STOP! DANGER OF DEATH!
My sister and I saw the sign after about half a mile by a fork in the road. The right-hand path was well trodden and led to the settlement Markettown, judging by the sign. The left-hand path, barely visible in the grass, was marked by this warning sign. In spite of the warning, we turned onto the left path.
WILD PREDATORS! DANGER OF DEATH! PATH CLOSED!
This next warning sign met us after another three hundred yards. But we could already see a high fence and some structures beyond it, so I went closer. Without fear, I ignored yet another warning sign, opened the gate in the fence and… suddenly stopped. I had reason.
An astounding view opened up to me and my sister. A huge pack of raptorhounds ran around a trampled area surrounded on all sides with a high fence. They were chasing a large bird like an overgrown ostrich. Thirty-seven raptorhounds, judging by the number above their heads. There were green ones, black ones, furry-legged ones, others covered in bright multicolored feathers. The wounded fleet-footed ostrich was still somehow dodging the pack pursuing it, although I could clearly see it wouldn’t survive long. The victim’s seconds were numbered. The fear-maddened bird veered desperately, dodging teeth snapping at its feathers, then… ran straight at me!
Damn! I should have stepped back behind the gate and closed it, but I hesitated. And it wasn’t easy to move quick with someone sitting on your shoulders. The huge bird burst through the opening to freedom, throwing the gate wide open and nearly knocking me down, then zoomed off into the distance like a roadrunner. Worse, the entire overexcited hunting pack, all thirty-seven bloodthirsty lizards, were headed straight for me and Julie!
It was too late to close the door. I grabbed my axe, planning to fight for all I was worth, and… without even knowing why, I roared at the top of my lungs, wanting to scare off the bloodthirsty lizards bearing down on me. And it worked shockingly well! The pack suddenly stopped.
Beast Master skill increased to level ten!
Choose the learnable skill Intimidation for your character?
The first lizard froze just a couple of yards from me, its wide yellow eyes scrutinizing this unfamiliar human. It wagged its tail just like a dog. It was a scary moment — I was afraid to make any sudden movements and dispel whatever strange stun my voice had inflicted.
“Throw them meat, brother! You have some in your backpack!” the girl sat on my shoulders suggested.
It made sense, but I didn’t have time to do anything. A sudden sharp whistle made the entire pack instantly turn around and gallop away as if something terrifying was chasing them. As one teeming, biting mass, the raptorhounds flooded to a small half-open cage on the opposite side of the square. They crowded around the opening and fought, each raptorhound trying to squeeze its way through the door before the next. Now half had made it in, now two thirds. By the time there were only a few left outside, a loud shot rang out! One of the lizards fell down dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The others disappeared into the safety of the cage in the same instant. The door shut behind the last survivor.
With rifle in hand, into the area walked… I don’t even know if he could be called a man. He was a giant at least eight feet tall, and very broad across the shoulders. In hide shorts, barefoot and bare-chested, his tanned body gleaming with sweat, huge muscles clearly visible under the skin. He had a dark untidy beard like a highwayman and a clean-shaven head.
Bald Skull. Human. Male. Guild: The New Pharaohs. Level 51 Beast Catcher.
“Fed up of living?” the giant shouted to me and Julie from afar. “Or did you forget how to read? Doesn’t seem to matter how many warning signs I put up, there are always idiots ready to be eaten!”
“Hey there, colleague!” I answered good-naturedly, ignoring his abuse.
Bald Skull stopped grumbling and finally read the character information of the strangers invading his territory.
“Oh, Sergeant!” the giant smiled, his anger immediately fading. “I’ve been wanting to meet you. They brought your giga-komodo bull to me today. I’m impressed, to say the least! What an animal! As soon as I let him into the pen with the other giga-komodos, Atlas challenged all the other males to fight at once and beat them all up until they rolled up into balls. Then he played soccer with ‘em a while, kicked ‘em from wall to wall. Once he was done playing and showing ‘em who’s boss, he mounted all the females in turn and now he’s resting in the shade, a day’s work done. Good thinking, by the way,” he nodded at Julie on my shoulders. “Your experience as a Beast Catcher is clear.”
