Book 3. Chapter 32

Book 3. Chapter 32

“Nah, I don’t care about that at all,” Hogg said when Brin got back to camp. He was sitting on a camp chair next to the bonfire, which had dwindled down to coals.

“What? I thought that’s why you sent me out there.” Brin paused, and when he felt the tingle of sound magic that meant Hogg was blocking their conversation, he continued. “We know where the bandits are now, in a way that we can plausibly explain without mentioning your Visible Eyes.”

“I sent you out there so that Sion could save Zilly from dying of exposure,” said Hogg. “Go to bed.”

Instead of doing that, Brin sat on an empty stool nearby. Marksi was asleep in his arms, so it was a relief to let him down on his lap. “We’re really just going to ignore them?”

“What do you think you’re going to do when you find them?” Hogg asked.

“Uh... defeat them... I guess. You know, you can be strangely pacifistic at times. I mean, they’re bandits.”

“Sure, and bandits are bad. If they attacked us I’d slaughter them all with a clean conscience and sleep like a baby afterwards, no problem. But I don’t have to go around hunting down everyone who does things I don’t agree with. The only thing you get from living that life is a head full of bad memories.”

Brin looked around for a stick to poke the coals with. Every good campfire should have a stick, but he didn’t see one nearby. No, he wasn’t going to use his spear. He sighed. “Don’t you think this is a little weird? Why’d they stick around? When one of the women in Sudd’s Bog saw one of the bandits' faces, she was able to get the whole group outlawed– How’s that work, by the way?”

“Huh. I guess you’ve never met an [Artist] have you? Well, there are portrait Skills that can make a reliable image off another person’s description. Cities big enough to have an organized Watch will usually have one or two on staff.”

“Ok, so this entire adventurer’s party has been identified as bandits. So why are they still hanging around? Why not head to the other side of Frenaria, or even cross into Prinnash?”

Hogg hesitated, then said, “I’ll admit, that’s got me a tad curious, too. Times like this I really miss my light magic. There’s only so much snooping I can do with eyes that can’t go completely invisible. But we’re not going after them tonight.”

Nothing sounded better than a date with his bedroll right then, so Brin decided to take that as an answer. And maybe this was for the best. Despite all the violence and dangerous situations he’d lived through, nothing stuck out in his mind more than stabbing Bianca and then Siphani to death. Killing people really was different. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to put himself through that again.

His unconscious mind disagreed, though, because as soon as he fell asleep he felt nothing but frustration and outrage at their lack of action.

[Know What’s Real] let him know he was in a nightmare almost the instant after he fell asleep. His mind filled in the gaps of Zilly’s story about Sudd’s Bog. Women had been kidnapped for ransom, but in this nightmare it was for something else. When it became clear that his mind was going to torture him with an image of a violent molestation, he started to wake himself up.

The nightmare immediately pulled back, and untethered by [Know What’s Real], Brin drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

That morning, he woke to the sound of running feet. Members of the caravan were dashing around grabbing weapons, packing up the camp, and pushing the wagons into a defensive circle. Were they under attack? He didn’t see any signs of fighting.

Hogg appeared and nudged him in the side with his foot. “Get up. We’re going after them.”

It didn’t take long for Brin to scramble out of bed, adjust his clothes, and retrieve his spear. Marksi didn’t seem to want to budge from his bedroll, apparently still tuckered out from his late night last night.

“It’s fine, leave him. Half the camp is going to stay to protect the caravan, while the rest of us go find those bandits.”

“But I thought we had decided–”

“Things change,” said Hogg.

Brin left it at that. It was one thing to mute a conversation when you were casually walking on a normal day or when you were talking near hundreds of sleeping people late at night, but having a silenced conversation now in the middle of an emergency would cause more attention than it was worth.

Hogg must’ve gotten some new information from his Visible Eyes about the bandits, which changed his mind about attacking the bandits. For now, that’s all Brin needed to know.

Some would need to leave the caravan to attack the bandits, and some would need to stay. The two groups organized themselves with startling efficiency, guided by Pio’s shouts and nudges from Jeffrey’s music. Hogg, Pio, and Jeffrey led the group to find the bandits, along with Brin, Myra, Sion, and a dozen guards. Zerif stayed behind because his [Caravan Master] Skills would work best to protect everyone if he stayed near the caravan. Davi stayed behind as well, so that both groups would have a [Bard] if they needed one.

Jeffrey began to play in earnest, and Brin immediately felt the [Bard’s] power enter his body. He felt lighter, more energetic, and clear headed. He suddenly wanted to run, and that desire was soon satisfied.

They dashed into the forest. It felt nice to run freely, guided by the thrill of Jeffrey’s song and buoyed by the energy it gave him. He also felt something else, something from him and not pushed into him from Jeffrey’s song. Nostalgia, and a twinge of homesickness.

He hadn’t been much for cardio in his old life, but whenever he did hit a treadmill, it was always with headphones in his ears playing music. It was strange to be back there, just a bit, doing something so ordinary.

