The path seemed to run forever as Marin and Gus made their way to the outskirts of White Forest. The mountain air from their northern origin was completely absent now, as they made their way south towards Tarenfall.
Gus took notice of it, but of course Marin was oblivious to the fact.
It had been a fairly pleasant walk for the two of them, considering the shade they were provided from the sun in the forest. Along with the occasional traveler or cart that past them walking the opposite direction, Marin enjoyed the wildlife that hopped around from the side of the road.
In the distance, either left or right of the forest path, furred animals such as deer or rabbits could be seen from time to time. Gus pointed out that predators like bears and wolves lived deeper in the forest, where they were a considerable distance from society.
“If a bear attacked us, you’d freeze it solid, right?” Gus asked.
It was an odd question, but given a bit of thought, it would seem like the best course of action.
“I suppose,” Marin responded. What kind of question was that?
“Good, because I mean, I can use this sword, but I wouldn’t want to take my chances with a bear,” he explained.
“Is that something I should be prepared for?” Marin asked, wondering why this conversation began.
“No, that would definitely be a rare thing to happen,” Gus said back. “I guess I was just curious about what you would do.”
“Well if I had to elaborate on it more, I’d feel ill doing that to a bear, or any animal in that case, but if it was barreling towards us I wouldn’t have much of a choice.”
Hearing Marin’s response made Gus realize how left-field his question was. Truth is, he was fascinated by elemental power. He had never seen it before, only heard of it. When Marin materialized a chair made of ice yesterday, it left him bewildered about what other skills his King had.
“Sorry if that was a weird question. You know, when you fought that fire elemental at Heroca, that was the first time I had seen elemental skills in action. And the fact that Loid hid that shadow element all this time… It just threw me for a loop,” Gus explained.
“What did you think?” Marin responded.
“It… It was incredible.”
The two continued to walk as they finally cleared White Forest. Gus showed much interest in Marin’s ice element. His curiosity dominated the conversations the two had as they journeyed. Gus asked about how the King learned his craft, and why he pursued ice in the first place.
Unfortunately, Marin did not have many answers. His botched memory left many holes in his reasoning for what he did, but he did his best to string together some theories on why he chose his path.
“I studied at Arkana, Gus. I moved there when I was a little less than your age, if I recall correctly. I wanted nothing more than to be a strong elemental. Though I fear it was for selfish reasons at first. As to why I adopted ice as my element… I can’t remember. It was a long time ago.”
Marin’s tone showed little interest in talking about the past, but every small piece of information he gave up to him only made Gus realize how little he knew about his King. Even his appearance was completely concealed. Not a sliver of skin was ever shown to him. For all he knew, there could be ghost under all that clothing.
The answer Marin gave caused an eruption of questions to enter Gus’s mind. He wanted to know his age, the reason for the mask, the fully concealed clothing, where he had come from, all of it.
Then he realized how demanding all those questions would be, and the last thing Gus wanted to do was to push his King to unravel more than what he was comfortable with.
“Well I might be able to answer that, ice is the coolest element out there, hands down.”
“It is quite cold,” Marin agreed.
“Cold…? I- oh.” Gus started laughing. “I wasn’t being literal. It’s slang.”
“Slang?”
“Yeah. If somethings ‘cool’, that means…” Gus tried racking his brain on how he needed to explain it. “People look upon it positively.”
Marin was a bit confused.
“People are using temperature to relay the favor of a given subject?” Marin inquired.
“Uh…”
“So then if something’s hot, does that mean it is looked down upon?” He continued.
“No… that’s also… cool.”
“Oh.”
Gus felt a major disconnect with him, and he wondered if Marin felt the same. Gus also wondered if Marin had been in some form of exile for many years. His vocabulary and demeanor was not of the current time. He settled on the fact that he may never know, and Marin may never share it with anyone.
For someone who amassed a large fortune, and returned to start his kingdom, Gus assumed that Marin would be more in touch with the world around him. He realized though, during the time he had been out of the castle with him, the King had been relying on him for basic tasks. His assumptions proved to be false for these reasons so far. Gus was sure there were many secrets that Marin was hiding.
