Chapter Nineteen: Until We Meet Again

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“So, you guys are really leaving, huh?” Bly asked, not overly concerned with hiding his discontent.

He was already nursing one of the worst headaches he’d ever had, and that was including the ones he’d gotten from spell fatigue or mana depletion, and Alyse had really pushed him hard in their morning lesson. A bead of sweat was still clinging on for dear life around the edge of his face, as he and the rest of Bold Arrow made their way down the street towards the west gate. Mid-morning sun bleached the road ahead of them, casting stubby shadows from the shingled roofs of adjacent homes in odd, angular ways. It was cold, and growing colder by the day as autumn drew nearer, but Blychert was used to that by now. Looking up slightly, he noticed that the blue sky above was unblemished by clouds; a damned near perfect morning, if not for other factors.

“Not soon enough, if you asked me…” Bredic groaned, whose headache was undoubtedly far worse between the two of them, as he mumbled thereafter, “Count my blessings that your teacher offered to teleport us back to Frostwall. Otherwise, you could forget about it! I’d rather die than walk another mile.”

Vineta scoffed at him from the back of the marching order, “Maybe someone shouldn’t have drunk so much last night. It’s nobody’s fault that you refuse to drink water.”

“Hello?” Bredic glanced over his shoulder somewhat, waving his hand at her in a sarcastic fashion, “Pyromancer, here. What’s that? Oh, water? For me? Forget it!”

“Idiot…” Vineta grumbled, but that was the end of that.

The sounds of their motley collection of boots crunching atop a layer of snow stood out on its own for a few moments, as the sounds of the trading caravan drew close. Bly glanced across to his left, where Lisel walked in lockstep with him, seemingly content to enjoy the day on its own merits.

Before long, the five of them came face to face with the caravan of traders. Makeshift stalls dangling out of carts lined the tiny square just on the inside of the west gate. Seeing as how the market square was still cluttered from the evening’s celebration, there really weren’t many other options. As a result, dozens and dozens of people perusing wares ended up looking much more crowded than perhaps it would have been elsewhere. Haggling, trading, buying, selling, shouting, screaming, laughing, crying… it was a nightmare of noise that Bold Arrow was now standing on the precipice of.

“I’m going to see if I can’t find something for Mahan.” Vineta said eagerly, already pushing her way up to the front, “Bredic, didn’t you say your mother needed a new tea set?”

“Huh?” Bredic whined, rubbing the side of his head irritably.

“Tea set, you dullard.” Vineta scolded him, “Oh whatever, let’s see if we can't find her one. Come along—”

“Gah—I said that six months ago! How do you even remember that?!” Bredic shouted, even as he was being dragged away by his sleeve into the masses. In the blink of an eye, he and Vineta were out of sight.

“Well, I guess we might as well see what they have.” Bly turned towards Lisel and Xander, shrugging somewhat, “You want to look around?”

“I want to get an appraisal for the items we got from Glemberfang’s horde.” Xander pondered aloud, “But I think I might wait until we get back to Frostwall. Although… I see an auspicious fellow selling weapons over there, and I intend to to see what he's got.”

“I’ll walk with you.” Lisel answered Bly, and gestured for them to follow Vineta’s example and simply go headlong into the crowd.

Bly chuckled, but shook his head in approval, beginning to make their way in that hellish direction.

“Hey, Trelen—” Xander pulled Bly back suddenly, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Blychert looked to Lisel confusedly, who merely gave him a nod to let him know that she’d be waiting for him up ahead, and soon it was just Bly and Xander left standing back.

“I wanted to answer your question, because I think you deserve an answer.” Xander offered belatedly, fidgeting somewhat as he said, “About why we’re leaving, I mean—about why I made the choice to call it here.”

“…Oh.” Bly nodded slowly, not expecting that.

“Look, I could stand here and tell you that we aren’t done yet, that our quest remains incomplete, or whatever, but… we're talking about a third floor. At best, you’re looking at multiple scores of intermediate spawns at a time, constantly.” Xander reasoned, “We don’t have a healer, and our average party level is too low to make any significant inroads in a timely fashion. I doubt I need to tell you what things are like in the autumn. It'll get real cold around here soon, and the kind of supplies we'd need to a make a third floor run possible just aren't exactly at our disposal.”

“But—”

“But listen to me,” Xander interjected, collecting himself as he said, “At the end of the day, we’re just a group of friends, Trelen. We came out here for a good reason. But we’re not a full-time party. Vineta? She transcribes texts at the library in Frostwall—practices magic in the morning before she works. And Bredic? He’s a spellwright’s apprentice. Lisel’s family doesn’t even live in the city, she just joins up when she can afford the time. They… they did this for me. Okay? I shouldn’t have let them talk me into it, but I did. That’s on me. What happened down there… if things had gone another way, I—I don’t want that to happen ever again, not for my sake. So, that’s why.”

