Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty — Smother
Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty — Smother “I’m sorry ma’am, but I think you’ve made a small mistake,” I said carefully. It wouldn’t do to insult a worried mom. The older cervid lady was clearly distressed. She was also gathering a crowd.Those cervid who’d previously been staring at us secretively and from the corner of their eyes now had an excuse to stare and they were using it to the fullest.The older cervid lady waved her cane around, then brought it down onto the wood of the bridge with a hard clack. She stomped forwards with only the slightest limp of one of her forelimbs. “Where’s my Deiter! What’ve you done with him?”I glanced to my friends, then back to the lady. “I’m sorry, miss, but I don’t know who Deiter is.”“My son!” she shouted. “My son that you fawnapped.”I pointed to myself. “Me? I’d never kidnap... okay, look miss, I haven’t kidnapped anyone today. If you need help looking for your son, then maybe we can help you? We’re pretty handy!”There was a lot of murmuring going on in the crowd of cervid around us, and I had the impression they weren’t overly happy with the scene going on. A lot of those mean looks were directed at us.The cervid lady stomped closer, raising her cane over her head. “Give me back my Deiter or I swear on the gods and the World that I’ll beat you myself!”I raised my hands before me, empty so that it was clear I didn’t mean any harm. “Miss, I don’t know who Deiter is. We didn’t kid — fawnnap anyone.The lady screeched and I winced as her cane came racing down.It smacked into Amaryllis’ outstretched talon with a meaty thwap. My friend closed her hand around the long wooden stick and an electrical arc snapped at the air. A moment later, the stick cracked apart at the middle, bits of wooden shrapnel flopping to the ground as the cane broke in half. “Ma’am, we are travellers passing through your town. Nothing more. Calm yourself,” Amaryllis said.That was a bit direct, but I suppose she had been about to smack me.“Fawnnappers! You heard the bird! She admits it!”“What?” Amaryllis snapped in stupefied amazement. “I did no such thing! Have you gone senile? You look too old by half to have a child!”The lady was a little more elderly, but that didn’t mean anything. Maybe she adopted?“Alright, alright, what’s going on here?” a deep voice said. An older cervid stepped up. He was tall and barrel-chested, with a bit of a paunch. I think, if he were a human, he’d have what they called a ‘dad bod.’ But he wasn’t human so I really wasn’t sure how to describe the cervid stepping onto the bridge. “Myrtle, what are you doing?”“They’re the ones who kidnapped Deiter!” the old fawn lady, Myrtle, said. She stabbed a finger at me and my friends with what was left of her cane. There were more murmurs from the crowd.The big cervid crossed his arms. “Alright. Do you have any proof?”“They’re strangers!” Myrtle said.“True,” he replied, his eyes turning towards us. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves, strangers?”“What?” Amaryllis asked. “That’s enough for you? Someone shows up who you don’t know and you just assume the worst of them? What kind of backwards uneducated hovel-filled heap is this?”The cervid snorted. “You seem to be making your own assumptions, miss,” he replied.Amaryllis’ mouth shut with a click.The cervid eyed us some more, then sighed. “Myrtle, how heavy is your son?”“What?” the older lady asked. “I don’t know. He weighs more than my old bones, certainly.”“I don’t believe these three waifs could carry him off, then,” he replied. “They’re too thin, and not nearly muscled enough to manage such a feat.”I wasn’t sure if I should feel insulted by that or not. I was plenty strong! Over a month of constant physical activity was doing great things to keep me in shape. I wasn’t sure if I could lift a cervid, but maybe if it was a small one?“We didn’t fawnnap anyone,” I repeated. “We’ve only just arrived in the area, following along that river. Besides, why would we fawnnap someone?”“To eat him!” the lady said.I blinked. “But I’m a vegetarian.”“It’s true that buns don’t eat meat,” the big cervid said. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Myrtle, I don’t see these youths being the ones to take your son out of the town. Still, I wonder what you three are doing here in Riverstart?”This place was called Riverstart? That was a very utilitarian name. “We’re members of the Exploration Guild,” Amaryllis said. She tapped her chest where she wore her Exploration guild pin. I had my own fixed to the strap of my backpack. I’d kind of forgotten about it, to be honest.