Fight or Flight

Chapter 14

Simon

Four days later...

Dragons are a bunch of sadistic, sarcastic, ill-mannered, overgrown lizards. They have no qualms about messing up all of your stuff and then laughing at you when you notice, but don't you dare even look at their room. Spoiled, stuck-up, selfish hypocrites that can't even be bothered to help out the person helping them. I hate this assignment. Nothing the dragons are promising us can be worth it. They're all stupid doo-doo heads.

I sighed, scratched at the itching spot on my chest caused by the blasted shoddy charm, then crumpled up the paper and stuffed it back into my bag. Smokey nickered as he tugged at some grass that was in range of the tree I had tied his reigns to, and I watched him for another moment while I fumed some more. Then I sighed again and started writing on a new sheet – this time using the Wellspring codes.

My cart failed on the way to Yellowseed, so I am writing an update. Some travelers passed me and agreed to bring a message to Captain Mason, but for now I am stranded a few hours outside of town.

I have discovered two details of relevance.

The first is that a mass of crystals can repel mages. Enola has explained that because of the time I spent in the crystal mines, I have some kind of 'energy' clinging to me. This energy will, if Enola is telling the truth, cause headaches and discomfort in anyone with a mage sense. Since I do not have mage senses I cannot confirm this, but if it is true, it may offer another means of hiding ourselves from mages. I am not sure how useful this will be unless we all want to start lives as miners in crystal mines, but I am including it just in case.

The second is more evidence surrounding the magedebt. Initially I was going to write that I had received evidence against it – despite the fact that I have been working to save her home these last few weeks, Enola has refused to give me anything in return, be it treasure or spells. However, this changed shortly before I left for Yellowseed. Again, I do not have a confession or a direct statement, but Enola's actions now tilt in the direction of the magedebt being real. I mentioned that I had spent most of my money on things to help her – food for Smokey, the spices for our meals, this blasted cart – and rather than respond that it was my problem and not hers, as I fully expected, she provided me with two crystals. And very large crystals, at that.

I can think of no other reason for her to have given me them than because of a magedebt – she has shown no sign of being charitable or concerned with my well-being before this, even going so far as to suggest actions that would actively hurt me. Simply put, Enola doesn't care if I run out of money or get hurt. So the only thing that makes sense is that she gave me those crystals to protect herself from the magedebt. My belief now is that she is just particularly dense, and does not realize she owes me anything until it is pointed out to her.

I plan to sell one of the crystals in Yellowseed and buy a new cart. As per your earlier letter, I will be sending the second crystal to you along with this letter.

It's a shame I have to sell these, though. The crystals Enola picked are actually very pre-

"Hello there! Need some help?" Captain Mason's vaguely familiar voice drew my attention, and I looked up from the letter to see the soldier further up the road. Two other people with the same uniform and swords as Mason were walking with him – likely other soldiers – and best of all, they were carrying a cart along behind them.

"Captain Mason! I didn't expect you to come out here yourself. And unfortunately, yes. My cart seems to have failed on me." I got to my feet and walked over to the pile of crates I had already unloaded from the broken cart. "One of the boards snapped under the weight, and the whole floor of the cart is a mess now." The three soldiers were still some distance away, but I waved towards the ruined cart by way of demonstration.