Heartworm

“A fucking POND?!”

“How was I supposed to know?”

Between sputters and shivers, I verbally slapped Lucas for dropping us directly into a scummy pond just outside of Thrieve. Thick water (or sludge?) filled the gaps in my boots immediately like they were unwelcome family members coming home for the holidays, causing them to nearly slip off of my feet as I trudged through the murk towards the edge of the pond.

“SHIT!” Sebil’s voice crept up into my ears from behind me, followed by sounds of intense exertion. I watched as the large contraption he always had strapped to his back flew past the side of my head to land and roll across the ground near the edge of the pond. Must have been sensitive to water, whoops.

By the time I had crawled out of the miserable earthen soup of a pond, I had managed to cough up the majority of the water that I accidentally sucked in upon splashing into the water. I didn’t even want to think about the amount of diseases that might have been brewing inside of nature’s cesspool of what was more a suggestion of water. The first thing I did upon reaching the solid ground, well, most solid mud, was slip off my boots. A miniature flood spilled out of my boots, complete with enough fish to make it seem like I was smuggling an aquarium inside of my shoes.

“Ew! I’ve got some fucking hitchhiker’s because of your bad aim, cornrows!”

I threw the fish back into the pond with a hand. My entire body was soaked already, so the slimy texture was less of a problem than it normally would be. After I had drained the swamp inside of my footwear, I slipped the boots back on and looked to my other two companions.

Sebil had pulled himself out of the water second, immediately taking off the glove on his right hand to reveal the metallic prosthetic beneath. He pressed a button on the side that sent the pseudo-limb spinning in a circle to dispel any water from the inside before he put the glove back on. Freaky. Cool, though.

Lucas was the last to escape the brutal grasp of the sludgy pond, pulling himself onto the mud shore to sit back onto the bottoms of his feet as he knelt in the mud. I wasted no time whatsoever moving to Lucas to plant the wet hot kiss of a slap across his cheek.

“You’ve earned yourself a new name, pondscum. You couldn’t have put us on solid fucking ground?”

“I didn’t want to risk showing up inside of Thrieve so I teleported us just outside. How the fuck was I supposed to know there was a pond out here!”

I wanted to slap him a second time, but I knew it wouldn’t accomplish much but relieving more of my anger. I didn’t know how teleportation worked, but I doubted he would have thrown himself into the pond intentionally, so he most likely wasn’t lying. It didn’t change the fact that I had no intentions of swimming with the fish today.

I noticed that Sebil was very worriedly checking over his strange contraption that rested on his back. He was very briskly opening containers along the cylinder, in what I had to assume was to check if any water had managed to get inside. “You good there, Sebil?” The man turned to face me and shot me a reassuring smile. “It looks like I got lucky this time. If water enters some of the chambers it can exponentially increase the weight of the device, which leads to instability.” He explained as if I understood what he was implying.

“Instability would mean…?”

“An incredibly potent explosion. Not one that we’d survive.”

“Sebil. Are you carrying a bomb on your back?”

“That’s not its express purpose, no. That is simply a possible symptom of it breaking.”

“Oh my Gods you’ve been hauling a fucking bomb with you the whole time!”

“No! It’s an expansive containment device! The bomb part would only happen under extremely specific circumstances.”

Lucas chimed in to our conversation. “That’s a horrifying thing to have told us only now, Sebil. What if those ‘specific circumstances’ were to have occurred earlier?” For once, I had to agree with Lucas. The idea that a mistake along our walk that sent Sebil tumbling into a body of water long enough would have resulted in a mass landscaping event was not very comforting. I decided it was best to put my own concerns to rest now. “Are there any other inventions of yours that could suddenly end our lives?”

“Um. Not unless I used them on you, no. Some of them are meant to harm, after all. I just have no reason to use them on anything other than enemies.”

