Chapter XLV (45)

  Mitsuko dodged under a thrown chair. It smashed into the wall behind her and fell to the floor in pieces. She then rolled to the side, closing the distance between herself and her opponent.

  The goblin woman screamed while standing on the bar, continuing to hurl objects in Mitsuko’s direction. The variety of projectiles was solely limited to what existed within reach. From other patrons’ drinks to the snacks the bar served. A roast skewer caught Mitsuko’s shoulder, the tip embedding itself in her flesh, but she plucked it and Mended the wound with barely even a thought for the pain.

  “Give her back!” the goblin woman screamed. “Witch woman! Give her back! Give her back! You ass-smudged, mud-guzzling witch! Give! Her! Back!”

  The woman had been raving since spotting Mitsuko in the pub. And she showed no indication of slowing down to clarify who she was screaming about. Just a torrent of insults accompanying her physical barrage of objects.

  “Prickly goblin,” Sterling noted from her pocket. Mitsuko had to be careful with how she tumbled and dodged so as to not squash the sage. But if he appreciated the extra effort she went through to keep him safe, he showed it by critiquing her battle. “You should have used that table over there for cover. You went entirely the wrong direction. I understand the innate urge to close the distance as a sword fighter, but you no longer need to do so. Keep in mind, you are a mage now. Your fighting style needs to adapt alongside the improvement of your spells.”

  Mitsuko dodged a bottle of wine and rolled her eyes. Mend was not going to make this problem go away. And the other bar patrons seemed even less inclined to help her out than Sterling. They whooped and cheered as Mitsuko deflected a thrown steak knife with her rusty machete.

  Instead of pulling the goblin woman down and restraining her, the bar staff continued to hand the crazed woman more things to throw at Mitsuko. Likely in hopes of controlling what she broke and keeping her from throwing anything valuable.

  After dashing and dodge-rolling across the pub, Mitsuko finally reached the counter. She snatched up a barstool and smashed it into the raving goblin. Her opponent crumbled under the blow and fell to the dirty floor.

  The bar whooped and Mitsuko felt someone slap her on the back, complimenting her skill. But she didn’t even look at the speaker, eyes on the goblin woman on the ground amongst the broken glass and fallen peanuts. She struggled to stand back up.

  “Why did you attack me?” Mitsuko asked.

  “You—you took her,” she replied, tears now streaming down her green cheeks. Mitsuko got the impression they had nothing to do with any physical pain suffered. “I can see it in your soul. Give her back.”

  “You’re a soul mage?” Mitsuko considered the goblin woman. Then she glanced down at Sterling in her pocket. He had said before that the Prismatic Spiral was being powered by her soul. What exactly did that look like to someone with the ability to perceive the nuances of souls? And that also raised the question of what others involved in the spiral might look like. If the guardians looked a special way….

  The goblin woman’s head sagged as she finally fell into unconsciousness. Not likely to forfeit any more info. Mitsuko sighed and took a seat on one of the intact bar stools.

  The pub returned to drinking and chatting, the energy from the fight fading. One of the staff reluctantly started cleaning up the wreckage from the goblin’s rampage with a limp bristled broom. Mitsuko might be inclined to help the effort with her spell. But the same staff member had been among those handing the goblin woman empty bottles minutes earlier. So fuck them.

  Mitsuko rubbed at her nose. It smelled foul. Like piss and beer. She wondered if she could revert the air around her face to smell better with Mend.

  “She can just see things sometimes,” a bartender said. He offered Mitsuko a tankard of something dark. “But her sight hasn’t been the same since her daughter disappeared. You’re the third person she’s accused of stealing her daughter.”

  What was with her encountering feral parents on this archipelago? Hideo. Heather. Now this woman. It was like the dome turned every mother and father into a raving lunatic.

  Also, if this wasn’t the first time the goblin woman had attacked someone then whatever soul perception she had was deeply flawed in some way. Still, it was a lead Mitsuko filed away to follow up on sometime. She might not have any talent for soul related magic, but if she could find someone else to cast the spells, she might be able to use them to detect any anomalies and make her life easier.

  “I didn’t kidnap any children,” Mitsuko replied. She took the tankard and gulped down the beer. After a few seconds she came back up for air. “I arrived on The Terror earlier today.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Yeah. You don’t smell much like a slaver. And you’re too good in a fight for the type that likes to experiment on fellow humanoids.”

  “Experiment?” Mitsuko asked flatly.

  “Ya know. Like the weirdos. The ones who stitch flesh monstrosities and fuse souls.”

