Kaden’s first urge was to try and help the Centurions as a crawling cloud of black swarmed outward. [Soul Binding] didn’t work and [Identify] gave him no clue what it was. His second urge was to recognize that both of them had at least seventy levels.
“Gods-damned [Bog Ants],” Mr. Dervish called. “Whole damned beast is probably rotten.”
Captain Blanco swore and danced and twisted. “I hate ants in the armor!”
“Lemme find the queen.” Mr. Dervish lay the Drydel on its side and began to dig out rotten wood. “Got her! All right, now let’s see our [Beast Master] do his work. Kaden?”
Mr. Dervish carried the queen to the door. “Do you have to touch it?”
“Yes.” Kaden focused on the queen, a [Bog Ant] the size of Mr. Dervish’s fist, with overly larger eyes. “Stop moving.”
The Queen. Her entire colony, all of them froze.
“To the corner,” Kaden ordered, though the exertion hurt deep in his soul. The Drydel rocked as [Bog Ants] crawled out, carrying white grubs above their heads. The colony was evacuating. Now Kaden could open the door.
[Bog Ant - Swarm Beast]
The lowly bog ant is not a threat, until they come by the thousands, which they do. Living inside trees, the colony grows until it bursts from its home and swarms to others, eating everything in its path. *Beast Knowledge - These aren’t worth the time it takes to burn. They only attack rotting wood, and we haven’t found a use for them. You could craft brown dye, according to one of our crafters, but we could do that with horse shit and not have to go near a bog.
Kaden reached out and [Bound] the queen. “Put her down. She’s going to join her children in that corner.”
Mr. Dervish tossed her into the swarm. “Now what?”
Kaden pulled a potion from Inventory. “Now, we hold our breath, close our eyes, and turn away. Ready?”
He hurled Trella’s [Fire Bomb] potion into the corner.
It exploded, roasting thousands of [Bog Ants] in a disgusting flaming pyre that squealed and screeched and clicked.
As the smoke cleared, two annoyed Centurions stared at Kaden. Captain Blanco crossed his arms. “How about a little warning? How about asking before you set off an explosion? Gods, that [Shadow Blade] has gotten to you.”
Kaden reviewed the slew of notifications. “Each one was worth one xp. Sorry to steal it.” He’d already shifted his attention to the [Drydel], and drew Remembrance. With steady, easy carving he carved out the rotten wood. [Building] and [Woodcarving] combined to give him greater control than any one skill would have. The Drydel had been ten feet across. By the time he was done, it was still ten feet across, with about a foot of wood at the perimeter still healthy.
“That ain’t promising. You mind explaining to the owner? She’s the good sort.” Mr. Dervish dispatched a Messenger Bird.
Kaden waited, cleaning up the cuts he’d made. The [Drydel wasn’t hurting, but it wasn’t going to be useful for its intended purpose, not in this state. It was essentially a ring-shaped Beast, and in the wild, the chances of it getting caught on terrain or trapped were absolute.
A few minutes later, a thin brown woman in [Druid] robes stepped into the room. “James, what have you done?”
[Alvea Alstad - Druid Wanderer]
“Your Beast had a colony of [Bog Ants] living in it, chewing it up from the inside out. Kaden here found e’m and removed them.”
“It will survive,” Kaden said. “In fact, it’ll grow now that it’s not being consumed.”
Alvea shook her head. “How am I supposed to wander with my yurt on that?”
“You could have beams cut and nailed to re-enforce it,” Kaden said. “It’s very vulnerable like this, but with the right enhancements—”
“You want to nail pieces to the Beast who carries my home?” Alvea asked, horror evident—then her eyes dropped to Kaden’s chest, where his armor let the metal ribs show through. “Of course you do. Of course. Put it out of its misery. I—I won’t be party to an abomination.”
She handed Mr. Dervish a handful of gold and walked out, weeping.
“The good sort, you say.” Kaden spoke it as a pronouncement. “There’s nothing wrong with this [Drydel]. Nothing that some gold and some steel won’t fix.”
Captain Blanco began to laugh. “That’s why they call you the Stray Beast Master. Never met a Beast you didn’t like? Never found one you didn’t rescue?”
“Alvea’s a good woman. Grief will hit you hard, don’t judge her on this minute of a life that’s spanned centuries.” Mr. Dervish sighed. “I can’t give it to you. She said to put it down.”
