“Haul off, outsider!” a woman with a front row of missing teeth cawed at Rufian, and I could tell the mage was getting visibly agitated.
I didn’t get it. His charisma was pretty decent. But just like in Gavori’s home, he wasn’t able to persuade this group of hybrids.
Maybe I could take a swing at it.
Back at Gavori’s court, I had to use a specialty item to convince the court that we were working for an agency. But now my charisma went up a couple points. I had persuasive power now.
So as Rufian raised his hand, I stepped forth, intercepting him. “Hey, we’re sorry about the intrusion.” I smiled politely. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rufian hold his hand up ready to snap, his patience wearing thin. I knew what he was capable of, but the last thing we needed was a fight.
I took a step forward, holding up my hands in a placating gesture. “We mean no harm, we're simply passing through. We'll be out of your hair in no time.”
The group remained silent, still eyeing us warily. I could tell they were considering their options, weighing the risks. It was a tense moment, and I didn't know what to expect. So I offered them something they couldn’t resist, “How about an exchange? Allow us passage through this path and I give you one thousand sammies.”
“What?” Rufian gasped.
“One thousand you say?” The grizzly looking one with the long unshapely beard said. “Why, that’s an awful lot of money just to walk down here. What’s in cyber town that’s so damn important?”
“Cyber town?”
“There’s nothing back there but ass-bitin’ cold and vicious high-leveled monsters,” he clarified. “It is why we haven’t been bothered by fae. They don’t want any part of that mess.”
“It’s why we guard the area,” a woman with a croaky voice said. “But these last few days have been more difficult than usual. What we really need is healing potions and mana restoration vials so our flock would stop dyin’”
“Shit, I’m sorry. If I had the time, I’d stay and help. But items… those I do have. Here,” I offered, handing them 30 Heal Potions and 20 mana restoration vials.
Rufian quickly snapped his neck at me, giving me that ‘Are you insane’ look. The mixed-raced people of Grusei had a different reaction, all of them gathering around me, their eyes widening in surprise and admiration.
“Thank you,” the woman said, her voice cracking with emotion. “You have no idea how much this means to us! We’ll let you pass through.”
I smiled while Rufian tried to hide a bitter look on his tight face. I had managed to diffuse the tension and averted a potential conflict. They were so content that they refused the sammies, letting us walk through the path. It pained me to leave them out there without lending a fighting hand, but time was seriously against us. The thought of people dying and suffering due to a lack of resources and prejudice tugged at my heartstrings, but I had to believe this mission here would help them for the future.
As we reached cyber town, the temperature dropped a bit. My feet trudged through light snow, the howling winds biting at my face. It looked like the weather was threatening a blizzard, Rufian noticing as well as he motioned forward. We reached a cliff and Rufian pointed his eyes below, saying, “It’s down there.”
In a chasm several dozen feet below us, there was a frozen sheet of ice. He looked up at me and I couldn’t help but squint. “Okay then, what are you waiting for? Teleport us down.”
His smile left me uneasy as he shrugged. “Why, certainly.”
His cool down was over, Rufian giving us a quick shortcut through the fabrics of space and time. When we reached the base of the chasm he searched, then reached a wall of rock and ice. “Silas, you must break this rock.”
I looked at him funny. “What do I look like? A damn bulldozer?”
“You were able to break through Pixie’s rock armor.”
“Yeah, because her armor wasn’t as thick as this.” I crouched down and inspected the area. “Maybe we can go underneath. We seem to be standing under a manageable layer of ice.”
“Possible. Please, step aside.”
I gave the magician space to work his ice magic.
With his hand outstretched pointing downward, Rufian began to manipulate the ice. I watched, entranced, as the ice around us began to shift and groan. The temperature began to fluctuate, but I noticed how Rufian was struggling to do something he was a pro at.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s resistance…” he strained. “It’s coming from the Grimoire. I must be close!”
The Grimoire was fighting him? I wasn’t expecting that.
Probably another safety measure, but Rufian’s hand had a different kind of energy pulsating through it, an energy that resonated with me.
He had borrowed the power of Alzera-Kar, and was using it to burrow deep within the confines of the Grimoire’s resting place.
“Huh, I wouldn’t know what you’d done without me,” I teased, dishing out the same words he’d told me when we’d first partnered up. “There’s no way you would have been able to get to the book without Kar’s power.”
“Quiet!” He hissed. “I need full concentration…”
“Hey, I’m just saying, the High Order must be stupid strong to not need the dungeon core to fish out this book. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made it so hard to capture. Or maybe…” I stroked my chin. “Could there be a spell involved?”
He collapsed his hands on his knees, hunching over with exhaustion. “I can’t,” he panted.
“Then we’re stuck,” I retorted. “No Grimoire, no crystal shard, and no Jezz.”
“Then break it!” he barked at me desperately.
“Told you, I’m not that strong.”
“It’s not like you’re going to lose a limb for trying! I have seen you fight!”
“Are you deaf? I said it’s pointless for me to try.”
