Gremlin's Greed: Chapter 6 COMPLETE (Patreon)

The caravan reached Aaron’s Vale at dawn several days later. They came to a stop along the side of a short hay barricade that encircled the town. The caravan workers wasted no time in grabbing their goods and forming a line to get inside the small town.

“Remind me why we’re wasting our time in this dump?” Jasper asked as he joined Ethan and Linna at the back of the line.

“It’s better than wasting time sitting in a wagon!” Linna replied, absentmindedly rubbing one of many dark bruises that had started to form on her arms. “Besides, I need to buy some things for the road. The next town we stop at is a week away.”

“Wait, you have money?” Jasper asked, his eyes darting over to the small pouch that Linna had donned around her waist.

The new Vision put a hand protectively over the pouch and gave Jasper a warning glare.

“Hands off. It’s mine.”

“Sheesh. Calm down. I didn’t plan to take it, I was just surprised,” Jasper grumbled.

“Sorry. I overreacted there. I think you just reminded me a little of someone I knew,” Linna said apologetically. She paused for a moment. “But you still can’t have any.”

“Bah. I was just going to borrow it for a little,” Jasper kicked the ground and pouted, a strange expression on what appeared to be a fully grown, albeit short, human.

The line moved forward at a steady pace. It didn’t take the three long to get to the lone guard standing watch at the edge of a small gap in the barricade. His helmet was worn and rusted, and the man looked bored out of his mind. He gave them a cursory glance, his eyebrow twitching slightly at the second sword buckled to Ethan’s waist.

“Why do you need two swords?” He asked Ethan.

“In case I lose one inside someone else,” Ethan said seriously.

“I see,” the guard said, taken aback. “You best not let that happen in Aaron’s Vale.”

He eyed Linna and Jasper, but they both gave him innocent smiles. The guard sighed waved them onwards and pointedly looked in the other direction as they passed. Jasper glanced over at Ethan with a smirk.

“Real balls of steel on this one,” he commented, jerking a thumb back at the guard.

“Friendly folk in this town,” Ethan said. “But they really don’t seem very prepared to defend themselves. I hope they don’t get any trouble from monsters or bandits.”

“Aye. Would be real tragic,” Jasper said, smoothing his hair down and licking his lips.

“It’s not like they’ve got anything to rob. The only things in Aaron’s Vale are a blacksmith, some farmers, and a tailor,” Linna said, frowning at Jasper.

Jasper’s face fell. Then he perked up again as his hand brushed the empty sheathe at his waist. He tugged at Linna’s sleeve to get her attention.

“A blacksmith? Guess this visit might not be a waste after all. Where’s he hiding?”

“I’ve got no clue, but I’d assume he’s near the middle of town.” Linna said, scratching the side of her head. “He shouldn’t be too hard to find. Aaron’s Vale is small.”

The Vision thanked her and darted off, leaving Ethan and Linna behind. Linna quickly checked to make sure her pouch hadn’t left its position at her side and then looked awkwardly over at Ethan.

“Sorry. My money just feels unsafe around him. I can’t really put a finger on why.”

“Listen to your instincts,” Ethan said, grinning. “Your money is never safe near Jill. Speaking of which, I’m afraid I have no money at the moment. I’ll just wait here until you’re done shopping. Make sure you get back soon enough for us to continue training.”

Linna covered a grimace and forced herself to keep from glancing down at her hands.

“That’s fine. I won’t be too long,” she said, heading deeper into the town.

It didn’t take Jasper too long to find the blacksmith. The stone building had a plume of thick smoke rising from its chimney like a signal flare. The gremlin started toward the store with a grin, but his smile faded with every step he took.

Jasper stopped several feet from the blacksmith, cold sweat practically pouring down his back. He gritted his teeth and glanced furtively around. The area was almost entirely deserted. The thought that it was strange for a smithy to be so quiet struck Jasper too late.

Light footsteps echoed out from a darkened alleyway just beside the forge. Jasper turned toward it slowly, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his hands. A tall, striking woman with long raven black hair emerged from within the darkness.

Her skin was a flawless porcelain white that had no place existing in a world that had a sun. Two stunning purple eyes burned into Jasper’s soul, and she gave him a warm smile. Jasper took one look at her near perfect appearance and his ears drooped.

“No.”

“Yes,” the woman replied in a singsong voice. She laughed at the despondent look on Jasper’s face.

“No,” he tried again, almost hopefully.

“Still yes,” the woman said, letting out a small laugh.

“Avril. What do you want from me?” Jasper asked.

“I’m honored you remember me so well,” the tall woman responded without a hint of irony. “It’s a pleasure to be so loved.”

“I could wipe a chimney chute with your conscience and somehow make the chimney dirtier,” Jasper said. “Now answer the question.”

