Beggar's Ride, Chapter 1: Mounting Up
 

A week ago, a city had been transfigured in a single day of wonder and terror. In Sonelheim, the Wish Hex had triggered, by accident rumour suggested. Whatever the reason, its magic had been released undirected, earthing itself by granting wishes at random.

A little wishing is a dangerous thing.

Some found benefit - the plain made beautiful, the old made young, the poor made rich. Others did not. Words spoken rashly in anger or sorrow brought down darkness, others had wishes strip something from them. Wishes of wealth conjured gold or took it from elsewhere, a storm of gold flying about the city as wish after wish demanded it. Others were fulfilled in bizarre subversions of the wish's true intent. Monsters were brought into being or empowered, often a tragedy if their original form was known.

It was chaos.

In the aftermath, certain facts became clear. Geomantically, the city was devastated; the power to fuel so many wishes depleting loci and damaging ley lines. As if springing from air, whispers of the source of all this strife appeared: something had been found, something called the Wish Hex.

Little evidence could be found of where it had been kept. The place most likely had been destroyed utterly, burned to the ground and crushed to gravel, all auras scattered and torn. Pitiful remains of bodies had been found.

At least a score of dark riders had been seen fleeing the city, headed to the north in great haste. The mage trained saw they carried something that still thrummed with after shocks of power. They had taken the Wish Hex.

The tale had spread out, reaching surrounding villages and sparking the desire to find this precious thing. Rumour ran wild.

Four days after the event, Sonelheim fell silent. The fearsome Marshall Reihart had arrived bearing a royal decree and Sonelheim had been quarantined as if a plague had broken out. People trying to get in were stopped by patrolling soldiers and told there'd be no contact until the extent of the damage had been determined.

More of kingdom's forces had mobilised in pursuit of the escaped Wish Hex. Couriers Seeking it without the kingdom's permission would be viewed as treason. Soldiers had been sent north as a deterrent to wish seekers (the name had quickly caught on) and dark rumours were circulating about the agents King Otun III had fielded.

* * *

In an inn's common room, five days north of Sonelheim if you took into account travelling cross country on foot, following false leads and getting lost, a pair sat at one of the tables in a corner, listening to the chatter. In the village of Jaedun the Wish Hex was a hot topic.

"I heard everyone in Sonelheim had all their dreams come true!"

"I'm telling you, it's all just some stunt by the Throne Confederacy to draw attention away from the border. They'll be pushing in again any day now, mark my word."

"I think its a new weapon."

"A soldier told me it was plague. Made you see things."

"It's just mass hysteria."

"Then why's there been all the soldiers and weirdos passing through? They're everywhere!"

"Haven't you heard about the secret diggings under the city? They found something and someone set it off."

"I heard the king's sent all his best spies and wizards out to track it down it."

"I heard he's sent Irisdotter..."

"The Butcher? Are you daft?"

"My uncle said he saw a man with three arms. The man said he'd been hit with a wish."

"... What had he wished for?"

"D'you see those riders pass through 'ere? You think they were the ones who stole the thing? Timing's about right."

The pair in the corner perked up. Now here was a lead. Sileph tugged at her hooded cloak nervously. She felt far too suspicious wearing the thing. The main comfort was the fact she was far from being the only stranger in the room. She looked at her double, who was also wearing a hooded cloak, although she had her hood tossed back.

"Okay." Sileph said. "We'll have to be circumspect."

She then stood up and walked straight over.

Her twin winced.

Lucius walked. His feet felt wet and hurt somewhat in the thick leather boots. His body was sweating profusely under the robe in the leather armor. He shifted his longsword and travel bag from one shoulder to another. The bag was heavy with food and clothes and money and junk his mom packed in for him, but not heavy enough to give him a perfect balance for the longsword slung over his shoulder. So he had to switch every now and then or his back started to hurt. Bad.

Yawn.

The road was lonely; he enjoyed the quiet, but was starting to miss being surrounded by people, and though travelling was new, the landscape was familiar enough to be boring. He rethought to himself the reports he'd heard before leaving to amuse himself; The thing that caused everything is some sort of "Hex." Wishing Hex, or Wish Hex, or Hex of Wishes... All three and plenty more are getting used in the market district, though Wish Hex seems to be what's made the news. Someone left town right after it was set off, in quite a hurry and under mysterious circumstances. Word is they carried the Hex off, north. I've checked the maps the book keep had gave me and the compass the innkeeper sold me; I'm going the right way...

He frowned, lifted his eyes from the road to look ahead of him, sighed, and kept thinking to himself;

I should've gone with someone. Even a random group heading north. Someone to talk to... I miss you, Elly...

He let his eyes wander back down.

Odd that no one else is on the road after the Hex. Maybe they all left already... Maybe I'll be too late? Maybe...

It was at this point he noticed, and was almost on top of, a kid in very fine clothing and carrying a finer mace, sitting in the middle of the road. He nearly did a double take.

"I'm sorry! Didn't see you there!"

Traveling alone had proved more troublesome than Roland had thought it would be. For one thing, he didn't know where he was going. Though it took him a few days, he figured out that he was going more or less in the right direction, but not without attracting even more trouble.

Gathering information had been a step in the right direction, but forgetting to hide who he was was a grave mistake. Eventually, after several days of travel, bandits had ambushed him. Without any help in sight, he had been forced to run away, using his illusions to distract them.

However, in the process of his escape, he had once again forgotten where he was.

Finding a road, he came up with a plan. Sitting down and setting his scepter on the ground before him, he waited for someone to arrive; so long that he had actually fallen asleep. It wasn't until Lucius' apology that he regained consciousness, and not even completely then.

