Ghosts And Flames

Most jobs in Ishgar went through the guilds, which left guildless mages like Saiko picking up the scraps. Her life was not luxurious because of this, but she was able to pay for food and have a roof over her head most nights and that was enough for her. It was also why she had been so surprised to receive a job addressed directly to her.

It seemed that word of her ability to talk to spirits had started to spread among some circles, and the noble in charge of Hargeon Town had thought she might prove useful in an investigation. Carrying her doll in her arms, she walked up to a guard outside the mansion the job had indicated. “...I am here for a job.”

“We don’t hire girls your age,” the guard responded, making a shooing gesture. “Go look elsewhere if you need a job.”

Annoyed at the treatment, Saiko pulled out the job request and handed it to the guard looking at him crossly. She hated when people misunderstood her, though was not self aware enough to recognize it was usually her own fault.

“You should have said it was for a mage contract in the first place,” the guard replied tersely before letting the girl through the gate. A servant from the mansion arrived almost immediately after as if they had teleported there, causing Saiko to jump. The servant led her into the mansion and to a big fancy room with a big fancy desk occupied by a big fancy man. Like, he was huge compared to the small mage, she was actually a bit jealous.

“I am Saiko,” she stated, standing just a little straighter than she normally did. Not at all because she was intimidated, mind. “I received a job request.”

“Yes, yes,” he said with a dismissive hand. “I am aware of who you are. Though you’re much younger than I expected. Are you sure you can talk with spirits?”

Looking up at the spirit of an elderly woman hovering over the man’s shoulder, she shrugged. “Tabetha says you still don’t eat your greens properly.”

Turning pale at the mention of his mother’s name, he turned to look where she was. Of course he saw nothing. Whether he fully believed her or not, he at least seemed convinced enough to start outlining the job in more detail.

“Uh, an-anyway! There has been an increase in bandit attacks on the trade routes outside town. The caravans are found completely stripped of goods, and the merchants and the bodyguards are all found dead. We’ve already asked other mages to investigate but absolutely no clues to the perpetrators have been discovered. We suspect a mage is assisting the bandit. That is why we called you. We are hoping you can ask one of the victims and track down their hideout. I don’t expect you to actually fight them of course, we’ve also hired a more capable mage to actually take out the bandits.”

Him assuming she could not take on the bandits herself was frustrating, but she stayed quiet. Her pay had already been written into the contract, and another person would not affect it. All she hoped was that they would not prove annoying to work with. “Okay,” she said simply. “I can do that.”

“Good, good. The other mage we contracted hasn’t arrived yet, so you’ll have to wait for them. Now, I have other duties to attend to.”

With a brusqueness that bespoke of his privileged background, she was quickly shuffled out of the big fancy room into a slightly less big and fancy room. Everyone was super polite as they brought her to the room and poured her some tea, but she could tell she was seen as an outsider here. Sitting her doll next to her, Saiko sipped her tea quietly as she waited.

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Having not noticed the other girl enter the room, she jumped in her chair. Thankfully she managed not to spill her tea on herself. Puting the tea town, Saiko grabbed her doll and stood to face the newcomer hoping holding the doll close would hide the faint aura of her magic within the doll. Fully intending a cross response to the girl that had caused her to jump, she halted in her tracks as she took in the unexpected appearance.

“...cool…” Saiko said with an obvious sparkle in her eyes. The other mage appeared to be slightly older than her, but the inhuman features of her body was like nothing the younger girl had seen before. Realizing she was staring and probably making a fool of herself in the process, she pushed down her admiration.

“I’m Saiko,” she said, introducing herself. “I’m used to it. No guild mark.”

Having introduced, she took a moment to evaluate her coworker in more detail. Just based on appearance, there was little doubt the cursed girl would be able to handle a few bandits. She just radiated a kind of strength that made Saiko feel small and weak. Which, if she was being honest with herself, was the truth. It had only been a few months since she started to learn how to use her magic after all.

