Guild Mage: Apprentice

Linnea and Olavi followed Keri into the Sign of the Dancing Lady, each a comforting and familiar presence at his back. He didn't have to turn around to know that his warriors would be scanning the sparse afternoon crowd for any threat. Being able to trust them with that meant that he could focus entirely on the woman behind the bar.

"Taika tär Eliel, of the Unconquered House of Asuris," Keri greeted her, pulling his gauntlets off and laying them on the polished wood of the bar. He was wearing his armor: best to assume that all of Varuna was enemy territory, at this point, rather than risk being caught by surprise again.

"Most people around here just use Taika and drop the rest," the Elden woman replied. Her tone was even enough, but there was something in her manner that spoke of a bird at the approach of the hunter – about to leap into the air at the slightest move, and fly away. Her hair was white, which reminded Keri of Livara, but her skin was even more pale than the girl from the south. If Taika had inherited the looks of the rest of her house, the slightest flush would bring out the subtle lavender tones in her skin, to match her eyes.

"I doubt most of the Lucanians who are your customers would recognize your ancestry," Keri said. "Or the great bats. I am Inkeris ka Ilmari, of the Unconquered House of Bælris. I wondered whether we might be able to talk."

"Talking doesn't pay my taxes," Taika said. "If you and your two bodyguards buy yourselves a meal and a bottle of Lucanian red, I can talk when I'm not helping another customer."

Keri nodded, reached for his purse, and settled onto the barstool. "Three meals, then, and a bottle. I assume you have mana-enriched food."

"I've got a roast stuffed with cornmeal and onions," the proprietress told him. "Local bird, you won't have heard of it. The Red Shields call it Huehxōlō-tl, which you won't be able to pronounce without a decade of trying, but the Lucanians call it a turkey. Which seems equally silly. The things are ridiculously stupid, but they often wander along the edges of shoals out in the jungle. You're getting the stew, to go with it, for all three of you. Twenty-eight silver for all three of you, but you're generous customers, so you're going to make it an even thirty."

"That sounds… excessive," Keri said. "But so long as you answer the questions I have, fine." He reached into his purse and counted the coins out, putting them on the counter in neat stacks of ten. Taika swept them toward her with a practiced motion, letting all the coins fall into an open hand, and made them disappear.

"Your food will be right out," she said, and ducked through the door behind the bar, presumably into the kitchen.

"Get comfortable, I suppose," Keri told his companions. They each took a seat, but at an angle: Olavi watching the door, while Linnea kept her eyes on the occupants of the room. Which was how she came to tap him on the shoulder, giving Keri advance notice of an old human woman who rose from her game of cards and approached the bar.

Keri put a pleasant smile on his face, and turned to face the woman, waiting for her to speak. He had a difficult time judging human ages, even after two brief visits to Lucania, but even he could tell she was past her prime. She had the weather-beaten skin of someone who'd spent their life at sea, and her blonde hair was now streaked with gray. Like one of the girls who'd accompanied Livara north, she wore breeches and boots, rather than a skirt, and a shirt of light linen dyed blue. At her belt hung a blade that was somewhere between a knife and an arming sword; he guessed it would be equally suited to hacking aside foliage in the Varunan jungle, or cutting ropes on a ship.

"Everything alright, here?" the woman said, looking Keri over with suspicious eyes. She walked with the rolling gait of someone who was more used to the deck of a ship than the floor of an inn.

Keri nodded. "We're looking forward to having our first taste of the menu. The Dancing Lady has a reputation."

"Came in on the Æn'kevea Kesent, did you?" the woman prodded. "Don't think I've ever seen so many Elden soldiers in one place."

"We did, yes." Keri stood up from the stool, and reached out his hand in greeting. "My name is Inkeris."

Without breaking eye contact, the woman took Keri's hand and squeezed, as if she was trying to crush his fingers. He was forced to squeeze back, in turn, in what seemed to be some sort of Lucanian test of strength. "Petrona Wildheart, first mate of the Dawn Runner," the woman introduced herself.

"Calder's ship," Keri said. Though he'd never been to Varuna until now, stories of the first voyage to return to Varuna had made their way even to the north.

"That's right," Wildheart said, without releasing Keri's hand. She leaned in, and lowered her voice. "And whatever's brought you all here, I don't want Taika caught up in it. She left you people for a reason. Don't try to drag her back in now."

"We've come for information, nothing more," Keri assured her. "But you must know that war is coming. The Lady of Blood –"

"Three plates of roast," Taika proclaimed, bustling out through the door to the kitchen with one plate in each hand, and a third balanced on the crook of her arm. She slid them onto the bar smoothly. "Finish your game, Roni?"

