by Sean J Leith
“Knowledge is my trade, miss.”
Kayden got visibly flustered. She scratched both sides of her head. It had been a long day, and she was on her last limbs. Krogar looked at her as if he knew it and wanted to make it worse for a bit of fun.
Lira was confused. Why was he not being straight? She had to be patient, as the suspicious man across from them seemed to want to toy with them. “Well, Mister Krogar, we were wondering if you knew anything about the markings in town?”
Krogar exploded with a loud guffaw. “Mister Krogar! My, that’s a good one, dearie. I like you,” he said, barely stifling his laugh. “I wouldn’t know anything about markings since I’m not in front of them, but I might know if I had something to read.” It was hard to believe he hadn’t seen the markings themselves. It was clear he was playing a game with them, and Lira had to win.
She looked toward Vesper, who walked forward with his scribble-covered parchment and placed it on the dimly-lit counter. “Might this be of help, my friend?” Vesper said.
Krogar looked up to him with a sincere smile. “Thank you, my dear entertainer.”
How does he know Vesper’s history? Lira wondered. She supposed it was because he saw a show. Vesper had done quite a bit of traveling in his day, and Krogar did say information was his trade.
“Hmm—” Krogar scratched his scruffy beard. “My, I haven’t seen this language in a long while.”
Lira’s eyes widened, “You know it?” She was surprised, and relieved. Now they just needed him to tell them what it meant, if he felt like it.
Kayden laughed from her lean against the wall. “Wow, that shot in the dark worked out.”
“Especially because it’s dark in here.” Krogar looked at them with a side-smile, and everyone was bewildered. “Never mind.”
“Is this a game to you?” Kayden groaned.
“Kayden, be more respectful. He’s helping, right?” Lira said, returning her look to Krogar’s dark eyes.
“Oh, that depends. I don’t like my feelings being hurt. What’s wrong with having a little fun?” The shadow-faced man smiled widely and winked.
“Fine, fine, I’ll leave. I’m waiting outside.” Kayden grumbled and stormed out with a slam of the rickety door.
“Hmph. Well, remember not to put her in the corner,” Krogar laughed. “She’s a tad upset with me, what ever did I do?” he huffed with a grin. “Now, where were we?” His voice was sweet, but his words were convoluted. He seemed to enjoy irritating people—at least those easily frustrated.
“The markings?” Lira quipped. “Do you know what they say?” She watched Krogar’s expression. It was a curious, analyzing stare. It was also oddly intimidating. “Please, I’m concerned about the people in this town. My brother was among a group of prisoners moved here as well. We have to figure out what happened.”
Krogar leaned back with his large, puffy hands interlocked behind his head. “Well, you do seem like a nice bunch. Let me think for a moment.” He slowly turned to Magnus with a grin. “Say, I have a message from your grandfather, if you want it.”
Magnus’s red pupils quickly turned to glare at him. “What?” Magnus did not put much emotion into many of his words. Ever. So her ears definitely perked up in response. Everyone’s did.
“I know him. We talk here and there. Is it something you wish to hear in private? He did say you were a secretive man.”
Magnus walked forward. His eyes bore into him, analyzing every part of Krogar. He leaned on the counter, looming over him. “Yes, I will hear it afterward. Will you help us?”
Lira wondered why this was so significant. If it helped them get information, she was satisfied. Every moment counted toward potentially saving her townspeople.
“Yes, I think I will. I’m interested in you young folks,” Krogar said, eyes lingering on Lira. “It means, Miss Raelira, ‘The harbinger comes by the path of life.’” The name alone set her off-balance and confused the others. Knowledge. She never went by her full name.
“What does that mean?” Lira poised. What harbinger? What life?
“If I had to think, I’d say it was a summoning circle,” Vesper said. “Although, I have no experience with divine magic.”
Lira gasped at a sudden realization. “Oh no! You don’t think they’re—they can’t be hurting them to summon some monster? They can’t!” Lira couldn’t bear the thought.
Krogar raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Isn’t that a fascinating connection.” Krogar spoke with a light tone, almost as if he was impressed.
