Chapter Eighteen: The Sweet Taste of Victory

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In the wake of Glemberfang, everything in Kelvalder seemed just a little bit crazier.

By the time they’d gotten Bredic and Vineta back to the White Horn, settling them down under the attentive care of Kara, the town was running amuck with rumor. Mister Ralf did his best to shoo away the more bothersome sort, but Bly imagined it wouldn't last long.

And lo and behold, Bredic was the one who took it upon himself to spearhead that effort. Despite Kara’s insistence that he remained in bed, the self-gratifying wizard would not be restrained. By the time their second evening back in town rolled around, he was already regaling everyone in the tavern with stories of how they’d defeated Glemberfang, the most monstrous monster of them all. More than a little conveniently, however, he left out the part where he’d been scared half to death, to the point of paralysis, and the fact that he’d been the first to go down. But then, even Bredic had shown a bit of courage in the end, and that alone earned him a white lie.

And as it happened, the whole of Kelvalder lapped it all up.

Bly figured it was because the discovery of a third floor would surely bring at least a few new adventuring parties to the dungeon, despite its low rating. But he also got the impression that Kelvalder was a lot prouder of its dungeon than he’d originally thought. Sure, none of them went anywhere near it, and rightly so. But somehow, that didn’t seem to stop their encouragement of others from doing so—of him, more than anyone. Mister Ralf, Missus Stein, even old farmer Cordell… there were a lot of people who’d helped Bly on his journey thus far, and it sort of felt nice to give something back, even if it was just a boost in local pride.

At any rate, word of Bold Arrow’s triumphs had blown into town like a cold storm out of the Great Forest. And if he doubted it before, Bly was certain now that the story of their exploits would reach as far as Frostwall in no time.

And yet, Blychert’s days thereafter were nothing if not painstakingly slow.

For the most part, he found himself at Alyse’s mercy, who was up in arms about the whole Glemberfang ordeal, not that he could blame her. But hell if she didn’t take it out on him in the only way she knew how: training. When he wasn’t spending the day practicing spell configurations, mana channeling techniques, or transcribing ritual circles, he was just plain being put to work around the house doing chores. Alyse didn’t even seem to care that his arm was injured, though Bly still had a sneaking suspicion that she was taking it easy on him.

Barred from returning to the dungeon, or at least until his arm was fully healed, Blychert spent the remainder of what free time he had with Vineta and Bredic.

Vineta was quick to recover, but she begrudgingly chose to stay behind while Lisel and Xander journeyed back to the dungeon. There was still the matter of hauling back their treasure horde, though Xander insisted they could handle it just fine on their own, since there was no real time limit to collect. Besides, Bredic was far worse off than the rest if them, and he needed someone to keep him company, lest he burned down poor Mister Ralf’s inn at the first whiff of boredom.

Regardless, Bly enjoyed learning more about Vineta’s theurgist abilities during their downtime, many of which were purely non-combat oriented. Her divination abilities seemed to be acutely potent, though she insisted she was behind in that regard, ever since she’d had to take on even more defensive responsibilities for the party. Even Bredic tried to teach Bly some new fire magic. However, it was evident almost straight away that their spellcasting methods were so completely incompatible, that a few days’ worth of practice wasn’t nearly enough time to make anything out of it. Though Bly appreciated the attempt, nonetheless.

It wasn’t nearly a day and a half later that Xander and Lisel returned, treasure in tow. By then, it had been wholly agreed upon by Kelvalder that they would be holding a feast in Bold Arrow’s honor, and so sorting out the treasure was to be left until afterwards. To Xander’s good nature though, he gladly handed over more than enough gold to ensure that everyone could enjoy the evening.

Before long, the town speaker, Durand, had declared that the market square ought to be turned into a festival area.

A motley array of vaguely, similar-sized tables and chairs were soon brought out from various homes and establishments, forming three long rows leading up from the makeshift hearth, to where a main table sat with five chairs equally distributed on one side. Edging the dining area were a series of tents and stalls, where festive assortments, treats, and odd little games to play would be situated. Thanks to Missus Stein, a string of mage lights she kept for special occasions were strung up on wooden poles, giving a warm, multicolored glow to the entire area.

And so, as evening settled in overhead, Kelvalder held its breath in waiting for celebration.

