Descendre’s fur darkened as she disappeared into the shadows with a warning growl.
Devourer shook each of his armored ears, it was a practiced movement meant to ensure no bit of his gear was going to lock up mid-movement, the blades made a pleasant, cascading tinkling noise as they flashed the sunlight across all the trees around them.
Mrs. Strawberry stowed Eli the Frozen Death into her backpack, picked up her pan and moved into a fighting stance.
Onion’s roots sank into the ground and his tail grew.
All waiting for their unseen intruder.
“If even one of you so much as looks at me aggressively I am dunking you all in the singing stream!” the male voice said gruffly.
Onion’s face lit up with utter joy “GUS!” The Silken raced toward the source of the voice, his tail and roots returning to normal size and color.
“Calm down, Onion!” the dark humanoid ordered as he emerged from the trees into the sunlight. He wore an extremely wide brimmed hat that mimicked the shape of a mushroom cap. He was regal, elegant, poised…until Onion slammed into him with a squeal and they crashed into the ground.
Descendre emerged from the shadows with a relieved expression “Good to see you, Gus. We were worried about you.”
“Speak for yourself.” Devourer muttered as he stowed his daggers.
“Okay, that’s enough. Time to roottalk I think.” Gus pushed the puppy-like Silken back and grabbed his root foot, there was a brief pause as the two communicated via roottalk and then Onion got up looking a little sheepish and rebuked, a little abashed he made introductions “Mrs. Strawberry this is Gus of the species Mottoy, Gus this is Mrs. Strawberry our warrior cook.”
Gus extended his hand towards the woman. His fingertips were bulbous, his face was featureless, just a few bumps to indicate where eyes and nose would have been. Mrs. Strawberry took his hand warmly “Pleasure to meet you, Gus. Onion has told me all about you.”
The mushrooms growing all across his body shifted color from pale orange to blue in response to his thoughts, his voice friendly “He just told me all about you. Very pleased to meet another member of the team that can keep Devourer in check.”
Devourer’s face scrunched up as he was about to retort, Mrs. Strawberry interjected “No need for me to keep anyone in line in this team, they’ve all been responsible teammates. Devourer especially with pointing out dangerous plants and watching my back.”
The lights on the mushrooms shifted for a moment pale white but shifted to full black and Gus’s voice was pleasant “I think I like you.”
“Where’ve you been?” the Derkaz queried.
“I was eluding some Coulro until this morning, I don’t mind fighting them one-on-one there were five of them.” Gus indicated a few deep slashes across his arms “Had to switch to guerrilla tactics.”
The cook surveyed the wounds, they had already started to heal, and he seemed unphased. She looked behind him for possible Coulro as she asked, “How’d that go?”
“Wasn’t bad, just had to use a couple ‘shrooms to keep em at bay if they tried to rush me. But then they all just poofed away this morning and I started looking for you hooligans.”
Devourer grinned with all his sharp teeth “We got it sorted, we do a quick mission and then we are pardoned of all sins in the kingdom.”
“Why am I even more worried now?” The Mottoy lifted his mushroom cap to scratch at his head “Devourer, quick missions with you tend to spiral into disaster.”
The feline’s colors shifted back to bright blue as she stated, “We’re hunting a Realm Ripper.”
“Ah.” The fungus’s colors turned white as the Mottoy’s temper got the better of him for a moment, he put his hands on his hips and stared towards the sky. It lasted much longer was necessary, Mrs. Strawberry suspected he was either trying to calm himself down or praying to whatever god he worshipped to save him from this madness. The mushroom paladin finally spoke. “This mission does not sound quick. Isn’t a Realm Ripper the canine that has the long tail and crystals growing across the body?”
“Yep, uses his keystone crystal to move all his gate crystals to open a hole between two realms.” Descendre added licking her paw for a moment, causing the paladin to wait in suspense. She finally finished her ‘very’ important task and continued “This Realm Ripper is yanking in dangerous monsters from all over. And from the king’s reports the Realm Ripper is attacking caravans and anybody that seems to have anything of worth.”
“Not all of them were monsters!” Onion interrupted with a slight rebuke in his expression towards the cat. “Mrs. Strawberry got a Frozen Death, and I got a Songbeetle.”
Gus tilted his head as he analyzed the names “I don’t recognize either of those species.”
“We met em first, we get to name em!” Devourer emphatically explained. “We also met some White Terrors and another critter that I can’t remember what I named her.”
Descendre coughed to silence the Auris, she watched the three-eared creature to ensure he wasn’t going to interrupt before she continued her narrative on the Realm Ripper. “It seems like our little canine havoc maker is becoming more confident in his powers. He has even made tears big enough to allow the weather to move between the realms.”
“Again.” The Mottoy crossed his arms and looked in Devourer’s direction “Nothing simple about this mission.”
