“Shhh,” Chloe whispered, hand trailing down the thick fluff on its neck. The llama tensed, took another step back, and spat at Chloe.
The spit hit her helmet and dripped down the metal onto the ground. Chloe, however, wasn’t fazed.
Chloe searched through her spells-dex and found a spell which might work, something she had learned back in Killink and had yet to try.
This seems as good a time as any.
Chloe closed her eyes and, resting her hand on the llama’s neck, she focused on hunting through the mystical etheric swirls in her closed vision, searching and scanning for her familiar, who would act as her gateway into synchronizing with the magical force.
The small rabbit appeared and bounded toward her eagerly. The horn nubs on its head looked like they had grown since the last time she had cast a spell.
Chloe breathed slowly, her hands glowing a warm red as the spell left her fingertips and began to pass into the llama’s coat.
“What’s she doing? She’s staining my livestock!”
Chloe heard Gideon hush the dwarf as she focused, feeling a sudden connection open between herself and the llama. Her Whisper of the Wild spell allowed her and the llama to communicate on a very basic level.
She felt anger and frustration, annoyance, and mistrust. With only her thoughts to guide her, she set about injecting positive emotions into the beast, the red aura that surrounded them both beginning to shift ever so slowly from red to orange to yellow, morphing now into blue and then green.
When she opened her eyes, the llama was staring at her, its body completely relaxed.
The dwarf cautiously pulled on the lead and, instead of planting its feet and protesting, the llama took a few easy steps forward.
“What did you do?”
Chloe smiled. “Nothing much. I just took a second to calm her down rather than try to drag her where she didn’t want to go. Here, I’ll show you again.”
Chloe used Whisper of the Wild on the other two llamas, leaving the whole pack calm.
“Try it now.”
The dwarf did, his eyes widening as the llamas came along willingly. She could see he was already preparing for the battle to continue, but they trotted with him, guided easily by the dwarf. They walked farther in ten seconds than he could have dragged them in ten minutes.
“I…I guess a ‘thank you’ is in order,” the dwarf said, leading his pack through the crammed streets.
The sounds of braying and various animal calls hit their ears almost as soon as the smells did. Located just outside the main gates, the main stables housed a whole range of animals. Chloe was glad to see she was familiar with many of them, only a few being strange adaptations of other animals she had seen.
The dwarf led them deep into the large barn, passing several pens housing horses, deer, and more llamas. He ushered the llamas into the pen, shut the gate, and locked it tight, before wiping his sweating brow on his forearm.
Quest complete: Stubborn Llamas
You did it! Wow, was that one easy. Still, every good deed deserves a reward.
Rewards: 500 exp
“You guys really did me a solid,” he said. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be back there trying to get these beasts in here. The name’s Burdock, by the way. I’m not sure I gave that to you.
Chloe smiled. “Chloe.”
“Gideon.”
“It was nothing, really,” she continued. “Happy to help.”
“What were you doing with llamas in the city anyway?” Gideon asked. “I can’t imagine a scenario in which you’d need animals like these inside the gates unless they were…” His voice trailed away, not wanting to say the rest.
Burdock finished for him. “Dead? Chopped up on a platter and grilled?”
Gideon nodded.
Burdock pulled a dirty cloth from his pocket and rubbed his hands. “There are those within the city who believe that llamas bring certain kinds of luck.”
“What kinds of luck?”
“Virility, mostly.” Burdock grinned. “Some folks believe that making love in the presence of a llama is a surefire way to make sure a bun appears in the oven. For years, the city has had a problem with illegal llama breeding, particularly in the poorer districts. Some of the rich people will actually pay pretty handsomely to…borrow…a llama in order to improve their chances of conceiving with their wives.”
Chloe snorted. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope. It’s true.”
“That’s absurd,” Gideon said. “Do you believe that’s true?”
Burdock shrugged. “Who’s to say? All I know is that I breed and look after llamas for a living, and me and my missus have ten beautiful children to show for the eighteen years we’ve been together. I’m not saying that’s proof, but…”
“Impressive,” Chloe said.
“Thanks.” Burdock clapped and startled the animals around him. “Now, how about, as thanks for your assistance, I get the missus to brew up some delicious herbal tea and share her famous bread with you both?”
Gideon’s stomach rumbled loudly, the mage only just realizing how hungry he was. “Sounds fantastic.”
“Sure,” Chloe agreed. “Why not?”
Burdock and Reyner lived in an adorable little house not too far from the stables on an acre of land. In contrast to the stonework of the city, the house was built entirely of wood, with a small porch at the front that overlooked the various pens and enclosures in which their livestock roamed.
“I wasn’t expectin’ you home for hours,” Burdock’s wife Reyner said, a look of utter shock on her face when she opened the door.
“You say that like you have a boy toy inside and I interrupted you.” Burdock stuck out his tongue.
Reyner flicked a towel affectionately at his shoulder, then invited them all inside.
She busied herself in the kitchen with the drinks, boiling water in a pan and adding her particular blend of herbs. Soon she came through with a tray laden with thick loaves of bread and cups filled with the most sweet-smelling liquid Chloe had ever encountered.
