I stuck my left hand into the cart without hesitation or even looking. The bird I had spoken to fluttered back up to where it had been perched before. Scaled skin met my palm, and a thrumming growl or purring vibration rumbled against me.
“Well. This is new then.” Manly looked both taken aback and curious at the same time. She leaned forward and rested her upper body on the board. “Normally Higgins bites anyone who tries to touch him. Nasty infections come after that. One noble even lost a hand to it. That had been an interestin’ few days in the local jail. But—shouldn’t touch merchandise you weren’t invited to.”
I smiled, despite the fact that she made me want to hurl her off a cliff for being a risk to the village, yet her forwardness and drawl were a little endearing. And they were growing on me.
“I’ll let you have him, hundred and fifty gold.” She pointed from me to him. “But only because he seems to like you.”
I withdrew the required amount, and twenty-five extra. “So that I can learn what he likes, and also so you don’t take too much of a loss.”
“Mighty nice of you, mister Zeke!” Her smile was infectious. “Well, Higgy, come on out and meet your new owner.”
The cart rattled as Jarlenill shifted and shuffled out. His large head came out first, his muscled jaw and feathered mane coming out into the light. His first thick, green leg thumped out onto the ground, then the second, and he walked the rest of his long body out. From the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, he was about sixteen feet long and probably weighed a good four hundred pounds. His body had a good, thick coating of muscle, and his head was a little more triangle-shaped than his mane let on. He looked fucking sick. I loved it.
I’d happily have him join me in a fight, but looking at him, I could just tell he was too old for combat. He probably had a few years of good life left in him but fighting the way we needed to would likely be the end of him.
I’d be happy to give him the rest of his days living freely.
“Thanks, Manly.” I offered her my hand to shake.
She took it and shook it firmly. “Pleasure doin’ business with ya’.”
“You’re coming to the tavern for drinks later, right?” I asked as I sat next to Jarlenill. He thumped my shoulder with his large head, my body listing to the side from the strength of it.
Her eyebrow raised. “You plannin’ to drink?”
“A little bit. It’s going to be my friends really throwing down.” I grinned, thinking about all the shit they would get into. “But I wanted to apologize for being a jerk earlier. And let you know that just because you found this place, you aren’t a bad person. Sunrise is a great place with great people. We’re just protective.”
“I understand wantin’ to protect you and yours,” she offered as she closed up shop. She stopped suddenly and turned with a bashful look on her face, her eyes downcast. “I’m real sorry ‘bout buggin’ you to sell me your familiar. I just see somethin’ purty like her, and I gotta try. I meant no disrespect to you, or her. I know y’all been together for a while, I’ve seen the way she looks at you when she’s on your shoulder. You got a good one there. Mighty fine.”
The apology took me by surprise, especially since I was just saying something about it. “Uh, yeah. No worries. So, drinks later? Dinner too? We can talk business and the like as well. There’s an inn not too far away, so we can set you up with a room if you need it?”
“Mighty kind of you, Zeke. Tell you what, I’ll take you up on the drinks and food, but I prefer to sleep with my assets. Keeps us both safe, get my drift?” Her demeanor was significantly more relaxed than before.
“Sounds good to me.” I shrugged. “You can have Humphrey pull it over by the tavern, so you don’t have to go too far after drinking.”
“Sounds good to me!”
I helped her finish putting her cart back to traveling condition, but once it was there, I led her toward the tavern with little difficulty. Vrawn following at a distance. She was distrustful, and I didn’t blame her.
Chapter Three
As everyone ate, we had a light conversation between the party and Manly, and finally, it happened.
The question that everyone had been waiting for.
“So, uh, Manly,” Bokaj spoke haltingly for once, possibly uncertain of how to proceed. “Your name is interesting.”
“That’s how you wanna ask me then?” The halfling raised her eyebrow.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect.” My friend backpedaled, looking to us for help.
“You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last to ask how I got my name.” She took a swig of her drink, clapped it onto the table and stared into the sky. “My ma wanted a girl, in a mean sorta way. My pa? Well, he wanted a boy what could take over the family business. See, he was a hunter and tracker, a damn fine one to boot. Thought that only having a proper heir would work.”
