Talla is true to his word. He feeds me and Marika for free, and I spend a few minutes making myself seen. Customers seem thrilled, and some want me to eat with them, for some reason.
“I’m Ellie Dancer, and this is my favourite stall in the city,” I tell them when they ask. I’m not even lying.
Bellies full and hearts light we make our way to the Adventurer’s Guild, where something is going on. There’s a lot of people crowding the entrance, and a man is standing on a bench shouting something. I can’t make it out over the crowd’s commotion.
“That’s her!” someone shouts. The entire crowd turns and faces… me. I can’t even pretend they’re looking at Marika. Like a flood, the mass of people rushes me.
“Get behind me,” I growl, shoving Marika back. My claws are always out, and I take the stance that comes naturally to me. My hands are open and I’m ready for a fight, but then I realize these people don’t smell angry or afraid. They smell… thrilled and excited, like they’ve spotted a celebrity.
I’m surrounded. People are shouting at me, clutching at my bandolier. They’re after my potions? What the…?
“Back off!” I say with a little extra snarl. Most of them can’t even see my words, but enough of them can read that the group makes room. Plus, of course, there’s the whole angry troll thing I have going on. One slightly-built man tries to slip a potion from my bandolier; I slap his hand away and smell a little blood. That’s what you get, jerk.
“You’ve done it now, Ellie Troll.” It’s Marianna, and she’s dressed in her adventuring gear. For a moment I get nervous, but all I smell on her is amusement. How is she always so composed?
“Come forward, please. You! Come forward.” The man on the bench is waving. I point at my face: me? He nods.
The crowd parts. Marika is talking to the people in the crowd, and she’s doing a great job of calming them down. I decide I can leave her be and approach the man.
He steps down from the bench. On the ground he’s short, and not just compared to me. He looks up at me and shakes his head. “Damn. Why’d you have to go and get on the wrong side of the Interguild Judiciary?”
I shrug. “Racism, I guess. What’s going on?” I wave around me, where everyone who isn’t directly talking to Marika is staring at me with visible—snd smellable—anticipation.
“Best come inside. Your friend’s all right, by the way.”
Theo? Why wouldn’t he be? I glance at Marika, who nods. I’m clear to go in, it seems.
Inside the place is quiet, except for a few people chatting around tables and drinking something that smells like beer but sweeter. It only takes me a moment to spot Theo, who is seated with three other men. When he sees me, he makes a face. Is he mad at me?
The short man, who is wearing a simple outfit and an apron of leather, turns to face me. “So there I am, trying to do some paperwork, and I get interrupted by a group of first and second rankers claiming they fought an anomaly on the first stratum. Thing is, they don’t have so much as a scratch on them. Obviously they’re lying, but then they pull out this.”
The man produces… a rock. Well, it’s a big rock, and kind of pretty, with iridescent streaks that move in the light. About the size of my fist, I’d say. But yeah, a rock. “Ah,” I say, as if I know what he means.
“Yeah. A hobgoblin magic stone. So there’s something to their story. But there’s not a scratch on them, and that thing should have gone through them like… well, they shouldn’t be here.”
I shiver. It’s obvious what he means; Theo, dying? No. But also, I think I see where this is going.
“Let me guess. They drank a mysterious potion that healed all their wounds, and you think I’m the source of that potion.”
The man stared up at me. Way up, in his case. Then he held out a hand. “I’m Keyes. I run this branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.”
It took a moment to realize what he wanted, and I shook his hand. He tries his best to get all my fingers; he fails, but I appreciate the effort. “Ellie Dancer. Blessed by Jinx.” I decide to lay it all out.
“Heard that. It was mentioned in the blacklist message. Not the primary reason, more an aggravating factor. Not that most people give a damn; I sure don’t. What I want know is: did you get into the dungeon somehow and kill this hobgoblin, then pass it off as the work of some low-rankers?”
Huh? “What? No. I don’t even know how to get into the dungeon, and I don’t have a guild card.”
Keyes looks at my words, then up at me. “That a dwarf stone? Match the ring?” He points at my hand, where I’m wearing my official honorary dwarf membership on a finger.
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“Ye~es?” I’m not sure what he’s getting at. He’s well-informed, though.
“Answer me with a lie: what god blessed you?”
Well, I only know two gods offhand, so… “Verity.”
My voice actually says the name, but the writing appears red, proving I lied. In block letters the word ‘Jinx’ appears.
Keyes grins. “Good enough. So you didn’t go into the dungeon?”
“No.”
“Did you give these adventurers any kind of potions?”
“I gave Theo six potions. Four healing, one fury, one strength.” Ooh. Something’s starting to come together.
“Hmm. Do you have any more of those?”
I make a face, which probably comes across as aggressive given my troll nature. “Well, um. The alchemy guild—“
He holds up a hand. “Hang on. I want to be clear: I am not looking to cause you trouble. The opposite, actually. So, do you?”
I pull out a potent healing potion from my bandolier, as well as a potent strength potion. Then, with a quick thought, I create a potent fury potion and it falls into my hands. The three men sitting with Theo gasp. One of them whispers, “Gods above. You weren’t lying.”
