“Hmmm, are you sure it’s a good idea to involve her in this? I mean, she does have a young son.” Gawain said. Sure, he also had a son, but Rayan was an adult and could support himself. If Aethel helped them and then kicked the bucket, he would feel terrible for leaving an orphan behind. “It would be irresponsible to get her involved in this whole ordeal.”
“She became involved the moment the werewolf attacked her.” Rayan said. “Besides, the worst thing she could do is say no. Then we’ll just have to find another route to take towards killing the abomination.”
“It’s not that easy son. We shouldn’t involve her in our problems when there is so much on the line. If I die, you could survive. You’re an adult, and you’ll inherit the ranch.” Gawain said. “But if Aethel dies, who will take care of Craeft? You? Me?” Gawain shook his head. “I don’t want to leave a child without his mother, and if this goes wrong, well…I think you can guess where her son will be headed.”
“To an orphanage.” Rayan said solemnly. He didn’t want to condemn Aethel’s child to that fate nor would he be able to forgive himself if he did.
“Yeah.” Gawain said. “It would not be pretty for the boy there. A bastard, especially of a former noble? That would be everything that those kids hated. He’d be an outcast.” The older man shook his head. “No, this should stay between us.”
“I agree.” Rayan said. “However, we have to look at the facts.”
“Son, I don’t-“
“No, listen father. You’ve had an incredibly difficult time with the werewolf with no success, and I’ve seen how each failure wears down on you.” Rayan said. “It’s like watching a piece of you being chipped away each time, and I can’t stand it. It hurts seeing you like this father. You shouldn’t be here drinking alone.”
“I’m not.” Gawain said, a wry grin on his face. “You’re here with me.”
“You know what I mean.” A hint of anger coated his voice. “You can’t keep doing this father. It’s destroying you and I refuse to watch you wither away trying to take on a beast when we could use the expertise of others to help us.” Rayan said. “If she denies us, fine. If she doesn’t, good. But the truth is, your plans haven’t worked. So why don’t we try something new?”
“You’ve really put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?” Gawain asked. “It really makes me think that you’ve been taking this whole werewolf thing just as personally as I have.”
“Of course I did. I’m just a lot better at hiding it.” Rayan said. Gawain knew that Rayan tried to act calm and professional at all times due to his experience in the military showing him what happened to those who didn’t, but he had thought that perhaps his son was just a little cold hearted. It felt good to be proven wrong. “Mom was a wonderful mother, and she didn’t deserve to be killed by that monster.”
“Glad to see we’re on the same page then.” Gawain said. “That Caster of yours still good and ready?”
Rayan nodded. “Of course. I always keep my weapons clean and rearing to go. If I can get a clear shot on the werewolf, I’m sure I could blow some holes in it.” Rayan shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I’m mostly experienced fighting other humans and the occasional Baron Wolf, not dark creatures. That’s more of a Hunter’s kind of deal.”
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a hunter’s thing or not, what we need to do is start drawing up a plan.” Gawain said. “As for Aethel…let’s give her a little time to recover. A month should be good. I’ve heard she had some pretty nasty wounds, and it would be crass to ask her while she’s still healing up.”
“So, we’ll just wait?” Rayan asked. “Seems kind of the opposite to what we wanted to do?”
“It’s what we’ll have to do for now. I don’t want to set up a big plan that needs runes, only for Aethel to not join us.” Rayan nodded at that. “Still, it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
The two sat there and enjoyed their drinks till the tavern closed down, Gawain leaning on Rayan as the son led him back home to his ranch.
Despite his drunken state, Gawain had a big smile plastered across his face. For the first time in months, he held out hope for the future.
And held out an even greater hope that his vengeance would finally be delivered upon the beast.
Chapter Five
Steam poured off the tea in her cup, Aethel raising it to her mouth and taking a delicate slurp while Craeft slept nearby. The month since her stay at the hospital had been agonizing in more ways than one and she couldn’t help but want to find that werewolf and personally break its damn neck. Maybe even mount its head on her wall when she was done with it.
