Of Curses and Crucibles

With the festivities calming down; I decided to go to Dekker Street and check up on Charlemagne. I had tried to send a message for him to meet me here using a spell from Napoleon’s book, however, I had no idea if it had worked or how. Grimalkin came with me to keep an eye on myself and Charlemagne but would stay in the shadows unless I say otherwise.

While we had our fourth member and thus didn’t need to hold any more tryouts, the suits didn’t need to know that. If Charlemagne disappointed and failed his task, I would need to add another member to our group, so all was good.

Upon arrival at the street from my dream I saw nothing; disappointed, I sluggishly pulled myself back to the barracks. Grimalkin had looked concerned when he realized where we were going earlier, getting even jumpier after we started to leave Dekker street. He couldn’t know it at the time, but this was my way of telling him that I knew, and I understood, at least partly.

The day was ending and the sun hung half sunk, cradled by the two large rocky hills on either side of the harbor in the distance. I saw a little green speck coming toward me as I neared the barracks door. I had completely forgotten I’d not told him to meet me there already.

Still, best not get my hopes up, people like him are hard to read. Those with the will of others instilled in them don’t always make their own choices. After running up to him waving I could see the wagon, one of the official ones you’d see on the street used by the army or the guards.

Charlemagne walked up to me with his donkey-pulled wagon, smiling large and wide, handing me back a coin-purse… I had intended for him to use all of the money that day, what was he doing with what looked to be a full coin purse? Knitting my brow I looked down sternly speaking, “I sent you with the full plan on you having an empty purse by the time you return, yet it is mostly full. What do you have to say for yourself?”

He quickly ducked behind the wagon, my loud tone frightening the waifish boy. “I-I-I spent everything I could Sir Paladin, the wagon had gotten full and there was no more citrus fruit to be found in the market!” A look crossed my face, one that I could not hide. I understood now that even a single silver was a large amount of money… but had not known exactly how much.

Blankly staring at the wagon, the question that had been in the back of my mind comes to the forefront, but first I need to know. “Charles, if this is all of the money you still have, how much did it take to fill your wagon till it’s bursting at the seams?”

Charlemagne, in an effort to console me most likely, smiles as wide and as happily as he could, “I got all this for only thirty silver!” Beaming with pride.

I look away, staring up at one of the roofs as the sun goes down. Grimalkin looks back at me, with the same look in his eyes, he gives me a gentle nod as if letting me know the priest is indeed right.

Choking back tears as I look up at Grimalkin, the setting sun behind him, coated in rays of light and majesty. He… had known all of this, and not informed me…

This was the reason he had taken me to Dekker Street, why he was ready to kill me. I thought I had understood after seeing all of those hungry faces in my dreams and at the trials, but it truly had not hit me until now. Biting my lip and forcing the tears to stop for a second I dare not let the priest see his hero like this, “If thirty silver can fill a wagon so large to bursting, then how little does it take to starve?”

While I was off in my own little world, my tears had begun to dry, a conviction found under the surface of their salty pool. “Alright Charles, as you most likely guessed, this food is not all for me.” To make sure that he gets the picture I grab what I assumed to be an orange or tangerine, cracking it open I soon learned it was a grapefruit.

Taking a wedge for myself and handing one to Charlemagne I made good on my promise that the food was for the Paladin as we walked into the darkening clay city. The last rays of light are bouncing off the green jade walls, colors combining on the clay road to make a cruelly beautiful scene on the blood-stained roads.

In under half an hour, Charlemagne and I, with Grimalkin in tow in the shadows, had made it back to Dekker Street. As we neared the intersection I saw in my dreams, I looked away from my companion on the roof. Making peace with not knowing his reaction to what I was getting ready to do and not fully caring to be honest, I cupped my hands around my mouth.

“Come out everyone, please come out, we mean none of you harm, we are not merchants.” Doubting me; only a few adults would peek their heads around the door, and a few disobedient children I have no doubt; sneaked a peek from the shadows.

A beastman family emerged first, a large pig-like beastman and a sleeker wolf-like beastman woman came out. The woman spoke “I am Virani; many around here seek me for judging important matters. Lord-Paladin, why have you come to Dekker St.?”

