“Now you two cuties behave. If you swing by tonight I have another shift,” Dreama said. She grabbed me by the shoulders and planted a kiss on each of my cheeks. “Willow, you're looking wonderful today.”

I rolled my eyes. “You did my hair.”

“Bazz, you keep her safe. She loves to run into danger,” Dreama said, tapping me on the nose. She shifted past me and grabbed Bazz before he could escape and kissed him on the cheeks too.

“T-thanks, Dreama. I’ll keep her out of trouble,” Bazz said bashfully.

Dreama clipped on her cloak and headed for the door. In her rather modest outfit I would have never pinned her for a topless waitress, but that just shows you that people can surprise you. She did however pull her cloak to the side, shake her bubble butt and flick her bunny tail, then disappeared beyond the door. The final send off was of course a little show for Bazz, who was beet red.

I gathered the last of my gear, made sure Bazz had everything and headed out. We went towards the core of Underside, crossing bridges over a canal and dozens of street shops. I was looking for something at the heart of the dark hidden shopping centre.

“Shouldn’t we tell the guild?” Bazz asked.

“That’s what I’m doing, Bazz.” I said.

I found a tall metal pole wrapped in red string with a bell hanging off the side. I tapped the bell three times and a cloud of red dust swirled around the base of the pole. It formed together into a red skinned imp with a vest, hat and messenger bag.

“Howdy dear, looking to send a letter?” the imp asked in a polite upbeat tone.

“Yeah, got enough for two?” I asked.

I flicked him a silver coin and the imp produced everything I would need to draft up a letter. He held up a wooden board for me to write on and I quickly penned a message to the guildmaster informing him of the dragon and her lair. I gave a few notices of the type of enemies, what numbers I saw and her magical talents. I signed the letter, folded it up and sealed it. I then wrote a quick one to the ranger master, and made sure to note that since I was still on a quest it would be up to the rest of them to deal with the dark energy in the forest. I smirked, knowing the top rangers would have to get off their asses for once.

“Guildmaster, and the ranger master, see it gets to them quick,” I said, adding another silver to the imp’s hand. “This good enough?”

“It will be on his lap within the hour!” the imp said.

The little fellow unfurled his wings and shot off towards vents in the canals. There was an undercrossing network of pipes from the old works under the city and the small races made use of them to traverse unseen. It also helped them avoid getting stepped on so the city officials ignored it since the accident rate involving the smaller races had plummeted.

I went down my favourite street and knocked on the door of Rhast. The gnome pulled at the shutters on the window and when he saw me his face scrunched up into a look of fury. He looked at my face like he saw something was off, then looked down at my chest.

“Why the hell are your tits bigger?” Rhast asked.

“I…what? That’s what you ask me?” I scoffed, pushing up my bust. “These are the same breasts I’ve had for-”

As if to prove me wrong they almost popped out of the new shirt I had, and I blushed as I hurriedly covered up. I forced them back down into my shirt and armour, feeling them push up against them. He had a point, it looked like I went a whole bra size up, except I never wore a bra.

Rhast adjusted his raccoon tail cap. “Well they look nice today. Anyways unless you have my money you can shove them where-”

I held out a handful of silver and two gold coins. They vanished into Rhast’s grubby hands and the gnome took out a paper with a sketch of my face. He tore it apart and gave me a thumbs up.

“I guess I’m allowed back now?” I asked.

“Your business is always welcome here,” Rhast said. His crooked smile vanished and he shook his fist. “Now I’m not open for another hour, so sod off!”

He slammed the shutters shut and I sighed. If it wasn’t for the fact he was one of the best alchemist’s in the barony I would go to anyone else. I took Bazz with me and we went to the much friendlier blacksmith’s shop. I saw Sergi was pulling out his table and he had a new selection of blades out for sale.

“Hey Willow, how did the quest go?” Sergi asked, leaning against the table.

The wood table buckled under the mass of muscle the minotaur had. He wore a thin shirt today and I could see the taunt rippling muscles threatening the tear the stitching holding the shirt together. I had to admit it was quite the sight and Bazz tried to hide his flustered look.

“It went…well. I got some of those upgrade shards for you,” I said, placing the handful of shards onto the table.

Sergi held them up with a critical eye and weighed them in his massive hands. They looked pale and fragile unlike the others he had shown me before. I could see Sergi had bad news, and the massive minotaur sucked back his lips as if to hold back his comments.

“Come on Sergi, hit me,” I said.

