“Coochie coo.” Muu tickled Bea’s slightly distended stomach as she watched him lazily. “Doesn’t move much does she? What even is she?”
“That be a gust raptor hatchling,” Manly yawned as she joined us. Today she wore a baby blue dress with small frills and a white bodice around the waist. “Travel in pods of five to seven normally, and they’re damned right mean, at times. That was a lucky egg.”
“Yes, it was, and I feel like she will be a fine addition to the team.” I watched as Muu stopped paying her enough mind that she was able to nip his finger.
“Ouch!” He grumbled and pulled his hand away. “Okay, evil baby, has an attitude. Got it.”
Maebe tickled the top of the little thing’s head as she struggled, and the others seemed to get their fill of her before Maebe, and I took Bea over to Kayda.
The obscenely large bird stared down at the newborn with apparent wonder in her gaze. Sharp eyes transfixed.
“Kayda, this is Bea.” I ran my hand through the elder beast’s feathers as she inched closer slowly. She was being careful. “There’s a good older sister, yeah. Gentle now.”
Kayda was close enough for the small creature to be able to reach out with her tiny, still-forming claws and grab her beak. The large bird took it in stride, cooing softly. It was when Bea began to try and nibble on her beak that Kayda pulled back.
She looked down to her feet at the remains of her meal and began to pick meat from the bones to ferry up to her little sister. Food, she cooed as she fed the little one, who gobbled things up as swiftly as they were given to her.
Maebe laughed at the exchange and held her still while they bonded, so I decided it was time to speak to Bea at length about what was what. I went through each individual party member and how I felt about them. I attached a name to each image and made sure that she was getting the idea before moving to the next.
When I came to Kayda, I included memories of her fighting so that the little biter didn’t get any bad ideas about trying to eat her. Watching Kayda fight seemed to make her want to move because she struggled mightily in Maebe’s arms.
Then I focused on Maebe. That was a quick process because Bea picked up on my feelings while she was in the egg. How, I wasn’t quite sure, but it could have been the mana that I fed to her. Or the fact that Maebe had been there when I was holding her.
Either way, the little creature seemed quite attached to Maebe already.
We ate a hearty breakfast, then saddled up for the day head into the mountain pass that we were a few miles from. Thor, the Kirin I had as a mount, acted interested in Bea until she tried to bite his nose.
“I will allow her to ride if you promise she will not bite me.” He posed with his eyes locked on mine. I smiled and nodded before he acquiesced to me riding him. I held the little monster close, and we traveled on.
When we stopped for lunch that afternoon, on a large enough outcropping of rock, I let Bea down so that she could stretch her legs a little. She hadn’t earned enough experience to have a status screen, so how much could she do?
How often has that phrase been uttered, and your mind immediately goes to all the things that are about to go wrong? A lot? Every time? Every time for me, too.
Her first steps were adorable. She held herself up, wobbling a little, then tried to step and lost her balance immediately, tottered to the side, and fell to the stone ground with a light thud and a few chuckled, “awws,” from everyone around.
Another five minutes of practice and more than a little prodding from Kayda, and she was up and taking measured steps. Then she was trotting about two minutes later.
“She learns so quickly!” Maebe spoke with pride as she watched the little raptor hatchling trot around her legs in tighter and tighter circles.
“Anyone else feel like they just gave a shark legs?” Muu quipped as Bea bit at the air, her mouth hanging open as she sprinted. “I feel like I’m watching Jaws on Ice.”
I tried to grab her after a second, but she juked to my left, and I fell forward, barely stopping myself from falling onto my face with a grin of embarrassment.
I got the image from her that she found that entertaining as she sprinted and hopped around the place, venturing dangerously close to the edge as she moved.
“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” I grumbled, standing back up to go and get her. Bea, come here, we have to go.
Through our bond, her exhilaration at running, of being so fast and so close to the wind was just overwhelming at first. I didn’t think she was doing it on purpose, but that didn’t mean that I was going to allow it, now.
