Thankfully, they made it back up to the surface without running into whoever that had been flying ahead of them. Part of that was probably due to them moving much faster than Agensyx and Jay could, to the point that the glow that had revealed the person faded out before the duo had even landed from their glide. The other part was that they weren’t really trying to catch whoever it was.

  Flight, Agensyx had explained, was a hallmark of higher tiers of power. Apparently nearly everyone could fly in one way or another by the time they hit Tier Three. He was looking forward to that, even if he had a sneaking suspicion it was going to have something to do with resurrecting something with wings.

  Jay took a second to bask in the sunlight once they were back on top of things. The caverns had been chilly, as caves typically were, and even the warm ambient light of the Asanti’s home pillar hadn’t been enough to fully counteract the desire for sun. Agensyx did the same, stretching himself out to soak up as much of the light as possible.

  The only thing that didn’t go perfectly was the lack of ships at the dock when they went to check. The Madcap Wanderer had left only hours after it had dropped off its passengers, apparently, and there hadn’t been a new arrival since.

  “Bad luck,” the dockman said, scratching at the edges of a patchy beard. “Not much you can do about that.”

  This was the problem with islands. One break in the chain of ships and suddenly everyone’s trapped. Now he was stuck sitting on a barrel, waiting for the next boat to arrive. The dockman, who looked young enough that he probably still ended his age with “teen,” had no idea when that might happen.

  “Could be any time from the next twenty minutes to three days. Any more than that and we might have real issues,” he’d said.

  It turned into a wait of about three hours before one began to be visible. This one was coming from the south and was much taller out of the water than the Madcap Wanderer had been. Jay thought it might have been a schooner, or at least the closest thing to it, the same way the Wanderer had been basically a clipper. This one also didn’t seem to be affected by the natural winds at all, as the largest sail had what looked like a giant ball of wind constantly filling it.

  [Sense Magic] tipped him off that it wasn’t natural, as if he couldn’t tell from the fact that giant balls of wind weren’t mundane things. Still, for it to be pinging this far out, that had to be a massive spell fueling it. Maybe it was a combined channeling spell; the references he’d found to multiple-caster spells had all said they ended up much more powerful for every new caster added to it.

  As the ship approached, Jay eventually saw that there were three people standing on the raised portion of the deck below the ball, wielding strands of bright blue magic (only barely distinct from the sky behind them) that flowed into the creation. For all Jay knew, the rest of the crew was able to swap in and contribute to the spell where necessary. It would make a certain amount of sense in case something happened to any of the three currently fueling it.

  Eventually, they pulled up to the dock and Jay took a peek at the name while the dockman was helping them moor. Acasta Coureuse, according to the green lettering. Seemed more like a person’s name than a ship’s to him, but given that the last ship he’d been on had been a person in its own right, maybe he didn’t know what he was talking about.

  Crates flew from the ship like they’d been thrown. The only thing that saved them from splitting open on the docks was a burst of wind right before the impact that canceled out all the momentum. The entire crew must have been wind-themed for there to be this many abilities in use at once. Unless one of the three that had been stoking the windball had a wide range and the other two supported that range.

  The dockman finished negotiating fees with whichever member of the crew had been throwing mooring ropes to him. Jay had no scale for whether fifteen gold was an impressive amount or a tiny one, or why the lady on the boat had clarified “standard” or “local” for the value, but they seemed mutually satisfied with the result.

  “They probably aren’t getting off the boat,” the worker said, wandering back over to where Jay was sitting. “If you want a chance at getting on, now’s your time.”

  “They don’t want to get some time on solid land?” Jay asked.

  “They’re from the west,” the younger man said. He acted like it explained everything.

  All Jay could do was give him a baffled look.

  “You’ve never been that far west?” the dockman asked. “Gods, you need to get out more. Elves. They’re not big on changes.”

  “But they ship things out,” Jay said. “Doesn’t that count as a change?”

  The worker took a deep breath before he launched into an explanation. “The way I’ve heard it, it’s a difference of necessary change. They need some of the things other people can offer outside their island, so they trade everywhere they can to make up the difference.”

  Huh. Island elves. “Aren’t elves supposed to be more about forests than islands?”

