Missteps V.2

Chapter 22 – Now we're Even

The interior of the Wharf Operations building was small, or at least the hallway was. A dark red carpet runner led the way down the dimly lit hallway. Every few feet or so stood a suit of armor, each one holding a different crested shield. Neither he nor Kils could identify any of the crests that adorned them. Large picturesque portraits were hung in between the suits, each one of them showcasing the Wharf at different points throughout the year. In one the Wharf was covered in a heavy snowfall, with children building snowmen, while the next depicted a summer scene.

Finally they reached the end. Nestled between two ascending staircases was a desk manned by a human woman. As they approached she looked up from the book she had been writing in.

"Caradoc can't see you tonight." The woman said before pleasantries could be exchanged. "He's already scheduled for the two of you to meet with him tomorrow at noon. You will be joining him for lunch, so don't eat beforehand."

"Sounds good." Iados grinned, his default facial expression. He'd really hoped to get the business finished today and be out of town tonight.

"Don't suppose we could bum a room off you tonight?" Kils asked, leaning forward onto the desk.

"I'm afraid not," the woman looked down at her book and scribbled something in it. "All of our rooms are full at the moment, and seeing as you're not current members of either guild," she looked up at them with a narrowed expression. "You are not entitled to housing under our roof."

Kils didn't give up. "Could we at least leave our horses in your stable? It's already late afternoon, and I don't suspect we have much time left to find lodging for ourselves, let alone our horses." Iados could feel the charm coming off Kils as the pirate flashed a toothy grin at the young woman. She didn't look very impressed, but sighed nonetheless.

"Go ahead, most of our occupants don't have horses so we have the room." She scribbled something down on a piece of parchment. "It'll be 10 silver a day, per horse."

"Isn't that a little steep?" This time it was Iados who oozed the charm. "Anyway to lower that down to say, 3 silver a day?"

She didn't return the smile. "I can go as low as 6 silver, which is a generous offer for non-guild members."

Iados dropped the grin and nodded. "Sounds like a fair price to me, how about you Kils?"

"I don't know, I bet she can go lower." Kils gave a hearty laugh.

"I won't go any lower, but I can go higher." Finally the woman gave a wicked grin that made Kils shut up. As he reached down for his money pouch, Kils caught Iados's hand already in it.

Kils didn't say anything, just wrenched the akudaem's hand out and handed over the coin to the human's outstretched hand.

"Any lodging recommendations?" Iados asked as he inspected his hand, certain he'd been given a bruise.

"There may be a few rooms left at the inns closer to the wall." The woman dropped the coins into a bin under the desk. "Most of the establishments near the Waterfront and government buildings are full."

"Any special reason?" Kils asked.

She shook her head. "Not really, just a delegation from Liratha. Word is that they're headed to Silverbank to renew some trade deals." She shooed them away.

Taking the hint, the two males headed back down the hallway and out of the building.

"That went a lot better than I expected." Kils announced as they started out over the bridge. "I half expected for Caradoc to answer the note with 'Who's this'?" He gave a hearty laugh.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get everything accomplished tomorrow and we can head back." Iados took up a brisk pace, one that Kils didn't match.

"What's your hurry?" He asked as he took note of the growing gap between the two of them.

Iados forced a laugh. "I don't want to sleep in a ditch."

Kils stopped dead. "Alright, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Iados lied. "I just want to get to an inn, that's all." Judging by Kils' stare, he wasn't buying the story. Iados sighed. "Listen, let's just get off this bridge, and I'll explain, I promise."

"You've been antsy ever since we got to town." Kils observed as they started walking again. "This have anything to do with that doozy story?"

"Yes." Iados could feel the hairs on the back of his neck start to rise. He stopped and looked around nervously. "Crap, too late. So much for having a few hours."

"What's wrong?" Kils' voice was full of concern. A moment later his question was answered as someone further up the bridge suddenly screamed. The two of them turned to look, and they saw it.

Rising up from the water below was a column of water. With a crash the column swept onto the bridge. The scattered water swirled up into the air and formed itself in a humanoid shape. The watery figure swept its head back and forth, looking at everyone on the bridge, before it focused its featureless face on Iados.

"Iados, I think it wants you." Kils gulped as the water elemental swept towards them. As a general rule, most pirates learn to identify water elementals pretty quickly; they make very good guard dogs.

