Ascendant

By the time they caught up with the earth mage crew, they’d already finished the job and had gone to the Quarterhouse for dinner. When Nym and Berndart got there, they asked the host to fetch Bildar for them so as not to disturb everyone and make an unnecessary scene. The bearded earth mage came back a minute later, eyebrows raised when he saw Nym with a constable.

“What’s going on? Are you in trouble?” he asked Nym.

“No, no, he’s not in trouble,” Berndart said. “I’m Constable Berndart. Your friend was almost kidnapped off the street by some members of the contractors guild who connected him to your group.”

“Almost is a strong word,” Nym protested. “I was not in any danger.”

Bildar started swearing in some language Nym didn’t recognize. “This goes too far,” he said, “I understand their anger at the loss of business to us. The attack they made on us was not justified, but we are adults who can defend ourselves. To attack a boy just because he spent time in our company is wrong.”

“I agree. I’d like to see this whole thing settled before it escalates further. Would you be willing to meet with the contractors guildmaster and try to find a peaceful solution here?”

Bildar bristled at the request. “Why should we have to do anything? They are the ones who are in the wrong. Should not the city be arresting the offending members and levying fines against the guild itself for allowing such behavior?”

“That’s over my pay grade,” the constable told him. He kept his voice measured and calmed, trying to diffuse the riled-up mage. “Obviously we will be arresting the men directly involved in this incident, but that does not get at the heart of the matter. There is a feud between your group and the contractors guild, and as you are outside of the guild and poaching on their business, they do have some legal standing to demand that you cease your operations.”

Bildar opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Berndart cut him off. “I am not saying they are right to do what they’re doing in the eyes of the law, or that they’ll get away with it. What I am saying is that it would be better for everyone if you agreed to meet with the guildmaster to find a way to settle this matter without it evolving into something that requires the constabulary to get involved.”

Nym could practically see the march of different emotions crossing Bildar’s face, outrage and indignation, followed by annoyance, begrudging acknowledgement, and finally concern. The earth mages were going to have to do more than just ignore the competition and hope that the city cracked down on them.

“I’m sorry we interrupted your meal,” Nym said. “The constable saw the guys from the contractors guild make their move and got involved, and now he’s just kind of dragging me around to help them with their stuff. We have to go back to the station so I can confirm the ones who get arrested are the right people.”

“Which station?” Bildar asked.

“Station Twelve,” Berndart supplied.

“Give me five minutes to explain to my crew. I’ll meet you there.”

“That’s not necessary right now,” the constable told him. “I came along to make sure you were aware of what happened and keep an eye on Ermy, just in case anyone a bit smarter than those ruffians got it in their heads to try something.”

“I understand. Regardless, I will meet you at the station shortly.”

“Very well. We’ll see you there.”

“Why does everyone think they need to keep an eye on me?” Nym groused as he followed the constable back out to the street.

“I don’t know. Do you get in trouble a lot?”

“No!”

“Is that really the truth?” the constable gave him a hard glare, but broke down into a grin. “There are worse things in the world than having people care about you though. Okay, let’s get the positive identification over with and get you back to your family. Or did you need to see someone from home first?”

“Don’t have a family or a home,” Nym said.

“Oh. I see.”

“It’s not a big deal. Don’t get all weepy on me.”

Berndart rolled his eyes. “I see a dozen kids like you every day. I’m just happy that for once you’re not the one getting arrested. Try to keep it that way, huh? It looks like you’ve got some people who care about you. There’s no need to get into trouble stealing.”

“Did I do something to give you the impression that I’m a thief?” Nym asked.

“No, of course not. My apologies. That was wrong of me to assume.”

Nym couldn’t tell if the constable was mocking him or not. “Let’s get this over with. I’ve got other stuff to take care of.”

The constable nodded sagely. “Yes, of course. You’ve got a busy evening ahead of you, expensive fancy dinners, studying the secrets of the arcane worlds, not breaking into houses through unlocked second-story windows.”

“I would never do that!” Nym said. It was even true. He had no intention of ever doing that again. Between the bookshop and the Feldstal manor, he’d had enough of being a sneak-thief to last him his entire life. It was too easy with his magic and he was bad at it to an embarrassing degree.

“You just make sure you get a license before you do any magic in the city. It might not be excused for self-defense next time.”

“If only it were so easy,” Nym muttered to himself.

“You got plenty of years left to get there. And no one is going to care if you decide to become a magister and live out in the middle of nowhere barely able to cast a second circle spell.”

