One of the things I always enjoy about starting a new story is the cavalcade of "This is basically just…" that you get. It's rarely mean-spirited and more people finding similarities, but it's always interesting to see what is picked. I often get stuff I've never heard of and what confuses the hell out of me, like someone saying "From Beyond" is like some anime about tennis or that "Beacon Civil War" copied Bleach.
This story at least got some book ones for a change and not anime – so hey, that's good. We have Mistborn, Harry Potter and a series by Trudi Canavan. Makes sense, I suppose. They all have a magic school or magical lore, and main characters who are poor and downtrodden. But then, so do thousands of books.
I'm always open on what I take inspiration from, if I do. Beacon Civil War said from the start how it basically tried to copy Sandy Mitchell's series in Ciaphas Cain, while One Good Turn was inspired by David Gemmell's works. This story? I can honestly say it's not inspired by any of the above at all. If anything, it takes elements from loads of little things ranging from Warhammer Fantasy (real fantasy, before that Age of Sigmar BS), Dragon Age, Dota 2, Magic the Gathering, League of Legends and even pagan lore. It doesn't take the storylines of any of these, just some snippets of lore and background mechanics that I thought looked interesting. Most of those won't even be apparent yet but may be later.
Book 1: Wildmage
Chapter 2
"Upper Quarter?" Junior mulled the idea and leaned back, working his tongue around his teeth like he'd swallowed something unimaginably foul. "And she wants you to be the one to deliver it?"
"Yes." Ruby say across the table from Junior, hands in her lap and head down. It wasn't him she feared, though only a fool wouldn't be cautious around him. The real problem was Yang, in attendance behind him and acting as bodyguard and muscle for the day.
"Boss, we can't do this," Yang said. "It's too dangerous."
"But-"
"You think I don't know that?" Junior ran roughshod over her, cutting her off before she could get a word out. "The reward is good, almost too good, and that would have me nervous as it is. Add in the Upper Quarter and some bullshit about it having to be her, though, and I'm out." He shook his head and pushed back from the table. "We're not interested."
"But two thousand lien!"
"Money is meaningless if you're not alive to spend it. I've made my decision." Junior stood and made to walk away, pausing to add, "Keep what I gave you. Services rendered. Yang, you're with me. Samson hasn't paid his loan back for the third week running."
"On it, boss. Just let me talk to Ruby first?"
Junior sighed. "Five minutes and we're leaving."
"Thanks." Yang waited for Junior to storm out the room before she moved over to sit on the edge of the table and ruffle Ruby's hair. "Cheer up. You still got paid and you came back fine."
"But two thousand lien, Yang. That would be enough to move into the Merchant's Quarter. How often does something like this come along?"
"There's something to be said about a deal that's too good to be true, Ruby. It usually is. Who comes into the Slums with money like that?"
"She was rich. I could tell. And dangerous." She left it unsaid that the girl had been an Arcanist. If Yang knew that, then it would be hopeless. Junior would freak out as well.
"If that's that capable, why not do this herself?"
"I – I don't know…"
"Exactly." Yang hopped off the table and straightened her trousers, tying the rope cord around it a little tighter and adjusting her dagger. "Look, I've got to go. Samson is on his third and that means we're taking blood. Don't do anything stupid, alright? Don't go looking for that woman again."
A fist banged on the door. "Yang. Hurry your ass up."
"Fucking three minutes at best," she hissed at the door. "Impatient bastard. Sorry sis, duty calls."
"Be careful," Ruby called after her.
"Heh. Tell that to Samson."
Ruby hurried back to her and Yang's shared room and locked the door, sitting down on her bed and drawing out the ornate little wooden cube that the Arcanist had given her. Yang will lose her mind if she finds out about this or the tattoo. Idly, she scratched at it, wondering in amazement at how it sat there, etched into her skin, yet neither hurt nor felt rough to the touch. It was the closest application of the arcane arts Ruby had ever seen, and it was galling how little she knew about it. Worrying, too.
The Arcanist had said it would ensure the box stayed with her – whatever that meant. Ruby placed it down on the table in the middle of the room then walked back to her bed. The cube stayed there. Standing and huffing, she went to the door and opened it, stepped outside and closed it again. She looked down at her hand, the tattoo on her inner arm, and then checked her pockets. Nothing. Opening the door revealed the cube sitting nicely on the table where she'd left it.
