Luck [Part 3]
Jan. 1st, 2013 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Motorcity
Summary: When Chuck left Jacob's tavern one morning, his staff in hand, he had thought his day would progress as usual: normally, with nothing of interest happening; he didn't know what a chance meeting with one of King Kane's knights would lead to.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Nothing.
Notes: Written for![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
RiniRhyme for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
yuletide.
Thanks for Kaelin for the betaread and Dogmatix for the info-checking!
Genre: Fantasy/friendship
Word count: 4,534
Total word count: 12,840
Status: Work in progress
It didn't take them long to finally reach the more inhabited areas of Southern Raymanthia, but it felt like it to Chuck, the headache beginning to pulse behind his eyes the longer he kept his senses open. The sunlight flickering past the forest canopy hadn't helped matters, and then they had to step into the full sunlight, leaving the forest behind them. He had to keep a hand up to cover his eyes, but everything was still too bright, even when he closed them.
"Hey," Mike said softly, by his side, their elbows jostling. He'd been there for a while, though Chuck couldn't remember when exactly Mike had placed himself there. "We're nearly there."
"I know," Chuck murmured, squinting against the glare. "Jacob's tavern isn't too far from here." It just seemed like it was a yawning distance between them when every step he took thudded in his head.
"That's good to hear." There was a small pause. "If you're still using your magic - I mean…"
"We need to know if there are any knights coming," Chuck said, even as he winced at the dizziness his own voice gave him.
"But you haven't seen them for a while, have you?"
"…No," he admitted. The spirits close-by hadn't heard or seen anything recently, and as far as he knew, the knights had kept going on the paths Mike had led them on. Except that meant…
Chuck grimaced. "There might be knights in Southern Raymanthia, if the first group didn't get called away or lost." And the chances of that weren't very likely.
Mike sighed softly. "Then there's no way you can stop doing what you're doing?"
Chuck would have sent Mike a dry look if he'd been able to see him without a stabbing pain in his head. "I'd rather be alive and dealing with a headache than dead."
"Well, if you collapse, I might have a problem finding Jacob's tavern…"
He blinked at that, and then winced. Navigating through Southern Raymanthia wasn't anything like travelling through Northern Raymanthia, where everything was signposted and there were clear-cut paths to use. "I'm not going to collapse," he said, but he could hear his own uncertainty threading through at the end.
"Uh-huh." It wasn't hard to hear the disbelief in Mike's flat tone either. "You haven't been walking straight since we left the forest. Before that, even." Mike sighed. "Rest for now, all right? I can keep a lookout for the both of us for now – I'm not saying I can do it better than you, but I think I can manage." There was Mike's reassuring grin again, and Chuck closed his eyes, thinking it over. He had a better range than Mike, and he could be more certain of what he saw or heard but… It didn't matter if he could do that if he fainted from the strain and Mike had to drag his body to Jacob's tavern, especially when he didn't know where to find it.
"…All right," he said, letting out a breath as he shielded his mind. The headache retreated almost instantly and Chuck sighed, rubbing his forehead, even though he knew that wouldn't chase the stubborn remnants of the headache away. Maybe he had been doing that for too long… He winced as his mind tried to get used to being closed off after being open for so long; it wasn't good when the mind started to get used that.
It took him a while to feel like he was actually there instead of slightly detached from his body but when he was, he grimaced, realising just how close he had been to leaving his mind completely open, no matter that he had only kept his attention on the spirits at the basic level.
"Thank you," Chuck said quietly, brushing the hair away from his eyes, making sure he could feel everything. He knew the problems with keeping his senses open for too long, had experienced them first-hand, but he'd never had to use them for so long since Jacob had taught him how to control his power.
"Feeling a bit better?" Mike asked as he peered around the corner of a building.
"Yes." He shook his head. "Next time, you should just tell me to stop - believe me, it's better that way."
Mike pulled back to grin at him. "Understood. The coast is clear right now, and I don't think I hear any knights."
Chuck nodded. "Jacob's tavern is left of here, past the building with the purple door."
"All right." Mike looked around one last time, and then gestured for Chuck to follow.
They didn't take long to reach that building, and Chuck smiled at Mike's dumbfounded expression at what lay in front of them. Roads sprawled in all directions, houses raised seemingly at random (and they probably had been), and while it looked like a mess, it was also home. Colour was splashed everywhere, a physical rainbow that was ordered just like the buildings. Chuck had helped with some of it, adding in his own blue, using it as a marker for where he wanted to go; other people had added their own preferred colour (through either magic or dyes) for the same reason, while others had drawn on the buildings like paper, each wall, door or close available surface telling its own, unique story.
"Not what you expected?" Chuck asked, teasing creeping into his voice as he passed Mike, and Mike blinked, shaking his head.
"No," Mike admitted, studying the scene in front of him before he started moving again. "From the way King Kane described Southern Raymanthia, I had been picturing something more...bleak."
"Where killers and the lowest of all citizens collect to plan his demise." Chuck shrugged. "That's what I thought, too, when I first came down here."
There was a pause before Mike said, "You were born in Northern Raymanthia?"
Chuck nodded, already knowing what conclusions he was coming to.
A drawn out breath. "And with your magic..."
"Yes." People who were discovered to be able to wield magic were snapped up by Kane as soon as they were found; they made powerful fighters for Kane's army, and if they were fighting for Kane, it meant they weren't fighting against him. Refusing him was never an option; if the magic user didn't do what he wanted, it wasn't just their own lives at risk, but also the lives of their loved ones. Not being found by Kane was the better option, especially if the magic user hadn't volunteered and then had to explain why they hadn't gone straight to Kane when they were of age.
