[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
“Heard you’re cleaning up the old keep. Mighty tall task for a group of youngins like you.”
I pause, one foot on the final step of the creaky stairway in the inn. I’m on my way down to breakfast, and admittedly preoccupied on the short walk downstairs from my room on the second floor as I head to the common area, but the comment stops me dead in my tracks. I turn toward the [Innkeeper] and cross my arms, trying hard not to scowl. “News travels fast. You eavesdropping on [Lord] Dimitri?”
The dour-faced man grunts noncommittally. “You know how it is. Word gets around. My, uh, nephew works in the town hall. Anyway, you shouldn’t have paid for a week in advance. Waste of good coin, I tell ya. I almost feel bad taking your money.”
I laugh. “Almost, but not really?”
He smirks back. “Business is business.”
“Thanks for your concern, but we’ll be fine,” Melina assures him. The serious young [Gaffer] sounds so overly sincere, and smiles at him so sweetly, that I wonder what he did to make her dislike him so much. She’s not usually so saccharine and scathing all at once.
He takes a breath, then shuts his mouth, shrugging as he seems to reconsider his next words. “Ah well, your funeral. Gotta run; bacon will be ready in fifteen.”
“We’ll bring you back something nice. Maybe the eyes of a vampiric bat, or the head of a giant snake,” I reply, waggling my eyebrows at the [Innkeeper], but he’s already striding off to wait on another table and check on the cooking—not that I can blame him with bacon on the line. Life in an inn seems perpetually busy and chaotic.
Melina waves me over to her table. “Stop threatening gross stuff, Nuri. Let’s stay focused on our plan for the day. You’re up late, and we need to get moving.”
I hook a chair leg with my heel and scoot it out from the table so I can sit down beside her. Sighing in contentment, I stretch out and help myself to a honey sweet roll. “Hey, where’s Rakesh? I thought he was going to coordinate communication and tactics for us.”
“Visiting the local library. He said he had an idea he wanted to look into before we got ourselves in trouble,” Melina says.
“Bit late for that,” Lionel pipes up, hopping down the last three stairs and jogging over to our table. He looks like he slept significantly better last night than he did during our first evening in the inn, which makes me a little envious. I slept like the father of a newborn—that is to say, hardly at all—except without an actual excuse.
“Before we got into even more trouble,” Melina clarifies, a smile playing on her lips. “But I expected him back by now, honestly. We might have to leave without him if we’re going to keep to our schedule.”
Mikko flops down next to me, scrubbing his sleepy eyes. “I’m not leaving until I finish breakfast. I need to keep my strength up. Who knows what we might find out there?”
“Which is exactly why Rakesh wants to check the library,” Melina replies, unruffled by his grumpy attitude. “Knowledge is power, Mikko.”
Mikko makes a rude noise with his tongue. “If that were true, then [Librarians] and [Scholars] would rule the world.”
“He’s gotcha there!” Lionel says. “Or, at least, if libraries were all you need, then people would have figured out a way to clear the monsters themselves. Why do the beasts congregate around the old ruins, anyway? If they’re actually from a Lesser Rift, you’d expect that they would appear more randomly.”
“Wow, Lio. You’re surprisingly insightful sometimes,” Melina says.
“Nothing surprising about it. I’m a genius,” Lionel shoots back.
“You bring up a good point,” Melina continues, ignoring his boast. She frowns, tapping her finger on her chin as she thinks. “It seems like there’s something else going on. What could draw monsters to a specific location? Incursions are more disorderly than what the people are reporting.”
I sip my lukewarm tea, set down the chipped cup, and lick my lips. “Are we sure about that, Mel? From what I can tell, although the old keep is a hot spot of activity, strange creatures have been sighted by [Merchants] on their way into town. People are scared to travel lately.”
Her frown deepens. “Talk later?”
I’m about to ask why we can’t discuss it right now when her implication catches up with me. I shrug as casually as I can and go back to drinking my tea. “Sure. Why don’t we finish up and go get Rakesh? He can fill us in on what he’s discovered.”
