King of Realms: The Stolen Orbeel

by Britt Asher

WARNING: This story takes place during the events of King of Realms (Book 1), between chapters 3 and 4. Beware of minor spoilers!

Chapter 1 – The Orbeel Thief

It was a beautiful day, but Varric would have appreciated it more if he wasn’t about to die.

He stared at the explosive armband on his wrist. The red Orbeel embedded in the metal looked so harmless, but if he played with it, he could explode. If he tried taking it off, he could explode. Sometimes he felt like if he even looked at it wrong, he could explode.

That’s what he got for trying to steal a magical relic from the king of Iloria. But the king wasn’t really punishing him because of the relic; he was punishing him because Varric was an Interloper. Most Interlopers who were arrested for a crime got immediately executed. Not Varric. For two weeks, he got to chase the beast that actually stole the relic—and then he’d explode. Lucky him.

Varric sighed and dropped his arms to his sides, taking in the view. Golden sunlight beamed down over the realm of Iloria. Wildflowers and tall grasses waved in the breeze. Thick forests sprawled across one horizon while rolling hills dotted the other. Bugs buzzed and birds chirped. Winglings danced across the sky, their feathery white wings occasionally blurring together with puffy white clouds. It seemed like a nice place, but Varric had no idea where they were going.

Princess Setia, the daughter of the king of Iloria, was guiding them to someone named Bernadea who lived on the outskirts of Iloria. Setia had joined Varric to find and return the relic to Iloria Castle. She obviously hated Varric for trying to steal the relic—and for being an Interloper—and she’d already spent some time waving around a spear like she meant to stab him with it. Traveling with her wasn’t Varric’s idea of a good time.

Meanwhile, a buff guy named Argo followed them at a slight distance. He’d participated in Iloria’s Centennial Tournament, fighting for a chance to win one of the relic’s three magical uses. Varric couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that Argo was up to no good. The guy wore dark, rugged clothes like some kind of thug and had muscles bulging out of his arms—even when he wasn’t flexing.

Varric wasn’t used to traveling with others and just wanted to get things over with. He needed to get the explosive off his wrist, swipe the relic, and find a way to save his mom. The sooner, the better.

A buzzing sound drew Varric from his thoughts. It was louder than any bug he’d ever heard, and it seemed to be getting louder and closer. Something like a foot-long lightning bolt streaked across the field and shot toward Argo, moving so fast that Varric’s eyes had a hard time keeping up with it. Argo noticed it too and took a wide fighting stance. One of his hands clamped over the top of his belt pouch. He raised the other hand like he was about to slap a bug. The buzzing lightning bolt zoomed around Argo in a zigzag formation. Argo swung his hand to smack it, but the bolt shot around his fingers and dove for his belt pouch.

“I don’t think so,” Argo snapped, startling Setia, who hadn’t yet noticed the thing.

The bizarre lightning bolt flew circles around Argo, always coming back to his belt pouch. Around and around it went, and twice it rammed Argo, trying to knock him off balance. Argo didn’t budge an inch and instead followed the thing with his hand. The bolt made one last desperate lunge for his belt before Argo managed to backhand it, sending it twirling several feet through the air. It spun around in a knotted ball of lightning before streaking forward again. This time, it dove at Varric.

“Protect your pouches,” Argo commanded. “It’s a thief!”

Before Varric had time to comprehend what Argo had said, the lightning bolt hit him in the side. It didn’t hurt, but it made Varric stumble. By the time he slapped his hands over his belt pouch to shield it, the lightning bolt had already disappeared inside. The lightning bolt blasted out of his belt pouch, knocking his hand aside, and slammed into Setia. She had two belt pouches to protect. The lightning bolt had already ducked into one before she managed to cover it, and she didn’t realize where it was until it flew out and hurtled around her to the other pouch. Her hands followed a moment too late. By the time she reached the other pouch, the thing was already zipping out. She swung her hands in the air to catch it, but it slipped between her fingers and darted toward the dark line of nearby trees, disappearing into the shadows.

“What in the realms was that?” Setia exclaimed, bewildered.

“Check your supplies. That was a Shriekling,” Argo said. “They’re known for stealing things.”

Setia dug through her belt pouches, her face puckered in a frown. Varric peeked inside his belt pouch, but he didn’t really have anything to steal. The only thing he currently owned was the water flask Setia had purchased for him in Iloria City.

“Shriekling?” Varric echoed, because that was sort of a ridiculous name.

“Shriekling,” Argo confirmed with a dry smile. “They aren’t common, but I’ve heard of them. They normally attack people in secluded areas. It’s strange to find them out in the open like this.”

Varric pulled some lint from his belt pouch, along with a few leaves that must have fallen in while he was climbing through the trees and spying on the castle.

“Don’t worry. It didn’t steal anything from me.” He brushed the lint and leaves to the ground. “What do they usually steal?”

“Silver and gold, mostly,” Argo said.

“Why do they steal it?” Varric asked. It wasn’t like beasts could go to the market and buy candy.

“They eat it,” Argo explained.

“Eat it?” Varric echoed, unable to stop his jaw from dropping. He briefly imagined gnawing on a piece of silver, and his teeth ached at the thought.

“Most Shrieklings live in rocky locations where they can find and eat certain rocks and gemstones,” Argo said. “The few that live in places like this steal from us to survive.”

“No,” Setia muttered, drawing Varric and Argo’s attention. She frantically moved her hands through her belt pouch, shoving supplies aside and looking in every corner. “No, no, no. Oh, no!”

“Did it steal your gold?” Argo asked.

