Chapter 31: Arrogance

“What is your name?” Hazel asked.

“And what are you?” Finn added.

“Ah sorry,” the tall, muscular, purple Adventurer said and turned from me to the rest of the group with a broad smile. “My name is Dadrol Vladinksi, I am an Adventurer much like all of you. Except, of course, I'm a baldwin and have clearly been doing this profession longer than all of you.”

“You would know he was a Baldwin,” Hazel grumbled. “If you ever listened to me when I talked about my studies.”

Finn ignored her, “How'd you know we were new?”

“Well, other than all of your postures and, simply put, lack of muscle, you also don't have the mark.”

“What mark?”

“You'll see,” He said jovially.

“I see,” Finn said and then, to my surprise, forced a smile. “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

“Are you on the way to Hedrenshire?” Gronan asked. “If you would like, you could join us.”

I wasn't the only one to give Gronan a side-eye at those words.

“I would,” Dadrid said, “But I have some…more pleasurable business to get to in this town,” He winked.

The guards opened the town doors. “Could you bring the monster inside the town limits?” One of them asked.

“You all seem busy on your path,” Dadrid said and put his hand out toward me again. Hopefully, we shall meet again back at Hedrinshire.”

Reluctantly, I shook it. Through a pained breath, I responded, “I hope so too.”

He seemed to smile wider at that. Though if it was because of my pain or just my words I couldn't tell. He let go and our group left him to his task and went inside the town.

“Finn, it seems we have found someone more of an asshole than yourself,” Hazel muttered.

“Who in Gahan does he think he is?” Finn kicked a pebble in the cobblestone path. “I swear, it's like he was inviting a dagger in the neck.”

“I wouldn't advise that,” Gronan said quietly.

“I'll admit,” I said. “As much as I don't like him. If you did that he'd probably snap you like a twig.”

He wheeled on me, “I might not be strong but I could easily kill him.”

I told him point blank, “Your dagger would probably bounce off of him.”

He nearly quaked with anger.

“Finn,” Gronan said. “He's right.”

“Trintshit!” Finn exclaimed. “He's in District One just like us.”

“You know just as well as I do that he had more experience than any of us.”

“You saw him,” I chimed in. “That guy threw that giant beast like it was freaking nothing.”

“Even if he was better than us, you didn't have to invite him into our party, Gronan.”

“I didn't want him to join.”

“Then why did you invite him?”

“It's a common courtesy.”

“And why would you be decent to that guy?”

“If there is one person I don't want to make into an enemy, it's another Adventurer.”

“Whatever,” Finn huffed. “He was right in one thing though. I could use some pleasurable business.”

“You debauchee,” Hazel said.

As much as Finn may have wanted to stop, however, we decided to go straight through the town, going over a large bridge that went over the river flowing right through the middle of the town. On the other side of the town, the guards opened the gate for us on the other side. As soon as they opened, I noticed the obvious change from the other side. The land was surrounded by field after field of growing plants. “Woah, what's with all the farms for this town?”

“It's not for the farm,” Finn said. “This is the end of the fields used to feed everyone in Hedrenshire.”

“So it does appear you listen to some of what I tell you,” Hazel said.

“But we're still two days away. So like sixty miles from the city.”

“Sixty-three,” Hazel corrected. “And these fields continue southward for several hundred more miles on the Leon Peninsula. The town we just passed was created on the outskirts of these fields to make it easier for farmers to get to their land faster while being beside a river. It is also a pitstop for the carriers that come from Thandesia.”

“Wait, so if this is the last town until we make it to Hedrenshire, why are the towns so spread out?

“Unlike your world, we have monsters,” Hazel said. “take notice of how many encounters with monsters we have had just in these few days, this is something less common in a bigger city where there are more armed guards and Adventurers. The world has simply naturally congregated into large cities as a form of protection.”

“How large is large?”

She gave a small smile, “You shall see when we arrive.”

“Alright, well if it’s bigger than Dallas, I’ll be impressed.”

“I have never seen any of your cities, but I would like to say it will impress.”

“Now you have me intrigued.”

“Too bad it’s still two days away,” Gronan complained as he wiped sweat from his brow. “It would be nice to have a rest.”

“Do you want to hop in the robe?” I asked.

He seemed to mull over the question for a moment, “I’d rather not, if you die I’d be stuck in there.”

