I walked out of the tailor’s shop, feeling refreshed at finally having some pants that didn’t look like mummy wrappings. They weren’t new, but they were still a huge upgrade. Even when I’d gotten my original pants, they’d been in sad shape, so these second hand pants were the best I’d gotten since coming to Ninais. Sure they had several patches and the fabric had thinned a little, but it was more than enough for now.

I turned from my pants to Mula, who had been silent for a while. It seemed like she hated being surrounded by all those cheap and low quality clothes. I still hadn’t gotten her to talk much about her likes, but I had at least gotten the impression she was used to a more comfortable life. As for what she wore now, her spirit form wasn’t nude and she wore simple flowing white robes that also concealed her figure, which made me wonder if it was what she was wearing when she died or if it came standard to spirits.

I decided that thought could wait for later, and looked around the street, noticing some stares directed at me and moved quickly to one of the nearby back roads. There were still several people back here and there really wasn’t any place to keep in the shadows, so there wasn’t much I could do about it. I had considered buying a hood, but no one wore them in Calvinville from what I’d seen, so I’d still stand out.

I looked at the floating fortress above. It blocked out most of the sky and stopped most of the frequent tropical rains from falling on the city. Currently, the morning sun lit up the city, but I imagined as it rose higher the fortress would block it, too.

I spotted a tether leading to the fortress not too far off and began walking towards it, turning my head to Mula as I did, “Ready to go up?”

Mula turned away from where she’d been watching a group of women chatting idly, “Tamana will go ahead. This one wants to look around some more.”

I shrugged, “Okay.”

I watched Mula float towards the women and guessed she was interested in eaves dropping for a few minutes. I imagined it would be a way to get some information on what was going on in Calvinville, and was more than happy to let Mula do it as I had little interest in listening to women gossip.

I made my way through the back streets, avoiding groups of people where I could. Calvinville wasn’t what I would consider a large city thanks to it being on an island in the middle of the river, but considering it WAS an island in the middle of a river it was still remarkably large. 

About ten minutes later, I came to a stop behind some crates just beyond a large courtyard at the base of the anchor cable. There actually weren’t too many people waiting here, so I guessed not too many people went up or it wasn’t a busy time of the day.

I heard a noise behind me, causing my ears to turn backwards. It sounded like someone was trying to sneak up on me so I turned to look, to find one of the women from the group I’d seen Mula head off to trying to sneak up on me.

I raised my hand to my sleeve, ready to grab a dagger if I needed to, “Stop!”

The woman, who’d had a mischievous look on her face, immediately looked disappointed, “Tamana has good hearing. This one wanted to surprise Tamana.”

I was confused. This woman spoke like Mula, but it was obviously not her. 

I looked the woman over. She was an attractive brunette with a large bust and hips and was probably the most attractive woman I’d seen in Calvinville. 

A thought came to my mind, but was it possible? Would Mula really do it?

I crossed my arms, hoping it wasn’t true, “Mula? Did… did you possess her?”

The woman smiled at me, “This one wasn’t sure she could, but this body has a weak spirit so this one was able to control it.”

I scowled, “Mula!” For the first time I was genuinely concerned that she actually was an evil spirit, “Get out of her body now!”

Mula patted the woman’s face, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, “This one just wanted to be in a body again. Perhaps just an hour?”

I crossed my arms and briefly considered her request. It had been a long time since she’s died so I couldn’t blame her for wanting to experience having one again, “Fine. But just for an hour.”

Mula smiled at me, “Thank you, Tamana!” She turned to a row of several food stalls lining the main road a fair distance away, “Can this one try some food?”

I… actually laughed. I missed food too, despite never getting hungry. I could still eat since I still had all the right body parts, but I still hadn’t gotten my sense of smell or taste back so I couldn’t get any satisfaction from it, “Sure.”

Mula skipped happily to the food stalls, seemingly oblivious to the amused looks from the people she passed on the way. 

I trailed behind her, happy to let her take the attention away from me.

