Curselock

Chapter 27: Quest

“You have a cult problem, yes. The Sightless, if you want to be specific, ” Leland corrected, receiving four frowns from the four people in the study.

Lady Onryo pursed her lips. “See? Already you’re helping! Isn’t that great? You made some great friends, Munchkin!”

This time Leland frowned. “And now that we’ve seen our friend home, we best be leaving.”

He started towards the door but stopped when he saw Jude and Glenny’s feet planted. They both shared the same look, one that Leland knew he should have as well. For a long moment the three friends stared at each other.

Frustration bloomed in Leland’s hands, turning white with clenched morals. “Excuse us for a moment,” he said to the nobles.

Jude and Glenny followed along, finding themselves in the corner of the study. With crossed arms, Glenny spoke first, “We can’t just leave.”

Jude crossed his arms as well. “We have to help at least until the Inquisitors arrive.”

A vein in Leland’s forehead throbbed. “This is not a good idea. Jude, you are having issues with your Legacy and Glenny you obviously hate being here. We are also just starting out as adventurers! Are we really going to tie ourselves down here?”

“If you want to be the type of adventurer that leaves at the first sign of danger, fine by me. But you are going to have to do it by yourself,” Jude replied, receiving a brutal head nod from Glenny.

Leland stepped back a half step. “We all almost died fighting Icewillow! And he was just one man! How are we supposed to go against an entire cult?!”

“We don’t,” Glenny answered plainly. “We save that for the professionals. We just help where we can. We can get into places Inquisitors can’t. We can hear stuff Inquisitors can’t. People will talk to us because we are adventurers.”

“And what happens when our little investigation attracts the attention of the Sightless? I don’t know about you two, but I personally like my eyes.”

“We run,” Glenny said.

“Or fight,” Jude added. “But it won’t come to that, not if you stay here with us. We all know you are the smart one in this team.”

Leland made a forced grunt groan sound, his hands stuck midair like he was trying to rip a melon apart from the two ends.

“Think about it, Leals,” Jude said. “What would our parents do in this situation?”

“That’s a low blow.”

“One that needs to be asked regardless.”

“None of us like being compared to our parents,” Glenny spoke up. “But like it or not, we are their spitting image. You two more than me, that is.”

Leland fell into a soft and deep chair, bouncing his broken arm in the process. He crumbled in pain, the tension of the trip bursting from his lungs.

“Do make yourselves at home,” Lady Onryo yelled from across the room.

All three of the boys rolled their eyes. Jude whispered, “We need rest anyways. Your arm and my… problem, need to be addressed. And we can’t exactly do that on the road.”

“So what? We both sit around while Glenny hunts for information?”

From the other end of the room, Lady Onryo coughed. “Boor has no problem accompanying the rogue if need be!”

Everyone, even Alkin, stared at the woman. It was then Leland saw a speck of black-blue flickering flame hiding under a nearby end table. With a forceful mental probe, he crushed the scrying spell. Lady Onryo raised her hands in surrender.

“Conniving wench,” Jude hissed.

“We are in her home, after all,” Glenny sighed.

“Still doesn’t make it right,” Leland said before his able hand rubbed the sand from his eyes. “What are we going to do? We are a team and I’m not breaking us up this early. I still think we should leave, we know the stories of the Sightless, and I think they are a bit over our paygrade.”

“Icewillow was as well,” Glenny smiled. “Remember what we told the Huntress? We defeated him because of teamwork. We can help the city in the same way.”

“We stay and help,” Jude started the vote.

“Agreed,” Glenny said.

Leland closed his eyes and simply breathed. Leland the Coward formed and bounced around his head. It came from the darkest parts of his mind but soon grew to a wrecking ball of self-doubt. It screamed through his thoughts like an animal’s survival instinct. Cower away, leave the city, go back home, hide in mom and dad’s shadow.

What did he tell himself a few weeks ago? That he’d prove himself without the name of his parents? That he’d forge a name for himself along with Jude and Glenny?

He chose the path of the adventurer, not whatever intrusive idea he felt that day.

A pain wracked his broken arm, blood started beading from the back of his hand. He smothered it quickly, looking to Jude for his ring of regeneration. The Berserker Lord begrudgingly gave it back.

“Are you in?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Leland said. “Thanks for keeping me on the right path.”

The three shared a smile before Glenny broke the warmth. “Care to tell us why your hand keeps bleeding randomly?”