Of course, this body was nothing like the flabby body he’d tried to tone up in his old life. He didn’t feel any ounce of tiredness in his limbs, and wouldn’t even if Jeffrey weren’t playing his music. He hadn’t even started to breathe heavily yet. In his old life, he’d start breathing heavily walking up a single flight of stairs.

The nostalgia faded. That old life was so different from this it was practically alien.Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

Sion was having a harder time. “How excellent, to be making this trip again so soon. Now I see why you Hammon’s Boggers are so fit.”

“Don’t compare yourself to me and Myra. We’re not normal for Hammon’s Bog, we’re the best of the best,” said Brin.

Myra was barely having a better time than Sion. She cursed as she tore her dress out of a bramble for the seventh time. “Don’t compare me to battle maniacs like Brin, Davi, and Zilly. I’m a normal person.”

Sion nodded, and kept running, panting under the weight of his backpack.

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Hogg turned to the rest of them. There was no sign on his face that Jeffrey’s overwhelming music had bothered him in the least. “The rest of you head back over there and take apart that camp. Look for anything buried, and take anything that can sell. It’ll go into your bonus.”

Brin rushed with the others to obey, grateful for the distraction. They found blankets and tents, but nothing else of value. The other bandits hadn’t left behind so much as a copper cooking pot or flint for making a fire. If the caravan hadn’t decided to come get these guys, he wondered how they would eat.

The trip back was a lot less rushed. Most people trudged along numbly, still working through the powerful emotions that Jeffrey had made them feel. He didn’t play music for the return trip, which made it a silent affair.

Eventually, Zilly, Hogg and Jeffrey drifted a bit ahead of the rest of them, and when he saw them, Zilly tilted her head to indicate that he should join them.

He trotted up ahead.

“There were more. There were twenty. I know there were. Brin saw it!” Zilly said.

“We know,” said Hogg.

“What did they tell you?” asked Brin.

Jeffrey answered. “Very little. The decision makers never told these four anything. Probably for this very scenario.”

“That Rye guy seems awfully smug about all this. Why’s he acting like he won here? They’re going to hang him in Oud’s Bog,” said Brin. “Oh. He thinks he’s going to get rescued, doesn’t he.”

Hogg barked a laugh. It was strangely foreign sounding in the still morning air. “No. Check their Classes.”

Brin did. Two [Farmers], a [Butcher], and Rye was a [Gatherer].

“Common Classes,” said Brin.

“Yep. Common Classes get extra leniency. They’ll be trotted out to some little Bog town and placed under supervision.”

“That’s insane,” said Brin.

“Is it? Common Classes are too valuable to waste if there’s any chance of reform. Most bandits have Rare Classes. That’s sort of the motivation, right? You can’t get experience in town; you don’t want to sign your life away with an army of mercenaries. So you fight monsters. Except monsters are dangerous. Humans are easier, and humans have money. That’s an added bonus.”

“I would never do that!” said Zilly.

Brin shook his head at her. “No one was even looking at you, Zilly. Guilty conscience much?”

Zilly stuck her tongue out at him, then looked at Hogg. “So how are we going to find them?”

Hogg shrugged. “We’ll find them or we won’t. If you spot them again, come running. Don’t wait for one of us to find you, come running to the caravan. Otherwise, I’m more interested in who tipped them off.”

“It wasn’t me!” said Zilly.

Brin chuckled. “Again, no one is even looking at you. Did you have something you wanted to tell us?”

Zilly glared at him. “I mean I didn’t tip them off even by accident. I was careful.”

“I believe she is correct,” said Jeffrey. “These boys had no idea who was really leading the group, but they did have an inkling that it was someone from the outside. The plans changed too suddenly, with too little explanation or discussion for them to have been moving independently. They wouldn’t have fled from one [Rog– ahem. [Warrior]. They must’ve known you contacted the caravan.”

“Someone from inside the caravan tipped them off,” Hogg said. “That’s the part I’m interested in. That’s the part that makes this my business. Someone highly-placed in the caravan is working with the bandits.”

Brin frowned. “Who did you tell about them last night? After I told you?”

“I didn’t tell a soul,” said Hogg. “Myra?”

“She went straight to bed, I saw.”

Brin looked behind, and saw Sion watching. He tilted his head to indicate he should join them.

Sion walked up, eyeing Jeffrey with a bit of nervousness.

“Hey, so after we got back, who did you tell about the bandits?” Brin asked.

“I told only Pio, and then went straight to bed. Honest,” said Sion. “Pio promised to tell Zerif, and no-one else.

Brin chuckled ruefully. So they were back to this, huh? These detective games of suspicion and intrigue were starting to feel way too familiar. Well, this was simpler than finding the [Witches] in Hammon’s Bog. Rather than have to suspect an entire town for possible culprits, they’d already narrowed it down.

There was a traitor in the caravan. Zerif, Pio, or of course, his new friend Sion.