Kaden understood. “Is Wren open to taking some project work? This looks a lot like a mobile fortress. I mean, it would if it weren’t going to be put down. Don’t [Artificers] basically work like gnomes? They’re always building. I wonder what Wren—your grand daughter—would think of this opportunity.”
“Huh.” Mr. Dervish said. “Still can’t give it to her.”
Kaden looked at the room. “I think I hear a commotion out front. I think you two should go maintain the peace. I think there could be some mulicks—”
“No,” Captain Blanco said. “I’m sorry, I can’t allow this. If I look away when you’re stealing something for the right reasons, I’ll look away when someone else is stealing for the wrong reasons.”
“At least wait.” Kaden rushed out of the room and sprinted through the back halls to the display room. From there, to the front door. He scanned the crowd and summoned Vip. “I need to find a [Druid]. You’re faster than anyone I know.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With the need he sent the image of Alvea.
*Oh so fast!* Vip took off through the streets of Verona, circling the building and then moving out into the city.
Alvea could have headed straight to a Far Portal. Or maybe she had another Beast to ride, or—Vip’s lonesome howl sent Kaden running down toward the market and across to the [Healer’s] booth Kaden had never been able to afford.
There, Vip yipped and pranced, trying to convince the [Druid] she loved her.
“You.” Althea said with disgust. “This delightful dog keeps saying she wants me to talk to you. What do you want?”
“First off, let’s set a few things straight. I was attacked by demons in a grove and injured fighting a demon lord twenty seven levels higher than me. That was before I went into Hell to rescue some adventurers and mock Demon Lord Asmodeus, who I personally sent back to hell when I purged a cult. I have a [Shield Tree] growing outside my home. Don’t look at me or talk to me like that.”
Althea studied him closer, her mouth still downturned. “And?”
“I want to—harvest your [Drydel]. You ordered it put down. I want you to turn it over to me. Nature’s cycle, right? I’ve seen your crafters tanning [Bearzerker] hides, so don’t tell me it doesn’t work that way. Ask Olidar Kemel if I’ve done anything worthwhile.” It would be a very long-term harvest.
Alvea shuddered and turned her back on him. “It’s what I expected anyway. I was alive when the Necromancer who made your chest plate was using them. I know people who lost family members. I don’t want to see you again.”
You have been given authority to harvest from a Drydel.
Kaden sent a Messenger Bird to Mr. Dervish. His grand scheme wouldn’t be accomplished in a day, or a week, or a month. Beast Control would charge him to house it, but the [Drydel] would be indoors and protected from the weather. And Kaden had such glorious ideas.
A plain, brown bird circled Kaden repeatedly before finally landing. An old woman’s voice spoke. “This is for the [Beast Master]. We have been waiting for you to reach the age of Factions. It’s time for you to take your place as our leader. This bird will put you in touch with us.”
Every Messenger Bird allowed one to contact the sender. Kaden summoned the Falcrow. “Not interested. Sara had something similar happen, we looted the folks they sent after her. Have a good day.”
It was time for dinner.
###
BirchHaven was packed—and not with Saints, though he’d probably made good money off hosting the gathering of Saints. With Trinity and Vip at his side, Kaden walked through the streets of the once-zoo amazed by the number of people. Not just centurions, so many level seventy five, fifty, even a group of tens who were quite obviously a family of mages. Trinity worked as the best crowd mover in existence, as her [Fearsome] talent made lower level adventurers scatter, and quite a few fifties stop and take note. She had no issue with the Beasts who followed their masters everywhere, or if she did, they were too pathetic to risk a rumble.
At the main registration tree, Kaden waited at the front desk. “Wasn’t BirchHome supposed to have a guest limit of a hundred?”
“Sorry if it’s crowded, your guildmaster signed off on the arrangements, Name and class and I’ll know where to put you.”
“Kaden Birch. [Beast Master].” He crossed his arms and waited. “I’m not checking in, I’m here to eat dinner with my party.”
“Oh thank goodness, because you’re not on the guest list, Mr. Birch, was it? I’m afraid we can’t even accomodate you in the dining facilities. So sorry, and do come again.” She waved behind him. “Next?”
Trinity gave a trill.
“We don’t do that, not even to commoners, especially especially not to employees,” Kaden said, as he turned to leave. In the madness outside, no one would notice. At the entrance to the underground dome and dining, he paused. A line led in—and out the other side, with vast tables of food. No fine dining, this was like the Adventurer’s Guild hall, except with fewer people and fewer pubs and without the GuildMaster to murder people who stepped out of line.
