by B. T. Narro
She gestured for me to come in. “No tangles or frizz. Looking unkempt while adventuring is one thing, but tips are another.”
I shut the door so her employer wouldn’t overhear me. “We should be getting supplies so we can leave tomorrow, not worrying about your hair.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I can’t. But here’s what I wanted to give you.” She reached on top of her dresser to grab a scroll. “Take it in case you can redeem it along with yours.” She shoved it into my hand.
I glanced at it.
This claim of damage or injury has been investigated by Betsy Baker.
Amount: Two dalions
To: Shara Solo H
Age: 16
Height: Medium
Build: Thin
Hair: Black
I stopped reading. “I can’t take this.”
“I have no use for it.” She stepped away as I tried to hand it back to her. “Please just…” She shoved out her palms as if pushing away a plate of food she was sick of eating.
Unwilling to force the scroll into her hands, I kept it. “Solo H?” I asked. I’d never seen a surname like it.
“Solo because I was abandoned. H because I was found in Lord Heon’s land—Lanhine.”
“What about Shara?”
“I chose it when I was fourteen, actually long before then. One of the only benefits of being…solo. But I couldn’t legally use it until I became an adult.”
“What were you before Shara?” I couldn’t picture her as anything else.
“Many names. I have to go downstairs to work soon. Let’s not get into it.”
She was right. “Tomorrow I’m going to look for Eizle. After that, I’m leaving, and I want you with me.” My surprise spilled out. “I’ll get you a horse and everything else we’ll need.”
“Don’t do that!”
I wasn’t a proud man. I was willing to beg if needed. “Please, Shara. I wouldn’t plead like this if I knew you didn’t want to come.”
She sighed. “You make it hard to say no, but I don’t want to rely on you for money the entire time. Even if you have enough, that’s no way to adventure, not how I want to, anyway. I thought the redemption scroll was my calling to travel north, but I see now that it wasn’t. Something else will come up.” She pointed to the document in my hands. “Did you see what Betsy Baker wrote for my ‘other identifiable features’?”
I looked at the scroll. Other identifiable features: terribly annoying. Then I looked up at her, my face registering my confusion. “What did you say to her?”
“I just answered her questions!” she protested. “And how is that even an identifiable feature? Annoying is completely subjective. An identifiable feature should be something physical! I don’t know if the woman was making fun or if she actually found me annoying. If the latter, then she’s mad if she thinks annoying is a good identifiable feature. Annoying isn’t unique! Imagine if I actually brought the redemption scroll to the coin master. What then! I would have to be annoying to match this absurd identifiable feature she put down about me! It’s enraging.”
I knew this was a tactic to pull me off the subject of Glaine, but I couldn’t help be drawn into it. “I can’t imagine Betsy Baker wanting to tease you. Perhaps there was nothing else she could think of.”
“Then she’s terrible at her job.” Shara huffed. “What did the crone write about you?”
I got my scroll from my bag and handed it to her. She barely glanced at it before her arms started flailing. “Dimples when smiling?” she yelled. “Now that’s a perfect identifiable feature. It can’t be imitated, and it’s not subjective! I don’t understand it. And not just annoying—terribly annoying. As if this one adverb makes the description specific enough. How did she even notice your dimples? I didn’t. Did you flirt with her? Smile for me so I can see them. I bet you flirted with her.”
Shara was talking so quickly that when she finally stopped, I felt lost. “I…what?”
“Smile.” Her mouth spread into a wide grin.
I mimicked her.
“Two hells, you do have dimples. Betsy Baker must’ve liked you, just like that blonde soldier, Callyn. Do you flirt with all older women?” She grinned to show she was teasing, but the mention of Callyn made me scowl.
“Oh no,” Shara muttered. “I never asked what happened after I ran away with Tyree. No one stopped him or me. I thought you would be right behind us, but you weren’t.”
The room fell silent as I tried to speak.
