Return of the Runebound Professor

When Noah woke up the following morning, Moxie was already awake. He would have suspected that she’d worked through the night if there wasn’t a vine hammock dangling in the center of the room. It looked like the hammock had been claimed, though, as Lee was curled up in its center.

Yawning, Noah resisted the urge to remain in bed and sat up. He wiped at his eyes and nodded to Moxie, who took a stack of papers and slid it into her travel bag.

“You weren’t up all night, right?” Noah was pretty sure she looked rested, but he felt like he had to ask, even if it was only for his own sake.

“Of course not. I got up an hour ago,” Moxie replied. “When Lee came flying through the window.”

“As a bird or something?”

“No, she literally dove through the window. I have no idea how you slept through it.”

I suppose that’s a good thing. There was a time when I woke up ready to start blasting because of the Hellreaver’s influence. Sleeping through Lee-events is going to be vital if I want to maintain my sanity and get rest.

“I’m a man of many talents.”

Moxie snorted. “I’d say you’re a man that’s really good at a few things and utter shit at the others.”

“Fair point,” Noah allowed. He swung his legs out of bed and hooked his travel bag with a foot, pulling it over and taking out a change of clothes. He pulled the jacket on and looked back to Moxie. “Figure out where we’re going, then?”

“Yeah. I hunted through a bunch of locations, but I decided that we had to balance travel distance with a good location. Since we’ve got a month until we need to meet up with your lovely fiancée at Whiterock, so I used that as our return point. Given that, I think we can try going to Dawnforge.”

Noah stared at Moxie blankly, but she didn’t look particularly surprised by that. She just walked over to the hammock and gently picked Lee up, shaking her out slightly. Lee unfurled, her nose scrunching as she glared at Moxie.

“What was that for?”

“You weren’t actually asleep, and the hammock is in the middle of the room.”

“What? How did you know?”

“Your eyes were open.”

“Oh.”

Moxie touched the hammock and the vines curled back, unweaving from each other and sliding down the walls and across the floor until they vanished into her pant leg. “Dawnforge is a large adventurer city, Noah. It’s nowhere near the size of any Bastions, but it was one of the first cities built after the Long Night. It’s in the middle of an area heavily populated by monsters, and a lot of merchants travel there to both sell and buy rare equipment and material.”

“That does sound like it would fit our purposes pretty well,” Noah said with a nod. “How long is the trip?”

“On foot? Too long.” Moxie picked her travel bag up off the desk and slung it over her shoulder. “Luckily, you’ve got a flying sword. On that, it should just be a few days. I’ve already gathered some supplies for us in case we can’t kill enough monsters on the way.”

Well, I can’t deny that it’s kind of nice not having to put any thought into where we go. Saves a lot of effort for what would probably end up being a worse result.

“Works for me,” Noah said. “I didn’t know you could use a flying sword, though. You have wind magic?”

Moxie arched an eyebrow. “No. That’s what you’ll be for. Lee can transform into something small and hitch a ride, and I’ll just hold onto you. Your sword is fairly large.”

Noah looked down at the rusty blade near his travel bag. It probably was long enough for two people to stand on top of it, but if it had its way, the trip would be far from a smooth ride. Moxie noticed his doubtful expression and waved her hand.

“I’ve seen you flying the damn thing. It’ll be fine – unless you want to buy a new one and waste a bunch of gold?”

Noah shuddered. “Nope. I like my gold, thank you very much. No need to waste it when I’ve got something that’s perfectly functional as it is. Should we try to get the Catchpaper for Lee at Arbitage or Dawnforge, then?”

“It shouldn’t matter much either way,” Moxie said after a moment of thought. “I don’t think prices are going to be very different.”

“Let’s buy it there! I’ve already seen the market here,” Lee said.

“Works for me, so long as the flying sword thing actually works,” Noah said. “Shall we, then? I don’t think there’s any reason to waste any time.”

“Exactly what I was about to say,” Moxie said with a nod. “Let’s go.”

***

Every single fiber of Noah’s being was focused on his sword. The wind screamed past his face as the flying sword hurtled through the air. Moxie’s plan had seemed a whole lot more reasonable before he’d actually tried executing on it, but it was too late to change his mind now.

Lee hadn’t been a problem – she’d transformed into a crow with sparkly, red eyes and hopped into Noah’s bag. Her head had been poked out from a flap just enough to watch where they were going while the rest of her was protected from the violent wind.

Noah and Moxie weren’t as lucky. The flying sword seemed to take offense to the fact that Noah was sharing it with someone else, and it was somehow even harder to control than normal. It bucked and shifted every few seconds, forcing him to readjust his stance to keep it from flying him straight down or into the side of every mountain they passed.

It wouldn’t have been quite as difficult to maintain control if Moxie hadn’t been pressed against his back, her arms wound around his chest. Several vines wound around both of them. It was a great way to make sure Moxie didn’t fall off, but Noah was having far more trouble concentrating than he’d initially expected.

