“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking,” Tom nodded. “Should we warn Michael?”
“He knows,” Dick shook his head. “He’s hoping it isn’t still in the area, but he said he’s going to actively hunt for it over the next year. If it’s around, maybe they can thin the wolf population enough to encourage it to move on.”
“When do you think we’ll level up?”
“Normally, it’s when the quest is over. At least it was for most of Carl’s games, and since this world seems to emulate the system we were going to play, I’d say when we get back to Greenways.”
“Good point,” Tom agreed. “I wonder what that will be like?”
“We’ll find out when it happens.”
~*~*~
They made it back to Greenways after two more days. It was a little after noon when they left the forest. The farmers whose fields they passed looked startled when they appeared, then began to cheer when they realized who it was. Tom cut their questions off with a curt, “Give him some damned room. He’s been through hell. If you want to know what happened, get your asses to town later.”
Most of the farmers rushed off to put their tools away, eager to hear the tale. By the time the group arrived at the inn, Felix was already waiting for them.
“The heroes have returned,” Felix cheered them. “I have rooms ready for you all, along with hot water so you can clean the road dust off.”
Marie looked around the rapidly filling room with a puzzled expression. “Where are our friends?”
Felix grimaced, looking away, “That’s... not a good story. Two days ago, in the middle of the night, the elf started screaming at Carl. Not the first time it’s happened, but this time, I heard things being thrown. Then screaming at Carl became screaming for Carl. Worried, I went to see what was going on only to find the door barred. I rushed out to grab a few of the guys… we broke the door down…”
“What did you find?” John asked softly, already fearing the worst.
“Blood… so much blood. Carl was in the middle of the room; it looked like she’d been throwing everything she could get her hands on at him. At some point, she hit him in the head with something hard enough to kill him. When we got into the room, she was curled up next to him…”
“No…” Marie whispered, her hand covering her mouth as tears spilled from her eyes.
“She had taken the knife from Carl’s belt and cut her left wrist, then her throat,” Felix said grimly. “It was bad.”
“Fucking Kattie,” Tom ground his teeth, “why couldn’t you just accept it? At least let Carl fucking have a life...”
“Fuck,” Dick whispered.
Marie broke down into sobs, and John wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. Everyone in the room looked uncomfortable at seeing the pain she was in.
“Send the water and drinks to the rooms,” Harry choked out, his voice thick with emotion. “We’ll be out later tonight.”
“Of course,” Felix said, bustling away.
“We’ll be back later,” Michael said to the other villagers as the adventurers moved down the hall. “Come on, David. We’ll go to my place for now.”
“Sure,” David said. He was unsure of what had happened, but shocked to see the adventurers— who had walked so willingly into death— so distraught now.
Chapter Thirty-one
It was a couple of hours later when Harry knocked on John and Marie’s door. “It’s Harry,” he announced.
When John called for him to come in, Harry did. The couple was sitting on the edge of the bed, Marie sniffling as she held her husband. The sight of her so upset hurt Harry’s heart.
“Mom?”
Marie blinked the tears from her eyes and looked at him. “Yes, Harry?”
“None of us could have changed what happened,” Harry started slowly. “It might have been you if you had stayed instead of Carl.”
John went stiff, that thought not occurring to him until that moment. Feeling her husband’s sudden distress, she gripped him tighter.
“I know, but then I think she might not have gone that far if it had been me. They’ve had some bad arguments before, and she’s thrown things around before. If I had been here—”
“Stop,” John said softly, kissing the top of her head. “This isn’t your fault, dear. Maybe she wouldn’t have, but she might have. Think of how it would have gone if we came back and you were dead at her hands.”
Marie shuddered, “Tom would have killed her if she was still alive, and all of you would have blamed yourselves for leaving me with her.”
“Yes, because that was the original idea, but then you switched with Carl,” Harry said. “I don’t know how we’d have all reacted to you being gone, but I know it would be much worse than dealing with Carl and Kattie both being dead. As it stands now, I’ll add them to our quest to resurrect Kevin.”
Marie nodded, sniffling, “You’re right.”
There was a loud knock and Tom’s voice came through the door, “You two okay?”
“Come on in, Tom,” John said.
Tom opened the door, slowing his entry when he saw Harry. “I see you had the same idea.”
“We all care about her,” Harry replied.
“You’re right, we do,” Dick said from behind Tom. “We were worried you might be trying to shoulder this tragedy. Are you?”
Marie nodded once, “I was. Harry and John are talking me down.”
“Good,” Tom said, shutting the door behind Dick. “She might have been a bitch most of the time, but she was our bitch. I just can’t forgive her for killing Carl.”
