A Betrayal of Trust

The girls woke us up the next morning by banging on our door. We had taken advantage of the heavy curtains and were feeling refreshed even with the wake up call. We hurried to catch up with them, and found them down in the lobby.

“What time is it?” asked Leo, do we need to check the bulletin board?”

“It’s 6:25, so we have time,” said Lilian.

“How’s it 6:25?” I asked.

“That’s what the clock tower says,” said Paelyn.

“The beds here must have some kind of magic in them. I can't believe I feel this good before 6:30,” I said.

“No kidding,” Kyle agreed.

We decided to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant and ordered all the foods we’d gone without, like omelets and French toast, cappuccinos and fresh orange juice.

“That’s odd,” said Lilian, suddenly withdrawing from the conversation.

“What’s odd?” asked Paelyn.

“Do you remember hearing the 5:30 bell?”

“I’m sure we just didn’t notice,” said Paelyn.

“I’m going to go check,” said Lilian, getting up.

“Okay, but be quick, your eggs will get cold.”

A couple minutes later, Lilian came running back into the restaurant, panting. “The clock is broken…” she gasped. “The quest is up on the bulletin!”

“Alright, let’s go!” shouted Leo, as they cleared out.

“What about the bill?” I asked.

“Pay it and then catch up with us,” he said, as they left the dining room deserted.

The waiter came out of the back and presented me with the bill.

“With what money?” I said, looking around at all of the uneaten food.

Well I might as well eat mine, I thought, sitting back down. A few minutes later I strolled out to the bulletin, having put the bill on the room, and read the quest: Find the clocksmith.

I glanced up at the clocktower with its hands frozen together a little after 5:25. I guessed the place to start was the tower, so I went into the church and up the winding staircase. The top of the tower was a narrow space, made narrower by the large metal mechanism which operated the clock. I inspected it, but if there was something amiss it was beyond my comprehension. There were a few random clock pieces and tools strewn about but nothing which particularly caught my attention. On the way back down I met Leo, who had decided to search the second floor of the church in the name of thoroughness.

We walked together across town to the blacksmith, where we found Paelyn and Kyle standing outside and chatting about NPCs.

“What’s going on?” we asked.

“Dead end, only Lilian won’t accept it.”

I popped my head in and found her having it out heatedly with the blacksmith.

A few minutes later, she came out. "Useless imbecile, I can't get him to talk."

“Maybe the tip you got was just a bum steer,” I suggested.

Lilian’s eyebrow twitched.

“There was no tip, it was Lilian’s keen detective eye which brought us here,” said Kyle.

“The cogs are all rusty. Why do you think the clock stopped working?” asked Lilian.

“Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it just isn’t running because there’s no clock person,” I said.

“Let’s go back to the clock and reassess. There might be something that we missed,” suggested Leo.

We were around the corner from the plaza when Harold suddenly appeared, calling to Lilian. Lilian walked straight past him without turning to look.

“Hey, come on, just give me a moment of your time,” said Harold, following us.

“Fine, but you’d better make it quick,” said Lilian. “We have a quest to finish.”

“Less than a minute, I promise,” said Harold.

“Alright, you guys go ahead. I’ll meet you in the church,” she said.

“What was that about?” I asked, as she appeared in the doorway.

“Oh, he’s still trying to make me team up with him,” said Lilian.

“And you told him he could kick rocks!” said Leo.

“Something like that…”

As we entered the church, we were greeted by the man whom we'd met at the gate the day before. “Oh, you're just in time for our afternoon prayer service,” he said. 

“Who is that?” I asked, for the first time noticing the strange statue at the front of the church.

“That is Hozan, the god of this place, the All-Healer.”

“What do you mean ‘the All-Healer’?”

“That is what we call him?”

I inspected the face of Hozan more closely. “Is that Doctor Prentice?”

“We don't utter his true name in this holy place!” said the young man censoriously.

“We’re terribly sorry, we’re just trying to find the clock worker so we can finish the quest,” said Leo.

“Quests for points will not save you,” said the man. “Only Hozan holds the power to grant the Panacea to those whom he judges worthy!”

“Alright,” said Lilian. “This is a waste of time.”

Leo smiled at the young man. “Thank you for the–wisdom, uh…father. It, uh, gives us something to think about.”

Once outside, Lilian walked about thirty steps, stopped, and turned around. “Look at the clock hands,” she said, “do you notice anything odd about them?”

