Kreg’uune claimed the northern regions bordering the Wall of Winter, and holds dominion as the empire at the top of the world. It is no surprise that Maris, which exists even further north within the Wall of Winter, is a source of endless ire.

- Observation of court mage Vyzir Scear

Breach was indeed built out of a fort, and it was a sight to behold. All the forts I’d ever heard Garner and my dad reminiscing about were these small, run down things that barely held what they needed to hold out against the Eiran horde. This was the first time I’d seen a fort that wasn’t illustrated, and wasn’t Juvel, which seemed to be the only fort that ever got illustrated.

That was something of a lie. When I was younger and less able to get away from spending time with Avien, Mary had sometimes used sculpting magic to quizz her son on military tactics. She had a small stretch of land in her garden that was dedicated to such things, and would make tiny forts and terrain from memory.

When I had shown more interest in it than Avien she had moved that practice inside where I couldn’t join in, which was a shame for her. That was one of the few things I’d ever enjoyed with her around. If she hadn’t done that, maybe I’d have been more obedient.

No point crying about it now. In the moment that mattered, I was walking towards a fort that had four sentry towers with half of its outer walls between them falling down and revealing an inner bailey. All over it were scaffolds and wooden cranes, and sprawling out and away from the fort on the hill were peasant buildings that were even more squalered than my old house.

It was a mix of something cooler than anything I’d cared for in Veliki, and a whole lot more of things that were worse than I expected. What caught me off guard was the fact that the streets were full of people, even the side streets I could only catch glimpses of through alleys.

What I was walking through now felt like the beginning of a story. My story.

So many adventurers had spoken about their meagre days as recent adventurers and Chosen, and the descriptions matched. Walking through a peasant town, a fort that seemed larger than life on the horizon. Right there, but not something I was going to walk into at the moment. But I was going to. Events would eventually lead me there. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t.

I had received exposition the night before, so all I needed now was to visit a tavern that was also an inn and to be granted a quest to exterminate rats in a basement, and I would be all set. If I did that, then I’d have pretty much accomplished what I wanted out of the mascevan path at this stage. A trail of quests would lead me to something of importance enough that I could finally ignore everything related to the Shepards. Perhaps even to Avien’s face.

“A tavern? You want to go a street over and walk towards the fort.” A stall owner explained when I asked for directions. “You’d probably want to go to the Breaking Inn.”

I blinked at the name, then sighed.

The stall owner laughed. “It’s because the town’s called Breach or something, I don’t know. I’m not the tavernkeep! You probably don’t want to go to the Gold Biter, you look too clean. In any case, that’s in the other direction. Now are you buying any cabbages or what?”

“I asked for a tavern and you told me about an inn?” I checked with a flat expression.

The man shrugged. “It’s a bit of both. How about some cabbages? If you buy two, I’ll sell you the third at half the price!”

“Thanks. No.” I walked away, leaving the store owner to click his tongue, mutter something about rude kids, and get back to peddling his cabbages.

The Breaking Inn was a three story building that stood out against the rest of the houses and shops in Breach, so it was just a little bit smaller than the old Shepards' house was. It was better maintained than the buildings closer to the edge of town, but that wasn’t saying much. After taking that all in I made to walk in, but had to dodge to the side at the last second.

The door of the tavern slammed open and a moment later someone was hurled out. A tall and burly man who wore his buttoned shirt without the buttons done up was left in the doorway dusting off his hands. He pointed down at the person he just threw out.

“Stay down, and stay out.” He growled in an unamused tone I would normally associate with my dad telling me off. I had to stop myself from stepping back.

The one that got thrown out was a girl with long dark hair, and dirt caked onto pretty much every part of her. Even the dress that looked as though it had been expensive once upon a time, but was now torn and entirely brown. She was back on her feet in a flash and stalked back towards the tavern. “Don’t you know who I-”

The man cut her off with a sharp slap with the back of his hand. “No, I don’t.” The girl spun back down to the ground, hair flying about dramatically. “I told you to stay down and you didn’t. I won’t be held responsible for what happens if you fail to stay out.” Then he slammed the door back closed.

