Chapter 6

  The next morning, Randan was the first to wake up. He went out into the forest and gathered some mushrooms and chestnuts which he roasted over the smouldering embers of the fire. Both Elion and Aly woke up – roughly around the same time – to the smell of a delightful breakfast.

  After Elion brought Aly up to speed – carefully dodging the details on how they actually got out of the farmhouse – the three of them gathered all the supplies they felt the need to take with them and set out once more. Aly remained steadfast that they should avoid the larger towns, especially those with a station of the King’s Guard or a Church of Alen in them. She explained to Elion – who had so-far been blissfully oblivious to the true depth of the ocean of trouble they were in – how the special guards they had encountered while escaping Hunter’s Rest were religious zealots; the private army of the Church of Alen.

  To summarise, they were in unknown territory, hunted down by both the government and one of the most influential organisations throughout all of Traisil. On top of that, they had no food, no weapons, and no actual way of defending themselves if needed. Unbeknownst to them, they were also being watched closely by every magical creature – Fae, Celestial, Infernal, and Abyssal – for a chance to interfere with their quest in a way that didn’t go against Alen’s laws.

  All-in-all, absolutely riveting.

  Blissfully unaware of all the eyes pointed at them, the trio continued to walk along the forest paths. Now that the initial search for Elion and Aly had calmed down they reasoned there wouldn’t be as many patrols combing through the forest. Besides, they moved a lot faster when they didn’t have to cross directly through the forest. Their goal was to seek refuge in one of the many hunting cabins that were placed in remote areas of Hegrines.

  Because of the country’s large and dense forests, hunting was a very common practice in Hegrines. This culture was most concentrated in the eastmost part of the country, near the Kraken’s lake, where the most-esteemed hunters of the continent gathered in the Hunter’s Fortress to fight back against its destruction. On a smaller scale, it meant that there was always at least one hunter’s cabin every few dozen kilometres. They were rarely placed along the road, but signs would point to smaller paths – signs only the trained eye of an initiated hunter would notice. Despite Elion’s short time as a hunter so far, he was a fully initiated member of the order at large – albeit very low on the ladder. He would be able to find the cabins.

  Randan and Aly – the far more well-travelled members of their small group – discussed what would be the best way to get to Celestia from where they were. They both agreed that avoiding Celestia as much as possible would be their best chance at survival. Regardless of the dangers they faced on the northern side of the border, the wilderness of Celestia would be far worse. Once again they were absolutely right in their assumption, but didn’t know how right they were.

  Alen’s laws forbid direct divine intervention in mortal affairs, even if those mortal affairs concern the gods. Now there are some gods who don’t abide by these laws, some who find clever ways to dodge them, and some who deny they even exist at all – Kirion, the Lord of Past and Future, is a very strange character indeed. These laws do have a notable caveat, which is that if no mortals are hurt or otherwise adversely affected by the intervention it is very much allowed for any deity to smite something. Some Lords and Ladies of the Hall have a very strict definition of mortal, one that would include none of the three of them. Indeed, staying inside of Hegrines for as long as possible would be a smart move.

  Aly was of the opinion that crossing the border as legitimately as possible would be their best bet. The border was blocked by a wall that was constantly guarded by the King’s Guard, with plenty of fortresses lining the perimeter, but there was one gate. Used solely for banishments and pilgrimage the Red Gate of Riknas was the only way to get into Celestia from Hegrines legitimately. Of course, they would be arrested as soon as they set foot in Riknas, as it was a city inhabited almost exclusively by soldiers.

  Randan, who had been on the run from the law for far longer than either of them – a part of his past he had thus far not revealed to the others – proposed another way. Besides heading west and sailing to Argonia to go to Celestia from the south, there was another way of getting into Celestia over the water. A single river flowed through the Crystal Desert – the area of Celestia where the once grand cities of the Aengils had crumbled to dust – and down towards the Altar of Light. Now it was highly unlikely they would be able to follow the river for long, as the monsters of Celestia also roamed its waters, but the river did flow down from Hegrines and through the wall. These gates were difficult to open, but apparently Randan knew the smuggler’s group who ran most of the illegal trade across the border – Elion and Aly didn’t ask how or why, they simply accepted it. For a day or two they could continue to disagree about which plan was best, but after that they would need to either head further east or start heading south.

