Chapter 18

Tall buildings loomed over Seleeku and Brynn as they pushed their way through the narrow and crowded city streets. Seleeku glanced up warily at one of the buildings as they passed by. Each floor was larger than the other, until the final fourth floor tottered over their heads, swaying gently in the breeze.

“Do they ever fall down?” she asked.

Brynn shrugged. “Occasionally.” He saw an opening in the throngs of people around him and slipped through, grabbing Seleeku’s hand and pulling her along with him.

“Hey!” she protested, but Brynn did not want to risk getting separated. He needed to get into the College and retrieve the Codex as quickly as possible. The city guard would soon be searching for them, if they weren’t already. Once Brynn had the Codex, they could leave Galdir and hide in the foothills of the mountains.

They stepped out of the maze of side streets and onto the main market square. Shop stalls of all shapes and sizes were jammed haphazardly into the area, with hawkers shouting over each other attempting to attract customers to their wares. Some were dressed in colorful clothes to stand out in the crowd, while others were dressed in costumes that represented the products they were selling. Brynn saw someone dressed as a meat pie and began to unconsciously drift over to the stall.

“Druid Brynn!” A heavyset man was shoving his way through the masses and approaching them. “Druid Brynn! I say, is that you?” he called out again. He was garbed in fine clothes and had a self-satisfied air about him.

Brynn forced his attention away from the meat pies and turned towards the man who was addressing him. “Hello, Innkeeper Kenrick,” he said with a strained smile.

“I say! What are you wearing?” asked Kenrick, getting up close to Brynn and appraising him quizzically. He had the sickly sweet smell of an innkeeper who imbibed too much of his own ale and wine. “Is it some sort of costume? I almost didn’t recognize you. And who is this exotic beauty that’s with you?”

“Her name is Seleeku, Innkeeper,” Brynn replied. “She’s, uh, from the Clan Isles.”

“The Clan Isles, you say? I’ve had a few patrons from the Clan Isles but they look nothing like her!” Kenrick examined her with an discomforting stare.

“Um, she’s from a small tribe in the Outer Clan Isles. Legend has it that her ancestors are from the Great Beyond.”

“You don’t say?” Kenrick said, intrigued. “But where are my manners! I’m on my way back to the Stormstead Inn and you simply must accompany me! I’m sure Seleeku must have absolutely wonderful stories to tell us about the Clan Isles!”

“I’m sorry, Innkeeper. We have pressing business to attend to. Perhaps another time.”

“Come now!” exclaimed Kenrick. “You look famished! I’ll serve you a fine meal back at the inn!” He faced Seleeku. “Druid Brynn helped me years ago where other druids couldn’t. And for no charge! I don’t think that was very smart of him …” he continued on with his story, but Brynn was no longer listening. He was thinking about food.

“But of course, dear Innkeeper,” Brynn interrupted. “we can always make time to stop at your inn. How could I have refused your hospitality? Please, sir, lead the way.”

“I say, Druid Brynn, I knew you’d come to your senses!” Kenrick proclaimed. “Follow me!” As he turned away, Seleeku surreptitiously poked Brynn in the arm.

No, she mouthed silently, shaking her head.

Food, he mouthed back, pointing at his stomach.

She rolled her eyes and continued shaking her head, but Brynn had already moved up next to Kenrick. He needed to distract Kenrick from asking too many questions about Seleeku.

“Tell me, good sir, how is the Stormstead doing these days? Business is doing well, I hope? …”

---

Seleeku used her spoon to make desultory pokes at the greasy, gristly meat floating atop her soupy stew. Brynn ignored her and slurped his portion down with a relish. He smacked his lips with a satisfied sigh. He was beginning to feel sleepy.

Fortunately for them, the inn was crowded and Kenrick had quickly become busy with attending to patrons and serving dinner, leaving little time for any long term conversation. As they were his guests, they were afforded the luxury of a booth, which set them apart from the common tables and gave them some much-needed privacy. There were occasional sidelong glances at Seleeku from passersby, but Galdir received visitors from throughout the world. It wasn’t uncommon to see foreigners who appeared different from the folk of the Realm. As long as she kept her ears covered, they should be relatively safe.

“We should leave. Now!” Seleeku muttered.

“Mmmm … huh? What?” Brynn was in the middle of picking up his bowl and gulping down the remaining soup.

“I may be a stranger here, but even I know that your city’s wardens are searching for us. We need to get your book and leave.”

Brynn knew she was right, but he didn’t want to let go of the moment’s respite. “What is life like for the elves in the Far Forest?” he asked. “Do you have villages? Cities?”

