Gardiani In The City

It had been a month since we hopped over to this alternate world. Our worries about getting home were still there, underneath the surface of the confidence we showed everyday. I could see it there in everyone though. Yuliya had been a little too gung-ho compared to how she normally was. Ogun had become more moody, snapping at people every once in a while. Abel had become a little more forceful, but I heard him crying in his bed every other night. Sofiya seemed to be enjoying the situation the most, which surprised me. Even with that, there was a fearful look in her eyes. As for me, I didn’t feel terrible about our situation for myself. I just wanted to get them home. Adaeze had woken up two weeks ago. Her hair had reverted back to it’s original state just like the doctor said it would, and after a few more days gaining her strength, she joined us at the inn. It was our first time truly meeting her, but she was calm, collected, and wise. I thought it was almost like the Ogun we had seen all along was just a projection of her. Since she didn’t know anyone but her brother, and he himself had been deferring to me, she did the same. Every once in a while she would give me advice, but I was still the de facto leader. I didn’t want to be, and frankly it was scary having their lives in my hands, but these people were my family, and I would die before I gave up on them.

Carter had taken us back to the Collective after our meeting with Soothsayer. It took about an hour to fill out proper paperwork and figure things out, but we officially became Hands, forming our own party, The Elements. We had to pick distinctive combat roles and job specializations. It was similar to anything I’d read, but also different. It was obvious what the combat role was for, but the specialization was simply what kind of non-combat jobs you were good at. Maybe someone needed a hand on their farm, or maybe a company was seeking outside assistance in guiding their business out of a hole. I chose a duelist role, and my specialization was sailing. Given my Fluid abilities, it was the most logical choice. Abel had chosen berserker, and he actual chose strong worker, which was a designation for anyone who did hard physical labor in this society. Sofiya listed herself as a mage and her specialization as a technologist which came as no surprise to us. Yuliya had a harder time choosing, but borrowing inspiration from Skylar she chose rogue and began learning how to use knives and daggers from her. She didn’t know what specialization to choose so she just chose bookkeeper. Ogun set his sights on cavalier, though we didn’t have anything for him right now so he was just a spearman. Luckily for him we had two ladies in our party that could create spears from stone. He was adamant he was a strategist, so he chose that for his specialization. Once Adaeze woke up and could get around ok we took her and added her to our party. She chose shieldbearer for combat, and caretaker for her specialization.

We started accompanying Carter on jobs to make up for any training provided to us. That ranged from what fighting techniques he knew, to survival skills. To be honest, if anyone who thought he was amazing witnessed this, which was most of the region we were told, they would have been shocked at how limited this was. He was just a man who had a lot of experience under his belt and knew how to apply the basics most efficiently. After about three weeks he said we knew everything he could teach us and had us taking jobs on our own. We started with regular jobs based on our specializations to make money quickly. Whatever the six of us made we pooled into one fund. I worked with fisherman using their small fishing rowboats to gather hauls for the city, while the others did their own jobs. Every once in a while, Mel’s husband Byrant would come check on me. He was a tall man with broad shoulders. He looked to be a guard captain, complete with a cape coming down from anchor points on his shoulder armor, which was a combination of leather and split mail all the way down. He had a sword at his hip, and a bow slung over his back. I’d learned that everyone in the city absolutely adored him very quickly. Anytime he showed up, work slowed down to a near halt as everyone made it a point to shake his hand and give him thanks for what he does. This also made it apparent how badly most of the city guard was treating the populace. From what Carter told me, the only guards that did their duty faithfully were Byrant and those under his command. Today was the day that marked our one month here. As usual, Byrant came to check on me.

“Taiyo! Row back in here for a moment!” He called out to me from shore. The other fishermen knew by now that I didn’t need to row, but encouraged me to make an effort to look like I was, as the corrupt guards would take notice. They never explained why that mattered, but they were all kind middle-aged men thoughtfully looking out for a youngster, so I obliged. As I made it to shore, Byrant helped tie the boat off on the dock. “You have settled in here nicely over the passed week. Hector was saying he’d hire you permanently if you wanted to give up being a Hand.”

I chuckled. “If I can get my friends home, I will think about that offer.” I took his offered hand and climbed up onto the dock with him. “Is everything alright?”

Byrant nodded. “Nothing unusual really. But we’re going to go down to the market. I got permission from Hector for you to leave early with your wages for the day. Carter wants you all to assemble for something. I sent some of my other guards to get the others. I have a feeling you’ll be graduating from this city jobs.” He said that last part with a smile. Without explaining what that meant, we headed off. He handed me a pouch of coins, presumably my daily earnings.

I waved to Hector on our way out of the area, and began tracing my way to the market. Every day after work I would make it a point to walk as many of the streets as possible so I could learn the layout of the city. I was familiar with the market and the district it was in, but beyond that, I wasn’t good with much else yet. Skylar had pulled me along one time to the district next to it to visit a restaurant she liked. She playfully called it a date. We wound through the streets, the various homes turned into shops, and then stalls began lining the street. We came out onto a square that had rows upon rows of stalls. A wide range of wares were on display. On the stall to my left were various types of jewelry, and then on the one to my right was an array of pottery. A big man who was pretty drunk for this time of day nearly knocked me into a stall full of glassware. Byrant called a guard over to lug the man away.

