The entire hike back to the castle, the pup chatted to Matt’s group—that small, impossible voice in their minds. Apparently, his name was Charlie and his home, the cave, was called Pomerania. According to Charlie, ‘Charlie’ was a very important name. Matt didn’t know what to believe, but he had seen some pretty ridiculous things, and this was a talking dog.
Kurtis walked in the lead, setting a quick pace down the meandering path, and keeping as much distance from the pup as possible. Matt welcomed their speed, especially since Charlie stopped every few minutes to demand that Val pet him.
They followed a dark wall of rock on their right, path twisting, about a car-length wide, and then falling off sharply to their left. Matt dragged his hand along the rock face, feeling the roughness under his fingertips and staying far away from that edge. They proceeded this way for about half an hour. Kurtis jumped each time the dog sneezed.
“Hey, Kurtis,” Val teased, “with your fur standing up like that, you kinda look like Charlie.”
Kurtis hated that idea. He scowled and plodded on ahead.
Matt worked really hard to keep in his laughter. He glanced over at Fallyn and it looked like she was doing the same.
“Compliment!” the dog insisted, in that small voice that rang in their minds. “Is compliment. I am handsome.”
“Yes, you are!” Val said in her baby-talk voice.
“This one agrees!” Charlie said, wagging his tail. “I like this one.” Between the petting and affirmations, Charlie was a big fan of Val.
Their canine companion spent the remainder of the hike sneezing and enthusiastically telling stories about his home. He told them how generations of the dogs had been born there and it had been a peaceful place until recently. The pup was unsure of the timing and said he only had flashes of memories since the shadow. He told them about the darkening and then struggled to remember.
So, he eventually switched to tales of visits from Murl, chasing down a lizard—which they just ended up barking at for days—and some sort of tug-of-war ritual that determined their political structure. Charlie was still too young to participate in that, he explained, but he was allowed to practice. He was very excited about practice.
The group entered the mountain meadow bathed in early afternoon sunlight. As they rounded the castle, approaching its huge black door, a warm breeze encouraged them, blowing gently against their backs.
While he wasn’t bothered by the confinement, like Kurtis, Matt did prefer the open air to the cave. There was something about the freshness and the light, something about the warmth of the sun and seeing it travel across the sky.
Maybe I’m just a sucker for mountains and meadows, Matt thought.
“Murl said he lives in big stone house!” Charlie said excitedly. “This big stone house!” He wagged his tail.
“Yes he does,” Val cooed.
Fallyn smiled generously.
“Finally,” Kurtis breathed, reaching up for the knocker. And before he could lift it, the massive door opened, just a crack. Kurtis jumped back.
“Hello?” Matt said, leaning right to try and peek through the opening. There was no response. “Do we just go in?”
“Looks like an invitation,” Fallyn said.
The dog barked. Kurtis took one look at him, and then pulled open the door and barreled through.
Inside, the foyer was empty. Torchlight flickered behind intricate sconces as Matt waited with his group. Kurtis tried pushing on the door they’d gone through yesterday. It had no handle and wouldn’t pop out.
“Anyone home?” Val called. “Hellooo?”
Kurtis moved to the second interior door, to the left of the tapestry Matt still couldn’t place. Then the door opened, revealing Murl. Kurtis jumped back in surprise.
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“Why hello,” Murl said with a wink.
“Murl! Murl! Murl!” the Pomeranian repeated in their minds.
Murl gave a nod to the dog, who was rapidly wagging his tail, and then met the eyes of Matt and his group. “This way,” he said, beckoning with a hand as he turned.
Murl led them down a straight stone hallway, that extended all the way to the back of the building. Their feet tapped softly on the stone and Charlie’s claws made rapid clicks. Wall-mounted torches lit the way.
After a minute, Matt realized they had arrived at the turn-off for their guest quarters. Murl had taken them through a passageway from the kitchen last night, but it must have come out on this hallway somewhere. He recognized it.
Instead of turning left to their room, however, Murl led them a little farther and then turned right. This new hallway needed no torchlight as sunshine streamed into an interior courtyard. Stone pillars lined a lush green garden with a manicured patch of lawn in the center.
“Here we are,” Murl said.
Matt drew his gaze from the plants to where Murl was speaking. He had stepped into a seating area on their left. Comfy dark couches were arranged in a semicircle looking out on the courtyard.
Matt sank into a leathery navy loveseat. Val plopped down on the cushion beside him and the pup jumped up in-between, circling twice before settling.