“They haven’t moved?” said Paelyn.

Lilian heaved a heavy sigh.

“Thanks for taking one for the team,” said Kyle.

“The hands are together.”

Suddenly it hit me. “I see it now. They’re pointing at the building across the street!”

“I’m guessing if we can get into that building, we’ll find what we’re looking for,” said Lilian.

The building was completely unremarkable. In fact, it looked exactly like the kind of low effort facade you wouldn’t be able to go inside, that is used to fill up videogame cities and make them feel bigger than they really are. If there was anything suspicious at all–it was only that such a building occupied a prime location in the city, being catty-corner from the main plaza.

All the doors were predictably locked, but it wasn’t long before we found a window ajar on the backside of the building. As the frontliner, Kyle was sent in first, in case of danger. Then, when he gave the all clear, we filed in after him.

It was dark inside, but I could tell immediately that we had stumbled into a sort of creepy fantasy workshop. Clocks were a central theme, but there were a variety of other strange contraptions too, especially those made predominantly from wood, and the ground and workman’s tables were covered in wood shavings and carving tools.

“Oh! a creepy little doll,” said Kyle. “Anyone want a creepy little doll?”

“I’ll pass,” said Lilian.

We passed through the main room into a sort of closet space. Here there were more clocks along with several mannequins, like larger versions of the doll Kyle had found.

“Don’t like those,” said Kyle.

In the middle of the room was a trapdoor.

“You have hands now, care to do the honors?” asked Kyle.

“Sure, I’ll open the creepy trapdoor,” I said, lifting the heavy door to reveal an eerie, cellar passageway lit by a dim, blue light.

“Does anyone else hear that?” asked Paelyn.

I hadn’t noticed until she asked, but there was a faint, rhythmic ticking coming from up ahead.

“Is it just me, or is each room worse than the last?” said Kyle.

“Everyone on your guard,” said Lilian. “Kyle, you get in front.”

“Being the frontline really sucks, you know that?” said Kyle, drawing his sword.

The ticking noise was getting louder, and there seemed to be more than one.

“What do we say we call it a day and go for a pizza?” asked Kyle.

As he turned to look at us, a form emerged from the inky darkness and struck him down. It was similar in general shape to the mannequins we had seen upstairs, a sort of living clock on two legs with turning cogs and rotating hands.

With Kyle down, the automaton leapt toward Lilian. I stepped forward to meet it and wrestled the monster away from her. I hadn’t noticed the chisel in its hand, however, and felt a sharp pain as it cut a gash in my side with the implement. By then Kyle had recovered, and he hacked up the automaton, still in my arms.

“Thanks,” I said, wincing with pain.

“Of course,” said Kyle.

“Did it get you good?” I asked, touching my side.

“Pretty good,” he said, showing me his bloodied palm, which glowed purple in the strange blue light.

“Look out!” cried Leo, as two more of the creatures came out of the shadows, chests ticking. They seemed to smile with their cruel, inhuman faces. I saw a glimmer of blue as one of Leo’s knives flew past my face, into the head of an automaton. As Kyle engaged with the other, two more approached from out of the darkness.

Lilian froze one, but the other charged at Kyle from behind, who was still distracted with his ongoing fight. I leapt between them, taking the plunging awl meant for Kyle. My ears rang as we fell down together, battering each other.

“Lilian, what do I do?” asked Paelyn in a panicked voice.

“Use your sword, there’s no room for back line in here!” Lilian barked.

Leo went to help Kyle, as Paelyn assisted me in finishing off the other enemy. As Kyle and I staggered to our feet wounded and bloody, five more creatures advanced down the corridor.

“We have to fall back,” said Kyle. “We can’t hold them.”

“Fall back!” yelled Leo, turning to run.

Only Lilian held her ground as a vortex of snow began to swirl around her. The creatures were almost on her, as I watched in terror. Suddenly, extending her wand so close that it almost touched the automatons, she unleashed her icicle barrage attack, obliterating them and lining the corridor from floor to ceiling with a thick, shimmering frost.

“Good job,” I said, putting my hand on Lilian’s shoulder. I was surprised to find she hadn’t relaxed at all. Her body was tense. She raised her right hand, and seemed to be doing something in her menu. With the last of the creatures destroyed the light in the chamber increased until we could barely make out the far end of the corridor and the outline of two individuals.