The akudaem's eyes widened as he backed up. "No shit." He drew his sword. "Get ready for a fight."

Kils took a step in front of Iados as he reached up and clutched his holy symbol. His form flickered and suddenly a few feet away was an illusionary double of himself. "Does it want you alive?"

"I hope so." Iados settled himself down in a defensive stance. He was keenly aware of how hard it was to fight these things. Last time he'd done so, even Awill had trouble landing a blow. As he racked his brain trying to form a plan, the elemental charged.

Kils waited till the elemental was near his duplicate. The elemental didn't even register the duplicate though as it crashed through the illusion. As the illusion was engulfed, a bright light shone out, partially dimmed by the water. The only sign that the elemental was affected was a brief pause in its charge.

"I am so not equipped to handle this thing!" Kils yelled, devastated to see his spell have almost no affect. Taking a few more steps backward he hurriedly pulled his shortbow and nocked an arrow.

"Why do you think I was walking so fast?" Iados took off in a dead run down the bridge. Hopefully he could keep it away from Kils at the very least. The pedestrian traffic that had been on the bridge were wisely vacating the area as fast as possible.

Suddenly Iados felt a wave crash into him from behind, a wave that then began to pull him back. Using all his strength, he just barely managed to break the elementals hold on him and skip just out of reach.

Out of the corner of his eye, Iados saw an arrow fly over the elementals head, following it as it disappeared over the bridge. He heard Kils curse. "Don't you know how to use a bow?" He yelled out his fellow pirate as he struck out with his sword. He wasn't just going to play keep-away with the elemental. As the shortsword passed harmlessly through the elemental though, his confidence wavered. Backing off, he once again took off again down the bridge.

If running was the best idea, he had to decide whether to take his chances with an in-town chase, or to keep the elemental on the bridge and hope for a miracle. He heard Lia's voice in his head, telling him not to involve civilians.

With the thought crowding his mind, he didn't notice the elemental catch up. Once again Iados was overwhelmed by the watery nature of the elemental, and once again he fought his way out. This time when he emerged, he was facing Kils.

Illusion-Kils ran towards Iados as the Real-Kils let fly another arrow. This time the arrow struck the elemental, and passed through harmlessly to the other side.

"Don't let it tag you!" Kils yelled to the soaked Iados.

"Really? Is that the plan?" Iados gritted his teeth as he swung out again with his sword. Once again the sword passed through to no effect, and he ran. Why couldn't Lia or someone with better magic than Kils have been with him? He stole a glance at the guild building, wishing for some help from them.

The elemental surged forward, this time forming two very large watery fists. Iados easily ducked under the first fist, but the second one caught him between the shoulder blades. He hit the ground with a meaty thud, his chin scraping the wet stones.

The illusion popped itself inside the elemental, and Kils let off another explosion of light. There was no discernible change to the watery figure as it charged forward towards its prey.

Iados climbed to his feet quickly, keenly aware that the elemental was just over his shoulder. A small, yellow beam of light whizzed by his ear and a yellow bead hung in the air in front of him.

"Run you damn akudaem!" An old gnarled voice yelled from behind Iados. He didn't pause to question the voice as he took off running from the bead.

He was just barely out of range when the bead exploded with a ball of fire. The entire area around the elemental was engulfed in smoke as bits of stone rained down.

Iados and Kils watched the smoke, praying that that was enough to end the ordeal. That hope was shattered as the elemental surged out of the smoke cloud. Its form about a third smaller than it had been, but still strong and focused on Iados.

"Who the hell did you piss off?" Kils asked Iados as his double moved into the elementals space once again and radiated. As the light died down this time, the duplicate was gone. Iados didn't answer.

On the other side of the bridge, an old, grizzled man with a short gray beard wearing a finely cut and adorned mauve robe was shuffling closer to the fray. He held a tall silver staff that was topped with a blue crystal.

Iados could see the smile on the old wizards face as he pulled a diamond and small statuette out of his satchel. He closed his eyes and began chanting a spell. Black ribbons of magic formed and surrounded the statuette in his hands.

"Kils, I think he's trying to imprison the elemental." Iados said incredulously as he stared at the familiar magic.

