Chapter 168:

Salty sea air filled Anton’s lungs, at least once the distortion of the portal left them. Instead of the sea a barn interior greeted them. The small Lightning Crow, resting on the overhead beam happily flapped its wings, as if to let them know it had performed a fantastic job keeping everyone out. Thankfully there weren’t any bodies, dead or unconscious, inside the small warehouse.

“A Wyrm Heart sounds really difficult to acquire.” Kal mused, checking her mask was securely attached. “How big is one supposed to be?”

Anton gingerly opened the door. No one waited for them outside. Bebbezzarian guards, wearing the same style of armour as Cetina, albeit with more metal, patrolled the docks but the closest were over a hundred meters away and moving away.

“It’s clear.” Anton opened the door. “Since Bebbezzar is full of mercenaries it should be easy to find someone willing to talk. I didn’t spend long here after you landed in The Shadow Isles, I didn’t even enter the city itself.”

Cetina’s eyes began to water, a single trail of tears leaked through the corner of her eyepatch. She smiled and gently clapped her hands.

“I’m actually home again.” Cetina smiled. “I understand it’s not Thessos but actually being back in my country is…”

“We’ve probably got a bit of time to spend here.” Anton gently held Cetina’s hand. “So we can do a bit of extra shopping, if you're up for it.”

Verona laughed. “Maybe we can get some good furniture to go with our new bed. Better than those rickety old things we have. Oh, and a proper table for Anton to make drawings of his strange contraptions. But we’re going to have to pull it apart to get it through the portal. Oh well, it’s still going to be great.”

Anton led them along the Alcanares docks. In the distance, still far out at sea, a Dark Elf ship approached, not a sleek pirate vessel of the Green Moon but one of their normal ships, hopefully a ship filled with goods. If The Shadow Isles were to recover quickly they would need to trade with the outside world. The Mist Walker elders would no longer hold their trade with the wider world back. They had seen to that.

Kal grabbed Anton’s hand. “I can smell smoke.”

“We’re in a big city,” Anton said. He looked towards the city itself, nothing appeared to be burning more so than normal. “Is it just a different smelling wood? Dirtier coal for the forges?”

Kal shook her head. “No…It’s not that."

Anton stopped when they were nearly clear of the docks. Near the main entrance the warehouses had been completely burned to the ground, only a few burnt beams weakly pointing to the sky remained. The fire had long gone out but Anton could smell it now.

“Arson?” Verona asked. “Seems shitty, but not that bad. All things considered.”

Kal shook her head again. “It’s more than just this.”

Kal pointed deeper into the city. Most of the buildings had burn marks, several were destroyed and almost all were undergoing some sort of rebuilding and repair.

“Looks like a firestorm decided to sweep through the city.” Anton mused. “One of the dangers of having lots of wooden buildings packed so closely together. Let’s leave the dock before we ask someone.”

The dock guards barely gave them more than a cursory glance and allowed them into the city of Alcanares. Extensive destruction awaited them, entire city blocks had been reduced to rubble but the people didn’t hold the looks of survivors of a massive disaster. They were happy, a strange resilience in their eyes as they moved to and fro, conducting trade over a myriad of clothes, food and weapons, even in the shadow of their burnt homes. Weapons and armour appeared particularly popular; street vendors usually didn’t sell a near complete set.

“What attacked them?” Anton asked aloud.

“Probably those bandits…” Verona shrugged. “Communists, or whatever you called them. It’d be pretty easy and effective to set fire to a couple of buildings and run.”

“Doesn’t explain the number of weapons being sold,” Cetina said. She gripped the pommel of her sword. “It’s almost like a town on the frontier…”

“Where do you think we could get a Wyrm heart?” Anton asked. “Cost isn’t going to be an issue.”

“If I remember things correctly.” Cetina scratched her head. “And that was a long time ago, I believe that there were a lot of high priced goods further in and to the south a bit. No idea if it’s still there though.”

“Lead on.”

With Cetina taking the lead, constantly checking back to see if they were still following, Anton could take in more of the people of Alcanares. They were happy despite the destruction surrounding them.

“You good sir!” A vendor crier stepped into the traffic, Cetina backed up and readied her weapon to strike. “I have the deal of a lifetime for you.”

“I bet you do,” Anton spoke politely. “But I’m not interested.”

The man raised his hand. Cetina growled at him, he was taken aback by Cetina’s size and strength.