Stretching his arms, he yawned, looking around himself. Picking his scepter off the ground, he brushed off the dirt from the rest of his clothes. It was only now that he realized that someone was before him, which was when he suddenly straightened up.

"You there, stop!" he said, not realizing that Lucius had already done so. "I am Prince Roland of Cennador, and I am in need of assistance.

"You see," he continued, his voice lowering a bit. "I'm lost. I was on the trail of the Wish Hex, but I managed to lose the way to Jaeden...or was it Jaedun? In any case, that's where you come in...whoever you are.

"You're not another bandit, are you?" he asked. "Then again, you wouldn't tell me the truth, if you were."

Koru drank deeply from his large glass of water as he listened to the rumours fly back and forth in the inn. He was sitting alone at a table in a dark corner of the room, drawing little attention to himself. His arrival in Jaedun had only occured around an hour ago, and he was hoping to freshen the trail and be on his way as quickly as possible. Unfortunately the rabble in the common room was only beginning to irritate him as people thought up wonderous things about such an unsanctioned item.

Just as Koru picked up his staff, which had been resting against the wall, and prepared to leave, something finally caught his interest.

"D'you see those riders pass through 'ere? You think they were the ones who stole the thing? Timing's about right."

Koru leaned back into his chair and replaced his staff against the wall. Waiting a bit longer shouldn't hurt, he thought as he took another drink. His eyes focused on the group that mentioned the riders, and it was only in his peripheral vision that he noticed someone walking straight towards them. This is either good or bad, but at least I'll have a path to follow no matter the outcome.

Preparing for the worst case scenario, Koru's hand rested gently on his staff, ready to defend himself and the others in the room should the need arise. Yet if the rumours continued the way the were, he would have to silence some of them himself.

Lucius' first reaction as the prince introduced himself was mild self-conciousness. He wasn't particularly starstruck at standing before royalty, but nevertheless did not want to make a bad first impression.

A prince? Are there any manners I should know? I hope not. Introduce myself fancilly too, maybe?

As the prince explained his predicament, something struck him as silly, and his demeanor relaxed.

"I am no bandit!" he said, somewhat defensively. "My name is Lucius. Lucius Atherson. Apprentice smith and tanner."

He stretched out a gloved, steel-plated hand outward, pointed down the road, and continued. "Jaedun is not far, and you're actually on the right road. I'm heading in the same direction, actually, and for the same reasons. If you care for a travelling companion, at least until we arrive," saying this, he lifted his left shoulder, so the hilt of his longsword rose and fell slightly, "I can defend us."

Ivan edged warily into the inn, glancing around nervously, hoping to find a sign of his new friend. Not paying attention to the direction he was walking, Ivan collided with more than a few people as he tried to locate the monk he had met recently. Oh Gods, why did he want us to meet here... so many people...

Ivan's short stature drew a good deal of attention towards him, laughs ringing out as he walked by. As if it wasn't bad enough that the room was packed with people, he had to be the center of attention as well! After what seemed like an eternity, he spotted Koru and quickly walked over.

His face was bright red, obviously embarassed. One would not have been able to determine that from his speech, however. "Koru... how are you feeling? Have you discovered anything about that horrid Hex? I regret I was unable to find any information... nothing that would help us put a stop to it, anyways. Rumors are spreading like wildfire..."

Jaedun, Two Miles

*huff... ugh...*

Vaeri slowly slithered along the northern road, at a beleaguredly rapid pace for her current condition. There of course was the issue of presenting herself once she reached the town, but the mage resolved to take the hurdles as they came.

"Was it something I ssaid?" Vaeri sarcastically complained to herself as she reached the sign, taking a moment to lean against it for support and catch her breath. "Fate's got it in for me, doesn't it? I can't even wissh for easier walking without being hexed into some... uselesss... body! Gragh!"

The lamia growled uselessly at her lower half, which while relatively new as a result of the wish hex, was not particularly used to long distance travel. Had she not been driven out of Sonelheim by the council, or if the wish hex hadn't sucked the animating forces from her servants, Vaeri might have ridden on a palanquin, but alas such methods would merely be delaying the inevitable. It appeared she'd just have to adapt to her new methods of locomotion.

In the meantime she withdrew her crucible wires and a rough sketch of the Sonelheim geomancy. Alas, the latter of which while now vastly inaccurate, included some of the neighboring regions in the vicinity of that town. Placing the wires and locking their levitation pins in midair near the roadsign, Vaeri consulted the map and began slowly correcting the pins on the mesh until she was close enough to vaguely extraopolate her position, and perhaps even the direction of the geomantic shift caused by the wish hex.

It wasn't her specialty... But desperate times called for desperate measures.

Gabriel walks along the northern road somewhat wearily, having been traveling for a few days looking for hints at the wish hex's location. He comes upon a roadsign, and, nearby, a lamia, mumbling to herself and playing with a floating mesh. He walks up somewhat defensively, attempting to get a view of the sign. "Um...Hello." Leaning on his staff, he waves nervously, not too experienced with snake-people. "This may sound odd, but do you know anything about a Wish Hex?"

Roland crossed his arms as he examined Lucius, a little doubtful of the story. However, after a moment, he decided the older man was more trustworthy than others, and he couldn't afford to wait for another.

As things were, someone else would get to the Wish Hex - and he would need protection, one way or another.

"Very well, let's go together."

That said, he turned and began to walk down the road.

He paused shortly after, glancing back at Lucius. "By the way, for what reason are you after the Wish Hex?"

Fallister was sitting in the bar, listening to the various information shooting back and forth. He heard about the riders, and he heard the new entrant talking about putting a stop to a hex. He stood up, and strode over. "Excuse me, I overheard something about putting a stop to a hex? May I be of assistance?"