The three-ear shrugged “It IS simple enough. We kill him and break down his gateway.” He stopped speaking as a small bird flew down to land on his hat. He was incredulous as it started to peck at the brim. His voice bordering on a snarl as he said, “If you are not off my hat in three seconds, I will eat you.”
“You’re oversimplifying this more than you think.” The Derkaz countered distracting the Auris from his interloping avian resident. “If he gets spooked, he’ll just use his keystone to tear open a gate and escape.”
Devourer leapt onto this bit of info with all the zeal of a witch hunter in Salem “He leaves this realm, which means he is out of the realm and not our problem, tell me where this would be a bad thing?”
“Because he’ll just cut another tear with his keystone and bring back an army of White Terrors or whatever.” Descendre explained patiently.
“We have to kill him fast.” Gus mused.
“Which means we have to get close.” Onion piped in unexpectedly. He extended a leafed hand towards the bird still pecking on the Auris’s hat. The bird tweeted and with a quick flap of her wings landed on him. She hopped along his arm and perched on his shoulder. The Silken noticed everyone was staring at him “She doesn’t count as a pet; I can’t help it if creatures like me. I’m sure she’ll fly off soon.”
Gus didn’t appear to care about the small troop of animals that his vegetative companion was accruing, he continued following the logic train of Onion’s statement about getting close to the Realm Ripper “What about disguising ourselves as merchants?”
“Merchants?” Devourer asked with a hint of derision in his voice.
“Yes!” Descendre exclaimed as she realized the genius of the plan “The Realm Ripper is attacking anyone with valuable items or exquisite food. We get him to trap us and then snap! We take him out before he can use his keystone!”
Devourer finally understood the plan and offered his own thoughts to the discussion. “We could laden the wagons with all sorts of fine food and wines, expensive materials. Lots of shiny objects that would get his attention and distract him from the knives being thrown at him. We may want to figure out how to position ourselves for this quick kill.”
“We could make Devourer the butler.” The Derkaz offered, she ticked off members of the team on her claws as she spoke “Put a leash on me (to look like some sort of pet) and Onion could travel underground. Gives us multiple opportunities to execute the Realm Ripper and then return to our main quest of finding the Colligere, rescuing the continent and living in a lap of luxury for a few days.”
“Back to the matter at hand.” Devourer shot a thumbs up towards Mrs. Strawberry as he said “Leave the cook as the cook, she can squish him with a pan if he decides to kidnap a highly skilled culinary artist for his ‘exquisite taste buds’ as one of the reports said about him.”
“And we leave me as a guard.” Gus finished “The Realm Ripper would be suspicious if there isn’t at least one guard.”
Mrs. Strawberry raised a hand “I may have missed this part, where would we find wagons, expensive wines and foods and finery?” Her tone was dry as she said, “I’m afraid I left those things in my other backpack.”
“Oh.” Devourer paused mid-cheer and was thoughtful. “I forgot about needing those things.”
Gus was unphased “I know of a town that is just a few hours away. It’d been nice to see it again, it’s been a while and it’d be nice to see how much it’s changed.”
“Well that’s settled.” The Derkaz decisively snapped her tail. ”Let’s hurry up, we might be able to sneak in a lunch and dinner before heading out to defeat our Realm Ripper. This may actually be fun.” She moved with a little playful bounce to her step as she started putting away the camp things.
The Mottoy shared a look with Onion “You’re right, it’s a drastic change in her attitude.”
Devourer looked over “What’s that?”
The warrior wasn’t paying much attention to the Auris, his attention focused on the feline “I haven’t sensed her this happy and relaxed in a long time. Onion says it is the bluest he has ever seen her.”
The Auris looked at his friend “Oh, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen her fur this light since she was a kitten. I wonder what changed.”
Gus rested his hand on Onion’s head and rubbed at the leaves (causing the Silken to purr), stirring up the Songbeetle that emerged with a pleasant welcome song, the paladin answered, “If I was to make a guess it would be her not worrying about what new danger was going to arrive because you got bored and did something reckless.”
The three-ear was about to retort but paused with his mouth open as Descendre started singing to herself in the Derkaz language. He listened and it seemed that Gus’s words sank in and the Auris whispered, “I haven’t heard her singing in a long time.”
The group listened to the blue cat sing, it was part roar and part snarl and hiss, all somehow made into a melody that tugged at the heart.
Devourer kept staring at his oldest friend and seemed to realize something, his face becoming more serious than it had been in a long time.
Unexpectedly Onion leapt around the Auris, stems sprouting and leaves budding from the Silken’s tail. The plant creature grabbed the assassin’s hat by the brim and scampered off with Devourer shouting and giving chase.
Once they were out of earshot Gus spoke “I was harsher than intended, Onion has the great gift of sensing when the mood has been dampened or made uncomfortable and that a distraction from him is needed. Hopefully the Auris will think about what I’ve said, but not dwell on it too long.”
Mrs. Strawberry rested her hand on the fungal’s shoulder “I think it needed to be said, this may be a growing point for Devourer.”
