by Pirateaba
“Which one’s the biggest?”
“First Landing. If you want to see our biggest city, you have to go all the way north until you reach the ocean.”
Garia jumps in. I suppose she wants to impress Fals. Or help me.
“There’s a famous dungeon up there, too. One of the magic ones that keeps spewing monsters and treasure.”
Magic dungeons? Like the Ruins? Or…magic? What difference does magic make? I guess I’ll find out.
“Okay, so let’s assume I take a request to go up there. How much would that pay? Are any available?”
Fals shakes his head at me. What have I said this time?
“Ryoka, if there were any requests from here, they’d be Courier-only. Besides, most people set their requests so one Runner takes it to a city along the way, and the next Runner takes it further and so on. You’re not going to find much work that way—”
Thump.
Fals breaks off and frowns. I turn my head, and Garia blink and points at one of the windows in the Guild.
“Hey, what’s that?”
Heads turn as something bumps against a window pane. I take one look and cover my eyes. Fals squints and looks at Garia.
“I can’t make it out. Is that—?”
“Frost Sprite!”
Half the Runners in the room groan or mutter. One of the Runners who was about to leave takes his hand off the door handle as the small, naked faerie* taps against the glass and leers into the room.
*Don’t get excited. There’s nothing to really look at, since the faeries don’t have any real features down there. Or maybe they’re just wearing skin-tight clothing? Either way, anyone who’d be interested in faeries is sick…or Gargamel. Mind you, I’d be rooting for him against the Frost Faeries.
“Oh no. Why is one of them interested in this place?”
“I’m not leaving if those things are hovering about. My request can wait.”
Garia stares at the window and exclaims as a second faerie joins the first.
“Look, there are more of them! It’s a swarm!”
Fals looks sick. He sighs and shakes his head.
“Worse luck. I don’t know if you have many of the sprites where you come from, Ryoka, but my advice is to stay clear of them if you don’t want another broken bone.”
Okay. Is it painful admission time or do I feign ignorance?
“I’ve…seen them before. They might be following me.”
Fals and Garia give me a look as if I’m crazy. But then Garia nods.
“That could be. Um, it might be because you…look different, Ryoka. The sprites like anything unusual.”
“Really?”
I guess Fals is only an expert on things that pertain to running. Garia nods though, and tries not to stammer as Fals and I stare at her.
“Um—well, as a child I liked them even if they did play awful pranks. Back of my farm—well, we had a dog that had a wonderfully black coat…but the fur around his head was white. He was interesting to look at, and every year the sprites would play tricks on him until they got bored. We had to lock him up in the house to keep him safe.”
She looks at me and blushes.
“Not that I think you’re like a dog, Ryoka. I just—”
“I get it.”
Great. The Frost Faeries are interested in the one girl with Asian heritage, and probably also because I can see or hear them. Wonderful.
I look back at the window. The faeries are still there, rubbing their butts on the windowpanes and freezing the glass solid. They’ve been a pain in my ass the entire run here, and I bet they’re planning on dumping snow on me the instant I walk outside.
They don’t listen to me, or even acknowledge my presence anymore, except as a target. Funny. I lost a lot of hair to those little freaks until I started shouting at them, but all they wanted was the attention. Not that I tried that hard to talk to them; I was hoping they’d leave.
No such luck. They’ve been following me for the last day. Apparently I’m amusing to them.
Little bastards.
“Did they bother you while you were running, Ryoka?”
“You could say that. Once they got bored of dropping snow on my head and started attacking travelers on the road.”
The fairies – or perhaps faeries depending on how you wanted to think of them – were chaos and mischief unleashed. They didn’t seem too antagonistic, but they caused trouble wherever they went.
Cart wheels broke, horses spooked and threw off their riders, and snowballs flew down like heat-seeking missiles on the hapless people going up and down the road. It was pretty amazing to see, in its own way. Less fun when the damn bugs tried to tag me, though.
“Snow Sprites.”
Fals shook his head and made a face. For once I’m right there with him. Is there any way I could get rid of them?
My knowledge of old fables and legends is rusty, but I can remember quite a lot. Trick memory. And I do remember stories about faeries. Not the cute ones from Peter Pan – although Tinkerbell was always a bit of a demon – but the really horrible ones about faeries spiriting children away and killing peasants.
What was it? Cold iron – horseshoes nailed over the doorways. And flowers. I remember stories about people hanging garlands around the necks of infants to keep them from being stolen.
