Shards of Old

-What the hell happened!? - she yelled, panicked, letting the voice bounce around in the empty space. - Why? How?!

-Calm down, it’s just water.

-Just water?! JUST WATER?! That was our source of income!

I just shrugged and jumped down into the pit. It was maybe a meter deep at the edge and continued to deepen further into the cave, still covered in darkness.

It was completely dry down there. I started walking, looking for the other edge.

After a few steps, the floor and the cave itself slowly started reminding me less of a man-made structure and more of a regular, natural cave. Stalagmites and stalactites started sprouting from the floor and the ceiling and soon I reached the abrupt end - a regular cave wall. The lake dried out completely. I wanted to try and listen for the dripping water but that was impossible with the noises coming from the entrance. It was not easy to tell what exactly that was thanks to the echo, but I was sure that I knew the source.

I sighed and started walking back.

As I got closer, I realized that Melle was now crying. Slumped down on the edge of what used to be an underground lake, she hid her face in her hands and was trying to quiet herself down, but with the echo of the cave that was useless.

Without a word I climbed out of, what used to be, the lake and leaned on the side of the cavern, playing around with my light orb. I was not in the mood for consoling, so I just stood there, waiting for a long while.

It took her a couple of minutes to finally stop sobbing and stand up. You could still see that she was shaken, but she tried her best to keep it together.

-I am sorry - she said meekly, - I don’t think I am gonna be able to help after all. Nor will I be able to hire you... We should go back, as soon as we arrive I will get Ilto open a portal for you to wherever you like to go and…

-Hold your horses - I stopped her mumbling. - I sort of don’t want to know, but I will ask anyway: why was that water so special that you had to… well, do this?

-I… ehm - she cleared her throat - I am sorry. I lost my temper there for a second. I don’t really want to talk…

-No, no - I stopped her again. - I am not asking about that. I want to know exactly what that water exactly was. I thought it was just some infused lake, and there are plenty of those, right?

-True - she started wiping her tears, but as soon as she started talking again, it started flowing again - But this was only one powerful enough for my needs. And probably for For 's as well.

-Wait, that’s it? - I asked, confused. - Power? You know you can infuse the water yourself, right?

-That’s… I know, I guess I can still help you and For... That’s not going to change my situation. Doing this manually is going to take a long time, so we should hurry and go back…

She started walking towards the tunnel and the exit.

I did not stop her, but just followed suit and said:

-You know, I might know a place…

-Stop it, that is sweet and I am flattered that you want to help me, but don’t give me false hope.

-I mean it. Say, how potent was the water in here?

-About 40.

-About what?

-40 degrees? The temperature you feel when in contact with the water?

-Ah. I was expecting the percentage of infusion, but I guess that works too. Listen, I think there is a place nearby with similar, if not better concentration. But…

She stopped so suddenly I walked right into her.

-Ow.

-You are joking. Tell me you aren’t.

She turned to me, wide eyed.

-Come on, woman, calm down. I said “I think”.

-So it’s just…

-For fucks sake woman, let me finish. I swear you are so… Eh, I can show you the place, but there are conditions.

-I am listening.

She was now staring intently at me, it was kinda unsettling to be completely honest.

-Well… First things first, I do not want anyone else to know about it. I don’t care who that is. No husbands, daughters, friends, servants, whatever.

-Of course.

-Second. We share profits. Any potions, or whatever the fuck do you make out of this water - two thirds are mine..

-Done.

That surprised me. I thought she was gonna haggle - that’s why I went with that instead of a 50/50 split. For a woman who just cried about losing her, well, basically a goldmine, like a little baby, that was a bit out of character.

That also gave me an idea.

-Third. You are to help me learn more about this land.

-What does that supposed to mean? - she looked at me suspiciously.

-I told you. I am not from this country. I want to learn as much as I can, so I can finally get my bearings on this situation.

-Sure… I guess that’s a cheap price to pay for a…

-I have not finished yet.

She looked at me questioningly.

-By that I meant you to be bound to me by Triple Binding, so I can make sure that you won’t go back on your word and be of help in the future.

