Chapter 07

MOTIVES

PART 1

Here he was, a tenured professor sitting on an unnamed beach with three nut-jobs, a flesh eating beast, and a chest full of enough gold to destabilize a few countries.

At this point, they’d been sailing together for the better part of a year, popping from one rumor to another in search of interesting curios, but riches were never on the menu.

Yet, as Kali dragged her sack of metal back to her seat and Mara brought forth the stone chest, Jackle could tell the energy was on the cusp of shifting. Putting aside everything else they'd seen this morning, the contents of that chest could prove more dangerous to their group than any mortal injury.

Mara, perhaps feeling that weight upon her shoulders, had clearly been putting off discussing what happened at the forge this morning, emphasized by the still-unexplained chest coming to rest on the sand in the center of the group.

Sitting down on top of the stone lid to face Kali, Anvi, and by extension, Fran, Mara knew it was time to bite the bullet and deal some cards.

“I don't think I can explain this chest, let alone show you what's inside, without first saying, I was right. The forge is working and has yet to be touched by madness.”

“What?!”

“You're pullin m’ groins.”

They’d explored numerous dungeons and followed countless leads for potential forges, to finally find what Mara had been looking for was unprecedented, neither Kali or Anvi could believe their luck.

“No, no lies. The forge spoke with us, or at least created mechanicals that could, and they even let us in.”

“Whoa! They're friendly?”

Practically jumping with excitement at the news, Mara had to calm Kali down by dousing some of her rapidly escalating fantasies with cold truths.

“I wouldn't go that far. They had questions, and I happened to have the answers, so… We reached an agreement that ensured our safety.”

“An ‘agreement’ my arse, wha'd ya sell em? Can't have been your recipe for chowder.”

Eyeing the chest she was sitting on, Anvi made it abundantly clear he was aware of the sound of coin and the smell of gold under his nose, and what she brought back was no small token.

Mulling over the phrasing, Mara idly patted the stone lid until she had the right words in mind.

“I sold them my help, and in exchange, they've bet the house.”

Standing up and placing a foot on the edge of the lid, Mara kicked it off to reveal the hoard she'd been sitting on, causing both of her formerly unaware peers to gasp in disbelief, their eyes painting them a picture that just couldn't be true.

Sinking forward onto his knees, Anvi shuffled over to the edge of the chest, eyes wider than saucers as he plunged his burly arm deep into the tub of gold.

“It's real… By Somni, iz all real!”

“Holy-moly Mara, how much is that?”

Putting down his grimoire for a moment, Jackle saw his input might be appreciated, chiming in as he stood up to join them.

“Seven-hundred-thousand, quite authentic appearing, gold pieces, or about a third of the Five Peninsulas annual turnover.”

“That's… That’s so much money Mara…”

“Aye. I too am at a loss for lack. I could buy everythin’ I whim, n’ I'd still a bahrly dented it.”

Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of coin on display, most were still processing it was real when Mara picked up a single piece of gold from the chest, examining it as she spoke.

“Call me greedy, but I want to use this to found a country… Free of the churches meddling and the nobles’ games. One where progress is paramount so that I can still come back to it in ten thousand years.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Seeing she had the others’ rapt attention, Mara tossed the coin back into the chest, appending a clause to her declaration as she did so.

“Obviously, what I want would ask more of you than just time… So if you want out, I'll understand, and you're welcome take what you can carry through customs when we next make port.”

Jackle, looking to the others, could see he wasn't alone in his indecision. The goal was noble, admirable even, but it was a lot to ask out of the blue, and on top of that, he had his own reservations.

Mara was being selective about what she revealed, even to her friends, omitting what he thought were crucial details, but he couldn’t bring himself to call her out. His comrades could make their own decisions, unbiased by his own, potentially undue, concern.

Kali was the first to speak up from their shared silence, her expression shifting to one of respectful compassion.

“Mara, you shouldn't even have had to ask. You've been nothing but supportive us from day one, each in our own ways, and I don’t think my life will ever been as interesting as these last two years have been… So if not for the kindness owed, then for the joy we will continue to share, I’d be thrilled to help you.”

Squeezing out two heaping handfuls of gold as he looked up from the side of the chest, Anvi grunted, tearing his gaze from the coin and seconded the ranger.

“Rrgg- Blast ya. I should be takin’ t’gold, be done wich ya, but ya makin m’ heart soft and her words strikin’ true. No need be askin’.”

