Chapter 15: Wandering Beggar

"So, any idea of what we might need?" I ask Cynthia.

"Well, typically you want to have enough food and hunting supplies as well as mats for sleeping on." She replies, following my tracks towards the market. "Master Darwin, do you really think you're ready to leave civilization?"

"Not like I'll get any stronger sitting in a palace." I assure her as we make it to the busy marketplace street. "Oh, I forgot Locke gave me this for you." I say, grabbing the dagger from my satchel I had put on my belt. I hand the silver blade to her gently.

"How kind of him, it's been so long since I've had a weapon." She says, reaching her hands out to accept the dagger. I watch her slip it under her coat.

"I would have assumed most people in this world have at least one weapon on them at all times." I suggest, scanning the marketplace booths for supplies we need.

"Being in the palace for so long with the guards around, weaponry was unnecessary for me." Cynthia replies.

"I guess that makes sense." I yawn, pulling us towards a merchant booth. A well built man gives us a menacing look as he stands before his display of intricate hunting traps, butchering knives and other trinkets.

"What are you looking for sir?" He says, his voice more welcoming than his cross stature.

"Just a few of your best traps and a sturdy all around skinning knife." I say, Cynthia hands me the pouch of coins and I toss a couple on the counter. The man promptly turns around and places the goods beside the handful of coins. "Also, do you perhaps happen to know a guy called Markil?" I ask.

"Markil? That old weirdo hangs around this place begging for coins all the time. Just keep your eye out he's hard to miss." The merchant replies, pulling the coins off the counter and into his hand.

"Thanks, we will." I say as I pocket the knife and sling the traps over my shoulder.

"Don't you find those rather heavy, Master Darwin?" Cynthia says apologetically, clutching the coin bag to her chest.

"This extra hero strength thing helps out, not sure I can manage to carry these forever though." I admit, the traps jostling behind me loudly.

"Before we go we should look for a mount or two." She suggests shyly. "I've always wanted one myself but it's not very ladylike." She chuckles softly.

"Consider it done-" I huff as we approach out next stalls. We manage to purchase some medicine and camp supplies. The equipment I haul over my shoulder in large sacks only seems to draw more attention as the day goes on.

"Are you certain you don't want me to help you carry anything?" Cynthia asks me worriedly as I wobble around with the burlap packs weighing down my shoulders.

"Just a modern day Atlas over here." I dismiss her with a hasty laugh. "Still no sign of the old fart?"

Cynthia shakes her head.

"Well, why don't we stop by the library first since we're done shopping."

"Alright, it's just a little past the marketplace." She mutters, shaking the not so full coin pouch as she leads the way. The library begins to come into view, It's tiny porthole windows near the front and overgrown ivy give it an enchanted aura. Cynthia opens the wooden door, which creaks on its hinges. I duck down and squeeze myself inside. The scent of musty books and leather flies past my nostrils as the late afternoon sun streaks through the windows in a shimmering gold.

"I'll go check the history and folklore section, you can look around as you please." Cynthia spews, attempting to mask her excitement. I nod and watch her pace into the rows of bookshelves as I lay the bags down near the door with a sigh of relief.

"Goddamn this is brutal." I laugh, stretching out my worn shoulders.

"Looking for something in particular today?" A little voice peeps from the desk I hadn't noticed in the corner.

"Me? Not really, maybe if there's a book on where Markil is..." I joke, sliding myself over to the counter.

"Markil? He was just here." The tiny voice exclaims. I look down at the desk and gasp, jumping back a foot.

"You. You're a mouse?!" I blurt, staring down at the tiny brown rodent who had been talking to me.

"Mhm, the librarian's out right now so I'm watching the place for her." It squeaks happily. I push my fingers into my temples. I'm literally talking to a mouse. I thought a hobgoblin was weird but a mouse?

"Alright alright, you said Markil the beggar was just here? Where did he go?" I ask politely.

"He said he was going to get some fresh air, he shouldn't be far." The mouse wiggles its ears. "Did you want to read a book? I really want to get you a nice book sir!" It chirps, hopping up and down on the desk.

"Sure, get me something interesting. None of that mushy romance stuff though." I chuckle, glancing out the window for any sign of Markil.

"On it!" The mouse dashes off the desk excitedly and scurries into the shelves upon shelves of books. I feel like I'm talking to my daughter when she's excited. Moments later I see the mouse struggle to drag a thick book back to me. It wiggles and tugs as it digs its teeth into the ribbon to pull it more efficiently. I appreciate it's determination and walk over.

"What do we have here?" I say, picking up the book gently. "The complete history of Intercaeleus" I announce as I read the title in a noble voice, the mouse claps it's tiny paws excitedly.

"It's hard for me to read, can you read some of it to me?"

"Sure," I say, flipping through the pages for something interesting. Old pictures and diagrams of the land and city begin to appear. My gaze wanders over the leathered pages as pictures of thousands of strange creatures and artifacts fill my view. I stop when I see a depiction of a woman with long stringy hair Infront of a cryptic looking sun dial.

"The goddess of order has been the center figure of most religions in Intercaeleus. The most common being the Ordinal church which was established in early versions of Intercaelian civilization." I announce, the mouse looks up me with beady eyes. "Symbols of the goddess of order have appeared in early sun dials from ancient ruins discovered in the Intercaelian wilds which is why the sun dial or sun is often used to represent her." I clear my throat and flip the page as I skim over much of the paragraphs.

