The Quantum Wanderer

I go back down to where Dávrin is, he is waiting for me, apparently. 

“Dávrin, I forgot to ask something.”

“Yes, friend?”

“These necklaces for these pendants. “ I take the pendant out.  “Is it possible to make a crow sized chain for it?”

He looks really puzzled towards me.

“You see, some of my girls aren’t really human, they already have a racial benefit of being able to breath this kind of air.  As of now, I have four pendants.  The crows and I can actually survive here through magic, but we have to always be worried about that.  If we go unconscious, or sleep…”

“And you wanted to change the chain, so that one of your… pets?  Could use the pendant…”

“Exactly.  Do you think we can find an artisan that could do that?”

“It is going to be hard to find one artisan…”  He starts laughing.

I make a puzzled face.

“The others might try to kill him to get the honors.”

I giggle, but I don’t think this is such a big thing, actually.  He continues.

“Let’s get to the palace, I will have someone doing that.”  At this moment, Muninn caws.  Dávrin looks puzzled.

“Is he saying something?”

“I think he is pleased.  Remember when I stayed here a couple of weeks?  He was in a really sour mood when I got back home.”

He giggled.

“Does he understand everything we say?”

“I don’t know.  I guess that he understands a lot of it.  He can add small numbers.  I never tried to put him to do some elaborate math, so I don’t know how far it goes.”

Muninn caws, and Huginn shakes her head.

I tell Dávrin about his playing with the guard over in the demon empire, and Dávrin keeps laughing for a long time.  We finally arrive at the palace, and Dávrin tells a guard to fetch a particular dwarf, and send him to his study.

After a little while, in comes this dwarf, dressed in a fine but light clothing.  He salutes the king and me. 

“Hi, Knorr, I trust you have been faring well?”

“Yes, my king.  How can I make my tools useful?”

I pull out the talisman from beneath the clothing. Dávrin is the one to answer.

“We want you to create a collar to allow the crows to wear a charm like this one.”

The dwarf gets closer, and then freezes.

“Is… Is this…?”

“Yes, it is.”

“And are those…?  Is he…?”

“Yes.”

“THANK YOU!” And he kneels down.  It looks like Dávrin wasn’t too much off when he mentioned it.  I appreciate that he is going to have some fun.  He looks at the crows.

“I have to check how the feathers are placed, may I touch them?”

I tap on the table, and Muninn and Huginn land on it.  The dwarf approach, very respectfully, and asks ‘excuse me’ to them before touching them.  He checks their real size underneath the feathers, and extends his arms, to show them that he has to see how the wings are attached to the body.  They mirror his movement.  He analyzes both crows for some minutes, under Dávrin’s eyes.  After some time, he seems satisfied.

“Excuse, my king, I think I have everything I need.  I will prepare the necklace, and we can attach to the pendant next time sir Marcelo visits.”

“Thank you.”

He makes an elaborate salute, and leaves. Dávrin is behind me, and the crows fly to my shoulders.

“What else can I do for you, friend?”

“I think I am good.  Do you have anything else to send to Stonehenge?”

“Other than a repopulation crew?  Not really.” And he giggles.

“Well, then, nice seeing you.” I open a portal to my bedroom at home. 

“Nice seeing you too, friend.”

I go home.  The bedroom is empty.  I go downstairs, the girls are in the living room.

“Why didn’t you wake us?”  Cecilia immediately asks.

“You were all so comfortable sleeping…  And I thought that it was going to be a lot shorter than it was.  I am sorry.”

I see that Cecilia crosses her arms.  She probably didn’t expect the way the conversation went.  I go to the dinning room, Rudolph is there.

“Good morning, lord.  May I suggest a light meal?  Roberta appeared really concerned with you missing a meal.”

“Sure.”

Rudolph goes to the kitchen, and I hear some noise of some food being prepared.  A plate is brought to the dinning room, and I sit to eat.  I was hungry.

“Rudolph, please thank Roberta for the sandwich.”

“The what, lord?”

“That’s how I used to call the food on bread thing.”

“Of course, lord.”

I eat, perhaps a little too much. 

***

Dávrin’s POV

Sitting in my study, trying to relax a little bit.  The booze is helping a little bit.  I don’t even know what to think of all this.  The whole thing is unbelievable. I think that uncle was mistaken on the degree of his compliments.  But then again, how could he imagine he was talking to a god?

Each of things he has shown make him a god, and he doesn’t even realize it.  We know that the portal magic is not known.  People don’t even imagine it can be done, and the knowledge that he can cast it is probably a secret as well.  That alone could end up a war.  We sent over 20 thousand dwarves to Stonehenge.  20 thousand.  In an hour or so.  Imagine a portal in the wrong place.  In a bedroom.  I shiver on the thought. 