It did not concern him too much, Gus only looked at what he knew about his King. He had been kind, saved his village, and provided everyone with a considerably well standard of living. Gus truly looked up to him, not just for his elemental abilities. Whatever Marin had been or done before hand, frankly, was none of his business, the way he looked at it.
Meanwhile, Marin had been worrying about how well his decayed body would hold up for this long distance walking. The fact that a limb hadn’t broken off yet due to over exertion was impressive, he thought, and he hoped that it would stay that way. It would be an awkward situation if Gus had to watch him try to reattach his leg at the knee.
Trying to put that out of mind, though, he pressed on. In clearing the forest, Marin pulled the map back out to update where they were. It had been another few hours of walking, and they had covered nearly twenty miles.
“We’re in the region of Tresdor now,” Marin deciphered. “A land of stony fields.” He rolled the map back up and returned it to his traveler bag.
“You can say that again,” Gus stated, looking at the landscape all around him. It was a stark contrast, going from densely populated trees to nearly none. The two gazed south at the relatively flat landscape around them. It was littered with rocks and stones of varied sizes.
Several farm houses scarcely dotted the terrain. A few cows that seemed to be a tad bit removed from their property grazed at the small amount of fauna that somehow found a foothold in the rocky soil.
Marin studied the surroundings. Despite his memories being akin to a few recovered pages from a lost book, he felt familiar feelings from the peaceful scenery. For Gus though, it was a new sight. Seeing as he never left White Forest or the northern mountain range, the new biome met him with surprise.
They were walking again after a short moment. Marin reminded Gus that time was a factor, and nearly all the hours of the day had been spent. They couldn’t delay their trip by frequently admiring the world they traveled through. Soon enough, they were in talks about an inn they would stay at as the sun neared the horizon.
Through means of inquiring about an inn with the opposite-direction travelers, they easily discovered that one was only a few miles ahead.
“How are you feeling? I bet you’re getting sore from all the walking,” Marin asked his subordinate.
“Not exactly. Being a guard means I’m on my feet during the entirety of my shift. This is no different.” Gus’s chain links that complimented the leather armor clanged quietly as he walked. Looking at Marin, he noted how much more comfortable his clothing was for long distance traveling.
“What about you?” He added. “Are you getting sore?”
“Can’t feel a thing,” Marin responded. His golden cross necklace reflected in the sunset. The golden edging of his dark blue robes glistened from the orange light. Seeing the robes in perfect sunlight made Gus realize how expensive Marin’s clothes really were. It was appropriate attire for a king.
It wasn’t too much longer that they finally arrived to the desolate inn on the side of the road. They were nearing the heart of Tresdor, and earlier they had met a fork in the road that would lead to a local kingdom in the west. They had continued south, however, towards the center of the continent.
The inn did not impress the two of them, it was of a humble build. Small, with a roof covered in straw. The wooden support beams were aged. The inn could easily be nearly a hundred years old. Besides the building was a stable, with a few horses resting inside. A wooden plaque above the door read Stonefield Inn.
Gus breathed a sigh of relief that the traveling for the day was over, and he would be able to rest for a few hours before going to bed. He walked ahead of his King, grabbing the door for him. The door was in need of replacement, the handle alone looked to give out free splinters.
Inside, they were greeted with a musty smell. It was well lit, and inviting enough, but it was obvious this was not a place to stay for rich folk. It was empty, minus one bartender, who seemed occupied with a book in his hand. Upon hearing the door creak open, he raised his head from his reading.
“Welcome,” the innkeeper greeted.
“Good evening,” Gus responded, taking ownership of the interaction with the bartender. “How has your day been?”
“Fine enough. What can I help you with?”
Marin stationed himself slightly behind Gus. He knew with his mask and mysterious attire, he wouldn’t not get optimal service. It was better to let Gus handle trivial interactions for him, with his welcoming complexion, along with good looks and charm.
“We’ll be renting a room, two beds. Also a meal for me and my friend here,” Gus ordered.
The bartender was an older gent, and seemed to keep himself in the same state as his inn. He had unkempt dark brown hair, and a wispy mustache between his long nose and large lips. His shirt carried more than a few stains, which covered his barrel shaped torso.
“Aye. Coming right up.” He reached under the bar, and pulled out a notebook that seemed to be a ledger of some sort.
