We were down at the crossroads by eight the following day. We sacrificed a lot of sleep, but I wasn't going to let Bell steal the money we'd been promised. We approached the tree, stranded on a grassy knoll and surrounded on all sides by dirt roads. Bell was already waiting for us with a trowel in his hand.
"Morning. Ready to get paid?"
"Did they really bury it here?" I asked, "Quick turnaround on getting this money together."
"He showed me the cash when he hired me. Had it on hand." He turned to the grass embankment and clambered up using the roots of the tree. We stood below and watched him inspect the ground beneath his feet, until he spotted what he was looking for, a patch of ground that had been disturbed recently. He eagerly dug into the soil using his trowel, fishing out a small metal box and waving it in my face.
"What did I tell you?"
"Make sure there's something in it first."
Bell dangled his legs over the edge and unlocked the case, his eyes lit up in excitement as he lifted the lid. "Oh man, oh man." He dipped his free hand inside and retrieved a solid gold slab, holding it up to the light for me and Cali to see. I was shocked that we hadn't been ripped off. But just to make sure, Bell cast [Inspect.]
"These are the real deal. I can't believe it, and I'm the one who picked up the job." Bell handed out two of the bars to me and Cali, before pocketing the last one and the change for himself. It was common that the job poster got the biggest cut. A gold bar was good enough for the work anyway, perhaps a little too good.
"You sure this is okay? I feel like we're getting away with something here."
"Pft, we just did."
"I mean this payment," I reiterated, "Didn't he ask you to do anything else?"
"If he did it's not your problem," Bell shrugged, "I just wanted a hand with burning those barns down. Take it or leave it."
"Bell…"
"Don't give me that look!" he pointed down at me, "I know what I'm doing, jeeze. You act like my Mom sometimes."
I scowled, "If you just want to screw yourself over, that's fine – but if you're tangled up in business that puts everyone at risk, then it's everyone's problem."
Bell was the type of Rogue who rarely considered how his actions would affect other people. While you might think that it's a strange thing for a full-time criminal to worry about, Rogues were meant to have each other's backs against an oppressive and classist system. We exploited those systems to survive and stuck together in solidarity.
Going against that principle was a dangerous road to go down. At the end of the day, a noble or knight is just as treacherous, if not more so than any looter or robber you'll find on the battlefield. They aren't your people. They don't have your best interests at heart. They use you and throw you away like a tool.
Bell was the kind of person who you had to be aware of. He was eager to be 'more' than a rogue, but there were a lot of people out there who didn't want rogues being anything else but rogues. And it just so happened that those people were the ones with all the money, the very same money we were now sharing between each other.
Bell took a deep breath, "I promise. There's nothing else to this. We did a little sabotage for the Royalists, and they paid us in kind."
"Alright. If you say so. Let's go Cali."
I'd decided to take a day to myself and relax after two well paying jobs. My biggest concern now was finding souls to feed Stigma with. If only there was a battle ongoing that I could sneak into and eat some of the dead from the periphery. That wasn't the case – so I grabbed a table in the tavern before drinking hours and started to read through my magical tome to learn something new.
"I could teach you," Cali interjected, "If you desire to learn magic that badly."
"I don't know how much I'm going to invest into this. I've spent my entire life hiding and fighting, pretty hard to change tact now."
I was curious about Cali and her background. She had the world in the palm of her hands, she could easily land a cushy job teaching at one of the private magic academies dotted through Sull and the Federation. If she was an Ashmorn noble like I thought, she could even go back to the family home and mooch off their wealth for the rest of her life.
But she wasn't interested in doing that. Due to psychological damage or a messed-up life as a kid, she wanted to put herself in as much danger as possible. She was a pathological thrill-seeker with a suicidal edge.
"Why are you out here anyway? Ashmorn don't like getting involved in this kind of war."
Cali tapped her fingers against the table, "Yes, but it's very dangerous. Who knows what kind of battle I may wander into?"
"It's pretty tough to accidentally wander into a battle, Cali – the noise is deafening. So the entire reason you're here is because of the fighting?"
She nodded.
"Would you mind telling me why you… actively seek danger like this?"
Cali took a moment to compose her answer, "Many Ashmorn from high society fear the repercussions of exposure to the outside world. Cushioned by wealth and status, they confine themselves to their palaces and manors. By the age of fourteen I had never once left the halls of my family home; I was coddled and kept as if my body would shatter like glass. I was not permitted to play or injure myself, only to study and follow a strict routine."
"And then?"
"…One day, an assassin from a rival family entered the home, I was not the intended target – yet as I saw the glimmer of his dagger in the moonlight, I felt a sensation quite unlike anything else I'd felt before. It was as if the world had suddenly been doused in colour, where it was once grey."
