A firm grip shaking Liam’s shoulder woke him from a restful sleep. When his eyes fluttered open, he saw Nora crouched in front of him with a hand on his shoulder. Early morning sunlight peeked through the open tent flap, forcing him to squint.

As soon as he realized where he was, he asked, “Are we leaving already?”

“No. One of the mercenaries is cooking meat from a wild boar. I woke you because I smelled Scath nearby a few minutes ago. He’s waiting for you in the woods.”

“Ah, thanks for telling me,” Liam muttered as he pulled the blanket off himself. Wasting no time, he threw on his shoes and stepped outside.

Dew-covered grass reflected the sunlight around him. Birds chirped noisily from every direction. Crisp, earthy air swarmed his senses, invigorating him.

Several tents formed a circle around a central campfire that the members of the convoy started the previous night. One of the Blue Vultures stood over the fire, obviously having rekindled it. A makeshift fire spit that the group constructed the previous night held a large cast-iron griddle over the flame. The smell of bacon wafted over to Liam’s nostrils, making his mouth water.

“This way, Liam,” Nora said, pulling his attention away from the sizzling meat.

With that, she led him into the woods, drawing a curious glance from the cook. A few minutes after the camp became hidden from view by the dense foliage, Liam saw the long furry tail of the Direwolf poking out from behind the roots of a fallen tree. When they walked around, the beast raised its head and blinked tiredly.

“Everything good with your friends?” Liam asked.

Scath nodded but rested his head on the dirt again.

“So, you going to jump into my shadow now, or no?”

A quick snort from the Direwolf’s nose blew a few dry leaves away from its face. However, he slowly rose to his feet and stumbled toward Liam as though half-asleep.

“Is he not able to sleep in your shadow?” Nora asked.

“Not sure,” Liam replied while Scath melted into his shadow.

“Maybe those two guys in our wagon would be okay with him sleeping there. We could tell them you tamed him or something.”

Shrugging, Liam began retracing their steps. When they returned to the camp, several of the mercenaries warmed themselves by the fire to stave off the morning chill. Figuring he could ask Ekram about the issue with Scath, he searched around the campsite for the man. Once he spotted him, he sauntered straight toward him. Nora, on the other hand, mentioned something about partaking of the breakfast with the handful of men seated around the fire.

Leaving her to do her own thing, Liam moseyed on over to Ekram. The mercenary leader was sitting on a stump next to his tent with a carving knife in one hand and a fist-sized chunk of wood in the other. Even as Liam approached, the man carved away at the wood chunk, generating a small pile of shavings on the grass between his feet.

Crouching next to Ekram, Liam said, “I have an iffy question.”

“Ask away.”

“Let’s say I have a fairly dangerous monster companion. Would your guys be okay with him tagging along?”

“Probably, unless it’s some sort of necromancy or something. Ain’t nobody too fond of undead among us.”

“How about a Dire- er… greater woolf, I suppose it’s called.”

The veteran’s hands stopped halfway through a carving motion. Brows raised, he looked up at Liam. Rather than surprise, his voice expressed respect as he asked, “Did you tame it?”

“He prefers the term ally.”

“All the better. Another helping hand in a fight never hurts. I’ll let the others know. Where’s it at, though?”

“My shadow.”

Ekram blinked. “Come again?”

Is it that unusual? Liam wondered.

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The mercenary regained his composure and said, “Well, I’m sure you’re hungry, too. How about joining my men for breakfast and morning wine, friend?”

“Not sure how smart it is to drink on the job…” Liam muttered.

“It’s good so long as it’s only a little. It’ll give your friend a chance to introduce himself,” Ekram said, grinning ever so slightly. Then, he chuckled and added, “I’d bet a handful of gold Conor’ll piss himself when he finds out you tamed a greater woolf.”

That would certainly be interesting to see, Liam thought.

Shoving the carving knife and wood chunk into a pouch at his hip, Ekram stood and walked Liam to the campfire. Once there, he explained the situation about Scath to the men at the fire. Most of them actually showed great interest in meeting a ‘tamed’ woolf. Upon hearing that the other humans would not mind his presence, Scath peeked out of Liam’s shadow but only revealed the top half of his head. All of the men stared, dumbfounded.