“Perhaps.” The Mottoy said with an unsure tone. “I have never seen him able to be dependable for long.”
Mrs. Strawberry watched him, with years of wisdom she said “Sometimes a person just needs a gentle nudge in the right direction, they can change in ways that should have been impossible. Saw it with my kids, my grandkids and my great grandkids. Everyone is trying their best, and they can always find a way to make themselves better.”
-
The sun was high overhead as the group navigated their way around giant boulders and short growing grass. There was an odd striped bird that would hop atop a boulder and make a loud squawk at the party before hopping away with a flap of their short wings. The flowers that grew from the base of the rocks were yellow and white striped, the petals quivering in the slightly chilly breeze.
The party followed Gus and Onion. Onion was on fours for easier navigating, the Mottoy’s hand on the Silken’s back to help him move around large boulders and rocks. His steps were precise as he moved under a low hanging branch “Onion said you were inquisitive. Did he explain to you how I got my name?”
“He did not.” The woman admitted.
“It’s because he is fun!” Onion burst out. “Fun Gus the fungus!!!”
Mrs. Strawberry stared at the Silken. “Wait. You named him Gus because he is fun…” She looked at the paladin, amusement clear as day “Your name is based on a pun?”
The fungal humanoid’s voice mirrored her own amusement “My kind has no need for auditory names, we communicate via complex biochemistry, my actual name is a string of glucose that would require me to speak for an hour to spell it out in common. When I met Onion, he gave me the name and I liked it. It’s silly and straightforward.”
After a few hours the adventure party paused for a short break, While the other members of the group unpacked food and sat down (on boulders or exposed roots) the Mottoy stepped into the shade of a tree. He wriggled a little to get between its exposed roots and little mushrooms started to sprout on the tree bark and ground around the paladin. The Silken curled up around Gus’s feet after gulping down his food, he caught the curious look from the cook and explained, “He is fed sucrose and glucose from the surrounding vegetation. In exchange for a meal he creates a carpet of sports that connects all the plants together and makes a high speed communication network for them, known as a mycelial root system.”
“You make it sound like I’m a messenger relay.” Gus attempted to complain though it failed miserably, his voice was likened to a man finishing a four-course meal and being told he didn’t have to pay the bill.
The plant mage ruffled his leaves and settled down further into his resting pose. “He basically super evolves the existing connections of the mycelial network already in existence here and creates new connections.” He did puff up his chest a little as he added “Since I’m a plant, I help facilitate any necessary negotiations between Gus and the local flora.”
Gus ran his hand over the tree roots around him. His wounds healing as the corrected his friend. “You do it to catch up on the local plant gossip, don’t fib.”
Onion made a mock gasp “I never!”
“Sure, sure.” The paladin patted his friend’s head.
While the two argued amicably Mrs. Strawberry chewed on some Chomper jerky. The sweet spicy flavorings made her nose run a little. When she started to sweat, she looked at the meat trying to figure out where the heat was coming from “The meat is good.” She breathed through her mouth as the heat kept rising on her tongue “Onion did you add something to this stuff? It shouldn’t be this hot!”
Before Onion could answer Devourer chimed in “Oh, I added the haunted peppers to the meat.”
Mrs. Strawberry grabbed a jar of honey from her bag and desperately put some of the amber liquid into her mouth as swished some into her mouth and swishing. She pondered his words and then took a deep breath to calm herself before she asked, “Do you mean ghost peppers?”
“That’s the one.” The three-eared fighter exclaimed with a snap of his fingers “I figured some spirited spice would be good.” The pride in his voice would have been adorable if her mouth wasn’t still trying to recover from the flavor conflagration.
Onion peered up at her “Are you okay?”
The cook took a long breath as her nerves stopped firing off klaxons in her mouth “I am now.” She held up her jar of honey. “Honey or peanut butter to neutralize spices.”
“What’s the big deal?” Devourer asked as he popped a piece of jerky into his mouth and chomped down. His brows instantly started pouring sweat. He tugged on the collar of his finely pressed shirt and mopped his brow with a silk handkerchief with the other hand as he gasped “Water!”
“Nope!” The cook caught him by his collar before he could run off, she shoved a spoonful of honey into his mouth. “Take some of this and swish.”
He looked unconvinced but since he could run away he took the yellow liquid and swished. His expression changing as the heat quickly died down “What was that?”
“That” Mrs. Strawberry said as she rummaged around and pulled out a spice jar labeled ‘Ghost Pepper’ “Was a gentle reminder that you will want ask me what is in my bags before rummaging through them.”
“Oh.” Devourer was able to utter while still mopping the sweat from his forehead.
The cook wasn’t done “You’re lucky you didn’t eat any of my other items. I don’t just have food stuffs in here, some of it is medicinal and not for ingestion.” Her tone was matter of fact as she finished “Meaning if you eat them, you get poisoned and die.”