"Imprison? That takes time." Kils stared past the elemental, and he too recognized the spell being cast.

"How much time?" Iados was getting tired. His soaked clothing was starting to weigh him down.

"Too much." Kils let loose another arrow as Iados ran to the side. This time the arrow hit a solid mass within the elemental, before it was sucked into its whirling mass.

Iados couldn't think of a better way to stall for time than to continue his game of keep-away with the elemental. He took off the down bridge again, leading the elemental back towards the muttering mage. The elemental didn't appear to even notice the spellcaster as it chased the akudaem. The elemental quickly overtook him again, and with a surge engulfed the akudaem into its watery self. This time Iados didn't have the strength to fight against the current of the elemental. The current battered his whole torso as the air was literally squeezed out of him. He lost consciousness as water filled his lungs.

When Iados came to, he was freezing.

"Oh, thank the gods." Kils muttered as Iados opened his eyes. "How are you feeling?"

"Cold, weak, mainly cold. Is this what death feels like?" Iados's voice shook as his teeth chattered. Kils helped him sit up.

"No, I've always imagined death to be a graceful descent into a blissful nothingness." The old voice said from behind him.

Iados's mouth fell open in shock as he got a good look at his rescuer. "What the hell are you doing here Orbris? I thought you would've died of old age by now."

"Magic is a great tool for prolonging the inevitable." Orbris leaned heavily on his staff as he grinned down at Iados. "It appears that the rumors surrounding the fate of The Howling King have some merit."

"Unfortunately." Iados stood up. He heard clanging coming from the guild house behind him. Now they decided to take action. "Listen, I really don't want to try to explain this to the guild, and I'd like to get off this bridge and away from water before another elemental shows up."

"Say no more." Orbris stamped his staff on the ground, and the three of them teleported away in a flash of light. They showed up in the middle of a circle inside a room. The room was surrounded by books. The walls were nothing but shelving, each one crammed with all different sizes and bindings of books. There were scrolls and loose pieces of paper crammed into nooks and crannies. Stacks littered the room outlining walkways to a bed, an armchair, a small desk, and a large wooden box with a lid.

"Where are we?" Kils asked.

Orbris didn't answer as he shuffled to the bed and sat down heavily. "I'll let the girl explain. I need to rest." The old wizard pulled out a small bag from his satchel. Opening it, he took a long sniff that caused him to sneeze.

Instantaneously, Orbris's form changed. Gone was the grizzled old man, now in the mauve robe was a young girl. Her brilliantly red hair was tied off in a rough ponytail, with escaped strands framing her face. Her skin was a glowing, amber hue, and her green eyes sparkled.

"That's better." The girl replaced the small pouch, then stood up and stretched. The robe fit her form just as well as it had fit Orbris's. She skipped briskly over to Iados. "Good to see you made it out alive."

"Who are you? What happened to Orbris?" Iados looked over at Kils, who seemed to be just as confused as him.

"He's still here," The girl pointed at her head. "He's actually giving me a quick run-down of what happened. You look like a soaked rat, follow me." She smiled and led the way to a wall where a trapdoor was situated on the floor. The three of them climbed down a small wooden ladder to the floor below.

"Who are you?" Kils asked. The room below seemed to be a small kitchenette. Multiple crates and chests littered the room.

"My name is Xiladdic Pemsod." The girl answered as she opened a chest and began rifling through the clothes within it. "I used to be a student at the Sylph Heart Circle."

"Used to be?" Iados caught the pants and shirt that Xiladdic tossed him before she moved on to another chest. He started to change.

"How well do you know Orbris?" The girl asked instead.

"We served on The Howling King together for a year and half." Iados really hoped he could keep the clothes. They were soft, finely made, and, most importantly, warm. "When he left he said he was in search of youth."

"Well, he found it." Xiladdic heaved a heavy sigh and brought over a dark green cloak with golden stitching. "This is the only cloak I can find. Orbris is screaming that I shouldn't give it to you, so here. Keep it." She shoved the cloak into Iados's hands, then went over to the small kitchen area and began making some tea.

"You two don't get along, do you?" Kils asked with a grin. His face suddenly fell as he started to pat down his pockets. He darted upstairs.

"You wouldn't either if you were forced to share a body with him." Xiladdic yelled after him.

