Chapter 911: Noah Things |
“Hey, Fist?” Noah asked.
The heavily-muscled woman glanced over to him from the pastry that she’d been occupying herself with. Sunlight streamed in through their window overlooking the tournament grounds. It had been a night since the masquerade, and morning had arrived once more. Thought it was anyone’s guess when the tournament would get started again… it wasn’t hard to know that it would be soon.
“Yeah?”
“You’ve still got that connection to Mordred?” Noah asked. “Or is it only active at certain times?”
“I’ve still got it,” Fist said. She paused to finish chewing. Then she let out a small grunt. “Unfortunately.”
“Don’t envy that,” Brayden said.
“Thank you,” Fist replied dryly before taking another bite of her meal. “Why? Got questions about who you might go up against? It’s probably pointless. Not even he could have figured out the order of the fights. Not even a point. Best off just waiting around and seeing who you get put against.”
“Nothing to do with that.” Noah shook his head. He hadn’t touched his own food. There was no point. He wasn’t hungry. “I was just wondering about a particular person that’s probably in the tournament, somewhere or another. Wanted to see if he’d seen her.”
“Yeah?” Fist glanced over to him. “Lay it on me. There are a lot of ‘em though. No promises.”
Fist was quiet for a few moments, presumably as she transmitted the information to Mordred. Then she nodded.
“Okay. He’ll keep an extra eye out for her. You expecting her to go doing anything really out of the ordinary? What kind of magic does she use?”
“Last I was aware? Plant, mostly,” Noah said.
Plant magic probably wasn’t the most accurate way to describe what Moxie was capable of anymore. She’d been pushing the limits of what her powers had permitted her to do the last time he’d seen her, and that had been months ago. Who knew what she was capable of now.
That thought made Noah wince.
Gods. It’s been so long since I’ve last seen her. Moxie isn’t one to sit around idly and let the world pass her by. How much stronger has she gotten? What’s she capable of now? Hell, what has she been up to? I lost so much time in the Beyond. There’s so much I want to get caught up on.
“Anything else?” Fist asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
Noah shook his head. “No. Not… not that I know of. Brayden?”
“As good enough a guess as any,” Brayden said. “I haven’t seen her either. I—”
Lee coughed into her fist.
Brayden cut himself off. He glanced at Fist. Then he cleared his throat awkwardly.
“For lack of a better way to say this, I am still not a very good liar. That includes my abilities to discreetly convey information that we don’t want to share. So I’ll be upfront. I can’t speak any more without saying things that we don’t really wish to share with Mordred. Sorry. No offense.”
“None taken. Impressive self control,” Fist said after a second, making it pretty clear that the source of the answer had likely been Mordred.
“Good catch,” Noah said.
“Thank you,” Brayden said, the corner of his lip twitching into a small smile. “I’ll tell you more about what you missed later. There’s somehow both a lot and too little. Nothing that’s urgently pressing, at least. We don’t need to make Fist go in a corner and cover her ears.”
“Thank you,” Fist drawled. “Mordred’s done that to me a few too many times.”
“Wait. Really?” Lee asked, looking up from her dozen or so plates.
“No,” Fist replied without so much as blinking. “But I do enjoy making his life harder whenever possible.”
“Ah. Fair enough,” Lee said. Her attention returned to her food once more.
“Well, if Mordred manages to find this lady, he’ll let us know,” Fist said. “No promises. But he’ll be looking. Just make sure you make it long enough to actually use the information, yeah? He’s pretty sure the standard portion of the tournament is starting today.”
“Standard?” Brayden asked.
“One on ones,” Fist replied. “They culled the excess with the melees. Now people want spectacle. I’d imagine this part of the tournament will go on for a few days. It’s only a guess, of course. Who knows what the Prophet is going to do. I’m not stupid enough to try and speak with authority here. Not even Mordred is. But it’s a safe guess, wouldn’t you think?”
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“Probably,” Noah said slowly. “I’d make the same one myself. You think they’re going to be trying to meter the level of the competitors so its roughly equivalent? Or are they just going to throw people in the same tier against each other at random so long as they’re in the same tier of the tournament?”
“Only the Prophet could answer that,” Fist said with a snort. “I haven’t the faintest idea. The latter option seems like it would be the more exciting of the two. It’s really not all that impressive if you put the strongest guy in the bracket up against a little Rank 5 and watch them go splat. For that matter, most of the Rank 5s aren’t going to do anything at all against a 7. They’ll be down before the fight even gets a chance to start.”
“Right,” Noah said. “So… the smart thing to do would be to try and avoid too many stomps.”
“But stomps are fun to watch as well,” Fist pointed out. “Maybe thats what people are here for. It’s not just entertainment, after all. People want to see the strongest. Best way to show that off is a really impressive undefeated winstreak. If you put two strong Rank 7s against each other right at the start…”
“One is out at the beginning of the tournament,” Brayden finished. “Hypothetically, the second best mage in the whole arena could get taken out in the first round if they went up against the strongest guy. They’re still better than every other mage in the tournament. They just got unlucky.”
