Chapter 14 Acquaintances #2
His words were surprisingly compassionate, while his voice sounded amused and mocking.
It got more serious, though, as he continued.
“Instead of beating yourself up about Dagna, perhaps you should think about yourself for a change. I’m sure Dagna will be fine in her temporary exile.
Ten years presumably isn’t that much for a dwarf, anyway.
You, however, will have bigger problems. Mustached problems, which are probably riding down the road as we speak.
I don’t think we have more than a week until he arrives. What’s your plan?”
Kraghtol stared at the solid iron bars separating them from the rest of the room and then at the solid metal door leading out of it. He knew there were more doors behind that, and more orderkeepers. And Valir was asking about his plan…
“When Roderic Hawke arrives, you need to tell him you went after me to catch me. They’ll surely believe you, since you are a noble. You mustn’t let my —”
Valir cut him off with a gesture and a roll of his eyes that was clearly audible in his voice.
“Oh, will you stop with your constant altruism already? I’ll be fine, and instead of worrying about a stupid lockbox or me, worry about yourself. At least that’s what I do.”
“You… worry about me?”
Kraghtol couldn’t see the other man’s face, but his voice sounded almost caught out when he answered.
“Let’s just think if there’s something we can do about it.
Last time, you got out of the city as well.
I don’t see why you can’t pull off something like that again.
Well, aside from the metal bars all around you. ”
Even several hours of whispered pondering yielded no results.
The rest of the Activator powder was unreachable in the chest beyond the metal bars, and even if they had access to it, neither Kraghtol nor Valir would know what to do with it.
Any prospect of arguing with their captors or the orderkeepers of Winterstone to let them go was hopeless in itself, and there didn’t seem to be any way to break out of their cells.
The sturdy metal bars didn’t move one centimeter even with all of Kraghtol’s brute strength.
They had no way of telling time but the change in lighting from the one window going out to the city caverns, but they spent about two days trying to come up with any idea, interrupted only by food being brought in and a few hours of uncomfortable sleep.
Despite everything, Kraghtol felt bad for having brought Valir into this situation.
Kraghtol could only imagine the trouble he would have with his family about this, at the very least, but the noble would hear nothing about that.
Objectively, he was right. Whatever ire Valir might have provoked from his father by his actions, it couldn’t be worse than what awaited Kraghtol. Still, it felt important to him.
It was during his second sleeping period when Kraghtol woke up from noises from the door.
The lanterns outside were dark, which meant it was night, and Kraghtol couldn’t see much when he heard the door opening.
It was too early for their food, and whoever had entered had no light with them and moved silently until they arrived right in front of Kraghtol’s cell.
He didn’t dare breathe. Was this an assassin sent to dispose of them before the orderkeepers did?
Suddenly, a low cackle broke the silence.
“You’ve come far, so very far from home, my green friend, have you not? A true pity you’re not getting any farther, caught behind bars like that.”
Valir woke up with a start and mumbled something about his servants, but Kraghtol paid no attention. He knew this voice. This cackle. But this was entirely impossible.
“How?” he began, but the voice on the other side interrupted him.
“Hush. You don’t want the red dwarves to wake, no you don’t. Especially not the red ones.”
That statement seemed to amuse the person on the other side for unknown reasons, and Valir used the opportunity to whisper: “Who is that?”
“I don’t know his name. But it’s my first patient from Mistpine. The one I got the potion from. And it’s entirely impossible for him to be here.”
“Is it though? I am here, am I not? And I was so very much surprised to see you here, in that small room without exit,” the elderly man murmured, as if talking to himself.
Under different circumstances, Kraghtol would have questioned the sudden appearance of the mysterious man before anything else. He clearly wasn’t here by accident.
The half-orc breathed out carefully. He knew the geezer was mad. But he might be their only chance of escaping.
“Can you help us? Can you let us out?”
“Oh. Out, you say? Within, Without — isn’t that just a matter of perspective?
From your perspective, maybe I am the captive,” he chuckled again and Kraghtol drew another breath.
How mad was the other man exactly? He had noticed him casually dropping the names of two Principles.
It came as no surprise that he knew them, since he obviously knew alchemy well enough to produce a body-altering potion. But why now? Was he mocking him?