She grasped at her chest and I thought she might cry, but instead let out a loud and satisfying belch. “Well, the day came when they had me. Imagine my pa’s poor heart breakin’ but being reborn anew. See, ma wanted me to be a real lady, but pa had other plans. See, in my culture, it’s the pa who names the children. So, as he picked me up, he dubbed me what he wanted me to be—Manly.” She took another deep draft of her drink and sighed. “Now, ma was a good sport about it, truly she was. She’d put me in pretty dresses, read to me by firelight in the evenin’s and took care to teach me proper manners. But pa, he’d take me from bed real early in the mornin’ dress me in breeches and a tunic, and we would go hunt, practice trackin’, and woodcraft.”
She laughed then, small at first, then as she looked to remember more, she laughed harder. Finally, a moment went by and she quieted.
“Sorry, I remembered that time I went out practicin’ in the new dress my ma gave me, she was so mad. But when I found that bandit camp for that nice man who asked pa, they were all so surprised.” Her face grew somber. “Well, when they went and got arrested, their friends didn’t take too kind to that. They heard about the little girl what found their friends in the pretty pink dress, and they went lookin’.”
I felt I knew where this tale was going, but I let her continue. I wanted to know, and at the same time, I didn’t want to take her chance at expression away. Who knew when she spoke to others? Especially about this.
“When they found us, pa had sent me out on a huntin’ trial that day. He’d taught me all he knew, and I had even managed to pick up a bit more from the book learnin’ ma had me doin’.” She sniffed once. “Well, I found my quarry in a cave, it were a dire bear. I wasn’t s’posed to kill it, no. Wasn’t strong enough for that. But I could track it and knew how to stay outta sight, so those were my orders. It picked up a scent not too long after I found it, and when it began to track it, I followed. Led me all the way back to my farmstead home. See, dire bears’ll eat anything really, ain’t too picky. So, when he stumbled upon the farm, I got worried. Then I saw the blood. Everywhere. Everything was covered in it.”
Manly’s gaze grew distant but hard. “The folks lookin’ for us had found ma while she’d been sloppin’ the pigs. Pa got to her with his bow as they were harassin’ her. They didn’t stand a chance, but the tracks at the scene spoke different. They’d eventually got pa away from ma and had questioned ‘im. Real tender like.” She shivered but led on. “They must have held out a while because there was a scuffle. Best I could tell, ma got free somehow, took a sword, and ran her watcher through. Made it to pa as they ended their questions.”
The small, sad smile on her face spoke louder than her whispered words, “Ma had a temper, rest assured. They paid. But not before they got her. Some of ‘em, wounded, got away. They left their friends there, picked clean of coin and gear, took what they wanted from the farm, and left it as it were. Like they wanted to send a message”—she took a long draught of her drink, lines of booze spilling down her chin.—“Well, as that beast picked his choice of the bodies there, I dragged my ma and pa inside a
nd gave ‘em a real warriors funeral. Grabbed some clothes, all the arrows my pa had fletched and set out to find ‘em.”
“You found them, though—right?” Muu asked, a look of intense fascination on his scaled face.
Manly’s face split as a feral grin spread, baring her teeth to all of us. “I did. Since then, I’ve done my best to always exemplify both my ma and pa’s wishes for me. To be a good, lady hunter. And that’s why I’m named Manly. Now, as for my surname, see Humphrey outside, with his wee bucket of slop and ale?”
I turned to look out the window by our table at the front and jumped as Humphrey belched loudly, spittle flying as he tucked back into his slop greedily.
“Well, he’s got a real bad temper too, but I fight on him. Been my best friend since after I found my family’s murderers. Been with me ever since. And since he’s usually under my bottom, well, Warbottom seemed to come rather easy after that.” Her grin was less fierce now, but a slightly haunted look had taken her eyes.
I almost let myself reach out to comfort her, somehow. To tell her things are better now, but I wasn’t sure I could. My hand fell back into my lap and it stayed there.