“Why did you have to do something so stupid?” Descendre growled as she prowled towards the two. Her fur as black as night. Her expression moving from concern to anger as she realized her friend was safe. “You can’t keep making such dangerous mistakes without thinking!”
The cook saw the rebellion in the Auris’s eyes and deflected the cat’s words with her own. “We all make mistakes, and this was a good object lesson for Devourer. He knows to ask me next time before deciding to add things to food.”
“Ah.” The cat stopped walking, her fur changing back to a light blue as she processed the cool-headed cook’s statement. Though the Derkaz rallied on seeing the ruined meat “But he ruined the meat, now we have to throw it away…” her words trailed off as the cook looked at her with an expression of eternal patience.
“Not ruined,” The cook corrected Descendre. She took out a knife and started to chop up the super-hot jerky into smaller segments. “We can just cut up the jerky into smaller parts and put them in stews for a nice zesty heat.”
The Auris’s rebellious posture had dwindled since the cook had begun speaking, by the time she had finished he was almost thoughtful. He almost missed her words as she said “Come on Devourer, let me show you how we can use some other ingredients to mellow out these ‘spirit peppers’.”
Devourer was at first uncertain, but he became excited in moments as he helped the cook work through the process of tasting and figuring out what needed to be added to the stew to make it taste harmonious.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“That’s cool!” he exclaimed, tasting the ginger root shavings mixed with a tiny portion of jerky.
Descendre moved out of the way of the two cooks and curled up next to Gus and Onion. She watched the two bantering and oohing over the different flavors. “I want to be mad at him for ruining her food, but she seems just as happy as him with turning a disaster into a victory.”
Gus shifted from his lethargic post food nap “I’ve never seen someone handle him this well before.”
The Silken at his feet flicked his tail, sending green leaves fluttering around the trio. He stretched before recircling his companion and laying down again “That’s because she isn’t ‘handling him’ she discussed the issue and forgave him without letting him off the hook for his mistake. I’m learning from watching Devourer mess up and the cook correcting the behavior in a positive way. May haps more learning than all my time at the university.”
Gus chuckled and tapped on a green baby pinecone forming on his friend’s shoulder “I would agree, never seen a pinecone on you before.”
The group enjoyed the ‘Disaster Stew’ as Devourer called it with pride. A leisure meal with shafts of sunlight streamed down through the gaps in the trees and danced across their faces.
Just as they were preparing to pack up camp Onion’s leaves flicked open, he lowered his head to the ground “Someone is coming this way. They appear to be carrying someone tied up among them, the captors they are…” he shot a glance at Gus “Fungal folk of the Golden clan?”
The Mottoy shook himself free from the mushrooms that had collected around him. “None of my people should be on this continent, and definitely not members of the gods forsaken Golden clan.”
“Golden clan are the sociopaths of the fungal folk.” The Silken explained to the rest of the group in a stage whisper. “Basically, think of them as a pampered prince that was taught that stabbing one’s servants is an acceptable way to start the day before a bath.”
Mrs. Strawberry was already stowing all items, putting out the fire and dousing it with dirt as the plant mage spoke. Before anyone could move to help her everything was packed, she started to re-arrange dirt, rocks and grass around the campsite. Within moments the entire area looked like it hadn’t been disturbed in a few hundred years. She caught a measuring look from the cat and hoisted her pack full of cookware as she advised “Best we get into the trees, I for one am not interested paddling the backsides of any pampered princes today.”
The group withdrew into the forest and waited.
There was a crashing of branches and undergrowth as twenty Golden clan stepped into the clearing. They were pale white, so pale that parts of their skin were transparent. They had the saunter of royalty confident in their own superiority to all other things in the realms. They wore draped clothing similar to Gus, but their clothing was gold or bleach white fabric. Six of the group carried the prisoner on a pole.
When the Golden clan were a safe distance away the group stepped back into the clearing. They looked at each other and without speaking unanimously agreed that they would be saving the captive.
This time Descendre led, subterfuge was needed, not the strong bulwark of a fungal paladin. She threaded through the trees, at times climbing one to keep her eyes on the cruel creatures ahead of them. The group caught up to her at the ruins of an old castle. The forest had slowly grown back in to reclaim the land. Bricks were crumbling and overgrown with the red vines that pulsed with copper veins, rotting wood had been torn open to make a home for mother and her little rotund babies that all looked like a cross between a hedgehog and a squirrel. She chittered aggressively at them as they followed the cat through the main courtyard and into the roofless throne room.
“They are speaking out loud?” Onion said curiosity in his voice.
“I thought fungal folk didn’t need to talk to vocally.” Mrs. Strawberry pondered as they slowly drew closer until the group was in sight.
Gus’s mushrooms changed to white, his skin turning equally white and his voice filled with murderous rage, “They are doing it to scare the man, they plan to kill him, but they want to see him terrified first.”
