Despite the eerie entrance, once you got through that ring of trees, the hills were grassy and pleasant. Tall grass and wildflowers swayed in the wind and basked in the early afternoon sun. But the town sat under a wall of shadow, enveloped in the shade of the large cliffside behind it. The sheer rock wall leading to the Cardinal Plateau was several times taller than the one near Parroia, and I had to crane my neck to try to glimpse the top. Thankfully, here there weren’t any caves that I could see. If there were, I was sure this town would have them cleared on a regular basis.
Barrowdown was a small town, not nearly the size of Parroia, and a mere ant next to the bigger river ports and train depots back East, let alone the big cities. But it wasn’t a tiny little village. They did have walls to ward off monsters, though not as tall as Parroia’s. Not even a story tall if I had to guess and made of the same red rock as the bluffs. There was one main road of hard rocky soil and gravel, an avenue lined with pale stone homes and shops. There were side streets beyond the main route through town, but Nell didn’t lead us down those.
It didn’t feel busy, but I was used to the bustle of the Parroia market or the rush of miners at the end of the workday. I could see beyond the walls, and against the cliffs, there was a mining camp. Perhaps most of the people were there. Or maybe it was simply because this wasn’t as big of a town. It also wasn’t a train stop, so they didn’t get frequent stops from people coming and going from east to west and vice versa.
Our first stop was the sheriff’s office, a wide, flat roofed building, low ceilinged and with bars over the windows. Out front, a couple of horses were hitched to a ring, a water trough at their feet. The entrance to the lockup had a slanted red-tile awning that stretched across the wide front fa?ade of the building. Several chairs and rocking chairs sat there, but only one was occupied by a large deputy. His belly strained against his gray shirt and white hide vest. His dark skin glistened with noon sweat even in the shade of the cliffs. In his left hand, a polished black iron spear stood tall and proud, the tip almost grazing the awning.
He spat into a spittoon before he noticed us coming from the main road. He rocked forward and used the momentum of the rocking chair to swing onto his feet.
“Miss Newton,” he said, his voice rough and crackly. “You’re back.” He tipped his pale leather hat.
Nell nodded. “Aye, Deputy. My friend and I dealt with the bandits. They were in the little wood off the road about a third of the way from Parroia. It’s on Hather’s River. We left them tied up there. Better hurry if you want to round them up. Gather a posse.”
I bet if I had come with this information, they would have balked at my claims, but Nell obviously commanded respect in this exchange, and the deputy didn’t hesitate.
“Yes ma’am,” he said and immediately ran inside.
“We’ll be at the tavern awaiting our reward!” she called out, and the man waved acknowledgement as he disappeared inside.
Nell turned and started up the street. I followed after her, adjusting the straps of my packs and my bludgel as I did so.
“You don’t need to speak with the sheriff?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nah, we’ve already met, and I’ve done jobs for them before. They know my word is good. The sheriff is a bit of a softy for a lawman, but he runs a tight ship. They’ll have a posse rounded up in no time. They’ll ride hard and be there and back by dinner at the latest.”
“Well, then we have a lot of time to kill.”
Her smile was wicked. “Aye, we do. And me, personally, I love my downtime.”
I remembered what her downtime used to be, namely fishing at the pond, beating up annoying boys, or gambling. There was no pond here, and I hoped she didn’t go around beating up boys anymore, child or grown. The gambling might have been a habit that persisted though. I bet she was even better now than she was then.
But we didn’t do any of that, which was a relief. Instead, Nell pulled me by the arm and dragged me along.
First, Nell was insistent that I get another card. She took me to the town’s Cardsmith. Not every town had one, of course, especially not the small villages, hovels, and farming steads, but Barrowdown was big enough and trafficked enough to warrant one. This one was on the main road like it seemed everything of note was in Barrowdown.
Not quite as grand as the dual smithies back in Parroia, this one was a squat little circular hut of a building, the roof made of the same red tile as the jailer’s awning. The roof ended in a gabled point with a small opening between the roof and the tip to allow light in and smoke out. A metal weathervane sat on top, depicting a coiled drake. I was used to seeing cockatrice vanes since they could emit electric magics and were immune to the same. But drakes also held resistance to them as well.
