PreCursive

  When we had finished burying the patrol, Grey got to work c up our tracks. With a wave of his hand, fresh grass sprouted over the mass grave, cealing their final resting pce forever. With ahe evidence of battle, including all of the blood spilled on the road, was blown away in the wind.

  iled bato the wagon after that. We might have just been involved in a battle, but that didn’t mean we could stop. There was still a mission to do.

  I accepted the reigns from Grey and got us baderway. But as the horses broke into a trot, I couldn’t help my mind from wandering in the silehoughts of my status as a Precursor kept me troubled.

  They didn’t really go away.

  ……………………………………..

  The rest of the trip to Marrowmist was mostly uful. We only entered oher traveler on the road, and they thankfully weren’t another Loyalist patrol. Just anon, driven by a taciturn old man with skihered and tanned from long days spent in the sun. He barely aowledged us at all when we passed each other on the road.

  Didn’t bother me. I’d take indiffereo battle any day.

  Orip, curiosity finally won me over and I decided to check out the css ability I'd gotten from reag level forty. Cheg out my Status had to be at least a little more iing than watg the endless rolling green hills, right?

  Apparently, I'd gotten something called Grasping Roots. It was my sed activated css Skill, and this one was kinda cool. I'd tested it on the roadside under Grey's ied gaze, and what it did was jure up a mass of tree roots under a target and bound them in familiar graspihorns. It dug those thorns into the target ahem in pce. I'd holy felt a bit bad about using the Skill on the rabbit I'd targeted. Still, It became part of that night's dinner.

  As useful as it was, I was kinda weirded out by the description of 'Immobilize your prey', though.

  Before long, we’d reached the coast. It may have been a ge in sery, but it was holy kind of dreary. The sea that bearded Herztal’s eastern coast seemed extremely cold and unfiving. There wasn’t really much of a beach to it, instead being rocky when it wasn’t just sheer cliff. I asked Grey about it on our travels, aold me that it was the north-western coast of the tihat had the pleasant, sandy beaches.

  Hooray for us that these pirates had decided to set up some in such a damp hellhole.

  Finally, after weeks of travel, Grey stopped us over the top of one of those cliffs. He had taken off his hat, and was casting a critical gaze out at sea. Following his gaze, I saw three tall, sharp spires of stoting out of the turbulent waters, oo the other in a line.

  “Are we there?” I asked him.

  Grey nodded slowly. “Yes, I believe we are. I’ve never reached Marrowmist overnd before, but I believe this is the correct location.”

  I looked around us in incredulity. We’d gotten off of the main road some time ago, and had reached this cliff after about a day of travel. Problem was, I didn’t see a town of pirates around me. In fact, this area had nothing much at all. In front of us was naught but a roiling sea, hundreds of feet beh. Behind us was a near-endless expanse of grassnd, slowly dying with the advance of fall.

  I turned back to Grey. “I don’t see a pirate cove, Grey. I don’t see much of anything.”

  Grey turo me with a raised eyebrow. “That would be because it’s beh us.” He said, pointing downwards. “The cove is hiddeh the cliff.”

  “Oh,” I said, chagrined. “Then…how are we supposed to reach it? Is there a path along the cliff or something?”

  Grey shook his head. “Not along the cliff, no. I don’t believe these cliffs taper off for hundreds of miles. Instead, there’s supposed to be a secret entrao reach the cove somewhere in the viity.” He pointed out to sea again, at the three spires of stohe Three Fingers are meant to mark the spot where you find Marrowmist.”

  I furrowed my brow. “‘Supposed to be’?” I asked, incredulous. “You don’t actually know if there’s arance up here?”

  Grey huffed a ugh. “As I said, I’ve never reached the cove overnd before, only by sea. Still, I was given instru on how to reach the path downwards, if I ever . However, we’ll have to search for it. In which case,” He said, turning around and banging on the wall behind us. Whech opeo allow Sylvia’s blue eyes to peer through, Grey spoke again. “Time for a treasure hunt, my dear! We’ll need everyone’s help for this one, so get them all up off their behinds!”

  Grey’s Sculpted daughter rolled her eyes at him and then nodded. Wordlessly, she shut the tch. Shortly after that, I heard a muffled versation ihe . Meanwhile, Grey hopped off of the driver's bend moved around to the back of the wagon. I looked down at Fade, who had been watg curiously from iween us. I sighed and then smiled at him. “Up for helping with the search, boy?”

