Chapter 11

Valkron could have sworn that whoever was behind the portal hated every one of the party. They had barely woken when magic - and pain - swept over them again. For about twenty minutes they had to rest, while Emeth had to be shaken to his senses again. Somehow this was not turning out well.

'It seems to be coming from somewhere in the north,' said the wizard tiredly. 'Unfortunately Mjollnir has its own high magic, and basically I could be telling you that a novice has just as much magic as a sage if someone cast a spell here.'

'Meaning?'

'The wavelength of magic scrambles everything up.' Emeth heaved a sigh. Valkron felt his hair ruffle. 'Come to think of it, it's probably scrambling my brain up too. I'm not thinking straight.'

Samaroh came over and put a hand on his shoulder. It was probably meant as a friendly, brotherly gesture, but because Emeth was much taller it looked more like the priest was stopping him from walking. 'Calm down. A lost head isn't much worth in battle. Here, this might help.'

White light burst forth from his hand. Emeth closed his eyes and seemed to relax. The party, including Valkron, watched in silence.

When the light had dissipated Emeth opened his eyes. 'Thanks, Samaroh,' he said, massaging his shoulder. 'I feel better. I know who to come to if I feel like this again.'

'I should start charging you three zeny for every time I do this,' replied Samaroh, but he had an amused grin on his face.

'Aw, come on, your spells are worth more than jellopy.'

Valkron mounted his peco. 'Are you finished? Or do you want to talk till the cows come home? Let's move it, we've still got Al de Baran to go to and we haven't got all day.'

The little procession made its way towards the north again, without any significant event occuring.

By evening they had reached the famous City of Canals. It reached towards the horizon before them while the sun set to their left. They stopped to admire it at the gates.

'Ah, my home,' said Eni wistfully.

'I thought you were from Alberta,' said Khan, with some surprise.

'Nah, we came from here,' said Nocturne, brushing stray strands of hair away from his face. He caught sight of Khan's expression. 'Yeah, I know. Northerners going all the way south to become warriors. I've seen that look before.'

'Wasn't it a bother?' said Samaroh.

'Nope. We're orphans. Nobody to go home to.'

Iruna, who had turned her face up thoughtfully at the city, said, 'I wonder what would happen to the people in this city if the portal's effects were to ever take place.'

There was a very apprehensive silence, before Emeth said, 'I wish you hadn't said that.'

Valkron sighed in exasperation. 'Well, she said it. Now let's get going before it actually happens. Don't make me get off my peco to get you moving.'

'But you can just go ahead,' said Eni, frowning.

The knight rolled his eyes. 'Do you notice that we are standing at the gates and the fact that all of you are standing in front of me in my way? Move it!'

With much grumbling the party moved onward again, into the heart of the city.

Valkron dismounted from his peco only when they had reached one of the gates leading to the great Clock Tower. Like Geffen Tower the Clock Tower was home to a variety of monsters, most of which were considered to be quite harmless when left alone. The Clock Tower Keeper was the only thing most people feared, but it rarely, if ever, ventured forth from its shelter.

Valkron bundled the reins up tightly in one hand and looked around.

'Eni, would you be so kind as to point us the way to the nearest inn?' he said. 'More or less since this is your city of origin I think you should know it much better than I do.'

The alchemist gave him a look, but she seemed mollified by his statement. 'Oh, well, there's always the Endless Time tavern. Best inn in Al de Baran. Come on, I'll lead you there.'

'I like the Endless Time,' said Nocturne dreamily, as they began following her.

'That's because the staff always like you,' remarked Eni. 'I'm not exactly sure why they do, but I guess it's something about you that strikes a chord with them. Will you move it, all of you?'

'And just now you were the one blocking Valkron's way,' muttered Samaroh, but no one probably heard him.

The Endless Time tavern was a large two-storey stone building. Valkron turned to look at the sign hanging over the door as they entered and raised his eyebrows. The picture was an hourglass with sand continually flowing through it.

Inside it was as if they had entered the house of a rich person with a good sense of interior design. It looked very homely with the red wooden tables with their red and white checkered tablecloths, cinnamon fragrance and warm lamps hanging artfully here and there. Simple tapestries hung artfully here and there; according to Eni they had been woven by the tavern owner's wife.

The bartender did not give them a second look. In fact, no one did. There were plenty of people either swigging ale or discussing matters, so it was quite noisy. Valkron made his way to the bar and leaned over it towards the bartender.

'You the innkeeper here?' he said.

'Yeah. Looking for rooms?'

The knight indicated the party behind him. 'What does it look like to you?'

In some ways the bartender was a lot cleverer than the innkeeper in Prontera. He stepped aside to show three pairs of keys dangling from a vast key board. 'We're kind of full right now, with mercenary parties like yours. I recommend that you take two rooms for the six men and the last one for the ladies. How's it sound to you?'

Valkron gave it some thought. 'All right,' he said. 'How much for a night?'

'Depends. But mercenary parties are dropping by like rain so we're giving cheap rates to them. Let's see...' The bartender turned around and consulted a list next to the key board. 'Hm, well, your party's eight members, so that has...ten zeny per head, no extra charges. Would you like breakfast with it?'

'You're good with business,' conceded Valkron. 'Might as well throw it in, we're only here for a few nights anyway. I'll take it.'

The bartender unhooked the keys and put them in Valkron's gloved hand. 'We actually had the rooms booked, but then the leader of the party threatened our manager, so he decided to take them off the list. Hope you don't mind.'

