The Price of a Promise
The old woman stopped just short of the blackened, charred stretch and screwed her face into a grimace. Then she turned and fixed Chris with a glare that could have killed him.
"Did you break it?"
Chris shook his head at once.
"No."
"That doesn't look like a no to me."
"Why do you think so?"
"Because you were left here alone. They posted you to wreck the circle, didn't they?"
A lone mage and a ruined circle, and she had leapt to that conclusion in a breath. Sharper than she looked.
I'll have to be careful.
"No. If you meant to destroy it, you'd smash the circle at the destination after you arrived. There's no reason to leave someone behind to ruin the one you depart from."
The old woman drew her staff and shook it at him, every swing a threat.
"I don't believe you."
"Then let me show you grounds you'll accept."
Chris led them to the place where the notice was written in the Divine Language.
"Look. It says anyone who damages the circle will pay a cruel price. I don't have the nerve to ignore a warning from the ruins."
The words unsettled him the moment they left his mouth. He hadn't meant to, but he had broken the circle all the same. Inwardly, he pleaded.
It wasn't me, Circle. Sheikh did every bit of this.
"Then why is the circle broken?"
"There was an accident."
Right. An accident. An unavoidable one.
"What kind of accident?"
The unfriendly tone made it plain that the wrong answer would not be forgiven. Chris changed the subject.
"Are you a tower master, by any chance?"
"I am. Did you know my face?"
"No. I guessed."
"On what grounds?"
"Two parties of mages have already passed through this circle, and both were a tower master's retinue. So I guessed you might be the same."
"Two parties?"
"Are you curious?"
"Yes. I am."
Chris rubbed his hands together like a merchant closing a sale.
"Before I satisfy that curiosity, there's something I need to settle. Can you repair the circle?"
She stared at the circle until her eyes might have bored through it, then nodded.
"I think I can."
Chris threw both hands into the air.
"Thank you."
Having offered his thanks to the heavens, he put on a grave face.
"If I tell you the truth, honestly, promise you won't harm me—and that you'll let me use this circle."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I won't open my mouth, even if it kills me."
"Hm."
The old woman shut her mouth and sank into thought. Chris pressed his palms together.
"What do you gain by killing one worthless Jenyeom mage like me?"
"I could torture you until your mouth opens on its own."
"And are you certain a mouth opened by torture will spit out the truth?"
"I could use magic."
Chris spread his arms wide.
"Then use it."
The old woman laughed.
"You've got nerve. Doesn't it occur to you that I might break my word?"
"If you do, there's nothing I can do about it."
Chris sighed.
"If the circle isn't repaired, I'll be stranded here for the rest of my life. I don't want to grow old and die in a wasteland like this."
"Fine. I promise. What happened?"
"Please swear it properly—a Mana Oath. The other mages and the knights as well."
Claudia refused at once and told him to trust her. Chris nearly protested—trust her on what?—then thought better of it and simply began to talk.
"I arrived here about two months ago in Tower Master Hal's service. We wandered for days before we found this place, and by then the bastards from Hermann Magic Tower had already come and gone. Some wretch named Sid was hiding the circle."
The blonde mage standing beside the old woman cut in.
"Hiding it?"
"He'd covered it with dirt. At the time we didn't know there was a circle underneath."
Chris broke off.
"May I ask your names?"
This time they answered. The gaunt old woman was Claudia, and the blonde was Melissa. The other two men introduced themselves as Emerick and Dorian. Chris went on.
"Just as you're interrogating me, Tower Master Claudia, our tower master interrogated Sid. Sid cooperated, the way I am. He was furious—he thought he'd been abandoned."
Claudia asked,
"Abandoned?"
"He said he'd been ordered to hide the circle, since it couldn't be destroyed. He struck a bargain much like mine and spilled everything without a fight. That's how we learned that Hermann's Tower Master Hell, along with Hugo, Pearson, Ethan, Hector, and Joffrey, had already crossed through. Oh—and he claimed there was one more. Whether to believe that..."
Chris let the sentence trail and watched their faces. Melissa spoke up at once.
"We'll decide what to believe. Don't leave out a single trifle. Tell us everything."
"He said Julien of Touleno Magic Tower went with them."
"Julien! So it was true."
Chris widened his eyes as if startled.
"Pardon?"
Melissa waved a hand.
"None of your concern. Keep talking."
Chris did as he was told.
"Under his guidance we saw the Divine Language here, and from his own mouth we heard that this is a circle for one person, and that a single use costs fifty highest-grade mana stones."
From behind them, where he had been listening, Yan let out a pained sound.
"Fifty..."
Chris nodded as if he felt the same.
"The toll is outrageous. Highway robbery doesn't begin to cover it. But we had no other choice, so we swallowed the bitterness and used it anyway. Whoever built this circle must have a swindler's blood in his veins."
Melissa cut him off, cold.
"Spare us the chatter."
"Yes, of course. After Tower Master Hal inspected the circle, they left one by one. I thought it would end that smoothly—until Sheikh suddenly struck and attacked Sid."
