Fortress Al-Mir

“Dakka,” Arkk said under his breath. “Are you aware that there are about eight demihumans following us?”

Arkk could see his employees wherever they were, in the fortress or out here in Cliff. He could see a little bit of the area around his employees as well. At least while outside the fortress. For those inside Fortress Al-Mir, he could see everything if he focused. It was an odd sort of vision. A bit like going cross-eyed from drinking too much, except instead of seeing two of whatever was in front of him, he saw whatever he was focused on.

Out here, in the periphery of Dakka, he could see several orcs, a lizardman, and two elves following some distance behind as he walked along the streets with Dakka at his side.

They had been following them since they left the Primrose.

“Cowards and weaklings,” Dakka said with a huff, glancing over her shoulder. As she did so, most of those following stopped and tried to look busy with anything else. That just had her scoffing. “I recognize a few of them. People I’ve been gambling with lately.”

“Have you been cheating?” Arkk asked, mildly exasperated.

“Hardly.”

“So, a little.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Dakka said with a grunt. “We can take them.”

“I don’t want to take them,” Arkk hissed. “The inquisitors are already breathing down my neck. If I start throwing around forbidden magic—”

“Didn’t your new minion teach you a different lightning spell?”

“She isn’t a minion. You’re not a minion.” Ignoring Dakka’s scoff, Arkk continued, “She did, but I don’t think a seventeen-syllable spell that can only produce one bolt of lightning per incantation is actually valid for combat. How do other spellcasters do it?”

“Ask your new minion,” Dakka said with a shrug as they kept walking along the road. “Plans for the group behind us?”

“Stay out of dingy alleys? They won’t attack us in the open, will they?”

“They’ll probably stick around, keeping watch until we return. Jump us on the way back.” Dakka paused, then added, “Or they might head back and break into our room, hoping to get some coin that way.”

Arkk slowed down, frowning. Ilya was in the room. Ever since her little escapade to the Duke’s manor, she had not been all that lively. Even the promise that they would come back, properly prepared and ready to infiltrate one of the Duke’s parties hadn’t gotten her fully back to normal. It was her mother’s actions that bothered her.

To Arkk, it had sounded like a wise move on Alya’s part. Unless Ilya had very much misrepresented the situation in her retelling, it sounded like Ilya had been about to assassinate the Duke. Arkk didn’t like the Duke any more than Ilya did, but that was the worst possible decision. They would never be able to simply kill the Duke in the middle of his city and get away.

Thanks to Alya, he didn’t have to deal with his friend’s momentary lapse in judgment.

He still had to deal with his employee’s trouble, however.

“We can’t let them go back to the Primrose. Ilya could probably get away normally, but with her moping about? I’d be worried.”

“We are going to take them, then?” Dakka asked with a grin. “Next backstreet past that building is a good spot.”

Arkk shot Dakka a glare. “Why do you know good spots for this kind of stuff?”

The dumb orc just grinned wider, but her grin stalled as she put on a serious expression. “They won’t fight like we did,” Dakka said in a hushed tone. “Rough them up a little and they’ll run with their tail between their legs. Literally, in the case of the lizardman. Frying them is going to be more trouble than it is worth.”

“I wasn’t planning on frying them,” Arkk said as they turned down the indicated alley. “And those elves just stopped following us. I think they heard.”

“Good. Two we don’t have to worry about.” Dakka paused, then shrugged as she leaned up against one building halfway down the alley. “Don’t remember pissing off any elves anyway.”

“But all the others following us have valid reasons, I’m sure,” Arkk said with a sigh.

Dakka didn’t get to respond before a quartet of orcs rounded the corner, followed closely by a lizardman. She barely glanced at them, not budging from her spot against the wall where she leaned with her arms crossed. “Depends on how valid you think losing some coin is.”

“How much coin?”

Glancing down, Dakka grabbed a large pouch that clanked as it moved. It filled her hand completely. Although she was small for an orc, she was still larger than Arkk, making it quite the hefty sack of money. “About three of these. Mostly silver. A few gold.”

“Hey!” the orc at the head of the group yelled.

“I could just pay them off,” Arkk said, eyes still on Dakka. “I’m rich, apparently.”

“They’ll just want more and more.”

“I’m—”

“We’re talking here!” Dakka shouted at the orc who was interrupting. Then she adopted a kind of smile Arkk had seen on orcs now and again. The kind that fully bared the lower tusks. “I know you,” she said, staring at the orc. She cracked her neck back and forth. Loud pops echoed between the worn planks of the wooden buildings. “You listened to my advice and brought friends. This’ll be fun.”

