‘Okay, so I wouldn’t say this was the most pleasant journey I’ve ever been on,’ Constance said as the third round was being consumed, ‘but it has been fairly lucrative. Even if we don’t pick up another job on the way home, we’ll still be quite firmly ahead on gains versus costs.’
‘And I actually got to hit a few people,’ Rain said. ‘With you four around, it’s been hard to get a blow in before someone burns to death.’
‘You do know I’m the only one who uses fire magic, right?’ Kana asked, suspecting she knew the answer.
‘You dropped an exploding ball of fire into the middle of their campfire, Kana. After that, the rest of us were on clean-up.’
‘It’s a valid point, I guess. Can I help it if I was trained to fight sieges? Big fiery death spells are what I know.’
‘Being able to say we have a dragon slayer in the party has been something of a benefit as far as publicity is concerned,’
Constance said.
‘I’m not sure how many of the people you’ve told believed it, but I have to admit I’d never have thought my portfolio would include that.’ Kana grinned. ‘It’ll almost be disappointing to wake up and realise I just dreamed slaying a dragon.’
‘Still sure this is just a dream?’ Aneshti asked.
‘Still hopeful. Maybe less hopeful since I’d have to give up being Kana: Slayer of Dragons. Maybe I could write it up as a script and get it made into an anime.’
‘You and your weird words,’ Mimi said. ‘ I think you’re here because Soansha wanted you here. Don’t ask me why, but I’m sure that nothing happens in Soken without Soansha wanting it. Or maybe not caring about it.’
‘And how does that explain the potential return of a certain draconic demon lord? I would not have thought Soansha would be okay with that.’
‘Has it happened yet?’
‘No… Okay, I get your point, but I’m really not the kind of woman who sets great stock in the works of celestial beings.’
‘You told me that there are shrines to various gods all over the place you come from.’
Kana nodded. ‘There are. That doesn’t mean I believe there’s anything real behind them. To be honest, I think that if there are spirits and gods working behind the scenes in my world, they expect us mortals to do the heavy lifting, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the same here. It’s up to humans – or elves –
to make the world work the way we want it. That’s our job, and if we screw it up, we’ve only got ourselves to blame.’
Mimi gave a small shrug. ‘Well, that’s probably a good philosophy to live by even if Soansha might decide to pull our fat out of the fire. She’s a woman, if a really powerful one, and she’s bound to get fed up with us messing up eventually. It’s probably best if we try to do the work ourselves and keep the need for divine intervention to a minimum.’
~~~
Rain had escaped the near-inevitable result of Constance drinking
– a threesome which left her unhappy come morning – by going to the baths. Arabar had some fairly new baths thanks to a local
conscription raising the money on the promise that the cattle herders would smell less if they could bathe. Not bathe regularly, just bathe at all. It was Menora night, however, and the herders were busy drinking, if they were in town at all. Rain had had the men’s bath more or less to herself, which was just perfect as far as she was concerned.
Bathing was one of those things that reminded her of her physical gender. She did not enjoy bathing unless she could avoid looking down and did not have to see the genitalia of others around her.
Being able to close her eyes and soak in the hot water was wonderful, but there were generally male voices around her which meant she could not imagine she was just another woman in the women’s bath. Alabeth had mixed-gender bathing and Rain had been once with Constance and Mimi. It had just reminded Rain more of what she was not even though she was generally a gregarious woman who disliked being alone. Tonight, almost alone, she had almost enjoyed herself.
Now she was scurrying back to the guesthouse the party were staying at, dressed in loose shirt and trousers which could be viewed as unisex if you wanted to think that way. Getting to and from the baths was another thing which made her think of things she preferred not to, but it was easier than the actual bathing and she was in a fairly good mood. Right up until the point where someone smacked her over the back of the head with a cosh.
‘Are you sure this is the one?’ one of her assailants asked as he looked down at Rain’s unconscious body. ‘They said it was a female warrior.’
‘Matches the description,’ said the second. ‘She’s kind of flat-chested, but she looks like a girl to me.’
‘If you say so. Come on, we need to get… her out of sight before anyone notices.’
‘I know. I’ve been doing this for a while.’
‘Well, it’s still new to me. And this could make my name with the others. She beat an entire gang of rustlers. She’s going to make a great gladiator.’
‘We’ll see.’ The bigger and more experienced of the two slavers hefted Rain up and onto his shoulder. ‘Maybe she will, and maybe she won’t. No skin off my nose either way.’
18 th Dekarte.
‘She’s not in her room or the stables,’ Mimi said.
‘The owner of this place says he saw her go out last night,’ Kana added, ‘presumably to the baths. Didn’t see her come back, but he could have missed her.’
‘Her bed hasn’t been slept in.’
‘Well, she wouldn’t just run off and leave Ranulf here,’
Constance said.
‘Not to mention her sword and armour, which are still in her room,’ Mimi said, nodding.
‘So, we start looking for her.’
‘I could try casting a finding spell,’ Kana suggested. ‘I’d be working it from first principles…’
‘We’ll try searching around town first. It’s not that big a town.
