Chapter 46 - Overseer

Seven bright and shining gold coins—more money than Hump had ever had. They glistened in his hand like suns, and he stared at them gleefully. Was it worth almost dying? Yes. Absolutely. He’d need to replace much of his equipment of course. Wizardfire alone would cost almost half that, and then there were a few other useful bits he’d rather not do without: his essence elixirs, the healing supplies he hadn’t been able to replace since his master’s passing, and of course, food. This was enough money for him to splurge.

When he looked up, Celaine was staring at him as if he were a creep.

“What?” Hump asked.

“You’re drooling,” she said, scrunching her nose in disgust.

Hump wiped his mouth with his sleeve and coughed, his face feeling flushed. “I was thinking about food.”

Bud laughed. “So what is the plan after this? Hump needs to prepare himself for these trials, but how should he do that?”

“Your bond with the dragon will help you,” Vamir said. “Even before it hatches, its essence will nurture your own, and yours it. My knowledge on wizards is lacking, but practice as you would normally, and you will see results.”

“That’s hardly going to be enough to face the trials anytime soon,” Celaine said. “He needs training.”

“I actually had some ideas about that,” Hump said. “A close friend of my master’s used to party with us on occasion. A wizard called Vivienne—she specialised in magical theory. Last I heard, she had set up a laboratory at a place called Fishers Lake, home of the largest fish in the world but nobody knows why.”

“You think she’d take you in?” Vamir asked.

Hump nodded. “I think she’d pay me to stay once she realises that I have a dragon egg. It was almost a year ago, but I think there’s a reasonable chance that she’s still there.”

“Do you trust her?” Vamir asked.

“Yes,” Hump said. “And she’s the only wizard I know that might be willing to train me.”

“What do we do if she’s not there?” Celaine asked. “A year is a long time for somebody’s plans to change.”

“It’s only about two weeks from here.” Hump shrugged. “We can take a few quests along the way to make the trip worth our while and be there in a month. If she’s not there, perhaps the town’s folk will know where she went, if not, it would be a good chance to practice anyway. I have my spellbook, and I’ve learnt several new spells since coming here.”

“It’s a start,” Vamir said. “There’s these too.” He pulled two tightly bound rolls of parchment from his inner pocket and passed them over.

Hump took them. One was perfectly white, the other had a silver finish to it. Hump opened them and his eyes went wide. They were party invitations to the White Peaks and Silver Spears. All they had to do was present the invitation at one of their guild halls and they would be welcomed. It wasn’t the riches that Kassius had promised but joining either guild would lead to a respectable career.

“This is perfect,” Hump said. “We won’t need to worry about resources for sure, or money, or finding a place to sleep at night. We’d have to work for it, but they’d train us.”

“Don’t get too excited,” Vamir said. “At the end of the day, guilds are profit based organisations. Your dragon egg already puts a target on your back and joining either one of these would put you out into the open for all to see. None of you are strong enough to risk that yet.”

“Then why did you give it to us?” Celaine asked.

“It’s not ideal, but if you cannot find this wizard, either of these guilds will have the resources you all need to grow. Though before you join, I suggest both you and Bud reach your third blessings.”

“And I should be able to qualify as a Rank 3 Wizard, given enough time,” Hump said. “I have a Tier 4 battle magic spell in my book.”

Vamir grinned, his seriousness gone. “Not a bad plan at all, if I do say so myself! Now you three just need to avoid screwing it up. Do you think you can manage that without me around?”

All three of them laughed.

They talked with Hump a while longer. Not about anything important, but it was nice to be caught up on everything he had missed. Three days had passed since the battle in the dungeon’s depths. With the dungeon core claimed, what remained of the kobold forces were in disarray.

Tunnels had been discovered on the far side of the kobold village, leading out into the mountains that surrounded the crag. It was how the kobolds had managed to raid the village of Hursdale and capture its people under the notice of those at the encampment. A number of small guilds and individual parties were still inside, doing what they could to remove the kobold infestation, but that would take time. Many would escape into the local forests and mountains.

While the king’s bounty might have been completed, Hump suspected the Mountain Road would be plagued by kobolds and other monsters for a while to come. At least without the dungeon core the kobolds lost their boons and no other creatures would be drawn to the presence of its domain. It was a victory, but a costly one, nonetheless.

When they left, Hump asked his ever-present guard to pass on a message to Oswald. He was ready to speak to him now.

