Nicole started, “But—”
Thato spoke over her. “We don’t know each other, but we have more reason than most to trust each other. If I’m going to be saving your life, you can be trusted with the truth, since you already had part of it anyway.”
After digesting all of that for a moment, Nicole figured that there was no point for her to hold anything back anymore, either. She asked, “Why are you orb-Bonded? All the stories about you say that you were not orb-Bonded and you were still the strongest adventurer.”
“That was all show,” said Thato. “And you were staying at Action’s bar, right? I think we’re close.”
“Yes. What do you mean by show?”
“You’ll find out in a minute.”
“Not that again,” said Nicole firmly.
“Fine. My ‘Bonded abilities work on enchanted gear, and when I am fully kitted, it was an easy mistake to make to think I wasn’t ‘Bonded. My old team and my friends decided that it was good for business to let that rumor spread, so I never confirmed it, but I never publicly denied it, either.”
“Good for business?” asked Nicole.
“If you get famous enough as an adventurer or team, you can get endorsements and sponsors. I was able to help my team get better deals, better gear, and make more money by keeping my mouth shut.”
The two of them walked through the end of an alley and Nicole saw the bar. “We’re here,” she said in a monotone.
“Okay, good. Now lead me to the gear.”
“Please.”
“Please.”
Nicole nodded and did as she’d been asked. She wasn’t sure how to feel at this point. Thato was probably the most confusing man she’d ever met in her life, at least so far. One moment he was arrogant, obnoxious, and the next he was vulnerable, even deep. She led him to the hallway at the back of the building, and to the room she’d been sharing with her friends. All the haul from the dungeon was still there minus the magic stones.
Thato began rummaging through everything, making piles of gear that didn’t seem to make any sense. There was no pattern to it that Nicole could see. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m making decisions. A man’s body is only so big, and I don’t have a harness like I used to.”
“But—”
“Let me think and I’ll explain it to you in a minute.”
Thato’s arrogant, bossy tone of voice still pissed her off, but what he’d said was fair, so Nicole walked to the bed she’d been using before and sat down to watch him. The town was still burning outside, and there still might be demons around, so she still listened carefully and watched the door. After another few minutes, Thato waved her over.
He’d divided everything into four piles. Each pile had an assortment of weapons, jewelry, and trinkets. He pointed to one. “This stuff is not what I’m looking for. It either doesn’t have an application I need or it’s a duplicate of something I already have.”
“How do you know?” asked Nicole. Despite herself, she was professionally interested. Getting things appraised always cost her team a lot of money and was necessary before they could usually sell anything.
“It’s part of my ability. I can just look at an enchanted item most of the time and know what it does, how to activate it, how many times it can be used, how many owners it’s had—that sort of thing. If I use a magic item, it doesn’t count as me being an owner.” He pointed to Pasha’s sword where he’d set it on the ground. “I also don’t need a focus crystal to pair with an enchanted item.”
Nicole’s mind was blown. This meant Thato could have purchased or acquired some of the most powerful enchanted gear on the planet for super cheap. He could even borrow someone else’s weapon and just...return it.
She asked, “So you can see my enchanted gear, too?”
“Yes. You have an enchanted spear that stays sharp and puffs air, two shield rings, one arcane spear ring, enchanted armor, and a magic air pump.”
“The pump’s not enchanted.”
“Doesn’t matter, I can still read what it is.”
“Wow.”
He nodded. “That’s just part of my ability. I can also perfectly keep track of the enchanted gear I use. At first rank, it was twenty. Now at fifth rank, I can keep track of one hundred pieces of gear that I’ve paired with. This means I will always know what it all does, what I have at any given time, and how many charges or other resources they have left.”
The significance of this fact also amazed Nicole. Most adventurers only kept a small number of enchanted items because too much of it could get in the way unless someone trained enough with it. Managing a lot of gear was a skill, and not everyone had a talent for it.
Thato wasn’t done, though. “All of that is not the core of my ‘Bonded skills, though. I also have increased physical abilities and I can see into the future.”
“What?”
“Well, not the real future. My power is to read what is going on around me and accurately predict what will happen up to about two seconds out. When I was first rank, it was only a fraction of a second. If I could hit sixth rank, it would probably get even longer, but fifth is the highest I can go.”
Nicole’s jaw dropped as her mind tried to wrap around what the man had just told her. No wonder he’d been a legend. Especially if he knew what kind of fight he was going to have and prepared for it with the appropriate equipment, he could… “Wow,” she said.
“Yes, well, for the last few years I’ve just been Tom.” For the first time since they’d begun talking, he seemed shaken, or at least awkward for a moment. “The first pile is stuff that I don’t need. The second pile is gear that I already have and don’t need more of. This third pile I’m about to put on right now. The last pile is what you will be carrying.”
“Me?”
Some of Thato’s attitude from earlier crept back into his voice. “I don’t see anyone else in the room with us, do you?”
Nicole was surprised to her toes. Then the fear set in as she understood. “You can’t carry everything at once on your body, at least not and still be effective, so you need someone to carry extra enchanted gear for you, right?”
“Correct!”