"Anyway," Chuck said, shaking his head, "we should keep moving."
Mike looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he didn't voice them, though it took him a while to speak again. "Where do we go from here?"
"The third fork on the left, and then the second right." Chuck paused, remembering something. "Or you can follow the blue…" He blew the hair away from his eyes, trying to think how to describe what he'd used. "The blue fireball – it's got a trail behind it." He no longer needed his own markers to navigate, but they were easier to remember than directions.
Mike nodded, studying the path in front of them. "All right." They continued moving again, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything suspicious.
Thankfully they made it to Jacob's tavern without any more incidents, and after everything that had happened over the course of the last day, Chuck was relieved to see the familiar building again.
They knocked on the back door and hovered there, glancing around them just in case, but eventually the door opened, and Jacob's face was briefly surprised before he greeted them both with a smile.
"Come in, come in!" Jacob said as he ushered them into the tavern, checking if there was anyone else outside before closing the door behind him. "I wasn't expecting you two back so soon," Jacob said as he started bustling about the kitchen. The smells were familiar to Chuck, even though he had no idea what Jacob had concocted this time.
"Ha..." Chuck laughed weakly, rubbing his arm. "We...stole a horse..."
Jacob's eyebrows rose in disbelief, his arm pausing above the pot. "And you rode it?"
"Yes, Mike..." Chuck trailed off as he realised just what exactly he had been doing for the entire ride, and then his face felt like it had been exposed to the dragon's fire all over again. No wonder Mike had hugged him without any hesitation when they got off the horse!
"Heh," Mike said, nudging him lightly with an elbow, "Chuck did most of the work."
That...wasn't what they were talking about, and Chuck could see Jacob hiding his grin as he turned away from them to collect some bowls.
"I bet you boys are hungry," Jacob said, and while Mike made an affirmative sound, Chuck kept silent, knowing what to expect better, still distracted by what he had just realised.
Whatever was in the bowl wasn't as green as Chuck had expected it to be, but he didn't catch what Jacob called it as a faint buzzing in his head made itself known and he grimaced, putting a hand on his head; it wasn't painful, but it was disconcerting how the kitchen seemed to be listing to the right.
"-l right?"
Chuck sucked in a breath, trying to focus on the voice. "Not...really?" he said weakly, looking at Mike. "I think everything just caught up with me." Or had already caught up with him and he was only on his feet through sheer force of will.
"That's not surprising," Jacob said, and then tilted his head towards the door that lead further into the tavern. "Go on, get some rest."
Chuck smiled as he ducked his head. "Yes, I think I will." Not think; he would be getting rest - it was just a matter of if he would able to reach his bed in time.
"Do you want some help?" Mike asked, already moving towards him, and Chuck waved his hands.
"I'll be fine!" His voice didn't squeak at the end of that, really. "It's not far." Only up a flight of stairs. And down a corridor. It was manageable. Probably.
"All right..." Mike eased himself back down onto the stool (and when had he stood up in the first place?), still watching him.
Chuck could feel their gazes on him as he left, and he tried to not drag his feet, but he bumped his toes on every single one of the steps as he forced his legs up them, a hand braced on the wall, just in case.
He stumbled into his room, mustering together the last of his strength to lean his staff on the wall. Then he flopped onto his bed and fell asleep.
~ * ~
It was dark outside Chuck's window when he woke up, the stars shining brightly against the sky. His stomach felt like, since it was completely empty, it had decided to gnaw on itself in an attempt to sate itself; well, there was no question where he was going to go next. Chuck winced as he got up, his muscles aching.
He padded through the tavern to reach the kitchen, hearing the celebration of...something through the walls. There was still some food left and after poking and sniffing at what was above the fire, Chuck poured some into a bowl. The consistency was thick, but it didn't cling to the ladle, like one of Jacob's previous experiments had done; they'd had to throw that pot out afterwards when the food completely solidified inside it. Even Jacob's magic hadn't been able to scratch its surface.
Chuck sat on a stool, dragging his spoon in circles - it should be safe to eat if the pot was halfway empty - usually before then, if there were any adverse effects, word would have gotten around and people stopped ordering it. He brought up a spoonful, eyed it briefly, before he jammed it into his mouth and swallowed it as quickly as possible. ...Well, it didn't activate his gag reflex, so there was that. It left a tangy but sweet aftertaste, and, weird combinations aside, it still seemed edible.
The door creaked open. "Ah, you're up. How are you feeling?"
Chuck smiled tiredly at Jacob, running his spoon through the food again. "Better. Still sore, but I could definitely be worse."
Jacob chuckled at that. He pulled up a stool and sat next to Chuck, an eyebrow raised. "Mike was telling me about what you two were up to together..."
Chuck groaned into his bowl. "Really, I didn't do that much," he stressed. Why did Mike keep insisting otherwise? "It was all Mike's doing."
"That wasn't what I heard," Jacob said, teasing in his voice, his moustache doing nothing to hide his smile. "He seems to think it was because of you that you were both able to make it back here."
"'Seems to think'." Chuck shook his head, sighing. "He took care of the knight and stole the horse, and it was his idea to leave a false trail for the knights to follow."
"Mmhm." Jacob didn't look at all convinced. "And who exactly was the one who warned you two that there were knights coming, and who drew the knight's attention? Who used his magic to keep checking if they were being followed, to the point of nearly knocking himself unconscious?" Jacob paused. "And this isn't even going into when you two fought the dragon."
