At first I was worried about them sharing our secrets with others. But as far as I can tell they aren't reporting to anyone. And between my Mesmerize abilities, Rio's predictive powers, and Nix's ESP, I can tell pretty much these days.
As it turns out, our maids are temps. Because of the huge influx of summoned Heroes, the palace management brought in a bunch of maids through the city's Domestic Guild. At this point, Tara and Jane are way more loyal to us than to the people who pay them. I'm getting spoiled by their attention, too. I'm already scheming to try to find a way to take them with us when we leave. Yeah, right. How would a pack of homeless hobos be able to afford a couple of top-rate maids?
Speaking of which. Kari told me that Ettiene put his hands on Tara last night. I’ll have to do something about that.
But I digress. I need to know if Mesmerize is a blunt instrument or if I can sharpen it into a scalpel when necessary. In other words, I'm beginning to suspect that escaping this Palace safely might involve manipulating a few people in subtle and undetectable ways.
By the time Rio shows up and steals Tara from me, I've started to get a good handle on what I can and can't do, as well as how to approach certain activities. I feel good about my progress. Wait, did he take Jane too?
I feel less good about the cracks that are appearing in my moral code. I'm beginning to entertain actions that I would never have considered in the old world. Even setting the blood-drinking thing aside. My responsibilities as group leader are not light. My need to address those responsibilities has changed from a vague psychological pressure to something much more visceral. The vampire in me, perhaps? Certainly my solution sets are starting to include some bloodthirsty options.
And I am thirsty, too. For blood.
Sweet blood...
Frowning, I open my old school bag and pull out a rock. Pyramid shaped. The one I picked up off the floor of the summoning room on that first day. Something has been bothering me and I just realized what it is. How did I know this thing was part of a set when I first saw it?
I concentrate now and cast Appraisal. Still can't cast it without words and gestures but I'm getting better at it.
[Stone: Enchanted (energy load limit ward), pyramidal, black marble, slightly damaged, 1 of 6.]
Guess I was right. Did I have some kind of latent Seeker capabilities from the very beginning? Something that worked, somehow, without conscious intent or effort?
And how can my Appraisal spell access information about things that aren't even here? How does Appraisal work in the first place? Do items have information about themselves encoded into them? How? Why? Is it an inherent property of things or is there some other agency at work?
Big mysteries.
I throw the stone into Sylvester. Yeah, I gave my bag of holding a name. After we figured out how to make it bigger. He holds a full cubic meter of stuff now. Named after the Junkyard Dog because he was cool and that's where I'm keeping all my junk right now.
I cast Appraisal again.
[Sylvester: Bag of holding (1.2 cubic meters), holding 14 items.]
Appraisal can tell me how much is in Sylvester but not what’s inside. On a regular bag, it would tell me what's inside. Why? Because the stuff in Sylvester is not 'here' but somewhere else? How does it know Sylvester’s name? If I rename him Edna would that name come up?
I thrust my left hand into Sylvester's mouth and cast Appraisal again. This time I get a list of what's inside but no information about Sylvester.
Hmph.
I catch Kari playing with her bottomless bag in the common room. I take a seat across from her and begin to empty my pockets. She doesn’t notice at first but suddenly she looks up and her eyes grow wide.
“Whatcha got there old buddy?”
“Just some stuff I picked up.” I am reluctant to talk about my third Trial. I started to tell Addie about it but she told me to hold off until everyone had been through theirs. Isn’t it strange how we’ve become accustomed to such invasions of our dreams? Oddly, though, this time I was able to bring some stuff back. Or maybe I never tried before.
Anyway, Kari picks up the first thing, an oddly colored rock. “Hmmm,” she says. “Strike Ore: Enchantable (kinetic, dark), unsmelted, 0.2 kg metal/0.4 kg tare.”
She picks up a yellow flower. “Zap Flower: Alchemical (lightning), wilted.”
One by one, she goes through the other things I picked up in the pixies new Hex home. All of them have unique properties. All of them are judged valuable by our resident hoarder. I let her keep them. It’s worth it just to know that we’ll be able to find and extract value from Hexes. One more piece of the puzzle that might just lead us to success in the outside world.
Just as I’m getting up to leave, she attacks, “You got kissed again, didn’t you?” I freeze, just for a millisecond, but the damage is done. “You did! You did! Nix you HORNDOG! Tell me everything! Tell me! Tell me!”
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I make a break for the door, so rattled that I bang my head into the door frame. Her laughter follows me down the hall as I heal myself on the run. How’d she know?
It was a stray thought which leads him here. Or so he surmises at first. He’d been thinking about his Blessing and it occurred to him that he doesn’t yet know what his Mage Boon is. And so here he is at the start of another Trial.
He is standing in a dimly lit tunnel. The stonework is rough, gritty, lichen-covered. Behind him is a set of stone stairs leading up. Before him is the unknown. Within moments of his arrival, he hears the
A screech comes from behind him and he feels a second body slam into him. Soft arms envelop him and try to pull him away from the first woman, who you might have guessed is the lamia from the first Trial.