Avril laughed again and raised her hand as if to pat Jasper on the head. She stopped just before her hand touched him and gave him a meaningful look.

“This disguise is weak,” she said. “A light breeze would blow it away.”

“No side tracking, Avril,” Jasper said, showing her his teeth. “The question.”

“You just take the fun out of everything,” Avril said with an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve decided to tag along with you. Things were getting awful boring at my place, so I was hoping you could spice them up.”

Jasper’s mouth opened to respond, but he slowly let it shut. The gremlin let out a defeated sigh and turned around with his shoulders slumped.

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” He asked despondently.

“Not in the slightest,” Avril said, smirking. “But I did bring you a present.”

Jasper glanced back at her. The tall woman pulled a dagger from her belt and presented it to the gremlin. He took it reluctantly, sliding it into his own sheathe. The weapon fit perfectly, and Jasper grunted.

“I don’t suppose this is your own dagger?”

Avril looked affronted.

“Of course not.”

“Had to check,” Jasper muttered. “You better not be lying. I don’t want that… thing anywhere near me.”

“I leave the lying to you, Jasper,” Avril said with a dangerous smile. Jasper glared at the woman and she shrugged in response.

“I’m going by Julian right now,” Jasper said with a sigh.

“Jill for short, isn’t it? I know. I just figured I’d address my old friend with his real name after so many years apart. Now, why don’t you introduce me to your new friend? I’m eager to meet her.”

After a short walk back through the city, the two returned to the caravan. The gremlin hopped up onto the edge of Linna’s wagon and pulled out his new weapon, examining the blade carefully.

“There’s nothing wrong with the knife,” Avril told Jasper as she looked toward the city. “And our friends are about to return.”

Jasper reluctantly returned the knife to its sheathe and followed Avril’s gaze. Ethan and Linna were making their way back to the caravan. There was a large cloth wrapped package in Linna’s hands and a smile on her face.

“Ethan seems to be getting along with Linna well,” Avril said.

Jasper gave the tall woman a sideways glance. She looked back at him innocently, causing the gremlin to grit his teeth in annoyance.

“At least ask her what her name is before you start using it,” he said, sighing.

Avril ignored him, waving in Ethan and Linna’s direction. Ethan’s eyebrows raised, but he inclined his head in greeting. Linna kept the confusion from her face as she returned Avril’s greeting.

“Avril. What brings you here?” Ethan asked when he got closer to the wagon.

The tall woman shrugged, gesturing in Jasper’s general direction.

“Oh, you know. I was wandering around the town and saw my old friend. He invited me along, and I just couldn’t resist.”

It was clear that Jasper looked anything but pleased to have Avril along, but Linna didn’t voice her observations.

“I see. I’m Linna,” she said, slowly offering Avril her hand. The taller woman accepted it daintily.

“A pleasure. I’m Avril. Are you up to anything interesting?” Avril asked.

“I was just about to spar with Jackson,” Linna said, glancing down at the package in her hands. “I just need to get changed first.”

“Don’t let me stop you then,” Avril said, her eyebrow quirking slightly upwards as she stepped to the side and waved Linna on theatrically. Jasper hopped down to get out of the way and Linna climbed up into her wagon.

Avril and Ethan watched each other silently once Linna was out of sight. Then Avril shook her head and put a hand on the swordsman’s shoulders.

“I never thought I’d see the day you picked a student,” Avril said.

“Somehow I doubt anything is much of a surprise to you, much less this,” Ethan said, giving Avril a knowing look.

“Stop taking the fun out of it,” Avril said, shaking her head with a small smile.

The swordsman drew one of his swords and walked around in a circle, tracing a line through the dirt with the tip of the weapon. When he was done, he wiped the dirt off his weapon and returned it to its sheathe.

Linna emerged from the wagon a short time later. Her hair was braided to keep it out of her eyes, and she’d replaced her shirt with a light red shirt trimmed with dull gold. She had vambraces on each arm and padded leather pants that offered slight protection from impact injuries.

“You needed to go the blacksmith for those?” Ethan asked, gesturing to the armor on her arms.

“You’ll see,” Linna said with a smirk.

She drew her sword and walked into the ring Ethan had drawn. He shrugged and drew his own sword, bending his knees and shifting onto the balls of his feet. Linna mimicked his stance. Ethan gave her a quick approving nod and beckoned her forward, signaling the start of the fight.

Linna made the first move. Her sword flicked through the air toward his right shoulder. Ethan blocked the strike and forced her back with a wide swing.

“Your face told me what your hands were thinking,” Ethan informed her as he slipped under Linna’s next attack.

Jasper yawned as he watched Linna clash with Ethan. She had improved drastically in recent days, but it was impossible to match up to Ethan. Avril jabbed him sharply in the side, bringing him back to full attention with a yelp.

