Klein watched Rala take in the scene. She was watching Coranth rush to the wounded man on the ground, who had stumbled out of the burning house. The peaceful village had been ripped from tranquility so quickly and utterly it was nearly unrecognizable from the hamlet it had once been. Fires seemed to have spontaneously erupted all across town. People screamed. Rala looked back to the blacked shadow where Mary Ru had been standing.
Klein watched Rala clench her fists and felt a decision being made. She ripped her gaze from the devastated town and turned back towards the inn. Her hair whipped in front of her face and dark strands were caught on her lips. Despite the situation they were in, he found himself smirking as she casually brushed the hair away.
“Klein! This is serious.” Rala’s stoic face stole the breeze from his sails. He couldn’t help but think about their journey through the Jet Steppes. Rala’s gaze softened, “Come on brown eyes, we need to dig up anything Mary Ru was hiding. That was him. I am sure of it.”
Coranth stood up from his kneeled position and called something inaudible into the house the man had emerged from. He must have heard something because he sprang to his feet. Klein watched him disappear inside.
“What about him?” Klein tilted his head to the general who had vanished into the burning house.
“I… I am not sure.” Rala seemed at a loss. Klein understood. It wasn’t every day a god jumped down his followers' throats. Let alone Anib. “If the Lion’s Claws can evoke such a response from the Betrayer he is worth more to us alive, but we must know for sure.” Rala’s eyes flashed violet briefly as she emphasized must.
“His bounty is worth more than every single bounty we have picked up in the last year! Surely if the betrayer wants him it is better off to have him dead.” Klein exclaimed, his hand catching Rala’s arm.
“I am not so sure.” Rala replied softly. “And, forget the bounties.” Rala shook his hand free. “Don’t forget we aren’t really bounty hunters.” Her hand cupped his face. “It is just a cover story.” She turned away from him and crossed the threshold into the inn.
He couldn’t help the smirk that touched his lips. Rala might not be a mercenary bounty hunter type, but he certainly enjoyed the cash. Rala’s mission certainly didn’t provide any. With a glance over his shoulder towards the house Coranth had vanished into he followed Rala into the inn.
* * *
Debris was the first thing Coranth saw when he first entered the building. Two chairs stood on the hard-packed floor next to a fireplace and a window was open to the daylight outside. Its shutters had been obliterated.
Shrapnel from the shudders, no doubt, had killed the man outside. The air was thick with iron and sulfur.
“Mummy’s hurt.” Coranth heard the voice before he found the small child. The young boy was dressed simply in typical overhauls with more patches than the original fabric and more than double his age. He had emerged from one of two doors into the small sitting room Coranth had found himself in. His youthful face was contorted into a worry that one so young should not have.
Coranth knew all too well that such a fact was constantly neglected. A thin layer of smoke was slowly oozing from behind a closed door on the right.
Life didn’t hold its punches. “Take me to her, son.” Coranth responded softly. The boy’s eyes touched his own briefly and his small jaw set in determination before he turned back the way he had come.
Coranth didn’t miss the blood trails. It was speckled and spattered about. One led into the house - the other, well, Coranth knew to whom it belonged.
The house was not large. The floors were mud. The walls were mud. The roof was straw and mud. Where the sitting room had straw that seemed to have been strewn about in a fine even layer the bedroom Coranth found himself had clean-swept dirt packed floors. A humble bed sat as the centerpiece. The smoke seeped across the side room walls.
The woman laid out upon it. Coranth approached the woman’s side and reached to her neck to feel a pulse. He felt it, but it felt less like a drum and more like a feeble echo. Her breathing had slowed and blood coated a large swath of cloth wrapped around her side.
Coranth coughed in the smoky interior. “Son, do you know where the inn is?” Coranth turned his attention from the woman briefly.
The boy nodded. “It’s not safe here. I will bring your mom there as soon as I can.” The kid didn’t leave but let out a muffled sob.
The wound had been quickly and haphazardly dressed. It looked like the poor woman had struggled until she wasn’t strong enough to carry on.
But, Coranth noted, the woman had succeeded. Now all she had to do was survive the next couple of hours and stay warm. The only trouble was that the house was on fire. Coranth assessed the dressing. It was thick with blood and looser than he would have liked so he ripped the sheets from the bed and did his best to correct the pressure of the crude bandages and secure them in place.
He could feel the heat and the walls grew black. Smoke burned his eyes.
He turned to his vigilant companion. “We have to get out of this house.” The child refused to leave until Coranth picked up his mother in his arms and led the way out of the house. The smoke burned his eyes and the air grew heavy with soot and filth. With the woman in his arms, all he could do was persevere.
His arms burned and his lungs roared.
He struggled into the relatively fresh air outside the house and the boy emerged behind him. Coranth gently set the woman on the ground and his lungs heaved like bellows.
