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Chapter 22: Truce
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 09:00:11 +0000 UTCAssuine’s Conclaves took the forests that they loved, and wove them into great mats that still float to this day across the ocean.
-A Brief History of the Flood by Albert Moonsuckle
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“Explain!” Zale demanded.
Runt, who was still standing in front of their table sighed again, looked around and pulled up a chair in an unnecessarily showy manner. She pulled the chair towards her with a jerk of her foot, spinning the chair into place, facing away from the table.
She plopped herself down, legs around the back rest, and arms crossed atop it.
“Fine,” she said, “But you’re all asking for trouble. I’ve gotten reports through some of Shalia’s information network about more strange hybrid animal creatures appearing around Basin.”
“How do you have access to that?” Zale asked.
“I am her apprentice,” Runt said haughtily. “I manage a small part of it as part of my training. I’ve been giving what information I can to the academy staff in her absence.”
“The professors know about this and didn’t tell us?” Kole asked, looked at his friends with a tad of self-righteous outrage.
“Eh, why would they?” Rakin said with a shrug. “We’re just students.”
Kole’s sense of reason caught up with his—apparently—burgeoning sense of pride, and he realized his outrage had been a little unjustified.
“Where did these hybrids appear?” Amara asked, suddenly joining the conversation.
Runt closed one eye, considering before listing, “New Landing, Orinqth, and a half dozen places out in the wilds.”
“There were reports of missing primals in New Landing and Orinqth!” Amara said, jumping to her feet.
“Whoa, calm down there ant girl,” Runt said.
“How do you know about that?” Zale asked.
“I’ve paid for an information broker to tell me about any reports of missing primals to get a clue about Amintha. It’s apparently fairly common, so none of the reports so far had been anything worth going on. What were the dates?”
Runt listed the dates of the occurrences, and Amara pulled a sheet of paper out of her bag.
“They are the same day!” she shouted, getting the attention of other patrons. “We need to go find her!”
“Slow down Amara,” Zale said, gesturing for her to sit. “That was a week ago. She’s not there now. Let's talk this through.”
“When did you have time to hire an information broker?” Doug asked. “You were obsessed over your broom thing, and we were very good at keeping you distracted—ow! Who kicked me?”
“I did,” Rakin confessed without any shame.
“It’s alright,” Amara said, looking at Rakin. “I knew what you were doing. I’m not that oblivious. And I can obsess over two things. I didn’t think to keep an eye out for hybrid creatures though, that was smart.”
Amara pulled a map out of her bag as well, which had two marks already on Orinqth and New Landing.
More forcefully than Kole was used to seeing her in anything but discussions of runes, Amara looked to Runt and said, “Mark on this map where the hybrids appeared with the dates. Zale’s right, Amintha is probably long gone, but there were patterns with the last incursions here and there will be more. If we can find the location to a portal in a place primals went missing, we can find a path to her.”
“But why?” Runt asked, not rejecting the command. “She’s awful.”
“She’s my sister,” Amara said, as if it were obvious.
“But, she was so mean t’ya,” Rakin said. “Why do you want to see her?”
“I don’t,” Amara said, looking from the map, her face set in determination, but the hint of a tear welling up in her eye. “She needs to be stopped, and I need to help do it.”
Runt just shook her head, disappointed.
“Sure, it's your funeral. I’ll get you the information—and look ask around about missing primals.”
Kole looked around at the group. Zale was chewing her lip, looking from Amara to Zale with worry. Rakin looked angry, and Doug looked like he’d rather be elsewhere.
“We’re not really doing this are we?” Kole asked. “Hunting her down across Basin? No, beyond Basin. Another realm. I know this worked out last time, but that was pretty dumb of us to try to handle alone.”
“We don’t have to do it alone,” Amara said. “I just need to help. I don’t have to single handedly catch her. I can’t just sit around and wait while she’s out there hurting people.”
“Alright,” Kole said. “I’ll help, but how are we going to do anything more than mark up a map.”
“We can!” Zale said, having overcome whatever inner turmoil she’d been fighting. “I found doors!”
“You what?” Doug asked, just as Runt said ”You did?!”
“Yeah! I was going to tell everyone this morning but...” Zale turned to run, and her excitement died down. “Runt was there and I didn’t want her to know.”
“Oops,” Kole said for Zale.
“Oops indeed,” Runt said with a smile. “If you show me where they are, I can be a lot more helpful gathering information.”
“Fine,” Zale said, defeated. “But you need to promise me you won't steal anything while using them. The last thing I need is you leading a group of guards or thugs through my house—again.”
“That only happened like, twice, before your mom kicked me out,” Zale said, dismissing her concerns.
“You lead them through my room both times!” Zale shouted.
“It’s not my fault the doors keep switching around!” Runt yelled back.
”Umm, excuse me,” Doug said, raising his hand.
He was trapped in the far corner of the booth.
“If we’re done celebrating, can I go? I promised Mouse I’d—” he said, before vanishing mid-sentence.
His antlered head appeared ten feet away, next to a table of adventurers, who drew their weapons at the sudden appearance of a demonkin.
“Meet her” he finished, just as the adventurers put their weapons away, recognizing Doug and now familiar with his affliction after the broadcasted hardball match.
Doug’s inadvertent antics broke the tension, and Zale sighed. She stuck out her hand to Runt.
“Truce?”
Runt met her grip, but scrunched up her nose and reluctantly shook.
Now free of the rear corner of the booth, Doug waved uncertainly.
“Bye?”
