To Save A Sorcerer

The streets of Gale Harbour City were quiet enough to hear the flutter of a fowl’s wings. The stalls and carts that lined each busy street were vacant now, missing the characteristic treats and trinkets that drew the eye closer.

For a moment there appeared to be nothing at all, or at least no sign of the extravagant man they’d come to know. But as the last lanterns threatened to distinguish, a few figures stumbled out of a tavern, chased out by the broom of a barkeeper.

“Let’s take a closer look,” Kael murmured to the ever so quiet acolyte trailing beside him.

“Must we? I really despise drunkards,” Miria retorted, the disgust quite obvious upon her face.

Her fiery spirit had dimmed to levels that just peaked above normal, nothing like the explosive force that burst into the inn. She’d returned to her job pretending to be an ordinary companion, although Kael was starting to wonder if she believed herself a bodyguard.

The sorcerer took the lead this time, closing in on the men that had begun to trip over each other.

Among the characters, one stuck out. Kael recognised him from the night market a few days prior, tending to the scruffy wine cart.

“Ah! Lucian’s little friend,” He smiled, before giggling in a drunk haze. Raising a clay flask to his mouth, the man took another swig before struggling over his own feet.

Kael caught the man, manoeuvring his back to rest against the wall, “Well that’s actually why we’re here. We can’t quite seem to find him, you wouldn’t happen to know where his manor could be?”

The man’s head hit the wall in a light thump, a jolly grin on his face.

“Who doesn’t? That man loves a good drink,” He slurred.

“Is it nearby?” Miria pressed, pinching a part of the man’s neck that likely had some kind of stabilising effects. Her thoughts were ever so clinical like that.

“Impossible to miss it. It’s just down there,” The man pointed to a street a little ways from the tavern, “Red with a big black gate door, flowers on the front.”

Kael nodded and thanked the man before the pair departed, hoping that the man really did know what he was speaking of.

Weary lanes lead to the mouth of a wide street, a little difficult to navigate in the darkened state. Paper cranes hung from the rooftops much like before, although these ones had faced some extra care, painted with their red and white crest. It wasn’t long before the more expensive portion of the street began to reveal itself, alongside something that resembled the door the man spoke of.

The pair exchanged a look laced in concern as they pressed against the wood, giving way with very little pressure. Not that a lock would thwart the fox, but it was unsettling nonetheless.

A neat little garden greeted them as they entered, plush grass parting to make way for the pond, occasionally splashing with whatever creature lurked inside.

The door to the house slid open with ease too, striking them with the scent of perfume or incense - either fit the bill. But Kael’s eyes were drawn to an extensive tapestry that hung proud upon the wall. Fine stitching depicted a weeping wolf, cowering from the prying eyes of vicious hunters.

“I think he is this way,” Miria whispered, low enough that one might miss it if they weren’t accustomed to the woman’s way of speaking.

A side doorway led them into darkness, a sheer red curtain drawn across the room’s stomach and cutting it in two. Moonlight slipped through vague gaps between stitches, just bright enough to make out a sleeping figure, and not much else.

Perhaps not enough to make out whether he was dead or alive.

Kael’s fingertips strung together in prompt strokes, the beginnings of a torch sigil. And just at that, a light so shimmering that it could blind shot out from his palm, almost instantly dispelled by the sorcerer.

Holy shit.

“What the hell was that?” A voice croaked out, tumbling over from the other side of the room.

“I don’t know. It was meant to be a little flicker?” Kael spoke on impulse, staring down at his fingers before he realised.

“Lucian?”

The noble ignited a candle before tucking it into a chamber. As the flame flickered, it illuminated the man and his disheveled appearance, clothes crumpled and half off, a slight slip of his chest visible. The scent of wine wafting in and out of the room was strong enough to draw a reaction from the acolyte too.

“You smell awful. Where have you been?” She demanded, pacing closer to examine him. In a shocking move, she pulled back at his eyelids, catching a quick look at his pupils!

“Stop that! I’m not drunk. I’ve slept it off,” Lucian hummed as he swatted her away, sticking his tongue out when she turned.

If she noticed, she didn’t seem to care, “Whatever. Do you still have the crystal?”

The man shook his head, “Gave it to an alchemist.”

Great. Now their only lead was squandered away to dust, and the other had fallen into the hands of another party. But perhaps all was for good reason - Kael barely bluffed his way through the fox sober, there was no telling how a drunk Lucian would fare.

Miria gritted her teeth, “You idiot. I’m an alchemist. Where did you find another?”

The man stretched his arms forward like a cat, straightening his clothes out enough to at least look proper.

“Since when? I thought you were a god follower? There’s one two doors down,” He spoke with a yawn.

It was rather unfair to ponder over. Kael had been ambushed in his sleep for the second night, pounced upon and ripped open by claws - all the while Lucian rested as soundly as an old tide?

Of course Lucian would get off scott free.

