St. Vinoblechta was a rural country. Golden fields of crop shone in the morning sun as far as the eye could see. The fields were already alive with farmers, welcoming the sunshine, fully engulfed with their routine work.
As Crefar and Duzz passed groups of these farmers, they realized the commoners were looking at them strangely. At first, they waved at them and Goodmorninged them, but taking the second glance, they drew back uncertainly. Looking at one another, Crefar and Duzz had to admit they were a curious sight. They still had farmers' clothes on, but one of them carried weapons, had severe convulsions every other minute and there was a squirrel sitting in her hair, while the other walked about in his best clothes, stained and worn by weeks of traveling, yet carried his head up proud as if the world was at his command.
"I need to go to a tailor as soon as we get to some decent town. These workers' clothes and I - it just doesn't fit together." Crefar said upon reflecting on his looks. "Even though I'm in this body only temporarily, it helps if one projects a decent stature on the outside."
Duzz looked down on her own clothes. They were a village girl's simple clothes, but she had adjusted them to work as traveler's clothes, so her skirt was in long strips and everything was strapped to her body tight so she had less loose fabric to worry about.
"Hmmm. G-g-guess I could swap these f-f-for some proper l-l-leather clothes a-a-as well." she answered. A little voice at the back of her head whispered, "No," but before it could say anything more, it was stamped out by Duzz shaking her head.
Later that morning, as lunchtime was looming and Alois's belly started to growl, the two had passed through a wide strip of bushy wood, behind which a rewarding view awaited them. Crefar only saw it as a large blot through Alois's eyes and had to be told most of the details, but there was a city built in the river valley ahead of them. Its size was not overwhelming, but it had enough bustle about it to be called a center.
There were wooden palisades going all around it and many rich-looking villas stood by the river running through, but there was one striking element to the town that captured the two "heroes" the most. At the very center of the city, there stood a majestic structure that seemed so old and worn by time that it looked more like a landmass than a building. Its shape was much like a stepped pyramid, but the steps of it weren't built horizontally. They were at an angle, rising up all around the pyramid like a single spiralling ramp.
And even more curious were the arches that ran all around the structure's walls. They made the whole pyramid seem more like a sort of a honeycomb. And within these arches, wedged into the walls of the structure, there stood the fanciest villas one could find in the town, making it a sort of a rich quarter.
The front gate was open and carriages and carts were going in and out practically one after another. At the sides of the gate, there were armored guards stationed, though their simple equipment made them look more like farmer militia. As Crefar and Duzz passed them, the guards eyed them curiously, but made no move against them.
Behind the gate, there was a long street lined with shops going from left to right. The bustle of this city was new to both Alois and Tereza, who had never in their lives left the mountains. Crefar tried to seem cold and uninterested, but his eyes were wide open and he studied curiously all that he could see about the shops around him and the town in general. Duzz and her squirrel were not happy at all about being in that place. Duzz felt the multitude of people around her like a knife on her throat and she walked on clutching her satchel and holding her other hand defensively to her chest. The squirrel darted its eyes around, squeaking uneasily and huddling inside Duzz's hair.
Asking around they found out the city's name was Medióla and it was a trading outpost. There was no library, university or any other place of learning. There seemed to be two larger quarters here - the 'Crossroads' where the trade routes through the city met and also the beating heart of the citylife, and the 'Ziggurat,' which was the ancient ruin at the center. Some passersby said that learned people could perhaps be found up in the 'Ziggurat,' as the mayor was sometimes visited by all sorts of folk.
Crefar inquired further about this 'Ziggurat' and was told it was the richest quarter of the town, home to the local upper crust as well as the seat of the mayor. The structure itself was supposed to be old - it probably stood here long before the town, but nobody knew its origin. The locals saw it as a natural thing that houses were built right onto an ancient ruin. The walls and support of these ruins was far stronger than anything made with the craft of the people of today.
"Everything here is new for me, in my time settlements looked very different." Crefar told Duzz as they went on. "I don't recognize that Ziggurat thing, either. Must have been built after my time."
"I-I-I know that kind of b-b-buildings." Duzz replied. "I-i-in my days, w-w-we forest folk used to avoid them. B-b-bad luck. Built by th-th-the tomb-herders."
