Chapter 14: My resolution to act.
This… this wasn't what I had in mind for breakfast. Together with Taylor and Ardent we were in the restaurant portion of the Axel's inn but joining us were a dozen other people. They chatted amongst themselves happily practically oblivious to my state of mind. Nill and Bert who ran the inn, Margaret from the apothecary, Tarhand our blacksmith, Marcy the baker, Morgan the town hunter, Bjorn the tailor, Walter and Lane the town guards, Henry from the general store, Gregor who ran the fields and Mattias the Mayor. These were the people who could be said to be the core members of Axel and the people who raised me the most when I was young. They were also my teachers.
"Rain you look a little off. Is something wrong?" Marcy asked innocently. "Here have some more bread."
"No I'm fine…," I replied stiffly.
"Want to a new concoction I've been working on?" Margaret held out a mysterious black potion towards me.
"Definitely no."
"Then what's wrong?" Gregor asked.
"I'm just surprised to see you all here for breakfast," I admitted my feelings.
"Don't mind us Rain," Morgan said while biting into his own bread. "Pretend we're not here. You can talk with the pretty lass all you want. Don't worry we'll just watch."
"Oh!" Marcy clapped, "Ardent, Taylor would you like to hear the story about how we found Rain?" Please no.
Taylor could see my disapproval and ignoring that completely smiled brightly, "I'd love to."
"It was over twenty years ago now. Axel had only been founded for a few years and there weren't many of us. It was a real struggle and one summer a vicious drought had plagued us. Our fields dried up and even the water in the reservoir was running low. At the time we really thought we'd have to pack up and leave. But then one night as if from nothing a downpour of rain like nothing we had ever seen before rushed through the town. We were in the streets celebrating but then almost drowned out by the swelling storm I heard a baby's cry."
"Hold it," Margaret complained. "You didn't hear anything you dope. I heard it."
Marcy cleared her throat, "'We' heard a baby's cry. Carried by the water running into the town was a little baby boy. We were all surprised. He had come from nowhere. From then on the drought broke and we looked for the boy's parents but couldn't find anyone. So instead we raised him, and named him after the rain that not only saved us but brought him as well."
"That is indeed a lovely story," Ardent nodded. "But I must ask, was Rain's origins never found?"
Mattias replied with a glint in his eye, "Of course we looked into it but nothing came up. He's our son regardless."
"Yes and it doesn't matter where I came from," I smiled softly to my parents at the table. "Anyway thank you for the meal. Ardent, Taylor if you're done shall I show you around town?"
"That would be most kind of you," Ardent stood up as did Taylor.
"Shall I come join you?" Morgan asked.
I raised my hand to refuse him, "No it's fine. You all have work to do." In the case that we did discover something notorious I didn't want them to know, at least not yet. Call it stupidity or whatever else but I wanted my home to stay as it was, peaceful. For that reason even if it might have been better to tell them, I'd only do it if I needed to. "I'll come by to visit you all later."
We said our goodbyes and left the inn. I showed Taylor and Ardent around the town as we looked for anything suspicious. Nothing seemed off at least not inside the town. We walked and I greeted the familiar faces we passed. I also made sure to check on Pina and just in case, gathered our equipment, including my bow and a sword I had borrowed. I was used to walking around with a bow strapped to my back but having a sword as well… especially in Axel it was uncomfortable as if a slight strain could break the peaceful atmosphere of the town. While inside the town I doubted we'd need them but outside there were wild beasts and occasionally the weaker monster.
"Rain you heading outside?" Lane asked me cheerily as she stood at the outskirts of town. For once she was doing her actual job as guard. The middle aged women stood taller than me or Ardent and had firm muscle. Together with her partner Walter they kept the town at peace and the riffraff away.
"I thought I'd show them the outskirts," I replied amicably.
"Be careful and don't forget your bow, though I see you have a new one," she looked at me curiously. Then her eyes widened in shock. "Is-is that a sword?" So she noticed.
I tried to play it down, "Well it's only for self-defence."
