“What are you doing here?” I snarled at the Master Shadow Walker.

“Sasye was worried about you. She wouldn’t stop yapping until I brought her here to see you,” Kendrick said.

The little fox leaped off Kendrick’s shoulder the same way Frank and Boopzy did to me. She snuggled up beside me, forcing her nose under my blanket before curling into a ball and letting out a happy sigh.

“You came all this way so your pet foxes could have a nap in my bed?” I asked resisting the urge to pet the little fluffy creature.

“Just Sasye, Captain Fluffers couldn’t give a rat's ass if you lived or died trying to rescue your friends.”

“Oh, nice. Real nice.”

“What? I didn’t say I felt the same way.”

“Your last note did that for you. You never answered my question though. Why are you here?”

“I have a message for you.”

I rolled away from the man being careful not to dislodge the little fox. “Send me a magpie in the morning. It’s late, I’m tired.”

A cold breeze tickled my warm skin as Kendrick lifted the blanket and slipped in under them with me. I swore and thrashed trying to escape the tight confines.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked the man’s feet that were uncomfortably close to my face.

“What, you said you were too tired to talk. I could use a nap myself, I’ve been traveling for two days straight.”

“Get your own room. I’m not sharing a bloody twin bed with you.”

“Nah, that goblin charges an outrageous fee when he knows you’re a Shadow Walker. Oh, by the way, don’t tell him what you are. You’ll be paying through the nose just for a hunk of meat in gravy.”

“I don’t care if he charges you ten times more, I’m not sharing a bloody bed with you. I have standards you know,” I snapped, detangling my foot from the sheet and stomping across the room to the little ensuite.

“Oh, what, you won’t share a bed with me but you’ll happily take a dump in my presence?” Kendrick asked.

“I’m not… For fuck sake you make me regret ever joining your little group of merry men.”

“I don’t know why, you’ve barely done a thing for us. Sometimes I wonder if you even care about me… I mean, us. The Shadow Walkers.”

I flushed the loo and stepped out of the miniature bathroom back into the moonlit room that I apparently was not going to have all to myself tonight.

“I’ve done plenty. I just don’t have the time to go galivanting across the country chasing after different kinds of headwear,” I said.

Kendrick snatched my pillow and fluffed it before shoving it behind his head. “So why don’t you just do the dailies instead?”

“What’s a daily?” I asked.

“Oh, you silly goose. Don’t you know? The Shadow Walkers are all over this country. In just about any place you go you’ll find a contact with the odd easy quest or two for you to do. Keeps you relevant in the guild, you know?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and ground my teeth to hold back the wave of rage threatening to destroy my room as thoroughly as Nora had downstairs.

“Why are you telling me about this now and not the hundreds of other times you’ve pissed me off?”

“My you’re cranky,” he said, patting the bed beside him. “Come have a snooze. I’ll tell you all about it over breakfast.”

“I need a drink,” I muttered to no one but myself.

“Great idea! Your shout for the first round,” Kendrick said, leaping to his feet.

I sat on the end of the bed. Kendrick was hard enough to deal with without getting him drunk. “How do I access the dailies?”

“Just find your nearest contact. Your Shadow Eye skill should help with that. Just follow the arrows.”

“Arrows? What arrows?” I asked.

“My Goddess man, do you ever pay attention to anything?”

“Of course I do. I’m extremely observant.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Kendrick’s mouth dropped open for a long moment before he dissolved into a rolling ball of laughter. I cursed and climbed to my feet, picking up Sasye and stroking her soft fur as the fox yawned and stretched but thankfully didn’t fight me.

I walked toward the door but turned back around before reaching it. I didn’t want to take this freak show out on the open road. Or, you know, into the hall where anyone could see. Sasye let out a tiny squeal and rubbed her head against my chest. The little thing was much too chill for a wild animal.

“Is this why you came here?” I asked.

“I already told you. Sasye was worried about you. Put your listening ears on.”

“I want to sleep, can you leave now?” I asked.

Kendrick stretched out on the bed and rolled onto his side, propping his head up on one arm. “I’m not going anywhere. I think I’ll join your group for a little while. You seem like you need my guidance. Come join me, we could both use some sleep.”

I was so shocked I almost dropped Sasye. The fox squealed and flipped out of my arms, landing on her feet like a cat might and rushing under the bed.

“Are you kidding? You can’t stay with us!”