Just on the periphery of the market were the rest of Elements. Everyone was laughing. Everyone except Ogun, who now sported a bald head. As I approached everyone started to turn to me.

“Look at him Taiyo.” Yuliya choked out. “My sister attempted to cut his hair for him with wind, but because Africa hair is a bit different, she messed it up, so his head needed to be shaved.”

I snickered a little, which deepened Ogun’s pout. “Can we just move on?”

“Sure. We’ll change direction. Too bad the wind didn’t do that at the last cut.” Abel said, to which everyone burst into renewed laughter.

Ogun looked at his sister, who was also laughing, then smiled to himself. I guessed that as long as his sister was doing better, he was ok with being mocked for a bit. After a few more moments Carter approached us.

“It is good to see everyone here. I have made sure to secure your funds in a bank in the city. Anything you purchase can be credited to it so long as you sign for it. A shop may go and withdraw those funds later.”

“Wait how do we know they won’t change the amount of money?” Yuliya asked.

“Because they can’t. There is a slate in every shop that is activated by touching this to it.” He handed her a metallic disc. “You touch it to the slate, speak the amount of the purchase, and then it is recorded. They will take the slate to the bank at the end of the week and then touch that to another slate, which will read how much all of their customers have spent at their shop.”

Yuliya gave a noise of understanding and piped down.

“Now, follow me.” He turned on his heal and led them through the stalls to the other side of the square. He went straight into a shop and we followed. Inside we saw shelves and barrels containing armor and weapons. On the walls were more ornate or dangerous looking pieces of merchandise. A back room roared with the sounds of fire and metal ringing out. I could tell it must have been a smithy back there. Leading them to the counter they were greeted by a skinny man with a long beard. He twirled the end of it in his fingers as he appraised them.

“So Carter, these people are the group you closed my shop for?” He said. Carter only nodded. The shop owner looked back at them. “Well, I hope they have quite a bit of money.”

“They have enough.” He said, gesturing to them all. “We have a duelist, a berserker, a rogue, a shieldbearer, a cavalier, and a mage.”

“Hmm, well I have a great team of blacksmiths that can adjust anything here within the day. Let’s start picking some things out, shall we?”

Long story short, we spent quite a few hours in the shop. I could understand why Carter got him to close it. There wasn’t simply armor and weapons here. There were some that had magical properties applied to them too. For myself, we picked some leather armor and boots. The boots apparently would help me keep my balance, though they wouldn’t keep me from falling over. The leather armor increased my flexibility, so over all, I could dominate a fight more by simply being harder to strike in the first place. There weren’t many duelist swords in the shop, so I chose a rapier that could absorb magic.

I turned to look at the others. Sofiya had chosen a robe that has leather armor woven into it. It could resist physical impacts, but not much else. She had also chosen a quarter staff in case anyone got close enough to her. She put her long blonde hair into a single braid to make trying things on easier. Her brown eyes shifted to her sister.

Yuliya was lightly armored compared to everyone else. Instead she took a half armor that covered one side of her, and had a bandolier with many knives in it running down the other side of her chest. Apparently it was a knife set that the thrower could call back to them. The number of knives she had were double what Skylar did. Her slightly shorter messy brown hair was all over the place, a perfect match for her personality.

I looked at Ogun and Adaeze. Adaeze was looking over her brother like a mom on her child’s first day of school. She had two shields, one attached to hand. They were apparently made by a technologist that had recently visited the shop and sold them. She had said that they were designed to be worn at all times, since the front half of the shields folded over the back half when the wearer did form a fist. Adaeze stopped fussing over Ogun and clenched her fists a few times. Each time she did, the front half of the shield came down and locked in place, making two small spears over her hands. She had plate armor, and a dagger attached to each thigh.

Ogun was similarly armored, but he had vambraces instead of shields. He had a genuine spear now that apparently spun like a drill when thrown. He also had a break stick now, just like Zeke in Skylar’s party. Something about his expression told me that he was excited about this. More than he felt he should be.

Abel came over to me. “How do I look man?”

I gave him a once over. He had chainmail armor with a large pelt sewn over it in many places. The pelt was apparently from a mammalian cousin of a dragon, which was also fire resistant. He had a long axe on his back, and a short one on his belt. He had leather gloves that were made of the same material. His hair was back in a ponytail just like when they got ready for the experiment.

“You look cool man. Also like you could tear me apart if you wanted to.”

“Though I would never do that.”

I smirked. “Wouldn’t you though?”

He looked at me for a moment before he realized it was a joke, then smiled back.

The shopkeeper clapped his hands. “Ok everyone, we have finished all adjustments, chosen our final selection of wares, and are ready for purchase. If you would bring your yinks or your bank discs to the counter.”

“Oh, just one bank disc.” Yuliya said, stepping up.

“Very good. The grand total will be ten thousand six-hundred ninety-five yinks. However, as a credit to my friendship with Carter, I will lower it to ten thousand two-hundred yinks.”

