Bending the Rules Pt. 04: Control

"I suppose... we are burning daylight here," he said.

"Indeed. Time for... more of that, later. If you need something shot, put your hands together over your head, and then point at it. I can't promise, but I'll do my best."

She turned and gathered a carefully hidden bow and quiver, and handed him the robe as she had promised.

"We are at the bottom of the map you showed me?"

"Yes. Far side from the main gate. They won't be expecting us here, I hope. And Nuru - ignore anything you hear or see that isn't aimed at you. It's probably aimed at me."

Nuru took a deep breath, then lifted his chin and stepped forward without another word. He maintained a hypervigilance until he saw the first ward. Might as well check that this worked the way he thought it did. Stepping over the circle, he noticed the edge light up just slightly, but nothing else happened. He carefully stepped out to the middle. The line of the rune itself glowed just the faintest bit, but nothing happened. He moved towards the first active ward to compare.

This one had not just a rune but a small clay bowl in it. His fingers tingled as he reached for the outer edge of it; this had not happened when he approached one of the passive wards. So, count that as confirmation. He nevertheless decided not to try his LCK and avoided all the wards as much as possible.

Gretland was not an ugly place, for all of its horrible reputation. Evergreen trees stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see, pinecones and needles matted the soft soil and gave a very sweet smell to the air. He was unsure how Katlego was expecting to be able to see him; she'd be following him not far behind, perhaps, but he'd thought that she would be moving in another direction to take the attention of the watchers away from him. Well, that was her business, and she hadn't thought to share her strategy with him, and he couldn't risk calling to her now. Carefully following his memory, but also keeping an eye out for changes, he made his way past dozens of wards, some older and more carefully hidden than others. Some of them were downright crude, as if dug from the earth with a giant stick, while others were subtle and shallow, taking great care and foreknowledge to notice that there was something to see in the first place. He finally reached the place of wards overlapping each other and stopped, considering. Katlego couldn't possibly pass here without setting something off, but that was where he might need her. He carefully picked his way across passive wards, navigating between active ones, picking his way to the edge of the treeline where he saw a wall of trees grown up magically in a particular shape, forming walls of solid living wood and a tight, thick canopy like a roof overhead. He saw a faint shimmer over the doorway; he reached out carefully to touch it. Solid as stone. No getting in this way. Or was there?

He backed up just a little and studied the entryway. He spied a pendant hanging, swinging just slightly in the wind, next to another rune. As it moved, the shimmer faded just the slighted bit. He put his hands over his head for a minute, then pointed directly at the pendant, held it for ten seconds or so. A faint whistle came overhead, and something struck the pendant, and then disappeared with a whisper into the wooden canopy. The pendant swung wildly, and the shimmer flickered in and out as the pendant reached the low point of its arc and then away. Another whistle; the pendant swung again. Then a whistle, and with a THUNK, an arrow stuck into a heavy branch, just as the pendant swung past it to get trapped in a high position, no longer swinging low near the rune. The shimmer disappeared, and Nuru pressed forward, feeling only the lightest resistance to his passing. At that moment, a flock of crows decided to rush up into the air from all around the forest, with a great rush of wings but hardly a squawk among them. Nuru jumped, but managed not to say anything, studying them for only a moment before proceeding deeper inside.

Here, it was much like a cave, if a cave were alive; the trees filtered in a bit of light here and there, seemingly at random, and the floor was flat but also soft with carpet moss. He heard heavy breathing of many people asleep in both directions. Treading lightly and carefully, he moved towards the more distant sounds of deep sleep. And there it was, just as she'd said - only there were three boxes with crow images on them. Two of them had the right symbol, but one did not. Was this a trick? He couldnt decide between them though, and took both that had the correct symbol, one in each of his large pockets. He heard a quiet gasp, and almost screamed, but then relaxed as it was followed by a yawn and the shifting of a sleeping body. He decided to make his way back out as soon as possible, and left the way he'd come in, ignoring the plethora of knicknacks, furniture made of human bones, and potions scattered about on shelves and the floor.

