Dreamer's Throne

I’ve double-checked the hallway six times now. It should be safe, right?

Garrett had never considered himself a coward, but having a terrifying monster try to possess you was enough to give even the most courageous person pause. Slowly turning the door handle, he took a deep breath and opened it suddenly, hoping that if anything was lurking in the hallway, the light from the Dreamer’s Throne would burn it up. Instead, he saw a completely empty, totally normal corridor. Smiling sheepishly, he left the room and entered the office. Not before double-checking that no nightmares had entered while he wasn’t looking, of course.

The two men were still by the desk, probably talking about something business-related. It was early in the morning, and from the wine bottles that littered the desk it looked like they had been up all night. Approaching them cautiously, Garrett made sure to avoid touching either man, since he didn’t know what sort of impact it would have. Once he felt like everything was safe, he activated Dream Seed once again, targeting Gorn.

His soul spark surged, releasing a wave of energy that spun together into a tiny ball that drifted toward Gorn like a seed caught in the wind. As it arrived in front of him, Gorn’s soul spark flared, but the tiny seed of energy rose into the air, avoiding the wave of energy and settling into Gorn’s head.

[Dream Seed] - Observation Seed (dormant)

You have infected a dreamer with a Dream Seed. To sprout, a seed needs the proper environment and nurturing. With time, seeds can grow into choking thorns or beautiful flowers.

As soon as the seed had settled into place, Garrett felt an instinctive connection with it. He had spent an experience point planting the seed, but he still had no idea what it did or how it would benefit him. Hanging around for a bit, he didn’t see any change in Gorn, so he turned his gaze to Henrick. The innkeeper’s soul spark was much brighter than the thug’s, and Garrett got the feeling when he looked at it that trying to plant a Dream Seed in Henrick’s head wouldn’t work nearly as well. Deciding to leave it for later, Garrett took a few turns around the room, trying to clear out as much of the Dream’s haze as he could, then went back to his own room.

Falling out of the Dream, he saw that Ryn was still asleep, so he didn’t light his candle. It was too early for the sun, so he sat in the darkness, trying to organize his mind. As he sat there with his eyes closed, a faint sense tugged at his mind and he turned his attention toward it, realizing he was sensing the Dream Seed he’d planted in Gorn’s head. Stunned that he could sense it outside of the Dream, Garret tried to use Observe the Dream but it failed to activate, leaving him confused.

What I would give for a user manual. Figuring all of this stuff out on my own is really frustrating.

It wasn’t long before the room began to grow lighter as the sun peeked up over the horizon and the sounds of the city soon drifted in the window, waking Ryn. Blinking, she sat up and looked around, her eyes going wide when she saw Garrett sitting up, his quill scratching gentle lines on the account books.

“Are you working already?”

Hearing Ryn’s voice, Garrett put down his quill and turned to look at her, balancing himself with his arm on the edge of the table.

“Good morning. There’s a lot to do, so I thought it would be best to get started. Do you have plans this morning?”

“Huh? Plans? No, why, what’s up?”

“I was hoping you could do something for me,” Garrett said, turning his attention back to the books.

“Can it wait till after breakfast?” Ryn asked with a yawn.

“Yes.”

“Good, because I’m starving. I’ll go see what they have for us.”

Still rubbing her bleary eyes, Ryn tossed her blanket aside and got out of bed, heading for the door. Turning her head to say something to Garrett, she saw him frowning and stopped.

“What?”

“You didn’t make your bed.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your bed. You didn’t make it. You need to arrange the sheet nicely.”

Completely lost, Ryn looked back at the bed and the crumpled-up blanket. Seeing how confused she was, Garrett shook his head and pointed with the end of his quill.

“You need to take the blanket, shake it out, and arrange it evenly on the bed. That will make it look nice, and will help you get your mind in order to start your day. It will also help when you come back to go to sleep.”

Glancing at Garrett like he was insane, Ryn hesitated for a long moment before walking back over to her bed and shaking out the sheet. Trying to spread it out of the bed, she glanced over her shoulder only to see the young noble shaking his head.