“They are trying to decide how to best to kill him.” Onion agreed, oblivious to his towering companion’s anger. He stopped the group as he pointed towards one of the half-crumbled pillars. Crouching atop the pillar was a member of the Golden clan, his skin as pale as the moon. The Silken continued “That is the look out, but he is distracted with the torture which is perfect for us.”
Descendre leaned over to Gus and asked, “What do you think?”
The paladin looked at the guard, then at the ones crowded around the man “Devourer kills the guard, cook creates a distraction while I rescue the victim. I know how to handle the Golden clan.”
The cat nodded her head. “Agreed, leave the Auris to play to his strong suit of soloing.”
“Hey!” Devourer griped.
“You’re a good fighter, Devourer.” Gus said as he pulled the dark mushroom cap off his head and affixed it to his arm, changing it into a large shield “But you aren’t always the best team player.” He extended his hand and a mushroom transformed into a cutlass.
The Derkaz looked at the Auris “Take Onion, and remember we have a captive, no theatrics.”
The Auris and Silken moved towards Golden clan guard with nary a whisper of sound. Devourer scaled the column like a monkey pausing for the plant mage. Onion worked his magic, green flames flickering for a moment then settling. He signaled the the Auris that all was ready. The three-eared gentleman assassin locked one of his monkey feet around his enemy’s throat and squeezed as he dragged him off his perch and down to the ground.
“How?” Mrs. Strawberry asked. Attempting to understand the lack of noise.
The cat leaned over “A magical dome of silence. Wouldn’t matter if a Fileven was screeching his mating call in there, no one could hear it.”
Devourer gave the team a thumbs up from atop his fallen enemy.
“That’s our cue.” Descendre announced to the cook “We’ll be watching your back from the shadows, feel free to start making some noise.” she leapt into the branches of a tree and was gone from sight with a ripple of blue fur.
Mrs. Strawberry smacked the stone with a large serving ladle, the loud clanging noise reverberating throughout crumbled castle.
The gold clad sadist stopped their discussion and looked around in confusion.
One finally asking, “Did you hear that?”
“Of course we heard it,” A female snapped, her voice filled with a barely restrained loathing “It was a large clanging noise, you would have to be dead to miss it, much like our little human will be, dead that is.” She landed a heavy thudding kick to the victim’s ribs.
“Probably just an animal running around.” Another surmised, turning his head look in the direction of the sentry. “No warning cry though, so not a threat, we can ignore it and return to our fun. Has anyone here ever tried live stewed human?”
Another of the gold clad fungus spoke up “But if it was an animal, we could enjoy killing it as well.”
Mrs. Strawberry stepped into view still smacking her ladle. Her voice was grim “You’ll find that this animal will not be easy to kill.” She threw the ladle with uncanny precision and sent one fungus crumpling to the ground unconscious.
The leader of the group pointed at three of the cruel soldiers and ordered them to watch the prisoner. The rest of the fungal sadists drew their weapons and charged towards the granny with jeers of expectant bloodshed. She planted her feet and threw another ladle at an attacker that had pulled ahead of the pack of predators. This one slid under his foot, made him snap his ankle as it twisted at an odd angle and impale himself on his own sword. Mrs. Strawberry used her cast iron frying pan to catch a spear head, redirect it and land a bone crush smack to his chest.
The cook saw from the corner of her eye as Gus charged the guards. The mushroom knight slammed full tilt into the unprepared cruel creatures with his shield. Sending them tumbling like pins. Without missing step he scooped up the man and made a mad dash away from his well-dressed enemies.
Mrs. Strawberry took a measured step back, spun around a tree and clotheslined two of Golden clan that had been planning on circling around to attack her from behind. With their own speed, plus the cook’s stone crushing swing they were dead before they hit the ground. Two dodged backwards out of her reach, lifting their spears to throw from a safe range.
There was a whistling hiss as Devourer’s ear blades spun through the air, slicing through muscle and bone of the two like a blender. With a turn of his head and a practiced dip in his step he sent an ear between the protection of his enemy’s shield and raised sword, cutting open the white mushroom’s chest and bisecting his transparent heart. At the same time the Auris was slashing out with a dagger to cut an enemy’s Achilles tendon. He was already moving to his next attack, just another step in his dance, flying spinning kicks that tore shields from arms while his ear accessories removed heads from shoulders.
While she wasn’t as graceful as the Auris Descendre was still deadly, she tore through the elitist mushrooms with fang, claw and tail. The battle was over as quick as it had started. And the sweating teammates all rejoined at the rendezvous point with their paladin and their rescued victim.
Mrs. Strawberry sat down on the ground beside the man as she offered him some water. “You will want to drink something, torture tends to muddle one’s mind, trust me, even if you don’t feel thirsty you need to drink something, it’ll release chemicals in your body to help you calm down and start to recover.”
Descendre shot the woman another look, a question on the tip of her forked tongue, she was interrupted by the man. “Thanks.” His words were drowned out as he gulped down the water desperately.