Yuliya’s face beaded with sweat. “Thank you very much.” She touched the disc to the slate he slid in her direction then recorded the amount. Turning around, she made eye contact with me and walked over. “We had just a hundred more than that. We got lucky.”

I felt a bit of sweat form on my own brow at that realization.

Carter cleared his throat. “I thank you my friend. Now we’re off to the general store for supplies.”

Yuliya whipped around so fast I thought she was about to attack. “I don’t think we would have enough for that.”

He raised a hand as he began opening the door. “That is alright. I will pay for this. I only intended to keep half of your share of the money you all helped me make.” He turned around and stepped outside. We followed him, surprised by his statement.

The general store was only a couple buildings over. Inside it was a portly woman. She had a gravelly voice that made us think if we stepped one centimeter out of line she’d throw us out. When she spoke, we realized it was the opposite. She was potentially the sweetest person we’d ever met in the city. She and Carter walked us through shop, picking out some backs and satchels, dried food, some rope, and other tools we might need. Everyone would have provisions, and depending on the person, certain tools. For example, Abel could create fire by himself, so he didn’t get a fire starting kit, but the sisters could manipulate the earth, so they didn’t get rope. I didn’t get a canteen since I could just bring water together out of the air.

I stopped Carter as we were leaving the shop. “Why are we suddenly getting all this stuff?”

He looked out over the crowd for a moment before answering. “The lord of Belle Reve is ramping up his efforts to oppose the other city lords in the region. This includes pressing magic users into service. I know what you all can do is different, but I don’t think the lord will see a difference, nor care. I want to have you start taking jobs outside of the city, that means fighting monsters or bandits.”

Sofiya whimpered a little at the word monsters. Yuliya put an arm over her shoulder. I imagined they thought of the twisted hands we fought when we first got here.

“So that’s why.” I murmured. “Why does he fight them?”

“I hear he has designs on controlling the whole region. The others do of course, but they aren’t as power hungry as he is. There are lines they aren’t willing to cross yet.”

Abel scratched his head. “So now we’re fighting monsters?”

Carter nodded. “You should be able to handle the kind of monsters found in this area. Just go down to the Collection building and take a job. I can be actual slaying, or just harvesting their parts. Start making money that way and save up. Until Soothsayer calls for you, we need to move you to another city, and that will require more yinks than city jobs can get you. Now I mean it, go.”

With that he said goodbye and walked away. We stood there looking at each other for a moment, not saying anything. Eventually, Adaeze had enough.

“So are we going?” She looked first at her brother, then at me.

I gestured forward. “I guess so.” I lead the group to the Collection building. Every so often I’d notice one of the city guard looking at us. It didn’t make me feel good, but they didn’t do anything else but watch, so I figured there was no harm. Before long we arrived at the local branch of the Collective and entered. No sooner had I made it in, I heard someone call my name from the side. Skylar came running up to us ahead the rest of the Miscasts.

“You all are together this time. Does that mean you’re going to accept a job as a party?” She cocked her head to the side.

“Uh yeah, Carter said we should start doing that.” She walked alongside me as I made my way to the job board designated for combat.

“Oh I want to see the job selected for your christening!”

We all perused the listed jobs, the Miscasts waiting behind us. Adaeze and Yuliya each pulled one from the board. I looked over both of them.

Adaeze’s said a local farming clique was being harassed by bandits. The group was comprised of four of five assailants, and they had stolen horses and food over the past five weeks.

Yuliya’s was a job for taking out a pack of monsters. It was apparently a large pack of about eight of something called a choqutl. They apparently migrated from Africa to the south somehow and were causing trade to slow down on the southern roads.

“I think this one would be easier.” Adaeze said. “There are at most five.”

Yuliya frowned at her. “But they are humans. At least mine are monsters.”

Adaeze rolled her eyes. “I don’t care if it’s humans or monsters, if anyone threatens my brother I’ll treat them the same, and if they are coming to kill I will meet them with the same force. It doesn’t say we have to kill them anyway. Just handle the situation. If possible, we can capture them.”

“Taking chances like that will put us in just as much risk. I’d rather not kill humans if I can avoid it, and that’s the only way to protect ourselves the most with a job like that.”

I put my hands up to stop them both. “I kind of agree with Yuliya on this one. I see what you’re saying, but I would rather not risk killing people either.”

Adaeze simply put the paper back on the board and walked over by her brother. She didn’t look angry. Just worried.

“Can I see that?” Skylar asked from behind. I handed her Yuliya’s choice. She read over it for a bit, then frowned. She handed it to Tatiana, who passed it around to the other two. Skylar received it back along with three nods, and handed it to me. “The Miscasts would like to go with you on this one.”

“Wouldn’t that greatly reduce the shares of the reward?” Sofiya asked.

She shook her head. “Not if we just accept the materials from the choqutl. You keep the yinks.”

I suspected there was a reason she suggested this, but I’d be happy for the help. It’d increase the chances we’d survive

“About how far out is this area anyway?” Abel asked, looking over my shoulder.

Gesperow patted his chest armor a few times, counting. “You know where Soothsayer lives now. It’s about that distance, plus two more. It’s actually directly south of their cottage actually.”

