Chapter Eleven

Xorvos was sitting in his room thinking. He was thinking about many things but mostly he was thinking about his friend. These days he only had one and so when she had ran it had only hurt him more.

Why did she run? Was it my fault? Or did something happen that I don’t know about? And why was she lying to me? When will she come back? Or will she even come back at all?

There was no one around to answer the questions swirling around in his head so they just kept piling up. Each one left unanswered was like a knife stuck in his body, wearing him down more and more. He had to get some answers, even if they only confirm his fears, but how? Shuka was gone and he had no idea how to find her in this unfamiliar city. Xorvos was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the sound of the door opening. Almost. When the noise finally registered in his head, he turned his whole body to face the door, getting up in the process. He hoped desperately for it to be Shuka entering the room, but it wasn’t. Instead, it was Ralisdor standing there, looking surprised at the sudden vigor Xorvos had displayed. But Ralisdor had arrived for a reason and he wasn’t about to let a little surprise get in the way of that.

“Xorvos, I wish to leave Rockmarsh tomorrow. Make sure you are ready to travel by then and please inform Shuka when she gets back.”

“She might not be coming back.” He replied now dispirited, all his vigor gone.

“Why would she not come back? Did something happen?”

“Yes, but I don’t know what. I met her in the marketplace, but she wouldn’t tell me the truth and when I called her on her lies, she ran away.”

Ralisdor let out a sigh and entered the room fully, closing the door on the way. He pulled up a spare chair and sat down facing Xorvos. He hadn’t planned on getting into a long conversation when he opened the door, but this demanded his attention.

“So why do you think she was lying to you? Is there a possibility this was just some misunderstanding?”

“But then why would she run?” Xorvos asked. “If it was just a misunderstanding then running wouldn’t help, the only explanation is she has something she doesn’t want me to know about. But I’m her friend, why can’t she trust me?”

His voice was getting heated and it was obvious that this was something that was eating at him inside for a while. Ralisdor however, remained calm.

“I doubt whatever happened is as bad as you are currently thinking. I am sure she just does not want to involve you with her problems.”

“But if she’s in trouble why doesn’t she trust me enough to help her? That’s the whole reason I even came on this journey, to protect her when she’s in danger. I can’t do that when she won’t tell me what the danger is.”

His voice was angry but laced with worry and he had anxiety written all over his face.

“If you are so worried then perhaps you should attempt to find her instead of whining about it in your room.”

“But how? I don’t know this city and she could be anywhere. Finding her could take days and that’s only if she hasn’t already left the city.”

“If you do not know the city then find someone who does. All you need to do is talk to the right person and she will be found within the hour.”

Xorvos stood up in an instant. This was the first sign of hope he had gotten, and he would not let it slip by.

“You can find her? Then please help me and I will pay you back however I can.”

“Calm down.” Ralisdor urged. “I can’t find but I can find someone who can. And there is no need to repay me, I wish to find her as well.”

“Thank you. Now let’s go, the longer she is out there the more likely something bad will happen to her.”

Xorvos was already moving towards the door but Ralisdor was in no rush.

“Hold on. If we want to find Shuka fast, then we will need to find someone to scry on her. To do that they will need something of Shuka’s to focus on while casting the spell. Before we leave, we must find that something to give the diviner or the spell will have no target.”

“Well then let’s go to her room and find something!”

Why is he being so slow? Doesn’t he get how serious the situation is right now?

Ralisdor was getting up now but he was moving with much less urgency than his Quanso companion.

“Rushing ahead will get us nowhere. Move at a pace that allows you the time to think and you will always be moving in the right direction.”

Well at least he is moving now. Still, I wish he would hurry it up a bit. I can already tell this is going to be a long afternoon.