“These are pretty much junk Willow. Something has sucked all the magic and minerals out of them. I can probably crush them up and make enough powder to make one magical weapon, but that’s it. Honestly, they are barely worth a single gold coin,” Sergi said grimly.

I scratched at my head and remembered what Raven had said. The magical items had been drained so it wasn’t that far of a stretch to imagine the shards had been too. I sighed and accepted the gold coin. If the dust could help Sergi I was all for it, he was a good guy.

I held out the new bow I found since it was one of the only items to escape the magical drain and Sergi’s eyes lit up. He gently took the bow from my grasp and ran a hand down one of the limbs. He put a jeweller's lens up to eye and ran it down the length speaking in a twisted tongue.

“I’d recognize this anywhere. It was forged in a set for the elven archers guarding the border in my homeland. They are called the singing quicksilver bows, when you pluck the strings it makes a musical note, a different one for each bow. When they fire in mass, it’s like an orchestra. They are super easy to draw, and deliver an explosive force like a ballista. Better yet, they greatly enchant any arrow that flies off the bow string,” Sergi said, his excitement barely contained. “It has some damage to the enchantments, but I can patch it up for you. I can fully recharge it with the dust I’ll make from these shards.”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“That sounds great!” I said. “I have some money to-”

“Oh no, this is a free service,” Sergi said, putting a hand on my shoulder to hush me. “This was a gift from my people to yours, and I’m a traditional man. As long as you slay monsters with it, I’m all too happy to help.”

“A most noble blacksmith. May I catch your name sir so I might add it to the fable I’m writing about Willow?” Bazz asked, holding out a quill and parchment.

Sergi scribbled down his name and it looked like to me Bazz was going to pass out. Since Sergi was in such an upbeat mood I showed him the rest of my haul to see if anything could be salvaged or repaired.

“Wands and daggers are beyond fixing, plus you would have to take the wands to an enchanter to even strip them for materials. I can take them off your hands if you want. Now this spear head? I have no clue, but I can tell it's divine. Maybe the local clergy can help,” Sergi said.

“Funny you should say that, I think I have a date with a cleric today to take care of something,” I said. I looked at the pile of now useless wands and daggers and gave Sergi the go ahead. He handed me another ten gold and I was starting to feel like a dragon. “I think I might take a vacation…”

Sergi bellowed out a laugh. “You certainly need one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take more than a day off Willow. There’s a nice town, a boat ride away with white sand beaches, fine wine and a tavern full of people to fit your fancy. Called Oakbeach, it’s a hidden treasure.”

I got some more directions from Sergi and seriously considered his advice. I did need a break, and with the wealth we had I could ask some of the merchants there about more diviners. Maybe I could get one that actually had some value. We waved goodbye to the happy blacksmith and I saw him package up the scrap for later. The silver bow was taken back to the shop, and Sergi held it like it was a sacred item. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it again.

We went back to the city proper of Carrington, to the busy streets and tall buildings reaching for the sky. The white plaster walls of the homes blinded us as we exited the dark spaces of Underside. It took us a moment to get our bearings but when we did, we hit the streets in long strides. It was time to turn in our quest.

“What was this about the clerics?” Bazz asked, holding onto his hat as he struggled to keep up with my swift pace. “Can we slow down?”

I brought my pace back to his level and tapped the side of my bag. “Old family sword. Has some fiendish curse or something on it. I think that’s what drained the magic items and ruined our haul. So I figured I’d spend a bit of coin on getting it purified so it didn’t ruin our future adventures.”

“Even so, we still made out like bandits at an unguarded bank. I can’t wait to buy a new set of shoes, or get a cloak that doesn’t have the smell of a bramble beast in it,” Bazz said.

I smiled and dipped down an alley heading for our clients home. It was a small house in the nicer part of town, a far cry from the villas, but a home to be proud of. There were several houses neatly packed together, each one having an iron fence at the front with a cute little garden to sit in. It felt good to see shrubs, roses and grapevines inside the city, and the plants greeted me as we got close.

“Should be number nine here,” I said, pushing on the gate, it was unlocked. “Guess he expects us.”

We went up to the door, and I noticed his little garden had only a single chair and table to sit at. My immediate guess was that our quest giver was someone that likes to be alone. The paint was peeling off the door to the house and I knocked on the frame feeling the wood give.

The door opened by a hair and a thin pale man in black robes looked at me. His salt and pepper beard was unkempt, he smelled like he hadn’t bathed in days and he had a nervous shake in one hand.

“Uh, sir?” I asked, holding up the bracelet. “Sora right?”

