Vanya's Journals: The SearchVanya's leather-bound journal continues in her flowing script. As always, neither date nor signature adorns the pages. The only identifying mark is Vanya's five-pointed star at the end of the entry. There are only a handful of pages left before the writing disappears. You aren't looking forwards to the end of Vanya's journals, but still, you read onwards, curious as to what happened to the girl. Time seems to go faster as you get older. I don't know why, but I heard talk about it around the fires, back when I was a skulker lurking in the halls of the fortress. Some dwarves claim it's a little bug growing in your head, and it messes with your "internal time bells". It sounds like something Mr Frog would call "nonsensical pseudoscience". Other people say that your brain slows down as you get older. I don't know if this makes sense or not... I seem to faintly recall seconds passing by quicker when I was a child - it seemed I had to say "one blood-sacrifice, two blood-sacrifice, three-blood -sacrifice" so, so much slower than I find natural now, when I was counting seconds. I'm currently 21, I think... or possibly 20... it's hard to know when you don't know what day your birthday is.
There's a third theory, though, that makes more sense to me: that you experience time by events you remember, and you remember unfamiliar events better than familiar ones. This might explain why I remember helping Talvi so vividly, even two years later... and why the day-to-day life with Mr Frog seems to speed by so quickly, though the days themselves seem slow.
It's been several months since my last entry, and a lot has happened at Spearbreakers... Reudh is the new overseer now, for one thing. He insists everyone call him "Lord Reudh", but I think that's silly. I'd prefer to say just "Reudh".
Mr Frog has trained me extensively in his field - he's also discovered that I'm apparently very good with mechanics and masonry... I'm not really sure why. It just comes easier to me than theoretical neurodynamics.
Not much noteworthy happened until one afternoon in early Spring. Mr Frog had told me earlier that something was up, and that Count Splint had ordered all the Ballpoint soldiers out of the fortress... He said a lot of them were injured, but he didn't say why. I decided to find out for myself. I'll admit that I was also more wanting to know why exactly Wari had thought it acceptable to force a girl to kill dozens of people that she didn't even know. Those murders I committed still haunt my nightmares at times... I wish I'd never remembered it.
That afternoon, after Mr Frog left, I took a hooded cloak out of my room and put it on. I figured it might be wise to hide my face, just in case Ballpoint soldiers were still around, and my ears needed to stay hidden regardless. With them tucked carefully away beneath my hood, I left Mr Frog's laboratory and walked down the door-lined, torchlit corridors.
On my way to the stairs, I passed several dwarves who caught my attention... One I remember in particular seemed like he didn't have a friend in the world... I felt a little sorry for him, honestly. Another was a redheaded girl... She seemed oddly muscular... but there was something wrong with her shadow... I don't know what, really. It just spooked me a bit. What spooked me most was when I happened to pass Paintbrushturkey, who had been overseer while I'd been imprisoned. He had a mohawk and a horseshoe mustache... he looked absolutely brutal. It's small wonder he was able to whip the army into shape so quickly during his reign.
Soon, without seeing a single Ballpoint soldier, I reached the hospital level. The walls had been smoothed and engraved since I'd seen them last, and they looked very beautiful... even if most of the scenes
were of dwarves dying miserably in combat with zombies and Holistic’s Spawn. I also saw a great number of cavy engravings... Talvi had been one of the artists. She’s a lot better than she used to be.
As I approached the hospital itself, though, I heard the deep-voiced yelling of an angry dwarf. I was curious to see what was going on, but more than that, I wanted to find Wari. If she was anywhere, I was
sure she'd be in the hospital. Sneaking in through the double doors, I hid myself among the rows of coffins at the northern end of the room.
"GET YOUR FILTHY MUCK-STAINED HANDS AWAY!" the deep-voiced dwarf roared, threatening to fling a doctor to the other side of the room.
Mitchewawa was there, too, attempting to calm everyone down. "Just put him down! That's a good soldier. We don't need to build a hospital for our docs, now, do we?"
"Don't patronize me!" With that, the doctor went flying across the room with a scream, landing in a heap on a hospital bed and rolling off onto the floor. "Tell these idiots to keep their meddling hands off of me, Mitch! It's just a scratch, as I told you before. My kidneys don't need removed, my blood proof is fine, and there's no reason to amputate my arm! Get these fools away!" Blood and gore coated the dwarf, and it looked like she’d wrapped intestines tightly around one arm, almost like a self-improvised bandage. I guessed it was a she, because the dwarf didn’t have a beard.
