restless.

“But they were sneaking about!” one yelled.

Father Bertram looked at the pair and in a paternal voice said, “I think you’d better explain yourselves.”

Taking Caspian’s words about honesty seriously, Daniel said, “we were sent here to deal with the threat.”

There was a moment of silence, and then some of the men laughed.

Daniel lifted his fist and summoned his gauntlet, which stilled the crowd. Border town or not, Spirit weapons were still rarer than gold around these parts. It was likely that Father Bertram was the only other Spirited in the village.

“We got separated from the rest of our group,” explained Caspian. “A girl named Alanna arrived in Veden not long ago asking for assistance. The Lord of the City and the church dispatched a team to help. The rest of them should arrive here in a few days's time. But for now, we require a place to stay. As you can see, the road has been hard on us.”

Both of them looked clean and refreshed from easy living on the beach, but their clothes were a little worn and in the dark, it was hard to discern either way. Caspian’s unflinching confidence sold it all the better.

“Since neither of you are from the church, we shall have to wait for the rest of your group to arrive before talking about this matter further,” said Father Bertram.

And to verify you are who you say you are, Daniel thought.

“Until then, Bam will take you to the Inn and get you sorted with a room.”

One of the larger men nodded and gestured for the pair to follow. The pair glanced at each other and shrugged before following him. It hadn’t sounded like a request from the priest, but they had already gotten off to a bad start and didn’t want to push it.

Bam said nothing as he trudged down the main street. His eyes, however, would dart from shadow to shadow. One of them had mentioned a curfew and, with men patrolling the streets at night, clearly things had deteriorated further since Alanna had left.

When they got to the inn, Bam told them to wait outside before going in.

It was so quiet and still that Daniel could hear Bam wake up the innkeeper and tell him that he’s needed downstairs. There was some grumbling and then words were exchanged that were too soft to make out. Bam returned and pointed at the door with an angry glare. “Inside,” he said, before walking away.

Daniel and Caspian went in to find a young man yawning behind a desk. He tapped a log book while holding a quill.

“Your names?” the man asked.

They gave them, but when the innkeeper asked for payment, Caspian winced.

“A little steep for this neck of the woods, isn’t it?” Caspian asked.

“Rates have gone up,” the young man flatly replied. “Traders won’t come this way no more. If this damn monster doesn’t get dealt with soon, then my family won’t be able to keep this place come winter.”

“Why are you haggling?” whispered Daniel. “Just pay him.”

“Easy for you to say. It’s not your money.”

“Did you happen to see another inn around here? Father Bertram told Bam to take us to the inn. As in the only one in the village.”

Caspian looked at the young man, who was doing a bad job of pretending not to eavesdrop. “Is that true?”

He nodded and Caspian sighed before fishing some coins out.

“That better cover food tomorrow,” he muttered.

“It will,” the young man replied before showing them to their rooms.

Daniel thought that once he’d be inside his room at an inn that he’d feel better, but his sense of unease didn’t lessen. The whole village and its people gave off a weird vibe. He didn’t trust them, but he couldn’t explain why. The feeling was strong enough that he grabbed a chair and stuck it against his door. It wasn’t much of a deterrent, but it might give him an extra second of warning if someone tried to barge in.

Daniel then brought Melos out, told what had happened, and left him out to keep watch while he slept. The demon might not have helped when he was sparring dangerously with Caspian on the beach, but he would step up if Daniel’s life fell into serious danger. Of course, Melos had no choice in the matter unless he wanted to disappear too. After all, it was mutual self-interest that kept them alive so far.