Chapter 8

It was hard to keep track of time like I used to when I’d always been able to keep a working phone on me, but by my estimate, I had to have spent at least two hours camped out by the end of that bridge. Nobody tried to talk to me, which was good since I didn’t want to talk to anyone else either. I was in a foul mood. Worst of all was that I only had myself to blame for getting thrown out of the church. Ferrith had warned me about lying. I guess I didn’t realize how naturally it came to me. The lie was out of my lips before I’d even considered the repercussions.

The idea of just walking off the side of the bridge into the swirling eddies of the river below crossed my mind more than once. I already knew I was doomed to die and living my last days as a street bum in a foreign world felt about as appetizing as eating cow dung. Why not just get it over with? Without even the ability to feel pain since the priest had used that device on me, I was struggling to even come up with a downside. Hope, maybe? Hope that there was still a way out of this place? Yeah. Hope stopped me. But so did embarrassment. The idea of everyone looking at me as I stepped up to the railing of the bridge was mortifying. Maybe… I could wait until the middle of the night, I decided. When nobody was around. If Ferrith didn’t show up by then, I’d—

Ka-chink!

A wizened old lady walking by with a stoop in her shoulder tossed a small handful of gold coins at my feet. I could tell she was old by the wrinkles on her face, though her hair looked as healthy and black as any other rissian. She smiled and gave me a little wave as she continued by.

“Uh, thanks?” I said to her. I wasn’t sure how to react. She probably didn’t even understand what I said. To my surprise, the coins looked like real gold. No larger than a dime, but gold. There were three of them, each with the same face on one side and an X on the other. I tried to guess what that much gold would be worth on Earth. Less than $100, surely… but not a lot less. That got me thinking about what I could spend the money on. Travel to this “Oxenraith” place still seemed like a good bet, but I didn’t have the first clue about where that was or how to get there. What I needed to find was a single other person who could understand English. My best bet seemed to be to head down to the busy part of town near that bronze-domed building called the “Porter’s”. If I walked around long enough, I figured I was bound to pass someone with another Tongues Brand that could understand me.

I put the coins in my pocket, tucked the blanket and bedroll under my arm, and headed across the bridge. At the other side, I found Ferrith leaning against the support pillar, looking bored. He perked up when he saw me. He was pretty easy to spot; being the only person I’d yet to see wearing a full set of blue-scaled armor. “Finally done?” he asked. “Took you long enough. I was about ready to send someone down to look for you.”

“How long were you waiting here?” I demanded.

Ferrith shrugged. “0.94 hours? Why?”

“I’ve been waiting for you for twice that long!” I shouted. I pointed down the bridge. “At the other end.” I was a little annoyed, but more than that, I was relieved that he’d actually come back for me.

“Well, why would I wait for you there?” Ferrith asked in a tone that suggested the mix-up was my fault. “You know I don’t want to go anywhere near the church, don’t you?” He shrugged. “No sense picking at an old scab. Let’s go.” He turned and headed down the street, toward the bronze-domed building.

“You know, I really thought you weren’t going to come back for me,” I admitted to Ferrith, as I followed him. To our right, we passed a three story building shaped like a brick that took up an entire city block. The stone of the building was a different hue than the surrounding buildings, enough red mixed in to make the comparison to a brick all the more fitting.

“I have to take you to Clarice, remember? How did things go after I left? Did they ask about me? Did you tell them anything?”

“Yeah, that Brother Marcus asked if you had a mask. I told him you didn’t.”

“Huh. Yeah, he’s asked me that before. Did they at least cure you?”

I sighed. “No…” I didn’t feel like giving him the full explanation. That would be too close to reliving the disappointment.

“Well, at least they gave you shoes,” Ferrith said, not sounding the least bit concerned for my predicament.

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but… you know that receiving a cure for a terminal illness is better than a pair of shoes, right?”

“And getting shoes is better than nothing,” Ferrith countered. He had me there. “Sorry, it didn’t work out. I’ve never been to them for healing, but I’ve always heard the church can cure anything. Strange that they would lie about that.”

“Oh, they could cure it,” I explained, “but in exchange, I would have to serve Marketh for the rest of my life. I wasn’t willing to make that trade.”

“Good call,” Ferrith agreed.

We reached the busy part of town and had to slow down to account for foot traffic. “Where exactly are we going?” I asked Ferrith over the sound of incomprehensible babbling from a dozen languages I couldn’t understand.

“I’m taking you to see Clarice, remember? We just have one errand to run before I drop you off.”

I remembered vaguely that Ferrith had mentioned he wanted to take me to someone that could help me get back home. “Oh, because I actually got a lead from Father Koril on a good place to check out about possibly getting my cancer cured. If Clarice is going to take me home, I’d like to go there first.”

“Go where?”

“Oxenraith University. Apparently they study Skills. They might have a combination of Skills that could cure me.”

Ferrith glanced over his shoulder at me, eyes narrowed. “Did I not tell you Clarice is an associate professor at Oxenraith?”

“No. She is? That’s perfect!”

“Well, yeah, they study Skills. She says intelligent creatures that get summoned here from other worlds always end up with unique Skills. Why do you think she wanted me to bring you to her?”

“Oh,” I said, feeling oddly betrayed despite not having a strong justification for feeling that way. Of course, this random stranger wasn’t helping me out of the goodness of her heart. “Well, what’s this errand we have to do? Where are you taking me?”

“The Brokers,” Ferrith answered. “They’re on the South side.”

“Do you mean the Power Brokers? Where you buy Brands?”

“Yup,” Ferrith confirmed. “The university doesn’t want to deal with you not being able to talk to anyone, so unless you have an objection to it, we’re going to get you your first Brand today.”

“Will it hu—umm, yeah, I don’t have a problem with it.” Out of habit, I’d almost asked if the Brand would hurt. It would take some time to get used to not having to worry about pain anymore. I was honestly feeling the best I had in a while. I didn’t have to deal with pain medication anymore? And they were apparently going to turn me into a polyglot? Things were looking up again. Even thinking about how I’d seriously considered walking off that bridge a few hours ago made me feel embarrassed. I still had plenty to live for. For now…

We continued past the busy square bustling with rissians. I admired the makeshift merchant stalls set up around the perimeter. A few of the merchants shouted at us when they caught me looking, but between Ferrith’s apathy and my incomprehension, we had no reason to stop. Ferrith led us onto a street with proper merchant shops. They were selling a lot of things I’d expected to find, like clothes, jewelry, food, weapons. There were also things I hadn’t expected, like animal bones, and these short little green-skinned creatures that barely came up to my waist. I saw a few of them chained up in front of a shop, though I couldn’t tell why. On this more affluent street of shops, we passed a squad of soldiers out on patrol. They wore the same cushioned outfits with red-liveried tabards I’d seen on the city guard. They gave Ferrith a respectful nod, which was a welcome change from how the church had greeted him. But… then the merchant shops ended, and we kept walking. To my eye, it looked like we’d gone past the last of the shops and were now walking through a residential neighborhood.

“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” I asked.

“Are you questioning my ability to navigate?” Ferrith asked. “Did you tour the city while I was gone? Do you want to lead the way?”