Path of Dragons

It was a subdued group that left the tower behind and swam to the shore of Elijah’s island. For his part, he spoke little – only as much as absolutely necessary to ensure the others knew what he needed them to do – and what he did say was terse. Even with Kurik, who by all rights, had done nothing wrong. If Elijah was honest, he was angrier with himself than with the people of Ironshore. After all, he’d known that there would be repercussions for killing Cabbot and his band of mercenaries. That they’d taken so long to present themselves was only due to a combination of necessity – they knew they needed him to combat the orcs – and circumstance.

“I hope you know Ssethik didn’t represent the city,” said Kurik once they’d reached the shore. Elijah had wasted no time in escorting the group to one of the rowboats. “He wasn’t –”

“I know,” Elijah said. “I just need some time alone.”

Indeed, there was a part of him that wanted to hold the entire city accountable and wipe them from the map. It wouldn’t be difficult, either. He knew Ironshore well enough. He was intimately acquainted with what defenses they possessed. He could do it over the course of a couple of nights, and there wasn’t much any of them could do to stop him.

But would that solve the problem?

Sure. It would assuage his anger, and temporarily, it would probably make him feel a little better. After all, he wasn’t some saint who could brush off an assassination attempt. He was furious, and nothing that had happened since Ssethik’s ill-fated attempt at murder had served to alleviate any of that rage.

Yet, as attractive as going on a killing spree was, he knew that it would ultimately be counterproductive. He didn’t need Ironshore – not in a physical sense, at least. But from a social perspective, the idea of having civilization so close – and all the benefits that came with it – was an attractive prospect. On top of that, he would have been lying if he didn’t admit that he’d made a few friends among the goblins, gnomes, and dwarves.

Kurik was one of them. So was Ramik. Biggle, the alchemist. He was even on friendly terms with the terse tailor Mari. And that wasn’t even considering all the children in the city. The moment Elijah thought of orphaning little Rosabella – or worse, her ending up on the wrong end of his claws – his anger dissipated, and it was replaced by disappointment.

So, as he watched the scout climb into the rowboat next to Nia and Robolo, it was with a deep sense of melancholy. The problem was that he was an outsider. He had been from the very beginning, and as much as they’d tried to accommodate him, it only took a short walk through Ironshore to hammer home just how out-of-place he was. Sure, he’d made friends, but he was still a human. And among the short-statured goblins, gnomes, and dwarves, he was a clear outlier.

He needed his sister. Carmen. Miguel. And whoever else they wanted to bring with them. Elijah had no intention of ever leaving his grove behind. It was too safe and far too important to abandon. So, he assumed that Alyssa and her family would simply come to live with him. It just made sense.

Though what if they were already established somewhere? What if they didn’t want to come with him? What if something had happened to them? A thousand questions spiraled through his mind, sending him down roads he didn’t want to contemplate. Sure, he could see Carmen’s name on the power rankings, and he’d taken solace in that. However, he wasn’t so naïve as to truly believe that the Carmen Rodriguez on the ladder was definitely his sister-in-law. For all he knew, there were a million Carmen Rodriguezes out there.

And if that wasn’t Carmen, then he had no reason to suspect that his sister, out of all the billions of people who’d died in the aftermath of Earth’s transformation, had survived. It was even less likely that a child like Miguel had made it.

If he looked at things realistically, no one he knew from his old life was still alive. Simple numbers suggested that he’d never see any of them again.

But for so long, Elijah had refused to look at things like that, so, even amidst the melancholy strangling his mind, he shoved those negative thoughts aside. If he dwelled on them for too long, he would succumb to depression. He’d done it before, and for days at a time, especially during his first few months on the island.

He didn’t like to think about that, though.

Instead, he chose to look at the positive side of things. Like the fact that his soap was probably finished curing. So, Elijah grabbed hold of that thought and, once he saw that Kurik and the other two had passed the halfway point, he retreated across his island and to his grove. He’d left the soap to cure inside his treehouse’s kitchen, so he climbed the stairs and found the series of molds.

And it had cured well.

It even smelled nice.

“You completed the tower more quickly than I expected,” came Nerthus’ voice. “And I noticed that you went in with four companions, but only three exited. Do you wish to speak of what happened?”

