by Pirateaba
Ishkr slipped and dropped his entire tray of empty dishes. They crashed to the ground inside the inn, scaring Erin half to death as she cooked up some food for dinner.
Brunkr’s eyes opened wide. He half-turned, and then pretended to scratch at one ear. Lyonette finished speaking. Her voice had been inaudible to anyone standing next to her, carried away just as swiftly by the wind. Now she stared at Brunkr’s back and cleared her throat. Trying to sound casual, she raised her voice.
“Brunkr, can you show me how to parry again? I think I’m doing it wrong.”
“Ah?”
He started, and then turned. His smile was about as fake as Lyonette’s. Mrsha was still staring.
“Of course. I will show you. Lyonette.”
He trudged across the snow to Lyonette as Erin rushed out of her kitchen, demanding to know if there was another one of Ilvriss’ spies. Ishkr reassured her nothing was wrong, Brunkr showed Lyonette how to hold her blade correctly, and Mrsha kept staring.
Above them a Frost Faerie cackled with glee and waited for Relc to drag Ryoka up the slope and into the inn. Destiny. Coincidence. Or perhaps just an act of kindness from a girl who happened to be a [Princess]. Who knew?
One thing was sure, though. Despite having lived in Liscor for over a month now, Lyonette still hadn’t learned how sensitive Gnoll ears could be.
—-
“And then I hit him! Pow! Hey Hawk, I didn’t know you knew Ryoka too! What, do all Runners know each other?”
“We’ve met before. I’m surprised you don’t remember Miss Ryoka, Relc. She once ran through the High Passes on a delivery.”
“Get out, really? I thought I remembered her, but you know Humans. They all look alike, am I right? Ah. Ahem.”
Relc was laughing in the common room. Somehow he’d dragged Ryoka up from the city—Erin was a bit fuzzy on the details, but apparently there had been a quick fight. He’d encountered Hawk the Rabbit-tribe Beastkin on the way and the Courier had stopped by for a drink with Ryoka.
Olesm was due later that evening, and Erin was busy. Ishkr was cleaning up plate fragments—he said he’d tripped, which was uncharacteristically clumsy of the Gnoll, and Lyonette and Brunkr were training outside with Mrsha.
On the whole of things, Erin could claim to be happy. Sure, the morning’s incident with Ryoka had been bad, but they’d made up and she was glad to see Brunkr was really getting along with Lyonette now. And best of all, she’d made another amazing invention!
It was the slime. Erin peered at it as she stared at the tiny hand-sized thing in the center of a saucepan. This slime was bright blue, with shades of yellow running through it. It was a healing potion slime.
“Drop it into a healing potion, wait, and hey presto! I knew it was possible!”
Erin crowed to herself softly as she spooned a bit of the slime up. She’d tested it on a cut and it had healed perfectly. Now she added a bit of water to the slime and saw it absorbed the liquid and grow, replacing the bit she’d taken with water.
“Hmm. Looks like you get diluted if I add just water. But if I feed you all the ingredients of your potion, you’ll probably just get bigger and more potion-y, right?”
She smiled at the slime. It didn’t respond. Erin moved the spoon towards it again. In line with Ryoka’s wishes, she’d kept the slime very small just in case it attacked someone. Her spoon penetrated the slime’s side and it suddenly scooted away from the spoon.
“Huh? Hey! Get back here, I need part of you!”
Erin chased the slime around the saucepan with her spoon. She eventually cornered the slime against one side with another spoon and prepared to take part of it. But Erin hesitated when she noticed something. Or rather, something the slime was doing.
It was shaking. The blob of colored liquid pressed itself against the wall of the saucepan. When Erin moved her spoon towards it, it trembled harder. When she took it away, the slice shook less.
But it did shake. It was like jelly. Only, jelly couldn’t squeeze itself so finely against the metal walls of its cage and quiver. Jelly couldn’t be afraid.
“Oh no. Hey little guy. I’m not going to take all of you. I want to take—just a bit, see? You’ll get it back. I’ll feed you!”
Erin reached out with one hand, putting the spoon down. The slime reacted violently to her fingers, flowing away and around them. It quivered as Erin reached out towards it. The healing slime shook like a leaf.