“What’s your problem?”

“This will be interesting. You should watch,” Avril murmured.

Jasper muttered a few curses under his breath, but he returned to watching the two fight. Ethan effortlessly deflected yet another one of Linna’s attacks. The young woman hopped backwards, keeping her sword leveled at Ethan in case he tried to advance. However, the swordsman appeared to be content where he was.

Linna rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath to get some air back. She lunged forward as if she was about to try for another overhead strike, but suddenly pulled back at the last moment. In the same motion, a blur shot out of her hands.

Shock flashed across Ethan’s face as something slammed into his arm, rapidly wrapping around it and pulling him off balance. Linna didn’t waste a second in sending her sword whistling through the air toward the swordsman.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed moments before the sword hit him. There was a silver blur followed by the screech of metal on metal. Linna’s sword spun out of her hands and flew straight toward Jasper. The gremlin yelped and threw himself to the ground.

There was a loud clang as the sword crashed against something and fell to the ground a short distance in front of Jasper. The gremlin glanced up just as the glowing gold wall in front of him started to fade away. Linna lowered her hand as the shining yellow energy behind her eyes and around her body started to dim.

“Holy shit, you damn near killed me,” Jasper snapped as he rose back to his feet.

“I’m sorry,” Linna said. “But I’m pretty sure I just saved you too.”

“I meant Ethan,” Jasper said, still shaken. “He knew exactly where that sword was going.”

“Jackson!” Ethan said quickly.

“Shit,” Jasper said.

Linna burst into laughter and shook her head. The last of the gold energy around her disappeared.

“Just drop it. I was wondering how long you two would keep this up but come on. How many tiny vulgar Visions with short tempers are there? I’ve known who you were for most of the trip.”

Jasper’s ears drooped and he sighed.

“In that case, thanks for not giving us away,” he said grudgingly.

Avril smirked at them but was clearly content with watching everything unfold and didn’t say anything herself.

“Could we go somewhere more private?” Ethan asked, unwrapping Linna’s weapon from his arm and glancing at it curiously. It was a bola – a strip of cloth connecting two metal spheres. He nodded approvingly and picked Linna’s sword off the ground as well. He handed both weapons to her with a grin.

“As long as you give me an explanation for what you’re doing here,” Linna said, taking them from Ethan.

Linna lead the group back to her wagon, where all four of them piled into it. Linna pulled the tarp closed behind them and gingerly put her sword down beside her bed before flopping onto the floor.

“We were hired to protect your wagon,” Ethan said when nobody else started talking.

“From whom? Yourselves? And who hires bandits to protect a caravan?”

“Hey, we can’t rob the caravan if we’re protecting it. And funnily enough, the same guy that hires bandits to rob them,” Jasper said with a shrug.

“The same guy? Who?” Linna asked.

Jasper glanced up at Ethan, but the swordsman didn’t offer any help. He just shrugged and pulled out an oilcloth to polish his sword.

“A Vision who goes by the name of Bartholomew. He’s a scummy bastard,” Jasper said, his brow furrowed.

“Then why are you working for him?” Linna asked. “I’m sure there’s another way you could make money.”

Ethan glanced up from his sword and met Jasper’s eyes. The swordsman shrugged slightly and gave his companion a small nod.

“Because it wasn’t money we needed. Bartholomew was in possession of something we needed,” Jasper said so quietly that Linna had to strain just to hear his words. She sat down on the wagon beside Jasper.

“What could be so important that a Vision needs it so desperately?” Linna asked.

“You’re going to have to swear to secrecy if you want to hear any more,” Jasper said.

Linna raised an eyebrow, but the other Vision didn’t respond.

“Sure, I won’t tell anybody,” Linna agreed.

“It’s not me you need to say that to. Tell her,” he said, gesturing toward Avril. “Avril is tagging along, so she might as well make herself useful.”

The beautiful Vision smirked, but she walked over to Linna.

“If you make that promise to me, you’ll find it enforced whether you like it or not. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Avril said.

“I’ve met these two twice already, and I owe Ethan a life debt. I might as well see if I can do anything to help,” Linna said after thinking for a minute. “I promise not to tell anyone.”

A wisp of grey smoke escaped Avril’s mouth and fluttered through the air. It plunged into Linna’s chest. The young woman glanced down, but the smoke had vanished as if it had never been there.

“What did that do?” She asked.

“It’ll ensure you don’t tell anybody about your agreement. Nothing else. It’ll fade in a month, so don’t worry about it too much,” Avril said.

“Fair enough. So, now that I can’t tell anybody, what’s this important thing you were talking about?”

“A key,” Ethan said, looking up from his sword.

“A key? To what?” Linna asked.