(This is almost too easy,) he thought. He reviewed in his head which path he had come in. It was fairly direct, but had good line of sight to the house; this was now the last thing he wanted. If they saw him, they could shoot him in the back with something nasty and he'd never see it coming. He angled for the heavier cover of trees, carefully slipping between active wards. The sky overhead was dark with a cloud of crows, still eerily silent. Then, just as he made it out of sight of the house, a commotion rose behind him; raised voices of alarm. There was no time to waste; and he dashed with all the speed of confidence he could muster, in the direction he remembered their arrival. He skidded to a halt as he heard a voice to his left; a woman, but not Katlego. Something flashed in front of him, nowhere close to being aimed at him, and struck a tree further off to his right. Another incantation started, and Nuru started to feel trapped; if he pressed straight forward, he might be hit in the crossfire; many of those heavy spells would being doing area damage even if they didn't hit him directly. He cut left, making a daring break around the person. He called Jaheem to himself and quickly gave him quiet orders to follow exactly behind him. They were just past the point of overlapping wards, he might be able to slip through here.

Jaheem sniffed at the circle of one of the passive wards, then stepped right into it. Again, the circle and the rune lit up just slightly, but nothing happened - until another spell crashed into a tree, and someone fell down heavily. A bolt of light shot up into the sky from that spot, and the crows milling about in the air gathered to it immediately, swirling and channeling down like a cyclone into the trees. There came a cry - Katlego this time, Nuru was fairly certain - and he took the opportunity to make a break for it, but not before noticing that a shadow flew up from the ground where the passive ward sat, and a black outline of a crow flitted away to join the throng in the sky now pouring down towards the beacon in the dirt. Jaheem jumped to the side, startled by the crow, but quickly recovering when it posed no threat.

He jogged with a confidence he didn't feel, trying to evoke the sense that of course he belonged there, he was just another dark-robed person in a woods now probably full of them. Indeed, the other figure waved him on, then turned and pointed towards where Katlego was now struggling to make headway in her pursuit of escape. He had almost slipped away but his automatic avoidance of another ward apparently got the figure's attention; she turned and fired something at him, striking the robe which quickly unravelled and turned to sand as it fell away, and knocking him to the ground but giving him no real hurt. Still Nuru picked himself up and ran; he couldn't hope to face anyone with such power. He had to hope Katlego would slip away and meet him in time. He ran at an angle, to hide his true destination just in case, listening to the sound of a deadly game of arrows versus spells going on behind him. It sounded like spells was winning.

He reached the open space and hunched over, running as low as he could to the place where they had arrived. Jaheem ran in circles, impatiently, as Nuru sat down behind a rock.

"Go find Katlego, and bring her here, by any means necessary," Nuru said. "She's the one with the bow. And try not to get yourself killed."

Jaheem grunted in agreement and ran off. Adana still wasn't talking to him, and wasn't translating. Nuru dared to look out on the scene. Crows and shadowy crow-like creatures were swarming together in a huge column, descending in an angry cloud on the place where Katlego had fallen into the ward. Flashes of light lit the trees as wards and spells fired, and the cries of approaching voices made his stomach clench. These women were angry now, and would probably cook his extremities while he was alive, and eat them while he watched. Those were the rumors, at least. The crows shifted, following something. Faster they moved, faster, then they were moving in a great cloud over the treetops, no longer coming to land. Jaheem appeared with something in his mouth; the bucking and kicking form of Katlego slashed at Jaheem, who took a few hits and kept pulling her, then flinched and dropped her after a good stab in the flank. He turned, feinted, and grabbed her by the boot faster than Nuru could follow, now bouncing her head off the ground with every great bounding step. She screamed, cursed, and fought; Jaheem barely made it over to where Nuru sat, throwing her to cartwheel gracefully and land in a crouch three paces away. The crows came flooding in, and Jaheem took off without a word of command, howling to get their attention. Several hooded figured came rushing towards them, ignoring the animal.

Katlego reached into a pocket, carefully unwrapped something, then leaped and tackled Nuru into a cloud of smoke, from which they emerged rolling and coughing quite unladylike.

"Fuck! Of all the crazy luck!" Katlego swore.

"We did it though," Nuru said, laughing and dusting himself off.

"I swear I thought the game was up when the lyena got me. I didn't know they had anything that big there."

"That was mine," Nuru said.

"Eh? That was a high level Beast Class. No way that was yours."

We were back behind the temple. I couldn't call Jaheem here.