That was obviously a stupid request. Judging how things worked in this country, no sane person would agree. I wanted to…

-No problem.

Wait what? I honestly did not expect her to accept right off the bat. Again.

-Well, I’ll be damned.

-What?

-Nothing… Are you ready then?

-For what? You want to do this right here and now? You know how to do it?

-Yep.

During my time at the Red Edge I managed to find a bunch of books explaining the Law - I wanted to figure out what exactly I walked into after I signed one with For. I might not have learned everything I wanted, a lot of things were omitted for some reason, but I knew how to forge a pact at least.

It was actually pretty simple. You just need a deal to be written on something and you need to sign it in blood. Literally. You take the blood of both parties and mix it together using a certain spell - apparently the one that drained Jacob so much. I was not worried about that part though - I was confident enough in my mana capacity, especially with the crystal.

I pulled out my notebook. ripped out a page and started writing on the floor. It was not the most convenient way to do things, but I was not gonna let this occasion slip.

I, Mor, am to provide information about the infused water spring to Melle.

In return, I expect her to not disclose any information about it to anyone without my previous acceptance.

Any profits off the said water will be split - two thirds go to me, one third to her.

We are to be bound by the Law of Triple Binding.

-How does that look? - I shoved the paper towards her, letting her read and pulling out one of the empty ink bottles I still had in my bag.

She quickly skimmed the text and equally fast replied.

-Yes. Where’s…

-I was just getting to that. Do you have a blade, or should I improvise?

-Actually, I do. Why do we need that?

-What, you never signed a contract like this before? We need blood to sign the deal with.

-I didn’t… I mean I never thought when they say “sign with blood” they mean literally…

-Every saying has its roots in some truth. Give it to me.

I couldn’t see where she was keeping it, but she produced a small dagger from somewhere under her clothes. The blade was smaller than even my pinky finger, with a simple, wooden handle. I wanted to check how dull it was, so I slightly touched it with my thumb, and to my surprise I immediately got cut. It was pretty much a scalpel. While it was not my intention to cut my finger first, I shrugged and dropped a few drops of blood into the empty container.

-Ready?

She nodded and extended her hand towards me.

-I was going to ask for you to do it yourself, but… whatever - I said, while using the blade to poke her in the same spot, spilling some of her blood.

-Okay, now for the harder part.

I gave her back the knife and focused on the bottle. Inside there was no more than a couple of drops of red liquid, barely enough for two people to write the names.

-Temhe mohoue.

As I spoke, the blood started shimmering and changing colors, until after a couple of seconds it finally stopped at black.

-You first - I handed her both the quil and the ink-blood.

Without hesitation, she signed and looked at me expectantly.

Taking it back from her, I still could not believe what was happening, but nevertheless I signed the contract.

Instantly, the paper vanished in a familiar flash of light, and the deal was struck.

I checked my finger - sure enough, there was now a new “burn mark” on my thumb, the size of a full fingerprint, instead of the initial bleeding knife wound. I noticed Melle checking her own, new mark as well.

-And now for the final test - I said, focusing on the mark.

Immediately, both of our fingers lit up in flames. Although the size of the fire was considerably smaller than the one that appeared when I checked the contract with For, it was still pretty large - it was covering the whole finger from the tip of the fingernail to the wrist almost. Accompanied with flames, the contract appeared again, with glowing ink, spelling the contents of the freshly signed deal.

-Whoah.

She took this a lot better than For. While the flames and the burning letters definitely surprised her, she did not scream nor even flinched too much, instead she was intently watching everything.

-Everything seems in order - I said, dismissing the papers and standing up. - Let’s go.

-So where is it then? I did what you demanded of me.

-About half a kilometer that way - I pointed towards the wall.

-You are joking. What, there is a second cave somewhere nearby?

-Sort of. Remember, I told you where I came from. I meant it.

-Wait, wait, wait. You are telling me that you actually did not lie and… just stumbled upon a passageway that led you to those caves?

-Yep. But that does not mean that getting there is gonna be easy. Look.

I pointed towards the ceiling, where there was an opening which I fell down from last time.

-This is where we are going.

-What the fuck.