That was… sure. Technically my Dahlia’s could kill the two of them as well but it didn’t mean I was planning on using them in such a way. I took the time to look around where we had been teleported to, aside from the pond that held more colonies of life in it than I ever wanted to consider, that is. Lucas had in fact teleported us close to Thrieve. I could see the expansive city in the near distance, only a few minutes of walking down what seemed to be the main road into the city. Thrieve was one of the more typical cities in all of Kistram, but where it lacked in unique personality, it made up for in utmost practicality. It had just about anything you would want from a city, as long as you knew where in the winding streets to look for it.

I had a certain fondness for Thrieve. Maybe it was purely nostalgic, but due to it’s proximity to the estate, it was the first place that I ran towards after… well, ‘leaving home’. I hadn’t stayed for too long, but it gave me comfort when I was alone and scared. It was also where I had first met Phern, at least, sort of. We met outside of Thrieve, but we actually got to know each other while I stayed at a local inn. I was beginning to realize that the reason I liked this city was almost purely sentimental, so it was possible that coming back here after 8 years would disappoint me. I wondered how much had even really changed, from what I could see in the distance, it looked exactly as it had when I had found my way here at 16. I remember that I had to lie my ass off about my parents being inside the city to get the guard to admit me inside without any sort of identification. I’m ever so grateful he did so, because the fury filled 16 year old girl might have kicked the shit out of him if he didn’t let her inside.

“So we’ve got, what, three days to find the two of them?” I asked, looking between the other two as they started to slowly wring out their clothes, the scent of pond water only growing stronger as the seconds ticked by. The missing presence of Phern was really starting to get to me, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that Phern would have been able to get me looking and smelling fresh in only a moment with a spell of hers. She just had to get kidnapped to Thrieve where I would have constant reminders of our first meeting. Just another reason why I needed to make sure she’d be safe.

“I would guess so, travelling from Varenthell to Thrieve would take some time, even with the more expensive modes of transportation.”

I needed to hold on to the hope that we had time. Even with hope, came the need for logistics. “Then let’s get going. I don’t want to waste a second.” I moved towards Lucas, reaching back into my bag to pull out the set of magical restraints that I had removed from him for him to perform the teleportation. As I pulled the metallic bindings from my bag, Sebil spoke up.

“Do we need those, love? I mean, he did just teleport us to Thrieve like he said. If he truly wanted to sabotage us, he either wouldn’t have told us he was capable, or we would be halfway across Kistram by now.”

“He is a Marked, Sebil. His sister is the entire reason we’re in this mess right now.”

“If not for Lucas, my head would have been separated from my body by that very same sister.”

I looked to Sebil, and then to Lucas. The two of them certainly liked defending each other, whether in combat, or in the discussions that followed them. Just what had they been talking about in secret?

“Apologies, but I feel the need to interrupt and add that walking into Thrieve with a cuffed Marked is a very bad look. I could easily get us inside if you leave the restraints off.”

I let out a deep grumble as I pressed my fingers into the bridge of my nose. Having a Marked to vouch for us at the gate would make our entrance trivial. I didn’t trust the man, but I didn’t doubt that the Marked has used his mana in the teleportation, making him less of a threat in the time it took for him to regenerate his stores.

“Fuck! Fine, whatever. I’ll pluck your fucking toenails and fingernails one by one if you decide to go back on this.”

I put the magical restraints back into my bag, with a bubbling anxiety that toiled within my gut as we started to walk towards the city of Thrieve. Was I making a mistake? If so, I’d make sure that it was a bigger mistake for Lucas to turn on me. Our journey to the front gates was short-lived, only giving me a sparse few minutes to think back to the scant memories that I had in this place.

I was not pleased to hear and feel a squish with each step, but since my magical clothes dryer, Phern, was inside of the city, it was going to have to naturally dry while I wallowed in embarrassment. Maybe they wouldn’t question our soggy clothing if Lucas pushed us through quickly enough? I doubted that the guards would believe that we just decided to go for a clothed swim to cool ourselves off.