“It was an accident,” John said, pausing a split second before adding, “probably.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tom replied bluntly. “I’m sure Harry is talking about adding them to our quest.”
“Yeah,” Harry nodded.
“I want to add a caveat to that,” Tom stared at Harry. “Only resurrect her if we can shove her back to Earth right away. Anything less will just result in a repeat of what’s already happened. She needs to be the absolute last person brought back.”
“I’m in agreement,” Dick said.
“They have a good point,” John said sadly. “Can that even happen, though? Sending us back to Earth?”
“Maybe,” Harry said. “We need money and power to do it ourselves or the contacts to get it done for us. Both of those are years in the future, most likely. I won’t give up my quest, though.”
“Our quest,” Tom corrected firmly.
“I’m sorry,” Marie sniffled, sitting upright and wiping her eyes. “I think this is only the second time I’ve broken down in front of you three.”
“It is,” Dick nodded. “You had good reason both times.”
“Death,” Tom stated flatly. “Death makes most of us break down, mom. It’s okay.”
“Thank you, Tom. I’m sure the villagers are waiting for us out there,” Marie said, using a bit of cloth to clean her face.
“You don’t have to go,” John said softly. “I can have food sent to the room for you.”
“No, dear. If you’re going, then I will, too. Now more than ever, I want to spend as much time beside you as I can.”
“Take a few minutes,” Tom said, going to the door. “The three of us will head out first. John, I hope you have a story ready.”
“I was working on it on our way back,” John said. “Give us five minutes.”
“We will,” Dick said, moving over to the door.
“Take longer if you need,” Harry added, following the other two out.
When the door shut behind them, Marie gave a small sad laugh. “All three of them were worried about me.”
“Of course they were,” John said, pulling her into a tight hug. “I don’t think you’ve ever fully realized how much they look up to you, Tom most of all. You might be one of the few threads keeping him from going completely over into a dark place. The other two think of you as a second mom; Dick more than Harry, since Harry ha
d a good mom.”
“Should we let them go into the wilds alone, though? Staying safe in a town or city while they face death over and over?”
“That’s a tough question,” John sighed. “I think it’ll make it easier on them knowing that you’re waiting for them to come back. If you were beside them on the line... think about how much they tried to prioritize keeping you safe.”
“Oh… I guess that answers my question.”
“I’m not built for adventuring, and I’d be a wreck if you went out.”
“Okay... I’ll stay safe in town, but I will try to have everything ready for their return. I’ll be making it a point to make sure they’re well cared for when they come back.”
“We both will,” John said. “I’ll be building their names up and helping elevate them. That should help them make connections more easily.”
“Okay,” Marie said, calm for the first time since they entered the inn. “I’m going to cry more tonight, but I think I can face the crowd now.”
“I’ll hold you all night,” John said, getting to his feet and offering his hand to her.
~*~*~
When John and Marie entered the taproom, Tom waved them over to the table where two empty chairs waited for them. Those were the only empty chairs in the place, the room otherwise completely filled by the villagers. Michael and David greeted them with smiles, while Orbin nodded.
“Sorry for the delay,” John said, seating Marie.
“It is understandable. My condolences for the loss of your friends,” Orbin replied.
“We waited for you, John,” Dick said. “If you’d like to tell the tale.”
“I just need… Thank you, Felix,” John replied as he accepted a mug from the innkeeper. “I’ll do this from the stage. The acoustics are slightly better from there.” He nodded to those he passed as they moved aside for him on his way to the small stage. “Thank you.”
John sat on the small stool occupying the stage, taking a deep pull from his mug and setting it beside him. “We left here about a week ago. Our goal: to find and eliminate the hoblin threat before they could cause trouble for Greenways.” Dim lighting spotlighted him, and soft drums began to play behind him. “We traveled back to Wilmirth Farm to start with…”
The crowd oohed, aahed, cheered, and gasped in the right places as John told the story, the lighting and background music helping underscore the dramatic moments. When John reached the point of turning the tables on Kek, the crowd was on edge, enthralled. When he finished, the whole place erupted into raucous applause, whistles, and cheers.
Orbin joined the applause, but he looked carefully around the room, judging the villagers’ mood. “You’ve done us a great service by removing the threat, even with the one greater vargr still free.”
“We would have killed it, too, if it had shown up again,” Tom said bluntly.
“I’ll make sure we are exceptionally vigilant over the next few years, and we’ll have to make an effort to reduce the number of wolves more than normal,” Michael said. “We might have been able to hunt for the beast when we left, but we wanted to get David back here quickly.”