The window was tempting but she wasn't brave enough to try it. What happened if the magic didn't work like she thought it did and throwing it out simply meant she lost it? How was she going to explain that to an angry Arcanist armed to the teeth? "I don't understand," she grumbled, picking up the box once more and carrying it to her bed to fiddle with. "What are you supposed to even do?"
It was a perfect cube about five inches across, up and down. All six faces had the same symbol as on her arm and it was dark and varnished with little black lines that looked like seams. Careful to be gentle, she fiddled with it, trying to see if it would open, shift or click in any way while being cautious not to push too hard and break it. When nothing happened, she brought it up to her ear and gave it a little shake. Nothing rattled inside.
"I guess I'll have to take you back to the Arcanist lady tomorrow," Ruby decided, hiding the cube under her shirt.
/-/
Yang was back and in bed when dawn eventually broke. Still asleep, there was a small bundle of bloodstained clothing beside her bed that told her Samson hadn't been able to find the money to pay back Junior's loan. She wondered if he'd been left without a hand for it, or if Yang had been made to go further. Her sister was always in a bad mood after a night like that, even if she did her best to hide it so Ruby wouldn't realise.
The little wooden box felt heavy and ominous as she picked it up. The Arcanist had said she could come back to Mac's and talk to her to give it back and say they wouldn't take the job, at which point she would hopefully undo whatever spell had been cast on her and not get angry. Mac's wasn't open until sundown, though, which meant she had a day to kill first.
Slipping out and downstairs with the little cube stashed away on her person, she found Junior sat at a table counting coins, Miltia behind him massaging his shoulders and Melanie nowhere to be seen. He looked up on seeing her and Ruby shied away from the viciously pleased look on his face. Samson definitely wasn't coming back.
"Ruby," he greeted.
"Boss." She idled across the table. Junior was a cruel man, but he owned her and Yang, which gave them both some protection from his harsher tendencies. As long as they remained useful. "Is there anything you want me to do today?"
"Few small drops." He pushed a rolled-up scroll across the table, and a small pouch of lien. "The message goes to the tannery out by the river. Get that one done first. The other is a bribe to the guard sergeant based on the west-farm tower. You know the one?"
"By the wheat farms?"
"That's it. Hundred lien. It'll keep us on good terms for the rest of the season." The pouch of lien felt heavy in her hand and she swallowed, stashing it away. That Junior would give her that much was a test of her loyalty. Not too risky of one, given that he had Yang at his side and could hunt her down with ease. "Watch him, and make sure he counts it out. If he claims there's less, you're to bring every last lien back to me and I'll count it."
And if any was missing, it would be taken out of her hide. "Okay."
"If he accepts it, tell him to stamp something to bring back. I don't want him getting ideas."
"Anything after?"
"No." Junior leaned back into Miltia's embrace. "Day is yours. You'll get two lien once you come back."
Ruby nodded and slipped the coin pouch into her shirt, hidden away on the inside while her fake purse – a necessity in the slums – was stored outside, easily accessible for any thief who wanted to have a go. It was easier and safer to let them take something; at least then they'd run off and not stick a knife in you. It was weighed down with pebbles to make it feel and look full.
The outside of Vale was densely populated with farmland and was safer in some regards than living in the walls, thanks to both patrols by the guards and some kind of warding or alert system set up by the Collegium.
The world opened up and became a little brighter as Ruby slipped through the open gates, nodding briefly to two tired guards who mostly ignored her. Traffic out of the city wasn't bothered much, but it could be the opposite trying to get in. Without the towering structures of the Upper District blocking out the sun, Ruby could feel the heat of the morning on her face, and the open fields and long dirt roads were peaceful and not filled with beggars and thieves looking for an easy mark.
Many people in the slums worked in the fields when the harvest hit, with even her and Yang taking some extra work plucking crops or cutting wheat. It was cheap labour and only came about once a year, but it was regular, and they needed the coin going into winter. People competed for the chance to work on the farms through the year, but there were too many people and the farms just didn't need the hands. Most were owned by wealthy patrons in the city and rented out, either on a tithe system or just run by people working for those living in decadence.
It was the spring floods that made the farmland so profitable and ensured Vale's future. Vale was a city based on a river. Not unusual given that everyone needed a source of water, but Vale was particularly well off because of how fertile the ground was. Something about how the river would flood once a year and do something to the soil. Either wash away the bad or carry good stuff from upstream; she'd never cared to learn the exact reasons. Either way, it was a ritual to wait for the floods before planting if you wanted a good harvest. It kept Vale stocked and the farmers wealthy.
