Framework of the Frontier, Sain Artwell [read me a book .TXT] 📗

He whistled, impressed. “Ember the Empress. Damn. Didn’t realize your ambitions were that high.”

“Oh, no no no. I don’t want to become an empress. It’s just…” She wasn’t certain what she would discover, but it would prove she was right to the people at Adamant Archives. It would prove she was smarter than they thought, capable, and not to be underestimated.

If she found it that is.

Ember gazed at the fluffy white clouds, sighing. Traveling hundreds of miles into a frontier town with three inhabitants to prove she was right might’ve been an overreaction.

One cloud above was strangely cute, triggering another realization. “Oh! Will, I need to buy silphium.”

“Silphium?”

“Baby bane.”

He grew confused. “I’m not a faun. Do races mix?”

“How can you not know? Humans are like dragons, the two pervert races who will breed anything and get everything pregnant. Growing up, I heard stories of mighty human wizards and dragons insatiable as the incubi themselves, always surrounded by a harem of nubile girls, or men.” Ember, for a moment, imagined what it might be like if he was one such wizard and she was one little harem faun — nothing but a servant of his desires. His lewd insatiable desires.

No! No naughty thoughts before sun-down. Focus now dum-dum!

Will blinked, stunned. “Damn. Sorry, I had no clue. I mean, we do have contraception back home too. Ah heck… How much is it? I can help pay for it.”

“Oh. It’s okay. I have some money.”

“Come on, I turned in the chimera as mine despite it being as much your kill as mine. I oughta pay you for that at least.” His expression was unyielding.

Ember stepped up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you. Very kind of you, Will. I’ll go ask Rettete for some and get my things for the scouting trip.”

***

It was still early morning when they climbed over a sparsely vegetated hill. It blocked Nastall out of view, though the Twin Statues still peeked over it. Ahead, spread a vast coastal valley walled by verdant hills with forgotten names and ruins at least as tall and often as green. Scents of summer flowers and sea hung heavy in the air. Chirps of cute teensy birds could be heard as they zipped through underbrush.

Ember knew to keep her eyes down. In these bushes hid many tiny miracles that a less learned fauness might’ve missed.

“Wow!” She knelt by a vast tangleweb of thorns with pointy star-shaped leaves. “My teacher grew these in a pot. You can distill potent anti-magic elixir from them.” She picked one, nibbled it, and ate it. “And they taste sorta like mahlab.”

“Weren’t the plants here cursed? And what the heck is mahlab?” Will picked one to chew and made a face.

Ember collected a few handfuls. “It’s nice on top of cakes. And well, yes. Technically these are cursed, but certain plants have natural ways of dispersing magic in ways that prevents it from accumulating into a harmful effect.”

“You’re like wikipedia. That’s cool.” Will gave her a funny smile.

She tilted her brow. “Wikipedia?”

“It’s an encyclopedia we had back home that everyone had access to. What I meant is that it’s impressive how you know all these things. I could hardly remember anything from my college studies,” he said, fanning hot encouragement all over Ember’s pride.

She couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug about it. Countless nights she had slaved over herbology, history, and arcane enchantment books to compensate for her failing spellcraft grades. And now. Finally, her hard work culminated in it’s ultimate reward: A handsome man she liked praised her for it.

It felt all worth it. Every hour and every sleepless night.

Ember snickered as she tried to hide her blush. “Eh-heh… T-thank you.”

Will patted her head with a touch more rewarding than a hundred thousand words. “Say, what’s going on over there? Are those some rare trees?” He pointed at a spot across a low-land of roofless ruins and trees. There, enormous bulges and tall moss-covered shapes rose through a canopy of messy gray-purples and claypot-reds leaves, rather than the healthy herb-green they should’ve been. It definitely wasn’t natural.

“It could be magic pollution leaking from something. There may be artifacts there or some dungeon entrance,” she said.

“To a Primordial Maze?”

“No… Well, never say never, but that’s honestly unlikely. The manuscripts always describe them as concealed. I doubt they would seep into the surface like that. But, we could go scout it out regardless.”

Will had an eager glimmer in his eyes as he adjusted his backpack. “Alright, let’s head over there first. After that, I want to see what’s over there.” He pointed at a hill-sized collection of reflective glass domes rising near where the river snaked further inland. Within their domed shells swelled wild thick greenery like a dryad’s wet dream.

“Okay. Can we pause on the way if I find something interesting in the valley?” she asked.

“And interrupt a Ranger’s official duties of aimlessly wandering from place to place?” Will’s mock shock made her giggle.

They shared a pleasant chatter on the descent into the valley of labyrinthine alleys.

Tall dark moria trees and thick rooted wall climbers formed a canopy over the tight ancient streets, as well as a new roof for many of the collapsed ruins. Lichen, underbrush, and critters had taken over the interiors of the houses.

After several moments of ‘official Ranger wandering’ and unofficial flirt, Ember spotted an arcane monolith she simply had to investigate.

Beneath a sheen of inch hummed white lines in a pattern reminiscent of the street layout around them.

“A waystone. Let me check if it could help us get to the discolored woods faster.” While scraping the monolith clean with her sword, she noticed a bramble of pixie nuts. “Oooh! Will, could you pick some of those?”

“This