There was one more thing that needed addressing and perhaps Matheus left that till last on purpose. In front of everyone he called me out.
“Shane. I spoke to all the others about this, including Hana, and we unanimously agreed to give you this.”
To my surprise, he handed me two ogre tusks, right ear with an earring, and an ogre’s Heartstone.
“These are the subjugation evidence of the last ogre you killed. Luckily these items survived your attack. No one doubts your contribution to our survival, and we consider this a small thank you for saving our lives. I know you already are permitted the tusks, but you might not know that traditionally, the award of any Heartstone is a team decision, including the subjugation reward that comes with it.”
I nearly ended up in tears, what a moving gift from them. We didn’t dawdle much longer, after a quick meal we all headed into the forest, making a beeline for Shimmerstal. Despite our worst expectations, we didn’t encounter any goblins, wolves, or ogres. Due to the storage rings, we were able to make quick time and three days later we arrived on the main road between Obon and Shimmerstal. Four hours later, just before sunset, we spoke to the city guards at the portico gates. I recognised Rodergurn who looked happy to see us.
“Shane, Matheus, Vascillius good to see you all again. The city is in a small uproar now, but I’ll leave that to the guild to explain it to you. There are a few folks that’ll be happy to see you again, including His Majesty. I’ll inform them you’re heading for the guild. In the meanwhile, wait here, I’ll organise a cart to take you there.”
A cart arrived to take us to the guild and a messenger dispatched to the palace. I didn’t know what all the hubbub was about but we would find out soon enough. Hana lay against my shoulder the whole way to the guild. I think she was emotionally and physically drained.
“Mr. Karosaki, good to see you again. Please come this way.”
As soon as we entered the door, Olivia separated us from the others and led us directly to the guild master. Rupert greeted us with a relieved smile, invited us to sit down while Olivia served us some tea and savouries. We spoke at length about the events and the guild master nodded while listening intently. By the end of our explanation, his tea was untouched. In my explanation I never divulged how we managed to defeat the ogres, other than to say we had the tactical advantage of the mesa. He then told us about local events that shed light on our situation.
“Mr. Karosaki, when you and Hana didn’t arrive after so many days, we feared you both perished in the Blister Wood Forest. His majesty has regularly visited the guild to personally enquire of any news. What makes the situation more dire, is that your group is one of only a few adventurer teams to have made it out of the forest. Many have simply failed to return from their quests, and those few that managed to survive have tell tales all too similar to yours. Whether by luck or design, the teams with you are extremely fortunate to have all come out alive. None of the other teams have been so lucky.”
It seemed the monsters launched a large offensive against the eastern Blister Oak Forest region, attacking adventurer’s, farm homesteads and travellers alike. As soon as the guild and the palace became aware of the situation, all travel and quests in the region were either stopped or cancelled. The attack had a major effect on the economy.
“Shane. Could we rest now?”
Hana was reaching the end of her tether.
“Mr. Karosaki. I can see that both you and Hana are tired. Please allow us to arrange a carriage to take you to your inn and we will take care of your subjugation materials. You can come back whenever you’re rested and ready.”
We thanked them leaving all our stuff at the guild and soon a carriage took us to a hot water wash and a good rest although my heart still longed for a long, hot bath. After I extinguished the light, lying on my bed and thinking of the dreamless night ahead a voice piped up.
“Hey master.”
“I thought I made it clear about calling me that master stuff.”
“Are you going to sell me off to someone else?”
Where did that suddenly come from?
“No. Now, go to sleep. Goodnight.”
I couldn’t see her face, but somehow I knew she was smiling.
For two days we never left the inn, just recovering our energy. A greatly relieved Grenfell met up with us at breakfast and I brought him up to speed with all the events. He shook his head at the antics we got up to and all he could say was,
“You’re lucky to be alive, and then perhaps luck had nothing to do with it.”
He was concerned for our safety when he learned of our disappearance, especially considering the monster uprising. On our arrival the previous night, he thought it best to leave us to recover, knowing that we were fine and just needed a rest.
He gave me three days off, but since he wasn't paying Hana a salary, and she was technically my slave, he left it up to us to decide. Personally, I think he was passing the buck on to me. Since she was tied to me like a Siamese twin, the decision was almost pointless because she didn’t have a choice.