“I find bandits, you kill bandits,” she said, explaining the job in what she felt was sufficient detail. Intending to move past the older girl toward the door, she instead stopped and crouched down looking closely at the long, scaled tail. “...can I touch it?”

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When the other girl spoke about guilds, she could only give a small frown. “Always rejected. They say I’m creepy.”

She was used to the treatment now, but she would be lying if she said it had not hurt her feelings at first. After having been told it several times since, she had just come to accept that she was in fact a creepy girl. That was her lot in life. Her sister Suki had been the only one that really accepted her to begin with.

But that was of secondary importance now, as she had gotten permission to touch the tail. Carefully she reached out, stroking it gently. As if she might break it if she was too rough. “Pretty…” she said with a small smile on her face. The texture of the scales was nice, and the fur made it seem extra special. She had no idea how the cursed mage was seen by others, but as someone who had been prejudiced against given her magic Saiko tended to be completely accepting of others. At least until they annoyed her.

At the other girl’s statement that she would not kill anyone, she just shrugged. She thought killing the bandits was easier, both in terms of effort and preventing them from hurting others again. Besides, if they captured them and turned them over they would probably just get executed anyway. “Whatever you want.”

Having gotten her fill of petting the tail, she stood up and motioned her head to the door. The job would not get finished while they stood here, and there was always the risk of the bandits attacking someone else before they were stopped. That would probably look poorly on the two mages, so it was an outcome she would prefer to avoid.

The client had not actually told her where to go, but outside one of his guards was waiting to lead them to the most recently attacked site. When they arrived it appeared like a typical country road, other than hills and curves blocking the view of the rest of the road. A closer inspection would reveal some splintered wood and dried blood, but little else.

Saiko saw more than that. A half dozen spirits, dressed in both merchant and guard clothing, shuffled around in the daze of those recently killed. Stomping its feat in fear near them was the spirit of a horse. Apparently not even the horses had been spared. These spirits were strong enough to have remained after death, but not so strong that others could see them unless they had The Sight.

Walking up to the spirit of the horse first, she carefully touched the side of its head with her hand imbueing magic into her hand to allow the illusion of contact. Sensing what she was, the horse pressed its head into her hand, and she could feel the memories of soft fur as she comforted it. A soft expression donned her face as she spoke, “it’s okay. You can go, the pain is gone.”

Giving a quiet whiney only Saiko could hear, it turned and walked off disappearing into nothingness after a few steps. Satisfied, she approached one of the guards. “What is your name?”

“...Phillan…” he mumbled through his daze.

Having gotten what she needed, the young mage found a stick and began drawing a perfect circle in the dirt before standing in the center. It was large enough for her to move around a bit, but as she began to cast her spell she remembered her coworker and hesitated.

“Umm, spirits can attack,” she said. “The circle is safe.”

Belatedly hoping she did not smell weird and not entirely comfortable having to invite someone into her circle, Saiko waited for a response before beginning her spell. Then she drew upon the shadows around them, filling the circle with protection magic while reaching out. “Phillan, come to me and be seen.”

Suddenly the spirit of Phillan moved to just in front of the necromancer, screaming loudly as it woke from its daze and realized he had been murdered. “Calm,” she ordered. “We are here to avenge you. Please tell us what you saw.”

Phillan looked at the pair of mages, twitching when vengeance was brought up. Like most murdered spirits, it wanted justice. “They appeared suddenly. At least two dozen, not there one second and then there the next. Now idea how. Magic, probably. After they killed us, I saw them take our cargo and leave.” He hesitated a moment, trying to recall the memories of his time just after death. “I think they went… that way.”

Looking over toward the direction the ghost pointed, she naturally saw nothing of note. Still, it was at least a starting point. Turning to look at the other girl she asked, “do you have any questions for him?”

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The older girl was being nice and telling her she would find a home eventually, but to her it just sounded like platitudes. How could anyone who looked so cool ever have trouble finding a place to fit in? Everyone liked a badass beauty, very few had a fondness for necromancers. It seemed best not to say anything though, she did not want to be rude.