“I’m sure the robe would still let you out.”

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“What if it gets destroyed?”

Finn’s eyebrows raised from that question. Clearly, he had not thought of that. “Shit, we have to get Velajn out of there, now!”

“It won’t get destroyed,” I tried to assure him. “I’ll instruct it to fly out of harm's way before that becomes a concern. I promise.”

He shook his head, “No way, that’s too much of a risk.”

“And having a normal person walk with us outside isn’t?”

“Finn,” Hazel said. “Trust in La’Quet.”

He huffed but he gave a slight nod. “Fine, but if she gets trapped in there and you aren’t dead, you will be.”

“If she gets trapped in there, I’ll already be dead,” I assured him.

As we continued to walk, I put a hand to my stomach and felt the hard abs under the shirt. How fit had I been before my transformation into an Adventurer. Was I a little noodle? If someone transformed enough to be as strong as Dadrid was, that’d have to be the case. But Dadrid wasn’t human, he was a Balwin.

I tried to think about how this body looked before it became an Adventurer but couldn't. Though, looking at the strengths of the others in my group, I had a hunch that when someone became an Adventurer, they became twice as strong. I thought about asking Hazel but was pretty sure if she knew already that she would've given me that kind of information long ago.

Whatever the case was, it was just another question added to the laundry list to probably never get answered. At least, not while we were walking toward the city which we did until the sun was beginning to go down. As we continued onward, slowly, the green plants sprouting from the ground transitioned to dry, yellow stalks of wheat.

I could imagine the fractured picture of my home, sitting in a field of wheat on all sides. The big, blue F-350 that we used to deliver locally sitting on the small dirt path that led to the country road. I tried to dig deeper into that memory, to find some sort of name, relationship, emotion, anything from it but there was nothing to be found.

With a sigh, I pulled off my robe, “Okay, I say let’s stop here before it gets too dark.

“Let’s,” Finn said, stopping in his tracks.

The robe did its job, the portal facing the kitchen. We went inside. Surprisingly, we weren’t immediately greeted by Hedge like usual nor was Velajn around. “Anyone home?” I called out. I had never been inside this house without Hedge nearby, it was strange. The house itself felt like it was missing a core part of what made it whole.

“I hear someone outside,” Finn said.

“Me too, it’s coming from the front door,” Hazel responded.

Finn took the lead, Hazel right behind. They were outside before me or Gronan were even halfway through the living room. We followed them out and were greeted with Hedge coaching Velajn and she held a large slab of raw meat in front of the giant gendrid. “Good girl, Sofi, here you go!”

The bird eased toward her.

Finn began to go to her, “What in Gahen are you doing?”

“Stop, lass!” Hedge yelled at him. “Don’t take another step or ye will scare Sofi!”

The bird took a step back, snapping its head toward Finn. She eyed him hard as if daring him to take another step.

“See, lass, don’t challenge her,” Hedge warned.

Finn stared back at the bird, his one good hand on the handle of a dagger.

“Finn, don’t do it!” Hazel yelled at him, her hand on her bow, ready to disconnect it from her hip at a moment’s notice.

He took a step back and put his bad hand up. His voice was soft, “Okay, sorry.”

The bird eased and looked back toward Velajn. “Good girl,” Velajn said. “Take your reward.”

The bird slowly moved its head toward her until its beak was only a foot away from the meat. I felt like I was about to witness this woman’s hand get eaten and, for a moment, I thought my thoughts had become reality as ‘Sofi’ flashed forward. It bit onto the meat and snapped away from Velajn, throwing the meat into the air before it landed into its throat. It swallowed the slab of meat whole.

“Good girl!” Velajn squealed happily.

“Here ye go,” Hedge said and tossed Velajn a rag. She wiped her hand and threw the towel onto the ground. She put her hand back out toward the bird. “Come here, Sofi.”

Sofi stared at her, unmoving. Velajn didn't move either, simply keeping her hand outstretched.

Sofi put its head back down toward her. With a certain unexpected softness, she put her beak into Velajn’s hand.

“Good girl,” she whispered. She caressed the beak for several moments before Sofi moved away from her once again. It took a step away, then another. Then, it unfurled its wings out and shot into the air, just barely missing Velajn’s head with its claws as it flew over her. Velajn seemed unphased by that and turned to watch Sofi fly away, mesmerized in her eyes. “That was awesome! Wasn't that awesome?” She asked us.

