Unconquered Tower

FOUR

“Only met him for a few minutes in the last level. Haven’t seen him since, but he was alive the last time I saw him,” Roan said slowly. Roan could feel the pressure radiating off of her, similar to what he could feel when Taoya’s bloodline was active. Whoever she was, she was juiced and ready for a fight. She just didn’t have the tells that Taoya did when his bloodline was active.

“Careful. Remember those ogres,” his mind warned him.

“Hardly knew him but thought to use his name when you meet us? Helluva jump in logic,” she said. Her hands were splayed out wide by her hips, palms partially turned toward Roan.

“Same methods he was using. Wasn’t that hard,” Roan said, trying to be nonchalant.

“What is her ability? A concussive blast? Telepathy? Too many variables. If the fight starts, she has to die first. Then the crossbows above me. Fuck, there’s just too many people.” Roan’s eyes kept moving as he looked over everyone around them. None of the lounging people seemed concerned as the woman talked to him. They were either confident she could handle him without help, or that this wasn’t something that was a problem.

“But you haven’t seen him since? I’ve been looking for him. We all entered together but got separated,” she said.

“All of you?” Roan asked.

“Yeah. Us. Friends, family, acquaintances, you know, us.” She shrugged but her dark eyes were still locked on him with predatory intent.

“I don’t know us. But I can assume it’s not exactly…legal?” Roan asked, looking at the tattoos across her two associates.

“We’re in a Tower. The only laws are the laws of the Tower,” she said.

“I don’t mind. I’m a local. Not exactly well known for our love of the law,” Roan replied. She smiled at that, showcasing plenty of teeth that looked slightly pointed.

“I’m the mayor of this town. Got that after I took the other mayor’s head. Still trying to figure out how this all works, but we lost our bounty board. Enjoy the town and what we still offer. Don’t start shit, or I’ll end it, okay?” she said.

“Sure, Mayor…” Roan trailed off and she filled the space quickly enough.

“Mayor Grace. And you are?”

“I’m Roan. I’ll keep my head down,” Roan said, lying through his teeth.

“Do so. Now, we have a few hours till dark and after that every man or woman needs to be ready to fight on the walls,” she said, waving a few fingers at him before turning and walking away. Roan noticed how her guards had stiffened at the finger wave.

“An activation move for her bloodline or a signal for others?” Roan didn’t let the thought linger as he started toward where the markets had been in Village 3. He tried to count how many climbers were here in the town, but after leaving the front of the village there were none to see.

“Could that be her entire gang? No way they’ll be able to hold this village tonight with that few. Not unless her bloodline ability is stronger than Taoya’s or as devastating as Tyler’s?” Roan thought as he looked for the enchanter’s building. It wasn’t hard to find. Where their village had a line of temporal cottages, this one had a line of shops.

“What do we have here?” Roan muttered as he looked at the four shops. Each one of them had a sign in front of them with their offers.

Enchanter. Alchemist. Metalsmith. Warding.

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“Alright, I know what three of those are, but what’s the difference in warding and enchanting?” Roan asked out loud. As if to answer his question a door flew open to the warding and enchanting offices and a pair of rabbit head popped out.

“You? You wish to learn?” the enchanter asked. The warding rabbit’s ears twitched irritatedly as it folded its hands across its thin chest. Both of them seemed young, immature, their bodies not fully fleshed out. They were tower born, that wasn’t in question, but they seemed much more human-esque than even Hana.

“Yes. Can I enter?” Roan asked. The warder sighed in annoyance and shut the door with a loud thump. The enchanter rabbit laughed victoriously and waved him forward.

“Yes, of course. I have to charge you for lessons, but I am a much better teacher than Terry. And enchanting is the more superior art over warding,” the rabbit-kin said, nearly spitting the word warding out as Roan entered the small area.

“Before we begin, could you tell me the difference?” Roan asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Enchanting is the tree, warding is the branch. Warding has its specialties and own niches, but enchanting can do nearly everything warding can do. It has a deeper specialization with defensive enchantments and is better for stationary positions.”

“Thank you…” Roan let his words trail off as he looked at the beast-kin, hoping it would give its name without him having to ask.

“Oh, forgive me, I am Jerry. Terry is my brother who chose an inferior school,” Jerry said.

“Jerry and Terry?” Roan asked, an eyebrow rising up without him meaning for it to.

“My father has a strange sense of humor. The rest of my littermates have rhyming names as well,” Jerry said with a shake of his head.

“Warding is good for buildings or stationary things then?” Roan said, fighting to get back on topic.

“Yes. Primarily has to do with where you draw the source of energy. It changes the basic structure of the formula on how you develop the script. Enchanting is more flexible and thus is used on items that move. Like your rings,” Jerry said, pointing a finger at the two rings on Roan’s hand.

“Risk it.” Roan’s inner voice was hard to deny as he pulled Lester’s ring off his finger and tossed it to the rabbit. Jerry caught it with ease, squinting his amber eyes at Roan for a second before focusing on the ring.

“Ahhh, it’s locked. I see the problem now. It’s been locked to someone else. You came here for me to crack it for you?”

“One of the reasons. I would love to learn enchanting from you.” Roan also wanted the alchemy, warding, and metalsmith teachers as well.

“The rules are strict. You need to pay me before I can teach you,” Jerry said.

“And you can teach me how to break the locking enchantment on that ring?” Roan asked.

“This is trivial, though honestly it’s closer to warding than enchanting. The lock that is, not the spatial ring itself.” Jerry was throwing the ring back and forth between his hands, wide amber eyes locked on Roan.

“Alright, how much does it cost to learn from you?” Roan finally asked.

“One-thousand credits an hour.” The rabbit stared at him as if he’d be shocked by the price.

“That’s not that bad. Cheaper than the time chambers are,” Roan said. He didn’t move to pay the rabbit, not yet.

“And do you need to teach the classes here?” Roan asked a moment later. He’d been hoping it was a mob that was teaching, one he could move around with ease. A tower born was not going to be moved as easily.

“No. But this is my place. Why would I leave?”

“Have you seen what’s been going on outside? The climbers killed the mayor and the mobs guarding this village. There’s no way this village will survive tonight,” Roan said.

“And? You think a level two boss is enough to hurt me?” Jerry said with an arrogant laugh.

“You’ll lose your place here, though?” Roan said. He was trying to figure out what it was that these rabbit-kin wanted. He couldn't force them to leave, but if they agreed then there was no way Grace could stop them.

“And? It’ll just give me some freedom to run around until the level collapses. Not worried about it. Most of us do these to just break up the routine, meet others who live in different parts of the tower, “Jerry said.

“That’s a lot different from Hana. She’s a pretty strict mayor,” Roan said. His guess worked as Jerry straightened and missed the catch of the spatial ring. The small ring flew and bounced off the floor and skidded to a halt.

“Hana, you mean Ved Buul-Hana?” Jerry asked in the voice of a man who had been told his greatest dream was within reach.

“Got you.” Roan thought smugly.