Chapter 14:Beginning To Blend Part 1
Lester was not enjoying being poked and prodded by the woman who had called the murderers to slaughter his family. He hadn’t been worried about her discovering anything through the farce of an examination she was performing. A simple physical examination would tell her nothing of the reality of who Lester was. The transformation was as fundamental as the stones lining the cobbled road to the large house behind them, if more mutable to Lester’s will.
Lester’s only danger of being discovered was if his behavior tipped anyone off that he was not a young human. He had done this song and jig before when the settlement had been in their last home. He was rusty, so he decided less talking would be better.
The woman calling herself Robby’s mother had been easy to fool. The woman had barely looked at him or interacted beyond yelling to get his fool behind moving just before dawn. Thankfully, his packing had been completed the night prior after he had managed to get Roger to leave the room after their pity party.
The siblings of Robby hadn’t interacted with Lester before they had all settled into sleep until morning. That had been fortunate because Lester didn’t think they would be so calm once they found out he had raided their poorly concealed personal stashes under their mattresses. He had left the personal items but taken what little copper and silver there was.
During the departure, Robby’s father had seemed bothered by his one-word replies to the questions he had posed before Kara, and he had left the millhouse.
Lester had been unable to stay still for the parting hug the man had given him before he had left with Robby’s mother. He had been concerned when the man had fumbled at Lester’s hip for a moment before the older man had slipped a small pouch of what felt like coins into Lester’s pocket.
Slight pangs of guilt at deceiving the man after he had been so consoling to the monster that consumed his son the night before aside, Roger seemed to be a bit wishy-washy and way too touchy for Lester’s comfort. The man had seemed reassured that his youngest boy was feeling better enough to squirm at a hug from his father in public. He gave Lester a wink while subtly patting his hip. Lester had rolled his eyes at the man, which made his small smile grow.
Another hug from the red-haired older boy who had come out to see his “little brother” off and give some last bits of advice for the journey had been tolerated more easily. Lester had submissively nodded agreement at the words he barely paid attention to while eyeing the woman Kara, impatiently tapping her foot for the men to “get this sappiness over with.”
She grabbed Lester roughly by the arm and dragged him away from the millhouse. He had managed to snag his pack off the ground while being hauled away. The two men called farewell again as the diminutive monster was dragged by an oblivious mother to disappear behind other buildings on their way to Lester’s next objective.
Arriving at an enormous house with its grounds surrounded by a brick wall with a fancy-looking gate, Kara shoved him onto a bench near the entrance and stalked toward the group of soldiers and that healer woman from the farmer’s home waiting nearby. Lester recognized the location as the lord’s manor he had scouted with his wife before tragedy struck.
He ignored the lump in his throat, thinking of Mina, and tried to focus on being observant. One of the scouts Lester had observed leaving the manor house to fetch those wretched adventurers was standing nearby with another man in similar clothes. They were tending a pair of horses while waiting.
A conversation was being held between the soldiers and the healer woman. Kara’s abrupt interjection into the conversation told him the woman’s name. He might have heard it when he had been spying on the woman in the farmer’s home, but the last day’s events had robbed him of it. Lester teared up, thinking of Mina again. He couldn’t help letting a manic giggle out when he realized.
“Robbed. I’m Robby now. Robby got robbed. By the robed mob.”
Healer Prisca said a few sharp words to Kara as she frowned at Lester, crying in full and talking to himself on the bench. She waved dismissively at the now again angry woman and walked to where Lester sat. Kara was indignant at being dismissed so flagrantly and started dressing down the soldiers.
“Hello, Robby. I know this is tough on you right now, but we need to go over some things, and I need to give you a check-up before you leave. Can you be brave and stand up for me?”
Lester had silently complied and tried to get his emotions under control while the woman jabbered through a smattering of advice and a physical examination. Lester tried to pay at least partial attention to what she was babbling about.
By the time she finished the examination, the human Lord had arrived with some other humans and was harassed by Kara as the soldiers looked on with trepidation. The human Lord looked more amused and exasperated than threatened by Kara’s words. The thin, pinch-faced man beside the Lord looked ready to attack the woman.
