Chapter 6- Come on out Walter, you raggedy bitch.

Chapter 6- Come on out Walter, you raggedy bitch.

Amelia had eased my mind about the situation I was in, and she was right, it didn't all have to be a bad thing. Clearly something bigger was going on, and it seemed to be happening in a place I was intimately familiar with. As long as I kept my head on straight, I would be fine. I had let work know that I was going to take some time off, but obviously, if I could still do magic when this was over, I wouldn't be going back.

I spent some time lounging with Amy and the cats. We had been up almost all night, making the lights chase each other around the room, watching the cats hunting the lights. Amy had managed to get a third light flickering and it sputtered along after her other two. We had discovered that there was a proximity effect, the closer we were, the more she could feel what she was doing with the magic. If I stood outside, she said it was like trying to drive with her eyes closed. After some practice, she was able to manage without being in the same room, but only barely. She said she was going to work on it some more while I was out.

"Feel free to get as close as you want," I said, making my eyebrows dance goofily, "you have my blessing."She laughed, "don't do that, it's weird. Shouldn't you be trying to go to sleep? Couldn't something eat you?""That's not funny, there are so many things that could eat me there." She was right though, I had been avoiding it on purpose. The time thing really bothered me, I was comfortable at home and I missed everyone when they weren't around.

I settled into the bed, feeling at ease, surrounded by family, I finally drifted off...

I awoke in my room at Busty Sherman's Alehouse to a knock on the door. There was no nausea or headache or pulling sensation this time either, I simply woke up. I pulled on my pants and shirt and got them tied off as I opened the door. It was Bubby. "You look like shit," I said, yawning, "having a rough time, are we?"Bubby's eyes had dark circles underneath them and dried blood congealed below his ears."I suppose you've been talking to yourself then?" Bubby asked, "That's good. I'm not in the mood to rehash the situation. We need to focus on how to end this as quickly as possible." Bubby walked into the room and collapsed, face down, on the cushions by the table."Well, we're going to have to talk later," I said, pulling on my coat, "someone else is in here with us.""WHAT?!" Bubby's head jerked up to look at me in alarm, and then he just laughed. And laughed, "of course there is. Why not? Go on then. I'll be here, waiting for the end.""You really need to chill," I told him, "it's my brain, and the brain is good at protecting itself. It's going to be fine, but you need to get your shit together. Call up a maid to bring you some hot water and have a bath, you smell. I'll be back in a bit and we can talk." I closed the door behind me and made for the common room.

The man I was looking for was easy to spot. He was in a cluster of men in the middle of the room, arms around shoulders, all swaying and harmonizing, barbershop quartet style, singing The Man on the Flying Trapeze. It was actually pretty good, especially considering they couldn't have had much time to rehearse. I tried to call him over to the bar but ended up having to sit through a rendition of Daisy Bell before announcing a free round of drinks for the crooners. They all made their way to the bar to collect after that."How did you teach them to do that so quickly?" I asked. "There's no way you had the time between getting beat up and being shitfaced.""They already kinda knew the words," he said, taking his drink, "I just had to remind them, and they just followed my lead on the rest. Who are you?""We met yesterday, my name is Casimyr," I told him, holding out my hand."Aaron Lowe," he said, taking my hand, "are you...here like I'm here?" He asked."No, not exactly," I said, "you're in my head."He laughed..."okay, you're not laughing... Why are you not laughing?" He sat down, looking apprehensive.I told him everything that had happened.

"...but none of that explains you." I finished, and then asked him, "From your perspective, can you tell me how you got here?"Aaron took a big swig from his mug, "It really wasn't much different from how you got here. I had been dreaming about this production of les mis where I was..." he stopped and cleared his throat, "Not important. Basically I remembered that it was already over, so I left the stage. The next thing I know, I was flying through the sky, except there were stars all around and no land at all. Then, I saw a really bright star flashing, so I went in that direction. Once I got close enough, it kinda... pulled me in? I don't know. I landed on the beach and walked towards the city lights, thinking it was a resort or something," he chuckled, "A voice kept talking to me, which I'm now realizing was your voice, telling me that my life was destined for the stage. So," he continued, "when I found a stage, I tried to put on a show, but no one here appreciated my performance... I may have gotten them riled up beforehand, but in my defense, I never expected to see animal people and dwarves in real life. Or at least, I didn't think they'd be able to hold a grudge."