What did he mean? I had no idea, but Bald Skull soon explained.
“The raptorhounds have a very simple hierarchy — whoever is tallest is strongest. They eat anything smaller than them right away, but big and tall prey they leave be. In nature, they serve larger reptiles, helping them round up prey and taking the leftovers as a reward. So you did right by making yourself look tall and strong. All the same, you took a big risk. These are wild beasts here in the pen, they’re not used to people yet. Your trick might not have stopped ‘em.”
I stayed silent, not explaining to Bald Skull that I’d put my sister on my shoulders for an entirely different reason, and not at all to intimidate the raptorhounds. In the meantime, the giant closed the outer gate and slowly walked toward the corpse of the lizard he’d killed. He easily picked up the shot raptorhound in one hand by its thin neck, examined the body and threw it over the fence, from behind which immediately came the sickening sounds of thirty luckier creatures fighting over the meat of their fallen relative.
“I used my mutations specially to increase my body size and appear more imposing to monsters, but it doesn’t always help,” Bald Skull continued. “I have to keep ‘em in constant fear and punish ‘em hard for the slightest disobedience. I drill ‘em here, train ‘em for obedience. As soon as they start obeying commands, I tame ‘em and sell ‘em. The demand for raptorhounds is high. They’re like the dogs of this world — they track, chase down game for their masters, guard homes. They can even pull carts. So, you’re here for that Atlas of yours?”
I told him yes, that we’d come for the giga-komodo mount, and that Haze had given permission to pick him up.
“Gimme a sec, I’ll bring out your big boy. His offspring are going to be awesome! Was it a long ride, if you don’t mind sayin’?”
“Around sixteen hours,” I answered, and the huge man nodded in satisfaction.
“Not as long as I thought. I expected two days at least. I try not to get involved with high-level giga-komodos myself — they’re a real hassle. You can tame five small ones in the same time, and they’re all the same when hitched to a cart, practically.”
“Do you happen to have that Chimeric Cougar?” I asked, tossing out a line as I recalled Haze’s words. I got a bite.
“Of course, where else would she be? Stubborn man-eater, don’t wanna be tamed at all. Wanna see ‘er?”
I agreed, lowered my sister to the ground and followed our host into a hut standing off to one side. My old acquaintance stood there, chains leading from all four of her legs and her neck to some rings set in a concrete slab. She was just as wild and untamed as when we found her at the snowy pass. When I appeared, she roared and snapped, struggled against her chains in an effort to reach me with tooth and claw. The sight of me clearly brought back unpleasant memories to the fearsome man-eater.
“She doesn’t eat nothin’. Beating her and shocking her don’t help. She just don’t wanna give up,” Bald Skull said, pointing at the whip and circuit breaker by the wall. “If she doesn’t calm down by nightfall, I’ll have to hand ‘er over to the arena for the Pharaoh’s gladiators to fight ‘er. Seems a shame. She’s a beast of rare strength and beauty.”
I yearned to find out how the Beast Catcher had electricity in his house, but I decided to raise another more important matter first:
“The cougar didn’t eat anything from me either. But don’t hurry to hand her over for slaughter just yet,” I asked t
he giant man. “I have an idea. I have her kitten. Just the sight of it turns the mother meek and obedient. I managed to tame the kitten just by being nice to it, by the way, no need for beating or shocking. I think we can tame the mother the same way, if we can get her to calm down first. Let me come back tonight, with the kitten. Maybe we’ll be able to tame her. Good chance to talk, too, share some tricks of the trade.”
Bald Skull glanced at the space above my head and grimaced sourly, apparently less than impressed by my humble level twenty-three. He probably thought I had nothing new to tell him. Plus, I expected the Beast Catcher had some reward promised for handing the beast over to the arena. I hurried to add:
“Creeping crocodiles, cruel arachnoscorps, a fiery manticore, megasauruses, rock lizards… I’ve tamed them all in the eastern lands.”