The farmer that lived near where the goom settlement had once been was coming up the road toward the group. The expedition would be leaving soon. Lester started adjusting his pack to sit more comfortably on his shoulders.
Prisca addressed Lester directly, asking a question. Lester pulled his attention back to the woman in front of him.
“One last time, what have you promised me to do every day before you start running messages in the capital?”
Lester cast his mind back to the half-heard babble this woman had been rudely trying to force into his head while accosting him with an ineffectual examination.
“Stretch my breakfast.”
Prisca briefly closed her eyes in an effort of patience, though the small smile led Lester to believe she wasn’t bothered by a child only half paying attention.
“No, dear. Eat breakfast and stretch before you start running. You may feel fine without it, but your body won’t have the proper healing energy if you pull something while hungry. Better to avoid getting hurt, but if it can’t be avoided, you need to be able to heal quickly.”
Lester felt exasperation at such silly advice. If humans needed to stretch before every instance of exertion, how did they get anything done? Were they that fragile?
Lester had flashes of memory of his family escaping the settlement as they fled the fire mountain before this new home had been found. He remembered the screams and assaults of the humans chasing them. The mage that had given him his scars. The new memories of what had been in that clearing.
Lester reaffirmed in his mind that the inconsistently dangerous world-ending threat of humanity needed to be eradicated. Then again, if they collectively looked out for each other so much to pass on such advice to the young, maybe they weren’t inconsistently dangerous. He now wished he had been more insistent with his mother about educating the dibbun about the world’s dangers. They would have been more prepared when this all went wrong.
He dismissed dwelling and gave the woman the answer she seemed to be waiting for. He could not keep some of his anger out of his voice.
“Yes, Prisca.”
Prisca gazed at the boy for a moment, contemplating if the disrespect of anger in his voice needed to be addressed. She then dismissed it as a young boy in a situation out of his depth.
The farmer had approached Lester and Prisca. She addressed Lester one more time.
“Good boy, go stand with the Luciloos for now. You’ll all be leaving soon.”
Lester overheard the start of the conversation as he moved away. He stumbled for a moment, still not entirely adapted to the taller frame of the human boy he had replaced. Prisca and the farmer glanced at him but didn’t say anything.
Novice Jenkins, I see you’re able to get around fine. It seems that Dwarf was a paladin, in truth, if those scratches are feeling that good. I would have put you on crutches for at least a few weeks.”
The conversation faded as he moved to the two scouts near the horses. They were conversing with another bearded blond man confidently addressing them. Two of the three didn’t notice Lester’s approach, but the shortest nodded amicably to the boy approaching them.
“Mornin’, Robby. Excited to be heading out soon? You’ll be an adventurer soon. Once they get you trained up properly, you’ll be a good luciloo, too.”
Lester contemplated how a young human would respond in this situation. Suppressing his impulse to transform his hand back to having claws and plunging them into this man’s crotch at the insult of calling him an adventurer, Lester shrugged calmly.
The friendly man seemed disappointed Lester wasn’t excited to become a member of the murdering scum who slaughtered what they feared. Lester realized the man needed a little more to be appeased and forced his face to light up in glee. The thought of attaining vengeance and rescuing his nephew helped him get there. He needed to divert this man and gather more resources before the trip began.
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“When I become a luciloo, does that mean I get my own horse?”
The man laughed at the perceived eagerness of a young boy and ruffled his hair.
“Aye, once you’ve grown into the training a bit, I suspect they’ll have you doing dispatch for a year or two. Work hard, boy, and you’ll do fine.”
Lester nodded in what he hoped was an eager way and scampered off through the groups of humans that had gathered. He suspected the man wouldn’t care if he wasn’t underfoot directly. As he passed behind a group of soldiers, he snuck a silver coin into his mouth and worked a modified concealment spell into place. One of the fingers on his right hand grew a sharp claw he kept low and to his side. He disliked taking the risk, but he needed more contingency funds.
