Reader Beware

Chapter 6

            The gates to Saimore were ahead of them, the giant stone arch hard to miss, even from a distance, when Rika and Damek were again stopped by a stranger. They heard his footsteps behind them before he caught up, moving up and in front of them so they had to stop. Rika found herself staring into the same glare she’d seen only a handful of minutes earlier. “Oh! It’s you again. Is something wrong?”

            The robed stranger shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I have a debt.”

            Rika frowned. “What do you mean?”

            Damek, eyes narrowed, looked from the stranger to Rika then back again. Suddenly, he began to laugh. When Rika looked at him quizzically, he shook his head, laughing too hard to answer. It was the stranger who replied, lips barely moving as he said “I have a life debt.”

            Her frown deepening, Rika looked back to Damek. “What’s that?”

            Calming himself with an obvious effort, he swallowed a few times and said “Don’t you have life debts where you’re from?” When she shook her head, he continued “A life debt’s when you save someone’s life or do the equivalent of it, meaning they owe you a similar service. But, the other catch and the reason life debts aren’t as common, is that the other person has to not what anything in return. If they do, it negates the debt. And they’re worse for mages. A mage with a life debt can only do magic in the service of the person that holds their debt. And…” he trailed off for a moment, then looked at the stranger. “All she did was return your locket. How did you get a life-debt to her just from that? You’re not keeping your heart in there or something.”

            Rika could only describe the look the stranger turned on Damek as withering. “No.”

            Damek shrugged. “Well then, I guess you’re coming along with us for a while. I promised to get her home. If you help with that, I’m sure your debt’ll be cleared. What kind of mage are you?”

            The stranger turned away from the blue-haired man, eyes going back to Rika. She smiled. “What’s your name? I’m Rika and that’s Damek. We’re looking for a travel mage. You’re not a travel mage, are you?”

            He watched her before replying “No. My name is Ahisu.”

            “We can continue our discussion in town. Preferably in an inn, with some good food and a decent drink,” Damek said, jerking his head towards Saimore.

            “Okay,” Rika replied. Then looked to Ahisu. “Is that alright with you? We’re not keeping you from something you need to do?”

            He stared at her, eyebrows moving up slightly, before he turned to look at Damek. Her blue-haired friend snorted. “Yeah, she’s serious.”

            Rika frowned but Damek began walking and explaining at the same time. “He has a life debt to you, stranger-girl. Anything he was doing, was going to do, or planned is now on hold. Until he repays you, he’ll be sticking close. He owes you, so you don’t need to worry about him. His debt is the only important thing to him until it’s finished.”

            “But-”

            Damek cut her off with a head shake. “It’s his problem. He knew the risks when he pursued his magecraft. And really, it’s good for you. Between me and him, I’m sure we’ll be able to get you home without any problems, even if we have to travel halfway across the country to find the right mage.”

            She looked back at Ahisu, who was staying just a few steps behind them, watching them closely. Rika turned back to Damek, shaking her head. “Can’t I just say he’s repaid me enough and let him go? I feel bad about it. I didn’t mean to put him into debt.”

            “Which is exactly why he’s got a life-debt now. And no, the debt has to be properly repaid or his magic won’t work properly. Depending on what kind of mage he is,” Damek said, raising his voice on the last sentence with a meaningful glance back at Ahisu. “It could end up killing him. It’s better for everyone if he stays close.”

            At that point, they’d reached the town’s gates. Rising several feet taller than Rika, they were made of thick wood, attached to the yellow stone of the town’s walls. Two soldiers, dressed in identical brown uniforms, were checking over anything with wheels, waving the three of them through with only half a look.

            Walking under the wall, which seemed to be more than ten feet thick to Rika, she was forced to blink when she emerged out of the shadows into the sunlight. When her eyes cleared, she found herself staring. It was like being inside of one of her books. The houses, none rising more than four or five stories, were mostly made of wood and stone. Some white-washed and plastered, others left bare. Some were even thatched. The streets were paved with rough cobbles, some cracked in place, while the stone-lined depressions running along each side looked to her like a primitive sewer system.

            Everywhere she looked were people, dressed in tunics, leggings, pants, coats, long dresses, and even robes, the colours duller than she was used to for the most part. But what really got her, was the sound and smell of the place. Shouting and laughter, barking and hissing, crashing and creaking, all interwove with the rumble of wheels and the clatter of hooves against the street. The smells of a hundred different meals mixed with the scents of waste, both human and animal, wood smoke, and straw.

            Rika stopped dead, mouth hanging open as she absorbed it all. It took Damek grabbing her arm and dragging him along to get her moving. It was this town that really brought home the fact that she was in another world. Nothing like this existed outside a movie set, and even on one of those, she couldn’t imagine anyone trying to recreate the stench of the place.