Chapter 5. Dubious Alchemy
Looking out at the horizon, Callie knew there was nothing else for her to do but to go back to that ship for Arizona.
Only a few years removed from that cursed ship, and after vowing never to return, she will be going back. Whether she would be prepared to confront her past or not, all of it that remains on the Rose Narcissa for her to confront, she did not know. But she must be prepared to confront it if it means saving Arizona.
Getting aboard was the main issue. Getting aboard required an invitation. An invitation required a considerable amount of wealth and influence. Wealth, she had. Influence was a different story. Her name certainly carried a certain influence, just not the right kind. Certainly not with Lady DeLuca. Callie was, in fact, forbidden from the pain of death if she were ever to step back on board.
A well-crafted disguise was, therefore, in order. An alchemical disguise. She knew just the dwarf to make her one.
Cristina Yang was a Korean dwarf of many talents, though one would not know it by looking at her. A quiet and unassuming curmudgeon, she could often be found at the front of her shop on a stool with a thick book in hand, peering into it through tiny reading glasses with a frowned expression and thinned lips, rubbing her chin in a way to suggest scepticism about the book author's intelligence. That was her typical state of being when she wasn't working, and that was the state that Callie found her in.
Cristina was a curmudgeon, certainly, but one that reserved a soft spot for Callie. Not only did Callie provide her with a steady source of business washing illicit coins, but she had put her sabre to good use, and nothing gives a dwarven weaponsmith greater satisfaction than knowing that her creations are put to good use.
"A good read, that one?" Callie asked.
Cristina lowered her book and glanced up at her. Her face softened as she removed her reading glasses.
"Eh, it's absolute shite."
"Is it? What's it about?"
"Supposedly, it's an accounting of how this knight, Baldfrey the Wild, vanquished a dragon. It's terrible! Halfway through the book, the dragon hasn't been mentioned once! It's just about 'im romancin' some floozy!"
"Hmm. Can I see it?"
"Sure you can. You can keep it!"
Cristina tossed Callie the book. She took a good look at the title and let out a laugh.
"The title of the book is 'The Wild Knight and the Harlot.'"
"Yeah, and?"
"Wait, tell me you know what a harlot is."
"A type of dragon, innit?"
Callie shook her head and chuckled.
"Oh, Cristina. May you never change. Well, the title certainly caught my interest. Maybe I'll give it a read on my journey."
"Journey? Already? No rest for the wicked, eh? Where ya off to now?"
"Well, as it so happens, that's what I'm here to speak to you about."
"That so?"
"I am humbly in need of your service, my good dwarf."
"Well, I'm more than happy to provide you that service. What will it be this time, my warrior princess? More coins to wash? Another honing of the blade? How about a sharpening enchantment? I'll throw in a good discount! A friend's discount, if you will."
"I need a transmog."
"A transmog, eh? I think I can rustle up a transmog. What do ya need transmogrifying'?"
"Me."
Cristina raised an eyebrow. She darted her eyes left, then right, up and down the narrow alley, then leaned in and whispered,
"My ears aren't what they used to be, but I could've sworn I heard -"
"Your ears hadn't deceived you, Cristina. I want you to transmogrify me.
"Ah. Well," Cristina chuckled nervously. "That's highly illegal."
"And washing royal coins, isn't?"
"That's, ehmm, that's a different sort of illegal. I don't give a rat's ass about royal laws. Guild law, on the other hand, well, let's just say it ain't exactly a good time when you cross the Alchemy guild. Look, I'll transmog anything else. Want me to turn your beat-up pair o' trousers into a pretty new dress? Or how about that sword? Rapiers are all the rage these days, I hear."
"I need a disguise, Cristina."
"How about a new hair colour?"
"Don't need alchemy to do that."
"New tits, maybe? I can make yours bigger if you want. Or smaller."
Callie crossed her arms. "Mine are fine the way they are. Look, I'll make it worth your while. You know that chest of coins you washed for me the other day? Plenty more where that came from. Turn me into someone new, and I'll give you enough to close up shop if you want to."