Mrs. Strawberry pulled it back “You’ll make yourself sick. Take a breath.”
The man’s eyes focused a little and he took in a ragged gasp of air. The granny offered him a piece of jerky. Her voice was softer like she was talking to a child “Chew at least twenty times.” She counted each trembling chomp of the man’s jaws, until he reached twenty, she nodded and he swallowed the food. She continued this process until he had eaten enough to satisfy her. She handed him the water again “Sip.” She ordered as gently as she could while still making it clear she would not put up with any nonsense.
He did.
Devourer was almost shaking with impatience. He started to speak but a glare from Mrs. Strawberry made him snap his mouth closed so fast that he bit the inside of his cheek.
The man took a deep breath his hands and jaw no longer trembling as the adrenaline finally started to wear off, his voice gaining some baritone to it. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome, dear.” The cook said as she rested her hand on his knee, each of her movements since approaching the man had been painfully slow, like she was trying to handle a wounded animal. “What is your name?”
“Tracy.” The man murmured though he was saying it to himself.
The granny gave an almost imperceptible squeeze on his knee, causing him to look up at her as she asked “And where are you from, Tracy?”
“Oranza city,” he answered, his words more certain as his mind cleared. “We’ve been under the thumb of those cursed mushrooms for months. They..” He paused and his eyes became haunted as he saw images that had been burned into his mind “They did unspeakable things…” he started to shake again “They did unspeakable things to--”
“Tracy!” Mrs. Strawberry said, a hint of command in her voice. “I need you to focus on me, Tracy. You do not have to think about that. We are here and you are safe.”
The man’s shaking slowed and finally stopped again. The cook looked at Onion “Anything in your plant magic that could help our friend?”
The Silken mage’s leaves rustled as he approached carefully, attempting to not spook the fragile man. “I have a few things.” He plucked a small clump of red berries from among his green foliage “Eat this, it is a short-term magic fruit that will calm your nerves and restore your stamina reserves.”
The man chewed them slowly, his color returning as his body started to recover.
The Mottoy spoke “I will be finding the rest of the Golden clan and exterminating them.”
“Because they are despicable people?” Devourer agreed.
“No.” The venom in the word caught everyone off guard. “They are not despicable. They are Golden clan; they are white skinned fungal folk. And they all must die!”
“Seems bit racist.” Devourer muttered.
Descendre shot the Auris a glare, her tone rebuking, “Devourer!”
“What?!” the suited gentleman’s tone becoming defensive, “Killing off a race because of skin color? Ring, ring, hey Gus. It’s for you it’s genocide on the line!”
“They have phones that ring here?” Mrs. Strawberry asked.
The Auris stopped mid-sentence, thrown off by the level-headed cook’s demeanor being so calm and unphased. He attempted speak several times before he finally asked “What?”
“I believe the skin color of fungal folk change according to mood.” The granny explained keeping her eyes on Gus as she made a supposition “The skin of the Golden clan never changed they stayed white. And not just white, so white that they are transparent. Gus only turned white when he was ready to murder them. And he only stayed that color for a short time.”
“Correct.” The purple skinned paladin confirmed “If a fungal stays white and their mushrooms gold it means they will kill at random. And they tend to gravitate towards each other. We attempt to help them mellow out before they start to get into too large of a crowd, in ones and twos we can usually reason with them. And while they still stay in a lighter color they at least aren’t ready to cut your arm off for sneezing.”
-
The adventures and Tracy arrived at Oranza city within a short period of time. The motely crew of would-be rescuers surveyed the valley of splendor. Oranza somewhere between a city and village it was more sprawling agriculture than a metropolis with towering buildings. The buildings had green tile roofs, and the buildings all formed from river rocks held together with cement. There were vineyards with glistening fruit ready to be plucked, lush green pastures with black furred sheep like creatures with golden eyes and legs. The road was also formed of the same river rock, though this had been ground to a gravel and cemented in place by mud and years of travelers’ wagons, booted feet, paws and hoofs.
Mrs. Strawberry shifted her pack, causing it to rattle slightly as the pots and pans settled into new positions. “We will likely want to avoid the main road. No need to give the Golden clan time to start making the residents into living meat shields.”
“I spotted a game trail a ways back.” Descendre offered. “Easily backtrack and use it to get closer.”
Devourer expertly wound his ears up into a sharp armored pile atop his bare head, then tapped his hat back on to hold them in place. He shot Tracy a wink as he explained “If we are in heavy foliage they will only get in the way. Best to focus on daggers and my walking cane.”
The other members of the party made preparations as they returned to the goat path and hiked up the steep incline. When they stopped to rest Mrs. Strawberry lifted the Frozen Death from her pack and set him down as she noted, “You’re getting bigger.”
The blue skinned Auris ran a cursory eye over the little creature. “You’re right, he’s grown. What’ve you been feeding him?”
Eli squeaked and trundled about the rocks and trees, exploring with all the confidence of a puppy, Onion following along to keep him out of harm’s way.