Visibly moved by their sentiments, Mara looked to Jackle, hopeful but unsure of his answer, his expression a mirror to the discord within his mind.

Kali had not spoken falsely, even from his own perspective, yet despite that, a part of him could not let his suspicions go. When it came down to it, he simply could not trust her. But perhaps… Perhaps that wasn't what she was asking from any of them.

Her goals were clear and her intentions noble. So question was, could he aid her? Was it within him to help a friend? Even if he questioned her actions?

The answer it turned out was, surprisingly, yes. In fact, even more so because he couldn't trust her. If she intended to accomplish what she asked, Mara would need someone to check her, and he would be that dissent when it was called for.

“Ahhh… Frack it. May Somni bless the fools we set out to be, I'm in too.”

“Aeyy!”

“That's a g’d lad.”

Wiping a tear from her eye, Mara could only smile at the friends she’d found. With such a long journey now ahead of them, she couldn’t have asked for better comrades.

“You guys… Thank you. I won't soon forget this… But first things first, who’s hungry?”

Doing her best to jostle the sentimental mood, Mara floated ideas for lunch as she re-sealed the chest of gold with a flick of her wrist, putting the gold out of sight, but certainly not out of mind.

As the general consensus seemed to be ‘anything but fish’, Mara set off for the ship to grab ingredients for a stew, the floating chest in tow, leaving Jackle with the Pynma and her two adoring fans, who wasted no time in volunteering to take Fran out to ‘play’ while Mara cooked.

Watching his companions set off in opposite directions, Jackle found himself with the camp all to himself, a rare treat of peaceful solitude. However, it was anything but- His still mind too preoccupied with concerns boiling over from his mentor’s ‘live and let be’ attitude.

Realizing he wouldn’t find any peace in his state, Jackle whipped his grimoire out, debating between journaling and picking back up where he’d left off with the ‘light pick’ spell.

Still stuck debating what to do as Mara returned with an armful of ingredients, Jackle felt he wasn’t going to get out of his rut if he didn’t address the elephant in the room.

“Why didn't you tell them the whole truth?”

Hearing him as she sat down next to the fire, Mara glanced to the middle-aged man, then back to her work as she hung the cauldron over the fire before silently conjuring water within it.

“…Because it's in flux, and you don't pull a cake out of the oven early.”

Scoffing at her vague answer, Jackle shot Mara a glare, one she opted not to notice.

“Flux?? You might have just sold the world to mechanicals! You and I both barely saw what it was capable of, and yet you spoke of unshackling its natural restraints imposed by Somni!”

Tearing up veggies by hand and tossing the pieces into the pot one by one, Mara looked past his outburst, patiently waiting for him to finish before responding in a tone that could shift a courtroom.

“Might. I might have, and that's my bet and burden, not theirs. What I do, I do out of necessity, not whim, despite appearances.”

Feeling like he wasn’t even making a dent attempting to levy his concerns to Mara, Jackle leapt up, hands full of rage, snapping his grimoire shut in a moment of uncharacteristic frustration.

“Your burden? What about me? I know what you've done, and what you intend to do. What if all your well laid plans go sideways, and we're on the hook for untold atrocities because you unlocked a box you shouldn't have?”

Chunking strips of red meat into the cauldron, Mara sighed and gave Jackle her full attention.

“You know because I know that you're not eighty. You're more like four-hundred and eighty, and despite the mask you're so fond of, I know why, and because of that, I know you can see the bigger picture.”

Without breaking eye contact with Jackle, Mara dropped the rest of her ingredients in whole, enforcing a moment of silence to ensure he'd heard her properly, then fished something from her spice pouch that wasn't a seasoning, but rather a small rectangle of metal.

“When you understand the spell I've transcribed in your grimoire, use it on this. Perhaps it'll satiate, maybe it won't, but it'll at least illuminate.”

Catching the finger-sized ingot as she tossed it to him, Jackle looked it over, seeing a similar indent to the ones on the doors of the forge.

So much of him was unsure if he wanted to listen to her. He felt like a child having a tantrum in front of her, and he might as well have been in her eyes. Yet, he had every right to be upset from his point of view, what could a tiny little cube possible do to change his mind?

But, as his emotions tempered, the rational part of his brain reminded him about her unexpected comment about his real age, which was not something anyone alive should have been privy to, cementing his reluctant surrender.

“Fine. I'll be on the ship. I need space to think.”