“We’re pretty good at finding things,” I said, mostly addressing Myrtle. “If you want, we can look for your son, maybe?”“First you fawnnap him, now you’ll extort me to find him again?” she asked.“Damnation Myrtle, Deiter is twenty-nine summers old. He ought to be able to handle himself.”“Twenty-nine,” Awen muttered.I was a bit confused too. That sounded a bit old for a mom to be so worried. Then again, maybe that was normal? I wasn’t in Myrtle’s shoes. Or horseshoes, as the case may be.“Does it matter?” Myrtle asked. “Someone’s taken him! Half of his things were missing from his room!”“Wait,” Amaryllis said. She had her hands on her hips and didn’t look amused at all. “So your son was kidnapped, but he’s very much an adult, and he packed his things up before leaving? Were there any signs of a scuffle? Did anyone hear him being kidnapped? Who was the last one to see him?”Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.“I was!” A cervid on the sidelines spoke up. Everyone turned to him, and he wilted at all the sudden attention. “Ah, well, he was walking out towards the north with his saddles full. He said bye?”Amaryllis threw her arms up. “He wasn’t kidnapped, he ran away!”“He might still be in trouble though,” I said. “We could help.”“Broccoli, we’re only travelling through this town. We have business elsewhere. I know you love your detours and pointless stops, but we can’t help with every little problem we run across. Especially not when the problem comes from people who like to accuse others without any proof or reason.” That last part was very clearly aimed at Myrtle who bristled at the accusation.“You broke my cane! Everyone here saw that!”“You assaulted one of us! Everyone here saw that, too!” Amaryllis snapped back.“Alright, calm down, both of you.” The bigger cervid stepped up next to Myrtle and laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure out what happened to Deiter, Myrtle. Maybe we can set up a search party. Judging by the amount of people lollygagging here, we have plenty of fine cervid with nothing better to do. Now, you three. Are you really just passing through?”I nodded. “That was our intent, mister. We’re trying to head to Fort Middlesfaire, but we couldn’t find a place to cross the river.” I remembered that we were trying to be a bit subtle about what we were up to. “Uh, we might have gotten a bit lost?”“Hmm,” he said. “I’m Cody, what passes for a mayor in this fine little town. We can point you towards the fort if you want. We head over there every so often to trade. It’s a good day’s walk from here. Two if you leave at this hour.”I glanced up. It wasn’t noon yet, but it was getting closer to it. My tummy was also starting to feel a bit empty, which was as good an indicator of the time as any. “Is there an inn here?” I asked.“Sorry, I’m afraid not. We have a general store and a smithy that I run. That’s about the whole of it. Riverstart is mostly farmers, lumberjacks, and a few odds and ends. Good folk trying to make a life for themselves on the old frontier.”“Oh. Well, it looks like a very nice town,” I said.Cody regarded us for a moment, and I felt as though we were being judged. “Say, you’re Explorers, aren’t you? Do you think you could handle our Myrtle problem?”“What do you mean, Myrtle problem?” Myrtle asked, seemingly incensed. “I’m not a problem, my missing son is the problem!”“We don’t actually know that it’s an issue,” Amaryllis pointed out.“Ah, we might be able to ask around here about... you know, our diplomat problem,” Awen said. “Or maybe someone here knows someone who might know better in Fort Middlesfaire.”One of the mayor’s eyebrows perked. “What’s this then?”“Can we discuss this in a more private setting, perhaps?” Amaryllis asked. “I think we’ve entertained the town enough for one day.”Mayor Cody nodded, then gestured to the general store and smithy on the other side of the bridge. “Come, we’ll talk by the forge. I need to keep stoking it, anyway.”“What about my son?” Myrtle asked.“I’ll talk to these misses about it, Myrtle.”“They’re just children,” she snapped. “And girls besides.”Amaryllis puffed out. “And a minute ago you thought we were able to kidnap your son? Did your egg crack before you hatched, you-” I placed a hand over Amaryllis’ mouth, which didn’t stop her from ranting but it did turn her rather mean words into mumbles that no one could understand.