  The young wolf just tilted his head curiously at me. heless, he followed when I jumped down off of the bench myself and moved to follow Grey. When I reached the back of the wagon, everyone was already standing around, listening to Grey. “…a pnk, about yay high,” He was saying to the group, raising a hand to midchest on his skinny frame. “On it should be the symbol of Marrowmist, three bones obscured by mist. I’m given to uand that it marks the position of the way downward.” He gazed at the grassnd surrounding us. “However, it appears to be hidden somewhere in this mess. Once you find it, signal me and I’ll know what to do with it.”

  When Grey was finished speaking, roup split up into pairs to search. I went with Grey, Venix went with Azarus, and Sylvia went with Aurum. I struck up another versation with Grey as we searched through the brush for this pnk of wood.

  “So,” I said, using my extended dagger to cut some knee-high grass. “You never said how you know these pirates anyhow.”

  Grey looked up at me from where he was kneeling. “Oh? Well, that would be because I used to be one.”

  I nearly tripped in surprise, before finding my feet beh me. “What? When the hell were you a pirate? I thought you were a schoolteacher?”

  Grey ughed as he stood up. “I wasn’t always the Headmaster of the Academy, Nathan. When I was a much, much younger man, before Herztal was even a unified nation, I was…much wilder.” He gazed out onto the sea with a distant gaze. “Because of how close Hollow Hill is to the sea, it was on even ba those days for restless youo escape to the waters.”

  I…guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I’d noticed several times now that Grey wasn’t, strictly speaking, a paragon of morality. Since I’d known him, he’d demonstrated a level of flexibility that would probably have gotten him beled a monster bae. From the pn to iionally instigate a Ward Break ba Addersfield, to the ret battle with the Loyalist patrol.

  Grey could be surprisingly callous at times.

  I g him from the er of my eye. “What was that like?” I asked him tentatively.

  “Well,” Grey said thoughtfully. “I was born in a fractious period of time. As I’ve said before, Herztal did yet. What did exist were the many individual human Kingdoms. They had all popped up iermath of the Initialization Wars, and each cimed that they were the true successors of the Gem City,” He g me. “Gem City's are truly a, predating the System and dating back to the time of the Gods. We believe they were the seats of power for them. Each of the native peoples of Vereden possessed o one point or another. In humanity’s case, that would be Blutstein, our aral capital. In any case, the Succession Wars followed for humanity.”

  Grey paused to take out his pipe and fill it. With a snap of his fingers, he lit it magically. Taking a deep breath from the pipe, he held the smoke in his lungs before letting it out. He gazed at his pipe for a moment afterward, looking nearly embarrassed. “I ’t believe I’ve started smoking again. I gave it up when Sylvia was ‘born’.” He admitted, before shaking his head. “Anyway, in the midst of the Succession Wars, I signed up with a crew at a loroyed port some miles behind us. I was young and rebellious at the time, and I resehe direy parents wanted for my life, which was as a clerk. I didn’t care for the Duke that Hollow Hill was sworn to, and would have rather slit my wrists than shuffle scrolls for him. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the crew I’d signed up for were actually privateers given leave to plunder his enemies' coffers.” He finished with a ugh.

  I felt slightly relieved. Okay, so he rivateer. That was…slightly better than being a pirate.

  “Oh, that was an iing time in my life, let me tell you,” Grey said with a smile, nostalgia in his voice. “I stayed on with that crew for nearly a decade, before the Duke was assassinated and his holdings absorbed by another Kingdom. I would spend the hirty years of my life jumping ships, seeking out new crews.” He shook his head. “In any case, you asked why I know these specific pirates. That would be because I attempt to keep a moderating eye on them. I won’t pretend they aren’t a group of scallywags, but I like to believe the threat of my wrath has decreased undo harm. Why, I’ve nearly vihe leaders to accept Herztalian issioned letters of marque.” He paused for a moment. “Nearly.”

  “Huh,” I said. “Is it a case of, better the dev-er, monster you know?”

  Grey puffed out a cloud before answering me. “Partly,” He said vaguely, before btantly ging the subject. He pointed ahead with his pipe. “Oh look, it appears as if young Fade has found something.”

  My brow furrowed slightly in irritation. Goddamn cagey old man. Still, I looked where he ointing. During our versation, Fade had ranged slightly ahead of us to sniff around. He had stopped though, and was cirg a patch of grass. He looked up at us as we neared him and barked at me.

