by Billy Wong
As they came into view of the collection of wood and straw huts, she felt increasingly nervous. "I sure hope we won't end up fighting the robbers around here too."
"Relax," Gavin said, "I told you we'd look for monster hunting work and we will." It wouldn't be the first time he promised her something only to turn it around on her when she had little room to maneuver, though.
"Why are you that adamant about not fighting bandits anyway?" Patrick asked. "I prefer to kill beasts too, but if somebody doesn't take care of them won't they just keep harming more people? We handled it without much trouble last time, I know you got hurt but you're fine now."
It'd only been a couple days and her side still hurt a lot, not close to healed, but she supposed she had gotten used enough to it that her pain wasn't too noticeable. "We're monster hunters, not man hunters. Why should it be our responsibility to take care of things outside our expertise? There are authorities in place to handle these matters, which should deal with them in time."
"But sometimes those authorities' solution is to hire outside help, like with the mayor before. If none is available or willing to help, the common folk might suffer longer."
She wondered if she should be considered weak for shying away from the slaughter of humans, and how much her friends truly viewed her as such. She was perfectly capable in physical terms, as the seven men recently dead at her hand proved. Given that she couldn't really make a strong moral objection to it, and had done it before, her squeamishness did seem a rather shaky reason. "We don't know that the crimes of the bandits here warrants their deaths. If it gets to the point where proper soldiers are sent, they'll probably be better equipped to deal with them nonlethally, to force their surrender or take them captive. On the other hand with only the three of us, we would've been hard pressed to survive even last time if we tried to avoid killing."
"That's true. I guess there might not be a bounty offered for them, anyway."
They made their way to the log cabin, one of the few large buildings in town which served for its tavern. Spotting a bulletin board in the corner from a distance, Gavin said, "I'll get our food while you two look at it. If I see a bandit killing job, I might get too tempted."
Meg and Patrick walked up to it while Gavin went to the counter. "What do you know, there is a reward for the bandits' heads," Patrick said.
"Let's ignore that..." She looked down the right side of the board while he did the same for the left.
"Here's a caravan guarding one."
She examined the posting he pointed to. "Still doesn't seem the most fitting for monster hunters. We might be expected to fight human attackers, and it doesn't say how far we'd have to travel. If it's a five hundred mile trip or something, that wouldn't be the most ideal. We can keep it in the back of our minds, but let's look for something else." They resumed scanning the board.
"Hey, what about this? It's not monster hunting exactly, but it says the poster's pet ran off into a cavern where dangerous creatures might lurk. Brave explorers needed—that sounds like us."
"A pet? Think the owner can pay enough to make it worthwhile?"
"It doesn't specify the reward, so we'll have to ask. There's an address..." He looked around to make sure no one was watching, ripped off the listing and stuffed it into a belt pouch.
Meg recoiled. "What are you doing?"
"We're not going right away, so I didn't want somebody potentially snatching the job out from under our noses while we eat."
"Not the most honorable behavior, but I guess you have a point. By the way, how did you get to see all the interesting tasks? My side is full of menial labor. Maybe it's just tradition to put the hard ones on the left here."
They joined Gavin at the table where he sat with ribs and stew for all of them. "Did you find anything?" he mumbled through a full mouth, cheeks already red from rushed drinking.
Patrick sampled a sip of stew and licked his lips before replying. "Good hearty stuff. We saw one with potential, though I'm not sure how you'll feel about it. How does searching for a runaway pet in a cave sound?"
Gavin raised his brow. "A pet? Sounds a little beneath us don't you think?"
"The posting said there might be dangerous creatures there."
"In that case, we can give it a go if the pay is right."
After finishing their meal, Meg a tad too full since the portions he ordered suited him more than herself, they proceeded to the house near the edge of town indicated on the listing. When they knocked, a small elderly man in a floppy hat opened the door. Meg wondered if he wore that all the time at home. "Did you post the job searching for a pet?" Gavin asked.