“Callyn needed help, so I…” How was I supposed to describe helping her without revealing I was a pyforial mage? “So I did what I could, yet it wasn’t enough. She was killed, and I barely escaped.” That tall red priest was slitting her throat again; I could see it in my mind. Callyn was brave to accept death as she did. I wondered if it stemmed at all from the guilt she felt killing my father.
Shara hugged herself as if chilled. “I can’t believe she died.”
Someone pounded on the door. “Share-uh, you in there?”
She looked confused. “Yes?”
“Need you working downstairs,” the man said. “The place is filling up.” Then he stomped away.
“Please stay and have a meal.” Shara balled her hands, held them against her chest, and leaned forward. “Please?”
I was hungry and didn’t see the harm. “I will.” I put her redemption scroll in my bag. “And I’m holding on to this for you, but we’re not done discussing going to Glaine.”
“The only way I’m going with you tomorrow as if I make twenty silver in tips tonight, and as most people tip a pit when they even tip at all, I don’t see that happening short of me taking my clothes off.”
I raised my eyebrows at her with mock seriousness. “Oh?”
“It was a joke, Neeko.” She patted my cheek. “And don’t think your flirting will work with me. Your dimples are cute, but they won’t pay my way to Glaine.”
I didn’t tell her I had no idea how to flirt with a woman.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The table where Shara seated me was beside another table where a young man and woman sat chatting. They were maybe a couple years older than me, if that. The girl was thin, with dark hair like Shara’s, though her face didn’t have the same innocence, not in the slightest. There was an edge to it, as if she’d seen more than most her age. She was complaining about her beverage to the young man.
“Blah, Steffen, what is this?”
“Beer, like you told me to order.”
From the comfort of their proximity, but the lack of intimacy in the way they looked at and spoke to each other, I figured they were old friends.
Shara whispered to me as she left, “I’ll be back soon with a drink.”
“Water, please,” I called after her. Jon had done a decent job deterring me from alcohol, whether he’d meant to or not.
“Tastes like bitter water,” the young woman complained.
“Maybe that’s just how they make the beer here. I still can’t believe all these people live in Sumar.” I watched him from the corner of my eye as he surveyed the room, looking at the rest of us as if we were dangerous creatures.
“Hopefully the food is better,” the woman said, ignoring his comment about Sumar, which certainly had me curious. I’d never met anyone from outside Sumar. From what I understood, mountains surrounded us, separating us from the northern end of the continent called Ovira. Anyone visiting here had to have traveled on a ship in the same way our ancestors arrived. So these people were from Greenedge? I hoped to hear more from them, but they fell silent for a while.
“Effie,” Steffen said, ”think we should ask around about Swenn Hamres now?”
My legs twitched, almost forcing me up from my seat.
“If you want,” Effie replied. “But I’m exhausted. I’m going to wait until after I eat and this watery beer settles in.”
Steffen stood and approached me. He appeared as gentle as he sounded, about my height but with longer yet ke
mpt hair and his shirt neatly tucked into his pants.
“Excuse me,” he asked, “have you heard of Swenn Hamres?”
“Why are you looking for him?”
Steffen’s eyes opened wide. He shot a glance over his shoulder. “Eff, this man knows of him! The first one, can you believe it?” He turned back to me. “Is Swenn famous, or did I just get lucky?”
“Never mind that,” Effie called, standing up. I noticed then how short she was. She walked over to my end of the table and sat without invitation. “Do you really know of Swenn?”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“We’re from Kyrro,” Steffen answered. He seemed far friendlier than Effie, who now had her arms folded as she scowled at me. “Do you know where that is?”
“Somewhere in Greenedge?” I guessed.
“It’s in Ovira, to the north through the mountains. No one from Ovira has been to Sumar before us that we know of.” Steffen had a proud smile.
Effie fluttered her hand at him, then pointed at me with a quick jab of her finger. “What’s your name?”