"Everyone, stand back and remain calm, please," Mitchewawa called out, holding his arms up and waving the advancing doctors back. "Let's just let our little recruit calm down a bit."
"Recruit?!" the dwarf yelled angrily. I winced, sure that Mitchewawa was going to be the next one sent airborne. Fortunately, at that moment, another dwarf burst in through the doors noisily, clad in full adamantine armor. I recognized him at once: it was Jack Magnus. Everybody knew about him: he was handsome as anything with how neatly he kept his brownish hair, and capable (or so the rumors said) of defeating goblins sieges single-handedly.
"So is it really true?" he asked with a grin, looking around at the cowering doctors with a humorous expression. "Did the great Fischer really get injured?"
"Shut up, Magnus," she growled, taking off a boot and shaking a few dozen teeth out onto the floor. "It's just a scratch. If Count Splint hadn't ordered me to check in at the hospital, I wouldn't be down here at all."
Jack Magnus grinned even wider. "So it's true! Fischer, the Incredible Superdwarf, the Culler of Horrors and Ender of Reigns, really
was wounded in combat!" If he'd been anyone else, I would've though he had a death wish, teasing Fischer the way he was.
"Not my fault," she growled, giving Jack Magnus a glare that probably could've melted obsidian. "I was asleep, unarmed, un
armored and there were
twenty of them! And the scratch was from when the bed splintered when I tried to use it as a war hammer. I'd like to get my hands on the fool mason that designed it..."
Jack whistled slowly. "Really... Just twenty? Those foreigners weren't really so bright after all, were they?" He rolled his eyes, as if at their stupidity. "Any idea why they were after you in the first place?"
"No," Fischer said bluntly. "But several of them screamed 'the P.E.A. lied' as I was bisecting them."
"If you'd had a weapon on you, they wouldn't even have managed to say that," Jack Magnus chuckled. "PEA... Any idea what that could mean?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Fischer gave an approaching doctor the finger, and he lost consciousness, falling to the floor in a dead faint. "Anyway, I'll see you later, Jack. I have business to take care of." With this, she stormed out of the room.
Everything quieted down after that. A couple dwarves walked in with dustpans and started sweeping all the loose teeth off the floor, while Jack Magnus went over to talk to Mitchewawa. I couldn't hear them, but I walked quietly out of my corner towards the middle of the room, looking about for Wari. The only problem was that she didn't seem to be there.
I didn’t have long to wait before Jack Magnus seemed to finish his conversation. "See you later, Mitch," he said, walking towards the door. Mitchewawa turned away and started talking to the medical staff. From across the room, I thought I was able to make out the name "Wari". I perked up and listened intently.
"- few months. Why do you ask?" a nurse was replying.
"The hospital seems somewhat under populated, mate. Where have all our docs gone off to?" Mitchewawa asked. "And why does everyone have a Johnny Bravo hairstyle?!"
"Under populated? This is between shifts -
everyone is here! But not for long - I get off in five minutes."
"Hey there, sweetheart. Everything all right?" a nearby voice said, startling me so badly I fell over.
It was Jack Magnus, and he was talking to
me. "I... I don't..." I stuttered, trying to regain my wits. He's handsome and friendly, but somewhat intimidating at the same time... then again, soldiers always put me on edge at first. Well... except for Urist.
Jack Magnus chuckled and helped me to my feet. "Hey, easy, girl! I didn't mean to startle you." He gave me a friendly, charming smile. "Just wondering if you're all right - you look off your game. I know just about everybody here in Spearbreakers - I like to keep on top of things, you see. I haven't seen you around before - you new here, or...?"
"Yes... no... well, sort of..." I said, groping for words. I worried he’d figure out who I was, if he kept staring at me like he was. "It's all right, though. I'm just looking for someone." It wasn't a lie, and it wasn't a very clever attempt to get him to leave. It actually had the opposite effect.
He gave me a helpful smile. "Well, I'm the man to ask, then. Who might it be? Did you come down here to see if the Almighty Fischer was wounded, too?" He grinned, giving me a wink.
I couldn't help but smile at his jest. "Well, not exactly... I'm looking for someone named 'Wari'... do you know where she is?"
He looked at me curiously for a moment. "No... I'm curious, though... why would you be asking?"
That froze me in my tracks. I didn't really have an answer ready. "I... I just want to ask her a few questions."
