Chapter 16: Bubele

New Quest: Dariens ChampionDarien has agreed to find 10 champions to win his chosen Nobleman the chance to win the daughter of the King.

The King has chosen Chess as one of the events in the tournament and has asked for you to be his representative.

Accepting this quest will affect your social status throughout the human countries.

Rewards:

Darien will not let his men rest until they have rescued Selene and returned her to your side.

You will gain a powerful ally inside the City of Chadú.

5,000 Experience

+50% intimacy gains with Darien and his men.

Access to unique quests inside Chadú limited to those in Darien’s favor.

Free reign to use the Sewers below the city

All items in the shops will be 5% cheaper

Other benefits will be found for as long as Darien remains in the city.Warning.

This quest has factors outside your control and being successful does not guarantee you any of the rewards stated above. Darien must have the most champions at the end of the tournament for these rewards to be available.

If Darien fails in being successful in the Kings Games, you will be chased from the city as a criminal and be considered an outlaw through all of Lybernia.

Accepting this quest will make all of Darien’s enemies your enemies.

Failing to become champion will make an enemy out of Darien.

Do you accept? Y/N

What the hell?

Reading the quest several times over, Tobi couldn’t help but wonder who Darien actually was. He also wondered what kind of reward he was getting from the Nobleman when all of this was over. The other problem were the negatives. He could do everything right and still end up punished at the end of it all.

“I accept, but I have some conditions.”

“Name them.” Darien replied looking pleased.

“I will win the chess tournament, but that doesn’t mean you will win the games. I want Selene on a ship ready to depart for Anderon in the event you lose the games. I also want my friend here smuggled out of the city. If you lose the games, he won’t be safe here.”

“What of yourself? If I lose the games, you will probably be killed along with the rest of us.”

Shrugging as if it didn’t matter, Tobi gave a moments thought to his death. Lorry had said he might die if he died in the Aevitas, but he didn’t say he definitely will...it was just a possibility. He’d take the gamble if it meant saving Selene.

“I will figure something out. Actually, do you have contacts in Anderon?”

Frowning a little, Darien confirmed that he did.

“The games are in a month, right? That buys us a little time. You said that Kleetz has the most powerful mage? Get me a quill, ink and some paper.”

“What are you planning?”

Smiling, Tobi replied with three words: “Calling for reinforcements.”

---

Looking at the six envelopes on the table, Tobi’s doubt washed through him like a cold chill. He doubted half of them would reach the recipients in time, but some would definitely get through. During his time chained up he had questioned the motives of Deedee, Galven, Vallen, Lorry and others, but now was a good time to call on them.

The first envelope was addressed to Vallen asking for help. He explained the situation as best he could—including the fact he was helping a known criminal. He explained everything he knew about Kleetz, Scrim, Darien, the King, his tournament of 10 games and the current situation.

Leaving nothing out, he asked for advice and help. As a post statement at the end, he hinted that a mage to defeat the enchanter that worked for Kleetz would be very welcome.

The second letter was for Lorry. He explained to Darien that Lorry was a traveller and gave all the information he could on how Lorry could be located. Like with Vallen, he explained everything but also described everything since the Cohol Chess Tournament. The only parts he skipped were the kind of relationship he had with Selene.

The third letter was for Deedee and Galven. In the event that Vallen did nothing, he hoped they would at least try. He also asked them to keep an eye out for several travellers that might pass through Brackley. He entrusted them with a note for each. He’d almost passed on it at first but he even included a note for Niamh.

The fourth letter was for his sister, Calamity. That one had taken especially long to write but he left nothing out. He did however write a few things using the Vigenére Cipher he’d taught to her when she was a kid. Like Darien used foreign languages to speak to his men, Tobi had his own secret method to communicate with his sister.

The final two letters were to his parents. In the event that he did die, he wanted to leave them something. They both basically said the same thing but they were written more personally to each one.

Darien hadn’t even attempted to hide the fact that he was reading each letter before they were sealed in envelopes; he was making sure no secrets were being spilled. He didn’t much approve of some details but there was nothing that could harm Darien personally so he didn’t mind.

Tobi wasn’t sure what Darien was worried about anyway, he hadn’t been told anything that could be a problem for Darien in the first place. The only things Darien had made him take out were mention of the sewers and mention of territories. He also made him remove Darien’s opinion regarding ‘the power of the 4 kings’.

Tobi didn’t mind removing those minor details but he included it in the encoded letter he wrote for Lucy. Darien didn’t like that Tobi wrote in code but he believed Tobi when he said it was just personal matters. Darien had a healthy respect for secrets so he didn’t begrudge the ones Tobi was keeping.

“What do you hope these letters will achieve?” Darien asked after passing them to a youth with clear instructions on where to deliver them.

“You said Kleetz had the most powerful mage, right? Well I am hoping at least one of those letters will get you a more powerful mage. I have one more request of you though. I need to head back to the Puddy Muddle.”

