by Dante King
Regina had been the wife of Jalen, a merchant in the town who’d turned out to be using his warehouse to smuggle goods for a criminal gang known as the Vipers. Anna and I had been hired by him shortly after arriving at the town to put a ‘pet’ out of its misery in his warehouse. The creature had turned out to be a powerful Armored Boar, the killing of which had destroyed most of Jalen’s goods and nearly caused a massacre in the town’s market.
In order to make good with the Vipers, Jalen sold his wife to the Silent Auction. Lyra had killed him for that, and try as I might I couldn’t fault her for doing it. Anyone who’d sell the woman he promised to love, honor and cherish to be sold off as a slave didn’t deserve to live.
We hadn’t heard from Regina since we’d freed her and the other slaves from the Silent Auction. I’d just assumed she’d taken over her ex-husband’s business—the legal part of it, at any rate.
“I’m coming with you, too,” the woman stated matter of factly, settling in between two large barrels of ale. “There’s nothing for me in this town any longer, Eric. I owe you and your women my life—so the best thing I can do is come and give you any support you might need.”
My eyebrows rose to my hairline. What kind of support did she mean, exactly? From the way she didn’t even notice the giggling of the barmaids, I could tell she knew most of them thought she meant the kind of supporting you did in bed. Surely she wasn’t after that?
“You don’t owe me anything,” I said, shaking my head. “What happened at the Silent Auction was a crime against humanity. There’s no way I’d accept payment for freeing people from slavery.”
Regina’s gaze met mine. Despite her mild-mannered appearance, something as strong and cold as steel lay behind those eyes.
“My husband’s business is gone,” she explained, talking about it the way someone else might talk about the weather. “The Vipers seized it—they said it was collateral on the loans he took with them to purchase so many illicit goods.”
“That’s not true,” Lyra shot back. “Jalen was a smuggler, not a dealer. Any debts he had with the Vipers should be wiped out with his death.”
Regina shrugged and smiled vaguely. “You try telling them that,” she said. “Either way, there’s nothing here for me now.”
“I would gladly give you a job,” Lyra said, glancing over at her crew of barmaids. “There’s no way I’d let you stay on the street, Regina.”
“I appreciate it,” she said with a nod. “But that’s not what I want. I want to work for Eric. Our Governor.”
I thought it over. “I don’t need another person traveling with us,” I said, wincing a bit at the hurt that blossomed on Regina’s face at the words. “Same reason we’re not bringing a whole train of wagons with us to Jinshu—it’s faster for us to travel light. Every person we add to the group runs the risk of slowing us down.”
“Oh, but I won’t slow you down!” Regina’s expression of shock was almost comical. “I promise! You’ll hardly even know I’m here—unless you need something, that is. Then I’ll be at your beck and call!” She smiled innocently. “You could even ring a bell or something to summon me. I’ll come running, I promise!”
Okay, I thought, there’s no way she doesn’t realize what she’s saying. The sexual component of having me literally ring a bell to summon a woman to serve me rippled through the barmaids, provoking a storm of giggles and titters. This was really getting to be too much.
“I tell you what,” I said, wanting to be on the road already. “I’ll let you come with us to Jinshu. But once we get done with this tour, I’m getting you back your business. It’s not right that the Vipers took it from you—and they’re smugglers, anyway. As the Governor, I’m supposed to stamp out unlicensed trade, and I’ll start with them.”
Regina’s mouth dropped open. “You’d do that for me? Really?”
I nodded. “But do me a favor?”
The girl’s eyes shined with relief. “Anything, sir!”
Ugh, now she’s calling me ‘sir’? I had to adjust one leg over the other—that word did things to me. “Come sit up front with Lyra,” I told the woman. “There’s no reason for you to be skulking among the barrels like some kind of servant. Maybe the two of you can do some catching up between here and Jinshu.”
In short order, Lyra and Regina sat up front next to each other, the reins passing between them as freely and easily as a shared cup of water. A quick flash of the whip and the oxen began to move, provoked into their work. Anna and I sat in the back, hidden somewhat by Lyra’s goods but not enough. A small crowd gathered at the edge of the town to see us off.