Nell went inside without prompting, opening the thick yellow door without so much as a knock. No one was waiting outside, and as I joined her in the hut, no one was waiting inside either, save for the Cardsmith themselves.
“G’day, Miss Merriam,” Nell said with a respectful bow.
The Cardsmith, who was a middle-aged woman with round cheeks, a kind face, and thick circular glasses, looked up from a large pile of leatherbound books and a scattering of papers across the ground.
“Oh, Miss Newton, you’ve returned! I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”
“Well, I finished that bounty right quick, and it was easier to come back west than head east. Plus, my friend here needs a new card.”
At that, she stepped aside to allow the master to see me. I bowed.
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“Griff Gunnar, ma’am. Outta Parroia just like Nell. A pleasure to meet you.”
The Cardsmith smiled, a warm sight. Her cheeks were creased with well-worn laugh lines. Her graying brown hair was tied back into an elaborate nest of ropy braids.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Griff. So, you’ve come to me from Elloy, I assume?”
“Yes, ma’am. Just got my first card yesterday.”
“Oh my, and already needing a new one? Was the first not good enough?”
I smiled a crooked grin as I scratched the back of my head. “No, it was perfectly fine. More than fine. I really like it, and also my new weapon, but it’s been made abundantly clear by the events of this fine day that I’m gonna need more than the one card I got at the moment.”
She nodded. Her eyes were dark, though the low lighting of the candlelit room and the lack of windows probably made them darker than they were.
Then she clapped her hands together quite suddenly, which made me jump. Nell either was used to this or wasn’t easily spooked, which tracked for her, but it left my cheeks feeling warm and red. Thank goodness for the dimness.
“I’d be happy to oblige you, lad. What can I do for ya?”
“Just a [Common] card for now. It’s all I can afford.”
“And a [Common] card it shall be.” She stood at last, rising to her full height, which was not much. She was very short even for a woman, but in the profession of cardsmithing, that didn’t matter at all. She put her palm out, and I obliged her with one of the [Common] fragments. Once she pocketed it, she produced her smithing stylus out of seemingly nowhere, but more than likely, it came from one of her baggy yellow-and-orange sleeves.
“Let’s begin, shall we?”
The ceremony was much the same as the one I had experienced with Master Elloy. Her stylus glowed with power and she closed her eyes as she spoke the magic words. She began to dance, more than Elloy had done. Her movements were much more fluid and acrobatic. With each turn and twist, the smoke trailed her and gathered in her wake. I noticed she didn’t use a cigarro to help facilitate like Elloy, but I knew they all had their own process.
She plucked the second fragment from my hand. From there, the process was near identical. The fragment glowed bright, joining with the smoke and growing larger until it formed a full card. Then it all died down again, the smoke rising to escape through the slats in the ceiling.
Merriam stopped dancing. She steepled her hands in front of her, my card pinned between them, her stylus gone again. She opened her eyes and smiled.
“It is done,” she said, her voice flat, almost like she was coming out of a trance.
She handed the card to me. Nell pushed close and peered around my shoulder. “Whatcha get?”
In my hands was a brand-new card. In it, an inky figure running. No, sprinting. The stylized background was a blur. Wings, or maybe they were tongues of fire, sprouted from the running figure’s feet.
It was a [Speed] card.
“Oh, a [Speed] card. That should be perfect pairing with your bludgel,” Nell said.
“I agree,” added Merriam.
I nodded. I had really wanted a [Strength] card, but [Speed] was good too. We thanked the Cardsmith, both of us bowing, and then we went on our way.
Once we were outside, I looked at my card again. This time, I really concentrated on it.
The card system in me recognized the card and pulled up the facts about it, appearing clear as day in the middle of my vision.
New Card: Speed Boost
Level: Common, Tier 1
Grants card holder increased speed when running, jumping, and / or attacking, depending on which part of the body card is used on.
