Patricia Smith
Stories
8
Chapters
5,309
Words
3.0 M
Comments
0
Reading
10 d, 6 h
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One moment I was in the Mage's Guild, the next, I was elsewhere. Which is about how teleportation was supposed to work, but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be so gut-wrenchingly unpleasant. I landed and felt as if the world had turned about ten degrees to one side and a little bit back. So not only did I have to deal with this super strong sense of I stumbled to the side for a couple of steps before catching myself and standing still while the world spun around me. "Huh," someone said, but I really…-
42 •
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"Did you ever hear the story of the tadpole that called snake?" Mathilde asked as I stumbled into her big office. It was the nicer one on the ground floor of the Guild, and its use as a more impressive showroom showed. The furniture was richer, and the room much larger, with expansive plush seats facing a huge desk that was completely clear except for a tidy pile of papers on Mathilde's left. "Um," I said. "I haven't, no," I admitted. "Is it anything like the boy who cried wolf?" "Is the story about…
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42 •
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Cholondee was expecting us, I think. When we arrived in the rougher parts of town, and especially close to Cholondee's place, we found a bunch of grenoil hurriedly cleaning the buildings and streets. There was a serious and concentrated effort going on to sweep away dust and polish things up. To my eye, as a professional cleaner, their efforts wouldn't be enough to make the city like-new. This part of the city was rough-rough, and it needed more than a bit of cleaning to shine, but it was certainly…
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42 •
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My breathing sped up as I took in the bookshop. The broken glass, the piles of books rudely tossed aside, the distinct lack of Booksie. This wasn't good. We had to save Booksie! I had to find a friend to help me save her! Who did I go to first? There were my friends, but they were spread out. The Guild? Cholondee? We had a meeting with her later, for tea. Abraham? No, Rhawrexdee! Booksie was his fiancee... only I didn't know where to find him. I blinked and realized that there were a few tears…
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42 •
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The next morning came quick! After chatting with Cholondee for a few hours, we had made our way back to the We arrived just before the Scallywags returned, all three of them loaded down with stuff. They'd bought new clothes and sundries and a few things they guessed might be useful on the We had a big lunch together, then Steve and Gordon left just as it was getting dark. Even Clive went with them, saying that he'd keep an eye on the two while hopping over to an old sailor's pub he enjoyed. I ended…
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42 •
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“Introducing, her royal eminence, queen of ze shadows, ze light, and all ze shades in between. Ze great warlizard, ze eater of people who don’t pay zeir fines on time and who talk during plays, Daughter of Port Royal, Queen of ze underground, Mistress of Mystique, Sovereign of Secrecy, and Wielder of Wisdom. Ze Guardian of Gold, ze Doyenne of Diamonds, and ze Tyrant of Treasures. Defender of ze downtrodden, punisher of perpetrators, and ze undying flame in ze heart of ze abyss. Slayer of sirens,…
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42 •
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“Thank you again,” I said to Mathilde as we exited her little office. The grenoil lady nodded her head. “It’s my job.” I was nodding when I noticed Amaryllis turning with a frown. “No it’s not,” she said. “The Exploration Guild’s purpose is surveying, cartography, dungeon-delving, exploration assistance, and -- on rare occasions -- diplomacy. I don’t see how interfering in international politics is the purview of the Explorations Guild.” Mathilde raised one brow. “Really? There…
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42 •
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“Haha! You’re here!” I found myself grinning at the welcome. The Exploration Guild was just as I remembered. A big room with a huge fireplace, shelves laden with artifacts, a well-stocked bar, and of course, a multitude of old men and women sitting around and not doing very much exploring. At this rate, it might have been more accurate to call it the Old Gossips’ Guild. But that would have maybe been a bit rude. “Hi Uncle,” Awen said with a bob of her head. Abraham hopped out of his seat…
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42 •
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Booksie ended up spending the night on the When we arrived, arms loaded up with boxes of stuff that Awen had picked out, we discovered that we had been followed. At some point, some local grenoil had taken to tailing us across the city. Calamity was the first to spot them, but there wasn’t much we could do. They’d hop away if we approached them and they generally kept out of the way. At the I helped my friends and Booksie set down the things we’d bought so that Awen could sort through it all,…
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“Thank you,” Caprica said to a nice sylph who came by and placed a tray of little finger foods onto the table in the centre of the room, right where everyone sitting around it could reach. The young sylph’s face went red and he bowed towards Caprica twice before scampering out of the room. “Are they all like that?” Amaryllis asked as she looked over the contents of the plate, then picked out one of the snacks. Caprica sighed. “They are, yes. The sylph in Port Royal are only a small minority…
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