by L. Itram and Ben Yackley Main * Story * Setting * Cast * Illustrations * About * Comment

Chapter 11: Kinto's Path (Posted on 2/11/03 )

Kinto huddled on his bunk in the sleeping cabin, clutching a book as though it would save his life. " 'Simple changes in app - app'rance may be th' most complex 'f all,' " he read. "'While decreasing th' 'parent size 'f a target is rel...a...tiv'ly straight' - go away."

"What? I sleep here, too!" Zeph frowned down at him.

"Y'don't look like y're sleepin'. Most people don't sleep wit' their swords." As soon as the words were out of Kinto's mouth, he regretted them and braced for the inevitable tasteless joke.

He was pleasantly disappointed. Humor was apparently not one of Zeph's strong points. "I'm not sleeping! And neither are you!"

"No," said Kinto slowly, "I'm readin'. An' if y'don't mind, I think I'll go back t'readin'." He made a show of finding his place in the book. "Simple changes ... 'parent size ... 'relatively straight forward' -- right -- 'an increase in size requires ex -- extra -- extra po-lot-ing?' What th'heck's po-lot?"

"A tribal dance in Ertset," explained Zeph.

"I wasn't askin' you."

"There's nobody else here!"

Kinto sighed. "Right. An y'know why there's nobody else here?" He paused for an answer. The boy just stared blankly at him. "'Cuz they're all eatin' dinner right now. How come you're not?"

"How come you're not?"

Kinto pointed at a plate containing the remains of a fish and a few half-eaten rolls. "I wanted t'get some studyin' done," he said, clutching tight to the last shreds of his patience.

Realization dawned. "Ohhhh. You're a mage!"

"Yes. An' mages need t'study." He turned back to the book. "'Requires extra ... tribal-dancing excess inf'rmation which is not readily 'vailable to --'"

"What're you studying?"

Kinto held up the book so Zeph could read the cover. "Ohhh," he said again. "Illusions. That's cool."

"Thanks. But I won't be any good if I don't study."

"But why do you need to hide yourself away where nobody can see you? That's awfully suspicious!"

"I'm not hidin'. I'm studyin'!"

"I know that," said the Levendish patiently, as if dealing with a small child. "You already explained that."

Kinto sighed. "Okay, Zeph, y'want th' full story? I -- what now?"

Zeph had leapt back and was pointing his sword at Kinto. "How did you know my name!?"

Kinto mentally punched himself. Of course, Iff wiped the kid's memory. He's got no recollection of the mountain or of me. Wish I could say the same for him. "I heard th'captain talkin' 'bout you."

"Really?" Zeph didn't seem to buy that answer.

"Somethin' 'bout feelin' safer w'th a knight on board t'protect th'other passengers."

Much to Kinto's relief, the boy lowered the sword. "I'm not a knight, just an ordinary swordsman ... but I'm glad he has so much faith in me!"

"I'm sure everyone does..." mumbled Kinto.

Zeph perched on a nearby bed. "So, you were going to tell me a story?"

I keep forgetting, thought Kinto, he's delusional but not stupid. "Yeah. Th' short version is that I'm from Featherglass. Three of us were sent on a quest an' now that it's over my friends 're goin' back."

"How come you're not going with them? That's awfully -- "

"Suspicious," Kinto sighed. "I know, I know. I can't go back 'cuz I've been called back home. T'Tximist. My .... aunt is mad at me."

Zeph nodded. "So what were you looking for?"

Kinto shrugged. "Nothin'."

"You can't go on a quest for nothing!"

"It wasn't anythin' important. Just a thing we needed."

"If it's a quest item, it has to be important! Tell me!"

"Fine, fine, I'll tell you! We were lookin' fer a Shard 'f Heaven. Now leave me 'lone so I can study." He rolled over on the bunk, taking the book with him.

"That's what I'm looking for!" Realization dawned. "Hey, you must've gotten the one on the mountain! Will you trade it to me? I'll give you anything you want!"

Kinto didn't look up from his book. "Don't have it."

"But I need one! Will you help me find another?"

"Nope. Got my own quest t'go on."

"You didn't say that. What're you looking for now?"

"A very angry person who wants t'talk t'me."

A pause. "Ohhh. Your aunt."

"Yep."

"Will you help me after that?"

"Nope. Find someone else. Plenty 'f adventurers on this ship, 'm sure."

"But they're not mages!"

"Neither are you. You'll get along jus' fine."

"But I need a mage!"

