by TJ Reynolds
I blasted the soreness from my body with a scorching shower, groaning much more than was appropriate. A friend of mine used to say, “showers are better than sex,” and though I didn’t have the experience to back up the claim, I had the suspicion that it was true. A proper shower at least.
I changed into fresh clothes and called out to Elendil, “How are the remaining auctions doing? Any other profits?”
“I am so relieved you asked me, Hana. I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you. And if you do not know, that is a popular idiom the refers to a racehorse who is excited to get on the track and race its heart out. Do you understand the reference in association to me wanting to tell you good news?” Elendil was talking a mile a minute, and the thought of the AI comparing himself to a horse was delightful.
I prodded, “I do. But what is the good news?”
“Well, the items have all sold, and interestingly, to a single buyer. It would seem that there is an ambitious crafter in your realm who is trying to power-level his skills.” I couldn’t help but be infected with his enthusiasm. “Needless to say, the items sold for a total of 14,350 gold dragons! You are, as they say my friend, rich as a king’s ransom!”
I giggled and chose not to correct his second attempt at an idiom. The worst thing that could happen is he could make the mistake again. Fine by me.
“That is great news, Elendil. Please send a third of the money to Madi’s account with a note explaining our good fortune.” I finished lacing my shoes and stood up to leave my room. “Oh, and take my third and transfer that over to YD and place it in my account. Thanks! I’ll make sure to save some time to chat before I log back in. See you soon!”
As I walked down the hall, I marveled at how quickly Elendil had become like a parent to me. I’d just given him a very classic “I’ll be home later” teenager speech. Thinking of my dad threatened to pull down my mood again, so I pushed away the thoughts. It would always be there, so why not wait?
When I emerged into the common room, Shin was already waiting, tapping his toes near the beverage machine, his arms crossed with impatience.
“About time! I’ve been waiting for almost an hour.” His smile undermined his complaining.
I crushed my friend in a hug then gave his shoulder a push. “Hey, where’s my Mate Latte?”
“It’s coming. Just a moment of your precious time, princess.” He punched in the code for the drink. Soon enough, the machine hummed and hissed, and my new favorite beverage was ready.
We took our teas and moved to sit at a nearby table. Shin just shook his head and waved me over to the corner of the room. There was a nook that we’d used to play our eight-bit adventures on. It offered greater privacy.
He informed me in a snobby accent, “What I have to show you is not for the eyes of the general public.”
I had to admit, I was curious. “Spit it out already. Did you contact your sister yet?”
He shook his head slightly and produced a bundle of papers from his pocket. “This. Just this.” He handed me an envelope.
I opened it and gasped. But as I read the letter, I couldn’t help but grow confused.
Dear Mae Seong,
Congratulations! You have been offered a scholarship to attend Stanford University. Considering your many academic achievements and the important nature of your studies in the field of Nanobiology, Stanford University is prepared to offer you a generous stipend as well as cover any costs of attendance.
For further information regarding the nature of this opportunity, please contact Professor Renkontu Min in the Student Success and Matriculation Office, located in the Cielo-Ponto building.
The letter ended soon after listing a few contact numbers. A second and third page were attached that gave information on Stanford’s award-winning Nanotechnology Department.
I handed the papers back to Shin. “I don’t get it. Your sister got accepted to Stanford? That’s great news, but how does that help you contact her?”
He whispered, with sparks of mischief dancing in his eyes, “The letter is a forgery. She applied to several top colleges, and though she did apply to Stanford, she doesn’t actually want to go there. She had her sights set on MIT or Harvard Medical. She’s a freaking genius, so her getting offered a full ride to any of these schools makes sense.” I nodded and gestured with my hand to hurry up and get around to explaining what he was planning. “My parents will get this and be happy, then hand the letter to Mae. Stanford’s response isn’t due for another week or two, but that should be enough time for me to get through to her. The letter cost me an arm and a leg. Had to hire the best forgery expert in LA. Found the dude on the black web. Ridiculous what I did for this. I bought a laptop, got a false ID, transferred YD into bitcoin, then hired this dude. Burned it all when I got it this morning. Nuts, right? I’m freaking Bond!”
He was obviously pumped up, but I still had no idea why he would buy a fake Stanford acceptance letter. I asked him as much and he rolled his eyes.
“Sorry, I’ll slow down. Most of the letter is an exact copy of what Stanford would send prospective students. The end, though, is a message. Professor Renkontu Min is not a real name. Renkontu Min means “meet me” in Esperanto. It’s an old language created in an attempt to provide a politically neutral way of communicating between nations. Obviously didn’t work, but my sister and I picked it up as a way to talk without my parents knowing what we were saying. They hated it, but never even found out what language we were using. Anyway, the second part is the location, the Cielo-Ponto building. Cielo Ponto means “sky bridge.” You know the sky bridge that tourists can visit in the massive AMS building downtown?”
I nodded, the pieces starting to come together in my head.
He continued in a rush. “Well, my sister and I played on it for hours at a time. Kinda nuts if you think about it, but my parents were always in meetings there and we had free rein of the whole tower. An armed guard would just follow us around everywhere we went. It became one of our favorite spots.”
