11
Zack exchanged handshakes with Renton as two large crates each holding an Astorian wark -- five hundred pound seals with massive tusks and hides a hand thick -- were carted through the back gates of the fifth Ring.
The manager of the Rings passed two hefty bags full of iron marks to Astrid. She took the money greedily, muttering in wonder, "This is faster money than thieving."
Zack chose to ignore that comment and said, "On behalf of the Wild Brigade, it was pleasure doing business with you."
Renton now had to look up at Zack, who had grown four inches in height since the two months Zack, Astrid, and Fabiola had formed their hunting group. The man replied, "I don't know how you and yours have managed to trap and tame so many wild beasts, but it's been a huge boon for my business. The crowd loves the beasts and my fighters have less injuries since they aren't fighting each other and the beasts are well tamed. What's your secret?"
Zack shook his head, and told him an overly simplified truth. "I just growl at them until they calm down."
Renton looked unconvinced and inched closer to Zack to whisper, "Come on, you can tell your old buddy Renton how you do it."
Zack pushed him away and laughed, his voice booming a low baritone. The changes he had made to his body even affected his voice. "Even if I told you exactly how I did it, you wouldn't be able to replicate it. Besides, this is a good deal for the both of us. Your fighters can fight longer, which means you make more money, and I get to build a booming business."
Fabiola walked over from the gate, having made sure the warks had left the cage properly. The giant seal monsters gave wary glances to Zack. The desert woman slapped her gloves together and tightened her new fur cloak Zack got for her. She shivered. "How in the shattered stones does this country have a colder season than Tundra?"
Zack shrugged. He was perfectly fine in the cold with the blood of the trollbear nside him. That gave him a thought. "Oh, Renton. Do you have any supply of trollbear meat?"
Renton nodded and signaled for one of his men to come over and pass a small meat sack over to Zack. The older man's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Don't know why you have such a fetish for the stuff. Odd tastes, you have."
Zack didn't mind the taste. But he didn't eat the trollbear meat because it was a rich delicacy. He didn't even eat the meat to heal his wounds anymore, especially having found a new way to express his powers..
Astrid finished counting the coins and said cheerily, "That's everything. We need to put aside the money for Zack's lady in the high tower, pay Oslo and Mannic, invest in operation funds, and we'll have plenty leftover for whatever else we might need."
"Put the rest into our savings for Yemiri. Every bit helps. We're almost there," Zack said. Eight months earlier, he had been a slave of the Demon's Prospect. Now, he was richer than he ever would have thought he could have been. But he didn't care about the money. It was all for Yemiri.
Zack nodded at the news. Their recent haul of the warks had brought them the most amount of money in a single haul. Of course, he ignored Astrid's claim of 'operation funds', which probably meant extra drink for her and Fabiola the next time they visited a pub. He didn't mind them slipping some extra coin in their pockets. They were his friends and they absolutely deserved it.
Bagging the warks wasn't the problem. It was training them, and it took everyone in the Wild Brigade to hold the animals down while Zack tamed them.
Renton went back inside the gates and they shut behind him. Zack turned to his friends and said, "Time to go back to camp. If Oslo and Mannic brought back any signs of beasts, we can bag some tonight before the night comes. Even with all of our fur cloaks, we don't want to be in the winds come nightfall in the middle of Winter."
--
Zack, Astrid, and Fabiola sat around the cooking fire of their camp's igloo that Zack had made himself. The igloo was three time bigger than the one he had grown up in with carefully placed airholes in the ceiling so they wouldn't suffocate. A mock-chimney redirected the smoke from the fire. Pelts killed and skinned by the Wild Brigade lined the walls and floor. Two pots cooked over the fire, one small pot for Zack and one for everyone else.
Astrid sat on her pelt where she usually slept, happily sharpening two of her many knives on her whetstone. Zack was pretty sure it wasn't her whetstone to begin with and had somehow magically found its way into her pack. Fabiola stared into the fire, stirring the reindeer meat. She seemed happier now that they were inside the warmth of the igloo.
The trollbear fat in Zack's pot was rendered down, cooking the meat steadily. He could feel the hunger groaning inside him for the meat. He was excited for it.
Fabiola eyed him with an interested look. She asked, "What will it be this time?"
Astrid gave Fabiola a grin. "Maybe he can grow in...other places besides his height?"
Zack sighed. He was getting used to Astrid's false advances. He replied, "Elementalists are limited to three things. The availability of their element, meaning how much access they have to it. Their sanity, which your meditation techniques have helped with. And finally, creativity. While Fabiola has her skills with the spear and you have your tactics with knives and traps, I have my own way of fighting."
