The Chronicles of Outsider: Humble Beginnings

by Justin Wayne

  Chapter Twenty One: The Tipping Scale

  The following week was spent waiting for Merlon to recover, recounting what had transpired during his “absence”, and telling stories of the adventures Cuke and Outsider had had in their early days of travelling the land in search of quests and treasure. Thom hung on to their every word and asked questions at every pause, finding his insatiable curiosity peaking from tale to tale. Merlon laughed at the funny parts and paid attention for while he could, but it didn’t take long for him to refuse to wait around any longer.

  “I feel fine ye’ whiny bunch o’ goblin-brained pansies!” he had roared as he gathered his supplies and strapped them to Horsey. Cuke opened his mouth to reply but was stopped by his next sentence. “And if I hear one more time that I’m still too weak to travel, I’ll shove me boot so deep up—“

  “We get it, Merlon; we shant tarry any longer.” Outsider acquiesced and followed his lead. “But we need to find more steeds for us to make any reasonable time.”

  And so Cuke had tree transferred back to Briggand Sails then returned a few minutes later with two shaggy haired ponies, one black and one white. “Their names are Ebony and Ivory.” he told the group happily. “Finest horses the chapel has and they lent them to me!” he beamed. “In fact, they insisted I take them to continue my travels for as long as I need. Quite generous of them eh?”

  The others noticed the nod Outsider gave them and made no comment; allowing the cleric his moment of pride, then geared up and hit the road. Only then had they realized they didn’t know where they were going. The caravan paused and looked to Outsider for direction.

  Inside he waged a war.

  If he took in Thom, he would gain a fortune that would afford him possibilities far beyond his grasp such as a true house, legendary magical armors and weapons, or potions that could affect a multitude of things. It could very well transform his entire life.

  On the other hand, he had grown to like the little thief, respecting him even. He told himself Thom wasn’t a bad kid and had just been dealt a bad hand. He knew he could have very well ended up the same way; becoming a vicious murderer like those who had raised him.

  He shook his head and cursed himself for even considering it after all that had happened between them. He looked to the dwarves who were conversing in their natural language, then to Thom who sat on the other side of the group watching him.

  Outsider led his eyes to each of them as he spoke. “They say as good things happen, so too, will bad, to even our lives.” he stated ominously. Cuke and Merlon went silent then and stared at him intently. He noted the hard look in the old fighter’s eye. “But I will not be that bad occurrence.”

  Outsider held his hand out to Thom, who looked at it as he might a snake rearing to strike, and then hesitantly gripped it. He smiled as they shook. “I’m not taking you to Cain Sander. By my eyes, you’ve more than earned your freedom.” He released the hobbit’s hand. “You’re free to go as you wish.”

  “Not to mention you’ve had probably a thousand chances to leave already!” Merlon laughed heartily and nodded at the elf. “’Course yer always welcome to stay, boy.”

  “Wouldn’t want you to miss all the fun.” Cuke added with a wide grin that nearly closed his eyes.

  Thom looked over his shoulder at the road. He couldn’t deny the calling he felt to go home, to lay in his soft bed and eat hot food. To see women, real women!

  Then as he pictured it, he realized he didn’t have a home anymore. This particular bounty hunter had forgiven him, but the countless others hadn’t. Not to mention the Heavywinter Warriors who knew he had stolen a treasure from them and ran half the town he had lived in.

  Looking ahead then at those around him, Thom couldn’t deny the calling he felt for adventure either. A fire burned in his stomach and made him queasy with excitement.

  “What’re we waiting for?” he cheered and accepted the claps on the shoulder until he was knocked from his horse by Merlon’s.

  “Oops, sorry boy.” the old dwarf mumbled and picked him up by the scruff of his cape and plopped him down on Ivory.

  Cuke turned their attention back to the elf then. “So where are we going, Outsider? I know of a few places we might find some interesting artifacts said to contain ancient and mysterious recipes for the most delicious—“

  “We have a prior engagement, my friend.” he replied. “Merlon’s home of Journ has been taken by a spirit I believe and completely abandoned over night without a single footprint.”

  The cleric shuddered and pulled his robes about him tighter, covering his chainmail so that the steel wouldn’t chill him even more. “Sounds like the type of thing you would get me pulled into.” he said dryly and arched an eyebrow.

  Merlon laughed at the facial expression he commonly employed. “Maybe it be a dwarven thing.”

  “Can you tree travel us back to Journ?” Outsider asked of Cuke, but the cleric shook his head at once.

  “Too many of us even without the horses, and I’ve never been there; could wind up in pieces or on the wrong continent.” He scratched his head as was his custom and leaned back in the saddle. “So I guess we’d best get going?”

  Agreed, the group had set out back the way they came, away from Cain Sander and down the Pilgrimage Pass toward the northern plains. This time they went at a leisurely pace, taking time to enjoy the scenic views and listen as Outsider pointed out the variety of plants and flowers one could eat and those too poisonous to even touch, while Cuke and Merlon had a debate over whether or not their race was meant for magic which quickly fell into their rough and heavy consonant language. Outsider understood it perfectly well but ignored it as he had no compunction to argue.

  Instead he and Thom swapped stories of their time in the cities spread across the northern tundra and compared who had the best, with Thom’s harrowing tale of the time he was caught with the Jarl’s daughter swimming nude in a bathtub filled with jewels and gold taking the prize.

  “I swear, it may seem like a fine idea at first glance, but once you’re actually in there you realize just how cold gold coins can be!” The hobbit wheezed as his lungs contracted from laughing too hard. Outsider, likewise, found himself shaking in the saddle.