It also kept the slums downtrodden. Vale was a tiered city built not as a circle, but a weird oblong-shape that crossed over the river. The districts – or quarters – were each raised higher than the other, though. They had to be, given how the river meandered down a steep hill and Vale had been founded atop that for defensive purposes, hundreds of years before it grew out and sprawled down the hill. The flood was another reason for the tiered construction, because it kept the districts from being swamped. All except the Lower District, the slums, which was trapped at ground level. Ground level, which just so happened to be lower than the ground level of the farmland, which meant all the runoff swept back into the Slums.
Hence it was that while the farmlands benefitted from the floods each year, the Slums would be flooded, and the streets would become a bog. Disease and death would follow – never enough to become a problem to the city, but enough to be a danger for those living there – and the ground wouldn't harden again until Summer. It would have been okay if the population could have been moved out, but there just wasn't any room for it. The farmland stretched for miles out from the walls in every direction, trying to make use of the rich fertile soil, and the last attempt to expand the city beyond that had led to the city-annex of Mountain Glenn, which hadn't done so well.
If we had two thousand lien, we could probably buy a small farmstead… Ruby bit her lip and shook her head. That kind of thinking was likely to get her killed. If not by an Arcanist, then by Yang. If a deal is too good to be true, that's probably because it is. Focus on the job, Ruby.
The tannery was on the river but outside the walls for obvious reasons. Reasons that became apparent the moment she came downwind of it and swayed back, almost like she'd been struck in the face. The smell was foul. Pinching her nose, Ruby jogged up to it and looked enviously at those working with bushels of wildflowers against their noses. Some went without, and she could only imagine they'd somehow lost their sense of smell.
The foreman was a fat, balding man with a perpetually angry expression, who took one look at her and reached for an iron rod, no doubt thinking her a beggar or thief. He didn't calm down when she explained that Junior had sent her, and instead snatched the letter out of her hand, popped it open and read it.
"Hn." He grunted, putting it away. "Fine."
Ruby waited.
"What you looking at, brat? Get gone."
"T-There's no return letter?"
"I'd have pissin' given you one if there was, wouldn't I?" It had to be the smell. It would have made her angry, too. "Fuckin' dredger."
Dredger. Ruby hated the term, even if it was accurate once a year, when the districts would look down and see the slum folk rooting through pools of water looking for food and valuables, or just trying to siphon off all the run. The name had come around long before she was born and had stuck ever since.
"Stupid moneybag," she hissed with a glare and a rude gesture back. She'd have liked to get back at him in a bigger way, but Junior had a deal with them. "All that stench must have rotted their brains." And yet they were still better off than her. "Guard tower next." Ruby jogged out onto the dirt road and set off in the opposite direction of the rising sun.
The west-farm guard tower was both a tower and a barracks combined as one, with a cell block beneath that Ruby was fortunate enough to have never seen. If there was an attack into the farmland, the towers were to take in the farmers and protect them until the city could react and relieve them. That had only happened once in the last five years, and even that had been more a group of robbers running wild. Nowadays, the towers acted as lookouts and forward stops for patrols and to remind people of the law and why they shouldn't defy it.
It was imposing enough for that, squat and ugly with grey stone walls and strong wooden doors reinforced with brass. There were several guards outside, some training, and they looked at her curiously as she approached. They probably thought she was a boy come to watch, and there were a couple of farmer's children shirking their responsibilities to do just that. Some young girls too, swooning over shirtless guards obviously showing off.
Ruby didn't mind catching a glimpse or three.
What? She was a perfectly healthy young woman.
Shaking such thoughts off, she stepped up into the main building and poked her head inside, looking around for Sergeant Hannar. He was a tall and imposing man of some fifty years and she found him berating a younger boy. Ruby waited in the background while he cursed the boy out – something about sleeping in late – and sent him running with a crack of his wooden baton on the boy's thigh. The angry youth limped out to join the training and Hannar's beady eyes found her.
"Hey," she waved.
"Junior's pay again?" He waited for her to nod. "Man is punctual if nothing else. Come on then, take a seat."
