- 123 -

  James led Marcus and Damien and Drew through the crowded streets. The fools day parade was in full swing and the slender street was packed. Someone slung their arm over James’s shoulders. Their silly mask was fashioned after the snout of a logfish and it was rank with ale.

  “Merry Fools day.” He said and slapped his hand firmly into the reveler’s stomach. The slender person made an unladylike grunt as the wind was knocked out of her.

  Damien followed closely behind as James cleared a path through the packed street.

  “We should get out of this mob.” Damien said as they passed a side street. “It would be wise to head up to the Mezzanine.”

  People stopped and stared drunkenly at Damien’s traveling trunk as it tittered along behind him on its 7 spindly legs.

  Marcus slipped into the gap behind the traveling trunk before the crowd could close in on them. He nearly walked face first into a long beam hefted by a pair of muscular men passing the other way.

  “This is the fastest route,” James said as he considered another side street. “Although I’ve only been this way three times today.”

  “Just hurry up so I can get out of this cage!” Drew screeched angrily.

  “Happy fools day!”

  “Pappy Pools Pay!”

  “Snappy snools snay!”

  Copper coins flew at Drew as the revelers cheered him and tossed copper coins. He scratched at the coins as they slid across his cage, while captured even his gathering ring couldn’t stash away the coins.

  Just great. Really great. Why is everyone throwing coins at me?

  “Just enjoy the party Drew!” Marcus cheered.

  The elf swiped an ale from a reveler and sipped on it before passing it to someone else in exchange for a meaty leg of some animal.

  “It’s not everyday there’s a city wide party in the streets.” Marcus said, his mouth full.

  Look at him! Dancing freely. He would be singing a different tune if he was the one in the cage.

  A reveler bumped into the traveling chest causing Drew’s mood to simmer higher. He had rocked the cage so hard that Drew stumbled into the bars.

  “Let me out!” Drew hissed up at Damien. “This is a stupid idea!”

  ”Thus is not so bad Drew. It is only temporary until we find some lodgings.” Damien said, a moderate hint of concern in his tone.

  “It will save your life,” James said.

  ”Will I always have to travel in this cage?” Drew asked and fussed with the lock again with his beak.

  ”It is only temporary.” D’Aeggett said.

  Drew grasped the flat iron bars with his claw and tried to squeeze them out of shape. The metal didn’t even creak.

  Debuff: [Captured] - All activated skills are locked while caged, collared, or shackled. Physical Stats limited to 1.

  “But why do I have to be locked in?” Drew growled impatiently.

  “Calm yourself Drew. You are usually more level headed than this. You are well aware that’s how the enchantment activates.” Damien said, no happier than Drew about the whole situation. “In fact you built this cage and enchanted it.”

  If we are attacked in this crowd I won’t be able to help fight back. I should have built a trick release lock.

  The crowd lightened up as they passed an ale house handing out free drinks. The middle of the street was free and the group finally got a moment to breathe.

  “The cage is essential. Brontide cannot detect your mana signature. While you are so weak,” James said. “We will get you court protection before a week is up.”

  James looked up through the scaffolding above them. Judging by the sunlight coming through the glass he knew it was almost the 7th bell.

  Have we failed to talk to them? If negotiations have failed time and again, then that means we’ve been killed multiple times too. Dozens of my ideas have certainly failed. If not hundreds?

  Drew’s mood calmed down a bit at the dismal plan.

  “I still think we can talk our way out of this. Can Brontide talk? Has anyone tried negotiating?” Drew asked.

  “Not likely it is exceedingly rare for a familiar to learn to speak,” Damien said. “Their masters gain a kind of second sense through the contract and they can communicate intentions directly so most don’t practice speaking like you have.”

  “The councilman of the Summer court is very hot tempered. And he is a patron of many of the city’s top duelists,” James said. “He was entirely unperturbed that his familiar killed you. That is, the two times I spoke with him today.”

  “That’s unacceptable,” Damien grumbled. “Even a council member can’t go around killing people’s familiars in the streets.”

  “Let me out of this cage D’Aeggett. Tell me how to fight this monster, I’ll probably figure something out after a few rounds. These jerks need to be stopped.”

  Damien’s traveling trunk barked it’s agreement.

  “The familiar has undergone hundreds of alchemical baths. It’s ten times stronger than anyone of us.” James said.

  He looked at each of them but didn’t really see them. He played back the fights Drew had lost against Brontide today. He shook off his reverie, certain of his decisions.

  “No, the next round of baths required very rare ingredients and I’ve managed to find all of them.”

  Pretty overly complicated plan if you ask me.

