Mitigating Risk (Nora Hazard Book 1)

by Blaise Corvin

  “It’s already open,” said the High Priestess.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “The exit is back through the tunnel you came through to get here, off to the side. It’s not very wide. I came in here that way.” Then in a sing-song voice, Duanna warned, “Be careful of the brambles!” She tittered into her hands, before abruptly growing completely serious. “If you meet Dolos, don’t tell him how you got that spear, at least not for a while. Oh, and don’t tell any other High Priestesses, either.”

  “How would I ever meet the god of this planet?” I asked, frowning. “And are you serious that I passed the exit before I came out to—actually, never mind.” I was mentally and emotionally done with the situation. With my plain-looking spear in hand, I gathered up my things and turned to leave with a stiff back. At least I still had my pride. The drake and the demigoddess both watched me go. I noticed Jadanak staring at my spear.

  It was obvious from their reactions that the spear I held was important. The fact it had replaced almost all the loot from an elite dungeon confirmed this, but I wondered how helpful it could actually be if I didn’t even know what it was.

  Damn Enheduanna! I mentally howled. I gritted my teeth when I found the exit tunnel from the dungeon. There would be time to process everything that I had endured later. At least I still had my life. For now, I just needed to escape.

  Guard-sense

  Enheduanna had not been joking with her warning. I emerged from Dingeramat through a small hole in the middle of a nettle thicket. Luckily, my spear, short sword, and new scale shirt I wore helped me avoid getting torn up too badly while leaving. I briefly wondered how the High Priestess had managed to make it into the dungeon with perfect hair.

  Since the exit to the dungeon was just a tunnel, I also wondered why no adventurers had attempted to just raid the dungeon in reverse in the distant past. Then I amended that thought as there were probably nasty surprises for anyone that tried.

  That’s just how Ludus worked.

  After struggling out of the nettles, I managed to locate a road and headed that direction. The surrounding country was more of the lifeless area I’d been in when I’d fallen into Dingeramat.

  Suddenly, I got a strange sensation. Following my instinct, I triggered my tremble-sense ability. After my awareness spread outwards, I was able to feel a group of riders galloping down the road.

  I quickly hid behind a rocky outcropping and triggered my enhanced hearing ability. I waited a couple minutes and began wondering if I should get up to hide better, but then heard the sound of galloping. A few moments later, a group of riders thundered by on zebras, heading back the way I’d originally come, towards Bittertown.

  Using my enhanced hearing I heard, “Well, this is a first. Hafessi actually failed to find someone. This has been the most expensive, most boring, most depressing job we have ever accepted.”

  “Stow it, Venu, she tried her hardest. Stop being an ass. This Nora is just an evasion genius. I agree we are not getting paid enough for this, though. She’s probably also more dangerous than we were told. We’ll regroup and then—”

  The riders were too far gone for me to hear anymore, and I slowly lowered myself to a squat, my head hanging. The zebras had flown by so quickly that I hadn’t gotten a good look at the riders, but I had recognized the voices. They’d belonged to the invisible bounty hunter group that I’d run from in the first place. What were the odds I would have seen them again?

  For about the one-hundredth time since leaving Bittertown, I wondered if I was the luckiest or the unluckiest woman in the world. I looked down at myself, at my disheveled state, my almost-healed wounds, and the new armor I wore. I felt the weight of my talking enchanted dagger—possibly a sign of bad luck—and the mysterious spear. I reflected on my close calls, my new bad memories, and also my vastly increased experience.

  I honestly couldn’t figure out if I should be thanking or cursing the Creator. At least my new magic torch is a straightforward plus, I thought.

  I sighed and picked up my pack from where I’d dropped it. There were probably a few more days of travel to Soron, my first destination. Hopefully, the bounty hunters would continue riding back towards Bittertown, not the way I was going. It would be smart not to test fate, though. I decided to proceed cautiously.

  After I was sure the riders were well and truly gone, I began traveling again, following the road but ready to hide on a moment’s notice.

