Chapter Two

Alder had strange dreams that night, visions and flashes beyond his recollection but subtly present nonetheless. They’d been becoming more frequent, dogging his sleeping mind and propelling him into strange depths of thought. It unnerved Alder, dreams could speak to the possible futures of the world. It helped to remember and sort them, even if they usually ended up being rather uneventful. His teachers had often recalled times that dreams before battles would grant them some bizzare foresight.

He pushed the thought from his head as he rose and dressed. His usual robes and slated wood shoes were great for the sands and floors of Mehonoris and its library, but wouldn’t hold up well the wear and tear of travelling, nor to the likelyhood of combat. Instead he slipped on a tunic, trousers, and light chainmail, then made for the storage room near the entrance. Tricia was sitting alongside Jeann when he entered the entry hall. 

“Ah, he awakens.” Jeann said 

“Seemed he needed the sleep, given his failure to care for himself.” Tricia chided “You’d be surprised how often he passes out from exhaustion at his desk.”

“I don’t think I really would, he did the same at the Academy.” 

“Wonderful to see you both this morning as well.” Alder muttered, striding across the sparse area and pulling open a thin door.

Inside was a length room lined with small chests bearing inscriptions, initials, and locks. Alder pulled his chest from the front and shut the door. As he hauled the mysterious box over to the Duos table, he could see Jeann giving him a hard look. Likely scrutinizing his decisions on apparel no doubt. With a grunt of effort and a metallic thud, Alder hefted the chest atop the table and removed the lock. 

“The rest of it?” Jeann asked, looking to the opened chest.

“A brigadine for over the mail, my cloak, and my spear. Thats about all I really need.” Alder said, producing and then donning the items in near syncronis order. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand what they teach you in that circle of yours.” Tricia said “but i’ve never been much for open conflict.”

“Don’t say that to Jeann, she’ll start open conflict if there isn’t enough.” Alder said

“I keep life interesting.” Jeann defended “No fun in life if there isn’t something to do!”

Slipping a loop over his arm, Alder lifted his pack and looked to Jeann.

“Shall we?” 

“We shall.” Jeann said, “Tricia it was wonderful to meet you.”

“Likewise, Interesting to meet a Knight and Pere so well regarded.” Tricia said smiling. “Keep him safe, he still has tombs to sort and I don’t wish to take back up the work.”

A short line of three caraiges were waiting along the main road outside the Library. Two bore only tan tarps over strapped supplies, but the lead held an actual cabin in which to sit. Alder handed his pack to the driver and slid in, Jeann following close behind and taking the seat opposite. With two light taps along the carriages side, the driver cracked the reins and sent the vehicle in motion.

They rested that night in a small town not far off the main road and slept in a small inn that was more than happy to see guests. Jeann and Alder kept mainly to themselves, avoiding most of the locals and deciding to spend the night talking. Jeanns eagerness to share her exploits was often nonexistent, but as soon as she began to drink Alder could coax near any tale of her adventures. 

“Its astounding what soldiers get up to.” Alder said wistfully “danger and excitement for a lifetime.”

Jeann snorted and wiped her mouth of the sudden spill it had caused.

“I’m not a soldier Alder! I’m a Pere, same as you! You could be out there with Al and I at any time, we’d always welcome you aboard.” 

“I know. It’s a tempting offer each time, to see so much of the world and be wrapped up in its ever changing tapestry…”

“But you can’t. Because you need to ‘find your magic’” Jeann said mockingly. Waving her hands and wiggling her fingers to punctuate the gesture. 

“If traveling with you offered better chances at answers than reading scrolls and tomes then I would be doing it. It doesn’t.”

“How would you know? You rarely leave your study, and when you do you rush back after you’ve found whatever or done whatever. There has to be more than that.”

“There is, but fixing my Arcane connection is imperative to actually accomplishing anything further. With magic i’d be just another soldier.”

“Excuse me.” Jeann piped up angrily “Whats wrong with that? Spare what little they teach you for survival purposes, i’m just another soldier. Surely YOU don’t need to be reminded of my placement during sparring, and against arcanists.”

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry, you’re right. It’s just something that i’ve always wanted and to have be so close and unable to reach it.”

“Yeah, I remember, you’ve told me it before. Again and Again. Each time you’ve failed to find it I believe.”