“Well done, Lilian,” said a voice at the far side of the corridor. I found myself bewildered, for I knew that voice: it was Harold’s!

He touched the other figure, who was evidently the clocksmith. “You’re free to go,” he said.

“Thank you,” said the old clocksmith, who turned and jogged up the corridor, passing between Lilian and I with a stupid expression of joy printed on his face.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Harold sauntered forward. He smiled at Lilian, then looked at me. “Lilian was kind enough to help me complete the quest,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ll see you later,” he said to Lilian. Then he continued on down the corridor.

“Lilian, explain. What just happened?”

Lilian looked at me. Her lips were pursed and slightly twisted. Then she started slowly back the way we came without a word.

I followed her, still trying to wrap my head around what had happened. We met the others at the top of the trapdoor stairs, looking at us with bewildered expressions.

“Um, guys, what in the hell is going on?” asked Kyle. “Why did Harold just come through here?”

“Because he uh… solved it before us,” said Lilian, looking embarrassed. “He just needed help killing the monsters, so I agreed to help him.”

Kyle’s mouth gaped open as he stared at her. “Why didn’t you run this by us? So we just killed all those things for what? Just for Harold to get the credit for finishing the quest?”

“Not just Harold,” said Lilian, looking uncomfortable. “He split it with me.”

“Wait. Did you leave our party just to backstab us with Harold!?” Kyle shouted, advancing towards Lilian.

“Woah, calm it down,” said Leo, holding him back. “Let’s talk about this calmly outside.”

“Unbelievable,” Kyle muttered, breaking away from Leo’s hold. We filed out of the workshop and emerged blinking in the bright noonday sunlight. We walked away from the plaza and found a quiet space with a ledge to sit. No one had spoken for several minutes now.

“Lilian, do I need to send you a new party invite?” Leo asked.

Lilian nodded.

“Don’t you dare send her an invite,” said Kyle.

“I’m going to send her an invite,” Leo stated firmly.

Suddenly they were talking over each other, arguing.

“I’m angry too! But she’s still a member of this party–I’m sending her an invite!”

“You know what? I’m outta here,” said Kyle. He stopped for a moment as he passed Lilian. “I hope you’re happy, risking your friends’ lives just so you got your stupid points.”

“Go, Baylor, take a walk,” said Leo.

“I will when I’ve said my piece!” he shouted. He turned back to Lilian and continued in the same bitter, trembling voice. “I think what you did was terrible.”

“Go,” said Leo, pushing him away.

“I’m going,” said Kyle, a resolute calm in his voice. “See, I’m going.”

Lilian was sitting with her arms crossed defiantly, and so far from looking repentant, she appeared almost to be sneering.

“It’ll be alright. He’ll come around,” said Leo. His voice was calm, but I could tell he was having a hard time looking at Lilian. There was an awkward silence, broken only by Paelyn whispering to Lilian, but whether it was comfort or reproach, I don’t know.

“Think I’ll go after him, actually,” said Leo.

“See you,” I said. And then there were three of us.

Paelyn whispered something else, and this time Lilian responded.

“They weren’t going to get the points anyway. Either I could split them with Harold, or none of us were getting anything. And they still got all the gold and experience from the fight. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Paelyn whispered a reply.

“That’s the game! The way it is! Don’t blame me. They’re acting like I betrayed them. Like I left them for dead or something.”

Again Paelyn replied.

“It’s not like it was my idea. I’d have preferred finish the quest ourselves, but Harold could have done the same thing, only then I wouldn’t have gotten any credit for the quest.”

This time Paelyn had a longer response.

“First off, I never lied, I just didn’t volunteer that information. And secondly, it was the same situation we would have walked into had Harold not been a part of it. He literally was irrelevant, and the fact that it was dangerous–that’s just the way life is here.”

Paelyn had only a short reply.

“Him getting hurt had nothing to do with me, he just picked the worst possible moment to drop his guard. None of that is related to my not telling him that Harold and I were going to split the quest reward.”

“So what was the reward?” I asked.

“I don’t know, like almost nothing. A hundred coins or something like that.”

“Wow, I feel like that’s insultingly low for the difficulty.”

“The automatons were worth way more than that,” said Lilian. “Probably like thirty, maybe thirty-five coins each.”

Paelyn started whispering to Lilian again, which I took as my cue to leave, so they could finish their conversation without me listening to half of it.

