Jack flew south as Makkari. When he reached the wagon train, he let the persona go. He needed to have his talk, then he needed to head home and get some food and sleep. The next time he left town, he was packing a bag.

A man couldn’t live on magic elixir alone.

“How’s it going?,” he said as he jogged up beside the lead wagon. The horses weren’t running, which was good. The driver pulled the horses to a stop, and set the brake.

“Are you done with your business?,” asked the spokeswoman. She waved the other wagon to stop also.

“Yep,” said Jack. “I’m headed back to the city. You guys should be okay except for the usual bandits and things. The Dark Rider is gone for good now.”

“What do you plan to do now?,” asked the spokeswoman.

“I have to talk to Master Guin about his rival, and then I’m going to take a minute to rest,” said Jack. “Then I’m going to help my partner if she needs it. She set herself a vow to kill all these slavers. I have to help her with that on top of the last quest she has. A man’s work is never done.”

The spokeswoman rolled her eyes. Several glares from others in earshot winged Jack’s way.

“Do you think Master Guin will trade fairly with us?,” said the spokeswoman.

“Yes,” said Jack. “He seems okay for a criminal mastermind and king of the

underworld. I wouldn’t want to cross him unless I had to do it.”

“We will stop in at the Silver Coin to talk to him,” said the spokesperson. “We’ll need places to live, jobs, and ways to find our families for those of us who have them.”

“Do you want me to talk to Josie about that?,” asked Jack. “She might know how to get you home faster.”

“Let us talk to Master Guin first,” said the lady. “I hope that he is as reasonable as you claim.”

“We have a deal,” said Jack. “As long as he keeps his end, Josie doesn’t show up at his gambling halls and burn up his customers. Anything else is negotiable to the extent that Josie wants to negotiate. Besides I think deep down, he is a good guy, and if it is an act, he knows what will happen if Josie decides to go on a rampage.”

“Your wife is that formidable?,” asked the lady. She smiled.

“Not my wife,” said Jack. “She’s my best friend, and she tries to keep me on the straight and narrow when she can. But she has anger issues, and takes after her mother.”

“I have seen that before,” said the lady.

“I’ll vouch for you at the Coin, and I will let Josie know you’re in the area so she can keep an eye out,” said Jack. “If you need any more help than that, we’re living by the wall and checking in with local Adventurer’s Hall.”

“I understand,” said the lady. “Farewell, Jack.”

Jack gave her a wave and headed into the woods. He checked his watch. Some of the power had tipped up during their talk. He might have enough to get home as Makkari and see his bed that night.

He called up the speedster and started south through the woods. He tried to hew to a straight line as much as possible, jumping over obstacles in his way as he ran. He ran out of time after passing something with a lot of fur and no visible face. He kept an eye out as he jogged on, waiting for his watch to fill up again.

He wondered how much farther he had to run as he heard a roar behind him. He should have expected the thing would try to chase him since he was in the area and smelled like chicken. His speed had carried him out of sight but the thing might be able to track him for a while.

Would it track him all the way to the city?

Look, Josie. I brought home a bear dog. Can we keep him?

No.

The watch dinged to let him know he was capable of fleeing. He thought about turning on the monster and doing something but decided not. He was the one crossing boundaries. The locals probably knew about the monster. Why get involved and possibly hurt when he still had to get home to his bed?

It wasn’t his job to kill every monster he came across, just the ones Josie picked up as her enemies.

He pulled on Makkari and flew across the ground again. He kept an eye out for the road, or road signs. The last thing he needed to do was get lost on his way home.

Josie and her ducklings would never let him hear the end of that.

He decided that he needed to get an aerial perspective. Makkari was fast as lightning. He might be close to the city and not know it.

He changed to the Falcon and took wing. He pushed himself up to gliding height. He would have smiled when he saw the walls of Hawk Ridge ahead. He had been a little east of it. That was nothing a little gliding couldn’t fix.

He soared down over the top of the walls and landed on a rooftop of an apartment house. He changed back to normal and looked around for landmarks. He had to get to the Silver Coin, or Guin’s house to talk to him, or Linus. Once he had asked them to help the wagon train, he could head home and get some sleep.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He might have to order the kids to take off while he napped. He was good with that.

Once that quest was done, he could check on Josie and see what she had done. Then they could decide how they wanted to run the rest of the quests until they were off the table.

Identifying and getting rid of the rest of the Montrose could take forever. Josie

couldn’t give up the quest either as far as they knew. They had the kids and Elaine to look after during that time.

When the girls got old enough, they would have to be set up to go out on their own. He wondered if he was ready for anything like that.

He decided he would make a terrible dad since he didn’t just want to tell his baby birds to fly out because they were old enough.

They better bring home acceptable boyfriends or heads were going to roll.

Jack saw the market and thought he could navigate to the Coin from there. He dropped down to the ground and started walking. He needed to let the watch recharge while he worked out what he wanted to say.

The two pieces of good news would make Guin ecstatic. Combined with the fact that he might have to help some refugees would be great for a good news, bad news type of thing.

And Jack liked to troll more than most.