I say nothing and look at her. I was her not too long ago. In my dreams I hunted as she did, feeling the taste of rat blood on my tongue. I smile lightly, a smile that I do my best to reassure her with, “I come from a land where, as one of the common folk, I was under a curse.”

The memories from my physical exam flood my mind, having cried earlier a single pair of tears drip from my face as I continue speaking. Never in my own world would I have stood up and told anyone about what I faced. “The curse I was placed under was one of pain and immobility; one of feebleness and an age far exceeding my own. You, who have also suffered, cursed by means outside of your wildest hopes of defense, it is time someone paid attention to you. I cannot stand idly by as curses roam the streets of the home city I was summoned to.

“I tell you not this for you to pity me, for pity is a weak and useless emotion. Conviction is strength. Conviction to protect those closest to you and to see no harm comes to your neighbors. You are all worthy of my love and protection, more-so than anyone I have met inside of the walls. And now I, as someone whose curse tortured them for a decade straight...” I could not finish my speech, having thought it up on the way over here, I was actually quite proud of it. But it cut too deep; I didn’t talk about this often for a good reason.

The words having caught in my throat; I reach into the wagon, looking at the mother wolf beastman again, “This is for your child.” After sniffing it and opening it up, she found that it was a grapefruit nearly identical to the one Charlemagne and I had eaten on the way over here. Still not trusting it, she took a segment of it for herself and one for me, handing it back.

“Merchants have come by here before, wanting to test out their poisonous wares, if I take the risk, so shall you.” It was hard to argue with the growling woman as I reached my hand out and she placed the segment in my gauntlet. Without hesitation, I showed it to everyone in the dirty alleyways and roads, and then, holding it by its tip, dropped it into my mouth for everyone to see.

“I ask not that you trust me on my word. This is a bounty for your hard work surviving until now.” After I ate my piece she did the same, checking it for poison to protect her child no doubt. A magic warrior of legend bringing a wagon to cure your son is a lot to expect someone of such little standing to even imagine.

Puckering her lips it was clear she did not like the tartness of grapefruit. Also, I didn’t know that wolves could pucker; still, she swallowed the fruit down. Without a word she took the splayed fruit inside of her home and it felt like relief washed over me. I let out a breath I did not know I was holding as I heard rustling inside and the telltale sign of a sick child asking, “Mommy, what is that?”

Turning to Charlemagne and the wagon the little fellow was crying his eyes out. For someone who didn’t think these people had souls, he was surprisingly quick to empathize with them. Soon my mind drifted as we began to hand the fruit out to any person willing to come and ask for it.

What had caused his reaction? And the others? Was the segregation in this society so great that Charlemagne had never needed to interact with other species before I came along? All of these questions and more flooded my mind as it worked away, trying to come up with the answer for a question that the more I pondered it, the more devious it truly sounded.

Still, this was a punishment; Grimalkin was my friend and my only real companion since I came to this world. Even if he did have plans to kill me I will defend his honor as the Paladin, “As long as we remain in this city, you shall use the money I have given you to care after the people on this block. I’ve chosen to keep you in the party purely from Grimalkin’s own request.”

A large smile rushed over the small scribe’s pudgy round face. If I hadn’t seen his file saying he was actually two years my senior I would think he was fourteen or sixteen. I slipped the extra ten coins into the pouch that Franz had asked of me, putting another twenty in for myself to reset the purse to a full hundred. Still, Charlemagne knew he wasn’t getting off easy and he saw me put in another thirty coins and said nothing.

“This is your punishment” I said as I looked over how much fruit was in the wagon. Surely this wagon had to be at least six feet wide by eleven feet long and the pile of fruit was so high that many were falling off. “You are to feed these people, care for these people, the ones you refer to as soulless.”

With a nod and a reserved smile, he looked up at me like a child looking at their favorite teacher. He’s getting way too much out of this, it needs to be more of a punishment, and I can’t allow someone I associate with to act like some politician. “‘If I am not satisfied by the time we leave, then I will go without you. Napoleon has plenty of books on healing magic, I’m sure I can learn the basics on the road.” The smile vanishing from his face, as a look of determination forms in its place. In comparison to a similar look from Grimalkin, it was hard not to pat his head and ruffle his long red curly hair.