Kinto set down the book and turned around. "Why?"

"Because mine left!"

He was about to say "and good riddance," but something in Zeph's expression suggested that the boy was missing more than just the convenient magic spells. And Reini thought she was just extra baggage. "I'm sorry, but I can't help ya."

"But why not? Why won't you support my cause? I fight for justice! And to make the world better and --"

Kinto gave Zeph a look of disbelief that momentarily silenced him.

But only momentarily. "My village is threatened by the Lord of Shadows! I need to defeat him and for that I need a fragment of pure crystal from the sky!"

"A Shard 'f Heaven, right. Sorry, but I've got my own business t'take care 'f."

Zeph leapt to his feet. "All right, if that's the way you want it! Let's duel for it!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Let's fight! Right now! If you win, I'll never bother you again! If I win, you'll come with me!"

"You're insane, but if that's th'way you want it..." Kinto reached for his staff. Uxul is going to kill me for this, he thought, but I just can't deal with him any longer!

Fortunately for Kinto's sanity and the ship's integrity, the captain stormed in just as the pair exchanged the first blows.

"Now what in the name of Nalu is going on in here!?"

"He's crazy, sir, he refuses t'go away an' now he wants t'fight me --"

"He's crazy, sir, I couldn't reason with him, he just wants a fight --"

"Shut up! Both of you!" Silence. "I don't care who started it; I will tolerate no fighting on my ship. You both look like well bred, well taught lads and should know better than that."

"...sorrysir...," they mumbled.

"Now we have five more days until Almanaque and I want my ship in one piece by the end. I don't particularly care if I offload you in one piece but I've known this ship longer than I've known you. If you comport yourselves like civilized individuals, then we'll speak no more of this. However, if you continue to behave like ruffians then I'll just have to treat you like ruffians. Any questions?"

"Sir, what sort of treatment do ruffians get, sir?"

He beamed, obviously expecting that question. "I don't allow ruffians on my ship, young man. When I find them, I refund their money, boot them off and tell them to find some other ship with lower standards."

"But we're already a day away from shore."

Kinto wondered how Zeph had survived as long as he had.

"Yes," agreed the captain.

"So you'll turn around and leave us there?"

"No," said the captain. "That would cause an unnecessary delay for the rest of the passengers."

Kinto whispered in Zeph's ear. "Ohhh. I don't know how to swim, sir."

"Then you'd best behave." And with that the captain turned around on his tail and stormed out.

"There's someone you don't wanna upset," said Zeph.

Kinto nodded. "But think 'bout it. What sorta Vadhan would captain an ocean-goin' ship?"

Zeph thought it, then blanched. "No more fighting until we get on shore!" he said quickly.

"Right. So let's settle this after we get t'Almanaque."

Kinto hopped down the gangplank and onto the dock, relieved to be on solid land once more.

"So, how about that duel?" exclaimed a frighteningly familiar voice directly behind him.

Kinto spun around. "Look, you --"

"My name is Zeph!" he retorted. "You seemed to know it pretty well back on the ship!" He trailed after as the Tximisti strode away from the dock and into the city proper.

Kinto took a deep breath. "Look Zeph -- where 'xactly are you 'spectin' t'find a Shard 'f Heaven anyway?"

"I heard the dragons on the plain have them! Everyone knows dragons have all sorts of gems!"

Everyone but me, apparently, thought Kinto, trying to imagine what someone like Uxul would do with a pile of precious stones. "So y're just gonna go an' ask fer one?"

Zeph rested a hand on the pommel of his sword meaningfully. "Of course not!"

Kinto's jaw dropped. "You gotta be kiddin'."

"You don't believe me?"

"You'll get y'rself killed - I've seen firsthand how powerful they are!"

"It doesn't matter what their strength! Mine is the side of justice and light - no foul magical being can stand against me!"

"Right," mumbled Kinto under his breath, "You jus' tell one of 'em that to their face an' see how long y'live." But Zeph's words had started him thinking. The Levendish boy was surprisingly persistent and while Kinto knew -- or hoped he knew -- the layout of the city better, he wasn't sure he could spare the time it would take to lose his companion. On the other hand, I could just take him with me and introduce him to Uxul. That'll cure him of his dragon-slaying plans for good, and maybe she'll be in a better mood after scaring him off. "Oy, Zeph!" he said aloud, interrupting the other's tirade about the forces of good and evil.

"Yeah, what?"

