Just who in creation were these people?
Whispers in the Water
Jason faced the group, giving the tiny scrap of paper that Mareen had handed him earlier one last read. The Delvers had had some time to process the fact that Aodh and Henry were still alive. When Mareen had made her announcement the day before, Jason had broken down. When he’d gotten ahold of himself, Bezzi-ibbi had been dancing and hissing, Mareen was an emotional mess, and even Gonzo and Vitaliya had seemed relieved. Uluula had quietly sat at Jason’s side, offering wordless support.
The initial emotional reaction among the group had been fairly intense and Jason decided to wait until the next morning before formally addressing everyone about it. Now the time had come to do so. He hated doing stuff like this. He wished Henry was around. Despite all of Henry’s quirks, he always knew what to say to the group.
Jason felt incredibly awkward and cleared his throat lamely before speaking. “So as we all know now, Henry and Aodh are both alive. Mareen got a message yesterday from an MMB. I’ve read the note too, and I’m going to fill everyone in. Mareen is...she’s not going to do it.” Mareen was still softly crying to the rear of the group and just nodded.
“So...Henry is...kind of all over the place. There was a lot in here. He must have written this note with the world’s tiniest pen.” Jason shook his head. Henry sucked at communicating in writing and he’d obviously been excited while writing the note. It was actually a good thing he’d been able to write so tiny, because probably twenty percent of the note was about how much he loved and missed Mareen. Another five percent was about how stupid he thought names for monsters were on Ludus.
Luckily, Henry must have known someone else might read the message. Nothing he wrote to Mareen had been too personal, but it still had made Jason feel like he had been intruding. He sighed with the memory. At least now he knew his stubborn friend was still alive to keep vexing the people who cared about him.
“So based on Henry’s note, he and Aodh wound up in a strange place, something about a hot girl in a chainmail bikini and orbs, something about mind whips, and appearing in a cave.” Mareen’s sobbing paused for a second before resuming. Jason thought Henry should have probably worded his message a little more carefully. He could sense that Mareen would have some fairly pointed questions for her husband when they saw each other again.
“Aodh was able to keep both of them alive while Henry was near death, fighting against a swarm of dangerous, feline monsters. Actually, Henry called them ‘fucked up cat things.’ After that, Henry and Aodh explored the caves, killed a bunch of goblins, fought a giant spider demon thing, which Aodh killed...then Aodh became a goblin religious leader.”
“What?” asked Gonzo. The deadpan question sort of summed up how Jason felt about that part of the note too.
“Yes, that’s what this says,” replied Jason, shaking the thin paper. “After Aodh became a goblin leader, which settled a power struggle in the goblin village...” Jason paused and traded a flat look with Gonzo and said, “Look, I’m not making this up. That’s what it says.”
“Is Aodh safe? Is he eating properly?” demanded Vitaliya.
Jason groaned. “Look, I’ve answered this question like three times now, once before I had even read the note. All I know is what Henry wrote, and based on the sound of things, Aodh is doing just fine. In fact, he seems to have some admirers now.”
“What? Elaborate.” Vitalya’s tone hadn’t changed, but Jason felt a bit of danger tingling at his shoulder blades.
“Uh, sure. After leaving the goblin caves, a couple of goblin siblings joined them for reasons Henry tried to explain but I can’t understand. The female goblin got them through some monster infested woods. This female goblin seems to really like Aodh and isn’t shy about it. Henry thinks it’s hilarious.” Jason softly chuckled, imagining naive Aodh being pursued by a monster girl, but Vitaliya’s glacial silence and curious lack of an expression made him cough into his fist.
“You said ‘admirers’, plural, right?” asked Uluula with a raised eyebrow.
Jason scowled at his wife. “Thank you for helping, Lula. I really needed that.”
“Of course. If I were not here, you would forget to eat and sleep.” Uluula’s tone was light and she smiled.