“Wait… what? You think they did this for your sake.” Bly felt the scowl sprawl across his face. He refused to believe that after everything, Xander of all people would hide behind such a lousy excuse. This wasn’t the leader of Bold Arrow he’d come to know, and he refused to accept it. Angrily, he added, “They came here because it was something they wanted all of you to do together, for fun, and for the memory of your friend. It was you who wanted to keep pushing farther in, like that was the only important thing to you. But guess what? Because of your ambition, everyone else actually started to believe that it was possible. Hell, you made me believe it, and I doubted your intentions for a while there.”

Xander’s eyes widened, his mouth slightly agape, completely stunned by the looks.

“We made a bad decision, but we made it together.” Bly reasoned, calming his nerves somewhat with a deep exhale, “And so what? We had to fight for our lives because of that, that’s the risk you take when you step inside the dungeon. I did it every day by myself until you came along. But the difference between then and now is that we did it together, so… sorry if my inexperience as a party member is showing, but I don’t think you have the right to take that away from anyone; not me, and certainly not them. They had every right to risk their lives for you, same as you did for them. Because you’re a party.”

A small gust of wind blew a spray of snow down the street momentarily, and a slow, humbled smile creased Xander’s face, as his dark hair tousled. He exhaled once, “You’re right. I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Bly shook his head, “Just, don’t be so stupid. Although, maybe I should take my own advice too.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Xander snickered, “You know? I had a feeling you were going to cause me trouble. The first night at the White Horn, I guessed it.”

Bly furrowed his brow, “And you let me come along anyway?”

“…Call it hunch.” Xander shrugged. Stepping forward, he patted Bly on the shoulder twice, “And hey, by your own admission, I’m a pretty terrible party leader anyway. Although, as it turns out, I was right to trust you.”

“It’s because we’re not friends.” Bly smiled glibly, “I’m allowed to call you out on your bullshit. But, we did alright.”

“If all we leave here with is a bunch of treasure and a valuable lesson? Then I’ll take an alright. But look, I do hope we’re friends.” Xander said plainly, extending a hand for Bly to shake. Grinning somewhat, he added, “And you can keep calling out my bullshit, if that sweetens the deal.”

“Hm.” Bly smirked, slapping his hand into Xander’s, “Count on it.”

“Oh, I almost forgot—” Xander said, who then began fiddling around in his sage terminal for a few moments. A second later, Bly’s own sage terminal blipped once, and a message came into view, as Xander added, “You’re a free man, Trelen. And… thanks for everything. I won't forget it.”

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> Party status [Bold Arrow] removed.

> Party status [-] added.

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Blychert couldn’t help but wince.

Somehow, it stung even more than he already anticipated it would.

***

The evening of Bold Arrow’s departure came later than everyone had anticipated, but sooner than Bly had been ready for.

Slowly but surely, the party collected all of its belongings and all of the miscellaneous items it had amassed in their rooms at the White Horn over the last few weeks, and piled them into the center of the sprawling teleportation circle drawn on Bly’s living room floor. All of the furniture had been pushed out of the way, and Alyse was already hard at work channeling mana into the linework, as the darkness of night fell across Kelvalder. The low thrum of resonating magic soon filled the air in the house, and Bly knew at that moment it was about time for them to leave.

“What kind of magic is this?” Vineta asked curiously, pointing out the other linework, which was darker in coloration and formed a hexagon shape around the teleportation circle in its entirety.

“That, my dear, is a suppression field.” Alyse explained, and Bly couldn’t help but notice she sounded a little too slick, “To keep prying eyes away when we choose to come and go via teleportation. It masks the energy signature of any spell cast within its bounds. And since it’s a permanent fixture, it will remain long after the energy signature of teleportation magic has completely diffused back into the air. In other words—”

“Brilliant!” Vineta awed, kneeling to inspect the magic for herself. Bly couldn’t remember her ever sounding nearly as excited by anything he could do, though he conceded to himself that his magic was far inferior to Alyse’s. Vineta sighed, “If only I had a teacher like you…”

“I have a book on ritual magic you might fight interesting.” Alyse replied plainly, as she set the chalk aside, “If you wanted it?”

“Seriously?” Vineta gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief, “You’d offer something like that to me?”

“She has dozens of them.” Bly insisted, his mouth half-stuffed with a baked good Mister Ralf’s wife had brought over, “Good luck understanding any of it, half of them are covered in her own illegible handwriting.”

“I seem to recall that your own ritual magic has been taking on a shape most similar to mine in recent weeks.” Alyse replied teasingly, “I’m sure that has nothing to do with those books or my terrible handwriting.”

Bly grumbled, but resigned to eating his tasty treat. That was a battle he was destined to lose.

“Here, Trelen.” Lisel said, handing something to him from the other side of the dining room table, which had since been pushed into the kitchen, “I got this for you earlier… when we were with the traders.”

Bly furrowed his brow, wiping crumbs away from his mouth and fingers as he held out his hand. Carefully, Lisel dropped something cold into his palm. It had a bit of weight to it, but was perfectly smooth on all sides. As Bly held it up to the light, it was a slightly opaque, cloudy white colored stone of some kind.

“What is it?” he asked confusedly.

