Without even a moment to collect herself, Rialta grabbed her wand from her waist and slashed it through the air. An invisible shockwave of energy spread forth beyond her, forcing the nearest three bandits to stumble in place, which momentarily kept them at bay. She took the fleeting opportunity to observe her surroundings.
Lorenza had already brought her horn up to her lips. She began to play, and to Rialta’s surprise, the sound of her horn was accompanied by a choir of voices, all of which seemed to sing as if from both everywhere and nowhere. Though she could not understand the language of these voices, she inexplicably knew that they sang of triumph, glory, and victory. A spark of determination swelled in Rialta’s soul when she heard the music; it occurred to her that perhaps it was having the opposite effect on their assailants, for a few of the bandits seemed to be distracted and unsettled by the sound of the horn. They stumbled as they charged, looking hesitant and confused.
Rialta turned back to her three opponents, all of whom had regained their footing and were moving toward her once more. She slashed her wand through the air again, and this time, the force of her spell lifted all three of the men off their feet and sent them hurtling backward.
With another moment’s reprieve, Rialta frantically looked about, assessing the fight. John was already plunged into the heat of battle. He was holding one bandit up by the neck with a single hand while whipping a well-aimed roundhouse kick into the face of another, who immediately collapsed into the ground. Rialta turned in the other direction to find that Remmy was running away from a pair of assailants, both of whom were waving large wooden clubs in the air as they chased him. For his part, Remmy let out a long, high-pitched scream as he desperately ran away.
In that moment, something rose in Rialta that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. It was not the simple, base feelings she normally associated with her magic; not mere anger, and not simple heat. Lorenza’s song reached a swelling crescendo, and an inferno of outrage and indignation flooded through Rialta’s body as she watched Remmy’s attackers.
“Fyorskreme!” Rialta screamed, and a blinding, twisting helix of blue fire burst forward from her wand. As the spell coalesced, a great screeching, discordant din echoed through the air. But the recoil from the spell was so powerful that Rialta was knocked off her feet. She tumbled backward, nearly losing hold of her wand when she hit the ground. She panted as she struggled to get back up to her feet. She desperately searched the area around her for her next foe, but from her vantage point the ground was a confused frenzy of scrabbling limbs. The air was filled with the chaos of undiscernible shouts. Her eyes widened in horror as she tried to make sense of the situation. Her pent-up anger discharged through her spell, she was left with nothing more than raw, blinding panic.
I need to get up. Need to get to my feet or else—
Before she could finish the thought, a massive weight crashed down on her, slamming her head into the ground and forcing her eyes shut. She forced her eyes open, and to her horror, a man’s face hovered inches away from her own. A bandit had pinned her to the ground, his face alight with a yellow-toothed smile of savage triumph. Rialta flailed and swiped at his face, refusing to submit to his attack. She did whatever she could to get him off her, but she was unable to use her wand in this position. The bandit was much heavier than she was, and she remained in his control. She felt the blow of a fist to her left cheek, and her vision blurred around the edges. She tasted blood in her mouth.
Her vision failing her, Rialta looked around her for anything or anyone that could help her. Her heart leapt as she caught the gaze of Nivin glancing back at her.
“Nivin!”
It was all she could manage to shout before the bandit tightened his grip around her neck. Nivin looked at Rialta for a fleeting moment—and then he turned on his heel, pelting off toward Harold.
Within seconds, Rialta’s reality became distant and detached. As she struggled to breathe, the chaotic sounds of the battle seemed to fade away and disappear in the depths of her consciousness. Her vision likewise faded to black, and she could no longer see the man who sat on top of her. She felt her arms go limp, and they thudded to the ground above her head. Everything was fading into nothingness.