“Bea Arthur, you get your scaly ass over here!” I barked loudly. She ignored me as she sped off closer to the side of the outcropping. “You little fucker.”
The others were standing now, Balmur, especially, as he was fast enough to catch her without trying, thanks to his insanely high dexterity. I waved them away; I had to do this on my own.
I marched into the center of the outcropping, waiting for her to pass, then willed my shadow to stretch toward her path, then poured intent and mana into it.
As soon as she saw it there, she leapt off the ground, flying over it, but as her shadow touched it, her body froze.
Shade’s Prison – Caster takes his shadow and spreads it in a certain direction in order to trap another creature for a short period of time. Cost: 57 MP. Duration: 30 seconds. Cooldown: 1 minute.
I stepped closer to where she had landed on her face, not hard enough to hurt her, but hard enough to let her know that what she had done hadn’t been smart.
I pulled her into my arms, breaking the spell, and spoke directly through our link. I am the one in charge here. You will obey me. You could have hurt yourself, and that will not do. Do you understand?
Her head tilted to the side in confusion, but she understood that if I had wanted to, I could have let her get hurt. I sent her the thought of her flying over the side of the outcropping, and she didn’t like that either.
Then you will listen to me. Come along. Kayda reaches out through our bond and probed for information. She soon understood my reasoning and fluttered off to scout.
It was going to be a long trip if I couldn’t make Bea listen.
Chapter Six
Our cautious trek up the mountainside trail with Manly talking to us and inquiring about us was a little tense. Not just because of the last couple times we had been in these mountains having resulted in attacks that had almost resulted in one of us dying, but because we still weren’t sure how to take our guest.
And because we expected to be attacked, what with all the nightmares we seemed to be infrequently having between all of us. One or two of us hit every night or two. It sucked.
After the end of the second day on this mountain trail, the next portion of our journey was in sight. We could just make out the lights coming from the capital as the sun fell in the western sky.
“What’s the capital city like?” James wondered aloud as we looked for a place to spend the night.
The wind this high up was really wore us down, though Bea seemed to like it just fine. Her tongue flopped and flapped out of the side of her mouth and waggled wildly as she let the wind buffet her full on.
“Well, there’s lots o’ folks there,” Manly began as she glanced around to help answer. Humphrey had a thing against the wind as well, she had said. Smelling him over the last few days, I knew what it was. He needed a bath. “Lots o’ nice ones, and ones what ain’t so nice, but the majority of ‘em don’t care for outsiders. It’s a mostly human city, and after the high elves slapped their greatest wizards down some time ago, they truly don’t care for elves. Dwarves do okay, and gnomes and halflings’ll be alright. Beast-kin are a real sore spot. There’re some there who still ply their trade in managin’ them. Don’t rightly care for that, but I can’t stop ‘em.”
So human form for me and disguises or outright hiding for the rest of you guys, I grumbled to the others.
Could you m
ake us rings so that we can just blend in? Yohsuke looked about as he walked ahead.
I could give it a shot at the very least, I thought to myself, then the same to the others.
“Found something!” Muu called as we walked toward a cavern off the trail by about a good twenty feet. “Looks like a good place to call it for the night. You think?”
I shrugged. I had long since put Bea into my collar, her struggling to be free grated on my nerves. Kayda still scouted above, but even with her large size, the wind tossed her about as well. I called her down, and we piled into the cave to inspect things. The cave went back forty-five feet, so plenty of room for us to get in, and lay everything out nicely.
We checked for false walls and traps to be safe, then ate a good meal and chatted a little more about the city before Manly decided to speak to us a little more seriously.
“Now, I reckon we’re close enough to talk about somethin’,” she broached as she puffed on her pipe lightly, leaning against Humphrey. “I couldn’t help but overhear that fella what was leadin’ that band o’ miscreants sayin’ that y’all had been accused of some things—mighty unlikely that you did ‘em, I reckon—but a lady does try to learn more of her travelin’ partners after such talk.”