"Well, for another twenty days. Not permanently."

"You should have told me! He could have run in there without breaking a sweat and gotten the box!"

"OK, maybe. But he wouldn't have been able to signal you to open that door, and he wouldn't have been able to grab both boxes. Besides, we're not exactly on speaking terms right now."

"Both boxes? Gods, Nuru, what have you done? Did you grab one with the wrong symbol? I have it on good authority that it's extremely dangerous!"

She scrambled to her feet and prepared to run.

"No. I'm sure they're the same."

"Did you open them?"

"Nope."

It did occur to Nuru that Jaheem was in mortal danger, however. He called him, then dismissed him. He appeared in front of them, limping, and then vanished just as quickly back to his home.

"Fucking hell! He is yours."

"Told you."

"You'd better get him to a healer. My blades are poisoned. Tell them it's lotus extract."

"Shit. Well, one problem at a time."

"Let me see the boxes."

He pulled them out. She examined them carefully.

"Well I'll be. There's an enchantment here; they're in a kind of... superposition, I think. I've heard of this but never seen it before."

"Superwhat?"

"They don't fully exist, either one of them. They're both halves of the whole thing, enchanted to be able to call the other half back if one goes missing. Like a decoy, except the owner gets to choose which one is the decoy after you take it. If you don't have both parts, nor know the secret spell, you don't have it at all."

"Crazy. So can you just push them into each other and they become the real thing?"

"I don't know. I'll need to consult an expert; I may not even need to undo it for my purposes. But clearly you've more than earned your part of this quest. I've got to go - but I'll be back in no more than two days. When I get back, you'll get everything you bargained for, and then some."

"I fucking better. What's in those boxes anyway? Or, the real box."

"Oh, nothing of any particular power actually. It's mostly sentimental in value."

"What!? I risked my life over some worthless memento? And you did too! What memory is worth sacrificing two lives for?"

"Now, now, I didn't say it was sentimental to me. It belonged to the witches, you remember - and they'll want it back something fierce. There's something my order wants to know, some information the witches have, that they have been refusing to give up. I was ordered to get this if I could for some extra leverage, before the time of opportunity has passed. That information is extremely valuable, and yes, worth risking my life for. And yours, if I may be so bold. I'm afraid time is even more of the essence now, and I really must go. But I will meet you at the inn in two days, you have my promise. You can turn in that quest for your currency at any temple of Nyala, but if you wait for me... there is substantially more I will give you in person."

Nuru blew his breath out.

"Alright. Two days."

"Don't get dead before then, hot stuff," Katlego said, stealing another kiss and dashing off at a fantastic pace, calling her mount, a giant blue-gray bird that snatched her up in its talons and flew away.

He'd have much to discuss with Father Emeka's friend in the meantime. But first things first.

*****

"Zula, I need your help."

"Nuru! I wasn't expecting to see you... oh, you're Level Four already. What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"It's not me, it's - a friend of mine. He's been poisoned."

"Bring him in right away."

"I... can't. He isn't welcome here."

"Any friend of yours is welcome here, Nuru, unless you've far worse taste than I thought."

"No, he's not a bad guy, he's actually quite honorable. It's just - well, they're prejudiced towards his race around here."

There were several races not allowed this side of the gate. Demons, orcs, and a few of the other species of evil predisposition were shot on sight. But any beast larger than a man and not in thrall to a person was also explicitly forbidden inside town limits. There were wards.

"Nuru if this is some lame pick-up line..."

"I swear to you, a life is in danger, and only you can help."

She looked at him gravely.

"I don't normally make house calls. But for you, Nuru, I will do this. What kind of poison?"

"Lotus extract."

"Gods above, you don't do anything halfway, do you?"

"Listen, I can pay-"

"I don't want your money, Nuru. But you will owe me one. Give me a moment, I'll need to collect the antidote."

He waited. She wasn't gone long.

"Lotus extract acts quickly. We'll have to be quicker. Let's go."

Nuru led her out the forest gate.

"I swear to all the gods, Nuru... They saw me leaving with you. If I'm killed out here you'll be in no end of trouble."

"Here. A moment," he said. "Don't worry, you are safe."

He called Jaheem. The lyena got up, weakly, making as if to bolt.