"Draw that sword and walk towards me young man!" she growled and I reacted instantly doing what she asked. After years of listening to her my body quickly snapped forward without much thought. She watched me carefully and then as if grieving yelled, "Who… who did it!?"
"Who did what?" I was taken aback.
"Was it you!?" Lane glared at Taylor approaching menacingly. Taylor jumped back, instinctively her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger. Luckily for Ardent he didn't look like the fighting type.
"Calm down Lane!" I held her back.
"Ah no! No one was allowed to teach you how to fight," she started to vent. "I let Morgan teach you how to hunt but that was it!" Suddenly her hands were around me and pulling me close. "I'm not letting my little boy go to war!"
"Lane let go," I tried to pry free. "Lane! Damn. Mum I said stop!"
"Ah," she released me.
"You don't need to overreact," I frowned. "It was just a few lessons to help protect myself."
She moped, "But with how fast you learn a few lessons is all you need."
Taylor giggled behind me, "She's got you pegged with how good you got."
"Not helping Taylor," I glared at her and turned back to Lane. "Mum it's fine. I'm not going to war." On the contrary together with Lara, Ronalt and the others we were going to stop the war from happening by killing the Demon Lord. The more I thought about it the more dangerous that was sounding…. She could never know.
I decided to change topics and cleared my throat, "Umm Mum, how's the town been? Anyone interesting come by?"
She snapped out of her brooding and shook her head, "No one who hasn't come by before. Phillius and his traders came by a few days ago and left. Actually Servius was a bit upset he missed you. It's too bad as well if you had just come sooner you could have said hello."
"I'll catch up with him on another day," I smiled. So no one strange had come by either. Going by the previous cycle they could still be on their way.
It took a while but I eventually managed to say goodbye and we began to look around the outskirts of Axel. The immediate vicinity was plains and fields but a few minutes away was the Shaded Forest to the North East and about an hour west was the border forest. There was almost nowhere to hide in the plains and we immediately headed to the Shaded Forest, named by the people of Axel due to its copious amounts of shade. A bit simple I know but when your town is in the middle of plain lands having somewhere to go for shade meant a lot in the summer.
Taylor walked beside me, "Rain… that women, Lane, just who was she?"
"She's one of Axel's guards, why?" I answered confused at Taylor's suspicious tone.
"For a guard she was really… capable."
"Really? I've never seen her in a fight before so I wouldn't know."
"You couldn't feel it? You should have fought with Earnest enough times to know when someone is strong." As serious as Taylor was, to me Lane was Lane, one of my parents. She was a bit more dotting than the others and could be scary when angry but that was all I could see.
Ardent laughed, "Rain you wouldn't know but that women most likely used to be a knight."
"Seriously?" I was surprised. Being a knight was a big accomplishment and some of them even owned land. "Come to think of it, you know Mattias. Why is that?"
He smirked, "I met Mattias, or at least he was known as Sir Matarus back then, when I was still a young teen. Back in the day he was a prominent knight who served the kingdom. We didn't know each other for long but he left me some sound advice back when I used to be an apprentice. I was honestly surprised to see him here." I knew Mattias had some kind of nobility because he was Mayor of Axel but aside from that he never talked about his past much. Come to think of it not many people did and I didn't care to ask.
"And how old are you now Ardent?" Taylor asked.
"Me? I'll be turning 37 in a few months." Which meant that Ardent had met Mattias before I was found. I was amazed that they were able to recognise each other after that long.
"You don't look that old," Taylor inspected him more closely.
"Well it's common knowledge among magicians that those highly attuned with mana retain their youth. Why the Archmage is decades older than myself yet she looks barely older than thirty. Ah, if you ever do have the chance to meet her don't mention her age."
"Hmm, maybe I should study magic."
"I don't think you need to," I began simply. "You look fine the way you are."
"Rain are you flirting with me?"
"That wasn't my intention," I replied bluntly.
"Tch," she clicked her tongue. "Also it's not about now but the future. I'm young and beautiful right now but who knows what I'll be like down the road." I'll ignore how blatantly she was complimenting herself.