She stopped at a stall selling… Was that a hot dog? It was a hot dog! Sure the bread used for the bun was off and looked more mealy, and the meat was a little different, but it was still a hot dog.

I looked at the fortress floating above and was pretty sure Calvin had taught the people how to make them, or at least someone else from earth. 

I looked at the other stalls and noticed a hamburger stall not too far away from the hot dog one. There was also a kebab stand, one selling some sort of soup, one with grilled fish, and some repeats.

My attention turned back to Mula as she tried buying a kebab and I quickly ran to her, “Stop!”

She turned to me as she dug through a coin purse tied to her stolen body’s clothes, puzzled.

I pulled out my own coins, “You’re not stealing her money too.”

Mula looked embarrassed, “Oh… This one wasn’t thinking.”

I turned to the slightly startled woman in charge of the kebab stall, “How much?”

She smiled at the subject of money, “Two rupees.”

I handed the woman the money, who then gave Mula a stick of kebab.

As I did so, I laughed in my head again at hearing that the money was called rupees because it reminded me of the Zelda games. Of course I knew it was what money was called in India, but it didn’t stop it from being funny.

Mula began moaning in pleasure as she ate her kebab, “This one missed food.”

I admit I was kinda jealous, “I do too.”

We walked back to the plaza with the base of the anchor as Mula ate.

I was so amused by watching her eat, I barely noticed the men approaching us from several directions. 

I felt my ears flatten against my head as I realized they were guards. I knew I might be able to escape, but it would probably only make things worse.

Mula noticed them too, but looked more interested than scared and continued to eat her kebab. 

The men stopped about three paces from us and I noticed they all had Magic Eyes activated, probably watching to see if I tried to use magic.

I looked at the guards. They all wore simple breastplates with chainmail underneath along with open faced helmets, with one with a blue feather adorning the top.

The guard with the feather walked forward, “Lord Calvin has requested your presence. If you come willingly he will consider pardoning your illegal entry into the city. If you resist, we have been instructed to destroy your Soul Gem.”

…and it looked like I hadn’t been quite so successful at infiltrating the city as I’d hoped. It made me wonder when they’d first seen me and why they hadn’t tried to stop me earlier, but I’d have to think about that later. 

I raised my hands in defeat, “I’ll go see Lord Calvin.”

I didn’t want my Soul Gem destroyed after all.

The guard gave a curt nod and motioned for me to follow, “You will do everything I say and make no attempt to attack or flee.” He looked at Mula, “This includes your spirit companion.”

Mula looked more annoyed than nervous, but nodded as she finished her kebab, “This one understands.”

I nodded too, “Yeah, we got it.”

Mula and I were led to the already waiting lift, several wealthy looking people watching us as they waited for their turn.

The guards seemed more bored than weary as they watched us. They looked well trained with the way they led themselves and never chatted with each other, which dashed any further notion of me trying to escape from them as I was sure they’d easily catch me. I imagined a full Ieroquin would stand a chance, but not a partially trained low level Golem like me.

Neither Mula or I spoke as the tram climbed the anchor cable. I was tempted to look over the side to get a birds eye view of the city, but there was something about being surrounded by armed guards that made that seem unappealing.

The ride took four or five minutes and soon we had come to a stop at the platform under the fortress. Here, there were several people waiting to get on, all of whom happily waited for us to get off as soon as they saw the guards, before getting on themselves.

From here, we entered the fortress.

It looked about as much as I had expected. The hallways were made entirely of cut stone blocks that looked like they had been fused together with magic. There were two hallways, one that ran from my left to my right and which looked like it formed a circle around the edge of the fortress with doors and other hallways on the inward side and window on the outward side. The other was straight across from where we entered. It too had doorways and hallways leading off of it and was lit by magic lamps.

The guards led us to the right and into what I had thought was another hallway but turned out to be a set of stairs. Where we went up three flights of them before emerging onto the top of the fortress. 

Here I saw that it was like a giant park, with trees and grass surrounding a tall whitish granite tower in the center. There were several people strolling the paths in the park, including several guards, and to my surprise not all of them looked like nobles or wealthy merchants. Maybe they let anyone come up here?

