“Hold still,” Lee said, squinting at Brayden. “I’m going to miss if you keep moving. You’re ruining my practice.”
“Nobody is going to stand still in a real fight, you know,” Brayden said with a shake of his head. “And—”
The rest of his sentence ended in a choked curse as Lee laughed the strip of jerky she had in her hand toward the large man. It pelted him in the head and bounced off with a rather heavy thud, spinning to fall on the bed beside Brayden.
“Ow,” Brayden said.
“Damn,” Lee grumbled. She glanced over at the piece of at. Brayden followed her gaze. The two of them were silent for a mont. Then Lee cleared her throat. “Can I—”
“No,” Brayden said, grabbing the jerky and raising it to his mouth. “This one’s mine. You threw it at . That’s how it works.”
“I was practicing!”
Noah’s eye twitched slightly. He sat on the bed a foot away from Lee, his legs crossed beneath him as he tried and failed to concentrate on his runes. There were only a few hours left until it was ti to report to the tournant and get filtered into their groups.
He’d been doing what he could to try and preemptively contemplate the formations of his next runes. With the 5 he already had, there were just 2 needed until he hit Rank 6. There was a pretty good chance he’d be able to get his hands on them pretty soon.
Hell, he didn’t know how long the tournant would last, but given the amount of importance on it, the even was probably going to take a few days. That wasn’t to ntion how huge Aqua Terra was. It wouldn’t be all that hard to go looking for soone selling runes. Maybe even an auction, if he managed to get enough crystals.
And if he did that, he’d be able to make his final two Rank 5s pretty easily… so long as he knew exactly what he wanted for his final two runes. Or, more specifically, how he’d make them. If he could get the theorizing out of the way now, it would an the actual creation of the runes would take only a fraction of the ti.
And while his deep contemplations had borne so fruit, they were largely impacted by the little hyperactive creature that was currently trying to wheedle ownership of her strip of jerky — that had miraculously gone uneaten thus far — back from Brayden.
“Please?” Lee asked.
Brayden ate the strip of jerky.
“Aw,” Lee said, her shoulders slumping. “Oh well.”
Then she reached into her travel bag and pulled out a second one. Brayden stared at her. His eye twitched slightly.
“You had another?”
“Of course I had another,” Lee replied, as if offended by the re question. “Why would I risk my final piece of jerky on sothing as unimportant as training? That would be stupid.”
“Nothing about this is training,” Noah groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re just bored.”
“Yeah.” Lee nodded. “Exactly. Why would you train if you aren’t bored? You’d do literally anything else.”
“Why don’t you stretch or sothing?”
“Already did,” Lee replied. “My bones are bendy. Like trees.”
“I don’t think bones are supposed to be bendy,” Brayden said with a small frown.
“No, I’m pretty sure they are,” Lee said, her brow furrowing. “Maybe yours are just old. They stiffen up with age.”
“Old?” Brayden exclaid. “I am not old. I’m perfectly young. I — who in the Damned Plains is that?”
The tone of Brayden’s voice made both Noah and Lee’s heads snap to follow his gaze over to the window. Noah nearly choked on his own saliva.
There was a face pressed up against the window, squished into the glass like a dog watching a squirrel on the TV. It wasn’t a particularly attractive face either.
“The hell?” Noah asked.
“Oh, no,” Lee said, disappointnt dripping from her words. “It’s the creepy stalker.”
“The what now?” Brayden asked. He rose, grabbing the large sword leaning against the bed as his eyes narrowed. “A stalker?”
“What?” Noah shot to his feet and drew on his runes. “The guy that was chasing you back at the city we t? How the hell is he here? This wierdo actually managed to track us all the way through Aqua Terra? I didn’t think that was even possible!”
The window creaked as the man pressed against it tried to say sothing.
Brayden raised his sword. “There are imbuents on that window, but I can cut through them. Should I just stab him?”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringent.
“It’s broad daylight,” Noah replied. “But then again, he’s literally scaling the damn wall. I don’t think anyone’s going to get mad at us for self defense, right?”
“Is it self defense if he can’t get into the building?” Lee asked. “The window is imbued, isn’t it?”
There was a click. Noah watched in mild disbelief as the window unlatched. The man’s face unsquished itself as he pulled back a foot, and the three of them watched as the plane of glass swung outward.
How did he do that? The imbuents don’t even seem damaged, but he shouldn’t have been able to open that window without breaking them, right?
“I’m going to stab him,” Brayden declared.
“Wait!” The man exclaid, raising a hand defensively. The other one was presumably still keeping him held against the side of the building. “I’ve co much too far to get dragged into a fight here, of all places. There’s a misunderstanding. Put down your arms.”
“You are currently scaling the wall of our tavern after stalking us across the Empire,” Noah said flatly. “I don’t think there’s much of a misunderstanding at all.”
“Stalking? No. Absolutely not. I am researching. There is a difference. Please do not conflate the two.” The man shook his head, causing the thick fur coat wrapped around him to bounce slightly. “Co now. Have neither of you scaled a building or two in the pursuit of the greater good before? Where is your sense of purpose? Of adventure?”
“I’m going to stab him,” Brayden said again.
“Hold on,” Noah said. “If you stab him now, he’ll fall back to the ground. It’ll be a huge ss.”