Berndart was more than willing to banter with Nym the whole way back, though he suspected it was the constable trying to keep him distracted and in a good mood. It was probably part of his job to influence people he was responsible for and keep them amicable. Nym might have been more annoyed about it, except he expected to never see the man again after the whole thing was over and so far, it had been a relatively painless experience.

The walk through the station was easy enough, with Nym picking out the three men who’d tried to kidnap him from a group of six. It was over and done with before Bildar even got there. His sister walked into the station with him, and they immediately split up. Bildar went deeper in to set up his meeting with the contractors guildmaster, and Ophelia came over to Nym and Berndart.

“Hey Ermy, you ready to get out of here?”

“Uh… Yes?”

“Great, Bildar will be back later. We decided you should probably stay with us until this whole thing gets resolved.”

“No thanks,” Nym said. “I’ve already got a room rented out for the rest of the week.”

Ophelia frowned, but nodded. “Fine. But consider relocating when the week ends?”

“Sure, I’ll think about it,” he promised. If Analia didn’t show up before then, he didn’t much care. The Lucky Barrel was fine, but he wasn’t particularly attached to it. “How much does a room run at the Boot and Strap?”

“Two shields a week if you pay by the week,” she said.

That wasn’t terrible, but it was a bit more expensive than the Lucky Barrel. Nym supposed he could probably afford a single week there. At that point, he would be moving on from the city either way. Though things had gone well with his initial interactions with the constabulary, he didn’t want to push his luck. He was still unsure about his position with the mages guild, but he was cautiously hopeful that he’d be able to use the teleportation platform without issues.

Ophelia must have read something on his face, because she added, “I’m sure we can find some work for you to do for the crew even without a license to help cover the costs.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“You could inscribe runes for me. As long as I’m the one who’s empowering them, you wouldn’t need a license,” she said. “I’ll have to talk to Bildar. We’re not really sure what the future is going to hold for us if this whole thing with the contractors guild doesn’t go our way. We’re thinking about heading west. I guess that undead outbreak rumor was real and the army is digging in for a long campaign while they get to the bottom of it. They’re going to need some fortifications, so we should be able to find work there if we have to leave Thrakus.”

Nym wondered about that. When he’d left Zoskan, it was just some loose seal that was spawning a lot of frost wraiths. Supposedly it would be patched up before it could become more of a problem. This wasn’t the first time he’d heard about an undead problem to the west, but there was a lot of land west of Thrakus. It was probably just a coincidence and completely unrelated.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t. If something had gone horribly wrong, he worried for Ciana. Palmara wasn’t that far away from Zoskan and could be in trouble too. Perhaps in the near future, he would need to visit his adoptive sister. They could go see if his stalker shark was still patrolling the cove, waiting for him to come back.

It would have to be done delicately, with Nym staying well away from the village, but Ciana’s shack was far enough away from Palmara that as long as he didn’t go strolling through the village, he was confident he could fly past them with no one the wiser. He’d bring some money and food with him, maybe a new set of clothes. She’d like that.

He shook himself from his daydreams. He didn’t even know if the Earth Shapers were going west to the battlefront, or if he’d be going with them if they did, or if the undead problems were in any way related to the incident he’d been involved with months ago. Then again, even if none of that was true, the only thing keeping him in Thrakus was waiting for Analia to arrive. If she never showed up, he could go in any direction he wanted, and Palmara was as good as anywhere else, so long as he was careful to stay away from anyone who’d recognize him.

“Ermy? What are you thinking?” Ophelia said.

“Just considering what it would mean to go west again.”

“Oh? You’re not from Thrakus?”

“Not originally, no. I’ve wandered all over for as long as I can remember,” he said. It wasn’t really even a lie. He’d only spent a month or two in any single place since waking up on that beach. Abilanth had been the longest stretch at around three months.

“By yourself? That’s awful. I hate traveling alone.”

Nym shrugged. It was almost required in his case, since he did all of his traveling by flying at this point. He could probably support one other person for short trips, but not over cross-country distances. He was hoping traveling with Analia would be easier than that since she could fly too.

Ophelia walked with him back to the Lucky Barrel, despite Nym’s protests that he was fine. She refused to argue with him, just kept walking while ignoring him. Once they were there, she stayed to have a drink, told Nym she’d come pick him up tomorrow, and then left.

He rolled his eyes, but smiled. It was touching how much they cared about him, despite only having known him for a few days. The Earth Shapers were good people who were entirely too worried about his safety. He hoped he got the chance to introduce Analia to them before everyone went their separate ways.

She needed to hurry up and get to Thrakus. He went to bed slightly annoyed that she hadn’t showed up yet, even though she had some time left.