When her partner declined to ask any questions, she gave a nod in return and then turned back to the spirit. “Rest now,” Saiko said gently. In response, Phillan began to fade from view. The magic that had made him visible was drawing him to whatever was next. Having helped others to learn about his killers, he went peacefully. The other spirits that were too weak to be seen would eventually fade on their own, she simply did not have enough magic power to help everyone cross.

For her part, the younger mage could not see the smoke. If it was the right direction, it at least seemed like the best place to start. The older girl seemed unhappy about something, probably thinking how creepy Saiko was, she thought. She was used to it, but it still hurt a little.

“I will get help.”

Moving to the edge of the clearing, she once again raised the hand that was not holding her doll and closed her eyes, reaching out with her mind. She could sense many, but most were old. Too old for purpose. Eventually she found enough fresh ones, and began to draw upon the shadows. Nothing appeared to change directly around Saiko, but that did not last for long. Soon she lowered her hand and opened her eyes back up to the site of a half dozen small woodland creatures approaching. The ones she picked only looked slightly dead, which meant their senses would be untouched.

Remembering she was not alone, she turned back and tried to explain which amounted to the single word: “scouts.” Satisfied with her explanation, she waved her hand forward and sent the undead into the foliage. Pushing into the grass and bushes, Saiko followed after. After traveling most of the distance toward the smoke, she suddenly stopped and pointed at several locations.

“Lookouts.”

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Saiko had not seen the tripwire, but that was part of why she had stopped where she did. Her undead creations could smell the living so she had an idea of the bandit's perimeter. Actually detecting the traps was a bit beyond them. If she had been on her own the obvious solution would have been to send something like a boar barreling through to the camp. Not exactly subtle, but it would have tripped any traps on the way. She was glad she was not on her own though.

Truthfully she should have been paying more attention to the warning, a senior mage was taking the time to share her extensive experience. It was an invaluable learning opportunity for the younger mage. That was not the part of the story Saiko focused on though, as another part had caught her attention. “Girls can date each other?” she asked with wide-eyed astonishment.

Growing up she had lived in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, and had never left until the plague had hit. The handful of families had all been mothers and fathers. The stories her mom had told her as a child were all princes rescuing princesses and knights saving damsels in distress. While she had enjoyed the action and daring-do of the stories, she had never been able to relate to the girls falling for boys. Boys just did not interest her.

Finding out that girls did not have to date boys was like a firework going off in her mind. Part of her wondered if Suki had known, Suki had always been the smarter of the two. Probably, Saiko decided.

Pulling her mind out of the reverie it had fallen into, she tried to pay attention to what her fellow mage was saying. Right, a distraction. She could do a distraction. In fact, she already had the means to do so handy. Reaching out with her mind, Saiko gave silent commands to the undead under the command. Soon the small critters made their way into the camp, initially unseen by the bandits who were probably busy counting loot or looking out for Rune Knights. Finally one of the bandits noticed as a bunny came up next to it, but before he could say or do anything the undead forest creatures one by one began to explode.

Violently.

By the time all of them had exploded due to Saiko’s Corpse Explosion spell, the camp was in chaos and filled with screams. Some of the bandits had been unfortunately close and were now missing a limb or two, but all of them were covered in blood, guts, bone splinters, and burn marks from the magical explosion. Looking over to her partner, she made a gesture as if saying “your turn.”

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Boys dating each other made sense if girls could, but that did not particularly interest her. They had never drawn her interest, always kind of just existing in the background of her life. As for rushing, there was no fear of that. Her sister Suki had been the only person she had been really close to. Now there was not really anyone living like that. As she thought about this she held her doll a bit tighter.

The distraction seemed to impress the older mage, which made Saiko a little happy. Since her part was done, she hung back as the other girl took out her cool flaming. She wanted a cool flaming sword, not that she could probably lift the thing. It looked super heavy and her arms were more on the wet noodle end of the strength scale.

Seeing the flaming sword, and thus guessing at the other girl’s strength, it was then a surprise when she told the bandits to leave rather than finishing them off. Once the bandits were on the run, she came from where she had been waiting and looked up at her fellow mage.