“Daddy!” The child behind him wailed. Rushing to his dead father’s side. The boy threw himself onto the dead man’s chest and buried his face in the blood-stained clothes. A choked sob escaped his lips.
Coranth looked about the town. A bucket line was beginning to form, but it was clear to him that the majority of the town - at least around the main street - would be ruined. The villagers fought on. It isn’t human nature to give up.
“I am sorry about your dad, but we aren’t safe yet.” The drifting embers in the breeze were a constant reminder of the increasingly out-of-control inferno surrounding the tavern.
* * *
Rala led the way deeper into the inn, past the bar counter and kitchen and into the back room. She pictured the building in her head and tried to imagine the distance they had walked.
“Do you think there should be more building this way Klein?”
“More building?” He questioned. He was staring back towards the kitchen door. Towards the bar and beyond, the general. “Uh, no. I think this is about as far as it goes.”
“But there is nothing here.” Rala’s eyes turned their natural color. She pressed her lips together in concentration briefly drawing a smile to Klein’s face.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Here!” A seemingly mundane back wall was now clearly a door in her enhanced vision. “Oh, wow. This is more than illusionary work…” Rala trailed off. “This is spatial augmenting.”
“Like what you do with my daggers?”
“Except this is held open permanently through enchantment and sealed from the magical realm.” Rala clapped in excitement. “Aryanae would have killed to see this. And look at this. It is super efficient.”
Klein was losing interest fast. Magic was cool when it was solving problems not when it was about stability and leak efficiency.
To Klein’s eye Rala reached out towards an empty spot between a hanging rack of kitchen tools and a shelf full of pots. And then, her hand connected. The door spontaneously existed to his eye. The kitchen tools hung in the center of the door and it fit neatly between the careful arrangement of pots, pans, food and other storage space on the wall.
Rala opened the door and stepped inside.
A large statue of Anib dominated the room and even Klein’s unattuned mind could feel the emanating presence bleeding through the air.
She glanced around the room. There was an alarm mechanism for spatial transportation and a sort of chime system for opening the door. No other traps seemed evident in her vision. Just in case she imbued herself with a layer of armor.
“Klein stay close to me. I am not sure if there are any magical deterrents.”
The inside of the room was a murky dark color that sort of blurred away to Klein’s perception. The floor bled into the walls so that only the objects occupying the space clearly defined the borders of the room and floor space. And it was filled with objects. There were various antlers, horns, teeth, feathers, fur pelts, and other items that Klein didn’t immediately recognize. There were more grotesque things as well such as what appeared to be severed Elf ears, human fingers, and even an Orcs fang.
What drew Klein’s attention was a matching pair of small antlers sitting on a work table.
Klein stepped towards Rala as she headed for the worktable. She found a sheet of paper with vague symbols, doodles, and writing. He grabbed the antlers.
“Klein!” Rala exclaimed. “Stop messing around!” She shook her head as Klein sheepishly set down two antlers that had been held by his head. Rala watched as he placed the magically rich and rare antlers back on the table.
One well-studied phenomenon was the unique nature of magic in each species of creature. Old magic was imbued in older species in a more complete sequence while the newer creatures generally had a stronger conductivity of a distinctive property. All creatures were not created equally and all individuals got more or less of a serving of that magical potential for their unique property and so a lot of an enchanters life was shared with that of a low-brow poacher.
Mary Ru was well stocked.
The table was hardly the most fascinating piece of the damp room.
Rala avoided the statue's eyes as she paced about the room. Mary Ru had collected quite the assortment of magical concentrate. It was the sort of environment she had been trained to expect among human mage crafters. Heavily concentrated raw power with a touch of elegance and purpose. Reckless. A step above the orcs and goblins at least.
One of her rings grew cool against her finger. “Klein.”
He glanced away from the rabbit’s foot he was inspecting. “Someone is in the inn upstairs. They are moving carefully - be safe.” Rala attempted to put her hand on Klein’s shoulder but stepped backward smoothly tilting his head with a slight bow.
“Ugh. Fine. If mine lady requests it. But, if they even remotely resemble one of our heads here I might -” Klein was interrupted by a glare from Rala. This is serious! Klein could read the words in her eyes and could practically hear them in his head.
He sighed. “Alright, but I am grabbing an ale.” He felt more than saw Rala’s eyes roll. Slowly he turned and made his way upstairs. Just as his legs were vanishing from view he called back, “You want anything?”
“You’re unbelievable!” Rala huffed exasperated. She returned her attention to the letter in her hand. The language was unmistakable and it wasn’t human or elf. “On second thought Klein, surprise me!” She said over her shoulder, not sure if he had heard. She tucked the letter in her satchel.
