155. Messages and Compendiums (Patreon)

Tercius licked his dry lips, thinking about his chance to leave the room faster than an Elder Spirit could. If he went all out with his skills and he burned through his downsized mana pool like a person with a death wish, then he did give himself a rather good chance of leaving the place before anyone could get him. But… he would still end up getting caught. When that happens, he might as well kiss any semblance of a peaceful life goodbye. His mana thrummed inside his channels, his skills awaiting his commands, but that thought stilled him to inaction. He truly couldn't decide what would be worse — die in peace now and not attract any unwanted attention to himself and his family or fight to live a life that would surely end up attracting the many, many sentient and curious nuclear warheads into the orbit of him and his family?

Standing still, Tercius tried to make himself as small as possible. It wasn't hard, not when two giant cats stood so close, but it also wasn't working. The black lion had his intense gaze on Tercius' skin.

The white lioness sauntered over the movements of the muscled limbs slow and graceful, her size allowing her to cross the distance in a blink of his eye. Yet, instead of going towards him, she laid her massive body on the floor, wrapping the Speaker between two front paws the size of a grown man's torso and a massive tongue slick with saliva licked the side of the Speaker's head, pulling wet hair and making the woman gurgle some strange noise. The Speaker murmured something unintelligible, pushing at the massive tongue and the jaw of the lioness with her saliva-soaked hands.

“Worry not, young man,” the Speaker said, patting the great white head of the lioness. “Lady Dawn and Lord Dusk won’t harm you. They are just concerned about me, that’s all,”

Tercius blinked silently at the cross-legged woman, his heart still in his warm ears, and yet he somehow found himself tentatively breathing again. Not knowing what else to do with himself, he continued standing still and did what a Magos ought to do in moments of intense emotion. The heart is speeding, the ears are hot, the palms are sweaty, the eyes are darting, he told himself. Fear of failing, fear of dying, fear of making things worse than they had been, Tercius started listing and cataloging each and every present feeling, untangling the knot from the obvious ends and delving deeper into the tangled mess.

Seconds passed, then what seemed like a minute, then two, and he remained whole, his body not a mangled corpse or a shredded mess of bones and blood, Dawn’s massive head nuzzling the Speaker and Dusk’s sharp eyes surveying the room.

“You’re handling this much better than some of the initiates,” the Speaker suddenly said.

Tercius laughed weakly. Not jumping out of your own skin could be considered as ‘handling it’, he supposed.

“What—” Tercius cleared his throat and swallowed a lump that he didn’t know he had, “What do people normally do in this… situation,”

“Well, some soil themselves, others scream and most start running…” the old woman cackled with obvious glee. “Sometimes all at the same time. Very few stand rooted in spot,”

Tercius couldn’t say that the norm was in any way an overreaction.

“Tell me, what name did they give you?”

“Tercius,”

“A name given to invoke luck…” the woman said. “I see… And since you’re here…”

Tercius nodded. He was the eldest child now, but if things had been different for Petra and Septimus Tercius would have been their third child, probably living under a name that didn’t have to invoke luck linked with survival. He hadn’t been born when the babies had died, but he had been carried by a weeping Petra to visit two little remembrance trees almost every week for the first year of his life. It was not a pleasant thought to dwell on at all.

“So… The… Lord and Lady… feel your emotions?” Tercius asked, in need to change the subject.

"Oh yes." the Speaker nodded gently, now caressing the tip of the white muzzle. The lioness, Tercius saw now, was not made of marble, as he initially thought, but rather she had fine white hairs all over her body. "Why they need that, though, is beyond me…" the woman said absentmindedly, "I do feel their peace, the placid pools of ages that had seen it all… it… grounds me…"

A bond then?

A bond similar to what he and his familiar had. Even now, he could feel her at the back of his mind, the direction clear in his mind like a bright light that pointed directly south of him far, far away back home in Nurium. Entrusted to Tercius’ younger sister, the tiny herbivore familiar had officially stayed back so that Tercius could finally test what distance would do of their bond, but unofficially she was there to be a family guardian hidden in plain sight, the tiny river lioness considered a harmless yet annoying pest by most of Sogeans who lived along Hippotion. The annoying part was true, at times, but harmless Amber was not. After Amber became his familiar, the special Energy type that Tercius had access to had flooded the bond that had been established between them, slowly altering Amber in many ways and allowing the two-year-old hybrid of feline and reptile to access powers normally limited to her much older kin — a skill to bend water to her will. It was still very much developing, but Tercius had hopes that one day Amber would be able to shift rivers and move oceans.

