{"id":49,"date":"2017-07-14T00:50:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/?p=49"},"modified":"2017-07-14T00:50:08","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T00:50:08","slug":"seven-moving-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/14\/seven-moving-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven: Moving On"},"content":{"rendered":"

The black-and-blue light danced upwards like a geyser and then seemed to be sucked downwards, towards the books. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b\u201dNo!\u201d Trinner Traln shouted. \u00a0Raizel glanced at him just in time to see him jerk away from Esterzon Gorenz and dart towards the idol.<\/span><\/p>\n

The blue-black light seemed to suck him in. \u00a0No, sucked in a portion of him, a light like that from the idol. \u00a0It pulled out a Trinner-Traln-shaped shadow of strange mystical light and the whole thing was sucked into one of the tomes. <\/span><\/p>\n

The specter was there in front of Raizel again. \u00a0<\/span>\u201cFinally,\u201d<\/span><\/i> it croaked. \u00a0It settled atop Trinner Traln – and was gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the tools in the chest was a flint and steel. \u00a0Raizel lit a small fire and burnt all of the tomes, watching as the flames danced black and blue, stinking of evil. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI should go,\u201d she told Esterzon Gorenz. \u00a0\u201cI am taking the tools and the other things in the chest, but the idols are for him. \u00a0If he still wants them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLeave him here,\u201d the rotund man told her, sounding worn-out and tired. \u201cLeave him, and he will sort himself out.\u201d \u00a0He held out his hand. \u00a0\u201cHere is your fifty sed, mountain ch – Lady. \u00a0It is getting close to dark; will you take a night at my in as recompense for this old idiot\u2019s idiocy?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She pocketed the money, not doing him the insult of counting it. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t have much money-\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would not charge you. \u00a0You, mountain lady, you have paid enough that you need never pay for a room or meal in my inn. \u00a0Pixies! \u00a0Specters! \u00a0Evil idols! \u00a0Trinner Traln has done you a disservice. \u00a0This is all I can do to balance out that scale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not your scale to balance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAh\u2026 but the Black Missive might have said differently, and that is destroyed, and along with it sins that have long since passed. \u00a0Come to the inn, mountain Lady. \u00a0No harm will come to you there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI – I will take your offer. \u00a0Thank you, Esterzon Gorenz.\u201d \u00a0She wished she knew what was going on. <\/span><\/p>\n

I can tell you<\/i><\/b> said a voice in her head. <\/span><\/p>\n

No<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0Not yet. She had earned those questions, and she would spend them on something good, darn it. <\/span><\/p>\n

As you wish<\/i><\/b>. \u00a0The voice was gone. \u00a0She wondered how the specter could be both here and in Trinner Traln, but the ways of such things were not her purview. \u00a0Instead, she packed up the tools and the coinage from the chest, leaving the chest itself and the two remaining falcons for the unconscious Trinner Traln. <\/span><\/p>\n

He may have been a strange and sometimes stupid man, but Esterzon Gorenz – who was indeed an innkeeper – had a very lovely inn, of a sort Raizel had to admit they didn\u2019t have a half-day\u2019s walk away in her little home town. \u00a0For one, there was the band, a wild thing with three fiddles and two drummers, and then there was the food, as good as Gorenz\u2019s belly might suggest, and then there were the whores. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was probably a nice word for them. \u00a0Raizel knew five or six words for people who sold themselves for sex, most of them from her grandparents, but the only polite words she knew for that were the ones for very expensive people or those that had their own Houses. <\/span><\/p>\n

These people worked for Esterzon Gorenz, the sort of people that were on par with the waiter and bar-keep he had working for him. \u00a0And, apparently still feeling like he needed to make something up to her, or wanting to keep an eye on her, Gorenz sent Raizel to bed with two of them, a boy and girl not that much older than she was. <\/span><\/p>\n