“One room. Two beds. Two meals,” he uttered to himself as he jotted down the information. Gus caught whiff of his garlic breath. The bartender looked up to Gus, then looked over to Marin, and focused on him longer than Gus would’ve liked.
Gus prepared for the bartender to make a comment about Marin’s mask after staring for more than a few seconds, but before he got a word out, he spoke up.
“He is very ugly,” Gus intervened.
The bartender’s beady eyes jumped back to him. Gus smiled, showing his perfectly straight, white teeth.
“...Uh-huh.” He finally said. “Well, let me get those meals ready.” He tossed the notebook back under the table, and headed for the back where the kitchen was.
“Is there a menu?” Gus tried as the oily man was near the doorway.
“The meal is the menu.”
“Oh. Okay. Very good,” Gus responded.
The man stared at him for a few more seconds before returning to the kitchen. Gus looked over to Marin, but realized he couldn’t read any facial expression behind his black mask and crystal blue eyes.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“He seems like… a reasonable person,” Gus tried as he found a seat in front of the bar. He pulled a seat out for his King as well.
“I will eat in our room,” Marin stated.
“Right. Right, of course,” Gus realized, as he pushed the chair besides him back in.
As they waited for the food, Gus started worrying that the food would be several day old slop. If the inn and bartender were anything to go by, he believed there was a fair chance the cuisine would make them ill.
Since Marin made no comment or fuss about it, Gus stayed silent too. After a few more moments, the man came back out with two plates of food stacked quite high. To his surprise, it looked appetizing.
“Oh wow, that looks very good,” Gus said in shock.
The bartender took note of his surprise. “Of course it is!” He stated. “I’m the best cook around these parts!”
“Oh, I should’ve known,” Gus lied.
The plates contained a large pile of pulled barbecued meat, a generous portion of diced potatoes and collard greens with garlic.
“Which room is ours?” Marin inquired.
“That one to the left,” the barkeeper responded with a big meaty finger pointing to a doorway.
“Enjoy, Gus. I’ll be back out when I’m done.” With that, Marin took his plate of food and left.
When he shut the door behind him, Gus looked to his large pile of meat. He grabbed his fork and stuck it full of the boar.
The meat was as tender as anything made in Nocturne’s kitchen. The man leaned behind his counter watching him eat. Seeing as Gus never came up for air, it was a sign that his food was well liked. He smiled to himself.
“This is delicious,” Gus commented with a mouthful.
“Aye.”
It was too much food. He had made an effort putting a dent into the sides, but being already filled with the boar meat made it difficult to get anything else down. All the walking he had done made him quite hungry, but there was no chance in him getting all this into his stomach.
“What’s the deal with your friend in there?” The bartender asked.
“He’s very self conscious about his appearance,” Gus answered.
“He hides his face like a rogue, yet wears robes fitting for royalty. I get a lot of people who come through those doors, but he has the strangest get-up I’ve seen yet.”
“Don’t mind that. He is a very kind person. You’ll find that he’s also quite sophisticated,” Gus vouched for him.
After a few more swallows of food, Gus pushed his plate aside. He leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. He was stuffed to the rim. Roughly a third of the original portion still remained on the platter. He wished to finish all of it, and hoped that leaving some remainders wouldn’t offend the barkeeper.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to finish all of it,” the man admitted, “based on your body size.”
“It was very good though.”
Suddenly, a sound of crackling ice could be heard from behind Marin’s door. The two glanced over. Gus wondered what had could’ve warranted Marin using his element. In a moment, the blue robed figure opened the door with his plate of food completely gone.
“Ah! Now there’s a man I can respect, he ate the whole meal!” The bartender announced loudly. It was the happiest he had been since they arrived.
“Holy smokes Marin! You’re a clean-plater! How in the world did you manage to eat all that?!” Gus could barely get out.
Marin’s mask tilted down to the empty plate, then back at them. “Oh… uh… Well, it was quite enjoyable.”
“Aye, it must’ve been! Quite shocking a man of your bony stature could eat all that!” The bartender exclaimed.
Marin quickly gathered that he had been given more food than what was expected of him to eat. He yearned to change the subject immediately, to raise no more suspicion.