For now, a large kettle of water was Amber's limit. Some would say that it was a meager quantity, but it was only so for those lacking imagination. For example, if that meager quantity of water was made to boil— which the enchanted heating plate in his kitchen did in minutes— or be poisoned— by one of the many dangerous herbs his grandmother had in her secret stash— and suddenly anyone who tried to use violence to enter the house would get a warm, spicy welcome. A few drops straight in the face, preferably by aiming for the eyes and the mouth was what Tercius trained her to do. Of course, it was Tercius' mother who was the one responsible for spicing and heating the water. The bond between him and Amber grew with every day, deepening some parts of both of them to understand the other better, and in a mere half a year they had reached a point where they could have something highly alike to a conversation. Yet, no matter how clever Amber was, the tiny lioness of gray scales remained a cat. Eating juicy leaves, sunbathing on the roof, having people scratch her around her ears, swimming, and napping when she wasn't going through any of the mentioned options…

With the title of 'The Speaker', Tercius concluded that she must have some kind of a bond.

“Menesthios told me that you are asking to learn where your father and grandmother are…” the Speaker suddenly said. “On the account of an urgent matter,”

“Yes,”

“There are some issues with your request, young man,” she said and looked his way.

Tercius stayed silent, waiting for her to illuminate him on the matter.

“Even should I ignore that you’re not one of our own, in your heart of hearts, and tell you where they are… I fear, from what I saw earlier, that you might actually go there. You’re determined enough… and young enough to be foolish…”

“By going there… you mean going to the Monastery in the mountains east of here?” Tercius asked plainly. All he needed was a “yes” in any shape or form and he would be off.

The woman’s cloudy eyes looked at him. “So you do know… Your grandmother spoke of that place, did she?”

So they did go there. Tercius almost let out a sigh at the accomplished mission. Now, he had to get out of here and be on his way as soon as possible.

“Grandmother mentioned it once, years ago,” Tercius said. “And in his letter, father spoke of a place in the mountains… so…”

“So you… remembered?”

“I have an excellent memory. If you can give me a few directions to shorten my—”

“A good memory is wasted on a fool, don’t you know that?” the woman snapped harshly, looking at him like one would at a blubbering idiot. The heads of the Elder Spirits turned his way. “That place, young man, is drop dead in the middle of Wilderness. You know what that means?”

Tercius noted his fear and let it be. “More or less,”

The old woman uttered a harsh laugh. “If I were a betting woman, I would venture that it's less. Ah, to be young and ignorant, to think of yourself as ready to challenge the world and prevail… There are beasts up there that could halve you with a single bite, young man, and that’s just a single danger on the road,”

An outline of a frown formed on Tercius’ face. “How did they go there, then?”

"How else but with care and experience? We have traveled those mountains for generations," the woman said. "We know which paths to take, which cliffs to climb and caves to avoid, valleys to never step foot in, we know which berries not to touch, and herbs that you absolutely have to have at certain places. We know the streams that would put you to sleep for a week from a single gulp of their cool waters, plants that would strangle you should you come close enough, beasts that would haunt you till the end of times and ends of the world should you assault an offspring of theirs. It's knowledge paid for with blood and sweat, young man.

“Knowledge of which you, child of Valeria, know nothing. To tell you where to go is the same as to send you to your death and that, blood of my blood, is not something I will do. Say the urgent matter you have and I shall pass it along so that they reach the ears of your father.”

Tercius’ heart thumped. Blazing Hells, he didn’t need people to tell him how idiotic he was, he knew all of it on his own. Of course, people did it anyway. All that this woman told him now, the Magi had already told him a day ago.

In fact, if not for Perdinar’s insistence that Tercius had a right to provide help to his next of kin, Tercius was sure that his Mentor would not have agreed to allow him— she didn’t actually allow it, now that he thought about it. If his Mentor had her way, she would likely knock him out and bring him to the Pyramid, only letting him handle this problem in a couple of years, when he had some more training under him and when success was all but guaranteed.

But Tercius had to go. He had to. He was in large part the responsible party for his grandmother starting to form her Well, he was responsible for months of excruciating pain that Well development entailed, he was responsible for Septimus having to take Rona to a place where people could help her. Tercius knew that he would not be able to handle it if he left the two of them there for months or years, not when he had means to help Rona finish the formation now, in less time and with less pain, and not when he could get them back to Nurium with a little help from his Mentor.