We talked some more. Aaron grew up in Dallas and had attended school at NYU for musical theatre. He was starting to understand that he could make things happen when he started singing or reciting something poetic."You're a bard here," I told him, "if you do something performative, with the intention to produce a specific effect, it should happen. Probably nothing super crazy at first, but the more you do it, the better you'll get. Making those guys harmonize was a charm thing, I think. We're going to need to work together to get out. Did you wake up at home last night?" I asked."Mmhmm," Aaron said, "right where I was when I fell asleep.""Good, at least you aren't completely stuck here." I told him, "I'm going to get you set up with an instructor, so you can learn how to defend yourself with that magic."

I left Busty to help Aaron make arrangements to meet with a tutor. In exchange, I would pay the fee to have one of the most esteemed performers in the city come to play at the alehouse. I left Busty's and made my way to the Warehouse District, down to the bazaar on the wharf. Walter and his boys were part of the local mercenary guild that hired out guards to traders. Walter's group specifically dealt with merchants that handled live cargo; exotic pets like leopards, small dinosaurs, colorful talking birds, even the occasional Griffin or giant eagle, which were highly coveted as flying mounts. I made my way towards the cages.

The bazaar on the wharf was a massive collection of colorful tents and stalls, where incoming merchant vessels could conduct business and display samples of what they had on offer. The most valuable cargo would be stored in warehouses and only available upon request if the potential buyer was judged to be inquiring in good faith. For example, if I wanted to buy a baby dragon, I could talk to the merchants that sell exotic animals, and maybe, if one of them had what I was looking for and believed that I could pay, they'd set up a private meeting.

A Felistine merchant stood behind a covered table in front of an awning, a snake wrapped around his neck and outstretched arm as he addressed the people meandering by to see his stock. Behind him there were small stacked cages containing birds and lizards, and some off to the sides contained larger animals, like a beefy kangaroo and a fearsome looking shoebill the size of an ostrich. Standing to either side of the table were the guards. They were armored like Roman centurions, with breastplates, leather skirts, bracers and greaves. Their helmets were open faced and without any of the decorative elements, but they otherwise looked like they had climbed out of a textbook. A far cry from the thugs I had encountered so far. These two were Walter's accomplices in the mercenary guild. One of them had the keys and a notebook with the warehouse location where the cargo is stored. I was going to kill them both, I just wasn't sure how I was going to do it.

I pretended to browse around the area, keeping an eye on the two guards. I actually had to move quite far away from them because showing too much feigned interest at a booth brought merchants in my face trying to help me make a decision. I ended up buying a jade ring just to get away from a particularly persistent Dwarf woman. I didn't have that kind of money right now, my stash was getting low. Finally, around lunch time, two new guys showed up to relieve the guards. I followed them as they left.

They made their way West along the wharf towards the river, stopping briefly to buy some meat on a stick that looked like it used to be a fish with the tail of a large lizard. The sun was shining directly overhead, the heat beating down on the dry wooden planks of the wharf. My coat kept the heat from touching me, and I felt like I was standing in the shade, enjoying the cool breeze from the ocean. From there they headed North into the streets of the Warehouse District. Damn I didn't know how I was going to do this in a crowded street in broad daylight. Until I did. A horse drawn carriage was rolling down the street. They never slow down, I remembered. I hustled up beside the big guards, who were walking abreast, and cast Strong Hand. The ghostly hand, nearly invisible in the light of day wrapped around the ankle of the guard closest to me, the same moment I "fell" into him, grabbing at the keys tucked behind his belt. I fumbled it. He tumbled into his partner, who tumbled into the road and rolled out of the way to the other side of the street, narrowly avoiding getting trampled. The one I had pushed had simply had his head crushed by one of the wheels. The cart didn't tip, but some of the cargo came loose and created a jam as people swarmed around trying to grab things or clear the way. I fell on the man who had the keys and patted him down until I found a purse on his back. I had to burn his belt apart to get it quickly. I grabbed the purse and the keys. People were starting to notice me. The man's partner was shouting at me. I pulled my hood over my face and stood up, the crowd was converging on me, calling for guards. That, more than anything is what saved me. I cast Leap and then Climb, and bounded to a rooftop. I ran, leaping from building to building, heading Northwest. Well shit, I thought, he's definitely going to remember me after that.