Cristina sighed.
She pondered the offer for a long moment then finally said, "Fine. Come with me."
Anyone who peered into Cristina's shop would think she was nothing more than a typical dwarven weaponsmith. Swords and axes hung in displays. Spears stood in racks. There was a furnace in the back, a sharpening bench, and all the other accouterment of a typical smith. Cristina was, in fact, a decent enough smith and could have made an honest living doing it. But she also had a knack for alchemy, particularly of the dubious sort, which was much more lucrative a business than smithing.
Cristina's alchemy laboratory was hidden behind a bookshelf in the back of her shop. To access it, she flipped a book that sat on the shelf upside down then pressed it in to cause the shelf to creak open. She motioned Callie to follow her down the stairs into a dungeon-like cellar that contained all sorts of glassware filled with various liquids and boxes full of herbs, charms, and paraphernalia both strange and unassuming.
In the centre of her laboratory was a massive cauldron, as any good alchemist would have. In it, water bubbled away, awaiting whatever concoction Cristina may toss into it to perform his dubious alchemy.
"So, you want to be someone new, eh?"
Cristina went to a wall that was filled from floor to ceiling with rows upon rows of little apothecary cupboards.
"Now, transmogrifying', as illegal as it is, isn't exactly the hardest thing to do. All it takes is making' a potion with a smattering of whatever it is you want to transmogrify into, then all you need is the right charms, and there you have it."
She slid open a cupboard and pulled out a plug of wiry hair.
"A bit of this will turn you into an orc."
She opened another drawer. Pulled out what looked like a chunk of an orange tail.
"Ah, or this to be a monocot. Or was this from a house cat?"
"I'd rather be certain."
Callie perused the cabinet alongside the dwarf. Scribbled quickly on a piece of parchment posted to the front of each little drawer was what was contained within.
There was no rhyme or rhythm to how the cupboard was organised. One drawer contained ground hoof from a beastman, another, twigs from a druidic tree, then there was one containing pickled pixie fingers (Callie didn't want to think about how Cristina procured those). One cabinet caught Callie's interest. The hasty scribble on the parchment read, 'A lock of hair from a beautiful woman.'
She opened the drawer and found a brown lock of hair within. A shade lighter than her own.
She plucked it out of the cabinet.
"How about this?" She said, holding it out to Cristina.
"Ah, that's from a young maiden who exchanged it for a kiss."
Callie laughed.
"A kiss? From who? From you?"
"Yes, of course. Is that so hard to believe? You know they say a kiss from a dwarf brings one unfathomable wealth."
"Is that what you told the young lady?"
Cristina laughed impishly. "Of course not! But Brother Fire, make me a daft dwarf if I contradict a fortuitous superstition!"
"I wouldn't expect anything else from you. In any case, the woman to whom this hair belongs to, is she anyone recognizable?"
"As far as I recall, she was just another maiden on her way from one place to another. Met her in a tavern on Peach Quay. A human lass from Greywood Crossing, if I remember correctly."
"What do you think? Brown haired Greywood Crossing maiden, a good look on me?" Callie asked, imagining the look
"I much prefer the way you are now, but if it's a disguise you want, it will do you just fine. That woman was short haired, so that look would be completely opposite to these gorgeous thick locks of yours." Cristina said, reaching out to touch Callie's dark hair
"Then brown-haired woman from Greywood it is then." Callie confirmed
"Alrighty then! Let me whip you up a potion right fast. And while I do that, you go ahead and take off yer clothes and hop into that cauldron. I won't peek, I promise."
Callie did as Cristina instructed. While Cristina worked on the potion, she slipped out of her clothes, then eased herself into the water, which was as pleasant as a hot spring.
"Take your time, Yang. I'm quite enjoying this bath," she sighed, sinking her chin into the water.
"Enjoy it as much as you can. The transmog won't be quite as enjoyable," the dwarf replied. Cristina sat at a bench concocting a potion using the lock of hair. When she was done, she brought the brew over to the cauldron.