Due to the damage to her leg, she was now stuck with a temporary limp as her leg healed and due to her regular routine of carrying large runic stones around, it hampered her business.
Not to mention, she had to worry about being attacked again, and taking care of Craeft at the same time, and that wasn’t even getting into the fact that she had to prepare for a visit to Ms. Alcott’s mansion. The issues just kept mounting up higher and higher, and it seemed like there was no end in sight. Aethel’s grip on her cup tightened and her knuckles turned white. She stewed in her anger as the feeling that she had thought she had left behind back in the streets of Rubrary. The feeling of helplessness.
She hated that feeling.
‘Just breathe Aethel. Just…breathe. You’ll get through this, and then you can show your family that you aren’t worthless. Just gotta get through this and-‘
The harsh knocks on her door knocked Aethel out of her thoughts. The cup clinked as she laid it on her dining room table and walked towards the door, her right leg lagging slightly behind the other. Aethel considered not answering it, the paranoia caused by the werewolf still leaving her jittery, but it was the daytime, so surely, it could not be coming to kill her.
Well, not yet anyway.
Two redheads filled her vision as she opened the door, a sense of relief filling her at the familiar faces. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite customers.” She made sure to smile at Rayan, the young man blushing under the attention. “and you even brought your cute son along.”
“That I did.” The smirk on Gawain’s face was enough to cause Rayan’s blush to go from a slight red to full crimson, making him look reminiscent of a tomato. “He just couldn’t wait to see if his sweetheart was alright. Why, he was so distraught, he was crying like a babe, tears fallin’ down his face-“
Rayan interrupted the man with a cough, Aethel wondering if his face could become any more crimson, possibly enough to match his hair. “Ma’am, we just came by to make sure you’re alright. After we heard about the werewolf attack, we figured we should come and see if you were okay.”
“Wait, heard about it? I haven’t told anyone-“ She cradled her head in her hands, a groan escaping her lips. “Oh right, small town.”
“Yep. Everyone’s known about it, especially since that nice Leas guy ran his mouth down at the tavern,” Aethel made a mental note to punch him as hard as she could when she saw him next time, “So, we decided to bring you some stuff. Can we come in?” Rayan asked, his tone polite.
“Oh sure, sorry about leaving you all in the doorway like that, it was rather rude.” She motioned them inside, the two redheads entering her small home. The oak wood floors creaked as they followed the blonde into her kitchen. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expecting guests, so all I’ve got is some tea.”
“Any sugar cubes to put in it?” Gawain asked, his sweet tooth showing itself.
“No. Why would you ruin perfectly good tea with sugar?” Aethel tried to keep the disgust off her face at the suggestion.
“Never mind.” He grumbled as he pulled a small object out of his pocket, his amulet glove’s green jewel glowing as he returned it to its normal size. “Don’t know anything about some perfectly good tea and yet we’re giving her gifts.”
“Father, just give her the stuff.” Rayan was clearly tired of his father’s grumbling. “We ca
n complain about your poor tastes later.” His dad gave him a look, but he blew it off. He had served time in the military and had seen much worse than an angry old man. “Well, what do you think?”
“Is that a…Cyclone 300 Broom?” Aethel’s eyes were wide as she saw the broom. Though that was the technical term due to its origins as literal brooms, the newer models were a different beast entirely, only called brooms due to their shape. It consisted of a long blue metal rod with extensions downwards towards foot petals to accelerate and brake, a cowl with a windshield, two grips, and jutting out of the back-end where the thistles would be on a broom, was a large glowing red crystal. “This must have cost you a fortune.”
“Nah, this is my old model that I used back when I was touring with the military.”