I step away, many of the denizens of this block coming close, no doubt many children have the “curse of blood” or ‘Scurvy’ as it’s known in my world. My mind wanders to those thirty silver again. If thirty silver is enough to feed one of only fourteen blocks outside of the city, and most likely be able to give many of them seconds… then where was the money going that should be here?

As I go to leave and let Charlemagne alone with his ‘punishment’ I decide to give the now radiant priest a piece of advice my old man once gave me growing up. “In a world as confusing as a kaleidoscope, it is dangerous to only have one point of view. If you don’t see the color in the world, you might just be looking in the wrong direction.”

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Log of the Honorable Themis

Month 07 Day 12 Colonial Calendar Year 427

Addendum to my previous message concerning the twelfth.

After further study of the Paladin, I have found him to harbor doubts about how the walled city treats those outside. In light of this new information I have decided to take him up on his offer to protect my family. While I am in hiding, growing my name, I will need to make arrangements for them to be safe no matter what. The Paladin has kindly offered to give my family free room and board.

Enclosed you will find fifty silver, half of the reward for becoming ‘The Chosen One.’ With that corny title, I will make my way through the jade walls and grasp Leere’s neck myself. However, with the money, it is my wish that my inner circle pay off the needed clerks so that those sympathetic to our cause who have not seen my father before will be the ones in charge of this ‘Witness Protection’ program outlined in the paperwork.

While these service-members were hand-picked by the Paladin, they were picked for their acceptance of others different from them, not their martial prowess. As such, I ask that member of my private council, Vadyana, pose as my mother so she may protect my father and brother if she deems necessary.

It is far too early to say if the Paladin is merely handing food out to gain the people’s trust, or to further his own goals. However, with the proof mounting that many of his plans will benefit hundreds of people, I have made the decision that selfish or not, for his own benefit or not, I will support his actions as long as they lead to the most good.

I reserve my judgment of his character for a later date. As such he is deemed untouchable to our allies. I will be in contact soon.

End Report.

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I’m gelatin, or at least, I think I am. The room around me is filled with dust; the roof is caving in as I wrap my whole body around my ward. How could any race just leave a youth alone to suffer in this world? Well, I will not be like them, I will be better! This child has shown me in the short time since her arrival that humans have the capacity to be kind.

As I use my body as a blanket for my child, I think about the others near us. Unable to spread myself so thin; I cannot warm them all like I can this young one. I still hear the cries of the beastmen family two houses down, one of their children has been afflicted by the blood curse… For his suffering, I hope it is short, but for survival, I hope I hear those screams for many a night until his mother can get him the cure.

The child of a general sits between me and my lover, cradling her as she relaxes enough to sleep in this scary home. I was so lucky to meet Sam, his powder blue scales contrasting against my bright red form. When Tanisha had first met Sam she’d told us he reminded her of the sky and asked if he flew.

It took some explaining to tell her that kobolds can only fly if they know wind magic. She’s still quite young but she’s so clever. She thinks she is sneaking up on me if I’m doing anything that would result in me having a front, no matter how many times I tell her I can see from my whole body.

Sam and I just wish we could provide more for her, give her something to remember her father for. But for now, a blanket is all I can be.

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The next day, I awoke, rested and relaxed. The dream this time had not been as horrible, honestly, kinda heartwarming actually. I mean, if you didn’t consider that these poor homeless people were the only ones willing to take care of some great general’s kid after he died.

My room was empty, except for the orange morning light streaming in the windows. Leaving my room, I asked the guard stationed at the front when Charles had gotten in. “He came in past when the moon was highest in the sky, Sir Paladin,” the guard said, saluting me.

“I will be returning to work, please, take the day off and be with your family”. I hand the woman a brownie, one from the best bakery in the lower city the ‘Smiling Leaf’ and relieve her of her duties.

Napoleon and Grimalkin both insisted that my room stay under guard while I slept. The Demon Lord hadn’t been heard of since the events that removed Vansen’s right arm and the multiple days in a row of silence on that front had some people on edge. I was summoned due to the threat of a breakout, however Lord-Governor Leere had strongly opposed from what I was told.