I think that Viggr just didn’t realize it yet because he hasn’t stopped crying. A man known for being able to march for 3 days straight, no breaks for food, water or sleep.  He had to go to the restroom to cry, like a beardless girl.  I wish I could have recorded that.

Then, the improvements he did on uncle’s blade.  That’s just preposterous.  Uncle is the master forger of his generation, and not because he is in our family.  That was just a coincidence, and it actually hindered more than helped.  He had to go beyond, to prove that it had nothing to do with his blood, but with his hands. 

And then, he makes something to the blade that just…  Even Brokkr doesn’t know what to say about that, except call him a master forger.  I giggle to myself.  I don’t think Marcelo realizes that by being called master forger by Brokkr, he is being recognized as superior.  He seems a little dense on those matters.  I just hope he remains that way.

And then the whole matter with the ants.  Twice.  He is an army by himself.  Actually, assembling an army to fight the ants would be troublesome.  If it were possible, we would have already got the city back.  We have had 200 years to attempt, and we know that it would not be achieved by a regular force.

The stories he told are fantastic.  I am still laughing about the guard that passed because of Muninn.  I can’t fault the guard, though.  That means that he is actually way smarter than people are giving him credit for.  People just don’t faint around him because they don’t realize what is in their neighborhood.  Ha!

I am so envious of the empire.  They were ahead, and managed to offer him a place to live, with perks that he is actually enjoying.  He is ugly to our standards, and our women are not attractive to him.  That is such a pity.  I would love nothing more to have Davina join his harem.  That is actually too small for the master.  I wonder why.

I wonder if I should get in touch with pope Sidhu, and see if the great adventurer is this person.  Perhaps even have a church built here, though he didn’t give any indication that he would want that.  But if the information leaks, it is not like I will be able to avoid people from building one.

I think I am going to need more booze.

***

Marcelo’s POV

When I am done with lunch, Muninn lands on my shoulder, and shares a scene with me.  There is a village in the scene, and an adventurer’s guild.  I see him entering the guild, and some time later he appears on a windows and closes it.  Then the scene fades.

That brings a question.  Is it time to reel Richard in?  The girls look at me.

“Is there a problem, my lord?”  Opal is the first one to ask.

“I am thinking that it is time to pull the last spy from the group that was spying on us.”

“Why is he, or she, still alive, my lord?”

“Because I was kind of busy, and I gave him some time so that he would think he is safe.  That way, when I snatch him, he will be more willing to talk.”

Opal sighs.  “Humans are so complicated…  They should just answer anything you ask, my lord.”

I giggle a little.  I go to her, and kiss her head. 

“I am going to take him to Piotr.  I don’t think this is interesting, but you can either come with me or go do something in the city.  Cecs, can’t you get to mithril with the report on the ant killing?”

Cecilia lights up, and starts pulling on Shandon arm.

“Come on, I am going to need witnesses.”

I giggle, and Muninn and Huginn come to my shoulders.  Time to question Richard.  I portal to the forest outside the village he is in.  I get close to the village, and some farmers do an informal salute.  It feels a little like the village where I met Rose.  I imagine that all adventurers are welcome on these little towns, that are just one step from being taken by monsters.

I go to the guild.  It is starting to get to the time where the guild is going to offer dinner, just like it was with Cecilia’s own, where the guild is also an inn to be able to attract some adventurers.  I get in there.  The guild is the same as all other ones.  A place for people to drink and dine, that has a couple of groups of men talking.  Not adventurers, this village is not going to be big enough to attract adventurers.

I imagine if the attendant is not thinking on the reason for Richard to suddenly decide to stay around.  I sit on a table, and I order some ale. 

When I enter with the two crows, some people stare, some people don’t.  Not everyone here is familiar with Wrax’s tales, apparently.  That actually makes for a more comfortable place to be in.  The attendant brings in a cup of ale, and I start drinking it slowly.  I am waiting for Richard to come down.

I see his boots, then his body as he comes down the stairs.  When his face appears, I hold the mug up. Before he can focus on me, I shout out.

“HI, RICHARD!”

He freezes.  The attendant is looking at us both.  While he stays there, looking at me, the attendant brings a cloth and comes to my table. 

“Sir, I don’t know who you are, but fighting inside the guild house is a serious offense.  Besides, sir Richard is a mithril adventurer. So if I “

I interrupt her, and pull out my mithril tag.

“It’s ok, I am just a friend.” I turn to Richard.  “Right Richard?  Wouldn’t you say you’re my friend?”

That makes him start to move.  He looks up the stairs for some time, before looking down and coming down, very slowly.  I can see that he is thinking about a lot of things.  He comes down to my table, and sits down, keeping his hands hidden.

