Shapeless Hero

47 - Excursion IV

Coming around another curve of the tunnel, we spot a dead rock partridge lying on what little we can see of the cavern's ground ahead of us. We slow down and drop our conversation. After carefully checking for traps or ambushes, we approach the corpse, keeping our voices down.

"Is that still part of the test?", I whisper to Liszka.

She answers with a curt "Nope.", while kneeling down, using her dagger to turn the bird on its back. Her head tilts sideways. "This wound is..." Her voice turns shaky. "Don't tell me, they already made it..."

"Who made what already?", I ask, as I peek over her shoulder at the partridge. I see an ordinary stab wound, but the scorch marks on the skin and feathers are faintly reminiscent of Lichtenberg figures. My mana vision can make out a bit of magic residue in the fractal patterns.

She shakes her head, frowning. "Trust me. The less you know, the better."

"Can you at least tell me, what they are after? What or who should I look out for?" I was rightfully criticized for not hiding enough, so I suspect this to be the consequences of my actions. A cave void of witnesses sounds like a great place to plan a murder. You can even blame the death on the traps.

She sighs. "Two is still better than one in a fight, I suppose." She stands up, her face turned to the cavern. "They want me. They succeeded at something far away from here and now they want me. I have no idea how many, but regardless of their numbers, prepare for well-trained fighters, gray-ish wolf-kins roughly your size-middle rank C in adventurer's terms."

So she's not in Tyllat completely by her own volition. It should be a relief, that it's not me being targeted, but now I might lose a potential partner in crime, the crime being world exploration. I don't know, I'd call us friends yet, but she could become the first traveling partner, who'd be willing to stick around for the mere sake of going places.

"It threatens our future plans. I'm not going to watch you die."

She smiles, albeit her eyebrows still show worry.

"Should we bury or burn'em?", I ask.

"No the time now. The smoke would call attention to us and I don't know of any spots inside here that you could dig a grave."

"Fair enough."

We move on, leaving the partridge behind. The poor bird was probably just doing his job as a cave guard. How did Liszka's pursuers get in here, though? Is there another unguarded entrance? Do they possess digging skills or did they pretend to be adventurers? Maybe they are real adventurers, but hired to track down my companion.

Time slows down for me, as I notice the boots shifting on stone behind me-boots not belonging to Liszka. Magic in shape of two swords swings towards her neck and stomach.

There is no time to use skills. I dash forward, hoping I can come up with something during my next move and wondering, how they stayed unnoticed for so long.

One longsword pierces my left eye, breaks through my skull and punctures my fake brain. The other one makes its way past two of my lower ribs, exiting on the other side, a handful of inches away from my shifter core. I grimace, both from the pain and the unpleasant thought of having something stuck in my head, but I still stand, glad I got in the path, before they could hit their true target.

Behind me, I hear Liszka draw her own blades. "I'm sorry for not telling you. I'm sorry you have to die this way.", she tells me, her voice loaded with guilt.

I chuckle, as my hands tighten the grip on the enemies' swords. "What are you on about? This is still a two versus two."

While the surprise on the two attackers just started to show on their faces, I seize the moment to take a good look at our enemies. Besides their swords, they carry daggers and a shortsword each as backup weapons. They both also keep various vials of liquids on their belts, whose arcane composition I commit to my memory. I get a rough idea, what tricks they might play and how tough their hide is.

Once done with my observations, I don't wait long. I kick one of the assassins in their stomach. The strength of my current physique makes them fly away ten yards. That prompts the other assassin to jump back and reassess the situation. With some distance between the two and us, I bring my biomass to push out the swords and close the wounds. I still pretend to pull the swords out with my hands to keep my abilities somewhat hidden, though.

"See? I'm good.", I tell Liszka, as the blades slowly make their way out of my body.

With a nervous laugh, she shifts her stance. "As creepy as it is, you'll have to teach me that some point."

"Not sure, I can teach you that, but we can certainly try. Can you handle one of them?"

"Barely."

"Go get the one, I kicked." I turn to the unscathed of the two enemies. "I'll keep this one company in the meantime."

"That'll do."

We both dash towards our respective targets.

#

"Sure.", Kella responds in a flat tone and arms crossed. "You can talk to her... once she's back from her excursion."

"Where did she go?", one of the coast rangers asks.

"A cave."

"Where exactly?"

"You will not interrupt her training.", Kella practically commands, her expression sterner than before.

The coast ranger sighs. "Listen, we just have some questions."

"Once you've taken her to one of your oh-so-friendly facilities, right?"

Albeit the tables around the two coast rangers and Kella are packed with adventurers idling around, no one besides the three utters a word, as to not miss a single beat of the exchange between the guild-master and the two visitors. It's not every day, that a dispute between the multi-national adventurer's guild and local law enforcement plays out in the open.

"Surely, I don't have to tell you, what happens, if you interfere with our investigations?", the coast ranger continues.

"Oh, I do. And do you know what happens, if you blindly follow through with your cute rules and regulations? Are you willing to pay the price?"

"I'll have to put extortion on the list of charges against you, from the sound of it."

"And how exactly am I extorting you? If you remove me or close the guild branch by force, Ryelope will destabilize without us doing a thing. I don't have to lift a finger and things will fall apart. It's us, who regulate the black market. It's us, who scare away the descendants of the merchants who tried to raid the place many years ago-just by having some high-ranking adventurers around."

Silence of a few heartbeats is the response.

In Kella's homeland, the only constant were the relationships you forged and physical power. Everything else was an ever-changing mess. Rules only improved everyday life, but they did not grant you power. With that point of view, she cast a social net in Ryelope, spanning all social classes. From the regional nobility to the urchins of the fjord-a delicate construct of checks and balances, enforced by blades and spells emerged. And in all that, Kella became the counterbalance to Tyllat's coast rangers in terms of power. And the coast rangers are aware of that. Or should be, if they don't want to create a mess.

The two representatives turn to the entrance. "Thank you for hearing us out. I think we're done here. For now."

Kella scoffs. "Sure."

Once the two exited, a smile spreads on her face. They will probably find the cave, this is their turf after all. But if they try anything funny, they'll die at the hand of a mysterious lady. And the guild will be innocent, for the guildmaster didn't tell them to go there. She even told them not to go.