“Trelen—damn it, you’re always working to get me in trouble!” Mister Ralf grabbed Bly by the scruff, the moment he stepped through the White Horn’s front door. Dragging him inside, the innkeeper added, “Now that everyone’s here, we can finally get this thing going.”

Rounding the dark interior, Bly found himself pleasantly surprised as he came into the tavern proper, seeing the rest of Bold Arrow in their celebration attire. None of them had brought any particularly fashionable clothing, but there wasn’t a seamster or tailor in town that wasn’t happy to oblige on such short notice.

Instead of Bredic’s ruddy robe or Xander’s well-worn armor, they were adorned in similarly formal tunics and pants as Bly was. Bredic’s long hair had been washed and tied back, and even his scraggly beard was neatly trimmed. Xander was clean shaven, his jet-black hair slick with some kind of oil. Vineta and Lisel looked incredible too, at least Bly thought. Each wore a pair of long, wool skirts with several layers of overgarments, accompanied by capes, gloves, and a hood to match.

“Sheesh, Trelen, they couldn't find anything else for you to wear or what?” Bredic teased Bly, even though his own getup looked equally as awkward as Bly’s did, considering both of them were nursing bandaged injuries.

Shaking his non-bandaged arm, Bly said with an amused grin, “Hey, at least I don’t have to wonder what your face looks like anymore, without that forest growing over it. Though I am starting to miss the mystery… the real thing doesn’t quite live up to expectations.”

Bredic’s mocking expression soured instantly, and Vineta snorted.

“Ouch!” Xander clapped the irritable wizard on the back, who glared back at him, “What? Don’t look at me like that! Your foul mouth has been a bad influence on him these last few weeks.”

Bredic gritted his teeth, but simply rolled his eyes in resignation, grumbling, “I officially recognize your status, Trelen, as the little shit that you are.”

“High honors, coming from the grandest little shit of them all.” Vineta chimed in, brushing her blonde bangs to one side, as she looked at Trelen, “You’d better take advantage of that compliment while you have the chance, Trel. Coming from him, it’ll expire quickly.”

“Okay, you know what, hag?” Bredic started, a flash of anger across his face, and Bly was certain this was about to devolve into another one of their infamous arguments. But Bredic simply sighed, and offered a modest grin, “For a below average spellcaster… you're still a pretty great friend, so I’ll let you off easy.”

Vineta gaped, her face turned red, and then one of their infamous arguments broke out. Bly laughed, and looked over at Xander, who was smiling from ear to ear, but curiously playing with that pendant around his neck again.

“Hey, Trelen.” Lisel’s voice broke through, and Bly glanced across at her suddenly.

“Hey—” he said, somewhat clumsily. A confusing moment of silence between them was all but drowned out by Vineta and Bredic’s bickering, before Bly thought to say, “You look… nice?”

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

“Are you asking me?” Lisel turned her head to the side confusedly. Bly froze, and Lisel simply giggled, “That was a joke. I think you look rather handsome yourself.”

“Oh, uhm… thanks.” Bly stammered, but offered a smile, nonetheless. He was far too embarrassed to say anything else anyway. Glancing back across the room towards Xander for a moment, Lisel walked up and stood next to him silently. And that’s when it occurred to him to ask, “Does that pendant he wears mean anything? I don't remember seeing it before.”

“Hm?” Lisel perked up, looking across to where Xander was standing too, before saying, “Oh, I think… it belonged to his father? Or something like that. I'm sure you've noticed, but he tends to keep his personal life to himself. Although, Norman did tell me once that Xander's originally from Trave.”

“Trave?” Bly questioned, “He’s not Calvergian?”

“Not in the least, I guess.” Lisel chuckled, “You might think that, because of how close we all are. It was Norman that brought us all together, actually. I know we don't talk about him much, but Norman, Vineta, and Bredic were all really good friends before they met Xander. Since I’m a year younger than Vineta and Bredic, I didn’t really get to know Xander all that well when Norman was still alive. But… I don’t think he has any family. Not alive, anyway.”

“I see…” Bly nodded, slowly digesting her words, as he said, “Maybe that’s why he was so weird about all this. Maybe Bold Arrow is his family. People do crazy things for the ones they love."