"Yes. If you would be so kind as to retrieve little Meg from the caverns by the stream due east of here, it would be much appreciated."
Patrick looked bemusedly at her. "Meg? Our friend here's name is Meg, maybe we can just trade her to you for the reward instead."
"Ha ha, very funny. What kind of animal is um, Meg? And how big is she, might we have trouble restraining her?"
"You're afraid we'll have trouble restraining a pet?" Gavin asked. "That seems like selling us short a bit."
"Well, if she's a temperamental horse or something, that might warrant a different approach than a cat..."
The man answered, "She is merely a small pig, no larger than a bulldog. You might have trouble with her if she's in a foul mood, but I doubt your friends would."
She resisted the urge to snap at him. At her height, one could suspect her of struggling to handle a dog... she wished there had been something convenient for her to stand on before he came out. "What about the dangerous creatures you mentioned? Is there actual reason to think there might be such around, or were you just afraid to go in after her?"
"I tried to follow when she ran off, but then heard a loud hiss from ahead and didn't think it prudent to go on. An old man like me, if I did come face to face with a monster, I don't know how fast I could flee..."
Meg and the others exchanged looks. "This does sound like it could be somewhat relevant to our profession," she said.
Patrick frowned. "If pig Meg ran into a cave when monsters live, there's a good chance she... to be blunt, that she didn't make it. If we find that's the case, will we still get paid for confirming it?"
"Of course. I wouldn't have you risk your lives for nothing."
"In case we can't identify her on sight, does she wear anything recognizable?"
His gaze dropped in recognition of what Patrick meant, but replied, "A bronze bell, attached to a collar around her neck."
"We'll remember that, then."
"One very important question you two have neglected to ask," Gavin said. "How much is to be our payment?"
After some negotiation, they agreed on a reasonable price and left for the cavern. They spotted the opening in the side of the stream bank, with barely a strip of ground between it and the water. "Not exactly the type of place I'd expect an old man to explore with his pet pig," Meg commented while they shimmied along the strip to the entrance.
"Maybe he wasn't," Patrick replied, "and Meg ran in on her own."
"And why would she do that?"
"I'd assume she was reacting to some stimuli. Perhaps she smelled some tasty food"—he crinkled his forehead in thought—"or something that smelled like food meant to lure animals like her."
"You mean that the monsters made? That wouldn't make the outlook good for Peg."
"Peg?"
"Now that we're not with her owner, I'd prefer to call her that instead of by my name."
"But Meg's her name too." He grinned teasingly. "What, are you so insecure that sharing your name with a porker bothers you?"
"No. Whatever, call her what you like. As for the smell luring her, I suppose it's not certain that's what happened so there's still hope for Peg."
They turned into the passage. When they found it went deep enough that it would become too dark to see, they lit torches before advancing onward. After continuing for some minute
s with no sign of the wayward pet, Meg said, "Seems it goes pretty far. Do you think the old man walked even farther than this before hearing that monster sound?"
"No clue," Gavin replied in an edgy tone, "but I smell something."
"What?" Then she picked it up too, a light stink barely noticeable through the mucus still clogging her sinuses. "Is that... shit?"
Patrick crinkled his nose. "That's what it smells like. Something is living in here, or at least has been recently."
"Hopefully it's Peg." Not much later, they spotted a pea-shaped brown mass on the floor. As they drew nearer Meg realized it to be bigger than her arm. "This must be what we smelled. It can't belong to our client's pet, given it might be longer than the swine herself."
"Wait," Gavin said, "is that something shiny sticking out of it?" He walked forward and prodded at the dung with a dagger. Moments later, he had dug away enough of the excrement to reveal a miniature bell. "It looks like she went in one way and out the other. Rest in peace, little Meg."
"Hey! You worded it that way on purpose. What now, though? Should we search for what did this and kill it before it becomes a threat to others?"
He shook his head. "If we go after it now, we'll be doing extra work for no added benefit. But if we tell Meg's doting master what happened, we just might get him to pay us again for the sake of vengeance."
