Thumping pain and dry eyes greeted Val as he woke, groggy and parched."Ugh, never drink with a dwarf…" Val held his face in his hands, grumbling as he struggled to recall the night before. Hazy recollections of erupting laughter, bits and pieces of old stories, some sort of prideful contest of ego between Boldir and Durnham; Val struggled to sort the order of events from the night prior.
An awkward grin crept over his face as he remembered two particularly amusing moments. Durnham had gotten drunk and clapped him on the back but he had already been so drunk he promptly toppled out of his seat and onto the floor. Asha, in the middle of laughing at them, proceeded to prove her sobriety by standing on her stool, costing Boldir a few more mugs and plates in her subsequent fall. Some other patrons heard of Val"s success hunting the wendigo and joined in their revelry, making it a very lucrative night for Boldir.
His pounding headache interrupted his reminiscence, looking around he spotted a large gla.s.s of water placed on the nightstand. His sword stood against the bed but the rest of his armor was strewn across the floor.
Val downed the water, imagining the value of a magical hangover cure if he could acquire one. With the way these people drank, he reckoned there must be one available somewhere.
Checking his watch, it was already half past noon, Asha was no where to be seen but Muninn appeared to be sleeping in the corner, nestled up in a blanket. It seemed she had managed the trip to deliver the letter and returned without taking a break. Had he not known the bird to be an envoy of the G.o.ds— thousands of years old, he might have considered the scene cute enough to be worthy of the internet.
The water helped considerably, but his still aching throat soon demanded more, enough so that he almost considered drinking from the basin provided to wash his face. Shelving the thought, he washed his face and proceeded downstairs in search of more hydration.
"Ha, the young warrior awakens. Slept well?" Boldir spotted him as he descended the stairs, chuckling at the sight of Val clutching the railing. He was sure he was sober but his hangovers tended to have lingering, room-spinning effects.
"Yeah alright, laugh it up— Oi, what"s up with Asha?" Val spotted Asha lazily nibbling bread at the bar, aside from her strange, listless expression, her disheveled hair did little to protect the image of the prideful elf he knew.
"Good mooorning— Ack!" Asha whirled in her seat to greet him and nearly fell over, clutching at the bar.
Boldir returned to chuckling. "Elves don"t usually drink much, they"re very resistant to toxins, but also strangely slow to process alcohol."
Val raised an eyebrow, having known a friend to appear like this the morning after. "So… You"re saying…"
Boldir held his chuckling for a moment. "Aye, the la.s.s is still drunk."
"Great."
"How much do you remember from last night?"
"Enough to know I"m not challenging dwarves or minotaurs to a drinking contest ever again. Can I get some water?"
Boldir poured a gla.s.s of water for him and placed the entire pitcher next to it for him. Val mumbled a word of thanks before taking more large gulps of water.
"Incidentally, I"m not a bank, but if you insist, I"ll hold onto your coin for you. But there"ll be no interest."
"Oh, right, I vaguely recall that, works perfectly for me, don"t know any bankers here."
"You are aware that we take banking and storage of a.s.sets very seriously? You would be better off opening an account with them."
"Pa.s.s, fewer people who know me, the better. I"m still disadvantaged with not knowing who"s who around here."
"Fair enough."
Boldir put together some lunch for him, his usual simple fare that was essentially a disa.s.sembled sandwich with generous portions of salted meat. His appet.i.te was weak, but his body worked automatically as he mindlessly placed food in his mouth.
"So, most lucrative contract that a freelancer can take at the moment, is done with, what"ve you got planned now?"
"Mm, not sure, I did not really have much of a reason to come here beside whatever business Asha has. I guess relax for the next few days till we move on?"
"Oh? If you wait till sundown, you"ll find some of the best company for your coin at Madame Aster"s—"
"No no no, not looking for women, just something simple, above the belt, like a ma.s.sage or something."
Boldir cast him a confused look. "But they do offer ma.s.sages."
"Just… Something with daytime hours."
Asha giggled, pointing at him with a mocking finger. "Yes, daytime activities, he"s a child, too *pure* for that sort of thing."
"I have been— You know what, save your jabs for when you can leave that chair on your own."
Asha scoffed. "I can leave this chair just fine!"
Boldir stopped her before she risked more of his gla.s.sware. "La.s.s, if you leave that stool, I"m cutting you off for the rest of your stay."
Asha stared at Boldir in disbelief, as if to challenge a bluff. The dwarf merely held her gaze as he continued sorting things behind the bar, in a moment she relented, returning to her lazy nibbling.
"Right, well, I"m going to go pay Harken a visit if he"s in, Durnham suggested I might be able to buy a new pair of knives off him." Boldir simply nodded, taking his dishes as Val returned upstairs to get dressed.
Muninn awoke with a yawn as Val fumbled the heavy lock to open the door.
"Good morning, well, you know. Everything went alright last night?"
Muninn nodded. "Delivered the letter, Richard has a hundred questions, but he was grateful for the a.s.sistance. They have accomplished quite a bit in their reclamation, but they lack the manpower to do much."
"Any more issues with the Army? It"s a bit early, but who knows."
"None, they have had no other visitors since you."
"Hmm, kind of concerning to be honest. Not that they"re on the likely path away from the coast, but I can"t have been the only survivor."
"Give it time perhaps, it has been hardly a month, humans can survive that long before desperation drives them to migrate."
Val paced, trying to shrug off the lingering dizziness. "Doesn"t make much sense though. Hey, you folks found me far away from where you were, right?"
Muninn looked at him quizzically for a moment, before reading his real question. "We traveled a significant distance, yes, but that was a one-way trip, the tax on my lord"s power was severe. It will be some time before he can recover enough strength to make a jump like that again."
