by Pirateaba
She smiled and sat with her friends. They ate and she leaned back. It was colder outside the city, where the wind could blow right at you. But the air felt fresher here, and the sun helped warm her through the layers of clothing she wore. There was no smell of poo that sometimes came with people living in a medieval city and using chamber pots. The scents of crowded living were gone, and there was just the empty smell of winter on the breeze.
It was a good day, and Erin was happy to be alive. She was in a good mood, although the Horns of Hammerad were decidedly less well-rested.
Ceria yawned as she finally stopped eating and stretched out. She rubbed at her back as Erin apologized for not bringing anything to drink.
“No worries. We can get water easily enough. We just need some mugs. I think we brought some with us…there they are. Now, some snow—”
“Allow me, Captain Ceria.”
“Oh, thanks, Ksmvr.”
The half-Elf let Ksmvr take the mugs, hop out of the wagon, and briskly fill them with freshly fallen snow. Erin watched appreciatively as Ceria handed Pisces half of the mugs. Both mages concentrated briefly, and in moments the snow was melting as they warmed the cups. Ceria handed the steaming mugs around and Erin passed one to Termin in the front.
“Careful, it’s hot.”
“Too hot. Springwalker, did you have to boil this water?”
“It beats drinking something nasty, Pisces. Warm isn’t good enough, even with fresh snow.”
Ceria bickered with Pisces as the two mages sipped from their drink. Erin declined her mug—she’d already drunk enough. She smiled again.
“That’s so cool you can do that. It’s so easy—what spell did you use?”
Pisces scratched one ear, looking pleased, haughty, and somewhat embarrassed for the genuine enthusiasm Erin had.
“No spell. It is hardly necessary—true, most magics require spells, but the most basic of cantrips require no spells to utilize. True, if we wanted to increase the heat emitted we would have to learn a spell, but any [Mage] with a basic understanding of the theorems of spellcastings could do the same.”
A somber silence followed Pisces’ pronouncement. Ceria rolled her eyes as everyone else deciphered his statement.
“Oh.”
That was all Erin said. She sat back as the others sipped at their drinks. After a moment, Erin felt moved to speak again.
“Did you sleep well? I can bring more blankets or pillows if you need it.”
“We’re fine, I think.”
Yvlon nodded and so did the others, although Pisces closed his mouth so suddenly Erin wondered if he had been about to ask for another pillow or three. The woman with perfect blonde hair, beautiful features, and metal fused into her arms stretched slowly, looking as if she had some back pains of her own.
“Too bad we couldn’t sleep in the inn.”
“I’ll say. A covered wagon is hardly appropriate for—”
Ceria kicked Pisces and he scowled and continued.
“—Adventurers of our caliber. Why we had to stay—”
This time Yvlon raised her foot and Pisces shut up. She glanced at Termin, but the wagon driver affected not to have heard Pisces’ comment.
“Just because we have a magic door that doesn’t mean we can waltz off whenever we feel like it, Pisces.”
“But if we remained in the inn, could we not—”
Ceria scowled at Pisces.
“We made a deal, Pisces. Sleeping in a bed in an inn over thirty miles away from here is not the same as staying with the wagon. If there’s an attack, every second counts. The same goes for the road. We have to stay with the wagon in case of trouble.”
“We could rotate a member of the group out to relax while the other three—”
“No.”
Ceria and Yvlon chorused as one. Ksmvr looked between the members of his group and nodded obediently along with them. Pisces sighed and threw up his hands. Erin had to smile—again—and Ceria grinned too. The half-Elf glanced at Erin sideways.
“Besides, there’s no inn to sleep in now. You moved the door, right, Erin?”
“It’s in Octavia’s shop now. Nowhere to sleep Pisces, unless you fancy sleeping under one of her tables.”
The [Necromancer] opened his mouth—probably to say that was more comfortable than sleeping in a wagon in the open—and closed it. Pisces could tell when arguing was pointless. Well, sometimes.
