Chapter 39: I Soon Leave the Hearth

When I awoke to a particularly violent thump, I found that I could actually see the sky through the wagon’s thresholds.

 

There was no headache, thankfully, as magical blowback didn’t really work like that. In fact, the only reason I did know that I had been drunk was the lack of memory of anything that happened a minute or two after I had cast that spatal. I could only hope that I hadn’t done anything compromising. And despair at the fact that I had lost it after a single spell. Now, it was an expensive and inefficient one, but that didn’t actually assange my sadness too much. After all, I probably would’ve been able to cast a spell like maybe twenty times back on Earth before feeling anything.

 

Around me, the twins were sitting around while Hans took his turn driving with Gideon beside him. The forest was nowhere in sight, at least not from my sleeping bag, and mountains loomed high above my head. Even from where I laid and after all this time, I still felt an awed vertigo imagining how high those soaring peaks sat.

 

I sat up and stretched, taking in the cool alpine air.

 

“Morning, Saps.” Breale said.

 

“Good-” I stopped as I felt some new weight on the back of my head.

 

Reaching back I felt a strangely smooth band over my ears, and after a second I felt something else over my right ear, a feather much like one you’d see in a tricorne, but smooth like glass. It was cool to the touch, and I felt content with its presence. It felt benevolent, a soothing pressure not unlike the light had been.

 

I immediately tried to rip it off.

 

“Am I cursed? Is this glued on?” I must’ve looked dumb as I worked to pull it off, but no matter what I did I found it wouldn’t move an inch from my hair.

 

“That was Izavelo’s gift.” Breale raised her left arm with an excited smile, and I could see an intricate glass bracelet in the shape of half a dozen folded feathers tight upon her wrist. “You’re going to have to wait to get it unbound until we get to Minua.”

 

“A sentiment for service done.” Fredrick added, lifting up his left arm to reveal an identical trinket.

 

“Bound? A gift? For what?” I continued to pull, only succeeding in messing up my hair. “I didn’t even help that damned bird!”

 

All I could remember was helping Gideon with the grotesque bird man, not anything to do with the glass one. And I very much doubt that I was in a state to help afterwards.

 

“Neither did we.” Fredrick sounded resigned, as if he’d gone through this very same reaction hours ago. “We only saw the beginning and the ending, and yet, matching magic bracelets.”

 

I stopped trying to pry it off and looked at the twins curiously instead.

 

“Magic? Do they have any cool abilities?”

 

I might be able to overlook this if it allowed me to summon glass or something. I’d always been enamoured with magic items back on Earth, but Gideon hadn’t been a good enough artificer to actually create anything too useful. Due to that, I wasn’t too opposed to having a magic item bound to me for a little bit.

 

Well, it might make baths a bit more irritating, but it wasn’t like it was easy to wash this hair before either.

 

“Hans thinks so, after doing his wizardry.” Breale threw her arm over Fredrick. “Brother and I might share abilities.”

 

“As if there was anything else to separate us.” Fredrick complained. “By the Star, if you were my brother I wouldn’t know how people tell us apart.”

 

“There are so many benefits though. We can share everything: techniques, weapons, armour, rooms, shirts, counties…”” Breale almost muttered the last two.

 

“Shirts? Did you think throwing in a weird one would distract me?” Fredrick glared at his sister. “We’re not sharing the county.”

 

He glanced at me briefly. 

 

“And we don’t share shirts, if that wasn’t obvious.”

 

“And we’re not completely alike.” Breale countered. “I have the better personality, hair, ambition, drive, morals…”

 

“Eh, what kind of magic abilities?” I asked, partly to prevent this from devolving any further. “Are they passive, or…?”

 

“No idea!” Breale announced.

 

“That’s not something you can identify on the fly.” Fredrick said. “We’ll have to look through a directory in the Minuan church to see if something like this has been documented before. If they’re active use, we might find a command phrase to use.”

 

“Or… we can randomly guess!” Breale rummaged through a box behind her and passed me a scrap of paper laden with words. “These are all the command phrases I’ve tried.”

 

“A waste of paper and ink, assuredly.”  Fredrick asked.

 

I looked over the phrases, finding the familiar ones like ‘fire’, ‘shoot’, ‘loose’, ‘summon’ and the like. As I looked further down the list, though, the words got stranger and more obscure.

 

“Enfilade? What does that even mean?”

 

“Artillery term.” Fredrick explained. “It means-”

 

“Shoot, fire, loose. Brother’s just obtuse.” Breale shook her head sadly. “It’s why people don’t like him.”