She wasn’t skilled enough to decipher the crude scratches and sloppy script, but this was exactly the kind of evidence she was looking for. The implications of the existence of such a letter were enough. Not to mention the statue of Anib. Anib Maruk was active again.
Rala steeled herself and headed up the stairs. Knowing Klein, he would have forgotten all about her drink while pouring his own.
Rala followed slowly behind Klein. Whoever was upstairs was likely an overly brave peasant. Coranth would have escaped their clutches but it didn’t matter now. She didn’t need her cover story anymore.
It was time to go home.
She could make out a commotion of sorts. It was the sound of a man carrying way too many sacks of grain and every once in a while, he would drop the highest bag. She couldn’t make out the cursing or groaning, but she could hear the slow heavy steps and the occasional thump.
Klein would be more than capable of handling an injured, confused peasant.
She crossed through the doorway quietly. The large piano room from which the basement steps could be found was empty as well as the small parlor to her right. She moved towards the inn’s bar room slowly. She was confident Klein was alright, but she had no intentions of disrupting his movements like she had in Raysinton.
Not so soon after that mishap anyway.
The bar room included a metal pot, doorway, bar, and seating arrangements. But, it also included a new trail of blood droplets coming from the doorway and leading up the stairs to the guest rooms. By the bar, a half-poured Salty Dog sat still bubbling with froth.
Did he really start to pour a drink despite the noise and blood trail?
Then again, it isn’t super well-lit in here.
Rala carefully followed the droplets of blood to one of the back hallways leading to the first-floor rooms. As she turned through the door she saw Klein slip into a nearby doorway. His dagger was out.
She quickly followed behind him and she felt her magic boil within herself.
* * *
Coranth felt a sharp spike of alertness and he ripped his gaze away from the injured woman. The boy beside her hadn’t reacted to anything yet, but this instinct never failed him; he had learned to heed it well on the battlefield. His hand flew away from the wound he had been tending and his core wrenched his shoulder around. He ducked his head so that his arm swung up and around. His vambrace collided with the blade which deflected bouncing off the chainmail on his back.
They are still here! The thought flashed instantly through his mind.
Klein didn’t seem taken off guard by his deflection and instead of pausing in surprise, he punched out with his other hand. Coranth closed the distance between them and trapped the punch between them.
The boy finally yelped in fear catching up with his new reality..
The dagger struck downwards again. A purple puff of smoke vaporized the knife. Instantaneously another puff of smoke and the clattering sound of a skittering blade followed. Coranth didn’t have time to adjust his plan now that the knife was gone, but neither did Klein whose right hand was now left empty lunging towards Coranth’s chest.
Coranth deflected the soft blow of Klein’s now empty right hand to his side and with his other hand punched Klein in the side of the head rolling him over. Coranth trapped Klein’s arm underneath his knee. Then he looked up.
The brief distraction was enough for Klein to wrench his arm free and roll backward away from Coranth. The boy cowered into the corner, shrinking into a ball. The injured woman didn’t stir. Coranth got to his feet, rolled his shoulders, and flexed his fingers.
Rala stood in the doorway and despite her height, seemed to tower over Klein with her - Coranth focused on her eyes. He would have sworn they were brown earlier. Now they were blue.
The tense silence that embroiled the room was punctuated by the boy’s sniffles.
“What the fuck, Rala!” Klein didn’t turn away from Coranth as he spoke. He did back away a step. Coranth glanced around the room. Corners were a terrible place to be.
“Klein, I told you. I am going home. I need to consult with the council immediately. If they want the general,” she paused and her blue eyes fixed on Coranth. “We will return for him.”
“But what about the bounty? And what about this war he has wrought? He is responsible for thousands - tens of thousands of dead!” Klein tried to appeal to her goodness rather than her greed.
“The civil war is not my concern. Anib Maruk is the threat to my people not him or any of the others running about our frontier. Let’s go Klein.”
Coranth watched the conversation with interest and stayed tense. Ready to dodge a potential sneak attack. His instincts told him no danger was coming. And in spite of the situation he began to relax.
“If you two don’t mind I am trying to help this woman and the rest of the town. Either help out or get out of my way.” Coranth snapped. He hadn’t forgotten the boy whimpering in the corner nor the fact that the village was frantically fighting a massive fire.
Klein who had rose to a standing position and retrieved his dagger snarled, but spun around and exited the room. Rala turned and followed Klein. As they left Coranth thought he heard, “I am sorry Klein! Really. But priorities are priorities....” Her voice continued but he couldn’t make out the words as they left the inn.
The woman was still on the bed. She was feverish and twitched. He looked to the kid. “Down the hall is a bathroom with a water pump. Wet a towel and try and keep your mother cool. Open a window.”
The child couldn’t be older than ten, but understanding and responsibility had set into his young face even as tears streaked his cheeks.
“I’ll be back.”