When I was up the slope of the gulley, I heard a whining squeak behind me. I turned around. Mee was standing with his little hands pressed to his heart and crying.
“Mee-ee-ee!” he squeaked, and a strange system message appeared before my eyes.
— Attention! Mee the gray gremlin would like to become your familiar!
— Important! Once you agree, you will gain a family member who will be loyal to you for life! Remember! You must care for him and keep him safe!
When I read that message, I glanced at the gremlin in surprise. Oh gods! There was so much hope in his big gray eyes!
I turned to the harn and asked, though I already knew the answer:
“Well, brother, should we take the poor kid with us?”
“Hrn,” Gorgie answered affirmatively.
“Alright then,” I said and gave my assent.
As soon as I did, the fluffball gave a squeak of joy. Quickly windmilling his little legs, he ran over to me. Joyously embracing my leg, the gremlin breathed a sigh of relief. Bending over slightly, I stroked his fluffy head to reassure him. Okay then... Now we are three.
* * *
I hid all the orcs’ most valuable things, got the standard hiding spot message and we started off west.
Mee was walking quite jauntily, keeping pace with Gorgie and me. After he became my familiar, I could see his characteristics.
— Steppe Gremlin.
— Name: Mee.
— Level: 3 (0/9000).
— Status: Loyalty to elder family member (permanent).
— Mind: 3/6
— Strength: 3/30
— Agility: 3/30
— Health: 3/30
— Endurance: 3/30
— Life supply: 50/50
— Energy supply: 50/50
— Skills and abilities:
— Butchery: 2/30
— Herbalism: 2/30
— Hunter: 2/30
— Fisher: 2/30
As far as I could tell from his quick retelling of his life’s story, he got eleven silver tablets when he was born, which were immediately confiscated by his master. As were all those he earned for levelling up.
In return, they used clays to bring all his available characteristics up to three. And when he’d grown up a bit, he was sent off to work on the steppe. As far as I understood, that was common practice in orcish clans.
The gremlin had actually hit level three just recently, but in that time he’d already unlocked four skills. All the while, Mee was catching bugs, mice, frogs and little minnows. He was also gathering all the plants worth picking at his level. His master’s senior slave always kept scrupulous track of everything he earned. Incidentally, he was human.
Everything Mee gathered had to be surrendered to the master’s youngest wife at the end of the workday. When the gremlin told me that, my fists unwittingly clenched in rage and the veins in my temple bulged.
Oh well, it’s no matter. A lot will be changing in little Mee’s life now. And by the way, same goes for me and Gorgie. I imagine we’ll have no problem extracting rare resources anymore.
But alas, our good luck is at an end. Based on the dark clouds gathering in the sky, it will downpour today. Seemingly, the rainy season is going to catch up to us nevertheless.
Mee confirmed that it was very dangerous to travel over the steppe at this time of day. Especially along to the Snakelet, which was what the locals called the nearby river.
“When lots of water starts coming down from the sky,” the gremlin said. “The Snakelet goes beyond its banks and floods the whole steppe. Then the water cuts off the path west. We’ll have to find shelter to wait out the rain.”
“Do you know a good place?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mee nodded and pointed to the northwest. “Do you see that dark spot?”
“I do.”
“That’s the Black Hills,” he said. “There are lots of dry and spacious caves there.”
“Then we should hurry,” I declared, quickening my pace. “I think a drop already landed on my head.”
It was a struggle, but we made it where he pointed just before the end of the day. The powerful downpour fell down from the sky like a ton of bricks. Add to that the damp icy wind, and we were really tuckered out. In a matter of hours, the rain transformed the steppe into a giant mud puddle.
Mee gave out first. With his little legs and low figures, this was a test he could not overcome. But despite the exhaustion, he was doing his best not to be a burden. And I understood him perfectly.
Strange as it may have been, Gorgie found a solution. He picked up the gremlin by the nape of his neck like a kitten and, without particular strain, kept moving. Then a few steps later, I suggested an even better solution. I sat Mee on the harn’s back and tied him down with a rope to make sure. In short, when our feet finally touched back down on hard stony soil, it was the greatest moment of the day!
The Black Hills greeted us with a strange howl and buzz.
“That’s the wind howling,” Mee said knowingly. “At first it’s scary, but you get used to it...”
We went up and stopped at the entrance to the small cave, then Gorgie told me someone else was nearby. The rain must have been making his sense of smell a bit worse. But thank the gods they didn’t catch us off guard.
“Hyenas!” Mee squeaked in a quavering voice when four furry silhouettes appeared from the cave’s dark gaping maw.