"Tomb-herders?" Crefar inquired.
"Y-y-yeah. Old folk. L-l-long before m-m-my time. Left a lot of rem-m-mnants after them. M-m-many of th-th-them still had some u-u-ugly magic in them."
Crefar stopped in the middle of the street. "Come on, woman! Use your head! Why the hell did you not tell me all of this before? Don't you get it? That Hall of Heroes thing we're bound to was probably built by the same guys!"
"I-i-if you're s-s-so clever, then I-I-I suppose you alr-r-ready know now wh-wh-what to do and wh-wh-where to go! I-i-it's not like I kn-kn-know anything about those t-t-tomb-herders or th-th-their magic!" Duzz defended herself.
"Well, you might have at least told me, could've given me some ideas."
"I-i-it never c-c-came up!"
Crefar stooped his shoulders. "Okay. Looks like we gotta just sit down and talk for a while about what we actually know. That Burning Bird pub over there seems like a good idea."
"Phoenix." Duzz corrected him.
As they walked up the Ziggurat's ramp, they saw that by Alois's and Tereza's standards, the nobility of this town was not quite that noble. The rich villas sunken in the sides of the Ziggurat's walls were not much more expensive than mayor Karel's villa back in Jalka. From the tales that they had heard, both villagers had expected the rich folk of the Baronies to be far more lavish, extravagant and fancy. It seemed this city was not the richest of the big cities of the Baronies.
The Smouldering Phoenix Inn was a place for the posh and Crefar and Duzz were not looked upon favorably inside. Alois's best dress was still only villager's clothing, made from a cheap fabric and simply cut. The two weeks of travelling with this dress on made the matter even worse. And Duzz's travel-ready clothes roused nothing but disgusted looks from the rich patrons of the Inn. That was also probably the reason why the waiter, a sleek albino gentleman in his late forties, had them pay for their drinks and meal in advance.
"Well, times sure have changed," Crefar said. "The most expensive drinks that I was used to drinking were not this sour."
Duzz merely glanced at the glass in front of Crefar and back at him. "I-i-it's soured grapes. H-h-humans were dr-dr-drinking this even in m-m-my time. Y-y-you must come from a v-v-very far p-p-place." she said without any tone of interest in her voice.
"Yes." He sighed and looked around the pub. "It does feel like a different world. In my time, my abilities were nothing extraordinary, now it seems I could be the very last man walking to have them. Also, when I was up and about, it was not unusual to see titanic gods walking on the horizon as you watched the sunset. Now it seems the titans have all left. It just feels so... Lonely."
"You're f-f-from a weird p-p-place!" Duzz said. "A-a-are you sure y-y-you are f-f-from this world?"
"Not really." he sighed. "But in any case, I don't remember there being any dead-rising wizards or constructions like this Ziggurat in my days. Those must have come in some age after mine."
Duzz tilted her head. "Th-th-that means..."
"Yes," Crefar confirmed her suspicion. "If you and I were living in the same place - the Ag-Furils, the mountains to the south - then I come from an age before yours. Long before yours, because they managed to build all those weird ziggurats and halls inbetween."
"I-I-I wouldn't say I-I-I lived in the mountains. W-w-we were migrating there. Me and m-m-my tribe. W-w-we're not mountains folk. W-w-we're forest folk."
"Well then, how is it that they came to know you as a heroine of the mountains?" Crefar inquired.
Duzz frowned. It was evident she didn't want to talk about that and she tried to send that signal to Crefar with a prolonged moment of awkward silence, but Crefar seemed naively oblivious of all her signals, so at length, she sighed and said, "I-I-I died there. N-n-not easy to talk about. I-I-I was running from a sn-sn-snowstorm that broke out in the h-h-hills, and s-s-some h-h-humans followed me t-t-to a cave. A-a-and then, they thanked me and s-s-said I s-s-saved them bec-c-cause I f-f-found them a p-p-place to hide."
"And you died in that cave?" Crefar asked.
Duzz frowned again, in an even uglier manner. "N-n-no. That was l-l-later. I-I-I don't want to talk about th-th-that."