“And have more individuals approached you about requisitioning the door for their use? I hardly feel that a lone [Alchemist] can adequately protect such a valuable means of transport.”
“I think Octavia’s pretty good at it, actually. She’s started charging people who wait around in her shop. And you know her—if anyone comes in they’ll either buy half a dozen potions or have their face explode before they go.”
Everyone smiled at that. It turned out that Yvlon and Ceria knew of Octavia by reputation, although neither adventurer had bought directly from her. Yvlon drained her mug and tossed the rest over the side of the wagon.
“She’s probably better at selling potions than she is at making them. There’s no better watchdog you could ask for.”
“Really? I thought Octavia was a really good [Alchemist]. She’s one of three.”
“In a city like Celum? Erin, that’s a lot of [Alchemists]!”
Ceria laughed at her friend. She shook her head.
“Octavia’s good at making potions for cheap. And—I guess she can make some high quality ones, but she stints too much on her ingredients, or so I’ve heard. Then again, it’s expensive to be an [Alchemist].”
“She’s naturally thrifty. Too much so. But I’ve never heard of her making a defective potion—only overselling some to gullible people.”
That made Erin feel better. She nodded as she tugged a blanket over. She’d taken them from Miss Agnes’ inn after a bit of persuasion.
“Well, she tried to charge me a fee for putting the door there, but I talked her out of it. I think she sees how valuable it is.”
“And it will be safe in her shop?”
Ksmvr looked dubious, but Ceria snorted.
“Who’s going to steal a door, let alone one attached to the wall? Besides, that’s just the anchor point. The real artifact is here.”
She rapped a fist on the plain wooden door sitting in the wagon. Everyone else nodded, and Erin patted the door appreciatively.
“Ow! Hey, does this thing have splinters?”
“Not as of such. It’s too well enchanted to break. It’s a hundred times stronger than you are…so in the worst case scenario you could rip your flesh off on a rough patch of it.”
“Aw!”
The door. Erin’s door. She rubbed at the sore palm of her hand as she stared at it.
Yes, magic was a curious thing. Some spells seemed very mundane and just like things Erin had in her world, like Ceria’s trick with warming the mugs. But some things couldn’t be copied, and were just as amazing in this world as they would be in Erin’s.
Like the door. The magical, awesome, incredible, stupendous, phantasmagorical—
Erin frowned. Was phantasmagorical the right word? Anyways, the cool door. It was Erin’s now, and that was wonderful. It meant she could go anywhere with it, conveniently and easily. At least, in theory.
It was only the second day since the door’s incredible useful properties had been harnessed by Pisces and Ceria, but it was already the center of a minor power struggle in Celum. Of course, when Erin and the Horns of Hammerad had first stepped back through it into the Frenzied Hare in Celum, everyone had been dumbstruck. News of the artifact the Horns of Hammerad had recovered had spread like lighting.
You’d think everyone would be happy a magical teleportation-portal door had been created. But the first visitor Erin had received as she and the Horns of Hammerad were having a great dinner that very night in the inn had been a man, a wealthy [Trader] who told Erin he saw big possibilities in her door. He wanted to buy it f
or a hundred gold coins.
She refused. He upped it to two hundred, and then six hundred coins when she kept refusing. In the end he had to leave, disappointed. That was the start.
The next person to arrive was a rather more influential [Merchant] who told Erin he represented the Merchant’s Guild in the city. He offered her six thousand gold coins for the door immediately, and when she refused he tried to strike a deal with her.
The merchants and traders and indeed, shopkeepers and craftspeople of Celum wanted to use the door as, well, a door into Liscor. If it could be kept open they would reap huge profits that they would share with Erin, all assured her. But just as Erin was considering this, a Runner had come to her inn demanding to speak with her.