“What is the charge for your services this evening?” Marin asked.
“Let’s see here.” The bartender reached back under the counter and produced his ledger again. His finger ran over a list of items scribbled. After a moment, he responded.
“Total’s going to be 47 silver. That’s including the room.”
Marin produced a whole gold piece. It clinked on the wooden counter as he sat it there.
“Keep the change.”
His eyes widened. “Your charge is only half a gold piece. I wouldn’t want to take a whole coin!”
“We appreciate your hospitality. I insist, please take it,” Marin said.
The bartender looked left and right as if someone else was in the inn watching.
“I mean… Alright. I won’t fight you too much on it then.” He picked up the 100 silver equivalent coin and pocketed it. “That makes you guys preferred customers. You’re welcome here anytime.”
Gus and Marin sat at the bar talking with the man for a while after they ate.
“Name’s Elmo. This inn was my father’s once upon a time. Never figured I’d be the one running it one day,” he said as he leaned on the bar facing them, arms spread wide.
“What do you know about the area?” Marin asked.
“Not from around here, eh? Yeah I can tell you a bit. Tresdor is a bit of a no man’s land up here in the north. Ground’s not too fitting for farming. A few people live in the region, but it’s mostly a means of transport between the southern areas and White Forest. West of here is Orhome, a kingdom on the edge of these stony fields. They made it work somehow.”
“So most of the people you get in here are travelers?” Gus asked.
“You bet. And by the looks of you two, you’re also traveling. Where you headed?” Elmo said.
“Tarenfall.”
“Ah, large city. One of the largest. And it’s not under any kingdom. But because of that there’s a lot of crime. Local government there doesn’t do its job too well, I guess. Neo and RAM have a lot of stations in there to maintain order,” Elmo explained.
“How much farther of a walk is it?” Marin asked.
“About three days.”
Marin nodded, it sounded about right. “Thanks a lot, Elmo.”
“Aye.” He took the plates, and headed for the kitchen with them, leaving the two alone.
Gus took a deep breath, and leaned forward on the bar, elbows resting.
“I’m stuffed. That was good, wasn’t it?”
“I’d say so,” Marin said uncomfortably.
“I can’t believe you ate all that. How in the world?”
Marin looked onward for a moment, feeling guilty about his forced deception.
“Maybe I’ll let you in on my secret one day,” he finally said.
“If there’s a secret to how you ate it all, I don’t want to know!”
Marin chuckled. “Right.”
They talked for a while longer at the bar. Elmo eventually came back out and they asked a few more questions, to which he happily answered. The sun was finally down, and it was almost 9 o’ clock.
Gus ordered a drink with his own money, and the two of them retired to their bedroom.
“Are you thinking about sleeping soon?” Marin asked as Gus shut the door behind him.
“It’s still a little early,” he responded as he sat at the table. “What time do you normally go to sleep?” He asked.
Marin hated the deception, but he fought through it. “It varies. Just when I feel tired.”
The King sat at the table with Gus as he watched him sip on a golden drink in a glass.
Gus noticed him watching. “The mead here’s not very good. Do you want some?”
“No, no. I’m fine.”
It was quiet for a few moments at the table. The room itself was small, but that made sense seeing how little the building was from the outside. Two twin beds were shoved in either corner of the room, with a nightstand wedged between them. The only inviting factor of the beds were the warm wool blankets covering them.
“Oh! I have something fun we could do,” Gus said as he reached for his backpack.
Marin raised an eyebrow under his mask in curiosity to what Gus could be getting.
He was bent over, both hands rummaging in his leather bag.
“Of course it fell all the way to the bottom…” He uttered to himself as he moved items around.
Finally, he pulled out a wooden box with a square checkered pattern.
“King Marin, do you know how to play chess?”
“Chess! I remember that game!” Marin was shocked. He had completely forgotten it up until now.
“Has it been a while since you played?” Gus asked cautiously.
“…It has been a great many years. But I still remember how to play.”
Marin remembered that he had played chess, but couldn’t recall specific instances of when he played or who he played against. It was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise to see that Gus had a board and was interested in the strategy game.
Gus unboxed the board, and dumped the wooden pieces onto the table.