"Hmmm." Crefar stroked Alois's chin. "Well, I suppose I should share some of my life story as well, so that I'm not at an advantage." Duzz narrowed her eyes and frowned some more.
"I went to the mountains to escape. I wasn't... very popular among the folks. So I thought I would get out, be a hermit for some time. Didn't work out very well for me. It was hard finding food for myself, so I started working for food, helping the locals out with their trouble. I did help some folks, shooed away some creatures from another realm. But then... I guess the good folks from the area started thinking maybe I was one of the creatures, having weird powers and all. I got killed by some brigands. Same folks as the ones I was helping. There's gratitude for ya." Upon that, he turned the glass of wine bottom up and finished it in one gulp.
For some time, the table fell silent. The only thing heard were the conversations at other tables, most of them concerning business with crops, ale and meat.
"S-s-so. I-I-I don't think we can g-g-get information here. D-d-do we look for th-th-the big god of yours then?" Duzz finally broke the silence.
"Well, we still have places to turn," Crefar responded, coming back from his absent-mindedness. "There's the mayor that's supposed to be dealing with some out-of-town scholars. We can ask him."
Leaving the pub, they came to a higher building whose pointed spire was sticking out from under one of the arches of the Ziggurat. There was a sign saying, 'Town Hall' over the large wooden door. Crefar checked the reluctant face of Duzz behind him and knocked on the door.
It was answered by a tall town guard in similar militia-looking armor as the ones at the gate. Looking at the duo, the town guard seemed a bit unsure as to what they could want. The withdrawn, insecure Duzz didn't seem like a sellsword or a businesswoman, which were basically the only two kinds of visitations he was receiving. Upon learning that the two were traveling scholars, he shrugged his shoulders and asked them to leave their weapons by the door. Crefar left only Alois's meat knife, but Duzz had to lighten herself of quite a load of things. There was the ancient bow and arrows, but when she started taking out a lot of small hand-made daggers, pocket knives and bizarre crooked blades out of her backpack, the guard simply told her to leave her whole bag by the door. But his attitude towards her visibly shifted.
They were led down a narrow hall to a big door at its end. There were muffled voices heard from the inside. The guard knocked and a tired voice from behind the door called out, "All right! Come in!"
Two people were seated at a big table behind the door. One of them had a big ledger on his lap and a quill in hand. At first glance, the open page in his hand was filled with lists and numbers. The other one was obviously the mayor of town - an aged merchant with a big belly and a distrustful look in his eyes. He eyed Duzz and Crefar suspiciously and asked, "What are you two? What do you want?"
Duzz and Crefar looked at each other.
"We are scholars, actually," Crefar answered. "We are looking for any means of education that your city can provide."
The mayor inspected them with a suspicious eye. "You sure do not look like scholars." he said. "Are you having me on?"
Crefar caught Duzz's frowning look, but didn't let her discourage him. "We have traveled very far, good sir. Much further than you can probably imagine. So please excuse us if we seem out of place. It is simply because we are foreigners to this land."
"M-hm. Well, I am very sorry, but I have to disappoint you, mister traveler," the mayor responded in a tired voice. "Our city is certainly not one for education. Our bookshelves can offer only trading journals and accounting ledgers."
"Please, dear sir," Crefar said in a pleading voice. "I'm sure a man of your connections can give us a more satisfying answer. We have been long on the road and any information at all you can provide that could give us a lead where to turn looking for scholarly information would help us a great deal."
The mayor exchanged a tired look with the bookkeeper. Then he sighed.
"The thing is, there is a sort of a... an inventor living some hour away from the town. He's a sort of a recluse, but he's been very helpful to our city too, selling us tools and contraptions that make our lives a lot easier as traders. And if you're looking for books and information, he might just be your man. But the problem is, something happened at his tower recently and he himself has not been seen for quite some time. No one wants to go near the place now and traders have to take detours to avoid it."
"I see." Crefar said.
"I guess that was not what you wanted to hear, but I gave you what I've got." the mayor said tiredly. "We've been trying to get back in contact with him, as it is also in our interest to have him around, but we've had no success. I suggest you maybe try some other town, mister traveler."
Evening found Duzz and Crefar having dinner at the Spitting Basilisk down at the Crossroads, because the Phoenix seemed like an impossibility to pay with the little money the two of them had left.