Domika gently placed a hand on Lira’s shoulder. “Lira, don’t worry. We’ll find them. We’ll figure out what’s happening.”
Lira leaned into the counter, causing Krogar to jump back for once. “Do you know anything else? Please, we must know!” she pleaded.
He paused for a moment, then spoke deeply. “I’m sorry, my dear, but I can’t help you any further than that. The rest is up to you.” He smiled again. “Now, out with you. My friend here asked for privacy.” He waved his hands at them, ushering them out of the dark room, toward the gathering storm outside. Lira obliged, as did the others. Domika needed to give her a little nudge to get her moving. As they left, Kayden was waiting.
“Good, finally. I thought you were all going to get conned by that weirdo.”
“Kayden, you don’t have to be mean. He helped eventually—and for free,” Lira jabbed. But what is he hiding? Lira felt he knew more than he’d said, or could add something else, but he refused to continue. Lira needed more information, more help, but she had nothing. It’s up to me. Maybe Calvin would help.
But she thought about it. There was an inkling in his voice, a twinge to his eye, and the double blink that told a tale. Lira had a plan.
“Yeah, well, he kept dancing around the point, and it bugged me. Say, where’s Mags?”
“Krogar said he had a message from his grandfather. I’m not sure what it was, but he wanted to hear it in private.”
Kayden dashed to the door and pressed her ear to the frame. “Damn it, I can only hear muffled mumbles. Mags seems furious.”
The mumbling went for a minute, and then stopped abruptly. Heavy footsteps approached the door. “Whoop!” Kayden yelped, jumping back.
The door slowly opened, and Magnus glanced over the four curious pairs of eyes looking at him. “Let us return so we can rest. We have another day of investigation tomorrow,” he said bluntly. His brow was furrowed and tight.
“You aren’t going to tell us what that was all about?” Kayden asked in a silvery voice.
“It is my business.” He frowned, clenching the black scabbard on his left hip.
Kayden huffed, crossing her arms. “Fine, I get it. Let’s go. I need a rest, and I need out of this damn rain. It’s getting heavy again.”
Lira wondered why he was so private about it. They knew nothing of his family, or his history. She hoped that eventually he would open up to them and wondered if he was ashamed of his past. He had been called a monster, given dirty looks from many they encountered on their past few missions. Some threatened him with a blade or violent means, but he was unfazed. Lira worried that he’d heard those words for many years of his life. She also worried that he felt he deserved it. In Deurbin, he admitted that he knew the normal state of Half-Devils, a race of men and women who killed, stole, and defiled the innocent.
Magnus was different. Of that, Lira felt was certain. But why?
But that didn’t matter now. With each step back home, one phrase repeated over and over.
The harbinger comes by the path of life.
Which life?
Chapter Thirty-three
Laced with Crimson
Lira Kaar
Running inside Lira’s home, they could finally rest and dry off. Domika went into Noren’s room to look around. Lira almost called out for her to stay out but relented. She couldn’t restrict her friends from their home—especially when they were here to help her save the one that used to live within.
“Wow,” Kayden said, as if she was speechless. “Check out all these clothes.” She looked through a plethora of linen and wool shirts and all other clothing articles.
Lira chuckled. “I wasn’t a liar when I said I was a clothier by profession, Kayden.”
“Your clothing is always so well-made, but I didn’t think you made this much.” She popped out of the racks, realizing she was still soaked. “Ah, sorry.”
While she was distracted by the clothes, Domika popped out of the room wearing a new, drier outfit. “Why aren’t you interested in that guy earlier, Lira? He seems nice.” She wiped at her damp, obsidian-black hair until the flame slowly returned to flicker over it once more. “A little strange, but nice.”
She just shrugged in response. “I don’t know. I just never felt any interest. Is that so odd?” It’s not like she wasn’t attracted to people. She eyed Domika once and again; she had a beautiful figure, and her hair was strangely attractive with the subtle flame flickering above it. There were a few men in town she thought to like, but they were arranged for.