His hand shot out like a snake delivering a deadly bite, and he snatched the bracelet from me. He replaced it with a bag full of coins. Before I could even utter another word the door was slammed shut with a thunderous boom.

“Sir this is more than the payment!” I shouted.

Bazz tugged on my arm and whispered. “Willow I have a bad feeling. Take the money and run.”

This wasn’t standard guild protocol. There was supposed to be signing of papers and handshakes and everything. I would have to pay the guild penalty fee which would bite into my bottom line and leave a temporary mark on my guild record. I looked at the bag of coins and my eyes shot open when I saw how much was inside.

“Yeah, for a hundred gold I can deal with it,” I mumbled.

We quickly left the yard and I had to admit I was starting to get a bad feeling too. The plants in this garden were unusually quiet, and had a dark sheen to the leaves. Worse yet, I heard a whisper beneath our feet. A dark song that wove under the earth like a poisoned root, and I think I heard a word that gave me chills. Blood.

“Yeah, let’s go to a church. Got any suggestions for fiendish cleansing?” I asked.

Bazz looked towards the temple square as it came into view. He scanned the six magnificent marble buildings and pointed to one at the northside. “The temple of Talic the Everburning would be my choice. His clerics, paladins and inquisitors are supposed to be really good at cleansing curses and stuff. I also hear their prices are subsidized by the baron.”

I wasn’t about to give up my new found wealth any time soon, so that one grabbed my attention. We crossed the square, walking past large groups of robed people as each one pushed their way towards one of the many temples. The groups clashed, bumping shoulders, disrupting prayers and otherwise making a ruckus. I got nervous being amidst it all with Bazz, the worship of nature I was used to was calm, individualist and usually polite. Here it seemed closer to a tavern brawl.

We managed to squeeze past the core of pilgrims, church goes and crazy beggars holding out pans asking for spare change. I managed to grab a hold of Bazz and shoulder my way past the outer ring of pilgrims making it to one of the temples. I saw it was the one we wanted and headed up the steps to the grand ten foot tall doors.

Sadly the doors were closed, but a small access door on the side of the church was open and a priest ushered us inside. The main body of the temple was a circular dome stretching high towards the heavens with an open oculus at the top of the dome. Light spilled inside the airy building and bounced off the spotless white marble flooring illuminating the great space. Statues, portraits and shrines were all around the edges of the vast space or around the pillars holding the roof up. It was very impressive and I let out a whistle.

That proved to be a horrible idea as the shrill sound echoed horrendously and I managed to grab the attention of every single person inside the building. A choir stopped their chanting, a priest looked at me while holding a candle over a sick child and a group of people praying at one shrine stared at me with a viscous glare.

“Sorry,” I whispered, wincing at how loud my voice still was.

The priest that ushered us in hid his face in his hands and pointed towards a door. Bazz and I made our way there as quietly as we could. Being a ranger I could walk so quietly I could approach a fawn without making a sound. Bazz on the other hand was like a bull in a glass store, each step of his boots was like a crack of thunder shaking the place.

We entered the door we were pointed towards and Bazz closed the door behind us with his ears pinned down. He let out a pent up breath and faced me.

“Forgot about that. Also forgot I had a cobbler make a hasty repair with hobnails. So that sucked,” Bazz said.

“Yeah, no kidding,” I said, turning to look at the hallway. “So I see six doors. Do we just open one?”

The hallway was less vast and grand than the main room of the temple. It was more of an office building like the town hall. There were some paintings on the walls of religious figures, serene scenes of a cute village or images of the mountains. Nothing to make your jaw drop, but something to fill the backdrop to show off. The wooden walls had fresh paint on it, and the bright colours reflected the candle light to give it a sunny brightness.

Each of the doors in the hallway had a sign over the door handle. Some were labelled as free, while others stated they were in session. Bazz and I walked towards the end of the hallway, grabbing one of the free doors at random and walking inside.

The room inside was pretty big, about the size of the nice bedroom we had rented last night. There was a fireplace with a small fire going, with a set of chairs, a couch and a tea table to relax at. There was a large soft mat people could sit or lay down on for meditation. Finally there was a bookshelf and a desk with three chairs, where a woman sat.

She had on long robes that covered her from the shoulders down, a shawl over it and a head wrap to cover most of her head, except her face. She had on silk gloves and read over a passage in a thick tome in her hands.

“Do you come for blessings, advice, or aid?” she asked in a smooth, calm, collected voice.

“Can you do devil banishing?” I asked, holding up my family sword.

The woman adjusted her glasses and looked up with a warm smile. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”

It was then I noticed something interesting about her.