He gave me a long, serious gaze. "Interesting... You know, this is the second time today that someone came asking for Wari. The first time was a dark-haired fellow. Haven't really seen him much before... He reminds me of those foreigners, really." A grin slowly crept over his face at that thought. "Boy, we really sent them packing, didn't we?" he laughed.
"Yes, you did..." I gave a polite smile to mask my nervousness. "Do you... Might you know who he was? Or where he went?"
"Sure thing, sweetheart," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder and leading me out of the hospital. Then, pointing down the hallway: "Straight thataway, and take a left to the stairs. Go all the way down to the forges - every time I've seen him, he's been around there. The name's Draconik, I think."
Now I had a lead. "Thank you," I said, smiling genuinely. I'd never thought such a strong warrior could be so good-natured. He seemed bright, too. "I'm very grateful for your help, Mr. Magnus."
He tilted his head a bit and nodded. "Just call me Jack," he said with a disarming smile. "And what can I call you?"
"Vanya." I blurted it out before I even thought about it. At his confused expression, I added quietly, "My parents hated me..." I hoped it would explain the elvish name.
He laughed. "It's no problem, still a nice name, and not one you hear very often. See you later, sweetheart."
I felt myself warming to him. "Thank you, Jack," I said gratefully, starting down the hallway at a quick pace.
"Oh, and Vanya!" he called out. My face burned with embarrassment... I really wish I hadn't told him my name. "If you do find Wari, let me know where she's gotten herself off to, will you?"
I glanced back at him for a moment to nod, but he'd already turned and started walking towards the dining room.
My second trip to the forges felt longer than the first. I'm pretty sure I heard a few restless spirits whispering about in the graveyard as I passed through... who puts a graveyard halfway down a staircase, anyway?
I soon passed Simon Tam's room and saw several people hauling out furniture. When I asked what was going on, they replied, "Simple - Dr. Tam isn't mayor anymore." I didn't really have anything to say about that, and continued onwards.
It wasn't long before I reached the forges. There were several dwarves hammering away at armor, and a couple more smelting ore, but I didn't see anyone "strange". I did see Talvi, though, finishing a beautiful iron helm. I started towards her to say hello, but I hardly managed more than three steps.
"I heard you were looking for me," a man intoned ominously from behind. Leaping away reflexively, I spun around and found myself looking into a shadowed face topped with neat black hair. "Calm yourself. I did not mean to startle you..." He had a slow, menacing voice, and he appeared oddly thin. He was wearing a white lab coat like Mr Frog's.
I backed away from him anyway, wishing his face wasn’t concealed in the shadows. "Who are you?" I asked. "Are you Draconik?"
For what seemed like the longest time, he didn't respond, only looking me over. "That is what they call me here, yes... And why are you looking for Wari?"
I didn't answer.
Something doesn't seem right about this dwarf, I thought.
News can't possibly travel that fast. The only way he could know what I was talking to Jack Magnus about only minutes before is if... "You're from Parasol, aren't you?" I asked suspiciously, glancing around for something to defend myself with.
"You get straight to the point," he mused, removing a device from his cloak. "A good quality. But hush, not so loud here. I haven't finished disabling all the cameras. If you know of Parasol, I assume you also know of Ballpoint..." He held the device - a PEA - up towards me, and a brief flash of light blinded my eyes.
"Vanya Carena, Parasol sleeper agent..." he said, seeming puzzled. "But your file says you haven't been activated... so how could you know of Parasol?"
"I
have been activated," I whispered hotly. "I remember
murdering dozens of Ballpoint agents, right here in the forges."
Draconik leveled a piercing gaze in my direction, peering at me curiously as if I was some sort of specimen under a microscope. His dark eyes almost made me shiver. "Now, that isn't right..." he muttered, almost to himself. "You shouldn't remember that, had you truly been activated." He stepped forwards quickly, throwing back my hood before I could react. "Elf ears... But Sleeper technology oriented towards your species doesn't exist..."
I flushed, more with anger than embarrassment, and pulled my hood roughly back over my head. "Keep your hands off me," I whispered.
He ignored it. "What business do you have with Wari? What questions?"
"I want to know why she made me kill so many Ballpoint agents."
His response was quick and concise. "She couldn't have. It's not the Parasol way. We have regulations, you know. What's more, your files clearly state that you have
not been activated."