“No,” Setia said, her voice all high and squeaky, “it stole our Orbeel!”

Varric’s stomach plummeted to his feet. “The Orbeel we just got from Iloria Castle?”

They needed that Orbeel to track the thief that had stolen Iloria’s relic. It was the only item that gave them any hope of getting the explosive off Varric’s wrist by his two-week deadline. Setia could only nod.

“Weren’t you carrying it so we wouldn’t lose it?” Varric asked, more hostility in his voice than he intended. It came out extra squeaky, too. Without that Orbeel, he’d explode!

“It’s not like I dropped it,” Setia stated, equally as heated. “It was stolen.”

“We have to get it back! I need that!” Varric exclaimed.

His life depended on it. So did his mom’s life. If he died, no one would be able to find a way to save her. His baby sisters were counting on him.

He shook aside his desperate thoughts and teleported to the line of trees where the Shriekling thief had escaped. He thought he heard Setia and Argo shouting after him, but he didn’t have time to wait around. Ignoring them, he ran into the shadows of the forest, catching a brief glimpse of a lightning streak as the Shriekling zipped away. Varric teleported deeper into the trees and caught another glimpse of a mini bolt of lightning vanishing behind a thick tree. Teleporting one last time, Varric found the Shriekling zipping around the stump of an enormous tree. The beast swiveled around it and dove straight into the stump.

Varric stumbled over some roots and fallen branches, staggering to the remains of the fallen tree. The center of the stump was completely hollowed out, creating a hole that ran deep underground. Even though most of the hole was dark, he swore he saw light down there. Since the light wasn’t moving, he assumed it wasn’t the psychotically zigzagging Shriekling.

Terror clenched his throat. For all he knew, the hole went down hundreds of feet, so he couldn’t risk jumping inside. If he fell, he couldn’t teleport to safety—he’d flatten on the ground wherever he landed. But he also couldn’t let the thief get away. He needed that Orbeel or he’d spend the next two weeks aimlessly tracking a thief he had no way to find. Too many people were counting on him, and he couldn’t give up. He’d have to shimmy his way down with his back on one side and his feet pressed on the other side. Hopefully it wouldn’t widen, or get slippery, or be full of hungry snakes or spiders. Suddenly feeling sick about the whole ordeal, Varric grabbed the sharp edges of the stump and swung one leg into the hole.

How did he always end up in these situations?

Chapter 2 – Tree-Stump Adventures

“Hold it!”

Varric jumped at the sudden sound of Argo’s voice and almost tipped over into the hole. As Varric scrambled to reclaim his position on the sharp edges of the stump, Argo grabbed his arm and dragged him off it altogether. The man had a slight shine of sweat on his forehead and was a little out of breath. Setia raced out of the shadows, huffing and puffing.

“We need to get that Orbeel,” Varric said, yanking his arm out of Argo’s grip. “I saw the Shriekling thief go into this stump.” For emphasis, he pointed into the hole.

“You have no idea what’s down there,” Argo countered. He leaned over and peered into the hole. “It could be dangerous.”

“I’m already in danger.” Varric waved his wrist with the explosive on it. Potentially meeting some spiders in a dark hole was the least of his concerns. Then again, plummeting to his death didn’t exactly sound fun.

“I wonder if we could have the castle create a new Orbeel for us.” Setia also peeked into the stump, her brow furrowed in consideration. “I’m not sure if they created a backup of the info or not.”

“We don’t have time to waste.” Varric shook his explosive at them again and then pointed into the hole. “We can’t let the Shriekling get away. We just need to follow it.”

Setia didn’t seem entirely won over, and her gaze strayed off in the general direction of the castle. She and Argo had their own reasons for wanting the relic, but their lives weren’t on the line like Varric’s. Their moms weren’t going to die, either. Varric would have to figure this out on his own. Huffing, he again swung his leg over the edge of the stump, flinching as the sharp edges of the bark stabbed through his pants. He was in the process of lamenting the unpleasant pokes when Argo grabbed him and yanked him back to the ground.

“Just stop and think for a moment,” Argo said, still gripping Varric’s arm.

Argo looked around the area, his eyes roving from the thick canopy to the forest floor. His eyebrows went up and he lifted a finger toward Varric, signaling him to wait. Argo went to a nearby tree and unraveled a thick vine from around its trunk and lowest branches. The vine stretched on and on and took some effort to untangle. Argo returned with it to Varric’s side.

“We can use this to lower you down,” Argo said, holding out the coiled vine.

Varric was actually pretty impressed. He never would have thought of that. He grabbed the vine in both hands and gave it a tug. It was nice and firm, but still bendable and stretchy. It looked like a bright green rope.

“That’ll work.” Varric grinned, reaching for the rest of the vine, but Argo pulled it away.

“I’ll help you with it,” Argo started, “but only on one condition: when you get to the bottom, you teleport back up here and bring us down with you.”

Varric sighed. Things would go a lot faster if he didn’t have to drag around two other people. It was exhausting enough teleporting himself. Two extra bodies took almost all the strength he had.

“There’s a light down there?” Setia peered into the stump again, her eyes narrowing.

“Must be,” Argo said. “Shrieklings can’t see in the dark, and they don’t glow unless they’re moving, so that light can’t be from our thief. Something else is creating that light, which means Varric can see down there, come back, and teleport us with him.” Argo settled a stern frown on Varric. “Do we have a deal? We all want the relic, so let’s do this together.”

“Fine,” Varric said. Things might be a little safer with Argo helping him down into the stump, anyway.

Argo wrapped one end of the vine around Varric’s waist, tying it in several knots and pulling to ensure it was sturdy.

