Hogg had a cellar in his house, and he didn’t let Brin sleep in it. Quite rude of him, although the need to sleep underground in the cold in order to feel safe had been fading. He barely thought of Travin’s Bog at all any more.
It turned out there was a [Cellarman] in town, and he was the one who dug cellars for everyone. He had the Skills to dig faster, could do limited enchantnts for cold, protection against pests, and even to keep water out even with the town’s extrely high water table. Brin had doubted that the town would have enough work to keep a [Cellarman] employed. After all, wasn’t everything already built? But apparently he was one of the busiest people in town, with a backlog more than a month long.
Brin didn’t need any of the food in the cellar, but Hogg’s cellar was extra large and he kept other stuff down here as well. Shelves were piled with souvenirs, morabilia, not a small amount of treasure, and what Brin was looking for: old adventuring gear.
There was a big hiking backpack, the sa one Hogg had been wearing when he’d rescued Brin. It was too big, but Brin found a smaller black one nearby. Inside both backpacks were lots of divided sections, padded so that the things inside wouldn’t clink around. It made Brin wonder why Hogg would need that, but he supposed that even if you weren’t a thief, there were lots of tis where you’d need to be stealthy and not have the things in your backpack clink around. What did it say about Hogg that he still put this much effort into being stealthy, even when he could make magic muffle sound?
He took the smaller backpack and put pliers, scissors, a file, and a small saw inside. He was hoping to do this without breaking or vandalizing anything, but better to not need sothing and have it, rather than need sothing and not have it.
The one thing he didn’t take was any kind of weapon. This was going to be an exercise in cat-burglary. As much as they aggravated him, this was still more or less his hotown. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone. If he got the choice between hurting soone and getting caught, then he’d get caught. End of story.
He considered a black mask. Would that help? Probably not. If anyone saw him at all tonight, they’d identify him by his build or his clothes even if they couldn’t see his face. No, his only chance to get away with this is if no one saw him at all. He was banned from town, so he had to consider this a hostile encampnt. Even one witness would end with him at the pillory again, and this ti he’d deserve it.
Was that why he was so willing to do this? He’d never stolen in his past life. Never, not a pack of gum, nothing. Not even a single ti. So why was he so ready to throw that away and turn into a thief, not even with a suggestion but only the barest hint that there may be a reward?
It wasn’t even that he was angry at the town. Well, maybe a little, but that didn’t factor into this. No, the only reason he was willing to do this was because… he wanted to. He’d never done anything bad in his old life, and where had that gotten him? It was possible to live a safe, unobtrusive life, and then still die of a car crash out of nowhere. It wasn’t like he wanted to be evil, but it did seem strange that he’d never been just a little bit naughty.
He paused at the grappling hook. He needed to decide how he was getting into town.
The obvious answer was to go through the gates. They didn’t close them at night; he’d never seen them closed. People usually went inside when it got dark outside, so there was little chance anyone would spot him if he waited until a few hours after sundown.
But few people didn’t an zero people, and the areas around the gates were the largest streets in town. The chance was too high.
That left another question. Prefit Elmon had all sorts of “town” Skills. Was knowing when soone crossed through the gate or over the wall one of them? He should’ve asked Hogg. Well, probably not. He already knew monsters didn’t really go into the Bogs, that’s why they settled here in the first place. What was the chance there was a town Skill on top of that? It was probably sothing he would’ve heard of. Also, Hogg wouldn’t have put him up to this if he needed to worry about sothing like that.
No, he just needed to worry about being seen. He should go over the wall. And that ant the grappling hook.
Did he even know how to use it? It couldn’t be that complicated; it was just a rope on a head with four hooks that could catch from whatever angle it landed on. It was still before sunset; he had so ti to burn.
He went out to the trees and threw the grappling hook on one of the branches. It hooked on his first try, with only two slight problems. One, it was just a bit too loud. Hogg had left his sound circle up, and it went into the yellow. The other problem was getting it back down.
He pulled on the branch a couple tis, bending the branch and shaking all the leaves, until he managed to scrape it off the branch and back to the ground, where again it made too much noise.
He tried again, trying to throw it softer, but it still made too much noise when it landed. This ti, Marksi darted up the tree to check out what was happening. When Brin started pulling to loosen it, Marksi helped by nudging the grappling hook up and over, letting it fall. Brin caught it carefully, and this ti the sound circle didn’t budge at all.
“Marksi, co down here,” he whispered. What was he doing? They didn’t need to be quiet yet.
Marksi slithered down the tree and Brin looked at him in his little snakey eyes. Marksi had just been a pet when Brin got him. A happy, cute little thing, but not smart. It hadn’t been until he’d fed the little guy a steady diet of magic, supplented by Hogg’s illusions more than the man probably admitted, that Marksi had started to be more.
