Ratkin like their lycantropic kin form communities with others of their kind, often in the poorest of areas in the civilized races' lands. They are dexterous and often skilled in the shadier arts of larceny and skullduggery. Often they are forces into criminal roles by circumstance but would have it no other way.

Bryan

I watch as Adrian goes over the many lists he has made over the past two weeks while we have been in this strange world and counts several bags of coins while frowning.

“Recounting doesn’t change how much there is” I comment after the third loop of his actions.

I know what he is trying to do but I don’t think we are in as much danger as he is assuming. I pick up one of his lists and glance at it while saying, “we’re entry level adventurers. Literally, level zero. We won’t run into anything too dangerous so stop worrying over getting enchanted weapons and armor.”

“This isn’t a game, we are going to run into more than just things on the random encounters chart.”

“Even so untested and under equipped trainees won’t be sent to anywhere where any of this will be needed. Besides, we are being sent along side a group of soldiers no doubt able to do all of it on their own. At most this is supposed to be a difficult test” I say and Adrian assents with a slight nod.

“That doesn’t mean there is no danger, they could have very easily overestimated what we are capable of.”

“You worry too much” Tomas comments as he walks up.

“Better over prepared than under prepared” Adrian counters.

"Where did you even get all of this coin?" I ask.

"He cheated at dice" Tomas says before beginning to tell just how.

Tomas Flashback

I glance under the cup to see two fours, a five and a two on the dice. Since there are five other players at the table that means there are twenty dice who's roll I do not know.

I can assume that three of any given number among their pool without too much risk but I'm not sure why Adrian has a smirk on his face.

"Five fives" I day placing my bet for the round.

I don't pay close attention to the other players before it is Adrian's turn. None of their bets overruled my own anyways.

"Seven sixes" Arrian days as the last of the players.

A fat man laughs at him but now I'm worried. Adrian wasn't guessing, he was stating it as if it were fact.

We all lift up our cups, mine was the only one without a six, and only two other fives were out there.

"Lucky guess" the fat man grumbles as Adrian takes all the coins that were pushed to the middle.

Adrian then places a silver piece on the table though I have no idea where he got it. Did he pick someone's pocket as he was sitting down?

I place a handful of coppers on the table while others just place a silver piece. How is it that everyone but us received a usable amount of money, while we were given barely enough to get bread to eat?

Everyone shakes and rolls their dice. I check my own to see four ones. Before I even start thinking about what to bet on Adrian calls out "nine ones."

Seven or eight would be all I can expect but does he know something I don't?

"Four fours" I say betting on other people's dice since one is not worth much and I won't risk trying for ten of them.

Once the dice are revealed no one speaks for a moment. Adrian's guess won but he doesn't have any ones in his own pool. He's cheating he has to be looking at other people's dice. There is no other way he could have known. . .

I get up from the table, I only have two copper pieces left. Is he using magic for this?

The tavern's worker at the table waves over one of the bouncers, "search the young man for dice."

Adrian just smiles and let's the man go through the few pockets he has. They come up empty but that doesn't erase suspicion. A man in a bathrobe is waved over next.

After a moment and a few nonsense words spoken by the supposed mage the worker frowns as the man declares, "he has no magic on him. I doubt he could even cast a spell."

Adrian glances at me, "anyone up for another round?"

Bryan

Tomas's story is interrupted as I hear a scream of “I did it” from Abagail in her room and I rush over to whatever it is.

I knock just before opening the door. There is nothing strange or different from last time I saw the room, the only thing of note is that Abagail did not yet get dressed all the way. I quickly close the door after a second of seeing her figure.

She may be short but her chest is large and was on full display even if the room was dim.

“What was it?” Tomas asks.

“Nothing, just wait a moment” I answer before knocking again, hoping that she didn’t notice what I just got to see.

A moment later the door opens. Abagail looks embarrassed but says nothing.

“What were you yelling about?” Tomas asks.

“Mana, I found it. Their magic is real and we can actually learn it” Abagail answers after a moment.

“Show us a spell” Tomas says excitedly.

“I can’t, I don’t know any. Touching Mana and getting it to do something are different things.”

“Show us something then.”

“I can’t, there isn’t a way for me to show you.”

Tomas frowns but says nothing. Adrian smiles happy that Tomas will probably be bothering Abagail for help rather than him.

“Any tips for us?” I ask, knowing which question to ask and glad that my accidental peeking has been brushed under the rug.

“There’s no shortcut to hard work” she says almost directly at Tomas before moving so that Tomas can’t see her whisper at me with a slight blush, “knocking alone isn’t an invitation.”

Shit, she did notice me. At least she isn’t making a scene over it but having the only girl in our group mad at me isn’t going to be fun.

“There’s a lot of stuff we need to get done today if we are going to leave in the morning” Adrian says, calling us to follow him.

The remainder of the day is mostly gathering equipment and haggling, all the while Tomas is now bothering Abagail to teach him magic. I think I’ll keep quiet of my own progress until I can actually do something. . .

Adrian

The morning of our departure all is calm and my thefts of essentials like healing potions through Spatial Grasp does not seem to have been noticed, yet. It is not long before we are standing before the white stone wall of the city waiting on the contingent that is to be our guide and unofficial keeper.

Just as dawn’s light crests over the walls of the city a platoon of a dozen soldiers in chainmail following a knight in plate. Tomas and me subconsciously groan as the man walks up with an air of distain for everyone in his sight.