“So we’re taking this one then?” Ogun stated, seeming in a hurry to make a decision?

I looked at the others, who all nodded. “It seems so.” I took the page to the counter.

The worker that helped Carter when we first arrived was there. “Welcome! Are we taking a job?”

I handed it to him. “The Elements are going to take this one, yeah.”

He looked it over. “Are you-”

“The Miscasts will be accompanying them.” Skylar cut him off.

His expression relaxed. “Ah, all is in perfect order then. I’ll mark it down in the ledger that Elements and Miscasts will be handling this request. For this particular job, we have a wagon and up to three horses prepared for travel. Please note, that Ogun in the Elements is free to use a horse for combat, but these are not warhorses, and if one should not make it, it will be deducted from the reward. Should you go to another branch rather than here, you may receive your reward there, as well as return the wagon and horses. Just present this.” He handed me a rectangular crystal. “I hope you have a successful journey.”

Skylar tugged at my sleeve and led me to the side. “So I’ve gathered you’re the leader of the Elements. We should talk shop.”

I shrugged. “I kind of got thrown into it, but yes. Are you talking about formations or something?”

“That too, but I mean the details of this job. Chuqotl are notoriously dangerous. Just one can overrun a village. This is a pack, and they haven’t even attacked any villages yet. That means they are still moving. Once they eat their fill they will move on. Now obviously we don’t want anyone else to fall victim to them, but that means they will be at their most alert since they haven’t settled a den yet. When we go, you need to understand that this won’t be easy.”

This was the most serious I’d seen Skylar. It honestly made my heart skip a beat. “I-I mean of course. I figured we could use one of the horse for Ogun after all. Also, maybe Gesperow, Adaeze, Tatiana and Abel should be near the front when we fight them.”

Skylar smiled. “You’ve got a head for this. Alright then, who should be at the back?”

“You and I.”

“Why?” She seemed more like she was quizzing me than questioning me.

“Well if one happens to get behind us, you and I could at least do something to it. We’re going in more like a hammer, so our strength should be up front, but we should be prepared too. Ogun should keep moving, picking at them with his spear or shooting them with his break stick. Sofiya and Zeke should stay in the middle for the same reasons. Yuliya has the ability to move around and help everyone.”

She clapped loudly, a smile on her face. “You have a knack for this alright! Ok, we’ll go with that. Let’s go tell the others.

We returned to the group and relayed the strategy. Once everyone was clear on the plan we went back to the inn to rest. We weren’t going to leave until the next morning.

The next morning we all met up at the Collection building to retrieve the wagon and horses. Ogun mounted up happily. “Finally.” He said simply. Everyone was ready to go, if a little groggy, so we set out quietly. Zeke and Yuliya rode the other two horses, while the rest of us road in the wagon. Skylar and I rode on the driver’s bench. Gesperow was so big that Sofiya was the only one who could sit next to him on his side of the wagon, which gave everyone a chuckle. We rode for the greater part of the day, not a hint of danger or bad weather. Everyone in the back had already started chatting away and sharing stories. Ahead of us Ogun road solo, while Zeke and Yuliya were laughing about something.

Skylar cleared her throat. “So you had said you all are from a different world. What is it like?”

I scratched the side of my head. “Well that’s kind of hard to explain. Technically we’re from here, but at the same time, we’re not. You guys call this world Gairidan, right? We call it Earth. There is no country here, but where we’re from, this would be France. There are monsters roaming around, people with swords and magic. We didn’t see any of that openly where we were from. In fact, most people thought things like that were just stories.”

“Just stories?” She sounded like she couldn’t imagine that.

“Yeah. And it seems we also moved time too. I don’t understand any of it. Though the land is exactly the same as our world, literally everything else is different. It’s like something at some point happened, and then everything after that changed dramatically because of it, and that’s what created this world.”
She laughed. “You sound just like my friend. She’s a technologist that has been studying all kinds of ruins. She said something about four hundred years ago happened, and it created the world we know today. She’s been on the road for a while now. I hope she’s ok.”

My curiosity was piqued. “Something happened? What was it?”

“Oh I don’t know. That’s not my kind of thing, and I barely understood it as she was telling me. If we ever meet her you’ll have to ask her yourself.” There was a long stretch of time before she spoke again. “How old are you anyway?”

I looked at her, surprised. “I’m sorry?”

She giggled mischievously. “I’m just curious! You’re pretty cute, and I’ve seen you really friendly with Yuliya.”

“I-I’m seventeen now as of a couple weeks ago. How old are you?” I was blushing.

“I’m twenty. Are you two together?” She coughed slightly.

“No! I don’t see her that way!”

She smiled. “Good.” She reached for her canteen and uncapped the lid.

She was about to start pouring it on herself when I stopped her. “Ah wait.” I lifted my hand and willed a little cloud of vapor to form over her head. It began to condense into water and pour on her head.

“Aaaah~” She sighed. “Now that’s convenient. What spell was that.”

I realized my mistake. Carter had said not to use my abilities in front of others unless I had to. And if I did, pretend I was activating a magic item. “Ah well, actually…. It wasn’t.”

She looked at me, confused. “But you just made that happen.”

