“To extol our bravery, while a great many people bought us drinks. It turns out that once inebriated, Rufus has a lovely singing voice. He’d have made a fine bard.”
“Rufus is an eagle-brained idiot,” Azarin said. “You didn’t mention anything to anyone about there being a secret hidden chamber no other adventurers have ever known about before, did you?”
“Me? No. Of course not. Rufus, however… That may have been one of the verses in his song. And unfortunately, this particular pub is in the Slump, is rather popular, and caters to clients from mercenary and adventuring companies.”
“Trax.”
“Yes, Carnavon?”
“Let the record show that if we get robbed, it’s Rade’s fault.”
“I will be sure that goes on the sphere.”
“Apologies, my friends. I thought we’d only drawn the attention of one wrathful criminal entity, not several… My inadvertent storytelling in pursuit of free drinks and the attention of attractive young ladies aside, it is possible that if someone were to take word of our expedition as a sign that there’s still treasure on the island, that they might leave quickly in order to reach it before we do.”
I’d not even thought of that. I’d been thinking more like a trapper than an adventurer, because if I was evil and wanted to steal some time magical item, I’d let other fools bleed to get it for me, and then jump them on the way out.
“You let Rufus play song bird last night. If other adventurers left as soon as they heard, they could already be there. Carcalla gave us until Waterday to hit the island, but if he finds out there was time magic there all along, and we were sitting here with our thumbs stuck up our asses while it got hauled off by someone else first, we’re getting evicted for sure… and by evicted, I mean evicted fromlife. We’ve got to gonow.”
“I shall rally the troops!” Rade ran toward the door, then thought better of it and returned to bang his fist on the table again. “Meeting is adjourned.”
Krachma sullenly finished his bowl of oatmeal and stood up. “Krachma will fetch his mace.”
As everyone left to gather their things, I had an idea. “Hey, Trax. We’ve got to walk to the bay and then find a boat to take us across. Could you swim down the canal fast and keep an eye on the island until we get there? Then you can let us know if anyone else showed up first.”
“That is a splendid idea. If there are other adventurers present, would you like me to eat them?”
“Hold off on the eating people until I arrive, alright? And be careful. Don’t get too close. I don’t want you to get hurt. The island’s got those unidentified monsters living around it.”
“Can I eat the dangerous monsters?”
“Use your best judgment on that.”
And it wasn’t until after Trax was gone that I realized how incredibly dangerous it might be to tell a hungry Squalo touse his best judgmenton whether he should devour something or not.
Nineteen
Morton the gnome had to run to keep up with my fast walk. “Don’t you think at least one of us should stay here to watch over the academy, Mr. Carnavon?”
“No, Morton. Everyone needs to pitch in on this one.”
“But, but, what if thieves come and plunder the Tube while we’re out?”
“What’re they going to steal? Bognar’s homemade furniture?”
Not that leaving behind our gnome would scare off any serious thieves anyway. He was tiny, couldn’t fight, and had no offensive magic to speak of. Hell, our ghosts were more of a deterrent against thieves than Morton.
“We’re not taking everything of value with us.”
“We’re taking most of our element. I’ve already hidden my remaining components. If you’re worried about your personal belongings, pull up the rope ladder to the barracks, and someone can get back up there with anAscendwhen we return.”
“I really don’t know if this is a good idea, sir. My family are merchants specializing in the auctioning of exotic animals and weneverleft the compound unguarded. To do so was practicallyinviting disaster! Vandals could unlock the cages and let the livestock free!”
“We don’t havelivestock.” The poor little fellow was just trying to shirk the dangerous parts, but I hadn’t been joking when I’d said everyone needed to start pulling their weight around here, and he didn’t even weigh that much. “Morton, the very survival of the academy is at stake. You know some spells. You can pull a trigger. You’ll be fine.”
“But what if I’m slain by monsters? Or speared upon some horrible trap?”
“Then you wouldn’t be fine, so don’t do that.” We were almost to the front door. “In the meantime, go help Azarin organize the supplies.”