*

Xorvos had never been to a Mages Guild before. Quanso weren’t capable of using magic and he was never that interested in it anyway. But he still had a feeling of awe as he looked upon the building before him. The Rockmarsh Mages Guild was built into the side of the mountain in the center of the city. Pristine white marble pillars seemingly held up the weight of the mountain and framed the ornate wooden door leading inside. The interior was lit up by glowing geometric patterns covering the walls, floor, and ceiling acting as a light source in place of more mundane torches and candles. As he entered the common room Xorvos saw that the room was occupied by all manor of mages and spellcasters. They were sitting at tables that were nothing but a floating marble square. Xorvos was completely lost in this unfamiliar environment but Ralisdor seemed to know what he was doing. He made his way to an old, grizzled man in a grey robe looking bored, drinking a beer in the corner.

Why is Ralisdor interested in him? He looks like the least impressive person in this building.

Regardless of Xorvos’ misgivings, Ralisdor sat down at the old mans table and began to speak with him.

“Greetings good sir. I would wish to employ your services in order to locate a missing companion of mine.”

The mage put down his drink and took out a crystal ball from a bag at his side.

“My services aren’t cheap. How much are you willing to pay?”

“Fifty gold for an image of her and one hundred for her exact location.”

“You got a focus for me to use?”

“Of course.”

Ralisdor pulled out a chain necklace with a silver V attached to it. Xorvos looked all over Shuka’s room but the only item of her he found that might work for the scrying spell was her necklace of Vondoom. Apparently, the item has to be a bit more important to them than a bedroll or camping supplies, and she took most of her other stuff with her when she left.

I hope it’s enough. She doesn’t worship Vondoom and the necklace itself isn’t anything special. All Vondoom orphans get one and she doesn’t even wear hers that often. Still, she took it with her when she left Rainsburg so it must have at least some importance to her.

The mage simply looked at the necklace and frowned.

“A child of Vondoom huh? Scrying this girl won’t get me in trouble with the Orphanage will it?”

“No it wont. She is not associated with that side of the Orphanage. Besides, I hold no ill intentions for her in the first place.”

That side of the Orphanage? What is he talking about?

“Fine, but I make no promises.”

The old man just grumbled and took the necklace. He then placed it next to his scrying orb and began to cast his spell. The once clear orb started to darken as blue strands of magic coalesced in the center. The man concentrated on his orb and slowly each strand of magic was pulled away until a new image in the center was revealed. There, Xorvos finally saw, was Shuka. She was sitting on a small pile of colourful pillows with a troubled look on her face and drinking a cup of what looked to be tea. Across from her was another woman. She was a swamp elf in colourful clothing lounging on a hammock. Her lips were moving but the scrying spell did not transmit sound so Xorvos could not tell what she was saying. The old man maintaining the spell on the other hand could read lips, and he did not like what he saw. He dropped the spell causing the image to fade and the crystal ball to become clear again.

“You didn’t tell me this girl you’re looking for was working with the Thieves Guild, messing with them is almost as bad as messing with the Orphanage.”

What in the world is Shuka doing with the Thieves Guild? Now I have to find her, who knows what kind of trouble she is in right now.

“Can you tell us where she is?” Xorvos pleaded. “Please, it’s important.”

“No way, I’m done. This job is way too dangerous for my liking and I want nothing to do with it. Just give me my gold and leave.”

Xorvos was on the verge of reply but was stopped by Ralisdor.

“You have done enough already. Here is your payment and we will be on our way.”

As he spoke Ralisdor levitated fifty gold coins out from is money pouch and stacked them in stacks of ten in front of the mage. After that he turned and walked away. Xorvos followed behind, almost automatically. He had a lot on his mind and was trying to figure out which question to ask first. He eventually decided on the only one that he thought Ralisdor might actually be able to answer.

“How did you know that man would be able to scry Shuka? He looked like any other mage to me.”

“It was his robes.” Ralisdor explained. “There are many different types of mages and it is rarely obvious what kind of mage one is from their appearance alone. This makes the hiring of a mage somewhat of a hassle if you are looking for a specific type of magic. As a solution to this problem the Mages Guild started producing simple, mono-coloured robes for business minded mages to wear. Since each colour is associated with a type of magic a potential client can find what they are looking for with but a glance.”