“Fun,” Arkk scoffed. “I was hoping to bump into Hawkwood with you, and now—”

Arkk leaped to the side, narrowly dodging a stone. His eyes snapped to the lizardman who threw it from a sling. If he hadn’t seen it through his… whatever his observational vision might be called, it would have hit him square in the chest. Probably with enough force to crack a rib.

The lizardman was in the middle of fetching another stone from a pouch at his hip, but his motions slowed under Arkk’s glare. The stone slipped from his fingers, clunking against the ground. An orc faltered, staring at Arkk with wide eyes. Given that the orc had been about to strike Dakka with a wooden club, it was far from the most opportune time to let his guard down. Dakka’s fist met his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Another orc, who had been ready to back up the first, jumped back well before Dakka hit the first. One orc, toward the back, turned and ran. The rest backed away slowly yet surely. One orc helped the fallen one up. Both turned and ran.

In a few seconds, the alley was empty.

Arkk looked around, making sure that Cliff’s guard force hadn’t marched up behind him, but there was no one there. Just him and Dakka.

“When you said we would have to rough them up, I thought you meant a bit more than that,” Arkk said with a frown. “You would think they would have put up more of a fight. Not that I’m complaining.”

“You mean, you didn’t do that on purpose?”

“Do… what?”

“That eye thing. Your eyes flashed red when that lizard threw the rock at you. Bright glowing red.”

“What? But…” Arkk trailed off, staring at himself from an outside perspective. As far as he could tell, he looked entirely normal.

“You’ve done it a few times,” Dakka said. “In the barrows once or twice, when Kazz’ak ambushed me. Those are just the times I saw it. I thought you were doing it on purpose. Glowing eyes are a pretty ominous omen. Figured you were trying to scare people.”

Arkk let out a small groan. “I think I need to talk to Vezta.”

“She has glowing eyes too.” Dakka shrugged. “Just saying…”

Shaking his head, Arkk looked down the backstreet. “They’re going to spread this around, aren’t they? Word of this is going to reach the inquisitors’ ears one way or another,” he said with a sigh. “I think we’ve overstayed our welcome in Cliff.”

“Sorry,” Dakka said, sounding genuine. “Probably should have held back a bit in the gambling.”

“It’s fine,” Arkk said with a sigh. “We’re just leaving a little earlier than planned. Go back to Primrose. Get Ilya and the cart. I’ll grab Zullie. We’ll meet outside the gate.”

They had already been planning on leaving in the morning, intending to return in the future after having come up with a way to get into one of the Duke’s parties. One day early wouldn’t matter. He already had what he needed from the city.

The sooner he put some distance between himself and the inquisitors, the better. For some reason, he doubted that Darius Vrox would turn and run if his eyes flashed red.

“You aren’t worried about me walking back on my own?” Dakka asked, insincere tone clear in her voice.

“You were about ready to fight all of them with me sitting it out, weren’t you?”

“The people in this city are soft, Arkk. Compared to what I’ve lived through? Five orcs and their lizard pet are fodder to be pushed aside.”

“Exactly,” Arkk said, shaking his head. “Meet me at the gates outside the city.”

“Sure thing, boss.” With a lazy wave, Dakka headed back the way they had come.

Arkk turned away, heading in the opposite direction. He started slowly at first, then picked up the pace with every step until he was in a swift jog. The sooner they left, the better. Those inquisitors would hear about some human with glowing eyes and he wanted to be nowhere nearby when they did.

Hurrying past the large statue at the Cliff Magical Academy’s entrance and into its labyrinth of corridors, Arkk quickly found himself at the door to Zullie’s office. After their meeting with Ilya and Dakka, he had come back the next day to help pack. And to take a look at the magical books she had. Most of her books and equipment were at the Primrose, ready to be loaded into the cart. Zullie, however, wanted even more. Having seen her office, Arkk well knew that it had far more books than even Fortress Al-Mir’s library before he remodeled it.

He was entirely unsurprised to find her trying to fit two too many books into an open crate.

“There is a limit to how much we can pack on the cart before the horse starts having trouble,” Arkk said. One crate probably wasn’t going to hurt, but he could see five empty crates up against the wall just waiting to be filled.

