“Would you look at that,” said Friedrich, marvelling at the sea of climbing vines before him. They were all attached to trellises and laid out in perfect rows, evenly spaced apart in the field. Adorning the vines were beautifully round grapes of deep purple that looked utterly delicious. Friedrich began to salivate as he stared, wishing for a good meal.

“You are not to touch these,” said Blackjack, watching him closely. “They are not your property.”

“I know that,” snapped Friedrich, turning around and leaning against the wall.

“We could always go up and ask?” suggested Marina. “I’m sure the owner wouldn’t object to us taking a couple if we paid some kupons.”

“Alright,” said Friedrich, pushing himself off the wall.

“Is this human humour that I have failed to grasp?” asked Blackjack.

“No, why?”

“It is awfully bold of you to approach the owner of this vineyard. The Alauri would do no such thing without an invitation.”

“We humans are awfully bold,” said Friedrich with a wink, making Blackjack roll her eyes.

The young man led his companions along the road until they reached a path. At the end of the stony path was a house with a couple of barns beside it. Friedrich bet there were bottles and bottles of wine in the barns. He had never been allowed to taste wine by his mother, but he had always been curious. Perhaps today was the day.

Before the trio even reached the door, it was flung open and a man holding a crude spear stared at him with an anguished look. “I told your master to leave me alone!” he said through gritted teeth. “I’m not scared of him and I’m not scared of you. Go on and test me.”

The party looked to each other before looking back to the man. “I think you’ve gotten us mixed up with someone else,” said Friedrich. “We just wanted to buy some grapes.”

“A likely story,” said the man, lunging forward with his spear.

Friedrich swerved aside and grabbed the spear. He yanked it from the man’s hands and threw it away. “I’m telling you that you have us mixed up with someone else. You have no weapon now, so why would I lie?”

The man put a hand to his forehead where his hairline was receding backwards. “I’m sorry,” he said despairingly. “It’s…it’s been a bad week.”

“What’s the matter?” asked Marina with genuine concern.

“Are you mercenaries for hire?” asked the man.

“We can be,” shrugged Friedrich. “That depends what you want us to do?”

“I’m desperate, I’ll take whatever I can get,” he said.

“That is rather insulting,” muttered Blackjack.

“I did not mean it that way,” said the man, shaking his head and letting out a sigh. “My name is Hannis.”

He held out a hand and Friedrich shook it. “Nice to meet you, Hannis. Although we could have done without the spear waving. My name is Friedrich and these two are Marina and Blackjack, I’m sure you can guess who is who.”

“Hello,” said Marina airily while Blackjack gave a curt nod.

“Well met,” said the vineyard owner. “Please, come with me and I will show you what it is that troubles me.”

Hannis led the trio around the edge of his house and into one of his fields. The sweet, but slightly acidic aroma of the grapes reached Friedrich. The fieldhands looked at the trio sombrely as they went about their work, making Friedrich all the more curious about what was troubling the vineyard.

As they walked, the scent of the grapes grew stronger and it occurred to the young man that there should not be this strong of a scent coming from the plants alone. By the time Hannis brought everyone to the back wall, it had become clear what was troubling him.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Marina as she laid eyes on the rows and rows of desecrated vines.

Many trellises were completely upended, the vines were burned and the grapes were squashed into nothingness, leaving the juice to soak into the soil. Friedrich now knew what he had smelled this entire time. It was the scent of thousands of destroyed grapes, the fruits of Hannis’s labour in ruin.

“What happened?” asked Blackjack.

“There is a beast,” muttered Hannis. “A wicked beast that torments my home at night when there is nobody to watch the fields. It comes and it destroys a row every night. Any time I have confronted the scoundrel, it has thrown fireballs at me and turned tail.”

“A goblin mage?” asked Friedrich.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Must be,” agreed Marina.

“No, it sounds like a demon,” said Blackjack confidently. “We will slay it for you, Hannis. Where does it reside?”

“I could not say,” said the vineyard owner, putting his hands on his hips and looking despondently at the ruins of the back rows of his field. “But I believe this beast is doing the bidding of Lon Galleaux. He’s my greatest rival in the winemaking business and I would bet the rest of my fields that he had a hand in this.”

“If this Lon Galleaux is the one behind the destruction of your grapes, he’s going to meet the sharp end of my swords,” said Friedrich resolutely. “Now, there is the matter of payment.”

“Yes, of course.”

“We will take payment in grapes. Two bunches each will suffice.”

“Friedrich…” said Blackjack.

“What?”

She gave him a stare and he didn’t need to ask again.

“Ah, of course. Two bunches of grapes each plus twenty kupon each.”

Blackjack nodded, much happier with that deal. She would have asked for more, but she didn’t want to keep undermine Friedrich.

“That is more than fair,” said Hannis. “If you are hungry, my wife will be happy to make extra for dinner tonight. After that, you can stake out the field and see if the little rat shows up.”

“You mentioned dinner?” asked Friedrich as his stomach growled.

“It is only three o’clock in the afternoon,” said Marina quietly while nudging and shushing him.