One of the men, Torin, rubbed his fingers through his curly red hair and said, “Damn… Can already tell it’s the biggest one I ever saw.”

Maintaining a semblance of wariness, Scath gradually rose from Liam’s shadow. The piercing gaze from his silver eyes silenced the onlookers. However, as soon as he smelled the bacon sizzling on cast iron griddle, his predatory demeanor broke. Instead, he bounded from the shadow and stared hungrily at the greasy meat, tail wagging back and forth in an excited fashion.

Most of the mercenaries struggled to decide whether to be fearful of the beast’s sheer size, to find its dog-like attitude endearing, or to be impressed that this newcomer kept such a creature in his shadow.

“It alright if he eats some?” Liam asked, pointing at the nearly blackened strips of meat.

“Perhaps some, but we’ll need a whole ‘nother boar to fill ‘im up,” the cook, Kahdlah, answered.

Growling in understanding, Scath wandered off into the woods. A few minutes later, he returned with two wild boars hanging from his jaws by their hind legs. He simply waltzed over with them and dropped them at the cook’s feet, startling those who joined the circle while he was gone. Then, he lied down next to Liam and dozed off while waiting for cooked boar meat.

Shortly after, Kael dragged Conor from their tent. Although Kael took Scath’s appearance in stride and rolled with it without a second thought, his bulky companion hesitated until Ekram explained the situation. By the looks of it, the guy disliked Direwolves at least as much as Nora, if not moreso.

The group conversed for a few minutes until the merchant woman exited her tent. Conversation stopped and all eyes fell on her. Many of the men, Liam included, had never seen an elf before.

The early morning breeze brushed through her hair which looked like thousands of strands of golden silk, albeit somewhat bedraggled. Sharp ears peeked out from the sides of her head and twitched ever so slightly. Before anything else, she glanced at the Direwolf, and a glint of curiosity shone in her jade-colored eyes. Her tight-fitting, flowery blouse and leather pants accentuated her delicate frame.

She looks a lot younger than I expected, Liam thought, raising a brow. However, the elvish woman turned her gaze toward him. As soon as their eyes met, it felt like the world slowed for a brief moment. Furrowing his brows, he glanced around, puzzled by the eerie feeling. Without warning, the elf immediately approached him, drawing curious glances from the others around the fire as well as a wary glare from Nora. A few of the men ignored the woman and started conversing again.

The woman’s gait as she approached exuded grace and confidence in spite of the near-silence of each step. Then, she stood behind Liam, looking back and forth between him and Scath.

“Do you have an issue with him?” Liam inquired.

“No,” the elf instantly responded, focusing on him. For a moment, they locked eyes. Then, she blinked and said, “I previously thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it seems I was mistaken.”

Puzzled, Liam raised a brow.

The woman continued by saying, “There is more to you than meets the eye.”

“That could be said of most people,” Liam retorted.

Visibly taken by surprise, the elf pursed her lips and said, “I meant it in a specific way.”

“Which way?”

“You are a friend of spirits.”

“Ah, that…”

Tugging on Liam’s pant leg, Nora whispered in his ear, “Does this have to do with your species change?”

“Not exactly,” he answered.

The elf briefly glanced between them before asking, “Forgive me if this sounds rude, but are you a contractor?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Curiosity.”

“Mhm…”

“What kind of skill did you get from your contract with him?” she asked, pointing at the Direwolf.

Skill? Liam asked himself. Considering he hadn’t bothered to check his skills recently, the question took him by surprise. However, the elf’s questions felt somewhat invasive despite their benign nature.

“Ah, sorry. It seems I got a bit ahead of myself,” the elf said, bowing slightly in apology upon noticing his cautious body language. With that, she wandered back to her tent while mumbling something in self-reflection.

Despite the personality of the elvish woman, her question stirred Liam to check his skills again for the first time in several days. To his surprise, there was a skill on the list he had never seen there before.

Shadow Step

Temporarily meld with shadows to dash in a single direction. Possible distance increases with skill level. Current dash distance: 1 Meter

This actually looks really useful, Liam thought after reading the skill description. Although he did not have time to practice the skill at the moment, he made a mental note to try it out as soon as possible.