by Logan Jacobs
As tired as I was, that made me laugh. “Yeah,” I said, “me too.”
“All in favor of camping here for the night?” Lavinia asked.
I was exhausted, and I could tell Maruk and Aerin felt the same way by their muttered agreements.
“Where’s the princess?” Lavinia asked, in a tone that suggested she hoped Yvaine wasn’t going to turn up again.
“Marchioness,” came an annoyed voice from one of the tents. Yvaine poked her head out and looked around warily. “The monster is dead?”
“Yes, it’s dead,” I said when no one else seemed much inclined to answer.
Yvaine joined us then. The hem of her white dress was splattered in mud, but she held her chin high.
“You stayed,” I said.
She tossed her hair and sniffed. “Yes, well, I considered your offer, and I thought I would at least accompany you all to Ovrista. I am cursed with a generous spirit, and I realized you might need my help to get out of this wretched forest.”
Lavinia rolled her eyes. “Wonderful.”
“I don’t suppose you have any food?” Yvaine asked. “I’m positively famished. Those dwarves wouldn’t give me anything to eat.”
“Yeah, we have food. Probably not the sort of thing a marchi- marchi-whatever is used to,” Aerin replied, “but if you complain, you don’t get anything, and we’re leaving you here, got it?”
Yvaine wisely said nothing, and we coaxed the dwarves’ fire back to life and settled around it in weary, but triumphant, silence. We passed around bread studded with nuts and berries and some wine we’d found that the dwarves had made, and the last things I could remember before I drifted off into a comfortable sleep were the sounds of the wind chimes and the sight of the stars twinkling through the branches above.
Chapter 12
When I woke up the next morning, it was to something black and furry on my chest, and it took my groggy mind a few seconds to realize that it was the puca. It had the pendant Aerin had given me clutched in its tiny hands and stared at it with wide green eyes.
“You like shiny things?” I whispered. Aerin had told me that pucas were related to goblins. “You can’t have this, but I’ll find you something else to play with.” I closed my hand around the pendant and tucked it back into my shirt. The puca made a disappointed sort of noise at the loss but allowed me to scratch it behind one long ear as I sat up and inspected our campsite.
We had cleared away the dwarves’ bodies and organized everything we planned to take from their camp, but there were still a few weapons, scattered flowers, and wooden charms lying in the grass that we hadn’t bothered with. And of course, the enormous shape of the Dovar-cu was still slumped in the mud on the riverbank, its hind end partially submerged in the water. It didn’t look any less monstrous in the light of dawn, especially since its corpse had begun to bloat. I wondered if scavengers would feed on it, or if the non-magical animals would stay away.
Lavinia was gone, but since her bedroll was folded up neatly by her pack and her bow was gone, I assumed she was out hunting. Maruk, Aerin, and Yvaine were still asleep, and I got up quietly so as not to disturb them and set the puca in the grass. I half-expected it to scamper off, but it stayed close as I packed up my things, and I supposed it hadn’t taken my promise to find it some other trinket than my pendant lightly.
Aerin had already packed up the jewelry, coins, and other valuables that we’d taken from the dwarves, but I searched through the loot and found a little bronze pin shaped like a sparrow that I figured was the least expensive of the cache and then held it out to the puca.
“Here, this is nice, isn’t it?” I asked.
The puca sniffed the pin warily for a few seconds, then abruptly plucked it from my hand and bounded off into the bushes with it.
“Okay then,” I said as I ran my hand through my hair. “You’re welcome.”
“Who are you talking to?” Aerin muttered as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“That puca was hanging around,” I replied.
“I’m sorry, did you say there was a puca?” Yvaine asked as she sat up as well. Somehow, despite sleeping on the grass with only a borrowed blanket, she looked better-rested and more glamorous than any of us. I wondered if that was an innate gift of the nobility as well.
“One has been following us,” I explained.
“Ugh,” the dark-haired woman groaned. “They are cursed creatures. Even if they are really cute.”
“Did Lavinia see it?” Aerin asked.