Gus rested in the shade of a large tree with a curving winding trunk. His skin turned onyx as he looked towards the sky and multiple species of mushroom grew up around him. Devourer had removed his hat and shook his head to release his metal clad ears from their cramped quarters. Mrs. Strawberry was handing out unspicy jerky when a four legged creature leapt up the path and froze in their midst upon realizing there were intruders. It had eyes on either side of its head marking it as a herbivore. The pronged horns on its head were a deep purple. It twitched its ears back and forth waiting from them to attack.
Descendre had been lounging peacefully, now she was crouched, her voice a low hiss “That’s a Forate, if it lowers its head and charges we will be torn to pieces before we can blink an eyelash. No sudden movements, no loud noises. I don’t wanna be amputating any limbs today. We back away quickly but carefully.”
The members of the group started backing away as slowly as possible. Devourer bumped over a pack and the clattering noise of gear had the Forate swivel its head towards the Auris. It lowered its head, horns pointing at the well-dressed creature. There was a thrum in the air as purple cascading energy danced across its fur and horns.
“Grrrrr.”
The Forate froze hearing the low rumbling growl of Eli. His waddled into view his roly-poly form had all the threat of the Pillsbury dough boy but the Forate wasn’t moving a muscle. The Frozen Death made another low rumbling growl that was adorable. The entire forest went silent as the Frozen Death’s growls reverberated throughout the trees.
The energy that had been around the Forate dissipated.
The violet horned creature lifted its head and turned sideways to back away while keeping the little blue creature in its vision. Eli made a bark this time and the Forate dashed into the forest as fast as its legs would take it.
Eli wagged his stub of a tail and bounced slightly with a happy little woof. He waddled back to his owner and slobbered on her hands and face as she picked him up. “Oh, yes, good boy.”
Devourer patted down his clothing and adjusted his ears before asking, “Did anyone else notice the little rippling lights going across his body for a moment?”
Descendre leaned down to gently scratch the Frozen Death’s neck with a claw, her voice almost drowned out by the pleased purring of the cub “I was paying too much attention to our imminent demise from that blasted Forate.”
Onion emerged from the ground “I only sensed it a few seconds before it got here, didn’t have time to call out a warning as I didn’t want to spook it.”
“I vote we give Eli an extra helping of food tonight.” The Auris asserted as he patted the Frozen Deaths spiked head. “Though I am hoping we don’t meet any more denizens of this forest.”
They moved quietly up the path, stopping twice more to rest and strategize. They also took very short pauses to let a large omnivore barrel by. They made a longer pause to let two more Forate bounce pass. Once the group reached the city buildings Mrs. Strawberry could see that painted over the stone and mortar was a whimsical catlike pattern. Framing the buildings was a blue wood cut from the nearby trees.
The team quietly circled a building and found the members of the Golden clan. There were two pale fungus guards sitting leisurely on a bench. Their back pressed against a fence.
Gus kept his gaze on the enemy “You’re up, Onion.”
“Got it, Boss.” The Silken took a step forward and sank beneath the ground with nary a sound.
The paladin plucked a mushroom from his shoulder, tossing it into the air and catching it again. “Auris, your turn.”
“Aye, aye, oh cappitahn.” The gentlemen assassin slyly said with a mock bow. Though his expression belied the words, he was dead serious. He dashed towards the back of the first guard, leapt off a fence post to spin into a slashing attack that killed his pale enemy before the Auris landed. As the three-eared creature struck down his foe Onion rose from the earth beside the second guard. He wrapped his arms around the sociopathic mushroom and the ground swallowed them both.
A moment later Onion emerged from the dirt alone. He grabbed hold of Devourer’s fallen foe and sank again beneath the surface.
“So easy.” Tracy whispered. “They made it look so easy to kill the fungi. Why couldn’t we do that?”
“Because they have spent their lives training to kill, and you spent your lives training to grow things.” Mrs. Strawberry put a comforting hand on Tracy’s shoulder as she reminded him of the plan “We move from building to building until we rescue anyone that we can easily get to. You have them go into the forest at the spot we discussed. This is important. We don’t want the golden fungi to make anyone into a hostage. Onion, Descendre and Devourer will protect you. Me and Gus will be dealing with the gold guards around anyone working in the fields.”
“Okay,” Tracy’s jaw firmed in resolve, “Let’s kick these golden bullies out of my city!”
The team quickly moved from building to building finding the townsfolk locked behind doors. As they were released from their makeshift prisons Tracy quickly provided instructions and the thankful people retreated from the city with Devourer leading the way. One couple refused to leave however. “They have our children.” One man snapped pushing Tracy backwards. “I’m not leaving without them!”
Mrs. Strawberry interceded between the two men. She planted her feet and looked squarely up at the much taller man “You. Stop. Now!” the words were barked with the same precision as a drill instructor. And it caused the man’s mouth to open and close like a fish out of water. The cook continued speaking “We are professional, we know what we are doing and if you want your children to be safe you will follow the dapper dressed fella with the ears. Is that understood?!”