Ruby scurried up to the large wooden table and sat, pushing the pouch across for the Sergeant to start rummaging through. He set coins out on the table in piles of five and began to count them. Hannar paid little attention to her, confident in his ability to deal with anything she might try, and with good reason. Those in the Slums knew better than to mess with the guards. It wasn't that they were invincible – though their training and equipment was far better than what they might have – but the fact they could call on support from across the city. If a single guard patrol in the slums faced trouble, they'd soon find several patrols combing through looking for miscreants to arrest, beat and make examples of.
"Looks to be in order," Hannar said, taking a piece of goatskin and scribbling something onto it. He'd tried to cheat her once, only to be foiled by Junior's instructions. He hadn't tried since. Hannar and Ruby both knew the reason she was sent was because it didn't matter what happened to her. Yang would be furious, but if she suffered a broken arm then it was no skin off Junior's nose. "The old crook has you running errands today?"
"Two outside the walls."
"Nothing illegal I hope."
"Other than bribing you?"
"Don't get smart." He sat and cocked a smile. "How you like to earn a little extra coin? Say two lien?"
Ruby leaned back. "Depends on how, sir…"
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I prefer my girls to look like girls, not skinny boys." He opened a drawer and drew out a rolled-up parchment, which he set on the table. Ruby's ability to read was limited to numbers and Slum warning signs – sigils that marked out territory, hiding spots or gang signs. The details on the sheet were beyond her comprehension. "There's been a little scuffle on the outskirts, right on the edge of the forest. Saw the smoke this morning and someone has to scout it out. Problem is, the Commeries and the West Top Farm are feuding again."
The names meant little to her but were presumably neighbours causing trouble. With how valuable the fertile land was, and how stiff the competition, it made sense they might fight over prime spots of land for crops. Or contamination between them. "You want me to scout the outskirts?"
"Not all of it. Just this one spot." He tapped his finger on a map. "It's not an hour out. Easy enough. I'd send my boys, but I need everyone on hand to crack some heads and keep the peace. "How about it? Run along, take stock of what's happened and report back to me. Two lien for two hour's work."
"The outskirts are dangerous…" Ruby said. Yang would be livid if she knew Ruby had gone anywhere near them.
"Three lien, then. And I'll toss in some salted beef."
"Really!?" Ruby perked up. It may have just been field rations to them, but beef was something few in the Slums got to eat.
"Sounds like we got a deal," Hannar said with a cold laugh. He tossed over a small wrapped package, which Ruby peeled open. There were around eight long strips. Taking one, she bit off the hardened beef and munched on it. It was chewy, smoky and tough.
Still the best thing she'd eaten in days.
"Just – hm – checking. Right? Do I - mm – need to talk to anyone?"
"If there's anyone there to talk to, sure. I just need to know if there's a problem needs solvin' or if it's locals jumping at shadows again. Those on the outskirts are out of my area, but I'd enjoy an advance warning of any nonsense." Hannar leaned back and pocketed his bribe. "Payment on completion. You can take the food as insurance."
Swallowing the beef and licking her fingers clean, Ruby nodded. "Leave it to me, sir!"
/-/
Yang really would have her head if she knew Ruby was on the outskirts. It was the border between the Vale and the outside world, the point at which civilisation and security gave way to wilderness. For most cities, that was right outside the walls, but thanks to Vale's incredible farmland, the outskirts were a good mile and a half away from the city walls. On the side she was sent to that meant forest. A whole lot of forest. Forest that could be filled with anything from wild animals to bandits, to murderers and wild men.
What Yang doesn't know won't hurt her. Or me.
Looking back to the farmland and the city, Ruby brought her hood down, touched the knife on her belt for comfort and stepped into the forest, the outskirts. It was, as Yang said, where people went when they'd given up. While land or homes in the farmlands were expensive due to the value of the soul you were building on, anyone could afford to live in the outskirts. It was just a case of walking over and building a home for yourself. You had fresh water, abundant wildlife and plenty of wild foods to forage.
It was a life far better than what they had in the Slums.
And yet the Slums were still packed full of people trying to get be, and for good reason. The outskirts weren't protected. The guards didn't patrol them, and the city didn't hold itself responsible for whatever happened to the people who ignored all warnings and chose to live out here. Ruby was never sure what kind of situation led people to choose such a life. Desperation, probably. The crippled, old or those who had just given up hope.