“More that,” Charlie demanded, and Val started stroking his back.
Kurtis took the single cushioned chair to Matt’s right—no room for a dog. Murl and Fallyn shared an emerald green couch to Matt’s left.
“First things first,” Murl began. “Did you bring me my mushrooms?”
“Yep,” Val said, not looking up from the dog.
“We did,” added Matt.
Then the seating area blurred and Matt went through the motions to hand over the fancy mushrooms and get his XP. It awarded almost half a million, but Matt was disappointed to see that he was still only 44% of the way through his level.
“Now,” Murl addressed the full group, “tell me about this friend you’ve brought back with you.”
“Friend! Friend!” Charlie repeated in their minds, then sneezed.
“He insisted we bring him to you,” Fallyn explained, “in exchange for the mushrooms.”
“I see,” said Murl, stroking his long white beard. Then he moved to clasp opposite arms, hands inside his loose gray sleeves. He sat forward and stared down at the pup. “Tell me, little one, why have you come to see me?”
“Yes! Yes!” Charlie said. “These ones brought me here!”
Semi-transparent white text, for a quest Matt didn’t even realize he had, floated up and away. ‘Escort Charlie to Murl: complete,’ it said, and then, ‘432,000 XP.’ Matt’s experience bar shot up another twenty percent.
Now we’re talking! thought Matt.
Charlie proceeded to tell Murl about what had happened in the cave, how his home had been overrun by a great inexplicable darkness. And then, how four strangers had tried to steal his mushrooms when it cleared. As Charlie told it, he and Sam—who must have been the other dog—heroically defended the cave from their thievery.
Matt stared out into the courtyard while he listened. Pinkish lights danced and flared around the greenery—like fireflies but it was daytime and they were the wrong color. Matt studied a topiary while the dog continued; it was in the shape of something between a serpent and a unicorn.
If I ever meet one of you, Matt thought, you better be friendly.
Charlie wrapped up his account with a sneeze.
“I see,” Murl responded, and stroked his beard. “Thank you for telling me, brave one.”
“Yes! Charlie brave!” the pup agreed.
“This is part of why the gravemist is so terrible,” Murl explained to the group.
Wait, that was gravemist? Matt thought.
But it was Fallyn who asked the question, “What do you mean?”
“My dear, the gravemist doesn’t discriminate between good and evil,” Murl said. “It simply affects everything it encounters. It takes but a moment of exposure, and it’s got you.” Murl clenched his fist to demonstrate; he ran the fingers of his other hand down the arm. “It seeps into your very being.” He emphasized with a thrust of his fist. “I know this, and the shadow knew this too.”
“You’re saying the shadow was running away?” Val clarified.
“In a way, yes,” Murl confirmed, cocking his head.
“And then we showed it who’s boss!” Val cheered.
“Yes! Yes!” Charlie approved.
Kurtis thumped his tail against the armrest.
“So,” Murl continued, “not only is the gravemist corrupting a growing portion of the land, but it’s also having a farther-reaching effect. A secondary effect, if you will. You see, as good folk—and terrors alike—flee, the areas of safety in the realm are shrinking. They are less and less, and one day maybe…” He trailed off, then corrected, “But we won’t think like that quite yet.”
The Pomeranian sneezed. “Murl fix!” Charlie said.
“Oh, is that why you came to me?” Murl asked gently. “Well, little fellow, I can certainly help with that.”
“Murl fix!” Charlie repeated.
“Yes,” Murl agreed. “After this, we will go to the kitchen. I’ll whip up a remedy for you. You’ll stay here a few days and then be right as rain.”
“No, Murl fix big-fix,” Charlie clarified. But Matt didn’t think it was any more clear. The dog obviously had the sniffles and it sounded like Murl could help.
Murl stroked his beard. “Big-fix?”
Charlie barked, then said, “You said bad things find new homes. Cousins in cousin caves. Not safe. Murl fix.”
Murl stood up, slapping his hands to his thighs. “Well, you heard him,” Murl said. “Sounds like you have some caves to investigate.”
Kurtis thumped his tail twice.
“Start with the southeast one,” Murl instructed. Then he added, “And if you happen to find, oh I don’t know… say, two heads of lettuce on the way and a salt stone from the cave, bring them back for Givethanksing dinner.” Murl winked and white quest text began to appear.
Kurtis stood and stared off at the topiary. “Please tell me it’s not more dogs.”