"When I put this potion into the water, it'll take a few moments for it to seep into your skin, and when it does, you'll feel a slight tingling at first, followed by unimaginable pain, like a thousand searing hot needles going into you all at once."
"You certainly know how to reassure a girl," Callie replied.
"Just want to let you know what you're getting yourself into."
"I'm fine with the pain. Just get on with it."
"Alright. Oh, just so you know, the transmog will wear off after about a fortnight. So, whatever you need to get done, best be done with it long before then."
"I plan on it," Callie replied.
"Then here we go."
Cristina tipped the cup with her concoction into the cauldron. The golden liquid sizzled as it splashed into the water, then quickly dissipated. The stench of burnt hair filled Callie's nostrils, causing her to wheeze.
"Oof, that's pungent."
"The smell will soon be the least of your worries."
Cristina stepped back and watched apprehensively, wringing her hands. Callie wished she wouldn't. It made her nervous to see Cristina's trepidation, to the point of second-guessing this decision. She tensed up, waiting for the tremendous pain to find her. An eternity seemed to go by where all she felt was the pleasant bubbling of the warm water, with little itches here and there, making her wonder if it was the start of the transmogrification or just the heat of the water playing against her skin.
She was just about to doubt it would work when she felt it. The tingling sensation starting at her toes, then climbing up her legs. She clenched onto the rim of the cauldron and gave a nervous laugh.
"I think it's starting," she said.
"Ok then, I'll just be in the other room," Cristina said, fumbling with her words nervously. She clambered up the stairs. "Just forgot about something up here! Let me know when it's all finished!" She shouted from the top of the stairwell.
Callie rolled her eyes. "What a wimp of a dwarf."
Then, just as the tingling sensation climbed up to the top of her head, she felt a shocking spike spear right through her chest, causing her to cry out in pain. Then another spike through her leg like someone had stabbed her with a knife. Then another in her arm. Callie had endured her share of pain in life. From whippings to combat injuries, but nothing quite as disconcerting as what she felt now.
She looked down at her skin and gaped at what appeared to be boils and bubbles sprouting while her skin tone began to pale in colour a bit. The searing hot needles Cristina described earlier did not do the pain justice. The pain was more like spears than needles.
Callie thrashed about, screaming, begging for it to finish, all the while in the din of agony, an epiphany sprouting in her mind that, without a doubt, transmogrification would be a cruel and unusual way to torture a prisoner.
Then, the spears suddenly stopped. Her skin had stopped bubbling. She was able to breathe again. Not a single shred of the pain was left in her body. She only felt the pleasantness of the warm cauldron water as if all that pain had all only been a figment of her imagination.
She looked around, first, at her hands. They were a shade lighter, not pale but not as olive as it used to be. Almost shimmering. She touched her hair. It was now short, falling just at her neck, like a bob cut. She looked at it and saw that it was the same brown of the lock from the cupboard. Noticeably, she felt that her vision was brighter and clearer. Her hearing had grown sharper.
"Wow, either my eyes and ears were awful, or this maiden has incredible senses," she said.
Cristina crept down the stairwell.
"Still alive?"
Callie scowled at her. "Why is that a question?"
Cristina breathed a sigh of relief and then laughed. "Only a jest."
As she approached Callie, she froze.
"Ah."
"What is it? Tell me it worked properly. No more jests." Callie asked
Cristina blushed abashedly. "Well, it certainly worked. But I just remembered something else about that maiden. She wasn't no human maiden from Greywood Crossing."
Cristina coyly brought a hand-held mirror with her. She gave it to Callie and gazed into it.
The face that stared back took her breath away with its beauty. However, as Cristina suggested, it was no human maiden. There was no mistaking the delicate chin, the fire amber eyes, and the pointed ears of an elven woman of Melima.
"You turned me into an elf."
"A beautiful elf!" Cristina responded, putting as much cheer into her voice as she dared.
With that Callie pulled a robe from the side and then stepped out from the water, and then she felt something between her legs, she looked down and Cristina followed her line of sight and they both gasped in surprise!