Well, I don’t have any damn horseshoes, but it might be worth buying some. I also don’t need to worry about kids, but I’d better stay away from suspicious mounds* from now on.
*Those would be fairy mounds – mysterious hills of grass that supposedly lead to the land of the fae. I’m not sure about whether or not that legend’s true, but if faeries exist, I’d better not leave anything to chance.
Still. Faeries. They might be just as…well, frankly, just as horrible and annoying as the myths make them out to be, but there’s something about them. They’re faeries.
It’s not like looking at one of those Drakes or Gnolls. Those…people just scare the hell out of me if I’m honest. I don’t know how Erin can talk to them so easily. Even that Krshia looked like a bear with a longbow, and she wasn’t even the biggest Gnoll I saw.
And the Antinium are horrifying. I hate bugs. Always have, and these ones carry swords.
God. When I think of how lucky I was to arrive in a human city, it makes me wonder how Erin survived at all. If I saw a Drake first, I’d run for my life and never look back.
But faeries. Faeries are different. They’re magic. They’re – from our world.
If you can believe faeries are real, you could believe dragons exist too. You could believe…that you could be a wizard. That you could be a hero or learn to fly.
And they’re beautiful. Wondrous, enchanting…if they weren’t such a pain in my ass, literally, I might actually like them.
How else could I get rid of the faeries, or at least deter them? Magic? I know only one spell, and that’s [Light]. It takes a lot out of me just to cast that, as well.
I need to learn more magic. Probably from Ceria or Pisces, but I need to finish my business here first. So.
Garia’s still watching the Frost Faeries warily. She can’t see them like I can, or hear them laughing and plotting to attack a cow, but she still sees something. I cough, and she looks at me.
“Do you need help getting rid of them, Ryoka? I know some old tricks. A horseshoe or something made of iron helps deter them, although they’ll throw things at you from far away if you do.”
“They’ll get bored. But there is one thing I would like to know. Where is Lady Magnolia at right now? Still in her house in Celum?”
Fals eyes me oddly.
“I’m not going to take any requests away from you. I just need to see her.”
“No, it’s not that.”
Fals shakes his head. He looks rueful.
“Don’t you know? Lady Magnolia always travels north for the winter. She was only here for a few months in her holdings. But she’s gone back home.”
; …What?
“She’s in a large city far north of here. Invrisil, the city of adventurers.”
“Okay, so I’ll go there.”
Again, the look Fals gives me tells me I’ve made another mistake.
“That’s six hundred miles north of here. Even if you started now, I doubt you’d make it before the rest of the land is coated in ice.”
What? Wat? What?
“Six hundred miles?”
You’ve got to be joking. But no, no, the looks I’m getting from Garia tell me that Fals is not joking. Six hundred…I saw a map in one of the books I read, but I didn’t see the scale on it. Six hundred miles? Is this place really that big? And more importantly—
“How’d she get there in a week’s time? By horse?”
How far can you travel by horse in a day? No—since it’s her, how far can you travel by coach in a day?
“She travelled in a carriage. One of the fancy magical ones that the wealthy use. It can travel that distance in a day or two.”
“A magic coach?”
“One of the powerful ones. It doesn’t need horses; it creates them out of magic. Extremely quick, but I hear they have to replace mana stones or recharge the magic quite often. It’s not something that’ll ever replace us Runners.”
That’s not my real concern, although it is fascinating. Garia turns to Fals as he and she begin to talk about the competitive nature of running.
“Why don’t people on horses take our jobs? They’re faster, unless we get good skills. A horse can beat a low-level Runner any day of the week.”
Fals smiles at Garia and shakes his head.
“Until a Goblin spooks you out of the saddle, or your horse attracts a monster looking for a meal. Some Runners use them, but unless you’re a good rider and you want to spend half the time running next to the horse and waiting for it to rest, you might as well not bother.”
“Oh. Of course. I should have known.”
“Why should you? It’s a good question, right Ryoka?”
Fals grins at me, and I nod absently. Six hundred miles. I could make that journey. I’d have to buy supplies, or plan a route that allows me to stop in cities, but I could do it. It’s just—
Damn. I won’t be able to keep my promise to Erin. I said I’d be back in a week and there’s no way I’d make it there and back in that time.
Magnolia has more than one estate? Well of course she does. She’s rich. That only leaves my second option, and that one’s a hundred times more dangerous. I need to think things over.
“Sorry if that ruined your plans, Ryoka. We’re not too happy about it either, mind you. That’s a lot of good coin we’ll not see for another year.”