“Wow, that’s awesome. Your weird, super involved plan, that is. But how will she know when to meet you there?” I knew the answer must be obvious.
“At the bottom I list Professor Renkontu Min’s phone number, of course!” Shin produced a shiny new cellphone from his pocket and winked at me. “I just put this number down. I had to hire a voice actor to record the voicemail, just in case my parents call to check. If Mae calls, I’ll pick up and we can set up a meeting.” His face was lit with an insane joy and his arms were open wide. “I’m awesome, right?”
“You are. Wow. How much did you spend on all of this?”
Shin shot an eyebrow up and looked smug. “Like I’d tell you. A lot, though, but worth it. My parents can cut me off from their lives if they want, but not my sister. She’s everything to me.”
I reached out and offered him a fist bump. “I’m proud of you, Shin. This needed to happen. Not sure if you didn’t just do the most paranoid and overly involved way of contacting her, but if it works, I’ll be happy for you.”
“I think it will.” He slipped the papers and his phone back into his pocket then changed the subject. “So, you said something about Ultima?”
A grin stole across my face and I took a deep swig of the latte. This was going to be a fun night. “I might have. Why? Did you bring your A game?”
“Yes, and I’ve done my research. I think we should try Ultima III: Exodus. Shouldn’t take us long to grind through. Then it’s my choice again. I’m thinking we try something from the early Playstation X releases afterward. Have you played any of the Call of Duty games?” I nodded and he grinned savagely. “Well then, when we beat your janky Ultima, we are going to play the classic CoD 20: Fall of Tehran. It’s insane. You get to play both sides. The sheer gore is incomparable! You down?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, smiling despite my general lack of interest in first-person shooter games. “If you promise not to whine when I beat you, I’m game for anything.”
5: “But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say, ‘Look, a golden winged ship is passing my way.’”
— Johnny, The Bard of Towers
HANA
After too many hours of serious gaming and three Mate Lattes, I logged back in. Pachi was sleeping peacefully, and I tiptoed to avoid disturbing her.
As I approached my sleeping roll next to her, she surprised me by lifting a wing as she’d promised. Welcome back, sister. Let’s sleep. The night is cold, and I have plenty of warmth for you.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I lay down next to her, my oak bearskin cloak enough of a barrier between me and the cave floor. It was hard, but I’d gotten used to sleeping it rough, though I was not at all sure whether or not I would be so comfortable in the real world. Either way, my avatar was cozy, and I pushed myself further into the velvet fur of Pachi’s belly. Her wing fell down over me, and I was soon fast asleep.
My head thunking to the ground woke me, and I squinted at the morning light that was blaring into the cave. Dear God, I’d need to invest in some blackout curtains.
Pachi was slinking away, and even as I watched, she launched herself from the cave mouth and flew out into the valley.
Pachi’s voice called back to me, her tone monotone, almost annoyed, Your snoring is excessive, small one. I am going to find something to eat. I’ll be back soon.
I sent her a mental growl, but my wits were not with me. I watched her form shrink in the cool morning air for a few moments, then decided to walk down to the stream to freshen up.
After splashing myself in the frigid water, I ate a quick meal and turned to the day’s plans. There was a ton to do, and I was itching to get started.
I needed to have a fire if some of my other ideas would work, so I decided to start there.
Returning to the cave, I began digging a wide, shallow pit in the center of the space I had. The cave was around twenty feet deep, a bit wider at the mouth. The fire would go somewhere in the middle.
I brought in the stones I’d gathered and lined the pit. Then I used the loose soil and mixed it with the dirt I’d dug out. The mud it made was gritty with sand but had enough clay to make it strong. It would be perfect.
After a few trips to the stream to refill my water, I had myself a stone and clay-lined firepit. I didn’t want to stop there, though. I built the rocks up on one side, slowly making them rise up above the lip of the pit. The mud was key here, and I even used a few branches to bolster the weight of the stones. After an hour or so, I’d made a stone shelf that hung over the fire itself. I could do some serious cooking now.
If I had a few days and some material stronger than clay mud, I could make a chimney. Maybe some day in the future.
Pachi had come back with a squealing boar and finished her meal. She was now basking on a rock that jutted out a few dozen feet from the cave mouth.
I asked her, in my sweetest voice, Hey, buddy. Can you do me a favor?
She didn’t move a muscle. Maybe. What is it?
Maybe my snoring had been bad. My companion was rarely this grumpy. I was wondering if you can kill deer without wrecking their hide? I need a few of them, if possible. She remained silent for a time, so I added, You can eat them, I just want their hides. It will help block out the sun, so we can sleep in tomorrow…
She lifted her head and looked at me with sleepy eyes. Still refusing to answer, she stood up and flew off again.
Well, if it got the job done, I wouldn’t complain.
While she was gone, I gathered some dry wood and built a fire. I even had time to take a couple of the long ash poles I’d cut down and hack them into two-foot logs. I stacked those next to the fire to help them dry out as quick as possible, though they wouldn’t be good firewood for a while. I’d need to rely on deadfall.
Pachi returned shortly after, three of the Karnath deer dangling from her from paws. It was impressive to see, as each deer was well over a hundred pounds.