The level-eight creatures, growling and laughing a vile laugh, came trotting in our direction. They were each about as big as Gorgie. Based on their wet fur, they’d also been caught in the rain and most likely got hunkered down in this cave not long before we arrived.
The gremlin’s squeaking only put them on their mettle. After a bit of thinking, they ran forward. It was a lightning-fast attack. All I could do was activate a Ram.
We got lucky — the passage was so narrow all four of the fell beasts got hit. Gorgie slammed into the immobilized beasts’ chests and started dealing out powerful blows left and right.
Seeing the cat wouldn’t make it in time, I used another Ram and just in case got lightning ready to go. But we didn’t need it. A few minutes later, it was all over.
Breathing heavily, we were standing inside the cave over our defeated enemies, not fully understanding the battle was already won. Mee was particularly impressed by the speed of our victory.
“Now I get it!” he shouted in admiration. “You’re a Great Shaman!”
I just chuckled, but didn’t have the time to respond. At that very moment, the scales on the back of the harn’s neck stood on end. I meanwhile tasted rot in my mouth.
A gigantic silhouette eclipsed the cave entrance.
Chapter 7
HEAVILY THUMPING its thick legs, into the cave stumbled a creature I was dimly familiar with. Gorgie and I even exchanged astonished glances. Before us was a descendant of an otherworldly monster — a level-thirty Ice Golem. But this one was ten or so levels higher than the ghostly version I tangled with in the caverns. It stood perfectly still, leading its half-blind gaze over the interior of the dark cave and loudly breathing in the scent of the dead hyenas’ blood.
Already knowing the ways of this sluggish but very dangerous magical monster, I held the gremlin’s mouth shut and commanded a retreat. The optimal decision for the time being was to get as far from this dimwitted but very tough creature as possible.
Slowly, trying not to make any abrupt movements, we stumbled deeper into the cave. The eviscerated hyena carcasses would distract the predator for a time.
The golem’s long arms came down almost to the ground. Its broad sloping shoulders, hefty chest and short legs made it somehow reminiscent of an enormous ape.
Its thick ice-gray hide sparkled slightly. A long sharp horn that looked like an icicle stuck out of its narrow forehead. With every powerful exhalation, the area around the creature was enshrouded in a slate-gray cloud of icy vapor. Gorgie and I never figured out the effect of that cl
early magical ability before. But my intuition may as well have been screaming that it was better to stay out of that fog.
Apparently we got lucky. The creature didn’t notice us. All its attention was wrapped up in tearing the hyena carcasses to shreds.
When made it fifteen steps away from the bloodbath, Gorgie told me there was another way out of the cave. The loud chomping and crunching of bones signaled that the golem was still busy.
A few minutes later, we hopped out of the cave on the other side of the mountain. Exhaling with relief, we exchanged glances. Unlike the harn and I, already accustomed to monsters after the last month, poor Mee was beside himself. A look of horror was frozen in his wide gray eyes. His gaunt chest was heaving. I thought I could even hear his little heart beating.
“Hrn,” Gorgie turned his head, motioning to the right. I looked that direction. Beyond the ledge, I could see the rounded features of the entrance to a different cave. Obeying my request, the harn nimbly scrambled upward and disappeared from view. Not even a minute later, his satisfied snout appeared from behind the stone.
“All clear,” I said to Mee, who was clinging to my leg. “We can go up.”
Based on the old small bones and dried excrement, a small predator once lived in this cave. Inside it was dry and relatively safe. At the very least, the Ice Golem couldn’t reach us for now. As long as it didn’t decide to expand the entrance to the small cave.
Alas, there was no wood around, so we couldn’t start a fire. And it was a shame. The warmth of a fire couldn’t have hurt. After activating lair and removing my wet clothes, I suggested we all eat some food and get some rest.
* * *
The next morning greeted us with the same overcast sky and downpour that wouldn’t let up even for a minute. I stood on the cliff ledge and took in my fill of the depressing gray steppe, then went back into the depths of our temporary shelter. Hmm, apparently the rainy season was going to be extending out our already long journey by quite a bit.
I sat down next to the sleeping Gorgie. I wanted to doze off as well, but Mee distracted me.
“Here, master,” he extended me something, smiling timidly.
Before I looked at what he’d dragged over, I frowned and answered sternly:
“Alright, Mee. Listen up and listen good. I am not your master. And you are not my slave. We are family, you and me. Does that make any sense to you?”
“Yes,” the gremlin nodded in fear.
“And don’t be afraid of me,” I smiled and patted him on the head. “I promise I will never hurt you. Do you understand?”
“Yes, older brother,” Mee sighed in relief.
