AUTHORS NOTE:

For anyone interested, I've been working on a WorldAnvil site while I've been writing this:

Www dot worldanvil dot com slash w slash mithras-happyscrappy

I've uploaded a temporary, rough map onto this worldanvil site so that you can get an idea of some of the places Sharein has been and might be going to.

Thank you for the author follow / favourites :kismitkojo and ShadowMoon Paxs!

Chapter 88

? Day of High Summer? 768 n.c?

I was surrounded by the dark, floating in a void. I lifted my hand up in front of my face and looked down at my body. I was naked, floating in a void.

Suddenly in front of me appeared a naked Shard.

And then… Another naked Shard.

They were both, by appearance identical, but I immediately knew which was which. One was my Shard and the other was the other Shard inside me.

"You've started on the right path," my Shard whispered to me, sad eyes gazing longingly into mine.

I reached my arms out towards her, desperate to hold her, touch her, once again. Alas, we were fixed in place and as far as I stretched out she still stayed the same distance away from me, unobtainable.

"It's going to be hard," my Shard whispered again, "very hard on you and although you most likely will not succeed, I love you dearly for trying."

I felt a brief pulse, an echo of a memory, a vague reminder of how it felt to be connected to her.

And then she was gone.

The other Shard just floated there hip-cocked with a smirk on her face, an expression so out of place that if I hadn't otherwise somehow known that she wasn't my Shard I would have with one glance.

"Well now," she said, "that's one of the benefits of having both of us in here. She won't be able to do that often at the moment, but with more…" She paused for a moment and raised one hand to click her fingers. Behind her appeared floating hundreds of other Shards, all appearing exactly the same but to me subtly different, "... of us inside you," she made this sound somehow dirty, "she will be able to communicate more easily. While we are here like this, I can help guide you towards other altars. I can give you a rough idea of how far and in what direction. Again, though, the more of us the better I will be able to help."

The blackness briefly disappeared and I could see the shack around me that I was sleeping in. Suddenly we rushed up through the roof and I was looking down on the logging village! Higher and higher we went until I could see the land all around us! I could see the mountain range to our south and we were high enough that I could glimpse some of the land beyond them. To the east I could see the wall and towers protecting us from the Orc Lands and far to the north I could vaguely make out Castlemere. The logging camp below us was surrounded by a forest that extended twice the distance north as we had travelled from the mountain and far off to the east and west. Between the end of the forest and Castlemere to the north were grassy rolling hills and I could see the lights of a city at the forest's edge.

A slight glow enticed me into glancing sideways to see the other Shard glowing brightly.

"Watch!" She said before she floated off away from me, quicker and quicker.

To the west, she shot, past the edge of the forest and continued even farther towards what I assumed was the coast.

"This way," she whispered and I heard her voice as if she were still standing next to me. In surprise at the closeness of her voice, I started and there she was; floating right beside me as if she hadn't just floated off so so far away. She smirked at me and at my surprise.

"That was the closest one to you now," she said, "I can't show you any better than that though… Yet."

"Thank you," I whispered back, "should I search for that one before I go to Allarth?"

"I know no more than where this one is," she said, "but I'll be able to give you a better idea of where it is as we get closer."

"We'd better go back before you wake," she said as she peered downwards.

We started to drop and I watched frantically as the ground got closer and closer.

"Why would I wake?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the slowly growing logging village, "It's still dark."

"Wait for it," she replied with a smirk as the village got closer and closer.

The shack's roof grew larger and larger and I felt a moment of panic as it appeared as though we would crash right through it. I didn't though… I stopped, just above the roof of the shack and with my heart beating inside my chest I watched a figure walking towards it. The figure was keeping to the shadows, hiding from Luna's light. It slunk along, slowly making its way closer and closer.

In a panic I shouted for Shard, who appeared right in front of me.

"Worry not," she said with a smirk, "you'll wake up…" She paused and I looked from her to the man whose hand was reaching for the door, "NOW!"

My eyes opened wide and I was back inside my body staring at the ceiling, just as the door began to open. I watched the door open and the man enter the shack, closing the door carefully behind him. When he turned around, I could easily see that it was the village headman. He just stood there looking between us. My heart was leaping in my chest and I felt a brief moment of hesitation, of panic, before I summoned magic to do my speaking for me.

My whispered dancing lights spell illuminated the shack and was bright enough in its own unique way to wake up Karalin beside me. The headman, in shock, stumbled backwards into the door and was rubbing at his eyes.

"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded, in as stern a voice as I could manage. Something that was a lot easier after magic than I felt it would have been before it.

"Uh...uh…" He hesitated, before he started swaying a little and squinting towards me, "I jus' thought you's migh like some comp'ny," he slurred.

It was honestly very impressive acting and had I not seen the steady way he was sneaking through the village and standing before me only moments earlier I might have believed that he was actually drunk.

My voice was frosty, "you have until the count of three to get out of this shack before you are not capable of ever walking on your own ever again, let alone keeping somebody 'company' and the next person to open this door from the outside will lose their arm," he paled and suddenly, magically, sobered, "do you understand?"

He seemed frozen in place, but slowly began nodding almost on reflex. I watched with disgust as a large wet patch spread down one leg of his linen trousers.

"One," I intoned and saw him start to blink rapidly.

"Two," I continued and he suddenly turned tail and almost ran straight into the door with a loud bang.

He stumbled back, opened the door and ran out of the shack, hardly pausing to tug the door closed behind him before I had even opened my mouth for the final count.

We both let out a little bit of nervous laughter, fully aware at how close we came to a situation that could have ended much worse for us.

Afterwards we sat in silence for a few moments before Karalin said, "I don't think I'm going to be able to go back to sleep now."

I nodded in agreement, "we are still yet to get our reward for killing the Troglodytes aren't we?" I asked.

"Yes," she said with a frown, "and fifty gold suns is not something to walk away from so readily."

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

She hummed, "maybe we could get breakfast cooked and get the horses ready to go?"

Karalin was looking through the packs for the breakfast rations and equipment when we heard a noise from outside, near the door. We both froze and I readied myself to cast Elemental Projection, but there was no more noise. Carefully we moved closer to the door, quietly moved the latch and eased the door open. There, sitting on the ground in front of the door, was a small leather pouch. I looked around outside, but didn't see any movement as Karalin opened the bag.

"Well," she said, holding open the bag so that I could see the gold inside it, "looks like we've been paid."

She hefted the bag in her hand, "feels like there might be more than fifty coins in here. Maybe he's trying to apologise?"

I let out a snort, "maybe he just wants to keep his ballocks."

Karalin let out a barking laugh as we closed the door and withdrew back into the shack.

"No reason to stay here now?" I suggested and Karalin enthusiastically agreed.

A count of the coins before dividing them between ourselves revealed a sum closer to seventy-five gold with a random assortment of silver moons and copper bits added in.

We packed everything up and rode Southward out of the village before Celestine even began to rise, munching on hardtack and glad to be rid of that village, despite the fabulous celebration and interesting beer.