Lisel looked at him curiously, “Know that from experience?”

“Yeah, sort of…” Bly said smiling, thinking fondly of Bartolo for a second, and everything he’d given up just to give Bly a chance. At that moment, he missed the old sorcerer more than anything. He hoped that wherever he was, Bly was at least making him proud.

“Come on, then!” Mister Ralf shouted, “Hungry mouths to feed, so hop to it—let’s get you out there in front of all those people!”

Exchanging a lightly nervous glance with Lisel, the two them joined the others, and together they stepped out into Kelvalder, towards the direction of their celebration feast.

***

Kelvalder was alive—all of the delightful sights, sounds, and smells of home cooking and festivity permeated the air deep into the hour’s past sundown.

Blychert found himself stuffing his face with all manner of food—so much better than Alyse’s cooking too! He even drank quite a bit of mead, which was far more alcohol than he’d been allowed to consume at any festival in Darskaart, ever. After that, round and about he and the rest of Bold Arrow went chatting and conversing with all manner of folks curious about their recent endeavors. Soon enough, Vineta found her match in wit amongst a group of determined children at one of the game stalls, and poor, dashing Xander couldn’t seem to escape the wandering eye of multiple old women, though all of whom he more than happily offered a dance. Bredic was as drunk as Durand was within a few hours, and somehow, he managed to convince the poor town speaker to let him set off a few “experimental” fire spells he’d been working on, for presentation purposes. Though not without the full supervision of none other than Alyse Crane herself, who had once again made an appearance at precisely the right time.

The night sky danced with the loud booms and deep echoes of awesome, multicolored bursts of fire soon thereafter, much to the delight and spectacle of everyone around. This in turn seemed to bolster the musicians into a fast-paced jig, and before long the dining tables were pushed out of the way so that the real dancing could begin; Calvergian style.

Bly found himself suddenly scooped up into the center by an overly confident Lisel, and he was only somewhat agitated by all the mead and roasted meats he’d consumed before doing so. Nevertheless, she awkwardly taught him the strange circle dance that seemed to be common in this country, on the fly no less, and shortly they had danced alongside the rest of Kelvalder for what felt like hours under the colorful burst of Bredic’s mad designs.

“Ugh…” Bly groaned, fully out of breath as he threw himself onto a bench haphazardly. Lisel had disappeared into the crowd, and he could only hope she’d be back soon with that tankard of water she’d promised to find him.

“Having a good time, dear boy?” Missus Stein’s cheery, albeit somewhat drunken voice said above the noise.

Bly turned, and at the nearby table she was sitting with old farmer Cordell and Mister Malwin.

“Reckon so—” Bly smiled, “How about you?”

“Haven’t seen a stomping like this in ages…” She shook her head, “A stark reminder of what this town used to be back in my day, heh.”

“Too true.” Cordell’s wobbly, old man voice agreed, “Been a time that we ne’er did hold right, a proper festival. Dungeon grown cold as the winters were long, and I say, what a delight it has been.”

“Well, I’ll tell you the reason that we haven't but seen any adventures for some years.” Missus Stein raised her voice, a touch slurred from the spirits she’d been sipping, “The real reason. It’d be the Pale Lady, it’d be. Always has been, even my father said so.”

“Nonsense!” Mister Malwin chuckled heartily. The gruff, burly man smiled wide, and added, “You and your superstitions, Waltraud… you sound like my youngest.”

“She’s real!” Missus Stein argued, “I've seen her too on occasion, I have, out the window on a moonless night, wandering the fields. Just because you don’t believe it, and neither did your grump of a father either, doesn’t mean she’s not out there.”

“Pale Lady?” Bly asked confusedly. This was one local legend he somehow hadn’t heard about.

“Scorned lover, spurned adventurer, demon of the forest… take your pick, I suppose.” Missus Stein shrugged, but snapped, pointing a finger at Bly with an ominous stare, “But she’s real. And she haunts both the forest and the dungeons, accosting adventurers at every turn; a truly vile spirit of a woman.”

Bly furrowed his brow.