“I’m sure you’ve plenty of stories to tell about that.” Aethel’s eyes bore a suspicious glint. This was a very nice gift, and expensive to boot. She had to wonder why he would give this to her. After a life of being used and lied to, it was probably another way of screwing her over and making her indebted to him. If he thought that she would be convinced of his so called “good-nature” by a gift like this, he had another thing coming.
“Of course. I flew over the great plains of Pleosil, went over the sandy deserts of Nicara, and even managed to spot a few of the underwater Norogs-“ He was cut short as he noticed her eyes, full of suspicion and distrust. “Uh, did I do something to offend you? I mean, I know it isn’t the best broom and all, but it is sturdy and has served me well. If it makes you feel any better, I can go get it enhanced-“
“No, no.” Her voice was calm as she spoke. “I’m just thankful for your gift. There is no way I could’ve afforded such a nice broom with my budget, and as it stands, I’m barely getting by.” She stood up and hugged the man. She still didn’t trust him, but if the gift was given in an act of kindness, she would accept it. If it wasn’t however…well, she would make sure he regretted ever giving it to her. “Thank you.”
She held him there for a few moments before letting go, the young man blushing up a storm. “Er, you’re welcome ma’am. It was the least I could do to help you out, especially since we’re neighbors.”
“You live about twenty minutes away.” Aethel let out a chuckle. “I don’t think that’s what I’d consider a neighbor.”
Gawain shrugged. “Country neighbors. Besides, we thought with your little tryst with that freak o’ nature, you’d be willing to help us out a little with our own ordeal.”
“And that would be?”
“Killing that thing.” Gawain said, a frown spread across his face. “It’s already attacked us multiple times, taking my cattle and then my wife.” His fists were tight as he spoke. “Then it attacked you. We’ve gotta put a stop to it or it’s just going to keep comin’.”
“And do you have a plan for it?” She took a sip of her tea, savoring the flavor, even as cheap as it was. “Because I am not going into this without a way to take it out.”
Rayan smiled as he pulled a small metal object out of his pocket, before using his amulet glove to enlarge it. Magic flowed into the item, causing it to rapidly enlarge to its full size. “This is our plan. This is the newest caster, and it can fire nine piercing curses before needing to be reloaded. With this baby, we can blow it to pieces!”
Aethel licked her lips as she noticed the stunning rune work on the weapon, it’s large metallic frame slightly staff-like with a small stock at the end, along with a circular-ball like structure on its side full of a pale liquid, clearly for reloading it. The end opened up into a large cylindrical barrel, covered in runes she would’ve killed to get her hands on.
“That’s a good start for a plan. Do you have anything else?” The two shook their heads. The woman sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “Rayan, you said you served in the military. Where exactly did you go?”
Questions danced across his eyes, but he replied all the same. “In Vorkurbent and Pleosil.”
“So, you never went to the quarantined zone in Angabey?”
“No.”
“And you Gawain?”
“I’ve been fighting a losing battle with it for months now.” He slouched over, the feeling of defeat radiating from the man. “I can’t keep losin’ people to it. Next thing I know Rayan’s gonna be gone and I’m gonna be alone.” He sighed. “Every time I’d get close to it, it’d always run off and disappear into the night, whether it killed my cattle or my beloved Glorina.”
“So, one of you is experienced in combat, just not with werewolves, and one of you has experience with it, but not fighting it?” Aethel fought to keep the frown off her face as the two nodded their heads. This plan seemed to be going down before it even got off the ground. She was no combat expert, so she could really only play a supportive role, while Gawain was a farmer, and thus had little combat experience. The only one they could rely on would be Rayan, but he too had no experience fighting the beasts.
“Wait…wait, wait, wait!” Rayan smiled. “I have dealt with something similar though. My unit had to deal with Baron wolves, a type of intelligent wolf-like creature down in the nastier parts of Vorkurbent. They only came out at night, and were more sensitive during the full moon. We could probably use the same tactics my unit used when facing them.”
Aethel raised an eyebrow. That information could either be incredibly useful, hopefully, or get them killed.