I was a little sad that I didn’t hear stomping to complete the scene. After sparing a pitying glance at the girl cradling her cheek, I pushed the door open only to be yanked back out.

“What?” I demanded when I saw the dirty girl had grabbed my left arm.

“You look like an enterprising young girl.” She said in a jovial tone that belied the pain she obviously still felt stinging into her cheek. The skin was starting to redden right before my eyes and showed through the smeared dirt. “What do you say you and me team up for a bit?”

“No.” I deadpanned, and tried to pull my arm free. Unfortunately, I was still weak as all Hells and failed to do that.

“Hear me out!” She said as she pulled me away from the door into the tavern. I was not happy about being dragged along. “I just need some money for a meal because, well… I’m really hungry.”

“There’s a cabbage merchant not that far away.” I told her, jerking my head. “If you buy two, you’ll get a deal from the Heavens on the third.”

“No, no, no!” The girl tugged me into the alley beside the Breaking Inn. “You don’t get it, this is a hold up!” She pulled out a dirty wooden wand with her free hand and pointed it at me. “Now give me all your hard earned money!”

I gave her a flat stare.

“Well?” She shook me, but it was nothing compared to what Brynn put me through. “Give me your hard earned wages! The stuff you sweated and bled for!”

“Are you being serious?” I asked, more curious than anything.

“Very.” She told me, dropping her voice so I nearly couldn’t hear her, and deepening it too. “I may not look it, but I’m trained in the arcane arts. I can cast spells, and I know one or two that could end your life.”

“Wow.” I deadpanned.

“I’ll hit you with a firebolt if you don’t stop stalling. And give me the respect I deserve! I’m wielding a tool of mass destruction don’t you-” Her breath caught as I grabbed her wand. “Le-let go!”

“Why?” I asked. “Do you want to have control of your wand so you can make the correct movements? To cast spells?”

The girl spluttered. “Fucking- Yes! Now let- go!” She tried to pull her wand away, but I held on and sighed deeply.

“No, I don’t think I will. If I do you might be able to cast one of those spells that would end my life.” I jerked my head down to my belt. “And this is in your best interest. I can’t stab or slice you since both my hands are preoccupied by preventing you from casting.”

The girl seemed to just notice the two weapons at my side. “Maybe I didn’t think this through. You know what, I’m happier this way.”

She sighed and relaxed as if she’d just slipped into a warm bath. I stayed holding on to her wand.

“This isn’t any better!” The girl stamped her foot. “I’m supposed to be fleecing you for all you’re worth.”

“You chose a terrible target.” I told her. “I’m fifteen. I ran away from home. What in the Hells makes you think I’m rich enough to be worth threatening with death?”

“But if I don’t, you might not feel motivated to give me your coin.” She complained. “Hey, you actually look pretty good for someone who just ran away from home. Clean, I mean. But give me your coin!”

“No.” I shot back. “I’d demand your coin, but you don’t seem to have any. How about you let me go, and I’ll just walk on like I never saw you?”

“That actually sounds like a great idea.” The girl admitted. “You just let go, and I’ll let you go too.”

I stared at her dead in the eye.

“Too much?” She asked.

“I’m the one with the weapon, so you should let me go first.” I told her.

“But then you’ll stab me!”

“Only if you give me good reason to.”

The words struck a cord with the girl. She sighed deeply, and seemed to be releasing me, but then she jerked her wand right out of my grasp and started muttering a quick incantation. I used my now free hand and pulled my dagger out. She finished her incantation before I could get the blade to her throat, so instead I used it to nudge aside her wand and make the cantrip miss me completely.

“Uh.” The girl was at a loss for complete words as the fire flew over my shoulder and up into the sky where it burnt nothing and quickly faded to nothing. Her hand released my arm and she started backing away. I let her go, which was a mistake because she started incanting again as soon as she was out of my immediate range. All I was able to manage was redirecting her wand down this time.

“Stop that!” She stamped a foot in frustration.

“You’re the one trying to kill me.” I said as I tried to disarm her. While she was nowhere as well trained as Weldon was, the wand was much smaller, and she was able to dance away.