Should we tell her? Muu yawned quietly and listened through the earrings. The others glanced about and nodded to each other.
I blinked, wondering how much we should tell her when Bokaj cleared his throat. “We had needed someone to teach me how to do some things when we met this bard, Pharazulla.”
“She’s pretty famous ‘round where I came from!” Manly smacked her thigh and leaned forward. “Was she as purty as the old men seem to think?”
“She was pretty.” Muu shrugged as he piled more food into his mouth.
“She was, and she was also unavailable to join us when we first met her,” Bokaj continued. “We saved her life that night, and she still said no. So, we packed up in the morning and decided to head on. Well, a little way outside the gate, there she was and packed to travel. So, we didn’t think much of it.”
“Now, that does seem odd,” Manly scratched her head, then motioned for him to continue. “Well, did she teach you anythin’? What happened? The lot of you look like somethin’s eaten at you.”
I suppose the jig is up, and she does seem cool. Bokaj sighed. I vote we tell her the truth, at least about the guards.
The other members of the party agreed, and Bokaj continued the telling. “Until some guards came with orders to bring her and anyone she was traveling with back to Lindyburg.”
Manly nodded as he spoke. “Didn’t mention anything to you?”
We’re this far in and having someone knowing that we weren’t in cahoots with her would be nice, Muu reasoned. He went to speak but stopped when Yohsuke threw a stick into the fire.
“Nope, she just cast a spell on Zeke that made him cast a spell that killed them, then turned him against us trying to get rid of us,” Yohsuke muttered angrily. That last bit was still a bit of an embarrassing thought even now.
“He had no control over what he did, she mind fucked him, and he had no choice,” Bokaj insisted. “We’re innocent.”
“Then why not go make that apparent to the Governess at Lindyburg?” Manly swatted at Humphrey, who had just farted.
“That’s fucking rank, man.” I groaned as I shifted from the blast zone behind him.
“Sorry, Zeke, y’all were sayin’?” Manly raised her eyebrows before packing a little more tobacco into her pipe, the first time I had seen her do so.
She seems pretty insistent. James scowled from where he sat around the other side of the fire.
Jaken shrugged. Wouldn’t you be if someone was telling you such a juicy story?
“If we go back now, it takes us away from our mission, and with the way Pharazulla works, there’s more than likely been more crimes she could have committed and tried to attach us to, to make sure she gets off scot-free.” Bokaj stood up and began to pace. “We have to move on. It’s the only way forward.”
“I see.” Manly smiled, genuinely happy with what she had heard. “Y’all seem like real nice folk. I’m sure that you’re innocent.” She yawned and stretched before patting her companion. “I’ll be heading to bed then. Y’all be safe now, and I’ll see you, soon.”
“Night Manly,” Muu and Jaken called as we got ready for bed ourselves.
Think we did the right thing? Balmur gestured quietly after her as we sat around the fire still.
No one answered, because all of us were lost to the weight of our inadvertent sins. Especially me. Did I feel guilty? Hell yeah, even knowing it wasn’t my fault. That’s why we had our rings now.
As Maebe and I lay together, Bea in the collar and Kayda asleep near the front of the cave. I smiled despite the gravity of the revelations that had been revealed earlier. It had been a decent couple days all things considered. Muu was on watch, and James sat near him. The two of them were having a lively debate about which game of a series was better. Muu swore it was nine, and James was of the opinion it was seven.
I closed my eyes and breathed in Mae’s scent before I drifted to sleep.
I had to have only just closed my eyes and drifted off when a whispered word reached my ears, “Her.”
I opened my eyes in time to see someone stalking toward Maebe, and I before she levitated from our bedroll and held out her palms.
“Who are you, and how did you get behind us?” She spoke loudly and with authority.