"Let's ferget th'duel -- no, don't interrupt. It jus' so happens I'm goin' to th'plains t'see a dragon. How 'bout I take you t'meet her?"

"Sure thing!" Zeph pounded Kinto on the back. "You're not as suspicious as I thought!"

"...?"

A day of travel by riverboat and another day of hiking had brought the pair onto the open prairies of southern Tximist. Kinto noted that, as usual for this time of year, the grass had begun to grow in clumps and thickets, and the river flowed high and swift, which meant the mountains had been getting rain too. It was, on the whole, a beautiful morning - high clouds drifting through a blue sky, a smell of blooming flowers - that was only marred by the sound of a whining would-be hero.

"This is booooring!"

"'Sa savannah. Wha'd y'expect, live theater?"

"But we've been walking for two days! And there's nothing to eat!" he glanced over his shoulder at the waving grass which covered any footprints they might be leaving.

"Keep in mind who cooked dinner f'r ya last night," grumbled Kinto, who'd had just about enough of Zeph's constant whining.

Zeph gave Kinto a look that was half insulted, half hurt. "Potatoes and berries aren't much of a dinner."

"Better than what you'd be eatin' if y'were alone. Why didn'cha think t'bring food along?"

Zeph looked uncertain, "I ... thought we'd be able to hunt something!" he concluded vehemently. "What's that!?"

Kinto stopped and sighed, then turned around. "That's a tree. Y'see them here sometimes."

"No, there was something behind it!"

Kinto stalked toward the tree and circled around it. He made a show of peering up into its foliage, despite the fact that said foliage consisted of three brown leaves. "Nothin'. Jus' a dead tree."

"I saw something!"

"I said there's -- oh, wait, y'r right." He bent down and picked up a sick. With a sudden over-arm movement he hurled it into the branches. Something small and brown fluttered away, making angry squeeping noises. "Guess there was somethin' hidin' there after all."

"You're making fun of me!"

"Y'think so?" Kinto glared, then abruptly turned around and continued his interrupted walk. "C'mon if y'r comin'." He didn't turn around at the sound of grass rustling.

"So how much longer?" Zeph finally asked, increasing his pace until the two were walking side by side.

"You'll know when we're there." Kinto responded. After a moment, he added, "I wish you'd quit that."

"Making conversation? But I'm just trying to be friendly!"

"No, th'conversation is fine," Kinto lied. "But th'constant peerin' around and dartin' at every shadow is startin' t'get t'me."

"I'm just keeping watch!" Zeph explained. "Unlike some people!" he added reproachfully.

"Watch f'r what? We're in th'middle of a flat plain. Nothin's gonna jump out at us! There aren't even any trees! Well, one tree," he amended.

"We're in the wilderness! Danger dogs our heels at every instant!"

"Danger from what? Mice?"

"Dragons, of course!"

Kinto sighed and stopped walking to glare at his companion. "Do you see any dragons?"

"They could sneak up on us!"

"Look around, Zeph. Where's a dragon gonna hide, huh?"

There was a loud thunderclap just behind them - a flash of blinding light and a peal of resounding noise. The two whirled around, Zeph holding his sword at the ready, Kinto wielding a deadly glare. "You were jus' waitin' fer that moment, weren't ya?"

"Yes," said Uxul, baring her sharp teeth in a mischievous grin.

Zeph raced toward the shaman -- Kinto had a split second to wonder if this was his approach to everything large and dangerous. "Prepare to do battle, Dragon! In the name of justice, the Shard will be maaiiiieeeeeomph!"

Uxul had casually grabbed his sword by the blade and given it a little twist, effectively spinning him around to land heavily on his side and wrenching it from his grasp.

"Who are you, boy?" she asked, tossing the sword aside.

"Zeph Goldenedge ... ma'am!", he said, standing up and dusting himself off. Some survival instinct has suggested that politeness might keep him alive when force was no longer an option "I come seeking a Shard of Heaven that I might defeat the Lord of Shadows!"

"Lord of Shadows?" asked the shaman in bewilderment.

"The dark fiend who has destroyed my home and would cover the world in his evil!" He ducked in the direction of his sword.

"Zeph Goldenedge!"

Zeph stopped short, partly due to the tone of authority in Uxul's voice but mainly because a large copper hand had a firm grip on his tail.

"Zeph Goldenedge," she repeated slowly, "there is no Shard here f'r you. Those who seek t'spill dragons' blood meet only their own doom." She let go and he scrambled for his sword. "But if y'seek a Shard, Kinto can help."

