The Companions of Tartiël (3 page)

“I’d put
my
finger on her. All of ‘em, in fact,” Wild said with a grin, returning his attention from his ale. “Did you see that arse? Totally hot.”

He realized he was getting mixed hostile and concerned stares from both his companions. “What?” he demanded defensively. “I was just making an objective assessment of her appearance. You can’t deny it. She’s
gorgeous
.”

The other two blew out resigned sighs, and they all finished their meal. Kaiyr put another few silvers down on the table, again under the counter-scrutinized scrutiny of Wild. “I have a reservation at this inn for the night,” the blademaster announced. “I intend to take my rest here. Shall we meet tomorrow at the air docks’ ticket stand?” The other two agreed amicably. “Excellent. I shall see you on the morrow. It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, both. Good night, Master Caineye, Master Wild.” He bowed and headed upstairs to his room, the black lower robe of his outfit dusting the stairs lightly as he climbed them.

“Intense sort, isn’t he?” Wild commented.

Caineye just smiled mildly and patted Vinto’s head. “Blademasters are like that. I’ve met a few of them in my travels. They’re very serious folk.”

“Sure seems like it. Well, I’m turning in. Good night, Caineye. It was nice to meetcha.” Hopping from his seat, Wild trundled up the stairs and to his room.

“The same to you, and good night,” Caineye said as the halfling left. Pushing back his chair, he looked at the wolf sitting patiently by his side. “Well, Vinto, shall we turn in?”

The wolf whuffled what sounded like an affirmative reply and followed Caineye up the stairs.

*

“The three of you spend the night at the inn and wake up rested and refreshed. Xavier, now’s the time to change any of your prepared spells if you need to.” Xavier shook his head, and Dingo went on, “You have no trouble finding each other at the docks the next morning, but you’re feeling rather hungry.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“You didn’t eat breakfast,” the DM responded, earning himself a trio of confused-and-turning-sour stares from the crowd. He lifted his hands defensively. “What? You didn’t tell me you ate.”

I gave him my best unimpressed look, which, I tell myself, can be quite devastating. “So, if I don’t tell you I eat, I starve? Then, if I don’t tell you I’m going to take a dump, will my bowels eventually swell up and explode, and I’ll go septic and die? Xavier, Matt, don’t forget to tell the DM you’re breathing, or you might spontaneously suffocate.” I kept up my withering expression despite the laughter at my suggestions. “Dingo, that’s ridiculous. We’re not playing
The Sims
here.”

Ridicule, my friends and I have discovered, is a great salve for stupid adjudications and rules. “Okay, okay,” he conceded, still chortling. “We’ll make it an SOP that when you get up in the morning, you eat breakfast. So knock off an extra silver for the meal.”

“Actually,” Matt pointed out, “you said that the fee for the inn covered dinner and breakfast.”

“Oh,” Dingo said, frowning. “I did, didn’t I? Damn it. Never mind, then. Okay, so you get to the docks, not so hungry, bowels not exploded. Tickets for a ride down to the continent are one gold per person.”

Xavier leaned forward. “What about Vinto?”

“Oh, right,” the DM replied. “Um, since he’s about the same size as a person, they’re going to charge you an extra gold for your wolf.” We all erased the number representing our inventory of gold pieces, or gp, the standard unit of currency in the D&D game, and wrote in our new balances. “The ride down is nothing special; it’s the easiest, cheapest, and most common way to get from the surface to any of the floating cities and back down.

“All of the floating cities have a sister city on the ground, though usually the ones on the ground are far smaller than the one above them in the sky. Ist’viel’s sister city, Viel, barely qualifies as a town. It’s got one tavern with some rooms to rent out, a general store, a small dock for taking people up, and a few houses in addition to the usual: blacksmith, cobbler, and so on.”

*

Kaiyr, Caineye with Vinto, and Wild disembarked from the small airship and made their way through little Viel. There was little that drew their interest, except for an overlarge prison set at the center of town.

“It’s probably to keep extra criminals from above,” Wild said by way of explanation. “I mean, there’s only so much real estate in Ist’viel. Why waste it on un-pleasantries such as prisons?”

“True,” Kaiyr replied. “Come. Let us find this abbey. The Lady Astra was intent on meeting us there.”

