The Wandering Spire

The three climbed out of the sewers without fanfare into the middle of a crowded plaza. Passerbys stepped to avoid them, but for the most part, no one paid them any attention. As if it was a common sight to see filthy people climbing out of the sewers. Jeze marveled as she looked around and up at the two tall towers. They were impressive from a distance, but up close, she never saw anything like them. Each tower stood at opposite ends of the circular plaza made from polished stones that was ringed with shops and merchants. The towers were made of dark brown stone and appeared as giant bricks placed upright by the gods. Rainbow informed Jeze that the closest one was the Guild office, and the other tower that was east across the plaza was the Golden Empire’s governor’s building. The plaza represented the Guild office and was filled with adventurers, Jeze realized with excitement. They were people in armor and shouldered heavy packs with weapons at their sides.

“Who built the towers? The Empire?” Jeze asked.

“The Empire only takes and destroys,” Swordslayer growled.

Rainbow answered, “It has been written that the towers were here before the Ironfist Kingdom ruled Angston. No one knows who built them.”

“The Ones from Before,” Jeze marveled.

“Papers?” A gravely voice asked.

The speaker was a staunch-looking older man with a bald head and broad shoulders. He wore a silver breastplate over a bright blue shirt and deep red pants.

“A moment please. As you can see, we arrived by the sewers,” Swordslayer responded.

The bald man squinted and exclaimed, “Oi! As I live and breathe! I thought you two were hanging from the gallows by now for treason against the Immortal Emperor! You two look like shat!”

“Hello, Irvin,” Rainbow said as she completed the Water pattern glyphs.

The muti-colored haired lady Summoned water that floated in the air like suspended rain drops. Rainbow Shaped and Controlled the aspect to soak her companions. Jeze felt the Summoned fluid absorb the sewage filth from her clothes. Rainbow Controlled the water away from their bodies and formed a round sphere of filthy liquid to hover over the sewage entrance and she released the spell. The sewage sludge splashed down through the opened grate. Jeze marveled at how clean and dry she was.

“You know each other?” Jeze asked.

“Like I told you, we are famous adventurers,” Swordslayer responded as he presented his certificate.

“Famous alright! But not in the way you think,” Irvin said and waved away Swordslayer and Rainbow’s papers. “Put that away. I know who you two are; I need the young girl’s.”

Jeze presented her certificate, which Drake had signed with his seal. Irvin squirted as he studied it.

“Scout,” the bald man muttered and added, “This ain’t complete. You need to do the obstacle course. There was not one by you? Ahh, I see you are from the fringes. Welcome to civilization, girl.”

“It smells,” Jeze grumbled.

Irvin laughed. “Aye, it does!”

“Is there a course here?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, you two are free to carry on with your business. Young lady, you must come with me,” Irvin ordered.

Jeze looked to her companions with uncertainty in her eyes.

“You will be fine. Old Irvin here is a stand-up guy,” Swordslayer stated.

“Meet us at the Diamond Bank,” Rainbow added.

“Where is that?” Jeze asked.

“It’s in the main hall, you can’t miss it. Now come with me,” Irvin answered and led her away.

Jeze followed the staunch man through the plaza with wide eyes. She smelled spices and foods that she could never have imagined existed, and she remembered she needed to buy peppers and lemons.

“Can I make a quick purchase?” She asked.

Irvin frowned. “You shouldn’t even be allowed in here unless you are a full-fledged member.”

“But I have a certificate,” she said and raised her paper.

“It’s incomplete. Hurry up, then! We don’t have all day,” Irvin grumbled.

She was able to find a stall that sold what she needed, and she purchased the goods from the coins she had taken from the bandits. She was left with very little.

“Hey, young adventurer! If you are going to brave the Spire, you will need some armor! Lucky for you, Hannah here makes the best armor at affordable prices!” A thick woman with curly black hair barked.

“She needs to complete the trials first,” Irvin grumbled as he escorted Jeze away.

“Well, come look up, Hannah, when you pass them!” The vendor cried as they walked away.

Jeze stopped to watch a group of warriors, a little older than her, with tanned sun, kissed skin dressed in furs. They kept their hair long and braided with feathers. Each warrior had tribal tattoos along their muscled arms and faintly glowing beasts that followed them. One had a coyote, another a falcon, and a third had a lynx.