But before Lisel could reply, Alyse had walked up behind where Bly was sitting, and said, “Ah… a resonance stone. Young lady, you have excellent taste.”

Lisel blushed somewhat, “Um—thank you.”

“Resonance stone?” Bly pondered aloud, “What does it do?”

“Nothing crazy on its own. Just a pretty rock to look at.” Alyse gestured for Bly to hand it over, which he did, “However, with the right channeling of mana…”

A flash of energy flickered across Alyse’s fingertips, and suddenly the interior of the stone was glowing with white-hot mana, emitting a somewhat bright radiance into the kitchen as it did.

“It holds a magical charge for an extended period of time.” Alyse concluded, handing the stone back to Blychert all at once, the light already beginning to fade, “And that, can be very fun under the right circumstances. That’s a very thoughtful gift, Lisel.”

“I've seen them used in Frostwall, so I thought it might come in handy." Lisel shrugged unsurely, "It's okay if you don't like it."

Bly looked across the table dismissively, “No, thank you. But… you didn’t have to get me anything. I didn’t get you—”

“It’s okay.” Lisel shooed, quelling Bly’s insistence, “I wanted to… for keeping your promise.”

Promise? Bly thought. Had he kept his promise? Hell, if he knew.

“Too damned cold out there—" Bredic grunted, as he stumbled in the front door, completely covered in snow, "I'm all set now though."

“Excellent, we're just about ready then.” Alyse raised her voice, returning from her bedroom to say. At that, everyone got up and began moving themselves in the direction of the teleportation circle. Turning towards Bly, Alyse said in a small but mothering tone, “I’ll be gone for three days. Think you’ll be alright without me?”

“I’ll be okay…” Bly replied softly, a twang of unease in the pit of his stomach, as he watched the final few moments he had with his friends begin to slip away.

“Hey, chin up.” Alyse nudged him, “This isn’t goodbye. Not forever, At least, I don’t think so. I think you will see them again. When you're ready.”

Bly looked up at her with a small frown, “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one stuck here.”

“You’re not stuck here.” Alyse smiled, but it faltered slightly, as she added, “I challenge you to be better… Trelen. So that when the time comes for you to go out on your own, the hard lessons you’ve learned here will actually mean something. You’re not here against your will, even Bartolo will tell you that.”

“Then why does it feel like it?” Bly insisted, “Why does it feel like—like, I don’t know, like you want me to be in the dark… about everything. Ever since we got here, it’s like you’d rather I just did what you asked and not said another word about it—”

“Because I’m not a very good teacher.” Alyse sighed, barely above a whisper, as her gaze met his, “And… because maybe I don’t know how to say the things I want to say to you yet. But, I’m trying. I hope you trust me enough to believe that.”

Bly frowned even further, glancing back across at the others, before sighing, “Well, I won’t miss your cooking anyway.”

“Please—” Alyse snorted, “What would you do without my Box of Perpetual Warming?”

Starve!” Bly shuddered at the thought, but said confidently, “I think Mister Ralf will take pity on me though.”

“Hmm,” Alyse resounded warmly, “Do me a favor and stay away from the dungeon until I get back? Xander told me that the core volatility was at sixty percent when they left the other day?”

“Sixty?” Bly echoed, alarmed by the revelation, “Have you ever seen it that high?”

“…No, which is why I need you to keep a low profile on that.” Alyse replied, stepping forward to join the others. However, she stopped in her tracks, and spun around the room slowly, as if looking for something. Turning again, she frowned, and looked at Bly, “Speaking of which, where is that young man, anyway? Bredic, was he not supposed to be with you?”

Bly didn’t even realize Xander wasn’t with them, there’d been too much going on tonight to worry about that. But then, when was the last time he’d seen Xander? Shortly after midday? When they had finished up with the caravan? He was probably still at the White Horn getting ready, at any rate.

"Huh? I thought he was with you guys this whole time." Bredic grumbled, but snapped his finger once in remembrance, "He's probably still chatting it up with that innkeeper, they were at it all afternoon."

“Always something with him…” Bly grumbled, as he quickly moved towards the front door. Grabbing his winter cloak off the hook, he said on his way out, “I got him. Be back in a bit."

Snow and cold wind pierced Bly's face as he stepped down onto the road. Pulling his face mask up, he then started in the direction of the White Horn. However, a lone figure coming down the street in the other direction prompted him to stop. The figure might have been wrapped up in several layers, but there was no mistaking that red-brown beard sticking out the ends of his face mask.

"Mister Ralf?" Bly asked confusedly.

"Ho there, Trelen!" Mister Ralf shouted, coming to within a few feet of Bly. He lowered his mask, and said, "Was just coming by to say farewell. Hope I didn't miss them, did I?"

"No…" Bly started, "We were waiting on Xander. Bredic thought he was still with you?"

"Me?" Mister Ralf scratched his nose, "No, hasn't been with me since before the sun went down. Left the White Horn a couple of hours ago to come help you lot out. Least, that's what he said."

The color started to drain from Bly's face.

Where in the hell was Xander?