Chapter 86 - A Wizard Worth Their Staff (Patreon)

The three of them were in Hump’s room. Celaine seated in a chair by the desk, and Bud by the door, while Hump sat on his bed. They’d returned late, their training running into the evening so that they’d missed the last call for dinner. Instead, the innkeeper had been kind enough to give them a share of the kitchen leftovers that usually went to the staff.

There had been no music in the inn tonight, and everywhere Hump went an uneasy chatter followed him. News of Albry’s imprisonment had already circulated, which left Hump feeling more watched than ever.

Hump kept his head down as he considered his words carefully. Too much had happened for it all to appear so confusing. They were still missing something, and there was one thing that stood out to him more than anything else.”

“Are you feeling alright, Hump?” Bud asked. “You’ve been staring at that bit of floor for a while. What did you want to talk about?”

Hump looked at him with a frown. There was no good way to put it, so he decided to go with blunt instead. “Do either of you think Vivienne is hiding something?”

“I’m sure she’s hiding a lot of things,” Celaine said. “What specifically has you concerned?”

“The violet essence stones. She’s… she’s too dismissive of them, and it’s weirding me out. Any wizard worth their staff would be over the moon to find something like them—they likely come from another realm for heaven’s sake—yet Vivienne hardly seemed interested.”

“Her reason seemed fair,” Bud said. “If there’s nothing special about them, why would she focus her energy investigating them rather than Hestia’s Star or that formation you’ve been working on?”

“I’d agree with you if I didn’t get the sense she was lying. The cave was saturated with the same essence in these stones, and I think I saw it in Albry’s eyes too. It’s more than just impure essence, I’m sure of it. And do you remember when we first arrived back from Lakewood and showed the stones to her? Dylan acted odd too.”

Bud frowned. Odd how?”

“He pushed her,” Celaine said before Hump had the chance. “After she told us she’d not seen them before, Dylan double checked if she was sure. Now that I think about it, Dylan was acting strange ever since we left the cave. I thought it was just nerves from the fight, but it’s possible he recognised the stones.”

“Don’t overthink this,” Bud said. “We were all a little off on our way back. It’s normal. We need to be careful not to stir up trouble now that we finally have everyone working together. She was a friend of your master’s, Hump. You said you trust her, and so far she has rewarded that trust.”

“I do trust her,” Hump said. “At least, I think I do. It’s clear that she cares for the people of Fishers Lake and that she wants to help them. That doesn’t mean she’s been honest with us about everything.”

“Like, why is she really here?” Celaine muttered. “She’s definitely not just here to research the fish, and I don’t buy that she’s simply interested in the essence density of the lake either. She’s a specialist in Chosen so none of this seems relevant.”

Bud shrugged. “Couldn’t she just be here to help the town? Many people survive off Fishers Lake, the growing essence density could turn into a serious problem. Or maybe she just wanted a quiet place of some interest to train her apprentice.”

Hump shook his head. “She’s probably a Rank 5 wizard from what I’ve seen. Believe me, none of that is enough to hold the interest of someone that strong.”

“Then what is?” Bud said.

“To research the essence stones. If she discovered them years ago, of course she’s not interested now that we’ve brought a few new ones back to her.”

Bud massaged his brow. “And why would she do that? Hump, I want to support you. Really, I do. But are you sure you’re not just looking for problems where there aren’t any?”

Hump frowned. After a few seconds consideration, he stood up and began pacing. He didn’t like the only answer he could think of. The Chosen rose the ranks through their dedication to their god and their efforts to live up to ideals. Wizards did not. The only way wizards grew that strong was through a whole lot of dedication.

“The same reason we discussed before,” Hump said grimly. “Why would anyone want to use a summoning ritual that could very well kill them?”

“Power,” Celaine said.

Hump nodded.

Bud looked up. “I don’t understand. I thought you said she’s not involved in the summoning.”

“I don’t think she is,” Hump said. “But maybe the reason the cultists were attracted to the lake is the same reason she was. Perhaps the essence building up in the lake serves a purpose.”

“Like what?” Bud asked.

“I don’t know! This is well above my knowledge of magic. Technically, the lake is a giant power reserve, though it’s spread out over dozens of miles.”

Bud paused for a moment and shook his head. “Speculating on this is pointless. We should speak with Dylan. If any of this is true, he’ll know.”

“He didn’t speak up before, why would he now?” Celaine said.

“Because he’s our friend,” Bud retorted. “Because we’ve fought together and developed a mutual trust. Because he’ll know if something is wrong himself and do the right thing. By the gods, he’s Chosen too. Why wouldn’t he speak with us?”

“Because Vivienne is his master,” Hump said. “That’s a bond and strong as blood.”

Bud pressed his lips together. “What do you want to do then? Sneak into the lighthouse and look around her things?”

Hump could see the same weariness in his face that he felt, but that was the life of an adventurer. Everyone had their own agenda. At the end of the day power and coin were what mattered.

“I don’t think so,” Celaine said. “Even if I could break through the ward on her door undetected, I’m not confident I could slip past both her and Dylan.”

