Beastborne

by James T Callum

  “Perhaps they stole them,” Ashera offered, though nobody - not even Ashera - seemed to buy into that.

  Karaks weren’t stolen. They might leave a person’s service but they were never forcefully taken unless you attempted to enslave them and that was a harder process apparently than enslaving a person.

  No matter Rinbast’s crimes, he did do well to utterly outlaw any form of overt slavery while instituting harsh penalties for even the attempt. Ironic that he essentially held Ashera as a slave.

  Rules aren’t meant for the people in power, Hal reminded himself sourly.

  “And will you be any different?” came Besal’s voice in the back of his head. “Will you shackle yourself to the lowest of your populace in the name of ‘fairness’?”

  Hal ignored him. As of late Besal was more talkative than usual, even bordering on helpful at times.

  “Back to the matter at hand,” Elora reminded him. “We have a bunch of karaks that were presumably loyal to their old crew. If they knew of the bounty hunters mission - a high probability - then they are also potentially aware that you were the target. What if they try to attack you?”

  While Hal had still been in his elven disguise when they returned to the caravan, he had long-since let it wear off. The karaks didn’t seem surprised nor bothered.

  They knew who he was, or at least it wouldn’t take long for the smart avians to figure it out.

  Hal shook his head. “No, I don’t think they’re going to be a problem.”

  “What makes you say that?” Noth said, sitting on her bunk and looking up from the book she was reading on loan from Rondo.

  “Karaks aren’t dumb,” Hal said simply. “They might know I was the target of their friends, or whoever those bounty hunters were to them. Clearly, they cared for them, but if this was just a job and that job is now bust, why should they carry on in their stead?

  “It’s not like we’re blood-enemies of those men and women. We had no hand - directly at least- in their deaths. Perhaps I’m underestimating them the same way Rinbast underestimates how big a bounty I should command-”

  “Are you still on about that?” Angram asked with a chuckle.

  “Yes.” Hal shot him a dismissive look and turned back to Noth. “But they aren’t human. The karaks, I mean. They may be treated similarly but I don’t see karaks roaming the streets on their own picking up groceries or getting a beer at the tavern.

  “For all their human-like intellect they are still seen as animals. Perhaps very smart animals, but animals all the same.”

  “What’re you getting at?” Elora asked, not seeing where Hal was going.

  “He means that their troubles are different than our own,” Ashera answered, catching on to Hal’s train of thought. With a nod from Hal, she continued, “Karaks are smart and well-loved, but people still consider them property. As much as one could consider a karak property.

  “At the same time, a karak is likely smart enough to be aware of the nature of their relationship with people. They are given safety and comfort in exchange for doing a job. It is a service they provide.

  “Some may be loyal and close to other humans but that is likely not the case with all of them. And in that event, what should a karak do when they are faced with potential annihilation or joining with another group that has earned the trust of other karaks?”

  “Ashera’s got the right of it,” Hal said.

  Mira chuckled into her mug. “Are you suggesting we recruit the karaks like we would any other guild hopefuls?”

  Elora’s doubting expression turned hopeful and wide-eyed. She loved karaks. And Komachi’s closeness to the newfound group, the Kweh Gang as they called themselves, no doubt played a role in easing her suspicions. Of course, she would be eager to put away her concerns.

  It didn’t make the near one-eighty turnaround in her demeanor any less jarring.

  Elora was out of the wagon before anybody could answer Mira with nothing more than a, “I’ll take care of it.”

  “You think she can be objective?” Mira asked the group.

  “I don’t think she’d let her love of animals - karaks particularly - cloud her judgment,” Hal answered, leaning back in his chair. “Not when it comes to the Guild’s safety.”

  “Protective as a mother owlcat,” Ashera said with a smirk on her lips.

  “Excuse me, a what?” Hal asked.

  Ashera looked back at Hal. “An owlcat. Have you never seen one? They are very common in the north.”

  Angram burst out laughing. “He has not seen one, clearly! He would recognize the saying. Not a soul alive would get between a mother owlcat and her cubs if they valued their life.”

  “Or their limbs,” Ashera added.

  “Well,” Hal said, standing up. “If that’s all, I’m going to walk the perimeter and stretch my legs while I contemplate my worth.”

  As Hal left the wagon he could hear snippets of their conversation and Angram’s mirth-filled voice ask, “He’s never going to let that go, is he?”

  “I am afraid not,” Ashera answered.

  “He shouldn’t. That bounty is an insult,” Mira said with a chortle.

  Out in the cool night air, Hal was alone with his thoughts for all of a minute before Noth came up beside him. “Mind if I walk alongside you?”

  “Not at all.”

  They left the ring of wagons behind and nodded to the sentries posted around the caravan. Some were situated atop the wagons for a vantage point, others sat by braziers warming themselves. They gave a wave or a nod back at Hal and Noth whenever they passed near.

  In the distance, a faint rhythmic tink, tink, tink could be heard. As was often the case when they stopped for the night, the dwarves sent out prospectors to look for valuable minerals and most of all, [Shardite].

  Not content with the massive haul they acquired after the Manastorm cleared, the dwarves were more than happy to haul off whatever valuables the Mirrorlands had.