“Admit it—you just want them up front so we can fool around back here,” Anna purred as we left the crowd behind. The path wound through the woods, the early morning sun breaking through the branches in golden rays of light. “You want a little nookie on the road, and you’re too shy to let Regina see.”
I glanced past Anna, to where Hazel sat by the edge of the cart looking as if she desperately wished she’d stoppered her ears before we left. The sight of her discomfort provoked empathy in me, but also kind of made me want to laugh.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I told my girlfriend, pulling her to me. “Hazel’s still sitting back here.”
“Oh, you don’t care if Hazel sees,” Anna purred with a naughty wink. “It wouldn’t be the first time we showed off in front of her, after all. Besides, it might just be the push she needs…”
“No it wouldn’t,” Hazel said sharply, cutting through our conversation. “Both of you should get some rest. It’s going to be a long ride to Jinshu. I’ll keep watching.”
“Well, she’s no fun,” Anna pouted. I swore I saw the tiny buds of horns growing from her forehead as she’d been ready to lay down with me in the back. For the first time, I realized how convenient that I could always tell when Anna was getting horny—because she’d literally sprout horns. I wondered if I should tell her that; she’d probably get a kick out of it.
“She’s not supposed to be fun,” I reminded Anna. “She’s here because she’s muscle. Also because I couldn’t force her to stay behind in the town.”
That brought a chuckle out of Anna. “Well, we’ll see,” she purred, nuzzling at my neck. “Maybe by the time we get to Jinshu, we’ll have changed the little tart’s mind…”
Anna and I made out for a while, letting our hands roam over each other’s bodies. Hazel let out a disgusted groan and twisted to the side, staring behind the cart as the sound of the wheels thump and creak became a soothing form of white noise. Anna and I lay on a blanket, shaded by the thick trees and the barrels of beer surrounding us, and for a while, we just sort of vibed out and relaxed.
The day heated rapidly. Anna unbuttoned her tunic, a yawn breaking from her as she did. “I’m surprisingly tired,” she groaned, laying against me as her voice slurred.
For a moment, I worried we’d been drugged or something. But then Lyra’s voice came from the front, straight and strong. “It’s the cart,” Lyra said. “Damn thing rocks you like the ocean. You can’t lay down for ten minutes without feeling like you’re going to pass out.”
Both Anna and I chuckled. My girlfriend ran her claws through my hair, sighing gently. “Wake me up with a fuck in a couple hours?”
“I can do that,” I told her, grinning. I laid back with my eyes closed, basking in the warm sunshine. God, it felt so good to just lay out with her. So relaxing. So…
I was out before I knew it.
I don’t know how long Anna and I napped. It felt like a blink, but from the position of the sun we’d probably been out for an hour or two. Someone was yelling, trying to get my attention. I sat up in the warmth, shaking off my sleepiness.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Anna startled next to me, sitting up with a cute snort. “Huh?”
“There’s something in the road!” Lyra exclaimed. Only now did I realize the cart had stopped moving. She didn’t sound afraid, exactly, ju
st curious. What the hell? “I think you should come see this, Eric!”
I climbed into the front, where Lyra and Regina had already moved apart to make room. There was something in the road, alright—it blocked our path, squatting in the forest trail like a rock. In fact, for a second I thought it was a rock.
Then it moved, and I realized how much trouble we were in.
Chapter 7
“What the hell is that thing?”
Anna reared up behind me, her face twisting with disgust. The creature blocking our path shifted to the left, then the right, wiggling a number of long, segmented legs. Its body was almond-shaped, with transparent wings thinner than gossamer wiggling back and forth across its chitinous back. The thing disgusted and intrigued me in equal measure, but for Anna, there was only the disgust.
“Good lord! It’s some kind of bug!” Anna climbed into the passenger seat with Lyra and Regina, as if she were afraid the thing might crawl into the back of our cart. “It’s so gross!”
“It’s a Rust Beetle,” Lyra explained. Her voice was calm but her eyes were hard. They’re only really dangerous in packs. One out by itself isn’t a particularly big threat. They used to be endemic to the mines around Jinshu, living in hives under the ground.”
