by J E Mueller
Mare shook her head and snorted. “Goddess no. They aren’t very strong at all. To be honest, it’s likely they teamed up with the group from the other team to artifact hunt. Together that would have been easy enough to take a few of them on.”
I sat there for a moment trying to figure out what was going on. “So, there’s two teams, and they hate each other.” Mare nodded. “But really, they don’t hate hate each other, except maybe Benz and Clove?” Mare nodded again. “So people possibly team up all the time but probably try to find the thing faster and take it back for their side?”
“Exactly.” Mare smiled widely. “However, there are exceptions. Some are fully team Clove or team Benz, while the rest are more…” She motioned vaguely. “I’ll do what it takes to survive and make things easier for me and my team, even if it means helping out the other side for a moment.”
I nodded slowly. “So for things like artifacts, everyone turns a blind eye until the thing is found and then they fight over it, hoping to get it back to their team safely.”
“Seems like you’re up to date enough on the basics,” Mare agreed.
“Except I still don’t have anything magically figured out.” I groaned. “How did I break the magic people that tell other magic people what magic people they are?”
Mare snorted. “Well, that is one way to put things, but I bet it’s a bit more simple than that.”
“Why do you say that?” This clearly wasn’t that simple.
“Two weird things are going on with you, and there’s no way you can know it,” Mare stated simply. I motioned for her to continue. “One was very easy for me to tell. Clove knows something. She may not like Kaden, but she knew he didn’t know anything. The whole thing with Sans was simply to confirm her thoughts. The second fact is that you mentioned Benz and someone with a gravelly voice. That would be Canton, and he is a very dangerous person. Normally Benz wouldn’t give two cents about a Dreamer. I’m betting he saw you before you went into hiding. He helped you get around the Agmon too right? Benz knows something.”
“What could they possibly know?” I gave a small laugh. What an odd thought.
Mare shook her head. “They’ve been here a long time. Started out as friends even. So, nothing is really impossible. You mentioned dreaming of here before. What do you remember?”
I thought for a moment as I finished my bite of food. “Well, I had been keeping a dream journal. Honestly, it seemed like I once knew people here, but whenever I recently ran into anyone they’d comment that I don’t remember them or anything.”
“So, was there something in your life that could have made you lose some memories?” I stared at Mare until the silence visibly made her uncomfortable. “So is that a yes?” She finally asked.
“Yes, it was a complicated event…” I looked away toward the hall leading to the entranceway. “There was a war. None of it reached us until the end. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but something hit me hard from behind while I was in the woods with some others. Eventually, I was found at the base of a small cliff with the others. Only two of us survived.” I looked back at Mare and gave a shrug. “I thought I had all the memories back. I guess dreams took less importance over some other things.”
Mare gave me a sad look before turning sharply at the entranceway. “We need to go.” She got up so abruptly her chair fell over.
I got up quickly and moved to follow her the other way out of the room. “What’s wrong?”
“To put it simply, that saddle-goose Canton and his goons. They will start trouble,” Mare summed up as we moved quickly.
“Great. I can’t even defend myself,” I grumbled. Mare ducked down a side hall and then up a cramped, winding staircase. “Where are we going?”
“Canton can also track, so we’re going on an annoying route until he gets bored,” Mare explained.
“How many times have you done this?” I didn’t like the way this conversation was going.
“Depends on who I’m with, and really who he’s with, but often enough,” she continued on with ease, “I’ve no problem beating his butt.”
“You can take him?” That was a good feeling at least.
“Of course. I’ve beat him several times. I’m just not a terrible person and haven’t murdered him, though I wouldn’t be surprised if someone eventually does. He has it coming.” Mare clenched her fists before stopping, and quickly changed directions. “Tracking is sometimes annoying. I can’t actually sense things on other floors until I get there. Whatever keeps things where they are blocks my gifts as well.”
I nodded and followed her silently as we went up another set of stairs, sprinted down two halls, and down another flight of stairs. I again lost track of where we were and was thrilled when we finally stopped in a room. Mare shut the door firmly behind us.
“What now?” I breathed heavily.
“We have some time.” She relaxed easily, leaning back on the door. “So I’d like to continue my theory.”
I raised an eyebrow. “About Benz and Clove knowing something?”
“Yes.” Mare nodded before continuing. “I wonder if they were the ones you had previously interacted with in your dreams. Maybe you can mention the dreams again to one of them and see what their thoughts reveal? Any information you can get we can use to figure out your gifts. Eventually you will accidentally stumble upon them anyway, so why not speed up the process if possible?”
I debated the idea. “Well, it really isn’t nice intruding on someone’s thoughts, but if your theory is true, then it’s equally as bad to withhold this information.”
“Exactly.” Mare smirked. “Sure, if they don’t know something that does raise some moral ethics into question, but I’m confident Clove knows something. It would make sense that Benz knows something, but I can’t say I know him as well.”
“You said the two of them were friends. Why did they split up?” Maybe there was some sort of clue to things here in that mess.
