by Eric Vall
“To have come upon this, it is surely fated,” Morrigan said softly as she turned the slingshot over in her tattooed hand.
“It’s remarkable,” I agreed as I felt the elven magic flowing off the golden weapon. “I think you should be the one to keep it, Morrigan, as it seems to mean a great deal to you.”
The pale elf shook her head. “While it brings me great pleasure to have recovered something so precious from my homeland, I have no use for such a weapon. I believe Carmedy should carry it.”
With that, she presented the weapon to the small cat. The alchemist looked at her with surprise and hesitated to pick up the golden implement.
“Are you sure?” Carmedy asked. “I don’t really know how to use one of these things, and Master is right, it seems only right that you should keep it.”
“You have greater need for it than I,” Morrigan said as she placed the slingshot in Carmedy’s hands. “You are the only member of our party who does not carry a weapon. Not only that, it is best suited for your style of combat. While the substances you concoct are potent, your range is limited by how far you can throw them. This slingshot will allow you to further your range of attack. Your aim shall always be true, and this weapon shall never fail you.”
“Thank you, Morrigan,” Carmedy said brightly, and she threw her arms around the pale elf to embrace her. “I’ll use it proudly.”
“Y-yes, see that you do,” Morrigan said uncomfortably as she removed Carmedy’s arms from around her. Unlike Carmedy, the dark-eyed elf wasn’t used to public displays of affection.
I chuckled and shook my head as the cat-girl gleefully turned her new weapon over in her hands. “Any sign of the sacred objects?” I asked as I turned to Rana.
“Not from what I can see,” the fox said with a glum expression. “I was so sure that there would be one here.”
“Don’t give up hope,” I said reassuringly. “We haven’t made it to all the dungeons on this continent yet. We have one more to conquer here so there’s still a chance we’ll find something.”
“I hope so,” Rana said as she looked across the sands wistfully. “I’d hate to have come here and have nothing to show for it except gold and jewels.”
“We’ll find something at the next one.” Carmedy gently placed a hand on Rana’s shoulder. “I can feel it in my tail, and my tail never lies,” the cat said with a wriggle of her furry black tail.
“Well I can’t argue with that,” Rana conceded with a hint of a smile, and we all began to place the loot back in the chests.
“We’d better get a move on,” Annalíse said as she placed a hand over her eyes and looked toward the sun. “The sun’s going to set before long. It’s going to be awhile before we make it to the next city, but let’s try to get in a little more travel time before it gets dark.”
“Alright then, a few more hours ought to put us at a good stopping place, then we won’t have too far to go tomorrow,” Rana said with a quick glance across the terrain. The rest of us voiced our agreement. We quickly finished replacing the treasure and were soon on our way to ride through the vast desert. While the temperature had lowered in intensity since we had first set out, the heat was still quite uncomfortable, and Rana made a point of telling us so.
“Carmedy, are you sure you can’t give me any more of the pink cooling powder?” the fox whined as she swayed in her saddle atop Anu’s back. “I’m melting, and I think my fur is sweating.”
“Fur doesn’t sweat, silly.” Carmedy giggled and waved her hand. “And remember, I said I only had enough for us to each have one per day. You already used yours. You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.”
“But I might not last until tomorrow,” Rana moaned and threw her head back dramatically. “Can’t I use my powder for tomorrow right now?”
“We have to use Carmedy’s cooling powder wisely,” Annalíse said over her shoulder. “If you use it now, you’ll be complaining tomorrow even more because you won’t have one at all.”
“Well, if one of you could find it in your hearts to--” Rana started to say slowly.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Annalíse shook her head. “You already tried to bribe Morrigan and me for our powders when the effects of yours wore off earlier today.”
“You tried to bribe them?” I raised an eyebrow in amusement.
“It wasn’t a bribe.” Rana turned to me and rolled her eyes. “It was just… an arrangement that I proposed.”
“What sort of arrangement?” I said with a laugh.
“Well… I, uh...” the fox scratched at her head awkwardly.
“She proposed an exchange,” Morrigan said blankly. “In exchange for our powders, she offered to steal any object of our choosing in the city that we are currently traveling to.”
“Rana,” I chuckled as I shook my head, “has it really come to that?”
“I was desperate.” The fox huffed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You guys don’t get it, I have fur on my feet and a bushy tail. The heat that I’m feeling is like one hundred times the heat that you’re feeling.”
“We won’t be traveling for much longer today,” Annalíse said as we continued across the dunes of golden sand. “The heat will go away as the sun sets. When night time comes, you’ll be whining that it’s too cold.”
“No, I won’t,” Rana replied. “I’m well equipped to deal with low temperatures.” The fox gestured to her sleek body. “I welcome the cold with open arms.”
“I’ll keep that in mind when our travels take us to a snowy mountain dungeon, and you complain about the cold,” Annalíse chuckled, but Rana just stuck her tongue out at the warrior woman.
“Remember, we suspect we are being followed,” I said, and the women turned to me. The looks on their faces convinced me that they had forgotten, but I chose not to remind them that they dropped their guard. Instead, I nodded to Morrigan, and both of her ravens took to the air so that they could scout around us.
