While Cecilia nestled her head against the crook of his arm, Santino stared up at his outstretched hand. He flexed his fingers. Scarlet light flared across the back of his hand. He concentrated, willing it to remain, glow brighter and fill every cell of his fingers. Yet inevitably the strain became too much and the hellish light receded back into his heart.
“Pretty,” Cecilia murmured sleepily. Santino glanced sideways at her. Serianna was the more attractive of the two cousins, yet for a girl so young Cecilia knew her way in the sheets and hadn’t minded when Santino had called out Alvin’s name instead of hers. She’d simply laughed.
“So close,” he grunted, clenching his hand into a fist.
“Close to what?” Cecilia asked. She placed a small hand over his heart. “And what are you? Some kind of mage? Wizard?”
“Neither,” Santino said. “I don’t know what I am. Not all of me anyway. I had assumed regaining my true heart would wash away my capability for empathy, destroy my hunger for…” He bared his teeth. “For people to think I’m a good boy.”
“Oh no, I don’t think so,” Cecilia chuckled. Her hand drifted across his stomach and beneath the bed sheets. “I think you’re a very bad boy.”
Santino grabbed her wrist, surprising both Cecilia and himself. He sat up and reached over to the nearby dresser. He took up his monocle, placing it back over his eye. It’d once been his father’s. No. Not his father. His maker’s.
“I’m on the edge of remembering,” he said, clenching and unclenching his fists. “It’s like I’m standing dead center in a storm. The hurricane whirls around me, destroying everything it touches. Yet whenever I try to reach out for it, the winds shrink back. The storm knows I’m not strong enough to handle it yet. I need to get stronger. Strong enough to eat the hurricane whole and become again the…thing I once was.” The corners of his lips twitched. “A god! That must be it. I was some sort of beautiful god that Petrus locked away in this almost nearly as beautiful body.”
Cecilia leaned over onto her elbow and stared at him. “Whatever you say, sweetie,” she yawned. A thought seemed to strike her. “Angel maybe?”
Santino snorted. “Please. Pussies.”
There was a soft knock on the door. “Santino?”
Santino recognized Kendra’s voice at once. He slid out of Cecilia’s bed and went to the door, not bothering to get dressed. He opened the door around halfway, giving his sister and anyone walking down the hallway an ample view of his nakedness. “Yes?” he asked casually. And then guessed, “More ghosts?”
Kendra forced her eyes to remain locked on her foster brother’s face, even as a slight blush ran up her neck. “No, no, just came to check up on you. We managed to get rooms and such and you were taking so long that Natalya ended up losing two gold to Heimish-” She glanced past Santino and spotted Cecilia, the innkeeper having dozed off again with a content smile on her lips. “Oh. Well. Never mind then. Good for you that your stamina’s improved, Cliffy.”
Santino looked between the two women and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Sis, forgive my bluntness, but have you actually ever lain with a man? Or perhaps a woman?” He leaned in, eyes suspicious. “Or a Stein?”
Kendra lightly bopped him on the nose. “That’s none of your business, Santino,” she said airily. “And Stein is ever the professional.”
“I know,” Santino said. “It’s so annoying.” He eyed her curiously. “But I’m fine, Kendra. Considerably emptier than I was when we arrived here, but fine. Thankful even to be out of that damned town. And so should you be. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?”
Kendra hesitated and then shook her head. “Nope. Don’t let me keep you. Have fun. But not too much fun. Natalya says we should leave first thing in the morning.”
Santino frowned. “Have you put thought into what you’re going to do after we deliver the package?” He gently touched her cheek. “Either to go back to that mundane, bigoted town or come away with me? Be free?”
“I’m still weighing my options, Cliffy,” Kendra said quietly. She took his hand, kissed it, and made to walk away. “Goodnight.”
Santino watched her go, mildly annoyed. He then went back inside to make himself and Cecilia scream out Alvin’s name a few more times. And afterwards see if she had a spare cup lying around he could borrow.
That morning at breakfast, most of the group was having leftovers of the previous night’s roast in silence and listening to the chatting of other guests. One young man was talking excitedly about how he was going to go see The Crooked Kin in Lepidstadt.
Natalya listened in, disgusted at how they were looking forward to seeing the “freaks”. She had dealt with enough of that attitude in the ghettos as adventurous human youths had come to see the tieflings. But no one said anything. Natalya just tried to ignore it, chewing on her roast.
Which was not only cold, but seasoned with fennel. Natalya hated fennel.
Eventually, Santino and Cecilia finally came out of the young woman’s chambers. Much to the surprise of everyone, neither had come out of the room overnight and Cecilia’s assistant had been forced to take over for the entire evening.
The two had a sickeningly lovey-dovey look on their faces. “That was amazing,” the young woman was saying with a dopey grin as they approached the rest of Santino’s group.