He walked down until he found the street where the bank was, then crossed six more blocks and took a right. The front of the Coin came into view. He hadn’t walked so much since the Army. Maybe he should learn how to ride a horse, or drive a cart. He wondered how much a horse cost to keep.

He imagined that he could just have Josie create a gold brick any time they needed money to pay their bills.

He waved at the bouncers taking up their positions at the door. They didn’t wave back.

“The boss in?,” he asked. He didn’t recognize them. He hoped he didn’t have to cause a scene on the street.

“Who are you to ask?,” asked the one on the left.

“I’m Jack,” said Jack. “It’s good if he’s not here. I’ll swing by his house and see if he or Linus are in.”

“You’re Jack?,” said the one of the left. “Werewolf Jack?”

“I wouldn’t say it like that, but yeah,” said Jack. “That’s me.”

“Master Guin said for you to go in and up to his office,” said the man. He opened the door with one hand.

“Thanks, Bud,” said Jack. “Has my partner been around?”

“Not yet,” said the man.

Jack thought the other man whispered thank the gods but he wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to press on it. Stories of what they could do must have gone around.

That was okay as long as no one tried to stab them in the back.

Jack walked inside and headed for the office. The place looked strange without people playing. He waved at the manager. The man didn’t wave back.

He found two men at the door and one nodded. He thought the one man was Kray. Kray opened the door for him. He nodded and went in.

Guin sat behind his desk, reports and ledgers in hand. He scanned the lines as Jack went to the windows and looked at the gaming floor being readied for the night.

“What news, Jack?,” said Master Guin. He put his records down after marking

his place.

“Two wagons full of women are headed this way,” said Jack. “I asked for them to talk to you about what they could get here in the city, or anywhere else they might want to go. I think if they want, they can be put up in Corle’s abandoned mansion until they figure out what they want to do.”

“What about Corle?,” said Guin.

“He was taking them up to wake up the Dark Rider to destroy Hawk Ridge,’ said Jack. “I don’t know if he lived after what I did to him, but he won’t be able to do that.”

“His assets?,” said Guin.

“I guess you can take whatever is not nailed down, but I would like that house until these women don’t need it anymore,” said Jack. “I’ll talk to Josie about hooking them up with her swords teacher so they can learn how to defend themselves better.”

“What do you get out of this?,” asked Guin.

“Nothing,” said Jack. “That’s not true, but what I get out of it is not anything

physical. So I made a deal with these women, just like I did with you. If there is a problem, I or Josie will handle it. If all the women move on, you can have the house with the rest of whatever you seized.”

“Is Corle really dead?,” asked Guin. “I can’t believe that.”

“I don’t know but I tried to yeet him into orbit,” said Jack. “He was wearing a ring that projected force. If he knew how to really use it, he could stop himself from splattering into the ground.”

“Yeet?,” asked Guin. “Orbit?”

“I threw him as far into the sky as I could,” said Jack. “So if he lived, he flew

or used his ring to block the impact of hitting the ground.”

“I see,” said Guin. “I take it you didn’t get the ring.”

“I didn’t chase him to make sure he hit the ground,” said Jack. “I thought it was better not to let the Dark Rider try to blow up the city. That would have been a mess.”

Guin pushed back from the desk. He put his hands together as he thought. He scratched his eyebrow after considering his options.

“Can you find the ring?,” said Guin.

“I guess,” said Jack. “I didn’t have an interest in looking for it at the time. Do you want it?”

“No,” said Guin. “I have no interest in setting myself up as a target with such a thing. If you could find it, and destroy it, that would be fine for me.”

“I’ll look for it,” said Jack. “Maybe I can find a use for it other than killing people that I hate.”

Jack heard the quest ding and shook his head. Apparently making an agreement was enough to set up a quest.

“I have to go and check in with Josie and the girls,” said Jack. “Do you need anything else?”

“Linus said your partner was interested in the building you liberated,” said Guin. “It belongs to the Money Exchange.”

“The Money Exchange?,” said Jack. “You know if they know any magic?”

“No, I don’t,” said Guin. “But one of my accountants checked the people that were here the night we dealt with the Pears to people that are affiliated with the Exchange. Most of them run money through it in some way or the other.”

“So do we,” said Jack. “I think you do too.”

Guin nodded.

“So these people are using the Exchange to move their money and their captives in my opinion,” said Guin. “I have a couple of people trying to identify their holdings.”

“If you had the ledgers we took, do you think you could do something with them?,” asked Jack.

“I’m sure that I could,” said Guin. “What will you do?”

“I have been up North a bit, so I am going home and getting a nap,” said Jack. “Then I am going to work on the list of stuff I have to get done. Josie should be able to help me with the ring. I’ll get the ledgers for you. I’ll talk to her about not mass murdering these people before you can set something in place to avoid problems, because we both know there is going to be problems and when we leave, you’re going to be stuck with the majority of whatever mess is made to clean up.”

“What’s the end use of these slaves?,” asked Guin.

“I don’t know other than free sex and work,” said Jack. “Corle was going to kill all of his. If you find out, let me know. But this organization isn’t going to stay around for much longer. Josie is going to get impatient and do something rash. If I were you, I would plan to move in and grab whatever you think you can before the fire is lit.”

“I think that is the best advice you have given me so far,” said Guin.