“This is delicious,” Chloe said after taking her first bite of the bread. “And the tea…dee-licious.”
Gideon nodded in agreement.
Chloe swallowed her bite, then said, “I thought you said you had children? Are they upstairs?”
“One of them is,” Reyner said. “Has his nose in his books, as usual.”
Burdock chuckled. “The rest of them are out and about, doing their chores. I’m not sure how family works where you’re from, but folks in Obsidian tend to be put to work pretty young. As soon as they can put their hands to labor, they’re a part of society, helping keep the great cogs turning. They’ll likely be back around suppertime, but for now, it’s just young Durton upstairs, studying every damn sentence of those books we got him last winter.
“Can you believe the guilds were tossing out their stock? Getting rid of the old editions to make room for the new?”
Reyner shook her head. “What a waste.”
“And what about you two?” Burdock continued.
“What about us?” Gideon asked.
“Two young adventurers like yourselves must be on some fascinating quest, am I right? No offense, but the folks of Hammersworth certainly don’t dress top to tail in armor unless they’ve got questing to do.”
“Yeah, we’re on a quest, all right,” Chloe confirmed. “Me, Gideon, and our party. That’s actually why we’re here in Hammersworth; we’re searching for someone who we’ve been told might be able to help us. When we saw you struggling with those llamas, we actually thought you might be able to lead us to him.”
“I knew you’d need help,” Reyner said, smacking Burdock on the arm. “You and your pride…” She leaned toward Chloe and Gideon. “I offered to come with him, but did he want my help? Nooo.”
“Reyner,” Burdock hissed, “can we do this later?”
His wife sat back with a smug expression on her face.
Burdock rubbed a
hand over his tired face. “And who is this man you’re looking for? I mean, I’ll try to help if I can, but we tend to keep ourselves to ourselves on the outer edges of the city.”
“We’ve been told he’s known as ‘The Wrangler’,” Chloe said, remembering the description Prince Gilligan had given them before they set off from Killink View. “A large man who dwarfs…I’m sorry, I mean, who makes others seem tiny and has a reputation for wrangling animals and studying them.”
“Do you know him?” Gideon asked.
Reyner and Burdock looked at each other, eyes narrowed.
“A tall man who’s good with animals?” Reyner mused.
Burdock stuck out his lip, his head shaking gently. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I know the Chestertons across the way deal a lot in more bovines, and the Yolans specialize in fowl.”
Reyner clicked her fingers. “What about that gentleman Doris Yolan mentioned last time we invited them over for supper? The bear-like man who showed interest in her peacocks?”
“Hmm…maybe.”
“What did she say, Mrs. Reyner?” Chloe asked, intrigued.
“Oh, please. Reyner is just fine,” the woman said. “She said he appeared late one afternoon as the shadows were lengthening. Knocked on her door and inquired after her prize peacocks. I don’t blame him, of course. They are something to behold. She was frightened out of her wits, but after a short conversation, she learned that he had no ill intentions. She showed the peacocks to the man and told him all about her history with breeding them, and after a short time, he left.”
“Where did he go?” Chloe asked.
Reyner shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Doris. She should be home about now if that’s of any use to you?”
Chloe and Gideon finished their drinks and bread and followed Reyner’s directions to the small house on the east side of the outer wall, where an old woman was busily hoeing the garden.
“Can I help you both?” she asked as they approached.
They told Doris they had been sent by Reyner and filled her in on their discussion.
“Oh, I remember that man. Terrifying to behold. Thick, muscular, large.”
Gideon swallowed. “How large are we talking?”
“Oh, huge,” she said, studying Gideon. “At least twice your height, and thrice your girth.”
“Do you know where he went?” Chloe asked.
Doris eyed her suspiciously, peeking through the slats of Chloe’s helmet and straight into her eyes beneath. “You two some kind of bounty hunters or something? Did I do wrong, talking to the man? He never gave me no trouble, I assure you. Just appeared, studied my precious peacocks, and went back off into the night. I never had nothing else to do with him, I swear.”
“Relax,” Gideon said. “We’re not bounty hunters, we’re just on a hunt for a man who matches your description. You’re in no trouble, Miss Yolan.”
“It’s Mrs. Yolan,” she said. “Well, if that’s the case, he went over yonder.” She pointed across a field to the tree line, toward a break that indicated the road which passed through.
“Are you sure?”
Doris nodded. “Positive. I remember because I watched him for what felt like hours. Usually when folks head toward the forest, after a short time, you can’t see them anymore because they’ve disappeared over the horizon. But this guy I remember watching. I kept expecting him to disappear, but his great shape was visible for a long time, and that’s the way he went.”
“Well, that’s very useful,” Chloe said, rising to her feet. She stared out the window toward the forest. “He didn’t say where he was going, did he?”
Doris shook her head. “No.”
Chloe and Gideon thanked Doris for her help and paused a short way away from her property. The sun was still high in the sky, the fields around alive with activity as the locals worked the land and tended their livestock. As they stared toward the forest, they heard footsteps shuffling behind them.
