The halfwit halfling a b.., p.12
The Halfwit Halfling: A Bard's Tale, page 12
Chapter 18
Pursuit of Warginess
Lily tore a scrap of cloth from all our sleeves. Then, she pressed her hands together and closed her eyes.
“What is she doing?” I asked. The howls were closer now. The wargs were probably tracking our scents by now. “We need to move. They’ll sniff us out in a second.”
Gor smacked the back of my head and shushed me. “Don’t interrupt the mistress!”
Where did he get off? I stopped myself mid-swing. No. Punching Gor would only earn me bruised knuckles and a terrible debuff. “I like you, Gor, but you do that again, and I won’t stop your mistress when she attacks you again.” The capper’s green face paled on hearing my words.
When Lily opened her eyes, they glowed a deep purple. A similar light pulsed outwards from where she stood, feeling like a warm tingle as it washed over me. Then, Lily opened her eyes and smiled. Damn, that smile.
“So? What are we waiting for?” They’d be on us moment now. We needed to get moving already.
Lily pressed a finger to my lips. I couldn’t tell whether it was her natural charm or if she’d mastered the process of using her sexuality as a weapon, but she sure knew how to get my blood boiling. Moments later, cats appeared out of the alleys, nooks, and crannies. Alley and house cats walked together in varying states of cleanliness.
Kneeling, she ripped the torn clothes into strips and tied them around the cat’s necks, tails, and limbs. None of them hissed or scratched at Lily, but let her do as she pleased. Once done, she whispered to the felines, and off they went. Some disappeared into the alleys they had come from, others slipped through fist-sized holes in the walls.
“Now, they can’t track us by smell. Clever, aren’t I?”
I didn’t give her the acknowledgement she was looking for, while Gor looked up at her with adoring eyes. Finally, we got moving. Much to my annoyance, neither of my new companions displayed any sense of urgency. They walked at a leisurely pace as if there weren’t wargs and cappers looking for us.
Gor took the lead, guiding us into the older parts of the city. Instead of tent clusters, we walked between poorly planned stone and wood buildings. More howls and barks sounded in the distance. The guards had probably rallied more wargs to their cause.
Were they out hunting for just Lily and Sloane? Cook did say they’d taken Gor and me, hostage. The question was: would Grog and Lefa believe that if we got captured. Grabbing Gor made sense, but what reason would they have to kidnap me? No. There was no backing out now. I had cast my die. Now we had no other option but to run.
All my time on Earth, I’d never had a panic attack. I grew up proud. None of my friends were as calm and collected as me. Then again, on Earth, I never had muscular, green-skinned men and their monstrous hyena-wolf hybrids chasing after me.
“Over there!” It was the scarred capper that had called me a pretty boy at Klinkle’s. He spotted me through the ruins of an old stone structure. “Get ‘em, boy!” he yelled, spurring his warg onwards. I recognised it as the friendly bow from outside Klinkle’s tavern. Then again, I didn’t have enough experience with the beasts to tell the difference. For all I knew, they all looked the same. Unlike the capper, the creature didn’t need to go around the building. It had no trouble climbing over the crumbling walls and jumping from pillar to pillar.
“Run!” I yelled. My companions didn’t need telling twice. They took off at break-neck speed, putting my nine points of Control to shame. So far, our leisurely pace had helped us avoid attention and suspicion, but now we overturned boxes and pushed strangers in our pursuer’s way.
With every passing second, I fell further behind. Then, we turned too many corners to close together, and I was alone. I heard more barks nearby. The warg rider wasn’t alone. I guessed the pursuing capper, probably the warg master, had called the rest of the pack. Hoping the nearby cats would throw off our scent, I kept running.
Though I didn’t know where they went, I ran through open doors and jumped through whatever windows I saw. I had no hopes of outrunning the wargs. However, I could fit through places they couldn’t, so I used that to my advantage. A couple of times, I felt hot, damp breathe on my shoulder, but I didn’t dare look back. I couldn’t afford a misstep or a stumble.
“Maka, any help will do!” I mumbled through ragged breaths.
No spider came to my aide. She had humoured me, after all. If we agreed to something profound, maybe the system would have highlighted it like Lily’s life debt.
When I encountered a pie on a window sill, I grabbed it without thinking. No. I wasn’t going to eat it. As much as I liked flaky pastry and what smelled like beef and stout stew, my current predicament didn’t allow for snacking. Instead, when the pursuing warg got close again, I threw the pie over my shoulder. The sound of jaws snapping closed around it and chewing as the beast fell behind gave me some respite.
I recognised the locale. An expanse of tents lay to my right and the city’s only architecturally sound area ahead. I guessed Grog lived there. Probably the shaman too. To my left stood a giant cliff face and the prison where everything started.
Then, I saw Gor again. His terrified head peeked out from behind a boulder along the cliff. He waved me over. Good. At least my blind running had taken me where I needed to go. Breathing heavily, I made my way over to him.