I grinned. “No.” Thankfully, for all our sakes, the puca hadn’t tried any more pranks, either.
Aerin yawned and massaged the back of her neck. “Ugh, I can’t wait to get back to Ovrista. I hate sleeping on the ground.”
At that moment, Lavinia reappeared as silently as a shadow. She had a rabbit and a squirrel in hand and set them in the grass by the dying fire. “We’re going to have to leave for the Shadow Delves as soon as we get the map,” she warned as she knelt and added fresh kindling to the fire. “You’re still going to be sleeping on the ground.”
“Is there anywhere one can go to avoid companions who insist on talking before the sun is even up?” came a peeved grumble from Maruk’s bedroll.
Yvaine raised her eyebrows. “The sun is up.”
“Not under here,” the orc protested as he drew his blanket over his head.
Lavinia shrugged. “Sleep all you want, but you better not complain about missing breakfast.”
That got Maruk’s attention, and he sat up swiftly. “Let’s not be too hasty, Lavinia,” he said. “It is the most important meal of the day, after all.”
The promise of food had drawn someone else’s attention, too, and the puca crept out of the forest toward our camp.
When Lavinia caught sight of it, her lip curled. “Not you again.”
She began to reach for an arrow, and the puca darted forward and clambered up my legs onto my back. I could feel it shivering, and its whiskers tickled my cheek as it peeked its head over my shoulder.
Lavinia glared at it. “You can’t hide behind him forever,” she told it.
“Oh, my, is this the puca?” Yvaine said as she strode over to admire my new best friend. “Well, it’s simply adorable, isn’t it?”
“It’s going to be a hat,” Lavinia said. “Or maybe some gloves.”
“Wait,” I urged her and held up my hands. “It helped us with the dwarves and the Dovar-cu.”
Lavinia’s eyes narrowed. “It also put my bow up a tree, ruined our maps, and stole my food.”
“You did antagonize it,” Maruk pointed out.
“I’m surprised it followed us all the way out here,” Aerin said as she came over to let the puca sniff her fingers. “That was really clever.”
“Am I the only one who remembers what this thing did to us?” Lavinia demanded.
“Maybe it was trying to make up for that by helping us now,” Aerin suggested while the puca chewed on the leather of her glove.
“You don’t really believe that,” Lavinia said.
“Sure I do,” Aerin said as she stroked the puca between the ears. “Look, he’s shaking.”
“It’s a ‘he’ now?” Lavinia asked. She shook her head. “It’s a wild animal, Aerin. If we keep feeding it, it’ll never leave us alone.”
Lavinia’s warning had the opposite effect than what she’d intended, and Aerin’s eyes lit up. “We could keep him as a pet, he could be like a guild mascot!”
Lavinia opened her mouth to protest, but Aerin continued on before the other woman could get a word out. “He’s so smart, I bet we could teach him all sorts of tricks. All those tourists in the market pay to see that mangy dog of Geoffrey’s play dead and that’s not even that impressive, think of what we could pull with this little guy!”
The puca chattered happily and butted his head into Aerin’s hand. Evidently, he liked being called smart.
“We could dress him up in little outfits,” Maruk suggested. “I know a tail
or who makes feathered caps for those tiny dogs the chancellor has.”
The puca growled at that, but only half-heartedly.
“We can make guild banners that we can sell. We should probably change our name too since it will be easier to market the merchandise if--”
“You can’t be serious,” Lavinia interrupted as she looked from Aerin to Maruk.
“Well, not about the name,” Aerin chuckled as she tapped her lips with her finger, “but the other stuff is simply sound business--”
“Help me out here, Gabriel?” Lavinia turned to me for back-up.
“He already followed us this far, I don’t think he’s going to leave anyway,” I said with an apologetic shrug. “And I don’t think we should kill him after he helped us.”
Lavinia threw up her hands. “I don’t know what I expected,” she said. “Fine, you all play at being friends with the little monster, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when it’s your gear that thing trashes.”
Aerin squealed and gave me and the puca a somewhat awkward hug that the creature squirmed out of before he dropped to the grass.