“But what about the bacon?” Mikko asks, his eyes widening in alarm. “It’s only been a few minutes!”
I pat my brother on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. There’s always tomorrow. If we survive. Good incentive, huh?”
Mikko scowls at me. “Nuri, be reasonable. We can’t leave with bacon on the line. That’s a crime against all that’s right and decent.”
“All right. You can stay.”
Mikko pumps his fist into the air, but his celebration is short-lived. He stands up as tall as he can, towering over me, and glares. “That was way too easy. What’s the catch?”
“You. You’ll have to catch up.”
Lionel slaps his hand against his forehead and groans. “Seriously? That was the worst pun I’ve ever heard, Nuri. You’d never catch me stooping that low, and that’s saying something.”
I roll my eyes at Lionel. “Peh. Can’t outdo a master, I see. Well, there’s more where that came from if you don’t get moving, folks. Library. Now,” I say, swiping one last roll as I head for the door.
Melina catches my arm before I take more than a single step. “Nuri, wait a minute. Has anyone seen Avelina? I know she’s not always an early riser, but she wasn’t in the room when I left this morning. I assumed she was getting breakfast, but she still hasn’t shown up.”
Lionel shakes head. “No wonder it’s been so blissfully cool and quiet. No threats, no fire. A guy could get used to this.”
Melina smacks his shoulder.
“Maybe she went to the library with Rakesh,” Mikko offers, in between longing glances toward the kitchen. He’s eating his last bite of starfruit, chewing with exaggerated slowness, clearly stalling so that he can take some bacon for the road.
“Not logical,” Melina says immediately. “Rakesh already ate before you came down, and he told me about his plans. If Ava went with him, then I would’ve seen her.”
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” Mikko says distractedly. “Hey, maybe she went to see what’s on the menu in the kitchen. Why don’t I go check real quick?”
“Fine!” I say, throwing my arms up. “We can stay for bacon, as long as you share. Then we find Ava, collect Rakesh, and head out to the keep.”
Mikko grins. “All I heard was bacon. Good call on letting us stay. I knew you’d make a great leader, Nuri! Keep it up.”
=+=
After a frantic search in all the usual places—the bar, the fireplace, the candy store two shops over—we finally find Avelina in the stables. She’s crooning to a horse as she brushes its mane and grooming him. Every few brush strokes, she slips him a treat, which he chomps with huge, wicked-looking teeth.
The enormous bay roan wickers softly, tossing its head as we approach. To my surprise, the muscled horse shifts around Avelina in the stall, putting its body between her and us like it’s a trained warhorse. I’ll have to keep my distance from that one.
“What a charmer,” I call out.
Avelina jumps to her feet with a yelp and a plume of fire. She spins around, catches sight of us, and snuffs out the flames gathering into a white-hot orb above her hand. “What are you all doing here? Are you spying on me?”
Melina waves. “No, it’s just time to go. What are you doing here, Ava? It’s not like you to be up and about so early. We were worried.”
“That’s sweet of you, sis.”
Melina gestures toward the horse, which is stamping its feet and blowing out its lips in a threatening manner. “Make a new friend?”
“Something like that,” Avelina says. She pats the horse, ducks underneath its powerful, arched neck, and leans out the stall door. She peeks around her sister, looking about the stable as though she’s searching for something specific. “Following up on a hunch, actually. I saw a young man tailing us after we left the town hall yesterday. At first, I thought it was simply a coincidence, but I woke up early this morning and happened to catch sight of him through the window. He was loitering in the alleyway, so I slipped out to spy on him.”
I scratch my nose, not sure where the story’s going. Avelina isn’t always noted for her ability to stay on track. “Well, what did you find? Is this his horse?”
“Oh, no. This was my cover.” Avelina chuckles. “He spun around while I was following him, like he could sense me even though I was trying to keep my mana cloaked, so I ducked into a stall. I stayed in here for a while, hiding behind this gorgeous horse while he was working on a carriage. They just left a few minutes ago. I guess the horse and I bonded.”
