Four Months Later

The chill autumn wind whispered its ancient, unknowable secrets across the rolling plains of the Montana grass country, across the brittle pastures of my home. It stirred the tall grasses; the equivalent of the world rubbing its hands together in anticipation of whatever madness the day had in store.

In a land where the always savage now met the recently supernatural, I stood, a solitary figure on the porch of my family’s ranch house, possessed of a power that was, even in this strange new dawn, something that both fascinated and terrified others.

I could summon monsters. I could magically call forth creatures of myth and nightmare, the kind that lurked in the darkest recesses of imagination.

‘Course, they’re also lurking around out there too in the wild, my brain interjected at this point in my quiet contemplation. It’s not like you’re the only way folks around here can get their occult Jurassic Park fix.

I grunted to myself and took a sip from the steaming mug of coffee in my hand. I leaned against one of the posts of the porch and listened to the Stillwater rushing past. In its old course and the newly dug looping arm that encircled the main homestead like a medieval moat.

“Oh, come on now, Dev,” came Willa McCrae’s voice from behind me, “don’t tell me you’re nervous.”

Standing on the porch was Willa, wearing jeans, Doc Martens, a sherpa jacket like my own, and a baseball hat turned backwards on her wild pale pink hair.

“I’m not nervous,” I said.

“The hell you ain’t!”

I snorted.

“You’re standing next to that big-ass vampire direwolf, and you’re nervous,” Willa persisted.

I looked down at the huge sable direwolf that was lying at my feet, looking content as any farm dog. Its leathery wings were folded over its sleek black back, and it was snoring gently. Every now and again it gave a twitch, like it was dreaming of chasing sheep.

Imps, more likely, I thought. Or bandits. I think the big bastard got a real taste for them after that last run-in.

“Running into danger half-cocked with only the vague notion of a plan that will soon turn to porridge I don’t mind,” I said, “but addressing the guild…”

Willa grunted her agreement and came over to stand next to me. Together we looked over the pastures as the rising sun slowly bled the color back into them. The mountains to our left had started to blush. Wouldn’t be long until there was snow on them.

“Comes with the territory—addressing the troops, I mean,” she said.

“There’s just so many of us now,” I said. “After the last encounter with those bandits and the prisoners we freed from them there must be… What? Sixty?”

“Sixty-three. That’s what I heard your pa mention when he was complaining about the influx.”

I laughed under my breath. “Please. My old man goddamn loves it. More people for him to order around.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Willa said with one of her knife-sharp grins. “Still, it doesn’t change the number. Doesn’t change the fact that this place needs a leader.”

“Merlin Ranch is my old man’s.”

“Yeah, I know, but Don Russo ain’t no leader of men, not in the way that you’re proving yourself to be, Dev.”

I made a face. “He does need to work on his interpersonal skills a little,” I admitted.

“Goddamn, but the man knows horses and knows stock and knows the ways of the country more than any rancher I ever met. When it comes to people, though, your old man is about as hospitable as a hornet at a picnic. You know, I heard him sayin’ to one of the Winchester brothers the other day, while they were worming some of the cattle, that him and his brothers were so inept that he was beginning to think that their family tree was more of a shrub.”

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I nodded. “That sounds like—”

“And then, when Ike said he was going to tell him what he thought of him, your old man cut him off and told him not to bother as he was clearly studying hard to be a half-wit and his brain cavity wouldn’t make a drinkin’ cup for a canary.”

I took another sip of coffee. “I get what you’re saying, but—”

Willa held up a hand. As I always had done, ever since we were kids, I found myself shutting up.

“Now, I know what you’re going to say,” Willa said patiently. “Some hippy nonsense about us all being equal and blah, blah, blah, and every person in the guild having just as much of a say as everyone else.”

“Well, yeah, I—”

“Thing is Dev,” Willa plowed on, showcasing the buckets of intelligence that her rough and ready exterior camouflaged, “it’s like the Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille have been saying for years; every individual should be valued, and their unique gifts contributed to the strength of the whole, right?”

“Right,” I agreed loyally, not having any idea if what my oldest friend was saying was true.

“Right. So, each person brings their own voice and wisdom into the mix, but in the complex dance of community living, a leader always emerges.”

I looked away from my friend’s face, out toward the mountains.