Seleeku’s eyes went wide. “Of course not! We live as nomads, Brynn! We can’t risk being found by humans or we’d be hunted and destroyed.”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” he apologized sheepishly. The two sat in awkward silence, until Brynn, looking longingly at Seleeku’s stew, finally asked …

“Are you going to eat that?”

Seleeku regarded him with a resigned expression before reluctantly pushing the bowl over to him. Brynn mumbled a hasty thanks before enthusiastically digging into his second meal. It was as delicious as the first.

---

“You’re in a predicament, Backstabber.”

Brynn opened his eyes. He was laying on freshly turned earth. He sat up and took in his surroundings. He was in a field, ready for seeding. A majestic oak was in the middle, reigning over the surroundings.

He recognized this place. He was … home?

“What am I doing here?” Brynn looked up and saw Kodroth staring down at him.

“Your friend, the innkeeper, drugged your food. You were both supposed to get drowsy and stay at the inn, giving him time to call the wardens and get the bounty on your head. But you ate both meals, so now you’re unconscious and she’s tied up next to you in one his rooms.”

“I could help you—” Kodroth continued, but Brynn ignored him, standing up and walking towards the tree. His tree. He had grown up here, spent his youth here. He remembered playing in the field while his father worked the dirt with his hands. The tree had been in the center of this field since before his family’s distant memories. They would periodically leave it small offerings in exchange for the hopes of a bountiful harvest. Brynn would climb the tree and hide from others when he needed time alone. It was his safe place. It was supposed to be his safe place when the soldiers came, when they destroyed his home and murdered his family. He could have done something, should have done something. But he hid here instead. It was safe. Until they found him.

The three soldiers decided to amuse themselves by building a fire at the base of the tree to smoke—or burn—him out. They laughed and called him “smoked piglet” as they gathered kindling. He could have done something, should have done something, but all he did was sit at the highest branch that he could, frozen in fear.

One of the soldiers was striking his flint when a sharp voice called out to them. A robed figure stepped into view. He was smaller and thinner than the soldiers, but they still backed away apprehensively. The robed man shooed them away with a strongly worded command. They quickly forgot about Brynn and scurried out of sight. When they were gone, the man turned his attention to Brynn.

High Druid Themon. He was a younger version to be sure, but—

“Enough reminiscing!” Kodroth complained.

Brynn, startled out of his reverie, noticed something about the tree. He recognized that tree!

“The Hollow …” Brynn sputtered, stumbling backwards and falling down, planting his backside into the soft soil.

“Yes?” Kodroth asked.

“But Seleeku said …”

“You can’t always trust myths and legends. And here I thought you saw the world as it truly is?”

“But how …”

“We don’t have much time, Backstabber. You’re about to be imprisoned again. I can help.”

“I don’t want your help! I don’t need your help! I’d rather die!” Brynn jumped up and threw a punch at Kodroth. It landed with a sickening squelch in Kodroth’s stomach.

“I believe you,” said Kodroth, unfazed. “But what about Seleeku? What do you think they’ll do when they discover she’s an elf? What will happen to her?”

“No!” yelled Brynn. He punched Kodroth again. And again. And again. Pointlessly battering at decaying flesh and organs. Kodroth would not budge.

“What will it be, Backstabber?” Kodroth asked.

Brynn shoulders slumped. It was no use. He felt exhausted. “What do you want?”

Kodroth leaned over and touched Brynn lightly on the throat, causing Brynn to choke out a wintry breath. “I want your voice. Only for a moment.”

What for? Brynn wondered, but he knew Kodroth would not reveal anything if asked.

“I pick … the time … and … the place,” he gasped, his throat still numb.

“You think you’re in a position to negotiate?”

“Are you?”

Kodroth spent a moment sizing up Brynn. Then he smiled, revealing blackened teeth and rotting gums. “Yes, I believe so. Yes, I am,” he said, laughing. “I give you seven days, Backstabber. That should be more than enough time for you do what you believe you need to do, don’t you think? After all, the world was created in less!”

---

Brynn stirred restlessly on the thin mattress he was laying on.

“Are you alright?!” he heard Seleeku exclaim. Brynn tried sitting up, but his hands were tied behind his back, so he wriggled until he could see in the direction that her voice was coming from.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He did not feel fine.

“Your friend who betrayed you, the innkeeper, he was worried that you would never wake up.” Seleeku was sitting in a chair, her hands also tied behind her back. The shadowy light of the pre-dawn hours crept through the only window in the room, giving her face a blue tint.

Brynn suspected that without Kodroth’s help, the innkeeper would have been right. “What about you?” Brynn asked. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” He wriggled some more so he see her better.

“I’m fine. The innkeeper may have betrayed you, but he was a gentleman about it. He heard about a bounty on you from a patron after he brought us to this accursed place. He and his guards nabbed us after you fell unconscious. How could he do this to you? I thought you helped him in the past?”