“You need to turn it the other way. The goal is to cover the bed. I would show you how to do it, but as you can see,” Garrett said, waving the stump of his right arm. “If we’re going to share a room, there are a few ground rules I think it would be wise to follow. And the first one is, no mess. Keep everything neat and tidy. Speaking of which, we really need to dust and wash the floor. It would be nice to clean that window as well.”

“We?”

“You. I’m providing for our stay, and you’ll be cleaning our room once a week, at least. An uncluttered and clean mind starts with an uncluttered and clean space. Is something the matter?”

Eyes narrowed, Ryn stared at Garrett for a moment before smiling sweetly and shaking her head.

“No, nothing is the matter. I’d be happy to clean up our room once a week. But for now I should get breakfast,” she said, hurrying for the door.

Just before she slipped out, she shot a glance at Garrett and mumbled under her breath. It should have been too quiet for him to hear, but thanks to his Awakening, his hearing was much sharper than a normal person’s.

“I should have left him by the river…”

Suppressing the chuckle that rose to his lips, Garrett shook his head and turned his attention back to the old ledger. The financial methods of this world weren’t entirely undeveloped, but for Garrett, who had come from Earth, they were completely primitive. A simple debit and credit system had been used to keep track of the gang’s money, and each entry consisted of a short description of what was being taken out or put in, along with an initial for the individual who was taking the money out or putting it in. There were no dates, no verifications, and nothing that would provide information about what the money was being removed for.

In the short amount of time Garrett had leafed through the book the day before, he had already found a dozen errors that seemed to be repeated fairly regularly, by a few different people. While it was possible they were just bad at math, these entries reeked of something more nefarious. Often, on the pages where the errors occurred, there were also ink spills, crossed-out numbers, and other methods of obfuscating the error. While Garrett had no way of proving there were a few people skimming a bit of gold off the top of the gang’s finances, he wasn’t concerned about finding actual evidence.

It was clear to him, even from the short amount of time he’d spent interacting with Henrick, that the innkeeper and gang boss wasn’t the kind of person to let things like proof stand in his way. It was painstaking work, since Garrett liked to keep his books neat, and the quill had a tendency to drop ink when he wasn’t looking, so by the time Ryn returned with breakfast he’d only gotten a few lines done. Balancing plates and bowls, Ryn barged into the room, pushing his things aside as she slid the dishes onto the table.

Seeing one of the vials of ink tip over and roll to the edge of the table, Garrett hurriedly dropped his quill and reached out to stop it. A bit of ink from the tip of the pen dripped on the table, eliciting a click of his tongue, which Ryn completely ignored. He still wasn’t used to her brash movements and chatty nature, and he was starting to wonder if rooming with her was going to prove detrimental to his health. Not that there was another option.

“Compose yourself, please. The food isn’t going anywhere.”

Sticking her tongue out at Garrett’s severe tone, Ryn shoved a big bite of bread in her mouth and lifted a spoonful of porridge in the other. Afraid that his clean book was about to get splattered, Garrett quickly got it off the table, placing it down next to him on the bed. With a sigh, he pulled over the bowl of porridge that Ryn had brought him, staring down at it skeptically. He had always been an eggs-and-toast sort of guy back on Earth, and nobles in this world ate meat for breakfast, so to be forced into a diet of nearly tasteless porridge had been a culture shock on two fronts. Still, he knew he couldn’t survive without it, so he said a mental prayer for his taste buds and dug in, trying to choke down the cardboard-flavored food as quickly as possible.

Even the bread tasted of cardboard to him, though looking at Ryn, one would expect it to be the most delicious food ever cooked. After getting through most of his porridge and about half of the bread they sent along, he couldn’t manage it anymore and pushed it over to Ryn, who was waiting, spoon held at the ready. Without wasting a moment, she grabbed his bowl and started shoveling the pasty mush into her mouth, her eyes positively gleaming. Others might not understand her haste, but Garrett had missed enough meals during his life on Earth to know full well why she ate as she did.

