Chapter 39

  Dalex was confident Dava hadn’t lied about the job. Yesui was just being difficult. Maybe he couldn't blame her. He had brought Castreier down on her place of business and was causing all kinds of havoc in her home city. Chiefly, he had made it a target for the Wolf Brigade. Dava and Metsa didn't mind that. They even wanted to take advantage of it. But not everyone would be like them.

  Dalex put his hands out in an accepting gesture. "I get it, you don't like what I've been up to. If you really don't have anything that needs doing, I'll be on my way. But Dava made it sound like your lodge mother was really worried about something. I can help. I'm not looking to get rich, either. A fair wage for a fair job is enough for me."

  Yesui glared at him, but she did not tell him to go away again.

  "Is the lodge mother here?" Dalex asked.

  Instead of answering, Yesui looked over his shoulder. "Who is that?"

  Dalex turned around to see Balgoth behind him standing very close. Her surprise presence gave him a little shiver.

  "You don't make much noise, do you?" He turned around. "She's Balgoth, a demon bard that won't stop following me around."

  "How typically human," Yesui said, "hiring entertainers to sing your glory. What do you need a job for if you can spring for a demon to write your songs?"

  "Actually, I've told her I won't be paying for her services, but she still won't leave me alone."

  Balgoth made a growling noise behind him, and he thought he heard the word "debt" spoken under her breath.

  Yesui gave them both a humorless stare. It was curious that she did not seem bothered by the demon's presence. Dava, too, had been upset only because his elven companions had been upset.

  "Yes, Lodge Mother Sarnai is in today," Yesui said. "Yes, she knows who you are, just like everyone else. No, she will not see you."

  "Then there's nothing?" Dalex asked.

  "I did not say that." She paused for a dramatic sigh. "Dava was right. An increasingly worrying matter has been plaguing the Lodge Mother recently. We have reports of a large creature trampling fields and eating cattle in one of the outlying towns from Batulan-bar. It's also destroyed a significant swath of the local forest, killing game the town needs to feed it's people. No one is dead yet, but Lodge Mother Sarnai thinks it's only a matter of time."

  "Interesting," Dalex said. "What town is it?" He used his armor to project a map of the area for everyone to see. Yesui raised an eyebrow, clearly at least a little impressed by this magical convenience.

  "It's called Dugan." She walked around her desk to stand next to Dalex and point at a settlement on the map. "It's right here."

  The small town she indicated was mostly hidden by trees. Dalex noticed a single structure that looked like a humanoid-made roof.

  "I'm guessing I can just ask the locals where to find the creature?"

  "Yes, but I will be the one to communicate with the residents of Dugan. I don't want you to talking to anyone. In fact, I'd rather you stay out of sight while we're there. We don’t need the Wolf Brigade getting any ideas about terrorizing the rest of the countryside."

  "You're coming with me?" Dalex asked. "Am I really that untrustworthy?"

  "This hunt was always my assignment," Yesui explained. "I just didn't have enough hunters to accompany me."

  “Then I’ll be happy to have the company.”

  Dalex’s acceptance did not do anything to diminish the perpetual glare Yesui had for him.

  “So,” he continued, trying to keep things to business, “do you think it’s just the one mutt, or should we be on the lookout for a pack?”

  “It is not a mutt,” Yesui said. “Or, if it is, it is substantially larger than any mutt ever recorded.”

  Dalex had noticed that, while mutts changed in shape—growing bat wings and sprouting variable numbers of eyes—they did not change in size. Suddenly, he was even more excited at the prospect of this job. It wasn’t just about making money. It was also a chance to see some new fantastical creature.

  “We don’t know what it is,” Yesui went on. “Our first task will be to determine the nature of the creature and what threat it poses. Then, we’ll either request backup or deal with it ourselves.”

  Dalex did not anticipate backup would be necessary. He wondered what the creature might be. A dragon was probably out of the running. One of those wouldn’t be wasting time with a podunk town in the middle of nowhere. There weren’t any large bodies of water near Dugan, so it wasn’t likely to be a kraken or other aquatic creature. Could it be some kind of traditional giant or troll? Or perhaps there were giant reptiles other than dragons. Dalex had encountered a giant chameleon, after all.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  For the first time in several hours, Dalex heard Seventh’s voice in his head. “Are you sure it is wise to spend your time on this? If it has nothing to do with mutts, then I question the purpose in pursuing this job.”

  Seventh had spent most of the day above the city, keeping watch and making sure no enemy combatants snuck in. The only thing she had discovered was that the hero Arnaut had left the city, to where she could not say.

  Dalex did not respond to her yet.

  “Are you available to depart tomorrow?” Yesui asked.

  “Sure. I just need a good night’s sleep and then I’ll be raring to go.” Dalex turned to Balgoth again. “I suppose you want to come with us?”

  She looked up from her notebook at him. “If you leave me behind, I will disembowel you the next time I see you.”

  Dalex laughed. “That’s a yes.”

  “Then it is decided,” Yesui said. “Meet me here tomorrow morning an hour after sunrise. I will have horses ready for the journey. Bring your own food and supplies.”

