Victor of Tucson

11.30 A Full Stomach

30 – A Full Stomach

The wolf-like man snarled, but he immediately backed off. He saw how ineffective his aura was against Victor and, what’s more, he surely felt the weight of Victor’s mountainous intent. He turned, gave Vracia a parting, red-eyed glare, and then moved back up the queue to his previous position. The huge, metal automaton clicked its gears as it turned and then marched on, ever vigilant.

“Thank you, Victor!” Vracia whispered, still standing a bit behind him.

Victor looked down at her and shrugged. “He was rude.”

She nodded, but the spunk had gone out of her; her cheerful demeanor had fallen away, and she looked positively stricken. Victor wanted to comfort her, maybe out of some misplaced macho sensibility, but he’d been through enough to know that she could stand a little dose of reality. “Will you face people like him when you go to fight for this queen of yours?” He spoke softly so as not to stir up another scene.

Vracia nodded, glancing up the line and licking her lips nervously. “Yes. Nature’s Vengeance is what they call their coalition, and they want to destroy everything the Tradewater Dynasty has built over the last millennium.”

“That’s the queen’s faction? The Tradewater Dynasty?”

She nodded. “My world was settled by people from Shimmervale, so technically, I’m one of her subjects.”

“Well,” Victor said, jerking his chin toward the wolf man, “you’re going to have to face worse than that if you’re going into a war zone. You sure you’re ready?”

Vracia folded her arms, scowling, but after a moment, the expression softened, and she shook her head. “Not for that, but I can still help. There are people weaker than I am giving their all.”

Victor smiled, nodding. “Good attitude.”

“Do, um, do you want to see the queen’s message? We’ve still got a bit of time in the queue.” She held up the little blue marble, and Victor, trying not to sigh, took it between his much larger finger and thumb. Rather than waste more time asking questions, he trickled a bit of Energy into the object, and suddenly a shimmering blue portal appeared in his vision. When no one else reacted, Victor figured it was just an illusion meant for the person holding the marble.

A woman stepped through the portal, her eyes focused on Victor as she slowly performed a perfect curtsey, lifting the hem of her sky-blue gown. She was beautiful and obviously of the same species as Vracia. Everything about her was elegance and grace, and when she spoke, her voice rang like a well-tuned set of bells through Victor’s mind. If someone asked him what she said, he would have had trouble repeating the words, but the effects were clear; this marble was trying to ensorcel him with some kind of enchantment.

It was a fruitless effort, however. Victor’s will and his many titanic traits and feats made such an attempt nearly impossible. Perhaps if the woman were there in person and if she possessed a will to match his, along with a veil walker’s potency, she might have had a chance, but the enchanted marble didn’t even faze him.

Victor chuckled, pulling back his Energy and handing the trinket back to Vracia. “Listen, kid, I don’t think you want to go to that lady’s planet.”

Vracia took a step back, her mouth falling open like he’d slapped her. “What? That lady?”

Victor shrugged. “That thing’s enchanted to influence a person’s mind with Energy—something pretty slippery too, like mind-attuned Energy. It wasn’t a spirit affinity; I would have recognized it. You want me to see if I can cleanse you of it?”

Vracia looked at the marble in her hand, expressions of shock, disbelief, and disgust warring for dominance on her face. She was saved from having to respond when Victor’s turn came up at the front of the queue. He gave her another measured look, then turned and strode toward the gateway, where an attendant stood behind a podium. “Present yourself, traveler.”

“I’m Victor.”

“Victor?”

Victor nodded, shrugging. “Yeah, I’m just traveling through. No real business here or anything.”

“Excellent, and do you understand the rules of these lands?”

“Um, basically. I shouldn’t pick on anyone weaker than me in the city, and if I want to fight, I should make sure the other party consents.”

“Close enough. Do you need any guidance?”

“Fastest route to the System Stone.”

“There is no direct access for the public to the stone. You can buy travel tokens, though, at the World Hall. Follow the main street to Argassi Center. The world hall is the large, rectangular building that dominates the western side of the square.”

Victor thumped his knuckles on the man’s podium. “Thanks. Am I good to go in?”

“Yes. Your fate lies in your hands now.”

“All right.” Victor cocked an eyebrow at the cryptic statement, but he passed through the gate, then paused, waiting for Vracia to go through the check-in process. She moved through about as quickly as he did, so he wasn’t waiting long. When she walked through the tunnel, she was slouched, and her expression was dour. When she saw him waiting, she hesitated, shaking her head slightly, like she was steeling herself before she stepped forward.

“You didn’t need to wait for me.”

Victor shrugged. “I meant what I said, though. I’ve cleansed corruption from people’s cores before. I don’t mind getting that spell off you.”

She shook her head. “But I just met you, Victor. Why...” She folded her arms over her chest, hugging herself. “Why would I believe you over the queen of my people?”