"Well," Crefar started, "looks like everything comes at a price."
"S-s-so we're going to a creepy t-t-tower that's supposed to be d-d-dangerous?" Duzz asked. "I c-c-can't say I-I-I'm comfortable sticking my n-n-neck out again just like th-th-that."
Looking about the tavern and eating his cooked lentils, Crefar noticed a short muscular man with ginger beard at a corner table, currently arm wrestling with a town guard.
"Maybe it won't have to be our necks that will get stuck out this time." he said and winked at Duzz.
"Wh-wh-what do you mean?" she asked, looking confused.
"Just an idea. I'll explain later."
The man seemed to be the exactly the right type that Crefar had in mind to join them in the venture to the tower. He had two things he wanted from the man. A lot of muscles, which this man visibly had. But Crefar still had to find out whether he passed the other condition as well.
Once the arm wrestling was done, Crefar walked away from his dinner (Duzz paid him no mind, currently comforting the unhappy squirrel, who was tired of being in a human settlement so long) and went over to the short man's table.
"Hey." he said.
The short man growled and looked up at him. Seeing Crefar's constitution, his lip curled in an obvious sneer. "Ya also wanna try yer hand against mine?" His voice was very deep and bass.
"Er... No. That's not why I've come. I'd like to propose something. Would you perhaps be interested in a job?"
"A what?" the brawny short man responded. By this time, Crefar was sure he had the right man. Perhaps even too right.
"A job. You see, me and my partner over there, we are going on a rescue mission tomorrow and we could use some strong muscle. It is paid by the mayor himself."
"Rescue? What do you want me do?" was the man's response.
Crefar sighed. "I want you to go with us and help us do heavy lifting for money." he said as simply as he could.
The brawny man stared at him for a moment and then his thick lips widened into a happy smile. "Okay." he said. "Count me in. Find me here tomorrow morning. I have a fight today evening."
"Maybe you would want to refrain from that. Have a good night's rest before the trip. Can't you postpone the fight for tomorrow?"
"I fight tomorrow as well." his lips widened again, showing his crooked teeth. "It's my living."
Crefar lifted his eyebrows and not knowing what to say anymore, said simply, "So do we have a deal?" and he offered his hand for a handshake (he knew what that was from Alois).
"Yeeah. Suure." Seeing the handshake offered, the man got into a very friendly mood and squeezed the hand tight. Crefar almost squealed with pain, unsure whether the man even cared how much money the job would get him. Walking away from this awkward conversation, Crefar headed towards the bartender, an elderly village-folk type with eyes so narrowly squinting all the time one almost thought he was not looking at all.
"Er, excuse me. I would like to ask about the gentleman over there that I just talked to."
"Hmm. Hekto's his name. What about him?" the bartender responded.
"I could guess he is not really all right in the head, but... is he reliable?"
"Can count on him. Never misses a fight, never crosses anyone. Doesn't know a penny from his nose, but he's straight." was the answer.
"All right, then, thank you. We'll be here in the morning to pick him up for a job, which room can we find him in?"
"He has a fight tonight. Always celebrates afterwards, drinks himself to sleep whether he wins or loses. He'll probably be down here, sleeping under a table. Too much weight for anyone to drag him to bed."
"All right." Crefar said, not wanting to know more.
The two slept at the Basilisk that night. The rooms they were offered were not what either of them would imagine, though each of them for a different reason, but they had to settle with what they got because of their meager means.
Duzz was actually considering sleeping out in the woods for a while, but then she got it in her head that Crefar might just hit the road and leave her behind. So she stuck with him even though the squirrel that slept in her hair was starting to get really agitated and nervous.
And in the morning, surely enough, they found the brawny man Hekto under the very table where the conversation with Crefar took place the evening before. Seeing as though they had already come down, the squinting bartender went over to the table and 'woke Hekto up' with a bucket of cold water. One of Hekto's eyes was swollen and purple from the fight he'd had the night before, but after a quick meal he seemed to be in his best shape and ready for anything.
And so, the three of them set forth, out of the eastern city gate and onwards, to meet the unknown mystery of the inventor's tower.