Maj

'Vulkan?' Aurelius asked.

'The fire spirit who inhabits these hills,' Jahreszeiten explained. 'So this is the Pompeii you spoke of? I was not worried until now, but this is going to be a tragedy.'

Aurelius agreed that the city… didn't look like something nature spirits would like, but he didn't quite grasp the cause of the seriousness in Jahreszeiten's voice either.

'A fire spirit, not a hill spirit? Wait, could you explain it more slowly?'

Unfortunately, their silent conversation had to be put on hold for the moment. The outside world was acting up.

"You there, halt."

Aurelius and his procession of deer were stopped at the city gates by guards wearing blue and gray gambeson and metal armor. The men wore complicated expressions, and kept stealing glances at the deer, muttering something about "forest horses".

"What brings your kind to Pompeii?" the oldest-looking guard asked, holding his pike in a relaxed but ready position. "These are human lands."

"Excuse me?" Aurelius blurted.

"I said Pompeii is a proud human city," the guard thumped the butt of his polearm on the cobblestones. "You can enter, if you pay the toll, but you have to follow our laws inside these gates. No trouble, hear me, maj?"

Rory was baffled by the guard's attitude. 'He's talking like I'm not human too.' Then again, maybe he didn't look particularly human right now to these people.

Rory frowned but didn't press the issue. "How much is the toll?" he asked simply.

"Fifteen coppers for you. One more for each beast head."

Twenty-eight copper was a lot more than what Aurelius had planned to pay to enter the city… which was zero coins.

"Fine."

Aurelius reached for one of his bags and counted out twenty-eight red-brown coins to hand to the guard.

"What does maj mean?" he asked curiously as the guard counted the coins again.

"Short for magical species. If it bothers you that I don't know what the hell you are, then go make a name for yourselves like dragons or elves."

"I'm human," Rory stated.

The stern-looking guard actually grinned and laughed. "Nice try, maj, but you're not getting these coins back. I'll give you some friendly advice though. Stay away from the slums. A pretty boy like you will get snatched up and sold before you know it, and your little tree ponies here will be turned into pelts."

Rory would've been upset at the implication that he was charged a higher toll price because he was presumed not to be human, but the warning that he might get enslaved chilled his blood and snuffed out any indignant anger he might've felt.

He furrowed his brow in worry and nodded to the guard. "Thank you for the warning."

He drove his mount forward and grumbled silently, 'This is why I complained when you gave me horns all of a sudden.'

'But why? They are an honorable badge of your status as Druid, and they look beautiful on you. More importantly, how dare the humans treat children of the spirits coldly?'

'Children of the spirits?' Aurelius asked.

'What that human called 'maj'. The elves are descended from me and previous Druids of mine. Dragons are Vulkan's children.'

'Speaking of Vulkan,' Rory suddenly remembered his interrupted worries, 'what were you saying earlier? About a massacre?'

Jahreszeiten sighed. 'Right. Vulkan is a fire spirit living within these hills. He has no trees to cut down and he isn't bothered when his ores are heated or put under pressure. From what you told me about human industry, I'd guessed he would bear no ill will toward your people.'

'However,' the spirit continued, 'that stone forest of smoke is going to infuriate him.'

Rory looked in the distance, toward the smoke stacks rising up from the factory district. He didn't know what they were called or specifically what they were for yet either though.

'Why is that?'

'Because Vulkan fell in love with a wandering sky spirit. He withheld his flames and fury only to see her better, and the humans here have blocked the sky with man-made clouds.' The forest spirit spoke ominously, 'What reason does Vulkan have not to errupt and throw more ash into the sky? All of these people will burn.'

Rory swallowed the lump in his throat, reaffirming that he really did need to warn these people.

Only, he understood now that Pompeii was simply too huge. If he wanted to get the word out properly, he needed to speak to someone like their chief.

'Maybe Cecilia will know where to find them.'

The question now was how he would find her.

***

Aurelius collapsed onto his bed, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Riding over the hills had been hard on his body, and the city turned out to be a stressful place to be, which only sapped his strength quicker. He felt that he had done well to find this inn, but the twenty coins he had spent to stay here for one night worried him. If he had to spend this much every day he stayed in this city, it would drain his resources quickly.

The bright side was that the deer were getting to rest in the stables, guarded, watered, and fed.

The downside was, again, he had been mistaken for some kind of magical species and had to pay an upcharge for his room.

But it wasn't worth his energy right now. Not when he had a comfortable bed to lie on for the first time in days.

'Just ten minutes rest, then I'll go looking for the magic tower,' he told himself.

After a bit of asking around, that was where a sorceress like Cecilia should be.

He wasn't afraid of meeting her anymore. Not since Jahreszeiten reminded him about what he feared more than a bit of social awkwardness.

'Aurelius.' Speak of the spirit, he had something to say.

'What is it?' Rory sighed, sprawling out to stare at the ceiling.

'There were thousands of humans between the gate and here.'

The Druid nodded. Having grown up in a small village where everyone knew everyone else, the scale of things in Pompeii was quite alarming.

'I know. I've never been around so many people.'

The spirit was apparently on an entirely different wavelength at the moment.

'You were more beautiful than all of them.'

The young man blushed and covered his face with a pillow.