“I am pretty good,” Santino agreed as he sat down to join the others for breakfast, which he ate ravenously.
After breakfast, while the others loaded the carriage, Kendra pulled Stein aside. “Any more developments in your investigation? Any more information from Embreth’s package? Anything more from my father’s personal journals?”
“She was often on his mind in his writings. But I do not know how much further I will get on my investigation until we’re back in Lepidstadt, where I’ll have access to more resources.”
“I understand. Please keep me informed about anything you find.”
He nodded. “Of course.” He turned to leave to go assist loading the carriage, then stopped. “Did your father ever say anything to you about a rabbit?”
“What? No, not that I remember. Why?”
“I’m not sure. He rambled quite a bit about a rabbit at some point. It might be nothing. But I have this feeling in my gut that it’s important.”
“I’ll trust your instincts. Let me know if you find more about that, as well.” He responded by nodding before leaving to help carry luggage.
About an hour later, the group had started boarding the carriage when Cecilia ran out from the inn. “Wait!” she shouted. Santino stepped out and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him. “I have something for you.” She handed him small object wrapped in paper.
Santino tore open the paper, revealing a small clay tumbler. “A cup?” he asked.
She smiled shyly. “You mentioned that you needed a new one.”
“Thank you,” he said, genuinely touched. “That’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me. I’ll think of you whenever I use it.”
“Will you return?” she asked.
He began boarding the carriage. “I’ll come back for you,” he said. Then when the door to the carriage shut, he added softly, “If I remember.”
He sat down, gently examining the cup in his hand. It was smooth and uncracked, with flowers painted around the side by hand. It was amateur work, perhaps made by the innkeeper herself.
Santino carefully stored it in his bag, then looked up to see Natalya scowling at him. “You disapprove?”
“You’re lying to that young woman.”
“I really do plan to come back,” he said. “I just know I’m bad about forgetting things. Look, it’ll be your job to remind me, okay?”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go ride up top with Stein so I can keep an eye out for bandits.” She didn’t wait for a response, opening the door and bounding up the side onto the top of the carriage.
It was late morning, perhaps just about noon, when Natalya and Stein spotted a number of large tents as well as at least a dozen carriages just off the road about a mile ahead. There were two men standing next to the road.
They exchanged a glance. “I’ll slow down a bit,” Stein said. “Warn the others. I’m not sure I like those two standing there.”
Natalya nodded back and jumped down on to the runner next to the door of the carriage. She swung the door open and entered. Kendra was knitting, while Heimish read and Santino slept. “Something wrong?” Kendra asked.
Natalya described the scene ahead. “We might want to be ready for a fight. They don’t look like bandits, but they may mean to waylay us nonetheless,” the tiefling warned.
Kendra nodded her affirmation. “We’ll be ready. Try to avoid a fight if we can, but shout if we need to defend ourselves.”
Natalya hopped back up onto the carriage, her hand on Faith’s hilt as they slowed to a stop in front of the two men, who were now standing in the road and motioning for them to stop. She got a good look at the pair. One was a giant, savage looking man. The other was dressed in a red tailcoat and top hat, and was normal aside from being extremely pale – though perhaps not quite albino. There were two young women standing behind them. They were crying, but the most noticeable thing about them was that their heads were about half the size they should have been.
“Ho, there!” the pale man said. “Thank you for stopping. You see, we’ve been trying to get some help, and you look capable.”
“Tell us why you’ve stopped us before I’m forced to run you through,” Natalya said dangerously.
“Right, no time for idle chit chat,” the man said. “I am Kaleb Hess. My large associate is known as Trollblood. One of our own has gone missing, and we’re hoping you could help us look for her.”
Heimish, who had been listening from the doorway, stepped out of the carriage. “Can you tell us more about what has happened?”
The pale man bowed. “The girls’ sister went missing. We’ve begun to worry.”
“How long ago did she go missing?” Kendra asked, stepping out after the preacher.
“Dear Aleece went missing while we were camped for the night.”
“When did you see her last?”
The girls only cried louder, and the large man tried to calm them. “She,” one of the girls said with a sniff, “went out last night and never came back.”
Natalya turned towards the camp with a start as she heard the sound of something howling. But no one else seemed to notice, so she assumed it was something normal.
Kendra turned to Stein. “Are we on a strict schedule?”
Stein shrugged. “You’re in charge, so it depends on you.”
Kendra nodded and turned to the girls. “I recently lost my father. I wouldn’t want you to lose someone too. We’ll help.”
“Thank you,” Kaleb said. “We appreciate the help. The Crooked Kin will not forget your willingness to help.”
