“A couple of wyrllcats attacked the inn where we met—this was in a town much smaller than Houk, by the way. Mogworrl, down south. Anyway, so the wyrllcats attacked, and I helped a wandering adventurer put them down. That man was my future husband.”
“That’s a really nice story,” said Mazik. “How about him? How did he get into it?”
“Oh, him?” she said, shifting her mace into a more comfortable position. “His family is big in the guild. His grandfather was one of the original members, and there’s always been at least one of them in the guild ever since. Of us, rather.”
“Ah,” said Mazik.
Neither of them spoke for a time, their breaths curling upward as the woman coughed into the soft underbelly of her glove. Then:
“How about the others?” asked Mazik. “Your other guildmates, I mean.”
“That depends. You looking to join our guild?” asked the woman, not turning to face him.
“Nope. Just curious.”
Now the woman did turn to look at him. “What’s your name?”
Mazik briefly considered giving her a fake name, but decided against it. “Kil’Raeus.”
“You can call me Ada. Well, Kil’Raeus, who doesn’t want to become an adventurer, there are a few ways. Some people get in because they know people, like my husband and myself.”
“Yeah, got that one,” said Mazik, who didn’t know anyone.
“Others excelled in college. The top graduates from the best schools, as long as they’re not too bookish and docile, always stand a good chance of getting in.”
“Makes sense. They worked hard for it,” said Mazik, who had been an average student in a not terribly respected school.
“Quite a number were from rival guilds, or guilds from other cities. Even have a couple from the West, though they’re pretty rare.”
“I should think so,” said Mazik, who had never been in another guild, and came from here.
“Veterans always stand a good chance too, especially if they volunteered and distinguished themselves. If you can fight in the kinds of wars this country gets into and not get killed, that shows you’re solid.”
“Makes sense,” said Mazik, who was conscripted for the minimum time required, and was never involved in any major battles.
“And…” Ada trailed off, trying to think of others. She shrugged. “Stuff like that. Mostly we just look for whatever shows us that someone is powerful enough to keep up and that they won’t choke under pressure. There are a lot of people who want to get in, after all.”
“There’s no real substitute for experience, eh?” said Mazik, his voice carefully neutral. He felt like he shouldn’t move too much, lest his true intentions slosh out of the top of his head.
“Right,” said Ada. She snapped her fingers. “But hey, you’re not interested in joining, are you?”
“That’s right.”
“Despite the fact that you’re a caster, you carry a sword, and you’re outside an adventurer guildhall late at night looking wistful.”
“I’m a salesman. Weapons,” said Mazik, tapping the product case by his feet. “By the way, could I interest you in something? Perhaps a knife, in case you lose your mace?”
“No thanks,” said Ada. “I’m a barrier fighter. This is just in case anyone gets too close.”
“Fair enough.”
“Glad you understand,” said Ada. She slapped her hands on her knees and pushed herself to her feet. “Welp, Raeus—do you mind if I call you that?”
“Go ahead,” said Mazik, still not moving.
“Okay. Well then Raeus, I think it’s time for me to go. I enjoyed speaking with you. If you ever have other questions, feel free to come by and ask. I’m always happy to help.”
“Then, perhaps just one more question,” ventured Mazik.
Ada stopped in mid-stride and turned back. “Hmm?”
“Are there any independents? People who were freelance adventurers before they joined?”
Ada chuckled, the rasp of her allergies running across her vocal cords like a cheese grater in a busy pizza kitchen. One cough, and then she stopped.
“Not many. We guild adventurers don’t much like people who do quests we could have been doing. At least, not the kind of quests that are worth doing.”
“But there are some,” said Mazik. There was no hope in his voice, just the same even tone. The hope was all in his words.
“Oh, yes,” said Ada, nodding. “There are some.”
“And the quests? What kind of quests did they do to prove themselves?”
Ada smiled softly. “Some damned impressive ones.”
A long second passed.
“All right. Cool.” Mazik stood up and bowed. “Thank you for answering my questions.”
“No problem,” said Ada.
“Oh, and if you ever need a new weapon…”
Ada looked at the card Mazik was holding out. She shook her head, smiling. “Salesmen. You never stop trying to make a sale, do you?” she said as she took the card.
“Nope. You can never stop, not if you want to eat tonight.”
“Good advice. Remember that if you ever change your mind about becoming an adventurer.” Ada waved as she turned the corner and disappeared into the sleepy guildhall. “Bye.”
Mazik picked up his product case and quietly walked away.
*
Many blocks away, a young woman in a blue dress walked down an empty street alone. It was a wet and chilly this close to the river, a thin mist dampening her long blonde hair and making her normally plain and conservative dress stick to her body in ways that were anything but. She was not, as was often the case in these situations, a “lady of the night.” She was just a lady in the night, and any mistakes on this matter would have lead to much chagrin for both parties, and possibly an injured shin or two.
Clutching her purse to her chest like it was an overstuffed security blanket, the young woman peered into every shadow as her strappy sandals splashed through the damp sidewalks. She was well aware of how late it was, and of how unwise it was to be out at such a time, but she couldn’t help it. Or rather, she wouldn’t—she was heading home after being out with her friends, and though she had left later than she intended, she couldn’t bring herself to ask to stay the night out of a childish fear of the dark.