Then we continued our journey.
We traveled through the seemingly endless desert for a few more hours, and my mind began to wander as time dragged by, which in truth helped to keep my mind off the heat. I smiled to myself as I recalled the puppet master’s final moments. His terrified screams still rang in my head, and my mouth watered at the recollection. I savored the pleas of my victim.
Just as the malevolent deity had his collection of human puppets, I too had a collection of sorts. I remembered with extreme detail the shrieks and looks of horror of every person whom I killed in my lifetime. The memories were forever stored within me, and when I played them back in my head, it brought me such bliss. Not only did I have this array of memories in my head, but I also had a steadily growing collection of deity powers in my grasp.
And they were quite interesting.
Once I had extinguished the puppet master god, I had acquired his unusual skill to see into people’s souls. Now that his power had melded with my own and pulsed through my veins, I understood it better. The monstrous god hadn’t been able to read our thoughts per se. He had been able to see into our very beings and see the events of our pasts. As I had absorbed his power into my body, pictures had flashed across my mind that were unfamiliar to me. It had taken me only moments to realize that these were the puppet god’s memories. A bizarre ability to have, but I was quite certain that in time it would prove to be useful.
As we continued on our way, my thoughts wandered to Annalíse. I momentarily contemplated using my newfound abilities to extract the truth from her. I could easily do so without her knowledge, but I ultimately decided against it. While I was indeed a dark and all-powerful being, and she my minion, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to see into Annalíse’s mind without her consent.
Perhaps it was because I had grown to respect her, or perhaps it was because when I thought about it, I wouldn’t have been pleased if someone scoured through my memories. No, I wanted Annalíse to tell us her secrets of her own free will. I would not use my abilit
ies against my minions unless they truly forced my hand.
Before long, the sun started to descend, and we stopped to make camp. Rana and Annalíse had purchased a large tent in the port town, and we set to work pitching it. It took some time to figure out how to put together the tent, but after a few tries, the work was done. The tent was made of a sturdy red cloth material, and it stretched across its wooden frames to form a dome shape. As we moved our supplies and the lizards inside, I noticed that the center of the tent’s ceiling had a small circle cut out. I gathered that the hole was there so that the smoke from the fire we lit would be vented outside.
I settled down on the ground and leaned my back against my lizard Basilisk to rest. In the center of the tent, Carmedy got to work lighting our fire while Annalíse began to prepare our meal. Morrigan sat off to one side and knelt in front of her white lizard Tiberius. She gently patted the reptile’s nose as she alternated between speaking to it and Fea and Macha. I glanced over at Rana who stood near the open tent flap. The fox folded her arms as she stared outside, and her tail twitched back and forth in the air. Something was troubling her.
“Anything?” I called out to the fox. My voice got the attention of the others, and they too turned to look at the curly-haired woman.
“I still feel like we are being followed,” Rana said without looking back at us.
“Morrigan’s ravens didn’t see anything when they did their last patrol.” Annalíse shrugged.
“Well I’m getting that same feeling again, but just like last time, there’s no one around here but us.” The fox-tailed woman furrowed her brow as her eyes scanned the hills of sand. “The whole time we’ve been traveling, I’ve kept an eye and ear out for anything suspicious. There isn’t anyone around, but I still have this weird feeling. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe you’re psychic,” Carmedy clapped her hands together, “like one of those oracles that can foretell prophecies and tell people their fates.”
“Seriously, Carmedy?” Rana said in disbelief as she placed her paws on her hips.
“Well, how else do you explain it?” The cat tilted her head to one side. “You said yourself your instincts are never wrong. Maybe you’ve gotten so good, you can tell that something’s wrong before it even happens. It’s a premi… premer…”
“A premonition?” Morrigan raised a white eyebrow.
Carmedy snapped her fingers. “Yeah, that’s it! A premonition.”
“While I do admit that I have superior instincts, I draw the line at seeing into the future,” Rana said with a chuckle. “This isn’t one of your fairy tales, Carmedy. And in case you’ve forgotten, I have no magical abilities. I’m just an incredibly amazing mortal fox.”
“Oh! Maybe some magic from inside the dungeons has worn off on you,” Carmedy gasped.
“That is absurd.” Morrigan shook her head. “That is not the manner in which magic works. Either one is born with magical abilities or they are bestowed by a more powerful being. Magic does not simply… rub off on someone.”
“Morrigan is right.” I nodded. “A mortal can utilize enchanted objects, like your slingshot,” I gestured to Carmedy’s golden weapon that she had fixed to her belt, “but a mortal being can’t simply be in the presence of magic and acquire its properties.”
“But what other explanation is there?” the feline asked.
“Truthfully, I’m unsure, but I very much doubt that Rana has become a magic fox due to exposure.” I smiled at the petite cat.
“Maybe it’s the heat,” Annalíse chimed in. “People that travel through the desert often see mirages, and those are more or less illusions caused by nature. Perhaps it’s something like that, only instead of your eyes being tricked, it’s your instincts.”