Kayden stuck her head out of the clotheslines. “Nope. I know when I don’t like someone. I can smell it.” Magnus gave a nod of agreement. She took her soaked armor off quickly, wrung out her teal scarf, and wrapped it around her neck again. Even without her armor, she was cloaked full in linen.
“What, are you a dog now?” Domika said in a snarky tone.
Kayden glared in response. “Don’t test me.” She turned her head and raised her chin. “Call it ‘women’s intuition.’” Kayden wrapped herself in the blanket, put a towel around her hair, and walked into Lira’s old room.
Lira walked in behind her to make sure that Kayden didn’t make a mess. Lira may not have lived there anymore, but she was a little particular. She walked in and sat on her small, oak feather-cushioned sofa. Kayden pulled out elemental attunement and read quietly. Lira dropped into thought as the others got ready for sleep in the other room.
Kayden was always alert. She always judged each person she met very quickly and acted on it. Lira wished Kayden gave people more of a chance, but it couldn’t be helped. She had a mind of her own—especially with the magic her and Vesper practiced.
Each time they went to work it was a hilarious sight; Lira could barely stifle her laughter and could see why Kayden didn’t want anyone watching. She would scream at Vesper for making her do it, telling him to stop, but he only ever had one response: ‘Make me.’
Kayden confided in him more, now. She talked to him in camp and reveled in stories of his performances and magical teachings.
Lira felt her hair, still wet, and combed it into a ponytail. She reached into her bag, and took out the yellow scarf from weeks ago and examined the detail. She took more care with it than usual.
“What’s that?” Kayden asked, pointing to the scarf.
Uh oh. Embarrassing. “Ah, nothing. Just something I made.”
Kayden got up from the bed, meandered over to the couch beside Lira, and pulled her legs in. “You don’t wear scarves. Listen, princess. While I appreciate flattery, I don’t like being copied.” She gave Lira a joking nudge. After Lira gave an embarrassed, awkward laugh, Kayden said, “What? C’mon, it was a joke.”
Lira looked into Kayden’s eyes, which showed confusion more than anything. “Well, I, ah, kind of made it for—uh—you.” Lira held out the bright yellow scarf in her arms. “I thought I’d make you one. Because you’re important to me.” She wanted to give it to her ever since the night on the roof. Something changed between them—like they were sisters.
“Me?” Kayden stuttered. She covered her mouth as her eyes analyzed the scarf for a prolonged moment. Her hand shook as she grabbed the soft wool and felt it in her hand. “It’s lovely,” she stuttered. With a gentle grasp, she carefully accepted it. “The one I wear was given to me by my mom, before—” her voice dropped off. A tear crept from her eye, slowly dancing down her cheek like a fleeting memory.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t—” Lira felt horrible. Who am I, thinking I could replace her mother’s scarf? “I had no idea. I’ll take it back—I’ll make something else. I don’t want to replace something that important. I’m so sorry, I’m—”
“I’ll wear it,” Kayden said softly. She intertwined it with her mom’s thin teal scarf. She looked back to Lira with a different shine to her eye. Belonging. Appreciation. With a gentle smile, she said, “Thank you.”
Lira just shrugged. “It’s nothing.” It was only a scarf. She took a lot of care in making said scarf, and took a while to give it to her, and Kayden meant a lot to her, but…
Kayden’s smile spoke a different message. It’s everything.
As Kayden analyzed her new gift, Lira went to check on the others; Magnus sat on the floor by Domika, and both stared into the stone fireplace. Vesper was out like a torch, lying in Lira’s chair in the corner by the door. It seemed as though the pounding of rain put him right to sleep.
Looking back toward Kayden, she seemed lost in thought, touching the new scarf. “What’s on your mind?”
Kayden's face was blank. She glanced out the window. “When my parents died, I felt I didn’t have a home anymore.” Her grip on her shins tightened. She looked to the others, then back to Lira. “Maybe I have one, now.” Kayden stared at the door and frowned. “I don’t like that Calvin guy. He’s strange.”
“You don’t like a lot of people.” Lira sighed. “We’ve known each other for a long time. Just because someone is nice and insistent doesn’t mean I’m attracted to him like that.” Lira’s voice trailed off. Something about his double blink told her something was up, even though their meeting was brief. She could feel it.