“Just follow what I say. I’ll get us through.” Lucas muttered loud enough for the two of us to head as we finally walked up to the ominous gate. It looked like the same traditional gate to a city that I had been stopped at as a 16 year old. The same rusted portcullis looked above the entrance like an executioner’s axe readied to strike.

“I’m here on a mission from the capital. Let us through.” If confidence was the key, then Lucas was already turning the lock.

“Are you here to meet the Council?”

The Council? Of Varenthell? I was thankful that the guard was too focused on Lucas to notice my surprised reaction. Pondscum he may be, but Lucas kept a very unpaused reaction to learning about the information.

“Have you ever spoken with a Marked before? The details of my mission are not to be shared with a petty gate guard.”

Ever the shithead. The guard immediately relented, looking ashamed to have ever asked the question in the first place. He had already moved aside to allow the three of us in, making no mention of the pungent murk that drifted off of our clothes. Was that it? Bootlickers to the Empire they might be, but damn I was jealous of how simple travel seemed to be as a Marked. No one dated question you, citizen of the Empire would sooner throw themselves on top of a puddle to save a Marked from getting their feet wet. Pathetic, really.

“Simpler than I thought it would be.” Sebil gave a short chirp once we had fully made it inside of the gate. Thrieve was already as overwhelming as I had remember it was when I was a teenager. Large cobblestone buildings were stuffed together like an architect was tasked with filling the city to 150% of its capacity, squeezing more buildings in a row than had any right to be there. It was charming, and possibly the only distinctive quality that Thrieve had. Slightly too much of everything. A more paranoid person might think the very buildings that lined a street were closing in on them to trap them.

“The citizens of the Empire know the significance of obeying a Marked.” Lucas spoke in a very calm tone. It was a momentary reminder that, while he was currently cooperating, this man was a Marked, chosen by the Empire to uphold all that it stood for.

“Is a throbbing ego part of the job requirements for a Marked?”

“You care for nothing but yourself, Cecelia. There is an Empire that has given you everything, a home, civilization, protection. Yet you wouldn’t lift a finger to help the Empire. Do you not understand the concept of standing for something greater than yourself?”

“Protection? Don’t make me laugh, pondscum.” I wouldn’t even begin to let him lecture me about protection. The Empire had nothing to say when my village was attacked. The Empire didn’t lift a finger to stop my family and home from being cut out of my life.

Lucas might have realized the same thing that I realized, which is that arguing with a Marked in the middle of the street would draw more attention than it was worth. An unofficial timeout had been called between the two of us as we waded through the streets of the city, leaving wet steps and dripage as we walked. There were plenty of eyes on us. Was it because of our aquatic enthusiasm, or because we walked with a Marked? Feel free to guess, though I won’t be handing out prizes.

“If we can find an inn close to the center of the city, we can spread out from there to find the others.” Sebil suggested a sound plan as we walked, meaning that we passed up on two different inns in order to find a more central location within Thrieve. I felt eyes slide over my body, measuring up every inch of danger along my body. Were these people afraid of me? If I was in their position, it wouldn’t be fear that I felt, but disgust. Sebil and I did not look like the type of people you would expect to work for the Empire, for good reason. But as we walked with Lucas, it was likely that every person who watched us pass was making the assumption that we worked for the Empire, for better or worse. An even mixture of gazes from anger all the way to amazement. I wondered how frequently Lucas dealt with the full spectrum of opinions that people had. Was he cheered for in some cities? Spat at in others?

By the time that we had made it close to the heart Thrieve, I was at the end of my soggy rope. If I was asked to walk even five more minutes with squishy boots and dripping leather armor, I would sooner strip down naked than continue in my clothing. Thankfully, I did not have to start my nudist lifestyle today since we arrived at another inn. Getting a room was just as easy as getting into the gate. The moment that Lucas walked in and asked for one, the innkeeper scrambled to find a key and gave us a room without any need for payment. If I knew that being a bootlicker gave you such a discount I’d have been polishing leather with my tongue.