“We don’t get those here,” the huge Beast Catcher said doubtfully, shaking his head. “Interesting list though. Alright, pal. I’ll keep hold of this chimeric beast for a while, won’t hand it over to the arena just yet. But I want you here tonight with some interestin’ stories. We don’t hear anything about the lives of free settlers here. We can discuss professional matters too. Hey, what’s that racket?”
I could hear the strange sounds too, coming from the direction of the pen of wild raptorhounds. The raptors whined and shrieked, but not in fear. It sounded strange, as if they were complaining to someone. Hey, where was my sister? I couldn’t see her where I’d left her. Massive Bald Skull noticed the same. We exchanged glances and hurried to investigate the noise.
Julie sat in the very center of the wild pack as if it was the most natural thing in the world. With her first-aid kit open, the little Veterinarian was examining the reptiles one after another. She treated bites, stroked and calmed down some of the raptors, fed meat and fish to others from her bag. And the deadly predatory beasts just stood there and waited for their share of bandages and affection! One got impatient and stuck its head into the bag of food uninvited. The girl rapped her knuckles on its forehead and… the whole pack started hissing, chasing away their overeager brother, keeping him away from the little girl with the white lizard on her shoulder.
“This girl bewitched somehow..?” Bald Skull asked, not believing his eyes.
“Julie is a Veterinarian. She’s used to working with carnivores,” I explained, although even I watched the scene wide-eyed. “Somehow, the animals can feel that she wishes them no harm and they let her heal them, even when the treatment is painful. Once I saw her climb halfway into a creeping crocodile’s mouth to pull out a bone stuck deep in its throat. A twenty-foot-long man-eating monster, and it just lay there with its mouth open until she was done.”
“Holy cow…” the giant Beast Catcher said, turning away, unable to keep watching. “They’d eat me right up. Hey, Sergeant, can you leave your sister here until tonight? I have a lot of wounded and exhausted animals that could use some healin’. As payment, the girl can take any raptorhound she wants — whether already tamed or one of these wild ones.”
Julie, who could hear our conversation perfectly, answered for both of us without stopping her work:
“I choose that female there, with the bright feathers on her head. She’s really weak and she has a dangerous festering wound on her chest and a broken lower jaw. She’ll need a lot of healing. I’ll nurse her back to health and ride her! And I’ll call her Princess!”
Chapter 21 [Kitten]
The Cat That Walks By Himself
THEY THOUGHT they’d caught me. Hah! It took me three seconds to get out of that cage — I just turned into a snake and slithered between the bars. But the two guards in the room with me were a problem. They could have been peacefully dozing at this late hour, or going about their business, but instead, they were taking Haze’s order seriously and carefully guarding a tiny cat! What was I, a dangerous dragon, that my cage had to be guarded with such vigilance!?
Time passed and matters didn’t change. I could have used magic, of course. For example, with an Infect curse on the guards — that spell had always caused a sudden stomach upset, which would have sent both of them off to the lavatory in a flash. But I was stronger now, and so were my spells. I didn’t want to accidentally kill the guards. What if, instead of diarrhea, I gave them a heart attack or the bubonic plague? The problem wasn’t that I’d feel sorry for them and suffer pangs of conscience. This was still a game world. Both the guards would revive, and more experienced than before. But without a key, how would I open that metal door blocking my path to freedom? I couldn’t use items, so even if I took the key from the guard’s belt, I wouldn’t be able to open the door with it. Nor would I be able to break down the solid metal panels of the only door into this small room, which served as a storeroom for metal ingots and spools of wire.
No, I needed a different approach here.
“Meow!” I whined.
Both guards perked up, approached the cage.
“What’s with him?” the freckled ginger young man asked, the assault rifle over his shoulder rattling against his chainmail vest.
“No clue. Maybe he’s hungry?” answered the second man, older and bearded, around thirty, in a bulletproof vest with ‘SPECOPS’ emblazoned on the back.
“Could be. I don’t think we’ll find any Whiskas around here. Anyway, they told us not to open the cage.”
“You dumbass,” the older bearded one laughed. “Ordinary cats don’t get spoiled with that premium shit from the pet store. They eat what they’re given. Meat, fish, even bread.”