They’d been flying for a little over five hours, and Noah had to keep himself from glancing at Moxie, whose face was just above his shoulder. The harder he tried to focus on the trip, the more difficult it became to ignore her.

“You weren’t lying!” Moxie yelled over the screaming wind. If she hadn’t been so close, there was no way that he would have heard her. But, since she was, Noah just barely managed to make out her words. “How do you always fly like this?”

I normally don’t have someone squished up against my back.

“You get used to it!” Noah yelled back. Moxie adjusted her grip, somehow managing to pull herself even closer, and Noah’s slight adjustment in footing nearly sent them hurtling nose first toward the ground.

He quickly caught himself, leaning back and righting the sword. Noah ground his teeth, clenching his fists to regain control of his focus.

I’ve stolen a Rune from a god. It might have been unintentional, but I still did it. And I’ll be damned if I can do that, but I can’t fly a rebellious sword while there’s a cute woman next to me.

The thought – for that was what it was – came faster than Noah could register what he was thinking. Almost as soon as he had realized what had passed through his mind, a deep chuckle echoed from the depths of his soul.

What the hell are you doing, Azel?

That’s the best part. Absolutely nothing.

Azel’s laughter faded into oblivion and Noah narrowed his eyes. The demon could be dealt with later. He focused himself completely on the flight, pushing everything else out of his mind.

For now, all that mattered was making it to Dawnforge.

***

By some miracle, the week of travel actually went completely without any major issues. They landed every night, where Moxie set up a small camp using her vines to form tents, and then set off the following morning.

Noah fell asleep nearly instantly every single time they touched down. The flight took a lot more mental energy from him than he had expected, even though there was enough power in Natural Disaster to keep the sword flying through the entire day without any difficulties.

On the seventh day, Noah caught his first look at Dawnforge. The city was certainly smaller than Arbitage, but it looked as if nobody had reminded its builders that they could make buildings in any direction other than up.

Dawnforge was a city of skyscrapers. Huge, towering pillars scraped through the clouds, interconnected by walkways built between them. The walls of the city themselves must have been almost sixty feet tall and were made of burnished silver.

Several huge roads ran in and out of the city, and they were covered with foot and cart traffic alike. There must have been hundreds of other people flying out of the city as well. As for the ones flying in – they landed on the roads well before they reached the city walls.

But, above all else, Noah’s eye was drawn to the huge tower in the center of the city. A glimmering disk of golden energy swirled at its top, illuminating the entire city in its vibrant glow.

“I guess I figured out where the city got the first part of its name,” Noah said wryly.

“Both parts, actually,” Moxie corrected. “That’s actually the top of an enormous forge that stretches out below the city – or so I’ve heard, at least. You should set us down here, though. We don’t want to get too close to the city yet.”

Noah didn’t have to be told twice. He angled the flying sword down, aiming for a large, rocky hill. Moxie, already more than used to their landings, looped her arms around Noah’s neck and lifted her feet into the air. He jumped at the last second, impaling the sword in the ground, and took several running steps to keep from faceplanting.

“Nice,” Moxie said as she released him, dropping back to the ground. “Your sword definitely wants to kill us, though.”

“Tell me about it,” Noah said dryly. He walked over the uneven rocks to his sword, pulling it from the ground and securing it to his side. “Why didn’t we want to get closer to the city, though?”

“No point going in before we get some monsters. We need something to sell, and there isn’t going to be anything worth all that much when we’re right on top of the city. Out here, I’m certain we can find some interesting opponents.”

The top of Noah’s bag shifted as Lee poked her head out, still in crow-form. She pushed the top of the bag away, then dragged her clothes out and dropped them onto the ground. Noah and Moxie averted their eyes as the bird shifted, expanding and changing back into Lee’s normal form.

“That was fun,” Lee said once she’d pulled her clothes back on. “I should be a crow more often. Riding around in your bag is way easier than walking.”

“I am not becoming a glorified chair,” Noah said, sending Lee a mock glare. “Speaking of, I was going to ask. You basically only ever transform into other people. Can’t you turn into anything? Like the crow, for example. Why don’t you do that more?”

“Oh, you mean with some super powerful monster or something?”

“That was admittedly where I was leading with this, yes.”

“I have to eat whatever I transform into,” Lee said. “Or, more accurately, I have to eat something with a similar composition. Humans are pretty much all the same, since I’m only changing physical appearance. But with anything else, I’ve got to eat it to figure out its composition.”

“That makes sense,” Noah said with a nod. Then he paused. “You ate a crow?”

“I’ve eaten a lot of things.”

“Might not want to take that line of questioning any further,” Moxie suggested.

“I’ll take that advice,” Noah said. He turned, looking out over the rocky hills surrounding them. There were dozens of holes that led underground, and when he listened closely enough, he could hear the faint noises coming out from within them. There were definitely a lot of monsters in the area – or rather, below it. “Shall we get started, then? It’s been too long since I’ve been in a good fight.”

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