Ruby didn't expect to find the people she was sent to look for – and so wasn't surprised when she found the burnt-out remains of a wooden shack, timbers still smouldering faintly and wisps of smoke curling up toward the midday sun. The people were dead, then. That much was obvious. Ruby felt bad for them, but they'd chosen to live out here. They'd known what they were getting into.
"I guess that's my job done anyway. Although…"
With a furtive look in every direction, she checked the wilderness, looking for any signs of what might have done this. Since there was fire involved, it probably wasn't wild animals. There were plenty of people who made a living on ending the living of others. Not everyone who came to live in the outskirts did so because they wanted to live normal lives. Some were on the run from the guards, Junior or one of the other gangs. Those kinds of people fell back on what they were good at. Murder.
They wouldn't stick around after killing these people, though. They'd take the valuables and run. Which meant the hovel was safe enough for now, and the smoke and fires would keep the animals away. A perfect chance for a little look of her own.
Wood and ash crunched underfoot as she crept from the trees and into the clearing, ready to bolt if she saw or heard anything. The home looked to have been a one-room thing with a sloped roof that had fallen inward. It was ramshackle and simple enough with evidence of rolled-up skins for beds on one side and what Ruby recognised was a charred body on the other, its neck bent at an unnatural angle. She swallowed and tried not to look at that or imagine what the person might think as she knelt and opened the badly burnt wooden box in the corner.
Graverobbing wasn't at the top of the list of things she liked to do, but it wasn't like this person needed his stuff anymore, while her and Yang did. Any valuables she found could be sold off through Junior, and even cloth or food was worth taking. It would just go to the wild animals otherwise. Rummaging through the rather poor scattering of cloth and broken trinkets, she was about to give up until something sparkly caught her eye. Reaching down, she pried off the hidden compartment at the bottom that had become loosened. Something must have bumped into the crate and shaken it loose. There, hidden beneath, lay a small amount of lien. The accumulated savings of the poor soul laid dead only a few feet away. Ruby carefully picked each coin out and counted them.
"Eight, nine, ten, eleven!" A grin split her face. "Eleven lien!" Almost a good week's earnings, and with another two waiting for her back at the guard tower, that made thirteen. Sure, she'd need to make up an excuse for Yang on how she'd earned it but bringing back over ten lien in a single day was huge. Ruby stashed it in her shirt and made to close the box, only to noticed something else beneath it.
There was a small silver brooch. Or it looked silver. It was more likely highly burnished iron or steel, but it was an ornate shape, a long rope – or a stylised snake with no head – that wrapped in and out itself in a figure-eight shape. It looked like there might once have been to pretty stones in the sections between, but those were gone.
Maybe a clasp for a cloak? She thought, turning it over. It's a little big to be jewellery. Almost as large as her hand. Might as well take. Someone will know if it's worth something. Stashing it away with the lien, Ruby closed the box and looked around the rest of the hut.
Nothing else looked to be in good enough condition to take and Ruby drew the line at touching a dead body. Besides, the raiders would have done that already. Patting herself down to get the ash off her knees, she stood and scrambled back to the entrance, excited to cut back and show Yang her winnings for the day.
As she stepped outside, a sound off to the right caught her attention. Ruby ducked low and glanced over, spotting an animal of some kind, black fur, darting between the trees. She held her breath, waiting for a wolf to come barrelling through and prepared to draw her knife, shout and sound as loud and scary as she could.
That was way too big to be a wolf, though…
Heart beating wildly, she scanned the treeline. Wind rustled through plants and branches bent and swayed. The occasional distant cry of a bird or sound of pecking on wood reached her, but nothing more. Did I imagine that? Maybe. There was no way an animal destroyed this house and burned everything down. Killing someone outside, sure, but an animal wouldn't enter a building like this.
"I'm jumping at shadows," she whispered, still not quite confident enough to speak normally.
With her knife in hand, Ruby backed away slowly, eyes darting left and right, but careful to keep the spot she was sure she had seen something at in front of her. Her legs were turned back, ready to run and, if necessary, to scale the nearest three. Nothing burst from the brush, nothing sounded or chased after her or showed its face. The second Ruby reached the trees behind the hovel, she turned and sprinted for the farmland, eyes looking back over her shoulder.
Two pinpricks of red light watched her go.
/-/
"Red eyes? You sure you didn't imagine it?"
"I- No. Well, maybe…" Ruby squirmed on the seat in Sergeant Hanner's tower.
