Steel and Fangs

by Sami Dougish

The next two days were painful but satisfying. I spent most of the day with Scourge learning to ride him properly. I fell off him a number of times, and had the bruises to prove it, but at the end of the second day, I felt I was ready to leave. I had done my best to avoid having to talk to anyone, but despite my efforts I always had a crowd watching me as I worked with Scourge. I was ready to get out of this place and get back on the road.

  On the third day when I woke up, without wasting anytime, I began to get ready to leave. I went and found my armor, and after spending a bit of time, pulling it on, I quickly placed my weapons in all of their appropriate spots. The hammer and mace on their respective sides, the brace of daggers I settled for strapping around my right thigh. I couldn’t really hook the naginata anywhere on my armor, so I just carried that. I hadn’t found a way to attach the crossbow to my armor either, so I placed it in one of my new travel packs for now. My compass, and map were still in the small pouch at my belt. Along with a few coins for easy access.

  I had already organized my packs the night before, and I went and double checked that they were secure. Once satisfied, I threw the two large acks over my shoulders by their straps. I must have looked like a damn pack mule; put soon enough I would be able to have Scourge help me with the burden.

  Lastly, I pulled my face guard back over my face. I hadn’t worn it the past few days, but I figured now that I was going to be heading back out into the world again, I might as well get used to having it on again. Satisfied that all my belongings were in order, I pushed my way out of the door, and as quietly as possible made my way out of the mansion.

  Thankfully the only people I saw as I left the mansion were the few servants who were up early going about their tasks. They all avoided me, and made no move to impede me though, so I was able to get out of the mansion without much difficulty.

  The main cavern was equally empty, and I smiled under my mask. If my luck held, I would be able to get out of this place without having to talk to too many people. My luck ran out though when I reached the stables. Waiting for me was both Orizmad and Oktai. I frowned as I saw them waiting for me. I hadn’t expected them to be up this early

  “Hello there you grumpy bastard!” Orizmad called out as he saw me, “We decided to get up extra early, as we guessed you’d try to slink out of here without saying goodbye. I would say those were poor manners from you, but then I remembered you seem to not give a rats ass when it comes to manners!”

  He sounded highly amused at my scowl and I guessed he was rather proud of himself. Oktai had that same stupid grin on his face as well when I stopped in front of them.

  “Ahh Zatara, you wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to your friends, now would you?!”

  I ignored the man’s question, and said, “I will be leaving after I get Scourge strapped up, which way is this places exit?”

  Orizmad raised an eyebrow as if in thought, and then said, “Scourge? That what you named that beast? I have to say that’s a good name.”

  “Ay it matches the deadly grace of the creature,” Oktai added with a nod.

  “The exit?” was my only response.

  “Oh, calm down Vakarrian, I’ll take you there myself once you are ready, go and grab your mount, and we will wait.”

  Figuring that was the best I was going to get, I moved off towards the chained enclosure. I saw that Scourge was still in the middle of the enclosure, and was currently gnawing on a bloody bone. He must have just finished his breakfast. He looked up though as I entered, and he growled in greeting. I returned his growl, and he went back to picking at his breakfast.

  Once I was close enough to touch him, I dropped my packs, and set the Naginata down as I said, “Morning boy, ready to get out of this damn place?”

  His tail switched in response, and I took that as a yes. So, I grabbed the first back, and moved over to the saddle.

  “Alright boy, I need to put these packs on your saddle. They aren’t too heavy, are you willing to carry them?”

  Scourge looked up from his meal, and sniffed in m direction, then eyed the two packs. He then looked back at me, and dipped his head slightly. The spiteclaws intelligence was amazing, and I was glad to see he didn’t mind. I quickly moved forward, and made short work, of latching the two packs to the saddle. They both hung down his flanks slightly, and sat just behind where I would strap my legs in. Satisfied with the set up, I whispered, “Follow me, and don’t attack anyone please, I know you don’t like them, and believe me I understand, but we don’t need any trouble here, besides, there will be plenty of fighting in our future I assure you.”