Iados settled himself down in a chair. "How'd this happen?" The weight of the cloak was heavy, and kind of tingled.

The young girl set down the cups in front of him. "He made a wish with a djinn." She slid a box over to him and gestured for him to scoop out the contents. "Are you familiar with djinn?"

Iados shook his head as he measured out an equal amount of the black-purplish powder.

Xiladdic followed after him with the hot water. "Djinn are beings made of pure magic. Some say that they are as close to gods that one can be without actually being a god. There are some that for their own amusement, or because they've been imprisoned, will grant the wishes of mortals."

"What kind of wish did Orbris make?"

She sighed heavily as she swirled the powder around with a spoon. "He wished for 'youth for himself'. Obviously he wanted his physical body to be made youthful again. He didn't convey this clearly to the djinn, I was used to grant his wish."

Iados paused in the middle of his sip. "You're the 'youth'?"

Xiladdic nodded. "Yep. We inhabit one body, and as the years go by Orbris still ages and I do not." She settled herself down in a chair. "For some weird reason, we switch places when we sneeze. He's still present. I can hear his thoughts and he can sense everything through my senses. However, when he's in charge, I'm not present. It's like I'm trapped in this void of nothing."

Kils came back down and sat down heavily next to Xiladdic. She wordlessly pushed a cup towards him.

"What's wrong?" Iados really liked the tea. He thought it might have been jasmine.

"We left our packs on the bridge, and the money Jahill gave us." Kils sighed heavily and took a large gulp of tea.

"Maybe the guild will find them and hold'em for us when we show up for the meeting tomorrow?" Iados reasoned.

"More than likely they'll use the money to repair the bridge. Sell everything else they can for repairs as well." Xiladdic patted Kils shoulder comfortingly. Kils was not comforted.

Iados reached up and scratched his chin. "So what exactly happened? The last thing I remember is being drowned by the elemental."

"I tried to pull you out, but failed." Kils straightened up. "The elemental summoned this water sprout, like the kind it appeared in."

"Orbris said it was a kind of teleportation magic." Xiladdic explained. "He really wanted to trap the elemental, to use it as minion since it was obviously strong. However, he didn't want to let it escape either. Said he owed you a favor. You guys are even now, by the way."

Iados nodded. "Good to know."

"So Orbris threw out some freezing spell, which froze part of the ocean, the water column, and the elemental. He about got me in it as well. The elemental broke out of the ice, and just summoned up another water column right next to the first. That's when the old man pointed at it, said a word I couldn't understand, and made the creature pop like a balloon."

"The old man does have some nice spells." Xiladdic sipped her tea. "He's upset that he wasted four spells on the elemental. Of course, if he'd had it his way he wouldn't have helped you at all."

"Explain?" Iados downed the last of his cup. It seemed that the longer time went by, the worse the tingling on the cloak got. It wasn't a bad sort of tingling either, just strange.

She shrugged. "I was in charge, and we were headed down to Pier 8. They'd gotten a new shipment of rare books in. Naturally when I heard the scream I had to investigate. Even after recognizing you, Orbris said that you could handle it yourself. When it became very obvious that you couldn't, I threatened to read a spell out of his spellbook myself if he didn't help you."

"How is that a threat?" Iados asked.

"I'm nowhere near Orbris's level, and if I were to use one of the more powerful spells in his spellbook, I'd have to use it as if it were a spell scroll. Meaning, once I read out the spell, it would disappear from his book. It literally took the old man two lifetimes to collect his spells and he's very possessive of them."

"What are we going to do about Caradoc?" Kils asked. "There's no way he's going to do business with us now that we don't have any money and we've hurt their bridge."

Xiladdic tilted her head. "What kind of business were you trying to do with Caradoc?"

Kils explained about the trouble in Esterwill, and their small contingent of orphans. "We're just trying to survive the winter, and that money was going to help."

Xiladdic tapped her chin for a moment before she stood up. "We might be able to help, but it's going to take some convincing. Wait here." She disappeared upstairs, closing the trapdoor behind her.

As soon as the door was shut Kils rounded on Iados. "I want the full story, now."

And so Iados told Kils everything about the final treasure hunt of The Howling King.

Kils and Iados talked most of the night. Later on, Iados cooked a simple meal in the kitchenette for the two of them and eventually the two of them fell asleep on the rough wooden floor.

