The three others Audrey referred to was Ergo, the Head Hunter of Tenignum; Gail, who was a sailor and one of the only people who could say they fought a lupen and got away without a scratch; and Charles, a man who’s words could always be trusted to be untrustworthy.
As Gail was away on a voyage that was bound to return in the upcoming hours, and Charles was hundreds of miles away in Pulcha, Everett and Jacob went to the Hunter’s Guild first, but even he wasn’t readily available.
As it turned out, he had gone to hunt a noxiastrum, a monster that emitted toxic gas which was highly flammable. Oddly enough, it was its meat that made it sought after by hunters.
Everett and Jacob went to the nearest location he was last known to be at: the Seven Eyes -seven large pillars that naturally looked like goat pupils-. Tall in size, the noxiastrum’s body was able to wrap itself across 3 of the pillars before it had been killed.
“Ah! Lord Everett!” Ergo bounced up from sitting on another pillar and landed clean on his feet, producing a clamping sound. His hooves, horns and eyes made it clear he wasn’t human, but few could put a name to his species. “See what I’ve caught for us! With this, we’ll be able to send relief to the nearby villages.”
“Yes, very good. They’ll need it, especially now without the lupen’s help.”
“Hm? Has something happened?”
Everett brought Ergo up to speed.
“Ah, I see why you have need of this ‘taskforce’. But where does this leave with my normal duties as Head Hunter?”
“As Head Hunter, you not supposed to be out hunting dangerous monsters.”
“A fair point. Who else is on board? Best to keep the numbers low, or the lupens will think we’re preparing to attack.”
“Beside you, there’s this young man here; his name is Jacob.”
“Ah! Nice to meet you, Jacob. Where do you hail from?”
“Oh, erm.” Jacob didn’t expect him to initialise a dialogue with him. “Up north-west. My village didn’t have a name, but it was a few tens of miles away.”
“You must be wondering what in Omnis I am then?”
Jacob shook his head. “You’re a capra-vir.”
Both adults were impressed.
“Well I’ll be damned, even people here don’t know that.”
“You don’t tell them?”
“Nah, keeps them guessing.” He said with a smirk. “I can see why you’ve picked him.”
“It was actually my brother.”
“Good eye he has. He picked me, after all. Who else is joining us?”
“Gail.”
“Good.”
“And Charles.”
“Horrible Idea.”
“Who’s Charles?”
“He’s someone you shouldn’t trust.” Ergo responded.
“His words, at most.” Everett clarified. “You can trust his actions. Besides, Nox would want his skills to be put to use.”
“I still say it’s a terrible idea, but I’m not the one calling the shots. How are you going to get him over here?”
“My brother is handling that. While we wait, do you have any men nearby to take the noxiastrum back?”
“I can drag it back.”
Everett knew he could, but wanted Jacob to see it himself. Suffice to say, Jacob was amazed.
“So he’s the strongest, right?” Jacob asked a few minutes later, walking alongside Everett while Ergo dragged the 30ft beast in front of them.
“In brute strength, certainly. In speed as well, but I would not call him the most deadly.”
“Who is then?”
“I’d personally say Charles. You’ll see why.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
After dropping the corpse of the noxiastrum back to the guild, after dragging it through the town centre where, which to Ergo’s surprise, no one cheered or even glanced at it, the three headed to the docks.
“Looks like news has reached everyone.” Ergo said.
“Yes. Audrey and I will gather everyone in the town centre later to clarify everything.”
“Are you going to tell them what is going to happen?”
“Naturally. It will cause a scare at first, but they need to know.”
“I’m sure Charles will disagree with you.” Ergo huffed.
“Enough about Charles. Let’s go see if Gail has arrived.”
The docks was as busy as always. Its main import was wheat and vegetables from Pulcha, while it exported anything gathered from monsters, to entire construction kits. Bricks was the city’s biggest export, as Tenignum was near a large clay deposit which was high in quality, and allowed for study bricks to be created.