  Scourge growled, but still dipped his head in sullen acceptance. I turned around, and started walking back to the exit. Thankfully, Scourge followed without any trouble. He stayed right on my tail though, and I could feel his breaths brush past my sensitive ears.

  As I neared Orizmad, and Oktai, they both took a weary step back, and I chuckled inwardly, as scourge gave them a little encouragement as he bared his fangs at them, and growled menacingly. I had told him not to attack, but I hadn’t mention fucking with them. I made no move to stop him, and said, “Show me the exit.”

  Orizmad nodded quickly, and gestured for me to follow. He led me back out into the main cavern, and then towards the largest adjoining tunnel. This tunnel was wide enough for several wagons to drive astride each other without too much trouble. Once again, I was impressed by the amount of effort that had gone into making the tunnel.

  We walked for a good twenty minutes, and all the while Oktai would try to engage me in conversation, but would back up whenever Scourge growled and snapped ta him. I smiled as I realized that Scourge would be a great deterrent to any people trying to needlessly engage me in conversation.

  Eventually though, we came to what looked like a solid rock wall. There were several buildings on either side of the tunnels though, along with a set of guard towers. There was also a large gate that ran across the entire tunnel. I saw a number of dwarves and humans manning the guard post. I even saw as several of them saw Scourge, and reached for their weapons. I looked over at Orizmad questioningly, but he waved his hands for me to calm down, and he yelled, “Open the bloody gates boys!”

  When the guards noticed Orizmad they visibly relaxed, and returned to their duties. I did hear one call out though, “You heard him boys, get that door open!”

  I didn’t see exactly what happened, but I did see a group of six dwarves rush over to one of the main buildings, and a few seconds later, I heard an extremely loud clicking noise, and then I heard the sound of gears rolling. The next second to my amazement, the entire stone wall that I had taken for a dead end, began to slowly open up. A large ray of sunlight pierce through the slit in the stone wall now, and every passing second, the door opened more and more, until it completely disappeared into the wall of the tunnel.

  I heard a self-satisfied chuckle from my left, and saw Orizmad looking at the door proudly, “Yes, we dwarves are impressive engineers, aren’t we?”

  I didn’t answer, and instead made to get on Scourge’s back.

  “Hold up there laddie, “Orizmad said as he grabbed my arm. I resisted the urge to break the grip and hit him, and instead looked back at him impatiently, “What?”

  Orizmad looked solemn now, which was unusual for the usually relaxed dwarf, “I just wanted to say thank you again, for saving my men. I care deeply about those who have sworn themselves to me, and you helped me save them all, including keeping Brazkin alive, when it might have been more beneficial for you to kill him. I don’t know what your plans are for the future, but I wish you well. Also, I do not care if you are a drayzraac. I have heard the stories, but I always judge someone by what I see, not by what others tell me. From what I’ve seen, you are damn rude, frustrating, and infuriating asshole, but you keep your word, and risked yourself to save my men. I respect that and it was an honor to host you in my house.”

  I was slightly taken aback by the sincerity in his voice. Despite him thanking
me in the past, I never really believed him. I had been treated like an animal most of my life, and I had trouble believing his sincerity, but now I did. I didn’t like the feeling though, so I shook myself, and just replied with a nod.

  Orizmad seemed to understand, and said, “Also guard yourself well, while I don’t care that you are a drayzraac, most everyone else will, keep a watchful eye out in your future. I have one another gift for you as well.”

  Orizmad reached into his pocket, and pulled out a necklace with a small jewel encrusted metal hammer, with a small dwarven symbol I didn’t recognize. He held it out to me and said, “This is the symbol of my smuggling ring. I have fences, and other vendors all over this continent, and if you need to sell some stolen goods, or get a message to me, show this to the right people, and they will help you out. Its enchanted, so they will know its authentic. Take it, with my compliments.”

  I reached out, and he dropped the necklace in my hand. I examined it, and saw that it was indeed finely crafted, and was probably quite valuable, never mind the fact that it could get me access to criminal vendors. I could imagine having the support of a smuggling lord could come in handy, and I quickly latched the necklace around my neck, and slid the hammer under my shirt out of sight. The dwarf smiled, and then held out his hand. This time, I slowly reached out, and gripped his hand. We shook hands, but I quickly pulled back, uncomfortable with the contact.

