Knights of Alchemy
Chapter Seven: Heart of A Man
"What were you doing in Alhafra, anyway?" asked Elys.
"Trying to stay low for a little while. They're… watching for me in Micastle," Howl answered, and then began savaging a roast chicken leg. He and most of the Knights were in a dark tavern in a part of Alhafra that hadn't yet heard about the monster killing twenty people in the marketplace that morning (the rumour was moving slowly, for a rumour in a dense city, but it was making up for it with creativity).
"What happened there?" asked Cian, who was more than a little wary of werewolves.
"Nothing," said Howl, a little too fast.
"What did you eat that you weren't supposed to, then?" asked Meg.
Howl glared at her, and part-wolves are good at glaring, but Meg was better. Nothing could match eyes the colour of earth and blood. "Maybe two chickens, but I was going to pay for them soon," he replied, meekly. Meg didn't even twitch. The next words rushed out guiltily. "And half a sheep and a turkey two weeks earlier." He took a deep breath, or at least bit deeply into the leg again, which was much the same thing for a wolf. "Look, it's not easy for someone who looks like me to get by in life, okay? At least normal werewolves just have to say they've got a cold once a month and no one spreads any rumours except to say that you don't get enough fresh air."
"So what makes you so different?" asked Elys, fascinated.
"Most lycanthropes -werewolf is a bit too feral for my liking, thank you, I'm not a monster- are Jupiter Adepts, or have a little Jupiter blood in them. For some reason, I'm pure Venus Adept, and that plays merry hell with lycanthropy. Not all human, not all wolf, but all the time."
"And I thought the 'bad hair day all over' was rough," Elys remarked, halfheartedly picking up a wing. "What is this, anyway?"
"Cifulizhed food," said Cian, his voice slightly muffled by his sandwich, which was apparently gravy-and-mayonnaise. "A form of cuishine on itsh own leful."
"Along with industrial waste and the plague pits," Meg muttered, and wondered if trying to burn the offending dishes would just make them more aggressive.
"I wonder if Cata's found out where Padriac's got to yet," Elys mused.
At this moment, in fact, Cata was returning to the tavern with some disturbing news. She leapt off Zak's back at the door and told him to wait for her in the stables, which he reacted to with predictable good-naturedness.
"Stables! Like I'm some kind of animal!" he growled even as he wandered in. He then considered the facts. "Like I'm some kind of lesser animal!" Zak lashed out to strew a pile of straw across the floor, and found that its core didn't approve.
"Ouch!"
"Who said that?" asked Zak, looking around.
"No one."
"Who didn't say it?"
"Definitely not me."
"…Who's in the straw?"
"Well, no one anymore. Thanks a lot for the kick-start, I might add. Kick-start- hah! Like I've ever needed one of those…"
"I am not hearing voices," Zak stated to the vacant stable.
"Whatever makes you happy," replied the emptiness.
"They what?!" Elys demanded, leaping up.
"You seriously expect me to believe you didn't hear me the first time?" asked Cata.
"Blasted city watch. More trouble than they're worth, if you're a hero," Cian muttered.
"I suppose you'd know," Meg remarked, with a sort of light sarcasm.
"They can't possibly think that Padriac's really a were-"
"Ahem."
"-Lycanthrope!" Elys corrected herself. "He's a sailor! Not some kind of vicious beast!"
"A-hem."
"Oh, shut up! This is your fault anyway!" Elys snapped.
"I did wonder when you would stop being nice for no reason," Howl admitted.
"We were nice because that's the kind of people we are, and I happen to have a soft spot for outcasts," Cata told him, a little coldly.
"Yeah, you sure know what being an outcast is like," Elys muttered. "How many people asked you to last year's harvest festival? To the nearest dozen will do."
"However," Cata went on, to make it clear that she had not heard Elys in the slightest, "our friend is now in trouble, and it's your fault."
"My fault?! He was the one chasing me!" Howl retorted. "It's not like I asked him to be my spotter while I fled the Alhafran watch or something!"
"Keep your voice down!" Cian hissed.
"Oh, don't worry," said the waitress, clearing away a few plates. "We get all sorts in this place. 'Ere, are you a werewolf?"
