Clara faded long before he’d finished the story about his time since waking up to Asper’s introduction. She was pouting again. He knew she wanted some real quality time with him that wasn’t just attempting to survive.
He leaned back once done, letting Bellamy ponder the information.
I know you want so much more than you have, Clara. I want to give it to you.
We have to be patient. We are making progress.
Bellamy sat with his elbows on his knees.
“That’s a rather tragic story.” He stood and looked east, where dark clouds were rolling in. “Storms come from the eastern sea quite a bit. We should head back to the city before it hits and the light fades. Here, take this…”
The man went to the table with Clara’s papers and wrote down something before holding it to him.
“Take this to the local department in the east quarter. Give them that. They’ll issue you papers, a number, and standing enough that a captain has to be civil.”
Daniel took it and held out a hand.
“I look forward to working with you, Warrant Shade Bellamy.”
He clasped it, grip firm.
“Call me Bellamy. And I won’t pretend I do not have my own motives. Your Contract style is unique. Consider it professional curiosity. Clara didn’t stay long. I was waiting to see if you’d talk about her disappearance. Allenia sensed her leave roughly five minutes after her appearance.”
Daniel let go and rubbed his neck, laughing.
“She’s not too happy with me, I think. We’ve already been betrayed, after all. I really want to trust you’ll be different. You’re also taking away her fun. She liked putting together all the pieces of that slaver group.”
Bellamy stepped back and glanced at the giant silent bird. He motioned for him to get on Allenia as the wind pressure changed.
“Understandable. I’d like to know more about your relationship with your wife, and her opinion of this arrangement. Perhaps you could mediate?”
Daniel held up [Vault] to draw in all the materials and followed him to the stork.
“While I’d love to boast about my wife, I don’t think it is appropriate right now. I can ask her, but don’t expect a positive answer.”
Bellamy smiled.
“It isn’t often you get the chance to speak to a creature of the higher realms. How about I offer a trade? I’ll dig up more information on this Silver City of Tarnish. I’d like to see if Clara can answer any of my questions on my own contracted higher realm.”
Daniel climbed up, considering the offer.
Clara won’t be able to. Angel might be able to… It’s worth a shot.
“That could work. What is the realm Allenia comes from?”
The bird’s feathers ruffled underneath him.
“Do not think I am useless or dull-witted. We contracted creatures are forbidden to divulge information about our territory without high approval.”
“Makes sense.”
If Butler or One were summoned by someone else, I can’t imagine them divulging any information on us or our kingdom. I don’t even know how high realms contract with mortals.
Bellamy rubbed his agitated bird’s neck.
“It is the Realm of Jabal Qaf. One must travel to the Sacred Mountain of Storms, carve out a chunk of wood from a black oak, and hold it up at the peak for lightning to strike. Until the bolts etch the design, you cannot put your arms down, through rain and wind. After that, monster cores feed them and help them grow. Allenia was the size of a child when I completed the trial.”
Daniel knew he was expecting a reciprocal explanation. It was interesting.
Unlike Wizards, who used components and verbal casting, Summoners had a constant companion they could summon and grow. Beastfolk called them Spiritualists. It wasn’t like they were exorcising them.
“I’ve figured that out. I’ve fed each of my cards monster cores we’ve found. That’s a pretty intense way to make a contract. Clara handles the new cards for me.”
“Interesting… The queen of the realm is personally etching your cards for you. Does that mean the ruler of the Jabal Qaf Realm does the same?”
He doesn’t know that much about his own contracted realm? Wow. I gave away a huge bit of information there. I suppose no one knows a lot about the higher realms, then.
I need to be more careful.
Angel, I might have a lot to ask you.
Bellamy tossed him something. He caught it.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“A ring?” It was plain and dull as a nail. Daniel smirked. “Romantic. But I’m not looking for another wife.”
“You have jokes. That charm will get you far. It’s a Link Ring. It shines in the direction of the other. In case you do end up leaving, for whatever reason, I’d like to find you. I’ll be gone for roughly a month. Use those funds you pillaged to make yourself presentable. It goes a long way, and you’ve got the face to pass as a royal.”
“Thanks!”
He slipped it on, and they took to the air.
I have to blend in as a human. I’ll need to find some trustworthy tradesmen if I’m going to blend in with proper clothes. I suppose money opens doors, and I have plenty.
The road fell away, and the world flattened. Daniel spent most of the flight with his face in the wind, grinning like a lunatic. It was liberating. He couldn’t wait to fly with Clara in the open skies some day.
Allenia and Bellamy were rather silent on the way back. Bellamy dropped him off at a department landing site inside the city. He noticed some kind of magical defenses on the walls.
The storm hit shortly after he entered the department hall and handed over his letter.
A brown-haired woman in her forties scrutinized him more than the paper. An hour later, he had his identification. A registered human, family listed as unknown, other than a mysterious wife named Clara. He was also legally marked as someone suffering from amnesia.