*

Friedrich was in his fox form for the seventh time that evening, helping Blackjack keep an eye on the darkness for any sign of movement. Marina sat on the soil behind the wall, building a small stack of pebbles. Unable to see clearly, she was playing a game to see how tall she could make her tower before it tumbled—her record was eleven.

“Anything?” she whispered as her tower of ten fell over with the pebbles clicking and clacking against each other.

“I would have told you if there was, now please be quiet,” snapped Blackjack.

Friedrich reverted back to his human form as the power of the mask was depleted.

“Fantastic, blind again,” he said sarcastically while watching Marina restack the stones.

“Shush,” said Blackjack, clutching his arm. “There is something…”

Everyone fell silent and Marina stopped building her tower. There was a clawing sound nearby as though something was climbing up the wall. A second later, a shadow leapt over it. The creature could not have been more than three feet tall and Friedrich was more certain than ever it was a goblin. Oh, how he loathed goblins. He would relish slaying the little beast, but Blackjack was ready first.

The high elf nocked an arrow and pointed it at the scurrying little beast as it tore grapes from the vine and stamped on them. She waited for it to stay still for a second and then took her shot. The arrow whizzed through the air and then wedged itself firmly in the creature’s neck. It squealed in pain, but it was not yet dead.

The creature immediately ran back towards the wall and scrambled to the top as another arrow came within an inch of it. It disappeared from sight and the trio stood up and hopped over the wall to give chase. Blackjack led the way with Friedrich and Marina following, unable to see as clearly as she could.

“It is fast,” called Blackjack as she picked up her pace.

“Bloody goblin!” called Friedrich.

“It is not a goblin.”

The three hurried along the grass, sidestepping the trees and jumping over the rocks, a task that Friedrich and Marina were much clumsier at than Blackjack. They could hear the quick pitter-patter footsteps of the small beast as it ran towards a cave. It bolted inside and vanished, but the party did not follow.

“It could be a trap,” said Blackjack.

“What manner of creature is it?” asked Marina, cocking her head to the side.

“An imp. It is a type of demon.”

“Fine, you were right,” said Friedrich pre-emptively. “Are you happy?”

“You do not need to be so touchy about these things, Friedrich,” replied Blackjack with a smile that was discernible even in the darkness.

“I say we go and kill it,” said the young man, drawing his sword. “It’s already got an arrow in the neck, so we might as well poke a few more holes in it.”

“I am wary about entering this cave.”

“Do you think the imp set a trap?” asked Marina.

“No, but it’s master may have.”

“I’ll go first,” said Friedrich, walking on in as Blackjack gave an exasperated sigh. Her patience for his recklessness was wearing thin, but she was not going to let him go alone so she followed alongside Marina.

Friedrich proceeded with his shield raised, and he was glad that he did, for a pair of fireballs were flung at him from the back. He blocked them with his shield and ran towards the imp who revealed itself by the fire in its hand that it was about to lob.

The young man kicked it in the jaw, knocking it to the ground. He raised his sword and brought it plunging down into the beast’s neck. It emitted a loud squeal before dying. Friedrich gave it a couple of kicks to make sure that it truly was dead and then turned to his companions.

“That’s that,” he said.

“No, that is not that,” said Blackjack, bending down.

“I can’t see anything,” said Friedrich. “It’s much darker in here than it is outside.”

“What’s that smell?” asked Marina, pinching her nose. Friedrich suddenly became aware of the foul odour too, having been so focused on the imp previously.

She held out her staff and sprinkled a few sparks, but it was not enough to see well. With no other options, Friedrich placed the now-recharged mask upon his face and morphed into the golden fox. Suddenly, a dull light revealed what Blackjack and seen.

There was a circle drawn upon the stone floor with many runes surrounding it. At seven points around the circle were the snuffed out remains of candles, all burned so low that there was little left of the wax. Beside the circle was a sight Friedrich wished he had not seen. There was a man, and he was well and truly dead. So much so, that he was emitting an awful smell and there were maggots crawling over him, eating away at his flesh.

“Do you see this?” asked Blackjack, pointing to the man’s stomach.

“No,” said Marina, but Friedrich had seen it.

The man’s stomach had been torn open by small hands, spilling his guts onto the ground. There was nothing else that could have done it. It was the imp.

“His own summoned creature turned on him,” said Blackjack. “This must be Lon Galleaux. I would wager that he summoned it to destroy the field, but it killed him and carried out its duty anyway. As you have seen, imps can be skittish and unreliable, so it must have fled each time someone came to apprehend it. That is why it returned each night, it desired to complete its given task.”

“I thought Galleaux was a winemaker too,” muttered Marina. “Hannis never mentioned he was a mage.”

“I do not believe he is,” said Blackjack, standing up. “That is why the imp turned on him immediately.”

“Are you certain of all this?”

“No, but it does seem to be the most likely answer. I do not believe we will ever find out the full truth, but that does not matter. The imp is dead and the man who summoned it is dead. Hannis can rest easy now.”

“We should tell him immediately,” said Marina.

Friedrich pawed at her boot.

“Yes, and we can get you your grapes at last,” she said with a giggle.