"Um… yes," Howl answered slowly.
"Fancy that," she said, and moved away.
"We'd better go straighten things out, then," said Elys, breaking the moment of disbelief.
"We'll need you to come along with us," said Cian to Howl.
"And doing it in one piece is only easy for you, remember," Meg added, fractionally drawing her swords.
"Um… actually, it's much, much worse than that," said Cata, a bit reluctant. Faced with four questioning looks and no one asking any delaying questions, she forced herself to go on. "There was only a mix-up to begin with. Now… well…"
Padriac regained consciousness, and predictably wished that he hadn't. After a futile moment wondering if he could knock himself out again, he tried to see what kind of room he was in. This also hurt. His hands were tied, and he was sitting in a chair, that much he could tell without getting his eyes to focus on anything. After a few minutes, the stars went away, and he wished they'd come back, considering the face that he was presented with.
It was old, but not old enough to look wise, just enough to look unhealthy. It was also bearded, mustached, with ironically thinning hair on top and a huge nose right in the middle. And, according to a tiny voice that had saved Padriac more than once in his eventful life, a little familiar.
"Hah! Wasn't sure 'till I saw the eyes, but I was right! This's him! Ol' Paddy!"
"Wha' th' heck's Paddy s'p's'd m'n?" mumbled Padriac through a mouth that felt like a sock.
"This is Don Quao's son? The last in the line of Briggs?" asked another voice, out of sight.
"M'not th' last Briggs," Padriac protested. "'ve got a sister. Back home."
"Well, maybe so, but I don't remember any Briggs lasses causing us trouble," said the apparition of a face. "You, though, I remember you well, lad. Especially the crossbow quarrel."
"M'not quarrelling," Padriac insisted, a slight pout coming into his dazed expression. He reached with both hands (not having an option, due to the rope) for a hidden pocket in his tunic, which always contained a small bottle that might not clear things up, but would at least make the blur more interesting. It was empty. "Why's the rum gone?"
"Not up on currently events," the lieutenant, the second voice, declared. "You, Padriacazulen Briggs, ol' Paddy, have been caught by the Alhafran guard. This means things are going to go badly for you. We remember when your father used to prey on our merchants, and you were always quite happy to help him, weren't you? And we put a stop to him, and all those other pirates in your… what was it? Band of thieves?"
"They called themselves the Coalition, I believe," said the first man, who had mercifully backed away. "'Band of thieves' was too good for them anyway."
"Coaliation, then. And even though you escaped-"
"By putting a bloody crossbow quarrel in my leg," growled the first man.
"-We remembered you, didn't we? And now you've been foolish enough to come back, and you're going to get the hanging you deserve." The lieutenant kneeled in front of Padriac's chair, and looked him straight in the eyes, admirably not flinching too badly when faced with a gaze like an eagle. "Because little boys have to learn that stealing is wrong."
Padriac stared at him, stone-faced (a skill common to most Venus Adepts) for a long time. Then an eyebrow rose. "But why is the rum gone?" he asked at last.
"Dawn?" suggested the lieutenant, looking to the first man, the sergeant.
He looked out the window at the sun, past its peak and halfway to the horizon again. "Sunset," he growled. "Hang him at sunset."
"They're going to hang him?" Elys screeched.
"He's Don Quao's son?" asked Cian, amazed.
"Who's Don Quao?" asked Meg.
"Greatest pirate to ever live," Cian replied quickly. "He preyed on Alhafra back in the days when their fleet was one of the most ruthless trading fleets never to break the law. They persuaded, enticed, bargained…"
"'Threatened vaguely, threatened directly, and bribed' is more like it," muttered Howl, savaging another chicken leg.
"But he was eventually caught, along with all the other pirates he had turned into the Alhafra Freelance Tax Collection Coalition-"
"Meaning people who take whatever they can whenever they can, and be on the side of good," Howl added again.
"And they were all killed except his son, who dove overboard just after the ship caught fire. No one knew where he ended up, but apparently he was Padriac, and obviously he survived," Cian finished.