But just before she succumbed to the darkness, something shoved the weight from her chest and pried the grip from her throat. Instantly and automatically, she sat upright, gasping in great breaths of life-giving air. Rialta crashed back into the present, her senses flooding back to her. She rolled over and propped herself up on her arms, her breath still coming in sharp, violent bursts. There was no time to recover properly—the fight was not over yet. She stood unsteadily, stumbled, then forced herself back upright. As she looked around the street, she saw that only a handful of combatants remained standing. Nearest to her was Nivin, who was now engaged in a sword duel with her would-be killer. She supposed he must have been the one who got the man off her.
Nivin clearly outmatched his opponent. He moved gracefully and with perfect form, his short swords flashing through the air as he closed in on the bandit. The bandit was slow and sloppy. He was just barely able to parry the majority of Nivin’s attacks, and he’d already suffered several cuts to his arms and torso.
Rialta did not get to see how that fight would have ended, however. John stormed into the middle of the duel as if from nowhere. Nivin and the bandit were apparently so surprised by John’s recklessness that they both stopped their attacks mid-swing, leaving room for John to stand between them. John picked the bandit up by his neck. The bandit panicked, and dropped his sword as he tried to claw away at John’s massive fist. Nivin simply stared in confused disbelief while John carried away his dueling partner.
The bandit’s legs flailed loosely in the air, but his struggles were futile against John’s superior might. “You. Are. Lucky. I. Don’t. End. You. Right. Now!” John said, and with each word, he slammed his right fist into the bandit’s face before tossing him to the ground in a limp, bloodied heap. He spat on the bandit in disgust, then spun around to find Rialta, who was still doing her best to regain her balance. She staggered around as she tried to walk toward him. John ran to her and picked her up under the arms, lifting her several feet into the air so that her eyes were even with his own.
“Rialta! Rialta! Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine!” Rialta replied in a hoarse voice, her consciousness now fully restored. “But John, look out!” She pointed to the only three bandits that remained on their feet. But she need not have warned him, for all three were standing stock-still across the street from her and John. None of them dared to attack.
John turned to look at the remaining bandits, and his face glowed red with rage. “Piss off!” he roared. The remaining bandits dropped their weapons and ran off toward the outskirts of the Chasm.
“Uh, John?” Rialta said.
“Yeah?” he said, still distracted by their remaining foes’ retreat.
“Do you—er—think you could put me down?” Rialta asked.
“Oh,” John said, apparently only just now realizing that he was still holding her up in the air. “Sorry,” he said. He gently placed her back on her feet. “You just had me—Well, I just wanted to make sure you were all right is all.”
“No worries,” Rialta said. “I think I am all right.”
“Are you both okay?” shouted Remmy as he made his way back to John and Rialta.
“Fine, Remmy, all fine. Just had a bit of a scare is all,” John said.
“Good lord, Rialta! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Lorenza said as she too walked to meet Rialta and John where they stood.
“Fine, I am fine,” Rialta said. She shook her head to clear her mind and looked around the street to gauge what had happened. Four of the bandits were stirring and getting to their feet. Three remaining bandits, Harold among them, all remained motionless on the ground. It appeared the battle was over.
“You!” John yelled as he caught sight of Nivin. John stormed forward a
nd, before Nivin had a chance to react, punched him squarely in the face. It was a testament to Nivin’s constitution that he was not instantly knocked out. He merely stumbled backward, clutching his face in his hands.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lorenza shouted as she looked at John in disbelief.
“This coward just left Rialta to die in the middle of that fight!” John shouted. “He looked right at her! There was a son of a bitch sitting right on top of her, choking her to within an inch of her life! And th-this Nivin of yours, he looked her square in the eyes before he ran away like a coward!”
“No, John, don’t you understand?” Rialta said, rubbing her throat. “He was going after that Harold person. He was still contributing to the fight.”
“How?” John asked, incensed. “By letting you die? We were fighting on the same side; we had a duty to each other. He should have helped save you before worrying about attacking anyone else.”
“But he just met us, John,” Rialta said softly. “He does not even know me. And in the end, he came back to save me, didn’t he? How can you expect him to prioritize me over…?”
