The Quests of Fable

Ch. 12: Hooray! More Skeletons!

"Oh, no."

Fable felt the magic leave her partially gloved hands in its wild uncontrollable form. Instead of thick vines bursting from the floor, she got-

"Is that soap?" Kieran tipped his head in bewilderment. "I didn't even know you had a spell for that."

Sure enough, there was a growing mass of bubbles surrounding the few skeletons she had been aiming at. Why it had been soap she had no idea, but at least it slowed their movements. Plus, maybe they'd finally stop being so dingy after however many years they been down here.

"I think the better question here is why, Kieran." Barley fiddled with the controls on his telescope contraption, calibrating the ropes for their next strike.

"Uh- that wasn't meant to happen. Hold on a sec... maybe I can..."

Fable cast the spell for vines again, and yet again it went wild. This time, at least it was something useful.

"Oh. That... also wasn't meant to happen."

The ceiling above the skeletons started to rumble and crack before they were all skewered by enormous thin stalactites that burst from the stone above them like carved claws. Fable noticed that it wasn't just her opponents that got hit, but every skeleton in the room. Oddly enough, not a single pebble had hit a member of her party.

Kieran turned to her with a delighted look on his face. "That was amazing! Why don't you do that more often?"

Barley elbowed him in the shoulder, as it was the only bit he could comfortably reach that wasn't the rogue's head. "Shush. Maybe she doesn't want to."

"It may take a heavy physical toll, as well," noted Jin. "Although, you do not appear exhausted at the moment."

"Oh, no, it's not that," Fable said. "I just... don't actually know how to do that spell."

Barley looked confused. "But didn't you just cast it?"

She shook her head. "Well- not really, no. That wasn't what I was trying to cast. I was trying to just cast my plant spell again, it just-"

She cut off and gestured hopelessly at the spearing stalactites around the room.

Jin nodded sagely. "I see. Would this come as a result from the source of your magic?"

Fable winced as Barley and Kieran turned to her with questioning expressions

"What source?" Asked Kieran. "I thought mages were all born with magic."

Barley shook his head. "No, some of them get it later on from artifacts and magical creatures and stuff. But unless it was a curse, I can't think of any reason your magic would screw up your spells."

"It's not a curse, not really," started Fable. "Honestly, I'm not even sure if I classify as a regular wizard. I think technically speaking, I'm kind of a mix between a wizard and a warlock."

"A warlock?" Kieran and Barley both looked even more bewildered than before.

Fable sighed. "So basically, I really wanted to be a mage when I was a kid, right? Problem was, I didn't have any magic and I lived in a little village in the middle of nowhere. So one day when I'm in the woods, I see this guy having tea in front a house that definitely wasn't there the week before-"

"Wait, who's the guy?" Kieran asked. "Is that the god?"

Jin shushed him and motioned for Fable to continue.

"Anyways, the guy asked if I knew any local stories. Apparently he'd been going through the towns to try and get all the local myths and legends. So I told him a few, made friends with him over a week or two, and then he asked if I wanted to hear one of his stories."

"What did you say?" Barley interrupted.

"I think you can guess."

"Probably yes?"

"Of course I said yes, silly. By this point it was pretty obvious the guy was, like, really powerful. Not the kind of guy you wanna offend. So he tells me this old story about a rude hunter who got turned into a buck by a forest spirit, and then I was about to go home so I offered him this little bell ornament because you know, it's polite to give gifts to forest spirits and powerful wizards and people like that."

Jin nodded. "Appeasing spirits is a wise motive."

"Well, I thought so. So then, he gets super excited over the little trinket and invites me in saying that he's got a gift for me, too."

"You know," Kieran said, "if this guy wasn't a spirit thingy that'd be super sketchy."

"True, but what was I gonna do? Say no and risk angering a forest spirit?"

"Yeah, that's fair."

"Well, we go into his little house in the tree trunk, and he basically tells me in the most dramatic way possible that he's the god of the woods and stories, and since I was nice to him he's gonna give me any gift I ask for, within reason."

"Like... sacks-of-gold kind of gift? Or like 'congratulations here's a dragon' kind of gift?" Barley asked.

"Like 'hey you're a mage now' kind of gift."

Barley made a little 'oh' sound. "That... that explains a lot."

Fable pursed her lips. "And how do you mean by that?"

"Well, your name is Fable, and he's the god of stories-"

"You... do realize that Fable is my actual name, right? Like, that's my real first name since birth that my mother gave me?"

"Wait, really? I thought you just got nicknamed that because-"

"Because what?"

"Uh- never mind."

Kieran stifled a laugh. "Barley, I don't really think you've got room to talk here."

Barley gave him a sour look. "You hush. You're not part of this conversation."

"Barley, I'm literally sitting right here. What else am I supposed to do? Besides, her name means story and yours means wheat. I think we can agree which is cooler."

Fable grinned at him, giggling. "Why, thank you! Although, I've gotta say, I don't think I can make those telescope that spit ropes out, so you've got a leg up there."

Barley was giving Kieran a salty look, but he stopped and smiled pleasantly at Fable. "I'm glad you think it's cool."

"How could I not? I thought it was just a weird looking telescope 'til you pushed the buttons."

Jin cleared her throat. "I do believe that we have a few more rooms to go through?"

"Oh, right." Fable whistled for Slight. "Slight, where'd you put the lantern?"

The little creature lifted it up to Fable's hand, and she led the way through the next two rooms. They got through the skeletal warriors easily, mowing them down with little fuss. Kieran even managed to snag himself an enchanted bracelet that Fable and Jin determined would give him protection against winter and wintry magic. Kieran seemed delighted by this fact, putting on the silver bracelet and making the three blue gems glow as the magic was activated.

In the next room, there were a few more magic items. Barley found a small ring that they couldn't figure out the function of, and Fable got a leather breastplate with some small enchantments for sturdiness, which she put in her bag. She decided to figure out what to do with it later.

Jin, on the other hand, had picked up something rather interesting. It was a pommel for a broadsword like her own, with multiple unknown enchantments on it. None of the four could discern what the various runes meant, so it went in the bag with Fable's bit of armor to be inspected later.