Chuck squirmed at every point Jacob made, twirling his spoon between in his fingers. "Y-yes, I did, but - I mean..." When Jacob said it like that, it sounded like he'd done a lot more than he truly had. "The important things were done by Mike."
Jacob sighed, though it turned into a resigned chuckle at the end. "We're going to go around in circles if we continue."
That was definitely true, and it wasn't as if they hadn't had similar conversations before. Chuck dug into the goop again, and he fared better the second time, so he continued eating, not trying to swallow it as quickly as he could, no matter how much his stomach wanted him to.
After a few more spoonfuls, Jacob's expression turned more serious. "Mike also told me you two plan to try and find more Old Civilisation ruins?"
Chuck blinked and then swallowed the food still in his mouth, nodding. "The one artefact Mike found..." Chuck shook his head at the memory. "Has he shown you it? If we could find more weapons like that, or - just anything, then Southern Raymanthia wouldn't be so defenceless against Kane!" Kane kept advancing south, expanding his kingdom, enslaving all those that got in his way or had homes in the areas that Kane took over; Raymanthia used to be free, united, before Kane had come and founded his kingdom to the north, and no-one had the power to fight back against what he was doing.
"I know, Chuck, I know." Jacob closed his eyes, his head briefly dipping forward, before he opened his eyes again and gave Chuck a level look. "Now, I may be wrong about this, but if my memory serves me correctly, there are stories of how the people of the Old Civilisation developed the ability to summon dragons from another world."
Chuck dropped his spoon, his jaw dropping open at the same time; his thoughts raced as he worked out what Jacob wasn't saying. "If the Old Civilisation knew how to summon dragons and Kane's suddenly using dragons, then that means-!" His stool clattered to the ground as he stood up suddenly. "We have to move now - we don't know how long it's going to be until-"
"Woah, Chuck, slow down," Jacob said, hold his hands up in a placating manner. "I know you want to start looking right away, but you're still recovering from yesterday - and you don't know where to look."
"But-"
"You need to rest," Jacob interrupted him, his voice brooking no argument. "There's no point haring off now if you're already aching. What happens if you stumble across more of Kane's knights? And you don't have a direction - you could be running in the completely wrong direction, and then you'd waste time backtracking."
Chuck's shoulders sagged and he let out a breath, scrubbing his face with a hand. Jacob had a point. "Yes, you're right," he said quietly, pulling his stool back up. "But I don't..." It rankled him to stay put when he knew Kane had access to Old Civilisation artefacts, that every moment he spent doing anything else was more time Kane spent gathering even more power.
Jacob chuckled again, jerking his head towards the door, indicating the raucous behind him. "Don't you worry; if there's any information about potential places where you can find Old Civilisation artefacts, I'll hear it."
Chuck smiled, feeling lighter. Yes, he would.
"Now then," Jacob said, hefting himself to his feet, "I should get back - there's probably a fight about to break out, if I know Ed. Eat and straight to bed, you hear?"
Chuck nodded. "There isn't anything else I want to do."
"Mm. Good." With a wave, Jacob went back to the main part of the tavern.
Chuck blew the hair away from his face, his fingers tapping on the bowl, his mind blank as he stared at it. Well, he'd said that he'd eat and then go to sleep, so he was going to do just that.
~ * ~
The next time Chuck woke up, the sun was high in the sky, the distant sound of people moving around filtering through both the window and the walls. He lay there for a while, wondering if he should get up or if he should just roll over and get more sleep. His body didn't feel like it wanted more rest, even though it still ached, and while his stomach wasn't trying to eat itself this time, it wanted to be filled again.
He blinked at the tread of footsteps that paused outside his door. Bemused, Chuck swung himself upright with a grunt, making his way towards it. Jacob normally knocked by now, but he probably didn't want to wake him if he was sleeping. He opened it, saying, "Morn - ning...?"
It wasn't Jacob on the other side of the door, but Mike, wearing new clothes, the Northern Raymanthian blue replaced with more earthy colours. Mike seemed comfortable in them, unlike what Chuck had seen from other people, the first time they wore Southern Raymanthian clothes; Chuck remembered how he'd felt the first time he'd worn them, and it had taken him days to get used to the feeling, the texture of the cloth.
Mike quirked a grin a him, ruffling the hair at the back of his head. "Morning. Just wanted to check on you." Mike peered at him, looking him over.
"I'm doing better than yesterday," Chuck said, giving him a small smile in return. But then, it was easy to feel better after what had happened. "You?"
"Heh. Not as bad as I expected, thanks to your healing."
Chuck huffed, shaking his head. He really wasn't going to stop, was he?
"Sooo, you ready for breakfast?" Mike asked. "Or do you want more rest first?"
Chuck's smile widened. "We can try what Jacob's cooked up - for breakfast, even."
Mike laughed.
~ * ~
Breakfast didn't end with needing to rush towards a window, though there had been some facial contortions, but that was it.
"You boys done?" Jacob asked once they were finished, and when they nodded, Jacob said, "Good. That means you can help me around the tavern."
Chuck blinked, starting to frown in puzzlement. "Jacob, I thought you said we were supposed to rest...?"
Jacob smiled as he picked up their bowls. "I did - but I also know what can happen if you're bored."
Chuck ducked his head, a weak laugh escaping his lips. "That only happened once!" Because he never wanted to go through that again. His face flushed at the thought.
"Mmm."
Mike was glancing between the two of them, a light sparking in his eyes. "Sounds like some story."