“I am sir Lanis Brightblade. Fear not for with me and the blessings of the Holy One the darkness we face shall not stand” the man in his recently buffed silvered plate says as if it were an undeniable truth to the universe.

“Are we supposed to follow this delusional paladin?” Tomas asks.

None of us get the opportunity to answer before the guy who clearly doesn’t know how the world really works begins to chastise.

“Hopeful squire, the public ear is not to be tainted by strange tongues. You are to speak the common tongue of Althrá or I will have to punish you in accordance to the law.”

“Since when was it illegal to speak a foreign language?” I ask having never encountered such a law among my time in their libraries.

“The Holy One’s tenets forbid use of any impure tongue.”

“Religious law and secular law are not one and the same. The tenets of the Holy One are only law on their own grounds. We are not currently in one of their temples nor is are destination one.”

“There is also military protocol, I am in charge of this expedition and demand the pure tongue of the Althaen be the only one spoken under my command.”

So, it’s is his way regardless of whether he is right or wrong. Leave it to a religious fanatic to go too far in his enforcement of the rules of his god. I wonder if he truly believes in the religion of the Holy One or if he uses it as a method of control over the populous. Is he a puppet of the leaders of his church or someone who does the puppeteering?

I suppose it does not matter, even if he is not a true zealot there is no way he will break the character before us. We will have to suffer this zealot our entire journey. This is going to be a problem. . .

Lysan

I close the small tome written by my ancestors. Father wanted sister and me to see him after the midday meal. We are just over a century old and have yet to leave the city. I think that we will be sent out to see how we handle real combat.

“Sister you can’t just read those books all the time. I’m bored, come spar with me” my twin sister Thalia says as she takes the book I was picking up out of my hands.

“These books are why I get praised instead of chastised during our magic lessons” I answer, ignoring the request to spar.

“And you get chastised during our weapons training. Let’s go. We have an hour before Father will call for us” she says while pulling my arm.

With a sigh, I give in and stand up. The practice field is just outside our room and she isn’t going to stop asking until I go with her and I won’t be able to study the secrets of mana effectively while she does so.

“Only if you agree to practice magic with me tonight” I say after the first few steps.

“But it’s so boring. . .” she complains before I cut her off.

“Watch this then” I say before drawing mana forth from the center of my chest, the place where all blood flows through, and begin to chant the words to one of the few spells in the books that my sister might like to know Flameblade. My mana creates a connection to the Aether and the shell I was building fills with power from that strange dimension.

As the last syllable leaves my lips, a blade of pure magical fire forms in my hand. An ever so slightly curved sword the length as long as my arm, the flames glowing and spreading warmth into our room. There is a twinkle in my sister’s eyes as she stares at the sword made of physical fire. I wave the sword around and let the flames trail after the blade built of solidified mana.

“How?” my sister asks.

“The magic you so often ignore. Mana drawn from the Aether to augment my own and fill a shell of force and give birth to flames.”

“You can do this with magic?”

“Not at first but yes.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me you could do such things with magic?!”

“They did sister. You just weren’t paying attention.”

“Forget the spar, I want to make a fire sword. Teach me sister.”

I smile even though I will not like being the one to tell her that she will have to work up to it. I think she gave up truly practicing just after getting Mage Hand to work. . .

“Come and sit sister. You have a lot of catching up to do” I say as I pull put a book on basic Elementalism.

We aren’t Elementalists but they have the best descriptions on the shapes Mana must take for Elemental Evocation and sister needs all the help she can get. . .

The light of dusk fades in my window that overlooks the western part of the city.

“My Thalia studying. I didn’t think anyone could get her to read so enthusiastically” I hear my father's voice behind us just as I finish explaining a diagram of the simplest fire spell I know to my sister, Flare.

Sister bolts up and out of her seat, embarrassed while I turn to our father.

I blush slightly as he says, “I’m proud of you teaching your sister Lysan.”

“What is it that you wanted father?” my sister asks.

“No matter how much you practice, nothing stands up to real experience” he answers my sister’s question.

“Does that mean . . .” sister begins and our father smiles.

“Yes, I convinced your mother. The two of you are to accompany a squad to the border of the Darklands.”

Sister immediately hugs our father as she repeats “thank you” over and over. She has been wanting to do this for a few years now. Personally, I am worried about leaving, the outside world is a very dangerous place.

“Don’t worry Lysan, the two of you will do fine. You will only be on the border for a few weeks, maybe two months. Besides you are skilled in magic and will be a great help to the soldiers during their patrol” he says and I blush in embarrassment. I’m not very comfortable being praised.

“It’ll be fun sister. We’ll get to see so much” Thalia says excitedly.

“You will be leaving in the morning before your mother changes her mind. Make sure to learn as much of you can” our father says as he gives us each a quick hug and a kiss on our foreheads.

“Can you help me pack sister” Thalia asks as our father leaves the room, her excitement clearly more than enough to keep her from resting anytime soon.

“It is not difficult to pack on your own sister. You only need to ready your armor and weapons; food and other supplies will be prepared for us by the expedition itself” I answer her.

“But I don’t know how many to take with me.”

“You shouldn’t need more than one so, do not bring more than two or three weapons.”

“But I don’t know which sword to bring.”

“Not the rapier” I answer, I don’t know as much as she does of swordplay but a rapier is for dueling not the battlefield.

“I’ll help you pick out which books to bring if you help.”

I smile and nod. I’ll pack to many if left to my own devices but you never know which bit of knowledge will be needed in a situation. I should try to get an extradimensional bag.