"What you're describing is Grimm," the tall man said. "And while I won't be so crass as to say those are a fairy tale – I've seen one in person – I'll say that there hasn't been any seen around these parts for over a decade. The Collegium makes sure of that."
Her shoulders hunched and she looked down at the woodwork atop the table. "I know. M-Maybe it was light reflecting off something."
"Blood perhaps," Hannar offered, and Ruby was only too happy to take the explanation. "If what you say is true, there's plenty of reason for blood to be around. Scavengers might have been attracted to it, which would explain the animal you saw. Crows maybe, or even a small bear."
It hadn't been, she knew. She nodded anyway.
"You've done what I asked you to. I'll increase patrols on that edge of the farmlands – scare off these raiders before they think to try anything." He flicked two coins across the table, and Ruby snatched them up despite her nerves. Lien was lien. "You ought to keep mention of what you think you saw to yourself. We don't need panic around these parts."
Ruby nodded again. She hadn't intended to spread it around, even assuming anyone believed her. Grimm were real; everyone knew that. But the Collegium was focused on keeping them away from the city and had done so easily. In fifteen years, Ruby had neither seen nor heard of a Grimm coming anywhere close to the city. Not as anything other than unfounded rumour or some stupid boast from a traveller. As if anyone who saw a Grimm lived to tell the tale. They were demons, or so the stories said. Able to rip apart a patrol of armed men with ease.
It was the Arcanists who kept the city safe – kept all the cities safe – and fought the demons. The Collegium stood as a reminder of that. Why would Grimm be in the outskirts anyway? And attacking some stupid little hut? It wouldn't even make sense. Not to mention they wouldn't set fire to a place. Ruby relaxed a little, the logic taking the fear out – as it often did. There was just no way that had been a Grimm. Hannar was right; she was making it worse in her head.
"Thanks for the job today," she said, standing and bowing a little. "If you have anything else tomorrow, I might be free."
"Doubt it. Got a farm feud to deal with and patrols to plan. Tell Junior his payment has been made and that I'll catch him up for drinks when I get a chance. And you mind the east wall for the next few days," he added. "You didn't hear it from me, but there's been some troublemakers round those parts. We're upping patrols. Captain wants us to make an example and restore the rule of law."
A show of force and judicious beatings for any perceived crime. Ruby nodded and made a note to tell Yang to avoid that part of the Slums for a few weeks. "Thanks for letting me know, sir."
"Dunno what you're talking about, lass. I didn't tell you anything." He made a shooing motion. "Now get. I have guards to train and farmhands to knock back into order."
It was getting late by the time Ruby stepped out and she made her way back to the walls. While they stayed open all night, the guards on the nightshift were noticeably tenser and twice as likely to do a stop and search. They also weren't above roughing someone down for their hard-earned lien, and the streets were also more dangerous at night. Ruby wanted to get back to Junior's and stash her lien and funny jewellery away before someone decided to take it off her.
Ruby caught up with some farmworkers coming in after a day's work as she came toward the gates. They looked at her askance but decided she was a young boy, probably a farmhand, and let her be. Ruby huddled among them as they approached the gates and noticed several people on horseback. There were four or five of them, two of them obviously guards of some kind with purple cloaks and fancy breastplates. The other three wore robes with the hoods drawn up. That wasn't unusual in itself, but the robes were embroidered with gold scrolling and symbols.
"Arcanists?" one of the farmhands mumbled, giving words to Ruby's thoughts. "What are they doing down in the Slums?"
"Leaving them," another laughed. "Not even they want to be in this shithole longer than they have to be. They're just using the lower gate."
The Arcanists were talking among themselves – arguing, by the looks of it. The two Guards, who she realised must be Collegium Guards, sat silently nearby, letting the three go at it. As she passed by, she couldn't help but listen in.
"-not something to be left to amateurs or those uninitiated."
"I'm aware. That's why we're here. I'm simply saying we could use more people. At least if we enlist the local patrols we'll have more eyes. There are miles upon miles of farms out here. This will take days."
"Hence why the Grand Arcanist has given us a week. Stop complaining."
The first muttered an apology and the three slowly moved their steeds down the path, forcing a few of them to move aside so as not to be trampled. The Collegium Guards led, stern-faced and silent. Whatever task they were on was one she couldn't hope to understand, and likely one few could. Maybe they were working on the rumoured protections that kept Vale safe, or maybe it was some other esoteric and mysterious thing. Whatever the case, it obviously didn't involve the Slums. Or her.