Fabiola nodded appreciatively. "Not everything can be solved with a punch. If you have found a way to use your elemental powers in a different way than brute force, I'm all for it."
Astrid hummed thoughtfully. "Let's see. So far, you've used your flesh element to increase your height, making you faster, stronger, and giving you a longer reach in fights."
Zack nodded. "Increasing my height with the trollbear meat was the best move by far. It actually gave me more...room for my element."
"Why didn't you make these modifications before, while we were in the Rings?" Asked Fabiola.
"Because every time I needed the trollbear meat in the Rings, I had to use it to heal," Zack explained. "But honestly, I never even thought about being able to change my flesh until I was free. Even then, I didn't want to do anything until I spoke with Epilion and the best way to go about it. I didn't want to make changes to my body that would make things worse, you know?"
Fabiola shook her head. "No, I don't. This is all new to me. I've only heard of Elementalists and never encountered them in my travels. For all I know, you could be completely wrong with how you're going about this."
"I don't think normal rules of Elementalists apply to me. Someone told me that I was probably the first Flesh Elementalist to exist. The fact I have to eat the meat of the beast I bonded with is most likely a new case," he explained. Zack set the pot of the rendered trollbear meat aside in the snow, letting it cool. He added a few chunks of snow to cool it faster and said, "Anyway, you'll find out soon enough. If it works, the effects should be seen right away."
He took off his cloak, coat, and shirt, leaving his torso bare to his friends. Although he had gained strength and a little muscle from modifying his height, Zack's body was still wiry in an athletic way. His biggest problem with his element was that the more he tried accessing the trollbear strength, the more it stretched his sanity.
So, this was his solution. He picked up the giant hunk of trollbear meat with his bare hand. His teeth tore into it, and he quickly ate the meat. He tilted the pot and let the fat slide down his throat, his friends watching in fascination.
As soon as the meat hit his belly, he could feel it dissolving nearly instantly. But unlike when he had been injured and spread the energies throughout his body to heal it, he held the energies of the trollbear inside his stomach. He imagined it like a seed, its roots growing through him, just like when he had increased his height by a few inches in only a single night.
Eyes closed, he forced the energy to spread through him, and he could feel sweat pooling on his skin. Astrid's voice filled the room of the igloo. "Morgoth's sweaty balls."
"Shattered stones," Fabiola cursed in wonder.
When Zack opened his eyes, steam rolled off his bare shoulders. Althou
gh he breathed heavily, he had never felt more alive. The energies of the trollbear were no longer in his stomach. They were everywhere in his body.
He stretched his hands and stood up, the same height as before. But he knew his modification had taken immediate effect from Astrid and Fabiola's eyes glazing over him like he were nothing more than a tasty hunk of meat. His cheeks warmed with embarrassment.
Fabiola shook her head. She spoke with a little hunger in her voice, her eyes still transfixed on his body. Zack blushed. he was used to Astrid pawing at him, but to get wandering eyes from Fabiola threw him a little off balance. Did all women outside the Demon's Prospect have no decency?
The desert woman said, "I don't understand it, but I can't argue with the results."
Zack flexed his new muscles. He didn't just feel stronger, but heavier. Most importantly, he could instantly feel the pool of power from the trollbear had nearly doubled, just from his single modification.
"Y-you're, like, really big," Astrid stuttered. "Really really big."
Fabiola smiled. "Now you look more befitting your name, Zack the Troll."
He smiled back, and punched a fist into his palm, giving the desert woman a challenging smile. "You said not everything can be solved with a punch. Wanna find out if that's true?"
For the first time ever at a challenge, Fabiola shook her head and said, "No, thank you. I'm afraid that a spar with you as you are now would end with both of us dead."
Astrid nodded. "Once she gets going, it's hard to hold her back. It's like she gets turned on--"
Fabiola knocked Astrid in the back of her head with her palm. She gave a concerned look to Zack. "And your sanity. How are you feeling?"
Zack breathed in. "I've never felt this powerful before. I feel like I could take on a wark all by myself now. The hunger is still there, but I just have access to power that I had to feed the hunger to get before. With this strength, we can catch and train more beasts for the Rings and buy Yemiri's title even faster than we predicted."
Astrid mocked a sigh of relief. "Whew. That's good. We don't want super rampaging Zack the Troll anymore, thank you very much."
Fabiana stood up and walked to Zack, transfixed by his appearance. She traced her fingers lightly over his large chest, and he flinched back, more embarrassed than alarmed.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"You skin," she explained. "It's lighter now, almost pale, even paler than an Astorian's. Was it the trollbear blood in you that made you this way?"
Zack shrugged because he didn't care. He had always stood out, even among the slaves of the Demon's Prospect. Now he had the odd mixture of pale skin and dark brown eyes, making him more of a pariah.