Mare shrugged. “That I don’t really know. I didn’t know Clove at that time. This all happened just before I ended up here. Maybe a few weeks, but not more than a month before I appeared.”
“It would be super useful if I remembered my dreams.” I sighed as I paced the small office-like room. “Or at least had that freaking journal.” I grumbled for a moment before shaking my head. “Well, I suppose we could at least start trying to accidentally figure my gifts out. How does one do that?”
“Let’s get back to everyone and they’ll explain how they use things and then you can try. Nothing will likely work, but at least you’ll have the information for when something does finally snap into place.” Mare pushed off the door. “Shall we?”
Nodding, I followed.
The day was uneventful. When we arrived back in the safe zone, Mare introduced me to some of the others who were hanging around. I listened to Kendell talk about shooting fire, and Perrin describe how to summon a sword. While their insight was interesting I didn’t feel any fire call from my core, nor was envisioning a sharp blade productive for producing one.
Still, I did feel something, like a tingling from within. I tried to call the feeling forward but it didn’t seem to have the motivation to budge, and I had no clue as to how to compel it out. The comforting fact was Mare, insisting no one got it right straight away.
“It’s true,” she insisted once again as we lounged in the safe area. “Even knowing you can do something doesn’t mean it happens right away. You had to learn how to walk and talk just as anyone else. Why would learning magic give instant knowledge?”
Because I technically might already have learned it, I said to her magically.
She crossed her arms and frowned. “And your memories are shot, so time to move on and accept that you’re starting fresh.” Her words were stern, but not unkind.
“Hey, Mare,” Clove called, appearing from the painting.
Mare turned to look at Clove as she approached. “Yes ma’am?”
“There�
��s something weird going on with the second floor. I keep seeing Canton and Benz stalking the area. Let’s go find out what they’re doing.” Clove waved for her to get up.
Mare frowned. “What could they possibly have found?”
“Exactly my concern.” Clove started walking back toward the painting.
“Come with us,” Mare stated, causing Clove to turn.
“She’ll be a hindrance.” Clove glanced at me and shrugged. “No offense, you’re just not up to speed yet.”
“Probably true,” I agreed, remaining seated.
Mare shook her head. “Best way to learn something is to be pushed into it. Might be exactly what we need. Anyway, she’s proven she can at least get out of bad situations if she needs to.”
Had I proven that? It seemed like it was all luck and voices – which I hadn’t bothered to mention yet. “I don’t know about that.”
Clove gave me a weird look and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that this might be a moment Mare was talking about listening in on. Might be useful. She doesn’t remember a thing and possibly could be molded to good use. If we can get her to figure out how to use her attacks we’d also have range on our side again… Clove nodded after that moment. “You might have a point. Let’s get going.”
Mare tugged me, pulling up to. Frowning, I followed closely. So, Clove did know something. Even worse, she didn’t seem interested in me at all as a person. Just another possible talent in her arsenal. Well, at least this might help me figure out something, and I now knew I had some form of ranged weapon. There weren’t an impossible number of possibilities but there were still enough. Javelins, throwing knives, long swords, bow staff… what could it be?
Instead of worrying too much, I tried to pay better attention once more to where we were going. I hated the idea that there might be a moment where I’d need to know my way, but it was very likely that I would need to know this house soon.
Mare wasn’t making it easy. Clove gave a vague description of where she kept seeing them and with a nod, Mare was off. Her hands sparkled for a moment with magic but she never once stopped to consider things. I wondered why Clove didn’t ask anyone else for help. If the other team was up to something, would it really just be Benz and Canton? Wouldn’t they need a bigger group to be up to something truly bad? I wasn’t sinister enough to honestly know. Maybe one or two people could do more damage than an entire group.
I was finally starting to get the hang of the exit route. Mare seemed to favor the spiral stairs in the back hall, and I wondered if it was the quickest or just her favorite. I wished the quick walking, almost running, was easier. While I had done a lot of physical activity in my life, I hadn’t done nearly this much constant running.
At least Clove would occasionally glance back. While there was certainly something going on with her, she didn’t seem all that bad. Maybe she hadn’t bothered to tell me anything since we had likely had the same intro conversations over, and over, and over.
I thought about that fact for a moment and wondered. Mare stated that Clove and Benz had once been friends. Was it possible I did know both of them, and possibly was friends with both? Was that why, despite not wanting to get into details again, and again, and again, they still did more or less look out for me?
It was a curious thought, but there wasn’t enough proof of my thoughts and – I slammed into the back of Clove.
“Sorry.” I mumbled at her, wondering why we had stopped
Clove didn’t say anything as we heard voices ahead. They weren’t loud enough to exactly make out, but gravel voice – Canton – seemed to be there. He would be a hard one to miss.
“I can sense the remains of a Taggollur… no, make that two.” Mare whispered so softly I hardly caught the words.
Joy, another creature I didn’t know, but I bit my tongue in order to help keep the silence.
“There’s a Moglozas nearby as well…” Mare added, still just as softly.
“Anything going to sneak up on us?” Clove asked, voice guarded.
“Not right now, but we can’t stay here for too long,” Mare replied, and slowly inched closer to the end of the hall.