Stating that Paladins are too unreliable and that it’s better left to the higher-ups at the army, he had refused his vote. However, only two of the three branches were needed to finalize the summon. And so, that is how I met General Oberon and Vansen in the chamber, all of this I had pieced together from various things the maids said in passing the last few days, Napoleon had backed it up.

Earlier, in the Vem restaurant…

“Don’t trust Leere, he’s a lying little snake in the grass. That’s not an insult either, it’s true. The man is known even among his own people for lying so much that no one can tell what his plans are.” Napoleon was downing a Vem arrangement on a stale flatbread served similarly to a hard-shelled taco from our old world.

“If you get him to put it in writing you’re as good as gold, a Merchant's worth isn’t just calculated by their positions. A Merchant’s worth is also judged by if they have ever gone back on a written contract. Leere has very proudly completed every contract he has ever signed. Also, while not fully or solely responsible, he has funded the laws and interests that have kept the wall in the middle of the town, dividing the residents.”

“I’ve still not tracked down how, even with my own contacts high in the military of this world you now call home, where the money is even going if it’s not just his pocketbook. There’s still many there who support him as well. Only up until the rank of commander is a non-human allowed to work on their military career. So while the soldiers themselves are open-minded, the bosses are a mixed bag.”

“That said, eventually you will have the right to a fellowship, a group of people to go around adventuring with. As Paladin you are automatically made a silver plate adventurer in the free-guild. However, I was thinking of another idea…”

Present Day.

Soon after that, we worked out the specifics for week-long trials we had planned. After Leere threw a Mountain-Crasher sized curveball at us with Darrell we decided to extend the tryouts, and to get bolder. Napoleon and Grimalkin both have their doubts about the authenticity of a Mountain-Crasher so close to the Green City without their knowledge.

So when I ran into Napoleon I just gave him a quick nod, confirming the meeting for the training room as I went to meet Charlemagne in the trial room.

The small priest in his signature green robe smiled softly, looking up at me and I gave him back the satchel of silvers he had handed the night shift. “You know what to do, vary the foods a bit more as well, really try to stretch this money out while not compromising too much on quality.”

“It would be cheaper if we just gave them pet food,” Of course the little jerk thought of that, egh.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t say that if I said get food for a human, which means these lessons are even more needed, continue your work as ordered.” He went out slowly, disheartened by my admonishment of his horrid idea.

Truthfully, I also just wanted him gone; firstly, he had to be the worst pick for a secret agent I have ever seen. I mean it was clear he was easily swayed, and number two is he’s more obvious than that time I asked what a “Turbo Rhino” is…

Meeting up with Themis, Grimalkin, and Napoleon in the underground training arena filled with magically powered spotlights, I sighed. “Okay, what fresh hell do you have cooked up for us this morning?”

Napoleon just grinned, tapping a cane on the ground twice as the guards brought it in. A large, metal golem, unmoving, one would need to crane their head up at a painful angle to see the tip. The Golem’s head was pointed near the top, with it spreading out at the bottom, looking like a stylized stretched garlic bulb. Napoleon smiles wide, an orange aura expanding from his body, wrapping around the three of us, we just wait.

“Okay, now that everyone has all the buffs going on, let me introduce you, this, an ancient war golem used by the Demon Race in the war over four hundred years ago.” He started off, stretching his arms wide as service members behind him started checking over the hulking brute. “This is defeatable, and has been modified to go down once you have packed hard enough a wallop.”

Without even a word he jumped out of the way, behind us where he prefers to stay, his ability ‘Battlefield Promotion’ boosting the three of us.

Themis, not having trained with us before, after being affected, chose to test her strength. “Hey old man, what even was that orange stuff that came out of you?”, as if she already knew the answer she reared her fist back, putting not even a quarter of her strength; she punched on of the many pillars dotting the outer part of the arena, shattering it into a fine powder. “...Woah!”

“Yes Newbie, and while I may be an old man, I’m also the one letting you all run at one hundred and fifty percent.” Napoleon smiled at her, warm like a proud grandfather, like he’s known her all her life, yet has just met her.