  ***

  The first night outside of Dingeramat was oddly peaceful. After the dungeon, the dark didn’t make me nervous anymore. Nothing I’d ever experience again would probably compare to my trial among the bones of an elite dungeon—at least I hoped so.

  While the dark was familiar now, it was still handy to build a fire. I found a hidden outcropping far from the road for my little blaze, and decided I would take similar, basic precautions as long as I still traveled in Berber. Trying to stay hidden would slow me down, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  I had always really loved that saying.

  After doing my best to clean and repair my gear, I tried activating my enchanted armor a few more times. Unfortunately, the shirt stayed a dull, metallic bronze, and otherwise didn’t react at all.

  Frustrated with my unresponsive armor, I eventually gave up and examined my spear again—like I’d done a thousand times already that day.

  No matter how closely I examined it, the weapon continued to appear nothing more than a very well made blessed steel spear. The only interesting thing I’d found was a tiny mark on the base of the golden metal block beneath the blade—a sigil of some sort. Once again, I ran through what I knew about the spear. There was just no way it was a normal weapon. It would be foolish to write off the spear’s worth out of ignorance. I may not always be clever, but I was not stupid, either.

  “You should have a name,” I said out loud, twisting the spear in my hands. All the most powerful and important objects in stories had names. Maybe naming the spear would remind me not to think of it as a simple weapon. The little sigil I’d noticed before looked like a circle with a bisecting squiggly line and two smaller circles on the top and bottom. The unfamiliar design really didn’t give me much to go on.

  I thought back to my old lessons in languages, and some of the self-study I’d done. I’d been so curious as a girl that I’d even learned a bit of the home language of the Fideli people. After running through some words I knew, I smiled and said, “I’ll call you Eneus. A simple name for a simple spear.” I was proud of myself.

  “Speaking of named weapons,” I said, drawing Vistvis from my belt. The dagger had not spoken to me since our hurried conversation in the dark tunnels of Dingeramat. But the way Enheduanna had communicated with Vistvis had made me wonder if I could somehow choose to talk with the grumpy personality in the dagger.

  Based on what Enheduanna had said before, Vistvis’ soul had probably been ripped out and stored in the weapon. What a terrible fate that would be. I shuddered at the thought and vowed to try being more patient with Vistvis if I ever spoke with her again.

  Actually, something was tickling my mind. I thought carefully back to my conversation with Vistvis and remembered that she’d said she could still perceive the world around her even if she couldn’t communicate. This had to be a fact too since she’d given Enheduanna a report.

  I said out loud, “I’m trying to figure out how to talk to you, Vistvis.” The blessed steel dagger in my hands didn’t respond in any way, and I felt ridiculous. I didn’t speak again but tried using my enhanced hearing on the dagger. Nothing. Then I activated my vib-blade ability through the weapon. I braced for it, but I didn’t get any indignant, Areva voice in my head. Oh well, I can always try again later, I thought and put the blade away.

  Looking critically at the dagger in its sheath, I realized it could still be identified as blessed steel. If I wanted to be inconspicuous, I would not be able to wear Vistvis openly. A few minutes later, I’d figu
red out how to hide the dagger under my lightly armored shirt.

  Then that left Eneus. The spear’s blessed steel blade would make me the center of attention most places I went, especially traveling alone. After a moment’s consideration, I came up with the perfect, simple solution. I grasped the cloth streamer attached to the spear, and just wrapped it around the blade, hiding what it was made of. After I was done, the weapon truly just seemed like a normal, well-made spear. Any curious onlookers would just assume that I’d wrapped a bronze or titanium blade to protect it.

  “Well, that wasn’t too difficult,” I said. After the words left my mouth, I felt a sudden surge of panic and quickly looked around. It was superstitious, but I worried that my careless words might have tempted the balance of the universe. Creator knew I didn’t need any more trouble, especially since I would have to sleep alone in the wilderness with nobody else on watch.