That was a funny detail. He was a registered headcase. And Daniel was a tad concerned with how helpful the young women were around the department administration. They handed him a map, circled with places he should go, and gave him all sorts of useful information.
“What a helpful place,” he whispered, opening an umbrella one of the women gave him. “You have all been so supportive.”
“Are you sure we can’t help you find the inn?” a dark-haired girl asked, smoothing back her hair and looking up at him with a bright smile. “The city can be hard to navigate when it rains like this.”
Another girl agreed, nodding with the others.
Daniel held up his hand and shook his head, lifting the map they’d given him.
“I think this will do me wonders. Thank you, ladies. I have already made plans.”
“Oh. Shame…”
They waved him off, and Daniel stepped into the rain. The patter of the droplets peppered the waxed paper umbrella as he glanced around the high-class district he found himself in.
I have papers. So now I can play off the scars on my back. I’m registered as a human. Still, it would be preferable to spend the extra money for professional discretion.
He set his path toward the inn.
Julia and Alys should be there.
Daniel ordered dinner for the first time as rain battered the inn, and began eating. The shocked women found him as he half-finished his fresh bread and stew.
“How did you beat us here?” Julia asked, dropping into the seat next to him and shaking off the water soaking her jacket. “It’s raining griffons and unicorns out there.”
“A big stork. You okay?” The bags under Alys’s eyes made Daniel pause and fill her a cup of grape juice. “Can I get you something stronger?”
The Cleric’s smile was small but grateful as she took it and shook her head.
“I don’t drink alcohol. Thank you… So the Department of Shadows found you?”
Daniel lifted his hand and ordered the girls food. The teenage girl making the rounds around the inn’s common area held up a thumb to show she got the message.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got all my paperwork now. I’ve also got something for you here…”
He reached into a pouch at his waist and extracted two bags.
“The reward for the illegal slavers.”
Julia tugged open the strap almost half-heartedly.
“We dropped my brother off at the… Well, you know where. It will be a few weeks for the service.” She paused when she looked inside. “Daniel…”
Daniel put a finger to his lips and gave a compassionate smile.
“Asper saved me. It’s only right I honor what he asked me. I gave each of you fifty, plus your cut of the reward. The one thing Asper asked, Julia, was that you leave Dungeon crawling. What do you think about that?”
Julia quickly tied the cord on the bag of fifty gold and the 20 copper he’d given each of them. The reward had been 50 copper, but that was nothing compared to what he’d gotten from the slaver’s fortune.
“I sort of decided to stay with Alys for a while, until I figure things out.”
“I told you your brother’s request. I gave you the means to accomplish it. What’s left is your decision. You mentioned wanting to be married. Don’t let your dreams die here. Live.”
The food arrived, and Alys waited for the young girl to leave, thumbs rubbing her cup.
“I’m converting. To the Temple of Light.”
Daniel leaned back and rubbed his jaw, studying the tense woman.
“I can’t say I know what that means, exactly. I support it. Suppose it’s what you want. I’m not sure of the consequences that converting brings to Clerics.”
Alys tapped the cup.
“I’m not ashamed of the work I did in the Wellspring faith. I’ve done a lot of good. The Temple has done a lot of good. I’m not getting comfort from its teachings. I find conflict with things I previously didn’t even think about.”
Daniel caught her eyes darting to him momentarily, then to the cup again.
The Temple’s view on angels. It isn’t just that. Its position on slaves and other races is conflicting with where she’s at.
Julia jumped in, placing a hand on Alys’s arm; the woman flinched but accepted it.
“The Temple of Light is really small in this kingdom. It’s a relatively new faith, Alys tells me… Do you want to come with us tomorrow?”
Daniel watched Alys trying to hold back tears.
He pushed the plate to the side and took her trembling hand. She looked up, and he saw a drowning woman, trapped in the riptide left by Ralph and her past actions.
“Yes. I’ll come. You’re not okay, Alys. You can try your best to pretend you are alright all you wish… But you don’t need to make amends with Ralph. You need to make it with yourself.”
She held his eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks.
He whispered to her in the privacy of the inn’s corner.
“It may not mean a lot from me. It may be the hardest thing you do: finding forgiveness in yourself. But deep down, I think you are worthy.”
Alys’s fingernails dug into the back of his hand as she bent over the table, shaking, with tears falling across the wood. Julia moved closer to pull her into an embrace, crying with her.
Daniel sat with them until the tears stopped, and helped them up to their room.
[Server]’s card flashed into his hand. Relief came as he tossed it into their room.
A redheaded maid in her early twenties appeared and curtsied.
“I am Three, My King. What might you need?”
He smiled and gestured at the two hiccuping women.
The maid’s features softened.
“I will see to it.”
Leaving them in Three’s care, he went to his own room and fell into bed.
Another woman called him to her bedside.