“I have an actual piece of a Demon.” He reached into a small bag and produced a small chunk of cooled lava. Only it wasn't lava, not judging by the small rivulets of a thin orange liquid running down one side.

“Is that…” Verona frowned and pulled on Anton’s hand.

“Where did you get this?” Anton asked. He tried to reach out but the man pulled it away.

“Sorry. But I just can’t let anyone touch this. It’s extremely rare-”

“That’s why you’re just throwing it at everyone that goes past?” Cetina asked. “I saw you shouting at people before.”

“He just got it from the central market.” A passer-by laughed. “Just picked it off the ground. Don’t believe a thing this charlatan says.”

“Fuck you!” The man grumbled and skulked away. After a few seconds, he had recovered and began hawking the piece of Demon hide at any passer-by that appeared to have the vaguest whiff of coin about them.

“Where is the central market?” Anton asked the passer-by.

He pointed to the north, towards a large pole with a yellow, red and blue flag. Anton gave his thanks as they hurried towards the flag. Something stood in the centre of the wide world plaza, something that stopped all four dead.

Six Demons, giant burnt dogs with a cooled magma hide, were strung up by their forearms, like a caught fish, around the flag pole on specially built wooden frames. A thick ring of Bebbezzarian soldiers, three deep, kept the crowds at bay. Rocks and pieces of wood were thrown at the Demon dogs, the soldiers only reprimanded those that accidentally, or deliberately, struck them.

“What the hell are those things doing here?” Verona asked.

“They said there’d be another invasion, another slip like Acidava, but not when.” Anton glanced at the devastation. “We were a couple of days late.”

The flow of people behind continued unabated and tried to force their way through, Verona shouted as someone took the opportunity to almost take a feel of her rear. Anton motioned them towards a raised stone platform, devoid of most stalls and people.

“They really messed over that middle one,” Verona said, rubbing her chin.

"Unnecessarily cruel," Cetina added.

“That’s not one of those dogs.” Kal murmured.

Kal spoke the truth. In the middle of the six dogs was another Demonic creature. At first, Anton thought it might have been a severed limb from another Demon Dog but upon closer inspection it was clearly anything but. The humanoid creature, smaller than the Demon dogs, had six arms, small obsidian claws for hands, thankfully only four claws rather than six. Its legs were similar to a humans, barring the charred skin while its pointed head, a broken jaw exposing a similar row of razor-sharp obsidian teeth, slumped down low, part of its side had clearly been blown apart. Six gnarled and warped swords, made from a bright red metal, lay propped up before its legs, each as long as a man tall.

“Six swords.” Anton rubbed his chin. “I wonder what that was like to fight.”

“An absolute mess.” A voice came from below. A young man, dressed in a modestly expensive set of metal armour, Bebbezzarian coloured cloth poking through the gaps, looked up and smiled. He finished ripping a piece of cooked meat from a kebab. “Killed a whole bunch of people too. A lot of people.”

“Three hundred and sixty-two.” A young woman, built very similar to Kal, turned to the man. She leant and gripped a staff tight, a red metalled charm on top with a single green crystal, brushing her short brown hair over her ear. "During the battle. I don’t know how many died from the flames.”

“Almost lost our entire party.” The man laughed. He slinked an arm around her, she jumped but clearly didn’t mind his presence, quite the opposite in fact. “If it weren’t for you we’d all be dead.”

“Stop it.” She lightly swatted him away.

“Excuse me for interrupting, we’ve only just arrived.” Anton began. “Could you tell us what happened?”

“How do you not know?” The man asked. “Everyone in the countryside is talking about it.”

“We've just docked."

“Ah…That makes sense.” The man jumped up to their platform, the metal armour didn’t impede his movement’s one iota. “Name’s Eirco. And this is Sara.”

Sara smiled and bowed her head. She wasn't about to attempt the jump and gently made her way up the stairs.

“We’re actually heading to Shining Star Mercenary guild.” Eirco looked into the crowd. “Well, we should be. They’ve got good food and drinks, for members, but we’ll say you’re with us and they’ll let you in. You’ll have to pay for your own food though.” Eirco sighed. “We’ve got enough problems with gluttons in our party.”

“Sounds like someone I know.” Anton teased. Verona scoffed with indignity and hit his side.

“It really depends.” Anton glanced at the girls. “We’re actually looking for a Wyrm Heart.”

“What do you want with one of those?” Sara asked, stifling a laugh. “They’re very dangerous…Especially when using magic around them.”