Elijah turned to see the four-foot-tall tree spirit standing near the door. If he wasn’t moving, it would have been easy to imagine that he was an expertly carved statue. But despite Nerthus’ general stillness, he still moved like any other living thing. It would have been unnerving if Nerthus hadn’t been the one person in the whole world that had earned Elijah’s explicit trust.

“It was an ambush. The goblin Rogue,” Elijah explained with a sigh. “I saw it coming. Even if Kurik hadn’t warned me, I could see it in Ssethik’s eyes. He hated me. And what’s more, he thought he could gain some sort of advantage by killing me. He never stood a chance.”

That wasn’t entirely true. Elijah had shifted at the last possible moment, which had forced the Rogue to miss a lethal strike. However, if Ssethik had been allowed a thousand chances, Elijah would have done the same thing nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine times. The reality was that Ssethik had been completely outmatched, even if the goblin hadn’t known it.

“What will you do?” asked Nerthus.

Elijah shrugged. “Right now, I’m going to bathe with my soap,” he said. “I hope it’ll have some positive effect. Other than cleaning me, I mean. After that, I’m going to take a long nap. The rest, I’ll figure out in the morning.”

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After that, Elijah asked Nerthus how things were going in the grove, and he received a long dissertation on how the tree spirit was trying to guide the gardens into a specific formation. It was one of the few things that truly excited Nerthus, so Elijah was glad to listen.

“And here I thought the paths and everything just naturally appeared because of the way I used Nature’s Bounty,” he mused.

“Oh, no. The way you use that spell is effective, but it wreaks havoc on my designs,” Nerthus revealed.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because you seem to enjoy it,” Nerthus answered. “And it is your grove.”

“It’s as much yours as it is mine, Nerthus. I mean, if I’m doing something you don’t like, let me know,” he said.

Nerthus looked away and asked, “When will you be departing again?”

“Are you asking that because you want me to find my sister? Or because you want me to stop messing with your garden designs?”

“Yes.”

“Which one…oh. I see,” Elijah said. He sighed. “I won’t use it unless you ask me to.”

“I could teach you to command it better,” Nerthus offered. “I have devised a twelve-year plan meant to give you the control necessary to affect the changes you –”

“Going to have to pass,” Elijah said. “I don’t have twelve years right now. Maybe after I find Alyssa and Carmen. And Miguel. Which reminds me – do you think you could grow a new treehouse? Like, a separate one? With a few rooms. I want it to be ready for them when they get here.”

“Certainly. It will be grander than this hovel,” Nerthus stated.

“Grander? I don’t want it to be better than…oh, you’re already gone. Great.”

Indeed, Nerthus had slipped into the floor, disappearing eagerly. Hopefully, that meant he was excited about the task. Sighing, Elijah muttered, “And my sister is going to have a better house than me.”

Then, Elijah gathered his soap, cut it into easily usable blocks, then took one into the shower. Once he’d let the water warm, he undressed and stepped under the stream. Then, he lathered himself up. The moment the soap touched his skin, he let out a gasp of surprise. It didn’t just feel rejuvenating, as he’d hoped. It also imparted a degree of the ethera that surprised him. He couldn’t quite tell where it went, but he felt sure that it was a good thing.

Perhaps he’d take some to Biggle and get an expert’s opinion.

In any case, he enjoyed his shower far more than any he’d ever experienced, and he stayed beneath the warm stream of water for far longer than he had expected. By the time Elijah left the bathroom, his fingers and toes had turned pruny.

“Pruny?” he asked himself. “Or is it with an -ie? Prune-like?”

Shaking his head, he realized it didn’t matter, and soon, he hopped into his extraordinarily comfortable bed, and for the first time since the night before he’d entered the tower, he slept soundly.

The next morning, he rose from bed with a significantly better attitude. So, it was with a spring in his step that Elijah headed down to the garden, where he picked a series of berries and other edible plants. Then, he gathered his things and headed to shore, where he boarded his rowboat and started toward Ironshore. Between strokes, he muttered, “I would give anything for a fish form or something. Just something that would keep me from having to row these stupid boats.”

But that didn’t seem to be on offer, so he bent his back to the task. It wasn’t that it was difficult. With his high attributes, propelling the little rowboat across the strait was easy enough. Yet, it was slower than he would have liked, and it was tedious enough to sour his attitude.