“Mistress Scylla!” Kaden shouted from halfway down the stair. He pulled Trinity and Vip into his soul and leaped off the stairs, cut through the line to meet her. “Isn’t this…a bit much?”
“Sara and the others are dining in a private hall,” Mistress Scylla said. “I was going to send a bird but the chaos here is keeping me quite occupied. This is the Undying Tree, one of the largest private Adventurer’s Guilds in the world. After the success of the Gathering of Saints, I was certainly open to similar events. We had to finish furnishing every room in the grand tree—all of them—to accomodate, but this is worth every moment.”
She flagged down a worker. “Take Mr. Birch to the Scorpion hall. All the buildings have Beasts as a label. It makes it easier to map and refer to. Say hello to your party, I would love to give you a proper business update. How was Xiao?”
“Murdery, but I got a [Wyvern],” Kaden answered.
“It’s always slightly murdery. We’ll talk later!”
Kaden followed the worker out of the dining hall and down a back alley to what had been a [Armored Sloth] display before it was rebuilt. Now it was a bar on the bottom level, sleeping quarters on the second, and on the top, an dining room enchanted so the roof reflected what was going on outside, an illusion of openness.
Sara, Eve, Ashi, and Trella sat around a table.
“Finally! I’m starving. And grumpy!” Trella’s tone didn’t say she was grumpy. It did say she was hungry, though, so grumpy wasn’t far off.
A waiter quickly took their orders, and for the first time in months, Kaden truly, deeply relaxed.
Eve stood and held up her glass. “Thank you. Each of you. All of you. Verona won’t be bothering me about Trade Agreements. Or if they do, it will be met with ‘What about the Xiao Empire?’ I treasure my time in council meetings. I would have greatly regretted not being allowed in.”
Sara raised her glass. “Someone’s got to do it and it sure as hell won’t be me.”
“Or me!” Kaden added.
“Same!” Trella said.
Ashi dipped her head. “I would never dream of being a council woman. But it is good that some care for the business of ruling rather than the power.”
Kaden took out the [Lifengale] egg, still in its preserving case. “Supposedly this will accelerate growth and transform into a carrier. Anyone want to see? Eve, would you do the honors?”
She reached forward and triggerd the button on the gold and crystal case. For a moment, the interior turned completely green and mana surged. Gold began to twist and rise like a growing vine, while crystal collapsed, forming a silver ring at the bottom. The egg inside hatched in seconds, and the bald, hideous hatchling grew fuzz, then quills, then slowed as its quills took on a deep green. No larger than the palm of Kaden’s hand, he watched as it hopped onto a perch and preened.
“Let’s see how you like freedom.” Kaden applied [Soul Binding] and opened the door to let the bird hop out. It began to sing, and as it did, gentle waves of life-mana rolled out.
“It’s a Healing Bird,” Sara said softly. “You put them by your bedside and they sing through the night, healing wounds.”
Kaden loved it. “That island trip was the best gift ever. I got this bird, a new skill. Oh, and these.” He pulled the bones and eggshells from Inventory. “Decades of dead [Destruction Wyvern] egg shells and bones. Pretty cool, right?”
The tablecloth turned brown, curled and decomposed. The wood underneath blistered. Kaden put most of them back into Inventory, passing around a shell-shard. “It’s infused with [Destruction] mana. What do you think we could have crafted from it?”
Trella took the piece, wincing. “It hurts my hand. It’s not really a reagent. I don’t know what to do with it.”
Ashi accepted it, then yanked her hands back as black spots spread up her arms. “I do not like those spells. They are cruel. There is a place for [Destruction], yes, but is the battlefield not bloody enough?”
Sara and Eve passed on the chance to examine it, so Kaden took it back. “I’ll talk to crafters tomorrow.”
The dinner that followed was exactly what Kaden had imagined. Food. Friends. Laughter as Sara explained her strategy. She’d always planned to leave space for the crew. “It makes every one of them invested in ensuring a safe voyage.”
Kaden listened as Ashi waxed poetic about magic and music, and Trella spoke of how she’d need a lab so she didn’t accidentally blow up the house. When the conversation fell quiet, he finally spoke. “I have something to do when we get to the Holding. I have a Quest from a God, and the Daughter of Nature herself told me how to achieve it. Told isn’t the right word.”
Sara perked up. “You figured out the species?”
“It’s not a what. It’s a who.” He pulled Naski’s Demon Seed from Inventory. “I had this flash of images I couldn’t make sense of. But I know what to do. I’m going to bring her back.”