He disliked depleting his mana so soon after the small amount he had regained over the short sleep period, but this would make the next steps easier. He flitted from one group of humans to another, using small bursts of mana to fuel his spell. In every group he scampered through, he spied out a coin pouch hanging from a belt that wasn’t too large and snicked it off the belt with a swipe of his claw.
The concealment spell had been modified to hide a direct interaction more efficiently, but in sacrifice, he could only keep it going during the act. It was a higher cost for a much briefer period. It would be dicey even with the paltry silver coin he had scarfed to help fuel the spell. So, in a manner he thought would portray just an eager boy, he jumped from group to group and pestered soldiers for stories.
They obliged with sarcastic commentary thrown in by a few comrades who had been there when whatever daring event they bragged about happened. Soldiers reviled bragging unless they were the ones doing it, evidently.
His efforts at skullduggery were aided but interrupted when the Lord spoke sharply to Kara Milligan and strode to where the pinch-faced man had joined a conversation with the farmer and healer Prisca. Kara came over and knelt before him, placing her hands on his shoulders as he stuffed his ill-gotten pouches into a pocket with his right hand to hide the claw being withdrawn back into his finger. She frowned down at his hand in the pocket and reached for it.
The goom in disguise thought the jig was up. His stolen, transformed heart thundered in his chest. He prepared himself to do a more thorough transfiguration and start his goal of genocide a little early as the woman holding his arm stared at the pouches in his hand. The claw had finished its withdrawal, thankfully.
Lester had snagged only three purses before he judged trying for any of the better-dressed humans would be too blatant a theft for his meager mana to conceal the act. Kara looked furious for a flash before she snatched the purses from him and stuffed them into her cleavage.
“Are you a fucking idiot?”
She hissed at him as she withdrew a fancy-looking scarf from where she had concealed the evidence of his crime. Lester was astounded she hadn’t started screeching at him. That would have been more in line with the woman’s character that he had observed.
She wiped angrily at his face as he stood dumbfounded.
“I was going to give you money to take care of your necessaries until they started paying you, you little dumbass. Why would you risk our reputation swiping a few measly coppers from soldiers? Gods above and below, who cursed me with such an idiot for a son?”
She tugged roughly at the pack straps on his shoulders, ensuring they were adequately snug. Taking a much fatter purse from her belt, she tucked that one into his pocket. She looked awkwardly at what she thought was her son while giving him a decidedly unpracticed hug. She whispered in his ear, almost too soft to hear.
“I’m hard on you because I love you, you little shit. Don’t think otherwise and come back to me alive, or I’ll wring your neck.”
She leaned back from the hug and continued to kneel in front of him, waiting for some reply. Lester contemplated the woman before him to whom he owed nothing. She looked angry, of course, but scared, too, as if a meteor of karma and horse dung would fall from the sky to strike her due to past wrongdoings on her part. A cruel impulse struck him, and he replied, knowing she wouldn’t understand his words’ true horror.
“I wish you had told me that more often before I was gone.”
She smiled at that. She was…relieved? What a strange woman. That was meant to be hurtful.
“Good boy, give better than you get, and you’ll stay ahead.”
Kara patted him on the head and stood. Without any more words, she walked away toward the millhouse. Lester was baffled. Why were all humans such evil creatures?
He shook off the thought and turned his attention to the Lord, who had started to address the gathered humans.
“Novice Jenkins, Novice Robby. You are to report to the Adventures Guild upon arrival in Purpolis. Luciloo’s Brynnly and Ivan, you will guide the escort to the capitol. You will separate upon arrival and deliver your report on the last few days’ events to the Luciloos. You should have the collective reports from Captain Lowry.”
“Soldiers of Red Adder County, you are to be the protection detail for everyone. The recent increase in mob activity warrants the task, and you are to ensure the safe arrival of everyone involved.”
“Private Johansen, you will be the guide upon arrival in Purpolis. You are not to separate from the group. We want to keep you out of further trouble with Baron Lickspittle. Yes, we know all about that mess. Kindly do not make your situation worse.”
Lester watched as some other soldiers around the man nudged him aggressively. The man seemed unbothered, though a bit red in the face. Johansen responded smartly,
“Yes, My lord.”