“Isn’t luck a form of skill?” Lee asked. “That counts.”
“It counts,” Brayden said. “But it doesn’t necessarily mean the strong people here get what they want. They’re recruiting. And when you do that, you want to see the full extent of what the best people are capable of. Would they really care if a Rank 5 made it to the top because he was the best of the weakest?”
“Maybe,” Noah said.
They all looked to him.
“Why?” Lee asked. “Brayden has a point.”
“Because Ranks aren’t everything,” Noah said grimly. “Potential is. We’re dealing with mages that are hundreds of years old. They’re not thinking in the span of the few years that it takes someone to rank up. It’s the long term they care about. An incredibly skilled Rank 5 with high prospects will probably be seen just as well as a strong Rank 7.”
“You don’t seem too happy about that,” Fist pointed out. “If that’s right, isn’t it a good thing for us?”
Noah was silent for a few seconds. Then he grunted. “Yeah. I suppose. But we still have no idea how the tournament will go from here. I suppose there’s no point worrying about it when we can’t control it.”
“Yeah.” Fist shook her head. “Too bad. Maybe you should just pull up a chair with the Prophet and ask her. Let me know what she says, yeah? And if you get any info on what the last part of the tournament will be… let me know that as well.”
“Yeah, right. Sure. I’ll do that.” Noah snorted and rolled his eyes — though it really wasn’t for anyone’s benefit. His mask prevented Mask from seeing it. “One more question. For Mordred. Is there any way he could potentially get me some Runes? If we could pay for it?”
Fist blinked. Then she chuckled. “No. Definitely not. There’s no way in or out of these rooms. We’re stuck here until the tournament ends or you quit. He can’t pass any items like Catchpaper to me magically.”
Damn it.
“I see.” Noah rose from the table and turned away from the window overlooking the arena to amble over to the opposite side of the room. The solid wall met him. There was still no apparent escape from the room other than the black badge… but he was starting to get antsy.
His domain found nothing, just as it always did while in Aqua Terra. The city refused to let him tell anything about his surroundings. Moxie could have been just on the other side of the wall and he wouldn’t have known. His complete inability to do anything but dance like a puppet on strings was starting to grind at his nerves.
Goddamn it. I need to meet Moxie. Not just for… all the reasons I need to meet Moxie, but because I need the runes Grim has. No matter how this tournament goes, I’ve already determined I’m not making it far without a Rank 6. And I’m sure she wouldn’t have let Grim out of her sight. She’s probably got him on her.
Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. He pressed a hand up against the wall of the room. Irritation stirred within him. This whole tournament almost felt like it had been perfectly crafted to piss him off. All his students were right there. Todd and Isabel might have been literally a few rooms away from him. If Lee’s nose could work here, they’d have found everyone already.
But instead he was forced to to show off Faction Heads just for a chance of getting everyone’s attention. And if he couldn’t get his hands on enough strong Runes soon, there was a chance he wouldn’t even be able to do that.
His jaw clenched.
The annoyance bubbling in his chest started to rise. A shimmer of golden light passed through the air before his eyes. Then it was gone again. He’d gotten more than used to the Line’s presence in his vision. But what followed was something he hadn’t seen before.
A faint slice of white, like a crack in the wall leading to nowhere.
There was a moment of stillness.
Noah’s breath stilled in his chest.
And then the crack was gone. It vanished as quickly as it had come, but not without the faintest flicker of something familiar.
His domain.
For the briefest second, Aqua Terra’s influence had vanished.
Noah’s senses had been active.
It had been for so little that they may as well have not been working. Certainly nowhere enough for him to realize they were active and also seek out Moxie or anyone else.
His senses did, however, return for just enough to pick up the faintest breath in the air.
How much longer will you make us wait?
Noah’s back went stiff.
“Spider?” Lee asked, at his side before he’d even realized she’d moved. “What’s wrong?”
Noah’s gaze slowly turned down to meet Lee’s.
“Grim,” Noah muttered in a low tone. “I felt Grim.”
“What?” Lee asked, her eyes widening. “How?”
“I… don’t know,” Noah said. He looked back to the wall. Pressed his hand against it harder. Then his eyes narrowed. “You know, our badges don’t actually care where we are when they activate, right?”
“Does it matter?” Fist asked from the table. “Might as well just sit down and relax. No point getting yourself worked up before the rounds start for the day.”
Noah didn’t reply. His gaze was locked on the wall. He felt the golden light weaving through all the world spanning out in every direction. And for a moment longer, he hesitated. But if he’d heard Grim… then Moxie was there, too. SHe looked back at Fist and Brayden.
“I’ll be back before the rounds start. Probably.”
“What?” Fist asked. “Back from where? The rooms are isolated. You can’t pass through them, even with magic. This whole place is practically imbued to the heavens. It’s not like you can go—”
There was a shimmer of gold that none of them but him could see.
Then Noah was gone.
Fist’s sentence died on her lips.
“What?” Fist asked again. She stared blankly at the spot where he’d been standing. Then she looked to Brayden. “What the fuck?”