“There we go!” I raised my pointer finger. “That’s better. And if you drop the ‘older’ and just call me ‘brother,’ or even just ‘Eric,’ it will be even better!”
“Gotcha, Eric,” the boy answered.
“Now there’s a good boy!” I gave his shoulder a light pat. “And now, brother, show me what you’ve got there.”
“Here,” the gremlin eagerly extended me something again.
I saw three clay tablets and a few experience essences in his little hands. The two clays were standard Strength and Agility. But the third caught my attention.
— Clay tablet “Rider.”
— Level: 1.
— Category: Skills.
— Effect: + 0.1 to current progress in Rider skill.
— Weight: None. Takes no space.
“Where’d you get that from?” I asked.
“I was got it while riding your beast,” Mee answered.
“Great!” I smiled.
“I’m glad I could make you happy!” said the gremlin. “Take them!”
Rolling my eyes, I gave my head a terse shake. Several generations of slavery were no laughing matter. Ridding him of all these habits was going to be a prolonged endeavor.
“Have I upset you again?” Mee asked in fear.
“Yes,” I nodded. But then, seeing the gremlin’s eyes go wide, I hurried to add: “But it isn’t your fault, brother. This is the fault of the bastards who held your entire race in slavery for centuries.”
“I don’t get it,” the gremlin shrugged his little shoulders, perplexed.
“With time I’m sure you’ll figure it all out,” I promised and patiently started explaining:
“Commit this to memory: all the tablets and esses you earn belong to you. But still showing them to me was the right thing to do. It means I can monitor your development and give you advice about the best way to use your loot.”
The gremlin considered it briefly, then asked:
“What if I really want to give them to you? If it is my earnest wish? Will you accept them?”
“Of course,” I answered. “But I’ll give them right back to you. And I’ll add some more from my reserves. You see, I am very invested in you becoming strong, agile and stout. And I don’t want anyone to be able to kill you.”
The boy fell silent, but his happy gaze was more eloquent than any words.
“So you can use those tablets on yourself right now,” I said and added. “And hold onto the esses for now. Well, you already know that.”
Mee just nodded in silence and got to activating the tablets.
— Attention! Your familiar has unlocked a new skill — “Rider!”
— Present value: 0.1/30
“Congratulations!” I said, giving him a light pat on the back. “You’re a rider now! The hard part is over, now we just have to come up with a saddle you can use!”
* * *
“Hrn,” Gorgie commented with dismay on some noise coming from the neighboring cave.
It’s morning of the second day. We’ve been cooped up in this cave the whole time, afraid to stick our noses out. I got my hopes up for nothing — the meat of the hyenas we killed only distracted the golem temporarily. The insatiable beast simply devoured all the unclaimed fare, then sniffed us out and yesterday tried to follow our tracks out of the cave.
But luckily the exit was too big for the horned monstrosity. The rest of yesterday evening and the whole night we sat anxiously listening to the monster trying to break its way out. Our only escape, meanwhile, was to go back down to the ledge and sneak across the cave where the ice giant had set up camp. We couldn’t consider going directly down to the foot of the hill. One false move and one of us risked a fearsome death on the sharp stones below.
This morning, fearsome pounding was added to the frustrated roars, shaking the walls. The ice golem was not giving up. In fact, it had moved on to more extreme measures. It was clearly trying to widen the cave exit. Based on the rain of stones and flying dust, it would succeed soon enough. And you don’t exactly need to have a mind like a steel trap to realize what that would mean for us.
Once on the ledge, the monster would be able to smell our location. And from there it would only be a few seconds. Our cave was not large, and the golem’s arms were long enough to reach us and scarf us down one by one.
“Are we gonna die?!” Mee squeaked with horror in his voice.
“Only if we sit here twiddling our thumbs,” I answered.
“But what can we do against such a giant beast?!” the gremlin exclaimed.
“Oh, brother, you can’t even imagine how many ways you can find to escape a situation that appears to have no way out on first glance!” I chuckled and Gorgie and I exchanged a meaningful glance.
“I don’t think the golem will be leaving empty handed,” I continued. “That means the only way to get rid of the monster is to drop it down onto the rocks.”
“And how are we gonna do that?!” Mee asked, not comprehending.
“We’re gonna make it mad,” I said.
“Hmm, are you sure that’s a good idea?” the boy asked in fear.
“Yes, brother. It’s the right move,” I answered. “Once we get it mad, it won’t be thinking straight. It will stop being cautious. Beyond that, boring through the narrow passage should sap its energy supply a good a
mount.”
“And then?”
“Then he’ll run into this thing,” I answered, taking one of the dark brownish spheres out of my backpack.
The Wastes Page 9