  “Well, let's see what you found,” I said to my pup, nudging him out of the way with a boot. Using my spear, I cleared the grass away to reveal…

  A weathered-looking pnk of driftwood.

  As unimpressive as it looked, Grey still let out a noise of satisfa. “Ah, there it is,” He said, kneeling. Lifting it up, he wiped some dirt off to reveal something carved into it. Looking rey’s shoulder, I could see that it i of three splintered bones in row, with two wavy lines interseg them perpendicurly.

  “The mark of Marrowmist,” Grey said in vindication. He gri me. “Let’s just retrieve the others, shall we?” Raising a palm above him, my mentor cast a silent spell, sending a bolt of light s above us to explode in a fsh. I felt a shiver run down my spine, remembering the st time he had cast a spell into the sky. I shook it off though, and colpsed my spear to sheathe it.

  Shortly after that, our four other panions reached our position. Azarus made an unimpressed noise when he saw the pnk in Grey’s hands. “Is that it, then?” He asked in disbelief. “What’s that hunk of junk goin’ ta do?”

  “Oh, patience my young friend, patience,” Grey said with a smirk. Turning around and ying a hand on the carved mark, he cleared his throat. To my astonishment, he started reg poetry.

  “In Marrowmist, where pirates roam,

  A secret door, the pathway home.

  Through salty tales and treasures kissed,

  Unlock the port of Marrowmist.”

  Under Grey’s palm, the supposed symbol of Marrowmist lit up, outlined in blue light. Meanwhile, I gave Venix, standing off to my left, a bit of the old side-eye. Grey now? Was this poetry thing tagious? Venix noticed my gaze and raised one chitinous eyebrow my way, causio hastily look away in embarrassment.

  In front of me, Grey leaned in closer to the pnk and started speaking in to it. “Hello?” He said in a loud, clear voice. “Is ahere?”

  To my astonishment, sound began to emanate from the mark on the pnk. Specifically, the sound of crashing and then muffled cursing. “Who the bleedin’ hells,” I heard a reedy voice say, sounding as if it was getting closer. “Are ye? We don’t got no shipments in’ in. How do ye know about this, now?”

  Grey smiled disbelievingly and ughed. “Is that you, Skinflint?” He said, chug. “You ’t tell me you don’t reize my voice, do you? It’s Whitegull.”

  There was an astonished silen the other end of the…pnk, for a moment. “Truly?” The voice said, baffled. “We heard ye got hrough the grapevihe hells are ya doin’ here?”

  Grey snorted. “The ‘grapevine’ was correct, but I’m free now. I o speak to the Triumvirate about trag their services.”

  “Well, alright,” The voice, apparently someone named ‘Skinflint’, said hesitantly. “But first ye got ta say the password if ye want in.”

  “I already activated the message board,” Grey said in exasperation. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “Ye ain’t gettin’ in without the other password,” Skinflint said stubbornly over the ‘message board’.

  “Oh, very well,” Grey sighed, before clearing his throat. “The password is…Otto the Ox suck my…” He grimaced, but tinued. “Cox.”

  I blinked. Otto? Wasn’t that the name of the now dead High King? Apparently, it was, because Azarus started snickering to himself o me. For the first time, I got to see Grey’s cheeks redden in embarrassment.

  Meanwhile, the voi the other end of the message board started cag. “Damn right he !” Skinflint hooted. “Hope ye ain’t standin’ on it, 'cause I’m sendin’ up the lift!” Over the line, I heard a g noise before the light on the pnk winked out.

  We stood in silence for a moment, before I felt a rumble through the grouh me. That rumbling gradually became stronger and stronger before something ued happened.

  A few hundred yards away from us, something exploded out of the dirt, sending grass flying everywhere. I jerked ba surprise, instinctively reag for my dagger. I wasn’t the only one, as everyo Grey settled into a bat-ready stance.

  But it wasn’t an attack. Instead, I could see the ‘lift’. It was huge metal ptform with an attached dome, rge enough to fit at least two wagons on it. Oher side of it were twe steel doors, spyed wide and open. I…think it was the violent opening of the doors that caused the explosion of soil.

  Over the sound of falling dirt, Grey turo us with a grin. “Oh, don’t be armed. That’s merely our entrao Marrowmist. The lift, as Skinflint called it. Nathan, if you could, would you mig the wagon?”

  “It’s time to secure our ride to Caer Drarrow.”