So why does Mezot want it? I highly doubt it’s some sort of test…Just have to wait and see.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“We were told to get one. Money isn’t an issue. So is it possible to get one?”

“It’d be cheaper just to hunt one.” Eirco laughed. “If you can find them. They’re very sneaky and hard to track.”

“A dragon creature is hard to track?”

Eirco nodded. “You’d be surprised. But I think they should have one in storage; mercenary mages would pay a lot to have one. I’ll put in a good word for you.”

The three girls nodded at Anton, to them money was no issue, while Eirco and Sara continued to scan the crowd. Eventually, Sara waved to a group forcing their way through, Anton was immediately drawn to the fact that they were all women. Two were quite tall, sisters, wielding simple but well-worn bows. Another short woman, with a crossbow and a short sword. The fourth and final was…unexpected. She wore a veil over her head that only left her eyes exposed while the rest of her garb was loose dark clothing, built for silence rather than defence. Remarkably similar to the silent clothes of the Green Moon clan.

Is that supposed to be a ninja? Wait…That Japanese soldier from The Shadow Isles…Would that have been a thing back then?

“Where did you go?” Sara asked.

The shorter girl pointed to the sisters. “They kept getting distracted with food.” She sighed, held her temple and shook her head. “Every stall owner on the eastern side now has money thanks to them.”

The sisters appeared totally unrepentant.

Verona pulled Anton down. “Five…You can do better.”

Eirco clapped his metal gauntlets. “We’re finally all here. So do you want to come with us?”

---[]---

The Shining Star Mercenary Guild felt almost identical to those in Graterious, at least in layout. Perhaps there was some unifying standard throughout all the guilds, at least those in Graterious and Bebbezzar.

Eirco and Sara directed their companions to a large table, large enough to seat everyone. The short crossbow girl appeared rather volatile while the sisters were prone to long bouts of silence or argumentation. The ninja girl remained silent while keeping a firm eye towards them, specifically Cetina’s sword. However, Cetina was not the most dangerous amongst them…

Eirco caught the attention of a server, inquired about the Wyrm Heart and ordered a round of drinks for everyone.

“So how have you come so far and not heard of the Demons?” The Crossbow girl asked.

"They came by boat.” Eirco glanced to Anton for confirmation. “So they probably wouldn’t know.”

The Crossbow girl remained unconvinced, for some reason.

“So explain the story from the beginning.” Anton leant back. “I’ve never seen something like that.”

The Ninja girl was rather unsettling. Her eyes focused on Anton’s far too much to be normal. Was she looking for lies? He didn’t exactly lie, he had never seen the humanoid Demon before.

“Where to begin…” Eirco tapped the table. “Okay. We were waiting in Alcanares for another two groups of mercenaries, heading to the east to deal with some bandits stalking the roads and ruining trade.”

“They’ve killed hundreds.” Sara sighed. “And a few friends of ours too.”

“The ones near the border?” Anton asked. “Wanting to create some sort of worker’s paradise?”

“Yes…” Eirco frowned for a second before it faded away. “Anyway, we were waiting here, actually outside the city for some ranged practice, not that they need it, when the Beast-kin slaves went absolutely crazy.”

“Slaves?” Kal asked calmly. “Beast-kin slaves?"

“They’re not ours.” The Crossbow Girl folded her arms. “We couldn’t afford slaves even if we wanted to.”

Eirco patted her hand. Anton saw the emotions flashing over her face; she was very much in love, and it was reciprocated.

“So the Beast-kin started screaming, dropping their tools and ran away. Everyone was so shocked we didn’t do anything. Took quite a while before we could stop them.”

“None were killed,” Sara said. “At least then.”

Eirco shrugged. “I heard one say, over and over, ‘We have to get out of here. Something terrible is coming.’ If we’d known we’d have been right behind them. This red…a sphere of red lightning, I guess you would call it, emerged out of nowhere just to the south of Alcanares.”

“The area is sealed by hundreds of soldiers.” A sister added softly.

“The lightning flashed and those creatures appeared.” Eirco shook his head. “Never seen anything so terrifying. They didn’t say a word. That smaller one, the one with the six blades, turned around and said something. No idea what. Sounded like gibberish to me.”

He looked to Sara, she had no idea either.

“It looked…” Sara bit her lower lip. “Lost. I don’t know why but that’s how I felt. It wanted to go back through the lightning but it couldn’t.”

So not a planned invasion. Just some poor Demon getting sucked through? That's what it looked like in Fort Acidava. Though they are still invading this world near Nithroel’s territory.