Even though she was afraid. Very much so.
The young woman glanced nervously around her as she hurried home. In her mind’s eye, every shadow held a murderer, every sound was the drawing of a knife, and every strange shape cast by the flickering lamplight transformed into a man lunging at her, intent on taking her life. She tried to silence her traitorous imagination, to no avail.
A black shape dropped on her from above. The young woman opened her mouth to scream, but hands clamped over her mouth, and she was thrust against her unyielding assailant.
From the alley ahead, three shapes covered from head to toe in thick black robes materialized. They hurried toward the young woman, ropes appearing from the depths of their long sleeves. One had a knife, a curved and wicked dagger that spoke of painful death. The woman struggled harder.
It was no use. Something splashed on her arm, and a cloth was forced over her mouth and nose. She tried to avoid breathing in, but the arm around her squeezed. She gasped. The sweet, cloying smell of rotting flowers worked its way into her skull, causing it to swim.
The young woman’s consciousness faded away just as the last of the robed figures reached her, a burlap sack opening wide to receive her….
A block away, a young boy watched everything from behind a pair of trash cans. He wanted to help the woman in blue, wanted to save her even as she was stuffed into the burlap sack, but he couldn’t—a boy of ten stood no chance against a gang of deadly cultists, or whatever they were.
So he did the next best thing. He ran.
The boy turned on his heels and ran, going from zero to everything he had in less than a second. He could do nothing to save the woman, but a
t least he could make sure someone knew what had happened to her, and what kind of people took her. As his legs pounded on the cobblestones and tears of abject terror ran down his cheeks, he prayed that would be enough.
*
The change was remarkable. For weeks, Mazik had always looked beaten when he entered The Joker, his days having humbled him as only a mind-numbing job can.
Now, he radiated confidence and life. No longer was his head bowed, his lips twitching as he grumbled about his day. Now he held his head high as he marched across the bar, straight toward an unsuspecting Raedren.
Mazik slapped a hand on the bar, making Raedren jump. As beer dribbled down his beard, Raedren turned to his friend. “Is something wrong?”
“Rae, we need to talk,” said Mazik.
“Erh … okay?” Raedren squeezed the liquid out of his beard. “About what?”
“Probably better if we get a table. Where’s Gavi?”
“She’s in the back,” said Tielyr from where he was filling a line of drinks.
“Great, I’ll go get her,” said Mazik.
“Wait wait wait!” said Derana, hustling over and clutching Mazik’s arm. He looked down at her quizzically.
“I’ll go get her, all right?” said Derana with a nervous laugh.
“That’ll work,” said Mazik. He grabbed the beer Tielyr slid toward him, downed a third of it, and waved at Raedren. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Raedren looked at the Derana and Tielyr as he stood. They shrugged. No one knew what to make of this, including the other regulars who were shamelessly eavesdropping from nearby.
Mazik selected a table and they sat.
When Gavi came out a few minutes later, she was treated to a strange sight. She wasn’t sure she had ever seen Mazik and Raedren act awkwardly around one another, but here it was—Raedren was fidgeting, his eyes moving around the room as he tried to find something to occupy his attention, while Mazik sat staring at the table, his eyes unfocused as his lips moved in rehearsal for something only he knew.
“What’s going on?” asked Gavi.
“Can you take a break? I want to run something past the two of you,” said Mazik.
Gavi looked around the bar. It wasn’t crowded, and Derana was nodding to her, but…
“You know, I can’t always take off just because you want me to,” said Gavi as she sat down and tossed her apron onto the free seat across from her. “All right, what’s up?”
It’s often thought that pivotal moments should be suitably dramatic, but they rarely are. Life just doesn’t have the finely tuned sense of drama that humans so desire, and only occasionally acquires it in the retelling. There ought to have been a drum roll, a crescendo of music, or perhaps an explosion outside to punctuate the moment. What they got was a crowded bar that was mostly ignoring them.
Mazik took a deep breath. “I think we should become adventurers.”
Silence hung over the table while Gavi and Raedren absorbed this.
“I did not expect that one,” said Gavi.
“That wasn’t on your job list,” said Raedren.
“Yeah, but it’s been in the back of my mind for a while now. It took me a while to even admit it to myself,” said Mazik, “but I think we should do it. I really think we could be successful at it.”
Gavi folded her arms. “Okay, then tell us: why do you think we should become adventurers?”
Mazik tipped back in his chair, balancing it on two legs as he talked. “I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do, and here’s what I realized—I want control. At AIW, I don’t have any control. I’m subject to all these arbitrary rules set by my bosses and the company, and I have to follow them no matter what. If I feel like crap one day, I have to go to work anyway, because otherwise I’ll get yelled at and possibly fired. What kind of life is that?”
Mazik’s chair slammed down and he leaned forward. “That kind of shit makes me feel like a child! What I want is freedom, the freedom to take a day off when I want to, to not get yelled at for or worry about stupid things, and to do the work I want to do. I want to live! That kind of freedom comes with a price of course, of not knowing where my money is going to come from next, but you know that? I already have to deal with that! If I don’t sell anything, I don’t make any money. I just don’t get any of the benefits.”