“I think that maybe we should go our separate ways for now, Miss Myrtle,” I said. “It was nice meeting you... I guess?”I dragged Amaryllis across the bridge. My friend looked quite ready to smack the elderly cervid lady around, but I tugged her along before she could do anything regretful.“I am sorry about Myrtle. For what it’s worth, I don’t think anyone sensible in town will actually listen to her. We’ve seen her behaviour for long enough to be used to it. It’s good drama, which is hard to come by in these parts, and most folk don’t put much credit in what she says.”“Then why do you allow her to continue?” Awen asked.“What else are we to do? Kick her out of the town? She’s not healthy enough to be on her own, nor would it be honourable to leave a woman to fend for herself in the wilds. This may no longer be the frontier anymore, but it’s no less dangerous at times. Her son keeps her in line. Or did.”Amaryllis huffed. “He probably ran away from her.”“Good for him. Still, it would behoove us to make sure he’s well,” Cody said as we approached the blacksmith’s shop. The side was built with a big sliding door that was opened up into the forge itself. Even with such a big opening, the space around the forge was smokey. At least it smelled nice, like fire and leather and that weird smell that burning metal had. “So, what is it that the Guild sent you here to find?” he asked.It wasn’t quite accurate, but it was a good guess on his part. I wanted to correct him, but then held back. We were supposed to be subtle. Amaryllis spoke up before I could make up my mind. “An airship crashed in the region, and the owners of it would like to know where and how. So we were dispatched to explore the area.”Not quite the truth, but not entirely untrue."Huh." Cody scratched his chin, staring off into the distance. "Well, I think I know someone who might know a thing or two about that,” he said. “And it just so happens to be in roughly the direction I think Deiter went in.”
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Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-One — Fortune Seeker
Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-One — Fortune Seeker “Where are you thinking of sending us?” Amaryllis asked. She sounded suspicious, which I supposed was only fair.Mayor Cody rubbed at his cheek, then made a vague gesture off to one side. I assumed that he was pointing more in the general direction than to the back wall of his forge. “Northwards. North and west a ways. That’s the direction Deiter probably headed off in.”“What’s that way?” I asked.“Honestly, not very much. Most of the time, there’s nothing at all up North until you reach the badlands. Past that you’re in the Snowlandia. But every year there are big hunter gatherer groups that pass by chasing after the cockatrice herds.”“The what?” I asked. I’d never heard of a cockatrice before.The mayor shook his head. “Cockatrice. They’re these birds; though I’ve been told they’re related to dragons somehow. Big ugly things, usually covered in skin and nasty as sin. About as tall as any of you girls to boot.”That sounded like a lot of trouble. “Are they an issue?” Amaryllis asked.“Not usually. They avoid folk for the most part. They’ll fight if you get close to their nests, and you’ll want to avoid being anywhere near them during mating season. The males will pick a fight with anything that time of year.”“Deiter went to see the cockatrice?” I asked, confused. “I didn’t get that impression about him.”Cody snorted. “Nay, he likely went to see the harvester’s caravan. Cockatrice have all sorts of useful things to them. Feathers and the like. Well ... so I hear. It's not my line of business. People say you can't ranch them; can’t keep them on a farm. So, every year, the harvesters follow after them and grab what they can. It’s hard work, but it pays; from what I hear.”“Oh,” I said. “Do you think he joined them for work then?”“Possibly. A caravan stopped by here about three days ago. They needed the forge to whip up some new axle fittings for one of their wagons and they bought up a few supplies. I suspect Deiter got to talking to them and saw an opportunity to leave.”I nodded along. It made some sense, I imagined. “Alright. And you want us to go meet these harvesters?”