Riftside 3 - Chapter 12

After the funeral, the adventurers and scavengers had retreated to the Timberline, and after everyone had gathered, it felt like a wounded beast.

The usual boisterous lifeblood of the tavern had been replaced by a low, mournful murmur. What usually smelled like a home away from home, now stank of spilled ale, wet wool, and grief. A lot of negative emotions that did nothing to help those who survived.

One of the casualties of the Hive Mind’s attack had been Johan’s chef, and the innkeeper moved not with his usual swagger, but with the heavy steps of a pallbearer. 

A while after every bench and chair held a rear, and every hand a mug, he cleared his throat and stepped out in front of the bar.

“To the empty chairs,” he said, his voice thick.

“To the empty chairs,” the tavern echoed, a unified, somber chorus. 

We started drinking, and a lone bard, a woman with silver in her hair, plucked a slow, mournful tune from her lute. It was a song of loss, a melody fit for the pyre, but the room was fractured with more than just sorrow. 

In the darker booths, older adventurers nursed their drinks, trading stories of the adventurers lost. And at a large central table, the collection of newly-classed scavengers, blessedly including Garret, Nina and Finn, who had become a tank, a lightning mage, and a damage warrior, were a pocket of nervous energy, their celebration tempered by the weight of the day.

We sat in our usual corner booth, a quieter island away from most people. Fresh ale, on the house, had waited for us there as we walked in. True to his word, he continued insisting on thanking us for his life saved.

“This is… subdued,” Nabeeh murmured after a while, swirling the amber liquid in her mug. “I feel like I should be whispering.”

“How it should be,” Knut said, his gaze sweeping the room. “To start. We mourn, then we drink. Then we get rowdy and fight. This is the way.”

As if on cue, a flicker of defiance sparked at the central table. 

Garret, who had to have started drinking earlier as his face was already flushed with a mix of ale and newfound power, climbed unsteadily onto his chair. He swiped out a new shield and held it aloft. 

“A toast!” he said, raising his voice above the din, hammering tankard against shield and sloshing ale onto the floorboards. “To Official Vos! For seeing our potential! We won’t let this gift be wasted! We'll earn it in monster blood!”

A few cheers went up, including our table, but it was muted. 

From a shadowy corner, Jeb, the old adventurer who’d lost his entire party to Quarris, scoffed.

“Power gifted is a debt to the grave,” the man said, his slurred words carrying across the quiet room. “Power earned, that should be your shield against it.” He glared at Garret, then gestured with his mug toward our table. “Ash’n them? They earned it, they did. And what did they do? Got me revenge on the crystal bastard that killed my friends. You think a… a… boosted party could do that? Never seen the Guild as desperate as this. Lifting you lot to classed adventurers? You'll be deader than a Glowcap smoking the pipe within a month.”

Garret’s face went purple with anger. He dropped down and kicked his chair back, slamming his ale onto the table.

“You old drunk, I’ll—”

Before he could take a step, Knut’s massive hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him cold. He’d risen as soon as Jeb did. Now Garret was stuck, as he might as well try running with a mountain chained to his back.

“He grieves,” Knut said, his voice a low rumble that cut through the tension. “Anger is shield of wounded heart. Let him have shield.”

“But—” Garret started. Knut pushed him back down onto his seat.

“We fight monsters,” Knut said. “Not broken men.”

Garret deflated, his anger replaced by drunken shame. 

Finn shoved a fresh tankard in front of him, and that was the end of it. 

Jeb, a flicker of surprise in his one good eye, raised his mug sloppily in Knut’s direction. 

“The big man… he gets it. You're a good man, Northman. A good man.”

Knut just grunted and nodded as he headed back to his seat.

The bard, sensing the shift, slowly began to change her tune, the sorrow weaving into a thread of stubborn, defiant hope.

It was under the cover of this rising murmur that I leaned in closer to my group. 

“There is more to Mara’s offer.”

The others turned to me, their attention immediate.

“And you tell us only now?” Nabeeh said with a raised eyebrow.

“Now it’s appropriate. I think you’ll like…her. She is Mara’s apprentice, a level twenty-one water mage named Lan,” I said, keeping my voice low. “An orphan whose parents were killed Riftside. Her soul weapon, a staff, was stolen by a survivor. Mara hunted the thief down and returned it to her.”

“How noble,” Nabeeh said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “A pity she doesn’t extend that courtesy of protection to our weapons.”

“If we take Lan with us as our fifth,” I continued, ignoring the jab. “I negotiated, let’s call it a… signing bonus.”

“Gold?” Knut asked, smiling across his tankard.

“Two class gems,” I said, enjoying the way his eyes bulged. “One for a damage warrior, and one for a ranged damage dealer.”

“That’s wonderful, Ash,” Eryn said, and squeezed my arm.

But Nabeeh just snorted. 

“Two Class Gems? That's not a bonus. It’s a golden leash and a muzzle. We're not getting a new member. We're getting a babysitting assignment. This girl sounds like a walking Glowcap with a leak, and anything that happens because of her would put our party on the line, not Mara.”

