Prologue
“Congratulations graduates. You should be proud of yourselves. We have tested your strengths, learned your weaknesses and trained you all to be nondescript. Congratulate yourself and those around you as you are now spies for what I like to consider the best branch of the Government’s military. We are the guerilla troops, the scouts and the intelligence gatherers. We are the Shade Stalkers!”
Marcus cheers alongside a few of his other classmates. He is proud of himself for managing to get through the training so quickly, and it feels even better since he did it just after his 18th birthday. Not only is he an adult now, but one with an important job. With this much skill in learning, why he’s sure in no time that he will rise high in the ranks to become really special and more importantly wealthy.
A tap to the arm jolts him out of his thoughts. The redhead turns and smiles upwards at Danielleth, who is one of the shortest ogres in this class, though that just means that she is about 7-1/2 feet (2.3 meters by Government measurements) tall from the ground to her hunch, in comparison to his 6 feet (1.8 meters) in height. If she stands completely straight, she’s about eight feet (2.4 meters). I can’t stop thinking of measurements in human terms cause I learned that first, even having learnt that the Government’s measurements are more precise; as to be expected of our greatness.
Marcus actually used to have a crush on the sky-blue ogre, with her pretty purple hair and just the cutest hint of fang poking up from behind her bottom lip. Even the slightly pointed tips of her ears, seen only when she tucked her hair behind them, were cute at the time. Her gorilla-like (ogre-like? which came first? nevermind, not important) arms, while not as bulky as most ogres, still had biceps as big as his head. It might’ve been a bit awkward to figure out the hand holding part of romance as Danielleth’s hands engulf his, but other assets certainly would’ve made up for a bit of awkwardness. However, once he managed to start talking to her, his romantic feelings went away as she acted more like a smothering big sister or like his mom before she died. “What’s up?”
Danielleth smiles down at the human, before turning him slightly towards the door. “You’re kind of missing the final class line-up, silly head. It’s finally time to figure out where we are going on our first assignments, and how we are going undercover.”
“I can’t wait. And hey, maybe we’ll get assigned to head somewhere together,” he says as they start following the rest of the class.
Giggles escape the blue ogre. “Oh, you know better than that. It would be too obvious of a set up considering that we are skilled in different things. It’s very likely that I’ll be sent out to a sect of the Bard Guild, while you can’t even carry a tune in a bucket.”
“Well no… but the Bard Guild also handles actors and stuff like that.”
“You can act somewhat in line, but not to the extent of drama or heavy theater. Besides, what could you spy on in a theater when you are likely to be regulated to minor tasks or stuck at a guild hall?” She shakes her head, getting behind the onyx dwarf in line.
“Then I hope I get to travel. Seeing far off places can be pretty cool.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see. Only seven more people ahead of us.”
Marcus bounces lightly on the balls of his feet to try to get rid some of the nervous energy the closer they got to the front of the line. He could see Danielleth grinning at him in amusement, though that didn’t stop him from continuing until it was her turn at the front of the desk. The human stills his actions, so that he could hear what is said.
“Danielleth. Low marks for merchant work. Average in restaurant work. Decent in music, both voice and fiddle. Average in theater. Low in combat,” the night-sky human said in a monotone voice. It is hard to judge if it was out of boredom or just how that person talked.
“You are to join the Bard Guild in the island city of Tiekaya. As an ogre, if you get itchy feet then you can travel only to the two neighboring isles until notified otherwise by your handler or as part of your cover. Head to the rightmost door to get your gear and further instructions. Next.”
She turns away from the table, and she squeezes Marcus lightly on his shoulder. Danielleth whispers softly, “Good luck.”
“You too. I'll write to you when I can,” he whispers back then steps forward in front of the desk. His stomach turns slightly in his anxiety.
“Marcus. Decent in merchant work, both buying and selling. Average in restaurant work. Low in music. Low in theater. Average in combat,” the man droned on in his monotone voice. “You are to be a communications crystal merchant sent to the plains in the city of Monti, then hit the caravans to another city upon notification by your handler. Head to the leftmost door to get your gear and further instructions.”
This is it, Marcus thought to himself. He has the training and the knowledge, now to go out into the world to make the Government proud.