Kinto protested. "But I don't have it!"

"You still have th'map."

Kinto looked in his pack and pulled out a scroll - the same one he had gotten in Almanaque the first time around, and the one that had eventually led to Glyphic Mountain. And to Zeph. "Oh yeah. F'rgot 'bout that." He looked from Uxul - who was gazing at him expectantly - to Zeph - who merely looked confused. "Right, 'f course. Here, Zeph. Catch! I don't need it anymore."

Zeph unrolled the parchment. "Wow! A map! Thanks!"

Uxul inclined her head toward him, a gesture which could have been a nod or a bow. "Use it well, Zeph, and you may yet reach y'r goal. Come, Kinto." The two vanished in a deafening clap of thunder.

Zeph boggled at spot in which they had stood. Then, slowly, he started to grin. He'd seen a dragon and survived. What was more, he now had the key to his destiny: the map which would lead him to the last best hope against the Lord of Shadows. He turned and started the long hike back to Almanaque.

Kinto reappeared in the same room as before. A cylindrical chamber, completely dark except for occasional points of light dotting the walls. He was alone -- and unencumbered. "Hey, where's my staff? And armor?"

Uxul's voice, as before, came from all directions at once. "They're safe. You didn't intend to fight me, did you?"

"Do I look like Zeph?"

A shaft of light pierced the center of the room. As before, Kinto could see an indication of shapes within... It was the city of Tenthys, the central plaza, in miniature. A small glowing Kinto threw lightning here and there while chips of marble rained down on nearby houses and people ran for cover.

"Kinto, do you remember this?"

"I remember fighting the obelisk," he said reluctantly. "I never saw any of the other parts."

"It's a miracle nobody died that day, although your two companions deserve some of the credit; they saved the city from your rashness." Anger echoed in her voice, "Kinto, when I said you were free to choose your own path, I never imagined you would choose the path of destruction!"

"I know..." he said quietly. "You saw how I felt afterward." He lifted his head to glared into the darkness. "So why do you have to rub it in again?"

Uxul did not answer, but the image faded to be replaced by another. In a town built on a cubed-off mountainside, a miniaturized Tximisti with a staff and a Levendish archer with spiked fur engaged in a contest of accuracy.

Kinto groaned. "Right. I remember that, too. So what did I do wrong that time?"

"Nothing at all." She paused to let that sink in. "You performed beautifully. When you want to, you can clearly show mastery over your spells."

"Thanks, I think. So what's your point?"

The image faded again. "I want to teach you about power, Kinto."

When the picture cleared, it was not a Tximisti but an Ertseti who occupied center stage. He wore elaborate armor, including a helmet with three jagged horns, and carried a circular shield strapped to his back. It was the same figure that Kinto had seen in the chamber once before - and another time, years before that, in person, when the figure had visited his village.

"...Baskian again?"

"You remember him."

"I'm not that dumb."

Uxul ignored his comment. "I told you once before that he sought power for its own sake. Do you know what he planned to do with it?"

Kinto thought about the people he had met on his journey. "Go kill more dragons, I guess."

"Exactly."

"Which just means he was as crazy as Zeph. What's your point?"

"Kinto, what do you plan to do with your power?"

"Haven't we been over this already?" Kinto had expected a scolding, not another logic puzzle. "I'm doing this so I can face -- "

"That's not what I asked."

He waited.

"I know why you wanted to be powerful. I ask you, what will you do with the power now that you have it?"

"...dunno."

There was a barely audible sigh. "Let me give you an example, then. Shamans are very powerful beings."

"I know that already."

"The Levendish have a word for such beings - instilled." The foreign word sounded ominous and ill-fitting among the stream of Tximisti, like a greasy bubble in the middle of a flowing stream. "Your friend Viola is one although she sees her status as little more than an extra convenience. She is not fully aware of what she truly has become. We who call ourselves shamans, however, were among the instilled even before they had that name. Do you know what I can do with my power, Kinto?"

"Besides spy on me?"

"When Baskian came to claim my bones, I exercised that power. I killed him."

Kinto blinked. "So why are you mad at me, huh? So I accidentally nearly hit someone in Tenthys - you killed a man deliberately!"

"There is a large difference," she snapped, "between rampant destruction and protecting that which you hold dear! Had I not destroyed Baskian, he would have done the same to me -- and all the other shamans would have been in mortal danger."

Kinto remained silent.

"Power needs a purpose," she continued more calmly. "Even the power to destroy."