  “What makes it where it can only be one of those two? Their island’s basically a series of forests. Hard to appreciate if you’ve never been there, but worth the visit,” the teenager recommended.

  “Interesting.” Jay watched as several of the barrels that had been stacked up on the dockside floated onto the ship. “And what do they get out of stopping here?”

  “Enchanted crystals. Some are blank, some are inscribed with various books that were in the library. Some just have memories on them.”

  “They can’t enchant?” Jay asked.

  “Oh, they can definitely enchant. They just can’t get crystals. Elves hate going underground; they wither without sunlight.”

  “That’s weird.”

  “Maybe a little,” the dockman laughed. “But don’t ask them to explain how they feel about those of us that eat.”

  “They don’t eat?”

  “Not a bite. It’s all sunlight for them,” the younger man said.

  “Wild,” Jay replied. “Well, wish me luck for catching a ride.”

  “Abus’s eyes to yours.”

  He moved over to the edge of the dock and called up. “Are you taking passengers?”

  “For what purpose?” replied a sirenlike voice.

  “I need to get to Ayor.”

  The serene speaker on the boat repeated their previous question.

  “I have to look into something,” Jay tried. “Apparently that’s the place I have to go to do it.”

  There was a brief pause, as if the elf was consulting someone else. “This is an acceptable alteration. Our room is limited, but we will take you as far as we can.” A gangplank slid down to the docks and Jay headed up.

  We’ve got a spot on a boat, Jay sent to Agensyx.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  I am on my way, the spirit replied.

  *

  The furthest the elf ship could take them turned out to be the tip of one of the many peninsulas Ostros had. The Acasta Coureuse had stopped in several small ports along the way, the time being the only respite from the strange blurry feeling Jay had while they were moving. [Astral Sense] and [Magic Sense] both contributed their objections to the sensation, but the perpetual twilight that swallowed the ship while in motion wasn’t helping.

  Unfortunately, none of the elves had been willing to tell him what the deal was with it. Or talk at all. Or let him leave the ship. Not that any of them did so either.

  So he was stuck watching the development of the towns they passed on their way north from over the gunwale. The further they went the more stone he could see, starting with cobbled roads and ending with slate-lined roofs. The buildings became more complex, shifting from single room mud brick hovels to multiple stories with multiple rooms each. They weren’t the same quality as the townhouses in Kinicier’s Haven, not until the very end, but they were a far cry from the burrows of Arbon.

  It gave Jay a new understanding of just how severe the chaos around the class curse’s appearance had been. It was one thing to see it in a soul-trap-vision and another thing entirely to see the disparity between two areas that were supposedly part of the same country. Assuming there was any recognition of that country left at least; he hadn’t seen any evidence of an overarching government so far.

  As they inched into a port, Jay heard the first words he’d gotten out of an elf since boarding.

  “This is as far as we go. You will be removed from the ship with the cargo that is ordained for this location. Stillness will find you.” The last sentence was spoken like an inevitability.

  Ominous words all around, especially coming from a nearly seven-foot tall ethereally elegant person in pure gray robes who had never so much as bothered giving a name. After they tied the ship off, he found out what they meant when a swirl of wind formed around his lower half, launching him off the ship. It also caught him before he broke both legs on impact with the dock, cushioning him like the crates, but that didn’t make it much more of a pleasant situation.

  One of the patrolling groups of dockworkers applauded when he and Agensyx landed. Jay decided not to tell them that wasn’t something he was responsible for. That didn’t mean he couldn’t try to get some use out of the goodwill, though, so he walked over to join them.

  “Nice trick,” one of them started.

  “It definitely is,” Jay agreed. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a matching one for figuring out where I am. Anyone willing to clue me in?”

  “You got on a boat and didn’t know where you were going to end up?” a different worker asked.

  “All I wanted was to go as far north as they were willing to take me,” Jay said. The group of workers shared a knowing look. “Also, they were elves. Not very talkative.”

  Another look passed around the group before anyone responded. “You’re in Steelgate,” the one member of the crew without sleeves said. “Anywhere in particular you were trying to get or just generally north?”