“Wait,” Doris said, out of breath from the short journey from her yard.
Chloe and Gideon turned, watching the woman walk-jog toward them. “There is one more thing.”
Chloe waited expectantly.
“The man you’re looking for? He spent a great deal of time looking at my peacocks.” She turned toward a pen where several large brown birds were pecking at the ground. “He admired their beautiful plumage. Said he’d never seen anything like it. To be honest, most folks who see my peacocks say the same thing. I don’t think they breed in any other part of the land.”
One of the peacocks raised its tail, its feathers brown and dull.
Gideon cocked an eyebrow.
“Oh, not those,” Doris laughed. “My pride and joy, Fernando. He’s the one strutting out of the coop now.”
They all stared at the dazzling blue and green bird descending a short wooden ladder. He made his way to the females and shook vigorously, then fanned his tail in a spectacular array of multi-colored feathers.
“He is really something, isn’t he?” Doris smiled.
“He sure is,” Chloe agreed. “But what has this got to do with your tall man?”
“Well,” Doris returned her attention to the others. “Before he left, he mentioned that he might swing by before the next full moon to catch another glimpse of Fernando. He had a large bag of coin strapped to his belt, and I got the feeling he was considering purchasing my baby boy from me at a later date.”
“Wow. Would you sell him?”
Doris shook her head. “Not in a million years.”
They thanked Doris once more, letting her know that they’d be by to visit again. They asked if she would be able to find a way to let them know if she got wind of the man, and she agreed to send a raven should there be a sign.
They gave their address at the inn, then headed back into the city. They had a while to go before they would be meeting the others, but they felt as though they’d made progress toward finding their target.
“Where to now?” Gideon asked, filing past the gate guards and scanning the streets.
“Arizona mentioned something about a mages’ school here. Do you think we should go explore? Maybe see if they’ve got any Guardians here we could potentially learn from?”
Gideon nodded. “Definitely.”
His hand clutched his stomach as it rumbled loudly again.
“Maybe we should get something to eat first?”
“Already?” Chloe laughed.
Chapter Three
The sounds of celebration filled the air.
Veronica heard it from afar—the drums, the trumpets, and the cheering. Even from the small maze of alleys she found herself lost in, she could hear the festivities.
“What have these people got to be so cheery about?” Huk’s gravelly voice croaked. “A city with no working plumbing or chocolate? I’d have killed myself years ago.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and do it, then?” Therese smirked.
Veronica found herself smiling as she ushered the others through the streets.
For the first time since joining the KieraSlayers, Veronica found herself alone with her original party. Well, not party, exactly, given that the group had never quite had enough members to form an official party.
They had been one person short when the exclusively party mission to defeat the dreyda had been announced and they had tagged along with the KieraSlayers out of desperation, wanting the experience of completing the mission.
At the time, Veronica had agreed reluctantly, wanting to remain the leader of her group, but she soon found that life was good under Chloe’s leadership. The groups had bonded and learned from each other. Chloe had a way of leveraging everyone’s strengths and overcoming their weaknesses, and the party had become a well-oiled machine.
Still, it was nice to go back to basics and spend some time with Huk, Therese, and Leonie.
“This way,” she called, squeezing through the crowded streets.
There was confetti in the
air, and the music was louder now.
All around her, people craned their necks and rose on their toes. She might’ve worried that she’d lose Huk and Therese, the goblin and the dwarf being several feet shorter than the warrior and the cleric, but the rest of the crowd was comprised primarily of dwarves, with the exception of the odd human or elf.
Then Veronica saw it ahead. She paused at the thin rope holding the crowd back and marveled at the horse-drawn carriages working their way through the streets. Riders cloaked in gold held their heads high as those being driven waved out the windows.
A smile crept onto her face. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s Union Day!” A person Veronica mistook for a small girl shouted to her. She realized a moment later it was a female dwarf.
“What does that mean?”
“These are suitors for the king!” The dwarf clapped giddily.
“A whole year since he became king, already?” Her friend replied. “I can’t believe it’s gone so fast.”
The first dwarf sighed. “I wish I could be in those carriages.”
Veronica chuckled. The dwarven maidens sat sullenly inside the carriages, shadowed by their enthusiastic chaperones.
Something tugged Veronica’s sleeve.
“Excuse me, miss. I can’t see.”
Veronica moved to step out of the way. “Oh, sorry, I—”
She stopped when she saw Therese bawling with laughter.
“You!”
“Come on,” Huk said, trying to hide his own chuckles. “With any luck, the shrine will be empty, with all these people standing around in the street.”
Veronica reluctantly turned away, heading back the way they had come. The music played behind them as the procession continued, dwarves and other locals passing them as they worked their way out of the crowd and took a right at the next intersection.
They had been looking for the shrine all morning. Despite the four-part structure of the city, Hammersworth was a large place, and there were no maps to make their hunt easier.
They paused and asked for directions. What they received was mildly helpful if a little vague and confusing, and soon they found themselves standing between a series of large fountains on a whitewashed path leading to a large temple.
Goddess Complete Page 3