Runner
The Road to Groville
Tulip. They were to know and refer to him as 'The Tulip'. For the sake of secrecy, the prince's nickname was to be a flower. They worked for a flower.
For perhaps the eighth time this morning, Runner burst out with laughter fueled by the absurdity of it all. One of the most powerful individuals in all of Keldanis, known for their dignity and honor and all that crap, had told them to call him a pretty little flower.
"Are you seriously still laughing about that?" Selm sighed, exasperated.
"You're just mad you didn't get a shiny new trinket!" Runner snorted, her hand going to the pendant around her neck. Her mocking tone drew a deep crinkle in the dwarf's admittedly pretty face.
"I- I am not! I am not so presumptuous as to require anything other than his highness' presence as a reward."
"Yeah yeah, we get it Keldani. You sure love the taste of boot polish."
"Enough, Runner, Selm," Baz's words shut down the argument that was about to erupt before it could start.
Runner, ever the eager teaser, was satisfied with the holes being burnt into the back of her head. They were the satisfying reward for an annoyance well done.
Their meeting with the prince had not lasted much longer. Time had flown and the prince was supposedly busier than a harbor at dusk. After giving them some details on how their deal would remain a secret, he had given them a token of good will in the form of some interesting magical items.
Arguably the most important item had been confiscated by Yule: the secretive parchment. It was their means of contact with the prince, should he have need of them or vice versa. Runner wasn't really all that knowledgeable on magic, so she didn't really know how the thing worked. She trusted the mage would do just fine holding onto it.
The amulet that Runner herself had happily laid claim to was interesting, just how she liked it. Subtly, only when she was holding her breath and held it up to her ear, could she hear a slight ticking sound inside the little brass teardrop. The magics inside it would apparently help her land a decent blow, but only once per once in a while. It was kind of a gamble, but one she was willing to take.
Baz had really taken the dragon's share of 'good stuff'. Of the items they were given, two were immediately apparent that they would suit him well: a pair of strength enhancing gauntlets and a magical shield.
He had taken the gauntlets after an hour of debate with the rest of the group around their campfire that night. Runner had been forced to concede by a combined front of Yule and Selm that they were too big and bulky for a forward scout and the half-orc could put them to better use than she in most scenarios. The gauntlets were shaped like a snarling face, some sort of ogre, and were indeed made of bulky metal.
The shield likely would have also gone to him, but he had adamantly refused it. Ina needed a new shield and this one would be much harder to break. It looked a little small on the dragonborn, the round shield looking more like a buckle on her scaled arm. The shield was metallic, the enchantments on the inside of the shield while the outside had the iconography of a purple rose on a green background. Ina was a very pleased dragonborn, if her tail was anything to go by.
The argument had come up, after Yule had spent nearly an hour figuring out what each item did, that Ina should receive the gauntlets and Baz should take the shield. Ina was the group's primary source of heavy lifting, so why not make her even better at that? Yule had pointed out that it was better to have two powerful individuals in the front than to have one majorly powerful individual.
Turns out, the gauntlets can only make one person so strong anyway, as when Ina put them on she said she felt no different. Yule's face went pale after Ina beat Baz in arm wrestling even after he put the gauntlets on. Hilarious!
The only one to not get something grand was Selm. She had made several excuses that she didn't need anything special or that she was just fine with working for the Tulip as her reward, but Runner had noticed the jealous glances. Runner was sure the dwarf would survive.
All that discussion and experimentation had happened the day before. The group had, much to Runner's disappointment, decided to not leave the camp that very night. Baz had insisted that they needed rest. The battle with the demon and even the day before that had taken a toll on them, one not solved by just a few days of rest. With how sore her ribs still were, Runner was forced to give in.
So they had taken that day of rest. It had helped, more than she was willing to admit. The next day, they had hit the road. Finally. Took them long enough.
There had been some delay to their morning departure. The Lieutenant Commander had seen them off with a few words of caution on the road and the temporary gift of horses. They were to ride all the way to Groville along with Eldrig, say their farewells to their knightly escort, and then be on their own. Eldrig was supposed to bring back supplies from the village on the horses, so it was a win-win. Free ride for them, supplies for the camp.
It was weird how they had a horse big enough to carry Ina comfortably, but Big Gus was plodding along just as easily as Selm's pony and the other horses were.