“Why would you think that? I am obviously dedicated to the art of alchemy,” Miria insisted, still displeased at the diminishing of her role in the group. After the shaman had revealed the acolyte’s alignment, he’d almost forgotten that their first meeting took place in a shrine, one that the woman was dedicated to tending.

Lucian shot her a puzzled look, a hand raising to rub at his eyes, “The first time we met, you asked about gods? Called yourself an acolyte?”

“My master was a god follower. I am a disciple of minerals and higher goods, all of which hold ties to spirits. Why would I need to ask you for information if I followed them? Which I didn’t, Kael did.”

A white strand of hair found comfort entwined around her finger, evidently shy now that its host stood beneath a glitzy spotlight.

Life flooded into her face as she spoke, her words like velvet beneath a lace casing. The way her eyes seemed to sparkle was uniquely adorable, hidden beneath a layer of strict grace and discipline. Her plain frock failed to cloak her like it did on the average day, unable to block out the little light forged solely of her own accord. Beneath it all, the young flower that was Miria was blossoming quite finely.

“Since when did you learn to talk?” The man joked, bumping his shoulder against her own.

“Since you stopped.”

Lucian seemed a bit stumped at that, a hand snaking up to scratch at the nape of his neck. A brief pause dusted over the room like a blanket of snow, and Kael was glad neither party elected to vote him into the discussion. What the hell was he meant to say to Lucian?

Miria yanked the hovering Kael forward by the arm. Trust her to be one for maturity.

“Would you two just talk? It's ridiculous. Behave like adults. I will check on the alchemist,” She huffed, before venturing into the breath of the night and evacuating the clash.

Silence settled between them for a flicker of a moment, nothing to entertain them besides the wavering light of the candle.

“Your manor is nice,” Kael blurted out and instantly hated himself for it. He hated the dumb look that the noble stared back at him with, too - as if to make a point of it. Kael already knew it was a ridiculous thing to say at a time such as this.

But to his surprise, the man broke out into a warm laughter, the kind that heated you up in the cold bite of the night, just as it did now.

“Idiot. Is that your way of apologising?” He grinned, clearly and most thankfully amused.

The sorcerer couldn’t find the right words to say, to bring himself to break the harsh seal of a sorry, “Something like that.”

“But I’m guessing that’s not what brought you both here,” The man leaned back on his palms, bouncing a leg in anticipation, before his tongue slid to the side of his mouth, “Unless… You were so worried about me you couldn’t sleep?”

The sorcerer resisted the urge to laugh at the comment, deciding that he hadn’t quite earned that right yet. Although a part of him feared a hidden meaning behind the joke, Lucian hadn’t gone drinking because of his words, right?

“I’m afraid I was sleeping fine, up until a nine tailed fox broke into my room.”

The noble sat forward, pausing all motion. The smiling lines of his face dropped, etching into the kind of concern that might age you if it occurred too often.

“A nine tailed fox? When? What happened? Did you get hurt?” The words flooded out like the gushing stream of a salmon-filled river, propelled forward by flapping fins. Urgent.

“Only a scratch. But Miria stabbed her. You should’ve seen it, maybe it would’ve helped you to prepare. You might need to dodge in the future, if you keep pissing her off,” The weary hero laughed, falling so naturally from his mouth, before channelling a little sincerity back into his words, “The fox really put us to work, we’ve been chasing after her little monsters all night.”

Lucian had gone very still. The candle light at his bed side refracted against the colourful pigments within an ink pot, reflecting the hues across the noble’s face. It was ever so contrasting from his solemn expression.

“Kael, I don’t think we should stay here anymore,” His voice was as soft as a feather as he spoke, an artist painting the white glint in a subject’s eye.

It wasn’t soft enough. A little bruise formed in its absence, just under the skin.

Another town. Another move. Nowhere to call home, to come to adore.

“Why not? I actually quite like Gale Harbour City. I wouldn’t mind making a base here, just for the time being. If we move on, can it at least be somewhere lively?” He sighed, a hand raising to rub at his temple. There was far worse news that he might’ve received tonight, yet this revelation was not welcome either.

Not another Dusk Town. This place had managed a perfect balance of humanism. Night markets brought out the liveliest of folks, chasing away the more clique demon disgruntledness. But as day broke, the city wasn’t a painful memory of the life he’d lost, but a peaceful calm that embraced him and propped him up.

Now it would be taken away all over again.

“No, Kael, you don’t understand. I don’t think we should stay here. As in the demon realm, as in anywhere here!”

Kael’s face shot up, goosebumps pricking at the skin of his arms. Now it was him that was very still, anxious for every word that might follow.

“You don’t mean…?”

Kael was certain he’d misunderstood. There wasn’t a chance that such a suggestion could ever be made.

“You were almost hunted by a nine tailed fox. Nowhere here is safe. I’m afraid we have no choice but to brave the human realm.”