  While Mitsuko was aware of people like that, and had helped put several down over the last several years, those sorts of atrocities were usually done deep in the Hon Basin by witches or hidden away deep in the shadows in normal society. The fact that was even on the table as a normal option boded poorly for this town’s optics.

  “Then you could have stepped in and restrained her,” Mitsuko accused.

  “Can’t have that.” The bartender grinned. “Wagers would have gone to shit.”

  To placate her, he offered to refill her depleted drink. She accepted.

  “When did the children start going missing?” Mitsuko asked. Those wagers should cover some free information as well as drink refills.

  “A bit after the dome fell,” the bartender replied.

  As solid of a lead as she was likely to uncover. The children disappeared right as the guardian popped into existence. Connecting those points didn’t require a detective. Best to keep pressing.

  “Any ideas who took them? Any bounty?”

  “Kids started vanishing immediately. Not a single one left in town at this point. We’ve sent out search parties, but most come back empty handed.”

  “Most?” Mitsuko raised an eyebrow.

  “Well…there was one group that came back confused and their minds muddled. They can’t remember which direction they set off in.”

  Great. Mental magic. Not what Mitsuko wanted to hear. She leaned back in her seat and frowned.

  “As for the bounty,” the bartender continued, then he hesitated and glanced over at a poster on the wall. “Looks like it’s up to 125 gold doubloons now. Shit’s gettin’ hefty. All of the parents are pooling together their savings in hopes of drawing in a powerful mage. Or maybe entice one of those wizards on Amber to stop slapping cocks and get off their asses for once.”

  Mitsuko wondered how effective Holly’s divinations would be. Her friend might very well be the exact person for this job. But since Mitsuko had left the gnome searching for an inn back on Mauve. This loop Mitsuko would gather information and lay low so as to not alert the guardian. Make no big waves. Of course, her track record in that regard was…not great so far.

  Once the bartender was pulled away, Mitsuko turned her attention to the sickly mouse in her pocket.

  “Any recommendations on how to deal with a mind mage?” she asked.

  Sterling mulled over her request before responding. “While I must refrain from advert advice, mind mages are dangerous if we want to keep to a schedule with the Prismatic Spiral. I will grant you a minor hint. People are most susceptible to mind influence while asleep.”

  “So…you’re saying I shouldn’t sleep?”

  “Take what you will from the comment.”

  Not sleeping for the next few days until the Prismatic Spiral’s next reset would be torture. Unless….

  “Can I refresh my body with the Mend spell?” she asked. “Do I not need to sleep anymore?”

  Sterling didn’t respond so Mitsuko attempted the spell on herself. It was subtle enough that nobody in the room even glanced in her direction. Unlike when she healed her body from a wound, this time she was pushing it far further back. But, unlike when she cast Mend on an object, her body didn’t retrace its steps. She felt she might be able to do that, if she pushed the spell in that direction. But instead she remained on the bar stool. She blinked and felt her body reverting back. Subtle aches gained throughout the day eased out of her body.

  And then she stopped the spell. She lifted a hand and marveled at the return of her energy.

  “I don’t need to sleep anymore,” she commented softly.

  “Convenient for your next loops,” Sterling added. “My spell has essentially increased your available time by thirty percent. Which is just one of many reasons why stumbling on my marvelous spell first will pay dividends as an investment.”

  Mitsuko took another swig of her drink and frowned. Her mind was crisp and clear. One drink wasn’t enough to cloud her mind or give her a buzz, but she felt completely fresh.

  “It sobered me,” Mitsuko hissed at the mouse. “You didn’t warn me that it would undue my drinks!”

  “Well, of course. You now have the ability to negate the effects of poison. Your liver will doubtless be grateful.”

  And yet, it wasn’t as if the drink had spat out of her lips and back into the cup from earlier. Mitsuko closed her eyes and sighed. This temporal magic was a chore to comprehend. A list of inconsistencies. “Where is the beer now?”

  “Your perception and wants are key when casting the spell,” Sterling explained. “You wanted your body to be back to the way it was before. But you instinctively didn’t want to puke up the liquid. So the spell accomplished one thing while not fulfilling the other. The creation and destruction of matter is complex and can be seen in many branches of spellcraft. Of course, what you did is slightly different. But I will not dive into the nuances, suffice it to say, what you accomplished is remarkable and the sign of a true master. It takes decades to fully separate those sorts of motivations and focuses. You get years of my struggle implanted into you.”

  “So…in the future I can get drunk and still use the spell?” Mitsuko asked.

  “Of course.” Then the rat paused. “And after, you can still revert to skip over the hangover.”

  15 more chapters on my !!