“Didn’t he tell you the story while we were walking to the inn?” Brynn asked. He was uncomfortable discussing it.

“Like I was listening? I was too busy thinking about what a dumb idea it was to come here.”

“I helped his daughter. I healed her.” Brynn replied.

“She was hurt? Sick?”

“Possessed.”

Seleeku let out a small gasp. “Demon?”

“Thankfully no. Morien, the girl, was playing with her friends by the Brokenhelm River. She was jumping off a pier into the water when she collided with a river spirit. It’s not clear to me whether the spirit intended to possess her or not, but that’s what happened in either case.”

“That’s terrible!”

“At least it wasn’t a demon. Morien immediately went limp and had to be carried home. The spirit had no conception what is like to be solid, let alone a mortal being.”

“Solid? What do you mean?”

“It tried to escape her room by ‘flowing’ through the space at the bottom of her door.”

“Oh …” Seleeku said. Brynn assumed she was trying to picture a little girl, possessed by a confused and scared spirit, scrabbling in vain at the foot of a closed door.

“Kenrick called on the College for help. Several other druids attempted to cure her, but they didn’t understand what was going on. How could they? They used rituals for standard demonic possessions, which only made things worse. Eventually, High Druid Themon asked me to check on her.”

“What did you do?”

“I had her brought back down to the Brokenhelm, where I dunked her in the river—”

“—releasing the spirit back to where it came from. Of course!” Seleeku interrupted. “You saved her! And the spirit!”

Brynn grimaced, although he doubted that Seleeku could see him clearly in the dim light. “There were many onlookers that day, including other druids. They declared the spot at the river to be enchanted. Now some of them charge the sick and the lame for the chance at a cure, dunking them in the river and performing some random rituals over them.”

Seleeku appeared ready to ask another question, but the sound of heavy footsteps at the doorway intervened, although they were oddly travelling away, rather than towards, the entrance.

A young woman entered the room, carrying a small lantern. Even in the poor lighting, Brynn could see her pale blue-green eyes, the color of a mountain stream. Morien, all grown up.

“Hello, Druid Brynn,” she said while walking over to him. “And his friend,” she added, addressing Seleeku. “Allow me to release you.” She held a dagger in her hands. Brynn recognized it as the one he had taken from Themon.

As she set about freeing him from his bonds, Brynn asked, “What will your father think of this?”

“Father is … asleep. I asked Bastien to take a small break. He is as unhappy as I am with this situation.” She began to cut the ropes around Seleeku’s wrists.

Brynn remembered Bastien, a well-built man with the sunken knuckles and crooked nose of a street fighter. But the man had a soft heart underneath. He had carried Morien to the river when Brynn requested it. No questions asked, unlike others. Brynn could still picture the look of relief on Bastien’s face when she was cured, almost as if she were his own daughter. He wondered how much he had acted as father to her when the real one couldn’t.

Seleeku headed towards the doorway. Morien touched Brynn’s arm hesitantly, causing Brynn to pause at the entrance. “Father is a good man,” she told him, sadly. “It’s just … money is tight. Prices have risen. The King has raised more taxes. We’re not sure how much longer we can stay open. This inn has been with the family for generations. He hopes to turn it over to me when he grows too old to run it himself.”

“How can I help?” Brynn asked.

“With forgiveness, Druid Brynn. That is all that I ask for.” She pressed the dagger into Brynn’s hands. A crystal clear tear trickled down her cheek.

“Thank you, Morien, daughter of Kenrick,” Brynn replied. “Your father has his faults, but he is a good man. He cares for you deeply. Perhaps we will all meet again under better circumstances.”

“Go now. The wardens will be here soon.”

Brynn nodded and moved out into the second floor’s main corridor. Seleeku was nearly downstairs, her steps soundless. Brynn followed, wincing at every creak he made as he clumsily attempted to mimic her technique.

Kenrick was asleep in one of the booths, head down on the table, one side of his face soaking in the sticky mess of a tipped over mug of ale. Seleeku looked at him with a furious expression on her face. Brynn placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shove towards the inn’s exit.

He breathed in the cool air of a late summer’s morning as he went outside. The faint scent of autumn tingled in his nose. He had seven days to stop Kodroth. Seven days before his voice was taken from him for whatever nefarious purpose Kodroth had in store.

“Are you sure about this book?” Seleeku asked.

“More than ever.”

“Do you have a plan?”

“No.”

“Then let’s get going.”

Brynn surveyed the purplish sky. The sun would be rising soon. “Yes. But first I need to ask some old friends a question.” He just hoped they would give him an answer.