"That sounds pretty manipulative. Still, I guess we only agreed to find out what happened to Peg."
Patrick cleaned off the bed as best he could before dropping it into an extra sack. They returned to the old man's house. "Sorry to say," Patrick concluded after telling him what they had found, "it seems whatever lives there ate your pet." He handed over the bag, at the smell of which her owner's nose twitched. He looked inside, and his eyes misted at the sight of the bell caked with bits of what had become of Meg.
"For an additional fee," Gavin added, "we'll be happy to avenge your pet."
"No, that's alright. It must only be natural for the creature to prey on animals like her, and I needn't hold a grudge over its instincts. Besides, I can already barely afford what you charge, I doubt I could make another offer you'd accept."
They took their payment and bid him farewell. "It looks like your plan didn't work out," Meg remarked while Gavin fumed. She bit her lip. "Whatever ate Peg must've been a lot bigger than a human though, based on the size of its stool. If left alone, might it become a danger to the townsfolk in the future?"
"It sure might," Patrick said. "Like you would say, we don't work for free though. Wait, if we tell whoever's in charge about this, maybe they would pay to dispose of the threat?"
Gavin nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. So let's ask around and see who we should speak with."
They shortly found their way to the unremarkable hut of the village chief, a husky man clad in furs with a broad, weathered face. He studied the trio warily upon opening the door. "You are quite heavily armed strangers." Besides their melee weapons, her crossbow, Patrick's bow and Gavin's javelins for ranged fighting would be noticeable, along with their backup daggers. "What is your business here?"
"I assure you we don't mean to cause any trouble," Gavin said. Already they seemed to be getting off on the wrong foot... "We're just travelers passing through, but along the way we learned of a fearsome monster lurking by the eastern stream. We were wondering if you might be interested in having it gone."
"A monster? I recall a certain eccentric old man mentioning such, but no reports from a more credible source. Did you see this creature, or did you simply get wind of his ramblings?"
Patrick replied, "We didn't just hear of the monster. We actually saw its, er, waste in a cave by the stream. One dropping was almost as big as the smallest of us." That exaggeration called a bit of unnecessary attention to her size... "It has eaten a family member of one of the villagers, and might soon claim more victims if not stopped."
"A family member?"
Meg nudged him with an elbow. "The old man's pig," she explained not wanting to be too misleading. "He loved her as family, I reckon."
The chief regarded them with a skeptical expression. "So this supposed frightful beast has devoured a small pig, and you expect to charge some unreasonable sum to remove it for us?"
"I wouldn't exactly say unreasonable... At its size, even if it hasn't done much damage yet, delaying a moment too long might spell doom for some unlucky soul who wanders close to it."
"Everyone already knows to keep their distance from the stream. Besides, I assume you propose to kill it? Great Aerilea has decreed that is not to be done unless absolutely necessary."
"And what determines if the need is 'absolute' or not?" asked Gavin. "The monster lurks close to your town, and has already claimed a resident if not a human one. It should not be difficult to justify taking action in order to avert further tragedy."
He looked down, touching his chin. "Your greed is transparent. However, I can see your point in terms of the peril it poses. If it should move from its known territory, and catch some family off guard... We've lost people to monsters in the past few years, and I hardly trust this one to honor some vague truce. Provided you won't brag about it to the world after and your price is not exorbitant, we may be able to come to a deal."
Nearly half an hour of haggling later, they departed town. "We settled for that little pay?" Patrick asked, still in shock at the results of their negotiation. Meg too couldn't remember Gavin conceding that much.
"We already got paid once," Gavin murmured. "Think of this as just a bonus." But there was more inherent danger in hunting a monster than just searching for a pet. It felt more like they were growing so desperate for work, their standards for potential earnings wavered.
