Chapter Text
Dropping his head to his desk, Percy groaned. Pushing his hair back he glared the offending passage again. Unfortunately, the words stayed the same, pointing him towards yet another tome. At this point Percy wasn't sure what he expected to be honest. What he was trying to do sounded like the ramblings of a wizard. With ideas so encapsulated in theory and probability that no rational man would even try to attempt it. But he had done it before. He had ripped a hole through the essence of magic itself. Pulling power strait from the cursed plane, without a ritual, enchantment or spell. Everyone had thought it was impossible to go between planes. Although given what had happened he wasn't surprised that no one else had ever attempted it.
Standing up, Percy groaned again as every bone in his body creaked in protest. How long had he been sitting? Stretching his arms to the side, Percy cast a healing spell down his arm, winding around each joint like a creeping vine. He felt the magic sink into his bones and hummed to himself. The spell gave off a dull glow and vanished completely.
Looking around at his study and the mess of scrolls and potion bottles, he made a mental note to clean up the place as soon as he could. He didn't need it to be clean to do his work, but it was nice to not have to worry about what sort of potion he accidentally stuck his hand into. Speaking of which, he needed to clean some acid off of this shirt before he went back to Pike's shop.
Percy sighed as he pushed open the door to Pike's shop for the third time that day. He had been there that morning to help Pike get rid of a minor imp problem; then again that afternoon in search of the book that he had just finished. The bells above his head tinkled and Pike looked up from whatever she was enchanting. Pike was dressed as she always was, in a simple sky blue dress and a scrap of cloth keeping her hair from her face. She was also wearing so many necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, that every time she moved she jingled.
"Ah! Welcome to- oh Percy what are you doing back here again?" She said her brow furrowed slightly in concern.
"He probably forgot another ingredient. Warlocks do that sort of thing." Grog's voice called out from somewhere out of sight. Percy made his way over to the back wall, as he called back
"That wasn't polite Grog. If I didn't know better, I'd have said you don't enjoy my company." Running his hand down the spines of the pile closest to him he answered Pike.
"Unfortunately my search is as arduous as it is unique. I found a reference to a tome titled Sherri's Practical Magicks that might have some of the answers I want. Do you know if you have it around?" As he finished looking through his pile he looked back to Pike. Her face scrunched in thought and she seemed to be running a mental inventory.
"I don't think I have it, but you're always free to check in the back room!" She said. She gestured to a thin blue curtain, where he could see the large outline of Grog walking from table to table. Percy ducked behind the counter and slipped around the thin cloth. The disorder took him by surprise. In contrast to the clean, well organized shop area, the back room was a mess. It might have something to with the goliath who seemed to have his own ordering system. Large heaps of everything from spices to wands piled high in heaps on tables. There was a tower of books far in the back, so Percy got to work.
Percy glanced through the stack, occasionally pulling out interesting books and placing them in the air to his left. Where his magic would stack them neatly in a box while Percy picked up the next book. He fell into a trance like state. Pick up the book, read a bit, then put it aside. Every once in a while Grog would throw something to try to knock the current book out of the hold of his magic. this lasted for a good hour or so before he was jarred from his thoughts by the sound of the bells at the front door. At first all he could hear was Pike welcoming the newcomers to the shop, and Percy almost went to see who it was, but then he heard the soft voice that haunted his nightmares.
"Hello to you too, little witch. This is quite the lovely shop you have." A voice like honey, sweet and syrupy flowed over him. He was leaning forwards, clinging on to every word to hear what that voice wanted, to hear if she knew about him. The next words told him everything.
"My name is Lady Delilah Briarwood, and this is my husband Silas. Please excuse his hat, he had quite a bit to drink last night.” There was a slight grunt and Delilah continued, “I've recently come across some work done by a young warlock who I think is living in this area. I was wondering if you have seen the author? His name is Percival and I simply must speak to him about these ideas he has, they are so full of potential! If you-"
Percy's hearing cut out as his breaths came faster and faster. He leaned against the wall for support because he was afraid his legs were going to fail him. His magic sputtered and fizzled into nothingness next to him, as if it too was scared of the honeyed voice in the other room.
He thought he'd left that voice behind, thought he'd escaped what it could do, what it could make him do, he thought he'd run far enough. And he let his guard down and Pike was going to tell her where he was and that would be the end of it surely. Nobody could resist that voice, he should know, he'd tried for months. He was safe from it now, but Pike didn’t have any barriers against it. There was no reason for her to have built up her mind against that sort of tone. Pike was going to tell her. There was no other outcome. Percy slid to the floor, his hands clenched and chest heaving, this was the end.
Percy near about jumped out of his skin as a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. He frantically looked around, eyes landing on Grog’s face as the goliath held a finger to his lips. Something small and metal glinted around his neck, and Percy found himself staring at it. It was a powerful magic, but he wasn’t sure what the charm or enchantment on it was. Grog motioned again for him to get up and follow, and Percy snapped out of his thoughts. He nodded jerkily but as he tried to stand, his legs wouldn’t support him. So Grog picked him up around the waist and carried him out the back door. As soon as they were out on the street Grog started to talk, still running and holding Percy under his arm.
“How bad is it?” He asked not even looking down at Percy, and he seemed to be running at a super natural speed. Percy was trying to stop himself from losing it again but all he could think of was how fast Grog was going. Grog asked again and this time Percy tried to gather his wits enough for a response.
“Bad, dangerous and bad.” His tongue feeling like lead and it was a monumental effort to push out the words. Grog slowed to a stop and Percy looked around. They had stopped outside the back of a busy tavern that Percy didn't recognize. As Grog put Percy down on the ground and Percy’s legs collapsed out from under him. Grog stepped around him and began to pound on the door
“Scanlan! Scanlan open up, its Pike.” He shouted at the top of his lungs as he continued to whack into the door with his fist. Percy distantly thought that the door had to have be enchanted if it could hold up to this amount of battery. The door suddenly opened up and a man that Percy had never seen before stood in the door frame.
“Now Grog, you know how I hate to disappoint a good friend but you are nowhere near as beautiful as the lovely Pike. And I know for a fact that she's still at work." the man bemoaned, looking away from Grog's face to look at where Percy lay on the ground. “And why did you bring a warlock to my door? Not that I don't mind the company, but he might not approve of my business.” As the small man looked at Percy with inquisitive eyes, Grog interrupted him.
“No. There's some people in Pike’s shop. One tried to use charm on her, but I think the shiny ear things you gave her stopped it from working.” Scanlan’s face changed from jovial to serious immediately and he started to mutter under his breath. A lilac colored magic began to appear creating the outline of a door behind him. As soon as he finished his incantation the door flared to life and Scanlan burst through.
The door disappeared and Grog picked up Percy and put him back on his feet.
“Don't worry about Pike. Scanlan will get the bad guys out of the shop.” He said patting Percy on the back. “Let's get you some ale.” Grog looked down at Percy, who hadn't seemed to notice anything happening around him and said. “From the storeroom cause you're not a people person. Right?” Grog nudged Percy's shoulder with his elbow, very nearly sending the dazed warlock back to the ground. Grog grabbed his arm and more or less carried him into the dimly lit storeroom and set Percy down on a sack of potatoes.