Chapter 13: Chapter 12

It was sorely tempting to just fly right over the walls. He doubted the guards could stop him, but it would just draw more attention to him and he’d come here to blend in and hide. He’d try to talk his way in first. If they refused to let him, he’d just go around and over the wall somewhere else once it got dark.

“I tried to take a shortcut through the woods,” he told them. “There were some spiders. I hit one with a stick. It was not fun.”

“And… who are you?”

“My name is Nym. I’m just trying to find a place to get some food, and I guess a bath. Wait, this is Zoskan, right?”

One of the guards nodded slowly. “That’s right. How long you been on the road, boy?”

“I’m not sure. Three days?”

“Aww, let him in Lagram. Poor kid’s had a rough week,” one of the guards said.

“Shut yer mouth. People don’t get in just because they’re pitiful.”

Of all the possibilities Nym had tried to plan for, the gate guards refusing to let him in was not one of them. “Uh… sorry, but why can’t I go in?” he asked.

“Well, ‘cause we don’t know if you’re a criminal or not. You could be a bandit for all-”

“He’s not a bandit,” one of the guards said. “Could he even shoot a crossbow without it knocking him flat on his ass?”

“Okay, that’s true. He’s probably not a bandit. But a thief! Master pickpocket right there. We don’t know.”

“Are you serious, Lagram?” another guard said. “The kid is wearing rags and is half covered in spider webbing.”

The stubborn guard jut out his chin and said, “Well fine, but he hasn’t told us his business. Why’d he come to Zoskan in the first place?”

Because he was a criminal, Nym thought. He wasn’t about to admit to that though. Instead, he said, “Got no family left. Some rich guy’s jerk kid started giving me a hard time back home, making my life miserable. Seemed easier to just go somewhere else. It’s not like I was leaving much behind.”

There was some bitterness in his voice, which Nym made no effort to hide. If anything, he felt it helped sell the story. Lagram opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything, one of the guards on his side said, “Stop grilling the poor boy. Just let him in. What harm’s he going to do?”

“Bah. Fine. You can go in. Make sure you stay out of trouble!”

“Thanks, sirs,” Nym said. He moved to walk past, but the guard who’d spoken up for him stopped him.

“There’s an alchemist on Spinder Street who could probably help get that webbing off you. It’d be a bit easier on your skin than scrubbing at it at least. You go talk to him, his name’s Cern. You tell him Toren at the west gate sent you. I know him, he’ll help if he can.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks!”

The guard gave him a pat and moved back to his post. They waved him through the gate, and Nym got his first good look as Zoskan.

It was probably a hundred times bigger than Palmara. The streets were made of cobblestone and the houses were properly fitted wood with shingled roofs. It wasn’t necessarily clean everywhere, but it was cleaner than Nym. He got a few looks as he trudged through town, reading the signs and looking for Spinder Street. The damned spider webbing was so much worse in town, where it stuck to the stone streets with every step and took a bit of effort to peel back up.

After half an hour of wandering, Nym was forced to admit he was lost. “Excuse me,” he said to a nearby man who was walking into a tavern. “Can you tell me where Spinder Street is?”

“Spinder Street?” the man said thoughtfully. “Not really sure. Maybe that way?”

Nym looked towards the direction the man had waved him in. He’d already checked that way. “Thanks,” he said, suppressing a sigh and trudging off.

Once he reached the next intersection, he turned and asked a different person for directions. That one just told him to piss off and aimed a kick Nym’s way when he didn’t move fast enough. Finally, after much wandering and no real help from the locals, Nym found Spinder Street. Unfortunately, he had no idea which way the alchemist’s shop was.

A few more questions which got him a variety of unhelpful answers, and he stumbled across it. It was a squat building, only a single story tall and almost twice as wide as the ones next to it. The front was a store front with a glass window showing off various vials, jars, and bottles full of different colored liquids, pastes, and ointments. Signs touted the wonders of the concoctions, claiming to do everything from relieving muscle pain to curing impotency.

Nym pulled open the door and limped in. “Hello?” he called out, not seeing anyone around.

“Hello there,” said a voice from right next to him.

Nym jumped a foot in the air and spun in place. There, standing in a spot that had clearly been empty moments earlier, was a thin, middle-aged man with a thick beard and even thicker eyebrows. He wore a smock that was liberally stained and thick, heavy shoes. His clothes were rough, but solid and thick.

“Sorry about that,” the man laughed. “I was trying out an elixir I crafted that makes the imbiber light as air. Seems to be working.”

Once Nym’s heart rate slowed back down to something approaching normal speed, he realized there was an open door nearby that the man had probably come out of. Still, the man didn’t really look sorry. He looked gleeful, like a kid playing a prank.

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“That was not very nice!” Nym told him. “Are you Cern?”