“Now he needs a name,” Aerin said.
“I have a cousin who’s an earl,” Yvaine put in. “You could name this darling Dunstan after him.” She scratched the puca’s chin. “I would allow it.”
“You’re not part of this,” Aerin told her with a sidelong look.
“Oh! We ought to name him Eowevish!” Maruk said suddenly.
Aerin frowned at him. “Eo-what?”
“Eowevish,” Maruk repeated. “He’s a renowned philosopher on the western coast, the perfect namesake for this little fellow.”
“I don’t even want to keep it, but you absolutely cannot name it that,” Lavinia said.
“Gabriel, you should name him,” Aerin said diplomatically. “He seems to like you the most.”
I rubbed the back of my neck as they all looked to me expectantly, including the puca. “Uh, how about Merlin?”
“Merlin?” Aerin echoed.
“You know,” I said. “Like the famous wizard.”
Aerin raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t have wizards in California.”
“We don’t,” I answered, “he’s a character in stories.”
“Merlin,” Aerin said again and nodded. “I like it.”
“It lacks some of the grandeur of Eowevish,” Maruk mused, “but it’s not a bad name.”
“What do you think, little guy?” I asked the puca as I knelt down to scratch its ear. It purred and headbutted my hand, which I took as a sign of its approval. “Merlin it is, then.”
Lavinia shook her head in exasperation as she began to skin the rabbit and the squirrel, but she said nothing.
After a quick breakfast of roasted squirrel, which Yvaine only complained about briefly, we gathered up our belongings and the few coins and other valuables we’d found in the dwarves’ camp and prepared to set out. According to Lavinia, the path the dwarves had marked out with their charms led to a road, and we decided that without the maps, that way would be safer and ultimately faster than trying to retrace our old shortcut. Right as we made to leave, however, Merlin gave a sharp chirp and tore off into the bushes in the opposite direction.
“Hey!” Aerin called after him. “Where are you going? You’re supposed to make us money!”
“Good riddance,” Lavinia muttered, but Aerin had already started to follow the puca through the undergrowth. “Aerin!”
Lavinia, Maruk, Yvaine, and I exchanged a glance and were about to follow after them when Aerin popped her head out from behind a tree with a grin.
“You better come look at this!” she called as she waved us over.
We made our way over to the old twisted oak where Aerin stood, and she pointed excitedly to a hollow in the great tree’s trunk. Inside the hollow, Merlin was crouched with the bird pin I’d given him earlier clutched in his paws, but he was sitting on top of a pile of other treasures, coins, and pieces of jewelry and even a few gemstones.
“My, would you look at that,” Yvaine murmured.
Aerin’s eyes glittered. “Look at all this stuff he found! He is going to make us so rich!” She tried to reach for an earring at the edge of the pile, but Merlin bared his teeth and hissed at her. “It’s okay,” Aerin said soothingly, “I’m just going to hold on to it for you.”
The puca didn’t back down until I reached my hand out and stroked his fur. “We have to go,” I told him. “We’ll bring this with us.”
Somewhat reluctantly, the puca climbed up my arm onto my shoulder and allowed Aerin to scoop its hoarded treasure into her pack before we set off again.
“I wonder how long it took him to find all of this,” Aerin said as she examined the various items from Merlin’s stash. It was a good thing that the path the dwarves had marked was relatively clear because she had hardly looked up to watch where she was going since we’d left the tree behind. “Do you think we could train him to pick out more valuable pieces?”
“You know it stole all of that, right?” Lavinia asked. “It’s a thief.”
Aerin was undeterred. “Whoever he stole it from probably deserved it,” she replied. “I sense that Merlin has a good moral compass.”
“I agree with Aerin on this one,” I chuckled.
Lavinia shot us an annoyed look, but Aerin was too distracted to notice.
Exactly as Lavinia had said, the paths the dwarves’ charms marked out led to a dirt road. After so long in the forest, I appreciated the warmth of the sun on my skin and a clear view of the sky above, and Merlin provided some entertainment for us as we walked by chasing after the birds and squirrels we passed. That was until he actually caught a thrush that was a bit too slow to fly off and promptly shoved the thing whole into his mouth.