As they passed by, a strange itching burned on the inside of her arm. Ruby winced and scratched under her shirt, then growled and dragged it back to see if she'd gotten a burr or thorn stuck under the fabric. Nothing. Nothing but the tattoo the other Arcanist had left her. It was… itching. Badly. Her hand fell to her pocket, checking for the cube, afraid someone had stolen it and that this might be the spell's way of warning her.
It was still there. It was… warm to the touch. Very warm.
The Arcanist closest to her still suddenly and looked back over his shoulder. She caught a brief glimpse of smooth skin, green eyes and one long lock of blonde hair as the Arcanist, a woman, looked down at the collection of farmhands with a critical, almost suspicious eye. Ruby tugged her hood down and kept moving, suddenly nervous.
"Glynda?" one of the others said, drawing the horses to a stop. "Is something wrong?"
"Perhaps." The woman turned her horse around and Ruby's heart skipped a beat. She moved a little faster. You didn't draw an Arcanist's attention, that was just common sense. Having already caught the eye of one, she wanted to avoid a second – especially if it was related to the first.
Just keep walking. Just keep your head down. It's probably something else.
"You there! In the hood! Halt."
The farmhands all turned. Several were wearing hoods, the weather turning cold. The guards turned too, looking toward the Arcanist. Ruby did not. The second the words passed the Arcanist's lips, she was moving. She darted past the farmhands and by the distracted guards, then cut an immediate left to break eye contact. There was a curse and a muffled yell from outside, followed by the sound of hooves. They were giving pursuit? Seriously!?
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. What had she done?
The hooves clattered behind her, but the Slums were her element. Ruby leapt up onto a barrel and jumped higher, hooking both hands onto a wooden strut sticking out the side of a building and hauling herself up to crouch atop it. Not stopping there, she followed the beam back to the building itself and shimmied around the edge of it, ducking low behind a bend in the roof as two horses burst into the street, not the Arcanist's but the two Collegium Guards.
They brought their steeds to a stop and looked around quickly. One looked up and Ruby leaned back, surprised that they'd even thought to. Most guards didn't. With her heart in her throat, Ruby leaned over and watched as the Arcanist who had shouted after her stomped in on foot and looked around quickly. She whispered something and made a motion with her hand. A small flickering ball of light appeared, which she sent spinning to the other side of the street with a flick of her hand. People rushed to get out of the way and the light floated around, almost like it was searching for her.
That was her cue to get out, she decided. Holding her breath and staying low, Ruby crept to the back end of the building and scaled down it, jumping the last ten or so feet and landing in a crouch. Pulling her hood off, she tossed it into the nearest doorway and stepped into the crowd, blending in and disappearing.
The tattoo continued to itch. It was time to get rid of that – and fast.
/-/
"I don't know what to tell you," Mac said, stood behind his bar counter with an uncomfortable expression. He looked down on her and placed his flagon on the side. "Dark hood, silk. Sword and leather. I know who it is you're talking about, but I've not seen her since that meet you had with her."
"B-But she said she would be here for the next two nights. She told me I could come back if I wouldn't do the delivery." Ruby looked around the tavern again, hoping against all hope that her eyes, and Mac's, were deceiving them, and that the Arcanist would be there waiting for her. Nothing. The bar was filled with loud patrons from one corner to another. The Arcanist was nowhere in sight.
"That's not what she said to me."
"You spoke to her?"
"Came up to me after meeting you," he said. "Paid for another drink. I was feelin' brave – or maybe I was in my cups – and asked her if she needed to rent a room. I don't know how to say this, but…" Mac winced. "She said her business was done in Vale. Told me she would be gone before the end of the night. That was last night."
Poor Ruby. Blake obviously subscribes to the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" school of asking for favours. A bit of worldbuilding in this one, with some of those early jobs Ruby had designed to kind of map out an idea of the city and the world they live in for you, and also give an idea of a day in the life of a messenger.
That was the hope anyway, though there were obviously a few Chekhov's guns thrown in there. I'd normally try to increase pacing and just drag the characters into action sooner, but I really wanted to see if the story would be improved by taking a slower approach, at least for now.
We'll see what everyone thinks.
Next Chapter: 21st May
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