Intimancer

Rick stepped into the great library of Shatak.

While the whole structure was grand and impressive, with vaulted ceilings and great stone pillars, it no longer filled him with the sense of awe and mystery like it once did.  It now felt like a third home to him, a place to relax and curl up with a good book.  He figured anywhere would start to become comfortable if he visited it every day for a month straight.

The hunt they returned from the day before was the first break in his routine since he arrived in Shatak.  The cart ride back to the city was uneventful.  It was, however, when he and Tyr went to the hunters garrison to give their report that things got interesting.  One of the officials, thankfully not the same one they first met dropping off the bug monster, actually had the balls to call Tyrillian a liar to her face.

There he was, a short mustachioed man with graying hair, glaring up at the elf with one finger pointed threateningly while she stared back impassively.  As spittle flew from the increasingly purple-faced man, Rick wondered if the man knew how close he was to getting his spleen ripped out through his throat.  Either he was incredibly brave, or was totally confident in whatever social protections he possessed.  Tyr’s expression got darker with each word spat out at her, but still she did nothing.

Thorn blight creatures were exceedingly rare, and only appeared when a blight infestation had been left idle for far longer than what the hunters had estimated.  Since the man trusted the words of his scouts over some newcomers, his reasoning was that they lied so they could collect a larger bounty.  While the assessment was a fair one to make, Rick didn’t think he needed to be such a prick about it.

His reaction when Tyr loomed over him and produced a small pouch filled with the same thorns she dug out of Rick, still seeped in his lifeblood, was priceless.  Rick would chuckle every time he pictured the man’s stunned face, all words of condemnation stuck in his throat.

Thankfully physical proof and the tale of the stone ruins where the tree was found helped calm things down.  After the proof came the theories on how the blight stayed undetected for so long.  It seems the ruins helped prevent the infection from spreading into the forest proper until it grew too strong to contain.  Thus providing an excuse on why the blightlings weren’t sighted until new ones grew outside the stone structure.

They agreed to an investigation from another group to find the ruins and confirm their story before taking the increased payment.  Rick and the gang set out with the original reward in mind anyways.  Plus  the gold they found, conveniently unreported, should help cover any unexpected expenses should they crop up.

Sade elected to be in charge of getting their loot appraised.  The coins were not like the ones currently in circulation.  While that itself wouldn’t be too much of an issue, Sade thought they may be worth more as historical finds or collectors items than just gold coins.  It would take a while to get their full value, but it would still be more beneficial in the long run.

The books would take a bit more effort.  Sade assured them she’ll get it all taken care of soon.  Rick had no reason whatsoever to doubt her.  If she said she could do it, then she will.

With the subject of books back on his mind, Rick picked up where he last left off in his quest to plunder the library for the answers to his many, many questions.  He started with the oldest books that covered history, magic, and even the history of magic.  While most of those books were chock full of information he needed in order to better fit into his new life, answers to how or why he ended up in this world remained elusive.

Equally elusive was any information of intimancy or any other type of sexual magic.  He knew it wouldn’t be easy, if his vocation was commonplace he wouldn’t need to be desperately searching for answers in the first place.  But so far he hadn’t even found a single hint, not a clue.  There wasn’t even a passage like ‘So and so boned a great sorcerer and grew a giant pair of tits!’ It was like any trace, any mention of magic related to fucking was scrubbed out of history.  Or he somehow gained a unique power the world had never seen.  Who knew?  Certainly not him.

He found a history book detailing life in the old dwarven empire and made his way to the reading area.  He may not have found answers yet, but there was no reason to stop now.  Everyone was working hard, he could at least do the same.

Rick raised his hand and waved to one of the library's few regulars and sat down in a seat to absorb the ancient history.

“Hey, you mind if I join you?”

Rick looked up at the person who spoke to him.  It was the regular he waved to before he sat down.  “Not at all.  What can I do for you?”  He said while gesturing to the empty seat across from him.

“Thanks.  I noticed you were gone these past couple days, I thought something may have happened.”  The woman sat down with her own tome clutched in her arms.

She was tall and pale, with ruby colored eyes, and short raven hair.  The arm cradling the book was slender.  In fact every part of her looked painfully skinny, like she hadn’t had a good meal in her entire life.  The most notable details about her features were the slightly pointed ears and the two small horns jutting up from the sides of her forehead.

“Didn’t know I’d be missed.”  He joked.  “But my friends and I just got back from a job with the hunters.  So I’ll disappear from time to time from here on out.”

Her eyes grew wide with amusement.  “Oh?  What is a mighty hunter doing in a place like this?  I thought words with more than two syllables were too much to handle.”

Rick had to stifle a laugh from ringing out through the building.  “Do hunters really have such a poor reputation?  My group did quite a bit of research before we even left the city.”

The woman giggled.  It was a soft yet pleasant tinkling sound.  “Not quite as bad, no.  But also not too far off.”  She propped up one thin leg and opened her book.  “So what brings a slayer of beasts like you here today?”

Rick held up his book so the woman could read the title before answering.  “History.  I’m new to the kingdom as a whole and the best place to get caught up is to read through its history.”  He copied her motion and got comfortable in his seat.  “What about you?”

“Nothing quite so grand.  I just enjoy a good story.  This place is a wonderful way to decompress after classes end.”

“Oh?  You’re a student?”

She smiled softly.  “Yea, third year at Mya.  I go there to study medicine and healing.”

“Oh really?  I didn’t know they had a medical program.”  He gave a theatrical pause.  “I suppose I don’t know a lot of things, being forced to catch up with hundreds of years of history and all.”