“They say when she speaks, nothing but chilling cold escapes her mouth, as if the very act of speaking to the living is a curse in and of itself.” Missus Stein continued, “And that’s why we’ve got no adventurers in this town anymore. She's cursed them all away.” She concluded, more than a little satisfied wither her statement. However, she frowned suddenly, and looked at Bly with an awkward smile, “Well, none except for you, dear boy. Of course…”

Despite his mild stupor, Blychert felt the hairs on the back of his skin crawl.

Hadn’t he also seen someone like that—something matching that exact description in Glemberfang’s lair? He’d been exhausted, but he could never forget that pale, ghostly face, or that feeling of trying to be spoken to, but unable. At the time, he thought he might be dreaming, but it couldn’t be the same thing. Could it?

“We’ve got no adventurers because it’s a long haul from Frostwall and our dungeon is a bust.” Mister Malwin insisted, “And everyone knows, including His Highness, the Guild has its hands all over that city. You want proper a dungeon? You go to Frostwall. There is no Pale Lady, never has been. Now, if you’re done scaring off our only adventurer, pass that damned horn of ale…”

Bly looked down at his feet for a moment, his mind wandering.

Annie had talked about ghosts a few times in the past, even though she was afraid of them, much to Irvin’s delight. But the ghosts she talked about weren’t really human spirits, they were monstrous things. Furthermore, the Church said that all souls returned to the heavens upon death, regardless of the lives they led. Bly wasn’t certain he much believed in what the Church said anymore, but it did make him wonder about the nature of death, and what it really meant to die in this world.

After all, it wasn’t so long ago that he’d been sentenced to death. But then, hadn’t the Guild tried to “synchronize” his memories beforehand? Alyse still hadn't explained what that meant. Come to think of it, in all this time, Alyse hadn't really explained much of anything beyond the bare minimum he needed to endure the dungeon and social interactions. He'd been content with that until now, training and growing stronger had been his only priority for a long time. But now? Questions were beginning to resurface that he'd brushed aside for the sake of his training.

Perhaps it was finally time to force her hand, especially with the weird things going on in the dungeon.

“—Here you go.” Lisel’s voice said abruptly.

Bly jumped somewhat, flicking his gaze towards her. She looked down at him worriedly, the tankard of water held out in front of her, “Sorry… did I startle you?”

“No.” Bly said meekly, accepting the tankard after the fact, as he said, “Just… tired, for some reason. Thanks.”

“Well,” she pondered, perhaps not entirely convinced, as she sat down next to him, “It was a long day getting ready, and I bet all that dancing didn’t help.”

“Or the eating.” Bly confessed, nudging her shoulder as he said, “Or the drinking, just ask Bredic.”

Lisel giggled, “That too. You're both going to regret it tomorrow.”

Bly smiled, turning to look out into the crowd. Bredic and Xander were doing some weird, not altogether flattering dance, as if trying to one-up the other, in the center of the circle, and Vineta seemed to have just lost a game of stone tossing because she was reluctantly handing over coins to one of the Hansen boys. Glancing about, Mister Ralf was dancing with his wife with more energy that Bly even knew the innkeeper had in him, and he could have sworn he'd just seen Alyse’s pointy hat dipping out of the celebration on the far side entirely; her work done, or so it seemed.

A warm, fluttery feeling filled Bly’s stomach.

Unlike the mead, this was a good feeling.

“You know, I’ve spent my whole life training, and wondering what it would be like to be an adventurer.” He said out of nowhere, “I can’t honestly say it’s exactly how I thought it’d be.”

“I felt the same way when I joined Bold Arrow.” Lisel nodded, “It was a lot at first.”

“The dungeon was tough, but the whole party thing…” Bly trailed off for a moment, “Definitely takes some getting used to.”

“Well, for what’s it worth,” She turned, and Bly glanced over to meet her gaze. She smiled faintly, and a flustered sensation filled Bly's stomach momentarily, as she said, “We got to meet an interesting person like you. I’d say that wasn’t a waste at all.”

“Hm.” Bly smirked, suddenly recalling what he’d said on the very first night they'd all met, all those weeks ago, and her response to it.

He looked back into the crowd of Kelvalder, the light and sounds completely mesmerizing now as his buzz began to wear off. All of it coalesced in a strange, somewhat unfamiliar way all around him, as just a few, gentle snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

In all his time in this world, Bly couldn’t remember victory ever tasting so sweet.