"So what are you getting at, then?"

"You have not answered my question. What do you plan to do with the power you have?"

"I told you, I don't know!"

"Then let me suggest something."

The pillar of light exploded, momentarily blinding Kinto. When his vision cleared, a shield was resting in the center of the room.

"Do you remember this?"

Kinto examined the emblem on its face: a three-horned helmet abstracted down to a spiky curve. "It looks sorta familiar..."

"It was Baskian's. I want you to take it."

"A shield? Oh, I get it. You're saying I should use my power to protect people instead of blowing them up."

"Very succinctly put. You have the power and the skill to use it. Concentrate, as you did in your duel against the archer. Don't blindly lash out. You can do this, Kinto; you can be a shield. Now put it on."

Kinto picked up the shield and turned it over. Suddenly his expression changed. "I can't."

"I understand your hesitation -- it did belong to the man who would have been a dragon-slayer. But it is yours now, to -- "

"No, not that. I'm really grateful and all but - uh - I thought you knew I'm left-handed. It won't fit."

"Turn it upside-down," the shaman's voice sounded amused. The shield was circular and the straps were just that - no irregularities in padding to suggest which side was down. Kinto started to put it on his right arm, upside-down, then a thought struck him. He flipped it around again to look at the emblem. Turned in reverse, the horned helmet became a cloud raining thunderbolts. Kinto grinned and strapped it on. There was a loud thunderclap.

"Now Kinto, have I given you enough guidance?" They were outside on the savannah once more; Uxul looming over him. "Will you follow a path your tribe can be proud of?"

"Yes! Thank you, Uxul, I won't disappoint you. Or the tribe."

"Don't leave without your armor," she added, handing it back to him.

"That's no -- oh, wait, it is... Wow." Instead of the cool gleam of carefully polished steel, the plates shone copper; even the leather had a coppery sheen. He removed the shield and strapped the armor on, then picked up his staff - noticing that the crystal on its tip was not the one he had gotten in Estevas. The new crystal was in the shape of a four-pointed star, bright orange in color, and glowed with an internal light.

"I plated the armor myself... You look like a smaller version of me," said Uxul with a smile, when he had finished. "The Levendish have another word for this - you could pass for my grandson."

"I won't forget this, Uxul. Thank you!"

"See that you don't, nephew. Now hurry back to Almanaque; your friends need you."

On the way back to the city - back across the plains, back down the river, back to civilization, retracing the steps he had taken when he first left Tximist all those years go - Kinto couldn't help but reflect on his newfound sense of purpose. Fireworks are well and good, but his power could save lives if he used it right.

When Kinto stepped off the boat in Almanaque, intending to stay a night there before returning to Featherglass, he was approached by a young four-legged man in a blue tabard. It was one of the native Cotani - the denizens of the magic-polluted Shattered Hill, where the magical fallout was responsible for their altered forms. His fur was a bright yellow in color that made the native Manaqi blond seem muddy in comparison, and a badge pinned to his collar indicated his membership in the Couriers' Guild.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you Kent Roof?"

Kinto winced. Something had gotten garbled in transmission, apparently, but at least the courier had known who to look for. Orange Tximisti mages with a staff and armor weren't common in the city. "...I'm Kinto Rofo. You with the Couriers?"

"Yes, that's right. I have a message for you from Guy Holiday, Loon Margin, and Viola Longdawning."

Figures Viola's name would be the one not to get mangled, thought Kinto, it's her language we're speaking. "So what's the message?"

The courier took a slip of paper from an inner pocket of his tabard and read. "Change of plans. Meet at Grandegear docks. Hurry. Shard stolen."

Kinto blinked, then lunged for the messenger's collar. "Stolen!? How? What happened?"

Supporting his weight on his hind feet while his front half tilted backwards in recoil, the messenger frantically explained - "Sir, I'm just the messenger! That's all the note said! It came in yesterday with your name and description!"

Kinto eased up on the courier (who promptly smoothed out his tabard), and sighed. "Guess I know where my next destination is. Thanks." He handed the beleaguered messenger a few coins as a tip, and started to walk away.

"Have a nice d- ", the messenger said before getting cut off by a glare from Kinto. "Er, sorry."

Kinto thought to himself as he started for the docks. So the Shard's been stolen, huh? But why meet in Grandegear, and not Featherglass? Something was going on, and as soon as he arrived, he was going to find out exactly what... One thing was certain, though. He was going to get that Shard back - it was as good as a matter of life and death.