80. Second Town (Patreon)

Without the fog hiding the horizon, the barn wasn’t that far from town. The fence around the barn butted up against the town’s stone wall, and Oz only had to follow it along its edge for a minute or two before he came upon the town gates. Before he entered, he took in the fields one last time. Like the last town, the fields lie fallow, and no livestock graze in the fields. Not a good sign. We should be on our guard.

The town’s gate stood closed, as Oz expected. He walked up to it, preparing to peer through the slats in the gate.

The gate flew open.

Startled, Oz leaped back, narrowly avoiding getting slapped in the face by the swinging gate. A man looked at him, startled. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there! So sorry.”

Oz brushed down his robes and smiled. “No harm, no foul.” Leaning, he peered past the man.

People bustled around the town, lively and rosy-cheeked, chattering back and forth. Shops displayed warm loaves of bread, and fresh vegetables sat in roadside carts. Merchants called out, beckoning the townsfolk to peruse their wares.

Oz smiled, while internally he furrowed his brows and frowned. The fields are fallow, but the vegetables are fresh. That, and there are no animals, no horses, dogs, or cats, nor are any of the merchants selling meat. Not even fish, which don’t require the villagers to hunt or raise livestock.

Something strange is going on here. This town isn’t as peaceful as it appears.

Oz nudged Aisling. She leaned down. He glanced at her. “Stay aware.”

She nodded. “I sensed the same thing.”

Eh? What did she sense? I just used deductive reasoning… or is that what she meant? Oz glanced at Aisling, then looked away. Better if I don’t ask openly in front of these people. I can ask later.

In his head, Fflyn shrugged. I don’t sense anything either. I’m not sure what she means.

She is a slightly higher level than us. She might be able to sense things we can’t.

The man who’d opened the gate smiled at them. “We don’t often get travelers in our quiet village. What has brought you here?”

Oz beamed at him. “Me and my sister are traveling bards. If you have any stories or news you want shared, please share it with us! We carry stories and news from across the lands. If you’re interested, come visit us in the tavern tonight.”

“I might take you up on that,” the man said, slightly inclining his head. He gestured them in. “Come on, come on in. I’m sure everyone will be happy to see visitors after so long.”

Oz eyed the ground. He hasn’t taken a step outside since he’s opened the gate. I wonder if he can’t?

I want to find out, but in this situation, it’s better for me to investigate the whole village first, rather than immediately alert the villagers to something strange and put them on edge. He smiled at the man and stepped inside.

A chill passed over his skin. He glanced down, leaning back. Right where the edge of the village came against the road, the air turned cold. Back a step, the sun still beamed down warm against his skin. Forward a step, and the chill curled around his ankles. The sun brought no heat. An icy breeze blew, sinking into the gaps between his clothing. Uncomfortable, Oz ran his hands over his arms. Yeah. Something weird, for sure.

He glanced at Aisling, who caught his gaze and returned it with a little nod. She felt it, too. Whatever it was.

On guard, Oz walked through the town. He kept his head on a swivel, though he continued to smile brightly. Nothing stood out. Children played in the side streets. A few women watched over them, exchanging gossip. A man worked on a corner of a house, repairing a rotten board. Ordinary life carried on, but the chill in the air didn’t let up.

Abruptly, Aisling stiffened. “Roan?”

Oz glanced at her, then stood on his tiptoes, leaning in front of her to follow her gaze. He caught a glimpse of a yellow robe flapping around the corner before it vanished altogether.

“If Roan is here…” Oz glanced at Aisling.

She nodded back. “We need to catch him. Ask him what’s happening.”

I think I can guess what’s happening. Still, I agree that we should follow him. If we want to know what’s going on, Roan is almost certainly headed in the right direction. After all, we’re here to discover what the mages are doing. Roan is a mage, and unlike us, he isn’t here to investigate what’s going on, which means he’s part of the problem. Probably. In any case, it’s the best lead we have, so we might as well pull the thread and see where it leads.

They wound through the town. Oz caught a glimpse of Roan before he turned the next corner, moving through the town with the certainty of familiarity. The further they followed him, the faster he went. On and on, winding through the town, until Oz and Aisling had to jog to keep up.

Oz frowned. He looked around him, taking in the shops and houses as he ran. These are all new… we aren’t looping. But how is the town this big? From the outside, I remember walking around about a quarter of the town to reach the gate, and it took barely five minutes to reach the front.

Something’s wrong. We’re in some kind of spell. A beguiling formation, maybe? But those are meant to make you lose your way via illusions. We’ve simply entered a space that’s larger on the inside than it appears from outside. Is there such a thing?

This a world does have World Doors, but I could see over the wall from outside. The town looked exactly as it did when I stepped inside. There wasn’t that clear difference between spaces, as there is with the World Doors in the library.

I haven’t seen anything like that described in the books on the first floor, but then, there’s books I haven’t read yet.

Leaving the following-Roan to Fflyn, Oz returned to the library. He jumped up and ran to the basement, going for the fey books. In my world, the fey often lived in a strange dimension called Underhill, where entire cities could hide under small hills. Is there something like that in this world? A way to hide space inside space?

“Oh, you’re back,” Fenrir commented.

Oz tossed a quick nod Fenrir’s way, too busy to spend any time on him. He quickly blew out all the lights, and the hidden bookshelves appeared once more, fey tomes covered in vines, dark tomes leaking strange, dark stains.

Moving to the fey section, he pinched his chin, scanning the shelves. I need a basic fey book. Something that covers the basics of fey society, or maybe the principles of building fey architecture. Hopefully Madame Saoirse collected books like that, too.

His eyes settled on a dusty book on the bottom of the shelf, where the vines grew so thick they threatened to obscure entire volumes. BENEATH, its spine read, the rest of it lost behind the vine. Oz yanked the vine back, getting a better look at the spine.

BENEATH THE HILL, the spine read.

Oz’s eyes lit up. Excellent! Just what I need. He stole the tome from behind the vine, letting the vine pop back up into place. Sitting, he cracked the book open, then paused. Fey books have to be read under certain conditions. What’s this book’s condition? He flipped to the back, where a note from Madame Saoirse read: Read underground.

Oz clicked his tongue, glancing back at the title. BENEATH THE HILL. He shook his head. Alright, I probably could’ve guessed that.

Glancing up, Oz pursed his lips. I wonder if this counts as underground? Seems close enough for me.

Well, let’s give it a try! He opened the book, and light poured from the pages.