Chapter 40

  Dalex, Balgoth, and Yesui rode into the little forest town of Dugan late the night after their departure. The sun was well over the horizon and the town mostly slumbered.

  The journey from Batulan-bar had been quiet and uneventful. Yesui was uninterested in talking to Dalex. To spare them all some boredom, Dalex tried to get Balgoth to sing a few of her demon songs but she refused. Him making such a suggestion was the one time Yesui spoke up, telling him she absolutely forbade Balgoth to sing anything in her presence.

  As a result, their only entertainment was Balgoth mocking him for his poor horsemanship. To be fair, he was an abysmal rider.

  Worse, his horse, a mare named Judy, knew just how inexperienced he was and did everything in her power to make the ride miserable. She refused to listen to him, tried to brush him off on tree trunks, and frequently went deliberately off the beaten path. It was a constant struggle, and Yesui reckoned they arrived in Dagun three hours later than they should have because of it. But Dalex loved every minute of it. Just a week ago he never would have thought he would get the chance to match wills with an animal like Judy.

  And the joke was on the horse. In the end, they made it where he wanted to go. All of her obstinance had only cost him a few hours.

  Even so, he resolved to use {fly}—or {teleport} if he was in a hurry—on the journey home to Batulan-bar. He’d had his fun. As much as he wanted to be more familiar with horses, it would be easier to learn in smaller doses than a cross-country ride.

  Dalex and his companions dismounted in front of a small inn and tied their horses to a post. Seventh descended from the sky to meet them. She had been scanning for any signs of activity from the creature they were hunting, but so far had come up short.

  Yesui gave her a peeved look and then turned to Dalex. “You go inside and tell them you’re from the Lodge. I sent a bird letting the innkeeper know we were coming. He should have at least two rooms set aside for us.”

  Dalex gave her a thumbs up and walked into the inn, Balgoth and Seventh following close behind.

  Before arriving in town, Dalex had set his armor to be visible at all times so as not to be recognized right away. Luckily, the system in the armor allowed him to change the color of the metal to dull gray rather than the normal pale blue, or he would have been recognized regardless. Lots of people knew Dalex of the Expedition 7 wore blue armor when he fought.

  For the moment, he looked like a generic knight.

  The beastkin innkeeper had indeed been expecting visitors from the Hunters’ Lodge, but he was taken off guard when none of the people claiming the room reservation wore a hunter’s uniform. Balgoth, wearing the hat that hid her horns and made her look human, and Seventh especially surprised him.

  Dalex assured the proprietor that Yesui would be coming in shortly as the official Lodge representative to confirm their identity, and that seemed to be enough for the innkeeper. He recognized Yesui’s name.

  Dalex and Balgoth went up, secured the three rooms assigned to them—Dugan didn’t get many visitors, so there were plenty available, even in such a small inn—and then returned to the common room to wait for Yesui.

  “Aren’t you going to take that off?” the innkeeper asked Dalex when he came back down still wearing his full armor, including the helmet hiding his face.

  “I’m afraid I’ve been cursed to wear it at all times,” Dalex explained. In the quiet moments of the day’s ride, when he hadn’t been fighting against Judy, he had been developing his incognito backstory, expanding on the idea he had contemplated before deciding to tell Hitasa the truth about where he came from.

  “Oh dear,” the innkeeper said. “You must have a great many enemies.”

  Dalex was a bit taken off guard to learn that curses were actually a phenomenon these people understood. Given the unique nature of their magic, he hadn’t been sure the concept would have taken hold in this particular realm.

  “What do you mean by that?” Dalex asked.

  “You’re the one who’s cursed,” the innkeeper said. “I assume it took quite a few believers to conceive a lingering malady like that.”

  “What if it was just one person?” Dalex asked, fearing that his backstory was already falling apart.

  He had come up with the idea that his older brother had cursed him for earning their father’s favor despite being the youngest. In the story, theirs was a rivalry that went back many years. Even now, Dalex’s brother hunted him, hoping to take back his birthright, a platinum locket that marked him as head of their noble family.

  The innkeeper frowned. “I didn’t think it worked like that. A bunch of folks have to independently wish you ill in a similar fashion. It can’t be publicized like a piece of equipment or a spell.” The beastkin narrowed his eyes at Dalex. “You aren’t bringing any trouble to Dugan, are you?”

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  “No, no, no,” Dalex said, waving his hands defensively. “If anything, I’m here to put an end to some trouble. I hear your town has a giant monster problem?”

  “I suppose so. I haven’t seen the creature myself, though I think I heard its footfalls when I was at the edge of the forest the other night.”

  “Has it hurt anyone yet?” Dalex asked.

  “Not that I’ve heard. It might make our next winter a little more uncomfortable. Old maid Cheemig’s field was trampled flat. The thing left behind footprints the size of a house. But it’s been wandering around the forest for near on a month now and hasn’t so much as tipped a cow.”

  “I was told it’s been eating livestock.”

  “No, I don’t think so. Maybe the mayor told a little fib to get you out here faster. Don’t worry, they’ll still pay you for your time. Assuming you get to it first.”

  Dalex took a step back. “Oh? Is someone else hunting the creature?”

  “My only other guest. He came into town just yesterday. That’s him behind you.” The innkeeper bowed his head and said, “Welcome back, Lord Human.”

  Dalex felt his eyes go wide. He turned around and saw the figure standing in the open door to the inn, fully lit by the oil lamps inside. The man wasn’t wearing the armor Dalex had seen him in last, but when he spoke, Dalex knew exactly who he was.