The guard frowned suspiciously.

“It’s not like I could run very far in the two minutes you’re gone,” Hump snapped.

The guard nodded. “Stay here. Don’t run anywhere.”

Hump rolled his eyes. “I got it.” Once the man was gone, he turned his attention to something else. Since he’d woken up, he’d not been left alone for a moment. Either a healer, nurse, or the guard was supervising him. And he’d had something he wanted to test, an urge that had been calling to him.

He focused on the unlit, half-melted candle on the guard’s table. Gathering his essence, Hump willed a small strand of it toward the wick. He felt the air warm ever so slightly against his skin.

“Spark.” Essence surged; the candle erupted in a pillar of flame that nearly reached the top of the tent. For a moment, Hump just stared at it in shock, then common sense caught up to him. He rushed out of bed and grabbed a glass of water, hurrying over to the table and dousing the candle. He let out a breath and staggered back, sitting on his bed.

“Huh,” he said out loud. He scratched his forehead and frowned.

Gods. He’d hardly used any essence. He hadn’t even used his staff. He’d felt fire essence calling to him when practicing River and Waves, and this confirmed his suspicions. His affinity with Fire had improved. It hadn’t just improved; it might even be stronger than his affinity with Earth. And he was stronger than before. He’d hardly sensed a hint of cold from a spell that would have previously sent a chill through his body. There was no way the egg alone could have done that, which left only one possibility. The imprint of its mother on his soul might have had more serious effects than he’d thought.

Boots thumped outside and a moment later the guard was in the entryway, frowning down at the table and the now soaking wet candle.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Hump said. “I was just…” He sighed. “Okay, this is exactly what it looks like. I almost burnt the down tent lighting the candle.”

The guard sighed. “Doesn’t matter. Oswald asked me to bring you to him.”

Hump put on his freshly cleaned wizard’s robes. He was sick and tired of his tent, and had no intention of returning to it, so he packed up all the gear he had. Most of it fit in the leather pouch Celaine had bought him, which he wore over his shoulder, securing his dragon egg in place inside by padding it out with his potion pouch. Then he tied his spellbook to his belt and took up his staff.

It was late afternoon, and the sun was setting over the encampment. Hump breathed in the cool, refreshing air and looked across what remained. There were half as many tents as before. Most dungeoneers didn’t stick around long once a dungeon was cleared. There was little money in hunting down straggling kobolds, so that would be left to the weaker dungeoneers that were just looking to scrounge up whatever coin they could now that the larger guilds were preparing to leave for better paying work.

When they arrived at Oswald’s tent, Hump took a moment to straighten out his gear and calm himself down. Something had been stolen from him, but he wouldn’t get it back by losing his temper. He needed to approach this logically. Once he was ready, he willed a sliver of essence into his staff; just enough to make the runes shine with the faintest glimmer and make the core of his crystal focus shine with blue light. He was a wizard after all, he had to look at least a little impressive.

Overseer Oswald was on his own inside, looking over a map of the surrounding region. He turned around and nodded toward the guard. “Thank you, Darrel. You can leave Wizard Hump with me.”

“I’ll be outside, sir,” the guard said, giving a quick bow then ducking out of the tent.

“It’s good to see you up and well, Wizard Hump,” Oswald said. “You had us worried for a while there.”

“So worried you assigned me a constant guard?” Hump asked.

Oswald barked a laugh, but there was no humour in his eyes. “Is that how you typically greet your superiors?”

Hump gulped and cleared his throat. So much for logic.

Even after all that had happened, he couldn’t help but be intimidated by the man’s presence—the jagged white scar over his eye didn’t help—but he met Oswald’s gaze and refused to back down.

“Erm… No, sir. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.”

Oswald nodded, dismissing the matter. “You’ll have to forgive me for the guard. Once news of you and your dragon egg spread around camp, I decided it best to assign someone to keep hungry eyes away.”

“I have to admit,” Hump said, “I was rather surprised to wake up and find myself confined to my tent and my medallion confiscated.”

“And is it your medallion?” Oswald asked.

“It was my master’s,” Hump growled. “Now it belongs to me. I’d have had it rebound already if the woman at the Bledsbury guildhall wasn’t so ridiculously unhelpful.”

“The young lord Robert explained your situation well to me,” Oswald said. “I believe you.”

