The woman said while staring at the Black Shuck, which was lying on the ground next to her, “They are tools. This guy was once a dangerous threat to the village where I lived, and when I gained my powers, I tamed him. He can’t do anything besides what I tell him to do because he is still an extremely dangerous Monster.”

Meryda caressed the head of one Sub-Monster and said with a gentle smile to the happy being, “I never saw my Monsters as tools, and I don’t force them to do anything. I consider them all to be my friends, and when I want something from them, I ask, and they do it. When they want something from me, be it food, Magic, or just a scratch behind their ears, they show me what they want, and I do it. It is working so far, and they seem happy to be near me.” Meryda then looked at the Monster next to the curious woman and said, “Yours looks dead. His eyes don’t have any light, as if no one is there.”

The woman stared at the quiet Black Shuck next to her, which was staring at the fire without even blinking its eyes, and said, “If I decrease just a bit the power I have over him, I don’t know what he might do. He could attack me or anyone around us.”

“If you had someone having complete control over you, would you like it?”

“No, and the moment I regained consciousness, I would kill that bastard so that he couldn’t control me again.”

Meryda slowly nodded and looked at the peaceful Salamander on the ground in front of her and said, “You know, I found out that Monsters are extremely smart, and if you treat them well, they will pay you with kindness and friendship. Like this orange guy. When I tamed him, I didn’t even know what I was doing; I just thought he looked cute when he came out of his egg in the cave where I found him. He always sleeps at my feet to keep me company, and he often knows what I want even before I say it. I also have a bunch of Bone Boars on my farm back home, and I taught them how to take care of the fields, plant seeds, harvest the crops, and all that.”

Noticing that her words puzzled the Monster Tamers, Meryda asked, “What, you never taught anything to your Monsters?”

The woman slowly shook her head and said, “No, and I never heard of a Monster Tamer doing anything like that!”

Meryda took a small dagger from her belt, grabbed the hilt, and while doing a few slashing movements, she asked one of her Sub-Monsters, “See what I am doing? Do you think you can make these movements? Without cutting yourself, of course!”

She gave the dagger to the puzzled Sub-Monster, and he grabbed the hilt very carefully and imitated the movements he saw Meryda doing. Slowly at first, but increasing the speed with every slash.

When she told him to stop, he handed over the dagger, but she took another dagger and put the blade against his dagger’s blade and said, “Now, we are going to hit slowly the blades against each other, pretending that we are fighting. Try not to cut me!”

Slowly, the Sub-Monster made a slash with his dagger, with Meryda stopping it with her dagger. He made another slash that Meryda deflected.

With a gentle smile, she said, “That’s it; you are getting the hang of it. In no time, you will be as good as the two Sub-Monsters I have on my farm!”

The Sub-Monster stared at the dagger, puzzled, and when he was giving it to Meryda again, she slowly pushed the dagger in his direction and said, “You can keep that one to train.” She then gave the other dagger to the other surprised Sub-Monster at her side and said, “And this one is for you, so that you can train with him. Try not to hurt each other, okay? Why don’t you go over there and hit blades? Slowly and carefully, okay? I don’t want any of you to get hurt!”

The two beasts happily went to a free spot a few metres from the fire pit, and they clashed the daggers, imitating the movements Meryda showed them.

With the Monster Tamers completely baffled by what was happening right in front of them, Meryda said, “You see? They are not dumb, and they are not mere tools. I don’t force them to do anything; I just show them and then ask if they can do it. It usually works.”

The woman looked at her Black Shuck in absolute silence, and she then started to shine a little. The dark beast blinked its eyes and looked back at her as if he were slowly waking up. With a gulp, the woman said, “Hi… How are you?” She then leaned her head in Meryda’s direction and asked without stopping looking at her Monster, “Now what? He seems intrigued, no?”

“Why don’t you try giving him food? He will see that you are trying to treat him better, but be on your guard, just in case he tries to bite your hand off. I would bite your head if I was being controlled and suddenly got released!”

With a trembling hand, the woman grabbed the stick with meat that she was cooking over the fire and carefully put the meat near the beast’s snout while saying, “Do you want some? And… maybe you won’t kill me if I give you this?”

Surprised, she saw the Black Shuck nodding at her, and he slowly approached the stick and slowly took a bite. He then pushed the stick in her direction with his snout, making her ask, “You… want me to eat as well? Okay…”

While blowing the hot meat, the woman asked, “Is it my impression, or is he communicating with me? I got the impression he just agreed not to eat me.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“I think he did. Why don’t you try to rub the back of his ear? Those guys have a sensible spot there.”

The woman slowly got up and carefully reached her hand towards the puzzled Monster, who was munching the meat in his mouth, and she said, “I… I am going to rub your ear, okay? Don’t bite me!”

The scary-looking Monster nodded, lowered his head in his Monster Tamer’s direction, and stood completely still, waiting.