“Over what?” John demanded.
“I—I think that—Well… And Nivin, I am sorry to say this, but I think that perhaps Nivin may have been… well, blinded by his desire to pursue that Harold person you were talking to.”
“What do you mean?” Lorenza chimed in as she approached Nivin to inspect his face where John had hit him.
“Well, that man’s name is Harold, isn’t it?” Rialta said. “I think it is possible that maybe in the heat of the moment, Nivin thought that man was this person we keep referring to as H. Is… is that right, Nivin?” Rialta asked.
Nivin continued to cradle his head in his hands. Blood was pouring from his nose and trickling down his chin. All the same, he nodded.
“But of course, that Harold person could not be H,” Rialta said. “It just doesn’t add up. If he never revealed himself to you in five years, and he claims to be a man capable of bringing us back home, he must be an incredibly powerful grandmaster mage. He would not be leading some roving gang of thieves. Nivin was just caught up in the moment. He was confused.”
“I don’t care what his motive was. His actions were disgraceful,” said John.
“All the same,” Rialta said, “we ought to—”
“Oh my god,” Remmy said, bringing a hand to his mouth as he looked out into the street.
“What?” Rialta asked.
Remmy did not respond. He merely pointed to the bandits on the ground. Rialta turned to look, and her eyes widened. Harold and the other two lifeless bandits, all of whom she now saw had been riddled with Nivin’s arrows, had not stirred since the fight had concluded.
“We… we killed them?” Rialta said, stunned.
“So what if we did?” John said coldly. “They were trying to kill us. Hell, they nearly finished you off, Rialta. If they were prepared to kill, they should have been prepared to die. And by the way, we didn’t kill anyone,” he continued. “Everyone you and I fought is still alive, just injured,” he said, indicating the remaining bandits, who were now on their feet and hobbling out of town. “It was only the ones Nivin turned into pincushions who ended up dead.”
Just then, the murmuring of a crowd returned to the street. The townsfolk were coming out of hiding, all of them looking about to see where the bandits had gone. Slowly, as they began to realize what had happened, a number of the Chasm’s residents began to cheer.
Rialta wanted desperately to feel some sense of jubilation, but none would come. The townspeople’s celebration rang hollow. No matter what John had said to justify it, she was troubled by the bandits’ deaths, and as she dwelled on the battle, a lingering feeling of dread and terror lingered with her. The memory of her attacker on top of her was seared into her mind. Nothing about the encounter made her feel good, whether the violence was justified or not.
“Come by the Pampered Quail for drinks on the house!” Amy said to Lorenza as she made her way through the crowd. “And you four, too!” she added, pointing to Remmy, Rialta, John, and Nivin. “Those bastards have been terrorizing my sister’s farm up north for ages! Good riddance to them!”
“Will do, Amy, will do!” Lorenza said. She turned and shot a glance at Rialta, then turned to face the crowd of people now swarming into the street. “And thank you, folks, thank you,” she said, acknowledging their applause. “But we all need a bit of space, okay? We were scuffed up a touch in that fight and we could just use a minute to ourselves to recoup.” At her words, the townspeople immediately made some space for her.
“Rialta, could you come here a moment?” Lorenza asked, moving aside and beckoning Rialta toward a little alley between two shops. Rialta nodded and hurried off to join her. When they were safely out of earshot of anyone nearby, Lorenza leaned in close to speak to Rialta in a hushed whisper. “Listen, I really wanted to be a bit more tactful about this, but I don’t see I have any other choice now.”
“What is it?” Rialta asked.
“I have an absurd favor to ask of you. And I know I have no right to even ask, but seeing Nivin just now—” She peered over Rialta’s shoulder, furrowing her brow and frowning as she watched Nivin quietly wipe the blood from his face with the sleeve of his shirt.
“What is the favor?” Rialta asked Lorenza.
Lorenza hesitated. “You’re truly hell-bent on doing what H says?”