They didn't see Xiladdic or Orbris for the rest of the night.

The next morning they were awakened by the smell of cooking meats. Xiladdic was preparing a hearty meal for them. Meat, eggs, bread, and a morning mead.

"It took most of the night and some tough bargaining, but I managed to convince Orbris." Xiladdic informed the two of them as she set down plates at the small table.

"Convince Orbris of what?" Iados asked around a piece of sausage. It was delicious, flavorful, and its juice ran down his chin.

"We're going to return with you to the encampment." Xiladdic settled herself down with her own plate. "Orbris has a spell that will solve the winter issue, and I convinced him that it'd be a good idea to leave town and hunker down for a while. The Night-Light Protectorate really hate mages who cause structural damage, especially with visiting dignitaries in town."

"Great, we can leave this afternoon. We'll have to figure out a way to get our horses back from the guild." Kils was digging into his food with just as much enthusiasm as Iados.

Xiladdic pointed a sausage at Iados. "Orbris doesn't want to risk taking Iados outside as long as the air smells of sea salt. Inside this tower there are protections that keep us safe. He's already suggested we teleport instead."

Kils' face screwed up in confusion. "But he's never been to the encampment."

Xiladdic shrugged. "True, but he's been through Rocklyn and the area several times. He's very well-traveled, so there aren't many places that he's hasn't been to at least once. We'll need your help packing up the tower before we can leave."

The three of them quickly finished eating and then got to the business of packing. Xiladdic sketched out a runic circle on the stone floor with some chalk. After a few words, the center of the circle began to glow with a flickering green light. On her orders, the boys dropped the chests in.

"It's just a doorway to Orbris's pocket dimension." Xiladdic explained as she shut Kils open mouth with her finger. "As I said, Orbris has a lot of cool spells and tricks, most of which are these chests." After they finished with the chests they all went upstairs. This time Xiladdic fished two empty packs from under the bed and handed one to both of the boys.

"Be careful putting the books, some of them bite." Xiladdic herself went over to the desk and swept the writing and other arcane supplies into a large sack. The boys soon found out that the bags were able to hold quite a lot as the items disappeared into the inky blackness.

Orbris emerged later on to grill Iados about Rocklyn. He wanted to know how it had changed and if the same landmarks were still there or not. Iados took the opportunity to ask his own question. He dug out the stolen holy symbol out of his pocket and showed it to Orbris.

"Why the hell are you carrying around the symbol of Zhagra?" Orbris grumbled as he looked from the symbol to Iados and back again. "You didn't join up with them, did you?"

"No," Iados sighed and put the holy symbol away. "I found it in a tomb."

The old man wasn't convinced. "Why the hell did you take it?"

Iados shrugged. "Thought I could sell it."

"Good luck trying to sell that." Orbris shuffled off and sat at the desk, consulting a very large tome.

"Trying to sell what?" Kils asked, walking by with a large armful of books.

Iados pulled out the symbol and showed him.

Kils whistled. "Wow, Zhagra. You better hope an actual follower doesn't catch you with that."

"What do you mean an actual follower?"

Kils set down the stack and took the symbol from Iados. "See how the line that goes around the middle image is a single line that is looped twice? The real symbol has two separate lines."

Iados took the holy symbol back and looked at it closer. In all honesty, the thing freaked him out. Sure the whole black rose coming out of a knife tip was cool, but the way the rose wound itself around the hilt, was very menacing. From the interactions he'd had with Zhagra's followers, he knew the rose was full of thorns.

"So, this isn't an actual holy symbol for Zhagra." Iados repeated to himself softly. He didn't want to admit it, but he'd been beginning to think that somehow Lia was connected to Zhagra. He vividly remembered the cruel acts he'd witnessed at the hands of Zhagra's followers before, and he never wanted to associate them with Lia. Unlike them, she valued life and had an actual heart rather than blind devotion.

Kils shrugged and got back to work.

With a short break for lunch, they were finally ready to leave. All that remained in the tower was the few bits of furniture and the magic circle engraved on the floor. Iados and Kils, each with a pack on their shoulders, huddled next to Orbris. The old wizard slammed his staff on the ground, and with an instantaneous whoosh they suddenly stood in the middle of Rocklyn.