  Orizmad chuckled, and said, also you are probably the first person I have employed, who wasn’t the least bit intimidated by Brazkin, so that’s another point in your favor, you know I haven’t seen him since the feast? He’s probably found a room somewhere to sulk and brood for a bit before he decides to come out again!”

  I snorted at that, if I never saw the arrogant wizard again, I would be perfectly happy.

  Oktai bounced over, smiling as well, and said, “I would also like to express my well wishes Zatara, I will always remember the honor of fighting at such a capable warrior’s side. I hope we meet again in the future, and that we can slay our enemies together again!”

  He placed a fist across his chest, and bowed at the waist. I waited until he stood up, and finally decided to ask, “What does Zatara mean?”

  Oktai beamed and said, “There is no direct translation, but it roughly means insane!”

  I actually chuckled at that, and both Orizmad and Oktai looked at me surprised, and Oktai, laughed and said, “So he does have a sense of humor!”

  Raskorian apparently had woken up, and was getting tired of the delays, and said, in a voice filled with disgust, “Oh come on Vessel, enough of this disgusting sentimental waste of time, let’s get moving!”

  I had to stop myself from actually laughing out loud at that, but he was right, I was anxious to be off. I walked over to Scourge, and climbed up onto his back naginata in one hand, my other on the pommel of the saddle. Directing Scourge to the fresh air coming from the forest outside, I whispered, “Forward Scourge.”

  Scourge let out a roar, that seemed to shake the walls, and he shot forward. I nearly lost my seat, at the speed, but I tightened my legs, and managed to stay on the saddle. Scourge, now free of the confines of the enclosure, was running at a faster speed then I had ever seen him manage before. Air flew past my face, and I grinned at the prospect of finally being on the road again. Just me, Scourge, and Raskorian, what a trio we made.

  Chapter 17

  When I had imagined having a mount, I had thought of a horse, or even a mule, that could help carry my gear. Scourge proved to be so much more. In the two days since we had left Orizmad’s compound we had made much better time then I could have hoped for. We stayed off the road, as I had when I was on foot, but Scourge took to the forests, with ease. I imagined a horse would have trouble maneuvering between all the uneven ground, trees, and other obstruction, but Scourge was extremely agile and dexterous, and he ran, leapt, and avoided all the obstacles with ease.

  The first few hours of travel though had resulted with me falling off a number of times. Now that he was out in the open, Scourge really showed off his natural agility. The only problem was all his leaps, twists, and bounds, were too much for me to handle at my current level of riding experience. In response, I had taken to strapping my legs in to the saddle, so I could practice anticipating his movements without having to worry about being thrown off the saddle.

  Once I had done that, it became extremely easier to stay seated, and we made great time. As we traveled, I had on multiple occasion needed to get us back on track, as unless I gave him constant directions, Scourge was prone to begin to wander, as he explored the surrounding area. Still even after all of that, I guessed we were nearing the border. I had picked out several landmarks on the map that I had seen around us as well, and I was excited because after resting tonight, we would make it to the Stenao dukedom in the morning.

  I began to set up camp. I decided to forgo a fire as I didn’t want to risk being discovered so close to the border. I had pushed deeper in the forest away from the roads, as I assumed the closer, I got to the border, the more likely I was to meet Thuum patrols.

  Once I had laid out my blanket, I let Scourge go so he could go hunt. I had made it a habit to let the spiteclaw go and hunt every night. He enjoyed it, and it saved me from having to feed him. I had learned more about the spiteclaw in the past couple of days. For one, the spiteclaw seemed to have a sense of humor, as he would randomly mess with me by swatting my back, with his tail while we rode. Last night I even woke up bewildered when A great weight laying on me woke up. I found I couldn’t move though, as the spiteclaw had laid down atop me, and seemed to actually laugh with a coughing growl as I gasped, and tried to push him off.

  He was also a fast learner, as in the past two days both of us had made great strides with learning to ride together. He now responded more readily to my nonverbal directions, and I managed to keep my balance without the leg straps for short distances.