"So you forgot to tell me that this said elf was a intersex as well? A penis? Really?" Callie asked
"It's a pretty penis. Certainly marvellous. You are the most beautiful elf I have ever seen." Cristina added
Callie shot her a scowl and replied, "fortunately for you, this will work just as well. Perhaps even better. Certainly, not many aboard the Rose Narcissa will know much about Meliman Elves, and I've spent a fare bit of time in their capital city, Vela Toré. I'm quite aware of their mores and etiquette."
"You're going back to the Rose?" Cristina wheezed.
"That's right."
"My dear Callie, I don't want to tell you the difference between a wise decision and utter lunacy, but isn't it a death sentence if that sorceress catches you on her ship? Or am I wrong about that?"
"You're not wrong, my dear Cristina. But that's exactly what the disguise is for. So that I won't get caught."
Cristina shook her head. "Whatever it is that would compel you to go back there, I only hope it is worth it."
"Worth every breathing moment," Callie replied. "Now, what's a good elf name?"
After long deliberation with Cristina, Callie had settled on the name S'Torres of Vela Toré, a true elven name that, though relatively uncommon, had the ring of the upper echelon of Meliman society.
As she no longer fitted into her regular outfit, being now of a more delicate frame, Cristina lent her clothes which she transmogrified to her needs.
Now, all that was left was to find an aide-de-camp worthy of an elven princess. She knew exactly who she'd bring with her on this trip.
It was nightfall when Callie returned to the Mermaid's Pearl. She looked around the bar for Addison while the whores, and the patrons at the bar watched her with intrigue. It was rare for an elf to drop in on such an establishment in this scruffy corner of Galtin's Port, let alone such an elegant she-elf as Callie appeared to be now.
Not seeing either Addison or that bard she tended to cling to anywhere in the bar, Callie climbed the stairs to where she knew she could find the both of them.
She pushed the door open and found Addison atop Jackson, facing the door, gyrating her hips, driving herself onto his cock. Both were naked and sweating. Addison screamed and quickly covered her body with the blanket.
"Heya, the room's occupied!" she shouted.
Callie averted her eyes. "Sorry about that."
"Not yet, you aren't! You get your ass out of here before I -"
Addison spotted the familiar saber in Callie's hand. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped.
"What are you doing with Callie's sword? Where's Callie?" She gasped.
That response confused Callie for a heartbeat, but then she remembered her disguise, and laughed.
"Addison, it's me! It's Callie!"
Jackson sat up on his elbows. He cocked his head and scratched his stubble
"Oh, hey, Callie! You... did something to your hair, did you?"
Callie rolled her eyes. "Hi, Jackson. Yes. I did something to my hair."
"How do we know you're Callie?" Addison pointed accusingly.
"Relax, Addison. This is just a disguise. If you'll just let me explain..."
"Tell me something only Callie would know!"
"Um, Ok. You have a small heart-shaped birthmark on your inner left thigh."
Jackson rebutted, "is there anyone left in Leinyere who doesn't know about Addison's birthmark?"
"Yeah! Who doesn't know about my... hey!" Addison smacked Jackson upside the head.
"Then how about this one - I bet no one knows about my promise that I made to you last night."
Addison seemed suspicious but also amenable to hearing her out.
"Go on," Addison replied.
"I made a promise to you last night in the bar that I would take you along on my next adventure."
Addison's face brightened. She gasped. "Oh, Callie! What is... how... but... why?!"
"It's a long story. But a story I do need to tell you in full."
Callie beckoned them to a corner table, and told them everything that had happened that would lead her to being transmogrified into a she-elf. She told them about Arizona and how Arizona helped her defeat an entire band of bandits in their own camp. She told them how she then tricked Arizona, took all the loot, and now feels wracked with immense guilt because of where she ended up. And she told them about her dreams.
