Chapter 13 - The Party

  The journey back to town took far longer than the one to the forest. With only one horse and Kaila not willing to ride with him, they went on foot. She told him that she could summon a horse, but neither of us thought that the townsfolk would appreciate a spectral warhorse made of glimmering ghostly bones and covered with green mist, riding down the main road and dropping her off.

  So it was twenty minutes before Cal, Melt and Kaila reached the town.

  “I don’t mean to be rude, but… how are you with public spaces?” Cal asked.

  “What do you mean?” Kaila responded, nervously, clutching at the edges of her cloak.

  “Well, you’ve kept your distance from me, and you wanted to meet out in the forest.” Cal noted. “So… I have to assume that you aren’t going to be particularly happy about groups.”

  “Don’t like people.” She said simply, nodding. “But I’m not a child. I’ll be fine.” She stepped passed Cal and Melt, and into the town, proving to him that it wasn’t a problem, though Cal did notice her hands as she repeatedly balled and un-balled them, a reaction to her stress.

  Cal looked at the horse and sighed, “this is going to be a long job, isn’t it?” He asked. The horse whinnied in response and continued forward, prompting Cal to follow, pulled by the reigns he was holding.

  Despite her clear worries and paranoia Kaila walked through the town like nothing was wrong. She wasn’t friendly and she kept her hood up with her head down, but she didn’t jump, didn’t hide. She just kept walking, pausing occasionally to allow Cal and Melt to direct her. They found the tavern quite quickly - it was on the main road, near to the Adventurers job board just like Meliana had said - and made their way inside.

  The Wanderers arms was… interesting. It wasn’t up market, but nor was it a dive. There were sword and knife marks everywhere, but it was all made of fine material. Stuffed monster heads were mounted on the walls for decoration and there were a few monsters lying around acting as rugs on the floor. Cal did notice that none of the floor skins were particularly rare monsters, which made him smile. The owner wanted to make it feel like an adventurers den by putting up monster related decorations, but that meant dealing with people who didn’t care too much about what they were stepping on. Choosing easy to find monsters for the floor meant that they didn’t have to worry that the rugs might get ruined- would get ruined. It did make Cal wonder whether they had really nice ones down before and learned their lessons though.

  The Arms was very clearly an adventurers tavern. A place where adventurers would go to gather information on jobs or spend some time with like-minded individuals. It wasn’t busy, but there were a few groups already drinking, including Meliana and her new friend.

  They sat in a back corner around a circular table with four chairs. It was an out of the way spot where people wouldn’t hear them talking, but where they could see the rest of the room without risking anyone coming at their backs.

  Kaila was in front of him, so Cal tapped her on the shoulder and motioned to the table. She barely jumped, but Cal could see the discomfort at how close he was so he waited for her to start walking before he followed behind.

  As they drew closer, Meliana and the merc looked up and Cal got his first good look at the man. He was a little taller than Cal was - which was saying something as Cal wasn’t a short man - and wider, thick with thick muscle. His skin looked odd to Cal, slightly shinier than normal and dark grey with vibrant green veins like marble running all over it. It wasn’t that the Elekin was made of marble, but there was certainly a quality about him. Cal noticed there were more veins around the man’s eyes and wondered if that was his version of wrinkles.

  His hair and beard were thick and black, tied with string and threaded with little emeralds. The strands looked thicker and coarser than a human’s, but not so much so that it no longer looked like hair. However the really interesting thing about him was that where his left eye was supposed to be was an emerald. It pointed out of his head and upwards, almost like a demon’s horn made of green glass had grown out of his eye.

  When he grinned at Cal - not a particularly friendly grin - several of his teeth, on the same side as his eye, had been replaced by emeralds. He wasn’t wearing armour, just some wrist cuffs and a vest, but a huge two handed sword, that Cal assumed was his, rested right behind him.

  Kaila reached the table first and Meliana stood to greet her, offering her hand, which Kaila took with only the briefest moment of hesitation.

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  She then looked at the seats and sat down in the one next to Meliana, but moved it back so that she had a little extra space around her.

  As Cal arrived, Meliana nodded to him. “Thank you for being Miss Kaila’s escort.” She said. “Kaila, Cal, this is Teth. He’ll be helping us with our work. Teth this is Kaila and Cal.”

  Cal nodded. “Nice to meet you.” He said. Kaila said nothing, she just nodded.

  “Aye.” Teth said. He had a gravelly voice, as one would expect from a man who was partly made of stone. “Nice to finally meet you in the flesh.” He pursed his lips and cocked his head to the side as he eyed Cal up and down. “Shorter than I expected.”

  Cal frowned and looked to Meliana who shrugged, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head as if to say ‘I don’t know’.

  “All right.” Cal said, sitting down.