“Shamans from the Tribal Council. When they come of age, they bond themselves with a spirit companion,” Irvin explained and ushered the girl to continue with him.

Jeze nodded and asked, “Where can I learn the Rune circle they used?”

“You are a Rune caster?” Irvin asked with an arched eyebrow.

Jeze nodded.

“Your town taught Runes but didn’t have a Trial course?” Irvin muttered and added, “Well, I don’t know much about Runes, but I can tell you this. The Tribal Council keeps their secrets tightly guarded, and each Shaman must pass their own deadly trials to earn the right to learn the secrets,” Irvin explained.

Jeze wondered how she would match up against the fierce-looking warriors with stoic faces and asked, “Are the Guild trials deadly?”

Irvin arched a bushy eyebrow in her direction. “According to your papers, you fought off a pack of Howlers? That was deadly enough.”

Jeze beamed with pride.

“But ye can still fail the physical, and then we have to kick you out. May the Night Eye have mercy on your soul, girl, because the Legion is in full force out there,” Irvin added.

“Why should I be concerned with the Legion?” Jeze scoffed, but the worry was written on her face as clear as a sunrise.

“You are young, girl. Don’t try to lie to ole Irvin. Besides, why else would you climb through the sewers unless you are avoiding attention?”

Jeze stuttered and failed to come up with a response.

“Relax, I care not for the laws of the Empire or any kingdom for that matter. This here is Guild territory and where my loyalty lies. That means only approved members are allowed here, you understand me, girl?” Irvin asked.

Jeze nodded.

They passed another group of tall fighters with pale blonde hair and skin as white as snow. They wore furs, and they glared at Jeze as they lumbered by with icy blue eyes.

Jeze glared back and Irvin cautioned, “Careful girl. Those are the Frostsworn that traveled the frigid seas in the deep north. They come from hard lands and have no qualms with killing or death.”

The young girl nodded. She knew of the Frostsworn as Raynor had hailed from those lands, she recalled her friend and teacher with sorrow.

“We are here,” Irvin stated.

The staunch guild official led Jeze through the plaza and around the giant tower. On the other side was a site that nearly took the teenager’s breath away. It was a sprawling course from swinging ropes, wooden target dummies, ladders, balance beams, and more. None of that caught Jeze’s attention. What interested her were the intricate layers of Runes! The course was powered by multiple aspects that allowed the obstacles to move and the wooden dummies to fight back. Dozens of Prospects were waiting in line to attempt the course.

Jeze measured herself up to those waiting in line. They varied in appearance. Some were Rune casters like herself with heavy robes lined with Glyphs and Channeling tools that hung from leather belts. Others were warriors in heavy armor. A few appeared like her, lean and lightly equipped. They hailed from all over and from places she didn’t recognize. Jeze realized she truly did come from the fringes. The crowd watched a poor man get knocked off a high balance beam from a swinging ball. He crashed with a painful thud to the hard ground below to the shaking heads of the Trial Observers.

“This course is dangerous, girl. There is no shame in backing out,” Irvin said.

Jeze jutted her chin forward. “I’m not afraid!”

Irvin chuckled. “Oh, the confidence of youth,” he muttered.

The guild official led Jeze to the line where a half dozen other officials sat and registered Prospects at a wooden table.

“Wait here, I’ll get you situated,” Irvin said and left her.

She watched the staunch man go over to talk to one of the officials at the table. She was a stern-looking woman in loose red robes with short hair and high cheekbones. They both looked at her, and Jeze’s heart sank. What if they were agents of the Empire? She wondered in fear, but where would she run to? The stern lady nodded, and Irvin returned to Jeze.

“Come on, girl,” he said and took her out of the line.

The others in line looked with suspicion, envy, and jealousy. Jeze heard a few grumble about how a young girl was able to get ahead of them. One person, a tall, lean woman who appeared in her twenties, guessed that she had a powerful family member.

“I don’t!” She snapped at them.

“Pay them no mind,” Irvin said and urged her to the table. “This is Lady Kalina. Since you already passed the field observation, which usually occurs after the physical, we can move you ahead to the trial.”

“Let me see your papers,” Kalina said without greeting. Her voice was sharp like a sword’s edge.