“A leader ain’t one who seeks power or dominance, Dev, not like that Beast King asshole we put an end to four months back. A real leader is someone who listens with humility, speaks with compassion, and guides with integrity. A real leader is a servant to the people, embodying the values of harmony and justice, you see?”

“I see,” I said awkwardly.

“You learn that basic shit just living in a sorority, man,” Willa continued. “You learn that within that delicate balance of equality and leadership, the community thrives. It finds unity in diversity and strength in collaboration.”

“Wil, you’re a lot more intelligent than I am,” I pointed out.

“Hell, I know that, Devon,” Willa replied casually.

“You sound like you know a lot more about all this stuff than I do.”

“I do.”

“Then why don’t you be the leader?” I asked.

Willa gave me a long look.

“It ain’t that I don’t care about any of that bullshit I just said,” she said after a thoughtful moment. “It’s more that I really, really don’t care about it. I’d rather be tinkering and playing Artificer in my workshop, you see?”

“Fair enough.”

“And the thing is, I lack your patience. You’re a patient man. Me? I find myself getting frustrated by the way that most people you meet are as shy of brains as a terrapin is of feathers.”

I drained my coffee cup. Out in the yard in front of the house I could make out the sound of people starting their days.

“Are you good to go?” Willa asked me. “Only, I want to get my ass to the workshop. I’ve got a few things I’m working on.”

With only a thought, I brought up the floating menu, which reminded me so much of a HUD, into my field of vision. Golden text materialized in front of me.

Devon Russo

Summoner

Level 15

Legacies: Serpentine Senses; Iron Guts; Instant Transmission; Nightfriend

Bounties: None Current (1 Completed)

Divine Keys: 1

Party members:

None

Enchanted Equipment:

Leather Body Armor (Arcane Gem Level 15)

Burning Brand (Glittersteel Shield) (Fire Gem Level 13)

Vampire’s Bite (Glittersteel Short Sword) (Blood Gem Level 6)

Enhanced Blazer (Stoeger STR9-F) (Fire Gem Level 15)

Sanctuary Staff - Level 10 (Sanctuary Gem Level 15)

Gem Inventory

None

Bag of Holding

Moderate Healing Potion x10

Moderate Mana Potion x10

Socketed Gems:

Summon Socket A: Arcane-Blood Gem (Level 14) [Vampire Direwolf Level 14] | Augmentation Socket A: Blood Gem (Level 15) [Vampiric Claws Level 15]

Summon Socket B: Storm Gem (Level 15) [Raiju Tiger Level 15] |Augmentation Socket B: Poison Gem (Level 14) [Necrotic Grasp Level 14]

Summon Socket C: Air-Fire Gem (Level 13) [Flame Harpy Level 13] |Augmentation Socket C: Fire Gem (Level 14) [Molten Touch Level 14]

Summon Socket D: Stone Gem (Level 15) [Stone Bull Level 15] |Augmentation Socket D: Death Gem (Level 15) [Rot Ray Level 15]

That was me, all laid out in stat form. Weird, maybe, to see yourself thus accounted for, but helpful also. Checking on myself in this manner was all part of my morning routine. It was the first thing I did each day. It helped me cement myself back into the still quite surreal world of roaming monsters and open magic that we now all lived in.

I did it even though, in the months that had passed since we had taken out the Beast King, I had made almost no alterations to my load-out or Gem allocation. My Gem configs had changed only in a single way, where I had swapped them out to upgrade them. My monster load-out was the same as it had been the day of the insane battle in front of the Stumptown Historical Museum. My purpose? I wanted the same, reliable monsters and spells while I grinded my way to Level 15.

I blinked and closed the menu.

“Yeah, I’m ready. Come on,” I said, putting my arm around Willa’s shoulders and leading her back toward the warmth of the kitchen. “Let’s go get this over with so we can carry on as we have been.”

“Winter’s just around the corner,” Willa said.

“Yeah, there’s that, but I’m more interested in that floating island out west. We need to make sure everyone is on the same page and feeling good.”

“Is this going to be a pep talk?” Willa asked me.

“Might be.”

“I hate pep talks.”

“Me too, but you’ve got to keep people’s morale up, keep them believing, if you’re going to have to ask them to do things that they might not like down the road.”

“Things like what?” Willa asked.

“Hunt monsters, fight off bandits… die for the ranch, potentially,” I replied, holding the door open for her.

“Yeah, “people don’t usually like that. Maybe a pep talk is a good idea.”