Claudia broke in.
"Didn't Sid get a promise, the way you're asking for one?"
"He did. He even received a Mana Oath."
"And they broke it anyway?"
"Tower Master Hal swore it. Sheikh didn't."
"They stabbed the contract through a loophole."
Claudia frowned and went on.
"A thug, that one. A tower master gave his word. He should have kept it."
"Right?"
Chris pressed his hands together, the gesture begging her to keep hers. A desperate light filled his eyes. Melissa snorted.
"Go on."
"Yes. Sheikh left Sid at death's door, then stepped onto the circle and departed. As he went, he told his disciple Harvey to finish things. I didn't understand what that meant."
"Neither do I. What did it mean?"
"I understood after Sheikh was gone. It meant Harvey was to come, and I was to be left behind. Only then did I realize Sid's task had fallen to me."
"I still don't follow. How did you know?"
"When Sid bargained, he asked for one thing I didn't. He demanded fifty highest-grade mana stones."
"Ah."
"Yes. Exactly. Sid had no highest-grade stones, so he had no choice but to stay. He had handed information to Mick Magic Tower and meant to use the stones he received in return to activate the circle. Harvey was holding those stones."
Chris paused and wet his lips.
"If the advance party crossed without incident, Harvey was supposed to give them to him. Sheikh attacked Sid because he begrudged those fifty highest-grade stones. Harvey could have used the stones promised to Sid and taken the circle himself, but I had nothing..."
He trailed off with a bitter smile. Melissa sneered.
"Just as the tower master said. The mages of Mick Magic Tower really are thugs."
Chris bowed his head, looking sorrowful.
"It pains me that I can't deny it."
"Your master came here too, didn't he?"
"Yes."
"What did your master do? Why didn't he protect you?"
"He left first, so he wouldn't have known what happened afterward. And Sheikh and my master get along very badly."
"So what happened next?"
"Things exploded when Harvey tried to dispose of Sid. Harvey didn't know how stubborn a Sikbae mage can be. Sid dodged him and threw himself onto the circle. He was dying—he didn't have the strength to beat us—so he spent the last of his malice trying to ruin it. A huge flame erupted from the circle."
Chris pointed at the damaged section.
"Here. Harvey panicked and ran in to stop him, but he was no match for a man burning his own life away. He was caught in the flames himself, and his life hung by a thread. He shouted at me—help me!"
Melissa scoffed.
"You're alive, so I take it you didn't help him."
"No. Two mages to use the circle, and only fifty stones. I approached as if I meant to help, took only the spatial pouch, and backed away."
Chris bit his lip.
"At the time it never occurred to me that even with the stones, a broken circle would be useless. The betrayal of being abandoned had clouded my head. It all happened too fast and went bad too quickly, and by the time I remembered, it was already too late. So I piled wood on that roof and lit a fire every two or three days, hoping to call this way anyone new who came in."
"So you'd have them repair the circle and get you out of here?"
"Yes."
"Where are the stones that were meant for Sid?"
Looking uneasy, Chris produced the spatial pouch.
"Here."
Seeing his eyes dart with anxiety, Claudia clicked her tongue.
"We're not thugs like the lot from your tower. We don't covet what belongs to others."
Chris let out a sigh of relief and bowed his head.
"Thank you."
From then on, the four mages of Touleno Magic Tower conferred as they set about repairing the circle. The two mages who had come from the royal court hovered nearby, watching the work.
Chris withdrew with the knights and brought them into an empty house.
"As you can see, it's a bleak place. I'm sorry I have nothing to offer you."
The knights dragged over beds, chairs, and a table and sat. Chris spoke.
"Captain Yan. It's been a very long time."
Yan smiled.
"Measured against a mage's lifespan, it hasn't been that long."
A bitter smile touched Chris's mouth.
"For a Jenyeom, it's long enough."
"Once you reach Sikbae, it'll seem short."
"The moment I went against Sheikh's will and passed information to you, further growth became difficult for me. I'll remain a Jenyeom for the rest of my life."
"Then hide it."
"How am I supposed to hide it now? Harvey is dead..."
Chris pointed beyond the door.
"And those mages out there are very much alive, eyes wide open."
He looked at the knights and smiled.
"Your mouths are a problem too. I'm in no position to do anything about knights from two kingdoms."
Then he let his suspicion show.
"Why are knights from two countries at war sitting shoulder to shoulder like this, as friendly as you please?"
No one answered. They seemed to be weighing whether they could give information to a mage of a magic tower. Chris spoke with grim resolve, trying to pry their mouths open.
"My ties to the tower are finished."
Yan asked,
"Are they?"
"You've visited the tower, Captain, so you know well enough what the mages of our Mick Magic Tower are like. By answering you so obediently, I've already betrayed them. Our tower never forgives a traitor. Once I leave here, I won't even be able to go near it. So speak freely. Nothing I hear today will ever leave my mouth. We're in the same boat."