He didn’t have an answer to that, so instead he drank and tried to ignore the growing annoyance at his most recent failure in the long line of failures that dotted his record. It was getting daunting, and he didn’t see that list stagnating anytime soon if he kept at it. If.

“So whats Dominia like anyway. I can’t remember the last time i’ve been. If at all.”

“It’s nice.” Jeann said “A bit crowded. The streets are wide enough to breathe, but the second floors of the buildings jut out so far that it feels canopied and cramped. Steady flow of people, traders, soldiers, guilds, Peres, you name it.”

“Sounds busy.”

“Its got its quiet sides too, specially at night. Theres a lake not far with strong river that flows nearby, the people talk about visiting it often. Even the slums outside the walls arent too bad. For slums. Fog comes in some nights and coats the whole place, can’t see more than a few steps ahead those nights, but like i said, only some nights.”

“How are the people with all this? Their Heiress becoming some citizen killing creature, i’d bet they aren’t too confident.”

“Shes well loved. Helps out where she can and gives frequently to help the poorer citizens. By all accounts she’s a model princess. The people are more concerned over the Counts seeming inaction. Of course he has us, and he’s announced he’s working on it-”

“But people did die and the Heiress is the killer. And also possibly possessed and able to turn into a monster.”

Jeann raised her cup and smiled.

“Praise Creation, he gets it!”

“So what are we going to do?”

“We?”

“Yes we. You have a team there already don’t you? At the very least theres Albert.”

“Well,” Jeann said leaning back in her chair. “I’m not sure really. I planned to take you to Dominia and bring you to speak with the girl, maybe the Count if he’s available, but other than that i’ve not much to go on.”

Alder did his best to suppress a sigh of frustration. He didn’t know what he’d expected if he was being honest. This had always been Jeanns way of doing things. Challenge and fight, then think about it. It seemed that some things of her wouldn’t be changed so easily, normally he’d chalk it up to her unique difficulty with thinking things through, but this wasn’t one where that could be done. 

The creature Jeann had mentioned, though briefly described, didn’t sound to be the friendliest of sorts, and Alders spear could only do so much should they fight. Even worse, if it came to it he might have to fight the Heiress or some other possessed member of the citizenry. Neither appealed to him, nor would it to anyone he imagined. 

Jeann noticed the sudden furrowing of brow and quiet contemplation falling on her companion, and did her absolute best to shake him from it. 

“Enough of that. We’ve time enough to be annoyed when we arrive. It’ll take us nearly a week at best so you best enjoy these stops while you can. There aren’t many on our way between.”

“Pushing through? Or night camps?”

“Depends on where we are I would imagine, but its a fair bet to say we’ll be making camp along the road a few times.”

Alder groaned acknowledgement.

Alders room in the Inn that night was little more than a closet with a candle and straw packed bed, but neither bothered him. His mind was too busy on the trip ahead. He would need to figure out what the creature was, if he could remove it, if he could save the heiress… If he could control it… He sat slowly, cross legged and in the center of his room, trying to align his thoughts and create a solution. 

“The Legends” Jeann had mentioned weren’t new to Alder, he’d found them some time back during his early studies. They’d filled him with a certain hope at control, but they also filled him with dread. Fear of what would happen should he fail, of what he would do as a possessed, of what he would have to give if it worked.

The stories told of warriors trained to control their urges and powers, and with that training they could wield bizarre powers and incredible strength. Some could even transform into monsterous beasts capable of divine destruction, if it all was true. It was all so fanciful and farfetched, especially when he tried to find accounts of fights against them. So much of what was recorded only ever seemed to paint them as holy and devout. 

A part of him hoped the Legends were true, and that the creature awaiting them possessing the body of the young Heiress wasn’t that. That the legends weren’t wrong, and that it was something else entirely. After all, the training in those legends was the closest he’d ever found to an actual solution, but it had seemed so impossible. Too impossible to exist, or exist within control. Magic was wild at heart, it was nature and existence at its core, for all its kindness and evil alike. 

Whatever awaited them, Alder needed to know if it was something that would help him. It was a slim chance at best, but thats what he’d spent his life chasing. A slim chance. Why wouldn’t it come to him the same way? It made sense, in a twisted way. Keep chasing the slim chances, and maybe the impossible will be possible. 

Maybe