Troug, 14th

  “Fiend of Apathy?” I asked the man, even as I saw the girl’s eyes go unfocused for a moment.

  “Strange, I’ve never seen anything like that before.” She said to the man as they exchanged looks.

  A sound of violent, sloshing water reached my ears then, and I had to assume it had also been noticed by the others as we all turned to take in the sight of the lake boiling.

  The water churned with heat and air as pink and purple bubbles rose to the surface in amid a riot of sound. The lake seemed to bulge and fold in onto itself before exploding in gouts of steam. Fish were being tossed into the air, dead or near enough to be considered a loss to the ecosystem as they were flash boiled by the hissing depths.

  Chunks of blackened, leathery flesh and viscera of various forms were being cooked in the pot known as Jaga Lake while we and the growing number of dock workers and guardsmen watched. For hundreds of feet and seemingly more the water frothed as if being beaten by an invisible blender whose path traveled out from the stone docks while the various wooden structures that were attached sporadically along its length were shaken and bobbing in the waves, barely held by their tar-stained ropes.

  “By the twelve, this is the strangest Turning I had ever seen.” Said a man wearing the general garb of a fisherman.

  “Aye, that’s a sight I never saw.” Confirmed another man leaning dumbly on what looked like a fishing spear.

  We all watched while more people came to observe from several points along the harbor, some watched from the walls while others observed from the roads that ran along the docks; no one ventured too near the surface.

  The trail of foaming water led north-west toward the river I had flown over. I could see some smoke also rising from the forest in places as if the path of the creature were being erased from being. The oily slick of mucus and eventually blood had covered portions of the lake as the flight and fight wore on, and until now it had floated along on the surface refused to mix with the water below. It seemed that nature had had enough of its existence and was now eradicating its taint from the physical world.

  I once more took note of my rescuers, seeing them lean closer to one another whispering amongst themselves and possibly talking about me as I saw them both nod slightly; the girl was more obvious as she cast several glances my way.

  Maybe I should be going, I did have church to attend.

  “Good idea, kid. We should get going.” Said the man from beside me as I began making my way through the crowd.

  The turmoil in the water was beginning to subside, the waters fervor dipping to that of a mild upwelling. I didn’t think it would finish doing whatever it was doing for a while, but it seemed to have finished the bulk of its process.

  “Sure.” I mumbled, not looking back as I felt the girl take a step to follow.

  We walked away from the bubbling, boiling water even as more people gathered; emboldened by the decrease in surface activity.

  “Quick question,” I asked, “Where is the nearest church?”

  I sensed the pair suddenly stiffen at my words even as I continued walking, determined to get this done with. Whatever this was.

  “Let’s head over to the harbor master’s office first.” said the man getting a nod of understanding from the girl.

  “Okay, but why?” I asked, even as we began walking toward the largest building on this side of the docks. It was a fancy wooden structure with the base of the building being constructed to facilitate wagon traffic through various doors with long hallways running through to the other side of the building. Large cranes and pulley systems while currently not in use could be deployed to help manage the bulky cargo.

  A pair of stairs led up the sides of the building with a pair of double doors taking up the center. The entire thing was again rather large, measuring at least two hundred feet to each side and going up no less than five stories. More cranes and collections of rope could be seen above, serving other purposes that I really could not put effort into figuring out at the moment.

  I was tired.

  “I just wanted to talk without the audience.” He remarked as we stopped on the closer side of the building.

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  “Fine, but could we make it quick? I need a nap.” I stated simply, definitely not complaining.

  A shrill cry echoed down from above us and we turned to watch as a group while Corvin took up a regal position atop the railing on the stairs above. As regal as he could with such ruffled feathers and one half-closed eye at least.

  It looked like the girl was about to speak again as I raised my hand and sent a mental word of assent to my bonded companion. I didn’t bother forming any complicated words, merely a familial image of intent.

  He took the cue and quickly dropped down from the rails above, flapping his wings and creating a general scene as he stopped atop my shoulder. He seemed to have shrunk mid-flight as I barely felt his weight as he righted his stance.

  The pair of rescuers watched while I used a small amount of my mana and healed my companions’ surface injuries. I couldn’t expect him to suffer the demeaning signs of a black eye if he were to be my companion after all, we had an image to protect. I tossed out a quick cast of Vigor as well hoping to alleviate any muscle fatigue, though I doubted it would be an issue as I noticed we were still receiving a large benefit to regeneration from the unique situation known as Turning.