There was a surprise visit from someone I hadn’t seen in a long time. Harry, from Harry’s Band arrived without warning. How he heard of my situation with the monsters I wouldn’t know, but he managed to find out where I was staying and decided to visit. We sat with him in the dining room. He looked well and perhaps even a bit plumper than I could recall.
“Now there is someone I didn’t imagine I would meet today. How are you doing Harry?”
“Well Shane, particularly good now that I’ve seen for myself that you’re still okay. And what’s more, you have a beautiful lady with you to boot. Knowing you, there’s a story behind that no doubt.”
He laughed when I explained the circumstances under which we met. But that wasn’t why he came to see me. It turned out he came to hand me a gift of five wooden flutes I asked from him a while ago. I was impressed with the workmanship of the flutes. Besides the flutes themselves, someone spent a lot of time carving intricate carvings of some of the characters I recognised from my shadow theatre stories.
“These flutes are truly amazing Harry. I’m fascinated to know how these were made?”
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“You know better than to ask me for a story. Since you insist, these flutes are made from Gnarled Moss wood from deep in the southern forests and for that reason it’s very expensive. Only this hardwood has particular sound qualities making it a good quality wood for making musical instruments with. It’s expensive wood because it can only be found in the mysterious southern forests.”
Ara’s story was very interesting, but I didn’t want to digress from Harry’s story. There was however one thing that didn’t stack up for me.
“That’s pretty amazing in itself, but how were you able to afford these flutes Harry? You, yourself said they were expensive, and I don’t think you made that much money from the Blister Oak forest incident, surely?”
I was implying that Harry couldn’t afford to pay for something like those flutes, and yet, there they were.
“Ha, ha, ha. You’re correct, but you’re also far behind on our latest happenings. When we last said goodbye to each other, our shadow puppet shows expanded in popularity to the degree we can hardly keep pace with demand. Not only did the number of shows increase, but we’ve also started a new company called Harry’s Shadow Puppet company and taken on new staff.”
Okay, I never imagined their success would be so profound. Harry continued.
“Not long after we started, a kind stranger approached us and offered to become a silent financial partner in our endeavour. This stranger also happened to have a perfect place we could use as our theatre and offered it to us for a favourable lease. Since then, we’ve gone from success to success. It shouldn’t be long now and we’ll be starting similar companies for other cities. To us, these flutes are but a small token of our gratitude. Please accept them as such, and we’ll not discuss price in light of that.”
“Thank you Harry. I’ll accept them in that case, and please thank the rest of your team.”
“Well, that’s enough of that then. I’m dying to hear about your escapades. Surely there must be a story from you, having fought monsters to survive and all?”
“Come to think of it, there was the time Hana and I needed to hide inside a river to escape the goblins and an ogre.”
Harry’s passionate eyes lit up like a man on a mission. Every word I spoke he absorbed like a sponge. Little did I realise that just like Hana’s red face, mine would be similar when I later found out that our quest became a famous shadow puppet story amongst the populous, a real hero’s tale. That’s how my life became known to the people of Shimmerstal City, I would have preferred anonymity, but then it weirdly turned out another way, a way that would have huge impact on my future life. I swopped stories the whole morning with Harry until he left, and even poor Hana didn’t come out of it unscathed.
After our two day’s rest and recovery, Hana and I were itching to get moving again. We decided to stop at the guild to see what quests were still available after the monster uprising and to receive our quest rewards. I still had a bunch of goblin corpses in my transfer storage that needed sorting and an ogre I could still make a few things out of.
It was wonderful to just walk through the small streets without worry of animal, monster or human and just be myself. Hana enjoyed her walk as well. The morning sun filtered through the buildings with hardly a breeze and everyone seemed to be quietly getting on with their lives. With such a nice day, you can imagine my irritation when I detected eleven contacts ahead that were obviously up to no good.
People are creatures of habit, and habits can be predicted by obvious patterns. I didn’t need Ara to confirm what I already surmised.
Come to think of it, wasn’t that the same area we bumped into Laurel and Hardy?
“Hana, we’ve got trouble up ahead, be prepared.”
“How many?”
“Eleven.”
She pulled various things out of her storage ring.
