“You would risk his displeasure for this?” She seemed puzzled.
“He said we couldn’t come back without his permission,” I said, recalling the conversation. “That means he must have been open to the idea of it. I mean, he’s the very embodiment of the Fae Realm. If the rest of you are bound by your words and oaths—he has to be as well. Right?”
“If you think this is so, then I will see to trying to gain an audience.” She nodded. “Why is it you would ask this, though?”
“Because I want to see you again,” I said simply. I felt my cheeks burned a little, but I wouldn’t be dissuaded. Not bashful.
“I would like to see you as well.” She smiled again, her ears dipped a bit, and the cool shadows pressed against my arm. “You have been away from here long enough to make me miss our conversations. I miss the one person whom I can speak with the easiest. Not to mention, you are entertaining.”
“I’ll do what I can to try and find a way to you,” I said. “Maybe I can find someone who can teach me a spell to teleport there.”
“You may find such a thing,” she said. “Go and become stronger, my friend. Be safe.”
“You too.” And I watched as her form began to fade and coalesce back into the shadows of the floor and walls.
I spent the rest of the shift watching over my friends in quiet thought over what had just transpired. Was I falling for someone here? And why did it have to be with a Fae queen who had no qualms taking a life?
The heart was weird, man. Could I really make any kind of judgments against her when I had also torn a person’s heart out of their chest in front of an enemy to make a point? Then threw the body on the ground coldly enough that my friends had thrown up and almost beat my ass.
Now? Yeah, now I had no leg to stand on, and then there was the fact that she was so awesome otherwise that now, it didn’t matter. I was okay with that.
I made a mental check in with Kayda; she was fine, and since we had found the threat, she had taken the liberty of looking for the city we were trying to find. It was north and a little to the west of our current position.
She hadn’t wanted to go too far from us with an unknown threat possibly being in the area, but now we were cool.
As soon as the others woke, I started the conversation on my mind, “Listen, this isn’t easy for me to say, but I think we should see other people.”
The others just looked at me, bleary-eyed and confused. Muu chewed his food, swallowed, then flipped me the bird.
“You aren’t getting rid of me, fucker.” Yohsuke grunted as he dished some eggs on to a plate for me. “What’s going on in that big-ass dome of yours, though. I thought I heard you talking to someone.”
“Maebe. I was telling her about what happened,” I explained, “but seriously, we do need to talk about what’s coming. I had a visit from the guy who gave me this.” I presented my palm and pointed to the flame symbol tattooed there. “He needs me to find one of his creatures and protect it long enough for it to decide what it wants to do. I get a good chunk of experience and an unknown reward.”
“So what’s the issue, man?” Muu said around his food. He swallowed before continuing, “Let’s go get the little candle and be on our way to my training!”
“It’s in the north somewhere, in the winter lands,” I explained. “I think that means in the north where there’s snow all the time, and that means it’s going to be much farther than you can go without proper training from another Fighter. And Bokaj without a Bard instructor, and yeah, I know he’s a fucking tough guy now—but we need to capitalize on that class I think somehow. I’m thinking that we have one of two options.”
Bokaj held a hand up. “You think that he and I should hit the city while you guys go further north to find this thing.”
“Or we try and convince the two trainers to come with us,” I added. “I mean, we could easily pay for them to join us for a while so that you guys can get some training in, but that’s up to them and you. I don’t want to take the risk in harming your abilities.”
“I like the second one,” James put in. He had his plate clean already. Marines—we put food away fast, man. “If we can stay together, that would be best. At least if it’s an option,” he finished.
“Yeah,” Yohsuke said simply. “The whole ‘splitting the party thing’ worked for us once, but we almost got our asses handed to us. That shit ain’t sat, and if we can avoid it, let’s do that.”
“Agreed,” Jaken grunted. “Can’t have you almost dying like you did last time.”
“Okay.” I threw my hands up in surrender. “Let’s try finding them and convincing them to come with us. I don’t know what we’re looking at as far as who is competing with us finding this thing, but they are power hungry, so let’s get a move on.”
