Chapter 286: 283: Recognition

“That face…I think I know your face.” Cedric was walking toward Alex; his brow was creased and he seemed to be appraising the taller young man. “I’m thinkin’ that I’ve seen ya before.”

The crowd was parting, looking between the Chosen and Alex as the broad-shouldered Hero approached. Professor Jules’ looked over at Alex with one eyebrow raised, her mouth opened like she was ready to ask something, but the Sage said something, distracting her. The older woman dragged her attention away from Alex, then fell into conversation with the reptilian-eyed witch while the Champion glanced between Cedric and the Fool.

Others in the crowd watched curiously: Ripp peered down from a tower beside the gate while Tyris took things in from her vantage point atop Vesuvius’ shell. An apple crunched between her teeth.

Alex brought his attention back to the Chosen, whose eyes flicked between him, Theresa, and others standing nearby, before settling on a spot beside the huntress as he got closer.

Using his Mark, Alex guided his expression and body language, letting them take on a look of surprise, but not fear. He was actively using his meditation techniques to acknowledge his rapidly rising anxiety to let it go.

The calmer he felt, the calmer he’d look. The more calm he looked, the better. Theresa kept her cool while Thundar, Khalik, Isolde and the others moved back. No one gave Cedric any reason to be suspicious, and Alex thanked the Traveller for his friends’ composure.

Cedric waved a finger toward Alex, like he was trying to conjure up buried memories. “I know you from somewhere…an’ you too.” He looked at Theresa. “I seen both o’ yous somewhere befor-

The young man’s eyes narrowed on Brutus.

Recognition and genuine surprise entered his eyes.

“Balls, I musta got cotton stuck in my skull! I remember all o’ yous now! Just’ outside o’…oh what was that forest…Coille, right? Wit’ those bloody silence- spiders-No wait.”

Cedric’s brow furrowed. “No, no it was jus’ after I took the lot o’ them on outside the cave, yeah, there was that straggler spider that went after ya. I remember yer little sister was there an’ you took the thing down all by yourselves, aye? It’s all comin’ back now.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Alex said, his eyebrows rising a little.

He wasn’t sure if he was surprised that Cedric recognized him or not. He’d changed a lot since he’d last seen the Chosen: he was just a skinny, scared baker’s assistant back in the Coille. His hair was cropped short and he didn’t carry himself in the way that he used to, since he trained his body to move by using the Mark.

Now he looked like he’d spent years hammering iron in a forge, and his hair was much longer: down to the middle of his neck like some barbarian from the north. His facial features hadn’t really changed—though his face was more chiselled and his neck thicker—but that hadn’t changed his face enough for him to be totally unrecognisable, not even if they’d only met that one time.

Then again…

‘Cedric certainly made a big impression on me,’ he thought, remembering the number of times the Chosen had crossed his mind over the course of the year. That time had been eventful and scary. The two of us had certain life changing things in common: we were born on the same day and were Marked for the same task; of course he’d stick out in my mind. Considering how we met, maybe we made a big impression on him too.’

Alex thought about his next words carefully, grateful that the demon summoner wasn’t still running loose and being hunted in Generasi. The cover story he’d given officers Ferrero and Gustavo—when they’d interrogated him—was that he’d left Thameland as soon as he’d gotten the letter from Generasi, but he hadn’t said when that was specifically.

Cedric recognizing him would’ve put a timeline on when that happened, and if he’d still been a person of interest…

Still, the less specifics folks had about that part of his journey to Generasi, the better. He needed to act natural, but be vague: there were a lot of ears around to hear what was said, and maybe put things together that could be a problem for him.

“I’m surprised you remember us,” Alex continued, smoothly changing the subject and hopefully avoiding questions about what he’d done after they’d met.

“I would have thought you would’ve forgotten us,” Theresa said, picking up on what Alex was doing and stepping beside him, slipping a hand into his. She squeezed it. “It’s been so long and you’ve been through so much.”

Brutus sniffed in Cedric’s direction and his tail began to wag; it looked like he remembered that the Chosen had healed him back in Coille.

“Aye, well somethin’s stick out in the mind, y’know?” Cedric had stopped right in front of Alex and Theresa and was smiling at Brutus. “Hey boy, hope that wound didn’ leave no scar.”