Elys stared at Cian, stunned. "Yes!" she said eventually. "Survived! As in 'is alive'! But not for very long! Was I the only one who heard the word 'execution'?!"
"No. So let's get moving," said Cata. She pointed at Howl. "What are we doing with the furball?" He protested this, but no one really cared.
"Maybe could trade him for Padriac," Meg snarled.
"Hey, I don't deserve this either!" said Howl. "Look, thanks for your help, but I need to get out of Alhafra while I still can. If I get caught, that's not going to help your buddy either."
"You're going to run?" Cata demanded, eyes flashing.
"That'd be the general idea, yes," said Howl. "Thank you again, and I hope you work something out with the Alhafrans, but I've got to run, and fast." With that, Howl got up, pulled his hood further forward and cloak tighter, and darted out the door too fast for even Meg to catch him.
"That's it?" said Elys, incredulous.
"I guess so," Cata sighed. "Let's go find Padriac and get him freed."
"I refuse to believe I just imagined any of that, so you might as well come out," said Zak, turning around slowly and watching for any movement inside the stables. "You're only wasting time. Come on. I'm a talking horse, what's scary about a talking horse?"
"Um… lots?" suggested the voice. At least, it seemed to be the same voice. Something was subtly different about it.
Zak gave this due consideration, pausing for a moment as Howl ran past the stables. "Okay, maybe. But I'm talking to a voice from nowhere."
"At least you don't know what it is you've got to worry about."
"Is there anything I should worry about?" asked Zak, quickly.
"Um… no?"
The Knights ran past now, looking determined in the sort of way that says the four-legged part of the team has been forgotten right now, as happens very, very often. Zak sighed and resumed arguing with no one.
"Oh, come on, great big city like this, they probably have hangings every Tuesday at lunch, you can't tell me the place is this hard to find!" Meg growled to herself, doing her swift, leopard-like run down the streets, with the other Knights somewhere behind, trying to catch up. She stopped to let them, then asked, "Okay, what's a good place for a gallows?"
"The depths of the ocean," replied Elys, which told you everything you needed to know about her views on capital punishment (and probably lowercase too).
"A good dramatic spot. Out of the wind, unless you can get a good mournful groaning out of it. A major plaza, so crowds can gather for the spectacle and get a bit of entertainment out of the whole thing," said Cian. The others looked at him. He said nothing.
"Is Cian's knowledge of the nastier parts of the world starting to worry you too?" asked Cata.
"Oh yeah," Elys agreed.
"Look, I just picked a few things up while I travelled, okay?" he said defensively.
"Sure thing, Piers," said Cata, heading on. Elys and Meg followed.
"I know your father liked to call me that sometimes, because I had been to so many ports, but… hey, wait up!" The sun was getting low in the sky, and a faint redness was infusing its light. They didn't have much time. Padriac had less.
"Tell you what," said Zak, diplomatically. "I'll give you two choices."
"…We- I'm listening," said the voice eventually.
"Either you, and I mean you two, I know there are two of you, come out and tell me what is going on, or I stomp the entire contents of this stable until they're used by Naribwe philosophers as examples of objects that exist only in two dimensions."
"That's a fairly persuasive offer, but-"
"I'm a Venus Adept, you know. Just found out recently, but I can kick like an avalanche-"
"All right already!" said the voice. "Venus Adept. You would have to be, too. Still, there are worse things. Okay, we're coming out."
They found the plaza, eventually. As Cian had suggested, the gallows was placed in a specific meeting of alleyways, so that the slightest breeze sounded like a skeleton's dying breath, multiplied by a hundred. And a crowd was gathering in a show of excitement that made Elys absolutely sick. She said this at every opportunity.
"These people make me sick."
"We heard you," said Cata. "Why won't you people move? We're trying to get to the front!"
"We've been waiting longer. The tower bell rang twenty minutes ago," said an Alhafran. "There hasn't been a hanging in a year, so don't complain if you show up late and get a bad view."
"You make me sick," Elys sneered at the man.
"I can't see anything over all these people," said Cian, who had once claimed to be taller than he looked.