The room was surprisingly nice, even spacious! Which for Thrieve, was always greatly appreciated, what with rooms so tightly packed for ‘efficiency’ that buildings resembled model homes more than they resembled real homes. There were two beds inside of the room, with a cozy red theme that found its way into every element of aesthetics within the room. If this had been the room I had when I was 16, I might have been convinced to stay in Thrieve longer than I had.

The first five minutes within the room was a furious game of ‘who could unpack fastest’ as we all chose a corner of the room to lay out the equipment that we had been carrying through the city. When we had grabbed our stuff from our rooms in the estate before teleportation, we were understandably feeling extremely rushed. There wasn’t much time to consider how to pack, as we were finding out how we could take every personal belonging of Phern’s on top of our own items. Bandit had thankfully not accumulated much of her own stuff, meaning we only had to worry about one extra person’s equipment. The moment that I had unpacked my stuff I moved to the bathroom with a change of clothes. It wasn’t armored, which felt like I was peeling off a layer of skin. Phern was the only one in our group that understood why I never seemed to take my armor off unless I was sleeping. It was a habit I developed when I was younger that I couldn’t seem to break. Not having a layer of protection around me made me feel almost naked, like I was always seconds away from something piercing my heart.

I could stomach the simmering fear of being unprotected in order to have dry clothing. I was not going to take another step in my soaked clothing. By the time that I had finished changing, Sebil and Lucas had already changed into their own dry clothing. When I stepped out of the bathroom I was taken aback to see Sebil’s hand resting on the small table in the room. I hadn’t ever seen it removed before, but based on the way he was closely examining it, it seemed like this wasn’t usual either. Had it gotten damaged in the fight at the estate?

I had found a place to hang up my armor to dry, silently praying to no God at all that they would be dry in the morning. Once I had finished that, I moved straight for the door, a firm yet gentle hand catching mine before I reached the door.

“Where are you going, love?”

“To find Phern and Bandit.”

“It's already late, Cecelia. You haven’t rested for even a moment since the altercation at the estate. Why don’t you take a moment’s pause before we start searching for them tomorrow.”

“Not while they’re in danger.” I spoke coldly while staring into the eyes of the inventor. I had no way of knowing what was happening to Phern and Bandit as we spoke. It was easy to imagine an expansive list of horrible things that could be happening to them at this very moment.

“If you find them tonight, love, what changes? You are exhausted, in no shape to fight, with none of your armor, none of your allies, suffering from wounds earlier in the day. Even if by some miracle you found them tonight, you wouldn’t be able to do anything to help them. I know it cannot be easy, love, but if you run yourself ragged there will be nothing you can do to save them.”

Sebil’s words felt familiar. I knew that I had heard something akin to that statement before. Ffenton and Phern had both told me nearly the same thing in the past. Though it wasn’t about saving people then, it was about my all-consuming desire for revenge.

Every part of my being wanted to rip my hand away from Sebil and leave the room. I wanted to search every corner of Thrieve tonight, pushing through all of the pain just to find Phern and Bandit. It felt like a form of failure to go to sleep tonight while they remained in danger. But I knew what Phern would say to me if she was here. The scamp would scold me for even considering what I was about to do.

It took a full two minutes before I responded to Sebil.

“First thing in the morning. I will find them, even if I have to uproot every stone in the streets.”

“First thing in the morning, love. We’ll find them, Cecilia.” Sebil spoke with the kind of confidence I usually had. I contemplated scolding him for attempting to copy what I had so clearly adopted as my ‘brand’. I guess I can let it slide this once, his confidence carried with it a kind of infectious hope that tomorrow we’d find the two. Holding on to that hope was the only thing that allowed me to drift off to sleep that night.