We packed up our things, did a last check of the cave—nothing in the final tunnel except a bed of straw, and the middle was just a larger cavern for the hobgoblins to sleep in.
As we were leaving, Kayda was closer to us now. I looked at Muu. “Kayda is coming back. I can see if she wants to go back in the collar for now, but she’s gonna be here.”
He paled a bit but nodded his head. As we walked, Kayda crested the side of the mountain a little way off to the north and landed with a thud next to me.
“Do you want to take a rest in the collar?” I asked, and she promptly replied, No. “Then will you keep scouting our trail down?”
She spread her wings and flapped into the air. Yohsuke whistled at her and tossed her a few pieces of bacon that she snatched up happily. She took off with haste and then sent me something that made me smile.
Goblin okay? She showed me an image of Muu looking pointedly away from her and keeping his distance.
I looked to him and asked, “Hey, Kayda wants to know if you’re okay, Goblin?”
“I’m not a Goblin!” he shouted up at her and shook his fist.
She shrieked into the air, a sound of thunder and fury and flapped his way a bit.
“Shit-fuck!” He scrambled away from her, and she flew away.
Goblin okay, she cooed to me in my mind again.
“Oh, dude.” I chuckled at him. “You just gave her free reign to fuck with you when she thinks you’re sad.”
Muu began grumbling about birds and everything else he could call the Storm Roc. We traveled as quickly as we could down the mountain in a northwesterly fashion.
As we walked around the bend in the trail, spires of stone rising still above us, we crested the ridge over the mountain. Over the ridge, we began to see the city. That’s what it was—a big-ass city. From miles away, I would say it was massive. As we got closer, the walls built high into the sky with towers watching over them and guards aplenty came into easier view.
There was a gate large enough to fit two carts side by side that a large line of people were standing at. It took us easily twenty minutes in the line to figure out what was going on. They were searching each person who came through and talking to them.
Hey, don’t look now, Zeke, but people are staring at you, Bokaj told me through our earrings.
One guy said tails at least twice, Jaken added.
I had been so distracted by the gate and gaining entry to the city that I hadn’t seen the people around us staring so intently and listening intently as their friends whispered to them softly.
Dragons just got muttered at least three times, make it four, James put in.
I nodded to them, and we kept minding our business as we waited in line. Once we reached the front, the four guards stopping people stopped us.
“Declare yourselves, your business, and any wares you may wish to sell while in our fine city,” the eldest looking guard commanded in a bored tone.
One of the younger ones in a matching set of leather armor colored gold and red with a tabard of a lion over the front dipped a quill in ink and positioned it over what most likely was a ledger.
A small note for everyone, some of us, when given the o
ption to choose our names, had chosen surnames. Others had not. We weren’t sure if there were ways to see those things undeclared, so we decided to be honest.
Bokaj stepped forward and spoke up, “We are Bokaj, Yohsuke, Jaken Warmecht, Muu Ankiman, Zekiel Erebos, and James Bautista.” The younger guard scribbled furiously as he spoke. “We come looking for training before passing through. No wares to declare, though we aren’t against helping the local economy. Know any good stores where we might get supplies for the cold up north?”
The young guard kept writing, but the other two had taken an interest in the conversation. The one off to the right looked to be human with plain features, stubble, and an easy grin, spoke first, “You lot could always check with the clothiers strewn about. Some are nicer than others, though you look as though you could afford anywhere with the armor these folks and yourself are wearin’.”
He looked over to the female guard, a hard-eyed woman with a deep tan and incredible bearing. She had her hands on a pair of short swords at her hips, but she attempted a friendly smile.
“Where would you reckon they go for gear, Til?” the guard asked.
“Could try Fulk’s Finery in the rich district, though I’m not sure you’ll want to go there sporting those tails.” She nodded to my tails. “Been a bounty on animal tails ‘round here of late, and yours look mighty nice.”
