Chapter 41

Yeti There He Was

I was down a couple of gold, but Barnacle-eyes was now up a few barrels of mana potions. They were stacked by the starboard taffrail ready for her belly. Remember-not stood beside the barrels. She wielded a coopered bucket tied to a rope. For the last few hours, she’d been lowering refills of mana potions for her Admiral. Barnacle-eyes had been using her Boat Builder skill nonstop on her acquired sloops. They were starting to take shape. Half of them were nearly complete.

I tossed another tree into the water from my private inventory. It was a two-trunked cedar and it made a big splash beside the long maple. Goblins lassoed the cedar branches. Twice as many goblins wore black boots. Pinky-chew seemed to have the most experience, and she was teaching new Captains “how to Captain”—in Barnacle-eyes’ words. I dropped another dozen trees into the water. When I next looked up, the furthest sloop had a mast. Goblins were rigging a sail to it and celebrating. Barnacle-eyes was aboard that sloop, and she performed one of her pirouettes with her hands clasped at one side.

I sniffed the air. I took long deep breaths like I was trying to suck the world in. I was smelling for Boggo, but I only got weak whiffs of him. Days old whiffs. His crow’s nest must have been empty for at least a week.

After dropping another dozen trees into the water, I disembarked. I leapt off the ketch and made a gigantic splash in the sea. I swam beneath the docks until I reached the shore beneath the boardwalk. My nose led me straight to one of the red bestie vents. They were tunnels, of course, but to my nose they were like vents of nothing but bestie smells.

I moved a rock to reveal one tunnel entrance. I put my nose inside and took whiffs massive enough that I could feel my lungs expand against my ribs and organs.

I could smell everything: tons and tons of red bestie fur, their musky bodies, fresh roots, sparkling gems, layers of the earth, a variety of pungent minerals, some gasses, aquifer water, thousands of red besties, and only the faint scent of Boggo. All those scents were so strong, that it put an image in my mind of the vast network of red bestie tunnels beneath Lavenfauvish.

My huge eyes went wide. Would Boggo be above ground in the city in broad daylight around people? Boggo? Little blue bestie Boggo who has to build courage for things?

I donned my cloak yet again and strode into Lavenfauvish proper. The cloak was longer than I was tall, so it dragged behind me. I pulled the hood over my head and halfway down my eyes and cinched the cloak at my neck. Humans who got too close went pale when they saw me, but I didn’t have to deal with the guard as much.

As I wandered further into the center of Lavenfauvish, I sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. Boggo’s scent at one point got stronger, and it was all I needed to pinpoint his location. It was early evening and shops were closing all around me. Shopkeepers swung out of their businesses, flipped signs from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’, or locked their doors from the inside after ushering late customers out.

Boggo was in one of those shops! Bailey’s Game Enthusiast: Board and Card Games. And it was closed for the day. I gently—very gently!—tried the knob but it was locked. So I cut through the world and into the shop.

Mini painted figurines lined the shelves. Card and board games sat like books in a library. Several tables had maps, figurines, and elaborate dice upon them. Under the bright light of several lanterns, Boggo, Ella the yellow bestie, and a man sat around one of the maps with figurines atop it.

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The man was startled. “What the… What is this? You can’t come in here!”

Boggo hopped. “Thrush! No, it’s ok, this is my best friend. He looks like he’ll eat you, but he won’t.” He leapt off the counter and skittered over to me. With pleading eyes he said, “…You’re not going to eat Bailey are you?”

“As in your character Thrush?” Bailey said.

“That’s the one,” Boggo said.

“I’m Thrush.”

“Hello, Mr. Thrush,” Ella said. She scampered over without a hint of fear. She held a tiny hand out to shake. “Nice to finally meet you up close. I’ve seen you on the pier.”

Bailey, who was visibly frightened, said, “Mr. Thrush…Well, I suppose I can’t turn down Boggo’s best friend. Why don’t…Why don’t you play this monster yeti in the mountain pass. How would you like that? Won’t that be a nice way for us to get to know each other?”

Boggo’s face lit up. "Thrush! Will you play with us?”

“I’ll always play games with you, Boggo,” I said.

Bailey fumbled for a stool and offered it to me. He tried to maybe smile but it just made him look like a sick animal. He was pale too, and his voice went high. I tested the stool but it creaked under my weight. I chugged half a barrel of Anti-gravity ale, and when I tried the stool again, it didn’t creak.

After I belched, Bailey closed his mouth and stopped staring at me. He clapped his hands as though to break a spell, and then placed a tiny figurine of a white-blue yeti on the map. “This will be your player piece, Thrush. These other pieces are Boggo and Ella.”

I moved mine so that it was with Ella’s and Boggo’s after Bailey explained what a player piece was.

“I’m sorry, Thrush,” Bailey said. “You’re playing the enemy monster.” He then leaned in as though to whisper something to me, but got scared halfway through the action. He wrote me a note instead. “Read that to yourself,” he said.

I read aloud to myself. “You cannot pass until you place the ice spear in my hands and defeat me in battle.”

Bailey rubbed his face. Through his hands he said, “They were supposed to figure that out on their own!”

Ella stomped a foot. “I run over and place the spear in the ice yeti’s hands.”

“I’m not ready!” Boggo said. “I’m not ready! Can we sneak around?”

Bailey completely changed just then. His fear seemed to diminish. Color returned to his face. He became animated as he put himself back in the game. “The ice yeti’s eyes fly open,” he said.

“Oh no!” Boggo said.

“He rises from his seated form!”

I stood.

Bailey whispered, “You don’t really need to stand, Thrush.” Then he turned his gaze to Boggo and Ella and said, “The ice yeti says…” He scribbled another note and handed it to me.

“Now that I’m complete,” I read, “I will crush you.”

“The ice yeti raises the spear high in the air!” Bailey said.

I raised my fist.

“And he smashes…”

I got ready to smash.

“He smashes…” Bailey said with less conviction. He looked at me, cleared his throat, and said, “He gently brings the spear down and pokes the ice with it.”

I brought my fist down, extended a claw, and poked the counter. Cracks split the wood. Bailey groaned.

“That’s right,” I said. “You must defeat me in battle.”

“We fight!” Ella said.

“Unless…” I said.

“No,” Bailey said. “No unless.”

“Unless what?” Boggo said.

I was confused. “What do you mean, ‘no’? I thought I was the yeti.”

“Well you are,” Bailey said, “but-”

“-Unless you can give me two high fives,” I said.

“No, no, no,” Bailey tried.

But Boggo and Ella were already bounding across the map toward me. They both high fived me.

“That’s not how this is supposed to go!” Bailey said.

But I was the yeti. “Those were good high fives. You may pass.”

Bailey sighed in resignation. He slouched. “All right. This is a good place to stop.”