(47) Hubris Is Fatal

Tara descended the stairs, fidgeting with the thick fur coat slung over her shoulder. Whatever creature it came from, its dander tickled the inside of her nose, making her feel constantly on the edge of sneezing.

“Well, if it ain’t, Tara! Off to train? Don’t let Nef give ya a rough time!” called Melvin, a regular patron of the inn’s eatery.

Tara waved at him with a small smile as she passed through the dining room.

“Aye, hit ‘er a couple times for me!” shouted another man, Rick, from the back of the room.

Tara smiled and nodded to him as well, making her way toward the front door.

“Ah, there you are. Take care, dear. I’ll have Willem save you something for dinner tonight,” Halla said with a wave.

She sat behind the counter, writing in her ledger, as always. Tara was unsure what about running an inn involved so much writing, but when she was not collecting dishes or helping guests, Halla was always behind the desk.

“Thanks,” Tara said with a wave, exiting the inn.

She was supposed to meet Nephthys outside the inn for her first day of training with this mysterious master, though Nephthys had not given further instructions beyond handing her this heavy coat. Where exactly did she want to meet…

“You are ready?” Nephthys asked.

Tara spun around on the balls of her feet, crouching into a defensive stance. When she saw Nephthys before her, wearing a small smile, her cheeks began to color. The days she had spent sparring with the woman had clearly taken a toll on her mental state.

“Yes,” she said, straightening and attempting to hide her blush by brushing her pants off, though they had obviously picked up no dirt on the walk from her bedroom to the front door.

“Good. Follow,” Nephthys instructed, turning and striding into the darkness of a nearby alley.

Tara did as instructed, still futzing with the coat on her shoulder.

“A demigod lives…in a back alley?” she asked after a few minutes of following silently. The sun had just crested the horizon, and long morning shadows pooled about the edges of the walkway.

“No. He lives atop the highest peak on the northernmost tip of Ashreach,” Nephthys replied casually.

“Northernmost…north of the Crater?” Tara asked, dubious.

“North of the Crater and Blackwater, yes,” Nephthys said, still walking along, not turning around.

Tara was stunned. No one made it through the Crater alive—no one she knew, anyway. To find that there was even anything beyond its north rim was shocking, though she supposed she should have known it intellectually. There were several regions south of the rim, so it stood to reason there would be north as well.

“Wait, how exactly are you planning to get us all the way, what must be thousands of miles, to the northernmost point and back in a day?” Tara asked, suddenly realizing that the thick coat was probably because the top of a mountain would be freezing cold.

“I am going to make a gate. I have come to understand that this is not common magic, though, so I will make it in an area that will not…cause a stir,” Nephthys said, glancing over her shoulder.

Oh, she was just going to make a gate, obviously. Tara rolled her eyes. Most people did not think of moving thousands of miles instantaneously as rote as walking to the store.

They entered a rundown shack that seemed might to fall apart with a small gust of wind, and Nephthys closed the door behind them. The wood sparkled with some sort of magic, but Tara could not identify what it was, just that it was there. Some sort of ward, probably.

“This is where I will make the gate, and this is where Aka will wait for your return. I recognize that leading you through dark back alleys is not the safest idea, so she will both ensure that this cabin is not claimed while you are gone and accompany you back to the inn, should I be unavailable,” Nephthys explained.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Tara glanced down, noticing Aka leave her side for the first time in what felt like forever. A pang in her chest made her throat constrict, her breathing become labored. She choked the feelings down quickly, firming herself.

It’s just while I’m training.

“Come,” Nephthys said, giving Tara no time to collect her thoughts.