Caineye and Wild fell into step as the young blademaster led the way, his sandals tap-tapping quietly on the dirt road leading out of town.

The trio followed Astra’s directions, heading northwest from Viel. True to her word, a small footpath wound its way through the verdant woods north of Viel, leading the party to the base of a short cliff. The trail led its way up the side of the brown rock face via hairpin turns, and then back into the trees for a short distance. The party finally stopped, facing the large double doors of a small abbey. It was of medium gray stone, and despite the signs of some age, it had weathered the years well. The abbey sat on a small plateau partway up the sheer mountain and was thus shielded from all the elements except rain. Swaying, ancient trees stood whispering sentinel over this place, where one could come to worship the glories of nature.

Caineye glanced at the symbol carved into the stone over the door. “An abbey consecrated in the name of Alduros Hol,” he offered. Kaiyr and Wild looked his way, and the druid shrugged. “I am a believer,” he explained. “We shall be welcome here.”

Reaching out, Caineye pushed on the doors, and they creaked open to reveal an entrance hall well-lit by noontime sunlight streaming in through the windows. The stones inside the hall were covered in leaf carvings, and Kaiyr immediately realized that the mottled look on the walls outside must have once been beautiful carvings such as these.
Alas for the passing of time
, he lamented.

“Hello?” the druid called into the hall. Vinto stepped around him and trotted across the flagstones, immensely unconcerned and feeling right at home. The wolf sniffed the ground for a moment, and then let out a low howl of greeting to the abbey.

“I guess that takes care of that,” Wild muttered to Kaiyr.

A moment passed before a voice rang out from the back of the abbey. “Is someone there?” called a kindly male voice. A middle-aged man wearing robes of earthen colors stepped through a small doorway that led to a courtyard. “Ah,” he said, striding toward the party with a cheerful twinkle in his eye. “We have visitors.”

Kaiyr and Wild stepped beside Caineye as Vinto circled the priest, sniffing at him with great interest before returning to the druid’s side. The robed man did not seem disturbed in the least by the wolf’s inspection.

“And I see we have a friend of nature in our midst,” said the priest, brushing dirt off his hands and tucking a well-used trowel into the sash holding his priestly robes. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Father Cobain.”

*

“The priest looks at you and says,
Allow me to introduce myself. I am…
” Dingo trailed off, looking around the room for inspiration, obviously not having prepared a name for this fellow ahead of time. “Uh,
Father Cobain
,” he said at last.

“Cobain?” Xavier laughed. “Like Kurt Cobain?”

Dingo shrugged. “I had a name for him at some point, but I can’t find it anywhere. I, uh… well, there’s that poster of him behind you. I kind of grabbed the first name I saw on it, which just happened to be Cobain’s.”

We all chuckled for a bit before getting back into character.

*

Caineye was the first to reply to the priest. “Greetings, Father Cobain. I am Caineye, a druid in the service of Alduros Hol. This is my longtime companion, Vinto, and these are my newfound companions…” He stopped and allowed the others to introduce themselves.

“Well,” Father Cobain said after introductions had been made. “It’s a pleasure to have a druid visit us, and an honor to be visited by an elven blademaster. Please, come in and make yourselves at home. I know not where you are bound, but no matter where you are headed, a break and a meal are always welcome, right? It is—oh, my, it is far past lunch time. I should have called one of the brothers to stop working in the gardens and prepare some food. Come, I’ll see that you don’t go hungry, and I’ll have someone prepare beds for you. Is it all right if I put you all in the same dormitory?”

None of the party had any objections, so Father Cobain led the three adventurers and the wolf back into the sanctuary. Kaiyr got a good look out the doorway. It had no door and led directly outside, where he could hear some kind of fountain or spring bubbling merrily just beyond a low hedge. Two corridors broke away from the main hall, heading in opposite directions. Cobain stopped before they got to the hallways and opened a nearby door.

“Here. Please, take seats and make yourselves comfortable. I’ll see to the kitchen.”

“Please, Father Cobain,” Kaiyr said, following the human back behind the counter, “allow me to help in return for your hospitality.”

“You know how to handle a knife?” The question earned the priest a slightly amused, raised eyebrow from the blademaster. “Never mind, that was a silly question.” Reaching over, he grabbed a rope and gave it a few tugs. Elsewhere, a tolling bell called the abbey to mealtime.