“Sorry, Majesty, but you’re a threat we don’t have time for.” The figure held a hand to his mouth, then a shrill whistle, and a beam of light struck Maebe in the back, and she disappeared from in front of me with a shimmer and a growl.
I was out of bed instantly with crimson deep in my vision and I knew I had transformed into my werewolf form. I looked to my right, seeing that there was a human man in his mid-thirties with a bald head and days-old stubble. He was thin but looked wiry and held a staff out before him.
Mage Level 43
I went for him without thinking, he had done something to my love! I snarled and leapt before a wall of muscle slapped into my side with a large object in hand. Then searing burning fell over my body as a net was cast over me. Even as I snarled in rage, I tried to reach out to the others, but nothing happened, and no one responded.
“It’s alright, werewolf,” the human man tried to calm me with a soothing tone. “I didn’t hurt her; all I did was send her home for a few days. Costly spell, but worth it not to die, don’t you think?”
The burning from the net didn’t die down at all, but the rage in my eyes began to wane as pain took hold.
“That’s much better,” a husky female voice from where the behemoth had struck me reached my ears. “You know, that rage of yours is something. You would have made a damned fine berserker.”
“Don’t tease the bounty, Bonnie,” the mage tutted. “And you can put that hammer of yours away, for now. The others are all bound and silenced, he’s the last one, and I don’t think he will be too much trouble with that silver all over him.”
“You should know better by now than to think lightly of a captured foe, Nicolas,” another female voice drawled from behind him. “What about that last guy we captured outside Billindale who clubbed you over the head before one of us could stop him? You know, when you decided to monologue in front of him. I think it was about the futility of his trying to escape?”
“It was once, Dawn.” The mage huffed, the sound of wood tapping the ground reached my ears. “I’ve been better about it since then, have I not?”
“Sure, once he passes out, load him into the cart with the others, Bonnie,” the voice ordered casually. “Now, where is that fighter? Nick is usually so readily available.”
Lightning flashed, and a cry of thunder rang out around us, Kayda’s anger fueling mine briefly before our bond snapped shut.
“He’s outside trying to tame the bird; you know how he is with animals.”
Bonnie smiled as she leaned over me. I could just barely make out her horned figure before she spoke again. “And here I thought that birds were your thing, Dawn.”
I snarled and tried to grab at her, do anything, but the net was weighted, and my strength fled faster and faster with my health.
Colors and shadows ran together and I could no longer differentiate between the real people and their shadowy doubles and triples. Eyes dropping dangerously I tried to stand and fight only to fall one last time.
***
I woke up to motion, the sensation of being jostled about like so much cargo in a cage-like structure. I groaned, the burning of the silver hadn’t quite healed yet, but I could feel it nearby. Looking at the bars of the cage, there was silver wire wrapped around each one and soldered on there. It would be painful to touch, but I coul—
“Don’t be thinkin’ of tryin’ to bust out, Zeke,” Manly sat in a chair just outside the bars, her southern drawl was much less pronounced, now.
“Where are we, and why did you betray us like this?” I growled. I didn’t dare move closer to the bars themselves, or I would risk hurting myself. “What happened to Maebe?! And your accent, are you really who you say you are?”
“It’s not a betrayal getting close to a bounty.” She shrugged, her face still pleasant and kind. “I’m Manly Warbottom, as sure as you’re my quarry. I knew that there was something off about y’all, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Still can’t. But don’t worry, your queen is likely safe in her lands in the Fae. See, Nicolas is quite the spell slinger, and being a wizard, he knows all sorts of magic to use against creatures from other realms. All he had to do was send her home. She’s going to be there for at least a week our time—plenty of time for us to get you to Lindyburg to prove your innocence, and for us to be on our way.”
“If you think we’re innocent, why take us there at all?” I spat; it was hard to control my emotions. “Why not work with those other bounty hunters to capture us?”
Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4) Page 14