“I’ll lower you down,” Argo said.

Varric nodded and climbed over the edge of the stump for the third time. He still didn’t totally trust the situation, so he scrunched up and slithered down into the hole with his back to one side and his feet on the other side. It was a pretty tight squeeze. Meanwhile, Argo fed some of the vine into the stump, ensuring it didn’t tear on the sharp edges. Varric hadn’t slithered down very far before the wooden sides of the stump shifted to wet, slimy, muddy walls. One of his feet slipped and he dropped, making his stomach swoop. An instant later, the vine went taut and brought him to a sudden halt. He bounced off a dirt wall and twirled around, but the vine held. Having Argo had proven to be useful after all, because otherwise Varric would be plummeting to his death right now.

Argo lowered him into the darkness. The hole went so deep that Varric couldn’t see the surface anymore, but the light at the bottom grew brighter. His feet eventually landed on dirt, and to Varric’s surprise, he found himself in a well-lit tunnel. Glowing moss grew across the floor and along the walls, illuminating everything in pale hues of yellow.

Part of the vine lowered on top of his head. Varric looked up, realizing Argo was still feeding it into the stump for him. He wrestled with the vine to untie it and teleported back to the surface to collect Argo and Setia. His feet crunched on twigs and leaves, but they didn’t notice him. They peered into the stump with intense focus.

“Hey,” Varric said.

Argo and Setia jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance, and Varric couldn’t help a tiny smile. Argo sighed in relief, but Setia scowled and set her hands on her hips.

“Don’t sneak up on us like that,” she snapped.

“You knew I was coming back,” Varric grumbled, as if he could have done anything differently. “I made it to the bottom. Let’s go.”

He didn’t wait for an answer and simply teleported them into the underground tunnel. They looked around, and Setia’s frustration melted into surprise. She knelt by the shining moss, brushing her fingertips over the plants and making the light stir.

“I’ve never seen moss like this before,” she said.

“I’m guessing you’ve never been in an underground burrow like this before,” Argo replied, smiling.

Varric’s stomach chose that moment to unleash a vicious roar that went on for an awkwardly long time. Heat swept across his face as he clasped his stomach in both hands. He really wasn’t used to teleporting other people. Unless he got some rest—or something to eat—he wouldn’t be able to use much more magic. As if hearing his thoughts, Argo pulled some thick strips of salted meat out of his belt pouch, offering them to Varric. Varric stared first at the meat and then the one offering it.

“Whenever I travel, I always make sure I have portable food,” Argo said. “Sometimes I don’t know when I’ll make it back into town for a meal.” He shrugged, moving the jerky a little closer to Varric. “Take it. I have plenty.”

Varric hesitated. He wasn’t used to being helped by others and definitely wasn’t used to taking food from strangers. Well, food he hadn’t personally stolen, at least. He was pretty desperate, though, and Argo could have dropped him into the stump hole if he’d wanted to hurt him. Varric needed access to his magic, so he took the food.

“Thanks,” he said, mostly under his breath. “We should hurry.”

Stuffing the jerky in his mouth, Varric trotted down the tunnel, leading the way. The moss dwindled the deeper they went, but they still had enough light so that they could see. The dirt ceiling and walls closed in around them until Argo had to duck. Before long, they reached a dead end.

The Shriekling stood near a dirt wall at the end of the tunnel. Varric only recognized it as the lightning-bolt thief because it held their Orbeel in its scraggly hands. Now that it wasn’t moving, it looked like a foot-long green stick with stick arms and stick legs. It had bulbous eyes that didn’t seem to connect to its stick body and its mouth stretched way wider than its body should allow. It had three pairs of translucent insect wings on its back.

Varric, Setia, and Argo’s footsteps alerted it to their presence. The Shriekling stared at them with its giant eyes, and its wide mouth dropped open. An ear-splitting scream fell out of it, the likes of which Varric had never heard before. He staggered at the awful sound and slapped his hands over his ears. It sounded like someone putting a knife to glass.

“Stop!” Varric shouted at it.

The Shriekling did stop screaming, but it leaped into the air, buzzed its wings, and reverted to its lightning-bolt state.

“There’s nowhere for you to run,” Varric said, sprinting toward the obnoxious creature.

The Shriekling flew at the dirt wall. Varric leaped, his hand outstretched to catch it. The nasty little creature zipped straight into the wall—and disappeared! Varric cried out in surprise as he hit the wall and flew straight through like it wasn’t even there. He tumbled briefly into darkness, dropped several feet, and flopped face-first into a pile of sand. Varric sat up, spitting and blowing grit from his mouth and nose. Then he froze, looking around.

Bright sunlight, white sand, and glittering water surrounded him. He definitely wasn’t in Iloria anymore.

Chapter 3 – Varric Drowns His Friends

“Varric! Are you okay?” Argo appeared in midair right on top of Varric.

Varric dove aside to avoid being squished, causing him to roll through the sand and get tons of grit up his sleeves, down his shirt, and deep into his boots. Argo managed to land on his feet. The urgent look on his face shifted to confusion as he took in the view. Setia suddenly appeared in midair and cried out in surprise as she fell. Varric couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy when she landed on her feet. Varric stood and brushed himself off.

They’d somehow fallen onto a white-sand beach surrounded by ocean. Varric wasn’t sure the ocean was made of water, though. It was wavy and splashy like water, but it shimmered with rainbow colors, sort of like soap bubbles. Across the ocean, a huge island floated in the air. A giant tree cut straight through the middle of it, with its trunk and branches above the island and its roots dangling below into the rainbow water. The stone walls of an ancient city lay in ruin around the giant tree, partially buried under moss, vines, and flowers. Waterfalls and curtains of flowering vines spilled over the island’s rocky edges.