I leaned over the side of the cart, watching the massive bug wriggle. It didn’t move particularly quickly, but it seemed to have noticed us. It blinked segmented eyes at the cart, then opened its mouth and spit out a cluster of brown dirt, sending streaks of it across the path. The clumps landed far short of the cart, dissolving into the ground.
“What’s it doing here?” I asked, pointing past it into the hills. “We’re not even close to Jinshu yet.”
“That’s what I’m wondering,” Lyra said. She’d tucked the reins away and was staring at the creature, her arms crossed beneath her breasts. “This is highly unusual. Where there’s one Rust Beetle, there’s usually a hundred of the things.”
“I’ve never seen one before,” Regina said. “I’ve heard about them, though.”
Lyra smiled gracefully at the younger woman. “They were before your time, I think. A group of cultivators—not the Hollow Frog Guild, they wouldn’t have bothered—sealed off their spawning holes years ago. The mines around Jinshu weren’t safe to work as long as the Beetles were everywhere. The villagers took care of the ones left outside the spawning holes, and the mining was able to continue without incident.” Her eyes narrowed. “Seeing one this far from Jinshu is a very, very bad sign.”
The Rust Beetle let loose another clutch of those strange dirt clumps. This time they came closer to the cart, but still landed far short of the target. “What’s it doing?” I asked.
“It’s the Rust Beetle’s primary attack, and the reason they were so dangerous to the miners,” Lyra explained. “Those clumps come from inside the Rust Beetle’s body, and they’re what gives it its name. Any metal objects hit with them will corrode and degrade rapidly. You can imagine how difficult it would be to mine ore with those creatures around. One good strike, and your brand-new pick axe is so rusted you can’t use it anymore.”
I could imagine. “There’s no way the Hollow Frog Guild didn’t know about this,” I said, starting to climb down from the cart. “They’ve been ignoring the signs for weeks, haven’t they?”
“I wouldn’t know. Like I said, I haven’t been in touch with Jinshu in a while.” Lyra’s brow furrowed. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve got a new infestation, though. Might explain why there’s been fewer shipments of ore from the mountains, though.”
Right then and there, I made a decision. “Well, there’s a new sheriff in town,” I said, dropping to the dirt. “I’m not about to repeat the Hollow Frog Guild’s mistakes. If there’s an infestation of these creatures, then we’ll deal with them right here and now.”
Lyra brightened. “That’s a great idea. Make sure you keep it away from the cart. Most of it’s wood, but if a Rust Beetle gets its mitts on the metal rivets in the wheels, it could lock up the whole thing. Take Anna—the monster is aspected to the element of Metal, so her Earth-based abilities should be able to make quick work of it.”
I nodded. “Come on, babe. Let’s go bag us a Rust Beetle.”
As Lyra had explained to me, the creature wasn’t dangerous on its own. I tried to imagine going up against a dozen or more of the things at once, though, and understood how easy it would be to get overwhelmed by waves of that strange dirt attack. Fighting this one would be good practice for whatever trouble we ran into closer to Jinshu.
Anna didn’t want to get out of the cart. She hung over the side, making the same face at the Beetle I used to make at the dinner table as a kid when my Mom served beets. “Are you sure that thing won’t turn me into rust? I don’t even know what that would do to my human form—give me wrinkles or something!?”
Lyra laughed. “It won’t be able to hurt you, Anna. Cultivated weapons aren’t made of ordinary metal—you shouldn’t be able to rust or corrode.”
“Well, alright,” Anna grunted, hopping down. She’d already begun to shimmer. “It’s times like these I wish I could go back to not remembering what happens to me when I turn into a weapon…”
A few moments later the scythe rested in my hand. Anna’s hilt felt faintly warm against my palm, as if the heat of her pert backside remained.
“Do we have to do this?” She whispered into my skull. Her normal lust for battle wasn’t there—the giant bug gave her a major case of the squicks. “I really do not want to touch that thing.”
