Chapter Fifty

Dev a l'Orange

“Ack, ack, Quack!” The duck’s voice echoed off the walls of the cavern. Eyes glowing with black light, its head bobbed up and down. Ruffled feathers on the fowl’s head gave it a wild angry appearance. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Dev wondered about the reverberations of the quacking. Weren’t duck quacks not supposed to echo, or was that just off of water? Either way, the question was moot, since he clearly heard the sound rebounding throughout his room.

“Those terms are acceptable,” Dev ceded, “I am especially amenable to the whole live and let live clause in our contract.”

“Ack!” The beast barked, which surprised Dev, as he was not aware that ducks could sound so threatening. It didn’t hurt that the duck in question was threatening unto itself.

“I remember,” Dev replied calmly. “You have obligations of your own, and you would do well to remember that.” He forced himself to sound calm and collected, and thanked the gods that as a rock he remained utterly immobile; otherwise, he was certain he would have been shaking as he faced down the deadly duck.

It actually embarrassed him, since he technically used to be a dragon. His understanding was that nothing made dragons tremble; in fact, during some downtime with Tooth, he had learned that dragons naturally projected a fear aura that no mortal creature could ignore. They could overcome their terror, but there would always be a niggling bit of doubt that would worm through the back of the bravest man’s mind. All it had taken to make Dev feel that way was some glowing eyes, a few ruffled feathers, and a couple of ack acks from the duck and he’d been petrified. He found that last bit to be ironic since he was already a stone.

“I will make my companion aware of our arrangement,” Dev stated when the duck did not respond to his admonition of upholding its end of their bargain. He was about to say more but stopped when he realized that he was not in contact with Tooth. There were a handful of reasons that Tooth would not be able to hear him or respond. The first reason would, of course, be death. It was very difficult to communicate from the other side when you had a soul, and right now, Tooth’s status as being counted as having a soul was up in the air.

Dev was certain, though, that he would feel it if Dev died. They were so interconnected that Tooth’s death would probably kill Dev. The inverse was most likely true as well. When they had set out on their grand adventure it was assumed to be a given that where one went the other followed, but now Dev wasn’t so sure. Dungeons used companions, they didn’t need them in the way that mortals needed food or air. Companions. Though, needed their dungeons, and so Dev was fairly certain that if Tooth was killed that the core would go on.

The next possibility, and the most likely, was that Tooth was in a building, such as the Town Hall, that was not a part of his dungeon. If that were the case then they would reestablish contact when he stepped outside. Similarly, if he stepped out of the dungeon’s boundaries it would have the same effect, so if he went out to scout then he would be incommunicado.

Another option was that Tooth was unconscious. Putting that man on his back was hard enough, and braining him hard enough to make him take a nap was practically impossible, but not altogether inconceivable. He was mostly human, after all. This implied that he was in battle, but none of the triggers that Dev had set that would alert him to multiple intruders entering Goulcrest had gone off. There was no possibility that Dev could see in which a solitary foe had taken the big man down.

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Was it possible, Dev considered, that Tooth’s mental faculties changed when he was in his bear form? Did the physical shift alter his mind enough that it wouldn’t work on the same frequency? Dev sent out a mental ping and got no response back.

Even though he was certain that his friend was simply in one of the out-of-bound buildings Dev decided to take in a quick overview of the town. He had been so focused on not being eaten by the malicious mallard that he’d completely blanked out on the town above.

The thought of the duck brought Dev back to reality and he searched his cavern for the creature, but it was gone. He had let his concentration slip for a period of a handful of seconds and he had lost the duck again. The core was certain that it was no longer in the cavern, and that suited him right down to the ground. Now that he understood the beast’s nature, he would be able to track it, or so he hoped. Proximal omniscience only worked if you knew what you were looking for. You might be able to see everything with a skill like that, and yet never actually notice the finer details. Nothing in life was a given.

That worry abated Dev returned his attention to mentally tuning in with Tooth. Free of the fowl’s foul form the core opted to test his hypothesis about his companion’s mental state, rather than focusing on where the man was. He was certain that if his companion was in his bestial form then his brainwaves would be at a lower frequency and that he would be able to converse with him normally if only he could match that mental wavelength. It was vanity, Dev knew, that kept him from looking in on his friend. First, he could not fathom the possibility of Tooth being in danger and him not knowing about it. Secondly, he wanted to verify that he had figured out one of the complexities of mental attunement.

Dev did not stop to consider the ramifications of Tooth being his lycanthropic form. Had he stopped to consider why his friend would be in his bear form, then he would have gone into a state of high alert and sent out his new guardians, but he never even gave that potentiality a thought. No, he was caught up in his own single-mindedness. He wanted an answer, and so disregarded what he should have instinctually known to do.

He cycled his mental perceptions down by one level at a time. Each time he had tuned into a new wavelength he sent out another ping. Dev ran through six cycles before his ping rebounded. He’d been right! Tooth was in his bear form! He prepared to send a mental message when the reality of his actions sank in. The core realized that there would only be one reason that Tooth had shifted, and that was because he was fighting for his life. Cursing himself for a fool, Dev focused on the world above.

It took him milliseconds to find Tooth and see the obscenity that he was fighting. Tooth looked as though he’d gone up against an immovable object; that object being what Dev could only assume was either a giant or ogre. He would know the moment he examined some of its blood, and he would do that later. For the moment, his attention was focused on Tooth and the battle he was waging.

Tooth, how are you doing? How can I help? Do you want me to send the dungeon guardians? Dev spoke much faster and louder than he’d intended, but his metaphoric heart was beating a hundred miles a minute.

I’m holding up, Tooth replied gruffly; even his mental voice carried a growl, Dev noted. I’ll handle the butt-ugly baby. You take care of the town. I’m pretty sure the raiders aren’t far behind.

I’m sorry I didn’t notice that you were in danger, but I was in a bit of a spot myself, Dev explained. I had an unannounced visitor in the cavern, and I got distracted.

Same here, Tooth’s mental growl echoed in Dev’s mind, This, bastich, Tooth sputtered, Was all over me before I knew what was going on.

Is he giving you a hard time, Dev asked somewhat surprised at Tooth’s appearance and the minimal damage that he could see on the strange giant baby. I thought you were preternaturally predisposed to kicking arse and scraping names.

Against low-level mortals, yes, Tooth replied as he ducked a blow from the bulbous baby monster, But up until now, I haven’t been in a real fight. I have raw power, yes, Tooth swiped his massive paw onto the side of his opponent’s face taking away a sizable chunk of flesh with it, But raw power doesn’t equate to skill. I’m a first-level fighter, so no matter how deadly I am or tough I am, I’m going to struggle until I get some experience under my belt.

Dev could see the man-bear’s point. A small man with the right set of skills could take out a larger opponent with less experience. He readied himself for the incoming raiders and hoped that Tooth was a quick learner.