“Well I hope you don’t take losses too hard, because I’ve gotten pretty good!”
It was a small travel sized set, made of both birch and spruce wood. The pieces and board were stained in different colors. It was held together with small magnetic metals.
“Losing is never a bad thing. You never learn anything new when you win. It’s through losses that you become a better player,” Marin shared.
“Alright, don’t get all philosophical on me.”
Marin grinned. The two of them began grabbing pieces to station on the board. Gus picked white since Marin insisted on playing as black. Gus read it as a confidence factor since going first always gave you the slightest advantage.
Marin leaned back in his chair sideways to the table with his legs crossed. Gus played his knights first, with Marin responding with an equally strong opening.
“Oh, you know what you’re doing,” Gus said quietly to himself as he stroked his chin. He took another swig of his mead and moved a piece. He never once looked up at Marin as he studied the board at all times.
The game progressed, and they made a few trades. During this time, however, Marin had set his pieces up in a better position than him. Gus didn’t even realize the impending loss that he would take yet.
“So what are we going to do when we get to the city? I know we’re looking to bring some strong fighters into our fold, but do you know exactly how we’ll go about it?” Gus said as he moved a piece.
“I suppose we’ll ask around at local taverns about where we can find strong elementals. I was hoping that a situation would fall into my lap at some point to find them, but that’s wishful thinking.” Marin studied the chess board for a moment. “Do you have any ideas?”
“What if instead of us going to them, they come to us. You know we could post an ad in the quest center,” Gus offered.
“I don’t want to openly advertise,” Marin responded as he moved his queen, putting Gus’s king into check.
“Oh.”
“Check, by the way.”
“Yeah, I see that.”
Gus’s face turned grim as he realized that Marin’s domination plan was coming to fruition. He realized that from here on he’d have to place defensively. He moved his king over a square.
“You know what Loid suggested?” Marin said in a playful tone.
“What?”
“He thought it’d be a good idea for me to participate in an elemental tournament.”
“Really? How’s that going to help us?” Gus asked.
“Loid had some reasoning that I would meet strong elementals there, and if they saw me fight, it would give them reason to join me.”
Gus stayed silent for a second as his eyes widened in understanding with a slight nodding.
“Have you given it any consideration?” He finally said.
“Not really.”
Marin and Gus traded several more pieces, until it was all but certain that Marin would win. Gus leaned back in his chair and took a large gulp of his mead.
“You know, I bet this drink would be a lot better if it was chilled. I’m already missing the ice cubes we have at Nocturne. It’s one of the best perks living in the snowy mountains.”
“Would you like some ice cubes?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know where-”
Marin leaned forward and placed a balled up fist above his drink on the table. Cold steam leaked from in between his fingers. A light crackling noise erupted from his hand as he opened it. Several ice cubes splashed into his drink.
“No… way…” Gus said in bewilderment. He picked up the drink and rocked it, swishing the ice cubes in floating inside. “That is so cool.”
He took a drink of his mead. “You got to teach me that trick,” he added after swallowing.
“That would mean learning the ice element.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m not much of a teacher, Gus.”
“But you could teach me.”
Marin shook his head. “Learning an element isn’t as simple as you think. And it’s not for everyone. In fact, it’s a discipline. You’re always fighting off the desire to become power hungry with it.”
“That won’t happen to me. There’s not an ounce of desire in me to attack anyone with it. I would just defend people. Like my King.”
“You say that now, Gus. But once you realize the potential devastation you wield, it becomes quite enticing. Even Arkana intensely vets new applicants. If they catch a single whiff of you wanting to be a student to dominate with the elements, you’re rejected.”
“Look, I saw my town burn down. I felt helpless watching my friends and family die. I can only do so much swinging a sword around. But if I had the strength you have, I could’ve prevented any harm from coming to the villagers. It’s not about power for me. It’s about protection. I really would love to learn an element!”
Marin didn’t respond. He remained silent, staring at the chess board. Gus couldn’t read any expression Marin might be making behind his black mask. He really wanted to know what he was thinking. Gus would’ve liked to believe that Marin was wrestling with whether to teach him or not. After a few moments though, Marin leaned forward, and moved a chess piece.
“Checkmate.”