It was risky and foolish, he agreed, but what other option did he have?

“Thank you for speaking with me, Honored Speaker, but I can’t—”

“No. Even if you don’t want to speak to me of what drove you to come here, you will heed my words — do not go up that mountain, not if you value the life you have and the spark that you give your parents. Don’t rob yourself, and them, of something precious in vain. Not when it can be avoided by mere waiting.” the woman said sternly.

He wasn’t sure what she would do if she knew that he intended to go either way, so he might as well play along… and learn a few things along the way.

“Honored Speaker… how long will it take for my father to get the word you send?”

“Moments, young man, mere moments.”

"How is that possible?" he asked, surprised. He knew that Magi had a way to transfer messages globally, but he didn't know that the clergy had one as well. Although, considering that the Empire too had a long-distance method of communication, he supposed that it wasn't as far-fetched that the old religions had one too.

“That is for me to know and for you to guess,” the woman said mysteriously, slowly rising to her feet with great care by leaning on the head and paw of the white lioness.

Spirits would be Tercius’ answer to his own question. Some kind of a spiritual telephone line.

“And if you can get word there in moments… then the answer back is…”

“Depends on them,” the woman said. “If they are quick about it, then I will be too. If they take their time, then…”

Maybe he could send word to Septimus to head home as soon as possible with the help of this woman… maybe he could then intercept— his thoughts ground to a halt. Five months ago was the last letter that arrived from Septimus. Nearly half a year with no word.

For Rona's Well to form, as the clergy likely knew, would take anywhere north of a year and a half to complete. It was also possible that the pain would overwhelm the old lady and she would just give up, preferring death than torment.

Hells, Tercius knew the man and he knew the old lady. He knew what both would do in this situation. Septimus would have trekked ice and hellfire to get back home if he knew how long Rona's condition would take to solve. If the clergy had been honest with him, there was no way in Hells that Septimus would have agreed to stay there for all that time, far away from an eight-year-old daughter, a nearly four-year-old son, a newborn baby girl, let alone away from his wife, Petra. On the other hand, Rona would have spewed ice and hellfire if he didn't leave her and go take care of her grandchildren and daughter.

Since Septimus wasn’t home and not a single word of him was heard from him in months, meant that either something had happened to him on the journey back or that he was being held at that Monastery, prevented by force from communicating or leaving.

For the first one, Tercius had no solution. Sogea, even though considered civilized, was still dangerous. Bandits, wild animals, even soldiers and nobles, all of it could have been the end of a man called Septimus. It was a possibility that Tercius feared far more than venturing out into the Wilderness. He wasn’t prone to doing it, but in his heart of hearts, he prayed a little. To no being in particular, Tercius sent out a prayer that Septimus was held in that Monastery, held against his will.

No, Tercius decided. He wouldn’t use this woman as a telephone, nor mention his true goal. He would go there, to that Monastery… and now he realized that he had to be careful of what the consequences of him coming here, to this Temple, and meeting with this woman would be when he arrived at that Monastery… Altering a few things to fit the new circumstances would have to be his priority…

“If you can, Honored Speaker, please tell my father that we all think of him and grandmother. Tell him that Tercius is there to take care of everything. He doesn’t need to worry about anything, only focus on getting ready to come home. He and grandmother both.”

The woman nodded, gently petting the Lady. “You have my word, your words will reach him. Now stay a bit with us. I wish to hear more of your grandmother and her life after she left us… I know she married a… carpenter, didn't she?”

“Stonemason,”

“And I know of your mother, of course,” the woman said. “But nothing else, not since they vanished from the city… Tell me something of…”

*** ***** ***

Tercius was barely able to extract himself from the Temple grounds in the late afternoon and he and Isidorus headed out of the old district with haste. At the district gate, Tercius separated from Isidorus and proceeded with the plan he and his Mentor came up with, to make sure no Spirits of Balance followed after him.

First, he went about the city's many districts, with no discernable pattern to his path. For an hour he weaved past throngs of common people, moving to the edges of the cobbled streets when a noble and his retinue went past on horseback until he finally decided to go to a good shoemaker that Isidorus recommenced, to see how quickly a good pair of walking leather boots could be made. Within the hour, was the answer that Tercius got when enough coins clinked on the table of the artisan and his dozen apprentices. The old man and the young men and women working under him shaped a pair of boots to fit Tercius' feet like a second skin, the well-developed skills of the old master making short work of many issues that would have required hours if not days of work. Tercius only asked for small compartments to be made both inside and outside the boots, made to house throwing knives. The leather there had to be reinforced especially, which Tercius had to pay especially.