The guards took us down a path towards the tower. Here, two different guards opened a heavily reinforced gate, before our escorts led us inside.

Once inside, I found a guard's barracks with enough beds to fit twenty men. Most of them even had a someone sleeping inside, so I imagined the beds were shared between shifts.

To the side was a staircase leading up, and up we went. Up and up and up, passing a closed door on each level.

It got to the point that even the guards were starting to look tired as we went. Mula’s host body looked even worse and we had to stop once to let her catch her breath. 

I was fine, of course, and wanted to go even faster, but said nothing because I didn’t want to find out what would happen if I irritated my escorts too much.

Mula sighed in relief as we reached the end of the stairs which stopped at a trap door leading to the floor above, “This one,” she huffed, “doesn’t miss getting tired.”

The lead guard opened the trap door and climbed through, after which two more guards passed through before we were instructed to go through as well.

The top floor of the tower wasn’t large, but still had a decent amount of room. The most curious thing about the room was I couldn’t see any walls or anything that would support the roof. The thing that made it curious, was that the top floor of the tower looked like a normal part of the tower with only a few windows spread equidistant from each other when I’d seen it outside. 

The image that came to my mind was that of a one way mirror, but instead of a mirror, it was stone. Had the walls been enchanted to act like that? One could see outside as if the walls weren’t there, but anyone looking from the outside would see nothing but stone? Pretty cool.

My attention soon focused on a man working on some sort of device that looked like a giant gun. He looked European, with short, messy light colored hair, with an average build and was slightly shorter than me. He wore overalls over a T-shirt that was covered in dust and grime. As he turned to look at us, I saw he had light eyes which soon began to glow with Magic Eyes.

The man, probably Calvin, grinned as his eyes stopped on me and Mula, “Ah! It’s the Ieroquin Golem trespasser! Glad you decided to take my offer and see me without trying to run!” He turned to Mula, “And the ghost! I should have you exorcized from that body, but letting you stay in it while we talk will make things easier.”

I glanced at the guards, then back to Calvin, unsure what to say.

Mula made the first move as she saw my hesitation, and bowed to Calvin, “This one thanks you for your leniency.” She stood back upright, “This one is called Mula, and my companion is Tamana.”

Calvin leaned against the giant gun, “Ah, this one has manners. Nice to meet you Ms. Mula.” He looked at me, “Tamana.” He held out a hand as if offering to shake but was too far away for it to matter, “I’m sure you’ve guessed by now considering where we are,” he gestured to the room, “but I’m Calvin Hansen, owner of Calvinville.”

Mula bowed again, “This one is happy to meet you, Lord Calvin Hansen.”

Calvin waved his hand dismissively, “Nonsense! I don’t believe in that feudal nobility crap! Just call me Calvin, or Mr. Hansen if you’re that type.”

Mula straightened again, “Yes… Calvin.”

Calvin nodded in satisfaction, “Good! Now, let’s get down to business.” He looked at me, his expression turning more serious, though still relaxed, “Why is a race known for assassination sneaking into a city with a ghost?”

Mula looked at me, encouraging me to answer.

I blinked a few times and wondered what to say. It had been nice letting Mula take the spotlight, but now she was forcing it onto me, “Um… I… I thought you would kill me since I’m a Golem? I wanted to… um…” I touched my mask and looked at the guards, “Well… get some help with a problem.”

Calvin nodded at his guards, “Wait outside. It looks like private business.”

The guard captain nodded, “Yes, sir!”

The guards made their way back through the trap door.

Once the door closed, Calvin turned back to me, “So, what’s so bad you snuck into my city in the middle of the night for?”

I lifted my hand to my mask, hesitating, “Well, my face is…” I took off my mask, “like this.”

Calvin’s lip twitched as he saw my face, “You do realize Body Sculpting is considered taboo by some? Of course, seeing you are an Ieroquin instead of what you looked like on Earth, you’ve probably summoned using the worst mix of Body Sculpting and summoning magic.” He looked at my Soul Gem, “Still… You’re not a slave so maybe not Ignatio… Hm…”

I wasn’t sure if I should tell him, but my master had told me those with exceptional skill in Magic Eyes could see lies. Something to do with one’s soul. This meant there was a chance he could tell if I was lying.