“Do you have any immediate advice on navigating the city for those present who have never been to the capital?”
Johansen hesitated. At a glare from what Lester assumed was a senior soldier, he continued.
“Purpolis can be…strange. Not in a bad way most of the time, but things happen that have little sense in trying to be explained. My sergeant explained that the mages there say that magic is responsible for some of the strangeness, but they say it is important not to give things too much attention when they happen. Also, some mobs are collared and work for the city doing menial tasks.”
Lester’s attention sharpened. Collared mobs might give him clues as to where the ones kept out of the public eye would be kept. He assumed even the humans would not be keen on having the more dangerous or valuable creatures on display for the public. Once Choch and Gomm were identified for what they were, Lester had little doubt they would be deemed “Valuable.”
Captain Lowry spoke up,
“Magic bullshit aside, Explain more for those that haven’t been to the city about that last bit.”
Johansen looked more uncomfortable but continued as if he was resigned to being mocked for his words,
“The mobs aren’t dangerous as long as they are collared, but some look very dangerous. I think it’s madness to have that many mobs around that many people. But the AG, the Adventurer’s Guild, has flyers everywhere reassuring people that it’s safe.”
Lester softly snorted at that, drawing a glance from one of the soldiers nearby. He smiled sheepishly at the man and tried to be a better little human in a large group of what would be very angry humans if they discovered what he was. The soldier shook his head at the boy and returned to Johansen’s impromptu briefing.
“The guild does a good job protecting the city, but you hear rumors about…incidents with mobs… let’s say, misbehaving. So the other guards and I made a point of never going alone. During the day, it’s not so bad, but at night, people that went anywhere by their lonesome tended not to come back.”
Lester bet the humans called it “misbehaving.” He could move more easily at night when the humans were skittish. He needed to know more about the different roles the humans forced the creatures they had unjustly imprisoned to fill.
Lord Tom was about to continue when Lester decided to pipe up in his new high-pitched, excitable, and entirely reasonable tone,
“Does that mean we can ride monsters? Like they were pets or servants?”
Johansen answered Lester with a look that said he was trying to be patient with a little boy. Lester smiled in what he thought would be a disarming way.
“The city is sectioned out into districts. Yes, there is an entertainment district where you can see them do tricks or even play with them, but it can be expensive.”
That was just depressing to Lester. Districts evenly divided into general sections might make things easier to navigate. Still, the humans subjugating wild creatures into dancing and subservient roles such as forced playmates made things worse than he had expected. He had fervently hoped his sarcastic pet or servant joke would be disproved. Menial labor he could understand, but this was too much.
He much preferred how most creatures worked. If it was a threat, you killed it and ate it. You hid or ran away if it was too big of a threat.
‘Why do humans make others suffer so much?’
Lester reeled back on that thought. He knew the answer. Greed. Most times, it was human greed. He would have to play to that while he was in the city.
Johansen continued.
“The other most well-known districts are divided by purpose and location. The city is massive. There will be more people than you have ever seen in your life. That’s one of the downsides to getting around, really.”
“The upside is they did a decent job organizing everything, so it’s not too hard to navigate once you get inside. The outside of the city is where most people live. Inside the walls are two rings of seven districts, one ring of six near the center of the city, then the central royal district. For a total of twenty-one in all.”
Lord Tom interjected,
“You’re getting into the weeds. I’ll finish, then everyone needs to get going.”
Lester stopped paying attention to the man and sank into his thoughts. He had a better idea of the city's layout, some inkling of how the mobs shown to the public were treated, and, thanks to that ominously strange exchange with the woman Kara, a chunk of resources to use in his goals. When he had a few moments of privacy, he would have to inventory that pouch and see what he was working with.
The senior soldiers speaking with the bearded blond man Lester had heard someone call captain started shouting orders. All the soldiers and the farmer started moving. Lester absentmindedly followed the farmer.
His mood brightened as the column of humans trailing a monster started toward their destination. He figured he could get more practice in controlling his taller body and started trying to match the stride of the soldiers ahead of him in the column.
He studied them carefully and matched their movements with a decidedly inhuman amount of focus.
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