Lily didn’t come across as the trustworthy type. Being under control, Gor didn’t either. However, I didn’t have any other options. They were my best and only method of escape. Unsure of Lily’s agenda, I planned on losing them as soon as possible. Considering how she conducted herself, Grog’s suspicions were likely correct. If she really was a spy, I didn’t want to get caught up in any of her messes or end up like Gor. If I got the opportunity to break the lovely capper free of her control, I planned to take him by the hand and run, ditching Lily while doing so.
I was halfway there when a powerful force barrelled into me.
My mum never let me try rugby. She worried I’d never survive getting tackled. While that may have been false for my old form, it wasn’t for my new one. I felt shaken to the core when my body rag-dolled into the cliff face. My ribs creaked, and the wind was knocked out of my lungs. I fell to the floor gasping for air, waiting to get mauled by an ugly maw.
The attack didn’t come. Instead, I heard metal clatter to the ground next to me. Struggling to get my arms under me, I forced myself up. It was a pie tin. I looked up at the warg. Its saddle didn’t have a rider. He must have fallen off when the canine went after the pie.
The monster licked my face before grinning at me, and I instantly recognised the goofy smile. It was the same creature I had met outside Klinkle’s tavern. The warg licked me again, and despite the smell, I couldn’t help but gasp out a ragged laugh. When I scratched him behind the ear, he showed the closed-eye look of ecstasy which confirmed he meant me no harm.
“You don’t want to eat me then?” I asked. I looked past him and failed to spot Gor. The warg’s eyes shifted between the pie plate and me. “I don’t have any more pie.”
When I picked up the dish, the creature’s smile widened. It backed up, front paws tapping the ground. Oh. It wanted to play. Standing up straight, I threw the dish, putting my hips into it. The warg chased it like a dog chasing after a frisbee, and I ran to where I’d seen Gor.
Thankfully, he and Lily were still waiting for me behind the boulder. We entered the opening together before Gor slid a panel and the boulder moved to block the opening, plunging us into darkness.
“I was starting to worry you ditched me,” I said.
“But you made it here nonetheless,” Lily replied. She murmured a few words under her breath, and a trio of purple wisps blinked into existence. One stuck by her, while the other two drifted over to Gor and I. “I owe you a life debt, remember? Until you forgive it or the system decides I’ve done enough, you’re safe.”
“Lucky we ended up in the same place.”
“No. When I cast the spell on the cats, I created a temporary psychic link between us. Even though you didn’t know it, you were following me.” Lily brushed her hair back and straightened her clothes. She didn’t need to, but I enjoyed watching her move. “It's no different from whatever Mind Magic you used to calm the warg. I have to say, that was some quick spell casting. Your Mind and Control stats must be pretty damn high.”
I didn’t correct her. If she believed I had access to magic, maybe she’d stop trying to enchant me. I figured out Lily’s plan. If she got me in the same state as Gor, she could just compel me to forgive her life debt.
“Gor, can the wargs follow us here?” I asked. “I don’t think the cats will keep them distracted forever.”
“No,” he answered. “The tunnels aren’t wide enough for them to fit and barely anyone knows about these tunnels. As far as I know, it’s only me, the warden and a couple of retired jailors.”
“Let’s hope they spend all day searching the city and don’t question Warden until tomorrow,” I said. “What do you think, Gor? Do we have reason to worry?”
“Besides, even if they do find the tunnels. This place is a maze.” Gor took the lead as we ventured deeper into the depths. It took me by surprise when he addressed me directly. “The Warden’s late grandfather had the tunnels and path carved when the clan was at war with the Bracken kobolds. In case our walls fell, he and his family planned on escaping to Eldar’s Plains. They don’t like cappers down there, but it's better than dying slowly to kobold venom.”
I missed my old body. I couldn’t tell whether Gor’s Control stat was just that high, or he had Masteries and perks helping him, but he easily scaled ledges and cleared crevices with no run-up. Though not as agile as him, Lily had longer legs and faced fewer challenges; at times she magically manipulated her clothing to wrap around rocks and pull her up. Alright, maybe I didn’t need offensive magic to survive after all. Lily’s methods, though alarming, were effective.
I made up my mind. Even if I picked up Mind Magic—which I probably would since it scaled with Charisma—I wouldn’t use it the same way as Lily did. The idea of invading someone’s mind, and stealing their free will left me feeling slimy. I never wanted to become someone okay with anything of the sort.
All teenagers dreamt of discovering superpowers, but none of them pondered the ethics of it. I guess the line ‘Who watches the Watchmen?’ struck a nerve. I neither had Superman’s sense of morality nor did I trust myself not to become Big Brother. There had to be other ways to put the School of Magic to good use.
“What are the limits of a life debt?” I asked Lily.
“I’m not your slave if that’s what you’re trying to figure out. I am open to getting into bed with you without being ordered to, but you don’t own me.
“Why would you even go there?” Was she born a sociopath or had access to Mind Magic made her that way? “No. As beautiful as you are, I don’t plan on taking you up on that offer. If we have a conversation and I ask you not to disclose what we discussed, will the life debt ensure you hold your tongue?”
“Only as long as the life debt lasts,” she answered. “However, we can make a deal through the system for an exchange of information. You answer my questions, and I’ll answer yours. Anything within the parameters of the deal will forever be for us to keep secret.”
“And if one of us breaks the deal?”