Jason wanted to be irritated, but he knew his wife understood how her smile affected him. She was obviously teasing. His wife also kind of had a point about reminding him to remember basic things. Chances were, the stoic, tiny, white-haired woman was also relieved and happy that Henry was alive, but she was not one to openly display emotions. This was her way of supporting Jason.
He’d take it.
Jason rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at the scrawled note before continuing, “Henry and Aodh came across a noblewoman from Berber being attacked by orks.”
“Orks?” asked Bezzi-ibbi, his eyes lighting up.
“Yes, orks. Henry said most of these ones were bigger and stronger than the ones we saw in Tolstey. Anyway, Henry and Aodh killed the orks, actually, Henry said Aodh went HAM.”
“What is HAM? That is English, right?” asked Vitaliya.
“Uh, don’t worry about it,” muttered Jason. “Anyway, Henry calls this woman Princess Volleyball player, or just Volleyball. I don’t know her actual name. She asked him and Aodh to save her people. This is where the note gets weird.”
Jason paused and tried to think of how to translate Henry’s scrawl. The man should have been a doctor, not an EMT, except doctors just had bad hand writing. Henry’s entire story had been difficult to understand. Finally, he said, “After Henry killed some orks with earth magic...oh yeah, he can’t use metal magic right now but I am not sure why. Anyway, he killed some orks and the orks began to...revere Henry.
“It turns out that one of them met an ork from Yanbei Cavern, one of the ones that we left alive. They have started some kind of cult. To these orks, Henry is some sort of prophet or something. Some of us here are too. How this ork got all the way from Tolstey to Berber, nobody seems to know and there is currently a language barrier with the orks. And yes, I know this all sounds completely crazy.”
“Is that it?” asked Gonzo.
“No. Henry said Volleyball owes them a favor and he needed gold to send a message via MMB. He and Aodh accompanied the caravan to where it was originally traveling to. He got gold there and sent this MMB, which took a few days to reach us even though Henry figured out roughly where we should be, so he gave good instructions for message delivery.”
Jason scowled, “Speaking of which, MMBs are weird. I still don’t understand why people would call little flying demons that deliver messages for gold, ‘Magic Messenger Birds’.”
Gonzo shrugged. “That’s just Ludus.”
Jason made a face. It didn’t feel right not to have Henry around to complain about Ludus names. Sometimes he even had a point. The tall man said, “Henry said one more thing. He doesn’t have his papers for his title or his land from Berber, but he said he found out he doesn’t need them. Volleyball told him that he’s been imprinted if the title came from a legitimate representative of Berber.”
“That’s true,” Gonzo said, nodding. “It’s easier if you have your documentation, but I used a simple cantrip when you accepted your positions, sort of like you use to summon a MMB.”
“Okay, it would have been nice if you had told us that before, but anyway, when Henry sent this note, he was soon going to leave with Volleyball’s caravan towards a city called Makovo. Mine and Henry’s new land isn’t far from there so Henry wants to visit before heading to Mensk, Berber’s capital. He and Aodh are actually closer than we are now, so they should still arrive before we do.”
“So Henry is absolutely sure he is in Berber?” asked Gonzo.
“Yes, there is no doubt. He also verified Volleyball’s identity even though he didn’t name her in the note.”
“That’s a pity,” muttered Gonzo. “If I knew the Lady he is with or even what house she is f
rom, it would be helpful.”
“Yes, well, I don’t have information I don’t have.” Jason held up the paper and shrugged.
“Can I read the note?” asked Gonzo.
Jason glanced at Mareen to confirm her feelings, but noticed she was gone. He glanced around but didn’t see the dark-skinned beauty anywhere. Henry’s wife could be really sneaky like that sometimes. The woman walked like a ninja.
Where the heck did she go? he wondered. It didn’t matter, though. She’d already made her wishes clear and as far as Jason was concerned, it was one hundred percent her call. “No, the note was meant for Mareen. There is some personal stuff in here, and she’d like to keep it that way.”
“But you read it. It isn’t personal anymore, is it?” Gonzo asked.
