Advent of Eternity - Chapter 93 (Patreon)

When he awoke the following morning, Knell headed out into the common room of the inn. Maria sat in the corner, her arms crossed and resting on the table. The sun had only just started to rise, and room was cast in shadows.

Knell walked over to Maria’s table and sat down with the aid of his staff. “I hope you have good news to share with me.”

“It depends on your definition of good news,” Maria replied. “I looked into your missing Moon Elf. He never passed through Melwood, but my father put out a feeler for me. Would you be surprised to know he got a response almost instantly?”

“Did he?” Knell cocked an eyebrow. “How fortuitous.”

“That’s hardly the word I’d choose. Why are you looking for Alan?”

“I don’t believe that information was part of our deal,” Knell said. “Please don’t waste my time. Just tell me what you learned. If you wish to bargain more, we can do that once you’ve fulfilled your part of the bargain.”

Maria harrumphed. “Fine. There was a Moon Elf by the name of Alan that spent a lot of time in Rosewood several years ago. He was a talented warrior and was working under the guild in hush squad.”

“Hush squad?” Knell asked. “An assassin?”

“No, but I see where you could get that. Hush squads are groups whose existence is kept very quiet. They aren’t meant to be known, and you aren’t supposed to know who’s in them. Alan was last involved with researching an anomaly that had abnormally high death magic.”

“Last involved? Not confirmed dead?”

“No. His team ran into something, but the ones that survived were so traumatized that they couldn’t give any useful information and were dismissed from service,” Maria said. “There have been two further attempts to investigate the anomaly. None of the members from the new teams have returned, and the anomaly has been declared uninhabitable.”

“I see,” Knell said slowly. “Where is Rosewood?”

“If you’re headed to Golden River, you’re already on the right path,” Maria replied. “Golden River is basically halfway there, and it’s only a few days of travel to the north. Just follow the river the city is named after once you reach it for about another week and you’ll reach Rosewood. The anomaly is somewhere in the area, but I couldn’t get the exact location. My father was apparently drawing attention he didn’t want with the questions. I trust my part of this deal has been sated?”

“More than,” Knell agreed. “You’ve played fairly with me. I appreciate it. We’ll do the same to you.”

“Good,” Maria said. “We’ll do this in an hour. Do you plan to remain in the city afterward?”

“No,” Knell replied. “Not for long. We’ve gotten what we need, but we may leave our ship docked here. It will not take kindly to boarders.”

“It – actually, never mind,” Maria said, shaking her head. “I don’t think I want to know. Nobody will bother your ship as long as you don’t leave it here too long.”

“Don’t worry,” Knell said, rising from the table. “We have no desire to leave a member of my crew behind. When will we handle the other part of our deal?”

“Sunrise.” Maria stood as well. She gave Knell a final nod, then swept out of the tavern. Knell glanced around, then awkwardly sat back down. There was no point returning to his room – sunrise wasn’t far away.

It didn’t take long for the rest of his crew to make their way down to the inn. As they piled in around him, Knell ordered breakfast for all of them. Cyll was the last to arrive, which was for the best, as it gave everyone else time to eat before he polished everything off.

“I see you’re still alive,” Maya observed as Cyll polished off a handful of greasy sausages.

“Of course I am,” Cyll said through a mouthful of food. “Why would I not be?”

“Knell was implying that Maria might have fed us poison yesterday,” Stix said. She rubbed her eyes, still not fully awake.

“Oh, sure. Why would that be a problem?”

“Poison tends to be inconvenient,” Maya said suspiciously. “Are you resistant to it or something?”

“Or something.” Cyll grunted, then checked the plate at the center of their table. There was nothing left. “Damn. Who ate everything?”

“You did,” Maya and Stix said at the same time. Cyll cocked his head to the side.

“Oh. Did I? Tragic. Right then. What’s up next, Cap?”

“We put on a little play,” Knell replied, glancing out the window. Faint rays of orange sunlight crawled out over the city, tracing along the cobbled stones and illuminating small puddles of stale water that had formed in cracked roads. Outside the inn, he could hear faint chatter that was only growing louder by the minute. “It’s about time for our part. I’m sure she’s waiting outside right about now. We shouldn’t waste any more time.”

They rose from the table and Knell led them up to the door. He paused with his hand on the handle and looked back at Cyll. “Make sure you play nice.”

“You wound me, Cap. I always play nice.”

Knell grunted. He pushed the door open. As he’d expected, Maria had managed to gather a crowd, and it was quickly growing in number. It wasn’t enormous, but there were more than enough people to spread word about her generosity.

“Ah. Just the people I was hoping to meet,” Maria said grandiosely, stepping away from the crowd and inclining her head in a slight bow. Knell nudged Cyll in the foot with his staff and the immortal man rolled his eyes, dropping into his own, slightly lower bow.