The girl had mountain-red hair and plains-brown skin, and the boy had mountain-speckled skin like Raizel and sun-bleached blonde hair. \u00a0They whispered stories to her and bathed her, despite her arguments that she had done that quite recently, thank you. \u00a0They braided her mountain-red hair into a plains pattern and rubbed unguents into her sunburnt skin, and in the quiet of the evening, the boy whispered to her. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t ask this\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He had very nice hands, and he smelled warm and cinnamony. \u00a0He had a pretty face that reminded her a little of Amos and very sweet breath. \u00a0\u201cYou can always ask.\u201d Whores, as far as she knew, did not have the ability to lay a geasa on her. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to Buscontra, could you make me a scented Fox? \u00a0Everything will be there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What was a scented fox? \u00a0She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him. \u00a0\u201cEverything you could ask of me right now and that\u2019s what you want?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease?\u201d \u00a0His kohl-rimmed eyes were wide and beautiful. \u00a0She wanted to kiss him again. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will do what I can.\u201d \u00a0She indulged in her urge and took a long kiss from him. \u00a0\u201cThat and more, when I return.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTravel safely in the morning,\u201d he whispered. \u00a0\u201cI worry about the road.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She worried about a lot more than the road – the specter in her brain, the faint glow of pixie dust on her skin – but Raizel kissed him for the thought just the same. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The black-and-blue light danced upwards like a geyser and then seemed to be sucked downwards, towards the books. \u200b\u201dNo!\u201d Trinner Traln shouted. \u00a0Raizel glanced at him just in time to see him jerk away from Esterzon Gorenz and dart towards the idol. The blue-black light seemed to suck him in. \u00a0No, sucked in a portion… Continue reading Seven: Moving On<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Side Quest Chapter Seven: Moving On.\r\nRaizel might finally get away from that cave...","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Tn4Q-N","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/13\/six-the-evil-idol\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":0},"title":"Six: The Evil Idol","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Raizel was in a plane of white in front of a black spectre, without fifty sed and nowhere near the train station. If she got out of here, she was going to curse Trinner Traln and that idiot Esterzon Gorenz with every trick and hex and lie all of her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/12\/five-pixie-dust\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":1},"title":"Five: Pixie Dust","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Trinner Traln and the round man were, of course waiting for her. \u00a0 \u201cPixies,\u201d she swore at both of them. \u00a0\u201cPixie dust.\u00a0What were you thinking?\u201d \u201cWhat?\u201d \u00a0The rotund man stared at her. \u00a0\u201cThere are pixies in that cave? \u00a0And you didn\u2019t bring any out?\u201d \u201cWhat do I look like to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/11\/four-the-narrow-cave\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":2},"title":"Four: The Narrow Cave","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The cave was, indeed, very tight, and if Raizel had been any better fed, she would not have fit. \u00a0Trinner Traln and the round man shouted at her and each other as ehs slipped through the opening, moving more like a snake than even like crawling. \u201cHow did you even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/23\/ten-the-perils-of-ones-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":3},"title":"Ten: The Perils of One\u2019s Past","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"She should have thought of it before she agreed, she supposed. \u00a0She might be stepping into some long-held family feud \u2014 their mountain had several of those \u2014 or maybe into the sort of thing where the city wanted to move someone whose home had stood in the same place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Quest"","block_context":{"text":"Quest","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/category\/quest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/09\/06\/eighteen-treason-and-heresy\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":4},"title":"Eighteen: Treason and Heresy","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"September 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cNo!!\u201d The deserter shook his head, more as if to clear a bug from his ear than to negate a thought. \u201cNot for me. \u00a0\u2018No aid for deserters,\u2019 I know so well. \u00a0Do it for the nation, then.\u201d \u00a0He pulled a tattered old piece of paper from an inner pocket.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/09\/06\/eighteen-treason-and-heresy\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30,"url":"http:\/\/www.lynthornealder.com\/sidequest\/2017\/07\/08\/three-the-black-missive\/","url_meta":{"origin":49,"position":5},"title":"Three: The Black Missive","author":"Lyn Thorne-Alder","date":"July 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The walk to the strange man\u2019s cave was only an hour because of the rolling limp that affected his walk, and, it seemed, his speech patterns. \u00a0He would go up and down, up and down with his tales as they walked, telling Raizel all about the Empire\u2019s plans to read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In 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