“What? I’m not scary. It’s just my hand, see?”
The girl reached out and the slime froze. It was such a—a universal reaction that Erin froze too. And she understood something, in that moment as the slime slowly backed away from her fingertips.
“Slimes can think. Oh. Oh no.”
There was no other way to see it. Erin knew fear. She could see it in the blob that ran from her touch. She could see it. The slime had no face to show her, no body parts, no voice. But it could not be anything but afraid.
And then Erin realized that it was the same slime, the same core that she’d taken out of the water slime this morning. She wondered if it remembered. And then she looked at the slime as it tried to hide from her and knew it did.
“Oh no no no…but Typhenous said they don’t feel pain!”
He said that. Erin recalled him saying that. But—but if a slime couldn’t feel pain, couldn’t it still feel loss? What would it be like if someone scooped out part of your body, even if it didn’t hurt? Erin reached out and the slime would have screamed if it had a voice. She felt sure of that.
“Oh.”
And in the end, Ryoka was right. It was Toren all over again. Only this time, Erin could see it. She looked at the slime and wondered what it would be like, to live all your life in a cage and have someone feed you and consume you for…for however long you lived.
“I can’t do that. Can I?”
Erin whispered as her inn began to fill up. The Gold-rank adventurers and her regular guests were returning. She heard Olesm’s eager voice, asking about her.
It took Erin only a moment to decide. She grabbed the saucepan, splashed water in it, tossed a handful of garlic in, some oil—the slime bulged, growing distorted, losing the properties of its healing potion. It was now filling the saucepan.
Erin went over to the window and unlatched it. A cold wind blew in, making her shiver. The slime didn’t shiver. It only shook when Erin reached for it.
“Erin?”
That was Octavia’s voice. She was coming closer, and now Erin could hear Typhenous.
“Wonderful news, Miss Solstice! I have the lodestones I ordered. Have you finished your experiments with the slime from this morning?”
There was no time. Erin hesitated, and then poured it out of the window. The slime dropped into the snow and she saw it vanish into the deep drift outside her window.
“Erin?”
Typhenous and Octavia walked into the kitchen, looking excited. Octavia glanced around.
“Where’s that slime? Did the healing potion work like you thought?”
Erin gave Octavia a blank look. Then her eyes widened.
“Oh yeah! The slime! It didn’t work guys. Sorry.”
“No. Really?”
The [Mage] and [Alchemist] looked crestfallen. Erin nodded slowly.
“Yeah, it was sucky. The slime grew from the healing potion, you know? But when I tried using a bit of it…no go.”
“Perhaps it’s the magical effect that dissipates. It cannot be part of living creature…of course. I should have predicted that.”
Typhenous groaned, shaking his head. Octavia nodded and looked around.
“Maybe we can try again. Hey Erin, where’s the slime?”
“The slime? It’s right here of c—”
Erin went over to a pot and opened the lid. The [Mage] and [Alchemist] saw her freeze and look up slowly. She gave them a weak smile that fooled neither of them, and in doing so, fooled both of them.
“Oops. Where’d it go?”
/> Typhenous and Octavia stared askance at Erin. She put on her best bemused look and shrugged her shoulders. And she made sure that everyone heard the story later that night. Healing slimes were impossible to make, as it turned out. Of course.
Only an idiot would try to make one.
—-
Nearly there. Nearly time. A bit of sausage fell into Typhenous’ beard. He didn’t notice. He was speaking to the other adventurers sitting around him, looking frustrated.
“At least I have my delivery of lodestones. That will allow us to produce something of worth tonight.”
“You can make the door? Really?”
Erin looked excited. Typhenous smiled and nodded.
“It will be a simple matter to attune the stones. I’ve already done one.”
He flicked his fingers at a red stone carved with a glowing symbol. Its twin sat next to it.
“The real challenge will be delivering each stone to its destination and affixing it in a proper place. Merely getting the stone to its intended destination will take some time…I suspect you may have to hire a City Runner to send it, although finding a suitable location will also be important. I would suggest hiring Miss Ryoka in that regard.”