“Then things got…weird.” Eirco drunk his entire mug of beer. “At first they didn’t say or do anything, no one did really. And then…Then a slave owner grabbed a Feline Beast-kin, so he could drag it to safety-”

Slaves are it’s, huh?

“And everything went to hell.” Eirco shook his head. “The six-bladed Demon shouted at the dog things and they attacked. We were so shocked that most just ran away. One person fired an arrow…Didn’t work and he got flattened. Food for the crows now. The Demon Dogs tore the Feline Beast-kin to shreds and then his owner.”

Kal forced herself to remain calm.

“It was chaos after that.” Sara began. “No one really knew what was happening. I was able to keep us safe with my magic-”

“I’ve been meaning to ask but what is yours?” Anton peered closely at the red metalled charm. “I've never seen one like that.”

Sara chuckled. “I don’t think you would. I specialise in gravity manipulation magic. It’s not very popular and isn’t taught anywhere in this continent. I had to travel to the Xiam Empire to learn it.”

Another faction we’ll have to deal with one day…

“Destruction all around.” Eirco rolled his hands. “Lots of death and destruction. Our magic wasn’t very effective against the Dogs and anyone that got hit by its blood burned to death.”

Cetina adjusted her eyepatch without saying a word. The Ninja noticed but said nothing.

“Fourteen people died when they got hit by the blood spraying out of a dead Dog's head,” Sara said softly. All of their party, minus the Ninja, shook their heads.

“But here's the strange bit." Eirco leant forward. "The six armed Demon thing wasn’t fighting. It picked up the remains of that Beast-kin, the Feline, and raised it to its little eyes. I don’t know what it saw but it looked like it was panicking. It scrambled, dropping its blades, for another dead Feline slave, there were a lot of dead by then, and looked at its head.”

Eirco looked to his party. “At least I think it was panicking.”

“You mean that’s what Sara thought.” The Crossbow Girl sniggered. “Don’t pretend you thought that on your own.”

Eirco laughed. “Yeah. It tried to say something to the Dogs but they were inside the city trying to set it on fire. Before it could do anything more it received a giant Earthen shot to the head. It fell down and that was the end of it. We then killed the remaining Demon Dogs, Sara wasn’t too happy that her magic wasn’t that effective against them.”

Sara sighed. “It was like they were filled with Ghlyirl.”

Cetina squirmed in her seat, instantly attracting the Ninja’s attention. Neither said a word.

“That’s…” Anton held his chin.

“Yeah.” Eirco laughed. “You would have enjoyed it, if you weren’t killed right at the beginning. Like so many people. Good people too.”

“So why do you call them Demons?”

“Apparently this has happened before.” Sara frowned lightly. “In Graterious. A place called…”

“Acidava.” The second sister said. “A Graterian fortress near the Deweth Clans.”

“We’ve heard of that one.” Anton gently nodded. “Didn’t think there’d be another.”

“That’s about all there is to say though.” Eirco shrugged. “The Demons were killed and that’s really that. After a few days, they’ll send the bodies somewhere and everything will return to normal.”

Not when they’re dropping in like rain. But why go so nuts over a Feline Beast-kin? They have long ears, just like an elf…So they might know what a Wood Elf is, since they're fighting them and if the portal there allows them to return to their world. They have long ears too, and the Demon thought the Feline was the same. Somehow. That means they’re capable of reason, even if they have difficulty differentiating between races. Just don’t let them see Beast-kin during the initial negotiations. Or a Dark Elf.

“I suppose people really don’t have much of a choice,” Anton said. “They can’t spend their whole lives in fear of those things. Better to keep moving rather than to sit and ponder.”

“Indeed.” Kal murmured.

Eirco glumly nodded. “I remember when our village was destroyed. It was just Sara and I that survived, because we hid from the Clansmen. But…You’re right. If we didn’t get up, just stayed in that hole, we wouldn’t be here. I think-”

A guild employee, an older man, approached and stopped Eirco.

“Were you inquiring about the Wyrm heart?” The older man raised a silver brow. “It sounds something a little dangerous for you, Eirco. Your party is better suited for dealing with bandits and monsters. Especially with Sara’s magic.”

Sara smirked at Eirco, who held his face flat.

“True. We wouldn’t have been able to defeat those eastern bandits if she hadn’t caught the arrows in the air with her magic.”

“How disheartening for them.” Anton mused. “To see all of their arrows just fall to the ground.”