“How did you find me?  We are far from Ironhold.”

“You know, I am curious on just how much you were able to gather in terms of intelligence on me.”

He sighs.  “Only what you told me, actually.  We were expecting to get some information from Siratra, but she can’t, because of her slave mark and all.”

“We?”

…

“Now now…  You just mentioned something interesting.  You have my full attention now.  Who are the others in this ‘we’?”

…

“You do realize that you are a spy, right?  People on the upper levels already know about that.  I can just make you spill the beans.”

“Here?  Are you going to start trouble inside the guild?  You are going to get expelled, and then you can say goodbye to your benefits.  Besides, I don’t see your girls with you.”

He puts his hand behind his back, threateningly.  The people around us sense the air, and start to leave.  The attendant brings a mug of beer puts it in front of Richard, that doesn’t move an inch towards it.  The room is now empty, except for us three.

She goes to a room behind the counter, probably to check on the food. I enhance myself, and I open a portal behind Richard.  He pulls a dagger from his back, and I kick the table, and him, towards the portal.  He falls back and rolls a couple of times.  I throw the table and chairs back through the portal, and close it.  Everything happened in just a couple of seconds.

Richard finishes the roll on one knee, one hand on the floor and another on the dagger, looking at me.  He then realizes that he is not in the guild anymore, and looks around the cave.  He stands up slowly.

“What the fuck?!?  What is this?  Is it an illusion?”

“No.  Not an illusion.  Just one of the spells that I had not mentioned.  There are several of them, actually.”

He looks around, scared.  I keep getting closer to him.  He tries to stab me, but I hold the blade with my hand.  If it were anyone else, there would be a huge gash.  He pulls the dagger back, and I break the blade.  I drop the blade on the floor.

“But…  But…  “ He takes a closer look at the broken dagger.  “What are you?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

I just shrug.  I take a look at the deep of the cave, and apparently Piotr is out.

“I am… me?  I don’t know what you mean.  Now, let’s move to the subject at hand.  Who are the other people in the we thing?”

He starts to reach for a bag that is in his belt, but I am faster.  Way faster.  I just take the bag from him.  There is a Comm Gem in it.  I pick it out of the bag and look at him.

“Really?  Trying to use this in front of me?  What is going through your mind?”

After seeing the bag basically disappear from his belt and end up in my hand, he starts to emit a lot more fear pheromones.  At this point, we hear some flapping noises on the cave’s opening and turn to it.

A Fenrir is thrown in.  Richard is again frozen.  The Fenrir is dead, of course.  And then Piotr makes his entrance.  Richard points his broken dagger towards the dragon.  I laugh.

“What are you going to do with that?  Are you offering a tooth pick?”  He looks at me, not understanding why I am so calm.

“What are you doing?  TAKE US OUT OF HERE! NOW!  YOU ARE GOING TO DIE WITH ME!” 

I laugh some more.  I raise my hand.

“Hi, Piotr.”

“Good afternoon, my lord.  Is this friend or foe?”

“I am still deciding.”  I laugh a little.  Perhaps I am looking a little bit like a villain, but the situation is funny.  To my eyes, Piotr is this calm and loyal… follower, of sorts?  Considering my position in the council and all, I think that would be the appropriate term.  Although I never used my position in the council.

“I just got a fresh kill, my lord.  Does my lord wish for it?”

“No, keep it.  I was thinking of bringing on a bullgoose later, though.  What a pity.”

“There is always a hungry hatchling somewhere, my lord.” 

I giggle a little. 

“It will have to wait a little bit, though.  I still have to take care of this, and then find the beast.”

“Of course, my lord.  Are you having any issues with this…  ant?  Why?”

He gets his huge head near Richard, that can now feel his breath on this face.  Richard is now shaking uncontrollably. 

“Such stupid beasts.  They fear the size, not the being.  You fear what I can do with you, not what the soul devourer can do to your soul.  From north to south, every dragon, no matter the age, no matter the size, fear the soul devourer.  Yet you… “ Piotr stars laughing.  Richard soils himself.

I touch Richard’s shoulder, and he collapses to his knees. 

“Their names?”

“Only one.  Lucius von Rackentoff.  He is a noble enrolled in the Command school.  I hired him, he is a baron heir, but his family is going down slowly.  He will take any money he can.  And he is good with the ladies.  I heard that he is in a study team with one of your girls.”

I pull out the Comm Gem paired with Edward, and I call him.

“Hello, friend.  How can I help?”

“I got a little spy. Can I drop him in your cells?”

“Sure.  Can I have a minute, just to make sure there is no guard there?”

“Of course.”

Richard faces me.