“Ryoka? Sure!”
Erin glanced over at Ryoka. The Runner girl had recovered enough and was now drinking with Relc and Hawk. She frowned.
“But where should the stones go, in that case? You said it’s hard to have a lot of destinations—”
“Exponentially difficult. Too much interference. However, that should not be a great issue if you limit your door to three or four set anchors.”
“Okay, assuming we leave an emergency stone with you guys…and I want Celum, obviously…where should the other ones go?”
The old [Mage] coughed delicately.
“Might I suggest a door to Invrisil first? I should quite like to return there at my leisure, and I am sure many would pay well for such a service.”
Octavia nodded, looking eager.
“Not to mention how lucrative it would be for me—I mean, for everyone to sell their goods in Invrisil. They haven’t seen my matches yet, and I don’t want to miss out on sales before everyone copies my recipe!”
“Hah! Invrisil?”
Someone had heard them. The adventurers looked over and saw Relc waving a half-full mug at him. He scowled at the Humans. Revi scowled at him.
“Something wrong with Invrisil? It’s one of the biggest cities on the continent, you know!”
“Not as big as a Walled City! Why’s Erin got to put her fancy magic door to one of your cities first, huh? She’s already got Celum—give our cities a chance!”
“Yeah!”
Olesm, sitting at a table and playing chess with Pawn, raised his voice. He called out to Erin, waving a sheaf of papers.
“I know several [Tacticians] in Pallass—why not put your door in the Walled City? Drakes would love a chance to bypass the Blood Fields, the Walled Cities are far better than any Human city—not that I mean to offend anyone.”
“Offense taken!”
Revi sat up at her table and scowled at Olesm.
“Invrisil’s obviously the better choice. You Drakes might think your home is all that, but—”
“Hah! Drakes rule, Humans…Humans drool!”
Relc was clearly drunk. However, his comment elicited a roar of approval from every Drake in the room. Olesm gave a thumbs-up to Relc, and the Drake returned the gesture. It was very Human and very, very odd since Drake claws were a lot scarier than Human thumbs.
Before Erin knew it, an argument had erupted in her inn over which city was better. Helplessly, she turned to ask for Ryoka’s opinion and found herself face-to-face with Zel Shivertail.
“I couldn’t help hearing what the argument was about, Miss Erin.”
The [General] leaned over her table, speaking quietly as Relc threw a mug and brained Typhenous. The mage threw a mug back and soon a fight had broken out—in the form of arm wrestling. Somehow it was now about which species was strong and Ulrien was already squaring up against Relc, to the cheers of their audience.
“Oh? You want me to put my door in Pallass, right Zel?”
Erin felt awkward speaking with Zel, mainly because she thought he still disapproved of her. But Zel just nodded. He didn’t smile, rather, he frowned and looked a bit concerned.
“I wouldn’t ask normally—I can live without going home and prefer it that way. But I’ve been speaking with a friend—a fellow [General], actually, and I’ve fallen out of touch these last few days. I’d love a chance for some news, and there’s a bit of a situation among the Drakes…could I sway your opinion a bit?”
The door to Celum burst open. Erin saw Garia rush into the room, waving her arms, as Relc beat Ulrien to a roar of amazement from the crowd.
“Hah! Take…take that! I win!”
The Drake shakily stood back and crowed before Ulrien shook his hand, taking the wind out of Relc’s victory. She caught a bit of what Garia was telling Ryoka excitedly.
“I’m a [Martial Artist]! Can you believe it? I got this Skill—[Basic Footwork].”
Relc had spotted Garia. He eyed the large girl and shouted at her.
“Ooh! Nice muscles! Hey, Human girl! Want to arm wrestle? I bet you can beat Miss Ryoka here, and probably Hawk, too!”
It was all chaos. It always was with Relc. But seeing him here made Erin smile. She looked at Zel and made a spur-of-the-moment decision. It wasn’t hard, and it didn’t matter much, right? There were lodestones to go around.
Ivolethe watched as destiny changed.
“Sure! Why not? I think Ryoka doesn’t want to go down there, but Hawk’s a Courier, right? Maybe I can get a discount if I promise to feed him or something!”