A few buildings away, I was able to find a clear alley where I dropped back down to street level. I tucked my hood inside my coat, buttoned the coat and rolled it up to my waist, then tucked it into my pants. The long green hooded coat would stand out. The short waistcoat with lumpy hemming wouldn't, at a glance at least. I changed course to head Northeast, back towards the alehouse.

I had to double back and take different routes a couple of times when I saw guards that seemed too vigilant. I doubted what had happened had been reported as a theft, considering what was stolen, but the murder of one of the guild would have them all on alert. I almost made it back without any trouble. A guard had called out to me, near the Western edge of the district. I ignored him and kept walking, hoping the steady stream of people would discourage pursuit. It did not. "You, in the green coat," he called again, "halt at once!" Jesus McFuckity fuck. I turned into an alley and stopped around the corner, leaning up against the wall like I didn't have a care in the world. Super casual.

He appeared around the corner and drew his lil' Roman gladius. "You match the description of a known murderer. You will submit to search and questioning by order of the guild, and authority of the 9.""Very well then," I said, moving from the wall and holding out my arms, "but you obviously didn't get a good description. I'm just here looking for work."The guard sheathed his weapon and moved closer, paying no heed to what I said. He pushed me hard against the wall, and... That just set me off. I snapped. I wheeled around on him, striking him in the face with my left hand, which was burning with white flames. I hadn't called those up, they were just there. The man had been knocked back against the wall, dazed and singed, but he recovered quickly and drew his sword. He lunged at me as I jumped, still empowered by the leap spell, I vaulted over his head and as he swung around to catch me with a back swing as I landed, I cast Poof. I appeared behind him and he got a face full of smoke. I swung my burning fist into the side of his knee and felt it shatter, bringing him to the ground. He started crying out in pain. I cast Shocked on him until he quieted. Then I put my burning hand on his face, and I let the fire have him... I didn't pause look at what I'd done, I just ran.

By the time I got back to the alehouse, it was almost fully dark. I requested to have food sent to my room, and I climbed the stairs. I could hear Aaron singing as I approached my door. He stopped when I walked in, "Cas!" He said, sounding excited, "you've been gone all day, we expected you back hours ago.""Yeah, I had some trouble out there," I said, "how was Bard training?""Already graduated." Aaron said, like it was nothing, "apparently a BFA from NYU is basically Bard college on crack. I just had to learn what kind of magic I could do with my art. I can make people go blind or deaf, or give me money or hit them with sound waves so hard it hurts. Or I can hurt people's feelings so bad it messes with their brains, which I think I was already able to do, but this might be different. Oh, I can also use my voice to heal the wounded," he added, with a dramatic bow, flourishing an imaginary cape.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original."That's great," I said, amused at the display, "I honestly didn't expect you to pick it up so quickly.""Please," Aaron said, "I've read The Magicians, I get it. The hardest part of being a Bard is the performance, the magic is just there waiting for someone to grab it and direct it."