“Permanent debuffs and the system arranges restitution to the wrong party. It could be a transfer of stats, a significant Mastery or property.”
“Great, and this deal, once we declare the parameters, there is no going back?”
“No, the system won’t let you.”
『 Lily Dawnstar has offered an Exchange of Information. 』
『 Would you like to add any clauses to it? 』
I scrolled through the list until I found what I wanted.
『 Peregrin Kanooks has proposed Vows of Secrecy and Honesty. 』
Rolling her eyes, Lily agreed to it.
Chapter 19
The Three Best Friends That Anyone Could Ever Have
“Since you agreed to it, I guess you have questions for me too,” I said. Lily nodded. “So, I’ll let you establish the parameters first.”
Gor took her hand as we walked and she pulled back in disgust. Though Lily had turned the capper into an enchanted thrall, she still looked at Gor like he was untouchable. Aelves really were the assholes of Game World. Gor deserved better. He’d always been nice to me.
“I want to know who you were talking to in the dungeons,” she answered. “Admit you’re a champion and tell me as much as you can about your patron.”
『 Parameters set. 』
Perfect. I expected Lily to ask such questions. Keeping the subject secret would be difficult given the information I needed.
“I want you to explain how magic works in Game World, the different schools of magic and specifically your magical arsenal.”
『 Parameters set 』
“I guess that confirms one thing. You’re not of this world,” she said, looking disappointed. I knew it! My ignorance of the world’s magic betrayed my status as an outsider.
“I’m not. I’m a champion but don’t have a deity.”
“How does that work?”
“That’s not a part of the deal,” I answered, grinning. When no external force compelled me to elaborate, I knew I was in the right. “The Vow of Honesty confirms I’m not lying, but I don’t have to tell you why I don’t have a deity.”
“Then who were you talking to?”
I told her as little about Boots and Maka as I could without showing all my cards. Lily’s frustration was apparent. I knew very little. As a result, there wasn’t much I could tell her. Still, I let her ask as many questions as she could, giving her minimal information while at it. It let her know, though new to the world, I wasn’t some fool she could take advantage of.
Once she had exhausted her line of questioning, we moved onto my inquiries. Lily started off by listing the seven schools of magic: Creation, Shaping, Manipulation, Reinforcement, Mind, Life, and Covenant. Most of the schools were self-explanatory, but as she explained, the system tabulated the information for me.
『
Creation:
Create something out of nothing. Though Mana hungry, the art of conjuration is powerful and much sought after.
Shaping:
Mould the world in your image. Shift materials from solid to liquid without a change of temperature, or shape them however you please.
Manipulation:
Control is power. Whether it be objects or the elements, with Mana, you may leash and Manipulate all using nothing but your will.
Reinforcement:
Imbue and strengthen. Mana can empower the body, soul and the world around you.
Life:
Heal and grow. Mana can give Life just as well as it takes. Whether it be fauna or flora, everything starts with Mana.
Mind:
Not every answer lies in the physical world—telepathy, empathy, illusion crafting. When pushed, the Mind can do anything.
Covenant:
There is no shame in borrowing strength from another. Whether it be summoning or channelling a higher being’s power, it all starts with making a Covenant.
』
Lily elaborated on Game World’s magic system. Being very Mana intensive, the first four schools demanded practitioners pick a focus. It made using magic more Mana efficient at the cost of limiting the range of spells available to the caster.
Once an individual learnt to sense Mana, they could seek out a place or being of power and earn a primary attunement. This attunement defined the basis of all their spells. With time they’d find a secondary attunement to add more applications to their primary.
The system informed me that Mind wasn’t the only option. Covenant relied largely on Charisma too. I recalled Klinkle mentioning Bards getting Masteries like Beast Taming. I guessed it relied on Charisma too and would pair nicely with the Life Attunement. Mind was still by far the best candidate, but it was nice to have options. I could see myself casting illusions to distract and confuse foes while running away or directing my allies to attack them.
“Sloane told me he made a Covenant—”
“I heard what he said.” She interrupted me. “It’s probably some death-worshipping beast that gives him control over dead bone matter. He won’t have the same power level as a Manipulator or Reinforcer focusing on bones, but some argue versatility makes up for it.”
We were discussing the relationships between the different schools and how Mages combined their primary and secondary schools when we heard a distant scraping. It sounded like rocks grating against other rocks. At first, I tried to convince myself that it was the cave settling around us, but then the rhythm suggested differently.
Gor and Lily looked as concerned as I, and despite the low temperature, I found myself sweating. We didn’t stop moving. There was nowhere to go but forward. Besides, if something did come for us, we had no option but to face it head-on. Lily’s lights made us literal beacons in the darkness. Gor’s racial night vision didn’t work in the cave’s complete blackness. So, we had no option but to rely on the little purple wisps.
Eventually, a crunch added to the scraping. It sounded like digging into a bowl of cereal when out of milk. Samantha used to call me a barbarian and lazy for not going out to the store. I didn’t care. Corn flakes didn’t need milk to be great. Damn it! I was going to die in this new world of magic and monsters without eating another bowl of honey-nut or maple-pecan-crunch.