Fals, the nice Runner guy that Ryoka had told Erin about came with Garia to plead their case with Erin. They did not want her to let the merchants use the door for anything. After all, it would totally destroy the Runners Guild’s traffic between Celum and Liscor. The last thing Erin wanted was to put anyone out of work, but then the Mage’s Guild had come by to tell Erin that if she wanted to gain a monopoly on messages between Liscor and Celum, she had another thing coming. And then—
And then Erin had clocked one of the merchants and everyone had sort of backed up a bit. But the issue over the door was clear: it was a valuable object and everyone wanted to use it. So that night Erin had had to fend off multiple people wanting to talk to her, people she had never met before except for Garia and Fals.
Fals was nice, and the [Merchants] and envoy from the city’s council had been sickeningly fawning. The [Mage] was full of himself until he realized Pisces and Ceria might actually have more levels than him—plus they were Wistram graduates and he was not. Then he was so obsequious Erin wanted to throw up.
Relief had come from Pisces of all people. Undeterred by the argument, he’d managed to affix the anchoring spell or whatever it was to an actual door and harness the teleportation spell to create a portal rather than just transport people. Apparently it wasn’t that hard, or Pisces was just as smart as he said. According to Ceria, it was a bit of both.
But what Pisces had discovered was that powerful the door might be, but it drank more mana than a sponge. It could teleport someone back and forth many times, and even a group of people. But eventually it would run out, and when it did it would take a long time to recharge.
Not only that, but the amount of mana required to activate the spell was understandably high. Both Pisces and Ceria had tried to recharge the door and only managed to juice it up enough for the Horns of Hammerad to make a one-way trip to the wagon to guard it overnight. And they’d still had to use a few mana potions.
So what was the conclusion? Well, the Merchant’s Guild still wanted to use the door as a faster way of transport, the Runner’s Guild and Mage’s Guild were afraid Erin would bulk transport things like letters which didn’t have much mass and could be teleported easily, and Erin realized she didn’t trust Miss Agnes with the door in her inn.
So she’d told everyone to go away and put the door in Octavia’s shop. As for the rest…
“I promised Fals and Garia—Runner’s Guild—that I wouldn’t transport any letters or deliveries. Only personal stuff I’m using. I said the same thing to the Mage’s Guild so they’re happy. But the city council wanted to use my door for emergencies, they said.”
“The city council? Is Celum ruled by a council? I thought they were like Remendia and Ocre and had elected leaders.”
“Nope. Council. And guess who’s on it?”
“A lot of [Merchants] and guild leaders?”
Erin nodded miserably. Pisces snorted and Ceria rolled her eyes.
“So they want to use your door?”
“They want me to pay fees for using it. Or…I could let them use the door if they need it to, I dunno, transport supplies or do something really important. They’d be able to use it in case of emergencies, they said.”
Pisces looked as if he was ready to spit. He pursed his lips and sniffed before wiping his nose on his robe.
“Hah. If you agreed to that, then no doubt every day the city would face a crisis of unprecedented severity that required usage of the door.”
Erin nodded sadly. She had to be selfish or the door would be useless.
“I told them it’s mine and they can’t charge me because I’m not going through the gates.”
Yvlon’s eyebrows rose.
“Really? And what did they say?”
The [Innkeeper] fidgeted on the cart, avoiding anyone’s eyes.
“I uh, hinted that you, the Horns of Hammerad, would be really upset if they did. So they backed down.”
Silence. And then Ceria laughed.
“Hah!”
Pisces and Termin guffawed and Yvlon smiled. Ksmvr just looked around, confused.
“I do not understand the joke. Pisces, please explain it to me.”
Ceria shook her head, and Erin blinked as her hair caught the light. She was still beautiful, too much so for this world. Otherworldly.
“Well, that settles that. I guess the only thing you’ve got to worry about is it being stolen, although Pisces is right. Anyone with a brain will see that the door’s useless if they steal the anchor. People without a brain are the ones you should be worried about, though.”
Erin looked away as Ceria smiled at her.
“I don’t think that’s a problem. I talked with Wesle and the captain of the Watch and they told me they’d keep an eye on Octavia’ shop. Plus, no one likes to try and rob an [Alchemist] because all kinds of things can happen with all those potions lying around.”
Ceria nodded.