“Is that a knuckle-duster?”
I asked in surprise.
“What, you don’t have one? You should.”
That wasn’t what bothered me. Just when did she get that? I mean I was practically sewn onto her and I certainly didn’t remember me buying it for her, or her buying it, for that matter. I couldn’t but wonder what other surprises she had in store. Not many ladies I knew kept a knuckle-duster on them, but then again, I didn’t know that many ladies either. Was the everyday kit for a lady in that world something like, lipstick, mascara, mirror, and knuckle-duster?
Hana handed me a spare knuckle duster.
“You keep this one.”
“You mean you have more?”
“No, it’s for my other hand.”
If I didn’t know Hana already, that would be the weirdest conversation. By that time the group of idiots came into view, lined up alongside both walls of the narrow street, like a gangster gauntlet.
“Good day gentlemen. Good day. Good day.”
I cheerfully greeted each one of my future proselytes, as if walking into a monthly meeting of a local croque club. With their colourful patchy clothing, they looked like they were hit by a large packet of wet, liquorice all-sorts. I guess that was their thing, their gang patch, their ‘je ne sais quoi’. When two familiar faces appeared at the end of the lines of faces we stopped. Laurel and Hardy stood in front of Hana and I like traffic bollards in a pedestrian pathway.
“Good day, Laurel and Hardy. How are things going?”
As soon as I uttered those words, the gangsters stepped into the road behind us, encircling us. Imagining we were easy prey was a strategic error on their part, one they were about to regret. As if trying to bolster their enthusiasm, most of brandished their knives, no doubt to intimidate us. I certainly didn’t think it was a sitting of the butcher’s guild.
“Are these guys the ones that gave you trouble?”
Asked a serious looking character behind us, talking to Laurel and Hardy. Why did I feel like we missed an important part of their conversation?
“Yes. Yes. That’s him. Don’t know who she is.”
Said Laurel, whom if I remember right, was the duo’s spokesman. No doubt he brought his mates along for some recompense.
“We’ve been looking for you. Are you the guy that robbed Bobby and Baxter the other day?”
“Bobby and Baxter? Oh, you mean Laurel and Hardy. Nah, they donated their stuff to a good cause, I even gave them a thank you stamp on their foreheads, didn’t you see? Oh, I get it now. You probably want to donate your stuff too, right?”
“Don’t get smart with me, fella.”
There was a malefic emphasis on the word, fella. From there the conversation predictably deteriorated into the usual tit for tat of ‘bluffery’ and ‘bafoonery’, blah, blah, blah. I thoroughly enjoyed our decent into verbal ‘sluggery’ until the inevitable turning point came. One of them made a below the belt quip about enjoying Hana’s company for my sake. Up to that point I would have been quite willing to leave them as-is and walk away, calling it a fun day amongst boisterous neighbours.
“I’ll tell you what guys.”
I said calmly.
“Since you want a piece of her so much, why don’t you all try and get it for yourselves? Heck I’ll even sit this one out and let her defend herself. But if you don’t succeed, you’re going to donate everything you have on you to a good cause. I’ll even give you a good donator stamp to show how you love donating to charitable causes. However, I’m a strong believer on fostering better relationships so Hana here would like to help teach you fine gentlemen how to better respect a lady.”
Wordlessly, she took one step forward. Someone in the gang made the mistake of opening their mouth.
“What you going to do little missus, you want to play with us?”
What followed is best described as brutal but bloodless carnage. Hana looked like a pro-fighter in a kindergarten, I’d massacre the word if I called it fair. There was a lot of pent-up frustration in Hana’s life, and she used those guys like stress balls. By the time all the fun ended, they lay strewn over the street like limp, over-boiled asparagus. During the show, I used transmutation to fashion a flat metal stamp of a bunny rabbit caricature, featuring large prominent front teeth bugs bunny would be proud of. I warmed the stamp up to a nice glowing red and gave each one my promised stamp. They were good folks for becoming regular donators of my charitable cause, and my newest converts.
I wanted to remove their donated clothing since they were in no condition to hand it to us themselves and looked to Hana for some help.
“Don’t look at me, I’m not touching that stuff. You’re on your own there, fella.”
There was an irritating emphasis on the word ‘fella’ again.