“Neeko.”
Shara came by with my mug of water just then. “Made some friends already?”
“Steffen.” He extended his hand to her. “Do you happen to know Swenn Hamres?”
Shara’s head jerked back, then she shot a quick glance at me. I tried to tell her with my expression to say nothing. Before revealing anything about Swenn, I wanted to know everything they knew about him.
“I’m Effie.”
“Shara.” They all shook hands. “I’m a friend of Neeko’s. I…can I get either of you anything?”
“We’re waiting for our dinner,” Effie said.
“So nothing about Swenn?” Steffen asked again.
“Shara doesn’t know any more about him than I do,” I interjected.
“And how much do you know?” Effie asked. She looked at Shara. “I’ll take another beer, but not just yet.”
“Some,” I answered.
“And you, Steffen?” Shara asked. “Something to drink?”
“Thank you, but no.”
I put a silver coin at the end of the table near Shara. Maybe I could hand off twenty by the end of the night.
“It’s just a pit.” She made no motion toward the coin that was ten times the amount required.
“Keep it.”
“I can’t accept that much!”
“Please take it.” I shoved it into her hand the same way she’d forced her redemption scroll upon me.
Shara stood there a moment, completely still. I looked away from her, refusing to meet her eyes. I didn’t want to see what they had to say to me.
As Shara left, Effie smirked at me. “Trying to buy her heart isn’t going to work.”
“It’s nothing like that,” I said. “She—”
Effie raised a palm. “Doesn’t matter. Steffen, why don’t you see if anyone else at this inn knows about Swenn while I talk to Neeko? We should ask as many people as we can before Terren and Alex get back.”
Steffen agreed and promptly left.
Effie looked at me sternly and pressed her finger on the table as if squashing a bug. “Swenn.”
“First tell me why two people from Ovira are looking for him.”
“At least confirm you know where Swenn is.”
“I haven’t seen him in a while. His brother is my close friend.”
“But his brother—” Effie stopped, looking confused. “When was the last time you saw Eizle?”
“Years ago.”
The way she glanced at me, as if she felt pity, made me worry.
“Why have you come here from Ovira?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t notice I was trying to get information from her about Swenn and Eizle.
Shara, on her way past us, stopped for a brief moment. “Ready for that beer?” she asked Effie. By how practiced she acted, I figured she must’ve waitressed in Lanhine.
Effie threw back her mug, swallowing the last of it. “Certainly.”
I caught Shara’s annoyed glance at me as she left with the mug. Maybe it would be harder than I thought to tip her with silver. Looking back at Effie, I found her grinning at me.
“Have you told her how you feel?” Her voice was mocking.
“We’re friends, nothing more. You were going to tell me why you’ve come here from Ovira.”
She pushed her hair out of her face, showing me a wry smile. “Are you going to make me tell you everything before you say anything? Just let me know now so we can save some time.” She was remarkably frank.
“I am.”
Shara came and set a bunch of pits down beside my glass. “I’ll be back with your beer in a moment,” she told Effie, leaving before I could ask about the money.
When I counted nine of them, it made sense. She was giving me change for my generous tip.
“I told you money isn’t going to work,” Effie said.
“I’m just trying to help her.” I thought of how I could give the money back to Shara without insulting her. Perhaps a joke requesting she take off her shirt? No, that would be awkward.
Effie smiled wide. I didn’t know why she was enjoying this, but she didn’t seem to care to hide it.
“Tell me why you’re looking for Swenn,” I insisted.
“We need him because Eizle won’t come with us otherwise.”
“Come with you where? Back to Ovira?”
“Yes. He…he’s…what else do you need to hear before you tell me what you know about Swenn?”
I felt as if I shouldn’t help her at all. Eizle should come with me if he was going anywhere. Besides Shara, he was the only one I could trust, and if he was anything like me, then by now he was very skilled with pyforial energy. Robbers, wild creatures, that red priest, we could stand up to all of them. Though, we’d have to tell Shara about our ability. It would be more dangerous than revealing how much money I had. If she told a guard, Eizle and I could end up in prison for the rest of our lives.