Darien needed to see the woman that lived there anyway so he agreed to take Tobi with him. The area was still technically considered neutral territory so they should be safe. Regardless of that, Darien gathered all the men he dared just to be on the safe side.

---

Riding in the back of a wagon with the Talin and several armed men, Tobi tried to put together all the information he had so far about Chadú. During his time in Anderon, it was little different to living in an alternate world to his own. The cities were growing and the country was rebuilding itself, but it was still relatively normal. Chadú on the other hand was another world entirely.

Hoping it was a scenario unique to the city and not the country, he arranged the city and its people into sections.

First he had 3 Mafia-type gangs that ruled the underworld. Their leaders were Darien, Scrim and Kleetz. According to Darien, their strength was almost equal but he had the edge. Then came the King, the Nobles, the guards and the regular folk. They had the most power if they call in everything they had, but their world seemed to be mostly oblivious to Darien and the underworld.

The unclear factor was the woman and the Puddy Muddle. He couldn’t figure how she fit into the grand scheme of things.

In movies, there were always two or three gangs, mobs or mafias to deal with. They always had peace treaties and deals to coexist. They wanted to wipe each other out but war was too costly and they never risked it. That’s how it seemed to be in Chadú too. The Politics was confusing but Darien and the others were relatively simple to understand if he thought of them like gangsters.

The woman at the Puddy Muddle interested him most. Tobi couldn’t understand what a woman in a male dominant society could have that kept men like Darien in check. His first thought had been magic or something, but magic wasn’t rare and Kleetz had the most powerful mage. Darien had money and the most men at his disposal. He didn’t know what Scrim had but he seemed more powerful than Kleetz in Tobi’s mind. There was something about the way Darien talked about Scrim that made Tobi wary.

When at last they turned down the road leading to The Puddy Muddle, the caravan stopped.

“No further.” A young voice called with all the authority it could muster, “Send out Darien.”

Looking around the wagon, all faces were confused. When they set off, Darien was riding up front with the driver. Peering under the tenting, Tobi tried to take a look at what was happening. Feeling himself thrown backward as one of the guards dragged threw him back to the bench, Tobi’s anger swelled. He didn’t have time to react though as the Talin suddenly jumped forward and started throttling the man that threw him.

Watching in confusion as six men tried to pull the Talin off him, Tobi moved to help the Talin. He didn’t know what made him hesitate but the thought that followed was too good to resist.

When he’d learned of Arcane Void during his delusional state, he’d really not known what to do with the new information. The description had given him a hint about Lions Roar and how to apply his magic. He hadn’t fully worked it out yet, but memories of Samson and the Martial Hall had rung bells in his head.

The spell he’d been most happy with and simultaneously the most disappointed with had been Arcane Strike. The spell promised to knock back an enemy 1 yard and hit a second target even further away. If he targeted the second part of the spell to hit 1 yard behind the first, he could essentially hit the same target twice with a single spell.

The attempt didn’t go well though and he’d almost blown off his own hand. Selene had told him afterward of a man that used a similar spell with fire magic. He almost blew his hand up by gathering the magic inside his hand. When he gathered the magic outside his hand though, it appeared as though his hands had a glove of flames.

Gathering as little mana as he could, Tobi thought of Arcane strike and created an aura of magic around his hands. Despite being such little magic, it should still have the guaranteed knock-back of 1 yard. He didn’t want to actually hurt anyone so as little magic as possible was best.

Viewing his mana enter a constant but slow drain as he maintained the invisible glove around his hands, Tobi gently reached for one of the men gripping the Talin.

From the moment Tobi had been thrown to the second he touched the guard, only seconds had passed. To Tobi it had felt much slower as his adrenaline pumped and his mind raced, but time caught up quickly.

No sooner did he touch the guard did Tobi remember the second part of his spell. He hadn’t directly it anywhere and it automatically hit 1 yard ahead of the guard he had touched. As he expected, the guard was blown backward but the chaos that followed was beyond what he could have imagined.

Flying backward from an unseen magical spell, the guard yelped in surprise. Three sets of eyes turned to Tobi in shock as the second part of the spell exploded between them. The Talin suddenly free from the struggling men lurched forward, almost crushing the man he was choking. Hearing the wood of the wagon creek and feeling it lean to one side, everyone froze.

Tobi knew little about the theory of time, but he did know that a single moment didn’t exist. A moment was a measurement of time that had stopped. Time never stopped thought so a moment couldn’t exist. Frozen in that split second of time, Tobi’s view on time changed. They had all briefly been suspended in a moment of time and each had watched as the wood to wagon broken and splintered. It had taken less than a second but every detail of that second was etched into Tobi’s mind.

The first to fall away with the side of the wagon had been the man being choked. Following him out was the Talin with both hands still firmly wrapped around his throat. The third had been one of the remaining men too close to escape gravity as part of the wagon gave way. Finally was Tobi who’d been grabbed as the third man fell backward into the street beyond.