The white-sand beach where Varric and the others had landed ended at a big floating water bubble. About thirty similar bubbles formed a path from the far end of their beach to the floating tree-island in the distance.

“What is this place?” Setia asked, her eyes locked on the giant tree.

Argo crossed his arms. “It appears we found a portal to another realm.”

“Another realm?” Setia gaped at Argo. “We’re not in Iloria anymore?”

“Doubt it,” Argo said.

“How is that possible?” Setia touched the tips of her fingers to her forehead, her eyes still wide with shock. “We were underground!”

“Well, we’re obviously not underground anymore.” Varric gestured to the blue sky, earning a glare from Setia.

“Invisible portals exist all over the realms,” Argo explained. “Humans rarely stumble across them, though.”

“That’s great and all, but we have a thief to catch,” Varric said before Setia could ask any more questions and Argo went on and on about things that didn’t matter. He was going to explode in two weeks and that was slightly more important than portals between realms.

Varric stood on his tiptoes, but he couldn’t see anywhere where he could safely teleport onto the floating island. It was the only place where the Shriekling thief could have escaped. He kept his eyes on the floating island and searched for a place to teleport as he marched down the sandy beach toward the big bubbles.

“Varric,” Argo whispered and grabbed the back of Varric’s cloak, stopping him.

Varric followed Argo’s gaze to the end of the beach. The obnoxious little Shriekling thief stood right in front of them with its back to them. Varric crouched with his hands extended, ready to teleport and pounce on it, but because he had the worst luck ever, the Shriekling whipped around to face him.

Its mouth flew open and it unleashed another ear-exploding scream that no creature that size should ever be capable of making. Varric covered his ears and staggered backward. The Shriekling slapped one of its stick hands above its eyes and lolled its upper body backward in despair like it couldn’t believe they’d followed it. Then it zipped into the air, shot into the floating water bubble, swirled around inside it, and leaped into the next bubble. It hopped from bubble to bubble, heading toward the floating island.

“Stop!” Varric shouted.

He dashed toward the water bubble and leaped, hoping it would swirl him around and spit him out into the next bubble like it did with the Shriekling. But of course things never worked the way Varric wanted. Jumping into the bubble was basically like jumping into a lake. He splashed into some water and floated there, unmoving. He thrashed his arms and legs to reach the opposite side of the bubble, but it didn’t spit him into the next bubble. The bubbles were several feet apart, so there was no way he could jump to the next one on his own, either. Sighing, he teleported back to the sandy beach, flopping into a soaking wet pile at Setia and Argo’s feet. He stared up at them, painfully aware of all the sand stuck to his clothes.

“Did you really think you could leap from bubble to bubble like the Shriekling?” Setia asked, setting her hands on her hips. He couldn’t help but think she looked a little smug.

“At least I tried something.” Sitting up, he brushed his wet hair out of his face and flinched at all the sand stuck on his skin.

“I don’t need to try something I know is doomed to fail. It’s called thinking,” Setia said, smirking.

Varric scowled at her as he climbed to his feet.

“Why don’t you just teleport the Shriekling into your hand the next time we see it?” Argo asked, crossing his arms. Varric and Setia blinked at him in momentary confusion, and then Setia crossed her arms, too.

“Yeah, why don’t you?” she asked.

Heat exploded across Varric’s face, making him dizzy. Wow, did he feel dumb. He hadn’t even thought about it.

“I don’t like teleporting people against their wishes,” he mumbled, because it was mostly true. It felt sort of wrong. But it would certainly make catching the Shriekling thief a lot easier.

“Maybe we could try it next time.” Argo patted Varric on the back and smiled.

Meanwhile, Setia rolled her eyes skyward and shook her head in disbelief. “Uses his magic to sneak around and steal things, but won’t use it to capture a thief . . .”

Varric’s cheeks burned hotter, and he turned a nasty scowl on the bubbles. They were wasting time he could be using to find the missing relic. Huffing, he stood on his tiptoes to see as near to the island as he could. Unfortunately, he saw only crumbling ruins and thick shrubbery—no places to safely teleport. But he could see some of the floating bubbles in the distance, closer to the island. He was already hungry and tired from teleporting after the Shriekling, but he’d have to depend on his magic to get them across. They needed to hurry.

“Hold your breath,” he said to his companions.

He teleported them into the farthest floating bubble he could see. From inside the water bubble, everything had a dream-like rainbow glow. From up close, the floating island looked especially giant. He glimpsed the next farthest bubble and teleported into it. Now he could see a stone ledge on the island where the bubbles eventually led, and he teleported himself and his allies onto it. They splashed to the ground in a puddle of water. Setia and Argo coughed and sputtered as they climbed to their feet, and the princess turned an especially nasty glare on Varric. He half-expected her to pull out her spear and start stabbing him.

“A little more warning would be nice,” she yelled at him, clenching her hands into fists. “You could have drowned us!”

“I told you to hold your breath,” Varric said.

“Yes, and then you teleported right when I was breathing in.” Setia swiped water off her face. “Interloper magic is dangerous. People shouldn’t be able to travel across huge distances like that.” She gestured toward the water bubbles. “And people shouldn’t be able to teleport into water, out of water, into midair—it’s weird.”

“And useful,” Varric muttered under his breath. “Good luck getting home without my magic.”

“What did you say?” Setia’s eyes narrowed on him. She pursed her lips.