"Excuse me," said Meg, tapping the man on the shoulder. He turned around and saw the type of Amazonian woman that men in the city tend to dream up on boring days at work. Meg hid her grin. "If you could just crouch a little bit for a minute or two, I'd be happy to let you buy me a drink later."
He did so instantly, not bothering to consider the bizarre request. Meg leapt nimbly up, standing on his shoulders. "I'm not sure the city's having a good influence on her," Cata said to Cian.
"No one," Meg reported, looking out over the crowd. "I see some a mechanic and his apprentice making sure the all the bits work, but no guards and no Padriac."
"Well, that's good. I guess," said Cata. "We've got some time to think of a plan."
"There he is," Meg added, suddenly. "At, least, it looks like him. They've got some kind of hood over his face-"
"Oh, Spirits," Cian groaned. "Thanks, Meg, we don't need to know more. Let's move."
Howl had left the city as fast as possible, heading southwest. One of his wolfish traits was impressive endurance, especially when his pelt was on the line, and by the time Cata and the others had even seen the plaza where they'd find the crowd and the gallows, he was outside Alhafra and just getting up to speed.
Yes. This was where he was meant to be. In the forest, as it grew dark, where he was the absolute height of the predators. Animals hid as he blazed his trail through the undergrowth, he was invisible, he was lethal, he was fast, he- what the hell was that?!
Howl tripped over a root while he was distracted. The thing that had distracted him was a slightly fiery shape rocketing through the forest at about four times his speed, which turned and skidded to a stop just ahead of him.
Zak looked at Howl as the wolfman got up, wishing silently that he had arms, because this would have been a great time to cross them.
"You're that girl's horse," said Howl, eventually. "Why aren't you with her?"
"I was left behind to stand guard," Zak replied evenly, a statement he considered so ludicrous that it didn't count as lying. Howl didn't seem to notice. "But instead I decided to find you, because I saw you running earlier, away from them, and figured you could use some persuading."
"To do what?" Howl demanded.
"What you should," Zak answered. "You're only free because they caught Padriac. You owe him your life. That means you go and save his."
"I can't possibly get in there and save him with all those Alhafrans!"
"That's not the point. The point is that you try, or you are a monster."
"But… you can't ask me to…" said Howl, weakly.
"I'm not asking."
"And it's almost sunset. I'll never get back in time."
"You'd go if you could?" asked Zak.
"Of course," Howl said quickly, desperate to prove himself a good person, and not thinking all that clearly in the meantime. Otherwise he might have remembered how Zak had arrived.
"Then I have solutions to both your problems, Howl the lycanthrope," Zak announced. Two shapes climbed up his neck onto his head and looked at Howl. They were identical, but that didn't help much, because he'd never seen anything that looked like them before. "This is Coal. He'll get us back."
The thing waved an ear, and then the other one leapt off Zak's head and approached Howl. "And then," it said, in a slightly insane voice, "I'll help you out on the other part."
"That's crazy," said Howl.
"I get that all the time," the Mars Djinni replied.
"Get out of the way!" Cata snapped, pushing another gawker aside as she and the others rushed toward the gallows. Of course, this was a dense crowd, and made up of Alhafrans about to see someone get hung, so they were rushing at about a foot every ten seconds.
"Hey, what's the problem?"
"Some of us are trying to watch the hanging."
"You people make me sick."
"Elys, come on. Step aside!"
"Hey, I'm trying to see the execution!"
"We're trying to stop the execution!"
"Really? Awesome! Hey, guys, shove over. This's gonna be great!"
They weren't too far from the barrier around the platform now. And Padriac had just reached the top. He was dragged over to the trapdoor, where a noose waited, as well as at least a dozen Alhafran guards, none of them looking like they would be convinced by a heartfelt plea for mercy.
"Ready!" shouted the sergeant.
"Ready!" the executioner echoed.
The hood was taken off with a generalised cheer, and the rope put around his neck.
Elys thought fast, since the people at the front weren't interested in giving up their prime positions. "Hey, who's that?" she called out loudly.
The sergeant, who had raised his arm to signal the drop, twitched out of his vengeful rigidity. He looked out in the crowd, quickly picking out a purple-haired girl who looked slightly puzzled.