“I could tell. You weren’t sending any hints. You shouldn’t go along with it. When you ask him out to dinner, he takes that as a chance.”
“I don’t want to be mean. Like I said, it’s not my responsibility since I’ve already declined his proposition. Also, he might know something about the disappearances.”
“Sometimes you have to be mean. They should ‘get it’, but some people just don’t. We could ask for info at his door, or at his work. You don’t have to ask him out to dinner,” Kayden said with a glare. “Just be careful, all right?” She bounded off the couch to the bed and lay down. “Damn, I’m tired. ‘Specially since we kept going after arriving. Listen, I’m gonna take this bed, if that’s all right,” Kayden said, rolling up in the blanket.
Lira crept out of her room and closed the door.
“Having some girl talk?” Domika asked. She was sitting in the chair by the fire, wearing a pair of bright yellow wool pants and a white linen shirt that outlined her womanly figure.
Lira walked over and sat beside Magnus in front of the fire. “Not necessarily. It’s my room, so I’m very particular about it.”
Domika just shrugged. “Letting her sleep in your bed? My, you’re brave. I’d be afraid of her cutting me in my sleep.”
“That isn’t very nice. I’m sleeping out here, anyways.” After a pause, she said, “Why are you two always at each other’s throats?”
She held up her hands. “I don’t like being accused of things. When my brother left home, they accused me of helping him get out, when I wished he’d never left,” she paused. “Kayden thinks I’m a bad person.” Domika looked to the floor and fidgeted with her feet. Her voice turned brittle, barely heard over the crackle of fire. “It’s not like I hate her. She just doesn’t understand where I’m coming from. I—” Her voice cut off as she stared into the soothing blaze. The flame’s light dimly danced across her face, accentuating her soft features. “She’s just frustrating. You know what I mean?”
“Some simply need time,” Magnus said quietly.
Domika sighed. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we all just need time,” she said brittly, gazing into the fire with a stony expression.
After a pause, Lira looked at Domika’s ringmail dress hanging over the chair, and her scythe leaned up against it. It was
a strange and exotic weapon to use. It simply seemed specialized. Her and Kayden seemed so different—but both fought with such passion. The fire and candles caused Domika’s bronze skin to glow; but it accentuated the marred sections of her back and arms that bore scars. Old ones. “Where did you learn to fight?” she asked.
“What?” Domika said, looking muddled.
“You don’t fight like most that I’ve seen. It’s like a dance—almost hypnotic. I think it’s a beautiful art.” Lira fumbled with her hands. “I’ve never really been able to fight.”
Domika chuckled. “Yeah, I saw Kayden trying to teach you a few things. It was pretty funny.” She looked over to Lira, noticing her gaze at the floor as she rubbed her arms. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be unkind. It’s good that you’re trying, and it’s good that she’s trying to teach you a few things.” Domika sighed. “I developed it myself. I learned to dance when I was young, growing up in Zenato City. It made me happy. Some told me my dancing was fiercer than others’—and through a few stumbles, I found a way of fighting that complemented my style.”
“Stumbles?” Lira asked.
Domika’s expression turned blank as she glanced at a long scar across her arm. “I’m sure Kayden told you how tough it is living out there. She isn’t wrong.”
“She did mention that. I never got the chance to travel or learn about the other cultures.” Lira bit her lip.
Domika shrugged. “You’ll learn about some of them, I’m sure. Some I hope you’ll never have to.” She rubbed her shoulders and looked toward the other bedroom. “I’m exhausted. I better hit the hay. Do you mind if I take the other room? Vesper is already out.” His loud snoring echoed through the entire house. Or town.
“I prefer the floor. I have my bedroll,” Magnus said. With how silent he was, she barely noticed his presence, despite his size.
Lira nodded with a smile. Domika went to the other room, briefly looking back before she gently closed the door.
Lira chuckled, staring at the fire as Magnus got his bedroll out with a strange silence. “Magnus, why do you prefer to be so quiet?”