“Look, I don’t know exactly what that enchantment does. Maybe it just makes her seem more sympathetic. Maybe after I cleanse it, you’ll still want to help her. Wouldn’t you want to make up your own mind about something like going to war, though?”

“What do you need to do to, um, cleanse me?”

“Let’s go find a quiet tavern and have a drink, and I can explain it.” Victor knew his grasp on her was tenuous, so he tried to keep things moving by starting down the sidewalk. He moved slowly and looked over his shoulder, locking eyes with Vracia. She surprised him by following along without protest.

“Well, you did stand up to that wolf for me.”

Victor smiled, continuing along the sidewalk. He looked up, taking in the city for the first time. It reminded him a little of Sojourn, but only because of the tall buildings blotting out the sky. Where Sojourn was elegant and graceful, though, Vagabond’s Reach was utilitarian and...domineering. The buildings were blocky, with brutal stone corners and flat faces, featuring infrequent windows. They varied greatly in size and in the number of angles that made up their surfaces, however. Some were tall and rectangular, others were squat but vast, shaped in all manner of sharp-cornered polygons.

Marble dominated the city's surfaces, but not of any one kind. Victor saw rose, white, black, sandy, veined, speckled—a hundred varieties of the stuff. In a way, that variety made up for the harsh angles of the buildings, and he began to see the city in a more favorable light. The other thing he liked was the traffic; it was light, and the people walking the sidewalks kept to themselves and didn’t make eye contact. He supposed that was due to the limited nature of the city’s laws.

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He had no idea where a “quiet tavern” was, but they’d only walked a block or so when he saw a restaurant with an open patio and, inside, dozens of wooden tables with only a few patrons scattered here and there. He slowed down and pointed. “That place all right with you?”

Vracia shrugged, her face still troubled. “Promise you mean me no harm?”

“We’ll be right in there, out in the open.” When she continued to stare, he sighed. “I promise. Look, I’ve got places to be. I just want to help you because I hate the idea of someone messing with my mind.”

She slowly began to nod, then started across the street, leading the way to the restaurant. Victor was hungry, and this was his fourth world in one day; he figured he was allowed to stop for a meal. When they walked in from the patio, a tall man in a stained white apron looked up from where he busily scrubbed a table. “Here for a meal or just a drink?”

“I’m hungry.” Victor eyed Vracia. She shrugged, and her lips moved out of a frown and into a more neutral position.

“I would like something to eat.”

“All right, then. I’ll see what the chef’s working on. Sit wherever you want.”

Victor led the way toward the back wall and an unoccupied table well away from the other patrons. He sat facing the open patio with his back to the wall, and Vracia slid onto the bench across from him. Rather than beat around the bush, he said, “Well, the only way I know how to break a spell that’s corrupting someone is to send some of my Energy into their pathways. I explore around a little and—”

“Your Energy into my pathways?” Vracia started to stand up, but Victor put his hand out, catching her wrist. He didn’t hold tightly, but maybe his hot, titan flesh had an effect on her because she froze and stared at his hand. Slowly, she slumped back down, leaning onto the table.

Still holding her wrist, Victor said, “I don’t need to trick you, Vracia. If I wanted to hurt you for some reason, I’d do it.”

“What about the rule—”

“Screw the rule. I’ve fought armies of people tougher than the pendejos around here.” Victor was certainly stretching the truth, especially since he’d never seen the rulers of that particular world, but he was trying to make a point and speed matters along.

“I can feel that you’re strong...”

Victor nodded, releasing her wrist and sitting back, watching the bartender approach with a big pitcher and two frosty mugs. He set the mugs on the table and poured them full until foam sloshed over the sides. “Fresh keg. I think you’ll like it.”

Victor smiled. “As long as it’s wet, I’ll enjoy it. My throat’s dry.”

“Oh, this’ll do the trick. Now, as for the menu, the chef is grilling up smoked boar chops with caramelized root vegetables and a garlic-herb mash. Bit of spiced apple compote on the side.” He watched Victor’s face for a reaction, then added, “If that doesn’t sound good, he’ll have one of his lads fix you up a sandwich.”

“I’d love some of the chef’s dish,” Vracia said, reaching for one of the enormous mugs.hey’re dead! My parents—my entire family—begged me not to go! We fought for days! How could I forget all this?”

Victor clicked his tongue, gently patting her hand. “It’s the nature of that damn spell. It was working on your mind. It probably planted false memories and blocked off real ones. It made you think you wanted something you probably didn’t. I mean, do you?”

She wiped her cheeks, shaking her head, eyes huge. “No! The war reports! It’s terrible! Prince Aladesh has distanced our colony from the dynasty...” She started to stand. “I shouldn’t be here. I have to get back. Th-thank you, Victor...”

“Hey, relax. I’m going to the World Hall, too. I’ll escort you—make sure you get there without running into another wolf or something. Meanwhile, let’s eat our food. One thing I’ve learned is that problems always look better on a full stomach.”