“Nothing,” he grumbled.

“Need I remind you that your magic is the reason we’re in this mess in the first place?” Setia asked, planting both hands on her hips.

“My magic?” Varric echoed in disbelief. “The relic would have been stolen even if I hadn’t been there. And my magic is helping us find the real thief.”

“You still used your magic to try to steal the relic and got that explosive put on you.” Setia pointed at the bracelet on his wrist as if he could forget about it.

“And now my magic is helping us capture the real thief,” he said. “And helping us find the beast that stole the Orbeel that you lost.”

“It was stolen.”

“You still need my magic to find it.”

“I can’t even talk to you.” Setia rolled her eyes and turned away. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I don’t know what that means.” Varric smiled, because her insults didn’t work if he couldn’t understand them.

“Are you two about finished over there?” Argo called out. He’d ventured down a rough-hewn stone path to an archway that led into a stone colonnade overgrown with vines and moss. “Because for a while there I thought we came here to find a thief,” he said, and then he pointed into the colonnade and raised his eyebrows at them in suggestion. “And I’m pretty sure I just saw it escaping in this direction.”

Varric and Setia glared at each other one last time and then begrudgingly tromped after Argo. Varric’s stomach unleashed another desperate growl and felt like it was about to shrivel up and die. Setia stared at him, shook her head, and stormed into the colonnade. Argo offered Varric another piece of jerky. Varric took the snack and ripped off a chunk with his teeth, chewing angrily while stabbing the back of Setia’s head with his eyes. He followed the princess with Argo on his heels.

Chapter 4 – Beans, Cats, and Burs

Sunlight beamed between the stone columns, filling the colonnade with ample light and stark shadows. Varric appreciated the variety of plants growing around them. Sheets of vines stretched over gaps in the ceiling, tinting some of the sunlight green, and vine curtains draped around the columns. Strange clusters of plants grew through the cracked floor. They had shell-like tubes on the bottom and feathery tufts that sprouted from the shells. Varric leaned down to touch them, but the feathery parts slurped into the tubes and disappeared. That was pretty awesome. He resumed his trek, sidestepping some water pooled in cracks and indents. The whole place looked like a lost, ancient civilization. It would make a great fort. He decided he’d teleport there sometimes when he needed a cool place to hide.

As he had that thought, a gust of cold air swirled up behind him, sending a ripple of chills up his spine. Varric whirled around. He didn’t see anything, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was following him. Argo and Setia kept walking like nothing was wrong. Varric scampered after them, only for the feeling to strike again. Another chill swept over him, followed by the eerie sensation that hostile eyes were on him. He whipped around, and once again, he saw nothing. He squinted to make sure.

“Is something wrong?” Argo asked. He and Setia had stopped walking.

“Nothing,” Varric murmured. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to tell them the truth. Setia already thought he was a thief—he didn’t need her to think he was crazy, too.

They continued their march through the colonnade. Argo and Setia leaped over a particularly large patch of puddles with their gigantically long legs. Varric attempted to mimic them and didn’t make it all the way across. Water splashed all over his pants and boots. At least they were already wet from the water bubbles. Varric sighed and glared at the puddle—and then abruptly froze. Something stared back at him from the reflection on the water.

Varric whipped around, letting out a startled cry. The air shimmered, and the thing he’d seen in the reflection suddenly appeared as a real, physical thing. It looked like a cluster of black and gray rags lumped together in the shape of a person, with vacant black holes for eyes and a huge black gap for a mouth. It didn’t have arms or legs. The strange being let out a long, desperate groan—like a dying person—and swooped toward him.

Varric let out an undignified shriek that was way higher pitched than he would have liked. The rag creature startled in the air—as did another twenty of the creatures that suddenly blinked into existence all around him, groaning and eyeing him with their empty eye sockets. Varric turned on his heel and took off running down the colonnade.

“Where are you going?” Setia asked, because she obviously hadn’t turned around yet to see what he’d seen.

“As far away from those things as possible!” Varric shouted, bypassing her and Argo.

Setia must have looked back, because she shrieked, too. Varric didn’t bother stopping and ran as fast as he could. He wasn’t about to stick around and figure out if he could teleport the creatures faster than they sucked out his soul and ate him. A moment later, Setia’s light footsteps pounded after him, so he didn’t feel so pathetic.

“Wait,” Argo called after them, but neither stopped running.

Varric barreled into a room that must have once been a dining hall. The room was fairly wide, and the ruins of a long table and chairs were heaped in the center. Some of the walls and parts of the ceiling had collapsed, letting in streaks of sunlight, but not nearly enough to make the place look less creepy. It got even creepier when twenty more floating rag monsters blipped into existence throughout the room. Varric cried out and slid to a stop as he almost crashed into one. Setia staggered into him, let out her own horrified shout, and then stabbed the nearest creature with her spear. The weapon went straight through it.

“Ghosts?” she exclaimed, horrified.

Varric teleported one of the creatures out of the room. It disappeared just fine by his magic, which was great, until another two popped into the place where it had been.

“They’re multiplying,” Varric shouted.

Setia darted toward a hallway across the room, staying near the wall to avoid all the rag monsters. Varric followed her, gasping for air. His heart raced so fast in his chest that he thought it might explode.

“Kids! Stop! Wait!” Argo shouted, his voice echoing after them.

Oddly enough, he didn’t sound worried about anything. Maybe he was crazy. He did look like a fighter. Maybe he wanted to fight the ghosts. Good for him. He could stay behind as a sacrifice while Varric and Setia escaped.