The food arrived, and Bubby appeared from the balcony. "Finally," he said, "you know I've been deaf for the last hour because of his singing?""That was an accident." Aaron said, "intrusive thought. It won't happen again. I promise."I laughed, "today was his first day, and you're fine now, so calm down." I said, sitting down to eat, "you said you wanted to talk, so go ahead."Bubby cleared his throat, "we need a plan to bring this game to a close. I have some questions abo-""No." I said, through a mouthful of pasta, "We, don't need a plan. I already know how to do it and the best way to approach each part." I continued, "and I can already tell you now that you can't be a part of it. If you try to participate, the game becomes unpredictable trying to adjust to you playing a monster race. So you'll have to stay here, probably running errands, maybe helping me track down leads, but you can't be out there with us..." I paused for a moment, then added, "and don't think I've overlooked the implications of you killing Bubby with the intention of deceiving me. If we're pretty much in your reality, then you pretty much just casually killed a kid.""Okay," Bubby said, clearly trying to keep a lid on his irritation, "well can I at least ask what you've been doing to get things moving?""Well, today I killed two guards while trying to track down a trafficking operation so I can release the captives and kill the ringleaders," I pulled the guard's purse from my coat and produced a notebook, "this should have the location of their cargo."I looked at Aaron, "how are you with blood?""I don't love it," he said, suspicious, "why do you ask?""Do you think you would be up to paying a visit to some slave traders tonight?"

Aaron was a cool guy. He was taking things in stride and seemed to embrace the Bard archetype. Either that or this was just his real personality. "Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked again. "You can just keep watch from here, you don't have to jump right in. It will be dangerous.""I've got it," he said for probably the hundredth time, "don't worry. There are too many assholes like this in the world, and too many people who need help. Out there, there's not much we can do, but we can do something here. I think I need this."I nodded. I understood what he meant. This kind of thing had drifted in and out of news cycles for years, victims would appear, making grand accusations against very powerful people, then whispers of large scale trafficking rings would emerge, only to ultimately lead nowhere. It happened enough that virtually everyone believed they existed. In fact, it was one of the few things that most people could agree on, but no one in a position to pursue the subject seemed to want to touch it."Okay then," I said, "stay here, I'll be back in five." I left Aaron in position in the alley across from an old rundown warehouse near the Western edge of the district, by the river. I used Leap to cover a few blocks Southeast, and cast Lava Shot on the roof of a small building I knew to be containing rugs. I bounded across the rooftops until I was back in position on the ground. The patrolling guards would run towards the fire, so we shouldn't have any surprises."Let's go."

We walked across the street and unlocked the door. Like the other warehouses I had seen, the interior of this one was also built like a barn. Unlike the others, this one was only half open space, the other half had been walled off, with a heavy door as the only point of egress. On the sides of the warehouse were high walled stalls. Aaron closed the door behind us and we were in darkness. He hummed a tune and orbs of light appeared around him. "Was that from Zelda?" I asked, surprised."It's called the Song of Time, it's from Ocarina of Time." Aaron said, "what kind of nerd are you?""I didn't have an N64," this wasn't the first time I'd had a conversation like this, "I started hanging with the wrong crowd and we got a PlayStation. Besides, wasn't that before your time?""Retro is cool.""Never say that about something from my childhood again please."

We walked cautiously towards the closest stalls. There were no gaps under the walls or doors, and the doors had heavy locks. I pulled out the keys and started trying them on the first door. I put the lock in my bag and opened the door. There were two men and a woman, all human, gagged and chained to a bar on the wall. The stall was filthy. They all looked up at us anxiously when opened the door. We moved in, I motioned for them to stay quiet. They were dressed in whatever remained of the clothing they had on when they were taken. The theory was, they were captured by particularly nasty pirates, smuggled here for holding, while Walter sussed out potential buyers from places that had no qualms with slave trading, then brought them in here to check out the stock. This operation should be worse than a death sentence here, where personal freedom was the founding principle of civilization.

We checked them for wounds and made sure they could walk, then we had them waiting in the corner by the door. We did the same with the others. In all, there were 14 people in chains. Elves, dwarves, humans, a halfling and a Fenrian child. We didn't have to be quiet anymore, we had enough evidence and witnesses for what was about to happen to be completely justified. My skin felt hot. "Okay, let's go get him."

Aaron banged on the door to the back side of the warehouse, "Come on out Walter, you raggedy bitch!"I couldn't help it, I laughed"Knock the door down, Aaron," I said.Aaron clapped his outstretched hands three times in rhythm, and a sound like thunder cracking filled the room. The door held, but it's hinges broke. It fell into the next room intact. I stepped onto it.