"But she
did activate me," I protested. Then I hesitated, thinking up a quick lie. "I'm a secret project. I'm the first elf sleeper. They would've kept me hidden from any of the unclassified files that
you'd be able to access, and -"
"Silence!" Draconik commanded in a quiet, forceful tone. I stopped in mid-sentence. "You should show respect in the presence of your superiors, agent. I am of higher rank than you assume. Clearly, yes, you have been activated to a certain extent, but I would venture a guess that your memory alteration failed, as it always has with our attempts with your species."
"But -"
"Nonetheless," he continued, speaking over me, "I am bound by duty to turn you in... But perhaps there's something you could do for me... A favor of sorts...
“I wonder if I might ask: A transdimensional being with his eye on Spearbreakers... has a company of his own, separate from Ballpoint and Parasol... who am I thinking of?"
I was silent.
"His name starts with J..." Draconik prompted.
I had to force the name to my lips. "Joseph of Eris," I whispered.
A slow smile spread over the dwarf's face, and he stroked his long beard, deep in thought. "Indeed, you are correct. You may have information I might find useful..."
"I must speak to Wari," I replied firmly.
"Of course, agent. But when you return... I would like information on her whereabouts, as well as any information you could provide me on Joseph. Is that acceptable to you?"
I nodded cautiously. "You don't know where Wari is, either?"
"No. But I know where a man who
does know resides... Regretfully, he distrusts me too much to give me any clues. He considers me one of quote 'them'. I do not believe he's fully sane. He is certainly not well-balanced."
"Who is it?"
"Orodogoth, soap maker."
"But... Spearbreakers doesn't have any soap..."
"Precisely."
I soon found myself in the long, unfinished hallway that led to the abandoned hospital. Draconik had informed me that Orodogoth would most likely be 'hiding' near the soapmaker's workshop, which someone had decided to build far from the rest of the fortress.
There was a strange, foul smell in the air, emanating from a room ahead of me... it smelled like waste, acid, and rotting meat... mixed with pepper and paprika. It made me want to sneeze, but I did my best not to, walking onwards to the doorway. When I got there, I looked around the corner cautiously. "Orodogoth..." I called quietly. "Are you here?"
An odd-looking dwarf jumped out, flinging sand at my face with what amounted to a battle cry: "Pocket sand!" I turned my head away and felt the fine grains hit the side of my hood, but a little got past.
"Cut it out!" I cried out, trying to brush the painful substance out of my eye. "I just wanted to ask you a few questions!" Turning back, I took a quick look at him. He was incredibly twig-like, with a scrawny beard and an orange cap that seemed completely out-of-place with his dark purple cloak.
"And how do you know my name?" he spoke in a suspicious monotone, narrowing his eyes. "You're with
them, aren't you..."
"I'm not with anybody!"
"So you say..." he said, glaring at me. "And yet you speak my name in broad daylight... ...or moonlight... whichever may be the case..." He grunted and continued in his slow monotone. "The walls have ears, you know... and eyes. And mouths, too, if they feel like it..." He gave me a jittery glance, taking out a pipe and sticking it between his lips. "Would
you like us to be eaten by a wall?" he growled.
"What?" I asked, looking at him blankly. Draconik had been right: this guy was nuts.
He jumped back a pace, grabbing something off the floor. "Sh-sh-sh-sha! Say hello to the Allegro X9J, code name 'Redeemer': 73 decibels of hyper-silenced quad-barrel war cry, capable of blasting a ten-foot hole through solid rock, and all at a price I can't really afford."
I looked at Orodogoth curiously for a moment. Finally, I said, "That's a log."
He held it up and caressed its "barrel". "You only
think it's a log. And so it looks to the untrained eye. I can look at it and see the most powerful handgun ever devised." It was almost comical.
"How do
you know about guns? I don't think you'd kill me, anyway, and guns kill people."
"Wrong," he said flatly, puffing on his pipe. "The
government kills people." Saying this, he tossed his log to the side. "...and yes, it's a log," he admitted quietly, before drawing himself up with importance. "But yes... I am the All-Powerful Orodogoth, maker of soaps, both fine and deadly."
I had to try really hard not to laugh at him. "Can't I just call you 'Orod'?” I asked, half-teasing. "Your name's a bit of a mouthful."
"Can I call
you Xel-ca Crr'smabeth Chrr’r, Evil Mantis Queen Overlord of Scyk-bek?" In response to my raised eyebrow, he narrowed his eyes again, continuing with satisfaction, "My point is made."
"Mantis Queen?"
"One of
them.