“Good point,” Brayden said. “I’ll pull him into the room. Then I’ll stab him. Lee can eat the body.”
“I don’t want to eat this one,” Lee said, her nose scrunching in distaste. “He’s probably spoiled.”
“You can eat bodies? For sustenance? Or pleasure?” The man asked, his eyes alighting in interest. “And how is it that soone your stature could consu a being far larger than them? Does your stomach magically expand? Or can you compact materials you eat down into a manageable size?”
“I take it back,” Brayden said in disgust. He raised his sword. “I’m going to stab him now. We can deal with the ss later.”
“Oh, calm yourselves. I really don’t want to have to kill anyone today. The paperwork is already going to be a massive hassle. Perhaps we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. Allow to properly introduce myself.” The man swayed rather oddly — as if he were balanced on a long pole rather than clinging to the wall. “My na is Mordred. I am a researcher in the Prophet’s employ, and I am here to investigate your traveling companion.”
Noah’s jaw clenched.
The Prophet’s employ? I know Lee thought they were from the Coral Empire, but working directly for the Prophet is a step above that.
Shit.
If we kill him in broad daylight, that may actually cause a pretty damn big problem. Right. Stab him in the room it is. Lee can tough it out and eat the body. That or I just lt it with Unraveling Disruption.
Noah and Brayden exchanged a glance. Neither of them said a word. They didn’t need to.
“Right,” Noah said. “I’m sure we’d be thrilled to have you in the room.”
“And away from the window,” Lee said. “So nobody sees when we kill you.”
I don’t think that last part was needed, Lee.
“Lovely,” Mordred said without so much as flinching. He grabbed onto the windowsill. Then he swayed again, grunting slightly. His head lowered about a foot before suddenly jerking back up. His eyes narrowed and he looked down to the ground. “Would you stand still! I am trying to have a conversation, you louts!”
“Have it faster!” Soone else yelled up. “How long are you going to sit on our shoulders? Everyone is staring at us, you creepy bastard!”
Noah blinked.
Wait. Is he…
Noah edged forward, keeping his magic at the ready just in case this was so kind of bizarre setup. But the scene just beneath the window was, sohow, exactly what he’d expected. Mordred wasn’t holding onto the wall at all. There were two people stacked beneath him in an odd totem pole, swaying unsteadily. As if that wasn’t unstable enough, the one at the bottom had set himself up upon the top of a wagon that had been positioned at the base of the tavern wall. He was pretty sure one strong breeze would send the lot of them crashing back to the ground.
Is this a joke?
Unfortunately for Noah, the completely ridiculous manner that Mordred had chosen to break and enter had also drawn stares from a rather large crowd. If Mordred actually did work for the Prophet, killing him quietly had just beco entirely impossible. There was a whole troupe of people that had now seen both him and Mordred.
Goddamn it. I do not need the Prophet investigating . I’d much rather she not even know I exist. This guy can’t die here.
“Hold on, would you?” Mordred called back. “I’m—”
The pole of people beneath Mordred swayed as the wagon wheel abruptly creaked forward a foot. His eyes widened and he let out a curse as he pitched back.
Noah darted forward, grabbing the man’s collar to steady him. The bottom of the windowsill drove into his stomach and he grunted, his muscles straining as he pulled. Mordred’s arms pinwheeled for a mont before he managed to catch onto the wall. The two people beneath him managed to stabilize themselves as well.
“Sorry,” the one on the bottom called.
“You probably should have let him fall,” Brayden said.
“Probably,” Noah muttered.
Mordred grinned him. “But you didn’t. Thank you. That would have smarted. Now, I’ll be taking you up on that offer to speak inside.”
Noah stepped back as Mordred pulled himself through the window. He watched on in mild disbelief as the man dropped to the ground of their room with a grunt, then rose to his feet and brushed his coat off. His eyes flicked to Lee.
Brayden stepped in front of her.
“Eyes on , creep,” Brayden growled.
“As I said, I believe we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot,” Mordred said. He raised his hands before himself. “I have no malicious desires toward your companion. On the contrary. Rare species must be protected. I simply wish to understand her existence better.”
Everything he says just sohow makes him seem creepier.
“He’s been chasing us for days,” Lee said from behind Brayden.
“Of course I have,” Mordred said. “We didn’t finish our conversation. I rely want to speak. That’s all. Not too much an ask, is it?”
“You said you worked for the Prophet?” Noah asked cautiously. “What interest does she have in any of us?”
Mordred cleared his throat. “Well. Ah. Strictly speaking, none. This is a bit of a personal project. A hobby.”
Doesn’t seem like he’s supposed to be here, which ans if we deal with him quietly and send him on his way, we might actually be able to get out of this without killing soone working directly for the Prophet. There isn’t any other way out of this that doesn’t end in a fight that draws far more attention than we can afford to us. Especially with the Tournant starting so soon… we just can’t afford to take the chance.
Noah watched Mordred through narrowed eyes for a mont. Then, slowly, he nodded.
“Okay,” Noah said, making no move to dismiss the magic crackling within his fingertips. If Mordred made one sudden move, he’d deal with the consequences of pissing the Prophet off at a later date. He gestured for Mordred to continue. “Speak. But you better keep it fast. What do you want?”
Mordred smiled.
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