The Crossbow girl nodded proudly, puffing out her modest chest. “And she can make our arrows and bolts go further. Not that I need such help.”

“Sure.” Eirco and Sara said simultaneously.

The Crossbow girl didn’t acknowledge them, but the twins chuckled. Again the Ninja girl said absolutely nothing, her eyes continuing to scan everyone present.

“Actually,” Anton raised his hand. “We were the ones inquiring about a Wyrm heart. Do you have one?”

The guild man looked them over, he couldn’t hide the look of incredulity.

“Do you have one?”

“We have a few. The creatures are rather rare and difficult to hunt at the best of times.”

Anton produced a small bag of gold coins. “I can assure you that we have the money. So, do you have one?”

---[]---

After but a few minutes they had the Wyrm heart in their possession. Anton was simultaneously pleased and slightly let down; pleased they had retrieved the item so easily but also annoyed they wouldn’t be going on an adventure through the Bebbezzarian countryside. It was Cetina’s homeland after all, she clearly enjoyed being back and would make an excellent guide, but he had no idea how to hunt a Wyrm or what they even looked like. Also acquiring a Principle Mage took a very high priority, though sleeping in the outdoors, without having to keep their nightly activities a secret was alluring.

Nevertheless, it was certainly the right decision. The guild happily took the gold, after confirming it was authentic, for the Wyrm Heart. Cetina held the small wooden box slightly away from her body. Though the heart was old it retained a wet and healthy colour, despite clearly being long removed from the body Anton was sure the thing continued to beat with an ethereal energy. His tail wasn’t tingling or reacting in any way so the Wyrm’s had nothing to do with the White Realm. At least for now.

“Are you disappointed?” Eirco asked.

He and the women of his party left with Anton, after accepting a piece of paper from the mercenary job board.

“Not really.” Anton gently patted the wooden box. “We’ve got what we’ve come for, so that’s enough for me.”

Cetina smiled as she pulled the box higher. “It’s a long way to Thessos anyway. And it’ll be snowing soon, especially near the mountains.”

Sara produced the small piece of paper taken from the guild, holding it aloft so they could see. “We are travelling in that direction.”

“Dealing with bandits.” Kal mused, leaning close to the paper. None of Eirco’s group had asked about Kal’s attire, possibly to avoid questions about the Ninja woman. “Preying on traders along the southern roads…It says there are about forty bandits. Quite well armed too. Are you going to be alright?”

Crossbow girl and Sara looked very proud.

“We can take of that many easy.” The Crossbow girl pointed to the sisters. “They’re very good shots with their bows.”

Her smiled dimmed slightly upon focusing on the Ninja, her hand dropping slightly. “And no one can tell that she’s moving in the darkness. If they’re really strong then we can just wait until night and let her slip in and deal with them.”

The Ninja nodded.

“Well, don’t overdo it,” Anton said. “Thanks for your help, we wouldn’t have found this without you.”

Eirco smiled. “Good luck with your journey too.”

He began to lead the group away, all giving a quick wave, the Ninja a deep bow.

“We’ll be working in the south of Bebbezzar during the winter,” Eirco shouted over the crowd, trusting Sara to ensure he didn’t stumble into anyone. “If you’re there we can chat a bit more. Love to hear what you’re up to in Bebbezzar. It’s a long way from Graterious.”

They gave one final wave before slipping into the crowds.

“They seem nice.” Verona smiled. “A little too friendly?”

“In the life of a mercenary, trust is incredibly important.” Anton shrugged. “So it makes sense to try and get on the good side of everyone you can. You never know when we could cross paths, possibly even as foes.”

“Or perhaps they’re just friendly.” Kal offered.

“Are…Are we leaving already?” Cetina asked. “There are a lot of things we could still buy here. Though…” Cetina nodded to the burnt buildings. “There might not be a lot on sale.”

“Since I plan to begin freeing them,” Anton bumped Kal’s side. “Very soon we’ll need a lot more equipment. Not to mention the additional humans. We’ll get as many tools and weapons as we can safely buy. I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to part with them, especially if we’re going pay a little more.”

Cetina smiled. They were, perhaps inadvertently, helping the people of Bebbezzar.

“So if you girls have anything you want now’s the time.” Anton patted the wooden crate. “We should probably get this back today. That’ll put a smile on her face, I’m sure.”

“Are you?” Verona raised a silver brow.

Anton wasn’t sure. But he knew that she would be happy to receive such a gift, even if she had trouble expressing it, a strange, bloody gift nonetheless.