“Never mind her age!” Roq said. “Nor her apparent psychological troubles, or how she is likely to act out. But a third soul weapon? In my court? Unacceptable! This ‘Lan’ is an upstart pretender with a glorified stick! There is already one Soul Weapon too many here, and while I appreciate you getting the Class Gem ready for my next breakthrough, getting one for Arclight is completely uncalled for!”

“Gem for Ash,” Knut said, and I nodded. “And this is not your court, Vannash. We are a pack. We are equals.”

Enar rose and walked over, nodding questioningly to a seat. I nodded for him to sit. He didn’t have the experience we did with hearing Roq in his mind, so it was likely challenging for him to keep it separated from ongoing conversations at the big table.

Knut had long since learned Roq’s true name, believing there was great power in the true name of things. Or so the northman had claimed. 

“Equals?” Roq fired back. “I am a KING! You are my shield-bearer and she is our desert-mage! You will show deference!”

Nabeeh leaned forward, her voice a poisonous whisper only our table could hear. 

“I'll show you deference when you can eat a pie without Ash's help. Until then, you're a warhammer with an opinion.”

“Take that back or I will assume my Primal Form right here and now and show you just how well I can eat pie!”

Before I could internally shout him down, a woman approached our table. She was thin, her face worn with sleepless nights. 

“Enar,” she said, nodding to the rest of us. 

The newly minted healer stiffened. 

“Hi,” he said, and cleared his throat. “This is Alurin, Corvan’s widow. This is my… was…”

“We’re his friends,” I said, and introduced us all.

She smiled at us briefly, but had eyes only for Enar. 

“They say you were with him. At the end.”

Enar nodded, unable to speak.

Alurin pressed a small, worn leather pouch into his hand. It jingled faintly. 

“He always carried this, for luck. It's filled with river stones his girls painted for him. The only time he didn’t bring it was… that day. He'd want you to have it, protection for a healer.” 

She graced us with the smile of someone who had their whole life upended but still found the strength to go on. 

“I--”

“Thank you… for trying to be there for him.”

She turned and walked away before Enar could find his voice. He just stared at the pouch in his hand for a moment before excusing himself, re-joining the central table to join the other new adventurers, downing nearly an entire ale at once. Whether to drown out Roq’s voice, his perceived failure, or the memory of the walls, I couldn’t imagine.

The exchange silenced our own debate for a moment, but I felt it grounding us in the reality of what we fought for.

“She’s lost her parents and she’s fighting with a weapon more powerful than she could likely ever have imagined,” Eryn said softly. “And if Mara is the only one she’s got, then she’s as good as alone. You know my background. If you think I’ll let us push her away because it might be awkward or hard to help her, then the healers failed to cure your latest head wound.”

“Exactly! She requires a firm hand! A ruler to guide her! Just like Eryn!” Roq insisted.

“Roq,” Eryn said, and I could have sworn her tone made my warhammer shiver.

“I’m joking?”

“Don’t forget I know of a seemingly never-ending hole in the ground, and I can also bet you my life that Ash likes me more than you,” Eryn said. 

“Really! It was but a bit of levity to ease the discussion.”

“Good,” Eryn said. “Now, you claim to be a king. You're the first soul weapon we know to have a breakthrough. She's a lost girl with a confused weapon. Who better to mentor them but us? You can show them what a true soul weapon of honor and power looks like.”

He was silent for a moment, clearly preening at the appeal to his ego. 

“Hmmph. Your logic is… sound. It would be a kingly act to take this lesser being under my wing. To demonstrate true glory. Very well. I shall consider it.”

“If only four in team, we do guard duty,” Knut said. “Once accept, we hunt. I want to hunt. What is one small girl against hunting?”

Nabeeh sighed, slumping in her seat. 

“Fine. Your reasoning is as blunt as your armor, but you’re not wrong. We'll be stuck on guard duty while everyone else gets to go do shit. But I want it on the record that this is a mistake. When she floods the smithy or blows up our living room, I'm blaming the Northman.”

Before we could finalize the decision, Nina approached our table, slightly wobbly already. She was a newly-classed lightning Mage from what we’d heard, and she glanced over at Jeb’s table, then back at us.

“We heard him,” she said quietly. “We know some of them feel that way. We just wanted you to know… we won't let you down. We know who spoke up for us, Ash, and we'll prove we were worth the investment.”

I nodded. 

“We know you will, Nina. I wouldn’t have argued for it otherwise. Just do your best and they’ll all come around soon. And congratulations on joining Shay’s party.”

She gave a grateful smile and returned to the other. Just as she left, Enar returned, now with a slightly tipsy look. In his hands, he held a large, round pie. A lemon pie.

“PIE!”

“Forgot this,” Enar said. “Even though I’m not joining you Riftside,” he said, dropping it onto the table, “I’ll protect your secrets with my life. I owe you that and more.” He looked at Roq. “My wife sends thanks, and… this.”

Johan, passing by with a tray of empty mugs, mock-protested. 

“Hey! I’m the official pie-bringer for the warhammer!”