Piled up in confusion, Tobi was the first to move and look at all the faces witnessing the scene. He didn’t know how it must have looked to see three men fall out of a wagon with a Talin choking one of them; but the thought made him smile.

“Hi.” Tobi called with a casual wave to the small gang of youths blocking the wagon.

As nobody moved or said anything in response, Tobi stood up and started to help the Talin to his feet. Stood side-by-side as the two men stood up and dusted themselves off, Tobi looked toward the drivers seat where Darien was sitting with shock written all over his face.

“Are you Darien?”

Surprised by the question, Tobi glanced at Darien who gave an amused shrug.

“What makes you think that?” Tobi asked wiping a bit of dust and dirt off his robes.

The boy didn’t seem to know how to answer as he looked from Tobi to the Talin.

“Why have you stopped us?” Tobi asked deflecting the question entirely and letting the boy assume whatever he wanted.

“Bubele told us that you have to go alone. None of your guards are allowed with you.”

Scratching his head whilst he tried to figure out what to do, he looked to Darien for help. Darien seemed amused though and offered no help at all.

Is this really the time for him to be acting the aloof idiot?

“Fine,” Tobi sighed, “The order was no guards, right?”

The boy nodded and looked back to his friends as if to confirm. As he noticed they’d all taken a couple of steps away from the Talin, the boy faltered and looked to the alleys instead.

Spotting several armed men hiding in the shadows, Tobi gave a wan smile and a little wave.

“OK, no guards. It will be just me and two friends. No weapons. That will be OK, right?”

Watching the boy glance to the alley again, Tobi tried to see who he was taking instructions from—and how. He didn’t manage to see it though as the boy suddenly nodded and said that was fine.

Speaking in Elven, Tobi called for the Talin and Darien to go with him.

“You can’t take that...he is one of your guards.” The boy stammered as he backed away.

“The orders were that Darien couldn’t take guards, right? Well Darien isn’t taking any guards. Are you Darien?”

Smiling, Darien shook his head and confirmed that he was taking no guards.

“I on the other hand, am Tobi and I have a room rented at the Puddy Muddle. I have the key right here. Unfortunately I only paid for one night so I have to get back there to collect my things and give...Bubele? Give Bubele the key back.”

Unsure of what happened next, Tobi was suddenly forced to the floor by the Talin as multiple thuds echoed around his ears. Looking under the Talins arms who was protecting Tobi with his own body, Tobi could just about make out arrow shafts sticking out of shields and the side of the wagon. It appeared as though the Talin had protected Tobi and the two guards had protected the Talin.

Darien had disappeared too and a fight broke out in the alley. The Talin completely refused to let Tobi up as all of Darien’s men flew into the alleyway to back him up.

“You OK?” Tobi asked in Elven between attempts to break free of the Talin’s embrace.

“An arrow.” Was all he said in reply.

Fearing for the Talin, Tobi doubled his efforts to break free but to no avail.

When the fighting ended and Darien returned, two men were bound up and a dead man was being stuffed into the sewers by three kids barely in their teenage years. With the commotion over, the Talin finally let Tobi up.

“Some of Kleetz men were mixed in. As soon as you said your name they tried to kill you. They have agreed to let us 3 pass but they still won’t let me take guards.” Darien explained.

Tobi didn’t really care about the explanation as he tried to see where the Talin had been hit by an arrow. He didn’t know if Talin could blush, but the slightly purpled cheeks seemed to indicate they could. When Tobi finally spotted the arrow shaft, Tobi knew why. The arrow was sticking out of his butt cheek.

I guess things like that are comical even here. Tobi mused as he rubbed his own backside in sympathy.

“Just pull it out.” The Talin growled as half his face turned a strange shade of purple.

“Bad idea,” Darien replied shaking his head, “we should do it at the Puddy Muddle and get you bandaged up. If it bothered you that much, I can give you something to hide it until we get there. Its only down the road so we don’t have far to go.”

Grunting with dissatisfaction, the Talin ripped the arrow out himself and said nothing. All drama over, Tobi gave the Talin his shoulder to lean on and followed Darien down the road. He didn't know what kind of power Bubele had inside the city or country, but if she was a force Darien respected then it was worth learning.

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Authors notes:

Spoiler :

This chapter wasn't supposed to end here but I took a 24 hour rest period from everything. Went out for the day and completely cleared my head: Work, Life, this Story, etc. Just let it all go out of my head for a bit.

Anyway, ready to get back to work now so I thought I would post what I had so far and not make you wait until the rest is written.

I do have in my notes some of the letters he wrote - like the one to his dad and the one to Lucy for example but I figured they were filler and didn't include them.

I have been getting a few questions in my mail and such but remember, if you have questions or suggestions - check out Disccusions and either ask or suggest what you like. I really don't mind reader participation so I would be happy to hear your thoughts.

~Aspirer <3