VII - Wizard's Research

Cassana reached the inn and noticed Ashvell's wagon parked on the stables. Outside, she saw Ashvell, Robb and her Uncle Euric sitting around, talking, and hanging out. They waved at her as she entered the building.

     It was quiet and empty inside. She immediately went to the cellar downstairs and pulled one of the shelves out, revealing a much bigger room hidden behind. It was filled with papers and scrolls, documents and books. She picked a crate and started randomly filling it with anything she could find that looked interesting. She remembered how bad she was with Languages, it simply wasn't her forte. She remembered almost failing in every other test. That was one thing her father didn't pass onto her.

     What if she couldn't do it? What if she couldn't decipher the inscription? Would they just let them go? She hardly thought so. No, she had seen things. Even if she couldn't figure out what they want with an ancient weapon, it was still something that proper authorities can use to hunt them down. No, they wouldn't let them go. I need an edge. No, an axe. A really big axe.

     She stepped out of the secret room, pulling the crate behind, and placed it by the table, pushing her staff to the side. She climbed back up and outside and called for Ashvell. "Can I borrow you for a minute?"

     "Sure." The young man answered. He stood up and followed Cassana inside, down into the cellar.

     Cassana pointed to the crate she just filled. "Can you bring that up the stairs?"

     "You can't use your magic for that?" Ashvell snickered.

     "Come on dude, just..." placing her hands on her waist. The young man complied and lifted the crate, then made his way up to the main room upstairs, while Cassana followed behind. She pointed to one of the tables and he dropped it on top, making a loud thump.

     She didn't want Ashvell to have any part in this, but she had to prepare for every scenario. If it came down to keeping herself and Otheric alive, her magical abilities alone wouldn't be enough. Ashvell had proven himself to be a formidable fighter all through their lives together. From the petty neighborhood bullies, to murderous, blood-thirsty bandits. He can handle himself, that she was sure of, and she had seen the young driver wipe the blood clean off from his axe one-too-many times.

     As for keeping his mouth shut, that leaves a lot to be desired. He was reliable in every aspect, except for being discreet. But not because of malice, or ill-intent, Ashvell was just too gullible and too naive; impressionable and easily suggestible. They once joked that he didn't need to be tortured to get something out of him, one just needs to ask him nicely. Despite this, Ashvell had never broken a promise. Not once. So if she makes him promise to not talk about what she was about to ask him to do, she was sure that he will keep that promise.

     "What are these?" he inquired, flipping through the case's contents.

     "Father's notes." Cassana answered.

     "Notes on what?"

     "Everything."

     Cassana sifted through the papers she collected and started browsing through its pages one by one. Ashvell gave her a clueless look. "Otheric's back, by the way, have you heard?"

     "Yeah" Cassana answered, "I just came back from the manor..."

     "How was the mister and the missus? Usually, when they get back after travelling like that, they head straight to the square and meet with the rest of us. You know, sharing their spoils..."

     Cassana didn't know how to respond so she chose to change the topic instead. "Have you heard anything from the villagers? About Otheric, I mean, if there's any talk about him..."

     "None that I know of, why?"

     "Nothing."

     Ashvell picked up one of the books and struggled to read its title.

     "Have you seen anyone suspicious around?"

     "No?" Ashvell paused to think. "Wait, the noble from The Capital and the masked foreigner."

     "Well, we've dealt with them already. Definitely suspicious." They both smiled.

     Ashvell flipped through the books one by one. He already stopped trying to read the titles. "You know who could really help you with these?" Cassana and him both shared a look, then they turned their heads to the door.

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     "Is scythe a weapon?" Robb inquired, while reading through a small tome in his hands. The three were now seated around a table. The pile of papers on top had grown reasonably taller.

     "It's a gardening tool." Ashvell answered.

     "Okay." Robb tossed the book to a different pile down on the floor, then grabbed another one and started reading. "Is hammer a weapon?"

     "It's for carpentry." answered Ashvell.

     Cassana shook her head. "Scythes and hammers could be weapons too, you know? In fact, that's how all weapons started. They were tools for everyday use until people figured out they can use them to hurt someone. So technically, anything that can hurt somebody is a weapon." she explained.

     The boys shared a look of agreement. Ashvell picked up the biggest and heaviest book they found. "How about this?"

     "What's that about?" Cassana tried to read the title of the book, but Ashvell lifted it high up and gently bopped it on Robb's shaved head.

     "Awww." the young boy fake-cried, laughing.

     "Funny." said Cassana, with a slight air of sarcasm. The three cackled.

     The orange dim light coming from the setting sun outside made it difficult for them to read the remaining papers on the table. Cassana had lost track of time, and it was already getting dark.

     "Hey Robb, can you turn on the lanterns? There's a tinderbox by the stove."

     "Sure," answered the young boy. He hopped down from his stool and walked towards the kitchen.

     "Ashvell, did you bring your axe with you?"

     "Yeah, it's on the wagon. Why?"

     "You may have to-" before she could finish, a loud bang threw open the main door, and a silhouette of a small figure appeared ahead of them.

     "Knock knock." Cassana recognized the voice. The figure stepped closer to reveal itself, it was the boisterous drow from the manor earlier. "Or should I have said that first before opening the door?" She stood with one hand on her waist, and the other holding a small dagger on her shoulders.