“It’s true that my casting is subpar.” She admitted, and I arched an eyebrow as I closed the distance between us. “But did you know that I’m not left handed?” The wand was tossed into the air and spun twice before landing in the girl’s right hand.

“That’s funny.” I shot back as my dagger flashed into my dominant hand and struck out far more accurately. “Because I am.” I managed to hook the dagger around the wand and twisted it out of her grasp before she finished half a cantrip. She was left standing there, stunned.

I knelt down and picked up the wand. “I’m confiscating this.”

“But- but-”

“You tried to steal from me and make like a highwayman!” I shouted at her. “This is only fair, wouldn’t you say? Actually, don’t. Just go and find someone else more gullible than me. I’ve had enough of you.”

“But my wand!”

I tucked said wand into my belt. “Whoever you are, count yourself lucky. Where I come from, people are much more dramatic than this.”

The words gave the girl some pause. I used that and struck out with my dagger to give her an almost horizontal cut on the nose first. Three drops fell from this one since I was both feeling vengeful, and really didn’t want to put the effort into anything more dramatic.

“You deserved that. Goodbye.” I said with finality, and then I was gone from the alley and making my way straight back to the door to the Breaking Inn. This time I actually made it inside.

There wasn’t a lot of open floorspace in the Breaking inn. It was tall but it wasn’t very wide, and six tables had been crammed in here, most of which were occupied despite it being daylight hours. There was a firepit that looked like it would have a whole lot of fire and not much pit when there was actually a fire going, and two benches that were seated unreasonably close to where the fire would be.

The time was between breakfast and lunch, so it occurred to me this should be the least busy time of the day. That was logical since the people here weren’t retired and actually had to work, right? Even so there was a reasonable amount of hustle and bustle. At least, there was more than I’d ever seen at any tavern I was allowed into in Veliki.

The man that had thrown the unscrupulous girl out in front of me was wiping a table that looked to have been recently vacated. I walked straight towards him, since he was obviously working here.

“I told you to stay out.” He gravelled as he turned towards me. “I really didn’t want to-”

“If you’re talking about the girl you threw out, she tried to mug me.” I said. “She doesn’t make good life choices, but I do.”

The man grunted. “We’ll see. I’m Ram.”

“Amber.” I responded. “Do you-”

“Like a battering ram.” Ram slammed a fist into his open palm. “Wish my last name was Batter, actually. But it’s Stonen.”

I waited to make sure he was done. “Do you have a map or something I could see?”

He looked at me curiously instead of just suspiciously. “This is a tavern. No maps. Do you want pork?” He gestured over his shoulder towards a door. “Was a good slaughter two days ago. Meat’s still good. Price is down we have so much.”

“More that I’m travelling.” I told him. “I’m trying to reach a city, Juvel, but I don’t know the way. Heard there might be ferries, but not here.”

He gave me a once over. “Young to be travelling.”

I shrugged.

“Hmph. Where are you from?”

“North.”

His eyebrows drew together. The suspicion that had just slid off of his face came right back. “Yer not pale, so you’re not from Maris. You from North Kreg’uune?”

I frowned with him. “Would there be a problem if I was?”

Ram shook his head. “Not with me. It’s the others yer worried about.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” I glanced around the room to find that no one was listening in, though a few people were watching. Fortunately they were far enough away, and it was loud enough that they wouldn’t make out what we were saying. “Can you help me or do I need to find someone who can?”

“Yer travelling alone?” Ram cocked his head suddenly. He let out a low gravelling sound when I nodded. “Dangerous in these parts. Veliki’s not far away and monsters are always travelling there.”

“I’ll manage.” I told him.

“Yer gonna want to travel as part of a group.” Ram said, leaving no room for argument. It grated, since I barely knew this guy. “But sure, few places you can hitch a ride. Merchants guild not far from the fort, but they may not take you along if you don’t have the coin.”

“How much will I need?”

“Fer travel to a city? Fifty to seventy gold pieces.” I stifled a groan as he kept talking. “Travel to the nearest port town would cost yer purse ten, and the ferry would cost less than the rest. Faster too.”