She gave another one of her musical laughs and held out her hand.  “Lilithane.  But you can shorten it however you like.”

Rick returned the gesture.  “Rick.  It’s short for Richard, but I can’t remember the last time someone used my full name outside of my mother being furious at me.”

They shared another chuckle then lapsed into a comfortable silence as they each became absorbed in their respective books.  The silence lasted only an hour or two before Rick’s new reading buddy set down her story with a contented sigh.

“Thrilling tale?”

“It was.  I always do love reading stories about the blue paladin.”

“Blue paladin?”

She gave him a look Rick couldn’t quite identify.  “Right, you did say that you were not from the kingdom.  Still surprises me that you never heard of her though.”

Rick set his own book down.  He could already tell that he was unlikely to find what he was looking for in it.  That wouldn’t stop him from looking anyways, but having a chat with a fellow bookworm seemed like a better use of his time at the moment.

“Why don’t you tell me about her then.  Her title sounds interesting”

She gave him that strange look again.  “How much do you know about us?”

“Us?”

That question caused her brows to rise all the way to her horns.  “Yes, people of my tribe.”  She let out a great sigh, like this was a conversation that was about to dredge up many unpleasant topics.  “People like me are called the shaytoni if people are being generous.  Devil-born if they are not.”

“Because of your horns?”

“Horns, tails, teeth, there are many characteristics of my tribe that remind the other tribes of demons in some fashion.”

“What are the other tribes?”

“All the various people groups who live here.  You are of the human tribe, yes?”  It seemed Rick had once again stumbled upon a topic that was considered common knowledge.  He thought he was doing fairly well so far, but this conversation just showed he had a long way to go.

“Ah, yes.  I have indeed been accused of being human.”  He said, trying to cover slightly for his mistake.

“Indeed.  Well due to our appearance, the shaytoni tribe do not have the best of reputations.  But that brings us back to the blue paladin.”  She seemed to relax now that the topic was back to her story.  “She is a shaytoni, although her tribe are referred to as ‘tieflings’ in the stories.  Despite this, and the scorn of some of the people she meets, she is a warrior for a mysterious goddess of justice.”

Lilithane’s eyes became distant as she was picturing the character she loved and doing her best to describe the divine warrior.  “She never once wavers in her duty, never compromises in her ideals, even when the very people she saves hate her just for being born different.  And she is rewarded for her efforts.  The people’s hatred turns to love.  She alone helped turn the hearts of the other tribes for the betterment of her own.”

Rick could only chuckle at the woman’s enthusiasm for such a relatable hero.  “I take it she was strong?”

“She killed dragons, tamed a mighty steed, held back armies.  Yes, she was very strong.”

Rick had no idea if this was based on a real person or just fiction.  From his short time in the library, he mostly only found technical or historical texts.  Perhaps I was just looking in the wrong spots.  “You said she was a paladin?  I didn’t think religion was that popular in the kingdom.”

“They are just stories.  Some of the gods depicted share a few similarities with the few worshiped here, but it’s all tall tales.”  She sighed, as if saddened that the events depicted could never happen in real life.

She looked back at Rick.  “Thanks for letting me gush.  It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to someone about my hobby.”

“It was no problem.  I’ve learned a lot of new things since coming here, and you taught me quite a bit already.”  He leaned in close and whispered.  “Between you and me, I’m a sucker for a good story about a knight smiting evil dragons.”

That caused her to burst into laughter before she quickly stifled herself.  This was a library after all.  “Oh, you are dangerous.”  She said after she calmed herself down to talk in a respectful volume.  “Are you this smooth with the healer in your group?”

That made him pause.  Was he being smooth?  He didn’t intend to be flirty or anything, he just wanted to be friendly and get to know someone.  He mentally shrugged and decided just to continue as he was.

“We don’t have a healer.  After our last hunt, we all agreed that finding one would be a good idea.”

“Well that seems like a bold move.”  She exclaimed.  Her eyes then roved over Rick’s body, as if clinically assessing him.  “You don’t seem to be injured too badly.”

It was Rick’s turn to stop himself from laughing too loud for their present location.  “Sorry, sorry.  We didn’t get too injured, but I did have to spend the better part of an hour getting thorns removed from my ass with a knife.”

Lilithane snorted into her palm.  “What did you do?!”

“A big plant monster launched all its thorns and I was unfortunately standing right next to the thing when it happened.”  Rick shrugged. It hurt like hell when it happened, but now that he was mostly recovered, even he thought the whole situation to be kinda hilarious.

“Well… That's a better excuse than what I thought you were going to say.”  She chuckled

“And what did you think my excuse was going to be?”  He shot back.

“Falling into some brambles while you were relieving yourself?”

Rick winced at the mental image.  That did not sound like a fun time.  “You don’t have a high opinion of hunters, do you?”

“My opinions are justified based off experience.”  She said in a way that led Rick to believe she was telling the truth.  Just what kind of people did he and his friends sign up with?  “Tell you what.  When is your next hunt?  I’ll join you for a small fee.”

Rick was mildly surprised.  “You would do that?”

She shrugged.  “Meh… you can’t be worse than most other hunters i’ve dealt with.”  She gave his shoulder a surprisingly firm smack before heading to the entrance.  “I’ll be here when you’ve talked with your group.  See you then!”

Rick was slightly dazed.  He came in hoping to do some research, struck up a conversation with a book loving medical student, and somehow ended up getting an offer for an experienced healer to join them on their next hunt.  The speed at which events unfolded dazzled him.  He could only stare at where the shaytoni sat in puzzlement.

“The balls just happened?”  Rick asked softly to himself.