“That’s up to you. I’d appreciate it though if someone checked on Deiter. Besides, you said you were looking for something out in the plains, weren’t you? No one better than the harvesters to ask. They range across the entire prarie chasing after the cockatrice.”“That’s... actually reasonable,” Amaryllis said. “If we do find Deiter though, how are we going to tell you about it?”“Honestly, just guilt him into sending his mother a letter. I understand his wanting to run off, trust me, but he owes her that much, I imagine,” Cody said.I considered things while Amaryllis asked Cody a few more questions, mostly about the area and if he’d seen any passing airships lately. It didn’t look like she’d find the answers she was looking for, but that was okay.We were heading to Fort Middlesfaire to find out if anyone had seen the diplomatic convoy of airships. From what I remembered of its trajectory, it was supposed to pass far to the north of the fort, not over it. It was unlikely anyone at Fort Middlesfaire could have spotted the ships, but we were assuming that others might have and that they'd have told people at the fort.On the other hand, these harvesters were to the north, where the ships likely had passed.“How far north are the harvesters?” I asked.Cody shrugged. “I can’t rightly say. They were here two days ago, but that wasn’t the main group of them, just a few that came down for supplies. Maybe a day’s trot to the north? A little more, perhaps.”I glanced at my friends and didn’t see a consensus there. “Well, I’m down to try it,” I said. “It’s in the direction we’re supposed to be looking in anyway, and they might have seen something. How long do the harvesters stick around for?”“Two, maybe three weeks,” Cody said. “That’s how long it takes them to scout their surroundings and grab what they can. Mostly it’s cockatrice feathers from right after their moult, some meat from hunting and there are usually a good number of herbalists along too.”If they had been there for a week already, then they might have seen the airships! “If we run into Deiter I promise we’ll tell him to send a letter back, or maybe he can come back himself,” I said.“Thank you,” the mayor said. “Now, you said you were heading off towards the Fort. Do you need any supplies for the route?”“We have some things,” I said.“Bah, come, we have fresh bread and you’ll want to refill your canteens for the road. We have well-water here that’s less likely to sicken you than water from the river. Not that the river’s water is bad.”Cody led us into the little general store which, while it had a high ceiling, wasn’t all that spacious. They had a few essentials though, and we did end up picking a few things. There was indeed bread which smelled much nicer than anything in our sylph food packs and little bags of nuts and locally-picked berries which Cody explained were pretty commonly found along shaded riverbanks in the plains.We paid for everything, and I suspected that the price was much lighter than it should have been. Was Cody repaying us for the kerfuffle with Miss Myrtle earlier?With everything packed away, we slipped out of Riverstart just as easily as we’d entered the little town. We still got a few stares, but they were more curious than hostile now that we were escorted by the mayor. “Have safe travels,” he called to us.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.“Bye bye!” I shouted as I waved at him from some ways down the packed dirt road.The midafternoon sun slanted down on us as we trekked down the path. After a few minutes of walking, Amaryllis spoke: "I'm inclined to veer north. The harvesters there might know something, but even if they don’t, we’ll at least intercept the route the airships took. We can likely swing around and follow their path for a while. If the ships crashed, we might be able to discover them,” Amaryllis said.