It didn’t really matter, because it was then that Thogan and Rowland crashed through the door to the tavern. Rowland had a huge barrel on his shoulder, and Thogan carried two.
“Willem! Put that swill away. Tonight, we all drink the good stuff!” The crowd cheered as the old paladin behind the bar rolled his eyes.
Thogan bellowed, “get me cups and glasses, for the lads and lasses!”
“Oh, no.” I groaned.
“What?” Vrawn and Manly asked in unison before glancing from me, to each other, then back at me.
“They’ve already started rhyming,” I sighed, settling into what would likely be a long night of booze and terrible, terrible decisions. And the hangover, oh god. “It’s never a good sign when they rhyme before even touching a drink.”
“Hope you got your drinking pants on, boys.” Vrawn chuckled. “You’ll need them if that’s his special brand of booze in there.”
It was after about three cups, but who could remember how many they’d had after two of Rowland’s forge inspired ale that a moment of drunken clarity hit me.
I turned to Manly, who clapped as Thogan tried and failed to juggle a set of rocks that fell and clocked Rowland on his head.
“Manly,” I slurred, very seriously. “Listen, hey, hey, lishten—you should come hunt with us for an entrance to the Great Dick!”
“That sounds like a proper fun time!” She guffawed, dropping the last rock onto Thogan’s head.
“Thash not right. Great Below! Thash it. You should come with us, and we can help you get some new and weird creashers to shell.” I blinked at her, all three of them, and pointed to her button nose. “You can prowl it out, and we keep you company!”
“Yeah? You reckon I should do that then?” She stood up on her chair, wobbling a little bit, looking fantastic a little taller. “We’re going to the GREAT BELOW!”
She threw her head back, giggling like crazy and toppled onto the ground; from there came an ooph.
I tried to be concerned, but it was hysterical. Eventually, and probably more cups than I should have had, I found myself lifted bodily and taken to bed.
“Hey! You gotta buy me dinner first, man.” I grumbled rudely. “I’m a classy broad. There’s a line for this ride, and you are way too strong to ride it.”
The soft comfort of bed reached me, and that sweet soft embrace of a dizzying slumber took me. I was too drunk to really dream that night. But I was minutely aware of a comforting presence.
***
I woke up to a wet sensation on my bare shoulder that made me smile. The room wasn’t spinning too badly as I rolled over to see who or what had been kissing my shoulder.
I turned to find Jarlenill staring at me, his tongue flickered over my nose, and I yelped. “Fuck!”
I didn’t even need to cast Nature’s Voice to know what was on his mind, but I cast the spell anyway.
“Hungry, druid,” he rumbled at me. The door was wide open, and someone shifted behind me.
“Wha’s wring?” Vrawn asked tiredly as her large hand cupped my shoulder, and she looked over me. “What’s he want?”
“Food,” I answered. Maebe’s small hand holding a leg of meat came into view from over my shoulder.
“Thank you,” Jarlenill spoke around the large leg happily enough. He turned and slowly made his way out of the room and the door shut behind him. A small shadow creature having shut it and melted back into the void.
I rolled back over to find Maebe laying in Vrawn’s arms, staring at me with hooded eyes. “Good morning, my love.”
“Good morning,” I returned and scooted closer. “Rest well?”
“After carrying you in, then Vrawn? Yes.”
“That was you?” Vrawn whispered against the top of her head. “You’re very strong.”
“Thank you,” the queen purred. “How are you?”
“I’m hungry,” Vrawn grumbled, she lifted her free hand and ran it over my fur. “Good morning, Zeke.”
“Good morning.” my stomach gurgled angrily. “I suppose it’s time to eat, yeah?”
“Yes. It would be a good idea to eat before we leave.” Maebe sat up, throwing the covers from all three of us. She smiled as she crawled over me to get onto the floor where she brought shadows up her body from the floor to cleanse herself like a shower.
I stood and did the same. I was getting much, much better at it, by now. It only took about a minute, but the entire time, Vrawn stared openly.