I was getting ahead of myself. Effie looked more impatient with each passing moment.
A realization came to me. Ovira was north, past Glaine. Maybe we could all travel together. “What do you want with Eizle?”
She let out a frustrated grunt of a laugh and rolled her eyes. “In Ovira, it’s annoying to answer a question with a question.” It’s the same here, I thought. “Maybe if I just tell you everything, you’ll have nothing left to ask. Then you can finally start answering my questions.”
I wanted to cheer. This was exactly what I wanted. I kept my face as straight as I could and nodded.
But just as Effie opened her mouth, Shara came by with a mug of beer filled to the brim. “Two pits, please.”
Effie handed her four. Shara hesitated. “Did Neeko say something?”
“Don’t worry,” Effie said, pointing a thumb my way. “I’m not trying to get under your dress like this brute.”
Shara blushed and shuffled off before I could think of anything to say in my defense.
“Why did you say that?” I demanded.
Effie shrugged. “See how it feels to want to know something and then get a question in response?”
I didn’t know what to say.
She continued. “I’m going to tell you what you want to know, but then I expect my questions to be answered. Only then will I stop bothering you about the wench.”
Now I understood. She was using Shara as leverage. It was obvious Effie enjoyed being in control. Or maybe she just liked embarrassing people.
“Deal,” I agreed. “I’ll tell you everything I know after you go first.”
She smiled, then leaned back and drank. I watched in awe as all the liquid in her mug slid down her throat, gone in the span of two breaths. “Blah, disgusting beer you have here.” She raised her finger, holding in a belch. “I’ll give you the short version.”
Effie said she was part of a group of five. They’d dug a tunnel beneath the mountains separating Sumar from Ovira with the help
of some creatures called Slugari. From what I gathered, these creatures already lived underground. Some spoke common tongue, but most spoke their own language. Curious, I asked about them.
When Effie told me my questions were pointless because I wouldn’t be seeing any of the creatures anyway, I only had one more question. “Why wouldn’t I ever see them?”
“They went back to Ovira not long after we came into Sumar,” she explained. “We climbed a hill in Arish and saw your capital city. At the sight of civilization, they were frightened. They wanted Terren to go back with them, but he was curious like us to meet other people.”
She went on to explain that Terren was their leader, but even he didn’t know how people had immigrated to Sumar hundreds of years before. Though, they learned the answer along with many other things when they entered Glaine. A stretch of land along the western coast, although protected by a series of islands difficult to navigate through, had no mountains. This was how the first people, led by Drycer Dalion, came to settle in Sumar.
“It also explains why your most expensive currency is called a dalion.” She pulled one of the gold coins worth a hundred ruffs from her pocket.
“Put that away!” I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. “Do you know how much money that is?”
“Relax.” She put it back, using her other hand to smack a wand onto the table. “No one’s going to steal from me.”
I urged her to continue her story.
“When we got to Glaine, we managed to gain an audience with your king about the possibility of trading with our people. But he said war was just beginning and what he needed most were loyal soldiers.” She shook her head as she let out a long breath. “We just finished a war of our own, so Terren wouldn’t force any of us to fight unless absolutely necessary.”
So she’d killed before. It explained the hard look in her eyes.
“We discussed many things with your king. He wanted to know if we did any sacrifices and how they affected the weather, as you would expect.”
I actually had little idea how sacrifices could relate to the weather. I’d have to ask Shara later.
“Eventually we set up an arrangement,” Effie continued. “See, we don’t have pyforial mages in Ovira. We didn’t even know pyforial energy existed. And unlike your ruler, ours is unlikely to outlaw the use of the energy. We believe it’s too useful for that. We could use it for any number of things—building, for example.”