Cobain, as well as the acolytes and brothers that arrived, seemed amused by the blademaster’s prowess in the kitchen. The priest handed Kaiyr vegetables; he stared at them, blinked once, and then let perfectly-sliced vegetables fall into a wonderfully aromatic soup.

The blademaster rejoined his impressed companions shortly thereafter. The other brethren, seven in total, arrived and took seats, engaging the trio in polite conversation. Vinto seemed happy just sitting and wagging his tail whenever Cobain put more ingredients into the soup.

The meal was as delicious as it smelled, and Cobain suggested that the travelers bathe in the hot springs out back and rest for the day.

Kaiyr was the first waking soul the next morning. Considering the elf never truly slept but meditated in a mysterious fashion only known and experienced by elves, “awaking” was but a formal term. It was a fact that had on occasion made him very glad to be an elf, especially when danger loomed that would have overtaken one in slumber.

This morning held no such dangers, and he availed himself of the springs again before dressing in his customary blue robes and robe-like, wide-legged pants of heavy, black canvas. As he shook out his hair, the scent of a hot breakfast wafted past his nostrils. Intrigued, he followed the scent to find Father Cobain in the kitchen, frying eggs and potatoes on a wood-burning stove.

“Ah, good morning, Blademaster Kaiyr,” the human greeted him.

“A good morning to you, as well, Father Cobain,” Kaiyr replied, as grave as ever. “This is quite providential. I wished to speak to you.” He folded his arms inside his sleeves and stood before the counter. “My companions and I are awaiting word from a mutual acquaintance, and we were hoping to weather a few nights here. Three, at most. If that is a problem for you, we understand and can find shelter elsewhere. But if you will allow us to remain here, we will gladly help with any chores or projects under way. I discussed it with them last night ere we took our rest.”

Cobain’s kindly face lit with a smile. “How generous of you. We would have put you up for as long as you desired, regardless. You and your friends have kind hearts. I shall see what kind of help you might be able to give us. I know the library has become too dusty for its own good, and Brother Daniel could use a hand with the gardens out back.”

Kaiyr nodded respectfully and fell silent.

After breakfast, Father Cobain put the travelers to work at various chores. Kaiyr found himself stripping out of his heavy robes and into work clothes to help repair some potholes in the mountain road leading to the abbey’s main gate. Caineye helped Brother Daniel in the gardens, which he found somewhat unusual for an abbey dedicated to Alduros Hol, but he went along without complaint.

Wild was left in the main hall with a broom a little too large for him, but he worked his way around the room, chasing dust and twigs and leaves from all the corners of the room and out the front door, which was open to let in light and a soothing mountain breeze that helped cool the summer air.

As he worked his way past one closed door, Wild shivered as a draft of unnaturally cold air swept over him.
Odd
. The door was fully closed and melded almost seamlessly into its frame.

Wild glanced around, seeing if there was anyone about to see him. Upon confirming that he was alone, the short fellow pulled out a lockpick hidden in his hair and raised it to the large brass keyhole that was out of place in this abbey.

It was just before the lockpick touched the brass that the halfling noticed very faint runes traced on the wood around the lock. Unfortunately, it was too late to change direction, and when the pick tapped the lock, a silent gout of flames appeared over the halfling’s head and rushed down in a blazing inferno.

Leaping out of the way, Wild stifled a shouted curse of surprise. He didn’t entirely escape the flames, and he spent a moment beating out little fires that sprang up over his clothing. After he was certain he wouldn’t catch fire and that his eyebrows yet survived, the halfling scowled at the door. The runes flashed once and then fell quiescent, fading once more to nearly invisible outlines.

“That is the epitome of suspiciousness,” he whispered to himself, sparing a glance at the opposite door. It, too, had a keyhole, this one silver. Curiosity had already almost gotten the better of him, so Wild tucked his worries and suspicions away for the time being and finished sweeping the rest of the hall.

As the day drew to a close, the chores ended. Kaiyr frowned at Wild, noticing a few subtle signs of burns that Wild had deftly disguised. The halfling saw Kaiyr looking at him and very surreptitiously shook his head. Understanding, Kaiyr said nothing.