I went back to the room, but no one was there, so I went for a walk around the city. I was on a random side street when an NPC baker asked me to help him unload a wagon of flour sacks. Not having anything better to do, I agreed and spent the next half hour carrying the sacks from the wagon into the storeroom of his bakery, at the end of which time I was rewarded with half a dozen vanilla custard fruit tarts. I discovered that fresh baked goods could not be put in the inventory, so I ate one and carried the rest back to the hotel.

I hadn’t been back long when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and Lilian came in. We got the privacy warning, and after fumbling to dismiss it, I smiled at her awkwardly.

“Where are the other guys?” she asked.

“I dunno. I haven't seen them,” I said. “Where’s Paelyn?”

“She decided to take a nap,” said Lilian.

“Cool, cool,” I said, sitting on the bed.

“What is that?” she asked, pointing at the pastry box.

“Oh, those are fruit tarts. Help yourself.”

“Huh,” she said, carefully removing a tart and taking a dainty bite. “It’s good,” she said.

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“Is that why you bought a box?”

“I didn’t buy it, actually. The baker gave it to me.”

Lilian looked puzzled.

“I did a thing for him, carrying his flour sacks or whatever.”

“Ah,” she said, sitting down next to me. The bed rocked and began to slant us towards each other. “I guess you’re like the only one who isn’t mad at me,” she said, licking the whipped cream off her fingertips.

“I don’t know if I’m mad at you or not,” I said. “It didn’t really change anything for me. I wasn’t in the party to begin with.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Lilian, smiling. “I kept you out of the party.”

“I’d say that hurt worse for me.”

“Oh, did that hurt your feelings?” asked Lilian, turning to look in my face. She was speaking softly, and there was something playful in her tone. It seemed to be tinged with laughter.

“Yeah,” I said, deliberately taking on her gaze. “It did.” I was determined not to be the first to look away. I don’t know why, but just like her I could feel myself fighting back a smile.

After a few seconds she blinked. “Okay,” she said, nodding. “I’m sorry.”

“Why’d you do it?”

“Why’d I do what?” asked Lilian.

“Let me go through with asking and make a fool out of myself if you knew you were going to stand in my way.”

Lilian shrugged. “Maybe that’s just the way I am,” she said, slanting her head and looking at me out of the tops of her eyes. A strand of hair came loose and fell across her face, and she blew it back into place.

The door opened and in walked Kyle, followed by Leo. The moment the door clicked, Lilian stood up.

“I’m not interrupting anything am I?” Kyle asked.

Lilian laughed. “No, I was just looking for company. Paelyn is taking a nap in our room.”

“Oh,” said Kyle, uninterestedly. “What’s this?” he asked, opening the lid of the pastry box. “Weird.”

“Don’t be like that,” said Leo. “She obviously brought that as a way of extending the olive branch.”

“Oh, thanks I guess,” said Kyle, taking one.

Lilian and I exchanged glances. “You’re welcome,” she said.

I smiled at her. Kyle saw.

“There’s something odd going on between you…but I guess that’s nothing new,” said Kyle, shoving a third of the tart in his mouth. “Mmm, it’s good.”

“So… we’re all good?” asked Leo.

Kyle took his time answering as he had about half a fruit tart in his mouth. Finally he swallowed. “No, we’re not all good. She betrayed my trust, and that’s a problem. To be in a party with someone I need to trust them, but now my trust in Lilian is damaged, and unfortunately a fruit tart doesn’t fix that.” His tone was calm and matter-of-fact, almost relaxed. “But I do want to take this opportunity to apologize."

“No apology necessary,” said Lilian.

“Not to you,” he said sharply, “to him.” He pointed at me. “When Lilian said you didn’t belong in the party I agreed with her, but now I see that was pretty small of me. So–I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, almost inaudibly.

“Alright, now I’m gonna go get that pizza I’ve been dying for, if anyone wants to join me. You’re all invited–even you.” He pointed at Lilian.

“Sure,” said Leo. “My treat.”

“That’s stupid, but I’m not gonna argue,” said Kyle, as the two of them walked out of the room together.

“You coming?” I asked.

“Nah, you go ahead,” said Lilian.

“You want me to stay with you?”

“Go. You know I’m not treating you to dinner.”

I laughed. “Alright, I’ll see you later,” I said.

Lilian gave me a strange smile. “See ya.”