All government figures are actually giant insects in disguise. If you'd seen what I've seen..." He leaned awkwardly against the wall and blew a crooked smoke ring. "...then you'd think twice before falling into their traps."
"Are you serious?" I laughed. "What about Count Splint?"
He nodded slowly, adjusting his cap. "If he wasn't before, he is now. Scythods, they call them. Scaly green skin, and the eyes... oh gods, the eyes..." He took another puff, looking thoughtful. "...I never actually saw the eyes."
"Okay... Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," he replied, smiling with a grim amusement, "but will I answer?"
"Yes?"
Orodogoth laughed nasally. "Ha ha ha. Of course not, you twit. I'd be more likely to join
them."
My heart sank at his mockery, but then I got an idea. "I could tell Splint what you know about him..."
"You wouldn't," he said, but I could hear the doubt in his voice. "You're bluffing - they'd kill you, too."
"Maybe I don't care if they do." I honestly didn't believe Splint was a bug at all, and I'm very sure Orodogoth was making the whole thing about the Scythods up... though it's possible he believed it himself. He was just that crazy.
He looked at me for quite a while, puffing on his pipe with crossed arms as he thought. "Hmm... You know... I think you might be crazy, Xel-ca..." he said in the same gravelly monotone, "And not in a good way, like how that cockroach felt after I swapped its blood with dwarven ale..."
"You did
what??"
He narrowed his eyes and shifted his weight. "I could tell you... but then I'd have to kill you."
"I thought you said only the government kills people," I said, pointing out a flaw in his logic.
"That's what they
want you to think. Now... what is this 'question' you want to ask, Xel-ca?"
Finally, I thought. "I'm just wondering where Wari is. Do you know?"
He gave me a glare. "So you
are with 'them'... I thought so... You believed you could just waltz up and kill us, but then, so did
he!" he exclaimed somewhat menacingly, pointing towards the center of the room. I followed his finger, only to see a frog impaled upside-down on a stick.
It was getting a little too weird for my tastes. "I'm not a bug, I'm not the government, and I'm not 'them'."
"Prove it." He paused, and then smirked triumphantly. "You can't, can you... I didn’t think you could. I have the perfect soap for you, my egg-laying friend... It's pretty and pink... and filled with insecticide." He threw open a nearby chest and started rummaging through it, muttering.
I could only think of one way to “prove it” to him, and I didn’t like it. Still… I didn’t see that I had a choice. Glancing away for a second and feeling awkward, I threw back my hood with a sigh. I could almost sense Orodogoth's gaping stare, and I felt my cheeks redden.
"Oh... You're an
elf... A tree hippie." He stared at me nervously. "You're not going to eat me, are you?"
"I
don't eat people."
He narrowed his eyes. "That's what they
all say... but at least you're not an insect... Things would've gotten messy if you had been. Still, I have the perfect soap for you, my wood-loving friend..."
I sighed. I was tired of stereotypes. It was bad enough being an elf, even without everyone assuming things about you. "I'm just as much a dwarf as you, except for my ears." Putting my hood back on, I tucked my hair into it carefully, asking, "Can you
please tell me where Wari is now?"
"Oh, yes... yes... right... She's in my headquarters." He shifted his eyes around nervously, and then slammed the chest shut, shuffling past me and peering out into the hallway. I watched him quietly. Finally, he appeared satisfied, turning back to me. "Can you talk in code?" he whispered.
"What?"
"Code... we need to talk in code. And keep your voice down!" He glared at me, and then started walking overcautiously across the room, motioning for me to follow. As he went, he began muttering quietly over his shoulder, "The teddy bear is in the trumpet; my legs are worth more than toothbrushes filled with cyanide; and buckets of ore will be our administrators. Your ears are very large."
"My ears are -" I whispered, but he cut me off, interrupting my protesting with a sharp hiss.
"Shhhhhh! We're almost there..." He tiptoed a few more steps, and then knelt, pulling open a floor hatch. He continued his slow muttering, staring at me piercingly. "The chickadee is under the statue; the cheesecandy is everywhere; your face looks like a honey badger. ...Comprende?" He said this last in a long, slow monotone. He obviously expected me to understand, but I didn't understand a thing he'd said.
"Could you speak plainly?" I asked plaintively.
He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Gods, it's like talking to a lunatic. Just get down there."
Walking over to the hatch, I started down the ladder beneath it. I only hoped the madman above me was right, and Wari was actually below me.
☆
Poll
55 (71.4%)
Author
Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2279874 times)