“Oh I did, yeah. But it wasn’t a spell.”

“Well you didn’t handle a magic item, I could tell that much. What was it?”

I turned behind us. “Sofiya, you see that flower bush coming up here? Can you get me one?”

“You’re going to make her get out?” Skylar looked shocked.

I pointed to the bush. Within a few moments a gust of wind picked up and expertly snapped the flower’s stem, carrying it over to my hand, where it gently landed. It was a yellow one, similar to a rose. I placed it into Skylar’s hair where the braid wrapped around her pigtail.

I turned back. “Thanks.” Everyone’s jaws were hung low, except for Adaeze. I’m sure Abel’s and Sofiya’s were because this was kind of out of character for me.

Skylar snapped back to reality. “What was that she just did? That wasn’t magic!”

I took a deep breath. “Ok so we are a group of people called gardiani. We can manipulate various elements. There are technically seven sub races of us, but what we have represented here are five of them. I can control water, Adaeze and Ogun darkness, Abel fire, Yuliya earth, and Sofiya is kind of a hybrid. She can control some earth and some wind.”

Tatiana piped up in the back. “Wait a minute, as far as I know, no such person exists!”

“That’s one of the things I feel may be different here. We don’t exist in this world. We can normally sense each other’s power, but I haven’t picked that up from anyone else since we got here.”

“Neither have I.” Sofiya added. “I’d like to meet your friend too Skylar.”

“I’ll send her a letter when we get back. This is fascinating though. Imagine the applications in a fight!”

Gesperow sighed. “Ever the battle maniac.”

The others laughed.

We spent the rest of the day going back and forth on it and other topics. When it began to get darker we pulled off into a clearing and made camp. Zeke showed us that the wagon could be tipped onto it’s side and turned into the backing of a tent with two stakes planted into the ground in front of it and a tarp secured to them and the wagon. We ate some boar that he had picked off on the way. Gesperow had cooked it.

“I didn’t know you were chef.” Abel said, tasty the meat.

The man blushed. “My hope is to become one and have my own restaurant someday. It costs a lot to purchase a property in the city though, and the supplies wouldn’t be cheap either. I’m not fast or patient enough for hunting, so I’d need to pay someone for that.”

Tatiana and Zeke sighed collectively. “We already told you we’d retire with you!” They said.

He rubbed the back of his head. “I can’t make you do that. I know you both love being Hands.”

The three bickered as Skylar watched with a smile.

“They really are your family, huh?” I asked.

She nodded. “I was fourteen when they found me. I was cast out of Atlantia a year before and had been living off the streets. Gesperow took one look at me and told the others that they were taking me with them. We’ve been together ever since.”

“Why were you cast out?”

She looked up. “There were parts of the city everyone was forbidden from entering. Everyone but the royal family. But the problem was we never got to see the royal family, so when I saw someone my age going into one, I thought I would go warn them. I was just trying to be helpful, but the guards grabbed me so fast and took me straight to the city gate without hearing me out.” A tear formed in her eye. I haven’t seen my parents since then. I doubt the guards even knew who I was to let them know that I was gone.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I let the topic die. Looking over to the wagon, I saw Adaeze and the sisters crawling under to go to sleep for the night. Abel was showing Ogun how to make a tent with sticks and cloth a little further passed them. Zeke had moved over to the other side of the wagon to set another awning.

“You should go to sleep.” Skylar finally said. “Tatiana, Gesperow and I will take the first watch.”

I looked back at her. “You sure?”

“Yeah it’s fine.”

I nodded and then got up, going over to help Zeke with what he was doing, then laying under it to get some rest.

The next morning, we packed everything up that we were taking, and set out once more. I took a horse this time and Yuliya took my spot on the driver’s bench. I hadn’t gotten much chance to practice riding a horse yet, so I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity.

The whole while, Zeke was laughing at me. “I’ve never seen anyone so bad at this.”

“Shut up. I’m doing my best!”

Ogun slowed down to my other side. “I wasn’t even trying when I first hopped on.” He chuckled.

“You both are not helping!” I yelped, as the horse apparently wanted to join in and slightly bucked in the back.

The other two roared with laughter.

“Anyway!” I cut into their fun. “Are we getting close?”

Zeke looked around for a moment. “Actually, we’re just about right on top of it. We made most of the journey yesterday.” He lifted his hand and waved to the wagon, signaling to stop.

Just then an ape that looked like it was mixed with a bear came bursting out of the brush on the side of the road. It was barreling straight for Zeke. Without hesitation I summoned a spout of water that ground into it’s face. It flinched in pain and veered right passed us and then tumbled to the ground. A moment later three more appeared all around us.

“So they aren’t stupid.” Yuliya called, looking ready for a fight.

“Everyone get ready!” Skylar stood up on the drivers bench. Gesperow jumped down in front of one of the beasts. To his right Tatiana stood at the ready. Abel and Adaeze put themselves in front of another one. Sofiya remained in the back of the wagon as Yuliya hopped down in front of it, ready to throw some of her magic knives. I returned my focus to the first chuqotl that appeared. It stood back up and turned to us. One of it’s eyes was a bloody hole. Ogun was already riding after it, and as it raised it’s head and roared, his spear went right into it, killing it instantly. The spear was wrenched from his hand as he rode passed.