“They escaped. Won’t they kill others?” she asked. Her voice was not accusatory, simply inquisitive. Whether more merchants died in the future did not particularly bother Saiko, she had been hired to lead the way to the bandits, and that she had completed successfully. If the client would be displeased or not with letting the bandits go was up to the client, not her.

Giving a shrug to the result, she made her way back to the guard who led the pair back to the mansion. There she got her pay and shooed away, which was what normally happened to her after a job. Still, part of her decided since the other girl had been friendly she should at least say goodbye. Finding a place to rest across the street, she waited for the elder mage to finish her turn reporting in.

“Never told me your name,” Saiko said when she finally emerged from the mansion.

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Lehanna; finally Saiko had a name to put to a face. Usually she did not care about who she was working with, and did not bother to remember their name. That she had gone out of her way to ask was perhaps a bit of a surprise to the younger girl. Maybe it was because she did not know many people close to her in age, or maybe because Lehanna had been friendly in offering advice.

Now that the introductions were finally completed, Saiko wondered what she was supposed to do. Normally by now she would already have returned to whatever inn she was staying with, not interested in having a pleasant conversation. Given she had been the one to wait for Lehanna though, even she could recognize how awkward it would be for her to simply leave.

Right at that moment her stomach decided to loudly remind her that she had not eaten since the morning. A slight touch of rose color appeared in her cheeks, and she looked up at the older mage a bit sheepishly. “I’m hungry. Would you like to come?”

Whether the other girl accepted or not, Saiko decided to make her way to a tavern not far from her inn. It was quieter than others, with a female clientele. The different mages could still get rowdy when they got drunk, but at this time few were drinking alcohol. Her reward fresh in her pocket, she sat down and began to look over the short menu. Her doll was seated in one of the other seats at the table, leaving the seat across from Saiko open.

Deciding to go with something hearty to recharge the energy she had used during the job, she waited for the food to be delivered. Since she normally ate alone, she tended to be silent while she ate. Not that she was particularly good at conversations under normal circumstances.

When Lehanna mentioned never eating at a place like this, the younger girl just shrugged. Whether it was because of how Lehanna appeared or not, Saiko did not even consider. She thought the older mage looked cool, so she assumed everyone else did too.

“Hear rumors,” she said in response, “helps find jobs.”

Since she was guildless, finding work could at times be a challenge. Most clients went directly to their local guild, which left few left for everyone else. A place like this where mages got together to eat, drink, and swap stories was the perfect place to learn about potential clients that needed help outside of the guild system. In the case of Hargeon Town, due to it not having its own guild. Anything that could not wait for a request to be sent to a guild would usually take anyone that was willing to put their life on the line.

The moment Lehanna asked about the doll, the necromancer visibly froze up for a moment. No one asked about her doll, probably because they just assumed the weird, creepy girl carrying a doll with her was completely in character. Now confronted with the question, she tried to decide how much to say. Could she trust the other girl? No, not entirely. Yes, she did like Lehanna and she had been nice to Saiko so far. That had earned some trust, but a single shared job’s worth of trust only went so far.

“Her name is Suki,” Saiko finally said. “I made her body and clothes myself, my dad taught me how before he died. She’s not very talkative right now.”

It was rare for her to speak so much at once, which showed how much the doll meant to her. The doll in question had long black hair the same color as Saiko’s, with a similar skin tone. Her dress was simple, but well made. Clearly simpler more for cost reasons than a lack of skill. Perhaps the only thing out of ordinary was that the doll’s eyes were closed, as if asleep. It was an apt description given how the doll sagged limply in the chair.

Now that she had said as much as she was willing to say for now, she wanted to change the subject. Talking about herself was uncomfortable, as she rarely had to do so. Rather than focus on herself, she wanted to try and shift the conversation to the other girl. “How’d you end up so cool?” she asked, her eyes shining a little as she stared at the dragon-like features of Lehanna’s body.

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