Chapter 6
Caldeum was unlike anything the siblings had seen before. While the Yshari Sanctum had been quiet and orderly, Caldeum was loud and energetic. People were everywhere doing everything. Buildings were packed so tightly within the thick walls of the city and every free space in the walkways were lined with vendors advertising their goods. The stench of human sweat was prominent within the walls, but at least the blinding sand being thrown about by the desert sands was buffered.
"It stinks here." Fan-Min complained through a disgusted face. "It smells like Kazur after his training sessions." The mention of him made Fan-Huang's head hang a little lower. He missed him so much and it hadn't even been a full day. He regretted the manner by which he left. He pictured his best friend waking up to find a good-bye note left behind in place of a real farewell. Kazur had invested so much time into him and he had ditched him like he didn't matter. He snapped out of his thoughts as his sister smacked him on the arm. "What are you sulking about?" She asked haughtily. "Isn't it great to be free?" She smiled in excitement. "I've wanted this for so long."
"I'm happy for you." Fan-Huang answered, genuinely meaning it, but it didn't make his sadness leave. Kazur had become a very important part of his life and he was gone now. Likely forever.
"Then why do you seem so gloomy?" She asked absently as she marched through the city.
"I miss Kazur."
"You could have stayed behind."
"You're my sister."
"I didn't ask you to come." She stopped and looked at her older brother. "You'll just slow me down anyway. I'm chasing the greatest wizard ever known to the human race: Li-Ming. It's going to be dangerous. You're not strong, so now I have to watch my back and yours."
"I'll watch your back." Fan-Huang assured her.
"Forgive me if that doesn't instill any relief within me." She nearly laughed. "Just because you're not with Kazur now doesn't mean you won't see him again."
"It feels like good-bye forever." Fan-Huang sounded quite depressed.
"Kazur's an idiot." Fan-Min said plainly. "He's simple and single-minded." She explained. "If you really mean as much to him as he does to you, you'll see him again." She shook her head in disbelief. "Besides, I doubt you actually left without letting him know somehow, so he's probably on his way here right now." Fan-Huang blushed embarrassed. She knew him too well. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"I left him a note."
"See?" Fan-Min smiled shallowly. "You'll see him again."
There was a moment of silence between them before Fan-Min continued her trek through the streets of Caldeum. Finally, Fan-Huang caught up with her and asked, "Are you really upset that I came with you?"
She looked at him in the eyes and laughed. "Of course not. I already told you; none of this would be impressive if there wasn't someone to witness me." She looked back to the streets ahead of her. "Just don't get yourself killed."
Finally, they settled into a tavern near the front gate of the royal palace. Fan-Min cringed at the sight of the big sweaty men drinking and making a ruckus as women with far too little self-respect threw themselves at them. "Barbarians." She spat the word.
"Have something against Barbarians?" A large man asked her from the table right to her left. Fan-Huang jumped between them in defense of his sister.
"Oh, no, no, sir. She meant no disrespect to Barbarians. They're a fine race of people and we have nothing against them." He groveled trying to ensure that the large muscled man didn't take too much offense at his sister's venomous tongue.
"Step aside, Huang." She commanded and stood before her brother. "I meant every disrespect to the Barbarians. They're like animals." She mocked. "They're as bad as the demon hunters and the witch doctors." She held her ground confidently as the giant of a man stood up, clearly angry with her words. "They're all so brutish and uncivilized. They're hardly better than the beasts they put down." Her words were clearly meant to rile the man up, and they did their job.
"I'm from a family of Barbarians!" The man yelled, drawing the attention of everyone else in the tavern.
"I can tell." Fan-Min mocked. The man charged her with a battle cry in an attempt to tackle her to the ground, but he had clearly had a few drinks too many for competency in combat. "Child's play." She spoke to herself in disappointment. With grace, Fan-Min stepped to the side and watched as the man stumbled passed her and latched onto her big brother, taking him to the ground hard under his immense Barbarian weight.
Fan-Huang landed hard on the stone floor and got the wind knocked out of him. "Nice one." He coughed to his sister. She stepped forward and placed a heeled foot on the Barbarian's back. With violent arcane energy crackling in her hand, emitting a threatening glow, and a face that left no one unconvinced of her willingness to kill, she spoke boldly to the large man. "Get off my brother. Now!"
The man didn't argue. Rather, he rolled off of Fan-Huang and sulked out of the tavern, too embarrassed to face the crowd in the moment. Fan-Min pivoted on her heel, her brown, silk-like hair flipping gracefully through the post-battle air, and headed to the tavern keeper's counter toward the back of the crowded room. Fan-Huang stood up as he listened to the startled and hushed words of the spectators. "I've never seen a sorceress act so violently." One lady said.
Fan-Huang listened in on another man who was in shock. "Did she start the fight? I wouldn't think the Yshari Sanctum would allow such behavior?!"
"Great, another threat befalls Caldeum."
"I wish she'd go to New Tristram." One young lady commented to another. "My sister and her family are there and they sent word that they're having demon trouble."