  Dalex opened his mouth to offer an alternative to mounted travel, but Yesui raised a finger to stop him. “I have heard about the baskets you like to carry your followers around in,” she said. “I will not be degraded by being your cargo. We will travel by horse, or you will not be paid.”

  Dalex shrugged. It would likely only take a day to reach Dugan on horseback. He supposed there wasn’t a hurry. If something happened while he was away, he could always {teleport} back once the {golems} or Hitasa’s {charm of protection} alerted him. And he had never been horseback riding before. This sounded like an opportunity for new experiences.

  With the logistics sorted out, Yesui told Dalex to get lost for the night and Dalex was happy enough to comply. He and Balgoth returned to Hitasa and the hunters. Metsa and Staja were heading home. Dalex and Hitasa followed Dava back to his house for one more night. Balgoth—having not received an invitation to stay with Dalex at Dava’s home—simply sat down on the steps of the lodge and started humming to herself. Apparently, demons didn’t need sleep.

  While they were walking, Dalex matched Hitasa’s stride and settled in next to her to ask, “Are you sure everything is alright? It looked like you might have had a rough day.”

  He based this partially on his prior monitoring of her mental state, but also the state of the folded fliers that she still carried with her in a stack. The dirty and wet paper suggested she had been through something unpleasant.

  She maintained an easy smile. “You don’t have to worry about me. I am feeling well.”

  Dalex pointed at the top of the stack of fliers. “Do you mind if I’m your third reader?”

  Her eyes went a little wide, but she slipped a flier off the top and handed it to him. “That would make me happy.”

  As they walked, Dalex read quietly. The manifesto took him by surprise. He hadn’t known what to expect. It felt revolutionary, like the literature he had read for his mother’s history classes while he was in the hospital. It felt apologetic. It felt reproving and parental. The call to action was almost irresistible. Dalex found himself feeling good about the choices he had made so far and thinking about what more he could do. What did the elves need to free themselves from this tyranny?

  The farther he read down the page, the more the words sounded like Hitasa’s voice in his head. He felt her in half the document. The other half was a voice totally unfamiliar, but he knew where it came from. Sitoa.

  Dalex wished he could have known the elf. He wished even more that he had acted faster when he saw the brother and sister on the scaffolding. Why had he just stood there and watched while such a thoughtful person was murdered?

  When he was finished, Dalex refolded the pamphlet. “It’s amazing. I see why you were so eager to finally get it written down. Do you mind if I hold on to this copy?”

  “It is yours,” Hitasa said.

  They reached Dava’s home. While Dava unlocked the door, Dalex watched Hitasa for a moment. The slight smile suited her. Her hair was growing back quickly after Castreier had shaved it all off. Short and yellow, like waves of golden lace. Perhaps elven hair grew faster than human hair. She looked vastly more confident than that waif who might have blown away in the stiff winds of the hills surrounding her home town.

  Hitasa noticed him watching and said, “Is something wrong?”

  “Nothing. I might be gone for a while starting tomorrow. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you or the resistance need anything. If Metsa and Dava have questions or need help, you can tell me through the {charm of protection}. And I can be back here in a flash if something happens.”

  “I think we will be safe for a while. After what happened the other night, Castreier will need time to plan his next move.”

  Dalex agreed. At this point, Castreier and the Wolf Brigade knew what they were up against. They wouldn’t come at Dalex recklessly again. Of course, that did not bode well for any future encounters. Dalex would probably need to take some extra precautions to account for any of Castreier’s tricks that he didn’t know about yet.

  Dava got the door open and went inside. Hitasa moved to follow, but Dalex remained where he was. She turned around and gave him a questioning look.

  “I need to talk to Seventh for a moment. I’ll be right in.”

  After Dava and Hitasa were gone, Seventh descended from the sky. “You are going through with this request, then? Hunting this unknown creature is unlikely to yield any results in our search for benefine.”

  “It still strengthens our bond with the Mutt Hunters’ Lodge. It’s because of them we found that first mutt lair, after all. That gave us a chance strike a significant blow against the enemy {far realmers}.”

  “You already have a strong relationship with the Lodge.”

  Dalex shook his head. “It’s still tenuous. Dava trusts me, but Yesui and the lodge mother clearly don’t. And maybe this monster hunt will prove more enlightening than you think. It’s a bit strange that they don’t know what it is. You would think a giant monster would be easier to identify.”

  “The behaviors Yesui described do not match with any expected actions of the unknown faction. They would not bother with indigenous cattle.”

  “In any case, it should only take us a few days, and it will give us a chance to do some exploring,” Dalex replied. “You’re coming with me?”

  “Of course.”

  With Seventh momentarily satisfied, Dalex retired for the night. The next morning, he woke before everyone else and went back to the lodge, choosing to walk rather than fly. Yesui and Balgoth were both ready and waiting to begin the journey.

  After some time to acclimate to his horse, Dalex set off with them for Dagun. He fell out of the saddle only once before they left Batulan-bar.

  https://www.patreon.com/wjeffersonsmith