“We don’t have to,” Hump said. “If we can figure out what power the stones hold, we’ll have all the information we need to confront her.”

“Can you do that?” Bud asked.

“Kind of,” Hump said. “I’ve not got the necessary tools, so there’s really only one way to find out anything conclusive.”

“You want to channel the essence,” Bud said flatly. “That’s dangerous! We’ve seen what happens when you mess with unknown forces.”

“Nothing happened because you were there,” Hump said. “Besides, this is no heartstone. It likely won’t be any more dangerous than channelling dungeon essence, and you’ve seen me do that already.”

Celaine folded her arms and leant back in her chair, thinking. “Even if we wanted to, we don’t have a stone. We’d need to…” she trailed off.

Hump grinned as he opened his pouch enough for them to see the essence stone, he’d kept for himelf inside. Both Bud and Celaine stared at it with wide eyes.

“I may have decided to keep one of the stones. So what do you say?”

“I don’t know, Hump,” Bud said. “We shouldn’t be messing around with unknown forces. Even if Wizard Vivienne is hiding something, there are better ways for us to deal with it.”

A part of Hump agreed with him. He’d seen what happened to Albry; for all he knew, exposure to this essence could well have been the cause. Perhaps the spirits drew power from it too.

But his gut told him there was more to this. “What if I’m wrong and Vivienne can’t be trusted?”

Bud’s eyes narrowed. “You just said—”

“I know what I said. That doesn’t make it true. What if Vivienne has something to do with why the spirits are here? Do you really think she would just admit to that if we asked her?”

“You think she’s the one opening the portals?” Celaine asked.

Hump shook his head. “No. I’m not suggesting anything so sinister. I know Vivi, and I like her, but she’s a wizard… She’s been here for four years. The first reported spirit attack happened four months ago. During all that time it’s hard to believe she’s made so little progress when in just over a week we found a summoning ritual, an essence stone likely from another realm, and seen the High Priest lose his mind.”

“The gods were with us,” Bud said. “As they so often are when times grow tougher. They show us the path, it’s what they do. Whether you’re right or wrong, and Vivienne has seen these essence stones, I don’t understand what figuring that out will prove.”

Hump sat down again and sighed. “I just want to be careful. I’ve been fooled before.”

Bud frowned at him. “Is this about Kassius?”

Hump shrugged. “I was completely taken in by his act, to the point I was planning to join him.”

“We were all taken in by his act,” Celaine said.

“I’d been around Kassius longer than either of you and I still hadn’t realised how far he’d fallen,” Bud said.

“You knew something was off about him,” Hump said.

“I knew he didn’t care for the gods, but nothing like what truly happened. Nobody could have predicted his betrayal.”

“Well, I don’t want to be caught off guard like that again,” Hump said. “We do this, we take the initiative. Far too much is going unexplained, and I don’t think we can afford to ignore that.”

Bud frowned. “How sure are you that you can do this? What are the risks?”

“It’s hard to say,” Hump said. “Essence sort of has a will of its own—a default state of being that drives how it acts. For example, fire is the most difficult of the basic affinities to control. It’s erratic and explosive. Lack of control or firm will when wielding it could allow the essence to take over and act according to that default state.”

“Meaning what?” Bud asked.

Hump shrugged. “In a minor case, it could cause a spell to fail. Maybe even blow up. In the worst case, it could consume a person, burning them up from the inside. And that changes from essence to essence. Dungeon essence is even more difficult to control, as that actually has intent behind it. It’s still well within the means of a Rank 1 wizard.”

“Are you confident you can do this?” Bud asked.

“I wouldn’t suggest this if I wasn’t.”

“But you’re not confident enough that you could do it without our help,” Celaine said. “You came to us.”

“Not because I can’t,” Hump said. “We’re a team. This isn’t only my decision. As you said in the beginning, we need to trust each other. And I’m telling you I can do this.”

Bud held his eyes for a long moment, then nodded. “Fine. I believe you. If you think this is necessary, you have my support.”

“You’re the magical expert,” Celaine said. “I’ll follow your call on this too.”

Hump smiled at them both. “Thank you. In that case, let’s get started. I’ve been thinking about this all day.”

He grabbed his bag from his bed and took out the essence stone, closed the blinds, then sat down on his bed and crossed his legs. Placing the stone in his lap, he drew a deep breath and focused within, envisioning the River and Waves coursing through him.

“What do you want us to do?” Bud asked.

“Not much really. If you notice me go insane, take the stone away and try to keep me from doing anything stupid.”

Worry appeared on Bud’s face. “I thought you said you had this in hand?”

Hump laughed. “There’s really nothing. I’ve got this. Just give me some quiet so I can concentrate.”

With that, Hump delved inward. He reached out with his will, connecting the essence stone to him, sensing the power within. It felt as foreign to him now as it had when he’d first encountered it. The strange black smoke was clear to him now, the flicker of other affinities flowing throughout it. With an effort of will, he drew that power into him.

Energy surged up through his hands, flooding his body. He felt heat bursting from him, like fire moving through his veins, almost like Wizardfire. The power continued to build, and he let it fill him. He let it spread throughout his body, directing it along the path of the river.

And he felt power.