     Two more figures entered behind her. One was the tall drow with a pair of axes, the other Cassana didn't recognize.

     "What are you doing here?" Cassana rasped.

     "Well, you said you'd be back, and it's been hours now. Boss was worried, he thought maybe you need help carrying those notes so he sent him." She pointed to the tall drow with a pair axes. "Then my brother here," she pointed to the other one, Cassana could now see he had a bow strapped on his shoulders, "who has been watching the village all day, told me that he noticed a few uniformed soldiers walking about...

     "So I thought, I should come too, you know, to discourage you from having any funny ideas."

     As she finished explaining, Cassana noticed Robb exiting the kitchen, she motioned for him to stay hidden.

     "I'm about to head back, okay?" said Cassana, "I just... Look to be honest, I'm not very good at translating stuff, so I need to collect all the help I could get."

     "And who's that Mr. Handsome beside you?"

     "He's just some servant, okay? He's gonna help me carry this stuff to the mountain." Cassana lied while stealthily reaching for the space by her right side, only to grab nothing but air. She realized that she left her staff below. She also forgot to change the nugget on her bracelet. Shit. Ashvell stared at her with great concern.

     "Okay, I see. He looks like someone who can lift. Come on, chop-chop, let's get this party started, come on, let's go." She stood clear of the door and motioned for Cassana to exit.

     "I just need more time, okay?"

     The short drow shrieked, before brushing off the bangs on her forehead in frustration. "I hate that phrase, you know why?"

     Cassana could see the two drows behind her roll their eyes.

     "So I told my last boyfriend that I wanted to settle down, you know? Cause I was tired of all the pillaging and marauding and all the murdering, and I just wanted to be a plain, simple housewife, with my little drow babies, and a house by the lake, and my own pretty garden.. You know? A quiet life. So I told him, let's get married, and you know what he told me?"

     "I just need more-" Cassana interrupted.

     "I JUST NEED MORE TIME!" The drow screamed. "So you know what I did?"

     "I don't give a shit..." Cassana said, trying to cut her off again.

     "Shush shush! Let me finish. So, this is what I did: one night during dinner, I slipped a poison on his drink. And as he was lying there, frothing on his mouth, I sliced his head off clean. Now he has all the time in the world."

     "Look, Bangs!" Cassana mocked. "If you think you can scare me with that obviously fake story, then you have another thing coming." She slid her hand into one of the boxes underneath the table, and sneakily flipped on its contents, hoping she could find anything she could use, maybe a small nugget of Focusing Stone that randomly got stuck among the pages.

     Just as the drow was about to respond, another silhouette appeared on the door. Cassana immediately recognized the figure. "Uh, Cass, everything alright?" It was Bonnie.

    "Go away girl, we're closed!" Cassana shouted, faking her annoyance.

    "Hey, hey, is that how you greet a customer?" The drow mocked Cassana. She moved to Bonnie and held her by her wrist, "Come, come, darling. Take a seat." She pulled her towards one of the tables and pushed her down a stool. "Welcome to blah-blah inn, what can I do for you today?"

     "Bonnie, go home, now!" Cassana shouted again. She could see her young friend trembling where she sat.

     "So Bonnie, that's your name?" the drow asked. "So what can I do for you, Bonnie? What do you want?"

     "Actually..." Bonnie's voice shook with fear, "I was just gonna check on Ashvell."

     "Ashvell? Who's Ashvell?" The drow sat on the table behind Bonnie. She turned her stool around so they could both face Cassana. "Are you Ashvell?" she pointed at him with his dagger.

     Ashvell sighed. Cassana reached out for his hand under the table, having no success in finding help from the box underneath, she turned her gaze towards the dagger on his belt. It was his father's and she remembered him giving it to her friend. And as far as she knew, her father attached a stone inside its  handle. That was it, that was her last ace.

     She calculated her next move in her head. Hopefully, that stone in the dagger had enough energy to power a binding spell. She will target the guy with axes, as he seemed to be the strongest of the three. The other one had a bow, and once Ashvell gets close to him, he will be useless. All she needed to worry about was the girl in the middle. The way she handled her dagger, Cassana was sure she could slit Bonnie's throat in the blink of an eye. She needed to get her friend away from her.

     "So what is it? What do you wanna tell our Ashvell?" The short drow continued.

     "Actually," Cassana interrupted. "It's Ashvell who's gonna tell her something." Sorry Bonnie, hopefully you'll forgive me for this one. She looked at Ashvell with a forced grin, but the young man simply stared at her with confusion.

     "Wait!" the drow cheered, "wait, wait, wait!" She pulled back Bonnie's hair and took a closer look at her eyes, "Is that eye-shadow I see? Oh and look at those powdered cheeks!" She looked at Ashvell, then back at Bonnie, and back at Ashvell again. "Oh I know now... somebody's in love," she sang.

     She pulled her hair harder and Bonnie grunted in pain. "Take your hands off her." Cassana shouted. She couldn't contain herself any longer.

     "You know what, I don't blame you. Ashvell is a looker, look at him. Look at that stare, I can already feel myself getting wet," she ran the blunt edge of her dagger across Bonnie's neck, "but let me give you one piece of advice. From one girl to another, you see, there's something missing from your aesthetic. Something all boys love. You know what it is? Blood-red lips." The drow clasped Bonnie's jaw in place and carved her dagger across her lips. The young lass let out a muffled scream.