"This, little girl, is a notorious pirate, about to get what he so rightfully deserves," he said with some satisfaction, and raised his arm again.
"Doesn't look especially piratish," Elys insisted, and the sergeant was thrown off-balance again
"I assure you, little girl," the sergeant went on, "this is the most terrible of all pirates still living on Weyard. He stole from Alhafra, he attacked our defenders ruthlessly, and-"
"You said 'this'," Elys pointed out. "Don't you mean 'he'? He is a person, after all."
The sergeant was getting uncomfortable. "Yes, by a very technical definition, but in truth he is a monster no better than any common beast you might find in the wilderness, harming those who are in his way and taking whatever he wants."
"Wolves aren't like that," Meg muttered.
"Which, the guard or the description of monsters?" asked Cian quietly.
"Both, but I meant they don't execute each other and say it's morality."
"What's his name, then?" asked Elys.
"Padriacazulen Briggs," the sergeant replied, "or at least what in blazes is that?!" Howl had just dropped onto the gallows from the nearest rooftop, landing easily and slamming down the nearest guard.
"Howl," Elys breathed.
"Howl!" Cata shouted.
"Howl?" asked Meg, shocked.
"Howl," Cian affirmed with a grin.
"That was weird," said Zak, clopping up behind them. "Now that we're over the initial surprise, what say we get in there and make sure our new ally doesn't get turned into a rug?"
"Where've you been?" asked Cata.
"Exercising my independence at dangerous velocities," Zak replied, because it sounded good.
Meg was already between the front row, over the wooden barrier, and in midair on her way up to the platform. Howl had dropped another guard with his inhuman strength before any of them drew weapons, and then things went even crazier.
Howl saw a crossbow raised, and lashed out. "Unleash Fever!" His allied Mars Djinni lent Howl strength, and Howl's clawed fist connected with a sudden rush of incredible heat and strange delusions.
"Do it!" the sergeant shouted, collapsing as the world swam around him, and the lever was pulled, but even as she fenced with one guard, Meg's other blade was cutting the noose, allowing Padriac to fall straight through with more than a hard landing. The executioner bent over, picked up an axe, which had been used for beheadings back before Alhafra became civilised, and looked up into Padriac's grinning face. His stare was drawn inexorably down to the man's hands, which were now holding the remains of a knot he had been undoing for the last half hour.
"Another time, after the universe ends," said Padriac, and smashed the executioner with a Riot Glove uppercut.
"You okay?" called Cata, who was locked in battle with an Alhafran soldier.
"Best I've been all day," Padriac replied. "Do we have a getaway plan?"
"Get away, really fast," Cata replied.
"Ah," said Padriac, slightly worried but trying not to show it, "the improvisational."
There was a sound like an entire book being ripped in half at the speed of sound, and Zak walked through what had once been the barrier around the gallows. "You look terrible," he said. "Come on."
"So, what're you doing here?" asked Cian conversationally, parrying a thrust.
"Would you believe I didn't want to look bad to a horse?" asked Howl, ducking and striking.
"I just might," he admitted.
"We're fine!" Zak shouted from the crowd, who were, not surprisingly, making way for a talking horse who kicked like a battering ram. "Let's get moving!"
Elys hadn't joined the fray, not being the melee type of person. Instead, she had been focusing her mind and all the willpower she could, then mixing in a strong dose of hatred. She threw her arms wide, facing the gallows, and called out to Mercury. "Tundra!"
"Flee!" Cian shouted, leaping off the platform, and the others followed quickly, though they didn't quite understand until they looked back. Ice materialised from Psynergy above the wood, the air grew cold, and it fell like an entire winter in three seconds. The gallows froze solid, covered in ice and snow.
Meg dashed past the man who had played stepladder earlier, then skidded and came back. "So sorry, got to run. You can still buy that drink for me, but I won't be there, so feel free to drink it yourself."
"Meg!" Cian shouted, and dragged her along as her caught up and went on.
"Do we have a plan?" asked Cata, hopefully as they ran.
"Aside from run? No," Cian told her, reluctantly.