The beetle was making its way slowly toward the cart. Another few moments and its projectiles would be able to strike the wheels. Lyra’s warning echoed in my ears, and I knew I had to stop the monster before that could happen.
“We’ll hit it with magic,” I told Anna. “You won’t have to touch it.”
I leapt into battle.
It wasn’t the most graceful or exciting fight I’d ever been in. The Rust Beetle turned as I closed the distance, vaguely interested in the newcomer who’d strode into the path. It opened its chitinous mouth and spit another storm of clumps in my direction, and I danced out of the way.
All the while, I sized the beast up. It didn’t seem capable of moving quickly, and if it had attacks other than that constant spring of metal-corroding projectiles, either I hadn’t seen it or the beast had no desire to use it. It seemed perfectly content to sit in the center of the road, like a… well, like a bug, I guess.
I closed my eyes, opening myself to the world around me. My senses sharpened as the nature of things became clear, the energy that animated every living thing glowing around me like the rays of the sun. It felt wonderful to touch that power, to shape it, to bend it to my will.
A clump of something hit me in the face.
I spun away, losing my grip on the power I’d been reaching for. I coughed, spitting dirt onto the ground as another one of the Rust Beetle’s corrosive projectiles hit me in the chest. It didn’t do much damage, but the metal buttons on the shoulders of my robe instantly rusted over. The things looked like they’d give me tetanus if they cut me now, so with reluctance I tugged off the robe and stood in my pants and shirt.
“Ewww, so gross!” Anna whimpered. The Rust Beetle had hit her, too—though of course, the edge of her scythe was as sharp and clean as ever. Just as Lyra said, the Rust Beetle was unable to damage a cultivated weapon. Good to know, I told myself. Might be important info in a pinch.
“Sorry, it distracted me,” I grunted, stepping to the side of the creature’s next attack. “Give me a second to channel—”
“No, fuck it!” Anna’s resolve hardened in my skull. “If we’re going to have to kill a bunch of these things, then I need to get over it. Slash it in half!”
“Are you sure?” I asked, switching from a one-handed grip to a two-handed one. It would be easy, but some of the creature’s ichor would get all over Anna. I knew she wouldn’t like that one bit.
“Before I lose my nerve,�
�� Anna said in my mind. “Do it!”
With a shrug, I leapt into the air. The beetle’s broad head lifted, trying to follow my trajectory as I flung myself into the treetops. Once I was over the beast, I swung Anna downward with all my might, entering a downward slash that could cut through even an armored foe.
Against it, the Rust Beetle had no defence. Anna cut the creature in two like a steak knife through a baked potato, her hilt rattling as she slammed through it and into the ground. I used the leverage to toss us both to the side, missing most of the explosion of insect bits. Not all of it, though—plenty of grossness got all over Anna.
“Are you alright?” I asked as I landed a few feet away. The two halves of the Rust Beetle flipped upside down, kicking madly as the creature died.
“Unclean!” Anna’s shriek echoed in my mind. “Ugh, its so fucking gross!”
With a shimmer, the weapon became a woman again. Anna stood before me, her tunic cleansed of the insectoid filth that had covered her while in weapon form. That didn’t stop herself from patting her body all over, however, groaning at the disgusting contact of ichor that was no longer there.
“It’s over,” I assured my girlfriend, gripping her shoulder. “You did great, babe. It’s dead. Look, there’s the Core.”
A small orb of gunmetal-gray lay in the space between the Rust Beetle’s segmented halves. Anna looked at it like she wanted to throw up.
“You take it,” my girlfriend said, climbing into the cart. “I’m not touching the thing. And take Hazel with you next time or something. Those things give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“It’s just a Metal Core,” I said, pocketing the silvery orb. There wasn’t even any Rust Beetle juices on it. “You were fine ripping Cores out of other creatures, but insects weird you out?”
“They’re just so… alien,” Anna said, pulling a face. “Those legs, those little antennae… it’s just nasty, Eric!”
“Alright, alright,” I said, sighing as I climbed back into the cart. “You take the reins then, Anna. Lyra, you’re with me. We run into any more of the things, you can help me clear the path.”