Chapter 1
Marcus couldn’t stop himself from throwing a fist into the air, though he kept himself from whooping out loud. He finally got the go ahead from his handler to leave Jubee. He thought traveling would be fun, but it’s a bit boring when he had to stay in one place to canvass the town for loyalties.
He double-checked that there were no cracks in the handler’s response crystal in the black slot, then his message crystal in the red slot of the case. Not that it would really matter if there were in either of the two rectangular prisms, since they were only using the voice portion by pushing magic into the crystal whenever someone was talking. However, he would be remiss in not checking as he was taught that there may be a time when they would use holders and lights for image projection.
Once he was done, Marcus closed the box, latched it and put his spiral pendant on the latch. The spiral briefly lit up red, then turned back to black. He tucked the pendant back into his shirt, adjusting the necklace so that it was mostly hidden once more. Crystals and growing them from their seeds are easy to figure out. I still don’t get how the glassblowers combine the Hikari sand with magic for spells to work out in glass. Marcus mused about how element spells might be easy, but the lock spell seemed more like a bureaucratic thing considering that he’s never seen locks with Hikari glass keys for sale.
A quick shake of his head and some gentle pats to his own cheeks got him to refocus. He needed to see when the next caravans were going as quite a few had made it to this oasis town, because of the 8th of Loamber in a couple of days. Lots of the wanderers wanting to get together at a town to celebrate the day when Ogres were Grown by Otanga, though why even this pro-Government town calls it the 88th day of the year rather than Loamber 8th, I just don’t get. Then again, didn’t Danielleth say that ogres and elves have a hard time with time due to their potential lifespans?
He continued getting side-tracked in his thoughts even as he locked the door behind himself. If I’m still here by Loamber 20th, I need to remember to buy some more clothes during the Flower Gala to give praise to Aether and that it is officially the end of Spring. Marcus waved to the doorkeeper of the local mayor’s house that he got to stay in for free due to Jubee being very pro-Government. Only because as part of his undercover job of a crystal trader, he got an Official Government Writ of Trade for selling crystals that when placed in holders would project the official announcements from the Capital, also known as the main seat of the Government.
His very first appointment in the town of Monti was a bit less than impressed with the Writ. They were still a government town, but they were a bit lax on a few things that he told his handler about. They had a Merchant’s Guild, which only gave him a discount for the Writ and even that was likely only for a reduction in tax. Monti’s people didn’t even ban their citizens from worshiping the pagan gods; kept saying that they weren’t pagan, just part of the Balanced Four’s pantheons. Which is not right, the Government is very clear that only the Balanced Four are the true gods and any other gods are shameful upstarts that aren’t actually gods though they are powerful people.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
At least one of the airships that came down for docking didn’t seem to have an official Writ of Trade when he went snooping, yet they were selling some items that he was pretty sure were stolen since the copyrights, or maker’s marks, were scratched out and that type of jewelry came from one of the floating cities. It could’ve been a coincidence, but that kind of stuff is something to make note of as I was told in training. Even the rumors about the raiders in that underground rock or metal tube were of note, even if I still haven’t gotten any praise for my good work yet. Marcus is only thankful that Jubee was different as it saved him time and money, even if it was pretty boring by comparison for spywork.
His arm wipes at his forehead to get some of the sweat off. Still in spring didn’t seem to matter when in the Lapis Desert, oasis town or not. Marcus cups his hand close to his mouth, and with a mere thought swapped the air in his hand for water that he could drink. The most basic of magic, yet very useful every time he had to element-swap for water or even fire to light things.
Thankfully, Jubee’s also a small town, Marcus thought after walking for less than half an hour brought him to the eastern edge of the town. Caravans were directed towards this side due to the smaller spring of water that burbled nearby for their animals to drink from and stay cool with. He sees a couple of tattooed covered people that he’s quite certain are also pagan worshipers as the tattoos looked like runes, though he couldn’t see if they had different colored eyes. But even in a very pro-Government town, Maiden Rune priests were usually welcomed outsiders due to the cooling or heating runes that the pagan dwarves could put up on almost anything.
Marcus looks up at the sky, then around the area outside of the town as he got nearer to the outer inn. This close to the smaller spring it is always good to check for larger creatures, even if there is always an uneasy truce about water sources in the desert between animals and the peoples. All it would take is one animal getting desperate for food to go after the easier, smaller prey.