They arrived at the cavern and entered again with weapons drawn. When they had gone a few yards past the piece of dung containing Meg's bell, a loud hiss sounded. Meg raised her sword while the hair stood up on her neck. Something swished along the ground in front of them, though they couldn't see what yet. Then a deep-wrinkled head floated out from the darkness into the illumination of their torches to loom over them—humanlike in shape, but blue skinned with scales and slanted reptilian eyes. Its lipless mouth parted, revealing pointy teeth two of which dwarfed the others like a venomous snake's fangs. Behind the eerie cranium large as Meg's torso stretched what could be seen of its neck, long and sinuous. Judging from what they'd heard of its movements, she expected the rest of its body to be equally serpentine.
"That's a naga," Patrick breathed, voice small. "A big one too, based on its head."
They had faced similar creatures before in their careers as hunters, but that only made them all the more aware of the hazards instead of giving them confidence. Big nagas like this were among the most dangerous monsters, with quicksilver speed belying their size and venom that could end life with a scratch. They spread out in preparation for their usual strategy against a single large foe. As it was distracted by the others, any of them might get a chance to land a decisive blow, though Patrick most often got that honor with his heavy poleaxe. The naga slithered towards Gavin who stood his ground in the middle. He swung his cudgel at its visage, but it swayed away from the blow and snapped at him. He blocked, was pushed back before it wrenched him sideways back and forth by the club trapped between its jaws. Meg darted in and tried to slash its neck, but its tail whipped at her from the side and knocked her tumbling across the hard floor. The fall jarred her flank, drawing anguished moans from her throat. She saw Patrick rush to aid Gavin only for the serpent to whip Gavin into him and release the cudgel, sending both men down in a heap.
Meg scrambled up biting back the pain as her heart pounded with fear for her friends. She lunged, glimpsed the tail coming at her again. She spun towards it, cutting upward with both hands clenched around her hilt. The impact traveled up her arms as her blade met tough, scaly flesh and bit deep, almost going halfway through the tail before it jerked away. The naga writhed in place, head thrashing about aimlessly wit
h agony. "It's wounded!" Meg shouted, doubled over from her own wound. "We must press the advantage!"
Gavin and Patrick helped one another up and they all charged the creature, Meg limping with gritted teeth. It ducked under a poleaxe swing and headbutted Patrick, hurling him to his back again. But Gavin's cudgel slammed into its cheek, snapping its head to the left. Meg stabbed at its exposed neck, piercing it but not sure she hit anything vital. It reared up, pulling her into the air by her sword. Darn, if she wasn't so light... but maybe any human wouldn't be heavy enough for this. The back of her head smashed into the ceiling in spite of her attempt to mitigate it by tucking it. She saw stars and lost her grip on the hilt, falling twenty feet to the rocky ground. The naga's maw shot down at her, her blade still jutting from its neck.
She rolled, landing a boot to its jaw to no discernible effect, and came up. As it bit at Patrick causing him to lose his balance and fall in the process of dodging, Meg sprang to grab her hilt. She thought to drive the sword deeper, fatally so if she could, but a hit from Gavin's club knocked its head away so the blade was ripped free of its flesh. Still, it reeled from the blows they had inflicted and they appeared to be gaining the advantage as it backed up. Meg and Gavin stalked after it, Patrick stumbling to his feet behind them. If their luck held out, they should soon finish thi-
"Stop!" a male voice yelled from the direction of the entrance.
Reluctant to take her eyes off their serpentine adversary which still very much posed a threat, Meg glanced back to behold a long-faced man of about forty wearing a breastplate over mail. Doing likewise, Gavin glowered. "And who the hell are you, butting into our business?"
Chapter 2
The newcomer walked forward, looking concerned about the naga yet not as much as most would. He carried a large metal shield in the hand that didn't hold his torch, but no drawn weapon that Meg could see. "Allow me to handle this." He stepped past the trio to face the creature. She stared in bewilderment while guttural sounds—or words?—that made no sense issued from his mouth. However, they must have had meaning to the naga as it responded with similar noises of its own. Was he talking to the thing? After exchanging sounds a few times with it, the man said, "Please allow the naga to pass now. It has agreed to leave here, and relocate to an area farther from human settlements."