"Wait, Jaheem! I've brought help! I know you've been poisoned!"

The feliform turned and looked at him, its face unreadable, its breath fast and shallow.

"My gods... Nuru, a great beast? This is your friend?"

"Zula is a healer. Let her take a look at your wounds," Nuru said, trying to calm the nearly-frenzied animal.

He sat with his back legs, but couldn't settle down in front and remained sitting up as Zula carefully looked him over. She carefully and calmly reached up and examined his nostrils and gums.

"Yes, the poison is setting. It is good you came to me. I can heal this."

She pulled out a bottle and some rags, and some cloth strips. She soaked the rags in the contents of the bottle, then after rinsing the wounds out with water, placed a rag directly on each wound and tied it in place. Jaheem twitched and squirmed and yowled in pain, but managed not to bite her, although he did gash her arm once or twice with his claw as he stamped reflexively. Finally she cast Minor Regen on him.

"All done. Your healing will draw on your MP, so lay down and just rest."

Jaheem licked at the wounds he had caused her.

"Ack! Ouch, your tongue is rough, stop it! Okay, okay, you're welcome."

She took a deep breath, and the lyena relented on trying to help her back, as she cast minor healing on her own injuries.

"You owe me, mister. Big time."

"Done," Nuru said. He drew up an IOU for a Big Favor, and gave it to her.

She smiled as she took it.

"It's good to see you again, Nuru. I need to get back, though."

"No worries, it won't be the last time."

"Don't do that!" Zula snapped at him as he made to send Jaheem back home.

"What? Why?"

"Don't you realize? He used Man's Best Friend to create that IOU. Transporting him burns his own MP. He needs that for healing. Let him go the old fashioned way."

"Oh. No, I didn't know that. Take care."

"Of course. It's what I do," she said pointedly.

*****

It was now getting late in the afternoon. Nuru decided, nevertheless, to stop by the market and bought a loaf of bread and a side of mutton. He went out to the house where the priest had told him to go.

"Uh... hello?" Nuru called out. The air was thick and hazy with smoke.

"Oh, a customer? Yes, yes, come in, come in. What can I do for you?"

"Ah... you're a toymaker."

"Yes, yes, quite right. Looking to buy something for a younger brother? I've got all manner of actionable figures!Beasts, knights, fair maidens! Why, I have enough for you to build your own playtime adventure quest!"

"Well, ah, no. I think I may be in the wrong place. You see, Father Emeka sent me... are you Akachi?"

"Ah, hm. Well, then. I guess I am done for the day. Let me close up and we'll talk."

He disappeared for almost an hour, sweeping and tidying. Finally he came back with a small flask.

"So, since this is going to be one of those nights - let's relax, eh?"

He dropped a tiny crystal into the flask and took a great breath in as some kind of vapor puffed out.

"Haaaaa... care for some, youngster? Careful now, it's habit-forming."

"Ah, no thank you."

"Oh? Why not? Don't trust me?"

"I have a suspicion. Well, I don't mind you doing whatever you like for yourself, but I think I need a clear head right now."

"Indeed? What seems to be the matter, young spoilsport?"

"I have... a demon problem."

"Hmph. Woman problem more like. At your age I was an unholy terror to skirts everywhere. Still am, but not so quick as to slip in unnoticed anymore."

"No. I mean a demon tried to kill me."

"With what? A guilt trip?"

"The ground erupted in sulfur and obsidian. There's a new tree now by the temple."

"Ah hah! So that was your doing was it?"

"Well, it was aimed at me, anyway."

"I'd not have believed it in one so young. But if Father Emeka sent you... Tell me everything."

Nuru told him about arriving at the temple, the relic Father Emeka had used, and about changing his True Name.

"Yep. You're in trouble all right."

"What can I do?"

"Join the paladins. Get some knowledge together, call this demon to our own plane, and slay him."

"I don't think I'm good paladin material."

"Well, you're a bit fucked then, aren't you? Or else you could become a priest and hide in the sanctity of holy ground the rest of your days. But you don't look the type. You'd stray, and you'd fail."

"Why am I even talking to a toymaker? This is ridiculous," Nuru said, getting up to leave.

"Stay, now, there's one piece to this mystery yet. What did you do that got this demon all riled up?"