“No it doesn’t.”

“It most certainly does,” Jude said instantly.

“I must not have noticed…” Leland trailed off, the sight of his two friends’ glares enough to freeze lava. “I, uh, I’m not really sure. I think it's my Lord trying to tell me something. In this case, I think I have earned a new spell.”

“In this case?” Glenny asked.

Leland scratched his head. “Sometimes she urges me towards certain choices… like coming here for example.”

Genny facepalmed but Jude broke into a great smile. “That’s good, right? It means your Lord, the one who you said ‘seemed lonely,’ and ‘didn’t have many legacies,’ is watching out for you. No way she’d let you get killed by some cult.”

“I hope you are right.”

“I know I am,” Jude laughed. “Let’s test it. Say you are not helping and that you are leaving right away.”

Leland sighed. “I’m not helping and I’m leaving now.”

Nothing happened, the tattoo didn’t even flinch.

“You did it wrong,” Jude said flatly.

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.”

“How do you know?!” Leland whisper yelled. “There’s not really a manual about speaking to a Lord through a Legacy tattoo!”

“Guys let's table this conversation,” Glenny intervened. “We have people waiting on us.”

“Exactly. Let’s just agree that Leland did it wrong and move back to more important things.”

“I did—”

“Stop, guys please. They are watching…”

Leland bit his lip, finding the Onryo family and Boor sitting around the study watching them. One of Alkin’s siblings had arrived, and despite looking quite confused, still managed to smirk at the boys before her. She was older, early thirties Leland estimated. But as age increased, often did rank as well. For all he knew, she could be in her sixties while the mother was in her one hundred fifties.

They were, after all, a family of mages.

“Forgive us,” Leland muttered, finding a seat with his hosts.

“Tea?” Boor asked, holding a bronze kettle still piping steam from its spout.

Jude’s eyes lit up. “Yes please, and those muffins if you don’t mind.”

Expertly, Boor poured each occupant of the study tea and passed out banana nut muffins. He went ahead and gave the brute a second helping as well.

“So,” Lady Onryo said. “What’s the verdict?”

Leland gave one last glance to his friends before speaking. “We will help Shoutwell to the best of our abilities, at least until the Inquisitors arrive.”

“Very well. We will provide you three with lodging and monetary subsistence for the duration of your stay. Depending on your ending value to the city, further rewards will be given.”

That made Leland pause. “That seems extreme.”

“How do you mean?” Onryo asked.

“Why do you think we will be able to do anything that requires a noble House to present rewards? Seems farfetched to think we will do anything worthwhile. We are, after all, a newly tattooed team.”

Lady Onryo smiled, looking to her son. “Munchkin here told me about you three and your misadventures while you were discussing something, the big one’s ‘problem,’ and your collective hatred to be equated to your parents.”

“I don’t understand how—”

“What better group to fill in for the Inquisitors than the children of the most well renowned Royal Inquisitor team to date!?”

Three annoyed sets of eyes found Alkin. His mouth gaped a bit before speaking. “What? Did you want me to lie to my mother?”

Leland rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Fine, rewards will be appreciated. In the meantime, I think we are expecting some coinage for our travel here with your son.”

Lady Onryo raised a hand, signaling Boor to place a small sack on the table before Leland.

“We also have a rare item that might be of use to your family,” Glenny supplied, removing the blue flame candle from the safety of his pack.

Leland cut in, “We also know about House Onryo and their monetary struggles. Therefore, if my friends agree, we will loan the candle for the duration of our stay. If you decide you want to keep it, then price negotiations can be done at that time.”

Lady Onryo’s face twitched. “Very well. May we move on to the issue of the Sightless?”

Boor then presented a large map of the city on a wheeled chalkboard. Five red circles were highlighted along five different streets while a single red circle was seemingly placed at random.

“The first body was found in the sewer. He was also wearing ridiculous red robes,” Lady Onryo continued. “Until the guard found a sigil of an eye on a house—”

“Uh, we found that actually,” Alkin interrupted.

“—until a sigil was found on a house, we didn’t know the Sightless were involved. We suspected a cult, but not one with such great magnitude. Until the Inquisitors arrive, I suggest we—”

“Try to locate the parts of their ‘Lord’ that are being smuggled in,” Jude supplied.

Lady Onryo hummed through pursed lips.