"Oh, it is. You see-"
"Ahaha!" Chuck laughed loudly, hoping it would drown out Jacob's words, moving to help him with the bowls. "What do you need doing?"
"Well, since you asked..."
Jacob really knew what to say to get him to do what he wanted... Mike seemed to recognise what Jacob had done, and while he looked amused at what had just played out in front of him, he didn't look like he was going to press what had happened. Chuck hoped.
~ * ~
"Hey, Chuck." That was all the warning Chuck had before he had an arm slung across his shoulders, and he only stiffened briefly, recognising Mike's voice beforehand. He still sagged under Mike's weight, Mike leaning on him more than Chuck expected. "Wow, that was more tiring than I expected; you do that all the time?"
"Not really," Chuck said, leading them to the kitchen. "I'm normally fetching ingredients Jacob needs - and I'm usually not exhausted to begin with," he added wryly.
"Heh, yes, there is that."
There were some kind of...cakes set aside in a corner, a couple of pears nestled next to them. "Well," Chuck said, studying the cakes, "if we can't eat whatever these are, we still have the fruit." When it came to Jacob's cooking, you had to learn to be optimistic.
"He does this often, huh?" Mike said, poking at the cake with a spoon. The cake wobbled.
"Every day," Chuck said, sighing. "He likes testing them out on, well, everyone." And since he was one of the people who had the most contact with him, Chuck was also usually Jacob's first choice for trying out what he had just finished making. Chuck had mostly gotten rid of his reflex of judging if something was edible by what it looked like in the time he'd spent with Jacob, but there were still some things that he had flat-out refused to put into his mouth: the thing that looked like it had sprouted tentacles was one, and the one that oozed around the plate as if it were still alive was another.
"...Wow."
Chuck shrugged, cutting into a cake with his spoon to see if there was a surprise filling - there didn't seem to be one, thankfully. "You get used to it." Mostly. Or you developed certain defence mechanisms to deal with it. After cutting out a small piece, Chuck plopped it in his mouth - it was drier than Jacob's last batch, but it wasn't as bland either.
"If you didn't, I don't think you'd still be here," Mike said, watching what he was doing before beginning to eat his own cake.
"No, if you really don't want to try out any of his stuff, Jacob won't force you to," Chuck said, reaching for the cake again. There was something about the taste that Chuck couldn't place, his tongue both wanting more and rejecting it; his stomach wasn't rebelling though, and Chuck had found through numerous trial-and-error that that was a better way to judge Jacob's cooking than taste.
~ * ~
"It looks like Kane's stopped searching for you," Jacob told Mike and Chuck a few days later while they cleaned tankards. "No-one's seen any knights for a while now."
"Oh, good," Chuck said, letting out a breath, putting a tankard away. At least they didn't have to worry about that for the time being. Not until Kane attacked Southern Raymanthia again. It meant they could leave the tavern now without having to worry about being spotted.
"But what about the ruin...?" Mike said, frowning.
"I'm still gathering information about that," Jacob said wryly. "If they were that easy to find, every single person would have at least one Old Civilisation artefact in their home."
Mike winced, sighing. "Sorry, it's just-"
"I know, I know," Jacob said. "Be patient; we'll hear something soon."
"I hope so."
Jacob then eyed Mike very carefully, and Chuck's hands slowed down, realising he was sizing Mike up. Mike noticed this straight away as well, but he didn't say anything, watching Jacob back.
"I also heard that there's some people to the northwest who owe you their lives," Jacob said.
Mike stilled, and in the quiet room, Chuck heard his quick intake of breath. His expression flashed through so many different emotions that Chuck couldn't name them before they disappeared, and Mike turned his face away from them. "It's because of me their lives were in danger," Mike said quietly, his voice tightly controlled.
Chuck glanced between them, puzzled. What were they talking about? But if he were to guess, Chuck had a feeling it had something to do with Kane. Not that that was hard to figure out.
Wait… To the northwest? That was where the Whispering Forest was. So did that mean - "Is this about how you ended up being chased by a dragon?" The question was out of Chuck's mouth before he realised he was talking and he closed it with a click of teeth.
Mike winced, his shoulders hunched, and it was…strange, seeing him like that – Chuck hadn't realised how he'd already become used to Mike's openness, how free and unrestrained he was with physical gestures. He nodded, once. "King Kane…" Mike started slowly, "he chose me to lead his knights; this-" Mike took in a breath, gritting his teeth. "This was his first command – he'd told me that we were clearing an area, that he wanted to test something." Mike pursed his lips as he crossed his arms. "He didn't tell me that the buildings we were clearing were inhabited, that what he was testing was a dragon."
"How could you not notice he was planning on using a dragon?" Chuck demanded in disbelief. That beast had been massive and completely unmissable!
"Teleportation magic," Jacob explained before Mike could, and Chuck turned his attention back to him. "You came down first, and then Kane sent his dragon."
Mike nodded. "It had been…docile when King Kane sent it, but when I realised what he wanted me to do, I refused." He didn't say anything for a while. "He wasn't happy about that and ordered the dragon to destroy their homes. I couldn't stop it." The last part was barely above a whisper.
"Mike," Jacob said, "there are people who would have still done as they were ordered, even after finding out what Kane wanted them to do. You didn't; you refused to hurt innocent people. You were able to get the people out of their homes before the dragon attacked and then you lured it away, trying to keep them safe."
Mike frowned before he sighed. "Still…" He shook his head, straightening. "The only thing we can do now is to stop him, so he doesn't do this anymore."