 

“You’re the one who asked for my help-”

 

“Why would Izavelo even know that word?” Breale asked. “He lives in a forest, not in the engineers’ college.”

 

“If you’re thinking like that, why are you even guessing in Veroline?”

 

“That’s the only language I know!”

 

“Maybe you should’ve paid attention in lessons then.”

 

I sighed. It was becoming clear that I probably wouldn’t know what it did until we arrived, which meant I had a useless tiara bound to my skull for the foreseeable future. 

 

How did bound items work anyway? Would it be possible to bind a nail to a tree to serve as the ultimate glue? Or would it come away with enough force? It just sounded to me like there would be some way this would be stupidly powerful in construction or fabrication. Even if it just applied to humans, did it free itself on death? Or could I glue a bunch of girders to a corpse? 

 

So many questions, not enough time.

 

I stared at their bracelets as the twins argued, noting how nice a bracelet it looked. If there was a strong and cheap crystalline material like this on Earth I was sure it’d be a popular jewellery item. Actually, since I supposed I needed to care about that now, how did this even look on my head?

 

“Do we have a mirror?” I asked, interrupting some nonsensical argument.

 

“For what?” Fredrick asked. “I’m sure you’re aware, but we have been travelling for almost a week now. Your vanity might not appreciate- what was that for!”

 

Breale retracted her elbow.

 

“I wouldn’t worry, Saps. I think it looks quite nice.”

 

“Yes, yes. It’s interesting.” Fredrick added. “It stands out.”

 

“Is that really a compliment?” I frowned. “In fact, that makes me want a mirror more.”

 

To have something look ‘unique’ or ‘interesting’ wasn’t really a goal to shoot for. A clown or a beer salesman were fine being ‘interesting’, your hat less so.

 

Are you starting to get worried about your appearance now? Gideon jumped back into the wagon and sat down next to me. Saphry’s taking more and more influence every day.

 

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Silst.” I said pointedly..

 

I blame fighting. He said. I never joined you as Gideon, but Silst fought all the time. So it’s hard not to give in to his experience in the moment. It’s probably the same with you and dressing up. I guess.

 

“Give in?” I asked. “Hey, wait a moment! What are you trying to imply there?” 

 

Gideon wasn’t being mind-controlled, was he? Was he still just talking about memories? Because certainly Saphry has never directly influenced my actions, apart from the physical problems she presented. And she has definitely never made me want to ‘dress up’, either. I haven’t degenerated that far yet!

 

“You two are too cruel!” Breale cried, obviously taking my argument with Gideon differently. “You shouldn’t tease a lady on something she can’t change. Especially when you’re wrong!”

 

“I did nothing of the sort!” Fredrick protested. “It’s, err, pretty.”

 

“You know, I think I’m fine with just dropping this, actually.” I said, turning to look out the front. I’d never really been great with taking compliments, but it was somehow more embarrassing in Verol. “How far are we from the pass, anyway?”

 

“Less than half a day if we kept up this pace.” Hans called from the front, evidently listening to us the whole time. “Though we’ll be hitting Caelis's’s Call by noon.”

 

“Noon? Wait a second.” I thought back to our planning, finding a discrepancy. “Weren’t we supposed to be in the forest for two days or so? Unless I was out longer than I thought, we were only off the road for one.”

 

It wasn’t often that you just could just shave off half the travel time, after all. I wasn’t still under some kind of spell, was I? Was I hanging in a cocoon in Izavelo’s cave in real life, doomed to keep going in a world of my mind’s creation while I slowly starved? Didn’t those mountains look a little too perfect?

 

“Calm down, you were only out for the night.” Fredrick confirmed. “The Walker showed us a quicker path out that avoided some of the steeper groves.”

 

“Mr. Big Bird is really a great guy when you get to know him.” Breale said. “He was much flufflier than you’d think, too.”

 

“Only my sister could think to hug a man-eating demon.” Fredrick shook his head.

 

“Izavelo is neither.” Hans said. “Did I not say as much earlier? There were no human remains in that cave.”

 

“I don’t know, I think Saphry might’ve left some remains.” Breale quipped.

 

“What?” I cried. “I wasn’t that out of it, was I?”

 

“I was staring at the light at the time, but I seem to recall you being pretty clingy.” Fredrick said. “And you passed out on the floor next to a couple crushed animal carcasses like it was a feather bed.”

 

Just how bad had I been? For God’s sake, I had only cast a single boosted spell, and they were acting like I had downed a case of vodka. 

 

You are reading story Lmenli at novel35.com

“I didn’t even know it was possible to get drunk off of ambient mana.” Hans said simply. “Especially not to the point of just knocking yourself out. You’ll need to be careful in the future.”

