Larynda asked a few people the whereabouts of the master of the caravan, Laes Harevor. We followed their terse directions to find the turbaned man sitting on a stool, reading a hefty tome. Upon seeing us, he closed his heavy leatherbound book and pced it into a thick metal-bound chest. He smiled first at Larynda before looking at the rest of our group with a quizzical expression.

  He was a medium-built man, just past the cusp of his middle years and gone to seed. Laughter marked the corners of his eyes, which sparked with mirth, born from a jest known only to him. His clothes were like those of the Bedouin tribes of the great Sahara, flowing in their elegant cut and stained a faded purple. Hair, once probably thick and dark, was dulled by countless years of traveling under the harsh sun and was beginning to recede. This seemed to add to the length of his face and, combined with his square chin, gave an equine cast to his features.

  “Ah, honored sirs. What business have you with the Ravens?” he asked in a surprisingly high tenor.

  “You’re Laes Harevor, right!? You look just as fancy as old Ham said you would!” squeaked our little package, her voice muffled by the scarf that covered her mouth.

  “So, child, I ask again of you, what business do you have with me?” he asked once more, straightening his back and preening a little over the compliment as he scratched the side of his nose.

  Larynda, losing some of her earlier verve, now that she had been asked a direct question, nudged my elbow.

  “We seek passage to the city of Al-Lazar. I have been told that your good company often makes the trip. We wish to join you,” I said in my most polite and neutral tone, doing my best to curb my annoyance at the child’s earlier outburst.

  “You are welcome to join us, the fee is four silvers a head, and since this young one has impeccable taste I’ll throw in two meals a day. Travel rations, mind you. We leave two days hence,” he offered with a practiced professional smile.

  “No, we must leave immediately. It is of the utmost importance. There can be no dey,” I said ftly, my voice tight and forceful.

  “Young man, we have business to attend to, here in Ansan. The caravan does not simply move at the whims…” the master of the caravan began to bluster.

  As instructed by Hamsa, and not wanting to waste any more time, I silenced him by pulling out the knotted silken string and showing it to him. The man’s eyes grew wide for a moment in apprehension and surprise, but he quickly gathered himself and settled back into a rexed mien.

  “That is a Timekeeper Knot. I acknowledge this,” he finally delivered, voice monotone as if repeating lines by rote. His hands ran reverently along the length of silk, whispering to himself as if reading some imparted message. The whole exchange had the feeling of a religious ritual. One I was completely ignorant of, no less.

  He went to his chest, opened its heavy lid, and felt around inside. In a few moments, he found two small delicate crystal vials, about the size and length of my ring finger, and pced one of them into my right hand. The other, the man simply quaffed down before throwing the silk into a nearby brazier that suddenly gave off an acrid-smelling yellow smoke.

  “The bzes… What is this?” I asked incredulously, thinking that I just received some sort of reward from a hidden quest.

  “We thank you for the message. It is heard. This is the deliverance,” he answered me, directing my attention to the vial with his eyes.

  “What is ‘the deliverance’ that you speak of? You wish for me to drink this potion?” I said, utterly perplexed. Things had moved on from the hallowed air of religious ritual. Now, it felt as if I was part of some theater show. Unfortunately, the script was unknown to me, which served to only heighten my growing irritation.

  “Ahh… a gull,” Laes concluded with a tight smile, “Hamsa, ever was his knotwork fwless. Let me expin. All messengers entrusted with such a task are given the slow kiss of the vow-poison upon their skin. Tailored to specification, the poison itself is harmless for a few hours, or even days. In the old days, if the message reached its intended destination, an antidote would have been given. This is simply the antidote to that poison. Pardon me, but if you are truly ignorant of its significance, then… all I can say is that proud old fool was prepared to make you pay the ultimate price if you reneged on whatever promise you had made with him,” he answered, his expression resembling a buck-toothed shark. “The token you have delivered unto me, it was a token the most solemn vow of duty - that imperial messengers of old would do or die to get a message to its destination.”

  In shock, I looked to Larynda, who was loitering to my left. Her eyes met mine for a moment, before she looked away in childish shame. She had known of the poison and said nothing.

  Kidu grasped the haft of his spear tighter. I knew from the lines of his body and the narrowing of his eyes that he was preparing for violence. Laes’ confession was all the confirmation I needed to know that I had been pyed by Hamsa. I was getting tired of this world’s childish games, and I felt a sudden surge of the festering frustration that had been growing inside of me.

  Sometimes if you did not understand the rules of a game, it was often the best choice to flip the board. I had grown since coming to these cursed nds. I had options.

  I kept a forced smile on my face. The smug look of superiority on Harevor’s face, I saw as nothing less than a direct insult that would be remedied one day. Nothing that came out of his perfidious mouth could be trusted, so I searched inside of myself for an answer. My Constitution and Rest? Would that be the answer—could I simply take the hit? Regenerate damage to my Health by literally sleeping off the poison? Too risky. If the poison was something like a time-deyed cyanide, then I would be finished in mere moments. The risk was too great? Cyanide? What was that again… Should I take the proffered vial? But, that could simply be another trick. Could I simply Heal or Greater Heal myself out of the condition? No, that did not feel right.

