“So you got anything else—”
“Nope! That’s all I’ve got for you,” Pollander said with a shrug. “Look, Cloudbury is a small town and we’ve got small problems. Besides, if you want higher level tasks, you’re going to have a lot more competition. You see those dwarves over there?” he asked, pointing at a party of drunken dwarves. “They just wiped out a handful of trolls down at Oerchenbrach. Now that will get you some real money, but let me tell you, there’s quite a lot of risk involved. Not all the dwarves who started the adventure made it to the end, if you catch my meaning.”
Vexx nodded.
“Where did they go?” Kaylin asked.
“Oh, sweetheart...” the barkeep said with a sigh, but moved down the counter to serve another customer.
“Well…what now, Vexx?”
Vexx drummed his fingers on the counter, lost in thought, but finally turned to Kaylin. “Do you want to stick with me, Kaylin? I mean, we could go our separate ways here if you want to. Doesn’t seem like there’s much demand for a couple of rookie dungeoneers.”
“Do you want me to go?” Kaylin pouted, biting at her bottom lip, and Vexx shifted uncomfortably.
“Well, no…I’m just saying you could. If you wanted.”
“No, we’ll find something together, Vexx!”
“Good,” Vexx replied, nodding his head and hefting his pack. “We still have a lockbox, a book, and a scroll to go over. I think it’s time we did some proper dungeoneering. No odd jobs, but a quest of our own, to find some ancient loot and bring it back.”
“Sounds great! Where should we start?”
“Ask around the tavern for someone who can pick locks,” Vexx said, taking a seat on a bar stool and rummaging in his pack. “I’ll go over the scroll and book. Barkeep!” He raised a finger as the older man glanced over. “I’ll have a round. Reading is thirsty work.”
A half-full mug of ale stood neglected beside Vexx as he skimmed through the charred book, lost in thought. The scroll had proved useless, though it had certainly piqued his interest about the Ruby of the Pure. That adventurer must have been nearby. It was clear his party had been looking for it. Did he get separated?
As Vexx flipped a page, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end—but it wasn’t due to anything he read. All of his hair was rising in the air, which attracted a few bemused looks and comments from nearby patrons, and Vexx felt a strange frisson of magic thrum through him. What the hell? Is this book ensorcelled?
He flipped through page after page and noted several unfamiliar designs and symbols, but the ancient lettering was all but unrecognizable. Kaylin returned to find him still staring at the book.
“What’s up with your hair?”
“Huh?”
Vexx blinked and set the book aside, the magical charge fading away as he put it down. “Oh. I was just…” he paused and shook his head. “I got a strange feeling from that book. Anyway, did you find our lockpicking expert?”
“Yeah, come on over!” Kaylin said, excitedly waving for him to join her, and Vexx hurriedly packed up his gear. Together, they made their way to the other side of the bar, where a dwarf with a trimmed black beard was grinning over at them. He hopped down from his chair as they approached.
“Put it over ‘ere,” he said, gesturing at the chair he’d just been sitting in. Vexx set the lockbox on the chair and glanced over.
“So, do you use little metal pins or—”
The dwarf’s axe arced over and slammed into the lockbox, smashing the thin metal along with the chair below it, scattering splintered wood and metal all around them as nearby patrons cheered in amusement. Vexx grimaced, but it soon turned into a grin as he saw a few coins scattered in the debris, along with a few old necklaces and an amulet left inside the battered remains of the lockbox.
“I’ll take a wee bit ‘o your coin here, lad and lassie,” the dwarf said, scooping up a heaping handful of coins and pausing to take a bite of a gleaming silver coin. He grinned up at them, even as Vexx and Kaylin began frantically gathering the rest up. “Now, I think it’s time to be scamperin’.”
“Hey, you there!” Vexx tossed the last of the coins in his pack as the barkeeper bellowed from across the tavern. “Don’t you go breaking my chairs!”
“Let’s go,” Vexx snapped, and he grabbed Kaylin by the arm and led them out, scowling as the dwarf sprinted through the door to disappear in the crowd outside. “I thought you said he could pick locks! Dammit Kaylin, we might have to give this tavern a wide berth for a while.”
“He said he could get it open for a share of the prize,” Kaylin said with a shrug. “That’s what you wanted, right?”
“I guess,” Vexx conceded before he scanned the main street, then pulled her to the right. “It’s just down here a ways. It should be around still,” he said to himself, as they joined the boisterous midday traffic.
“What should?”
“A bookstore! I remember walking past it as a child. A magic book like this is bound to be worth something,” he said, keeping a brisk pace even as he cast a worried look back at the tavern they’d just left.
“Let’s go!”
19
The Holy Reliquary
The stern, hawk-nosed features of a tall priest looked down upon them with faint disapproval. “And what is it that has prompted you to ring our doorbell?”
“You’re a bookstore, aren’t you?” Vexx asked, pointing at his charred book. “We’ve got a book I think you might be interested in.”
“We’re more than just a mere bookstore,” the priest said, unmoving, still blocking the entrance. “We are a holy reliquary. Though we do, indeed, host quite a collection of religious texts and magical tomes. Is this book of a holy or magical nature?”
“Right, right, that’s what I meant. And this is as magical as it gets,” Vexx said, opening the book. “See how my hair starts to rise? Pretty cool, right?”
The priest sighed and begrudgingly stepped back a few paces before frowning at Kaylin. “An elf. You two are not…involved, are you?”
“Oh, no,” Vexx said with a pained smile.
After a moment, the priest stepped away, turning and waving them over with a curt gesture. “Come in, I suppose. Follow me. Don’t touch anything.”
“Not yet, anyway,” Vexx muttered, glancing at Kaylin as she walked past. She isn’t exactly my type, but we’ve been through a good deal together already. A hot elf like her? He grinned at the idea, then smoothed his features, joining the solemn priest as he walked down the corridor.
“I didn’t realize the church had such a powerful presence in Cloudbury.”
“The Arch Rector does indeed grace this small town with his visits from time to time. I doubt he would approve of unwashed adventurers within these sacred walls.”
Vexx bit back a scathing retort and plastered on a bland expression. Beside him, Kaylin frowned and discreetly sniffed at her hair. “Unwashed?” she muttered to herself.