“Crap!” He cursed. He pulled his break stick from his back and got it read to fire. I looked over to Yuliya who was already throwing her knives into the third one that appeared in the rear. I rode over, generating water blades in the air and sending them flying into it as well. As thick as it’s fat was, blades and knives were doing far less damage than the jet of water I sent the first time. I heard a roar to my left, followed by a yelp. I looked over.

Abel had been sent sprawling to the ground, and the beast they were fighting was on top of Adaeze. She had her shields dug into it’s neck as it bared down on her. A crack sounded from Ogun’s direction, and half of it’s head was blown off. It fell limply on her. Abel got up to help her get it off. Returning my attention to the one in front of me, I got close and then dove from the horse, right onto it’s back. Before it could rear up and throw me off, I jammed my rapier into it’s side. It stood up on it’s hind legs and shook left and right. There was another crack, and a hole opened right next to my face. I felt something whiz passed me, and the gore from the creature covered my face.

“Sorry!” I heard Zeke shout when the creature fell over and my face was visible. I summoned water to wash at least the area around my eyes.

“I’m alive!” I called back. To my left Gesperow was choking the life from the fourth one. Tatiana was helping Skylar to her feet, who apparently got knocked down by it at some point.

The head fell limp, and Gesperow let go and began to stand up. Just as he was getting to his feet, another one came from behind and bit into his shoulder.

“Gah!” The man cried out. He started punching up into it’s face, only drawing some blood.

Skylar rushed forward, jumping up and jamming her daggers into it’s eyes. “Hold one!”

It released it’s grip and yelped in pain as Skylar fell back down to the ground. I summoned the thinnest blade of water I could and sent it flying, cutting deep into it’s chest. It stood stock still for a moment before falling lifelessly to the ground. Gesperow was clutching his bleeding chest. His hammer that he had been using was resting on the ground next to him.

Tatiana pulled a pouch from her belt. “I’ve got this, go find the other three. This one came from that direction. It was probably responding to the cry from the first one.”

Skylar nodded. “Zeke, stay with them. I’ll go with the Elementals.”

The shooter nodded and then hopped up onto the wagon for a higher elevation.

She turned around and motioned for us to follow. Ogun left his spear with the horse and brought just his break stick. With Skylar at the lead, Abel and Adaeze followed right behind her. It wasn’t far before we came across the remaining three. The were pawing at the ground and acting agitated.

“What are they doing?” Sofiya asked. She stopped right beside me.

Skylar scanned the area for a moment. “It looks like they are waiting for one of the others to communicate back. They are a very intelligent monster, and they constantly communicate.” She looked back at Ogun. “I need you to try to take as many out as possible.”

He nodded, taking aim with his weapon. He had been letting it charge ever since they made their way down the hill. He lifted it to his shoulder and sighted up on the nearest one. After a couple breaths he fired, dropping it where it stood. He needed another few seconds for the next charge to complete. In that time, the remaining two discovered them and began pounding up the hill. I drew whatever water was in the air and ground and sent it pouring down after them. One of them slipped back down the hill, while the other dug in and pressed on. Abel lunged in and batted it’s head away with his long axe before embedding the smaller on in it’s neck. It tried to pull it’s head off of the exe, but Sofiya summoned a stone pillar in it’s way, and then making a part of it jut out, pushing it’s head the rest of the way on. The third one got to it’s feet just in time for Ogun’s charge to finish, and he send another bone down the hill, ending the last chuqotl and completing the job.

They trudged back up the hill to where the others were, and found Assistant waiting with them.

“Hello. Soothsayer has requested your presence. She has more answers for you.” She bowed slightly, before mounting the horse she brought.

Gesperow was already loaded into the wagon with Tatiana, and Zeke was on his own horse. He trotted over with the other two horses.

“Let’s go ahead and go then. Attendant won’t leave unless you go see Soothsayer, and I’ve heard it can be quite draining to have her hanging around no matter where you go.”

Skylar agreed. I mounted my horse as Ogun was mounting his. After everyone loaded up in the wagon, we began our journey back. Everyone was a tad more muted than before, most likely from exhaustion. Such a short fight, and I felt like I wanted to go to bed right now.

We made our way back to the site we camped at before and went through the same routine we did before. Once daylight broke, we resumed our journey, this time stopping off at Soothsayer’s cottage.

Just like before, the old lady was sitting on the porch. She was bundled up in a blanket this time since it was getting colder. Assistant led me and Abel over. Skylar tagged along too out of curiosity.

“Light it if you would.” Assistant said to Abel, pointing a small metal bin. Inside was some wood. She must have asked him to do as much on the way here. He did as requested and before long the immediate area became a lot warmer. She walked behind Soothsayer and whispered in her ear.