If Rain’s lying in an alley somewhere, we should be able to find her.’
~~~
Kana sat cross-legged on the floor of her room, concentrating on Rain. Rain’s sword was laid across her thighs as an anchor and Kana was filling her head with an image of Rain as she worked her way through the spell she had hacked together from her knowledge of that kind of magic.
‘Let distance be no object. Let nothing bar my way. Bring unto me an image of that which I seek. No matter where, show me my friend. Show me Rain of Skangar.’
It felt right. A magic circle appeared beneath Kana, glowing a pale, icy blue. No image came to her mind. Not even a vague sense of direction. Kana frowned.
‘Nothing?’ Aneshti asked. ‘I could try, but if you can’t get anything…’
‘I can’t get anything. I think the spell worked.’
‘It looked like it worked.’
‘Right, but it couldn’t find her which means, um…’
‘She’s too far away. Unlikely. Or someone’s hidden her. Or she’s in another world. I don’t think it would work if she were in another world.’
‘That last one sounds unlikely too. Do you get a lot of people stolen by demons here?’
Aneshti shook her head. ‘To my knowledge, demons can’t take people back to where they came from.’
‘Not that then. I don’t like that second option. It suggests kidnapping or something. Who would want to kidnap Rain?’
‘Don’t know. We should go down and tell the others what we found.’
Kana nodded and got to her feet, lifting Rain’s sword from her lap. The steel of the weapon felt a little weird, like it was sapping her of energy, but it also felt lighter than it should be; it was an enchanted weapon, graceful and easy to wield, but it was still a big piece of steel. ‘I’ll put this back in Rain’s room for now. You go ahead and tell them what I didn’t find.’
‘Okay. Will do.’
Sheathing the sword and putting it down beside Rain’s armour and pack made Kana fee
l immediately lighter, more energised. Iron really did stick it to mages. Once more, Kana looked around Rain’s room in search of anything which might indicate where she had gone. There was not much to it: a single bed and a chest of drawers upon which sat a wash basin and a jug for water. There was the armour, the sword, Rain’s bow and pack, and that was about it. No signs of a fight, but then the landlord had not seen Rain coming back. They had found no sign of her in the streets and alleys of Arabar…
Kana left the room and started down the corridor to the stairs.
The party was meeting up in a tavern across the road from the guesthouse to discuss what to try next. As Kana reached the stairs, a woman came up them and Kana did a double take. The woman looked like she could have been Japanese.
Seven or eight centimetres shorter than Kana, the woman had black hair which was plaited into a long tail, falling past her behind.
She had an angular, or even triangular, face with a pointed chin, smallish mouth with full lips, and something of a button nose.
Her eyes were larger than average and a distinctly unusual violet colour. She also had a trim figure and an impressive amount of cleavage on display thanks to a low-cut blouse. Leather trousers and boots with a tall block heel finished her outfit. Never mind Japanese, she could have stepped out of a manga.
‘You’re one of the people looking for a lost friend, right?’ the woman said.
‘Uh, yes. I’m Kana. We’re looking for Rain. She’s a warrior.’
‘My name is Sakka,’ the woman replied. ‘I think I know where your friend has gone.’
‘You do?’
Sakka nodded. ‘There have been slavers from Sintar in town. They were, rumour says, looking for suitable people to put into the gladiator rings in Sintar. They’ll make more for women. They left very late last night, which means they met their quota.’
‘Sintari slavers?’
‘Yes. They’ll have stopped outside of town, but they’ll have at least half a day on you if you mean to go after them.’
‘I’ll… talk it over with the rest of my party. Thank you for the information.’
Sakka grinned. ‘You don’t trust me. Why should you? We’ve never met before and here I am telling you that Rain is on her way to Sintar.’
‘That’s more or less my thinking.’
‘I’m not lying. Nor am I trying to trap you. I don’t like slavers and I think you and your party might do some of them more than a little harm getting Rain back.’ Reaching to her belt, she unhooked a small pouch, holding it out toward Kana. ‘Here, take this. I think you’ll find you need it before your journey’s done.’
Kana took the pouch but did not check inside. Yet. ‘Why would you just give me something you think I’d find useful?’
‘Because… Because Soansha thinks it’s something you should have.’
‘Soansha told you to give me a present.’
‘More or less. You should go talk to your friends. Rain is getting further away with every minute you wait.’
Whatever else, Sakka was right about Kana needing to discuss this news with the rest of the team. ‘I’ll say thank you, then, and assume that what you say is true. If it is, perhaps we’ll meet again and I can repay the favour.’
Sakka smiled and turned to head off down the corridor. ‘That will depend upon you, Kana, but I do hope we meet again.’
~~~
‘Sintari slavers would make some sense,’ Constance said.
‘Actually, it could make a lot of sense. They customarily use anti-scrying spells on those they kidnap, especially if they suspect someone will come looking for them. That could be what stopped you from finding Rain with your spell.’