"As the dust settles from the blast, you get your first look at the slavers hideout. To your right is a dining table and chairs, to your left a short hallway with a door to the right. In front of you is a medium cart. You can hear the whinnying of horses from the stalls flanking the cart. From the smell, it seems like the horses stalls are in much better condition than the ones outside."

"Where the hell have you been?" I asked, looking up... for some reason."I've been...busy... Stop splitting the party so much if you're that desperate for my attention."Splitting the party? I thought, confounded.

Footsteps started banging down the stairs, I moved back to the left side of the door. A big mean looking lizard man wearing the guard uniform appeared. "That's Walter?" Aaron asked, laughing, "that's hil-ariousss!"Walter grabbed his head and screamed in pain. I hadn't understood at first, but Aaron had cast a spell to hurt his feelings so bad it harmed him psychically. I cast Lava Shot and missed, as Walter was shaking his head around. He recovered and came barrelling into me, too fast, I didn't cast in time.

I've been hit before, been in fights and played contact sports, but being tackled by a 7 foot tall 300lbs lizard man is something else. Things seemed to slow down. First, his shoulder hit me in the chest, and I could feel my ribs crack and all of the air rush out of my lungs. Second, his arms wrapped me up, squeezing my guts like a tube of toothpaste, and lifting me off the floor. Third, there was a moment of peace and quiet as I reached the apex of the lift, the moment before I would be smashed down onto the hard floor by this bitch ass bully, just a red stain on the floor he told his future mooks not to worry about. I used that moment to set us both on fire. The white flames poured from the runes on my arm in ribbons, wrapping us both. I didn't burn.

Things sped up again, he dropped me, abandoning the slam and tried to roll away from the fire. I directed it all at him. Walter burned. The drop alone nearly finished me off. He was still alive when I stopped, gasping and wheezing ttying to breathe. "Nice," Aaron said, "well done Walter." I laughed, or wheezed rather, and felt my ribs knit, and I think my lung reinflated. It was excruciating, but a few moments later, I felt better. Walter, on the other hand, started convulsing on the ground. Bright red fluid running out of his nose. He quieted.

"How did you do that?" I asked, struggling to a sitting position on the floor. "You shouldn't be able to cause two separate effects with the same spell.""Oh, I didn't know there were rules when people were about to die," Aaron said, "I just thought of something that would make you feel better and him feel worse, it's Mean Girls 101."

I went upstairs to find Walter's room, while Aaron and a couple of the former captives hitched the horses to the wagon. He had made a pretty nice place for himself. I raided everything, and had to put most of it in a trunk.

A big bag of assorted gems, around 300 gold worth of coins, a box with 6 potions of healing, a ledger with transaction records, a cloak pin in the shape of a fox or wolf's head, a ruby necklace, a scary ass doll that I was pretty sure had a curse on it, and a pair of gauntlets.

Aaron and I loaded the trunk under the wagon and helped the liberated captives onto the back. It was tight, but a couple of the stronger ones hung on the back to make room. The road was clear this time of night, and I wasn't sure whether it was because of the fire I started earlier or because it was always this quiet. Either way, it was the perfect time to learn to drive a horse cart. I took it slow. We made it about 2 blocks and the horses refused to go any farther. I was afraid of urging them too aggressively, like I had seen the drivers doing during the day, so I got off and led them on foot. We arrived at the thief-catchers alley about 20 minutes later, and I went to knock on the door. The slide opened. Not the same eyes as before."I'm looking for Elmo... or Lt. Fozzie... I'm the new guy," I said. "I've got a cart full of people with nowhere to go."The slide closed. Aaron asked, "Elmo and Fozzie?""I get silly sometimes," I said. "Besides, not everyone should have epic fantasy names that start with vowels. It's a trope, like when people make their characters orphans with a tragic backstory.""Holy shit," Aaron said, "Aragorn, Arwen, Eowen, Elrond, Eragon, Aslan, Aurora, Aladdin, Ariel, Elsa Anna, there are a lot of them. And that's not even touching Game of Thrones.""I know, it's a whole rabbit hole. And now there's a Bard named Aaon," I replied."That's fucked up," he said.