"Maybe that settlement is really cursed." The other woman added. "First Old Tristram fell to Diablo, now it seems to be happening all over again. They never should have rebuilt."
"Problems at New Tristram?" Fan-Huang wondered to himself. "Maybe we could put Fan-Min's powers to use."
He approached his sister who was talking with the tavern runner. "What do you mean you haven't heard of Li-Ming?" She asked appalled at her discovery. "That means she must not have been here?"
"No, it means I don't know her. She could have been here." The tavern runner answered with a shrug.
"You're useless." Fan-Min hissed. "Who would know?"
"I'm not sure, but you could ask Squirt."
"Squirt?" Fan-Min sounded furious. Fan-Huang restrained himself from jumping in to defend the tavern runner, but he knew his sister was scary. Especially if you knew really how powerful she was and how eager she was to use her powers.
"She's a peddler. She usually hangs around the entrance to the royal palace near the dye seller."
"This sounds ridiculous. Someone named Squirt." Fan-Min huffed. "You better not be lying to me."
"It's the truth." He assured her in a panic. "Honest!"
"Fine." She glared at him. "Just know I can kill you with no effort if I find out you're a liar." He looked at her wide-eyed and scared. She turned on her heel proudly. "Come on, brother."
Fan-Min and Fan-Huang made their way to the front gates of the royal palace where a handful of bold merchants were selling their goods despite the royal guards having a heavy presence in the area. It must not have bothered the emperor to have the sellers there. Against his better knowledge, Fan-Huang pointed to one merchant that stood out in obvious contrast to the others. Most were colorfully dressed men with wagons of cargo for sale. They were shouting to draw in shoppers. This one, however, was nothing like that. She was a young girl, probably no older than 12, and she had a meager selection, but Fan-Huang could tell, even by his unimpressive understanding of the arcane, that her products were of great value and very powerful in the hands of the right user. "That must be her." He said with his finger extended toward the young girl.
"A child?" Fan-Min scoffed. "You're kidding me."
"Squirt." Fan-Huang shrugged. "Fits her, don't you think?"
"Unfortunately."
Together, they marched up to the young peddler. She looked at them like potential customers. She had good eyes. Most people that walked by she didn't even bother trying to sell her goods to because they'd have no use for them. Only those practiced in the arcane arts would understand the value of her merchandise, and she could tell by their mystical garb that they were indeed trained in the arcane. "Have a look!" She insisted in her child voice.
"We're not here to shop." Fan-Min said, almost sounding like a threat. "I have no need for your silly trinkets."
"They're not trinkets, my lady." She remained pleasant and professional. "These are arcane objects fit to assist even the most powerful sorceress in her needs."
"While you are right in identifying me as the most powerful, a sorceress I am not." Fan-Min explained proudly. "And I certainly have no need for your goods. I am powerful enough as I am."
"If not a sorceress, what are you?" Squirt looked the young lady up and down. "You dress like one."
"I am a wizard." She stated.
"From which clan?" Squirt asked, showing a much deeper understanding of the world than either wizard was expecting.
"None."
"You're a renegade wizard?" She sounded shocked, but unafraid.
"Yes."
"Don't say it so loudly!" Fan-Huang insisted. "People are probably already looking for us."
"Is this coward also a renegade wizard?" Squirt asked.
Fan-Min looked at her brother in an unimpressed nature. "I suppose, if you have a very underwhelming definition of 'wizard'."
"I see." Squirt said. "Then, if you're not here to shop, you must be here for information."
"Correct." Fan-Min answered very directly.
"About another renegade wizard?"
"How do you know that?" Fan-Huang asked, obviously impressed by the girl's intuition.
"There's not too many renegade wizards around." She explained. "And one just passed by here a couple weeks ago."
"Where was she going?" Fan-Min asked.
"She was traveling to New Tristram."
"Oh? Why?" Fan-Min pushed for quicker answers.
"It sounded like something happened there; something to do with a demon." Squirt explained. "Word has it that there is one of Hell's butchers there."
"A butcher?" Fan-Huang asked.
"Pay him no mind." Fan-Min butted in. "He should know what it is, but since he's a sad excuse for a student of the Yshari Sanctum, I'll explain it to him later."
"Okay…" Squirt said a bit uncomfortably. "Anyway, it seemed that's where she headed."
"Any idea why a butcher would be in New Tristram?" Fan-Min asked.
"I'm eleven years old." Squirt said with a 'duh' face. "How should I know?"
"You seem to know a lot." Fan-Huang pointed out the obvious.
"I deal with a lot of 'in-the-know' kinda' people." Squirt explained. "People kinda' like you, only better informed."
"Watch your mouth, child." Fan-Min warned.
"Anyway, my point is that she went to New Tristram if they followed through with what I overheard them saying."
"Great." Fan-Min celebrated. "Now we know where to go."
"Let's get a room at an inn and we can talk this over." Fan-Huang suggested. "I've got some ideas."
"Great…" She said sarcastically.