Immediately the old woman jerked towards me and opened her mouth. Just as before her voice rolled out as if echoing from somewhere else. “You have returned as instructed. I have more to tell you about your so called shikigami.” She rasped at the end of her words. “Far to the east is a temple. It’s purpose is unknown. It’s builder is unknown. One thing is, however. Whatever is lost will be collected there. Your doll has been drawn into it. Your doll is tied to your previous world, and now it is all that remains to take you back.” She coughed horribly for a long moment before continuing. “You must journey to this temple and reclaim your ticket home. Only then will you see your world again.” One last echo escaped her lips before she closed them and returned her gaze to her garden.

Abel yelped with excitement. “Yes! Yes! Yes yes yes yes!” He lifted Skylar off the ground in a hug. “I can go home and see my family!” He spun around, Skylar still captive.

I cupped my chin. Her words sounded slightly off to me, but it was clear that my shikigami was a way home. I turned to the others. A long journey east would exhaust everyone, but I was sure they’d willingly make it if they knew they’d go home. I looked back at Soothsayer.

“Thank you very much.” I looked at Assistant. “You as well. Take care.”

She bowed slightly to me. “Safe travels.”

Abel finally released Skylar, and we all began walking back to the wagon. She skipped right up next to me. “So what does Hindu mean?”

“Huh?” I hadn’t heard the woman say Hindu.

“Right at the end, the old woman said that before closing her mouth. Maybe it’s because I’m a dailon. We have better hearing than humans.” She shrugged.

“It could mean something, but right now east is our clearest answer.”

We relayed all we heard back to the others. They were excited of course, but I noticed that it was distinctively different from Abel’s reaction. We decided we’d consult with Carter on what our options to go east were.

We ended up camping on our way back to Belle Reve, and at about midday the next day we arrived at the gates. I ended up switching with Tatiana on the horse, as I was still tired.

The guards were staring at us hard. We exchanged looks with each other as we passed, and were stopped by what looked like a guard captain. “Are you Elements?” he said.

I nodded. “Yes. What is this about?”

Three guards came up and took the reins of our horses.

The captain looked between his men, then back at me. “Our lord wishes to thank you for your efforts in your most recent job. It has been of great service.”

Yuliya fist pumped. “For taking out those chuqotl things? Alright!”

The guard looked confused for a moment. “Ah yes. He is grateful that you have eliminated the chuqotl threat. We are to escort you to a feast in your honor.” With that he raised his hand and signaled for his men to move.

In total there were twenty guards. Eight in the front, three pulling the reins, two on each side of the wagon, and five in the back. It was a genuine procession. The citizens around us fearfully moved out of the way as we made our way through.

It was when a couple of the Hands I recognized began to whisper in a panicked manner that I grew suspicious. One of them ran off while the other came up to the procession.

“Excuse me!” He said, hand on his dagger. “Where are you taking these Hands?”

The guard captain seemed to tense up before he turned to the man. “Our lord wishes to congratulate and reward the Elements for their efforts in taking down the recent chuqotl threat.”

The Hand didn’t budge. “That’s strange. How does your lord know about it? The Collective doesn’t report anything to local lords. We are an independent organization. If they just got to the city, then we don’t even know how things went.”

“News travels fast!” The captain replied. “Merchants from the east have told us that it was safe once more.”

I stopped them immediately. “But the chuqotls were on the south road. How would merchants from the east know?”

The captain sighed, and in one fluid motion drew a knife and stabbed the Hand. “Guess it’s the hard way.

At that moment, Carter came running around the corner the other Hand ran down. “Get out of there!” He shouted, as he drew his scimitar and charged the captain.

The Miscasts jumped into action immediately. Gesperow hopped over the left side of the wagon and kicked away the two guards there, while Tatiana jumped from her horse and engaged with the guards to their rear. Zeke pulled a knife from his sleeve and jammed it into the guard holding his reins neck before throwing it at one of the guards on the right side. Skylar jumped up on the driver’s bench and threw daggers at three of the guards in the front.

“Call reinforcements!” The captain screamed as he engaged Carter, who was fighting like an animal, both with force, and with the power of his tail. He knocked away one of the forward guards that ran up behind him, while batting away the captain’s sword. The force behind his tail crushed the man’s legs, sending him sprawling face first into the stones of the road. One of the rear guards ran back the way they came as another ran forward. Tatiana skewered one man, before kicking another man back into a stall. She turned to face another when a spear pierced her abdomen. I was busy turning the cart around when Skylar saw it happen.

“No!” She screamed. Yuliya grabbed her and pulled her into the back of the cart, holding her in with Sofiya’s help. “Let me go! I have to get Tati!” She fought like a caged animal to get free, but she couldn’t.

Tatiana looked at us and smiled, before thrusting her sword into her attacker. Another swordsman came behind her and finished her off. Gesperow bellowed like a raging elephant and barreling into the man. The force was enough to knock the man unconscious, if he hadn’t killed him. He swung his hammer like a madman, adrenaline taking him over.

Zeke called for him to come with them but the man ignored him, fighting valiantly to block the now incoming guards from the front. On his way passed, Ogun thrust his spear into a guard that was going after Gesperow from behind, and Zeke fired at another that was readying a bow on a roof just above.

Carter came sprinting up and dove into the wagon as we picked up speed. He had blood on him, but no wounds. I looked back and saw the captain slouched on his knees. Then I glanced at Gesperow in time to see him hit in the back with an axe. He kept fighting until two more guards thrust their weapons into him.