Which was probably why, when he finally docked in Ironshore, he wore a grimace that sent a few people scurrying in the other direction. Word of Ssethik’s betrayal, it seemed, had gotten back to the city. Case in point, Ramik soon appeared, hurrying across the dock to confront Elijah.

“It’s fine, Ramik. Don’t worry about it,” Elijah said as he tied the boat off.

“What?” asked the goblin as he slowed to a stop.

“I said it’s fine,” Elijah reiterated. “Ssethik was a bad apple, right? He acted alone. His attitude wasn’t representative of Ironshore, who still wants to be my ally.” He looked up at the mayor. “Is that what you were going to say?”

“More or less.”

Elijah sighed, then pushed himself to his full height. Putting his hands at the small of his back, he stretched. “Look – I like you, Ramik. There are a few other people here I would consider friends, too. So, I’ll tell it to you straight,” Elijah stated. “This is your one mulligan.”

“Mulligan?”

“Free shot,” Elijah said. “You get one free mistake. After that, if anything like that happens again, I’m going to get angry. And you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

“Ah…that last part…was that supposed to be poignant? I don’t like it when anyone’s angry,” Ramik stated. “If I had my way, no one would ever –”

“I really need to show you guys some movies,” Elijah said with a shake of his head. “My point is that I’m willing to give you all the benefit of the doubt. But if you keep pushing me, I’m going to have to reevaluate our friendship.”

Ramik swallowed. “Understood.”

“Good. Glad we had this little talk,” Elijah said. “Now, I have a man to see about some soap.”

With that, Elijah set off down the dock and into town. As he did, he was well aware of the furtive glances that came from the town’s people. It seemed that word had spread even further than expected, and the residents of Ironshore were on pins and needles wondering what he was going to do. Fortunately for them, he’d mostly moved on from the assassination attempt. As he’d told the mayor, he was willing to give Ironshore the benefit of the doubt, but if they kept pushing his buttons, he was going to give in to his inner rage. They wouldn’t survive that.

Putting that out of his mind, Elijah’s first stop was at Mari’s shop, and the taciturn dwarven tailor informed him that his cloak wouldn’t be ready for another two or three weeks. That wasn’t what Elijah wanted to hear – indeed, he was even more eager than ever to resume his search for his family – but he reasoned that he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Mari was a skilled crafter, and if she said she needed that much time, he would believe her.

Besides, he had some ideas on how to spend the intervening days.

His next – and only other planned – stop was Biggle’s laboratory-slash-home. As always, when he arrived, he interrupted some experiment that resulted in a crash and a muffled explosion, but the little alchemist was still happy enough to see Elijah – especially when the gnome was introduced to Elijah’s soap.

“Where did you get this?” demanded the alchemist with a fervor Elijah had never seen from him.

“Made it. Used fat from the orcs and wood ash from the trees on my island,” Elijah stated. “Plus some lavender oil I made. Why? Is it good?”

“Do you have any idea how much something like this is worth?”

“’bout tree-fiddy?”

“What?”

“Nothing. So – tell me what I’ve got.”

Biggle raised an eyebrow, then said, “This is a body fortifying soap. It doesn’t result in increased attributes, but it will give you a temporary boost in defenses. In addition, it has slight healing properties. Better than anything else, it will prepare you for higher levels of body cultivation.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. It takes years of using something like this to get any results,” Biggle stated. “But when combined with a few other methods…yes, we could sell this for quite a lot. Not terribly useful at your level of cultivation, but for the people of Ironshore…”

He tapped his lip as he studied the soap. Then, finally, he asked, “How much do you want for it?”

“How much are you offering?”

“Oh. It’s like that, is it? Well, I can’t give more than six silver per bar. Take it or leave it.”

Elijah shook his head and tried not to smile. That was far more than he’d expected, but he knew it was far less than Biggle could afford. So began a back and forth that ended with Elijah getting more than ten silver per bar. He’d packed five away, which he handed over to the alchemist. After he paid, Biggle said that the cultivation potions would be ready in a day or two.

So, Elijah left the alchemist with the intention of returning in two days. After that, he went back to his island, then dove down to the cave to check its progress. To his surprise, the ethera density had increased by a significant degree. However, he still spent the next couple of days flaring Nature’s Bounty within the cave’s bounds.

Because he wanted it to be at peak ethera density when the next part of his plan dawned.

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