“This one heals most injuries and regrows teeth and eyes. Probably fingers too, or bits of them at least. Not legs though. I tested. This one makes you stronger, but I’ve never actually tested it, so I don’t know how strong it makes you. And this one I’ve tested once. It makes you kind of go berserk.”
There’s a snort. One of the men, who looks a little like a monkey, shakes his head. “That’s for damn sure.”
I glare at him. “What?”
He raises his hands; I guess I’m still a little scary. “Never seen someone fight like that before. He tore the arm off that thing, with his bare hands.” The man’s voice drops to a whisper. “Thought he was gonna die. The hob had its claws up under his breastplate. His guts—“
“That’s enough,” says Keyes. Did he know I was feeling like throwing up? Theo was hurt that badly? I thank any available gods that Marika isn’t here.
“So what I’m hearing from these boys is that they ran into an outbreak and used your potions to pull through it. But there’s no potion on the alchemy lists that does what they claim yours did. Maybe a dungeon potion, but I’m pretty sure I just saw you create that one out of thin air. That’s a problem for me.”
Ugh. Of course it is. “I’m not selling them to anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not breaking any Guild rules.”
Keyes slaps the table. “Exactly! That’s your problem. You should be. Keeble tells me one of those potions closed a chest wound in Dale so big he could have put his arm through it. Roan came in with a breastplate crushed so deep his ribs had to have been driven through his lungs, and he’s breathing just fine! And Theo…” Keyes shakes his head.
“Um. Could you not tell Marika what happened to me?” Theo asks. He glances at me. I pointedly do not nod my head.
The last man, the one who Keyes indicated was Dale, stands up. “I’ve never seen the like. I came to when the fight was almost over, mind you. At that point Theo had the hobgoblin on the ground, one of its arms torn clean off. The thing had a handful of his guts in the other arm, but Theo didn’t care. He just grabbed its jaw in one hand and the back of its head in the other and…” Dale makes a twisting motion. “Damn thing’s head came off nice as you please. Then he falls over, and Keeble’s pouring that potion down his throat. Two minutes later he’s right as rain and we’re scavenging the stone from the hobgoblin.”
“Okay. First, no, I won’t tell Marika the details but if she asks I’m not gonna lie. Second, yeah, that sounds about right.” I think back to my fight with the ghost troll and how I kind of lost myself in what I thought was natural troll urges. But maybe it was even more than that. “When I used that potion it made me into kind of an animal.”
“Then his injuries are just… gone. He’s up here with a lot of bloody clothes, a magic stone he shouldn’t have, and an unbelievable story. But with you here, and you being unable to lie and all, I can get the truth without involving the temple of Verity or any other guilds.”
“Now I want to test something.” Keyes pulls out a knife. It’s big and sharp and businesslike, nothing fancy about it. A weapon, for sure. “You tell me just before your potion can’t heal this anymore.” Keyes waits for my nod, then starts cutting his arm.
Sweat bursts out of him instantly and his face pales, but he doesn’t slow. He draws a long cut down his forearm, then looks at me. I say nothing. He continues. All I can smell on him is determination. And, of course, blood.
“Ellie, stop him.” Theo sounds desperate. The other three are just watching.
“Keep going,” I say when Keyes looks at me. He wants to test me; so be it. Also, he still doesn’t smell afraid or worried in any way. I’m guessing he has a way to heal this even if my potions are a scam. Which they aren’t, of course.
There’s no way it doesn’t hurt, though. The damage he’s doing… I have to force myself not to stop him or turn away.
After almost a minute, I wave at him. “That’s about it.” I hoped I wasn’t wrong. If I was, he was never going to use that hand again. He grabs a handy rag to soak up the blood pouring on the table and floor. I make a note to take that into my pouch before I leave. Waste not, want not.
I hand Keyes a potent healing potion. He takes it and yanks the cork out with his teeth. A momentary flash of surprise crosses his face. “Smells a lot better than I expected.” He dumps it down his throat.
Instantly I see the familiar sight of flesh regrowing out of nowhere. Fingers straighten out and resume their function. Tendons stretch along bone and are covered in muscle that unfolds from itself. The last part to heal is the first cut he made, and Keyes watches, expressionless, as it seals itself up.
While that’s happening I grab the cloth and drop it in my pouch, then catch it when it gets spat out, clean. Well, no blood on it, anyway. I wouldn’t call a bar cloth clean, exactly. My mental inventory increases by enough human blood to enhance one potion. I wonder what happens if I make a potent potion and then use the blood as well. Extra-potent potion? Super potion?
“Damn.” Keyes seems to like that word. “That’s every bit as amazing as you said. Sorry for not believing you.” He nods to the four men. Then he moves his arms in a exaggerated way. “Fixed my shoulder too.”
I wish I had lips so I could press them together. “That’s cool and all, but what about it? Are you going to talk to the inter-guild-whatever to let me join up?”
Keyes laughs. “Gods above, no! What a waste that would be! No, we’re going to find a way around the whole thing.” He takes a seat and gestures for me to join him, then realizes I’m too big.
“Oh? How are you going to do that?” I set my hands on my hips and glare down at him.
Keyes looked into my eyes, and I saw cunning amusement there. “We’re going to make you a noble.”