"Cleaned them all out." Petrona released Keri's hand and put on a show of smiling, though she didn't fool him. "Thought I'd come up here and bother your guests a bit." The older woman moved around behind the bar with the ease of long familiarity, caught Taika around the waist, and kissed her on the cheek.

So that's how it is, Keri realized. He no longer wondered why Taika had left the north, and now he understood why her lover was being so protective. "I'm not a member of Taika's family," he explained, evenly. "And I already have a kwenim and a young son. I'm not looking for anyone more."

Putting things so simply left out the fact that Rika was increasingly cold to him, that she'd argued against his leaving, and that forty-two days at sea had given Keri ample time to stew in his own misery about the entire affair. Still, the words seemed to relax Wildheart somewhat, and in short order the two women had brought out bowls of stew, along with goblets and an opened bottle of wine.

"Alright," Taika told him. "Ask your questions, then." Despite his attempt to reassure them, Petrona Wildheart remained behind the bar at the Elden woman's side, watching Keri like a falcon about to swoop in on its prey.

Keri leaned forward across the bar, taking a moment to chew his strange bird-meat and gather his thoughts. "First," he said, "do you know where the nearest waystone is?"

Wildheart laughed. "Starting with the easy things first, are you?" she shook her head. "If there was a safe, functioning waystone in easy reach, you think we'd do so much business by shipping?"

"Safe' and 'easy reach' are not required," Keri said. "Even 'functional' may be dealt with, assuming it hasn't been physically destroyed."

"You're going to have to go diving into Vædic ruins, then," Taika warned, exchanging glances with the woman at her side.

"There's some sort of tower on a floating chunk of land in the deepwood," Petrona Wildheart offered. "I don't know that anyone's got up there yet to check it out. The cenotes – who knows. There's all sorts of crazy things down there in those waters. There's some sort of cairn in the middle of the river –"

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"The Airaduinë," Taika broke in.

"Most of us just call it the long river," the sailor said. "We're pretty sure it comes down from the mountains inland, but if anyone's managed to follow it to the source, they haven't come back to talk about it."

"You want the bridge," Taika said, after a moment.

"Bridge?" Linnea asked, half turning away from her watch on the other customers.

"Bridge is an understatement," the Elden woman behind the bar explained. "A few of the Lucanian mage teams have made it out that far – close enough to see it, anyway. It crosses the river, but it's like a combination of a bridge and a dam. All white stone, with openings the river flows through, and a road along the top. They say you can feel the shoals a mile out, at least."

"And there is a waystone there?" Keri asked.

"I don't know for certain," Taika admitted. "But it's the most intact Vædic ruin we know of."

"Not counting Godsgrave," Wildheart added. "You don't want to go there."

Keri nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Next. The great bats. Where can I find them?"

"North," Wildheart said. "What's left of them. Most of the Red Shield tribe packed up and left years ago, and then a few came back more recently. Mostly women and children. Other side of the river, look for the highlands. They'll find you."

"Last," Keri said. "Ractia."

Whatever conversations had been filling the common room ceased, as if every customer were now holding their breath.

"I'm going to assume you aren't cultists," Taika said, after a moment.

"No. I'm hunting them," Keri told her. Taika and Wildheart exchanged a glance.

"We've had a lot of people booking passage in the past few years," the old sailor said. "Coming west, and then heading out into the jungle. As long as they pay their bills, and don't cause any trouble, it's none of our business."

"I don't think that's going to work for much longer," Keri told them. "They've attacked us twice – first at Soltheris, and then the Hall of Ancestors."

"Is that why you landed a shipful of soldiers here?" Petrona Wildheart demanded. "Come to start a war?"

"The war's already started," Keri shot back. "We're just here to fight it."

"The ruins are guild business," a man called across the room. Keri turned, to see a human of middle age standing up from one of the tables, the remains of a meal scattered around half a dozen plates. He was powerfully built, wearing vambraces etched with Vædic runes, jack of plate, and a massive, wicked looking sword on his back. Keri had seen just enough human guards recently to recognize that they would consider it old-fashioned, compared to modern rapiers.

At the man's side a woman and another man. The woman had dark hair cut close to her skull, like the men, while the seated man carried a wand in a sheath at his belt. All of them, Keri noted, wore the same style of guild-ring he'd seen on Livara's finger.

"I have great respect for the mage guild," Keri said. "I visited the college at Coral Bay not long before we sailed, in fact. Your name?"

"Conrad," the standing man said.

"Well, Conrad," Keri said. "I may have need of your guild's expertise. If these ladies are correct, our commander may be willing to pay for expert guides to take us upriver. Can I find you here?"

"Until we move out again," Conrad said, sitting back down into his chair.

"Good. I'll give him your name." Keri turned back to the women behind the bar, and the conversation in the room returned to a more normal volume.