"I see."
"Afterwards, I devoted myself to the art of battle. I mastered offensive magics under the nose of my father, purchased a Halberd, and set forth to paint my canvas once more as soon as the opportunity arose."
"I assume he didn't like the idea?"
"He is protective, yet as an adult woman I had my rights. He had no sway over my decision. I send him letters to assure him of my safety. We may have a difference of opinion in what it means to live in this world, but we still love each other all the same."
"I suppose it's only fair I say a little about myself too."
"I require no such thing, I am happy to speak about myself with you."
My pride wouldn't allow that, I shuffled over to whispering distance, "Just let me get this off my chest."
"Okay."
"I'm an outworlder, pushing forty years now. Swallowed up and spat out into the maelstrom that we call this life. But if I'm being honest, even though now I'm surrounded by all kinds of crazy shit, it doesn't feel any different to where I used to be. People don't change no matter where you go."
"I see."
"Some people put a lot of religious significance in that kind of thing. I can understand that much, I'm willing to believe anything now – but at the end of the day I'm no prophet, no hero, I'm just a man, weak and flawed as the rest of them. Which is why I don't tell anybody except people I trust."
"…You trust me?"
"A little. That's more than most."
Cali had a contemplative look on her face, different from her usual passive indifference. I returned back to my side of the booth and looked back down to the book. This was very dense reading. A tutor to help parse it would be essential for a young mage.
"I've heard… stories about cursed weapons."
"What kind of stories?"
"Legends, tales. Some say that they're inhabited by the spirits of people who committed truly horrific deeds, robbed of their memory and form and entrapped in a cold, unfeeling prison. A punishment levied upon intelligent races for their greed. They are misfortunate items hoisted upon unfortunate people."
"Yeah, sounds about right."
"You called her Stigma, correct? The name is familiar. I think I saw it in one of father's books. A weapon that hides secrets from its own master. A corrupting force that twists the spirit and clouds the mind."
I smirked, "I don't think so."
"Why?"
"We're all twisted. The only thing we need to warp into something terrible is a little push over the edge. Having a timer hanging over my head? Suddenly, all those bad things I might do have a grander justification behind them. If I don't consume souls, I'll die."
Cali didn't argue the point any further, it was only a story after all. "I've also heard that the changes can be physical. Demonic in nature, veins filled with fire and horns bent like branches."
I cast a paranoid glance down to the hand that grasped the hilt, the skin still pale and squalid.
"They say that the most famous wielder of the weapon transformed into a powerful infernal. He would sweep down unto the battlefield, summoning black tendrils to slice and break bone and flesh. His followers granted the same unholy power."
I laughed, "Sound pretty fun to me." Unholy was merely a matter of perspective after all. The Inquisitors had plenty of reasons to be fearful of these cursed objects, but that fear drove them to be an even greater menace than the thing they dedicated themselves to stopping. "If I'm going down, may as well go down with a bang – get a book written about me."
"I agree."
The discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Cass, who marched through the staff door behind the bar and b-lined to us.
"I heard you helped Bell out with that job of his. That's unusual."
"Cali jumped in ahead of me so I decided to back her up."
"How'd it go?"
"Not dead, am I? About as well as a Bell job goes. Got paid properly too."
"Maybe that kid is finally learning something," Cass sighed, "There's a lot of noise going around about Sull moving in on the Bend soon, with a lot of troops. It's going to be heavy fighting around here again."
I pressed my fingers against the bars in my pocket, "I think I'm good on looting the leftovers after the last time."
"Not like you to get spooked."
"I don't, unless it's the inquisition. That's the real problem. If those Sull guys take over I might just have to move on out of here and find somewhere new."
"I 'ain't going nowhere," Cass declared, "I'm staying out here until the day I die."
"Bad luck to say that…"
"Aw shut up, you don't buy into that superstitious crap."
"The times are changing."
Cass took a seat beside me and looked to Cali, "Going to introduce me to your friend? This the mage we were talking about?"
"This is Cali. Cali La'Corvan. I helped her with a job the other day. I suppose we have a working partnership now." Cali bowed her head politely. "She doesn't talk much," I explained.
"Nice to see a new face around here, what do you say we bust out the beer?"
I didn't feel like drinking so early, "It's not even noon yet." Harking back to the discussion I had with her and Darrin about Cali, I turned to the elf, "By the way, did you speak to Bell before you met me?"
"Yes. He approached me and ask for my assistance. I refused as my current priority was to complete my own task."
"Should have known. Can't keep things under wraps, can he?"
Cassandra shook her head, "He's going to get killed at this rate."