“Can I tell you about mine?”
The emotion radiating off Cyra was high, but controlled.
“I’d be happy to hear about her,” Stern replied.
“Thank you...” Cyra whispered. “I want you to know who she was. She was so eager for me to meet you. I know why now... because of how beautiful your soul is.”
Stern swallowed as she spoke. He focused on the pan, but listened as she began to speak.
Chapter Twenty-eight
They traveled for three days, each day ending when Pawly found another nest of bunnicorns. They’d set camp, then butcher and skin the carcasses. They traded off each night on who did the butchering and who set camp and cooked. On the second day, they’d found a small stream nearby, so they had rabbit stew with some of the vegetables Stern had brought with him.
Stern frowned at the woods as they followed the trail. Four days of camping, but only two real days of travel... We’ll have to get back on the road tomorrow and head for the city. We’re about full up on what we can carry. Goddess knows we’ve slaughtered enough of the bunnicorns, but something feels off today... the woods feel ominous to me.
Cyra walked beside him, her eyes shifting constantly. Her hands clenched and unclenched unconsciously, as she felt uneasy. Pawly had gone off ahead of them like she normally did, but she’d normally make noise to let them know she was still nearby. That silence weighed on Cyra even more.
“Cyra, are you okay?” Stern asked.
Cyra jumped, exhaling a ragged breath. “Yes. Sorry.”
“No... something’s wrong. If you’re feeling it, too, then it’s not just me,” Stern said. “I think it might be a wild boss.”
“Wild boss?”
“A boss monster not in a dungeon. They happen occasionally. You can normally tell by a huge swell of particular monsters. The overabundance doesn’t always mean a wild boss, but with the woods feeling like this—”
Pawly’s roar cut off Stern’s sentence and they both froze in place. The roar had come from over a hundred yards ahead of them.
“Shit!” Stern hissed and took off running down the trail.
The moment he took off running, Cyra snapped out of her stillness. She took off after him, wanting to help, but also not wanting to be left alone in the woods.
A tree snapped ahead of them and went crashing to the ground, and Pawly’s yowl of anger rose a moment later. There was a horrible screeching scream that caused Cyra to slow down. Stern kept running— he knew the sound of an injured rabbit, and this one sounded much larger.
A second tree was flung to the ground before Stern could get there. He was breathing fast, glad that the tree had fallen away from the trail or else he might’ve been hit by it. The sound of creatures rushing through the underbrush filled in the seconds around Pawly’s yowls and the bunnicorn screams.
Getting to a clearing, Stern arrived in time to see Pawly latch herself onto the back of the large bunnicorn. His jaw dropped when he saw the size of the creature— it was as large as Pawly in her giant form. Its horn had a spiral shape and jutted two feet from its head. The tip held traces of blood.
Pawly’s side was matted down with blood, but that didn’t stop her from raking her back legs down the bunnicorn’s spine. It let out the loudest scream as it tried to shake Pawly loose.
Stern grabbed his ears and staggered back a step. He was glad it’d been facing away from him or else he might have been stunned by the shrill noise. Even with his eyes watering, he was able to see the bunnicorn throw itself at a tree and try to smash Pawly into it.
Pawly leapt off and, as she went, her tentacles lashed out and a fountain of blood erupted from the bunnicorn as it slammed into the tree. With a crack, the trunk snapped then slowly toppled. Pawly let out a yowl and stalked forward, but the bunnicorn didn’t move. Getting over to the creature, she batted at it— when it didn’t move, she sat down and cleaned her side.
“Pawly?” Stern asked.
Pawly turned to look at him and chuffed. One tentacle patted the dead bunnicorn.
“Yeah, you killed it,” Stern exhaled. “That was a tin-level beast, at least... Thank you. Do you want to go home to heal?”
Pawly looked past him and chuffed again, patting the dead monster.
“Are you okay?” Cyra asked, rushing forward. “Let me help.” Her right hand flashed through a complex pattern.
Pawly purred and stretched as her wound healed.
“I think we’re stopping here for tonight,” Stern said. “This is going to take a while to clean.”
“Okay. I’ll get camp started,” Cyra said, waving her hand in an arc to find the real Pawly, as the duplicate had come near to her. “Thank you, Pawly. I would’ve been terrified if it had found us.”
Pawly chuffed and bumped her head into Cyra again.
“I’ll start on this monster, I guess,” Stern said as he took his pack off. “Do you want to go home to clean up? I’ll call you right back, Pawly.”
Pawly looked thoughtful, then sat and waved a paw at him.
“Go home,” Stern told her.
Cyra shuddered slightly when she faded away. “That’s even worse when she’s larger.”
“Damned scary,” Stern agreed. His fingers danced through the pattern and Pawly reappeared a moment later. He enlarged her, but left her tentacles and illusion off. “Welcome back. I’ll have the offal for you in a bit.”