"So, I need to get on the Rose Narcissa to find my friend. I needed a disguise because 'Callie the Swordstress' is banned from coming anywhere near the ship, but 'Princess S'Torres of Vela Toré' is not. And that's where you come in, Addison. You wanted to go on one of my adventures? Well, this is your chance. I hope to charter a fast ship to Talishpur to meet the Rose Narcissa there. Guests of the Rose typically bring a retinue of friends and attendants, so I'll need some company to avoid looking suspicious. So, I'm asking you if you are willing to accompany me aboard the Rose Narcissa?"
"You want to take me on a trip aboard the Rose!?" Addison squealed.
Callie nodded.
Jackson cleared his throat. "And what about a bard? Surely our fair Princess S'Torres of Vela Toré requires a bard to sing of her remarkable feats."
"Um... no, she doesn't," Callie said curtly. Jackson's shoulders slumped.
Addison replied, "oh, please, Callie! It'll be fun! Let's bring Jackson. He is pretty and can distract anyone. It makes perfect sense to have a bard in your retinue."
Then, to drive the point across, Jackson broke out in song:
From Vela Toré, there comes a maiden fair!
S'Torres is her name, a beauty beyond compare!
With hair of gold, eyes like the evening veil,
Heavy seas she faces with a heart as full as a sail!
"What do you think of that little ditty? Came up with that all by myself!" Jackson said, his face beaming with pride.
"You don't say?" Callie answered sarcastically, but she couldn't help but smile. The fact that both Addison and Jackson, after hearing all she has to say about Arizona and why she might be in trouble, would still want to join her, was heartwarming. And Addison was right. It wouldn't hurt to have a bard in her company to complete the image of a vain Elven princess. Nevertheless, neither Addison nor Jackson brings with them much in the way of the sort of skills she would like to bring going into a hornet's nest. Neither were fighters and she could very well put them into harm's way, which suddenly weighed very heavy on her heart.
"You know this could get ugly, right? I mean, I don't plan on it, but there's always a risk something might go wrong. There's no telling what Carina DeLuca might do to us if she catches us. Consider the risk before you agree to come with me."
Straight-faced and with an unerring and unblinking resolve, Addison answered, "I've wanted to go on adventures for as long as I can remember, Callie. I know I haven't really told you that. I mean, I have, but maybe I always made it seem like it was only a jest. But the truth is, I long for adventure. I long to see what's beyond the Mermaid's Pearl. I long to see something magnificent, like the sorts of things the sailors from the spice ships talk about or that you talk about all the time. It's not enough for me to simply sit here all my life and spend my waking hours dreaming about what it must be like to see impossibly white sandy shores, the vast mountains with their snow-capped peaks glittering like rose diamonds in the sunset, and the storm drakes that dance and spit their flames among the clouds. Oh, how I would love to see something like those drakes with my own eyes, Scar! I don't care how dangerous it is, I want to go, and I mean it!"
To hear Addison speak with such heartfelt passion took Callie aback. It surprised her to hear that speech from a woman who had always been nothing but cheerful and never once complained about her lot in life. It brought her to the verge of tears. She hugged Addison tightly and said,
"Then I would be honored if you joined me on this adventure."
Then Callie turned to Jackson and said, "I didn't count on a bard to join, but maybe Addison is right. Maybe it is worth dragging you along, as long as you don't sing to everyone who crosses our path about our plan. So, bard, what say you? Are you up for an adventure?"
Jackson shot her a slanted smile, brushed a hand through his beautiful stubble, and said, "what's a bard worth if not filled with stories to tell? And what are those stories if not livened with daring? Besides, heh, not sure I have enough coins to spend another night in this town anyways. So, I'm with you Callie!"
"Then, its settled. A whore, a bard, and a rapscallion. What better team to rescue a sorceress in dire straits?"
Just then, Cat slinked in through the opened door. The grey tabby must have sensed that an adventure was afoot. He stretched out in a long arch as he yawned widely, then rubbed Callie's legs again, and gave her a meow.
Callie looked down at him and smiled. A burglar cat would certainly be a nice addition to the team.
"And what about you, Cat? Want to go on a boat ride?"