Despite what he pretends, he definitely knows what manners are. Curious. I wonder if he knows that bowing lower than the other person indicates you are showing them more respect, or if that was just a mistake. It’s not common knowledge.

“The pleasure is all ours, Maria,” Cyll said, raising his head once more. “I’m thrilled that we were able to be of service to you.”

“And my people,” Maria said. “And, as daughter to the Guild Leader, it would be remiss of me to not properly reward anyone who went out of their way to protect the citizens of Melwood. I’ve gathered some funds from my own personal resources, and I’d like to offer them to you as a gesture of friendship and appreciation.”

Maria revealed a bulging pouch. It hung open just enough to reveal the glint of a gold piece within it. She held it out, making sure to angle herself so several people in the crowd could see. Knell repressed a smile.

“We graciously accept,” Knell said, taking it from her and inclining his head – but not as low as she had when greeting Cyll. “We are honored to have been of service to you and your people. Your kindness is not required, but we appreciate it nonetheless.”

Maria flashed a smile at him. “Of course. So long as you treat us with respect, we will endeavor to return the favor to you.”

“Then I suspect that Melwood will flourish under your lead,” Knell said. “I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors, and I know that wherever the seas may lead me, I will always remember the welcoming feeling of staying at Melwood.”

Maria’s eyes widened slightly at the extra praise, but she took it well. She just bowed her head again as cheers rose from the small crowd. The spectacle over, people quickly dispersed, returning to whatever they’d been doing before Maria had gathered them.

Knell tucked the pouch into his belt and started forward, pausing as he passed her. “Take care of our ship, Maria. It would be unfortunate if anything happened.”

“I presume your extra words were a down payment?” Maria asked in a low tone.

“Precisely,” Knell replied. “I trust it will suffice?”

“Quite.”

Knell raised a hand in farewell. He and his crew moved down the street, trading a few polite words with the citizens that had hung around, but eventually broke away and made for the north exit of the city. They stopped at Mandy’s store to claim the rest of their flags, then departed Melwood.

“That was gross,” Cyll said, shuddering. “I hate bowing to people.”

“It’s just acting,” Knell replied. “There are much worse things in life. And you’re quite the actor. I would have thought you wouldn’t mind it.”

Cyll harrumphed. “Bowing is a sign of respect. I prefer to save it for people that have actually earned it.”

“I’m not sure I want to know what it takes to get you to respect someone,” Maya quipped. “I’ve seen what you think is impressive, and it isn’t a good look.”

Cyll chuckled. “I can promise you that you never want to meet something that I’d bow to. You probably wouldn’t live long.”

Knell tuned their banter out as they continued down the packed dirt path. From what Maria had said, Golden River was only a few days of travel, and they were more than equipped for that.

The most important thing was to determine a method to deal with the Shards’ armies present at the city. There wasn’t much in the way of planning he could do until he understood more about the situation, so it would have to wait until they reached the city.

Besides, there was almost certain to be a more immediate problem, and he suspected it would arrive around nightfall. Their first day of travel went as Knell expected, and they made good progress along the road.

As the sun started to set, they set up camp a few paces away from the beaten path. While Maya struggled to make a campfire in the center of camp, Knell leaned on his staff and watched the road from where they’d come.

“Expecting company?” Cyll asked.

“More like I’d bet on it. There aren’t many that would pass up on an entire bag of gold,” Knell replied. “And that’s not even counting the person who was heading up the little criminal organization that you broke up. I can’t imagine he was thrilled when he found out what happened. How much money do you want to bet that someone or another will be showing up shortly?”

“I never took you for a betting man, Cap.”

“On the contrary. I make bets all the time,” Knell replied, glancing at Cyll out of the corner of his eyes. “I just only make ones that I know I’m going to win.”

Cyll grunted. “Then it would be damn stupid of me to take you up on this. I was expecting the same. You can’t flash around a bunch of money in front of a crowd and expect nobody to care. You think they’ll come during the night?”

“More likely dusk,” Knell replied. “Night is too obvious, but running into a fellow traveler at Dusk isn’t too strange. My guess is one person that approaches us acting friendly, and another that tries to sneak up.”

“Maria mentioned that the boss had some sort of hypnotizing ability,” Cyll warned. “We might just want to stab first and ask questions later.”

“Not unless we’re certain,” Knell said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to kill an innocent if we can avoid it.”

“Should Stix and I try to hide somewhere?” Maya asked, listening in to their conversation. “We could ambush them.”

“Where?” Knell asked, glancing around the sloping grasslands. “No, just sit around. I do not fear a hypnotist. Only the weak willed fall under their spell.”

“I’ll get a fire going, then,” Stix said, helping Maya push some stones into a small circle. “On your mark, Knell.”

Knell nodded, still staring at the horizon. Over the sloping hills in the direction of Melwood, several figures were headed in their direction. A smile flickered over Knell’s face.

“And look who it is. Our company is about to arrive. Let’s make sure that we’re prepared to properly receive them in a hospitable manner.”