"I side with Rain that you'll be fine," Ardent said. "After journeying together the mana within you is well utilised. Had I not known who you were I'd recognise you as an accomplished magician at your age."
"How wonderful," Taylor smiled. I rolled my eyes.
"Wait," I came to a realisation. "A person like me who can't use magic… am I going to get old really quickly?"
Ardent rubbed his chin in thought, "I really can't say. You're a special case but with current theory you might age quicker than the average man."
"Great…."
Taylor purposefully rubbed against my side, "Don't worry Rain I'll still be with you anytime."
"Would it startle you if I said that didn't help?" I eyed her as she laughed and moved away.
We spent the next few hours looking around the vicinity of the Shaded Forest slowly working our way deeper into the confines. Taylor and I had experience tracking while Ardent scanned the area with his own magic. It was slow progress as we couldn't search large chunks of the area at a time, focusing on places that I knew could be used as hideaways. As the sun began to reach midday we found nothing.
I sighed and brushed off the sweat lining my brow, "Ardent do you see anything?"
"Unfortunately not," he shook his head. "If we were dealing with common bandits I could search most the forest in a single hour however if our enemy is as skilled as I suspect I must be more meticulous."
"Taylor?"
"Nothing here either," she poked her head from behind the trees. "Maybe they're hiding in the border forest."
"Maybe…." It was then that I saw it or more appropriately the lack of it. I walked over slowly and inspected the ground. Along with Morgan I had been through this area many times and there should have been a game trail here. Instead where the earth should have beaten and the grass pushed aside, it was like it had been regrown. "Ardent can you check this area?"
He came over curiously, "Allow me." His eyes glazed over and flashed blue. "Interesting… someone has cast magic here to cover a trail. It's professionally done, even I would have missed it normally."
I frowned, "Can you tell where it leads?"
"Follow me," he gestured.
Like a hound on the trail Ardent followed a winding path through the trees until we reached a small area where the forest had opened to allow more space. It wasn't somewhere I had been before and looked entirely normal to me. Ardent however was nodding constantly and mumbling to himself.
"What is it?" I asked.
Taylor touched the ground, "Someone has been here… and recently. Call it intuition from having to hide myself a lot of the time."
Ardent poked the trees around him, "Taylor is correct. The area here has been masked by a very subtle magic."
"Can you tell when it was cast?" I needed to know where they could be. If it was in the matter of hours, Axel may be in danger already.
"Hold one moment," Ardent shuffled through his bag and took out what looked like a small pipe. He pinched a small bit of earth and put it in, lighting it with fire and with a puff smoked it. The smoke began to shift and change colour. "The spell was cast approximately 24 hours ago."
"That's when we arrived in Axel," Taylor commented.
I frowned, "Could it be possible they fled when they saw us arrive?"
"Likely," Ardent agreed. "If your vision was true having an unknown factor may be enough to retreat. More so if they knew who I was."
"What do you mean?"
"If the enemy is who I believe then at the sight of me, a Master wizard, it would be too risky to proceed. However I cannot say for certain if it is them or not."
"I see… can you trace where they went?" As long as they were alive somewhere in the world, Axel was still in danger.
"The trail leads this way," Ardent pointed west. Together we walked the forest in almost a straight line till we reached the end and it opened up into the plains. After a few more minutes it was clear that it was heading for the border forest.
"Does this mean it was the demons?" I mumbled more than asked.
"Possibly, however again we cannot be cer- Rain move!" Ardent suddenly yelled as we stood in the middle of the plains. The grass was up to our shins and I couldn't see anything dangerous. Still I did as told and jumped back as the ground beneath me rose in a bloom of earthen spikes. One caught my leg grazing the side of my thigh deeply. The earth began to rumble dangerously but at the same time Ardent clapped his hand and a burst of force blew away the dirt and grass.
He coughed as the dust settled, "Damn buggers laid a trap."
I managed to stand up, scanning the area for trouble "Taylor where are you?"
"I'm here," she appeared from the settling dust. "Surprised me but I've been through worse. You should see some of the traps the palace had in its treasury." Aside from a bit of dirt on her clothes she was perfect.