“Yes,” Rialta said firmly. The battle with the bandits had strengthened her resolve. “I understand that there’s a very good chance that it will be pointless—that we’ll be stuck here regardless of what happens with H. But I know in my soul that I must try to get back home. If I do not, it does not matter whether I live to an old age. I would die with regret in my heart.”
“Then, if that’s the case, Rialta… could you persuade Remmy and John to let us come with you on your quest?”
“What?” Rialta said, taken aback. “Were you not just trying to convince me to abandon this quest and stay on Tyntala not twenty minutes ago?”
“I was, but like I said before, Nivin had an ulterior motive for striking up that conversation with you in the first place. He wanted to know whether H had contacted you… because he wants to go with you all in the hope that your quest will eventually lead him to H. But I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on you—I didn’t want to give you any additional motivation to go on H’s quest, no matter how slight it would have been. So I presented you with the option to stay here first, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t at least let you know you could have a decent life here before you went on such a dangerous series of missions for H.”
“But why does Nivin want to go after H so badly?” Rialta asked.
“Because Sera meant so much to him. He never admitted it to me, but he was in love with that girl, I know it. The day she died was the day he stopped speaking.”
Rialta looked back at Nivin. He caught her eye, then looked away.
“And H didn’t even try to provide us with closure,” Lorenza continued. “There were no more notes. No more communication at all. He just left us to stew in our poor Sera’s death without explanation or purpose. It just felt like she died in vain, you know? And he never got over it, Nivin. And now it’s like it’s all he lives for, to seek out H. To demand answers from him. To get the closure H denied us all those years ago.”
Rialta glanced back at John and Remmy, each of whom were being plied with coins, hotcakes, dried meats, and drinks. She was happy to see that both Remmy and John were cheered by the town’s collective expressions of goodwill.
“I don’t have a problem with the idea,” Rialta said tentatively. “Frankly, it seems like a good one. Five adventurers are better than three. But I can’t help but feel like John took a bit of offense—”
“I know, I know,” Lorenza said, shaking her head. “And frankly, I don’t begrudge him that punch. You were right. Nivin was blinded by his lust
for revenge, but that’s no excuse for leaving you alone like that.”
“Like I said, I do not blame him,” Rialta said.
“Regardless, I’ll be having a word with him,” Lorenza said. “He needs to understand that if y’all are gracious enough to let us tag along, he’ll need to prioritize your well-being above his own personal goals.”
Rialta nodded. “I will discuss it with them later today,” she said.
“I can’t thank you enough, Rialta,” Lorenza said.
“Think nothing of it,” Rialta replied. “But I think it might be best for us to go our separate ways, just for now. John needs a moment to cool off.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” Lorenza said. “Can I count on seeing you at the Pampered Quail later tonight? I for one intend to make good on Amy’s offer.”
“Absolutely,” Rialta said with a smile.
With that, Lorenza made her way back to Nivin, took him by the shoulder, and led him out of the crowd. Rialta watched them walk away until they had eventually disappeared down a corner at the opposite end of the street. She looked back to John and Remmy, and she was glad to see that the crowd which had previously been gathered there had since begun to dissipate.
“Rialta, check this stuff out!” Remmy said as she approached. “They gave us all kinds of snacks and food! And they also gave us another handful of those funny purple coins. If I’m not mistaken, we should have plenty of money to stay in the Pampered Quail for the next few days! Here’s your cut, by the way,” he said, holding out his fist.
“My cut?” Rialta asked, confused.
“Yeah, your cut of the rewards, of course,” Remmy said. “Go on, hold out your hand.”
Rialta did as Remmy instructed, and he dropped a hefty pile of coins into her hand. She took them and added them to her purse. “You split up the money they gave you so that I could have some?”
“Of course we did,” John said. “We all get an equal cut of the spoils. Actually, Remmy, give her a couple more of those blue coins. We ate all the hotcakes.”
A Quest for Chumps (Departed Dimensions Book 1) Page 11