Jacob smiled at him. "Good."
Previous Part | Next Part
Summary: When Chuck left Jacob's tavern one morning, his staff in hand, he had thought his day would progress as usual: normally, with nothing of interest happening; he didn't know what a chance meeting with one of King Kane's knights would lead to.
Rating: PG-13
Contains: Nothing.
Notes: Written for
yuletide.Thanks for Kaelin for the betaread and Dogmatix for the info-checking!
Genre: Fantasy/friendship
Word count: 4,534
Total word count: 12,840
Status: Work in progress
It didn't take them long to finally reach the more inhabited areas of Southern Raymanthia, but it felt like it to Chuck, the headache beginning to pulse behind his eyes the longer he kept his senses open. The sunlight flickering past the forest canopy hadn't helped matters, and then they had to step into the full sunlight, leaving the forest behind them. He had to keep a hand up to cover his eyes, but everything was still too bright, even when he closed them.
"Hey," Mike said softly, by his side, their elbows jostling. He'd been there for a while, though Chuck couldn't remember when exactly Mike had placed himself there. "We're nearly there."
"I know," Chuck murmured, squinting against the glare. "Jacob's tavern isn't too far from here." It just seemed like it was a yawning distance between them when every step he took thudded in his head.
"That's good to hear." There was a small pause. "If you're still using your magic - I mean…"
"We need to know if there are any knights coming," Chuck said, even as he winced at the dizziness his own voice gave him.
"But you haven't seen them for a while, have you?"
"…No," he admitted. The spirits close-by hadn't heard or seen anything recently, and as far as he knew, the knights had kept going on the paths Mike had led them on. Except that meant…
Chuck grimaced. "There might be knights in Southern Raymanthia, if the first group didn't get called away or lost." And the chances of that weren't very likely.
Mike sighed softly. "Then there's no way you can stop doing what you're doing?"
Chuck would have sent Mike a dry look if he'd been able to see him without a stabbing pain in his head. "I'd rather be alive and dealing with a headache than dead."
"Well, if you collapse, I might have a problem finding Jacob's tavern…"
He blinked at that, and then winced. Navigating through Southern Raymanthia wasn't anything like travelling through Northern Raymanthia, where everything was signposted and there were clear-cut paths to use. "I'm not going to collapse," he said, but he could hear his own uncertainty threading through at the end.
"Uh-huh." It wasn't hard to hear the disbelief in Mike's flat tone either. "You haven't been walking straight since we left the forest. Before that, even." Mike sighed. "Rest for now, all right? I can keep a lookout for the both of us for now – I'm not saying I can do it better than you, but I think I can manage." There was Mike's reassuring grin again, and Chuck closed his eyes, thinking it over. He had a better range than Mike, and he could be more certain of what he saw or heard but… It didn't matter if he could do that if he fainted from the strain and Mike had to drag his body to Jacob's tavern, especially when he didn't know where to find it.
"…All right," he said, letting out a breath as he shielded his mind. The headache retreated almost instantly and Chuck sighed, rubbing his forehead, even though he knew that wouldn't chase the stubborn remnants of the headache away. Maybe he had been doing that for too long… He winced as his mind tried to get used to being closed off after being open for so long; it wasn't good when the mind started to get used that.
It took him a while to feel like he was actually there instead of slightly detached from his body but when he was, he grimaced, realising just how close he had been to leaving his mind completely open, no matter that he had only kept his attention on the spirits at the basic level.
"Thank you," Chuck said quietly, brushing the hair away from his eyes, making sure he could feel everything. He knew the problems with keeping his senses open for too long, had experienced them first-hand, but he'd never had to use them for so long since Jacob had taught him how to control his power.
"Feeling a bit better?" Mike asked as he peered around the corner of a building.
"Yes." He shook his head. "Next time, you should just tell me to stop - believe me, it's better that way."
Mike pulled back to grin at him. "Understood. The coast is clear right now, and I don't think I hear any knights."
Chuck nodded. "Jacob's tavern is left of here, past the building with the purple door."
"All right." Mike looked around one last time, and then gestured for Chuck to follow.
They didn't take long to reach that building, and Chuck smiled at Mike's dumbfounded expression at what lay in front of them. Roads sprawled in all directions, houses raised seemingly at random (and they probably had been), and while it looked like a mess, it was also home. Colour was splashed everywhere, a physical rainbow that was ordered just like the buildings. Chuck had helped with some of it, adding in his own blue, using it as a marker for where he wanted to go; other people had added their own preferred colour (through either magic or dyes) for the same reason, while others had drawn on the buildings like paper, each wall, door or close available surface telling its own, unique story.
"Not what you expected?" Chuck asked, teasing creeping into his voice as he passed Mike, and Mike blinked, shaking his head.
"No," Mike admitted, studying the scene in front of him before he started moving again. "From the way King Kane described Southern Raymanthia, I had been picturing something more...bleak."
"Where killers and the lowest of all citizens collect to plan his demise." Chuck shrugged. "That's what I thought, too, when I first came down here."
There was a pause before Mike said, "You were born in Northern Raymanthia?"
Chuck nodded, already knowing what conclusions he was coming to.
A drawn out breath. "And with your magic..."
"Yes." People who were discovered to be able to wield magic were snapped up by Kane as soon as they were found; they made powerful fighters for Kane's army, and if they were fighting for Kane, it meant they weren't fighting against him. Refusing him was never an option; if the magic user didn't do what he wanted, it wasn't just their own lives at risk, but also the lives of their loved ones. Not being found by Kane was the better option, especially if the magic user hadn't volunteered and then had to explain why they hadn't gone straight to Kane when they were of age.