Skylar was sobbing in Yuliya’s arms, completely incapable of anything else. As we neared the gate, I saw some guards on horses round a corner and ride alongside us. Carter swiped at the ones on the left side, while Abel attempted to ward them off on the right. Ogun stowed his spear and switched to his break stick, but it caught on a clothesline and yanked from his hands. One of the guards on the right swung at Abel, who dodged it. He came back with a swing of his long axe and hit the man just below his arm, instantly killing him. Abel looked in horror as the man slid from his saddle.

Zeke jumped over to the cart from the horse and just as he stood up, three arrows sprouted from his chest. He stood for a moment before leaning backwards. Carter caught him and pulled him in, Sofiya taking hold of him and laying him down. I could hear her sobbing behind me.

Ahead of us, some guards were rushing to close the portcullis, but then they were blindsided by some of their allies, who put it back up. As we passed, he pulled his helmet off and I saw it was Byrant. He had a solemn look as he nodded to me, then put his helmet back on. We made it out of the gate before any of the corrupt guards could catch up.

Carter directed us to another town. It was to the south east, and it was surrounded by farmland as far as we could see. It’s high walls greeted us as night fell. An hour prior we had found a beautiful and peaceful spot to bury Zeke, who had passed away soon after we escaped. As we approached the two guards barred our entrance, demanding to know who we were at this hour. After showing my identification as a Hand to one of the guards, they let us through without anymore issue. Carter led us to an inn and we got a room for the night. None of us wanted to let anyone out of sight for the time being, so Carter, Abel and I slept in the floor while the sisters and Skylar slept in one bed and Ogun and Adaeze slept in the other. Skylar cried herself to sleep, Yuliya stroking her head.

Abel had been pale in the face the whole way to this city, and as soon as we entered the gates he threw up over the side of the cart. I thought I saw him kill someone. It had to be weighing on him. Of all of us he had the biggest heart and conscious.

I saw Carter staring at me for a while now, so I decided to start talking myself. “I’m glad you showed up when you did.”

“I had heard that there was a plot to capture the whole group and press you into military service. The had been watching you guys for a while.” He said simply.

I remembered seeing guards staring at us before. “I thought I had noticed something weird.” I thought about the Hand that died. “What is going to happen now? They killed a Hand.”

He leaned his head against the wall. “That whole town will be blacklisted. Hands cannot be recruited into the military. They cannot be attacked without just cause. Every Hand in that city will be told to leave and head to other towns for work, and the branch will be shut down.” He closed his eyes, a hint of anger in his brow. “It’s a travesty. Belle Reve is too reliant on Hand labor now. It will become impoverished without workers tending to the various work. Especially after many of the men were conscripted.”

I gasped. “Really? Is there nothing that can be done?”

“Short of the lord being overthrown and an appeal made by his successor, nothing.”

I shook my head. “This is what greed does, huh?”

Carter opened his eyes and looked at me again. “It gets even worse. Once the city starts suffering, and he can no longer pull the taxes he has grown used to, he will seek that wealth elsewhere. He will attack neighboring cities with the intent to conquer. Whether he can or not is irrelevant. Likely, it’ll be this city first. The misery will spread.”

We fell into silence after that, and rapidly, I felt sleep overtake me.

The next morning we all sat around for a meeting. Skylar remained in bed behind Yuliya and Sofiya. I started it off.

“So let’s lay out some facts as they are. We can’t go back to Belle Reve. We can’t stay here because eventually war will begin and this city will be the first target. Skylar’s party is dead. We can go east and get the shikigami that will take us home. It’s probably going to take a while. Oh, and we do still have the wagon and one horse, as well as a reward waiting for us at the Collection, so we’ll have some money.”

Yuliya raised her hand. “Obviously we’re taking Skylar. That isn’t a question.”

I nodded. “That was my plan too. At this point she’s family too, so we aren’t leaving her.”

Adaeze spoke up. “I… I’d like to take on more jobs against bandits. If yesterday is any indication, this world won’t care if we want to fight people or not. We should get used to it so we won’t hesitate when it matters.”

Abel whimpered at that. “I’ve already done it.”

Adaeze’s eyes softened.

“I cannot forgive what that lord did. He should pay.” Ogun growled.

I arched an eyebrow. “To be honest, that’s not really our concern at this point. Maybe if we had an army to fight him. But it’s just us.”

“He’s right.” Sofiya agreed.

Ogun looked away and said nothing.

Carter stood up. “I will accompany you to the east. I feel responsible for you all now. I would see you home.”

There wasn’t much else for us to discuss, so we headed to the local Collection branch and turned in our job. An alert was sent to the branch from Belle Reve, and when we told them what happened, they began dispatching letters. As condolences to Skylar and her party, the horse and wagon were gifted to her. She was also folded into the Elements with us.

“It is sad to say, but if we’ve received an alert from the Belle Reve branch, it means the building was assaulted as well. Many Hands likely perished.” The old man at the counter monologued to us.

With heavy hearts, we purchased a cover for our wagon, another horse, supplies, and set out on our journey east.