“Excellent!” Roq said. “The healer’s mate has honor! She understands proper tribute! Thank her well for me, new healer! I wish you both luck!”

Enar bowed gravely to my warhammer as I lowered Roq into the pie, which looked all kinds of wrong, but hey, it cheered up people and kept him happy.

Then, among all the strangeness I’d seen since getting my hands on Roq…this was the most bizarre. His ‘head’ grew tiny teeth that started eating away at the pie. I just stared for a long moment, and sighed inwardly.

Of course he can grow teeth and eat pie. Why the hell not?

“Alright,” I said in a hushed tone. “We’re doing it.” I raised my mug. “To our new, probably-insane, soul-weapon-wielding water mage.”

We all drank.

“I’ll find Mara tomorrow,” I said, setting my empty mug down with a firm thud. “And tell her to send for the apprentice.”

*

“I can’t wait to finally test this thing out,” Nabeeh said as we stood on the walls of Sentinel Station, the bell just stilling from its third ring. In her hands she held a marvel of creation. A staff made from a piece of Quarris, inlaid with bits she’d looted from the pylons in his throne room, and set at its tip was the second of Arclight’s lightning globules.

Four days had passed since the funeral and my meeting with Mara to relay our decision about Lan. Most of the time we’d spent on guard duty at Sentinel Station as Vos was indeed a man of his word. He’d been the happiest I’d yet seen him when he came to compliment us on the discovery of how to save someone in a breakthrough gone wrong,  but when I told him we’d chosen our fifth and she was on the way and we’d be taking only safe hunts until she arrived, he’d just laughed in my face. 

Mara was right. He could be quite the bastard.

But those days had given us time to settle a few things. We’d pooled the Mind Gems we received for guard duty and yesterday we got Nabeeh to level eighteen, unlocking a new ability: Flame Wall. The northman stood a few steps away on the wall with his two-handed sword out, shield, mace, and axe stored. Despite the tests, he didn’t quite trust the axe’s thin-looking hilt not to break yet. 

“Between its eyes,” Eryn said, before she stilled completely, having activated Snipe. Three seconds passed, Arclight’s hum increasing to an almost buzzing noise. Then she loosed, and the arrow flew across the killing field to strike a large monster dead in the face. 

“Doesn’t count,” Knut said.

“Whyever not?” Eryn asked.

“You explode entire head,” he said “Impossible to prove hit between eye!”

I chuckled, enjoying their banter. 

Edwin had spent the last days well, and the gaps in the walls were finally closed, leaving us once more to fight the monsters from on high. The repairs were nice and all, but they would remain weak points until properly reinforced. At least the monsters couldn’t just waltz in. 

“Loose!” the guard captain nearby called, and a volley of arrows and bolts soared into the air. 

“I can’t wait to fry these bastards,” Nabeeh said, rocking up and down on her toes. “Fire Wall! I’ve been waiting for this day since I broke through and found Fire in my veins.”

“It’ll be useful,” I said. “That’s for sure. Just, you know, keep it away from any Glowcaps.”

“Just come a little bit closer, you poor unwitting monsters!” Nabeeh said, practically vibrating with anticipation, a wild grin splitting her face. 

“Let me gather them a bit for you,” Eryn said, and she shot at the rightmost monsters, her arrow splitting and killing three. The rest on that flank moved towards the centre. Then she shot a larger monster on the left, making those also move closer.

“Thank you, babe,” Nabeeh said. “The perfect introduction of the world to the new power that is…me!” She pointed her staff at the charging enemies. “Fire Wall!” she shouted, loud enough to be heard by the rift. 

A wall of flame roared to life, and I smiled at what heat I could feel from this distance. The frontmost of the grouped monsters charged in and started screaming. 

“Good wall, Nabeeh,” Knut grunted, his voice thick with approval.

“Thanks, big–” Nabeeh started to say, but stopped as the largest wave of water I’d ever witnessed rose out of the ground and slammed down in the monsters and Nabeeh’s firewall both. So big was the wave there was barely any steam. 

“By the bells?” I muttered, exchanging a baffled look with Knut. “I didn’t know there were any water mages on duty today.”

Water Walls usually didn’t have the force to kill, more useful in breaking charges and knocking monsters around, but the force of this wave crushed the enemy, leaving them to be picked off by the guard at their leisure. 

We stared in stunned silence.

“That’s new,” Knut said.

It was then that I saw Mara walking towards us.

Her expression was unreadable as she surveyed the water-logged devastation.

“Well?” she asked. “What do you think?”

“Think about what?” I asked, my mind still trying to process the size of that wave. It had been a good deal higher than Sentinel Station’s walls. It might even rival First Steel.

Mara nodded along the wall. 

“Her spell.”

I followed her gesture. Standing on a lower platform about fifty feet away, was a petite young woman with amber-colored hair that floated around her shoulders. She smiled out across the field, but something was off about it. When she turned our way and looked at me, I realised the smile didn’t reach her eyes. They were dead serious and filled with challenge. Without a flicker of emotion she turned back to watch the killing field. 

“Is that–”

“Yup, that is my apprentice. Lan. Your newest party member.”