A couple minutes past and the door finally opened, Elmo emerging and looking sleepy "'lright then, show me what you've got, rookie." She hawked and spat down the alley. We didn't see or hear it land. "Who's he?" She asked, nodding at Aaron."This is my associate, Aaron. He'll be working with me," I told her, "he can be trusted. I'd probably be dead right now if not for him.""Welcome aboard then, Aaron," Elmo said, as we started walking toward the wagon. "How many did you kill?""I got one in the street today, when I was getting the keys and the location," I said, "I had to leave the other one and didn't see him again, then I killed another guard who cornered me on my way out.""That was you, killing guards in broad daylight?!" She sounded shocked, "they had the whole guild combing the streets for hours looking for you!" She shook her head in disbelief, "You're lucky you got out. You'll want to lay low for a while, stay out of the district after tonight. That one that got away probably went underground after finding out what you took."

Elmo took a headcount of the passengers and we all hopped on. She drove us through the streets, out of the district and into the 9th ward proper. Past where we would turn South towards the alehouse and into a small square with some newer adjoined buildings. "This is all new housing," Elmo said, "Corvis had it built for employees of his estate, so they could have their own spaces, but most of them prefer to live on the grounds. There will be plenty of room, and we'll help them find work or get safe passage home."

When we came to a stop, I got Aaron to help me with the trunk. We divided the coins among the people. The little Fenrian kid caught my eye, "was he with any of you?" I asked the others.An elf woman spoke up, "he was on our ship with his family, but he was the only one who made it. He doesn't speak, that I've heard.""I might know someone who can help, but I'd have to check first," I said, "can someone stay close to him, keep him safe?"

Several of them volunteered to look after the boy. I handed the ledger over to Elmo to look over. She would start gathering information on the pirates responsible and ensure that the victims had what they needed before heading back to headquarters."I'll be in touch in a few days. Take the rest of that, and use it for expenses," she told us. "Equip yourselves properly, we've got plenty of work to do, and it won't get any easier." Aaron and I loaded the trunk on the wagon and headed back to the alehouse.

An hour later, we had cleaned up, had something to eat and were attempting to split the loot. We were stuck on the details."Okay, okay," Aaron said, "you take the alpha macho cloak pin to protect yourself, and I'll take the gauntlets that let me pick up boulders.""No no no," I said again, "I just learned the spell that the cloak pin has, what I need is to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and break femurs with karate chops." I sighed, "look, you take the pin, you'll need protection if you don't want to wear armor. We get rid of the doll, agreed so far?""I'm listening," Aaron said."You also get the fireball necklace," I went on, "and I take the gauntlets. But I will make a custom version of them for you as soon as we can get the materials.""Okay, for the fireballs. We are getting rid of the doll though right," Aaron asked in a whisper, giving it the side eye, "I think it's looking at me."From it's place where Aaron had sat it on the table, it was indeed looking at him, it's head fully turned around backwards."I told you not to touch it's skin," I said."Don't call it skin," Aaron said, disgusted, "where's the Bubbygänger, make him get rid of it."

That was a good question, the little Faelien wasn't here when we got back. Since it was the middle of the night, there was no one around to ask, and the other me wasn't responding. "Just put it in the trunk for now, I'll put a ward on it," I said, "I'm going to get some sleep, if you're up first, send food." I warded the trunk against hauntings, using a ritual, then went to bed.

I had learned some new spells after our escapades.

Darkness- Creates an area of magical darknessArmor- Creates magical, weightless armor that lasts for 10 hoursSigil- Creates an elemental Rune trap. Stores elemental spells that cast when sigil is triggered.Tangle- Thorny vines sprout from the ground and walls. They don't do much damage, but they slow you down and hurt like the dickens.

Sleep came quickly.