"How about 'run with the spirit of Mars giving us speed'?" Zak suggested. "Unleash Coal!" A second Mars Djinni ghost hovered above them, glowing red and spreading ethereal flames over the Knights, and then they were literally blazing through Alhafra.
"Where to?" asked Meg, the most capable of controlling Coal's blessing.
"South, possibly southwest," said Spring. "The Tomegathericon is heading inland, probably up towards the Atteka Channel, where they can get quick transport north."
"Tomegathericon?!" Howl repeated, who was amazed at what he had just done, but still alert enough to catch that name.
"It's been stolen, and we're looking for it," said Cata, shortly.
"A quest?" asked Howl.
"That's right," Cata answered.
"Involving terrible dangers and grand cities and suchlike?"
"Yep."
"And travelling far, far away from Osenia?"
"Uh-huh."
Even as they ran, twisting through the streets and heading for the wild lands -which were currently looking much safer- ignoring the exclamations of the Alhafrans around them, Howl could feel himself shaking, images rushing through his head. Particularly the part when a guard had swung a broadsword at him, and he had ducked just fast enough to feel the wind of it at the tips of his pointed ears.
He was shaking, but he was also grinning. What a rush.
"Mind if I come along?" he asked, hopefully.
They camped a few miles outside Alhafra that night, in a grove that was below the average of the land and surrounded by thick growth, so that no Alhafrans could find them unless they were within blasting distance. And in any case, no Alhafran would be foolish enough to venture out of the city in the deep night. Wolves howled in the distance, making Howl the target of a great many bad jokes.
"Nice work, Zak," said Cata, stroking his neck as they rested by the fire.
"By Venus, I think I was just congratulated. Anyone have a calendar? I want to mark today down," said Zak, looking among the Knights.
"Hey, you've gotten credit before," Cata insisted.
"Such as?"
"In the Lemurian Ruins, when you buried Dullahan," she said quickly.
"Are you sure? I recall something closer to 'you idiot, you could have crushed us all'."
"Well… we were in a hurry."
"Tisiphone," Cian was telling Meg, pointing out the constellation above them. "They say she was a Venus Adept and master of archery, but her husband didn't quite grasp the concept of fidelity so well, and… things went downhill from there."
"Doesn't sound worthy of turning her into a constellation," Meg remarked.
"Well, when it happened in the middle of a civil war, and when she turned against him she also turned the tide for the revolution," he added.
"Okay, not bad," Meg admitted. She lay back on the grass. "What do you think the chances are that we'll get to be constellations?"
"Well, you're certainly getting the hang of being a hero –ine," Cian added quickly.
"Us? You won't be able to see the moon for all the constellations showing our adventures," said Elys, laughing crazily. She pointed at the sky a little unsteadily, just where the Luna River was brightest. "I want to go right there."
"Padriac…" asked Cata, warningly.
"I didn't see the harm in a little celebration," he mumbled defensively. "I could've been dead right now, you know."
"Oh, I'll restore her in the morning," said Cian. He held out a hand.
"No one ever finds the other secret pocket," said Padriac, grinning as he threw the small container to the Lemurian.
"Elys?" asked Cata, softly. Her friend turned to her.
"Which one of you just asked that?" Elys asked, looking straight at Cata. "Hey, Cata, I want to talk to you about this Djinn thing. Everyone's got one, an' I mean everyone, including the horse an' this new furry guy, but me, I've been with you since Daila, and I've got nothing. What'm I doing wrong?"
And Howl looked on, grinning widely -and lycanthropes can grin when they want to- at his new companions. Life was looking much more interesting. It usually is when we're involved, said Fever, inside his head.
A sound beyond the edge of human hearing echoed loudly in Howl's head. He leapt to his feet, but in a crouch, turning about to try to position it better. After a moment, he picked out four separate sources, all moving around their camp, somewhere in the brush.
"There's something out there," Howl growled, and the others looked about, though they couldn't see much more than deep blackness.
And miles ahead, though in the direction Spring had pointed them in Dullahan clutched the Tomegathericon firmly, knowing that his master had dealt with those supposed heroes at last.
[Author's Notes] What can I say? Push the button. It is not an order, nor a request. It simply what must be done.
\/ Down here.