-Yeah, I know. But I have a plan. First, who knows about this cave and your barrier?

-Just us two, Il and my husband.

-And I assume it’s the same for your house?

-The one here? Yes, what would be the point of the barrier then?

-Just checking. Should be fine then. Step back.

She moved a few steps further into the tunnel.

-While I am not the greatest at using earth magic, I will try to carve us a few steps so we can climb up there. Unless you have any other ideas?

She shook her head in denial, saying:

-As you already know, I can’t really use my magic here, there is not enough plantlife to even try.

-Well then, let’s try this then… Visu, nuwo lek lupfipto. Fotoho.

First, out of the rubble there was around, I created one larger piece of rock, which I split into a few chunks, maybe the size of my hand, and sharpened them on one side. Positioning them at the wall to create some sort of footing to let us climb up, I took a good breath, before…

-Qigo!

I rammed all of them at once into the wall, trying not to break them in the process.

The result was… decent. Couple of “steps” crumbled upon impact, but we have been left with enough to grab on to hopefully get up.

-Ehkm - Melle coughed to get my attention.

-What? I asked you if you have any better ideas…

-No, that’s not it.

-Well spit it out then. What?

-Did you have to… ram them into the wall? Couldn’t you just let them float like that?

-Ah. A valid question - I said, turning my back to her and checking the footing. - Of course I could. But if you were to step on one of them, they would just fall down.

-Hm. Earth magic is strange.

-Eh, not really earth magic’s fault, just a side effect of mana conversion.

-A what now?

-Well - I started slowly climbing up, to the opening near the ceiling. - How do you think my orbs float? - I waved my hand towards the hovering light orb.

-I… actually don’t know.

-Then let me ask something. Do you think mana has weight?

-Hmm. I actually never thought of that…

-The answer is no. While sometimes we can see it, and most of the time we just feel it, it weight’s nothing. It is just pure energy. What happens then when you convert this energy into something else? It retains some of its properties for a while, depending on what it was used for. For example…

I stopped short of my explanation, because I almost fell down from one of the shittier steps.

-For example this fucking thing - I pointed to the rock I almost fell from. - If I use mana to modify some solid matter, the weightlessness is kept and shared with whatever you used it with, for as long as you focus on it. And if you were to step on that while it was hovering in the air, it would have just given up under your weight.

-I think I get it… But still…

-Okay, I know magic is a fascinating topic and all, but you’d better focus on figuring out how are you gonna climb up here - I said, finally managing to crawl up into the opening and looking down at her.

-Ah. No problem.

With incredible fashion, almost like a monkey, she quickly started scaling the wall, barely even stopping to look at the next step, leaving me absolutely stunned. Before I even managed to shake off the initial shock, she was already face to face with me right at the hole.

-Make some room.

-Damn - I crawled further into the tunnel, giving her some space. - I mean, I know I have one hand, but you made it look easy.

-Thanks. I might be old, but I am not senile.

-Shit. Well, I don’t have to worry then. Let’s go.

-Is the whole way there like this? - she asked after a few minutes of crawling.

-No. We still have the worst part in front of us, but judging by your earlier display, you won’t have any problems with that. Unless you have claustrophobia.

-It gets even tighter? - she groaned. - Where the hell are you even leading me?

-Don’t worry. It gets easier the further you get - I silently chuckled to myself.

-What’s so funny?

-Nothing. Here comes the hard part.

As predicted, we managed to squeeze through without much of an issue. She, once more, demonstrated the amazing flexibility of someone of her age. After that, we finally managed to stop crawling and could actually walk, albeit barely.

-We are almost there.

-Why did you even go through here in the first place? No sane person would squeeze through those caves…

-I was exploring.

I could feel her stare from behind.

-What? Is it that weird to explore caves?

-Hmph. And what made you explore this particular one? I feel like those mountains have an abundance of them…

-A gut feeling. Why do you care so much?

-I don’t want yet another “explorer” like you to show up at my place again. It’s a bit… inconvenient.

-Oh, I assure you, me neither. That’s what the rules of the binding were for.