“I'd say that was pretty awesome,” I chuckled.

Finn let out a relieved sigh, “You're lucky it didn't bite your arm off.”

Gronan nudged his shoulder, “It would have if it were your arm,” He joked.

“Don’t be such a downer, lass,” Hedge said as he picked up the bloody rag and then patted Velajn’s shoulder. “The lassie here knew what she was doin’.”

“My family owned a few trints when I was young,” she explained. “I learned a lot of animal handling tricks back then.”

Finn didn’t seem so convinced, “I think going from a trint to a massive gendrid is a pretty big leap.”

“Not really,” she said with a slight shrug. “Most animals think similarly. You just can't portray yourself as predator or prey, but instead an equal.”

Finn sighed, “Okay, whatever you say. Just- I was worried.”

She smiled at him and even without half-elvish sight, I could see the twinkle in her eyes. “Don't worry, she isn't a monster, just a bird. You'll understand when you feed her.”

“What?”

“Hehe,” Hedge chuckled. “We decided earlier, lass, that if she could train the bird, ye all would begin getting closer to it too.”

“What in Gahen?” Finn lashed out. “I'm not feeding that thing!”

For once, me and Finn were on the same page. “Yeah,” I said. “Last time I was next to it it tried to kill me.”

“She was scared,” Velajn pleaded. “She's in a good environment here and well fed.”

“I don't care where it is,” I said. “There is no way in hell I'm getting any closer to that thing.”

“She's not an it!” She yelled and put her hands on her hips. “Her name is Sofi, and she is a lovely mother bird who is trying to provide for her babies. If you were thrown into an environment where you had to fight to survive, what would you do?”

That stopped my protests, “Survive,” I muttered.

“What would we gain for taming the animal?” Hazel asked.

“Lassie, have you seen how big she is?” Hedge asked.

“Do you mean to have us ride her?”

“Oh no, that's not happening,” I said. “No way in hell am I getting on her.”

A large crash came from right behind me and I turned to see Sofi towering above me. My knees buckled and I tried to keep myself steady with the staff but fell on my butt. The energy was quick to respond to my heart rate and my staff began to glow its dull blue.

The bird didn't react. It wasn't looking at me with a killer's eye but instead, they were kind, almost inviting.

I didn’t want to get up, just stay down here and cower away from the bird. But I knew I couldn’t do that, just as Velajn had said, I had to treat it like an equal.

What the hell am I thinking?

With shaky legs, I stood back up, making sure to keep my staff in between me and her. She continued to look at me passively. She didn't understand, how could she? If she scared me enough, there was a good chance I’d blast a hole straight through her. She wouldn't even know what hit her.

But what it did understand was fear, fear of dying. And it felt that when I had struck it in the sky, and it understood I felt it too. This bird, Sofi, understood me. How it felt to be thrust into an unknown land with unknown creatures surrounding you.

“This gendrid, Sofi, how smart is she?” I asked.

“Very, lass, gendrids are known as one of the smartest birds in our world, even rivaling the Ancients. She was a rare find.

I put my hand out like Velajn did, keeping it steady and inviting her to it. Sofi looked away from me to her children, who were sleeping peacefully in the canopy. She went to them, ignoring me.

“Sorry, Velajn,” Gronan said. “But it seems Sofi doesn’t want to be as nice to us as you.”

“No, that’s not it,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“She respects me as an individual, as an equal. But just because we are equals, doesn’t mean she views me as a friend or someone to be trusted.”

“You got all of that from a bird?” Finn asked. “She’s just a bird!”

“A smart bird.”

“Okay? She’s smart for a bird, but that doesn’t mean she is as smart as us.”

“Oh, lass, you will understand someday just how very wrong you are,” Hedge said.

“I think La’Quet may be right,” Hazel told Finn. “Think about your life, how many equals have we had that we did not trust?”

Finn shook his head and headed back inside the house, “Maybe I’m the only sane one left in our group,” He grumbled.

Velajn let out a soft laugh, “I think he might be right on that one.”

I looked back at Sofi. She was just a bird, a giant, beautiful bird that had no way of existing on Earth. An Earth that was further from me than I could imagine. Finn had definitely been right about that. I had gone completely nuts.