“Let him go, you hussy!”
“He’s mine! He’s mine! I saw him first!”
“That doesn’t count. I called dibs before we even started with these Trials!”
“You can’t call dibs on a living being. Rule number nine in the handbook!”
“We don’t have a handbook! Let go!”
Rio sighs and briefly considers taking a nap. Surrounded by softness front and back, it wouldn’t be difficult except for the shrieking and screeching of the two ladies’ argument. To that effect, he clears his throat.
“Rhhemm! Ladies, if you don’t mind, I would appreciate it if you would unhand me.”
The two ladies glare at each other, then abruptly let go.
“And untail me as well,” he suggests. With a
“Thank you. Now, was there something you two needed to speak to me about?”
They both look somewhat abashed.
“Let me guess. You both just want a kiss.”
“Well…” “Not juuussst a kiss…”
“No.”
““Aaawww, come on!””
“No. I’m busy. Clearly I’m supposed to participate in another Trial. I don’t have time for shenanigans.”
“If I help you with the Trial will you give me a kiss?”
“No. That would be cheating.”
“Like you’re an honest guy. You’d cheat in a heartbeat if you could.”
“Rrhhem! Well, gotta go,” he says, making a break for the door. The women following hot on his heels.
And they all promptly fall into an abyss full of tiny floating planetoids in various shapes and proportions. The boy windmills frantically for a bit before he realizes he’s not actually moving. About ten meters away from him, the lamia and the other woman are locked in a fearful embrace. The thought ‘that’s kinda hot’ briefly flashes across his mind before he can stop it.
“Hey!” he shouts at them. “Can you tell me your names? I’m tired of thinking of you as ‘that lamia’ and ‘that bunny chick’.”
“How rude!” exclaims ‘that bunny chick’.
“You can call me Tulika, Master,” says ‘that lamia’.
“Nice to meet you Tulika. I’m Rio, not Master.”
“But I want you to be my …”
“Oh would you just SHUT! UP!” shouts ‘that bunny chick’. “Just give it a rest, wouldya? Rio, my name is Calanthe.”
“Nice to meet you, as well, Calanthe. Do either of you have any idea what’s going on here?”
““Nope.””
“Ooooh! So imperious and demanding. I’m starting to see what these lesser females find attractive in you.”
“Yeah, but no. They’re just crazy.”
““Hey!””
“Hmmm. You may be right. Anyway, let’s get down to business. Welcome to your third Trial. My name is Holtasoley. Please state your full name and marital status for the Trial.”
“Ilarion Partidon, and no.”
““He’s mine!””
“No. I’m not. Now what’s the Trial about?”
“Oooh! Such gravitas! And in such a grave predicament. You clearly recognize the gravity of your situation.”
“Gravity magic? Seriously?!?” For the first time, Rio appears to get excited.
“Yep!”
“Any ideas on how to make it work?”
“Nope. Maybe try meditating?”
“Thanks.” And Rio closes his eyes. By the time the two women have gotten into another full-blown argument which escalates to include the third woman, Rio has completely tuned them out. It takes hours before he is able to detect the thin threads of primal magic running between each planetoid. A further while longer before he detects the threads connecting himself and each of the women to every other thing.
Figuring out how to pull the strings is much more problematic but he gets it in due time. He carefully tugs all of the planetoids together and assembles them into a small planet. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle. He then tugs the two floating women, now sleeping snuggled in each other's arms/tail, down to the surface of the planet and lays them down gently.
Without warning a set of arms grabs him from behind and spins him around into a kiss. He has a brief impression of wavy pink hair and big purple eyes before he dissolves into white sparks and disappears.
“Penny says she smells an elf,” says Kari to an uncomfortable Nix sitting between them. I have my face close to his. Close enough that he can feel my breath on his cheek. Nix raises a hand to cover his cheek and gives a nervous laugh.
“Busted!” shouts Kari. “Tell us all about it!”
“Um. I healed another elf. She kissed me on the cheek.”
Nix sucks at story-telling, I sign.
“Penny says you suck at story-telling.”
“I am aware. I thought today’s topic was regeneration magic.”
“Oh, it is. But gossip is more important.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yessitis. You are so boring. I don’t know why I adopted you as my brother. You don’t even do a good straight man.”
“Sadly, I am lacking in so many ways…”
“Okay. I unnerstand. I was lacking in something once, too. Now shut up. Penny says that regeneration works like …”
I smile as I watch the two of them. I sincerely wish I could hear them as they banter back and forth. Such good friends.
Kari does a good job explaining regeneration to Nix. He’s able to cast it on himself before the end of our time together. As they leave, I find myself feeling a little bit jealous of the mysterious kissing elf. I wonder what his cheek would feel like to my lips.
Oh damn. Have I fallen into a crush?