The man’s wife touched his arm “Sounds like we best listen to the kindly woman, else you are gonna get a paddling from her. I know a grandma when I see one and she wouldn’t think twice about bending you over her knee and smack your bum a few times with that big pan of hers.”
The man blushed and stammered an apology before following the rest of the townsfolk to the safety of the woods.
Gus sidled up to Mrs. Strawberry “We really should get you a better weapon, bludgeoning weapons can be nice but I feel like you might be better with something with an edge.”
“What brought that on?” she asked.
The paladin tapped the side of her pan “There is a dent that is creating a hairline crack along the center, that pan is gonna shatter one of these battles, and I’d prefer it not be when you need it most. We are all a wee bit fond of you.”
“Just a wee bit?”
The fungal man raised a hand to illustrate his words “Maybe more than a wee bit.”
The team found the large building holding the children, there was a single guard in front of the barred door. Mrs. Strawberry downed him with a baseball sized rock. Gus had the door open in moments. The children were quickly removed from the building and were ushered by Descendre and Devourer back to the safety point. Eli had taken a liking to the children and trundled off beside one of the small girls with a hop in his step.
As he watched the children leave Gus touched the edge of his mushroom hat “Rightey oh, that’s the last of the people in the buildings, time to deal with the main event, let’s get this adventure going.”
They spotted a guard atop a long, elegant horse-ant, its shape was equestrian, but it was an arthropod (a creature much like an ant) one that caught a bird out of the air with its mandibles. The guard atop the odd creature was more interested in watching the field workers than any external enemies. Gus affixed his hat to his arm. The material changing and evolving into a darker material. One of his smaller mushrooms that was always on his head quickly grew until it became a new hat, this one looking similar to the shield. Mrs. Strawberry looked curious “You can just do that whenever you want?”
Gus tapped the brim of his hat “Well there is a limit, but I just am careful to not go past it.” He paused to pluck one of the long mushrooms off his shoulder, as it pulled away it grew and changed into a javelin with a spiral “This is the last of the Golden clan, I’m ready if you are.”
“Yes.” Mrs. Strawberry lifted her cast iron frying pan “I’m ready to play whack-a-mole with some baddies.”
Gus took a few short breaths his skin color fading, becoming a lighter blue grey, the white stripes on his skin becoming less obvious. With a well-practiced hop, he flung his javelin, the weapon struck true, and the guard slumped forward dead. The insect horse shifted slightly due to the weight change but seemed more interested in consuming the bird at its feet than what had happened to its rider.
Gus created another javelin.
Mrs. Strawberry saw leaves stir in a nearby tree. She stepped forward and angled her cast iron to deflect the arrow aimed at the mushroom warrior’s back. She pointed “There!”
The Mottoy followed her finger to let his weaponized mushroom fly. There was a shout of pain and the Golden clan member fell from the tree. Another javelin ended the pale creature’s attempt to escape. Another guard spotted the two and shouted a warning. Others took up her call and soon there was the sound of the approaching Golden clan.
“All according to plan.” The fungal knight grabbed another of his mushrooms, this one becoming a long spear with a hooked barb right below the blade, he shook the spear once to remove the excessive dark blue slime that aided the mushroom’s transformation. “Now we play defense.”
A mounted pale fungus charged the older woman, she took a quick step forward and swung her pan into the horse-ant’s head. As the horse stumbled and fell, she brought her weapon around to clobber the rider with the black metal cookware. Gus hooked an enemy’s shield with his spear and tore it away. As the enemy was left unguarded the fungal paladin landed the killing blow with his polearm.
The cook and knight worked together as if it had been decades of practice, with a word one would go on the defensive while the other attacked an enemy’s flank, another word and they would both charge. In a matter of minutes, the entire Golden clan lay dead at their feet, the only ones left were the ones hiding up in a tree fort.
Gus attempted to throw some javelins in but was unable to hit them. “Well, that’s no good.”
“Do we let them go?” she asked.
Gus shook his head as he took another mushroom and formed it into a bow, another turned into arrows with flames on the tips. “Unfortunately no, if we do let them go they will sneak back later and kill us in our sleep. Like any type of bully, they are petty and vindictive and will decimate this place once we leave.”
Mrs. Strawberry pursed her lips in thought “Most flours and spices are flammable. We put those into a fabric pouch and lob it in there we would just need a spark to torch them.” With little effort she had a fist sized ball of fabric wrapped around the makeshift explosive. She threw the pouch softball style into the fort. There was a confused exclamation and coughing as the white powder cloud enveloped the area.
Gus fired his flaming arrow into the window. There was an explosion of fire that engulfed the entire building, exploding outwards and leaving no survivors of the Golden clan. With that final act for the first time in months the people of Oranza slept peacefully