Now that I think about it there were a lot of mages in pretty plain robes in there. I just thought mages liked robes, but I guess that was the reason.

“Now of course this unspoken rule only applies in the Mages Guild lobby. Outside of that room you are free to wear whatever colour of clothing you wish. In fact, the more fashionable spellcasters created or commissioned colour changing robes to allow themselves to quickly change between practical and pretty. I saw this as a massive waste of gold and I instead placed an illusion over my outfit while I was looking for work and dismissed it when I was not. Of course, as an illusionist my robes were purple which suited me just fine as purple is a fine colour. Much better than a dull brown or boring grey that the geomancers and diviners in the Rockmarsh Guild are forced to wear. The only good colour in there was the light blue from the enchanters, but even then, its hardly that exciting.”

“Um… While this is all very interesting, I only wanted to know how you knew that man could scry. We should get back to looking for Shuka now.”

Ralisdor stopped talking with an annoyed look on his face. It was clear he wasn’t all that happy about being interrupted.

“Fine, let’s continue our search For Shuka. At least she appreciates my lectures.”

“So what do we do now? If she really is dealing with the Thieves Guild, then even just looking for her might get us in trouble.”

There was a moment’s pause that Ralisdor used to think before he gave Xorvos his reply.

“It seems we have three options. First, we can give up and wait for her back at the inn. We know she is not in any immediate danger and that she is still in the city so there is a good chance she will just come back.”

That doesn’t seem like a very good option to me. How can he say she is not in any immediate danger when the Thieves Guild is involved?

“The Second option is we continue to search for her on our own. The problem with that is we have no solid leads and excessive probing may stir up trouble with the Thieves Guild.”

Messing with the Thieves Guild would be a problem. And I don’t even know how to start looking for her now that the magic route didn’t work out.

“The last option is we go directly to the Thieves Guild and ask them what their business with Shuka is. I believe this to be our best option as it gives us the most information while also have the highest chance of success.”

“That’s our best option? They will kill us! And how are we even meant to find the Thieves Guild? Wouldn’t it be hidden?”

Xorvos was Shocked at the casualness at which Ralisdor gave his suggestion. This entire situation filled Xorvos with anxiety but Ralisdor was as calm as if he was just going out to do a few chores.

“They will hardly kill us; in fact, I believe murder is prohibited in the Guild except in special or dire circumstances. They like to cultivate an aura of fear, but I doubt they will try to harm us in any way unless we intentionally antagonise them. And finding them will be easy. We just have to ask around a bit and go to the place where we are told to never to go to.”

“That still seems like a bad idea. What if they are doing something bad to Shuka and we can’t stop it because we decided to walk right into the middle of their base? Or what if they decide to kidnap us to use as leverage against Shuka? There are so many ways this can go wrong.”

“If you do not wish to go then I am perfectly capable of going myself. In fact, I would prefer that as it would be much easier to escape alone than with you. Why don’t you just go back to the inn and wait while I do all of the real work.”

“I’m not just going to do nothing while my friend is in danger. I say we search for her ourselves without walking straight into the enemies lair.”

“Enemies lair? Do you even hear yourself? We haven’t even talked to them yet and you already decided they are your enemy. We can help Shuka without any conflict, but you will not even consider it because of your dumb principles. Do what you want but I am going to talk to them.”

Both of their voices grew loud as their argument became more heated. Xorvos knew that he couldn’t convince Ralisdor not to go so he just threw up his hands in defeat.

“Fine, walk to your death and converse with criminals. I was just trying to think about our safety, but I can see you don’t care about that. I will find Shuka on my own and then maybe we can get you out of whatever trouble you are about to get yourself in together.”

And with that, Xorvos stormed off leaving Ralisdor alone.

Gods, nothing good can come out of dealing with criminals, why doesn’t he get that? I don’t care how smart he thinks he is there is no way this wont cause trouble for us later. I just hope Shuka is okay, there is no telling what kind of horrendous experience she is going through right now.