  Jiff whinnied and shook his head as if to say, you guys are ridiculous.

  The elf leaned back and stared at the sky as the sun began to set. They were more than halfway back to the plains now and he was anxious to see the remnants of the battlefield to learn who had been victorious overall. Yet, he didn’t want to rush there.

  Now, in the pass, with his friends, he found himself at ease; as if the troubles of the world that rejected him no longer mattered. In the past two weeks, he had realized he was here surrounded by those who would risk their life for him, and not a single one of his race. True companionship and a mutual level of trust embellished with respect kept them safe; a brotherhood of sorts. Never before had he trusted anyone aside from Cuke to watch his back without fear of betrayal, for indeed that exact thing had happened several times in the past.

  Outsider found himself confused by the entire ordeal and unable to understand why this group who he had only known only a few months, aside from the cleric, would side with him so. It truly boggled his mind and shook the entire infrastructure of the reality he had lived in all his life.

  Even content as he was, he longed to know why, to comprehend their motivations and better realize what had evaded him for so long.

  Slowly it began to dawn on him that fear was not a driving factor. Their reasons were not a point of contention for him to decide if he was at risk, but to know if what he felt was in sync. To judge whether he was a friend to them.

  This, he realized, is what I’ve been waiting for. The opportunity to test who I am against my kind not in battle or on my prowess of killing, but of the person I have become.

  That thought eased him into a comfortable lull. He listened politely to the others and commented when necessary, but ultimately fo
und his solace in just hearing their tales and learning more about them and how they turned out the way they did. He never underestimated one’s upbringing and the repercussions it could have on their entire life, whether they accepted or rebelled against it.

  And he found himself pleased by what he heard.

  “So what’s the Shadowverse like?” Thom asked suddenly and Outsider stared ahead a long while. “I mean, what is it? It’s underground right? Complete darkness?”

  The elf lingered in silence for a moment then decided his little friend had earned such information from him. “Yes and no. The Shadowverse is indeed underground but not in the way you’d think. It’s not just some series of caves and tunnels, but a mirrored image of the world above; warped and upside down within an alternate plane. Our ground is your ground but we’re on opposite sides of it…does that make sense?”

  Thom shrugged. “I think I get it; kinda like a shadow of one another?”

  “Exactly; a reflection. The people and cities are different of course, but the similarities are always there. They say the two are connected by fate, that even the buildings resembled one another. Some of the elders would say our opposites were on the surface.”

  “Opposites?” Thom asked perplexed.

  “Someone exactly alike yet different. Such as if you were to come across some sort of Shadowverse-dwelling halfling who was a thief but did such in an evil manner.” Outsider mused. “But they were just a legend; rumors really. Legends say dark elves came to existence to balance the light of the elves on the surface, just as the light cannot exist without creating shadows. But none know for sure; they're far too occupied with pleasing the Nine of Night. And as for the darkness, that was true for the most part. It is always night below and the sky dead. Try to imagine an empty black void above that absorbs light rather than gives it.”

  “That’s almost as hard to picture as the mirrored world.” Thom laughed. “So what happened when you made your way out to the surface?”

  Outsider paused to remember exactly. “Honestly it’s a bit hazy as I hadn’t eaten in a few days, but I was in the tunnels for months and months; gradually winding my way higher and higher with the pressure popping my ears every hour or so. You see, only the deepest shadows can open the planes; both natural and magical. I kept going until I remember seeing this waterfall at the end of the tunnel falling the wrong way. So I walk over to it and look up to watch it go when gravity just flipped. I fell, or flew, depending on how you look at it, and came up in the bottom of this pond.”

  Thom screwed up his face as he imagined it and gave a sort of snort. “Wow, you’ve had a strange life, Outsider.”

  The elf nodded and couldn’t help but agree with his little friend. He had surprised himself by being able to talk about such a dark place; figuratively and literally, and remain in such a good mood.

  So relaxed was he, that the dirk caught him fully in the chest before the Inksmoke ever fell. The pain sliced through him as surely as the steel and he doubled over, slipping from Jiff to the ground with a grunt where he crouched low in the artificial night.

  A cruel, sneering voice that had followed him from the Shadowverse snickered and called out to him. “I like that little speech you said back there; the one about not being the bad that would offset the good? It’s very dramatic...in fact, I liked it so much, I decided I would take it to heart and be that bad occurrence just so I could save you from whatever else may come your way.

  “I will be the tipping of the scale.”

  Outsider couldn’t have replied if he wanted to; the dirk, while not very deep, had impacted his cracked ribs and stolen his wind. Instead he futilely raked the darkness with his natural vision for Blaine, knives drawn.

  A moment later he pulled his cowl lower to shield his sensitive eyes as Cuke loosed a handful of light that disintegrated the dark with a loud crackling similar to fire. The cleric held the spell until he could see clearly.

  As soon as the inky blackness peeled away in black tendrils like wispy smoke, his face sought out Outsider’s who looked back at him with equal bewilderment. They shared a shrug and looked over to the dwarf who cursed and spat beside his frenzied pony.

  Merlon picked himself up from the ground where he had fallen, looked to the two of them, then in a full circle. He swung his head about and ducked below his pony to scan the ground, then walked the perimeter. Slowing from his search that had escalated to a run, his eyes locked with the elf’s. His heart felt as if it had dropped into his stomach and made it hard to speak.

  At least he managed to choke out, “Where’s Thom?”