It had happened so smoothly that Brin couldn’t pinpoint the exact mont that he knew that Marksi understood human speech. He’d just started talking to Marksi and the snake had understood. But Marksi had still been content to play the role of the family pet. He’d begged for scraps and scritches, he’d hunted insects and sat on Hogg’s lap, purring after the evening al.
Was Marksi really happy with this state of affairs, or was he just acting the way he thought he was expected to? And was Brin helping him by treating him this way, or was he holding him back by treating him like less than he was? Perris’ advice from that ti had mostly been ignored, but never forgotten.
He needed to have a real conversation with his snake. Brin picked Marksi up in his arms, looked him in the eyes and… avoided it. That could wait for another ti. Tonight was about the mission.
“Hey Marksi, we’re going to play a ga tonight. We’re going to town and we’re going to play a ga of hide and seek. Would you like that?”
Marksi imdiately engaged his camouflage, blending in nearly perfectly with Brin’s arms. They’d played hide and seek a couple tis, but Brin couldn’t find him any more no matter how long he looked.
“No, not right now. When we get into town. We’re both going to hide, and we can’t let anyone see us the entire night. Even if we know them. Even our friends. Does that sound fun?”
Marksi turned around in an enthusiastic circle.
“Good! When we’re in town I probably won’t be able to see you since you’ll be too hard to find, so you’ll have to follow . Can you do that?”
Marksi gave Brin an unimpressed look. During their gas of hide and seek, he’d always been able to find Brin in seconds.
“Well, don’t be so sure. I’ve been practicing. Anyways, I won’t be able to talk to you in town. Maybe whisper when no one else is nearby, but we shouldn’t count on it. So I’ll need to give you signals. For example, say I tap on a door three tis like this. That ans I want you to go inside and open it. Can you do that?”
Brin tapped the front door, and sure enough, Marksi slithered underneath the closed door and opened it from the other side. He swung open with the door, hanging off the handle.
“Terrific!” said Brin. “Ok, there’s one more thing I want to try.”
He’d been planning to use the grappling hook to get up on a watchtower as a way into town and then leave it there for his exit, but now he thought he could use it for more.
He told Marksi to take the grappling hook and climb up a tree while holding it. It took a couple tries for Brin to explain what he wanted, but when he put it in his own mouth and mid climbing the tree, Marksi understood.
The problem was that it was much too big. Marksi had a hard ti climbing while holding the heavy four-sided hook. He managed to do it eventually, but it banged against the tree so much that it would be quieter for Brin to throw it up there.
He switched out the head for a single hook, and had Marksi try that. Marksi climbed the tree with little effort and hooked it into the wood of a branch.
Brin free-climbed the rope, surprised at how easy it was. He’d climbed up and down a rope with Davi, Zilly and Myra when they’d gone to the snake pond that one ti, and while he’d managed it had been difficult and awkward. This ti it was as easy as climbing a ladder. He climbed up the rope, then down again, and then asked Marksi to pull it down.
Marksi had so trouble, Brin’s weight had dug it into the wood sowhat, but he eventually got it out, and Brin caught it softly. Other than giving Marksi instructions, the sound circle hadn’t moved a single ti.
He called Marksi down and congratulated him on a job well done, giving the snake a generous amount of the belly rubs he was coming to enjoy so much.
“Ok, Marksi. When we do it for real, I won’t be able to talk to you. We’ll have to use hand-signals. Maybe if I point up three tis, it ans I want you to put the hook up sowhere. Did you get that?”
Marksi didn’t get it, but after explaining it a few tis and miming what he wanted, the snake understood and they practiced getting the hook up and down in absolute silence a couple tis.
When they were done, it wasn’t quite dark enough for them to set out. He wanted it to be sundown before he even got on the road.
Marksi started acting weird. He kept turning in circles over and over. Then he would hold up the tip of his tail and twitch it towards Brin.
“You… Do you want to make hand signs you can use to talk to ?”
Marksi spun around in a circle.
“Oh!” said Brin. This was good. They didn’t need to have a big heart-to-heart. They couldn’t have a heart-to-heart. They needed simple communication first.
“Let’s start with that. It must be exhausting to do that every ti you want to say yes. Show sothing for ‘Yes’.”
Marksi thought for a second, then twitched his tail upwards.
“Ok, that’s ‘yes’. Now show ‘no’,” said Brin.
Marksi hissed.
“That’s an angry ‘no’. Show a normal ‘no’.”
Marksi thought again, then twitched his tail side-to-side.
“Great! So that’s yes and that’s no. Are there so other things you want to say?”
Marksi waved his head side to side, tasting the air with his tongue.
“I already know that one. That ans you’re hungry,” said Brin.
Marksi spun around in a circle, and then rembering their sign, stopped and twitched his tail up and down.
Next, the snake slithered away from Brin. He made a chirping sound, kind of like the sound he made when he was scared, but it started lower in pitch and rose up. Then he darted towards Brin lightning-fast. He did it a couple tis, and grew frustrated when Brin didn’t know what was going on. The next ti he made the sound, then looked at Brin expectantly. Brin didn’t know what to do, and Marksi twitched his tail ‘no’.