“Do the guards typically allow that kind of thing to happen?” I asked carefully. She smiled coldly and shook her head. “Do the guards have issues with people defending themselves? Say, if they were attacked?”
The eldest guards harrumphed and wagged a finger. “You better not mean to cause trouble in this fair city. The Guard at Lindyburg would give such a person due process, fur-body or not. Get in, before I see you out myself!”
The other guards seemed to find the insult funny because they laughed. The younger guard’s laugh came a little nervously, though, as if he were uncomfortable with it all. We walked by, and I’m pretty sure I felt a little wind on one of my tails. I ignored it and kept walking with my friends.
Inside the thick walls were buildings with thick streets between them. It was a small market inside the gates, some people opting to start selling right away, and buyers were everywhere. We left the madness of it all behind as quickly as possible.
We found an alleyway clear of prying eyes for me to go into and shapeshift into my human form—a dark-skinned man of the same height and build as my fox-man form.
“That’s better,” I grumbled. “Let’s go find an inn before dark and work on finding those trainers.”
After asking a few people where we needed to go to find a decent inn, they pointed us to the western portion of the city and a place called the Mercenaries March Inn.
When we got there, it looked like a warehouse that had been converted into an inn. We walked through the double doors, dodging patrons with ale and mead outside singing boisterously just before dusk set in.
The inside had a ceiling the was twelve feet from the floor, well-lit with crystals and windows with the fading light outside coming in. The tables and chairs inside were well made and left plenty of room between for passage to and from the bar area. There were six bartenders, as the bar was a full square with two entrances to get in. The people here seemed to be human by majority, but there were a few other races present. I spied a few Orcs and Half-Orcs off in the corner farthest from the door. Some Dwarves were strewn about, drinking and comparing weapons and armor. I even spied a couple of Elves.
“Howdy, folks!” greeted one of the humans from behind the bar. “What can we do for ye?” He had a bald head, a short brownish-red beard, and a genuinely friendly disposition.
“Well, we could use a few rooms,” Jaken said, “and also some information, if you could part with it?”
“Well, the rooms are available, though we do ask that you bunk two to a room to save on space. This is one of the more popular inns for fighting folk, and they do travel through often.” He poured a drink, took a long pull from it, and winked at us. “Thirsty work this. Anyway, one room is three silver, meal service is another silver, and booze? Oh, we got booze, friends. Now, what kind of information are ye looking for?”
Bokaj moved up to the bar and pulled a stool out for himself. “Gimme a round, and I’ll fill you in. And some food would be appreciated. For my friends too. Water for the cloaked one, though.”
Yohsuke’s cloaked form waved once, and the bartender nodded, not thinking anything of the request.
The bartender moved around and began filling glasses and whistled for a server. A teenager with gangly limbs and stray whiskers on his chin came over and took our order for food.
Bokaj took a swig of the drink in front of him and sighed contentedly. He looked at the bartender and began with, “You have anyone in here who could train my friend here in his class? And do you know where I could find a Bard to train me?”
The man moved over to Muu, looked him over, and began to think for a moment before replying, “Several mercenaries here are trained Fighters, though not all of ‘em are the best at training newbies. I’d recommend asking Zhavron—he’s one of the Orcs over yonder—about some training. He hasn’t had steady work for a while. He was sick when his company left to go on a mission. He might be interested if the price is right.”
“Giledt!” a patron down the bar growled. A menacing, shirtless human man with big, beefy arms glared at the bartender. “I asked for me drink too longs ‘go.”
“Piss up a rope, tiny.” Giledt waved dismissively at the huge man. “Ye were cut off. Ye know the rules.”
“Fuck yer rules.” The man started to try and come back into the bar area. “I’ll gets it meself.”
The bartender smiled at us reassuringly and winked one last time as he said, “One moment.”
He moved toward the man who was busy trying to fill a tankard with ale but couldn’t seem to figure out the mechanism. Giledt strode easily up to him, waving and smiling at the customers along the way. Some just shook their heads, the others just grinned and began to slam money on the table.
