Much to my surprise, my blinders had loosened enough to be easily removed while I slept. I stowed them away before heading to the training area. When I walked in, I saw Katherine, back on her feet, punching a training dummy. “Oh, hey Mak!” she said between swings, just getting in some extra practice before today’s training with the group, finally convinced Glenda I didn’t need that dumb chair anymore. Her stance was proper, but it looked like she was a bit heavier on her left leg than usual. “Well, that’s great!” I said, trying to ignore it. “Yup! And I’m definitely going on the mission, no way she can stop me.” Katherine had barely finished her sentence when Krimsun walked in with the others. “I wouldn’t be so confident,” She sang, “If Glenda wants you to stay put, then put you shall stay.” Katherine huffed and took another swing at the dummy, knocking it clean off its stand.
“Since Katherine is back, we shall have you train in pairs today. Continuing with the preparations for the mission, we shall have Gus spare with Mak, and Katherine spar with Reggie.” Krimsun instructed. “Uh,” Katherine interrupted, “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rath-” Krimsun held up a hand, “No,” she said, “It is not.” Katherine frowned, “But Mak and I-” she began but was again interrupted. “You and Mak,” Krimsun spoke, moving closer to Katherine, “Have trained together for years; therefore, you are used to each other’s fighting styles. No enemy is going to fight exactly the same way as anyone you have trained with; thus, it is best to train against a variety of opponents.” She spoke with the intensity of a raging fire. “Fine,” Kat huffed as she walked over to begin practicing with the smug, but slightly afraid, Reggie.
The match took off suddenly as Katherine swung at Reggie with her training sword. Much to her surprise, he managed to duck out of the way and create some distance. She tried to seize on this as an opportunity to launch a magical attack, but he turned invisible. I had figured this would be over quickly, but it seemed that the two were more closely matched than I anticipated.
On my end, I begin sparring Gus. He had improved greatly over the past week of training, but he still had yet to hit me. But that training had been two vs one, so this might be a lot closer. Not allowing myself to get overconfident, an easy task for one such as me, I quickly began my evasive maneuvers. Like with any larger opponent, I would try and use as little energy as possible to dodge around them until they either tired themselves out, or I spotted a weak point. After a few minutes, such a weak point was presented, he overswung his weapon, leaving his backside exposed. I leaped at the opportunity and swung my sword at him. But as I did, I got a bad feeling. Gus smiled as he kicked his foot right at me! “Sorry!” he said as he struck me.
He had finally gotten used to fighting us that he could apply Krimsun’s training. But I had been learning as well. I grabbed his foot as it struck me and absorbed some of the impact by channeling my enhancement magic into my arms. I then flipped myself up in the air and came down upon him with my own weapon, striking him in the shoulder. “Ouch!” he yelled. “Sorry,” I said, “You almost had me there!” Gus smiled, “You’re just too slippery, but I’ll you next time!” We continued our training for the rest of the day.
By the end of the day, Gus and I had tagged each other with our weapons 4 and 16 times respectively. Katherine and Reggie had hit each other 5 and 7 times respectively. “Heh, not as tough as you though, eh Katherine?” Reggie prodded. “Do not get ahead of yourself,” Krimsun interrupted, “Much like with Mak and Gus, while you are indeed faster, Katherine hits harder. The number of strikes is irrelevant if none of them deal damage.” She pointed out. Katherine smirked at Reggie. “But,” Krimsun continued, “One should never assume that a weak attack is harmless, a drop of poison or a magic spell could turn a tiny prick into a deadly strike.” Without warning, she sent plumes of flame in the shape of ravens at each of us, just barely missing our heads. “We leave for Sudophos tomorrow morning, best get some rest.” Krimsun dismissed us.
Dinner was eaten quickly and silently, our minds were filled with anticipation of our first big mission, and our first mission since Oakenveil. That mission felt like an eternity ago now, and yet it had really only been about a week. Sure, Krimsun would be with us, but this was an infamous criminal, Claudius Crowfiend, and we just had our butts handed to us by a group of… well… Nequese. I hated myself for thinking that way, but it was the truth. All I could hope was that our training had paid off in some way. Katherine still hadn’t received permission to go with us and still had to stay in the infirmary at night to be monitored. “I’ll get permission for sure, don’t worry Mak I am going to be on this mission.” She said to me as we parted before bed. I could only hope she was right.
One nightmare ridden sleep later, it was time to go. I had packed up everything the night before and was double checking everything while I waited for Gus to finish his last-minute packing. “Hmmm, now where did I put my… Ah thank you Reg!” Gus said as Reggie passed him a bag of bandages. “Shhh!” a few of the other people in the barracks said harshly. “Sorry.” Gus whispered, bringing himself a little lower to the ground as if that would somehow reduce his volume. We had to leave before dawn to arrive in Oakenveil on time. Finally, we were all ready to go, I placed my things in my pocket dimension, and we made our way to the front of building. My nerves were already on edge, but things were only about to get worse. Waiting for us at the gate was Krimsun, but not Katherine.