Theresa’s expression softened a bit. “No. He’s just fine now. Thank you again, by the way.”

“Ah, bah! Be a pretty crummy Chosen if I let a brave hound carry on wit’ a wound I could help him wit’. An’ t’be honest, it was the cerberus I remembered firs’ and that made the other parts click into place.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Alex said, cursing mentally.

‘How could anyone forget Brutus’? He thought, realising ironically, that he had completely neglected to consider Theresa’s impossible-to-forget giant, three-headed dog that Cedric had already met when he was thinking about what to do when they met the Heroes...

“But y’still stick in the mind aside from him: you lot were the firs’ that I saw smash some o’ the Ravener’s beasties.” Cedric’s expression turned grim. “In them early days, most folk got caught off-guard by all them monsters poppin’ up around Thameland. Lots o’ folks suffered while they were gettin’ to the boats an’ us four Heroes were gettin’ our things together. But, you all took sword n’ magic and brought the fight right to the great, dirty black ball’s servants. ‘Course I’d remember that…”

He squinted at Alex. “Weren’t you skinnier? Or am I imaginin’ that?”

Alex shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve been working out.”

Cedric clapped Alex on the shoulder and laughed. “Good on ya. I see yer makin’ an impression.” He looked down at Alex and Theresa’s clasped hands. “Right, then. Well, it’s good to see a coupla friendly faces after all these months, even if we did only meet jus’ the once. Trust me, friendly faces are few an’ far between these days.”

Cedric grinned and a glint flashed off a front tooth. Alex startled.

Red hair.

Golden tooth.

He suddenly burst out laughing, and for a moment all his dread evaporated.

Cedric’s grin dropped. “What? I got somethin’ stuck in me teeth?”

“Sorry man. It’s nothing, seriously,” he was still laughing. “I just think there’s someone in camp you should meet. You have a lot in common.”

Theresa looked at Alex for a moment like he’d lost his mind, then her eyes widened. “Huh.”

“Mr. Roth,” Professor Jules quickly strode up to them with the Champion and Sage close behind. Curiosity lay in their eyes. “Do you know these people?”

“Only Cedric, Professor,” Alex said quickly.

“Well, you should have told me you knew one of our guests!” Jules’ eyes lit up.

Alex’s blood ran cold.

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He knew that look.

That was the look people got when they’d just found a way to slip out of their responsibilities; he’d seen that look many times on Theresa’s brothers, when they’d come up with a way to pass one of their chores onto him.

“I should’ve thought of this before, considering you’re also from Thameland,” Professor Jules said with a smile that was uncharacteristically friendly. “Why don’t you act as the unofficial ‘ambassador’ between our expedition and the Heroes?”

Theresa’s lips tightened slightly, not enough for most to notice, but enough for Alex—who knew her well—to catch. His other friends exchanged subtle looks with each other.

“Well, uh.” Alex’s mind raced. “Well, Professor, maybe someone with more…official capacity-”

“You’re being too modest, Mr. Roth,” Professor Jules patted his arm. “You’re Thameish and you’ve been a major asset to this expedition from its inception. I can’t think of anyone more suited to…giving our guests the tour. Later, I can speak to them about the procedures we’ll have to put in place to purchase…samples. In the meantime, you could show them our facilities, make them right at home.”

Alex looked at her with an expression that said: ‘I’ll get you for this.’

She looked back with one that said: ‘No, you won’t.’

He sighed, then put on a smile while stifling his nerves. “Well, mighty Heroes, I guess you’ll be with me for a bit.”

“Good to have a friendly face to be leadin’ us about like sheep, I’d say,” Cedric laughed. “Oh! My mum would have my hide: I forgot introductions. This is Hart Redflecther, the Champion of Thameland.”

“Good to meet you,” the big man said, looking down at Alex with a smile that reached his very large eyes. Those eyes—combined with his long nose—made his face resemble a hawk’s…or Najyah’s. Alex was tall, but Hart was taller, closer to Thundar’s height.

His body language…

A chill went through Alex.

…it was like nothing he’d ever seen before. Every motion he made was smooth. His stance was perfectly balanced. He seemed ready for explosive movement at any second…but his body language somehow still felt chaotic. It was almost like there was more than one person standing there, like he wasn’t just one person, but instead, a multitude of people all packed inside one body.