  I relaxed after a few minutes, but realized that my fears were real. Even though I was technically not in monster country, I’d just proven that old dungeons could exist deep within the earth. No place on Ludus was truly safe. Yes, I slept very lightly these days, but it would still be helpful to figure out some other way to stay safe.

  After some careful consideration, I tentatively began manipulating my Vibration power, trying to create a new ability. Normally, my tremble-sense ability didn’t feel for anything smaller than large creatures, riders, and that sort of thing. However, the power was really used for large areas around me. What if I dialed it to a much smaller area?

  Crafting an alert was also a problem. I didn’t have any abilities that really could wake me up, just ways to affect me the world or enhance my senses. It took me a solid hour, but I eventually came up with something workable.

  I decided to call the new ability, “guard-sense,” which wasn’t the greatest name I’d coined. Oh well, if it did its job, it didn’t matter what I called it. The ability used a much more sensitive version of tremble-sense that only extended for about fifty yards. I tested it a few times by throwing rocks and decided it would probably pick up the footfalls of any approaching monsters—or people.

  Then I tied this ability to my enhanced hearing that I turned inwards, towards my heart. The Vibration power portion of the ability took very little energy and I could maintain it while sleeping. The alarm, the enhanced hearing portion, consumed a large chunk of my available energy to make my heart beat sound like a drum in my ears. The new ability wasn’t perfect, but I still nodded my head in satisfaction.

  After that, I settled into sleep, and just enjoyed being able to see the stars again. Deep down, I knew that my experience in Dingeramat had affected me in ways I was not even aware of yet. One thing was sure, though. I had never really been much of a meek woman. But now, well, now people had really better not test my patience.

  That thought led to remembering my agreement with Enheduanna. If I fulfilled my obligation, I would keep my newfound power, I’d get into the academy in Mensk, and hopefully get revenge on anyone that was involved in any way with my dead loved ones.

  My eyes heavy, I thought briefly of Arren. “I will remember you forever, my friend,” I muttered towards the dying fire. Then I remembered my kind, thoughtful father, dead from treachery. I thought of my first mother, my birth mother, and the fact I could barely remember her anymore. My fuzzy memory made me feel like a terrible daughter. Lastly, I thought of my second mother, Regina.

  As a rule, I usually didn’t think about my second mother much. Doing so usually only opened old wounds in my heart. But as I lay in the dark, my nerves unwinding from days spent in a terrifying elite dungeon, I began to indulge my growing sadness.

  Mommy Regina, why didn’t you want me? I thought. My lower lip began to tremble. The makeshift bed of grass I’d put together for the night was not very comfortable, and I wished I could just fall asleep to escape my memories. I was just a little girl. What did I do wrong?

  The embers of my fire died as I cried myself to sleep, drowning in memories and feelings of loneliness.

  Wise Intervention

  The next morning, I decided that I needed to get over my funk. The novelty of traveling had worn off a while ago, but air skating made the miles flash by, and the solitude really helped me think. Time alone had always been the best time for me to process things, and on the road, I had lots of time alone.

  I’d lost a few days in Dingeramat, but my Flight power had grown stronger. I could air skate for longer now and thus traveled faster. This meant I was able to make up lost time, and could even justify taking more breaks to practice with my spear, my bronze short sword, and with Vistvis. I even found time to practice with some of my orb-Bonded abilities.

  Since my physical abilities had improved during my trials in the elite dungeon, I also began doing basic exercises—not enough to get my clothes sweaty and nasty, unless I had a handy water source nearby for washing, but every bit helped.

  My spirits also began to lift as the surrounding countryside transitioned from a blasted wasteland into the wilderness I was more accustomed to. The change was timely, too, since I was able to start foraging for food again.

  By the end of my second day since escaping Dingeramat, I felt fairly normal again, but I was self-aware enough to know I’d changed forever. Something inside of me had shifted, and for better or for worse, I was not the same woman I had been before.