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“That’s it?” Melina demands.
Avelina crosses her arms defensively. “I dunno, Mel! It seemed way more important this morning. And exciting! I thought I was having an adventure.”
“Hang on. There may actually be something to it. Quiet, everyone,” I say, holding up a hand to stop them from talking. I close my eyes, concentrating, as a faint mana resonance in the area calls to me. It’s thin and distant, but foul, like a whiff of curdled milk from the next room over. I grimace. “I’m not sure what is going on, but someone tried to use a runic array here.”
“How do you know?” Melina asks.
“It’s . . . it’s like a failed imbuing attempt,” I say, trying to put my knowledge into words and failing. I search for an analogy and give up. “I don't know how to explain it. I just know.”
Avelina’s eyes shine with excitement. “What do you think the mysterious stranger was trying to accomplish?”
“I think he was looking for you,” I say slowly. I squat down, trying to follow the trail, and chew on my lip. “Or, no, maybe trying to form a connection? I can’t tell. But for the first time in my life, I wish Scalpel were here. She would be able to puzzle this out.”
“Maybe it’s the [Innkeeper]’s nephew,” Melina interjects, sounding too hard like she’s trying to be sensible, but there’s an undercurrent of excitement in her voice. “He does work at the town hall.”
“But why would he be outside my room?” Avelina asks. “Creepy! He seemed to just show up this morning, waiting for me.”
“Maybe he likes you,” I tease.
Avelina glares at me, but just as she’s about to reply, she suddenly freezes. She lifts her nose up and sniffs. “Is that bacon? It is! You’re so sweet, Mikko! I didn’t get breakfast yet.”
“Oh no. This is mine,” he snarls.
“Oh, c’mon! I’m starving.”
“No. Get your own breakfast.”
“We're short on time,” I remind Mikko, tilting my head toward Avelina and frowning at my brother in my best impression of Reijo.
Mikko groans in defeat, pulls out the bundle of wrapped-up bacon, and peels off several strips. He hands them over to Avelina, staring longingly at them the entire time. “I take it back, Nuri. Worst. Boss. Ever.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I say, nodding at the horse in farewell. It glares back at me with an evil eye, tracking us the entire time as we leave the stables.
Melina shivers once we’re back outside. “I don’t know how you made friends with that horse, Ava. That thing scares me!”
“It’s my naturally-friendly disposition. Something you wouldn’t know about,” Avelina says, winking at her twin. “Also, I may have threatened it with fire if it didn’t keep quiet.”
I scoff, setting course for the library, which is housed in a wing of the town hall, according to Nala’s tour yesterday. “Animals are afraid of fire, Ava.”
She blinks innocently. “A mystery indeed, Nuri. Sometimes, you just have to establish dominance.”
The team’s banter continues all the way until we reach the library, but I tune their teasing out, reflecting back on what Melina suggested. What if it is the [Innkeeper]’s nephew? And what if that’s not as innocent as it sounds?
Rakesh brightens when he sees us, although he holds out his hands, palms down, and pats the air in a futile attempt to get Lionel and Mikko to be quiet in the library. He hurries over, waving a sheaf of papers at us.
“Follow me. Study room up ahead on the left.” Without another word, he takes off at a fast clip, practically running, one hand hitching up his robes so that he doesn’t tangle up his legs as he goes.
I’ve never seen him act that way inside a library. Intrigued, I urge everyone to pick up the pace, and we all pile inside the room and activate the silence array that’s designed to keep any conversation inside from disturbing library patrons and desecrating the sacrosanct silence of the institution of knowledge.
“Melina, you know how I wanted to collect some preliminary information about the type of monsters sighted in the area?” Rakesh says, spitting out his words rapid-fire. Before she can say a word in response, he rattles on, his words overlapping so quickly that I can barely follow.
“Well, my Skills started vibrating almost immediately while I searched through the data. I was checking reports filed with the [Guard] and looking up any news articles from publications that cover local events, and patterns started emerging. I set them aside at first, but the longer I looked, the more confused I became, since something didn’t seem to match the requisition that the town sent when asking for assistance.”