Zullie, rectangular glasses hanging off the end of her nose, squinted at Arkk over the rims. Setting one of the offending books down, she shoved the glasses up her face and frowned. “Are you a spellcaster or not?”

“Uh…”

Slapping the lid on the crate and securing it with a little metal latch, she turned it on its side, showing off the bottom. On one of the thick planks that made up the crate, Zullie had inscribed a complex ritual circle. She slapped her hand to it, held it there for a moment, then pulled back. Bright white lines of magic covered the circle for a moment before fading to a dull, barely-visible glow.

Grabbing hold of the crate, Zullie hefted it up and tossed it at him. Arkk grimaced, leaning a bit too far forward in anticipation of the weight. When it hit, he had to quickly step forward to keep from falling at the lack of its expected weight. Steadying himself, he held the crate in one hand.

“This feels like holding one book,” Arkk said, flipping the crate upside-down to get a better look at the ritual circle. “Not twenty.”

“A featherweight ritual. You haven’t used one before? Don’t know how people get things done without them.”

“I only know a few rituals,” Arkk admitted, hesitant. She had seen his lightning spell and was interested in that but didn’t exactly want to frighten her off by revealing himself to be the country louse that he was. “One that is either fire or light and I’m not sure which or if I’m doing it wrong, a tracking ritual—”

“That is a fairly complex ritual to know while not knowing featherweight.”

“Yeah,” Arkk said with a shrug. “I’m kind of self-taught. Picked up a few other rituals from travelers to my village. Though I do know a teleportation ritual, I’m not sure exactly how to set a destination. Something I should talk about with Vezta,” Arkk mumbled to himself.

“A… what?”

“Is that not a commonly known ritual?”

“Teleportation?” Zullie narrowed her eyes. “I don’t even know what that word is supposed to mean.”

“Well, I’m not exactly sure either.”

“How are you not—”

“Zullie!”

The door flung open behind Arkk. Priest Heller, panting slightly, looked around the room with worry on his thin face. That worry abruptly vanished when he spotted Zullie standing upright at her desk. He looked at her, confused, before shaking his head. “Thought you fainted again.”

“And just why would you think that?”

“Last time an inquisitor pulled up to the academy, you were in trouble,” he said with a shrug. “Worried you needed help, but now that I see you don’t, I’m going to leave. If they are here for you, I don’t want to be anywhere nearby.” With a curt nod of his head, Heller vanished as quickly as he appeared, leaving the door to gently swing shut behind him.

“Inquisitors,” Zullie said, nose wrinkling. “Again?”

Arkk, tense, moved to the door and peered out down the corridor. The priest was hurrying down the hall away from the entrance and a few others were walking about. No sign of the inquisitors yet.

They couldn’t possibly know about his eyes already, could they?

“We need to leave.”

“Leave?” Zullie rolled her eyes. “They do this once a year or so. Harass me and my good work. I was asleep when he came by, so he’s come back for that. Darius will come and frown at me for a few minutes—”

“They aren’t here for you,” Arkk said. “They’re here for me. Is there another way out of this place? Other than the front entrance.”

“After you?”

“I can explain later.” Arkk paused, then glanced back to Zullie. “If you still want to go with me knowing the inquisitors are after me, that is.”

“We haven’t done anything since their last visit,” Zullie said, crossing her arms.

“For some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that Vrox won’t be too friendly if he catches me. I don’t want to start a fight here. I don’t know what kind of sorcery he knows, but even if I do beat him, I won’t be able to beat all the city’s guards.”

“You’re serious.”

Arkk didn’t even finish nodding his head before she grabbed his arm and dragged him out into the hall. She took off in haste, heading away from the entrance. Without a word, she led him down one corridor, another, then crossed around another long corridor.

“You owe me,” Zullie said as they entered into a much darker and less well-traveled section of the academy. “All my poor books that I hadn’t packed…”

“That is what you’re worried about?”

“The most valuable ones are with your cart. They’re still safe, right?”

Quickly checking on Ilya and Dakka, he found both just barely leaving the stables next to the Primrose. As far as he could tell, there were still six crates of books in the back. “Yeah.”

“Then it isn’t a great loss. The academy will take care of them. But…” Zullie sighed.

She didn’t stop walking.

The corridors were becoming dustier and dustier. The glowstones on the walls weren’t doing much glowing. He didn’t know the theory of why but presumed they needed some kind of magical upkeep to maintain their luminosity. “Where are we going?” Arkk asked, eying the tiles on the floor.