They ran into a crumbling hallway dappled with sunlight. Puddles twinkled on the tile floors, and a few piles of sand shimmered like gold dust. Setia slowed to catch her breath. Varric leaned forward and gasped for air, grasping at a stitch in his side. He was pretty sure he was dying. Argo jogged into the hallway without much urgency and frowned. He slowed when he reached them, but when he opened his mouth to speak, the ceiling tiles rattled and distracted him.

Several of the stone tiles lifted inward and slid sideways. Fuzzy faces with glowing slits for eyes peered out of the ceiling. They looked like puffy orange cats that had run into a wall and completely smooshed their faces. One of the creatures opened its mouth—and really opened it, because it gaped to almost the full size of the creature’s head—and coughed. Varric fully expected a hairball to shoot out of the thing, so he was pretty surprised when a deluge of sand spewed from the squish-faced creature. Six more squish-faced creatures in the ceiling coughed up their own bursts of sand, flooding the entire hallway. The wave hit so hard and fast that it nearly swept Varric off his feet, and it kept rising.

“Move!” Argo grabbed Varric and Setia’s arms, hoisting them through the sand and running down the hallway.

More and more sand chased them until they ended up running from a torrent of killer sand. Argo practically carried Varric and Setia until Varric teleported them to the far end of the hall. The ominous roar of sand followed. Argo kicked out the door just as the wave hit them from behind and flung them outside. Varric and the others flew into blazing sunlight, falling several feet and landing in a pit of sand between two buildings. Waves of sand sprayed over them until they got up and ran a short distance away to keep from being buried alive. More and more sand rushed at them, tripping them and taking them off their feet. The deluge slowed, allowing Varric to roll over and look back at the hallway. Most of the building’s walls had shattered, and sand leaked out of holes from every direction. Finally, it stopped pouring.

Varric, Setia, and Argo lay on their backs in the sand, staring at the bright blue sky. Something squeaked at them. Varric turned his head and found a little golden puff waddling over on stick-thin legs. It looked like a prickly bur that got stuck on his pants whenever he walked through the wrong type of weeds. Bright red eyes made it look a bit evil, though. Whatever it was, it shook a stick-thin arm at Varric, hissed at him, and then spewed sand from its mouth right at his face.

Varric shouted and rolled away, shielding his face with both arms. To his horror, he found hundreds of the little bur creatures popping out of the sand all around them. The bur creatures hissed and started blasting them with sand. Varric and his allies flew to their feet, shielded their faces, and ran toward another building across the sand pit. An army of tiny bur creatures chased them, spewing sand and shaking their nonexistent fists.

“This whole place is trying to kill us,” Varric shouted in despair as he burst through the doors of the next building.

He and his friends ran blindly until the hissing finally faded. Slowing to a stop, they dropped their arms and took in the view. Once again, they found themselves in a colonnaded walkway with enormous holes in the walls and ceiling. All of the bur creatures had given up the chase, and Varric let out a sigh of relief. That is, until something squirmed around in his hood. He glanced over his shoulder to find a bur creature right in his face, riding along in his hood like it was no big deal. He yelled, the creature hissed, and then he got pelted in the face by another blast of sand. Varric snatched the thing out of his hood—it was surprisingly fluffy for looking like a bur—and chucked the creature out the door toward the army they’d left behind. The bur creature hissed the whole way, and once it plopped into a pile of sand, it sat up and shook its little arm at him.

“I hate this place,” Varric snapped, glaring at the bur creature as he said it. The creature flipped some sand at him and then stomped away.

“It’s not exactly the friendliest place in the realms,” Setia said, and Varric was surprised to hear her agreeing with him.

“Before you run off into another situation, stop and listen for a moment,” Argo said firmly. He crossed his arms and frowned at them.

“Those rag monsters were creepy,” Varric said in his defense, but heat flooded his cheeks anyway. He had been running and screaming a lot since they’d landed in that place.

“They were also about the size of a bean,” Argo said, earning bewildered looks from Varric and Setia. His stern expression cracked, replaced by a smug smile. “Those were Guiselings. They create magical illusions around themselves that look intimidating to enemies. In reality, they’re tiny and harmless. They can’t attack.”

Varric and Setia exchanged awkward looks. Varric’s face burned, and the heat spilled all the way to his ears. He fluffed his cloak and hood and cleared his throat.

“Oh,” he said.

Setia coughed into her hand and diverted her attention to the ceiling. “I knew that. I was only running because I thought Varric saw something even creepier.”

“Please.” Varric rolled his eyes. “You screamed super loud.”

“Not as loud as you,” she said.

“Thankfully,” Argo said, cutting in before Varric could think of a retort, “we got past the sand beasts without getting hurt, because they’re a little more dangerous. Now let’s move cautiously through the rest of this place, shall we?” He fixed a stern look on both of them.

“Yeah, Princess, shall we?” Varric glowered at Setia, still mad she’d gotten in the last jab before Argo had shushed them.

She opened her mouth to snap back at him, but Argo pushed between them and led them through another battered hallway. Setia and Varric glared at each other as they followed.

Chapter 5 – Decked-Out Evil Pigs

Varric, Setia, and Argo eventually found themselves in what appeared to be the great hall of an ancient castle. The room was massive, with giant pillars along the walls. Parts of the room had collapsed, allowing ample sunlight inside. Dust floated in the air, giving it an ethereal appearance. A stone throne lay in ruins on the far side of the room, with half a wall collapsed over the top of it. Several holes littered the floor, opening into a dark underground abyss.