"Anyway," Chuck said, shaking his head, "we should keep moving."
Mike looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he didn't voice them, though it took him a while to speak again. "Where do we go from here?"
"The third fork on the left, and then the second right." Chuck paused, remembering something. "Or you can follow the blue…" He blew the hair away from his eyes, trying to think how to describe what he'd used. "The blue fireball – it's got a trail behind it." He no longer needed his own markers to navigate, but they were easier to remember than directions.
Mike nodded, studying the path in front of them. "All right." They continued moving again, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything suspicious.
Thankfully they made it to Jacob's tavern without any more incidents, and after everything that had happened over the course of the last day, Chuck was relieved to see the familiar building again.
They knocked on the back door and hovered there, glancing around them just in case, but eventually the door opened, and Jacob's face was briefly surprised before he greeted them both with a smile.
"Come in, come in!" Jacob said as he ushered them into the tavern, checking if there was anyone else outside before closing the door behind him. "I wasn't expecting you two back so soon," Jacob said as he started bustling about the kitchen. The smells were familiar to Chuck, even though he had no idea what Jacob had concocted this time.
"Ha..." Chuck laughed weakly, rubbing his arm. "We...stole a horse..."
Jacob's eyebrows rose in disbelief, his arm pausing above the pot. "And you rode it?"
"Yes, Mike..." Chuck trailed off as he realised just what exactly he had been doing for the entire ride, and then his face felt like it had been exposed to the dragon's fire all over again. No wonder Mike had hugged him without any hesitation when they got off the horse!
"Heh," Mike said, nudging him lightly with an elbow, "Chuck did most of the work."
That...wasn't what they were talking about, and Chuck could see Jacob hiding his grin as he turned away from them to collect some bowls.
"I bet you boys are hungry," Jacob said, and while Mike made an affirmative sound, Chuck kept silent, knowing what to expect better, still distracted by what he had just realised.
Whatever was in the bowl wasn't as green as Chuck had expected it to be, but he didn't catch what Jacob called it as a faint buzzing in his head made itself known and he grimaced, putting a hand on his head; it wasn't painful, but it was disconcerting how the kitchen seemed to be listing to the right.
"-l right?"
Chuck sucked in a breath, trying to focus on the voice. "Not...really?" he said weakly, looking at Mike. "I think everything just caught up with me." Or had already caught up with him and he was only on his feet through sheer force of will.
"That's not surprising," Jacob said, and then tilted his head towards the door that lead further into the tavern. "Go on, get some rest."
Chuck smiled as he ducked his head. "Yes, I think I will." Not think; he would be getting rest - it was just a matter of if he would able to reach his bed in time.
"Do you want some help?" Mike asked, already moving towards him, and Chuck waved his hands.
"I'll be fine!" His voice didn't squeak at the end of that, really. "It's not far." Only up a flight of stairs. And down a corridor. It was manageable. Probably.
"All right..." Mike eased himself back down onto the stool (and when had he stood up in the first place?), still watching him.
Chuck could feel their gazes on him as he left, and he tried to not drag his feet, but he bumped his toes on every single one of the steps as he forced his legs up them, a hand braced on the wall, just in case.
He stumbled into his room, mustering together the last of his strength to lean his staff on the wall. Then he flopped onto his bed and fell asleep.
It was dark outside Chuck's window when he woke up, the stars shining brightly against the sky. His stomach felt like, since it was completely empty, it had decided to gnaw on itself in an attempt to sate itself; well, there was no question where he was going to go next. Chuck winced as he got up, his muscles aching.
He padded through the tavern to reach the kitchen, hearing the celebration of...something through the walls. There was still some food left and after poking and sniffing at what was above the fire, Chuck poured some into a bowl. The consistency was thick, but it didn't cling to the ladle, like one of Jacob's previous experiments had done; they'd had to throw that pot out afterwards when the food completely solidified inside it. Even Jacob's magic hadn't been able to scratch its surface.
Chuck sat on a stool, dragging his spoon in circles - it should be safe to eat if the pot was halfway empty - usually before then, if there were any adverse effects, word would have gotten around and people stopped ordering it. He brought up a spoonful, eyed it briefly, before he jammed it into his mouth and swallowed it as quickly as possible. ...Well, it didn't activate his gag reflex, so there was that. It left a tangy but sweet aftertaste, and, weird combinations aside, it still seemed edible.
The door creaked open. "Ah, you're up. How are you feeling?"
Chuck smiled tiredly at Jacob, running his spoon through the food again. "Better. Still sore, but I could definitely be worse."
Jacob chuckled at that. He pulled up a stool and sat next to Chuck, an eyebrow raised. "Mike was telling me about what you two were up to together..."
Chuck groaned into his bowl. "Really, I didn't do that much," he stressed. Why did Mike keep insisting otherwise? "It was all Mike's doing."
"That wasn't what I heard," Jacob said, teasing in his voice, his moustache doing nothing to hide his smile. "He seems to think it was because of you that you were both able to make it back here."
"'Seems to think'." Chuck shook his head, sighing. "He took care of the knight and stole the horse, and it was his idea to leave a false trail for the knights to follow."
"Mmhm." Jacob didn't look at all convinced. "And who exactly was the one who warned you two that there were knights coming, and who drew the knight's attention? Who used his magic to keep checking if they were being followed, to the point of nearly knocking himself unconscious?" Jacob paused. "And this isn't even going into when you two fought the dragon."