  “Tamed animal?” asked the girl after only a moment.

  “Naah, bonded familiar.”

  “CAW!”

  “Interesting.” Mused the man aloud. “So, the fiend of apathy?”

  I looked around the immediate area, taking my time to study the passersby as my brain worked to think of some reasonable excuse for such a monster to be chasing one such as myself to the point that it was willing to engage with a wall full of city defenders.

  “She’s planning to lie.” The girl said after only a moment.

  The man nodded even as he held up a hand, “You don’t need to lie, though I understand if you need to keep some secrets. What do you know?”

  I noticed as he raised his hand that he bore a ring upon his right hand, a ring that looked nearly the same as the one I had received so long ago from a certain guild master. I felt along my finger feeling the familiar little ornament that had surprisingly stuck with me for most of my journey so far.

  The motion did not go unnoticed as the man’s eyes landed on my ring and he chuckled.

  “It seems that Master Doogan really did take a liking to you, if he gave you that ring.” The girl looked from him and back to me before going back to him, taking a moment to study our hands even as she ran fingers along her empty hand. It seemed that she was in the club.

  Hell, I didn’t even know what was going on or what the club could entail. I really hoped it wasn’t some awkward society where people needed to learn an archaic handshake or weird blood ritual.

  “Can I ask who you two are, since you seem to know something about me.” I asked, “And how do you know Doogie?”

  The girl clamped a hand over her own mouth as she stifled a bubbling burst of giggles while the man laughed deeply before speaking.

  “He had us standing watch for something until he got back from his adventure, it seems you were the something we were supposed to be watching for.” He swept his gaze over me, studying something I couldn’t understand. Or he was just being weird, it was probably fifty-fifty. I was going to offer some glib comment but then he continued, “Not sure why he expected something like this, but seeing as you have that ring, I can at least understand the concern; it’s not often he takes an apprentice.”

  “Yeah, he said something like that. I think.”

  The man nodded before extending his hand. “My name is Algol, this girl posing as a hyena is someone you have met before.”

  The girl in question managed to suppress her outburst and wave at me. Honestly, I could see something familiar in her appearance, but I was still drawing a blank.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember meeting you.” Hell, I wasn’t sure if Id even met any girls in town that were younger than myself after the very first day in the bedchamber of the captain’s daughter. Though, that was totally not my fault.

  She grinned, showing her teeth before muttering something just below my level of hearing and I saw her form shift. Subtly at first as her skin-color changed, followed by other minor changes. The lower cheek bones, the smaller frame, a near malnourished musculature, and then the shortening of her hair and flattening of her brow.

  “What the…” my voice trailed off as I finally recognized her, him? It was Lenn. The kid I met on my very first day here in this world. “Lenn?”

  “Ha!” she cried in triumph, seemingly accepting my confusion as some sort of test.

  “Yeah, she uses illusions to blend in with the locals. It keeps her busy and out of my hair, so I don’t stop her from having little adventures.” Said Algol with a patronizing half smile.

  “Ok, so she pretends to be poor and just randomly mingles with orphans as a form of entertainment?”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  They both answered one after the other, with Lenn denying the assumption I had made.

  “Rae tends to get bored easily, she helps the local urchins survive as a sort of hobby.” Algol said before continuing, “She also works as an extra set of eyes for the guild.”

  “Ok, so…” I wasn’t sure what to say now as the conversation was moving in directions I had not expected, and we were leaning more toward tavern gossip or even random rambling at this point. “About that church?”

  Algol raised his brow at my question, possibly wondering why I was so adamant about visiting a church before Lenn-Rae cut in.

  “Why do you want to visit the church?”

  “I don’t.”

  “You surely must if you keep asking for directions, did you wish to offer prayers for your salvation. I would gladly accept all the praise from you here and now if you like; we were the ones who rescued you after all.” She said with a level gaze that I found very odd on the body of Lenn the street urchin.

  “I just need to visit, that’s all.” I started even as Corvin let out another very loud cry, directly next to my ear. I jerked my head to the side reflexively which made him dig his claws in just a bit to keep from being launched off my person.

  Algol laughed even as Corvin cried again this time falling from my shoulder as I felt pain shoot through my chest.

  It was a familiar and excruciating pain that I had hoped never to experience again and this time it was far more pronounced. I was aware for only another second as my body fell sideways, just long enough to see the expressions of concern overtake the almost jovial nature of my rescuers while they watched me sink into unexplainable unconsciousness.