“So it’s just the two of us going to fight God only knows how many demons?”
“Correct again!”
Nicole didn’t think she was a coward, but she wasn’t an idiot, either. “What the hell? Why—”
Thato shook his head. “We don’t have time for a meltdown, pretty missy, and this has to be done. What we really need is an army, but we don’t have one, all we have is me. I can’t just carry a bag with extra enchanted gear because I don’t know how a battle will go, or what will be a safe place to stow it. Anything I bring needs to stay close, but I can’t carry a pack and still fight.”
As Nicole sat down on the bed again, she realized she didn’t remember standing up. She crossed her arms and blinked rapidly.
Thato scratched his matted facial hair, looked at her thoughtfully, then hit himself in the forehead. “That’s right, I almost forgot. I don’t expect you to work for free. I feel like I have an obligation to save this place before leaving it, but you’re an adventurer. Adventurers don’t usually do charity. Two of the cultists I killed earlier must have been orb-Bonded. I found boxes after a flash of light, and one was a Dolos orb.”
He fished around in his pocket, pulling out a wooden box about the size used for rings. “Here,” he said, and threw it on the bed next to her. “That’s your payment for this if we survive. Fair, eh?”
With hesitant movements, Nicole opened the box and saw the orb, like a marble made of metal nestled in fabric inside the box. She’d seen an orb before, but had never actually held one. A little scrap of paper on the inside of the top lid was likely the instructions about what kind of orb it was, and how to use it.
“Are you in?” asked Thato. “If not, I’m going to give that to someone else who will help me.”
Nicole held her brea
th before breathing out slowly. She wanted to debate the subject with herself, but in her heart of hearts, she already knew the answer. She whispered, “Yes.”
“Good. It’s too bad you can’t use that orb before we have to go, but you’ll need to sleep first and we don’t have the time.” He handed her a clinking pillow case, and she looked up to see that he’d already put on everything he’d decided to wear, including a new sword. Pasha’s weapon had been laid on one of the beds.
“So this is the extra gear?” she asked.
“Yes. Now we need to get going. There are two more places we need to go, fast, before we can leave for the hellgate, and the longer we take, the more time they have to open the damn thing.”
“Where else are we going?” she asked.
“We need to go to the blacksmith, hope it didn’t burn down. I encouraged Gramie-shilla to save all those enchanted things for a reason—giving them to children to destroy would be a waste. Last, we need to go to my house where I buried some emergency gear I’ve picked up over the last decade.”
“So there are two more places to go where you’re going to get even more enchanted items?”
“Yes, and your bag will be full when we leave.”
Nicole ruefully shook her head. “You probably already know exactly what to take at the blacksmith shop, don’t you? Like, I bet you’ve planned for something like this.”
He lifted an eyebrow at her. “Of course.”
“Figures.” Nicole had to admit that Thato really was a handsome man, but the fact that he was aware of it was just the worst. His attitude also seemed to be all over the place, and while he was clever, the way he was self-satisfied about it made Nicole want to punch him. She couldn’t tell whether she admired him or hated his guts—maybe a little of both. The wooden box with the orb felt heavy in her pocket as she followed him out of the building.
Missing in Action, Chapter Eight
“Pull,” said Nicole.
“Here!” Pasha threw the stone off the cliff and into the open air.
Nicole drew her air pistol, aimed, and fired. The unaffected stone continued on its lazy arc until it fell into the bushes below. With a frown, she re-holstered her pistol. “Damn.”
“A miss. Well, you still hit most of them, though,” said Pasha. “Let’s switch it up this time.”
“Alright.”
This time after Pasha threw a stone, instead of drawing a pistol, Nicole pointed her finger. With a thought, she used her new power, willing a light-blue beam of energy to shoot from her finger. The rock shattered when the beam struck, and Nicole knew that if she could find any of the pieces, they’d be cold as ice.
“Wow, every time I see that it’s like a surprise all over again,” said Pasha. “Do you want to practice the other thing again too?”
“Yeah, but let’s head back after this.”
“Sounds good.” Pasha bent over to scoop up a handful of stones and faced her. “How do you want to do this?”
“Just in front of me again so you won’t get hit.”
Pasha nodded and lobbed the group of stones out over the cliff, directly in front of Nicole. The underhand throw hadn’t had much speed, but Nicole still concentrated—her power still felt awkward and unfamiliar. She held out her open hand and triggered a similar, but different ability than before.
A bubble of dark-blue energy rippled out before her, like half a sphere. It caught the rocks in midair and threw them in a different direction with about the same force as getting hit by a pan. Nicole nodded in satisfaction at the direct hit. This ability wasn’t powerful enough to be used as an attack, not exactly, but it would serve its purpose.
Pasha clapped. “Nice! You hit them solidly this time.” She turned and began walking back to the tiny village they’d been staying at for the last couple of days. The oversized lightning rifle on her back flashed as it caught the afternoon light. Over her shoulder she said, “We’re going back, right?”
Nicole nodded and picked up her pack before following.
“That last ability, I can see how it would have some utility. Your more destructive attack doing cold damage like my sword, I like it.”