The trip to Groville was only going to take them a few days by horseback, and the miles of road between them and their destination shortening by every hour was doing wonders for Runner's mood. Enough so that she was even happy to entertain Eldrig's fascination with birds. The guy really liked the little winged creatures. It made for good, lighthearted chatter to ride along to. Ina was equally fascinated by all the different noises the avians produced, constantly asking him how he reproduced their calls.
Yule rode closer to Runner, getting side by side with their mounts. "When are you going to tell us what we are doing in Groville? None of us particularly mind going to the… quaint outskirts of Keldanis, but we would like to have a reason for doing so." He paused long enough for her good mood to be ruined. "We would like to know your reason."
Right. Shit. She forgot about that.
Well, no, she didn't. She had willingly pushed it to the back of her mind for several reasons. The first was so that she didn't have to face the fact that she was now in a commitment much larger than she had expected when coming to Keldanis. The second was because she felt embarrassed for having a panic attack when asked a basic question.
A question that she has answered with a lie to a hundred people before. "Why are you going there?"
She hesitated long enough for Yule to certainly know she was trying to think of an excuse that he would believe. When she couldn't think of one that would slip past the knowledgeable mage, she groaned and leaned forward onto her mount's neck.
"It's something personal. And stupid. And totally impossible," she muttered.
"And yet it is important," Yule added, prompting her to continue.
"Ugh. I'm… I'm chasing a fey-spinning. One I heard a while back."
"Hm. By your tone and hesitance to expound, I am sure this rumor you heard is far-fetched enough for it to not be believable?"
She gave the horse a pat on its neck as thanks for its compassionate disinterest in her before nodding.
"Well? What tale are you chasing after? I have years of dedicated study in my repertoire. Surely I can shed some light on your tale and help advise you. You never know, your rumor may just be something more substantial than it may seem."
Again, Runner hesitated. For years now, she trusted very few people. She didn't even include herself in those few, her cursed hands and temper getting her in more trouble than she could care to count.
In that moment, Ina did the best thing she possibly could have done for Runner's weak sense of trust: she tried to make a complicated bird call.
It sounded absolutely terrible and horribly wrong.
Hilarious.
As Runner nearly fell from the saddle, her sides aching from breathless laughter, something stirred within her. The rare chuckling from Baz. The exasperated eyeroll from Yule. The hidden smile behind the polite hand of Selm. The numerous attempts to try the call once more by Ina. Eldrig's equally numerous reproductions of the proper sounding call. All of it. All of it stoked a small fire in a heart that had been beat to shit and thrown out in the mud, left to freeze. However small that flame was, barely a spark, did not matter. It was warmth nonetheless.
"...a Witch," she finally said, the belly-aching laughter finally fading away as a comfortable silence took them. "I need to find Lillia The Kind."
Yule's eyebrows shot up, his usual mild expression replaced by one of total surprise. He got himself under control quickly, but not quick enough to hide it from Runner. "Please clarify for me… you seek a witch, as in someone who casts hexes, divines fortunes, and is skilled in potion brewing. Or do you mean you seek a Witch of Vidara."
His serious tone had quieted and attracted the attention of the others, even if he had been speaking relatively softly. Runner grimaced, but spoke anyway. "I am not too sure what the difference is, but the latter sounds more correct. I think? Maybe."
Runner knew of witches and hags, they were common themes in folk tales and rumors. What she didn't fully grasp was what Vidara had to do with the matter, or how it changed what she was looking for. Vidara was one of the True Nine Gods, the True Goddess of Magic. If Runner remembered right, some people called her the 'First Witch'. Huh. Weird coincidence.
"A witch and a witch? Aren't they the same thing?" Ina asked, tilting her head.
"Normal witch and a Witch of Vidara are two differen' things," Baz grunted, "One's a person, other's a legend."
"That does not help at all," Ina pouted.
"Yeah, mind not being so cryptic when explaining something? Makes you sound pretentious. Like Selm," Runner frowned.
The insulted dwarf glared at Runner before addressing Ina. "Witches of Vidara, or more accurately Vidara's coven, are people who have been granted a massive amount of magic by Vidara herself. They are specialized in their form of magic, but it is said no mage outside of another Witch can compare to one's raw magical power." Selm pointedly only addressed the dragonborn, ignoring Runner completely.