“Well, fuck.” I sighed. “Do you have any way I could get coin then?”

Ram gave me another once over that lingered more on my girl parts. “Well dressed, good. How old are you?”

I briefly considered lying. “Fifteen.” But my mouth made the decision for me.

That got Ram frowning again. “Hold yerself well for fifteen. Where’d you get yer swords?”

“A friend gave them to me, then left.” I didn’t say the part about him going to hell, seeing how I didn’t want to immediately be outed as someone special. And now that I thought about it, Casien would be back in this realm soon. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to come after me like Avien was undoubtedly doing. He certainly seemed resolved to do just that before I pushed him into Hell.

“Rich friend.” Ram commented. “Unfortunately. Can’t hire you.”

Fire ignited in my veins for the first time in what felt like forever. “Why the Hells not?”

Ram shrugged and simply said. “Too young.” He must have noticed my hand twitching towards my weapons, because he continued after a breath. “Already got a wench as well. Rosette would have my balls on a platter if another wench was hired out of the blue.”

“I can cook too.” I growled as I crossed my arms.

“You and half of Breach.” Ram gravelled, becoming stern once more. “I can’t and won’t hire you. Don’t have much say in who gets hired anyway, I just tend the tables. There’s a message board not far from here, people with problems complain there. Might find one or two willing to pay good coin fer the kind of problem solving you use swords fer.”

“Seriously?” I demanded.

“Yes.” Ram turned to face me bodily. “Much as it pains me to tell a child to do that kinda work, that’s how this world works. Now yer got three options. Buy a meal, rent a room, or get out.”

I glared at him for treating me like he had the girl before, but I did turn and stiffly leave. Several comments were flung around the room mostly aimed at Ram, all of which I pointedly ignored. Especially the one about two girls in one hour.

That was a lie. I memorised that fucker’s face.

It didn’t take long to find the message board Ram told me about, and he was right about people using it to complain. Most messages were scribbled or vandalised, with some townsfolk apparently using this board to have long distance discussions. One talked about a missing cat, changed handwriting to wish the poster luck finding the cat, only for it to switch back with venomous accusations about how the second person had been the one to steal the cat, and to boil it alive too.

Sorting through the missing items I wouldn’t be able to help with took a good while and involved travelling to another of these boards, though I found myself reading some of the drama in better handwriting with mild interest. These petty squabbles were petty in a way that was five to ten times more petty than anything I was familiar with. Voxis had threatened Mary with a rock. Mary had used a geas in an attempt to bring my behaviour in line. Angelica used magic I didn’t recognise to force silence when she heard a good rumour, simply to keep the information to herself.

Hells, her kids used Invisibility spells at the drop of a hat. To compare that to a man threatening another man with conscription into the penal legions over a tear in someone’s trousers was mind boggling. But eventually, after passing over a few notes raising concerns over the rising tensions in the south, I found something I wasn’t expecting to find.

Hear ye, hear ye.

Ignore that, I’ve been writing missives for the Heralds.

Anyway, this is Rockwell scribing this notice on behalf of old lady Saphir, who lives on the outskirts of Breach, near the southern mill. A dire rat infestation has taken to her basement, and while these rats seem to have no interest in disrupting old lady Saphir’s daily life, they must be exterminated.

If you are wondering what a dire rat infestation is, think of a rat infestation, only more dire. Old lady Saphir has promised a reward of ten gold coins to the one that clears her basement of this dire rat infestation, as well as a keepsake she treasures quite dearly. This keepsake is a bracelet appraised to be worth twenty five silver pieces. In addition to this, the Pierced Portcullis Guild of Merchants is offering two gold coins for each complete rat hide of adequate size delivered to the fresh goods door.

Please get this lady to stop bothering me. Rockwell of the Pierced Portcullis Guild of Merchants.

A smile graced my lips unbidden. I hadn’t really thought it would happen, but I’d gone from a tavern that was also an inn to reading this notice offering a reward for exterminating rats in a basement. It wasn’t a quest, exactly. But apart from that it was perfect.

I started walking south. There were some rats for me to kill.

\V/