  “Won’t that just make Brontide more powerful?” Marcus asked.

  James chose then to move down the next alley and the group hurried to keep up. The traveling trunk climbed over the discarded bottles of ale and litter scattered by the revelers passing.

  Are we just going to hide while some fancy guy grows his dangerous familiar into a monster?

  “And the reagents are prepared. Brontide should be marinating for a week. That gives us time,” James said.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Time for what?” Drew asked suspiciously.

  I don’t trust this guy. He does whatever he wants for his own perfect day. Why is he even helping me? What has he learned about me in other loops today?

  “You need time to register as an Enchanter of the Winter court. Then you would have legal protections.”

  “We will have to change his court affiliation first. He is aligned with the summer court.” Marcus said.

  “That’s another thing the caged enchantment is helping with,” James said. “You are technically captured by the winter court. Your status is political and there are procedures to follow.”

  James stepped out into a small duelist square with a statue in the center. The group rushed to keep close to him.

  Huh, who is the guy in the kimono?

  Drew pressed his face to the bars to get a better look at the small fountain and statue of two people in the center of the square.

  Revelers danced around the perimeter blocking his view of the duel and the statues.

  Two swordsmen fought it out in an etched ring on the stone ground, their flashy sword work almost too fast for Drew to track.

  The trunk hopped up over a raised step and left the courtyard to follow James onto a wide ramp heading up. Drew finally got a good look at the figure of the Hero in his traditional kimono and top knot.

  “Marcus! Marcus!” Drew whispered loudly. “Who’s that?”

  Marcus peeled himself away from the dancers to look where Drew was pointing with his wing.

  “Who? Do you see a rare beauty?” Marcus asked, more than a little flushed from the reveling. “Is she behind the statue of the hero?”

  “That’s the hero?” Drew asked.

  “The man is, the woman is Bella,” Marcus replied.

  Huh he is definitely Japanese.

  “Keep moving!” James called back impatiently. “We are on a schedule.”

  -

  “Now be a smart bird and act normal,” James said. “Everyone, it is two mana to pass through the gate today.”

  Oh I’ll show him what a Skurr would do.

  James led them up the steeply sloped stairs to the gate.

  The heavily armored guard stood at attention in his shimmering pearlescent armor.

  The gate behind him was forged out of matching white steel. It practically screamed ‘I’m magical’ as it flashed across the streets to the opposite wall.

  I aught to poop on the shiny gate. You want to see normal!

  James led the way with his Guild Badge, speaking very briefly with the guard and crossed his second and third fingers in the traditional greeting.

  Marcus and Damien followed behind him with no issue.

  The guard scoweled at Drew as the traveling trunk brought him and his cage through the gate.

  Something on my face? This guy have a problem?

  Drew was hit with heavy waves of enchantments for the third time today. In his weakened state, he was squished to the floor of his cage.

  Damn those are heavy enchantments! What are they running?

  If the shiny guard thought anything of a caged Skurr being brought through the gate he kept it to himself.

  “Come along,” James said once they were well past the gate. “Don’t linger, we don’t have time to be fined for loitering.”

  Drew gawked at the crystalized buildings that lined the treeline street on top of the city. If he had been human, and walking, he would have stopped and stared.

  Every building looked like crystalized clouds. Here and there the steel frames and buttresses framed the milky glass panels in a semblance of practical architecture. Even the road was transparent.

  It must be enchanted to only allow light through one way, or we would see people walking below.

  “It’s like a funhouse mirror made with milk glass,” Drew said.

  He watched the handful of reflections of their group stroll quickly, without running, down the tree lined streets.

  I had heard the levels of the city were different but this is too much. The main layer, middle city, or whatever was bustling. It made Aldermere seem like Hoboken, Nowhere USA. Everything up here is made of crystal and steel!

  Drew clapped his beak shut when he noticed the trees lining the center of the street bore light red crystal fruit. Their white bark and white leaves seemed desaturated in their gaudy surroundings.

  Here and there they passed a much taller building. They passed servant entrances at ground level with ostentatious verandas for visitors on the second floor.

  Marcus has a shop here? Is he rich?!

  “People really live up here?” Drew asked.

  “They certainly do. Many of them are my best customers. Court mages, retired adventurers, mad Enchanters, or crazed Alchemists. Quite a fun bunch.” Marcus said with a smile.

  “Few live beyond the mezzanine.” Damien said and pointed up above the second floors of the buildings around them to the tallest towers. “The rest of these facades are grand estates. Summer homes for the nobles and the wealthiest people in the world, outside of the elves or nobles in the capital.”