“I wouldn’t mind some bread,” the ginger boy sighed heavily. “I’ve been having sweet dreams of white bread rolls, still hot, fresh, with a crispy crust. Ahh… If only we could grow wheat here in the new world. If I eat any more of those mushrooms they give us, I’ll turn into one.”
The guards fell silent. Then the younger asked the older — why did he think they were guarding a little kitten at all?
“Hell knows…” the former special operative shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe the critter is a gift from Haze to one of the nobles?”
“If it’s a gift, then it must be for Lady Victoria,” the young man brightened up, nodding. “They say she really likes cats. Her castle walls are covered in cat paintings, and she has a park full of statues of ‘em. She has a cat in the palace too, from the old world.”
“I heard she has two or even three cats.”
“Well, I bet they want to breed them then. That must be what this guy is for. It’d be so cool if they bred cats here in the new world! We’d have normal house pets instead of those awful lizards. Those things seem to want to eat their owners half the time!”
“I’ve never been fond of cats,” the bearded man grimaced. “They’re no use. They just eat and shit. Better if they brought back dogs.”
I listened to their conversation with great interest, even stopped meowing. I had no idea who this Lady Victoria was. But was it true? Had other pets been brought from the old world, just like me? It sounded like there were other cats! Lady cats, to boot! What if… my breath caught at the thought… what if those cats, too, were more than they appeared at first glance? If there were other cute little fluffy creatures with a human mind trapped inside… It would be incredible to talk to others like me! I could find out tips and secrets from them, hear of the skills, mutations and spells they’d used to survive. Life would be so much easier!
The guards had lost interest in me, moved away from the cage. I started meowing pathetically again. I tried to make the noise as piercing and annoying as I could.
“What’s that ginger dumbass howling about now..?” the mustachioed special operative frowned. He rapped his knuckles on the cage, which only made me scream louder. “Don’t laugh, but… I got a bad feeling about this job. Haze wouldn’t have put a guard on just any old cat. And you see the skull next to his name? This little demon has killed people. Probably put ‘em at ease with his meowing, then tore out their throats!”
“Oh, come on, it’s ju
st a little cat! Maybe he’s just thirsty. Should I fetch some water?”
“We’re not allowed to open the cage!” the more experienced one reminded him, to which the ginger one answered that he’d pour the water in from above, between the bars.
Idiots! Who expects a cat to drink like that?! All the same, I pricked up my ears. This was my chance! Ooh, they’d soon discover there was good reason for their fear. As soon as the younger one opened the outer door with his key, I acted! Curse Magic! Paralyze on the ginger one! Paralyze on old beardy! And another on each, just to make sure!
Curse Magic skill increased to level seventy-six!
It worked! Both the big lugs fell to the floor. It was perfect — one of them fell right in the doorway, keeping the door open. All the same, I had to hurry. Transform into snake! Out of the cage and the room, fast, while the door was open! My nimble serpentine form slithered over the prone body and slipped into a gloomy corridor, barely lit with rare torches on the walls.
Damn, where was I? It was a long corridor that seemed to stretch out endlessly in both directions. Locked doors, a great many doors. Was I in some kind of dungeon? Where was the exit? I heard faraway voices in one direction — humans. I didn’t want to run into them at all. I could, of course, try to slip past the guards in stealth, or even knock them out with magic, but my mana wasn’t infinite, and now wasn’t the time for unnecessary risk. Anyway, I’d be in trouble if I ran into another locked door that I couldn’t get through.
More than that, I saw something that greatly encouraged me — a ventilation grill in the wall! Hurry, inside before my snake transformation ends!
Made it! I was in a dark air vent, with a powerful stream of air flowing by from somewhere above. From below, I heard an even hum — that must have been the blades of a powerful fan, sucking down air from the surface into the underground level. The fact that there was a fan meant there was electricity. But then why was there no electric lighting in the dungeon, just primitive torches? I had a great many questions, but the answers would have to wait. Right now I had a more important task — getting to freedom!
In Service of the Pharaoh (League of Losers Book #2) Page 19