“That’s me,” the man confirmed. “Nice to meet you.”

“Uh, likewise. The guy at the gate, Teran, said I should come talk to you, that you could probably help with my… um… problem.” Nym waved around an arm that still had strands of spider webbing stuck to it.

“Oh, interesting. From the giant spiders in the forest, right? How did you get so much of it stuck to you?”

“Fell asleep in the wrong tree.”

“And you’re still alive? That sounds like an interesting story.”

“I woke up before they could…” Nym trailed off and shuddered. He finished lamely, “Finish whatever they were doing.”

“Probably for the best,” Cern agreed. “But how did you escape them?”

“Oh, that part was easy.” Nym filled his soul well with some arcana and lifted himself up off the ground.

“Ah, very good, young mageling! That is solid control over a basic air elemental construct, practically unheard of in someone so young. But how long can you keep it up?”

“Depends how fast I want to go,” Nym told him. “Long enough to get away from some spiders at least.”

The alchemist laughed. “Fair enough. So Teran sent you to me to see about removing those stubborn webs. Bless his heart. Not only would I be happy to remove them for you, but I’ll pay you a bronze wedge to keep them.”

“Deal,” Nym said instantly. Ciana got three wedges for each crab she brought into town to sell, enough for a cheap meal at least. He had come to Cern’s shop just hoping to get away with a few hours of chores in exchange for the man’s help. This was a deal beyond his wildest hopes.

“Very good then. Come with me and we’ll get you cleaned right up.”

Cern led him into the side room and started rooting around in one of his baskets. “Ah, here it is,” he said, holding up a bottle with a brush cap stick into it. He gave it a good shake and to mix the contents up, which turned a pale, pasty green, before removing the cap and using the brush applicator on Nym’s arm.

“Don’t mind the smell,” he said, “It’ll fade in an hour or so. There we go, just let that soak in for a few minutes.”

While he was working on Nym’s leg, with Nym hovering in the air to make it easier for him, Nym asked “That elixir you mentioned, that makes a person light as air, did you mean that literally?”

Cern got a gleam in his eye. “Hah! I did. Well, not actually as light as air, but it would in fact make it easier for you to fly farther as it will reduce your weight by roughly thirty percent. That’s what you were thinking, right?”

“It was,” Nym admitted.

“I’d be happy to sell you a bottle, but, and not to be rude, I think most of my goods might be out of your price range,” Cern told him. “Although, you’re highly mobile, willing to venture into the forest, nerves of steel it seems. I can always use more ingredients. Are you interested in a bit of work?”

Finally, some good luck came Nym’s way. “I sure am!” he said. “Wait, it’s not getting more spider webbing, is it?”

“Oh, goodness no. Not at all. This stuff is only situationally useful and doesn’t last very long even when properly preserved. I wouldn’t want it at all except I have a client who’s looking for a potion that this is the main ingredient in. He’s been bugging me for two months but I never have any of the webbing in stock, so it was a bit of good luck you came in with it. I can finally get him off my back!”

The two shared a laugh and then Cern started peeling off the spider web. “There we go. Just let the rest of the solution dry on your skin for another ten minutes and then it’ll turn to powder and you can brush it off,” the alchemist instructed.

Nym nodded happily. He hadn’t realized how irritating it was having his limbs gummed up with that webbing until it was gone. He wiggled his toes with a smile and flexed one hand. “That is so much better.”

“I imagine so. Now, young man, let’s discuss what other things I need that a brave and enterprising soul such as yourself might be able to provide. You seem to be in dire need of funds, and I am in casual need of some materials to experiment with, so I think we should be able to work something out.”

Cern pulled out a sheet of paper and started jotting down things he wanted from the forest along with descriptions of where to find them and a sketched map of the local woodland. He focused on plants that grew up high off the ground, fully planning to take advantage of Nym’s ability to fly.

He also added a second sheet of paper listing some of the dangers Nym was likely to find, including the green, armor-plated spiders he ran into. There were also giant owls, living vine snakes, and if he went deep into the interior of the forest, something the Cern called frost wraiths. Nym was advised to run far away very quickly if he encountered one of the monsters.

“And I think that should about do it. You, er… you do have a pack of some kind, right?” Cern eyed him up, looking at Nym’s bare feet and patched and holey clothes.

“I don’t,” Nym admitted. “I’ll have to make the first run using my shirt to hold stuff until I can afford one.”

Cern sighed and shook his head. “Here,” he said, “one bronze wedge for the spider webbing, and an extra two as an advance on the first load of supplies. Now I want skywort blooms from the waterfall cliffs first. You take a right out the door here, go down two blocks, and buy yourself a pack, then bring me back those plants and we’ll call it even.”

Nym nodded along with the directions. “I’ll be back before it gets dark,” he promised.

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