It took several tries until Brin finally got it. “When you make that sound, you want to co running as fast as I can.”
‘Yes’. Marksi went away a few paces, and made the sound, and Brin dutifully charged towards him full-bore. Marksi was pleased.
“Ok, I’ll do it, but you can only use that for ergencies. Understand? Only when you’re scared or hurt, or soone else is hurt. We need a different sound for when I’m supposed to co, but things are normal. I’ll co anyway, but I need to know if it’s an ergency.”
They settled on another rising chirp, but this one didn’t have the note of fear in it from before. Brin demonstrated that he would co when Marksi made the sound, though he would walk instead of run.
The next thing Marksi wanted Brin to learn was a sort of hiccuping sound, which ant that Marksi wanted Brin to pick him up. That was a strange one. Marksi could climb straight up his body easy as pie, but if it was important to Marksi it was important to him.
“Marksi, are we… ok?” Brin found himself asking. Shoot, where had that co from? He’d said it before thinking.
The snake eyed him curiously.
Brin sighed. Why did he do this to himself? He’d already decided to ignore this issue, and now he’d gone and opened the can of worms. Well no use but to trudge onwards. Hopefully this wouldn’t be as dramatic as him and Hogg’s heart-to-heart. He’d had enough emotions in that one day for an entire year.
“You’re smart, Marksi. I know I say that all the ti. Clever Marksi! But you’re smart. Like, really smart. You understand . Maybe not every word, but you get what I’m saying, don’t you?”
Marksi didn’t respond. He didn’t twitch his tail. His eyes were sky blue and looked like they had scales on the inside as well as the outside, but Marksi could change his eye color as easily as the rest of his body. He didn’t give anything away.
“Marksi, I’m trying to ask if you’re happy. Are you happy with and Hogg?”
Marksi didn’t answer, but Brin could be patient. He waited for a full minute, for what felt like an hour, until Marksi timidly twitched his tail.
‘Yes’.
Brin smiled. “Would you find a way to let know if there was sothing I was doing that was making you sad?”
Marksi didn’t answer.
Brin had a thought. Marksi was smart. Crazy smart. But he was a kid. “Pick up, feed , co now,” those were all the first things that babies learned how to communicate. He was right to assu Marksi was smart, but wrong to assu Marksi knew things. He needed to simplify.
“Hiss at if I ever make you sad. Can you do that?”
Marksi twitched his tail. ‘Yes.’
Brin laughed in relief. He and Marksi were fine. They really were fine. He’d known that, but it was nice to know for sure.
“Anything else?” asked Brin.
Marksi waved his head, tasting the air.
“Hungry? , too. Let’s get dinner.” He looked out at the night sky. It was ti. “Then, we’ll go play our ga.”
Not a long ti later, he stood at the edge of the forest, Marksi on his shoulders. He would cross the fields to the town walls soon enough, but he wanted to take a minute and look out at the town.
His mory showed him pictures of breathtaking cityscapes. The view from his hotel bedroom the one ti he’d gone to New York City on vacation. The city lights blazing in the night, the sight of the skyscrapers towering into the heavens, all of it looking like a turbulent sea of stars, it was a mory that would always stay with him, even now in another world.
The sight of Hammon’s Bog was very different, but sohow it felt the sa. They both gave him a feeling of being grounded, of being in civilization.
The lanterns on the street were much dimr than the city streetlights, but they still fought back against the darkness, providing order and comfort.
The first ti he’d seen Hammon’s Bog had been at night, he realized. Hogg had carried him through on the way ho. That’s why he was feeling so nostalgic right now. Hammon’s Bog had been his first real assurance that there was such a thing as safety in this world. Sure, seeing the Heroes had proved to him that it existed, but it wasn’t until he got here and saw normal people living normally, that he’d started to feel it.
The lanterns lit up the night, but they couldn’t shine on everything. They failed to reach the shadowy places, and the way the light hit the smoke from the chimneys gave the town a lowly, murky sort of feeling.
It was a complicated place, and it gave him complicated feelings. The town had been good and bad to him, and now he was coming as an invader. It was enemy territory, and he decided he didn’t actually like the way that felt.
Only for tonight. He’d take his toll tonight, and then it was over. He would forgive Hammon’s Bog, and love it the way everyone should love their hotown. That didn’t an he was ready to forgive all the people in it. He wouldn’t pee on Tawna if she was on fire. But the town itself, yes. After taking what he wanted, any bad blood between himself and the town would be over.
The street lanterns seed to wink a little as if to nod in acceptance. Or perhaps in challenge. He imagined the soul of the town nodding down at him and saying Your terms are accepted. Co and ransack if you dare; I am not so defenseless as I look.
Brin took a step forward, smiling in nervous anticipation.
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