The woman began rubbing the back of his left ear and said with an awkward smile when she heard him sigh in delight, “Now, this is a first! I once saw this guy eating a farmer in my home village, right before I tamed him, and now he seems so peaceful… I would never…”

Meryda noticed that the Black Shuck was now looking at the woman and advised her, “You better back away now. He still doubts you, so it is better if you don’t push your luck. Try not to overpower him again so that he can start trusting you.”

As the woman was slowly retrieving her hand, she asked her Monster, who was still staring at her, “I think I need to overpower you at night, okay? I don’t want you to eat me while I sleep or have you roam around in the night and kill someone.”

Surprised, she saw the scary head nodding at her, and she said, “You… are going to let me do that, right? Thanks, I guess. I will release you again in the morning, and I will let you go at night when I see I can trust you, okay?”

The Black Shuck nodded and approached the meat once again for her to feed him. Meryda asked with a slight smile, “See what I was talking about? If you treat him nicely, he will do the same.”

“Yeah… This is amazing… I never thought this would be possible — me speaking to him and having him understand and communicate with me.”

The other Monster Tamers were now looking at the Bone Boar, and Meryda said, “Perhaps tomorrow, because those guys are way more intelligent than Black Shucks, and if his Monster Tamer releases him suddenly with a lot of people nearby, he might try to take some of them hostage to escape. It also depends on what happened when he was tamed, of course.”

A man spoke while staring at the enormous Bone Boar at his side. “I had a Black Shuck with me at that time, and I made him fight this guy so that I could have enough time to tame him. My Black Shuck died later from his injuries, but I caught him. I don’t think it is a good idea to release him, because he will for sure attack me.”

“Maybe on your next Monster, then. The next one you try to tame, show him you want to be his friend.”

“I don’t think I will ever do such a thing because I don’t trust Monsters. I saw too many people die because of them. To me, this guy is only a weapon for me to use, nothing else.”

With a sigh, Meryda said, “I guess not all Monster Tamers can trust Monsters. It is a pity because if you can’t trust your Monster, there is no way he will ever trust you. Do you mind if I ask something?”

The man shrugged and answered, “Sure, what do you want to know?”

“When you go to the mountain range with some soldiers and Mages, what do you have to do?”

“Well, usually, we order our Monsters to attack the Monsters there while we try to tame them. That often gives enough time for the soldiers and Mages to kill the Monsters. Other times, some soldiers are killed and eaten or taken away, kicking and screaming. It is not a pleasant sight to see a guy being dragged up the mountain with a Monster carrying him.”

With a frown, Meryda asked, “Monsters capture soldiers and Mages alive? For what?”

“For what I know, eat them later. Or to take them to other Monsters to feed them. Your guess is as good as mine.”

The Fae, who had been silent until that moment, said, “Or they might have taken those people beyond the mountains, and they are now living happy lives, away from this meaningless war.”

“What do you know, Fae? As if that would be possible!”

“It could be; you don’t know, do you? You even believe you are doing a sacred duty by fighting Monsters in the mountain range so that Oomans can invade the lands beyond it!”

The angry-looking Monster Tamer shouted, “I don’t believe in any of that, but what else can I do? They forced me to come here! I was living peacefully in a small City in the Laichian Empire! I was in a Party of Explorers and Adventurers when soldiers dragged me here! I am not as powerful as any of these guys, but I was doing an excellent job with my Party! I don’t want to be here; I never wanted to! But they won’t let me go, and I will die here, and I will never see my family again!”

His shouts called the attention of the soldiers and Mages nearby, who started to frown and whisper at his words, making him look around and ask, “What? How many of you want to be here? May Goddess Cinna have mercy on anyone who says that aloud! I can say whatever I want because you all need me to save your sorry asses from Monsters! But to me, you could all die that I wouldn’t care less, you dumbasses!”

His outburst made Meryda ask, “Wait, they forced you to come here? How many soldiers and Mages were also dragged here by force?”

The angry Ooman sat down again and said, “They forced all Monster Tamers to come here. We are the last survivors of our group, but I am sure more will come eventually. There are a few soldiers and Mages who were either forced or tricked to come here; not every Ooman and Demi in this campsite came here willingly. Some of us are smart enough to know the mountain range is a death zone, and there is nothing sacred about that.”

With a frown, Meryda got up and said before leaving, “Thanks for talking with me. I will leave you in peace and pray that none of you dies here.”

As she was leaving, she heard the same Ooman answering, “I wouldn’t count on that, girl. And if you stay here, you will join us in the afterlife, so you better get out of here as fast as you can before it is too late! Not that they will let you leave, anyway.”

Meryda walked next to her father, and the Fae guided them to an empty tent near the north wall of the campsite and said at the entrance, “This tent is empty. The soldiers who were living here died recently, so we suppose you can rest here. We will stay outside on guard.” The Fae then approached Meryda and spoke in a low voice, “Go to sleep with your clothes on and ready to leave. You might get a visit tonight.”

Meryda was about to ask something, but the smiling green being put a hand over her lips and whispered, “You will see.”