Glintchasers: After

The city of Sasel stretched out before the Starbreakers as they sat perched on the roof of a manor house they didn't own. A sea of tiny lightstone blips mirrored the starry sky above, and the full moon bathed the night in a soft glow, made softer by the haze in their vision. A breeze from the coast swept over them, bringing in a hint of the ocean that swirled with the smell of alcohol on their breath.

Brass poured another drink for himself out of their stolen bottle of Silk Tongue Gin. He was three drinks ahead of everybody else, at yet still had the balance to stand on the slope of the roof. Church watched him with equal parts dread and respect. Even hammered, swaying on his feet, the duelist's balance was impeccable.

He held the bottle out to Church, and the young cleric shook his head. "Uh, no, no thanks. I think, um… I think I've had enough."

"Lightweight," Brass rolled his eyes, but withdrew the bottle and plopped down. "I need a new drinking buddy. All my old one does is make mooney eyes at her new boy toy."

"Oh screw you." Snow threw the finger at Brass, but didn't move from her position, nestled into Phoenix's arms with her back against his chest and his coat draped over her shoulders.

Brass held up his hands.

"No offense meant. You two keep enjoying your honeymoon. Drinks are just more fun with friends."

"I drink," Angel said.

"I need a drinking buddy who likes me," Brass amended.

She offered an apologetic shrug, before swiping the gin from him anyway and taking a drink straight from the bottle. It didn't burn going down so much as tickle, and left a bittersweet aftertaste. For whatever else she could say about Brass, he could pick out some good stuff.

The bottle traveled back and forth down the line of the five glintchasers as they all stared out over the royal capital drinking in the view. Even Church eventually dared to take a few more sips.

When they'd arrived a month ago, they were nobodies. A band of punk kids trying to get rich just like every other freelancer company that passed through. Now, they were heroes. Honored and esteemed by the king and queen themselves. It came with some money sure, but nothing they couldn't burn through. What mattered was the name recognition. The clout. From this day forward, when people in Corsar heard the name "The Starbreakers," they would know who that meant.

That was what they were celebrating. More than saving Prince Roland, more than surviving another brush with death, they were celebrating new opportunity. Off the back of a win like this, they could become something. And that made anything feel possible.

"Did you see my Dad's face during the ceremony?" Snow giggled into Phoenix's neck.

"I did."

"Saints, he looked so pissed," Snow laughed.

"Do you think people in Aenerwin will hear about this?" Church asked. Out of all of them, he'd been the most reserved about all of this, but even his voice carried an unmistakable tinge of pride.

"Everyone's gonna hear about this," Angel said.

"What do you guys wanna spend the money on?" Brass asked. "Because I've got ideas. I've got many, very good ideas."

"We're not burning it all on hookers and hash," Angel said.

"...I have a few other ideas."

"Could afford to stay in some nicer places for a while," Phoenix said, running through the list of future expenditures he kept in his head. "Replace equipment we lost. Buy some horses, so we don't have to walk everywhere…"

"You're so sensible it's heartbreaking," Brass said, shoulders sagging in disappointment.

"We could buy a house," Church offered, almost too quiet to hear.

Four heads swiveled toward him in unison, and the priest in training shriveled under the attention. "Well, you know. It could be nice, having like… a base to come back to. That's ours. We could get mail delivered there. Put stuff we don't want to carry with us there. And Phoenix is always talking about wanting an actual workshop."

"That's… not actually a bad idea," Snow said.

"I haven't lived in a house since I was fourteen," Angel said.

She gave no further opinion on the subject, but her eyes flitted across the others before staring down at her shoes. That expression was the closest Angel usually came to expressing sentiment. She'd never say it outright, but she liked the idea too.

Snow nudged their leader and accountant to get his opinion. Phoenix mulled it over. "I mean… we could probably afford it right now, depending on where we were looking."

"Fuck it, let's buy this one," Angel said, slapping the roof they were sitting on. "It's got a good view."

"And we've already spilled booze on it," Snow added. "It's practically ours already."

Phoenix let out a half-laugh. It was almost certainly the gin talking, but he saw absolutely no flaws in that logic. "Guess we'll talk to whoever owns this place in the morning and see if they're selling."

Church sighed, imagining the reactions of his friends and mentors back at his home temple if they could see him now. A glintchaser, a hero, and a soon to be property owner. A wistful smile traced across his lips thinking of them. "You guys ever think about what you'll do after this?"

"I've got some letters to send to few big names in town," Phoenix said. "They'd never give us a second look before, but now we could have some real clients on our hands. And that's not even mentioning the sites I still want to check out for ourselves. South of the river, there's—"

"No, not that," Church said. He was surprised at himself for interrupting Phoenix. He blamed it on the gin. "I mean… after, after. Like… when you're done being a glintchaser."

A contemplative hush fell over the group. For Phoenix, it was just him trying to organize his thoughts amid a slush of alcohol. But for the others, it was the first time any of them had actually given serious thought to the idea. All of them had become freelancers more or less for the sake of it. Phoenix, to further his theories about Old World history. Snow, to prove something to her parents. Church to find purpose in helping people wherever he could. Angel, to keep a roof over her head and food in her belly. And Brass…well, as far as any of them could tell, he became a freelancer to be Brass.