The desert town only had a 4 feet (1.2 meters) wall around it, just enough as a casual deterrence for the smaller predators like coyotes and fennecs; not even a speed bump to the pangoltitans. He recalls seeing one in the distance ambushing a cactus liner to get the plant’s flesh for water or at least that’s what one the guards said. The 15 feet (4.6 meters) tall when standing on all fours pangoltitan’s armor outmatched the needles the cactus was shooting in both defense and for traveling across the desert.
Only largeish animals he sees, however, is a pair of sky eagles looking out of place by the water. Like pieces of light blue sky on the darker lapis-colored sand about the same height as the nearby brown camels, with palms and cactuses in the background; it made a striking picture. Too bad I’m not an artist. Marcus turns from the sight to head into the inn.
It’s much cooler inside, that with a glance at the walls and the runes on them, makes Marcus even more certain they were priests earlier. He glances around the area, but only a few people are at the tables so the cooling runes must’ve been recently put up or more would be here even this early in the day due to the heat.
He makes his way over to the diamond dwarf wiping at glasses behind a bar counter. They merely raised an eyebrow in askance as he gets closer, not even pausing in their actions. A slightly sheepish grin makes its way onto Marcus’s face, even as he ducks his head in an abortive nod. “Hi. I was wondering if you could tell me about the caravans that are coming? Or the ones that are here. Or really the ones that might accept add-ons to their caravan. Oh… um… it’s Marcus by the way.”
“I remember,” the diamond dwarf puts down a glass, reaching down under the bar for a bottle and filling up the glass with a yellowish liquid. “You’ve been around for a month already, and I bought one of the announcement crystals. Apple juice, right?”
“Oh… uh… right.” Marcus sits down at the counter in one of the human sized stools to drink the juice. He really can’t remember their name off the top of his head, so he quickly takes a sip. His black eyes look towards the dwarf in expectation that they would further the conversation.
A slight tick of their mouth upwards seems to be in amusement, though it’s a bit hard for Marcus to tell due to the thickness of the dark sapphire mustache. “Inessa is my name, and yes, I can help you.”
“Thank you,” Marcus says politely. Inessa ends in a vowel, so they, or rather she considers herself female per dwarven naming conventions. Oh right, I should probably pay for the juice and the information. The red head reaches into a pocket rather than grab for his money pouch around his neck. He had one kredit in each front pocket for general funds, and one should be enough for juice, a meal and a bunch of information on all the caravans.
A slide of the copper coin towards her along with a mumble about just wanting something edible as well quickly saw some flat bread topped with some kind of a fruit salad on it put before him. He tastes it, the dates making it a bit sweet, as Inessa checks on the other patrons to see if they need anything first. Marcus will never say it, but he wonders if the desert town wall was made that high as that is generally the max height of a dwarf and would prevent the smaller predators from directly seeing them.
Inessa comes back, giving him a refill of apple juice before starting to talk about the current caravans in town. One is made up of ogres only and not accepting anyone else except ogres. The group of twelve ogres were desert nomads, who tend to stick to themselves. They were really only here to celebrate with others for the 88th of the year, since that is the birthtime of their people.
Two other caravans were here, with another looking like it was coming in tomorrow according to a druid. Their connection with the sky eagles let them scout out the area, which is how they get the fair warning of various things. All of them were likely not to leave until Loamber 10th at the very least. Of the two other caravans here, both were accepting trades and passengers. Inessa isn’t sure where the pine elf caravan leader was going to go from here, as they haven’t been seen at Jubee before though they did have a stop in Monti.
The diamond dwarf caravan leader, Ignatiy, is her sibling, and they are the one that runs the standard caravan from Monti and back again. They had met up with the other caravan in Monti, suggesting Jubee as a good stop considering they had a different variety of goods that we don’t usually see here, like blueberries.
Inessa directly states “Ignatiy said that the pine elf was called Wendel, and their caravan is pretty large at about twelve wagons and a good mix of pack carriers between camels and horses. Plenty of guards too that came with them. Most annoying bit was that Wendel apparently adores pigeoles and has them constantly flying overhead.”
“Really? I would’ve thought that the desert would be terrible for them considering the sand and bright sun.”