As he waited for her to finish so he could reclaim the table, he carefully considered their next moves. They had solved the temporary food and shelter problem, though they were still on tenuous ground. He didn’t trust Henrick as far as he could throw him, which, in his condition, wasn’t at all, and unless he figured out a way to make himself indispensable to the innkeeper, the life they were currently enjoying was going to end. Thankfully, he wasn’t entirely without resources. First, he had Ryn, who not only knew the area and the people who lived here, but who was also nearly invisible to those with power.

Second, he had the Dream and his strange abilities in it. He had no idea how the world of the Dream worked, and it seemed to be more dangerous than helpful at the moment, but he could sense the potential it contained. Not just in allowing him to grow stronger personally, but also in gathering intelligence and gaining leverage that he’d have no access to otherwise. Finally, he had himself. With a wealth of knowledge from Earth and a clear understanding of the noble circles, he could cover for the knowledge Ryn lacked. While he still wasn’t quite sure about trusting her, the fact that she’d already gone out on a limb for him, and more than once at that, allayed his suspicions well enough.

“So, you wanted me to do something, right?” Ryn asked, brushing her ragged hair out of her eyes and licking her spoon clean.

“Indeed. We stand on shaky ground at the moment and need to shore up our position. This means making ourselves useful. I need you to help me figure out the best ways to be helpful. Today, if you have nothing else to do, go make yourself useful around the building. Volunteer to sweep, do dishes, that sort of thing.”

“You want me to go do chores? First the bed, then cleaning the room, now you want me to clean the inn? Are you insane? I told you, I’m not your maid,” Ryn said, grabbing her bowl and standing up abruptly.

Shaking his head at her angry look, Garrett reached up and touched his ear.

“No, I want you to put yourself in a position to listen. I need you to listen to what’s going on around here. See if you can pick up any problems that people are having that we might be able to solve. Don’t put yourself in danger, but if the cook is complaining about something to do with his job, or the Ghoul’s Tooth members are moaning about their work, pay attention. While you do that, I’ll work on this. If I’m right, we only have about three days before Henrick gets tired of us, which means we need to make ourselves useful first.”

“Aren’t you doing the money counting for him?” Ryn asked, confusion creeping across her face. “Isn’t that enough?”

“No. Money counting doesn’t need to be done every day, so we’re wasting space. Once I’m done, we’ll be thrown out.”

“Ugh, are you serious? I thought I was safe! This is so frustrating.”

“It is, but don’t worry. Follow my directions, and I promise, you’ll be able to stay here as long as you want.”

Smirking at his brave words, Ryn rolled her eyes at Garrett.

“Please, you can’t walk or hold a weapon, and the thugs we’re facing will have no qualms about throwing us to the dogs as soon as they decide they can’t wring any more profit from us.”

Surprised by the stark realism Ryn’s words carried, Garrett cracked a smile.

“That’s true, which means we just need to become so valuable they can’t throw us away. Keep your ear out for the next few days and tell me as soon as you hear something. Have you ever done any intelligence work?”

“Intelligence work? What’s that?” Ryn asked, her forehead furrowing in confusion.

“Spying. The key is not showing interest. You’re there to clean, or take the plates, or whatever it is you’re doing. No one will suspect you working since we’re trying to stay here and that sort of behavior is in our interest. Oh, I meant to ask, do you have a way to protect yourself?”

“No self-respecting girl wouldn’t,” Ryn replied, a short dagger appearing in her hand.

“Good. Hopefully you won’t need it, but it’s nice to be prepared. Now, please clear the table, I need to get back to work if I’m going to finish inside of a week.”

Sticking out her tongue again, Ryn grabbed the plates and bowls, stacking them on top of each other carelessly. Sweeping some crumbs off the table and onto the floor, she seemed to take delight in the vein that throbbed on Garrett’s temple. Opening the door, she paused and looked back at him, her face growing serious. For close to a minute she just stared at him, her eyes locked with his.

“Is there something on my face?” Garrett finally asked, reaching up to touch his cheek.

“I’ve invested a lot in you, you know. Pretty much everything. I could start over, but it would take me forever. You owe me a whole silver, and at least a dozen copper. With interest. So make sure this plan of yours, whatever it is, works.”