  Meliana gave it a moment and then, when neither Teth nor Cal, who was still confused, said anything she continued. “I think all of your various contacts will have filled you in on what this job is about, and your various roles in it, but before we move forward I want to go over it again.” She explained. “This’ll be the last chance you all have to back out.”

  “Good to know.” Teth said. “You’ll want to listen up, kid.” He motioned to Cal and then pointed to Meliana.

  Cal gave him a confused, annoyed look. “Excuse me?” Cal asked.

  “Hm? Oh, nothing, nothing, don’t mind me.” Teth said.

  Cal eyed him for a moment longer but then Meliana continued. “We’re travelling together to Silverdale. It’s a mining village about eleven days ride south from here.”

  “Not far, assuming pretty boy can rough it that long.” Teth cut in.

  Cal turned to him. “Do we have a problem?” he asked, hand on his sword hilt. A gesture Teth didn’t miss.

  The Elekin raised a brow at Cal. “You best know how to use that if you’re going to threaten with it, kid.” He said, nodding to Cal’s hand.

  Cal’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Don’t worry about that, old man. Been using this thing since before you had false teeth.”

  “From what I hear that may have been true in the past, but it sounds like you’ve gone soft.” Teth replied. Cal’s brow raised in surprise. “Yeah I heard of you. Cal the adventurer, former Black Blade. Used to be real hot shit. It was you who stormed Bannet’s keep right? You helped fight the undead in Kortia, and I’m pretty sure you’re the one they talk about who fought off a dozen bandits in Quelligrad to save some dumb kid who had wandered out of the B.D.R.’s town. All these stories and bard songs about you up until a year ago and… poof. Suddenly you vanish, suddenly everything I hear is that you’ve lost it. Makes me wonder… you lost your touch… or were all those stories just exaggerated.”

  Cal sighed. He’d never considered himself all that special. Never called himself ‘hot shit’ and always got embarrassed when he heard some bard song about something he’d been a part of. That didn’t stop the frustration when some elekin bastard called him out though. Just because he never asked to be lifted up didn’t mean he wouldn’t defend himself when someone was trying to tear him down.

  Cal sat back in his chair, staring at the man. “Who are you?” He asked, exasperated. “What is it you want”

  Teth reached behind him and grabbed his sword by the handle. “For you to prove me wrong.” He said, grinning.

  Meliana sighed, and looked from Teth to Cal and sighed. “This is ridiculous.” She said.

  “Ah, mummy says no.” Teth sighed. “Good thing she’s here to bail you out.”

  “Oh by the Dawn.” Cal growled, standing up. “Fine, you want to get your ass kicked, lets go.”

  Teth grinned leaping up from his chair. “Finally.” He said as Cal led him back out of the tavern. For a moment Meliana and Kaila remained stunned at the table, but then almost as one they followed.

  They didn’t speak as Cal led them back through the town to the outskirts and a few minutes further away. As Teth began to grow impatient Cal turned on him.

  “Far enough that people wont see how easily I trounce you.” The thick armed man said.

  Cal rolled his eyes. “Far enough that I won’t break any buildings when I toss you on your ass.” He growled back. He looked over at Meliana as she arrived with Kaila and Melt close behind. He paused looking at the horse, she was supposed to be tied up. Had Kaila brought her?

  He shook his head and looked back to Meliana. “Liana: Call it.” He said, drawing his sword and un-clipping his scabbard, throwing it aside.

  “Cal, you should just ignore him.” Meliana replied exasperation evident in her voice.

  “And let him keep it up for the whole job?” Cal asked, hypothetically. “Nah, I’m shutting him up now.”

  Meliana sighed and nodded, standing back and motioning for Kaila to follow. “All right. On my mark you will attack. It will be a battle until one of you gives or I call it. You may use whatever means necessary, but you may not kill one another. I’ve paid too much for you both.” She said. “You both sure about this?” She asked one last time.

  “Oh yeah.” Teth grinned, hefting his great sword up onto his shoulder.

  “Cal?”

  He nodded.

  “All right then. On my mark…”

  The space between her warning and saying the word could have only been about four seconds, but to Cal it stretched on for eternity. Dozens of thoughts went through his mind.

  Why have I let him goad me?

  He’s pretty big, huh?

  Nobody talks shit and doesn’t expect to get knocked on their ass.

  The grin on Teth’s face as he held the sword in front of him told Cal almost everything he needed to know about the man; he liked to get in people’s heads. He liked to rile people up. Most importantly though, he liked to fight.

  For the first time since declaring that he would beat the man up, Cal grew a little concerned. The man was huge and clearly strong, he held that giant slab of a sword like it was nothing. Cal was going to be faster, and that counted for a lot, but…

  It was a bad situation. Cal only won if he won, and Teth didn’t lose no matter what. If the elekin won the fight he’d proved Cal was weak. If he lost then he still got a good fight out of it.

  The last thought that went through Cal’s mind before the fight begun was simply This is so stupid.

  Then Meliana shouted, “Mark!”