  As they talked amongst the three of them, discussing what route they would be taking and occasionally noting what nice weather they were having, Elion spotted something in the distance. It looked like a travelling cart, parked by the side of the road. Elion couldn’t read what the sign said, but after Randan tweaked his eyes for better long-distance view he read it aloud: “Auntie Ellie’s Grand Emporium for Desperate Demigods, Shady Shapeshifters, and Grimacing Greyskins”.

  Elion looked at both Aly and Randan, wondering if they had also realised that the three things this ‘grand emporium’ was advertising for lined up rather well with the three of them. Now he wouldn’t necessarily describe Aly as grimacing nor Randan as shady, but he certainly considered himself desperate.

  Now, to reiterate, gods are not allowed to influence mortal affairs directly. They are however, allowed to present mortals with opportunities. If the opportunities are taken or not, that’s not really up to the Lord or Lady in question. So, technically, they weren’t influencing anything directly.

  “Should we head in?” Randan asked the others. Aly appeared neutral on the matter, apart from her spirited conversation with Randan about the direction of their quest, she was still a bit dazed from the events of the day before. It takes a long time to fully recover from the effects of mind control, and she was still very much going through that process – having been hit with very powerful magic twice in one day.

  Elion’s curious nature would never allow him not to go in to something like that, even with the possible dangers he knew could be lurking within. After all, a grand emporium seemingly tailored to them would probably sell some things that could be very helpful on their journey.

  As they entered the large travelling cart, a different smell hit each of them. Elion was hit in the face by the smell of his mother’s cooking, a comforting sensation that instantly put him at ease. The cart felt homely in a much more secure way than the farmhouse had. There was something strange about it, but unlike the hag it didn’t feel threatening. For a moment, Elion feared it would be like the fairy circle he had stumbled into – another thing they had purposely kept from Aly – but when he saw Randan being just as comfortable and amazed by the wide gallery of trinkets and gadgets laid out on shelves and small tables throughout the cart he disregarded the idea.

  “Welcome dear travellers!” the lady behind the counter – presumably auntie Ellie – said. When Elion looked up to greet her, the first thing he noticed was the wide array of decorations she had used to adorn every single piece of her outfit. Bracelets, rings, necklaces, beads and feathers in her hair, small pieces of shiny metal and differently coloured gemstones stitched into her clothes. She looked like a woman who picked up everything she thought looked pretty and had decided to never put any of it down again. Although it was barely visible, Elion noticed her strange hair-colour – it looked almost like actual silver and gold strands sat atop her head. Her skin was a flawless tan, much like his own shade actually – albeit a bit less pale.

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  “Greetings,” Randan said to auntie Ellie, walking up to the counter and leaning up against it. Despite the size of the cart as a whole, all the furniture was remarkably small. It was only when auntie Ellie hopped off of her chair that Elion noticed she was actually a gnome – in appearance at least – which explained the smaller furniture.

  “What can I do for you three?” she asked, looking at Elion in particular. Randan tried to respond first, but auntie Ellie jumped across the counter and shoved him aside.

  “I wasn’t talking to you, dearie, I was talking to my namesake over here,” she said as she walked up to Elion. His mother had once told her about who he had been named after. Her favourite goddess, featured prominently in a bedtime story her mother used to read her almost every night when she was a kid – Elia, the Lady of Trade.

  Elion stammered, quickly putting the pieces together in his mind. “Are you…?” Elia pushed a finger up against his mouth – a motion for which she had to stand on the very tip of her toes and reach all the way up. She grabbed him by the collar and pulled him down so she could whisper into his ear.

  “Don’t spoil it for the others now, dearie. Just come with me,” she said before turning around and hopping back across the counter. Once there, she walked through the curtains on the other side which led to a small, dark room. Elion followed – although he didn’t jump across the counter, he had the decency to walk around it – and Aly and Randan followed him in turn.

  Inside the dark room they found Elia half submerged in a crate full of weaponry, apparently trying to fish out a specific item she had lost somewhere in there. There were three pillows laying on the ground, and they decided to sit on them while she gathered the objects. It took about a minute, but Elia finally sat down on her pouf and threw a total of three items on the ground in between the four of them.