  “Ayor, eventually,” Jay replied. “I just wasn’t sure how to get there from where I was.”

  “You a researcher?” the same dockworker asked.

  “Something like that.”

  A third glance made the rounds of the working group. “They must be upping the numbers,” the first man said.

  “Guess that explains the extra shipment.”

  “Extra shipment?” Jay questioned.

  “There’s a whole boat full of extra material heading up to one of the island camps. An emergency order, apparently,” he explained.

  “Which ship is it?”

  The shirtless one chucked his chin in the direction of the other berths. “Six docks that way. It’s the big one.”

  That was convenient. A little too convenient, in Jay’s opinion. “And everyone just knows that it’s there?”

  “Not everyone,” the second worker said. “Just all of us who load the cargo. Hard to miss having to break out the Helpers.”

  “And the Helpers are…” Jay began, motioning for the woman to finish the sentence.

  “True golems. Huge ones,” she replied. “Get over there fast enough and you might be able to see them finishing up.”

  Golems, ships, and an island destination. This was starting to bring on some serious deja vu. Still, giant golems did sound pretty cool compared to the disappointingly human-sized Asanti.

  “Thanks,” Jay said, and started moving in the indicated direction. He stopped quickly once he caught the muttering from the group. He took a quick peek at his money supply.

  He had enough to make the grumbling stop. Jay pulled six silver coins out of his ring and tossed them to the group. “Seriously, thanks.”

  The grumbling abated and the duo headed in the recommended direction in truth this time.

  *

  As promised, once they reached the sixth berth, they saw the big ship immediately. Big wasn’t a good enough descriptor for it, really; it was gigantic. Humongous, even. Titanic, potentially. There just didn’t seem to be a good enough word to describe the pure looming size of the thing. Every other boat looked like toys beside it.

  The entire hull was black, with iron bands and plates strapped to the sides and front. The mainsail looked like it was bigger than the elven ship Jay had arrived on, and the secondary sails weren’t much smaller. It was also the first boat he’d seen with oars hanging out of the side, though they weren’t anywhere near the waterline while the boat was docked.

  There was no name written on the side that Jay could see, but there was every chance it was behind one of the two absurdly huge crystalline humanoids that were grabbing sledges loaded with material and packing them onto the ship. Presumably there was some form of cargo hold it was all going into, because there was no way that many loaded sleds would have fit. He couldn’t even get onto the dock itself from how many of them were lined up to be loaded.

  Jay didn’t mind that so much, since it gave him plenty of time to watch the Helpers work. The diffraction patterns they made by moving in the afternoon sun were fascinating to watch. Just looking at them was tugging at something in him, and he started to raise a hand toward the nearest one, palm out. Power started to well up, the gilding at the edges of his hands flaring back into visibility.

  Jay, Agensyx warned.

  “But it’s right there,” he said, voice dreamy and eyes unfocused. “There’s bones in those golems. I could take them both. I could –”

  Agensyx bowled Jay over with his tail, knocking him to the ground. Do not, he growled, do something we will all regret.

  The impact jarred the man back to himself. “Well that was fucking terrifying,” he said. He hadn’t wanted to call on any spells there. [Command Other Undead] just… did that. Like it had a voice and mind of its own, it reached up and seized control of itself from him. Jay wasn’t sure he would have noticed it was happening at all until it was too late.

  He didn’t think it had happened before. He’d have remembered that even without his currently perfect memory. But if it had, would he have even registered it as something abnormal? Would it stand out at all?

  God. That was a level of self-doubt he didn’t need. Then he noticed something else, something that was possibly even more disturbing than one of his spells trying to hijack him to cast itself.

  “Agensyx, how long did that take?”

  Not long. Minutes at most, the snake replied.

  That’s what Jay had been afraid of. Before the abortive casting, his health had been riding relatively high at one hundred and thirty. The drain had increased with his new levels to about five an hour.

  Now it was at sixty-five. Dumping all of his points into Knowledge may not have been the smartest choice. He’d have to balance it out the next time he got a level. Or the next several times.

  And hopefully it wouldn’t happen again in the meantime.

  That thought weighed him down the whole ride to Ayor, once there was finally enough of a clear path to get on the ship.