  Then, there it was—the Purify spell. A staple for Padins for cleansing certain conditions. However, would a level two spell be enough to counteract the deyed poison that was probably running through my veins? In my fear, I imagined a small twinge in the hand that had held the string.

  Sweat must have been running down my brow as I kept a fixed expression on my face, and Laes and Larynda looked at me with worried expressions on their faces. Perhaps it was the effect of the poison, or the sudden shock making my brain go this way and that to reach a solution, but time seemed to slow down. Not wanting to show a single card in my hand, I forced magic to come silently, a slow song of a bright light that rushed to my core before spreading to my extremities. Then I felt the burn. My Pain Nullification skill kept the pain at bay, while Purify’s fire coursed through my veins, burning the impurities that dared to intrude into the sanctity of my temple. I acknowledged the pain’s existence, without truly feeling it.

  I suffered a single point of damage and I hissed sharply from the surprise rather than any suffered hurt, which Laes might have taken for a threat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Kidu’s hand had moved closer to the knife at his belt, a better weapon for dealing out brutality in these close quarters.

  Something about the spell, the initial imparted knowledge that came with it, told me that magic was successful. Would I have to live the rest of my life, here casting the Purify spell? I shook my head; no, that way led only to paranoia and a slow descent into madness.

  Time suddenly resumed its inexorable slide to normality, and I simply smiled a smug grin at the caravan master as I handed him back the vial.

  “Please, you must take it. It is far too early for you to fight the war in heaven!” he almost shouted as he tried to refuse it, misunderstanding my actions.

  “An antidote will not be necessary. But, we will be moving now,” my expression and tone, I hope, filled with whatever menace I could contrive.

  I must have done something impressive, for the world itself rewarded me with a most welcome notification.

  You have gained 1 Constitution.

  You have gained 1 Charisma.

  A few more points of Health and Stamina were always welcome. The increase in Charisma, however, was harder to pin down. A puzzling thing to be sure, for I had no idea how, exactly, it aided my situation and ‘build.’ If, somehow, Charisma affected how much I could influence the people of the world, then they perhaps, in turn, could influence me. Was it some form of passive mind control that stole my agency? A most worrying thought indeed.

  I looked at the ugly caravan master, the wheels in my mind turning at an infuriated pace. Had the attribute aided in bargaining for a faster departure? Or was this simply a result of showing him the poisoned item I had received from Hamsa? I hated variables that I could not categorically measure.

  Laes simply nodded, absolutely dumbstruck at this new turn of events, muttering something that sounded like ‘Vanda Venny’ or some such nonsense, before he began shouting instructions at his workers. I took a second to gnce in his direction, assuring him with a nod that all was well.

  This part of the caravanserai turned into an upturned beehive of activity, as men, women, and beasts jostled with each other as they made their preparations for a sudden departure. The caravan’s master had to assure several people that all was well, to encourage them to get back to work to get ready to depart. Getting out of the way of their industry, my small group moved to the side, next to some wooden crates. My heart, now emptied of poison, was filled with thoughts of yet another betrayal. One day Hamsa, there will be a reckoning, I promised myself.

  Among the whirlwind of activity, I watched Laes as he apologized to a group of men cd in fine orange silk deels and yellow sashes, all of them filled with their own self-importance. Head bowed and both palms pressed against the back of his head, he said something to them in a nguage I had yet to learn. Soon after he had apologized, one of them pocketed a small purse from Laes. Was that a form of apology in this culture? One of my hands subconsciously moved to the back of my head in sympathetic mimicry before I noticed Larynda looking at me. I lowered my hand, feeling a little embarrassed.

  “You knew,” I said to the girl.

  “Errr… yes… but old Ham said it would all be fine. His words exact as I remember ‘em were, ‘If you don’t dilly-dally with that Gilgamesh fellow, then there’s nothing to be afear’ of s’like’,” she piped and sputtered, before looking down at the ground dejectedly, “an’ thank you I guess.”

  I gnced over my Status, blocking everything out except the information that I sought.

  Experience to next level 2978/3202

  Health: 282/288

  Stamina: 56/63

  Mana: 12/15

  Well, at least the whole ordeal had given me some nominal experience at the cost of three Mana, a fair trade if there had not been the risk of death. Something about the small girl's demeanor and words tugged a little at the strings of the heart, and I suddenly felt a small bud of sympathy grow. Was this a normal emotion to be feeling towards a person that could have caused my death through lies of omission? A small voice said, in the back of my mind, sharp and oily in its insistence.

  Abandon the girl, or not? For surely she was to be the albatross around my neck. However, Kidu made the decision for us, as one of his rge hands gently patted the little girl’s head, and the unexpected act almost caused her to cry. She looked up at him, and Patches gave her face a slobbering lick, causing her to give out a weak, morose ugh.

  It was this simple animal’s trust that had convinced me to trust her, too. The creatures that men tame had instincts that could see through base human deception. She would have the benefit of the doubt, for the time being at least. We would have a deep discussion ter, once we had put some distance between us and this forsaken city.

  My quest was not yet over.