He pauses just long enough to take a deep breath, then blurts out the rest of the story. “I was curious why we met with the [Magistrate] instead of the [Lord] who issued the request, so I used Nuri’s communication construct. You know, the one that the [Inquisitors] loaned to him before we left Silaraon? I know it’s a breach of protocol, but I asked them to check the classified documents to see the actual wording of the request.
“I know, I know! It’s out of character for me to break the rules like that. But it paid off. By comparing the notices and analyzing them with my Skills, I can say with over ninety-seven percent confidence that the local [Lord] didn’t send the request to the Army. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know we were coming, not until we showed up and pulled that ridiculous stunt to announce our presence—no offense, Nuri—to the entire town.”
I rub my forehead. “Why is that so important, again? The [Magistrate] seemed to expect us. He was relieved we were here. Happy, even.”
“That’s my point!” Rakesh all but hisses, his eyes aglow with exhilaration. “He’s hiding us from the [Lord], or at least our mission. Something strange is going on.”
Avelina slaps her hands down on the table triumphantly. “I knew it! That guy was spying on me. You all act like I’m crazy, but my wild ideas aren’t crazy if they’re true.”
“Looks like you might be right, Avelina,” I say gravely. I grin at her smug expression and nudge her with my elbow. “This time, at least.”
=+=
“I still can’t believe that you told the [Guard] that this would be child’s play,” Mikko grumbles as he hacks at an overgrown vine with a machete he made the day before, after he finished up a batch of toy soldiers. The broad, sharp metal blade is more suitable for cutting than the slender rapier I crafted for Lionel, so my burly brother is on weed whacking duty.
“Did you really brag like that? Your head’s getting way too big if you keep disregarding common sense and tempting fate. Nuri, are you trying to get us all killed?” Lionel teases me.
“Lio, Lio, Lio. My friend!” I say, fighting to hold back my laughter. “You’re still worried over a silly thing like me jinxing our adventure simply because I expressed an appropriate level of confidence?” I sigh theatrically, dragging aside the growing pile of vegetative debris from the overly-enthusiastic weeding session. “What did I tell you? I’ve got this.”
Lionel and Mikko exchange glances, their dubious expressions mirror images, and I swat them both for implying that I’m getting us into any worse trouble than we would have otherwise. They should know by now that we signed up for trouble. It’s part of the job description.
“Your turn, Lio. I’m bored,” Mikko says, handing off the machete to our friend. A mournful look shadows his face. “Besides, I’m all out of bacon. Why should I work for free?”
“All Ava’s fault, eh?” Lionel rolls his eyes, but he accepts the sharp, heavy machete and attacks the tangled vines with enthusiasm. The snarl blocking our path slowly thins out under his care. He swings harder, severing a dark green vine, and cracks his neck. “Of course I’m still worried, by the way! Don’t you believe in tempting fate, Nuri?”
“No. We make our own fate.”
Lionel pauses in between swings, breathing heavily after only a few moments of wielding the thick blade. He shifts his body to face us and squints at me as though I’m crazy. “I’m gonna say ‘I told you so’ now, so that there’s no question that I called it when we run into trouble.”
“You have no faith in me.”
He scoffs. “I’m just realistic.”
“Wow. Hurtful.”
“I’ll become fate for all three of you if you don’t stop arguing,” Avelina snaps, igniting a snarling, crackling ball of fire that hovers over her outstretched palm. “Now, get out of the way, slowpokes. I’ll burn us a path.”
None of us pause to consider if Avelina’s serious. We all scramble out of the way a moment before a hot plume of fire turns the climbing vines into cinders. I shield the other two with a pulse of [Greater Heat Manipulation], just in case they’re not sturdy enough to handle the heat.
“Effective,” I admit, poking the toe of my boot at a still-smoldering bit of vine and peering down the glowing line of embers. A swath of forest a few dozen paces long is open ahead of us, clearing our way to the outer wall of the keep.