“Where is she?” I asked. “I haven’t seen her, so I assume that Glenda must not have given her permission to come.” Krimsun said flatly, “knowing Glenda, she wouldn’t risk Katherine seeing us off as she might try and escape.” That would be exactly what Katherine would do, but still, how would I do this without her. “But captain…” I began, “No, Mak, if she is injured then she is not coming. I will not be discussing this further, let’s go.” Krimsun completely shut me down. Objecting any more would only get me in trouble, but I should at least try, Katherine would do it for me. My stomach churned as I tried to muster the courage to speak up, but only a small squeak escaped my mouth. “You say something pipsqueak?” Reggie asked with a venom in his voice. “I…” I began but then was interrupted. “Wait up!” shouted a familiar voice.
“Shhhh!” hushed voices from inside the barracks. “Sorry!” she yelled back, “Just got permission to go, let’s not waste time!” Krimsun gave Katherine a suspicious look. “Surprising…” she said quietly, “Very well, our ride should be arriving any moment… Ah, there it is.” Krimsun gestured above to a massive jet-black dragon. As if on cue, the enormous creature began its descent, its wings causing a gust of wind that knocked me back into Gus’ leg. As the dragon reached the ground it lowered its head until it was looking Krimsun dead in the eye. “You’ve put on weight, Magnus,” she said to him. “Hmph, and you’ve lost some,” he snarled back. Krimsun looked at her left arm, “Ah, you are as perceptive as ever, it still hasn’t fully grown back. I’ll blame that on Glenda getting rusty with her healing magic.” She replied.
“Well, let’s cut the chit-chat and get going! Crowfiend isn’t going to just wait around for us to catch him!” Katherine said as she hurriedly grabbed her things and got up on top of Magnus’ back which I could now see a saddle with an enclosed carriage like structure. “Why the rush, Kat? You running from something?” Reggie asked in a tone that could sour milk. “Aren’t you the one obsessed with money? Well, time is money, so get your butt up here.” Katherine retorted. We all got up on top of the dragon’s back and into the interior of the carriage, which was surprisingly spacious. “It is a long journey, even on dragon-back,” Krimsun explained, “We will go over strategies on the way.”
Over the course of nearly a day of travel, we went over everything we needed to know. “Mak, tell us about the history of Oakenveil,” Krimsun said. “Well,” I began, recalling Aldan’s history books. “It is one of the oldest cities in Regemendax, and the capital of the Gallocus province. They are very proud of their cultural heritage, and their main export is-” Krimsun raised her hand. “Thank you Mak, that is what I wanted to address,” she said, “In Oakenveil, you will need to be on your best behaviour,” she gave us all a stern look. She then gestured for me to continue. “Yes, indeed, Oakenveil was the capital of an elven country, but was annexed by Regemendax about 300 years ago.” I explained. “Exactly, I grew up there,” Krimsun said with a very slight wrinkling of her forehead, “You must all keep close to me and do as I say, please do not argue or speak unless spoken too. That goes double for you Katherine, and triple for Mak.” Reggie smirked and looked like he was about make a snide comment but Krimsun have him a grimace that would stop a charging bull.
Krimsun continued, “I understand that you know much of the history, Mak, but you will need to hold your tongue here, they will not hesitate to kill you.” She said that as if she was warning me not to have the stew at the local tavern. “Yes captain,” I replied as I tried to keep myself from shaking. “Now then, as for our prey.” Krimsun began, “Claudius Crowfiend is a skilled thief, proficient in stealth related magic as well as form altering magic which he uses to change his feathers into metallic projectiles,” she said as she read through a file. “Like most birdfolk, he has an affinity for gravity magic for the purposes of flight but has not been known to use telekinesis nor portals.” I began to scribble down notes as she spoke. “So why are we going now? Why didn’t they send someone earlier?” Katherine asked. “They wanted to handle it internally, when they found that they couldn’t, they went to the guild as requested an Elf led team.” Krimsun replied, “Fortunately, Crowfiend has a thing for theatrics, he announced that he would be stealing a particular cultural icon on a specific date. Giving us time to heal and train.” Reggie chuckled, “Convenient.”
“So,” Gus began, “What is this cultural icon?” Krimsun picked up a stone and formed it into the shape of a cube and then created the outline of a larger cube surrounding it. “This is a rough approximation of what it looks like,” she said, “it is really difficult to describe, but it represents the four elements, key to Elven culture, and an object of immense importance.” She placed the object on the table, “It is called the Quatricore.” Reggie stroked his chin, “So what does it do?” Krimsun sighs, “The item has no power of its own, it is a symbol of the connection elves have to the elements. Its value is in its historical and cultural significance.” She explains. Reggie gave an unimpressed look.
Over the course of the trip, Krimsun explained the layout of the museum where the Quatricore was kept. We went over every entrance, every corner, crevice, and window. “Mak,” Krimsun said after some time, “Wisebeak tells me you are skilled in feats of engineering. You will make a trap.” This took me aback, the idea that Wisebeak would talk about me with Krimsun never even occurred to me. “Yes, captain,” I replied as I began to sketch out some plans in my notebook. “I don’t expect a trap to hold Crowfiend for long, so we will all need to be in position to catch him.,” Krimsun began, “Gus and Katherine will guard the two exits, while I will stand just outside the traps range. Mak and Reggie are to hide near the opposing windows.” The plan was set, what remained to be seen, was whether or not we could cooperate long enough for it to work.
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