Jason blew air from his nose, preparing to be firm in his stance and shut down Gonzo. The Berber spy was always trying to get his hands on more information. Jason hated to argue, but there was no way he was going to disrespect Mareen by betraying her wishes. She was his friend, and she was married to his best friend. Jason liked Gonzo, but his loyalties were clear.
As he replied politely, but firmly, he wondered again where Mareen had gone.
***
Mareen idly wandered by the river, her powerful bronze bow in hand, an arrow nocked. After the Delvers had hit the Stem River, it hadn’t taken many attacks by dangerous, aquatic monsters to realize her hammer wasn’t all that useful in or around water. Luckily, her bow and dagger still worked just fine.
With the mood Mareen was in, she would be more than willing to gift a bronze bladed arrow to a river monster.
She idly kicked a rock into the water and physically deflated, realizing she was actually hoping to be attacked so she could vent. What had happened to her? She was happy, ecstatic to know that Henry was alive and they would be reunited, but...would he even recognize her anymore? Would he still want her?
Mareen squatted down and touched the water of the river, using some of her meager water magic to ensure no monsters were nearby. The river was infested with monsters, but it helped she could always easily tell if any were nearby. It was ironic that she was a Body school mage and had been expecting a good life because of that, but as an adventurer, her weaker water magic was much more useful on a regular basis.
It had even allowed her to kill Jeth.
Lost in unpleasant memories, she started softly sobbing again and let her mind wander, leaving her hand in the river. As before when she’d let her connection with the water linger for too long, she heard a voice. It was soft, seductive and dark.
It knew. It knew her secret.
Mareen cried out and jerked her hand out of the river. The moment her shock wore off, she muted her surprise, hoping none of the others had heard her distress. She didn’t want to answer any questions. There were entirely too many people in the group that were too good at discovering secrets.
The truth was, she knew what the voice from the water was. She knew what it had to be, and more than just her secrets, it knew her heart. Mareen was being offered power...for a price.
The voice somehow knew everything. It knew she’d lost her baby. The voice knew about her shame and her powerlessness. It knew about her anger. The anger at herself.
It seemed like no matter how hard Mareen had tried to be useful to the group, to be strong, the others kept moving forward ahead of her. She was still a burden. Despite all of her drive to be helpful to her husband, to be a good head of her new household, to walk shoulder to shoulder with her friends, she had just kept getting in the way. She hadn’t even been able to win her fight against a single Terran swordswoman during the battle with Liangyu and her band of would-be ambushers.
Meanwhile, Henry had managed to survive certain death multiple times, been sent to another country, and not only managed to survive, but thrive. He’d dominated an entire goblin tribe and made allies with foreign nobility. Somehow, he’d even made allies of monsters. He effortlessly grew in power, wealth, and influence. Why had he accepted a wife like Mareen on a world full of powerful, graceful women?
Mareen hadn’t even told Henry she’d been pregnant before he disappeared. Deep down, she knew why. She had wanted to find Henry another wife to grow their household as quickly as possible, but she was also self-conscious. She was young, and she knew Henry could attract much more qualified, much better first wives than her. What if he didn’t support her and another woman tried taking the position as first wife? No, she had to prove her place.
Mareen had been afraid that if Henry had known she was pregnant, he would have asked her to be more passive, to be taken care of and protected. Mareen didn’t want that, she couldn’t have it. She needed to get stronger so she could be the wife that Henry needed and deserved, even if he didn’t know it himself.
She was deeply in love with her husband. Her heartsong had not lied. Unfortunately, keeping up with him so far had been out of her reach.
She’d wanted to do it on her own. She’d turned down spirit stones from Henry and even done so with Jason in the past week. When she received and orb for killing Jeth after he tried to...hurt her, she’d chosen power, but then she hadn’t worked as hard as she could to get stronger. Oh, she’d fooled herself about it, but she really hadn’t. It was all clear in hindsight. She’d accepted greater power, but then refused to embrace it, to grow as the person she’d chosen to become.