Pawly chuffed and stretched out, content to wait for her just due.
~*~*~
The evening sun was low in the sky when they reached Darkstone. Stern felt the grime he’d picked up over the trip and wanted to wash it off. The two guards eyed them speculatively as they approached.
“Walkers, went off the road, did you?” the hippo lykian asked, his big teeth making his voice slightly hard to understand.
“Quests taken, and one we didn’t know about,” Stern said. “I have skins to take to the tanner, first.”
“He’s down by the docks. The two smells compete for the worst offender.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” Stern said. “Cyra, if you want to go ahead and get rooms at the inn, I’ll be there after I finish with the tanner.”
“Can I come with you?” Cyra asked. “I’ve never sold raw goods before and want to learn.”
“It’s not that exciting, and the stench is going to be nauseating, but sure,” Stern said.
“Have a good stay, Walkers,” the guard said, waving them into the city.
The trip across Darkstone would have taken them too long on foot, so Stern flagged down a cab.
The horse-drawn carriage came to a stop near them. “Where to, sir?” the driver asked.
“Tannery,” Stern said, tossing the man a coin. “I know the horse won’t care for it. I’d ask you to wait for us, as well, as we’ll need a ride after that.”
The dark-skinned man snatched the coin out of the air and grinned when he saw it. “Gladly, sir.”
Stern helped Cyra into the vehicle before he got in. Taking his seat, he sighed, happy to be off his feet. The driver whistled and gave the whip a light crack to get the cab rolling.
“I’ve never been in one of these before,” Cyra said as she watched the city go by.
“It’s a well-used mode of transport in the cities. Horses are the most common, but I’ve seen them pulled by far stranger beasts.”
“Like what?” Cyra asked.
“The monitors, for one. Damned lizards can move fast when they want to. The wargian are interesting to see harnessed, as well, but if a ratosk goes by, it can be a disaster.”
Cyra giggled. “Really?”
“Saw a cab pulled by a wargian go running after a ratosk summons. That was terrible. It flipped the cab and dragged it for a few hundred yards before it stopped.”
Cyra’s giggles stopped. “Oh... Was everyone okay?”
“Yeah, thankfully. Turns out the Walker did it intentionally. The driver had refused him a ride the day before. Man was…” Stern coughed. �
�Anyway, it can be a nightmare. I’m never riding in a wargian cab if I can help it.”
As they got closer to the docks, the smell of the sea became noticeable. The scent commingled with fish rotting in the sun as they got even closer. The cab swung south and the rank odor of tanning skins slammed into their noses. The horse whinnied, but kept moving. Coming to a stop before a truly awful-smelling, large compound, the driver choked out that they had arrived.
Stern got out and helped Cyra down. “We’ll be back as swiftly as we can,” he told the driver.
“I’ll make a circle of the block, sir,” the driver said, tying an orange flag to the top of the cab.
“Understood,” Stern said as he made his way for the doors of the tannery.
Stepping into the building, the smell diminished. Evergreen-scented incense burned in the room, making it tolerable.
A brutish-looking man stood behind the counter. “Labo’s Skins. What can we do for you?”
“We have bunnicorn skins from the quest,” Stern told the receptionist. “A lot of normal ones. We also have two halves of a large one.”
“Let me see ‘em,” the man said bluntly.
Stern was glad the man was just unfriendly and not hateful. Cyra untied the sacks from Stern’s bag and helped him get them onto the counter. Once they had them open, Stern laid each skin out, stacking them up after displaying them.
The man looked impressed and grunted when Stern finished. “Just you two for all this?”
“We had help,” Stern said. “How much for all of them?”
“The small ones are three copper per two, as the quest said. The two halves of the large one, I’ll go three large copper each. For the lot, I’ll go a little higher and give you a silver.”
Stern looked at the man for a long moment. “A little low, don’t you think?”
“Have had a lot of the skins in over the last few days,” the tanner shrugged.
“One and one large,” Stern countered.
“Fine,” the man shrugged. “Felix, get your ass out here and take these to Marge.”
A younger man came out of the back and looked at the skins before snorting. “Damn nice pile.” Hefting them onto his shoulder, he left the room.
The tanner held out eleven large coppers. “Here you go.”
Stern took the coins. “Pleasure. Good day.”
The moment the money exchanged hands, Stern felt the quest complete. He nodded and motioned Cyra to the door, following her out.
Cyra had remained silent the whole time, but spoke up when the door closed behind them, “Why did you say the price was low?”
“The quest was what it was, but the big one should’ve been worth more. I asked for a little more to see if he’d budge. I might have been able to get another large if I’d pushed for it, but I didn’t want to spend the time haggling that much.”
