The Portal Problem Episode 4: A Sword

1. Sparked Curiosity

A glimmer below the ripples caught his eye. Something among the silt and stones winked at Aston with reflected sunlight and then was gone again as mossy algae shifted with the current. He glanced ahead and saw Draessellor hadn't slowed at all while crossing the river, so he assumed it would be safe to stop and investigate for a moment or two. The old lizard definitely would have stopped if what was between the stones was magical.

        "Why did you stop?" Shyla asked from his shoulder.

        "I saw something," he replied. The currently small-sized Fairy jumped off and hovered nearby, looking down where he was staring to see if she could spot what he was talking about. When she did spot the reflection, she frowned and turned in the air to study the horizon where the river likely started from.

        "This river looks like it comes from the same mountain as the ruins," she said after a moment.

        Aston bent over to see if there was a shape of anything familiar around the glimmer. Maybe if there was something giving a better idea of he shape of what might be stuck in the river. For how shiny it was, it might be jewelry or some kind of plate. He reasoned that it could be useful to sell or trade in the next town.

        "You remember the ruins?" Shyla asked loudly, zipping down to hover by his shoulder. "The ruins we added two weeks to our travels to avoid?" She asked even louder, directly into Aston's ear, clapping along with each word. Her frown deepened when he didn't even nod absently.

        "Ouch!" He straightened quickly and glared at her, rubbing his neck where she'd smacked him with the tiny switch she kept for just that reason.

        "You're not allowed to touch things," she stated, arms crossed and a glare matching his on her little face.

        "I wasn't going to –"

        "Your hand was almost in the water."

        "That doesn't mean I –"

        "Cursed portal stones?" she said, cocking one tiny eyebrow at him.

        "I didn't know they were –"

        "Cursed dagger?" she continued.

        "Draessellor found someone to –"

        "Cursed hat?" she asked.

        "Look, that wasn't even me because the merchant put it –"

        "You're not allowed to touch things anymore," she repeated. "Three months I've traveled with you and Draessellor, and he's the only reason you're not cursed at least seven times over."

        "It hasn't been that many times," he argued. It was a half-hearted reply at best because he was already looking at the glimmer again. "Besides, if it wants me to pick it up so badly, and Draessellor walked right past it without complaining about something magic in the water, then –"

        "Hold up," she said, flying directly into his face and breaking his stare at the object reflecting up at him by flitting back and forth to stare at him in one of his eyes and then the other. "What do you mean it wants you to pick it up?" Shyla demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

        "Uh," he stammered, straightening up and away from reaching toward the water again. Shyla followed him up, staying in his face the entire time. "I mean... well... it's just an inviting glimmer and it might be something we can sell or trade, right?"

        She eyed him even harder. He looked away from her stare, eyes dropping toward his feet as the nervous shuffling started. A second glimmer appeared at the toe of his boot and he felt a shudder against the bottom of his foot. It felt like the stones he was standing on had shivered... or what was under them had...