A lot of people cheered and raised glasses to David, who looked a bit taken aback by the reception. “I thought I was dead before they came for me,” he said. “Without their efforts, I’d still be starving or dead inside that cave.”
“Yes, we should thank our valiant heroes for saving one of ours,” Orbin said, trying to gently slide an us-them distinction between the group and the villagers. “I shall make sure your reward is ready for you tomorrow, as I’m sure you’d like to move on and find more adventure.”
“We’ll be staying at least through tomorrow,” Dick said. “We want to see our friends’ graves and pay our respects.”
“Your stay is on the house,” Felix said, a loud cheer following his words.
“I shall cover their stay,” Orbin said quickly, which earned another cheer.
“There is one thing that John didn’t cover,” Dick said, which got the crowd’s attention. They fell silent, waiting for him to continue. Placing a small bag on the table, he opened it, pouring three stones out onto the table where they could be easily seen. “The hoblins had these on them.”
Orbin reached for one, pausing to get a nod from Dick before he picked one up. “Aventurine... it’s been awhile since I’ve seen one, much less three.”
“We’d like you to keep the next bit in mind when you reward us,” Dick said, holding out his hand for the stone and placing the three of them back in the bag. “That wasn’t the big news.”
“Here’s the big news,” Tom said, putting a chunk of the unrefined stone on the table, turning it so Orbin could see the large piece of aventurine in it. “The cave system is a low grade mine.”
The inn went dead quiet as people processed the information. Orbin blinked, clearly taken aback, but rapidly making plans.
“Oh, yeah, we owe Michael an even split of the loot,” Harry said.
Dick slid the bag of the aventurines to Michael. “That should even the scales on that score.”
Michael picked up the bag slowly, “This is—”
“Yours,” Marie smiled. “You did a lot to help us and made sure David was safe while the hoblins were dealt with. Everyone here should be grateful that a man as brave as yourself is here for them.”
“I…” Closing his mouth and taking a deep breath, Michael shook his head. “Thank you. All of you, for showing me that some of the stereotypes are wrong. I would never have expected such generosity from adventurers. I feel like I barely did anything, but I will not refuse your gift.”
“Good, or I’d take it back and slap you,” Tom said.
“I expect you would,” Michael laughed. “Blunt, but honest. If only more people were.”
Dick shoved the chunk of stone toward David, “Get your house fixed, dude.”
Tom’s lips thinned, but he kept quiet.
Harry spoke up, seeing Tom’s expression, “I believe your farm will be needing you in the next day or two.”
David shook his head and gently pushed the stone back to Dick. “Thank you, but I don’t deserve that. I can get my place fixed on my own.”
“David was talking to me about setting up a cottage on his property. It’ll let me keep a better eye on the wolf population.” Michael told them.
“It makes sense,” David said with a shrug, his eyes not meeting anyone else’s.
“Drinks on the house in honor of our heroes— vanquishers of goblins and hoblins, and rescuers of David!” Felix said loudly, already pouring mugs.
A louder cheer met this announcement and people turned for the bar. Orbin got to his feet as the crowd moved away from the table.
“I shall send the payment over tomorrow,” Orbin said. “My thanks for telling me about the mine. I have to deliberate on what can be done.”
“It’s clear and Michael knows the way,” Dick shrugged, “but it’s your call.”
“John,” someone called out from the crowd, “will you tell us again?”
“Of course,” John said, getting to his feet. “I’ll need something to lubricate my throat, though.”
“I got it,” someone else shouted from the bar.
“Bring me a double,” Tom called out.
“That’s a dwarf for you,” someone laughed.
As John started to tell the story again, the crowd dispersed some, but there was a steady stream of villagers coming to the table to thank the group personally. A young woman sat down next to Dick and was hanging on his arm by the time he headed to bed, with her in tow. Harry and Tom snickered as they watched him.
“Even here, he still gets women,” Harry sighed.
“With that face, you’re still likely to stay single forever,” Tom snickered.
“Fuck you, too. Just because I want a meaningful relationship—” Harry began before he cut himself off. “Asshole.”
“Still me,” Tom laughed as he downed yet another drink. “
Feels fucking good to be the ones celebrated.”
“You’ll have even more of that in the future,” Marie said softly as she listened to John telling the story for the fourth time. “John will make sure you’re known and respected.”
“He’s got a gift,” Harry agreed, getting to his feet. “Maybe this world will make him happy.”
“Happier,” Marie said, “and it has in its own way. It makes me glad to see him this happy.”
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 29