All the while, Tercius refrained from using any of his skills, although he would have liked to take a glimpse into the inner workings of skills used for shaping leather and wood and glue. You never knew when something could be useful, after all.

With a new pair of boots, made a tiny bit larger so as to last him at least a few months, Tercius went and walked down to where the Hippotion met the Central Ocean, walking past temple after temple dedicated to one of the many humanoid Divines of the Empire. If any Spirits of Balance followed him here, then they were as good as gone. He observed the grandiose stone temples and their majestic gardens and statues for a while, as if admiring the architecture, but actually he was going over the conversation he had had with the Speaker, combing for something that might have slipped past him when he was afraid or when something else preoccupied him.

Sometime later he headed down to where the shipyards and city docks were, to a tavern called "Jolly Sailor", a place he stayed at once upon a time.

He ordered food to fill his growling stomach, avoiding many of the strange seafoods offered and settling himself on a plain roasted fish. In the middle of his meal a cloaked shape sat across from him and lifted her hooded head a bit to reveal bronze skin, greenish eyes, and dark springs of hair.

“That was well done.”

“Did they follow me?”

“Up until you headed towards the Empire temples, they did,” his Mentor nodded, as she lifted a hand to hail the waitress. “Did you get what you needed from them?”

“Oh yes, only I think I got more than I intended…”

He told her of the possibility that the Monastery now might be alerted to his arrival and she took that as well as he expected. Her sole Mathethes before Tercius had died suddenly and it took the woman decades to take on Tercius, and he was not sure if she would have taken him if she didn’t know of his potential. So no, she didn’t take it well. Not well at all.

“Tercius…” Mistress Kalina said, pursing her lips and frowning a little. “I urge you to reconsider. We can try other routes…”

“Mistress, please,” Tercius said after he cleaned his fishy fingers with a little rag soaked in some kind of watery alcohol. “Each day is precious. Each hour. I have wasted too many already, to be honest. I should have done this days ago… I cannot wait half a year, a year, or more. I truly cannot. I need to do this now.”

The woman took a deep breath slowly and then let it out even slower, her unblinking eyes never leaving him.

“Frustration with you, with so many other meddlers, with myself… It’s all here in my throat. Building up here—” she said with a grimace on her face, claw-like fingers pointing at her slender neck. “And fear. A fear I thought I forgot somewhere along the passage of the decades. It turns out that it was there all along, just biding its time to show itself again.”

They fell silent, his Mentor picking apart her meal on her plate with methodical precision.

Finally done, she looked at him with eyes of green steel. “At the end of all of this, no matter what happens, you better have a working heartbeat, a sound mind, and an intact anima, or not even death itself will save you from me, boy. Not. Even. Death.”

Tercius wouldn’t bet on that, but he wisely kept that to himself. Seeing Mistress Kalina acting pissed off while being visibly frustrated was a new experience for him and he wasn’t sure just what the rules of the game were now. Better lay low until she cooled down into the neutral zone he was familiar with…

“With that out of the way, have a look at this,” his Mentor said, sliding a book no bigger or thicker than his palm across the smooth wooden table.

Tercius used a clean pinky to pull open the first pages, glancing at the hand-drawn images of various beasts, plants, and strangely shaped mountain peaks, skimming the text written around them. The smell of ink still fresh on the clean yellow pages, the book seemingly opened for the first time. His mouth fell a little open as he looked up at his Mentor. "This is a…"

“The first part of a compendium that deals with all manner of details of the mountain range known today as Izmittor, fresh out of the hands of our Scribes.”

Tercius’ mouth made an ‘o’ as he looked down at the book.

“It is outdated by a couple of millennia, I admit — it predates the Arrival of the Spirits by a couple of centuries, actually — but it should prove useful to you nonetheless even if some things have changed since. By the time you read that one, two more such books will be at your disposal.” his Mentor said and suddenly she seemed a little curious and… maybe even bashful as she leaned over the table. “But before you do start, tell me, did you go near the Elder Spirits?”

Tercius nodded.

The green eyes narrowed with even more interest. “What were they like?”