Planning for life beyond it hadn't really come up. Not when they'd been too busy thinking about how to get through the next week.

But now, they were over the hump of obscurity and inexperience that crushed most companies. If they kept up this kind of momentum, they were looking at particularly lucrative careers. The kind of money freelancers could make if they didn't get themselves killed could set a person up for just about anything.

"I'm going to open my own wing of the Library," Phoenix said. "It's gonna be a special section, all about the history of freelancing. And I'm gonna commission a book about us to put in it."

"You wanna put us in a history book?" Angel asked.

"I'll tell them to make you sound good," Phoenix assured her.

"Ooh," Brass excitedly chimed in. "Don't get a priest to write it. They always skip the good stuff and give Renalt all the credit. Hire a bard."

He snapped his fingers in revelation. "Hire an Iandran bard."

"What?"

"Come on, they eat the stuff we do up out there," Brass insisted. "Plus, they never skimp on sex and violence. We could have a play written about us! We could have a series of plays. Comedies, adventures, romances! Maybe a tragedy. Those always win awards."

"Brass, I wanted a book, not a play."

"Commission both! You might as well."

Phoenix opened his mouth to protest, but no arguments coalesced. "Fuck it. I'll commission both."

"That's the spirit!"

"Hey," Snow whispered, tugging on Phoenix's collar to get his attention. "Is there room in that library wing for an artifact collection?"

Phoenix cocked his head for a moment, until he realized what Snow was implying. "Absolutely."

Snow smiled, and tugged on Phoenix's collar again, this time pulling him into a kiss as she pictured their future. Someday, when they were finally too old or too rich to keep freelancing, she'd build a collection that would make her father's look like a drawer full of knickknacks. And she'd spend the rest of her life in the arms of the smartest man she'd ever met.

Angel rolled her eyes at the two of them, and folded her arms to keep thinking on her own answer. Finally, after another minute and another turn with the gin, she had her answer.

"I'm gonna open a bar," she said.

"A bar?"

"Hells yeah," she doubled down. "All the great companies meet in a bar. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna open a bar, and it's gonna be the place where glintchasers can meet, and form up, and then come back from a ruin and blow all their cash on me. And I'll take payment in whatever they dig up, cuz why not. Probably end up with a bigger collection than you."

Snow narrowed her eyes. "Is that a challenge?"

"No," Angel said, unable to stop the smirk from creeping onto her face. "That implies you could win."

"Oh, okay! Bring it, bitch!" Snow laughed.

"I'm going to build orphanages," Church said, suddenly silencing everyone. "As many as I can. And the first one's going up where I was born."

"Like, back in Iandra?" Angel asked.

Church nodded. Drunk tears were rapidly forming in his eyes. "I just… it took me so long to find a place in this world for me. And I want… I want to give kids like me what I didn't have."

Angel shifted uncomfortably. Naked sincerity wasn’t her forte. She looked to the others for help, but Snow and Phoenix were both avoiding eye contact and Brass was stifling laughter.

"Uh… shit. That's, um… really nice."

Before she could think of what else to say, Church closed the distance with her, draping his arms over her.

"I just… you guys are the best friends I ever had," he said. "And I love you all so much."

"Oh my god, he's a sad drunk," Brass said. "I always wondered what Drunk Church looked like, but this is even funnier than I thought it would be."

"Oh fuck you," Angel scolded him.

"No, it's adorable," Brass said, sitting down on the other side of Church and throwing an arm around him. "And also the nicest thing he'll ever say to me. I love you too, buddy."

After a few seconds, Brass realized that now everyone was staring at him. A few more later, and he managed to piece together why.

"Oh. Yeah, no," he waved his hand dismissively. "I support all your dreams, but I'm definitely not doing anything after this."

"What, you retiring to somewhere tropical and sitting drunk on a beach for the rest of your life?" Snow asked incredulously.

"Oh heaven and hells no," Brass said. "I mean… I'm never giving this up. This feeling. This gig. I've got no idea what next week's going to be. We could fight a giant snake, or steal something for a wizard. We could find some Old World sap's long lost secret stash and be the first people in a thousand years to get high off magic elf drugs!"

"Old World empires only collapsed seven centuries ago," Phoenix corrected.

"Not the point," Brass said. "I just mean… This is it, you know? This is all I ever wanted, right here."

He sighed. Perhaps the most content sound any of them had ever heard a person make. A drunk, blissful smile took over his face as he looked out over the city. He nodded, more sure of this one thing than he was about anything else.

"I'm going to do this for the rest of my life."

Want to know what happened afterward? My debut novel is all about the story of these characters grown up and grappling with their old lives of adventure while getting into a whole new mess of trouble, and it comes out this Fall 2021. Subscribe to the site newsletter and follow me on social media to get all the latest updates on the release, and also on all the other stuff I get up to around here.