“I don’t mind wandering around aimlessly for a while,” I said. “It’s fun as long as you’re with friends.”Amaryllis shook her head.The break at Riverstart had been enough to recharge our batteries. Just not walking for an hour had been nice, though I could have used a sit. We continued vaguely northward, heading off the road with Awen occasionally pulling out her compass to point us back in the right direction.It was hard to walk in a straight line once we were out of the little woods around the river. Sure, there wasn’t much around us, just sweeping hills and open plains, but somehow we always ended up going just a little bit off course.I was sure that if we plotted out our trajectory on a map, it would look zig-zaggy the entire time.When my tummy started to rumble later on, and I noticed that the sun was starting to dip towards the horizon, I asked my friends if we should find a place to relax and grab a bite to eat. Amaryllis pointed ahead to a small patch of trees on the down-wind side of a hill. Just four trees with wind-bent trunks and swept branches.We made it there and sat down with our backs to a tree. Awen split apart a loaf of bread and we shared it between us with some cheese and a small jar of very sweet preserves from our sylph rations. “How much further do you think we can go today?” I asked.“Not very,” Amaryllis said. “We have another two hours of sunlight. I’d rather not waste those. We’ll just need to keep an eye out for a good spot to set up camp.”I nodded as I chewed.“Ah, do you think there’s anything dangerous around here?” Awen asked.“Cockatrices should be plenty dangerous,” Amaryllis said. “I suspect we could take one on with the three of us working together. If we see a group of them though, walking away might be the wisest course.”“What’s a cockatrice anyway?” I finally asked.Amaryllis entered lecturing mode. “A cockatrice is a large draconic bird. They’re primarily omnivorous and will mostly subsist on grains and grasses and seeds, though they’ll hunt down any small creature they come across too. Think rabbits and foxes and flying birds. They’re relatively large, with great talons and... strange beaks.”“How strange?” Awen asked.“They have teeth,” Amaryllis said. “At least, the females do. The males have sharper, longer beaks. At least, I believe that’s the case. We don’t have any in the Harpy Mountains, so what I’m saying is mostly coming from what I've read. Their main weapon though is their eyes. If a cockatrice locks eyes with you, you’ll freeze up. I believe the bigger, more powerful ones have more powerful gazes. Some can turn you to stone in an instant.”“That’s terrifying,” I said.“Fortunately, those have likely all been hunted down. Cockatrice parts are valuable alchemical reagents and their meat is supposed to be a delicacy, especially the older, bigger ones,” Amaryllis said. “The current wild herds have been trimmed and hunted year on year for decades now; I doubt they’re as formidable as they once were.”I shook my head. “That doesn’t sound good. They’ll hunt them to extinction if they go on for too long.”“I suppose,” Amaryllis said. She didn’t seem terribly bothered by the idea. “Anyway, it needed to be done. The cervid have large overland caravans that loop around the northern end of the Harpy Mountains towards their western frontier. They do some trade with the independent cities there and Snowlandia as well. The Cockatrice were a threat to those caravans, once.”We finished up our late lunch, got up, then headed out once more.The day was really nice for a walk. The skies were nearly empty of clouds except for a few white wisps far, far above, and the sun was warm on our faces. There was a brisk wind coming from the north that kept us cool despite the sunlight. It was very much appreciated.Walking up hills all day was a chore, but it was wholesome exercise and it meant that the route down the hills would be all the easier later.We chit-chatted about nothing with great enthusiasm until the hour grew late and we all grew quite tired. The hills had grown smaller and the grass taller as we headed north. We couldn’t find a spot with any trees or even a stream, so we ended up settling down in a spot where a few large boulders would cut the wind.There was nothing to burn, so we didn’t get to build a fire, but Amaryllis was good with magic so she warmed things up for us while Awen and I struggled with the tent.We ate with our backs to the boulder. Somehow, Awen convinced Amaryllis to tell stories about her sisters, then we talked about our schooling. Explaining how school worked back home was weird, but my friends had had very different sorts of education.And then it was bedtime.I took the first watch, sat atop the boulder, and watched the plains fade to utter darkness with only my one tiny magical light ball for illumination. In that breathtaking stillness, I lost myself in the glittering sea of stars until Amaryllis came to replace me.So far, our trip had gone pretty well. I was looking forward to the next day!
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