  Raskorian of course had insisted we continue with my lessons. We had passed the time, while Scourge carried us around, practicing common. Raskorian paid me a rare compliment by saying, “Well at least you are more coherent now then a lame warthog.”

  I smiled as I lay there in under the trees, looking up at the stars as I drifted off into blissful sleep with those comforting thoughts. I could get used to this life.

  The next morning however, came with an odd tingling on the back of my neck. Something was wrong, but I couldn’t explain why I felt like that. I slowly rose up from under my blanket, and looked around the surrounding trees. I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but I was sure something was wrong. I sniffed the air, and but I couldn’t taste anything on the wind. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t help me if something was downwind from me.

  Trying to act as normal as possible, I stood up, and began to gather all of my gear. Thankfully I didn’t have much, and gathered all of my gear quickly enough. Unfortunately Scourge still hadn’t returned from his hunting, and I couldn’t leave util he returned. I cursed under my breath softly, I still felt tat nagging feeling that something wasn’t right.

  Wanting to be ready for anything, I placed my crossbow between my packs, so it was out of sight, and I quickly cocked the string back, and loaded a bolt. As I stood up though, I felt a painful thump as what felt like an arrow piercing my shoulder. I grunted, and acting on instinct, dove forward, and did my best to get behind the nearest tree. The arrow in my shoulder jostled painfully as I dove, but I did my best to ignore it as I ducked behind the tree. I wasn’t a second too late, and my fast reaction had saved me, as I saw several more arrows impact where I had been a split second ago.

  “Who the fuck is out there?” I growled half to myself, and half at Raskorian, who had woken up the moment I had been wounded.

  Before the dragon could answer, a voice I recognized made its ways to my ears.

  “Hello Lizard, isn’t this just a wonderful sight, a lizard cowering behind a tree, trapped like the animal he is!”

/>   “Brazkin!” I spat back, putting all the hate I could muster in the name.

  I peaked around the tree, and my heart dropped when I at the sight that greeted me. Brazkin stood thirty feet away from me, and was flanked by Adarossa, Primus, and a group of twenty men, half with bows trained on my position, and the rest with spears and shields. I hissed in hate at the soldiers. I recognized that uniform, they were Thuum regulars. What were they doing with the mage!?”

  With a voice oozing with smug satisfaction, Brazkin replied saying, “Me yes, lizard, I am here to punish your insolence, and see you dead. Orizmad was a fool to trust you, and tolerate your presence. He should have you skinned and adorned his walls with your filthy scales, not reward you, and allow you the freedom to insult your betters with impunity.”

  I had no idea what to do at the moment, and needed to keep the mage talking while I tried to figure a way out of this.

  “How did you find me?”

  Thankfully the filthy mage seemed content to boast about his prowess, and he began outlining how he had caught me.

  “Well, I am glad you asked me that. You see after the feast; I knew your disrespect could not go unpunished. While I couldn’t harm you while you were under Orizmad’s protection, I knew you would need to leave eventually. So, I set out immediately after I left, and head back to Ravengrove. Unfortunately traveling there, the regular route, would take nearly a day and a half, and I was worried I wouldn’t return intime before we lost track of you thankfully after only a day of travel, I Rn into this patrol. Thankfully, I was able to convince them to help me. It seems they are far more interested in the escaped Drayzraac, who apparently is worth a fortune upon capture, dead or alive.” I brought them back, and made contact with Adarossa, and Primus. Thankfully they saw Orz’s, mistake as well, and agreed to inform me of your movements inside the hideout.”

  I was only half listening to the mage, as I tried to think of a way out of this. I was so close to getting out of this kingdom, but this fucking mage was ruining everything. The beast in my soul wanted me to charge out from behind cover, and begin killing the group in front of me, but I knew that would be suicide. I would be shot full of arrows before I even reached the line of men at arms, not even counting the dwarf’s magic. My best shot would be to try and outrun them in the forest. I was sure I was faster than them, but what if they had soldiers behind me as well. Plus, I would be exposed to arrow fire as well once I left the cover of this tree.