Natalya took note of what the man had called his group and looked around carefully. Sure enough, this was the freak show the people at the inn had been discussing. She couldn’t help but feel annoyed at having found herself among them.
“I’d like to ask around and see if anyone noticed anything important,” Kendra said. “Natalya, will you accompany me?” The tiefling nodded. “Stein, will you check around their tent for tracks, see if you can determine where the girl went?”
“Just let me park the carriage.”
“Good. Now, before I go asking around, um, I apologize for asking this, but does your sister share your condition?” she asked the young women.
They nodded. “Yes,” one of the girls answered, not seeming offended at all. “Lettie, Aleece and I are known as the Pinheads. You don’t have to worry about offending us. We’ve been like this since we were born, so we’re used to it.”
Kaleb nodded. “Poppy, we’re to take these two to ask around. Will you show the man on the carriage to your tent so he can try to find her trail?”
“I’ll go with Stein,” Heimish said. “So I don’t slow the rest of you down.”
As they followed the two men, Kendra turned to Natalya. “You told me once that you’ve tracked people before. Any insights you can add?”
Natalya considered it. “If foul play is involved, it’s usually the missing person’s lover at fault. Not always, but more often than any other person. So we should find out if she had a lover,” she suggested quietly.
“That’s not a bad point,” Kendra said. “Kaleb, did the missing girl have a lover?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” the man admitted. “We’ll check into it, though.”
Back at the carriage, Stein finally made his way down and looked into the carriage. He decided against waking Santino, since no good could come of him running around among these particular people.
As Stein and Heimish followed the young women off, a trio of men who had been watching them glanced at each other conspiratorially. One of them, a man with an extra arm on the left side of his body, turned to the man with three legs, Gerik. “Keep a lookout,” he said.
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the best at standing watch,” the third man, Tam, who had an additional arm on the right side of his body, answered.
“Why does it always have to be leg jokes?” Gerik complained.
“Because it’s easy material,” Josef answered. “Come on, Tam, give me a hand.” He then led the other man as they quietly crept towards the carriage.
Even in a troupe of carnival freaks, Natalya stood out. They may have been strange, but they were still humans. She became keenly aware of this when one man called out to Kaleb. “Hey, check out the freaky devil lady with the tail! Boss, we auditioning new members?”
Natalya turned to see who had said that, and spotted a man with no arms and no legs staring at her. He glare was withering, and he actually whimpered in fear at the fire in her eyes.
“Please forgive Prince Zar,” Trollblood said when she turned back. “He’s kind of a dick, but that’s the only appendage he has left, so it’s pretty understandable.”
The big guy – a massive Ulfen man who was shockingly ugly – was scary looking, but Natalya found she did not entirely hate him. At least he had manners. And while he was big, he was still significantly shorter than the fable leader of the Adventurer’s Guild, Lenn, who was also a shockingly gentle giant from what Natalya had heard of him.
Back at the carriage, Josef quietly peered into the carriage and, to his surprise, spotted a sleeping man inside. “Oh, Alvin!” Santino breathed in his sleep. “And Serianna! You look so much better without the dress, my dear.” He then growled. “Dad! Go away! This is my orgy!”
Josef and Tam exchanged a look. They then climbed into the carriage and checked Santino. “He’s definitely out,” Tam said. He then got an evil look on his face. “Hey, I have a great idea,” he said. “This is going to be hilarious.”
Stein and Heimish followed the girls to their tent and Stein immediately began working. First he measured the women’s feet and began comparing them to the various footprints in the dirt. As he worked, a young boy covered entirely in hair ran up to Lettie. He at Heimish warily.
Heimish looked back at the boy, then reached out and touched the top of the boy’s head, channeling energy through his finger. The weird sensation caused the boy’s hair to stand up and he shied away from the preacher.
“What are you doing?” Poppy asked defensively, shielding the boy.
“Sorry, I was checking for lycanthropy,” Heimish answered.
“He’s not like that.”
“I can see that now,” Heimish said. “My apologies.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy and held it out for the boy. The boy eyed it warily, so he pulled out another and popped it into his own mouth. “See? It’s just candy. It’s good.” He wasn’t sure where Santino was getting these candies, but he’d have to look into it. They really were pretty tasty.
The boy took the offered candy and ate it greedily. Stein walked over to them. “Excuse me, ladies, but did either of you head out that way?” he asked, indicating the swamp outside of camp.
“No, why?” Lettie asked.
“I found tracks that match those you two ladies make leading off that direction. I suspect that your sister may have gone out that way. Do you know any reason she might have done so?”
“I can’t think of any,” Poppy answered.
Stein nodded, adding it to his detailed notes. As he did so, Heimish spotted a composite sketch of the missing girl alongside a diagram of all the tracks, which had notations for the approximate times each of the tracks had been made. “We should tell Kaleb that we’ve found the trail then,” Stein said. “She will be harder to track out there, so we’re going to need more manpower.”