“We don’t have that problem, you know,” said Gavi. “Well, Raedren doesn’t, and I make at least a little bit even if tips are bad.”
“True, but technically there are always more sales to be made, as my jackass boss is fond of saying,” said Mazik. “Is it worth giving up your freedom in exchange for a crappy wage? For ‘security’? If you have no other options, sure, maybe, but I think we have some better ones.”
Mazik shook his head. “Actually, let me back up. That’s why I want to do it, but I think there are some good reasons why you two might want to join me.
“Rae, I know you don’t like your current job,” said Mazik, facing his best and most bearded friend. “You get paid well, and that’s cool, but I know you’re bored out of your stinking mind every day. I still find it ridiculous that you can’t even read a book while you’re healing. That’s bullshit! I know you, and you can easily do both, no problem. If we were adventurers, we’d either be doing quests where there’s a good reason why they demand our full attention, or we’d be able to relax. I mean truly relax. We could grab a drink, read a book … just relax.”
“Mmm,” said Raedren. His reply was carefully neutral, neither interested nor disinterested. It was his way of promising nothing, but telling Mazik to go on.
“And Gavs, I know you already want another job,” said Mazik, and rather loudly, even though they were in Gavi’s current place of employment right now. “You want something where you’re challenged, right? Well adventuring would definitely be challenging, and if we’re halfway decent you’ll definitely make more than you do here.”
“But we’d have to kill people,” said Gavi. “Oh, and maybe die ourselves. I don’t know about you, but I’m not terribly excited about either of those options.”
“I’d prefer a little risk to the ‘safe’ option of doing the same shit we’ve been doing,” said Mazik darkly. He straightened up. “Okay, yes, we might have to hurt or kill people. Killing isn’t exactly my idea of a good time either, so I understand where you’re coming from.”
“Beating them up, on the other hand…” said Raedren.
“Only when they deserve it,” said Mazik. “Or I’m really, really annoyed. Anyway, yes, we could end up killing and/or getting killed, but we had training for that. After three years in the army we—”
“Four years, for some of us,” said Gavi22.
Mazik grinned. “That just means you’re even more prepared, eh? After some number of years in the military, we’ve all had training in how to kill and not get killed, and at least a few opportunities to put that training into use.”
“Though not many opportunities, and nothing major,” said Gavi, her arms crossed.
“We’re smart people, we’ll figure it out,” said Mazik. “Yes, the thought of killing isn’t exactly pleasant, but we can, and definitely should, try to avoid killing wherever possible, and since we’ll get to choose what quests we do, we can make sure we only take the ones where our opponents are proper bastards.” Mazik leaned forward, his eyes veritably sparkling. “Come on, think about it. A life of adventure! We can do this!”
“We could also jump off a bridge if we wanted to. That doesn’t mean we should,” replied Gavi.
“Ah, but we could do that too, and survive!” said Mazik. “We’re casters, after all.”
“You two are,” said Gavi, folding her arms across her chest. “Me? Not so much.”
Mazik waved a hand. “You can use magick, that’s close enough. Come on, think about it—I’m good at blowing stuff up, you’re good at beating people up, and Raedren is good at all that defensive crap. Sounds like a good team, right?”
“And
one where I can’t help but notice I’d be doing all the most dangerous stuff, despite being the least equipped to handle it,” said Gavi dryly. “It’s too dangerous, Mazik! This isn’t some game. We each only get one life, and if we die that’s it. Why should we risk it gallivanting about acting like heroes?”
“And why should we waste it in dead-end jobs that help no one and don’t even challenge our abilities?” said Mazik. “Look, you’re exactly right. We only have one life to live, so I’d rather live it than drift along clinging to boring mediocrity. Besides…”
Mazik reached out and took Gavi’s hand in his own, holding it gingerly. “Do not worry, my lady,” he said, his voice suddenly deep and husky. “I will protect you.”
Gavi snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re not good at protecting anyone, yourself included. I’ve heard all of your stories from college and in the service, and I’ve been in more of them than I’m comfortable with.”
“That just proves my I’m-good-at-blowing-things-up point!” said Mazik quickly. “But all right, you got me. Rae will be the one protecting you.”
“And you. And maybe myself, if I have time,” said Raedren.
“Good thing you’re so good at multitasking!” said Mazik. He released Gavi’s hand and settled back. “Here, I have a question for you: if you could do absolutely anything, what would it be?”
Gavi had been asking herself this exact question for months now.
“I don’t know, to be honest,” said Gavi. “Having people trying to kill me isn’t high on my list though. What about you? Is adventuring it, or is that just a means to an end?”
Mazik shook his head and grinned. “I have no idea. I honestly have no idea what I would do if I could do anything. Here’s what I do know, though—what I’m doing isn’t working. What you’re doing isn’t working. What Rae is doing is only barely sort of working, if that. We need to do something else, and I think this would give us a lot of freedom, pay us more, we’d get to work with our friends, and we might even do a little good for other people in the process.”
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