Scratching sounds drew Varric’s attention back to the throne. He let out a sharp exhale when he saw the bratty Shriekling thief shuffling around in the debris. It clutched their Orbeel in its stick fingers. Varric wasn’t going to risk losing it again, so he teleported the Shriekling into his hands, catching its stick body in a steady grip.

The Shriekling unleashed its death scream, which echoed off the stone walls of the huge room. Varric dropped the creature out of instinct, his hands flying up to protect his ears. When the screaming didn’t stop, Varric chopped the creature on the head with his hand. The Shriekling went completely quiet and rigid, tottered backward, and flopped to the floor. Varric froze with his hand still in the air, staring in confusion at the beast now sprawled like a lifeless branch at his feet. At least it wasn’t screaming anymore. Before they lost the creature again, he snatched their Orbeel out of its little hands.

“You killed it,” Setia said.

“I did not.” Varric’s face flamed, and he looked desperately at the creature at his feet. He hadn’t wanted to hurt it.

The Shriekling still didn’t move. It lay there, eyes wide and mouth dangling open. Drool dribbled down its face and formed a tiny puddle underneath it. One of its legs twitched, drawing out a sigh of relief from Varric. At least that meant it was alive.

“What’s wrong with it?” he finally asked.

“It’s probably playing dead,” Setia said. “It’s a defense mechanism.”

“How is this a defense mechanism?” Varric prodded the creature with the toe of his boot. It still didn’t react.

“It’s definitely not a tactic I’d use in a fight.” Argo shrugged.

“An enemy might leave it alone if it thinks it’s dead,” Setia grumbled and rubbed her brow, shaking her head at them.

“Still weird. At least we got this back.” Varric held up the Orbeel, only for Setia to swipe it out of his hand and stuff it into her belt pouch. He scoffed at her. “Why should you carry it? You already lost it once.”

“Because I’m not waving it around like you, just trying to lose it again.” Setia huffed. “And I didn’t lose it. It was stolen.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Varric muttered under his breath. Before she could respond, he added, “Let’s get out of here before something else—”

A guttural roar reverberated through the room, shaking dust off the walls and spreading cracks through the floor. The Shriekling scrambled into an upright position but cowered behind Varric and the others, covering its eyes with its tiny hands that didn’t actually cover any part of its giant eyeballs.

The roaring intensified, rising out of the floor like a living beast. Argo moved ahead while Varric and Setia crept behind him. Setia squeezed her spear in both hands. Varric braced to teleport, but a part of him wanted to see what sort of epic beast was making that noise. The floor rumbled, the roars grew louder, and then a tiny pig beast popped out of a hole in the floor.

Varric and the others stared at it. It had pink skin, a button nose, a plump round body, and a curly tail. The creature stood on its hind legs like a person, but it barely reached Varric’s knees. It had several tufts of pink hair that stood up on its head and neck in sharp spikes. Glittering gold bracelets decorated its legs and several strings of jewels shimmered around its neck. Varric was also pretty sure it was wearing a monocle. The pig creature scoped them out with its beady eyes and then unleashed a vicious roar that didn’t belong with that sort of body, like a lion’s roar coming out of a kitten. Varric snorted and almost broke into a fit of laughter, but he slapped both hands over his mouth. The pig beast squinted at him as three more pig creatures hopped out of the same hole. All had similar hair spikes and monocles. All were decked out in gold, silver, and jewels.

One of the creatures had a cage made of branches clasped between its front hooves. Three Shrieklings stared out of the cage with their giant eyes. Two of them were babies.

The four Piglings—that’s what Varric decided to call them—stomped toward the cowering Shriekling. The Shriekling screamed and almost went sideways again, but it clasped its hands over its mouth to silence itself. Then it threw itself to the floor at the feet of the Piglings, groveling. A Pigling waved the cage of Shrieklings, grumbled and growled, and then roared. The Shriekling thief burst into tears, water gushing out of its eyes like mini fountains. It got on its stick knees and clasped its stick hands together in pleading. Its enormous eyes swept desperately to Setia, the pouch on her belt, and then the Shrieklings in the cage. Varric’s heart plummeted when he realized what was going on.

“Its family is being held hostage,” he said, horrified.

“And the Orbeel is the ransom?” Setia shook her head in disbelief.

Varric suddenly felt awful. He knew what it was like to miss his family since he almost never got to see his mom and sisters. When he did, it was only for quick visits before he went off on another mission. Part of him considered giving away the Orbeel to rescue the Shrieklings even though the item was necessary to save his own family.

“You can’t do that,” Setia stated, making him jump. She stormed forward and banged the butt of her spear on the floor. Scowling at the Piglings, she yelled, “You can’t take innocent people—or beasts—hostage and threaten them to get what you want. If you want Orbeels, you need to earn them in respectable ways. Shame on you!”

Varric blinked in bewilderment at her. So did the Piglings. So did the Shriekling.

“Release those Shrieklings this instant,” Setia commanded, banging her spear another time for emphasis.

The Piglings briefly exchanged confused looks, shrugging and waving their front hooves around as they grumbled at each other. Then one of the Piglings strutted forward and puffed out its chest in an attempt to look intimidating. It wasn’t super effective since the creature was pretty short and a lot rounder than it was muscular. The tiny tusks next to its button nose could maybe give someone a scratch. Scratches could get infected, and that was kind of scary. Seeing how pathetic the Piglings looked made Varric feel braver.

“Let them out, now,” he said, also stepping forward. “Or else I’ll teleport you somewhere awful.”

“Do as he says, or else!” Setia said.