 

I scoffed.

 

“Of course I didn’t get drunk off ambient mana, that’d be ridiculous. No, that was…” I faltered at Gideon’s and Fredrick’s pointed stares.

 

Wait. I probably shouldn’t say anything about my own spell casting, right? Such a development might not go over well with Hans or Breale. Hans especially seemed like the law-abiding sort of man, and he had just trusted us enough to flee the city with us in tow. It’d be a horrible idea to give him any reason to think we were actually guilty of any of those crimes. 

 

But ambient mana? That was like getting drunk off of alcohol fumes! It meant you were such an unbelievable lightweight that just being near magic would affect you! I would literally never hear the end of it if I let that misunderstanding slide.

 

I looked pleadingly at my drake, who looked to be suppressing a chuckle. 

 

I’m sorry Ryder… I’m so sorry. Ha!

 

What a bastard of a dragon.

 

“I… well.”

 

“There’s no reason to be ashamed!” Breale threw her arm over my shoulder. “I’ve heard of it happening before.”

 

“To naws.” Fredrick smirked, referencing a common pet not unlike a cat. “And infants.”

 

“And just what is that supposed to mean?!” 

 

“I’m just sad that I was under that compulsion.” Breale whined. “I missed just about all of the fun parts! We’ll have to do it again.”

 

“There’s supposedly a thaumaturgy building in the academy for the commoners.” Fredrick added. “Maybe she’ll get drunk just walking by the door?”

 

“That might just kill her, actually.” Hans said. “You should start by activating a lamp next to her, see if that sends her under.”

 

He was of course referencing the common enchanted lamps that were put everywhere in Verol.

 

“Alright, now you’re just being rude!’ I cried, glaring up at the front. “You’ve seen me light a hundred lamps by now.”

 

“Perhaps you’ve been drunk the whole time?” Breale asked.

 

“It would certainly explain a few things.” Fredrick said seriously.

 

I leaned against the wall in defeat. This was going to be a long few days.

…

“So that’s it? Caelis's’s Call?” Fredrick asked.

 

It was simpler than I had expected, and smaller to boot. Only a couple dozen houses of wood and red tile roofs stood near the centre, with the vast majority of the surrounding land covered by terraced fields. Nothing grew under the snow covered land now, but I could only imagine the colourful harvest that would reach up the hillside in the warmer months. The only notable feature was a small dilapidated fort at the back of the deeps, high and square in its perch above the settlement.

 

It stood in a secluded valley away from any maintained road. We almost didn’t find the entrances to the Caelis Deeps in the mist and fog that rolled down the mountains, and only Hans’s expert eye was able to pick it out in the murk. 

 

More importantly, it didn’t look nearly the demon-ravaged hellscape as I had imagined. Or, it didn’t from what I could see in the back of the wagon.

 

“Is this even recorded on the census?” Fredrick asked sceptically. “Even better, do enough people actually live here for a tax collector to care?”

 

Fredrick wasn’t even joking. The really small communities in Verol aren’t counted on the census, nor are they taxed. This wasn’t entirely because they went undiscovered either, though that definitely played a part in such a mountainous state. No, the official reasoning went that the state couldn’t adequately defend such small and isolated places, so they wouldn’t be taxed either. 

 

At least, that’s what Andril had told me one night a couple weeks ago. I had an inkling that such communities were often just too poor and hard to reach that it cost more to furnish officials to make the trip than such an effort brought back. I couldn’t prove that, of course, but I knew from personal experience that governments never did anything good out of the goodness of their hearts.

 

“Only four families live in Caelis.” Hans confirmed. “Citizens of the capital duchy, but estranged from her riches. It’s a depressing divide.”

 

“I’d bet many farmers would love to be estranged from stockpile taxes.” Fredrick said.

 

Stockpile taxes were a common feature of almost all the old lmeri states that had broken off the empire. Simply put, the rural farmers were obligated a certain percentage of their foodstuffs to go towards the local citadels for use in winter and sieges. Saphry had never really talked to many peasants so she didn’t know the realities of how hard it was to fill, but I had never found taxes to be a popular part of government either.

 

“But not nearly as many would say the same for their separation from the church paladins.” Breale pointed out from the back.

 

“Exactly.” 

 

Fredrick looked out at the cheap homesteads and sighed.

 

“Master Paladin, forgive me for my forwardness, but wouldn’t your abilities be of more use someplace else? I don’t even mean escorting us this time. No, surely Verol or one of the minor towns we passed also had a problem with a demon? And you are the only paladin in the duchy right now, by your own admission. Wouldn’t wasting your time with such a small settlement be harming more people than it helps? Can these people even properly pay you?”