Chuck squirmed at every point Jacob made, twirling his spoon between in his fingers. "Y-yes, I did, but - I mean..." When Jacob said it like that, it sounded like he'd done a lot more than he truly had. "The important things were done by Mike."
Jacob sighed, though it turned into a resigned chuckle at the end. "We're going to go around in circles if we continue."
That was definitely true, and it wasn't as if they hadn't had similar conversations before. Chuck dug into the goop again, and he fared better the second time, so he continued eating, not trying to swallow it as quickly as he could, no matter how much his stomach wanted him to.
After a few more spoonfuls, Jacob's expression turned more serious. "Mike also told me you two plan to try and find more Old Civilisation ruins?"
Chuck blinked and then swallowed the food still in his mouth, nodding. "The one artefact Mike found..." Chuck shook his head at the memory. "Has he shown you it? If we could find more weapons like that, or - just anything, then Southern Raymanthia wouldn't be so defenceless against Kane!" Kane kept advancing south, expanding his kingdom, enslaving all those that got in his way or had homes in the areas that Kane took over; Raymanthia used to be free, united, before Kane had come and founded his kingdom to the north, and no-one had the power to fight back against what he was doing.
"I know, Chuck, I know." Jacob closed his eyes, his head briefly dipping forward, before he opened his eyes again and gave Chuck a level look. "Now, I may be wrong about this, but if my memory serves me correctly, there are stories of how the people of the Old Civilisation developed the ability to summon dragons from another world."
Chuck dropped his spoon, his jaw dropping open at the same time; his thoughts raced as he worked out what Jacob wasn't saying. "If the Old Civilisation knew how to summon dragons and Kane's suddenly using dragons, then that means-!" His stool clattered to the ground as he stood up suddenly. "We have to move now - we don't know how long it's going to be until-"
"Woah, Chuck, slow down," Jacob said, hold his hands up in a placating manner. "I know you want to start looking right away, but you're still recovering from yesterday - and you don't know where to look."
"But-"
"You need to rest," Jacob interrupted him, his voice brooking no argument. "There's no point haring off now if you're already aching. What happens if you stumble across more of Kane's knights? And you don't have a direction - you could be running in the completely wrong direction, and then you'd waste time backtracking."
Chuck's shoulders sagged and he let out a breath, scrubbing his face with a hand. Jacob had a point. "Yes, you're right," he said quietly, pulling his stool back up. "But I don't..." It rankled him to stay put when he knew Kane had access to Old Civilisation artefacts, that every moment he spent doing anything else was more time Kane spent gathering even more power.
Jacob chuckled again, jerking his head towards the door, indicating the raucous behind him. "Don't you worry; if there's any information about potential places where you can find Old Civilisation artefacts, I'll hear it."
Chuck smiled, feeling lighter. Yes, he would.
"Now then," Jacob said, hefting himself to his feet, "I should get back - there's probably a fight about to break out, if I know Ed. Eat and straight to bed, you hear?"
Chuck nodded. "There isn't anything else I want to do."
"Mm. Good." With a wave, Jacob went back to the main part of the tavern.
Chuck blew the hair away from his face, his fingers tapping on the bowl, his mind blank as he stared at it. Well, he'd said that he'd eat and then go to sleep, so he was going to do just that.
The next time Chuck woke up, the sun was high in the sky, the distant sound of people moving around filtering through both the window and the walls. He lay there for a while, wondering if he should get up or if he should just roll over and get more sleep. His body didn't feel like it wanted more rest, even though it still ached, and while his stomach wasn't trying to eat itself this time, it wanted to be filled again.
He blinked at the tread of footsteps that paused outside his door. Bemused, Chuck swung himself upright with a grunt, making his way towards it. Jacob normally knocked by now, but he probably didn't want to wake him if he was sleeping. He opened it, saying, "Morn - ning...?"
It wasn't Jacob on the other side of the door, but Mike, wearing new clothes, the Northern Raymanthian blue replaced with more earthy colours. Mike seemed comfortable in them, unlike what Chuck had seen from other people, the first time they wore Southern Raymanthian clothes; Chuck remembered how he'd felt the first time he'd worn them, and it had taken him days to get used to the feeling, the texture of the cloth.
Mike quirked a grin a him, ruffling the hair at the back of his head. "Morning. Just wanted to check on you." Mike peered at him, looking him over.
"I'm doing better than yesterday," Chuck said, giving him a small smile in return. But then, it was easy to feel better after what had happened. "You?"
"Heh. Not as bad as I expected, thanks to your healing."
Chuck huffed, shaking his head. He really wasn't going to stop, was he?
"Sooo, you ready for breakfast?" Mike asked. "Or do you want more rest first?"
Chuck's smile widened. "We can try what Jacob's cooked up - for breakfast, even."
Mike laughed.
Breakfast didn't end with needing to rush towards a window, though there had been some facial contortions, but that was it.
"You boys done?" Jacob asked once they were finished, and when they nodded, Jacob said, "Good. That means you can help me around the tavern."
Chuck blinked, starting to frown in puzzlement. "Jacob, I thought you said we were supposed to rest...?"
Jacob smiled as he picked up their bowls. "I did - but I also know what can happen if you're bored."
Chuck ducked his head, a weak laugh escaping his lips. "That only happened once!" Because he never wanted to go through that again. His face flushed at the thought.
"Mmm."
Mike was glancing between the two of them, a light sparking in his eyes. "Sounds like some story."