“Would he have?”
“The large skins were in good condition, so yeah, he would have in time.”
The clop-clop of hooves reached Cyra and she looked up a second before the cab came around the corner down the street. “I see. If we’d done a worse job of skinning it, we’d have gotten less?”
“Yup.”
“Hmm...”
The cab drew even with them and the driver nodded. “Where to?”
“Inn near the Walkers’ hall, please.”
“Very good, sir.”
As they left the docks behind, Cyra asked Stern a question, “What’s the plan for us?”
“Stay at the inn tonight, get the grime off, and enjoy a meal cooked by someone other than us. Tomorrow, we have a lot of errands.”
“A bath...” Cyra sighed. “I’m looking forward to that.”
“So am I,” Stern agreed, already thinking of the hot water.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Stern stretched as he woke up. He only managed to take a bath and eat dinner last night before passing out. Looking around, he frowned, as Pawly wasn’t in the room with him. The memory of Cyra asking Pawly to stay with her surfaced, and he exhaled in relief.
As he got himself out of bed, he went through his stretching regimen, even though he knew he wasn’t fighting today. The routine helped center his mind and limbered his body. He was dressed and about to open his door when a soft knock sounded.
“Good morning,” Stern greeted Cyra and Pawly. “Glad to see you have all your stuff.”
“You did say we’d be staying somewhere else tonight,” Cyra replied.
“True. Let’s grab breakfast first. The most important meal of the day, according to Dad.”
“Why?”
“Something about fueling your body,” Stern shrugged.
Cyra giggled. “He sounds interesting.”
“He is that,” Stern agreed, thinking about his father. “He’s a good man, even if he does confuse the hell out of me most of the time.”
Pawly meowed, bumping into his leg and rubbing against it.
“Yes, breakfast for you, too.”
Pawly immediately went for the stairs, earning a giggle from Cyra.
“She’s honest. More than most,” Stern said as he followed Pawly.
“She’s amazing,” Cyra said. “I doubt I’ll ever be as fearless as she is.”
“I doubt I will be, either, so don’t feel bad.”
Cyra felt a little better. “What are all our plans today?”
“After breakfast, we’ll go to the Walkers’ guildhall to turn in the remaining quest. We’ll hit a few places to sell off the odds and ends, then visit a shop to see about armor for you and to make mine a little better. Once we’ve finished all of that, we’ll go see if we can find a place to stay for a few months, and possibly have a nice dinner.”
“No dungeon today?” Cyra asked.
“Tomorrow. I want to settle things out, first.”
“Okay.”
Pawly was already seated at a table and Stern snorted. “Seems we’re dealing with her majesty.”
“Goddess, you’re mean,” Cyra snickered. “I’ll go order the food.”
“Works for me.”
Breakfast was decent, but nothing special, though they both thought it was nice to have a meal that wasn’t bunnicorn heavy. Pawly had appreciated the change, too, purring loudly the entire time she ate.
~*~*~
Stepping outside, Stern slouched as all eyes immediately turned in his direction.
Cyra nudged him lightly. “You know, at the moment, it might be the trophy you took and not you.”
“Trophy? Oh, the skull? That’s not a trophy. You’ll see.”
Cyra’s lips pursed, but she didn’t reply as they walked to the large building that housed the Walkers’ hall.
The guildhall was nearly empty, which Cyra took to be the norm, having seen it that way in a few cities now. Stern didn’t seem to think it out of the ordinary and ignored the few people present to go to the receptionist desk.
The same old balding man who’d given Stern the quest to deliver a bag to Brightstone was sitting there. He watched them as they approached the desk. “How can I help you?”
“We had a quest to reduce the number of bunnicorns between Brightstone and here. We dropped the skins off with the tanner already.”
Pulling a black tablet from his desk, the man set it before Stern. “Dominant hand, please.”
Stern touched the tablet and felt the same, odd contracting sensation he’d felt before. He pulled his hand away when the feeling ended and shook it lightly.
“Hmm, a crew? Yes, the quest is done,” the balding man said. “Ah, you even defeated an enlarged bunnicorn? That would explain the sudden increase in their numbers. We hadn’t posted a quest for it, but it would have had a quest shortly. I’ll credit that to you, as well.”
“Thank you,” Stern said, meaning it. His father had told him that kind of thing could happen on occasion, but Stern hadn’t been certain when Pawly had killed it.
“Did you want me to split the coin between you?”
“No,” Cyra said quickly. “It’s all his.”
“Hmm... very well. Some crews do have the leader collect the rewards to divide as they see fit.”
Stern’s lips thinned at Cyra’s outburst, but he didn’t contradict her. He accepted the money from the man, then stepped aside. “She needs to register.”
Dungeon Walkers 1 Page 23