  On the morning of the third day since escaping Jadanak’s lair, after staying alert and following the road signs, I knew I was near Soron, the town where I was supposed to meet the people I’d be escorting to Tolstey. However, as I approached, I saw something on the horizon that made me suck in a breath and shake my head.

  Sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed when I topped a hill and looked down on the town. There had been a battle. A few of the buildings were in flames and corpses of the Guard dotted the road. One nearby member of the town guard had been riddled with arrows; her dark hair fanned out on the ground like a halo.

  In the sky above, I thought I saw the streak of a magic messenger bird. It did make sense that if any mages or orb-Bonded still lived in the town below, they’d be sending messages to the Berber Guard. The nearest outpost was at least a couple days away, though, and the violence had been recent, probably the night before.

  The scene made me pause, and I warily leaned on Eneus. “Rot everything,” I swore, spitting the curse. “This is getting old.”

  I threw my head back and closed my eyes for a moment, forcing some calm. In the grand scheme of things, the people in the burning town below were having a worse day than me. But unfortunately, this didn’t change the fact that my patience with life, with violence, with people, with everything, was getting very thin. I briefly closed my eyes and focused on using my Vibration abilities. After briefly extending my senses, I huffed and began heading towards Soron’s front gate. I gave all the stiffened bodies a wide berth.

  The fighting must have been savage. Based on the number of bodies, the battle itself hadn’t been large, but it had been nasty. Patches of burned ground were evidence of magic attacks, and at least one guard had been blown apart.

  I didn’t consider myself to be very intimidating, even now that I was openly armored and carrying weapons of war, but to the survivors of Soron, I must have been terrifying. Someone screamed as I approached, and a couple injured guards wearily trotted out, their gazes suspicious and unfriendly. Each guard carried a long bronze-tipped spear. I thought I spotted movement among the buildings behind them, maybe archers. Whoever had attacked this place had obviously not eliminated all of the defenders.

  “Halt,” ordered one of the guards, a big Terran man with a beard. His armor was dented and a bandage covered half of his head. “Who are you and why are you here?”

  I paused for half a second while I thought about what to say. If I told them that I was on a special mission for a High Priestess of Dolos, I wasn’t sure how they’d react, but it probably wouldn’t be good. I decided to stick to an
abbreviated version of the truth. “I’m here to meet a couple of traveling companions.” My own voice sounded weird and hesitant to my own ears. It had been a while since I talked to another normal person.

  The other guard, a pale Terran woman snarled, “Are you serious? Can’t you see the town is burning and people are dying? Nobody just drops by to visit right after an attack like this.” The angry guard had bloody bandages on both arms, her legs covered in mud. Her thin lips pressed together so hard after speaking that they almost disappeared.

  “I don’t know, Sergeant; she looks tough,” said the man.

  “Yeah, too tough. She might be a returning raider.”

  “But, Sergeant, why would one raider return?”

  “If she’s not a raider, then why is she so fearless walking up here?” asked the woman, her spear still pointed at me.

  I frowned at that. The guard had a point, but it wasn’t like I’d been completely reckless—she just had no way to know that. I had used my tremor-sense earlier and determined that there were no riders or fighting nearby. But still, I supposed if I’d been smart, I should have found a good vantage point and watched the town for longer before making my presence known.

  Why had I just walked up here? The evidence that the recent fighting had been fierce was obvious. Dead guards were most concentrated near the perimeter of the town, and now that I was closer, I could see the bodies of the attackers too. They had been wearing clothing that blended into the surrounding grass and shrubs from a distance. Clever.

  In the span of a heartbeat or two, I really thought about why I’d just been so bold. The situation reminded me of my resolution back in Dingeramat to not be frightened anymore. Guile had never been one of my strong points, but I could usually get things done with force. I’d never wanted to think of myself as that kind of woman, but maybe it was time to just accept who I was. In fact, it seemed I’d already gone that direction without even consciously deciding to do so.