  “They’re very industrious,” Noth said, glancing toward the train of lit torches that marched off into the distance. Dwarven guards stood every dozen yards or so making sure the workers were protected and could find their way back to the caravan.

  “From what I heard, they were getting bored being carried around without anything to do. A lot of the Bouldergut Clan are miners and smiths by trade. Durvin said that the Mirrorlands were a treasure trove of goods. And with the dwarves largely unable to do anything but sit in their wagons all day as we continue to the south, they elected to sleep during the day and work at night.”

  “What a weird thing to do,” Noth commented as they passed within the warm light of one of the stand torches. The red glow of the flames was reflected off the crystalline rocky ground, throwing the light back and forth in a myriad of altered colors.

  Hal was sure the torches were beacons that could be seen many miles away but he kept his thoughts to himself. Durvin knew his dwarves and knew the dangers better than Hal did.

  The last thing he wanted to do was spoil his autonomy.

  With the recent creation of the Bravers Guild, Hal felt several of the sturdy folk’s gaze on him often. Wondering what he would do with the newfound command and power.

  So far, it had been nothing. He let everything work the way it had before, with the exception that the dwarves were given the option to donate any goods they found to the Guild Bank.

  Unsurprisingly, none had so far.

  Not that it bothered Hal much. He was still owed the “beard’s share,” a large cut of whatever the dwarves found. And now that he claimed it as his, they were honor-bound to see it done.

  If there was one thing more important to a dwarf than “holy water,” singing bawdy songs, or making works of art out of metal, it was their honor.

  49

  It was surprisingly pleasant walking with Noth around the caravan’s perimeter. Aside from Luda - who Hal often forgot was there - she was one of the quietest people in the caravan.

  Though Hal
couldn’t shake the thought that she was attempting to resume her role at his protector. Somebody who watched over him despite his protestations that he was able to take care of himself.

  The thought didn’t sit well with him and though he felt sure Noth would give him an honest answer if he asked her… he found he didn’t want to know.

  Better to believe that their friendship was growing than to assume the worst.

  He liked Noth quite a bit. It felt like he could be himself. The somewhat bumbling idiot that he was when he first came to Aldim. Before he was this supposed savior, before the hopes of a disenfranchised people rested on his shoulders.

  “This is nice,” Noth remarked after a markedly long silence. The stars were bright and shining. The night sky was split by the bright bandlight and Aldim’s three moons were making their way home to the west.

  “It is,” Hal agreed. “I like the company.”

  Noth pretended not to hear him, but from the way her long pointed ears perked up Hal could tell that she was smiling. He didn’t dare ruin it by looking directly at her. Instead, he smiled at the stars and turned his gaze toward them.

  “What will you do when we have a home?” Hal asked after some time had passed.

  “I do not understand the question.” There was a hint of suspicion, of worry, in her voice.

  Hal took a moment to think of a way to phrase his question better. A sturdy dwarf holding a crossbow several sizes too large for his bulky frame gave a nod at their passing.

  In their wake, a dwarf was puffing and panting toward the caravan. Pushing along a wheelbarrow stacked high with glittering crystal under the sentry’s watchful eye.

  “When we have a home, a Sanctum,” Hal corrected himself. “The dwarves are going to do what they do best: mine and build and make great things. Not for the glory of us necessarily - though now that they’re in the Guild they might - but for the sake of it. It is what they do. When we have a stable place this will be their chosen way of living. To mine and refine. To make, to improve.”

  Hal turned to Noth, surprised to find her golden eyes so intent upon his face. “What is it you want to do? When we aren’t focused on immediately accomplishing the next goal or fending off a threat. What will you do?”

  That gave Noth some pause. She put her hands behind her back, her black plated armor caught the light of the next passing torch and gleamed dully. “Do you require an answer?” she finally asked.

  “I’m not following.”

  “Is this a request by Hal the Guildmaster?”

  So that was it. Hal shook his head. “No, this is a question from a friend.”

  “I would like to explore,” she said honestly, a warm glow to her golden eyes. “I would like for us to go out and adventure the world. Particularly the area around our home. To tame it and explore its hidden depths. To find dungeons and evil that have taken root and excise it. That is what I want.”

  “Us as in…?”

  “You and I.”

  “Nobody else?” Hal asked, a wry grin on his face.

  “They can come if they like,” she said imperiously, looking at the stars.

  Hal couldn’t help but laugh at that. Not only her demeanor but the tender way in which she dreamed of adventuring with him. It was sweet and kind and… exactly what he wanted to hear now that he thought about it.

  Noth snapped her attention back to him. “Why do you laugh?” She sounded hurt. “I have seen your soul, Hal. I know it will not be content to lounge about in a palace and watch others do work for you.”

  Shaking his head, Hal managed to get his laughing under control and placed a hand on her shoulder to quiet her growing voice. “I would love nothing more in all the worlds, Noth. Truly. I laughed because out of everybody, I think you might understand what I would enjoy doing. Building a Sanctum, even an empire is fine.

  “What person doesn’t want to leave their mark on the world? To leave it better than when they found it? But I don’t want to rule in an ivory tower, watching others go about their lives. Seeing a town’s name and reducing its inhabitants to numbers on a spreadsheet.

  “I want to walk the world, see the sights and delve into the darkest parts of the unknown. Don’t get me wrong. I will thoroughly enjoy helping to design and build our Sanctum. But I have no intention of staying there and ruling like a king. My goal for constructing a Sanctum is, if I’m being utterly honest, really quite selfish.”

  Smiling at him, Noth asked, “And what goal might that be?”

  With a shrug, Hal said, “So that I might throw myself into every dungeon, every battle, with reckless abandon. Safe in the knowledge that I will not die and that in my death I will not doom countless other people who are coming to rely on me.”

  “And what shall you do when you have a wife, a Queen to your throne that you prefer to keep cold?” Noth asked. There was an intensity to her voice Hal didn’t expect.

  “Why, are you offering?” he said with a grin. The look of shock and the bright coloring of her cheeks made Hal’s grin break out into a stupid smile. “To answer your question… any woman I fell in love with would be eager to be at my side. I would not suffer a Queen that would prefer to sit in the palace in expensive robes over one that reveled in getting dirty in a lost tomb of ancient design.”

  That put Noth into a rather pensive mood. At first, Hal thought she had taken his words to be light and teasing and that she was sulking.

  The longer they walked in silence the more he saw his words had an effect on her. He could almost see the thoughts stirring in her head. The same ones he often had when he allowed himself a free moment.

  Images of deep, dark dungeons within the Shiverglades that nobody had mastered in generations. Rich veins of ore and unknown minerals in long-abandoned mines that would be reopened so that new works of art might be made.

  A sprawling city where people could feel safe not just from the Manastorms and the monsters of the world but from their government.

  Hal was committed to making an egalitarian society, as much as was within his power to control. But at the same time, he had no intention of sitting on his laurels, a king among kings.

  He craved adventure. And with the Manatree safeguarding his life, he could have it. The dangers a normal ruler might have were gone. It would not be irresponsible or endangering his people to go out and explore or fight in battles. It would help them. And it would give him the life he secretly always wanted.

  The life every young boy or girl reading fantastical works wanted. Even after those children grew up and took on boring day jobs, in their heart-of-hearts they still yearned for that adventure. For the escape into the unknown.

  No child looked at the great works of writers, moviemakers, game creators, and thought to themselves, “yes, I would like to be an accountant instead.”

  Fear of the unknown was a learned behavior.

  Together, they made the rest of the circuit in companionable silence. They found half of the wagon already asleep or getting ready for bed when they returned. Elora was out with Komachi and the karaks of the Kweh Gang, talking by the light of one of the caravan’s many campfires.

  Hal found what sleep he could but was unsurprised when he woke up a few hours later, the moons barely past Aldim’s glowing band in the sky.

  Taking out his unfinished bone falchion, he tiptoed out of the wagon and to a nearby unoccupied campfire.

  The blade glinted in the light of the campfire and Hal could feel a connection to it. The bone within was alive, connected to him. Examining it brought up the design prompt.

  Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Heroic)

  Design Process: Stage III (Imbuement)

  Damage: 34

  Bonus Points: 12

  Enchantments: 1

  Durability: 700/700

  Details:

  Empyreal Shardite Edge

  Compressed Bone

  Aspected Core (Crystal Manashard)

  Sparks of light jumped up and down the surface of the weapon
, harmless to his hand but not to anyone he attacked with it. The crystalline edge of the blade reminded him of an obsidian knife, rather jagged-looking but deceptively sharp. The [Empyreal Shardite] used for it shifted between blue and yellow depending on the angle.

  “All right,” he muttered to himself. “Let’s see what we can do here.”

  At 34 damage, the unfinished weapon was already far stronger than [Brilliance]. Though Hal had the sneaking suspicion that [Brilliance] was holding back on him. Perhaps in part because he was not a Paladin or that he simply was not Thirty-seven.

  It hardly mattered now that the weapon was destroyed and all he had was a few shattered remnants of the blade and the hilt to remember it by. Curious, Hal removed one of the sharp segments of [Brilliance’s] wide blade.

  Setting it on the flat side of the falchion balanced across his knees, Hal felt something within the blade resonate. He leaned into it, inquiring further and the dark bone of the blade began to soften.

  With a slight push, the shard was swallowed by the suddenly marshmallowy soft bone. As soon as it disappeared beneath the surface the bone rippled and took on a silvery quasi-metallic hue.

  It was still obviously bone but it now had a bright metallic sheen to it.

  “That’s interesting….”

  50

  Examining the blade again, he discovered what had happened.

  Unnamed Bone Falchion Design (Heroic)

  Design Process: Stage III (Imbuement)

  Damage: 34 -> 36

  Crystal Lightning Damage: 10 -> 22

  Bonus Points: 12/12

  Enchantments: 1/1 -> 0/1

  Ossified Metal

  Durability: 700/700 -> 900/900

  Details:

  Empyreal Shardite Edge

  Compressed Bone

  Aspected Core (Crystal Manashard)