“Then why did you take it?” Hump asked. This wasn’t going as he had expected. He’d been prepared to argue and demand his medallion back. He even planned to use the information about Kassius to get it if he had to.

“One of the unfortunate parts of being in my position is the need to apply the rules to everyone equally. You were found to be in the possession of an Adventurers’ Guild medallion belonging to a dead man.”

“I knew him, you know?” Oswald reached into his pocket and pulled out his medallion, holding it by the chain, letting it twirl before his eyes. “Not very well, mind you. I met him once, at a dungeon beyond the border regions. At the time I was just a party leader.”

Hump narrowed his eyes. “Funny. He never mentioned meeting you, and believe me, I’d have known. He used to lecture me for hours on all the figureheads I might meet out in the field. The old man wasn’t one to forget something like that.”

Oswald smiled.

“What is this?” Hump snapped. “Are you testing me?”

“Yes,” Oswald said. “And you passed. I never met your master.” He put the medallion on the table and slid it along the table toward Hump. “Take it.”

Hump grabbed it, feeling reassured by the familiar cold bite in his hand. He hung it around his neck, keeping it on the layer above his undershirt to keep the cold from his skin. Then he frowned at Oswald. “It wasn’t much of a test.”

“You have good friends, Wizard Hump. With so many Chosen vouching for your character there was little testing left to be done. I suspect you know why I have called you here?”

Hump nodded. “As far as the stories are concerned, Kassius died a hero. We’re to keep what really happened secret.”

“Indeed. I’m sorry it must be this way, truly. I’m as furious about the injustice as you are, but the kingdom’s interests must be protected. Elenvine cannot have tales of a necromancer prince.”

“I understand,” Hump said. “I have more information for you regarding that matter.”

Oswald raised an eyebrow. “Do tell.”

Hump told him of Kassius’ disappearance. Of the figure that tore a hole in the world and stepped through to collect him. Of the fact that Kassius wasn’t really dead, and that Hump suspected he belonged to a group of warlocks that were seeking to ascend and become gods. Oswald listened silently but with every passing sentence his frown deepened.

“This is well above my position,” Oswald said. “Gods help us, if what you say is true.”

“You’d not heard anything about this before?” Hump asked.

“An organised group of warlocks?” Oswald snorted. “No. Gods no. It’s grim news, Hump. And I’ll be sure to pass it up the ladder.”

“What will happen if Kassius returns?”

Oswald paused. “Do you know how I reached my position?”

Hump blinked. “Everyone knows you rose through the ranks in the military. That you were a fine warrior and an even finer strategist.”

“The bards do like to spin their tales. I got here because I knew how to follow orders and I knew when to keep my mouth shut. Do yourself a favour and put all this behind you. It’s best to leave matters like this to those in command. Gods, I know I want no part in it.”

Obviously, the tales are exaggerated, Hump thought. He paused, considering what he’d said. It was a sentiment that Hump could get behind.

“I understand,” Hump said. “My master used to say it was the curious side of me that would make me a good wizard. He also said it might just be the death of me. I have a feeling he’d have told me to do the same thing.”

Oswald smiled. “He sounds like a smart man.”

“He was,” Hump said.

“You should be proud of what you did here,” Oswald said, approaching him as he spoke. “Of the people you helped to save. It was heroes’ work, lad. Rumours are already spreading around camp, about the hedge wizard that defeated the dragon and claimed its egg. It was an impressive feat, especially for somebody your age.”

He extended his hand and Hump shook it. “Thank you, sir.”

“I’ve been posted to the Fallen Lands, following this,” Oswald said. “A promotion—would you believe it? As far from the capital as they could possibly place me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even further after I tell them this news. Be sure to find me if you ever venture out that far. Other than that, is there anything more I can do for you?”

Hump thought for a moment. Money wasn’t going to be an issue for a long while, but he had an idea that just made him grin. “Actually, there is one thing.”

Stepping out of the command tent, it was like a great weight had been lifted from Hump’s shoulders, and it wasn’t just the lack of guard. As he stood there, looking over what was left of the encampment, he noticed the sideways glances in his direction. The curious looks.

He tucked the item he’d asked for from Oswald into his pouch, alongside the invitations from the White Peaks and Silver Spears, held his chin up high, and made his way back to where he and his party had first set up their tents. They were to leave Bledsbury in the morning, and Hump intended to take advantage of the vendors at the field station before the merchants were packed up before then.