"Was there anything else?" Taika asked.

Keri looked down at what was left of his meal. He would have preferred more time with it, after weeks at sea, but it was more important to get back to the ship without getting into some sort of confrontation. "No. The food here is wonderful, and your assistance invaluable. Thank you both."

"I think you'd better not stay in Calder's Landing too long," Wildheart said. "None of us want to be dragged into your war."

"For my part, I hope you're able to make that choice," Keri said. He scooped his gauntlets off the bar and strode for the door, his warriors following in his wake.

"They don't want us here," Linnea said, once they were out onto the streets of the town.

"They're afraid," Olavi said. "And they haven't been attacked yet, so they can still pretend it doesn't affect them."

"We were never going to use this town as a base, anyway," Keri said, leading the way back toward the docks, to where the Æn'kevea Kesent – or The Wavecutter – was tied up. He heard the call of the guards on duty, and knew they'd been spotted coming up the quay. By the time their boots thumped across the gangplank, the other commanders of the expedition had gathered.

The ship was filled with troops from three Houses: Bælris, Syvä, and Keria, with a commander from each. Keri led the soldiers from his own house, while Airis Ka Reimis had come from Al'Fenthia with his own, along with his young son, Livari – and Keri wondered how the man had gotten his kwenim to agree to that name.

First among equals, however, was Valtteri Ka Auris, whose father had fallen defending the council of elders at the Hall of the Ancestors. Keri would not have called himself friends with any of them before setting out, but a long voyage had brought them all closer. It was either that, or someone would have been thrown overboard.

"What have you learned?" Valtteri asked. Livara's father had changed, since the funeral; he was harder, as if all the humor had been poured out of him.

"We won't find support here," Keri said. "Though there's a group of mages we might be able to hire on as guides. We cross the river and go north to find the bats, and the best bet for a waystone is upriver to a kind of bridge. They threw out a few other possibilities, but I think we should begin with the most likely."

"Wherever we go, the use of the ship is at an end," Airis said. "We might be able to take it a short way upriver, but not far enough to matter."

"We'll send the crew back home as soon as they've taken on fresh food and water," Valterri confirmed. Though Airis had moved to engage House Iravata first, in the wake of the attack on the elders, he'd begun to defer to Valterri during the voyage. Privately, Keri thought that the merchant had begun to realize that he was out of his depth at war.

"And then?" Livari Ka Airis asked. He had the look of an eager puppy, and Keri knew the rapid surrender of the few people left behind by the wyrm-tamers had not done anything to expose the boy to real fighting.

"North," Valtteri said. "I want to learn what we can from the bats, if possible. My hope is that some of them have turned aside from their goddess. And we have a name to ply them with."

"Your daughter's informant," Airis said, with a nod. "I knew she was a smart girl when I first met her. Clever. She'd make a good match for you," he told his son.

Keri struggled to keep a straight face at that comment. Airis might have met Liv when she was a child, but he hadn't seen who she'd grown into. The young woman who'd dueled a princess and then held a blade to her throat, who'd fought like a cornered animal in the alleys of Freeport, and who'd barked commands while riding through the shoals around the Tomb of Kelris would eat the poor boy alive. Actually, Keri thought with some satisfaction, she probably wouldn't even notice Livari existed. And Airis had done the child no favors with his name.

"Give the warriors a night of leave in the town," Valtteri commanded, not deigning to respond to Airis' comment. "With strict orders to travel in pairs. No fighting, no excessive drinking. Everyone is to be back for dawn, and ready to march. Tell them that if we have to drag them out of a tavern or a brothel, they're going to be digging latrines for the rest of the campaign."

Airis looked out over the town, with its mud streets and wooden stockade. "Is there even a brothel?" he asked. "This entire place is primitive."

"One thing about soldiers," Valtteri said. "They'll always find prostitutes. Like a wolf with the scent of prey in their nose. I'll keep watch on the ship with a few volunteers," he said. "Feel free to get a decent meal before we leave."

"Come along," Airis said, placing a hand on his son's back to guide the boy toward the gangplank. "Let's see whether there is anything that can be called a meal in this entire town."

"Try the Dancing Lady," Keri said. "Run by one of the Vakansa. I don't think you'll be disappointed."

"You won't be going?" Valtteri asked, once the other two were out of earshot.

Keri shook his head. "Buying a meal was the price of that information. I'll keep watch here with you, and help roust our people out of – wherever they end up, come dawn. You know he thinks he's going to join that boy with your daughter, don't you?"

"Ha!" Valtteri Ka Auris let out the first laugh Keri had heard from him in weeks. "The son couldn't survive the true north any more than the father could. There's a reason my sister rejected him. No, I'm not worried about that. My daughter can make her own decisions - and I feel sorry for anyone who gets in her way."