“And that cleans you?” She brought herself to the edge of the bed, her clothes ruffled and wrinkled from a night sleeping in them.
“It does, but it doesn’t do clothing,” Maebe informed her as she walked closer. She sat on Vrawn’s lap, looking up at the larger woman with a hand over her heart. “Take them off, and I will have Zeke clean you with his shadows.”
“I don’t know.” Vrawn narrowed her eyes skeptically, but Maebe pressed.
“Do you trust me?” She looked over toward me, “Do you trust us both?”
Vrawn didn’t hesitate this time. “Yes.”
Maebe placed her hands on either side of Vrawn’s face and knelt in her lap, “Then stand, and let us care for you.”
Maebe leaned forward and softly pressed her lips against the other woman’s. Vrawn reacted the same way I would have, and soon they parted.
Hey. Monkey brain. Yeah, I’m talking to you. Got a little hot in here. You okay? You need a walk? Yeah, I know, me neither. Shall we?
“Okay.” Vrawn stood with Maebe in her arms and gently deposited her onto the bed so that she could undress.
I wasn’t going to stare outright, so instead, I looked to Maebe. The queen sat on the bed with nothing on and just watched. She saw me staring at her and winked with a sly grin. Oh man. I really did like this woman.
Vrawn pressed herself, surprisingly soft, against my shoulder. “Will you help clean me?”
You know what? I may be a fox but inside my head? The cartoon wolf with the mallet came out, and suddenly, I heard whistling and all kinds of birds. What was my name again?
“Hello, nurse,” I whispered out loud. Vrawn raised an eyebrow, but I shook my head. “Yes, I’ll help you clean up. Don’t worry. It’ll be a little foreign, possibly even a little cool at first, but you’re completely safe.”
She nodded once, her bearing masking any emotion or uncertainty that could have been going through her mind at that moment.
I reached my will into the shadows and called it to my hands, the nebula of darkness wringing my fingertips cool against my skin. I touched her shoulders, lightly caressing down her arms so that the shadows cascaded down her, eating the sweat and debris from the previous day. Shadows fell over her scarred, green flesh like water, her first reaction to shiver, but then I focused on cleaning, and she leaned back against me.
“This is…ni
ce,” She whispered breathlessly, her voice rumbling through the back of her body into my chest. It was comforting.
Admittedly, I took my time. Could I blame it on the fact that she was basically a giant? Sure. Could I blame it on her muscled figure being difficult to navigate? Yup.
But I’m not going to lie to you like that. I was enjoying myself. And I didn’t want this closeness or the newness of it to go away so soon.
After a while, the three of us left the room and went to breakfast. We walked out to furtive glances and my snickering friends.
“Look who’s finally up?” Muu teased, his gaze flicking from me to the two ladies, and his eyebrow ridges waggled wildly. That was saying something. “Look, man, are you going to start a harem, or not?”
“Hell no.” I growled at him. “I’m not going to deal with all that.”
Two hands clamped onto my shoulders, both Maebe and Vrawn reaching for me. “Two is enough. More than enough.” I gave each one a light peck on the hand. “I’m happy with who I have. These two, my babies, Kayda, Coal, and all of you fuckers? Heart’s full up. No more room.”
“Yeah, yeah, mushy stuff and all that.” Yohsuke sighed behind me. “Sit down, let’s get you fed and get the plan going.”
While we ate a delicious breakfast of hotcakes, sausage, and eggs, we spoke about what was to come, and I filled the others in on the game plan.
“We’re going to take Manly with us to the Great Below.” I finished the plan telepathically through our earrings. When she finds an animal or something, we can leave her if we decide she’s a threat; that way she’s out of our hair and away from the village, and our oath is upheld. I may not be too okay with it, but if it keeps these guys safe, I can deal with it. You guys?
“She going to provide her own food?” Yohsuke raised an eyebrow.
“I think that would be something she could do as a hunter and procurer of fine animals, but we can discuss it on the road. Not like she’s hurting for money.” James added demurely with a half-stifled yawn.
Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4) Page 8