“Listen, I really don’t have time for this. Can you open the door? Please?”
“Certainly. That’s easy, is it not? With a key. Or perhaps without.”
Kraghtol felt anger rising again.
“Please. Open. The. Doors,” he pressed out between his teeth, trying to keep his temper. Something about the man on the other side made him furious.
Perhaps he picked up on that, or perhaps Kraghtol’s last plea had been enough to pierce the madness, but a quick burst of silent blue fire engulfed the lock of his cell door, followed shortly by a second on Valir’s door.
It had been too sudden for Kraghtol to see which alchemical mixture the old man had used, but it was effective nonetheless. Both doors opened as if unlocked.
“What?! How?” whispered Valir, staring at the dark figure.
“I think he’s an old alchemist, who’s gone completely… I mean, you heard him talk.”
“Can we trust him?”
That was a good question, and Kraghtol had to ponder that for a moment.
“I think yes — to some degree. He’s not sane, but obviously very skilled in what he does. And for some reason, he has taken a liking to me. The potion he gave me worked flawlessly.”
The old man was humming to himself, obviously pretending not to hear the whispered conversation. Only when Kraghtol stepped out did his mouth split into a wide grin with few teeth.
“Ah, embracing the sweet freedom after all. I wonder how it might taste. Good for you! Well decided!”
Kraghtol ignored the ramblings and looked the old man straight in the eye, who tried to evade his gaze, turning his head away.
“It’s no coincidence you’re here, is it?
You’ve been following me. Even in Winterstone, it was you.
It was you we saw on the stairs, and you were there at the explosion. Why did you hide?”
The gnarly figure shrugged, moving too many limbs. “You are unique, are you not? So green and strong and helpless and different. And I was curious, was I not?”
“Okay, this is creepy,” commented Valir, who was already rummaging through the chest.
Kraghtol couldn’t deny the sentiment. But then again, had the old geezer not been following him, they would still be in that cell.
He carefully controlled his voice as he continued.
“I don’t want you to follow me anymore, okay?
I’m grateful you helped us here, but this has to stop. Do you understand? I mean it.”
A series of movements went through the old man’s body as if he didn’t quite know how to react until he settled on another shrug-like motion.
“Understand? Yes! Understanding is important, ever so important. Have you understood? Yes, of course you have. You don’t want me to go where you go?
Or go where you might go? Or go where you have been? ”
“Just don’t follow me anymore! It’s not that hard to understand. You’re obviously a great alchemist, so that shouldn’t be too complicated, right?”
Conversations with the old man were really draining his patience fast, but there was one more question he had to ask, mainly because he didn’t know anyone else he could ask it.
“But since you were obviously watching me. What did I do wrong? Why couldn’t I open the metal seal?”
That seemed to amuse the old man even more, and he cackled for a good ten seconds before giving a coherent answer.
“A seal is easy. Like a contract, but only one-sided. Well, everything is like a contract, if you think about it that way, is it not? After all, you bind your will — I digress! Only one side, easy to break, but nearly impossible to break.”
“How can it be both easy and nearly impossible?” Kraghtol asked in confusion and looked to Valir for help, who didn’t look wiser than him.
“It’s not easy for everyone, is it? You couldn’t have broken that seal.
Not easily. Because of who you are. Because you don’t resonate.
If you do — resonate like a string — you could shatter it like glass.
Isn’t that a funny thought? The metal within shattered like the glass without.
But your Elven friend, she couldn’t have done it at all! ”
Kraghtol didn’t understand half of what the madman was spewing at him and decided to lay the topic to rest as he felt the onset of a mild headache. He, too, took his belongings from the chest before turning towards the door.
“We’re going to leave now. Is it safe outside?”
“Is it ever? Perhaps it’s safer if you stay here forever, or until you die at least. But yes, the dwarves are not watching, as they should. Not now. They are dreaming, all of them, are they not?”
“You sent them to sleep? All of them? With alchemy?” Valir asked.
“Oh, yes, yes. All of them. Do not worry. They will wake. But not now. Dreams are hard to escape from sometimes, are they not?”
His eyes were piercing Kraghtol now, and he shuddered in discomfort.
“We’re leaving. Come on, Valir.”