“That’s true. Good thing you’ve got a [Guardsman] for a friend. In Celum, I mean.”
“Excuse me, but I still do not understand the joke. Pisces, will you explain it to me?”
“Former [Guardsman], actually. He quit his job.”
“Really?”
Erin smiled as the Horns of Hammerad exclaimed.
“Yeah. He says he’s earning a ton more than he ever did as a [Guardsman] and he likes acting better. He wants to form a troupe—a group that goes from city to city to perform. They’re stuck in Celum now, but since I can go back whenever, I’ll teach them more plays and they’ll keep practicing.”
“That’s wonderful it sounds like you’ve really had an impact on the city, Erin.”
“Yeah! And with this door I’m gonna get a lot of customers when I get back. I have big plans—but you were saying it might be useful in other ways, right?”
“Comrade Pisces. I do not understand the j—”
“Shut up!”
Pisces shouted at Ksmvr. The Antinium fell silent for a second.
“If I am silent, will you explain the joke?”
He got along well with Pisces, in the sense that he was the only person who annoyed Pisces and not the other way around. Erin waited patiently, grinning as Pisces laboriously explained the joke to Ksmvr who had a weak grasp of humor at best.
“Ah. I see. This is more humor to raise morale. I will remember it. Thank you.”
Pisces somewhat huffily adjusted his position as he lounged on a few pillows.
“You’re welcome. Now, as I was saying, this door is useful. I have no idea if it has an upper range, but I suspect with a modicum of effort on my and Springwalker’s part we could form multiple anchoring points for usage.”
“What? You mean I could go to all kinds of cities?”
Erin was enthralled by the idea. But Pisces raised a cautionary hand.
“A few. Very few, I believe. Connecting to multiple points risks entanglement, and that could result in a tangled web of magic that could have any number of effects. I would hesitate to create more than four focal points. But I suggest that if you link the door to two more cities for very sporadic usage, you might consider giving one anchoring point to our group.”
“Really? Why?”
“Remember how Pisces said the door could be
used as an emergency getaway, Erin? Well, if he can make something easy to carry, we could use the door to get away if we’re ever in trouble, in a dungeon, say.”
Erin paused. She looked over at Ceria and her eye caught on the half-Elf’s skeletal hand. Erin couldn’t help it. She knew it was rude to stare, but sometimes she did stare at Ceria. Her hand, and her friend. Erin didn’t have many friends and she’d been overjoyed to see Ceria—and Pisces and Yvlon and Ksmvr again. When she thought of the dungeon, of Skinner—
“Of course I’ll let you have one. If it works. I mean, would it work for multiple people and if you’re far away or underground?”
Pisces sniffed all-importantly as eyes turned towards him.
“Of course there will be necessary experimentation. And yes, such a fallback would have limitations. But better to have it than not, agreed?”
Everyone nodded. Erin felt happy at the idea—not only could she go to more cities, she might be able to help her friends! But she’d have to be careful with the door, definitely. Maybe she could put it upstairs, so people didn’t use it by accident? Or—could she build a basement in the inn? Surely Klbkch could help her with that, right? She had the money to pay the Antinium now too.
And then it happened. Erin was sitting up in the wagon, about to ask Pisces whether the anchor stones would work if she’d exhausted the door’s power for the day, or whether she’d need to always keep a reserve—when she felt the world explode.
Erin had been in a fire drill, countless fire drills and earthquake drills in school. Even when she knew one was scheduled, she hated the moment of fear and panic that occurred when every single bell started ringing as loudly as possible. But that was only external sound, loud and frightening but only that. Bells in your head were a different matter.
It was as if every alarm clock, siren, fire alarm and noisemaker suddenly went off in Erin’s head at once. She doubled over, clutching her head and crying out in surprise and fear. Dimly, Erin heard Ceria and Termin doing the same.
“Miss Solstice? Erin, is something wrong? Are we in danger?”
Ksmvr was shaking Erin by the shoulder. She tried to explain, tried to speak past the terrible fear in her head.