I look at Fals. He’s not such a bad guy. I still don’t quite like him, but at least I can hold a conversation. Because I’m changed? Because I met Erin, perhaps. Because I need to be at least at peace with most of the Runners to help Ceria and Erin.
“I guess I’ll hold off on that for the moment. I need to sleep. One last question for you, Fals. First Landing—that’s the north-most city, right? How far away is that?”
He shrugs and delivers the final bombshell of the day.
“First Landing is over three thousand miles north of here. Three thousand…three thousand and eight hundred miles? Closer to four thousand than not.”
My mind goes blank. Four thousand miles? Double that for the length of the continent. No—Celum isn’t even halfway down and the southern section is bigger than the north. How big is…
“I’ve always wanted to visit that city someday. Perhaps when I have a few years to spare and coin saved up I’ll make the trip.”
Garia says something then, but I don’t hear it. For a second, the scope of this world blows me away. The length. The distance involved. It’s…well it’s unimaginable. Because I know something about geography. I know how long South America is, for instance. And to imagine this—
I started laughing. Fals and Garia break off and stare at me. I laugh, and laugh out loud, ignoring the looks from the other Runners. When I finish, there’s only silence. Even the faeries are staring.
“She laughs like an evil thing, doesn’t she?”
“’Tis the sound of a coven of witches and Hekate herself!”
I don’t have an evil laugh. But I pat Fals on the shoulder anyways, to reassure him.
“Thanks. I needed that.”
I leave Fals behind, bemused. My business in the Guild is done and I’m too tired to run any further. I need to plan out my next step. Read that rulebook—think about magic and faeries and how to get to Magnolia. Learn more about this world.
Yes, that’s the real goal. I’ve been too withdrawn, too focused on petty things. My excuse is that I had my leg broken, and my life pretty much revolved around that for a while. But now…
Four thousand miles to First Landing. Over double that for the length of this continent. One among five.
Too big. Too vast for me to even imagine. That’s the world I’ve found myself in. For a while I thought it was too small, the people too petty. But that’s because I’m like one of those people who never venture more than a few miles outside of their city, or never leave their state.
I have not yet even begun to understand the scope of this world.
And that is good.
–-
“I thought this world was too much like…a place I came from.”
That’s how I explained my creepy laughter to Garia after we left the Guild. I mean, creepy according to her. And not really creepy—I’m sure she was exaggerating when she said that.
Unsettling, perhaps. Dramatic—yes. But I don’t have evil-laughter. No matter what those damn faeries say.
They’re overhead now, or racing through the streets, bothering other people. Not Garia and me. She’s got a horseshoe on her which seems to be working, or else the faeries have finally lost interest in me. Either one works, and it gives us more time to think.
“I just forgot how large this continent is.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
Garia looks blank, and I struggle to explain. How can I, without telling her of my world?
“It’s just that it means there’s still parts of the world not yet explored. Placese I’ve around her where no one’s ever stepped foot. A place this vast has secrets.”
“Of course.”
It’s as if I told her the world was round. Or…is it flat over here? Never mind. Garia’s used to a world that isn’t mapped out with satellites and Google cars, but I’m not. The idea that there’s something to explore, something to find that’s completely new is what burns through my veins.
“But do you really need money that bad, Ryoka? I thought—well, you said you had quite a bit saved up from that delivery you did in the High Passes.”
The delivery. Right.
“I—need more money. There are things I have to do. And for that I’d need better jobs.”
She shrugs her broad shoulders. If Garia had been born in my world, she could have been the first female boxer to claim a title in the men’s division.
“Well, running is a steady job, but I don’t know that you’ll earn a lot quickly. Not unless you’re a Courier, and Fals said…”
“I know.”
Apparently even I’m slow compared to a Courier. I wonder what she’s like? Or he. Or it? If one’s coming down this way, I’ll try to measure myself against them.
First things first.
“I’ve got a few more advantages that might help, but I’m not sure who to go to. Do you know this city well?”
“Pretty well. And I’d be happy to help.”
Garia grins at me, again proving that she’s a good person who doesn’t deserve a friend like me. If we are friends. Are we?
I reach behind me and open my Runner’s pack with one hand. Ever since I got it back from Rags, I’ve been extra-careful with the potion I received as payment. It shines orange and pink, glowing with both colors in the gr
ey sky.
“I need someone who can identify this potion. Know any [Alchemists] or mages around here?”
Garia stares at the potion in my hands, entranced.