 

From my place in the back of the wagon, I couldn’t see exactly what kind of look Hans gave the young noble, but Fredrick held his gaze for a few long seconds. 

 

“Fredrick, my duty is to all the people of Verol, not just the largest or the richest groups. How could I simply let these people suffer in darkness? The Star demands an equality of life.”

 

Fredrick blinked.

 

“If a group of three nobles were in a life threatening situation and one peasant was as well, would you help the peasant first just to make a point?”

 

Both Breale and I almost choked on sudden laughter at how direct that was. 

 

“Isn’t that the part where you’re supposed to nod at his sagely wisdom?” I asked between bouts of laughter.

 

“And what’s with that question?” Breale wiped away a tear. “It’s so morbid!”

 

“It’s a valid question?” Fredrick said seriously.

 

“I feel like such a question strays into the territory of ranking human life.” Hans said stiffly. “The Star strictly forbids talk like that. And so my answer: it depends on who I heard about first.”

 

“The Star has never-”

 

“Enough of this.” Hans commanded. “Do you really wish to see me off with a philosophical debate?”

 

Fredrick broke his gaze, chastened.

 

“Of course not, father.”

 

“Then let’s be on with it!” Hans smiled as we gathered around him. “For you three have a mountain pass to be travelling through.”

 

Breale looked the most distraught between us, jumping forward to embrace the old man. Tears appeared upon her cheeks, though when she stepped away I could see a sad smile on her face.

 

“It’ll be difficult without you there, Hans.” Breale said, the weight of the upcoming trip finally seemed to hit her. “Are you sure we shouldn’t stay a while longer? There’s little reason to rush this.”

 

Hans shook his head, having already repeated this conversation a dozen times over the last week.

 

“The young prince will need his friends, I fear.” Hans said, looking between the three of us. “He was not in a place of starlight when he left, and vengeance will surely cloud his thoughts if someone is not there to dissuade him. Civil war must be avoided, especially at such a critical time. I fear Verol won't be able to take such a blow.”

 

“Auro’s there, though.” I protested.

 

“Andril barely knows Auro.” Fredrick pointed out. “But Sister and I have known him since childhood. He’d listen to us.”

 

“He barely knows Saphry, either.” Breale said. “It hasn't even been a month since we were properly introduced, yet I’m sure she could match him in an argument or two.”

 

“It really is such strange timing for you to start venturing from your house again.” Hans looked at me again, and I nervously chuckled. “Truly a gift from the Star.”

 

I had to wonder: why had I come in at such an auspicious time? Of all the periods of Saphry’s life, only now was it destined to turn turbulent. Or would the real Saphry have skipped the blessing ceremony? It was hard to tell just how clearly I’d diverged.

 

“Then can we leave Saphry here then?” Fredrick asked thoughtfully, clearly trying to cut away any excess danger. “She can always continue to Minua once this clears over.”

 

“Absolutely not!” I cried without a moment’s hesitation. “You can’t just throw me away now, after everything we’ve done. I may have only known the Prince for a month, but it was a goddamn eventful month!”

 

“Saphry, language.” Hans chided.

 

“Ah, sorry father.” I said, knowing full well that I wasn’t likely to change that particular habit anytime soon.

 

“Fine, fine. I was offering it just in case.” Fredrick waved away my anger and returned his gaze to Hans. “It will be lonely, sir, but I hope you’re successful here, and quickly too. The senate will need a calm voice in the coming days.”

 

“And more paladin teams, apparently.” Breale added.

 

It still seemed crazy to me that there were so few paladins in the capital duchy, but then again the Everstar Church wasn’t supposed to be a military operation. Maybe they had only just enough to fulfil their exorcism needs, and no more. Clearly, this system of ‘bare minimum manpower’ had recently come to bite them in the ass.

 

“Yes, a lot of work lies ahead of me, but just as much awaits you.” Hans chuckled. “It feels wrong to thrust such politics upon a group so young, but history awaits for no one it seems. Be sure to trust in Lord Belvan and the Markee when you next see them. They should be more experienced in such matters. Andril’s fiance and her family should too be of appreciable help, as should the clergy in Celrion’s Peak. You are not without allies right now, though the prince might think overwise.”

 

“‘The righteous faithful are never alone in the bulwark of the just’.”Fredrick quoted solemnly.

 

“‘And ever wide lies the spears of the stars’.” Breale continued with a tearful smile. “Why, you can expect a letter as soon as we get to Minua. Thank you for everything.”

 

“And I’ll be expecting it with bated breath.” Hans smiled. “Now, let’s get my supplies unpacked.”