'Doesn't matter to me,' said the knight. 'Whatever happens to other parties isn't my business.' He left the bar and headed straight for the staircase, motioning the party to follow him. They did so without any fuss.

Valkron ended up sharing a room with Emeth and Samaroh. Amaru, Nocturne and Khan were two doors down, and Iruna and Eni resided in a room just opposite theirs.

'Really?' said Emeth, taking off his gloves. 'These rooms were reserved for another party?'

'Yeah.' Valkron hung his cloak on the back of a chair and took off his visor and

accessories. 'But apparently something went wrong and the leader had a go at the manager.'

'People these days,' said Samaroh, hooking his cap on the corner of a wooden screen that hid the washstand from view. 'They like thinking big of themselves, but somehow out there they don't know there's someone bigger than them.'

Valkron and Emeth exchanged looks. Samaroh could sound like a self-conceited teacher at times, but then given his profession no one liked to comment. It was something anyone would expect of a priest.

'Well put,' said Emeth at last, taking off his headphones. 'But I think we like leaving them to their fates, really. They learn better that way.'

'No one ever said the priests were involved in showing them the way of the light and all that.'

'Wait a moment, I though that was your job,' said Valkron, looking up from folding his cloak. 'The Prontera Parish, am I right? That's where you're from.'

'Sorry, never went for the recruitment,' replied the priest. He had taken off his robes, so more or less he was naked from the waist up. 'What's the look for? You never knew there was a programme about it? Division of acolytes?'

'I knew about it,' said Emeth, draping his cloak over the head of his bed. 'We have a similar programme in Geffen. Who goes to Prontera, who stays in Geffen. I was part of the batch that went to Prontera.'

'Well, I was part of the batch who got told to stay in St. Abbey's.' The priest sat down onto the single bed. There were three beds in the room, but since it was so large it could them all and still have some space for a fourth occupant. 'And now it's been emptied.'

'Hadn't we better tell someone about the monastery?' asked Emeth, taking his leaf out of his mouth and glancing at it.

'They'll find out sooner or later,' answered Valkron, emerging from behind the screen where he had been washing his face. 'I don't want fingers pointing at us saying that we did the killing and then went to report it in feigned innocence. No way am I going to talk about it.'

'Suits you,' said Samaroh. 'Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm turning in.'

Emeth watched the priest swing his legs onto the bed and get in between the blankets.

Valkron meanwhile pulled back his and sat down, running a hand through his white hair.

'Felt anything?' he said, after a while.

'Nope.' Emeth didn't look upset. 'We've lost it here. It's definitely not in this city. I think we should move on to Juno.'

'We'll go when the others are ready. Besides, I thought Iruna said Eni wanted her potion manuals.' Valkron stifled a yawn. 'Here's her chance, I guess.'

'Yeah, well, I guess we're all ready for a break.' Emeth lay down on his bed and stretched out his legs. The knight noticed that the wizard's legs were so long they nearly went over the end of the bed. 'What time for the morning, Valkron?'

'Six,' said the knight promptly, lying down as well. 'No lie-ins.'

'Aw, man.'

'Don't you plead with me.' Valkron sat up, reached over for the oil lamp next to his bed and blew it out. Emeth did the same with the one near his.

Much to Valkron's surprise everyone was up by or earlier than six. Apparently they seemed to be able to time themselves.

'Well, we do have a lot to do,' said Iruna. She was not wearing her blindfold. 'So, are we going down for our morning meal?'

'That's a definite yes,' answered Emeth, in the absence of Valkron's reply. The knight was too busy straightening his gauntlets to answer. 'Ladies first.'

They breakfasted quietly in the cafeteria downstairs. In the early morning there was absolutely no one save for a few odd characters muttering to themselves or just staring despondently at the forest of tankards in front of them. Sooner or later one of them was bound to erupt like a dormant volcano. This message was silently observed by the Raulus party, and that was the reason why they got out fairly quickly.

The blanket of early morning mist lay thickly over the city. Valkron made his way to his peco and fed him, while Iruna did the same. The others waited patiently for them until they returned, and then only did they set off towards the Alchemists' Guild.

The place was notorious for its frequent explosions that often resulted the door being sent across the street in mild cases. Severe cases were marked by, not always but pretty often, a soot-covered panicking alchemist running through the street shouting, 'It's gonna blow! She's gonna blow us to kingdom come!' The latter didn't happen, but it was enough to clear the street within seconds.

Valkron felt relieved when he saw no one in the hall. Alchemists, Eni explained, preferred lie-ins on sleepy mornings like this. And since Al de Baran was always open to sleepy mornings, the knight surmised they had a lot of rest.

The manuals were duly got at a counter fronted by a sleepy-looking apprentice alchemist with tousled hair. Apparently he was too sleepy to realise Eni was an alchemist, so she had to spend some time arguing with him.

'I tell you, I AM an alchemist, and I need those manuals!'

'But you don't look like one,' said the boy muzzily.

'Well, of course you can't see me! Your eyes aren't even half open!' Eni proceeded to give him a cuff on the head. 'Come on, Albrecht! Don't make me pour acid on you!'

'All right, all right, cool it. I'll get them.'

Half an hour later the party left the building, Eni grumbling under her breath. Valkron was still puzzling over alchemist behaviour when someone stepped in front of them.

'Hallo there, Valkron, long time no see.'