The particular ship that they were waiting for however, was not a commercial ship. The term warship had come from the war, when Illvac had invaded Balvar using massive ships with cannon’s, and was a term that stuck, despite the ships not having seen war.
They were in service to the Pulcha’s to hunt and fend off predators from the ocean that might attack commercial ships, or even the docks themselves. Slow but sturdy, crews would find themselves out on the ocean weeks at a time, before coming back to repair. The Noble -the name of ship named after Audrey- was coming back after finishing their analysis on the increase of the whale population.
“All things considered, this is good timing.” Everett looked at his rusted copper watch, one of few family heirlooms that was older than the Pulcha namesake, and knew, if things had gone right, Gail was bound to dock any hour now.
Sure enough, within the hour, the ship came into view. Everett and Ergo had seen it at nearly every opportunity, but it being Jacob’s first time seeing it, it was no surprise he looked at every inch of the 130ft warship. The main colours were that of the Pulcha’s flag: red, pink, and orange. The main colour of the hull and ship was a shade of red -which came naturally from the type of tree used for it’s construction- with lavish details being orange. The flag was pink, which needless to say was a strange decision, but it made it very easy for anyone to tell this ship was The Noble.
“How long did it take to create?” Jacob asked, his eyes not moving way for even a moment.
“Create? Oh, several months. Improve? Years, and years. There was a lot of kinks to iron out, and it being the first ship of its kind, well, we couldn’t exactly take inspiration or advice from others.”
“It was a lot of trial and error. It is a miracle it didn’t sink.”
“It technically did. That was an expensive day.”
“When was this?”
“Oh, it was before you rose to your position. The hull had been damaged, and it would have sunk if we didn’t use crystals to block the holes.”
“Couldn’t use planks?” Jacob asked.
“No, the pressure was too great.”
“Wasn’t that the same day you assigned a new Captain to the ship?”
“Coincidentally, yes.”
Slowly but surely did The Noble come into port, its size being emphasised by its large shadow towering over the nearby buildings and other ships.
“Pulcha at the port!” Several crew members, as tradition, called out, alerting the Captain and the crew. Most of the crew, who’s responsibilities were now done, rushed to the side, giving cheers and comments you’d expect from sailors who’d returned from a successful voyage.
Everett waved at the crew members, keeping an eye out for the Captain, who was still at the helm.
Jacob felt out of place. Not once in his life had he seen so much cheering, let alone be involved in it.
“Lively lot. You’ll get used to it.” Ergo said, noticing Jacob’s tense body.
“Haha.” Jacob laughed nervously. He wasn’t sure he would.
Soon, the ship docked, and those who was handling the sails and ropes and anchor had gone to the side to greet the Pulcha as well. The Captain only spoke once he left the ship.
“How goes it, my Lord?” He asked already knowing something had happened. Whether that thing was good or bad, he was unsure as of yet.
“Terrible. It’ll make you wish you were still out at sea.”
“Uh-huh, sounds like I’ll be stretching my legs for once then.”
“Leave that to me, my friend.” Ergo said, clamping his hooves. “We’ll need your hands for this endeavour.”
“Well as long as your hooves don’t go stomping on my ship, my hands will be available.” He joked back.
“Ah, no worries there. I’ve never been fond of water. That won’t be an issue, will it Lord Everett?”
“No, not for you Ergo. I imagine you’ll miss the ocean though, Gail.”
“Ugh, what is it this time then?”
“We’ll talk back home. Need to see if Audrey’s sent that letter yet.”
“Ah, yeah, you aren’t going to be happy either.” Ergo said to Gail.
“Why’s that?”
“Charles is joining us.”
“Serious-”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Everett ordered. “Heard enough as is.”
“As you wish.” Gail muttered. Jacob laughed gently at the whole ordeal, causing the Captain to look at him. “You’re an unfamiliar face. You a stowaway?”
If Jacob knew the meaning, he would’ve gotten nervous. Since he didn’t, he answered immediately. “Oh, no. I was from a village in the area, but after a lupen attack I came here.”
“A lupen attack? What in Anirrae has happened since I left?”
“You’re in for a shock.”