“Who is that?  Where are you sending me?”

“You were playing spy, right?  I am going to deliver you to the guards.  You know, do the right thing.”

“They are going to execute me.”

I slap him. “Did you now comprehend the situation you are in already?”

He falls to the ground, looking around himself, while holding his cheek. I think that that broke him.  I receive a message from the Comm Gem.

“We are ready.”

I open a portal, and throw Richard through.  I follow him right behind.  I portaled both of us to Edward’s cells.  Edward is on the other side of the bars.  I side step through the bars.  I am thinking that getting that student is going to be complicated, he is apparently a friend to Siratra right now.  This is going to be a little messy for me.

“Hi Edward.”

“Hi…  What did you just do?”

I look behind, and then I realize that I hadn’t mentioned my side stepping to Edward.  I just shrug, I am not in the mood to explain it right now.  He continues.

“What happened?”

“He is part of the network that I had undone.  They were also trying to get closer through the guild and the schools.”

“I’m sorry?  What do you mean?”

“Well, Richard here got close to me in the time I spent in the guild.  He mentioned that he hired a Lucius von Rackentoff to spy on the girls and me as well.”

“Lucius…  Lucius…  I think I have seen that name before…  Luci- “ He turns to Richard.  “Do you mean the guy in Ambrose’s team? SHIT!”

Edward now is really scared, apparently. He looks at me.

“I am sorry, I had no idea.  I am really, really sorry.”

“It’s ok, no one knew.”

He thinks for a minute.

“Do you mind if we take care of that one?”

“Please, I would that as a favor.”

I go home, kind of worried.  I am happy that I am not going to be the one doing the arrest.  I go home to the girls.  I just enter from the front door.  The girls are in the living room.  They look at my face, and notice that something is worrying me.  Cecilia is the one to voice, it, though.  She is also a little more serious than usual.

“What’s wrong, Marcelo?”

“Do you remember Siratra’s friend in the Command school?”

Cecilia looks nervously at the other girls.  Each of them has a very nervous look that ends up in different expressions.  Opal straightens up a little more, Aquamarine hides herself behind her hair.  Shandon looks at the floor, and Ruby is fidgeting.

“Yes.”

“He is a spy.  He is being paid to spy on us, to try to extract information from Siratra.”

“Oh.” Cecilia relaxes a little, and I see that the dragonesses relax a little as well.  We get called for dinner, but their reaction is not really fitting the situation.  We start eating, and  I try to relax a bit.  But I can’t turn off the odd feeling that this brought up.

I turn to Cecilia.

“What is up with your reaction to the news that he is a spy?  That is a serious matter!”

“Yes, definitely very serious.”

“Why the relief reaction, then?”

“Nothing.  Nobody here is relieved.”

I hold my fork, and I am about to answer, but I decide against it.  We just finish the dinner in silence. We are in the dinning room, and I am thinking of how to get back to that subject, when the door is slam open.

“Marcelo! Please, help!”

I look at the door, and it is Siratra.  She has tears in her eyes. 

“Lucius!”

I hug her, and starts crying on my shoulder.  I keep patting her head. 

“Don’t worry, the empire is going to take care of the spy.”

She pushes me, and looks puzzled.

“What? No! No!  That’s not…  What the fuck! You’re in on this!”

“Huh?  What  do you mean?”

“He told me that you would do this, that you were the jealous type.  That you would never let me go. And now…  Now he is taken! Because of you, you monster!”

It takes some moments for us to digest what she was saying.  In the next moment, Opal, Shandon and Ruby are holding Aquamarine, that made a reach for Siratra.

“YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU!”

Even I feel the strength behind the war cry that Aquamarine was using.  Siratra is thrown some five feet away, and lands on her butt.  I am still in shock for the whole situation, and it dawns on me what was going through in the girls’ heads.  It didn’t happen, though.  I think.  But this is a mess.

“YOU BETRAYED US! YOU BETRAYED OUR LORD!”

The other dragonesses are having a hard time holding Aquamarine.  I turn to Siratra.

“I think it is better if you spend the night in school grounds for today.  We are going to sort this tomorrow.”

Siratra stands up and leaves.  I go towards Aquamarine, and hug her, holding her.

“Lord, you don’t deserve this! She has to pay! This is wrong.”

Slowly, she starts putting less and less strength in her movements, until Aquamarine starts crying on my shoulder. I understand that the pain she is suffering is also because of me, because she cares about me.

“I love you.  And, as far as I know, she didn’t cheat on us.”

“But you don’t deserve this.  You are so…  So kind…  I love you too, lord.”

She gives me a passionate kiss.  The other girls get close, and give both of us a group hug.  We go to bed, a night’s sleep is going to make all of us a lot better.