“Not so loud!” Jasper hissed. “And yes, a key. It opens a treasure vault within the Ashen Lands.”

“I know all about going to great distances for treasure, but this seems a bit excessive,” Linna said. “The Ashen Lands are a death trap. I know entire crews of pirates that sailed to that damn desert following legends. None of them have come back.”

“When you put it that way it makes it sound bad. But it’s not just any treasure. It’s the Everflame,” Jasper said, whispering the last word.

“Surely there are other treasures a Vision could get with much less effort. What’s so special about this…” Linna trailed off as Jasper violently hushed her.

“Don’t mention it if you don’t have to. You never know who’s listening,” Jasper said. “And of course there are, but this one is special.”

“Never heard of it,” Linna said.

Jasper huffed in annoyance.

“Of course you haven’t. Nobody’s heard of the thing in years. And to most normal humans, the thing is worthless. It’s just a candle,” Jasper said.

“And for Visions?” Linna asked, catching onto what the gremlin was implying.

“A source of energy. And a damn powerful one at that. It would make even a weak-willed Vision near insurmountable,” Jasper said, his eyes staring blankly through Linna as if he were watching something behind her.

“So you’re just trying to get more powerful. Is that all you ever think about?” Linna asked crossly.

“No. The candle isn’t for me,” Jasper said, sighing.

“It’s for me,” Ethan said seriously. “Jasper is attempting to save my life.”

He pulled his heavy cloak back and lifted his shirt, revealing his toned chest. A dark outline formed a large square around where his heart would have been. With a hiss, the outlined area of his chest swung outwards.

Linna drew in a sharp breath of surprise and couldn’t stop herself from flinching backwards. Ethan didn’t have a heart. Metallic tubes and wires hung suspended in his chest. At their center where his heart should have been, a ball of flickering purple energy floated in the air, humming quietly.

“When we talked on the mountain, I mentioned I was injured in a fight some time ago. The damage was severe, but Jasper managed to give me a temporary extension on life. Unfortunately, he can only do so much. The Everflame is a power source that can replace the one currently dying out within me. It’s my best shot to live,” Ethan said.

He slid the plate back, where it disappeared seamlessly into his body. Ethan let his shirt fall and pulled his cloak around himself again.

“I assume you’ve already gotten the…key then?” Linna asked quietly.

Jasper and Ethan exchanged a worried glance. Then Jasper gave Linna an almost imperceptible nod.

“So why are you still here? Don’t you have what you need?”

“The caravan is going in the right direction, and Bartholomew would be a problem if we didn’t do what we agreed to,” Jasper said.

“Not to mention we have both taken you on as a student. I will not be leaving until you are worthy of using my sword style,” Ethan said, smiling at Linna.

“I appreciate that,” Linna said. “The last time we worked together proved to be quite profitable. Would you be interested in another partnership?”

“What are you getting at?” Jasper asked.

“You two keep teaching me how to be a Vision. As I said, I still owe Ethan a life debt from the mountain, and it’ll sit on my shoulders forever if he dies before getting the candle thing. I’ll help you get it.”

“You have no idea what you’re signing up for,” Jasper warned.

“She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions,” Avril interrupted.

“We can discuss this later, when it comes time to leave the caravan,” Jasper said after a long look at Avril. “For now, we’ll just focus on Linna’s training.”

“Fantastic. Now that we’re all happy, care to explain your new weapon?” Ethan asked.

Linna’s gaze shifted down to the bundle of cloth in one of her hands. She grinned and unwrapped the bola so everyone could get a better look.

“I thought it would work a lot better than it did,” Linna said.

“Most people don’t have extra arms to defend themselves with,” Ethan said, gesturing down at the extra pair of arms hidden behind his cloak. “This was highly creative. Well done.”

Linna grinned at the compliment. She wrapped the new cloth weapon up into a little bundle and tossed it through the tarp at the back of her wagon.

“I think we’re done for today,” Linna said. “I’ve got a lot to think about and you two have a guest to entertain.”

“Guest is too generous a word. More like a stowaway,” Jasper grumbled.

Despite that, he climbed out of the wagon along with Ethan and Avril. Linna waved at them and pulled the tarp flap closed.

“You want her to come with us, don’t you?” Jasper asked Avril as they headed back toward their own wagon.

Avril just gave Jasper a knowing smile. The gremlin sighed and shook his head.

“I’ll get you back for not warning me that I was about to get stabbed by a flying sword,” Jasper muttered.

“I did warn you, technically,” Avril replied.

Ethan let out a small chuckle as they reached their wagon. He glanced at Avril and tilted his head slightly.

“You’re not going to leave, are you?” He asked.

“Not yet,” Avril replied.

“In that case, you can take Jasper’s bed. You sure aren’t getting mine!” Ethan said, darting into the wagon with a laugh.