Zel coughed delicately.
“A discount for a Courier is still quite a lot of money. I’m prepared to pay whatever price he asks if he’ll do the delivery?”
“What? You will? In that case, I’ll totally do it! Hey Hawk! Stop arm-wrestling and come over here!”
The Rabbit-man walked over, massaging an arm.
“Those Human girls are strong. This is why [Farmers] make such great [Warriors]…what can I do for you, Erin? And—General Shivertail?”
He hadn’t spotted Zel up until now. But when introductions were over, Hawk nodded amiably.
“I can do that. Why not? General Shivertail’s a hero in Liscor, and if I don’t have to run all the way back…yes, I’m quite willing to do that. I can set out tonight and have the delivery done by the end of tomorrow.”
“Really? Tonight?”
“Hey, a job’s a job, and if it means opening up a door to Pallass that everyone can use from now on…you do know how important this could be, right? You could earn a fortune. Plus, do you know how many hot Drake ladies there are in the Walled Cites? I uh—forget you heard that last bit.”
—-
The Horns of Hammerad were not part of the arm-wrestling competition. They sat in a corner of the inn, arguing over some pieces of paper. Ceria was snapping at Pisces.
“I know you wanted a Gold-rank contract on some lucrative monster, Pisces. It’s not happening! We haven’t gotten certified yet—the decision will take a while, and we need practice.”
“So we lower ourselves to the most common bidder in the meantime? That hardly seems like a productive use of my talents.”
“Shut it. I think we should hunt the wolves. It’s good training and we’ll earn—”
“Pittance?”
“…Yeah. But it’ll be a contract, and we need to practice fighting something. I’m not suggesting we try a Rock Crab first thing, or go into the dungeon. Are you?”
“I made no such intimations. However, I simply think that wolves are below our…”
Yvlon Byres sat at the table next to Ksmvr and watched her teammates argue. She was depressed, a mood which had nothing to do with the day’s events and all to do with her situation in life.
She wa
s—had been—a [Warrior]. A Level 22 [Warrior]; very respectable and a worthy Silver-rank adventurer in her own right. Her team, the Silver Spears, had been relatively well known in the local area and respected as a competent force. But her fortunes had changed. Yvlon had lost everything, gained everything, and she was now…different.
She’s lost her friends, her team, and part of her body. She’s gained a new team, and magical items that would make her a Gold-rank adventurer. And something else. A new class.
“Yvlon? What do you think?”
The woman started. She looked at the others and smiled guiltily.
“How about Esthelm?”
“Esthelm?”
They stared at her. Yvlon shrugged.
“It’s close by, although we might need horses for quicker travel. But I doubt they’ve got too many adventurers and they’re sure to need help.”
“A few contracts around that city? Potentially lucrative. I concur with your thinking, in broad terms, Miss Byres.”
Pisces rubbed at his chin, looking intrigued and Ceria pounced on the idea. Ksmvr sat, nodding occasionally and Yvlon sank back into her seat.
Everyone was getting stronger. Ceria was about to learn her new spell, Pisces was…better, and Ksmvr claimed that he thought his fourth arm was growing again. It was all going well. Except…
Yvlon closed her eyes. She had leveled up. Gained a new class. Only it wasn’t the one she’d always dreamed of. Instead—
She was Yvlon Byres. A Level 26 [Wounded Warrior].
No one knew. Yvlon hadn’t had the courage to tell anyone, yet. How could she? It hurt too much. She was never going to be a [Knight]. She had no idea what she would become. Her brother—she’d never be his equal now. And she was never going home. Never.
The Rabbit-man named Hawk left the inn an hour after the Horns of Hammerad finished deciding to take a few contracts in Esthelm for the time being. Yvlon had seen him, blurring through the snow at lightning speed. She envied his abilities.
Now she and the others were eating some fried eel, and trying to explain to Ksmvr what an eel was. They were laughing, and Yvlon felt that she had to tell them about her class. Now. Perhaps they could help? Even if not, they deserved to know. She opened her mouth, and someone burst through the door. A Human adventurer panted and shouted for everyone’s attention.