“Yeah, well, your sword gave me the idea. When I made my choices for my orb-Bonded abilities, I already knew that Bentru was retiring. I still can’t believe she’s gone. It’s like my brain knows but my heart doesn’t.”
Pasha nodded, pretending she was scratching her eyes to deal with the moisture that had just appeared. “How do you think I feel? I’ve known her longer. She probably made the right choice, though. Like she said, even with a prosthetic leg, she wasn’t confident anymore, and as an earth mage, she could still be a huge help at home.”
Nicole just nodded. Now, less than a week later, they were talking about it calmly, but Bentru leaving the group had been emotional and difficult for everyone. On top of their flight from Action to avoid any government prying, or assassination attempts since the bounty on orb-Bonded people still existed, everyone had been stressed and overwhelmed. When Bentru had left, Nicole had focused on how happy her friend would be to go home, and that she could always go visit her in the future. She would likely still lie awake and think about it tonight, but at least none of her little adopted family on Ludus had been killed.
She had a few things to be thankful for now, actually, but the last week had definitely been difficult.
Over the last few days, strange messages had been beamed directly into everyone’s heads, so everyone knew that Berber had a new king, and now people wouldn’t be alerted or given information anymore if they met an orb-Bonded person or a Mo’hali hero. These messages were all most normal, average people on Ludus seemed to be talking about.
Normally, receiving messages like these would have been a much bigger deal for Nicole, too, but with everything else going on, they’d just kind of blended in with everything else. Today was the first day since Action that the members of the Dolos’ Chosen, or at least who was left, had been able to take any time off.
Pasha and Nicole walked in easy silence for a few minutes until they saw a figure approaching them in the distance, still not much more than a speck. “Someone is out there,” said Pasha.
Nicole concentrated, using another of her new, orb-Bonded abilities and her eyes snapped into focus, surpassing human limitations. “It’s Tom,” she said flatly. Pasha still didn’t know his real identity, so she’d used his assumed name.
The only other person Nicole had told about Thato’s real identity had been Diore. In fact, she’d told her quickly, the day after she’d gotten back to Action after her mission with the man. Being honest and volunteering the truth had been necessary, since Thato needed to leave town, wanted to go with them, and there was no way in hell that Diore was going to let a fifth-rank orb-Bonded she barely knew travel with them without understanding all the details. Saving a town and killing true-demons was one thing, but adventuring teams needed to trust each other.
When Nicole had told Diore everything, she’d seemed less surprised by the truth than expected, which had been oddly disappointing.
“Tom, huh? Maybe he’s coming to see you.” Pasha wiggled her eyebrows.
Nicole slowly turned her head, mildly horrified. “No, you did not just say that.”
“What are you talking about? He’s been traveling with us for a week, ever since Action, and he’s even wearing Bentru’s old mask.”
“We don’t really need the masks anymore,” said Nicole, mostly to herself. “I don’t know why we still wear them.”
“You heard Diore about it. It’s like a uniform for us now or something. I also think she doesn’t trust Dolos’ message, which is saying a lot for her. It’s safer to just leave the masks on for now.”
“I suppose you’re both right,” agreed Nicole. She’d love to take the damn thing off, though.
“Anyway,” continued Pasha, “I’ve been expecting Diore to tell us that Tom is going to be a real member of the team for a few days now. It’s rotten that
we lost Bentru, but it would be amazing for her replacement to be so strong—and male—and handsome. Have you seen him with his shirt off? I just about passed out.”
“You have a one-track mind, Pasha,” said Nicole.
“That’s easy for you to say, you’ve had all the luck lately. He’s always with you, and you even got an orb. I’m the only non-’Bonded person on the team now, and I’m also a woman with needs who hasn’t seen anyone for weeks other than monsters, old men, other women, and demons.”
“It’s only a matter of time now before you get an orb,” said Nicole, ignoring everything else Pasha had said. “We paid off the last of our debt months ago, and now our team can hit harder so we can try the better dungeons. Diore also sent that magic messenger bird to the capital about our losses, and about demanding payment, remember?” Nicole also knew that Thato had sent a message of his own to someone he knew in the Berber government, someone who knew he was still alive, so it was unlikely that Diore would be ignored.
“Yes, well, the government of Berber just changed, right? This place has a new king now, which is incredible. It’s rare for there to be a single king, I hope he doesn’t break under the pressure. Maybe someone will give him some strong women to do all the real work for him.”
“Maybe.” Nicole had a tough time caring about governments on Ludus as long as they left her alone.
Pasha squinted in the distance, where the person approaching was just a slightly bigger dot now. “You can really see that it’s Tom?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I used to have the best eyes on the team. So how does your orb stuff work, anyway? Isn’t your orb, uh, modular where you can pick powers, just like Diore’s? It’s been a week, you can tell me now, right?” Pasha scratched her shoulder, looking away, acting casual.
Nicole blinked, realizing she’d talked to Diore and Thato in depth about her changes, but hadn’t really discussed it with Pasha. Wow. No wonder the woman had been abnormally helpful and composed lately—she’d been concerned she was getting phased out of the group.
Delvers LLC- Surviving Ludus Page 41