“Thanks for making me waste my time swinging around that oversized knife when we could have had Fire-lover over here do all the work. Really, it’s the least she can do after eating all my bacon,” Mikko grumbles, but he looks so impressed by Avelina’s magic that it takes all the bite out of his complaining.
“Make sure you preserve some mana,” I say to Avelina. “We don’t know how long we’ll be out here, and you don’t exactly have copious amounts to work with.”
Melina wanders over a moment later, her nose still buried in the notes Rakesh gave us. He scrawled them out hastily before he returned to the inn to try to unravel the mystery of what’s going on between the [Lord] and [Magistrate]. Like the rest of us, he shares the suspicion that someone might be working at cross-purposes against us.
Now that the five of us are all together, we march down the pathway that Avelina burned for us. I move cautiously, extinguishing any blazes that still remain, wary about what we might find as we get closer to the cratered shell of the castle.
At last, we’ve arrive. [Lord] Dimitri’s Old Keep. Something rancid dances in the air, but I try to shrug off the feeling of wrongness. Focus, Nuri. We have a job to do. It reminds me all too much of the scent in the stables, and I’m sure there’s a connection between them.
Despite the unsettling circumstances, the overgrown, broken-down castle keep is a sight to behold. Time has not been kind to the once-proud structure. Generations ago, the old keep was the seat of power in the region. Now, little more than a single tower and half a manor house remain. The rest of the castle is a pile of rubble, with moss and clinging vines creeping over its crumbling walls. Still, there’s something poetic about imagining its former glory as I take in the tall, arched doorway, which still stands open—as if luring us within its walls.
As I step inside, I’m immediately struck by the visceral sense of decay. The air is thick, choking me with dust, and the only light comes from the caved-in ceiling above. Technically, a window is still intact, but it’s filled with vines and mosses, obscuring the sun. The floor is littered with debris, and the walls are covered in faded scripts that look suspiciously like markings left behind by intrepid youths who likely only ventured inside the keep on a dare.
I creep my way through the ruins, careful not to trip over the fallen stones, and scan the area with my burgeoning mana senses. The odd resonance I sensed earlier in the stables is back, stronger than ever. The deeper I go, the more overgrown the castle becomes, and the more pungent the taste of decay and chaos. The vines are so thick in places that they block out the light completely.
I glance up at the vine-covered ceiling and frown. I could have sworn they weren’t there a moment ago. Couldn’t I see the sun a few steps earlier?
I’m about to ask the others for their opinions when a low, sonorous sound reverberates through us, shaking my bones it’s so deep and intense. Fire springs to life around Avelina, and I bring sharpness to the forefront of my consciousness before I even realize I’ve tapped into one of the concepts at my disposal, ready to channel my mana into a fine mesh of murderous cutting intent.
Below us, uncovered by the retreat of the suddenly-shifting vines, a dark portal pulses. Half-hidden by the fallen rubble, the viscous pool of blackness murmurs and bubbles. My heart races; it looks like an opening to a Rift, but somehow different. Less wild and primal, but more dangerous, perhaps, in a way that makes my skin prick and the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
The portal is dark and foreboding, swirling like iridescent oil and black tar, a mesmerizing scar on the ruins of a once-majestic castle. The broken teeth of the towers above us stand tall and serene, quiet despite their fractured glory, but the portal promises violence.
That’s it! I think, my gut twisting at the realization. Against all odds, there’s a higher-order concept at play in these ruins.
I call the others over and explain the impossible phenomenon. They shuffle away from it as I speak; my unease seems contagious. “All right. This is it. We have a job to do, my friends.” I swallow hard. Can I really ask them all to risk something so menacing?
“So far, we haven’t encountered anything lethal, but this gives me a bad feeling. Mikko, you’re up first, since you have [Iron Skin]. Lead the way.”
“You got it, Boss.”
“And Mikko?” My voice cracks with a sudden flood of emotion as I look my brother in the eye. “Don’t die.”