“We’d use runic stones that emitted bright light and attached it to rope around our territory. It confused the hell out of them, but didn’t really get rid of them.” The smirk on his face was vicious. “That’s when we killed one of the cattle and stuck lock-jaw traps next to them. They didn’t get away from us that time, and we even managed to catch the w that was controlling them.”
“So we’ve got the beginning of a plan. All we need is some cattle and traps, and I can make the runes.” She eyed Gawain, a frown etched onto his face as she mentioned the cattle.
“And I guess you’re expecting me to provide the bait?” He sighed as she nodded. “I would love to, but I can’t take that hit to my finances.”
Rayan shook his head. “We don’t need to kill it, we just need to make sure there are traps around it so the beast will get caught in them, and once it does…” His finger danced over the trigger of his caster. “I’ll make mincemeat out of it.”
“Make sure you do,” Aethel said, “because we’re only going to get one shot at fooling the beast. I’ve seen that look in its eyes, and it’s certainly got some intelligence to it.”
A small beeping noise echoed throughout the room. Gawain looked down at the watch on his wrist, before he sighed. “Well, it looks like I’ll have to be going soon to feed the animals. Rayan, you comin’?”
The younger man shook his head, and the old man sighed. He left, leaving his son alone with Aethel, an awkward aura filling the room, but Aethel wasn’t going to let that stop her. She still had a guest, and it would be rather rude to leave a cute young man like Rayan waiting. Besides, she thought it might’ve been a little fun to flirt with the redhead. “So, Mr. Welter, is there a Mrs. Welter in your life?”
He nearly spit out his tea. “W-what?”
“I was just wondering, I mean, with how strong and handsome you are,” His time in the Ascean military had certainly done his body good. Another point in his favor. “I’m surprised someone hasn’t snatched you up yet.”
The young man blushed under the praise, clearly not used to the attention he received from someone of the fairer sex. His time in the military must have made him more avert to the attentions of a woman since he was constantly surrounded by other men, and any of the females were either healers or officers, neither of which he wanted to anger lest he be flogged or “accidentally” given a lethal dose of medication.
“I-I” He gulped. “Of course, I am still single ma’am. I haven’t really had the chance to settle down with anyone and…well, I’ve always been a little introverted.” Tough hands ran through his short red
hair. “It’s not you personally, but It’s just how I’ve always been.”
He was adorable in her eyes, blushing like a virgin as she played with him. However, she had taken to looking at him, really looking at him, and noticed that he was a rather decent man in her books. He was physically attractive, with a temperament that reminded her of her old lover from her school days, and he was a good man. A strong will to help his family was the real kicker in her eyes.
Aethel’s family had not been nearly so kind to her as he was to his father. When she had needed their help, they had simply kicked her out before focusing more on her siblings, throwing her away like garbage, like she wasn’t even the heir to their fortune.
Well, Aethel supposed she wasn’t anymore. Especially with her former occupation tarnishing her reputation.
“How you’ve always been huh? So, is there any way I can change that?” She was quite close to him, his breath practically tickling her nose as he breathed deeply, trying to quench the butterflies floating around in his stomach. “I do find you to be quite handsome after all.”
Aethel found it adorable as he tried to continue the conversation, but the playful look she was giving him wasn’t helping any.
“Wait really?” Rayan asked, eyes wide in disbelief. He had been called that by many women during his tenure in the military, but it had always seemed so vapid, especially considering the occupation of many of those women were nothing more than bed warmers. It made the compliments seem fake, but to hear it from her made his heart flutter slightly. “I thought you were just kidding around with how you acted, maybe throwing me a bone to get me to buy more of your stuff.”
“I have to admit, that’s how it started. Seeing a cute man like you walk into my store was a delight.” A smile spread across her face as she watched him blush. In her eyes, his face was really cute when it was all bright and red, just like his hair. “But I’ve gotten to spend a bit of time with you, and I do find that you have certain qualities that I find attractive.”
A New Life Page 5