Varric and Setia stood side by side, Varric with his arms crossed and Setia with one hand on her hip and the other on her spear. Both put on their fiercest expressions. The Piglings glanced at each other in contemplation, and then all four of them puffed up their chests and stuck out their round bellies. The leader of the bunch inhaled sharply like it was going to unleash another roar, only for all four Piglings to leap back in sudden fright, yelping and oinking as they deflated. The Piglings turned and leaped into their hole, flinging the cage aside as they fled underground.

“Yeah, you better run,” Varric yelled after them, lifting his chin in pride.

“Get out of here and don’t come back,” Setia shouted, grinning smugly and twirling her spear around like a warrior.

The Shriekling thief stared at the hole where the Piglings had fled and then looked at Varric and Setia in amazement. Its bulging eyes immediately swept behind them, and then its mouth dropped open like it was going to scream again. Varric and Setia followed its gaze. Argo stood behind them with his feet braced apart and his arms crossed, a stern look on his face. He looked all dark and imposing with his huge muscles and ragged clothes. Varric deflated, realizing the Piglings had fled from him. Varric’s face got hot—again—and he immediately looked anywhere but at Argo. Setia cleared her throat and made her spear disappear, and she also avoided looking at Argo.

“Are you okay?” Varric asked the Shriekling, distracting himself from his embarrassment.

The Shriekling ran to the cage and shook it, but the branches wouldn’t break. Argo grabbed the cage and snapped the branches like twigs, dropping the prisoners onto the floor. The Shriekling family tackled and hugged each other, which was sort of weird to watch since they were a bunch of sticks. Plus, they rubbed their giant eyeballs together without blinking, and even the sight of it made Varric’s eyes itch. Then the Shriekling thief dove in front of Varric and his allies, bowing across the floor in gratitude.

“You’re welcome,” Varric said, smiling.

“But you can’t go around stealing things from innocent people.” Setia took a harsh tone with them. The Shriekling dove over the toes of her boots, weeping. She sighed and looked away. “We’ll let it go this time, but don’t cause anyone else trouble in the future.”

Setia smiled as the Shriekling family hugged again, unleashing muted shrieks amidst their sobs. Huge sprays of water flew out of their eyes and made puddles on the floor. Those huge eyeballs sure could make a lot of tears.

“Is this your home?” Argo asked the Shriekling thief. When it nodded, he continued, “Have those beasts been stealing your treasure in exchange for your family?” The Shriekling nodded again and bowed its head in shame.

“Those jerks!” Varric exclaimed.

The Shrieklings needed treasure to survive. They obviously didn’t have a lot of nice rocks and gems to eat, and they had to travel a great distance to steal from travelers near Iloria City. The Shriekling thief practically sagged in half, and the other grown-up Shriekling patted its back, looking equally as sad. The babies clasped their stick bellies with their tiny stick hands like they were famished. Varric knew that feeling well. He knew what it was like to have to steal to survive—and he hated every minute of it. He wished he had something he could feed them, but he didn’t have anything. Then again, he’d just received one nice thing that might work. He pulled out his new water flask. It had some silver on it.

“Here. Can you eat this?” Varric offered it to the Shrieklings. “You can have it.”

Everyone blinked in surprise at his gesture, once again bringing an onslaught of heat to his face. The Shrieklings looked especially stunned, and they didn’t move. Water clouded their eyes. Varric had no idea how the tears stayed next to their eyeballs, because they didn’t have eyelids.

“I just bought that for you,” Setia said.

“Sorry,” Varric grumbled. “I feel bad for them.”

“I wasn’t scolding you.” Setia sighed and rubbed her forehead. She dug in her belt pouch and then offered several silver and gold coins to the Shrieklings. “Take these instead.”

The Shrieklings went rigid and the water flooding their eyes only worsened.

“And these.” Argo offered some of his own coins.

The Shrieklings took the offered coins and broke down into a fit of desperate, ugly, choking sobs. Even the babies cried. The whole family started shrieking and wailing, the sounds echoing off the walls. Varric flinched away, gritting his teeth and doing everything to keep from covering his ears because he didn’t want to seem rude. Argo forced something between a smile and a grimace, and Setia flat-out covered her ears, wincing one eye shut. The family of Shrieklings threw themselves to the floor at their feet, lying in a puddle created by their endlessly wet eyes.

“Okay, okay, enough.” Varric put his water flask away since they didn’t seem to need it.

“I recommend finding a new place to live where you can find better rocks to eat,” Argo said to them. “But in the meantime . . .”

He grabbed a large chunk of debris off the nearest junk pile and put it over the hole in the floor where the Piglings had fled. For good measure, he covered every hole in the floor with heavy rubble that only he could easily move.

“That should keep them out of your hair for a while,” Argo said.

The Shrieklings screamed that much louder and threw themselves over his boots, bowing and groveling. They eventually rolled onto the floor and thrashed in the puddles they wept.

“Stop,” Argo said, not at all impressed.

“I’m glad we could help,” Setia said, and then she took a firm tone. “But remember, it’s not okay to steal. For any reason.” Her ornery gaze shifted to Varric.

He rolled his eyes. Totally should have seen that one coming. He asked, “Are we finished here?”

“Seems that way.” Setia checked her belt pouch, briefly pulling out their Orbeel to confirm she still had it.

“Let’s go,” Varric said. He waved at the Shriekling family. “Thanks for the . . . uh . . . good time.”

The Shrieklings waved, sobbed, and threw themselves on the floor. They erupted into another chorus of shrieks, and Varric was more than happy to teleport himself and his allies out of the room, away from the noise, and back to the sprawling fields beyond Iloria City.