"Oh, it is. You see-"
"Ahaha!" Chuck laughed loudly, hoping it would drown out Jacob's words, moving to help him with the bowls. "What do you need doing?"
"Well, since you asked..."
Jacob really knew what to say to get him to do what he wanted... Mike seemed to recognise what Jacob had done, and while he looked amused at what had just played out in front of him, he didn't look like he was going to press what had happened. Chuck hoped.
"Hey, Chuck." That was all the warning Chuck had before he had an arm slung across his shoulders, and he only stiffened briefly, recognising Mike's voice beforehand. He still sagged under Mike's weight, Mike leaning on him more than Chuck expected. "Wow, that was more tiring than I expected; you do that all the time?"
"Not really," Chuck said, leading them to the kitchen. "I'm normally fetching ingredients Jacob needs - and I'm usually not exhausted to begin with," he added wryly.
"Heh, yes, there is that."
There were some kind of...cakes set aside in a corner, a couple of pears nestled next to them. "Well," Chuck said, studying the cakes, "if we can't eat whatever these are, we still have the fruit." When it came to Jacob's cooking, you had to learn to be optimistic.
"He does this often, huh?" Mike said, poking at the cake with a spoon. The cake wobbled.
"Every day," Chuck said, sighing. "He likes testing them out on, well, everyone." And since he was one of the people who had the most contact with him, Chuck was also usually Jacob's first choice for trying out what he had just finished making. Chuck had mostly gotten rid of his reflex of judging if something was edible by what it looked like in the time he'd spent with Jacob, but there were still some things that he had flat-out refused to put into his mouth: the thing that looked like it had sprouted tentacles was one, and the one that oozed around the plate as if it were still alive was another.
"...Wow."
Chuck shrugged, cutting into a cake with his spoon to see if there was a surprise filling - there didn't seem to be one, thankfully. "You get used to it." Mostly. Or you developed certain defence mechanisms to deal with it. After cutting out a small piece, Chuck plopped it in his mouth - it was drier than Jacob's last batch, but it wasn't as bland either.
"If you didn't, I don't think you'd still be here," Mike said, watching what he was doing before beginning to eat his own cake.
"No, if you really don't want to try out any of his stuff, Jacob won't force you to," Chuck said, reaching for the cake again. There was something about the taste that Chuck couldn't place, his tongue both wanting more and rejecting it; his stomach wasn't rebelling though, and Chuck had found through numerous trial-and-error that that was a better way to judge Jacob's cooking than taste.
"It looks like Kane's stopped searching for you," Jacob told Mike and Chuck a few days later while they cleaned tankards. "No-one's seen any knights for a while now."
"Oh, good," Chuck said, letting out a breath, putting a tankard away. At least they didn't have to worry about that for the time being. Not until Kane attacked Southern Raymanthia again. It meant they could leave the tavern now without having to worry about being spotted.
"But what about the ruin...?" Mike said, frowning.
"I'm still gathering information about that," Jacob said wryly. "If they were that easy to find, every single person would have at least one Old Civilisation artefact in their home."
Mike winced, sighing. "Sorry, it's just-"
"I know, I know," Jacob said. "Be patient; we'll hear something soon."
"I hope so."
Jacob then eyed Mike very carefully, and Chuck's hands slowed down, realising he was sizing Mike up. Mike noticed this straight away as well, but he didn't say anything, watching Jacob back.
"I also heard that there's some people to the northwest who owe you their lives," Jacob said.
Mike stilled, and in the quiet room, Chuck heard his quick intake of breath. His expression flashed through so many different emotions that Chuck couldn't name them before they disappeared, and Mike turned his face away from them. "It's because of me their lives were in danger," Mike said quietly, his voice tightly controlled.
Chuck glanced between them, puzzled. What were they talking about? But if he were to guess, Chuck had a feeling it had something to do with Kane. Not that that was hard to figure out.
Wait… To the northwest? That was where the Whispering Forest was. So did that mean - "Is this about how you ended up being chased by a dragon?" The question was out of Chuck's mouth before he realised he was talking and he closed it with a click of teeth.
Mike winced, his shoulders hunched, and it was…strange, seeing him like that – Chuck hadn't realised how he'd already become used to Mike's openness, how free and unrestrained he was with physical gestures. He nodded, once. "King Kane…" Mike started slowly, "he chose me to lead his knights; this-" Mike took in a breath, gritting his teeth. "This was his first command – he'd told me that we were clearing an area, that he wanted to test something." Mike pursed his lips as he crossed his arms. "He didn't tell me that the buildings we were clearing were inhabited, that what he was testing was a dragon."
"How could you not notice he was planning on using a dragon?" Chuck demanded in disbelief. That beast had been massive and completely unmissable!
"Teleportation magic," Jacob explained before Mike could, and Chuck turned his attention back to him. "You came down first, and then Kane sent his dragon."
Mike nodded. "It had been…docile when King Kane sent it, but when I realised what he wanted me to do, I refused." He didn't say anything for a while. "He wasn't happy about that and ordered the dragon to destroy their homes. I couldn't stop it." The last part was barely above a whisper.
"Mike," Jacob said, "there are people who would have still done as they were ordered, even after finding out what Kane wanted them to do. You didn't; you refused to hurt innocent people. You were able to get the people out of their homes before the dragon attacked and then you lured it away, trying to keep them safe."
Mike frowned before he sighed. "Still…" He shook his head, straightening. "The only thing we can do now is to stop him, so he doesn't do this anymore."
Jacob smiled at him. "Good."