"Intercaelian realms; Intercaeleus is situated somewhere between the mortal realm and the void. Not much is known about the mortal realm besides the fact heroes have been selected to protect Intercaeleus from the demon king who leads the void into consuming Intercaeleus entirely." I say, eyeing a peculiar looking picture of the demon king. His horns curve and point to the front along with his vacant sunken eyes and weathered wings.

"I think I found something-" I hear Cynthia break the silence. "What are you doing?" She blinks as I turn towards her with a sheepish grin.

"Reading to a mouse?" I say innocently with a shrug.

"Aww, storytime is over." The mouse sulks.

"Well, I found a book I'd like to borrow." She smiles to the mouse while showing it the book in her hands. The mouse perks up and scuttles over to her to peek at the title. It leaps to the desk drawer and pushes a stamp twice it's size out onto the top. It stamps a sheet with red ink and hands a slip to Cynthia. I watch, somewhat impressed by the little creature.

"Thank you for finding me a book, we should get going." I place the book in my hand back on the floor and pat the mouse on the head.

"Good luck finding Markil!" It squeaks, waving its tiny paw at us as I pick up our bags and head out.

"So what did you end up finding?" I ask Cynthia, peering over her shoulder as she flips through her book.

"Just some old children's stories and folklore from the city over."

"Children's stories?" I stifle a laugh.

"No really, they center around the village. See here, an explorer gets chased by a monster and comes across the elf village where he kidnaps one to be his wife and brings her back to his town." She summarizes, eyes not breaking from the pages. "Then the forest animals come to help her and ravens gouge out the man's eyes." She says in a flat tone.

"Grim." I shiver, "Totally child friendly too." I add.

"What interested me most is that the town where this explorer character is from still exists today. I think we should head there." She nods, closing the book and tucking it under her arm.

"Spare change? Spare a coin for a poor old soul like me." A voice croaks to us. I can hear the clanging of coins in a cup follow. We both freeze.

"Markil?" I say cautiously, turning to face the direction of the voice. I can clearly make out a darkened figure hiding in the shadows casted by the alleyway it sits in.

"Yes, it is I. Markil the great, Markil the wise." He whispers in a crazed voice. "Won't you help a dead man?" He cackles, staggering forward towards us.

"We're looking to find the high elf village, I heard you might know about it?"

"Elf village?" The old man suddenly stops his chuckling. I can hear the bare pads of his feet slick against the cobble as he walks towards the sunlight. I see a ghostly pale finger emerge from the darkness. It's bony structure shaking as it points out towards me.

"Those poor damned creatures, too precious for this harsh purgatory." He grunts, hand falling down to what appears to be a cane as he wobbles closer. As the sunlight hits his face a surge of nausea washes over me. The man's eyes were as white as his hands, no pupils against the sheer white of his blank eyes. Around his face were deep rotting swells that bubbled and ate away at his ancient flesh. I fight back the urge to turn away.

"Who are you and why do you seek this place?" He croaks, his hand waving around blindly in front of us. Cynthia steps forward, placing his hand on top of hers as she kneels down to his height. Markil's expression lightens at her touch.

"You, you're one of them." He breathes, his frail body shaking beneath his tattered cloak. "But just how..." He mumbles, feeling around her palms.

"I work for the palace, for the hero Darwin who is with me." She says softly to the old man.

"So, there are still some of you left?" He says with a twinge of hope.

"Not many. That's why we want to know what happened to them and where we can find them." She pauses, "If they're still around."

Markil nods, "The village was beautiful, so were their souls. They helped me survive this." He points to his face. "I was to be delivering goods to Crestia, the town over, when my buggy was intercepted by a void creature in the mountains. They brought me back to their village and healed me as best they could." He explains.

"So, the Crestia mountain peak is where we should look..." I murmur, Cynthia nods slowly.

"Is there anything else you've heard about them since then?" Cynthia asks.

"Heard some brutes raided the place a long time ago but don't trust a blind man's word." He chuckles, tapping his knotted wooden cane against the stone. He kisses Cynthia's hand weakly. "It is truly a blessing to be in your presence miss." He sighs. "It reminds me of that day, the last thing I saw was someone as beautiful as you staring down at someone as hideous as I." His face seems to soften as he backs up. "Nothing but a menace now. May order be good to you two." He grins, the rot in his teeth apparent as he smiles wider. I pull a coin out of the pouch and place it in his cup. He looks down into the cup with a laugh, backing into the darkness from before. "So kind, a hero and a creature the goddess is even jealous of." He chimes in a disgruntled rhythm.

"I guess we know where we need to go." I say, patting Cynthia's shoulder as she stands back up.

"It's quite a long and dangerous route if we take the mountain path."

"If its the way to your village then it's where we have to go." I say reassuringly "No need to worry so much."

"It's just, I can't have you risking so much for me." She sighs, her eyes trailing down to her shoes.

"I'm going to be risking my life for this entire realm, so what difference does it make that I risk a little for you?" I smile tenderly, pulling her closer into me.

"I suppose, but I'm still not okay with it. You mean too much to m- everyone here." She stutters, leaning against my chest.

"Why don't we get those mounts?"