“Why not? Making a base in the middle of Stanthorpe sounds like fun. I have some ideas I can share with you. Also, I know how you can get your hands on a Croc-resistant toilet. I bet you want one of those,” Kendrick said.

I didn’t bother questioning why he knew what my plans were and instead bellowed, “This is crazy. You want to keep the Shadow Walkers a secret. How am I supposed to explain you being here to everyone else?”

“Fine, how about I just keep my distance but Sasye stays with you? Would that make you comfortable?” Kendrick asked, rolling onto his back.

“I think I have enough pets, don’t you?”

Kendrick glanced around the almost empty room. “You have exactly zero pets.”

I checked off my fingers as I named them all, “Frank, Stella, Boopzy, Sob, and that shadow glob. Animals like me.”

“Sob doesn’t like you.”

“Yes, he does. He just pretends he doesn’t.”

Kendrick sighed and for a moment stared up at the ceiling. “Can I be honest with you, Joe?”

“I really wish you would be.”

“I have heard on the grapevine that there’s a hit out on you. Someone put a ten thousand gold bounty on your head,” Kendrick said.

I gaped at the man for a long time before a smile crept across my face. “Are you serious? That’s awesome.”

Kendrick lifted himself up again. “How is that awesome, you dunce? You’ll have every asshole player who just wants to make a quick buck after you.”

“Yeah, but come on. That’s like movie-level cool or something. Outlaw Joe on the run.”

“Outlaw Joe, hmm, I actually kind of like that. But, seriously. Don’t take this lightly Joe. Sasye is very worried about it. The Shadow Walkers can’t protect you against hired assassins.”

“Why not? That sounds like something the guild would be very good at. Hiding people and all that. That’s stealth work, isn’t it?”

“That’s not what we do, sweetheart, and you know it.”

“Then why are you here protecting me?”

“You’re my little Jackroller. I can’t let you die before you run a few more errands for me,” Kendrick said.

I groaned and rubbed a hand through my hair. “I’m either too tired or not drunk enough for this conversation.”

Kendrick patted the mattress. “Plenty of room for you here.”

“I hate you,” I muttered as I snatched the blanket and rolled it into a makeshift pillow before dropping onto the cold hardwood floor.

“Love you too, sweet cheeks. I’ll wake you up for pancakes and strawberries come morning.”

I pulled my hands into fists and muttered, “If there are actually pancakes you better wake me up or I’m sending my boot so far up your ass you’ll taste the Croc leather.”

“Don’t you threaten me with a good time, Joe. It gets me all tingly.”

“Urgh. Remind me to introduce you to Orion one day,” I said.

“Orion? Sounds like a fun kind of guy.”

“You get that from a name?”

“Of course, I’m very intuitive unlike you.”

“You’re just jealous I’m on the game's hit list and you’re not,” I said around a wide yawn.

Sasye crawled into a ball behind my knees before Kendrick answered, “Who says I’m not on there as well?”

“Oh yeah, how much are you worth?” I asked.

“I don’t know but it has to be at least fifty thousand.”

“Ha! You’re not on the list and you know it,” I laughed.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m the Master. You’re just a Jackroller,” Kendrick snapped.

“Yeah, a Jackroller who made the hit list.”

“Go on, just rub it in. Get it all out for me big boy,” Kendrick said.

“Eww, why did you have to ruin that for me?” I grumbled.

“It’s what I do,” Kendrick said before yawning and rolling away from me.

The floor was not comfortable. I preferred the endless quiet to Kendrick’s snoring; it was almost as bad as Nora’s. This was bullshit. I paid for the room and I was the one on the floor? Not cool. I closed my eyes and tried to let the darkness take me but it was no good. I was too giddy. It made no sense to be so excited about having a hit out on your head but come on, that’s just not something that happens, even in a game-like world like the one I’d been thrown into. It was either: enjoy it in a sick kind of way, or let it turn me into a blubbering terrified mess too scared to ever leave the tavern.

Could I tell the others about it without revealing my connection to the Shadow Walkers? There was no proof that it was me being a member of the guild that had caused the bounty. I had plenty of other enemies out there.

Sasye sneezed and stretched out, resting her little pointed head over my knee. I smiled, reminded of Stella. Although with Stella I didn’t have to worry about rolling in my sleep and squashing her. The burning, throbbing pain in my hip was my reward for staying perfectly still when I woke to sunlight filtering in through the window.

Sadly, there were no pancakes.