“Yeah, maybe that’s it,” Rana mumbled, and she took one last look outside before she closed the tent flap. The fox furrowed her brow and ran a paw through her red curls as she walked further into the tent.
“Annalíse’s explanation is logical,” I said, “but we will trust in Rana’s instincts. Do not let your guard down, minions.”
“We won’t, Master,” Carmedy said seriously as she held her fist up to her chest.
Within the hour, night fell upon us, and the heat of the day was replaced by a bitter chill. Even though our tent kept some of the cold at bay, brisk air still managed to breach through the fabric that surrounded us. Taking note of the harsh cold, I summoned my shadow slaves to keep watch outside so that we could remain more comfortable inside throughout the night without concern. After we finished our evening meal, each of us wrapped ourselves in the thick wool blankets that Annalíse and Rana had purchased for us.
“Now this is much better, nice cool air against my fur,” Rana sighed as she nestled beneath her blanket.
“Nice cool air?” Annalíse’s teeth chattered as she frowned at the fox. “This air is neither nice nor cool. It’s freezing!”
“Now who’s complaining?” Rana shot the freckled woman a devilish grin. “It’s not that bad, just a little chilly. It’s soothing.”
“This is not at all soothing.” Morrigan shivered beneath her blanket and pulled it closer to her pale chin.
“Now you guys are getting an idea of how I felt today.” Rana yawned as she stretched out on her back. “Not so pleasant being at the mercy of the elements now is it? You know a few hours ago, I was losing my mind, I was starting to wish I had skin all over to replace the furry bits. But now, I’ve gotta say it’s great to be me.”
I opened my mouth to offer the fox a witty reply when something suddenly caught my attention. My shadow slaves sensed movement near our camp. I hastily pushed back my blanket, stood, and walked toward the tent flap.
“What are you doing?” Carmedy called to me.
“There’s someone outside,” I whispered over my shoulder, and the others jumped to their feet and hurried to my side.
“Yeah, I can hear them approaching,” Rana said as her black-tipped fox ears began to twitch.
“Hey, you have good hearing too?” Carmedy gasped. “Does that mean you also heard Morrigan and Master practicing their spooky noises on the--”
“Where are they?” Annalíse interrupted as we peered out of the tent opening. “How many of them are there?”
I was silent for a moment and studied the terrain in front of us. The moon was in its waning phase and shone down on the sea of sand that spread out all around us. While there were no trees or bushes to hide behind in the desert, the sand dunes themselves cast hulking shadows across the wasteland.
“There!” Rana suddenly whispered, and she pointed in the distance to our right. I narrowed my eyes and observed two men with swords in dark clothing sneaking toward us through the dunes. The kefficha that they wore were also dark with the cloth wrapped around their faces in such a way that left only their eyes visible.
“There’s only two of them, we can take them,” Annalíse said with a raspy hiss. She started to move forward as she reached a hand toward the sword at her hip.
“No wait, there’s two more over there.” Rana grabbed hold of the swordswoman’s forearm and nodded to our left. I turned my head to see two more of the shrouded men approaching us in the darkness with spears in their hands.
“Are they going to rob us?” Carmedy asked fearfully as she glanced around.
“Well, they certainly aren’t sneaking toward our camp in the dark just to have a chat,” Rana snorted. “These idiots don’t know who they’re messing with. If they think they can get away with mugging us, they’ve got another thing coming.”
“Master, what is our plan of action?” Morrigan laid a hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t attack them, not just yet,” I said to my minions. “Let’s go outside and see what they want with us first. If they do indeed intend us harm, then we’ll deal with them accordingly.” With that, I led the way outside.
“I’m really going to lay into these guys.” Rana cracked her furry knuckles as she and the others fo
llowed me outside. “I was nice and cozy in my blankets and here these guys go spoiling everything.”
As we all gathered outside our tent, I raised my hand to indicate that we stop where we were. The cloaked men darted back and forth amidst the dunes as they approached us with their weapon in tow. Suddenly Rana’s ears began to twitch rapidly, and the fox frowned as she turned to look behind us.
“There’s two more come from behind,” she whispered.
Sure enough there were two more men dressed in the same manner as the others, and they carried large bows in their hands as they stole through the shadows. I kept careful watch as the three groups began to spread out and form a circle around us and our tent.
As they drew closer, I observed that one of the swordsmen had a dark red kefficha while the others wore black ones. No doubt he was the leader of their party, something confirmed for me when he raised a hand in the air and closed it into a fist as they drew close. The other men slowed their pace and cautiously began to walk toward us with their weapons pointed toward us. When they were just a few yards from us, the leader grunted something in a foreign language, and the men stopped.
Annalíse kept a hand on her sword hilt, and Rana raised her fists warily, while Carmedy cowered slightly behind me. Morrigan, however, shared at least the outward calm and lack of concern I showed to our evening visitors. I simply leveled a calm, commanding gaze onto the leader and waited.
“Who are you, and what business do you have here?” the leader yelled at us after a moment under my gaze. I could tell that he was a native Valasarian from the way that he rolled his r’s.