Jeze handed them over, and Kalina looked up with narrow eyes, “The Old Hunter trained you?”

The young girl nodded. Her nervousness had swallowed her voice. Jeze noticed Rune tattoos along Kalina’s lean neck and arms. She recalled from her brother’s journal that Rune casters tattooed spell chains on their bodies in the Ironfist Kingdom and that their highest technique was the Iron body. This gave Jeze some comfort in knowing that Kalina could not be with the Empire. In fact, Kalina could be a potential ally as the two nations were rivals.

“I never heard of Narcadia or this official named Drake,” the stern woman hissed.

“It has a legit seal,” Irvin pointed out.

Kalina rose from her seat, her posture stiff like a spear. The lady walked around to an open space and beckoned Jeze to follow. The teenager glanced around and saw hundreds of eyes were on her. Fear gripped her heart, but she followed. Irvin grumbled and shook his head as he stepped back. What was happening? Jeze wondered.

“You say the Old Hunter trained you?” Kalina asked again, her back toward Jeze.

“Yes,” the young girl stuttered.

“Show me.” In a blink of an eye, Kalina spun and swung a back fist toward Jeze’s head.

Shocked, the young girl brought her arms up to block the blow. Kalina followed up with a kick to Jeze’s chest that sent the teenager flying onto her back. On reflex from many hours of sparring with Raynor, Jeze quickly rolled to her feet. She unshouldered her pack and growled. Rage consumed her initial nervousness like fire through a dry brush. Raynor instructed Jeze to balance the anger of the bear with the cunning of the wolf. With a roar she charged Kalina. The guild official’s face remained stoic, but Jeze saw Kalina’s body tense ever so slightly on the balls of her feet, indicating that the stern woman was preparing to spring an attack.

Jeze’s charge was a feint, and she stopped midway just as Kalina leaped with a flying knee. Like the wolf, Jeze circled her opponent, and like the bear, she rushed in with ferocious swings that put Kalina on her back foot. The aggressive attacks shifted Kalina’s attention to blocking her face, and with the cunning of the wolf, Jeze dove low to tackle the guild official’s legs. The crowd let out a collective gasp as Jeze took Kalina down!

But Jeze had a hard time keeping the woman on the ground. Kalina squirmed and slithered free back to her feet like a snake. Jeze pursued, but the woman leaped and back flipped out of range. When Kalina landed she had her sword in hand. It was a long double edge blade with a red tassel hanging from the pommel. The sun glinted off the steel.

“Draw your weapon,” Kalina hissed.

“I think that is enough,” Irvin said.

Kalina glared at the staunch man, and he backed away. Jeze snarled and drew her long knife and ax. In the corner of her eye, she saw the Frostsworn had paused to watch. One, a thickly bearded man, nodded in approval. Kalina leaped forward with a quick sword thrust. Jeze swatted and hooked the blade away with her ax and slashed with her knife, but Kalina twirled her sword free and parried the knife attack in a loud clang of steel.

The stern woman pressed forward with rapid slashes that forced Jeze to stumble away. A bear never retreats, and a wolf never moves backward. The teenager recalled Raynor’s teachings. Jeze recovered her balance, and like the wolf, she circled off Kalina’s line of attack in search of a better opening. When she found one, Jeze rushed in with the savage roar of the bear. Kalina spun and evaded Jeze’s attacks, but the young girl was not finished. She threw her ax. Irvin gasped. Kalina made a quick gesture with her hand, and her skin turned to gray stone. Jeze’s ax bounced off Kalina’s rock-form body and fell to the ground.

“I consent to your passing of the field assessment,” Kalina said with the stone falling off her body like sand.

The audience gave a cheer at the excellent showing of combat. Irvin made his way over to Jeze.

“Right, so let's get her on the obstacle course.” The staunch man ushered Jeze away.

“Where did you learn to fight like the wolf and the bear?” The bearded Frostsworn boomed.

“From an Old Hunter,” Jeze replied as she gathered up her pack.

The Frostsworn warrior nodded. “This Old Hunter taught you well in the fighting ways of our people.”

“Thank you,” Jeze said.

Silently and to herself, Jeze asked the Night Eye to pass along her gratitude and accomplishment to Raynor.