Val brightened with excitement. "But you"re saying it"s possible to use magic for long-distance travel?"
Muninn cast him a regretful look. "You misunderstand, it is possible, yes, but the kind of power involved to bend s.p.a.ce on such a scale is not trivial. You might find a portal mage who can do it, but such individuals are held in the exclusive reserve of kings and their armies. Even then, its usage is limited, there"s a reason this fortress is built on top of a ley line. It is far easier to travel along those currents than it is to travel to an arbitrary location like we did."
"Then the council ought to have someone capable of it, right? Even if we can only travel along the ley lines, there must be cities connected to this one across the continent."
Muninn shook her head sadly. "After the two realms were merged, the staggering volume of magic that was released— it remains erratic and wild. It has not settled yet, causing noise and other interference, hampering long distance usage. You are more likely to get yourself killed in the worst case or sent far from your destination in the best case. This is the reason why Alevriasha has to rely on Huginn for relaying messages instead of simply communicating via magic. How Frigg was able to scry your location, I am not even sure."
"I see… Long story short, not possible for now. Hopefully things stabilize soon…" Val was disappointed, but he had not had the time to get his hopes too high. If he could safely traverse long distances quickly, he might better find his friends and family. Thinking of his friends who were in the North, Val added gathering information about the area to his list of priorities as he geared himself.
"I"m off to see Harken, want to come with?" Val asked. Muninn wordlessly a.s.sented, flying up to her usual spot on his sword.
A thought struck Val as he pondered Muninn"s odd attachment to the blade. "You know, Tyr refers to this sword as "she", but he does so as if it"s not merely a sword. You know something about it?"
Muninn simply hummed a moment, not furnishing an answer. Val just rolled his eyes and set off. Pa.s.sing the bar on their way out, Val took advantage of Asha"s disabled state and swiped what remained of her loaf of bread. She began to complain noisily at his "impudence", though Boldir offered no sympathy. Val shared it with Muninn as he walked deeper into the city toward the Black Dogs.
Pa.s.sing through the streets and alleys with little excitement, Val waltzed in, guards hastily making way as he showed off the gold accented emblem he was given. He had hardly made it ten steps through the door when he spotted Farren exit a room and approach him.
"Expecting me?"
Farren smirked. "Hmm, somewhat, you did after all mention your planned visit last night."
"Oh G.o.d, you were there? Was I that drunk?"
"Ha, pay it no mind, the boss was a bit sour that you neglected to invite him to your celebration."
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"Anyway, Harken will be available shortly and would like to see you as well. It appears you have fortunate timing."
"Hmm?" Val looked at him curiously but Farren did not elaborate, instead leading him up to Harken"s office. They waited outside for a few minutes before a group of merchants— humans, dwarves, and even a fox-eared man hurried out the door, carrying what sounded like three conversations at near frantic pace. Farren held the door for Val but did not follow as he entered. Harken was in another set of professional attire, short only a jacket, that did not quite match his battle scars, but gave him an oddly intimidating air.
"Val! I believe congratulations are in order." Harken grinned.
"Ah, thanks."
"It"s good you have come, those were some business a.s.sociates who will be involved in the expedition."
"I see. Speaking of which, the letter reached Richard last night, he"ll be expecting you folks."
Harken raised his brows. "You are quick on your word, I truly appreciate the introduction."
"It"s no problem, you needed something else from me?"
"I"m not sure. Tell me, from what I know, you are not planning to venture South soon, what are your plans?"
"I"m continuing north, hoping to find lost friends."
A slight, concerned frown grew on Harken"s face. "I was worried about that, to the East there is war that you know about, if you"re headed north…"
Val also frowned. "What"s up?"
"I suspect I know the reason for your Elven companion"s visit… Trade has been interrupted with the North."
"For what reason?"
"Attacks, raids, on caravans, several ships have gone missing, there"s been hardly a trace of any combat. Until we can reroute trade along more inland routes, no one wants to continue trade with the Elves and other settlements up that way. This is still unconfirmed, but a team of my men on an escort job have not returned, they were due a couple days ago by the usual pace." Harken leaned back in his chair, holding his chin in his hand.
"Any idea who"s behind these attacks?"
"We"re not sure, to be honest. But I figured this information would be good for you to know if you"re headed up that way. Is there a chance it"s your people? The uh… Americans?"
"Not likely. Maybe a professional military group, but they"ve all been recalled East of here. Besides, kind of weapons we use tend to leave a trace, you would find bullets or blast marks."
Harken had a curious look, but soon nodded. "I figured as much, we found traces of magic and you aside, your people don"t use it."
"Alright, let"s hear it." Val took the seat across from Harken, who looked slightly taken aback.
"You want something, I want something, I think there"s a deal here." Val added, grinning at the mercenary.
Harken"s smile reached his steel-blue eyes. "I knew I liked you. I need an outsider, someone who values discretion as you do, at least when you"re sober."
"Alright, that one"s on me, but I"m never challenging Durnham again."
"Ha, indeed. Anyway, news regarding the missing team has not spread, and I can"t have my men afraid of the North forever. If you find anything along your way, I"ll pay handsomely for any information about what"s going on. Business is good when the council keeps their nose out of things, but it also means they will happily hole up in this fort and wait out the entire d.a.m.n thing."
"Sure, but I don"t want coin, and if possible I"d like to be paid in advance." Val unfastened the two Bowie knives from his belt, placing them on the desk.
"Durnham suggested you might have suitable replacements for these knives, it"s really the only thing I"m interested in at the moment, payment-wise."
Harken took one in his hand and drew the blade, inspecting it for a moment. "It"s nice enough as letter openers go, what"s wrong with it?"
"Oi."
Harken chuckled. "I jest, indeed, come, let me show you my collection. I think I have something you"ll like."