Clove was hot on her heels, but I stayed a few extra steps back. After the Agmon decided it wanted to destroy me, or eat my essences, or whatever, I had no desire to encounter more things. Sticking with Mare had helped me avoid everything, but I had no doubt that luck wouldn’t last long.
Once Mare reached the end of the hall, she called out her blades, as did Clove. It seemed so natural and instinctive. Every time I saw anyone call on their gift it seemed to come just like breathing. I couldn’t say I wasn’t envious, but at least I knew eventually I could learn this. Possibly.
“...at three,” Mare whispered. I had missed the first part. Not that knowing what something was would help me a ton.
“Will it pass us and go for them?” Clove asked.
“If it sees us, no.” Mare motioned for me to come a little closer. “Stay close, Taggollur respond most to motion. Do not move.”
Well, at least standing frozen should be easy. Her tone was serious so I steeled myself for the creature to come.
Chapter 6
I watched them grip their weapons tightly, but couldn’t hear or see anything from my spot in the hall. The Agmon was fairly loud, with its long bladelike arms scraping on everything. I wondered what this thing would be since it moved so silently.
I also wondered if it would also have blades for something.
As we waited, and the tension thickened on a tangible level, I started to doubt it was actually coming. Maybe it would move down a side hall. Then slowly came into the open.
If the Agmon was a demonic bat creature with blades for arms, the Taggollur was a hellbeast snail with a trail of fire instead of slime. How did this thing exist inside a building without burning it all to the ground?
The creature slowly inched down the hallway, head only a few inches from the ceiling, red and black snail-like body glowing like cooling coals. Its shell looked exactly like a chunk of charcoal making the trail of small lingering flames look like it was creating the path to hell. To add to the nightmare, the creature had arms and was carrying what looked to be a war axe made of coal.
I did my best not to gape or react as its head turned slowly toward us. Mare and Clove didn’t move a muscle as the Taggollur stared us down. For a moment I was certain it had stopped, it was moving so slow.
Thankfully, it finally passed us and I allowed myself to collapse back on the wall. What the heck was that?
Mare and Clove glanced back at me and snickered.
“Kinda neat in an awful way isn’t it?” Mare whispered. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the thought of that thing.
“You didn’t move, so perfect. It’ll keep going until it sees something move and then it’ll attack. It’s far quicker than it looks once it sees motion,” Clove explained before she carefully looked down into the hallway.
I admired her guts for looking down the hall after that thing. I would not want it to see me. “So, how do you kill it? Better yet, if you do have to run from it, what’s the best way to escape?”
Mare shrugged as Clove looked back at us. “Best way to escape is to find somewhere to hide and don’t move. If you’re still, it will overlook you. But heavy breathing can give you away, so you really need to calm yourself, get out of sight, and hide.”
Clove smirked. “As for killing the beast, the best way is to break its shell. Swords and magic are the best for this guy, though you can blind it with other attacks which make escape possible.”
I nodded. Blinding it shouldn’t be terribly hard. Maybe. I was a woman from a fishing town. I could garden and clean a fish. This was not something I desired to add to my expertise. I just prayed Melly was faring better than me.
Clove nudged Mare and they slowly headed down the hall. I carefully followed them seeing the trail of fire-slime slowly fading into nothing from where it came. It didn’t seem to l
ast long, at least. The problem seemed to be staying far enough behind it that you didn’t have to avoid the trail and that it had no reason to turn and see you.
Thankfully, the creature seemed more interested in looking down side halls and continuing forward. I wondered if the monsters ever fought one another, but kept the comment to myself. There was no way I was having a demon snail chase me. I tossed the idea from my head. There was every likelihood something would once again chase me, even after I figured out my gifts.
For several minutes we carefully followed behind the Taggollur. The voices of Canton, Benz, and one other became clearer and clearer as we approached. They were discussing something about an artifact from what I could pick up.
Suddenly we heard Canton exclaim, “Taggollur! Down the hall!” After he said he glanced out of the room, saw the giant snail, then promptly shut them in the room.
The Taggollur roared, which was horrifying to hear from a snail, and at a much faster pace than I was expecting, it slid down to the door and started pounding on it, axe splitting wood quickly.
Clove and Mare dove down the side hall, with me right on their heels.
“We don’t want to be around here now,” Mare explained as we rushed down the hall. “That will attract the other creatures.”
“Then why were we following it?” I was really not sure how well any of these plans were thought out.
“It was either follow and see how things go, or wait for the Moglozas to catch up to us.” Mare shrugged.
Well, at least that made some sense.
“Though with all this noise it’s probably – ” Clove nearly ran into Mare as she came to an abrupt halt. At least it wasn’t me this time.
“Well, we can either take on a different Taggollur, or go up against a Moglozas. There isn’t a route without creatures so, what poison would you like?” Mare directed the question toward Clove.
“And hiding until they pass to go attack Canton isn’t an option?” I asked curiously. There were at least a dozen rooms as options here.
Clove snorted. “We’re not injured. We fight.”