I decided to tell him the truth, I was too paranoid not to, “It… was Ignatio. I escaped after some guys snuck in and removed my slavery curse. After that, I escaped.”

He nodded, “Ah… It was probably the Followers of Geva. They’ve been up to something lately in their camp in the Tents. It would make sense they’d go after Ignatio since he’s using such a nasty ritual.”

I looked at my feet, “Yeah.”

Calvin pushed himself off from his device and walked closer to me, “So the ritual gave you a face you don’t like, and you were running from a madman after getting super lucky and having your slave curse removed?” He nodded, “Tamana, was it?”

I nodded.

“Looks like you came to the right place. You need a place to stay for a while and some cash to pay for your magic plastic surgery and I… have some jobs that you would be perfect for. So, what do you say?”

I looked at Mula, who smiled back at me but didn’t offer any help. So, I turned back to Calvin, “Uh… depends on the job.”

Calvin seemed happy I didn’t accept right away, “Promise I won’t ask you to kill any innocents. In fact, the first job I have for you is killing some nasty Magicraft critters Ignatio sent into the Grounder village. Nasty buggers that look like giant ticks, but instead of just drinking your blood, they act as sort of an antenna that lets their handlers hijack their victims’ brains. Called Garrapata Cerebral, I believe, by one of the handlers we caught.”

I shivered at the thought of giant ticks, “Ok… but can’t your guards handle them?”

Calvin sighed, “Oh, we’ve killed plenty, but the buggers kill just as many guards and we risk a spy if they don’t.” He patted the back of his neck, “They attach to your neck, here, and put their mouth next to your brain stem to work their magic, or… well… they bite your brain stem in half. They can turn invisible and their mouth can pierce non enchanted armor. They drop from the ceiling and before you know it, they’ve got their mouth shoved up your skull.” He gave me a grin I didn’t like, “Can’t kill you, Tamana, and I don’t think they can take over a Soul Gem. Another perk us Golems have. No blood for them to drink, either.”

I didn’t like the sound of this job, “Uh… got anything that doesn’t involve giant brain eating ticks?”

Calvin gave me a long look that told me no, “Not while your Soul Gem is at level two.” He looked at the bags of Soul Dust hidden under my shirt near my waist, “But I guess with that Soul Dust I imagine you stole from Ignatio before you left, that won’t be an issue? Unless you want to change your height or something before you level it up?”

I crossed my arms, as I considered his comment. As creepy as giant ticks were, they still were killing people, and it was true that I’d probably be okay after my brain stem, or whatever passed as one for me, healed.

I nodded and turned my attention back to Calvin, my hate for Ignatio giving me some encouragement, “I’ll do it. If it ruins ignatio’s plans and gets me some money, it’s worth it.” 

Calvin grinned, “Great! Let me write up a contract. I promise you’ll love being my employee! I’ve even got some things to help you with your job. Then, once you’re done, we can discuss getting you that plastic surgery.” 

I put my mask back on and nodded, “Great. I… uh… look forward to working with you.”

Calvin motioned to a desk off to the side, “We can go over the contract over here.” He turned to Mula, “After that we can discuss the job or other things, like how you got a ghost as a friend. If you don’t mind.”

I turned to Mula, who was watching the conversation with polite interest, “Ah… yeah… sure…”

Mula, still smiling politely, added, “This one is happy to talk.”

Calvin nodded to her, then turned to the desk, having me follow. 

As I followed him, I hoped I hadn’t gotten involved with a weirdo. Yes, he was a powerful Golem, but seeing what he’d done to the city below… Well, I just had to hope Mula was great at contract negotiations, because I sure wasn’t.

Probably one more week for the poll to determine Tamana's height. So far the choice to remain the same is winning, followed by making her super short. If you haven't voted yet, please do!