Anna's Dream

Rupert looked at the board in deep contemplation before touching one of the pieces. He looked up at Anna, searching her face for a moment before moving it. She immediately reached out and moved a piece, taking his and putting another four into danger.

"This isn't fair!" he said.

"I told you that five games ago," she replied.

"You said you were good, not perfect!" he said.

"I'm not perfect, trust me," she replied.

He sighed and then started to stare at the board again. A few moments later, the door swung open, and several men stormed into the room. Rupert looked up shocked before setting his eyes on an older man who had his hand on his sword.

"Father!" he said.

"Silence!" the Dark One replied.

Rupert flinched and looked down. The Dark One looked over at one of his men.

"Take him to my study," he said.

"Yes, sire!" the man replied.

He walked over, took the boy by the arm, and pulled him out of the room.

"Leave us," the Dark One said.

The other men left the room and closed the door behind them. The Dark One walked over and sat in Rupert's seat. He began to reset the board.

"Mind playing a game with me?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied.

They started to play, each one taking their time between moves.

"Don't be too hard on Rupert. He was just worried about his mother," she said.

"I know, but bringing you here was terribly risky. If you had been a true servant of the human gods, you could have slaughtered everyone in the palace, and no one could have stopped you," he replied.

"I try not to kill people if I don't have to. I don't want to see their faces when I close my eyes," she said.

"Sounds as if you're more like us than I thought," he said.

"I'm still a person despite being the child of a monster," she replied.

"Do you really consider your father to be a monster?" he asked.

"My father is an endless mass of eyes and tentacles with unspeakable power that dreams unknowable dreams far beyond the stars. What would you consider something like that?" she asked.

"A fair point," he replied.

She beat him in a few more moves, and he just laughed.

"My word, you're the second person to best me at this game," he said.

"Honestly, I can't lose unless I want to," she replied.

"I see. Well, I'm certain that's a useful ability," he said.

"Not really. It usually just gets me into trouble," she replied.

"How so?" he asked.

"I let a friend of mine talk me into scamming some con artists at a fair, and I ended up killing eight people when they refused to pay up," she replied.

"You shouldn't trust humans," he said.

"Qrixit isn't a human," she replied.

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"Ah, my apologies for assuming. So, what manner of being is this Qrixit?" he asked.

"I don't think they have a name for themselves, but he was sort of a bird lizard thing," she replied.

"I've never heard of a race like that before. Where were you when you met?" he asked.

"I met him in the wastelands on the other side of the world, and we traveled to the great trade city together," she replied.

"Is that where you spent that last year?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got swept out to sea and woke up there," she replied.

"What was it like?" he asked.

"Well, the shore I woke up on was next to a huge desert which was around a thousand miles across. Then there was the wastelands which were rocky and covered in nasty lizards and boiling pools of acid. After that was the great grasslands which were filled with plants and animals, but everything wanted to eat me there. Then we got to the trade city. It was ruled by syndicates that are pretty much like crime gangs. It was so bad there that if you couldn't pay your fine, they would sell you as a slave or chop you up as food," she said.

"That's rather disturbing," he replied.

"Yeah, it was too much for me, so I decided to leave. It was when I was buying supplies that I found a weird crystal that glowed when you pushed mana into it. I ended up buying it, and that's how my friends found me," she said.

"I see, well that answers a few questions I had," he replied.

"It does?" she asked.

"Yes, as you may have guessed, I've been keeping tabs on you since you defeated Sir Uther, and when you vanished, I had my people track your friends. You showing back up out of the blue put them into quite a state," he replied.

"I was pretty surprised, too," she said.

"Tell me, would you be interested in giving your account to our archivist?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied.

He stood up.

"I'll bring you to the library then. I'm sure Master Gunthar will be ecstatic to see you," he said.

She followed him out of Rupert's room into the hallway where a dozen guards waited. He sent them away with a gesture and then led her to the library. Everyone stopped and bowed as they passed by causing her to feel rather awkward.

I think I'd rather be sneaking around than this.

When they reached the library, he pushed the double doors open revealing a cavernous space filled to the brim with shelves.

"Wow," she said.

"As you can see, I'm rather fond of knowledge," he replied.

"Yeah, that's for sure," she said.

They walked deep into the library, passing by a large number of books and scrolls, until they reached a large round table near the center of the room. Men in black robes worked at the table poring over documents. The men didn't seem to notice them as they walked around the table reaching a wizened old man seated next to a massive stack of documents.

"Master Gunthar, do you have a moment?" the Dark One asked.

The old man looked up and smiled.

"Of course, sire," he replied.

"This is the adventurer, Anna. She's spent the last year exploring the other side of the great inland sea and has agreed to share her experiences with us," the Dark One said.

The old man jumped to his feet with surprising quickness.

"Fetch parchment and ink!" he said.

The other men seated at the table leapt up and scurried away.

"I can draw you pictures as well and add color if you bring me paint and a light," she said.

He barked a few more orders and sent more of the men off in search of the items she'd requested. When they returned with the parchment she sat down and started to write out in great detail the things she'd seen on the other side of the world.

Her hand moved in a blur, writing so fast that the ink at the top of the page had yet to dry when she finished. She pushed it away and moved on to the next. She filled that page at the same dizzying speed.

She continued filling the pages so fast that the men had to carry them away to keep the wet ink from smearing. She wrote out several thousand pages in a few hours before moving on to the drawings.

Guntar lit a lamp and placed it next to her as she started to draw the great bones of the sea monsters on the first page. The moment she finished, the Dark One and Gunthar huddled over it examining it closely. She moved on, drawing a picture of the nomads, making sure to show their strange clothing and tents as well as the odd long-necked beasts they rode.

She drew just about everything she could think of, filling another few thousand parchments before finally finishing up with a drawing of the great Tarrasque skull she'd seen in the trade city. She put down her brush and stood up, turning to face the men.

"Well, that's all I can think of," she said.

"My dear, this is far more than I could have ever hoped for!" Master Gunthar replied.

"I didn't overdo it, did I?" she asked.

"Not at all, the more we know the better!" he replied.

"Okay, people tell me I share too much, so I wanted to make sure it was okay," she said.

"If it were up to me, I'd hire you here and now! You have a talent for this, and you're wasting it being an adventurer!" Master Gunthar said.

"Master Gunthar, Anna will only be with us a few days. I'm afraid it isn't possible for her to join you," the Dark One replied.

"Of course, sire," Master Gunthar said.

"Uh, actually, I might be able to stay, but, um, you'd have to hire my friends to," she replied.

"Done," Master Gunthar said.

"Hold on, three of her friends are humans, and one of them is a priestess. I would have to get permission from the dark counsel before I allowed them into our lands," the Dark One replied.

"My lord, this alone is more than enough to warrant an exemption!" Master Gunthar said.

"I know that, old friend, but I still have to seek their permission," the Dark One replied.

"Very well," Master Gunthar said.

"Now then, if you'll excuse me," the Dark One replied.

He turned and walked away. Master Gunthar put his hand on her arm.

"Now then, my dear, would you tell me more about this trade language?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied.