by Pirateaba
“He tried to kill me!”
“Hello, Lyonette. What did Toren do this time?”
Erin nearly added ‘allegedly’ to that sentence. Lyon could never prove when the skeleton had done anything, and she refused to show an inch more skin than necessary.
“He pushed me into a pit full of horrible spiders!”
Erin eyed Lyon dubiously. She didn’t appear to be injured, only scratched and dirty, and Erin was certain that Toren wouldn’t be able to fend off an entire pit of Shield Spiders in any case.
“Can you prove that?”
“I told you—”
“And I told you I want to see evidence. Besides, why would Toren do that? I specifically told him ‘no killing’. If he’s bothering you, I’ll follow you next time and see. But if you’re lying—look I need to take a break. We’ll talk about this later, okay?”
Erin turned. She really had to get Lyon upstairs, but warn the girl? She’d panic.
Lyonette emitted a strangled scream as Erin tried to walk towards the front door. She flew at Erin, hands raised into claws. Erin turned around—
And punched the girl in the face.
It was a good punch, and it had not a bit of suppressed annoyance in it. Lyon stumbled backwards, and sat down. She felt at her cheek. It was going to turn purple soon; Erin hadn’t hit her as hard as she could, but…fairly hard.
“You hit me.”
“You attacked me.”
Erin felt like she was back in elementary school, arguing with a kid over a fight he’d started. What boys never learned was that while pulling hair and hitting might work, Erin had a chess board which was hard, edged, and quite dangerous if wielded with force.
“You hit me.”
Lyonette appeared to be in shock. Erin didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t try to hit me. I’ve got [Dangersense] for one thing, and it’s going off—look, go upstairs and calm down and we’ll—”
“You hit me!”
Lyon got to her feet and screamed at Erin, face red. Her hands clenched into fists, but she wisely didn’t try to leap at Erin again.
“Monster! You violent thug! Criminal! Rogue! You filthy, horrible, wretched—”
Erin slapped her.
This time Lyon didn’t even make proper words. She just turned red, reached for Erin, and hesitated when she saw the look in the young woman’s eyes. She made an inarticulate noise and then she threw herself on the ground and began to sob.
Erin blinked. She’d been ready for an attack, or another fit, but Lyon just curled up into a ball of misery and began to wail. Erin had never really heard wailing done as well or as loudly as Lyon, but in this at least, the girl had some skill.
For a second, Erin’s heart wavered. But then she looked outside and remembered. She looked at Lyon, shook her head, and turned towards the door.
Erin left the girl to cry in the inn and walked outside, head bowed.
—-
It was a cold, snowy day outside. Even without the Frost Faeries, snow liked to fall, and not just in small doses. Erin stood outside and shivered. She closed the door to her inn, and sighed. Then she spoke into the air.
“I wish I’d never done it, to be honest.”
No one answered back. Erin took another step outside, and kicked at the snow, sending it flurrying into the air.
“I thought I could help her, maybe even make her a better person—before I met her. But I guess she’s just as bad as everyone thought. Worse, actually.”
Erin thought about this, and nodded.
“Honestly, she’s horrible. The worst person I’ve ever met…not that I meet many horrible people. I guess there are some eviler people in the world. Well, there are lots actually. But no one’s as petty as she is.”
She spread her arms out, helplessly.
“Ceria was right. Krshia was right. Everyone was right, even Pisces. She tried to steal from me. She’s not a nice person. She’d probably rob me blind if she could, and she wouldn’t be sorry.”
Erin bowed her head.
“And if I keep feeding her and trying to teach her, well, I’m not even sure it’d work. It might be impossible—it probably is. It’s not easy for me, and I’m stressed out and annoyed every day. This is the worst, and I regret ever hearing her name.”
Silence. Erin stared at the lengthening shadows around her inn. She felt the word on her tongue, and felt the air grow still around her.
The snow fell, and then stopped in the air. Erin stared around the open world, a gray world above, and an untouched land scape of white oblivion below. She stood on her inn, and felt the world pause for a moment.
She didn’t have to say it. She could still swallow the words, give up, walk away. For one moment, Erin stood on the abyss, waiting. The world held its breath and Erin savored the feeling of infinity. But then she spoke.
“But.”
It was word upon which all things changed. Erin stared towards the sky, and spoke louder, speaking to the world and those listening.
“But. But if I don’t do anything, she’ll die. And maybe she deserves it. I don’t know. I can’t judge people. I don’t have the right. But I do know this: if she goes out, even if I give her money and supplies and Toren to guard her, she will die. She can’t make it alone. She can’t do…anything.”
Erin spread her hands out, a lone plaintiff in front of her silent jury.
“Why do people have to die? Why? Even if they do bad things—she’s just a kid. She might be horrible, but is that worthy of death? I don’t know. But I do know that if I don’t do anything, she will die. And that means her death will be because of me.”
The snow fell, and no one spoke. Erin took a deep breath.
“Another chance. It’s not about her. It’s not about one person. It’s not about doing the smart thing. It’s not even about doing the sensible thing. It’s about doing the right thing.”
She looked around. She looked into the shadows, and spoke to them.
“I can’t let people die. Not if I can help it. Not if there’s still a chance. She was a thief, but that was all. She didn’t kill people. And she needs help.”
Erin pointed back to her inn.
“I was alone, once. I was also useless. Maybe not as much as her but…someone saved me, once. They gave their life for me, and other people helped me survive. I wouldn’t be here without them. I won’t give up on her. Not yet. Not here. So—”
Erin broke off. She closed her eyes, and then spoke.
“So, if you want to get her, you’re going to have to go through me. Understand?”
For a second, all was still silence. And then it happened.
The shadows around the inn moved.
Gnolls stepped out of the shadows, tall, lithe figures shaking snow out of their fur. Covered as they’d been, they’d looked like part of the landscape. But now they appeared, and leading them was a Gnoll Erin recognized.
Brunkr stepped forwards. His chest muscles rippled under his fur as he stared down at Erin.
“She has harmed our Clan and deserves death. If you stand in our way, you will be our enemy.”
Erin sniffed. Wet dog. It was a familiar smell. She stared up at Brunkr.
“She is staying in my inn. She works for me. You are not allowed in.”
He bared his teeth at her. Erin didn’t step back.
“And you would stop me?”
“I would.”
Brunkr laughed. He looked around. At least twenty Gnolls were standing on the hill, all of them muscled, all bigger than Erin.
“And what will you do, outnumbered and weak as you are, Human girl?”
Erin stared at Brunkr, and shook her head.
“Nothing much. I guess I’ll just tell you something. Something very important that you should know.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
“My name is Erin Solstice. This is my inn. And. You. Are. Trespassing.”
Erin clenched her fist, thumb over knuckles just like
Calruz had taught her. She punched Brunkr in the stomach as hard as she could. He blinked down at her and smirked.
He was still smirking when Erin’s leg came up.
“[Power Strike]!”
She kicked him in the groin and the Gnoll’s eyes rolled up in his head. He clutched at his groin and toppled over. Erin looked around at the other Gnolls.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Bring it!”
The Gnolls looked at each other. They stared at their fallen comrade, at Erin, and then at the inn. They howled, and charged.
2.22
Selys sat in her guild and desperately scribbled in the guestbook she’d borrowed from Erin. She had so many new adventurers flooding in to the guild recently, she thought she’d never get all the entries done and organized.
That was the thing not many people realized about adventuring. Sure, being able to hack apart a five-eyed slug that spat flaming acid was important, but did anyone think about who had to assess the bloody pieces and make sure it was actually an acid-spitting slug and not one that spat some kind of liquid flame? The bounties on those two varieties were different, and the paperwork that had to be done to make sure adventurers got paid on time was horrendous.
Even worse was the scheduling. Sure, you had a room full of warriors, but who did you send where? Obviously, sending a melee-group against a Rock Crab meant you’d end up with a bunch of red smears unless the adventurers were very high level, but then, who would you send? Mages needed backup, but independent adventurers didn’t work well together, and teams always had an agenda.
It was a tricky thing, running a guild like this. Selys was one of the older receptionists here, and certainly one of the most experienced, which meant that she often had to shoulder a lot of the responsibility. Her grandmother was Guildmaster, but up until now there hadn’t been much of a Guild to run, and so no one was ready for the tide of adventurers that had flooded into the city.
Selys scribbled another entry into her guestbook. At this rate, she’d never get it done. With one earhole she tried to listen to the person talking to her.
“Hmm? What’s that Messy? Another fight?”
Messyl, or Messy as he was known by everyone, made a face and raised his voice above the hubbub of the adventurers. He wasn’t an adventurer—he was just an apprentice [Carpenter], and a rather dreadful one at that. But he was a childhood friend, and so Selys reluctantly looked up as he spoke.
“I said, it’s the Gnolls! They left the city and went out, a whole lot of them! Some had weapons, and they were going towards that inn of yours.”
Selys dropped her quill.
“What? No. Why would they do that?”
Messy rolled his eyes expressively. He had slightly bulbous eyes, even more unusual on a Drake than a Human. His red-scaled tail thrashed with excitement as he spoke.
“The thief, why else? That new group of Gnoll warriors was not happy when they heard what she’d done. I heard they were howling all last night, and now—”
Selys had no time for the whys and wherefores of Gnoll politics. She stood up from her stool.
“If they’re going after the thief, Erin’s going to do something. I have to stop them!”
Messy eyed Selys dubiously.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to talk down the Gnolls. They seem really angry. How did you not realize this was happening?”
“I’ve been here all day! I didn’t hear anything!”
Selys tried to think. Her tail lashed her stool as she looked around desperately.
“Krshia. Krshia can’t have been okay with this. I need to see her.”
It was abandoning her job, but Selys didn’t care. She stood up, and looked around the room. Could she leave this lot unattended and not come back to a smoldering ruin?
There were the usual assortment of Drakes and Gnolls in the building, but they were now joined by a sizable group of humans and some…not-humans. Selys’ eyes lingered on a group of three sitting in the back. They were one of the three Gold-rank teams who’d entered the city, and she had no idea what to do with them.
But then she spotted three adventurers who stood out from the rest. Mainly because they were all watching her.
Three Gnolls were staring directly at her, even as the other adventurers chatted and drank at their tables. Selys’ eyes darted towards the door, but one of the Gnolls was standing right next to it.
Selys gulped. It took no mean feat of the imagination to guess why they were here. Gnolls never did anything halfway, and if Krshia didn’t know some of them were going to kill the thief, they wouldn’t want anyone telling her. And while Selys knew there were other Drakes and even Humans in the room, she was just a receptionist. She didn’t think they’d stand up for her if some Gnolls decided to block her way. And if they did…
Selys was no fighter, even if she had the [Warrior] class now. She imagined what would happen if she tried to push her way past, and decided a full-scale fight inside the Guild was not something she wanted to be involved in.
But Krshia had to be told. Selys eyed the Gnolls again, and had an idea. The Drake’s tail twitched a few times, and then she slowly looked at the Drake in front of her.
“Messy? I’m going to check on our supplies in the back. Will you cover for me?”
The Drake gaped at Selys.
“What? I’m not a [Receptionist], Selys! What should I do?”
“It doesn’t matter. Just sit here and answer questions, okay?”
Selys slipped out from behind the counter and shoved her friend into the seat. He looked around helplessly as Selys eyed the Gnolls. They were waiting for her to make a break for it, she knew. She didn’t keep them waiting long. Selys ran—just not in the direction they were expecting.
The Gnolls blinked as Selys darted up the stairs. Two of the Gnolls rushed up after her. The other adventurers looked around, confused, and one of the not-quite Humans stood up.
“That was interesting. Should we have a look?”
“I don’t see why not.”
That came from a big…man sitting on the ground. He stood up as his two companions did likewise.
“An inn outside the city. Hm. It rings a bell. Isn’t that where the half-Elf is staying?”
“Coincidence? She might not be mixed up in it.”
“From all I’ve heard of Ceria Springwalker, she probably is. Let’s go, you two. We can at least see what all the fuss is.”
The big half-man walked towards the door, and everyone in his way made themselves scarce. Everyone but the Gnoll at the door, that was. The Gnoll looked up and hesitated, but he had orders.
Casually, the Gnoll stuck a furred arm to block the three adventurer’s passage. The Gnoll smiled up at the one in front.
“You do not want to leave, no?”
“I rather think we do. Could I persuade you to stand aside?”
“No, no. I have heard what you said and it would not be wise, no?”
The big ‘man’ chuckled.
“Wisdom has seldom been our asset. But I can see you won’t be budge. So…”
Delicately, the adventurer reached out. He flicked the Gnoll on the forehead lightly, and the Gnoll blinked and folded up as his eyes rolled back in his head.
The half-human looked around at the other two half-humans and smiled ruefully.
“Well. It looks like this might be very interesting after all. Shall we go?”
—-
Erin hated fighting. She hated when it happened, she hated that she could die, she hated the necessity of it, and the fact that she was actually good at fighting. At least, that was what Calruz had told her.
But in this world it was fight or flight or let a girl die, so Erin chose to fight. She just wished it was easier.
“[Power Strike]!”
She felt her knee connect hard with something, and then the Gnoll charging her grunted in pain. That was the second one she’d hit in the groin, but the problem was that this one wasn’t a guy. And for
some reason, while Erin had hit the Gnoll hard, she hadn’t hit the Gnoll a quarter as hard as the skill should have allowed her to do.
The female Gnoll raised a paw and Erin ducked as it whished over her head. She punched the Gnoll twice in the stomach, shouting all the while.
“[Power Strike]! [Power Strike]! Why isn’t this—[Power Strike]!”
The Gnoll grunted and stepped back as Erin hit her. She was big, but Erin had been taught how to hit hard and she had [Lesser Strength]. The Gnoll swiped at Erin again, but she was clearly no warrior. In fact, she was short for a Gnoll, and Erin had the sneaking suspicion she was a teenager.
That made Erin feel guilty as she slugged the Gnoll as hard as she could in the stomach. The female Gnoll gasped and bent over, clutching her stomach, and Erin hit her on the cheek. The Gnoll fell down, and Erin stumbled away, gasping.
One down, a pack to go. The others weren’t going for Erin, though. They were trying to force their way in through the front door, and one had already begun smashing at the door.
“What’s happening? Who’s out there?”
Erin’s heart sank as she heard Lyon’s voice. The girl had no idea what was happening, and she was demanding answers in a high-pitched, frightened voice.
“I order you to tell me what is going on! Who’s out there?”
A snarl was her answer as one of the Gnolls smashed into the door with all his weight. Lyon shrieked and Erin dashed towards the Gnolls.
“Hide!”
Erin shouted at Lyon as she rammed into the first Gnoll from behind. He spun as she punched at him, but Erin twisted her head and hit him just under his ribcage.
“[Power Strike]!”
But again, Erin’s fist only struck the Gnoll with bruising strength, not the incredibly heavy blow that she’d used on Brunkr. Erin stared at her fist as she darted backwards, making the Gnoll run after her.
“Why isn’t it working!?”
“Hrr. Can’t do it more than once.”
Erin turned. Brunkr was back on his feet. He was wincing and bending over at the waist, but he was also very, very angry. He seized Erin’s fist as she punched at him and twisted.