Her weakness had almost gotten her husband killed.
Mareen punched a tree, denting the trunk and leaving her knuckles stinging. She looked at her hand and made another tight fist, gritting her teeth. All this strength, all this power from her Dolos orb, and she had still been all but powerless before.
It was oddly, perversely fitting that the stress and grief from losing Henry had made her lose their child too, a child only she knew about. Her heart hurt, aching for the life she would never know. All of it was her own fault.
She bore the pain and the shame alone. It was her penance for her pride, her mistakes. Mareen had chosen to be the wife of a great man. This meant she had to be be just as great… No. She had to be greater than he was. It was a head wife’s job to guide the household, to watch out for her husband and her sister wives. She could not do so if she couldn’t evolve from the stupid young girl she knew she still was.
At least now she knew Henry was alive. Her heartsong had exploded. She’d felt deep happiness and relief, but she also felt anxiety. All of her insecurities were magnified now, highlighted. She couldn’t hide from them anymore.
And the voice in the water knew this. Mareen understood that the thing in the water was bad, was evil. She knew from myth and legend that it rarely brought any happiness to those that dealt with it. It only approached those that were desperate or pained enough to bargain in the first place.
Mareen knew what the voice belonged to, but she dared not speak it out loud. This was her burden. The only person she could have shared it with, Henry, was in Berber with his own problems.
The Deepwater Rose was offering her a deal...and she hadn’t refused yet.
Mareen sniffled a bit as she stood, but her heart steeled. She felt a little wiser, but a little sad, too. In life if there are no good choices, one must choose the least bad one. If monsters have you trapped, you run towards the monster you might be able to overcome. Otherwise, staying still, not choosing at all was a surefire way to be eaten.
It was time to take Jason’s offer for a spirit stone. She still had some time to think about the Deepwater Rose’s offer. In the meantime, she would swallow her stubborn pride and claim the tools, the weapons available to her.
Regardless of what she decided, the Deepwater Rose’s offer both excited and terrified her, as it probably should. The message was always some variation of:
Come see me. Come bargain. You lost your child from weakness. Come see me, pay my price, and you will never be weak again. You will lose a little if you receive my gift. You will lose everything if you are not strong.
; Mareen knew the words were dark, simple, and manipulative. The Deepwater Rose had its own purpose, its own agenda. Now that she knew the Rose was real, she had no reason to doubt any of the legends about it. However, she also couldn’t deny its seductive message might be factual.
With a glint of determination in her eye, Mareen went to find Jason to ask for a spirit stone. It was time to stop crying, and time to stop feeling sorry for herself. Monsters don’t care if you cry. If someone gives up, Ludus will grind their bones to powder. Henry was alive. It was time to do what she had to do to protect her husband. She would never, ever lose him again. He was the only family she had left.
She wouldn’t be able to protect her husband, solve her parents’ murders, or take revenge on her grandfather’s murderers if she stayed how she was. She needed to grow up. She needed to face reality.
It was time to make some difficult decisions. It was time to be strong.
Mareen grimaced as she fingered the gray line around her neck. One other thing was for rotting sure. She was going to force that man of hers to turn on the rotting location tracking ability for their servant bond. Mareen refused to be left wondering if her husband still lived again.
Never again.
El Gato Fuego
Jason got ready for bed, going through his power up choices in his head. He had a feeling that he’d be seeing a certain purple cartoon cat soon.
He had to admit that he’d been putting off swallowing spirit stones again out of fear. His limitbreak had scared him, both because of what he’d become, and because it highlighted how Ludus had been changing him.
Most of Jason’s adult life had been an exercise in control. When he’d been younger, he’d recognized the anger in himself, the darkness, and he put it in a box. He wrapped that box in chains, and he buried it deep inside himself. Even as a skinny guy, Jason was still a tall man. He had lived most of his life looming over people. He hated that. If he had let himself lose his temper and hurt people, people smaller than him, it would have felt so, so good...but he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself.
Delvers LLC: Adventure Capital Page 14