I marveled at the enfield as she landed, her sleek body graceful despite her uneven load. The girl’s wings looked to be over twenty feet by now, and she was taller than a horse at her shoulder. Despite her size, her legs were still relatively thin, which surely helped her in flight. Compared to Bastral the gryphon, she was practically dainty, though eventually, she would walk taller than him. Her legs were incredibly long.
How soon can you skin them? Pachi asked. I am hungry again. Her voice was still a bit snooty.
I walked over to her and found a place to itch behind her ear. Calm down, huh? I’ll skin them right away and you can feast then sleep all day. Sound good?
It sounds amazing, she admitted and lowered her head to give me better access.
Skinning the deer was not exactly a quick process, but with my enhanced skill level, it was over in an hour. I didn’t have to remove the offal, as Pachi liked to eat everything but the hooves and horns. These latter, I collected to sell when I could.
I dragged over the bodies for Pachi to enjoy, and she actually thanked me.
I took the hides to the stream and scraped them as well as I could, rinsing most of the blood away.
Then I made three frames from the sticks I’d cut away from the ashen poles. After, I used some spare bowstring to stretch the hides.
I set two in the sun to dry, and the third I brought inside the cave and propped near the fire. No way I could cure the hide into leather, but for a temporary shelter, this should work well enough.
A quick break for food and water was all I needed to move on to the next phase of my building. I hacked the long ash poles down to size, one by one. The entrance to the cave was roughly ten feet tall at the mouth. A few feet in though, there was a lip that hung down and provided a fairly even ridge.
Another two hours passed until I finished resizing the poles. I got two eight-foot lengths from each of the trees and made a pile with the thin tips that remained.
The rest of my plan came down to wrestling the poles into place, then placing them vertically to fit snug between the ceiling and floor. Thankfully, the cave floor could be dug out a few inches to accommodate the planks that were too long, and for the few that were loose, I lashed them to their neighbors.
Halfway through, I rested and checked on the hide I’d hung over the fire. It wasn’t completely dry, but I was not willing to wait. I cut dozens of long strips about an inch thick and set them near my entrance. This process was tedious, but it would be helpful.
When most of the hide was cut away, I cut off even thinner strips, and kept going until the entire hide had been transformed into two stinky piles.
I used a good portion of the thicker strips to bind the wall I had in place, tying each of the logs together. This improved the strength and gave the wall a springy feel to it when I gave it a shove. It was not perfect, and wouldn’t block the wind entirely, but it seemed to be enough to make us more comfortable.
More mud and the rest of my stones bolstered the base of the wall nicely.
When I was done, I stepped back to review my work. The yawning mouth of the cave was partially blocked off, and the vertical ashen poles made the cave look like a giant with one hand over half its mouth.
If it were just me, I’d have blocked off most of the rest of the cave, too, and perhaps used a hide flap as a door. With Pachi in the picture, I had to think bigger.
I dug a hole in the ground halfway between the ashen wall and the side of the cave mouth, then placed the largest pole vertically between the floor and the rock ledge above. I dug the pole several inches into the ground, and I braced it against the ceiling.
I spent another hour fitting in planks to fill the far side of the cave mouth. When I was done, only a four-foot gap was left in the middle left of the cave. It was wide enough for Pachi to get in and out, though she’d need to furl her wings.
I filled in the top two feet of the cave with horizontal poles, so that my new Pachi-sized entry was a six-foot-tall, four-foot-wide hole. The only thing I needed now wa
s a door.
I spent too much time wrestling with building a frame, then weaving the thin branches and pole tips into an approximation of a door. It was ugly, but after I lashed one side firmly in place with hide strips, it opened and closed well enough.
It was late afternoon when I was done with my toil, and I sat in a sweaty heap next to Pachi to catch my breath.
She asked me, in a dry tone, Are you done playing with sticks?
I laughed, my fatigue lending the moment a surreal texture. Watch it, girl, or I’ll have you sleep outside tonight.
I took another cold meal, this time sitting next to my napping friend, and admired the sprawling valley below me. It was weird, living in a postcard. Everywhere I looked there were mountains with trees marching up their steep slopes, and the waving grass of the glade in the center. We sure knew how to pick a place to live.
It occurred to me that before Pachi could fly, this place would’ve been impossible to stay at. Not only because it would’ve been difficult to reach, but the sheer necessity of occasionally traveling to a settlement made it impractical. Now, we just had to fly a few hours and we could find a town.
I wanted to do some more hunting, but we could always put that off till tomorrow. For right now, I had the two hides Quinn had asked for. That thought made me bring up the materials list that Quinn had given me. I’d gathered or turned in everything so far except for the twenty wyvern scales.
I thought about the pile we’d taken from Anwar, but those scales had been Legendary in quality. I doubted they qualified. Still, we were in the mountains to find the Sirrushi wyverns. I hoped they shed their scales. It would be preferable if they agreed to just give me twenty scales as a trade. Maybe when I found them, Pachi and I could hunt a few more deer and bring them as gifts.
I decided to check up on my class quest. I’d turned off all notifications awhile back to reduce distractions.