  “You changed the color, but I’d recognize that plate anywhere,” Arnaut, hero of Angars said. “Are we after the same prey, Dalex of the Expedition Seven?”

  “To whom are you refer—?” Dalex began, modulating his voice to sound deeper and older, but he gave up halfway through the sentence. It sounded stupid. His armor probably had some feature that would mask his voice, but he hadn’t thought to check for it right away. “Well shit. So much for my disguise.”

  He let his armor evaporate and stood before Arnaut without any pretense. The innkeeper started at the disappearance of so much metal, then seemed befuddled to learn Dalex had been lying about the curse, and then looked like he might panic when he realized two humans were mean mugging each other in his common room.

  “If this is going to be a fight,” Dalex said, “we should step outside.”

  “Why do you think I would attack you?”

  Dalex felt a twitch in his cheek. “Maybe because of that ambush you pulled when we first met.”

  “I seem to recall you fired the first shot.”

  “You tore up half a city street and tried to stab me before I could say a word.”

  “And you assaulted Great Lord Castreier in the middle of his official duties.”

  Dalex summoned {Skull Anchor} into his hands. “Okay, maybe this is going to be a fight.”

  The innkeeper let out a despairing groan. Balgoth scribbled furiously in her notebook, humming a few melodic notes under her breath. Seventh stood by passively, maybe not even paying attention to the conversation. She and her {golems} were still busy exploring the forest for Dalex’s prey.

  Arnaut waved a dismissive hand at Dalex. “No, it is not. I have no interest in sparring with you, ser.”

  “You sure? It doesn’t really matter who started it. I’ll let you get your sword, and we can find out who ends it.”

  “There is no time for that. The people of this town are more important than your petty disagreements.”

  For a guy who didn’t want to fight, Arnaut sure kept asking to get punched. Dalex let {Skull Anchor} disappear. “You’re seriously here to hunt the giant creature too?”

  “Of course,” Arnaut said. “I heard about Dugan’s plight yesterday morning and rushed here straight away. Though, despite its apparent size, I have yet to locate the beast.”

  Arnaut let the door to the inn close behind him and walked up to the counter where the innkeeper cowered in fear. The beastkin looked up at him, dog ears wilting the closer the hero came.

  “It is well, Master Togol,” Arnaut said. “There will be no brawling today. Your inn is safe. Would you be so kind as to pour me a cup of your finest coffee?”

  Togol looked from Arnaut to Dalex, and Dalex shrugged. “If he doesn’t want to fight, we won’t fight. I’ll take a cup too, if you don’t mind.”

  The innkeeper slowly got to his feet and then took a long breath. “Yes, Lord Arnaut, Lord Dalex. Give me just a moment.”

  Arnaut took a seat at a table in the common room and leaned back in his chair. Dalex, Balgoth, and Seventh sat down at another table on the opposite side of the room. The two parties sat in silence while Togol prepared the coffee and brought it out to them. Balgoth refused anything to drink. Dalex thought he heard her mumble something about “canine blood” when the innkeeper was out of earshot.

  Dalex took a sip from his coffee and then called over to Arnaut, “What do you know, then?”

  “If you are speaking of the beast, I will not tell you. We are in competition.”

  Dalex sighed. This was a wrinkle in his payday he hadn’t expected. Slaying the monster would likely be easy enough. Finding it before Arnaut was a different matter, especially as Seventh was having difficulty tracking the creature down.

  Yesui chose that moment to push open the front door and walk into the common room. She stood between the two occupied tables and stared at Dalex. While she had entered with a pleasantly neutral expression, it twisted into a scowl.

  “What did I tell you about keeping your armor on?” she snapped. “Just because you’re indoors doesn’t mean—”

  “The disguise didn’t work,” Dalex cut in before she could get any more worked up. “Someone recognized me right away.”

  “What? Who?”

  Dalex pointed across the room at the other guest. She turned around and finally realized they weren’t alone. The sight of another human startled her, but she recovered quickly and cooly said, “Greetings, Lord Human. Are you two acquainted?”

  “This is Arnaut,” Dalex said, hoping to keep the hero from jumping into his elaborate introduction. “I fought him the other night when Castreier was in the city. Don’t worry, he’s playing it cool because he knows he can’t beat me.”

  Arnaut, who had been in the middle of a sip of coffee, narrowed his eyes and gave Dalex a murderous glare. Dalex only shrugged.

  “Arnaut,” Yesui muttered, her expression showing the cogs turning in her head. “Arnaut that you fought. Arnaut with Great Lord Jean Castreier. You don’t mean…?”

  “Yes!” Arnaut suddenly exclaimed, his tone delighted at the chance to grandly introduce himself regardless of Dalex’s attempt to interfere. He jumped to his feet and saluted with a fist across his heart. “You have the honor of the company of Arnaut Edmond Gasceny, hero of Gaia Gamma, hailing from the noble city of Angars.”

  He walked forward and knelt before Yesui, taking one of her palms to kiss her on the back of the hand.

  “But it is my pleasure to be in the presence of such an elegant lady. May I ask your name, young miss?”

  Yesui stared at him for several seconds before letting out a long-suffering sigh and pulling her hand out of his grasp. “I can’t deal with another one,” she said. “I’ll be in my room.” And then she walked away to the suite of guest accommodations and disappeared behind her door.

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