He paused. The air around him was thick with distinct scents, smells they warmed his stomach in an odd way. After a few sniffs, he realized the smells came from Fabiola and Astrid. They smelled good, really good.
Did gaining more access to the trollbear powers afford him more of its natural abilities, like smell?
Astrid perked up and turned her attention to the igloo's entrance. The young woman had fantastic hearing. She said, "Oslo and Mannic are back, but it sounds like they brought two more people with them."
Zack started putting only his coat and cloak back on, his frame already too big for his old shirt. Fabiola grabbed his spear. Astrid twirled her knives. He nodded, "Let's find out what's going on."
12
Oslo, or Hairy Oslo as Astrid like to call him affectionately, was the tallest and largest of the Wild Brigade. He had bright red hair, which wasn't completely uncommon in Astoria. His warrior braids peeked out from under his fur cloak which was nothing more than a dead snow leopard's face draped over his forehead. Oslo's weapons of choice were a steel-tipped ax and crossbow at his side. Although a giant of a man, he was easy to smile at even the dumbest of Astrid's jokes.
His brother, Mannic, was the completely opposite of Oslo in every way. Where Oslo was thick and burly as a bear, Mannic was short and wiry. His eyes were sharp, dark, and moody, and short blond hair.
The two brothers were hunters and trappers of the highest caliber. They had heard about the hunting company Zack and his friends had made at a local tavern and offered their services. In truth, without their expertise in finding wild beasts that roamed the snows outside of Bergen, the Wild Brigade wouldn't have been half as lucrative as there were now. Mannic had a sense for traps that impressed Astrid, and Oslo seemed to have a second nose when it came to finding out where the beasts were themselves.
They stood outside the igloo, one man and a woman behind them.
"What's the meaning of this?" Zack asked, slightly on guard of the two strangers at their camp.
His igloo was based a quarter mile outside the stone and ice walls of Bergen. It wasn't night yet, but it was nearly there, enough to freeze your eyes in the dead of Winter. People didn't venture out into the cold unless they had good reason to.
Although older and larger than his brother, Oslo looked down to Mannic for a response. The younger of the two said, "These folk caught wind of your exploits in the Rings. Met them a pub and said they wanted to speak with you."
Zack gave the two strangers a once over.
The man seemed skittish, eyes darting around between the dark of the trees. The only light afforded to them came from the moon and the campfire pouring through the igloo's entrance. He was of average height and had a lazy eye.
His companion, an older woman probably in her fifties with already graying hair eyed Zack as if inspecting him. She had the looked of a woman who was used to being in charge -- back straight, shoulders relaxed, and jaw ready to bite at any who disobeyed what she said. Something about her reminded Zack of a very angry dog.
The woman said, "My name's Leyna. I saw you fight in the Rings. Never seen anything like it. You were strong and wild as any beast I've encountered. But that was no less than three months ago. How have you grown so much since then?"
Zack was even more vigilant. The woman had been keeping an eye on him. Even Fabiola took a defensive step forward. Oslo and Mannic went to the side and joined Astrid in watching the conversation. Leyna was here specifically for Zack, and because she had seem him fight.
He asked, "What's it to you? If you're here to work with the Wild Brigade, we aren't looking to hire anymore. We can't afford it. Come back to us in five months."
By then, he thought, Yemiri would be free from the money he and his people had earned.
Leyna shook her head. "Not here for that. Just came to ask some questions. Like, what are you thoughts on Adjutant Nicolas Lagrand?"
That was an odd question. These two looked nothing like the twins that had watched over Zack's last fights, but it didn't mean she wasn't working for the Adjutant. But his instincts told him to tell the truth. He said, "Don't know about his position since I was only a slave not too long ago. Could care less about politics. But I'm not fond of the man. He has something very important to me."
The man behind Leyna snorted. "Heard about that. Pretty girl in the tower, right?"
Leyna smacked the man in the head. "Shut up, Ulfric!"
Zack's heart skipped a beat. "You know about Yemiri?"
Leyna nodded, clearly upset that her hand had been played for her. "Yes, we do. Our...organization has ears everywhere in Bergen. Unfortunately, we can't get her out of the Adjutant's tower."
"Why would you even try offer something like that?" Fabiola asked, spear tipped toward the newcomers.
Astrid chuckled. "They can't get her out of the tower because it's impossible to get inside the place. Trust me, I've tried. No points of entry except for the front door. Not even a window. The whole place is made of ice thicker than I've ever seen."
Leyna let out an exasperated sigh. She put up her gloves and said, "Look. This is getting out of hand."
The Flesh Elementalist Page 9