  We are already up above the tallest buildings below. Those towers are easily a kilometer tall. Just from the ground level to here must be ten floors, for those tallest towers they must stretch another ten floors up.

  They found the first sign of traffic when they crossed a large intersection with a wide boulevard curving down to the center of the city. Carts pulled by Garnts or pairs of men ascended the tree lined roadway from the city below.

  A shimmer in the air stretched across the wide roadway. It kept the sounds and smellls of the middle city at bay.

  Halfway down around the curve, a man and two children struggled with a long mirror half-covered in a sheet.

  “And be careful!” Reandre harped from behind them. “I didn’t mend that mirror for you to drop it.”

  The master alchemist turned and activated the binding enchantments on the double doors of her workshop.

  “Oh!” The girl exclaimed when she saw James walking up the street.

  “Right on time.” James said and waved to the kids below.

  “It’s him!” The boy cried and his uncle hissed at him to steady his corner of the mirror.

  “Segneture D’Aeggett,” Reandre said turning. “You have not disappoint-“

  The Alchemist locked eyes with Damien and clapped her mouth shut.

  “Reandre. Pleasant to see you, as always.” Damien said cautiously.

  Without missing a beat, Reandre pulled a wand from her sleeve and fired a stream of super heated water at Damien.

  James and Marcus slipped to the side to avoid the steam and scalding water. Damien’s mana shield flew up to protect him a second later.

  “Damien!” Drew shouted. “Let me out!”

  I have to get out and help him!

  “I told you to never show your face around here again.” Reandre hissed.

  With only a thought, something about her spell changed and Damien’s shield started to crack and melt very quickly.

  “Reandre, please let your old friend speak.” James said optimistically.

  “You didn’t see this coming?” Drew squawked at James.

  Damien pulled out his other wand and summoned a secondary shield of stone before his mana shield broke.

  “Please Reandre,” James said.

  “And you! D’Aeggett. I told you to keep my name out of your mouth,” she growled.

  She drew a second wand but before she could cast anything a man started laughing from higher up the boulevard.

  “Good show Master Alchemist!” High Pyremancer, Vexilar Carros the Twice-Hung said.

  Vexilar strode down the street in fashionably plain clothes in bright warm colors. His hair was crimson and slicked back almost as if by accident. In that messy on purpose kind of way. He moved with a lithe heavy presence and although he was not a large statured man, the traffic moving by on the street seemed a little quieter and smaller around him.

  Drew got a good sense of the man’s mana and recognized him.

  He was the man at the fairy ball! The monkey man!

  Reandre took her eyes off Damien and let her spell end.

  “High Pyremancer, you needn’t have come down so low in the Mezzanine. I was just bringing you your order. And a gift as well.”

  Reandre straightened out her robes and threw Damien a scalding glare before bowing her head to the council member.

  “Oh nonsense.” Vexilar said with an eager smile. “I’m happy to spread my legs. And Brontide enjoys stretching her wings.”

  “Keep your shield up Damien,” James whispered.

  Brontide screeched and slammed into the ground beside Vexilar.

  The stonework cracked beneath the monstrous familiar’s claws. A moment later the cracks stitched themselves up on their own.

  A shiver went through Drew as he took in the apex predator glaring at him. The knowledge that he had been eaten repeatedly by the familiar above him was suddenly very real.

  “How do we win against that monster?” Drew mused quietly.

  Brontide looked directly at Drew and charged without hesitation.

  Damien’s shield survived two swipes of the familiar’s massive claws before it shattered.

  Marcus drew his rapier and dagger and parried the next two attacks staggering Brontide. The Elf took the first step of his next attack but Vexilar raised his hand.

  “Enough! This is no time for sport.” He said with authority.

  Brontide snapped forward one last time to try to snatch up Drew’s cage but the traveling trunk skittered to the side.

  “Hey! Hey! He said time out!” Drew shouted.

  Vexilar snapped his fingers at Brontide twice and whistled through his teeth. Brontide shrunk back.

  New Quest: Leave Valoria. Y/N

  What? Is this quest from Bromtide? Then he’s not a monster?

  Marcus raised his guard again but Brontide returned to Vexilar’s heel. He caressed the beast’s face and it purred.

  “So the little Skurr can speak,” Councilman Vexilar hummed. “Interesting.”

  “D’Aeggett,” Reandre said. “Get your friends into my shop. I have business with the High Pyremancer to complete and then you and I will have much to talk about.”

  Damien let himself and the group into Reandre’s shop.

  The group collectively let out a breath they’d been holding.

  ”Well that went well.” James said happily.

  New Quest: Leave Valoria or die. Y/N