Then it clicked.

‘The Mark of the Champion gives the experience of all the previous Champions to the current one…no wonder his body language is so wild, it’s literally hundreds of people’s movements crammed into a single person,’ Alex thought as Hart extended a giant hand. ‘But he seems to have complete control over all of it. It’s chaotic…but there’s no discord in it.’

“Good to see not all wizards are made of twigs,” the Champion said, shaking Alex’s hand and drawing a glare from the Sage—and several other wizards—at the same time.

A seemingly boundless strength lay in that grip; he didn’t squeeze down on Alex‘s hand, but it felt like he could’ve crushed it into jelly if he wanted to. Then there were those large eyes; they burrowed into Alex like a predator’s.

Hart was watching him, he realised. Measuring him and analysing his body language, just as Alex was doing.

The Fool kept his body language casual and met Hart’s gaze evenly, holding the eyes of the Champion with his own. He kept his expression neutral, and somewhat friendly, but not intimidated. His own grip tightened on Hart’s hand, causing the larger man to raise an eyebrow.

“Got a strong grip,” Alex said. “Better for wringing Ravener spawn necks, I take it?”

A grin broke out across the Champion’s face, and a huge burst of laughter erupted from deep inside as he released Alex’s hand. “Right before I tear their heads off, that is.”

As Hart stepped aside to introduce himself to Theresa, Alex watched Thundar and Grimloch eyeing the Champion, sizing him up. The gears turning in Grimloch’s head were almost visible as he tapped the end of his massive maul with one thick finger. Alex had to admit, he would’ve paid several pieces of gold to see how a contest of strength would go between Thameland’s Champion, and the life-enforced sharkman. Or even one between Hart and Claygon.

But, he had to quickly shove those thoughts aside as Cedric gestured to the Sage. The veiled woman’s eyes had been darting all around camp.

“When stranglin’s or tearin’ head’s off’s out of the question, that’s where my other friend comes in: this is Drestra of Crymlyn Swamp, the Sage,” Cedric introduced her.

“The wise Sage,” Alex said, reaching out to shake her hand. “I’m Alex, it's good to meet you. If you’re a fan of magic, which…since you’re the Sage, I hope you’re a fan of magic, I think you’ll like what we have here. I imagine you’ve heard that magic is kinda what we do.”

The Sage looked at Brutus, then over her shoulder at Vesuvius and then to Claygon. Her reptilian eyes narrowed on the golem. “Yessss, I can see that. Is it yours?”

“ ‘He’, ” Alex corrected her almost idly. “And yeah, he’s all mine. Built him pretty much myself, with some help sculpting him from my little sister.”

‘That’s right, I built a super golem,’ he thought. ‘Could the Fool do that? …well obviously, he did, but you wouldn’t think so, would you?’

“I have never seen a golem before, apart from the two standing at the gates,” she said, continuing to stare at Claygon. “We sometimes make little familiars out of blood, bone and pine, but nothing like this. He is magnificent…the sheer amount of mana coming off of him is incredible…”

Her eyes narrowed. “There’s something about it…”

Alex’s blood went cold, but he kept a friendly smile. “Something about it?”

Had she recognized the dungeon core substance inside his core?

“Its mana just feels…different from anything I’ve ever felt before.”

Alex nearly breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, he is a pretty unique golem; we do a lot of unique things in Generasi, what can I say? We’ll have a lot of that sort of stuff to show you here in camp. Magical equipment, devices, our research area, magical defences. The works.”

Drestra’s eyes lit up like a child who’d been promised dessert before the rest of her meal. “I look forward to that.”

“Well, you seem to be getting along well already,” Professor Jules said. “I will leave you all in each other’s care. Just feel free to stop by when you’re ready to talk business.”

With that, the head of the alchemy department washed her hands of her problems and passed them off to someone else with great success.

Alex almost admired her for it.

“Right, let’s get things started,” the Fool said to the other Heroes. “I’ll give you the tour and answer any questions you’ve got.”

His smile widened even as his gaze sharpened. Best to make do with a bad situation. Time for reconnaissance.

“And for you, I’ve got a few questions of my own.”

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