"Woahhhhh, so they are super strong wizards?" Ina's eyes were wide and staring at Yule
"Not exactly," Yule said, his lips pursed. "We of the arcane study find our strength in formulas and careful study. If the history of these Witches, pieces of myths and legends, is to be believed, then they are much more… unpredictable."
"Suppose that means you are predictable, Yule. Tsk tsk, guess we found your weakness," Runner joked. She was met with another eyeroll and a chuckle from the rest.
"I am confused still," Ina stated simply. "If they are so powerful and stuff, why haven't I heard of them?"
"Ina, you are from Hordalith Maxima, right?" She nodded to Yule's question. "Your island is fairly isolated from the goings on of Rumeris, so it is not surprising that you have not heard of them. The only being of legend your people are concerned with supposedly still resides in the heart of your city."
Ina shuddered as she recalled something, her tail curling unconsciously around the side of Big Gus. Runner knew the big girl was a scardy-cat(dragon?), but this seemed more along the lines of awe than fear.
"'Supposedly' is the wrong word. The Dragon King remains." Her voice was resolute, as if there was no doubt in her mind. Yule simply nodded in assent to her conviction.
"Regardless of whether or not they are known to your people, another reason they are less known to the common person is due to their secrecy. Most are reclusive and hide themselves away. In history, they only appear very rarely. Not much is known about their lot, just that they are something uncontrollable and unpredictable, like natural disasters or acts of the gods. I have even heard whispers that they are closer to being demi-gods than man." Selm's words made Runner gulp. She knew getting her curse fixed would need someone powerful, but when the word 'demi-god' was thrown into the mix, her situation became much more complicated.
"Like I said: legends," Baz grumbled. His sideways gaze at Runner had gained another level of understanding. Ugh, seriously? He read her like a book.
"But they are real, no?" Selm said, looking to Yule for confirmation.
"Rare as they are, I am of the belief that they are as real as demons or devils. Where did you hear of this rumor?"
Runner sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "In truth… I don't really remember. Some drunk guy in Jeya, I think. It was at some big festival event, so at the time I was more interested in the free food. By the time I processed what he had said, he was gone. Eshah."
"Hm. Well, at the very least, we can investigate this rumor. Have you heard anything of the sort in Groville, Eldrig? Certainly you have visited the village before, being stationed near it and all."
Eldrig, who for the most part had been quietly listening, was startled as he was called into the conversation by Yule. "A-ah, y-yes I have. I-I like the p-people there, they w-were nice to us when m-mum and I m-moved t-to Keldanis. Uhm-"
"You're not a native Keldani? Really?" Runner was surprised, he seemed very 'Keldani proud', so she had just assumed he had been born and raised in the holy country.
Eldrig shook his head. "Le-leonin and other beast t-tribes ori-originate from Lorbas. M-mum and I come from P-plainston. She wanted t-to get me away from the f-freelands. Too m-much violence."
"And so you became a soldier…" Runner said with a deadpan expression. Eldrig just shrugged.
"As you were saying about Groville, Eldrig? We can discuss the violence and barbarity of the freelands at a later date."
"Righ-right. W-well, in Groville, th-there are s-some strange thi-things around the village. L-like o-old man B-Boros, and-and the s-swamp nearby. Oh, and the late lord's manor, b-but that p-place is l-legally o-off limits. I h-havent heard of an-any Witches though. M-maybe you sh-should talk to the village c-chief about it? C-chestnut should know."
"Interesting. Well, we certainly appreciate your advice. It sounds like there will be plenty for us to look into. Perhaps some things will even be profitable. We shall see."
Welp. Looks like I am gonna need to search high and low, Runner thought to herself. At least now she had some help. No one had really objected to searching for the Witch, at least not outwardly. The thrill of searching for a legendary being seemed to have taken hold of them, as they all sat up a bit straighter in their saddles. Even grumpy Baz looked interested.
"We a-are n-nearly there. J-just a few more h-hours."
"Don't like the look of them clouds'" Baz said, looking behind them. A distant rumble accentuated his words. "Rain's comin. Bad storm."
"Then we should hurry. I do not particularly want to get drenched, yet again."
"Neither do we, princess."
"Runner…" Baz warned. She just grinned and stuck her tongue out at the miffed dwarf.
They picked up their pace, the horses trotting along the road as they tried to beat the storm. Nearly twenty minutes had passed without a word before Ina finally spoke up again.
"What kind of name is Chestnut?"