Focus: Feet, Legs, Hands, Arms
Incompatibility: Head
Synergy: Stacking
I mulled it over, studying my arms and my legs. “What do you think would be better, legs or arms?” I asked Nell.
She looked at me, head tilted a bit as she hemmed and hawed. “I think to start, your upper leg. The feet will make you run the fastest, but the thigh will still give you a faster run plus allow you to jump a lot higher and farther as well. Save the hands and arms for strength or whatever else comes up. The hands are too versatile.”
Yeah, I thought about the same as she did. Plus, my [Polearm] card already gave me heightened reflexes and arm speed to some extent, so I could get away with leaving it like that for now. But on the legs, the card would help me against fast and shifty monsters or bandits and outlaws who had guns or bows.
So, I turned away from Nell, loosened my belt, and pulled my jeans open enough that I could hold the card against my leg. I saw her smirking at me with an eyebrow raised as I pressed the card to my flesh.
The feeling wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t as much of a shock as it had been for the first card. It helped that I could brace myself this time since I knew what was coming. Once that initial feeling passed, I quickly pulled my pants back up and buckled my belt again. Thankfully, there was no one really close by, aside from a few people hanging around the storefronts and tavern down the way. Even if there were people around, I wasn’t going to let something silly like modesty keep me from powering up, that was for sure.
With some excitement, I put my bags and my bludgel down next to Nell’s feet. Then I stood straighter, stretching my arms above my head, followed by bending forward to stretch my legs. I ran in place for a second to get the blood pumping.
“What are you doing?” Nell asked with the tone of a schoolteacher baffled by one of her idiot students.
“I wanna try out my [Speed] card, of course.”
She snorted. “Don’t hurt yourself, Griff. Take it slow.”
But how could I take it slow when I had Speed?
In response, I took off at a sprint. And she was absolutely right. My arms and legs carried me with a grace I had never known, and though it didn’t feel like I was moving my arms and legs faster than before, the buildings blurred around me, and the cool, shady air pressed hard against me as my legs carried me through it. My stomach twisted at the sudden change in speed, and I knew I had to slow down.
But I stopped too abruptly, and my momentum was too great, so I tumbled forward when I tried to stop and landed in the dirt with a painful thud. I knew immediately that I had torn the sleeve of my shirt and the knee of my pants because pain burned my elbow and knee on my right side.
“She’s gonna say I told you so,” I said to myself with a face full of dust.
Sure enough. “I told you so!” she yelled.
I gave her a less than polite hand gesture from my place on the ground indicating I thought she was number one. Then, I gathered myself and stood, which did hurt, but I’d been in a lot worse shape after a scrap before.
Nell still stood guard over my things. She was smiling and clearly trying to contain her laughter. “Are you okay?” she asked. I could hear the suppressed giggle just below the surface.
“Yeah, yeah.” And I was. I could mend my sleeve and pants, and I got scraped skin every week at least.
To get back to her, I braced myself this time. I took a deep breath, squatted at the knee, and then sprang forth from a standing position. My legs launched me into the air and hurled me at Nell. Too fast, too hard. I flailed my arms and legs, and only just managed to get my boots down below me to catch myself before I made more of a fool out of myself. I was doubly glad that Barrowdown was emptied out today.
Nell’s smile was warm and amused. “Satisfied with your new card, eh, Mr. Gunnar?”
I brushed the dust off my clothes with as much dignity as I could manage. I’d need to wash the dirt out of my scrapes when I got access to water.
“Yes, I am, Miss Newton, yes, I am. I need to work out the kinks, but I think Mr. Speed and I will be . . . fast friends.”
She groaned. I laughed. We both smiled. It felt like old times.
I shouldered my bag again and took up my bludgel. “Okay, I feel great. Now what?”
At that exact moment, both of our stomachs synchronized and rumbled together. I slapped a hand to my belly. She cleared her throat, her cheeks a darker shade.
“Let’s eat,” we said in unison.