‘And this woman, Sakka was it?’ Mimi asked. Kana nodded a response. ‘She just came up and volunteered this information to you?’ Another nod. ‘And she gave you that?’ Mimi pointed to the ring sitting on the table in front of Kana. ‘No strings. Just handed it over.’
‘Because Soansha thought I might need it,’ Kana said.
Mimi lowered her voice to just above a whisper. ‘A ring of Greater Wish. They’re incredibly valuable. You can do just about anything with one of those.’
‘Like wish herself home,’ Aneshti said.
‘That’s the theory. And I’d point out that we’re only guessing about it being Greater Wish and that it could send me home. I’ll do a proper analysis later to check. All we have now is “powerful enchantment” and “wish related.” And I’m not going to wish myself home with it when Rain’s missing. Hell, if that’s what it is, maybe I could just wish her back to us.’
‘You’re not wasting an enchantment like that on something we can accomplish the usual way,’ Constance stated flatly. ‘Rain would never forgive you. You get one chance at a spell like that in your lifetime. At best. We get Rain back ourselves, and then…
Then you can see how you feel about trying to get yourself home.
Now, are we going to believe this woman? Do we start hunting for Rain in Sintar?’
‘That wouldn’t be ideal for you,’ Mimi pointed out.
‘My reputation would be shot if I let one of my party get turned into a gladiator slave and Sintar is a big place. I can get in there without raising any alarms. You know, satanists aren’t the local priests in that city or anything. The city’s authorities at least try to stamp down on necromancy and such. And I know something about the slavers, so we’re not going in entirely blind. It might take some unpleasant methods, but I think I can find out who took Rain and where she’s being held once we get there. Do we trust this Sakka? Is this the plan?’
Kana picked up the wishing ring and dropped it back into its pouch. ‘For what it’s worth, I think she was telling the truth.
She was… weird, but I don’t think she was lying.’
‘You said she looked like someone from Japan,’ Aneshti said.
‘Shouldn’t that make her less weird?’
‘Maybe, but then there’s her name too.’
‘Her name? Sakka is… not an especially common name, I don’t think.’
‘It’s not common in Sintar,’ Constance said. ‘I’ve never met a Sakka before.’
‘Well, “sakka” means something in Japanese,’ Kana said. ‘It’s the Japanese word for “writer.” I find that just a little weird. But I say we go to Sintar.’
There were nods and Constance said, ‘Okay. Let’s get our stuff together. Mimi, you’re taking care of Ranulf. We’ll aim to be on
the road in two hours.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘The road to Sintar.
Well, I guess I had to go back at some point.’
Sintar, 24 th Dekarte.
Rain’s eyes flickered open and she let out a soft groan. She felt like she had been sleeping on a wooden board for a week and, for the life of her, she could not remember when she had gone to bed.
As sensation and awareness began to seep into her body, she started wondering when some other things had happened. When had she undressed? When had she moved into a room with stone walls and ceiling? When had she put on metal cuffs and collar?
She was, she decided, lying on a thin straw mattress in a cell of some sort. A chain led from her steel collar to a ring in the middle of the floor. There was about enough room to walk three strides in any direction in the room, and there was no privacy thanks to the bars which made up one wall. That was where the door was too, and the lock looked very big and solid.
She could remember doing nothing illegal, and most town lockups did not strip and collar their prisoners. That left one other alternative she could think of. She was about to allow herself to think about that alternative when she heard voices from outside and closed her eyes again.
‘… not what we were expecting,’ one voice said.
‘No, but we can fix it, right?’ asked a second voice.
‘If you want to do that, you’ll have to cut the circle in on the profits. It’s not cheap.’
‘I know, but I’m going to have to pay for the contr
ol curse anyway. I can’t do it myself.’
There was a soft chuckle. ‘Work your way up the ranks and we’ll teach you. Of course, that’ll cost you too.’
‘I view it as an investment. That’s the one.’ The voices were standing right outside Rain’s cell now. She kept her eyes shut and listened. ‘I’ve got a buyer lined up. Can we do it tomorrow?’
There was a slight pause as though the other voice was considering. ‘Tomorrow morning.’
‘Great. I can make the sale in the afternoon. Everyone gets paid by evening.’
‘We do consider prompt payment when considering future projects.
We might even cut you a deal on the percentage if we can get our money that quickly.’
‘That’d be–’
‘We might. Don’t hold your breath.’
25 th Dekarte.
Sintar looked, to Kana, like the evil twin of Alabeth. The walls here were just as high as Alabeth’s, but they were a dark, dull grey and seemed to loom over you as you approached the gates. It was expectation as much as reality; Constance was not exactly a fan of the place, but even she had to say its reputation was not entirely deserved. Not entirely, but it was not entirely false either.
Getting through the gate proved easy enough. No one stopped them.
None of the guards seemed bothered, in fact. Within, Sintar continued to be grey and unspectacular. The buildings were stone, though there might have been wood behind the façade of the public streets. It was a few hours after sunrise, if still early, and there were people moving about just like the citizens of any other city. Except that some of them had steel collars around their necks.
The Girl Who Dreamed of a Different World Page 24