  “I knew you were coming, but you’re earlier than expected,” Elia started. “I prepared these things for you, free of charge. Now some of them I had to barter for quite ferociously, so you do owe me quite some favours – but I’ll be sure to cash those in when I need a group of heroes to do something for me. Don’t worry, auntie Ellie never betrays her customers. There are no hidden curses on these items, nor will I ever put one on any of them.” On that note, she shoved the items to the corresponding member of their group.

  Elion got a bow – finally – with strange markings along the right side of the handle.

  “That’s the Bow of the Ten Pillars – it can absorb magic it comes into contact with and use that energy to imbue arrows with special effects. You can only absorb one spell of each magical pillar at a time though, so make sure to remember what you have stored before you try blocking a fireball you can’t absorb.”

  Next Elia turned to Randan, who had received a huge leatherbound book with the title Encyclopaedia of the Ara written in big bold letters both on the front and the side.

  “No magic for you I’m afraid – mainly because you don’t need it. This book contains all the anatomical and physiological information you need to copy any elven subrace. It won’t give you the innate magic of any of them, but it will allow you to copy their resistances and physical attributes. Good luck reading,” she said as she tapped Randan on the head and turned around to face Aly, who was putting on the necklace she got.

  The necklace had nine gems hanging from it in a semicircle – red, yellow, white, grey, brown, both dark and light blue, orange, and black. Aly was just admiring the gemstones when Elia came up to her, ripping her out of her trance.

  “This one works similar to the bow, but a lot more specific. It can absorb elemental energy, one gem for each of the seven basic elements and two more for Abyssal and Celestial energy – the black and orange ones respectively. Instead of being able to store a single spell, each gem can hold a certain amount of energy. They’ll begin to crack as they get closer to that threshold, but no worries – once the energy is employed by the user the gems will recover. Now, mind that you cannot just expunge energy at random, you can use the energy to change the type of energy used in a spell you already know how to cast. It won’t solve your problem, but it will alleviate the bad side-effects of using your magic,” she whispered that last part, making sure neither Elion nor Randan could hear what she said. Then she winked at Aly and dove back into the crate of items.

  “Before I forget, you should hold on to this,” she said as she jumped back out and handed Elion a pair of sandals with small crystal spikes on the bottom. “They’re not for any of you, but I didn’t feel like waiting another two days before giving you each your items. You’ll know who to give them to when they join your little group. Until then, just keep the things in a bag or something.”

  After that final remark, Elia started shoving the three of them out of her cart, mumbling something about not being able to stick around for too long. Now it should be noted that although Elia didn’t technically break any laws, if she stuck around for long enough Alen would find a reason to punish her anyway. The king of the gods was a cruel and unfair one indeed. So, she quickly got rid of the three of them, throwing three backpacks filled with rations, waterskins, and some basic supplies after them before summoning her giant golden falcon to the front of the cart and flying off into the air.

  Now, all of this happened within two minutes or so, so for a second Aly, Elion, and Randan wondered if any of it actually happened. After all, meeting a deity often messes with the mind in ways that cannot be described. They are truly strange creatures, their personalities riddled with peculiarities and inconsistencies. In a way, they are more human than humans themselves. Or – depending on perspective – humanity is a weak version of godhood.

  Still slightly stunned, the trio did the only thing they could think of. They stood up, picked up their backpacks and their newly acquired items, and continued on their merry way. They soon resumed their earlier conversation, rehashing the same arguments that had already been made over and over again until the sun started to dip below the trees. As planned, Elion found them a hunter’s cabin and they – fortunately – found it to be completely empty. Randan made a fire in the small fireplace while Elion gathered sticks outside to carve into arrows. Each of their backpacks had included a different kind of knife, Elion – naturally – got a hunter’s dagger. He used his dagger to cut the twigs into nice sharp and straight arrows, using some feather he found outside to make sure their alignment would be good enough to trust his own marksmanship before putting them into a quiver he had also found in his backpack.

  Elion finally felt like he was back in his element. With a bow and a quiver full of arrows on hand, spending the night in a hunter’s cabin nearly identical to the one he had been using for months, he almost felt like he was back home. The memories of home were accompanied by feelings of failure, and despair. He questioned if he would ever see his parents again, but looking at Aly and Randan – his friends – he knew that there was a chance. It would be hard, but they had a chance. And clearly, some of the gods smiled down upon them.