Back in the center of camp, Kendra was asking questions of Kaleb. A tall woman with a beard down to her waist had joined them. “How long have you been in business,” she asked.
“Many years,” Kaleb answered.
Kendra nodded. “And Aleece never mentioned any reason she wanted to leave?”
He shook his head. “We’re closer than family. But if she’d wanted to leave, we wouldn’t have stopped her. She could have chosen a better place to leave than this.”
“No friction with any of the others? No one wanted to do her harm?”
“Not that I’m aware of, and not much happens here that I don’t hear about.”
“Where did you perform last? Were there any incidents out there?”
“Korvosa, and no. Nothing too strange. I mean, we’re not exactly normal, but we don’t really make enemies. Not that we make many friends. When you’re different like we are, you learn to stick together with your family.”
Kendra laughed at that. “Sorry, I have a bit of a strange one in my family as well,” she explained. “He definitely needs us to keep an eye on him.”
As if on cue, at that moment, across camp, the door to the carriage opened and Santino stepped out. He looked up at the sun and stretched. A four-armed woman dressed in fine silks spotted him out of the corner of her eye and nearly fainted at the sight. But he took little notice, instead spotting Kendra and Natalya.
So he jogged over to them with a grin on his face. As they gaped at him, he hugged his shocked sister tightly. After a moment of the shock wearing off, Kendra finally regained her senses.
“Santino?” she asked.
“Yes, sis?”
“Why are you naked?”
Santino looked down at himself and the gears in his head began to turn. “Oh, because I just came from an orgy,” he answered. It was logical to him. “Who are they?” he asked.
Kendra sighed. “These are Kaleb, Trollblood and Lidia,” she said. She turned to the others. “And this is Santino. My brother.”
Kaleb, to his credit, recovered quickly and held out his hand to shake. “Oh, come on, that’s no way to greet someone,” Santino said, hugging the man.
“Santino,” Kendra said, her voice pained.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Put on some clothes.”
“If you insist.” He turned to Kaleb. “I seem to have misplaced my pants. Can I borrow yours?”
Instead of answering, Kaleb turned to Trollblood. “Go find those clowns. They’re behind this,” he said dangerously.
“Yes, boss,” Trollblood answered.
“You should come see me later,” Santino said, admiring the large man’s muscles.
“No,” Trollblood answered.
Stein and Heimish arrived with the two girls following. Lettie averted her eyes, but Poppy could not help staring at Santino in his fully erect glory. “A bit cold?” Stein asked him.
“No,” Santino said innocently.
“What have you found?” Kendra asked Stein.
“The girl went into the marsh sometime roughly ten to twelve hours ago.” He turned to Trollblood. “If you want to find her, you need to send someone sooner, rather than later. There’s no telling what sort of creatures live out there.” He continued by showing them his notes and walking them through his conclusion, which took several minutes.
The man nodded. “As soon as Trollblood gets back, we’ll send out a party.”
No sooner had he said it than the large man returned, Tam and Josef under each of his arms. He threw the two men unceremoniously at Santino’s feet. “Sorry we took your clothes,” Josef said, holding out Santino’s pants.
“If you wanted to see me naked,” Santino said as he began putting his clothes back on, “all you had to do was ask.” He turned to Kendra. “What’s this about a search party? I thought we needed to deliver Dad’s books.”
“I want to help these people first.”
Santino shrugged. “‘kay,” he said as he pulled on his boots.
“My brother and Stein can help you search,” Kendra said to Kaleb. “They’re great trackers. They helped solve a major mystery in our home town recently.”
“To be fair,” Heimish said, “it was mostly Alvin who did all the work.” Stein chuckled as Santino twitched involuntarily at that.
“Alvin?” Kaleb asked. “The Hero of Ravengro?” Stein laughed so hard at the face Santino made at that that he started coughing.
“So who are we looking for?” Santino asked. Stein gave him a quick recap of what had happened. “Ah.” He turned to the girls. “I promise we’ll find your sister,” he said. “You want to come, Natalya?” he asked the tiefling.
“I’ll stay with Kendra,” she answered. She still didn’t trust these strangers.
Santino shrugged. “That’s fine.” He reached into his pocket for a piece of candy, but it was empty. “Oh, I must have finished the last one,” he said with a disappointed look. “Shall we?” he said to Trollblood, Heimish and Stein.
“Let’s get this over with,” Stein agreed.
As they headed into the Marsh, the large man stopped. He had a question he just had to ask the three men. “So, you really know the Hero of Ravengro?” He sounded like he really admired the young acolyte. Santino sighed internally, but kept a chipper face. “His hair smells like lavender,” he said knowingly.
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