He had thought of it before, but this place was similar to Fortress Al-Mir. The tiles weren’t his compass rose tiles, but they were close enough that he wouldn’t have been surprised to find the two places had been built by the same people.

“The academy is built into some old ruins. Dwarven, I think.”

“I thought dwarfs were extinct.”

“Very old ruins,” Zullie corrected herself. “This whole mountain is filled with crossing passages and unused rooms. Only the front section is commonly used. Technically, these passages are off-limits. Rumor has it that foolish initiates wandered into the deeper tunnels and never wandered back out. I’ve never seen a skeleton back here; maybe I haven’t explored far enough.”

“Is there a way out?” Arkk asked. He didn’t like the idea of becoming one of those rumored skeletons.

“There are, but…” Zullie slowed, glancing back behind them. “Listen,” she said, holding up a hand.

Arkk didn’t hear anything, but her eyes widened.

Zullie glanced down at the floor under their feet. It was dim in the faded glowstone light, but the footprints in the dust were clear to see. Stepping away from Arkk, pushing him against the wall in the process, she held her hands out around her and began to spin in place, around and around. “Angin bertiup di sekitar saya dalam badai besar untuk menyapu musuh saya dari kaki mereka.”

If Arkk hadn’t been up against a wall, he would have been thrown off his feet from the sudden gale that ripped through the corridor. As it was, the crate of books ripped out from his grip and went skidding across the floor until it caught on the edge of a doorway and broke open, sending books everywhere down the hall.

Opening his jaw popped his ears, but he didn’t get a chance to ask about that spell before Zullie grabbed his hand and rushed down the hall, away from the broken crate. She took two turns—the floor on the way had been cleared of dust from her spell—and ducked into a room. She didn’t stop until she had pressed him back into the corner.

“What—”

“Do not move. You will break the spell,” she said, then motioned with her hands in front of them, holding them up with her palms facing toward the doorway. “Penyembunyian dari saksi mengambil bentuk apa yang paling diharapkan berdasarkan konteks daerah sekitarnya.”

Arkk braced himself, not wanting to get blown away. However, this wasn’t that wind spell. At first, he wasn’t sure what it was doing, but then he looked at Zullie in front of him and blinked in confusion. She was there… Yet, she was also just another stack of boxes in this old storage room they had found themselves in.

Arkk didn’t dare ask, not wanting to break her concentration. Soon enough, he didn’t want to ask for fear of alerting whoever was in the corridor. He could hear someone moving out there. Their boots thumped against the tile floors, slowly growing louder in a slow, steady rhythm. Every so often, the footsteps momentarily faded and were replaced with the sound of doors creaking open out in the hall.

The footsteps drew closer.

The woman he had seen with Vrox in Langleey stepped inside the storage room. In the dim light, the faint glow in her many scars was all the more apparent. The very center of her pupils lit up with the same yellow as her scars as her head slowly scanned the room, looking from one side to the other. When her gaze reached the corner they were hiding in, Zullie’s arms started trembling.

Arkk shuddered. No wonder the orcs had run off, assuming his eyes looked anything like that.

Agnete, if Arkk remembered her name right, didn’t do anything aside from turning and leaving. Her footsteps faded as she continued down the hall, occasionally stopping as she opened doors.

Zullie’s arms dropped to her sides, ending the spell, almost the moment that Agnete left. However, neither she nor Arkk moved while they could still hear those steps. A few minutes after that, Zullie looked back.

“Holy Light,” she said, voice a shaking whisper. “That wasn’t just an inquisitor. That was a purifier.”

“I have no idea what that means. She called herself Purifier Agnete. Or Vrox did, anyway.”

Zullie shook her head. “You’re the real deal, aren’t you? Forbidden magics and everything.”

“Uh…”

Zullie gripped his wrist and pulled him to the door. She glanced both ways, then started walking back the same way they had just come. “Good Light, I am even more excited.”

“Excited? You aren’t worried about the scary woman with glowing eyes?”

“Terrified. It is said that purifiers wield holy flame, capable of burning anything. Wood, rock, water, air. It doesn’t matter. They can even burn down the sky.”

“That sounds like an exaggeration. But in case it isn’t, let’s get as far away as we can.”

“Agreed. There should be a way out not far from here.”

That was the best news Arkk had heard in a long while. The sooner he was out of Cliff, the better.

He just had to hope the inquisitors wouldn’t follow him all the way back to Langleey.