When Giledt got to the man, Tiny, he tapped him on the shoulder, then grabbed a mug with his right hand. The warrior looked up at him and spat, “Wha’? You’re too busy to get me drink. So I’ll gets it. Piss off, you weak little fuck.”
“Ye were warned.” Giledt punched the man in the face with the glass mug in his right hand and shattered it in his cheek. The bartender grabbed the now-stunned man’s arm, threw it over his shoulder, then hip tossed Tiny on to the ground. He dragged him out from behind the bar and proceeded to punch the man until he passed out.
Giledt strolled back, collected a coin as a token of favor from some of the patrons, and finally stopped back at us. His fist was bloodied after he rinsed it in water from a pitcher. Jaken reached out and touched his shoulder, and the man glowed gold a moment.
“Well thank ye, stranger, mighty kind of ye.” He reached out and shook Jaken’s hand. “I wouldn’t recommend doing any other kinds of magic out in public. Especially near the guards. Magic use is a criminal offense round these here parts.” He flexed his fixed hand and smiled. “I hate it when people walk behind my bar. Now, forgive me—where was I?”
I ginned, “You were about to tell us if you knew where to find a Bard to train Bokaj here.”
“Bokaj? What an odd name. Well, friend if ye wanna learn music, there’s probably some in the richer parts o’ town. Though where exactly I couldn’t tell ye.”
“Hey, we appreciate your help.” Bokaj smiled. “How about those rooms?” He offered a few gold for meals, drinks and a down payment on a couple days at the inn and a tip.
“Come on Muu, let’s see about going to find this Zhavron guy.” I gestured to the Orcs and got up to go.
Giledt stopped us with a thump on the bar. “Never go to someone else’s table without a drink, especially not here. Ye take one for ye and one for them. To not take a drink with ye is to say that yer lookin’ for trou
ble, okay?”
“Thanks, man.” I took the drinks from him. “My name is Zeke. This is my friend Muu. We’ll be back.”
He smiled and sent us off with a nod.
I mean Marine protocol was similar at times, so I couldn’t blame the guy for giving me the extra drink, but if I had been fleeced a drink—he’d get an ear full.
We went toward the rear of the dining area and found a group of Orcs sitting together. A few of them seemed interested in us but weren’t going to speak to us first.
“Hey, we were wondering if Zhavron was here?” Muu asked, clearly too impatient to care about the mood.
Several Orcs’ eyes darted toward an older-looking Orc hunched over a mug. He hadn’t noticed us yet, but we stepped over and sat in front of him.
“What do you want with me, human and Dragon?” quested the wizened but still strong bass voice.
“I was wondering if you would be able to train a new Fighter?” Muu asked. “I’ve had some experience fighting, but I don’t know everything I should.”
“Feh,” he grunted. “Of course. Why not talk to any one of the other Fighters in this place? All of them would be able to tell you how to spend your points and swing your sword like any other gruberancht out there just as easily.”
“Because,” Muu continued, “who wants to just swing a sword or stab with a spear and not have form or technique behind it. Anyone can wave a sword around and call themselves a Fighter with enough points. What I want is true skill. Could you teach me that?”
The old Orc stood slowly, his hulking form—shrunken with age—rising above both of us. His scarred limbs crossed in front of his chest, and he eyed us both.
“What is your weapon of choice,” he asked, then continued, “and how have you squandered your points?”
Muu smiled. “I used one to unlock the spear tree, then one to unlock the short spear sub-tree. Other than that, I have seven more.”
Zhavron flinched as if he had been struck. “So many?”
“Is it uncommon for a Fighter to have so many points?” I asked quickly. Had the Gods blessed Muu that much?
“It is uncommon for an inexperienced Fighter to show that restraint and sound judgment.” He uncrossed his arms and looked at the young warrior before him with a new respect. “You want to train with an old codger like me? Fine. Let’s share that drink and go over what will come.”
Into the Dragon's Den (Axe Druid Book 2) Page 18