“Eh.” Inessa looks at him up and down before muttering just barely loud enough that he only heard the “young” part. She continues in a normal tone, “The mole part doesn’t affect the pigeon head or wings, and pigeons can live anywhere there is water. For the desert, they tend to stay near the oasis if they don’t get eaten. The druid in town that I mentioned before that has sky eagles also has other smaller predator birds, so you probably haven’t seen any pigeons or pigeoles in town because of that.”
She proceeds to tell Marcus of the goods that Wendel’s caravan were selling and trading. Not something he really cared too much about, but not hearing of any crystals being sold meant that he could present himself as a good choice for that caravan. The redhead already decided that unless he had to, he wouldn’t be taking Ignatiy’s caravan again as he didn’t want to go back to Monti; plus he already gathered information on them when he took that caravan to Jubee in the first place.
He thanks her politely, asking where Wendel is staying, mentioning briefly that he’s already been to Monti so as not to seem rude about why he isn’t asking about her sibling’s caravan. Marcus learns that the pine elf might be at the other inn just outside of town, leaving him surprised as he didn’t remember seeing any other inn.
“One of the giant palms between the wall and the water is actually an inn. Though I say inn, it’s not as large as my place as maybe only ten or fifteen elves can fit in there. Proprietor’s a willow elf named Thank heavens for Joy, or Joy for short. She tends to only come out during the night in white flowing garments, mainly I think to keep up with the ‘mysterious’ aspect the green elves tend to like. You might see her at the Flower Gala though if you stay long enough.”
“Maybe, though I’ve got a bit of wanderer in me, so I’ll probably be gone with a caravan by then.” Marcus wiped a napkin around his mouth, then handed her a plate with a thank you. It’s kind of funny that the only elves that don’t have a skin tone like that of a tree still get everyone to call them willow elves. They’re green like an ogre almost, how does that apply to a willow? Is it the whole ‘we are elves and must be mysterious on the whys’ or something? Is it cause of the saying of green lumber, so they became green? Actually… why does it matter, it has nothing to do with my mission.
He sips at his drink, taking a moment to look around the inn again to try to focus. He’s not going to pat his face like earlier as that would probably make him look weird to Inessa.
Inessa picked up the apple juice pitcher, tilting the jug towards him in a silent gesture if he needed a refill and putting it down when he shakes his head. She excuses herself briefly to handle another customer that just came in. When she came back, the diamond dwarf told him the directions to the palm inn though she mentioned that it is probably easier to talk to the mayor as most caravan leaders tend to check in and out there.
“Though maybe you wouldn’t have difficulty finding the hidden door. I always had a hard time trying to find out where the doors are in an elf’s tree home. Thankfully there are only two or three in town and I generally don’t need to handle finding them.”
He is very curious, so Marcus asked, “Why would you need to find them if you have this inn?”
“My sibling of course. Sometimes the elves ask them for something to pick up in Monti, so I try to help them with delivery of goods. After all, if we don’t go to their house, then it is likely they will not realize when their goods have arrived. The first few times, we thought the elves forgot as we didn’t see them for a month after the caravans arrived, so we sold the goods to make up for the price. Only to be surprised three or four caravan returns later that they were there for their goods. It was actually Joy that told me, or reminded me rather, after it happened with three different elves, that they were more on the middle age of elves so time just flows away from them as it seems less urgent to keep track the older they get.”
The human nods slowly as it makes sense when one thinks about it. Middle age for elves is 500 years after all, and he thinks that he heard that elves only need to eat once or so a day if they aren’t doing anything too strenuous. Kind of strange to him as his stomach growls at him if he doesn’t eat something at least three times a day, but whatever, it's not like it really matters.
A smile crosses his face as Marcus thanks the dwarf, then excuses himself to leave. He wasn’t going to tell her, but to be honest, he also had trouble figuring out where the door in the elf homes were too. They had a few trees during spy training to try to distinguish between the trees and the homes. Every time, no almost every time he failed to find the door and the only time he didn’t fail, was that the door hadn’t been closed the whole way.
He glances at the sun’s position, then seeing as it’s sometime mid-afternoon, starts to head to the mayor’s office. The easier way to handle things instead of searching to the hidden door, plus I might be able to get more information from the mayor about the caravans. The redhead feels a bit happy that soon he would get to leave again.