-And what, are you going to make me some kind of guard for this place? I am not some great wizard that can just…

-Calm down. I am pretty sure no one will come through here to you, and if they would, I would definitely want to meet them.

-Why?

-You will see soon enough. We are here.

We arrived at the cave where I managed to “accidentally” break a wall. As we stepped out of the corridor, she asked:

-What the hell happened here? It looks like…

-A landslide? Beats me, what’s important is outside. Look.

I pointed towards the stream of water, which now instead of creating a lake right at the ruined cave wall, made one about ten meters away, towards the other cavern, where I found the notebook.

-Is that…

-Infused water, yes, yes. Good enough for your potions, or…?

-Let me check…

With a brisk walk, she went towards the lake and before I even managed to say a word, she dipped her hand in the water.

-AAH.

-Yeah, I wanted to warn you, this one is pretty strong.

She was now clutching her hand to the chest and looking at the water with sheer amazement.

-Pretty strong? PRETTY STRONG? THIS IS THE BEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE! And to think it was right under my nose! No wonder you did not want to tell me anything…

-But you agreed on the terms anyway. So stop staring and get to work.

-Right! Of course!

She started pulling out her stuff from the bag, while I sat down on the rubble of the wall, half watching her, half dozing out. We were pretty far from our lab, but I still felt some sort of nostalgia while gazing towards the forest.

-Say - she asked after a while - you said no one is going to come through here… Why?

-Ah, right. Apparently, the corridor we crawled through is the only way to get here, or out of here, besides flying maybe.

-How the hell did you end up here then?

-Good question - I sighed. - I do not have an answer to that.

-What, are you some kind of amnesiac or something?

I pondered that sentence for a long minute.

-Well, maybe.

-You made me sell my own freedom and still you don’t want to tell me anything?

-And why would I? Yeah, we forged a pact, that doesn’t mean I immediately will tell you everything I know, or don’t know rather. It’s not like this magic is perfect, far from it.

-I guess…

-Don’t sound too disappointed - I laughed.

-It’s just… it’s going to be hard to “help you learn about this land” if I have no idea what you know…

-Ah, you’re worried about that? - I waved my hand dismissively. - We’ll get there when we get there. I’ll be the one asking questions. For now just focus on the water.

-Right, right…

-But, since you are so cooperative… - I continued - I actually have a question or two. For starters, have you seen anyone besides me around your place recently?

-After you left? No, no one has touched the barrier even. This is a very, very secluded place, It is rare for someone to just stumble upon…

-Rare. That means someone did. When?

-Ah. I mean, yes, but it was years ago. It was even before the barrier was made.

-You’ve been here since then.

-Yes, this is my family home. While it does not look like much, I used to live here with my mother and father. When I was 15, they both died and I was left alone.

-I’m sorry. It must’ve been hard for you… at such a young age…

-A bit. But I got used to it. I kept telling myself: they are still watching you, so you better not disappoint them.

-A nice way to look at things - I nodded.

-Sorry, I’m rambling. - she cleared her throat - Anyway, the one who found this place was actually my husband. Well, not yet then, but…

-Ah. Interesting. Any idea where he came from?

-Now while you mention it, he said he was a traveler and explorer, sort of like you.

-Funny.

-Yeah… Anyway, I am done, are we leaving now? - She said, standing up.

Her bag was now visibly more full, probably of bottles full with infused water.

-Just a second. I wanted to show you something. Come.

I took her to the other cave - the one I found the notebook in.

-Take a look - I said, presenting the notebook. - I found it here. This is how I knew how to get to you.

-I have never seen such a book before - she muttered to herself, carefully opening the notebook. - It’s just one page?

-Yeah, strange, right? That’s why I asked before about people who passed through your place, but I guess since you haven’t seen anybody, I guess they just didn’t make it…

-No…

-What do you mean “no”?

She looked shook, and… happy? That was not the reaction I expected.

-I know this writing.

-OH. So someone DID pass through here. Why haven’t you told me when I asked?

-I did - she was staring at the paper intently, like she was expecting that it’s somehow going to spring to life and tell her something.

-You mean…

-This is my husband’s handwriting.