Yvaine yelped and put a hand over her heart, and Maruk looked as though he might be sick.
“Oh, dear,” the orc breathed and averted his gaze while the puca chewed. “That is revolting.”
Lavinia was unfazed. “I told you, it’s a wild animal. What did you expect?”
“Perhaps--” Maruk cleared his throat. “Perhaps we could teach it some table etiquette when we return to Ovrista.”
Lavinia scoffed, but Aerin seemed delighted by the idea. “Oh, that would be so much better than Geoffrey’s dumb dog!” she said. “People would line up to see that.”
By mid-morning, we began to pass signs that noted the distance to nearby towns, and divots in the road provided evidence for the passage of carts.
“If anyone passes by with some space on their cart, we should see if we could get a ride,” I suggested. “We got some extra money from the dwarves, and it would save time.”
“Oh, I couldn’t agree more,” Yvaine said emphatically as she gestured to her long legs. “I was simply not made to be walking around in this heat--”
“Don’t you start now,” Lavinia warned her. “We’ll still leave you behind.”
“Getting a ride, should one become available, is an excellent idea,” Maruk said. “My feet are killing me.”
Aerin laughed nervously. “Well, sure, it’d save time,” she said, “but you know what they say about walking...”
Lavinia arched an eyebrow. “No. What?”
“It’s free,” Aerin answered with a hopeful smile.
“We’ll see if someone can give us a ride,” Lavinia scoffed. “Gabriel’s right, even if we have to pay, it’ll be worth it to get back sooner. Although, we might have enough money to at least buy a cart and donkey for our own use.”
The first cart that passed us about a half hour later was so laden with vegetables that we didn’t even bother to ask for a lift, as there was no way we’d all fit, but as it turned out, we only had to walk a few more minutes before we heard the sound of another cart on the road behind us. This one was pulled by two horses and had only a few split logs in the back, so we hailed the driver, and he stopped.
The driver was a wispy-haired old man with a sunburnt no
se and keen gray eyes with which he examined our party shrewdly from atop his seat. “Can I help you?” he asked.
Lavinia gave Aerin a nudge, and the elf stepped forward and put on a bright smile. “I hope so,” she said. “My friends and I were hoping we could get a ride to Ovrista, or at least the nearest town where you’ll be stopping.”
The man stroked the stubble on his chin as he looked us over. “‘M goin’ to Ovrista,” he said finally. “You and your friends can hitch a ride.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Aerin said. “Thank--”
“But not for free,” the man finished, and Aerin’s shoulders slumped.
It took another nudge from Lavinia, but then Aerin sighed and said with obvious reluctance, “Of course, we can pay you.” She dug around in her pack and produced a few coins that she offered to the man. “This should cover it.”
The driver leaned over in his seat and plucked a coin from Aerin’s hand, which he appraised as carefully as he had us, then he scooped up the rest of the coins and dropped them into his pocket. “That’ll do. Up you go, then, but no talking on the way.”
I suspected he was being difficult simply because he could, but I was in no mood to argue as Aerin, Lavinia, Maruk, and Yvaine climbed into the back of the cart. I was just about to follow when the man held up his hand and my stomach twisted. Instinctively, I reached up to check that I still had Aerin’s pendant, and only then did I realize that it wasn’t me who the man was looking at.
“Is that a puca?” the driver asked in a tone of disbelief. He shook his head. “Forget it, I don’t want anything to do with a puca.”
“Hold on a minute--” Aerin started, and the driver turned back to her.
“Out!” he said. “Get--” but the rest of his sentence was cut off by a warbling sort of meow at my feet.
I turned at the sound and blinked in surprise and Merlin, now a large black cat, blinked back at me. Of course, I remembered as Merlin meowed again, pucas could shapeshift. He still had his usual wiry fur, and his pupils were still rectangular like a goat’s, but otherwise, he looked like a normal cat.
“He’s only a cat,” I said quickly.