Corin dreamed about the spinning gears. The construction was vast, built by unknown hands. He woke first. Mathos was still asleep on his bedding. Corin rolled up his own bedding and exited the warehouse. The moon was still high in the sky. He wandered the streets aimlessly. He had been woken for something. He heard a drunken man walking the streets alone, talking to himself.

Corin wasn’t able to make out the words the man was speaking. He fell over tripping over something. Corin approached the man, cautiously. He didn’t respond. When Corin had become close enough it became apparent that the man had fallen asleep. Corin jammed a claw into the man and then dragged the body into an alley. He made a few other visits in the night repeating similar steps. By the time he was finished with his work he felt a lightness on his mind. He made his way back to the warehouse.

By the time Corin made it back to the warehouse, Mathos had woken up. He was just putting away his bedding.

“Ah, there you are.” Mathos said.

“Has the caravan master returned yet?” asked Corin.

“Not yet, I just woke.”

They chatted in order to prepare for the day. It didn’t take long for the caravan master to arrive. He brought some vegetable wraps, which he handed to both Mathos and Corin.

“I’ll need you to help with loading the cargo today.” The caravan master said as the two ate.

They both agreed to the work, and followed the man to their work area. A few other workers filed in and they spent the day moving boxes to and from the warehouse. At the end of the work day the workers still had quite a bit of cargo that they needed to load. Most of the workers had been exhausted. Both Corin and Mathos needed to fake it.

Mathos left to find a way to get recruited into the local guard and Corin left to find a place for them to stay. Corin had passed by a few inns making note of their rates. He had also visited a few boarding houses. Corin made his way back to the warehouse at sundown. When he arrived Mathos had been eating his way though a hearty stew.

“He just brought it, so your’s will still be hot.” Mathos said between spoonfuls.

Corin felt far more satisfied with the stew than he had with their breakfast. There must have been some kind of meat that had been cooked in.

“We’re going to have to find new clothes,” said Corin.

Mathos had agreed, “We’ll also need to find a bathhouse. I thought the caravan master had one here, but when I asked he denied it.”

Mathos then told him about the recruitment drive for the guard that would happen in a week. Fetahken’s city lord must have arrived not long before them. Word of the city’s downfall must have already spread. Corin talked about available living spaces. They both agreed to staying at an inn. They had the funds for it. It might not be east to maintain if it took longer for them to hunt down the lord and his family. It was just a good choice for right now. They both unrolled their bedrolls and went to sleep.

Corin once again found himself awake after a dream about and icy field. Large spikes had broken through the ice and lightning arced between them. Dead bodies littered the ground. The cold had eventually killed the survivors. The survivors had killed everyone else. Corin had been surprised by the change of the dream. He had grown accustomed to the large gears spinning miles below the surface. Mathos still slept.

Corin repeated the actions of the night before. He hunted down the isolated and imparted the gift before hiding their bodies. He made his way back to the warehouse just before sunrise and started to roll up his bedding. Mathos woke up and did the same. It wasn’t long until the caravan master arrived with food. He had brought a few skewers with an arrangement of meat and vegetables.

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“I’m starting to get hungry,” Mathos whispered to Corin.

Corin wanted to wait for the caravan leader to leave before he answered. The caravan leader discussed their day.

When the man left, Corin said, “Tonight, lets hunt.”

They entered the warehouse and started to work on loading the cargo. It wasn’t as an exhausting day as the previous day had been. As they worked Corin overheard a couple of the other workers talking.

“I heard that the guards found a few murders in the city”

“Someone’s always getting killed in the outer rings.”

“No, they didn’t just find the bodies in the outer rings—”

Corin hadn’t heard the rest as he was trying to finish his work. He was pretty sure it had been a few of the frenzied he had made during the night. The workday had been far shorter than before. Corin was pretty sure that the caravan master was still paying the full wage to his normal workers. He couldn’t be sure that it was the same for either him or Mathos.

A bit later the caravan leader returned with the same stew that he had served them the previous day. Mathos had a wild look in his eye as he ate. Corin had let him. The man was going to need anything he could get his hands on. Having Mathos become frenzied as they hunted wouldn’t do. Mathos destroyed his meal, and Corin reluctantly gave Mathos the remainder of his food. They made their way out of the warehouse. Corin brought them to a bath house. It was nearly empty, but it seemed to be open late. The duo wasn’t worried.

Mathos grabbed a key and went ahead after Corin paid for the both of them. Corin chatted with the attendant, who seemed to welcome the conversation. Mathos poked a head out and held up his index finger. Corin wrapped up his conversation and went to the bath. Corin stowed his belongings into his own locker and entered the room. The heat of the room was a good contrast to the growing chill outside. There was one other man that had been in the bathes with them. He was leaning against a wall with a cloth covering his eyes.

Mathos entered the water and slowly crept towards the man that was resting. Once he was close enough he shoved the man roughly underwater. He started to laugh as the man’s limbs wildly flailed. The man managed to get a hold on Mathos’s arms. Mathos only began to laugh harder. Corin watched impassively. Trying to make a decision. He left the bathes and went through the locker room, quickly wrapping a towel around himself.

“We need help, come quickly!” Corin shouted at the attendant.

Corin then rushed back into the baths. Mathos was still holding the man under water. He still grinned but wasn’t laughing anymore. Corin took a side step, to keep clear of the doorway. The attendant came next and shouted at Mathos. Corin swept his leg and leapt on the man and started to bash his face into the tiles. It took too long to kill the man. Corin should have just gone for the throat. When both the men were dead Mathos started to eat. Corin had found that no one usually visited the bathes in the later hours. Corin took some precautions though, and locked the doors after checking the other rooms for anyone else. Satisfied they wouldn’t be discovered Corin too began to eat.

If they hadn’t been at a bath it would have been especially troublesome. Corin was disappointed that the attendant’s shirt had been ruined by blood, but everything else was still salvageable. Mathos seemed to especially enjoy his meal. There had been a definite edge that had grown around him recently. Corin had noticed something similar with himself. They both picked the bones of the dead men clean, eating anything they going tear free. Corin pried the skull of the attendant open and started on the brain. Mathos cracked open his own victims head and did the same thing.

“I’m not a fan of the brain,” said Mathos, as he ate a fist full of the matter.

“It’s not about the flavor,” Corin said between bites, “It’s about what you can learn.”

They didn’t talk much more than that as they ate. Now that they had a little more time, they could enjoy it. When they finished the two bathed in peace. The water turned pink from the blood that now covered their bodies.

“I really enjoy the heated water,” Mathos commented, “It’s great against the night’s chill.”

“I’ve only been able to go to a proper bath in a city a handful of times,” Corin said.

“Right, mercenary,” said Mathos.

Mathos snatched his key and the one from his victim. Corin also grabbed his own and the key that the attendant had. They loaded their spoils into the bags that they had brought. Corin made sure to snatch the money from the counter. They unlocked the doors. Corin locked them once they were outside again and threw the keys off into the distance. Mathos did the same. They went back to the warehouse and unrolled their bedrolls. Tomorrow would be the last day of work.

When the morning came, Corin hadn’t been visited by a vision and woke up normally. The caravan leader came back with the same vegetable wraps that he had brought before. Corin and Mathos ate them without complaint. The work this time was also fairly easy. They just loaded the necessities for travel onto the caravan. It only took a few hours to complete. The caravan leader gave them his thanks and gave them a small sack of money. With that he left with the caravan. They chose an inn at random, and decided to wait for the guard recruitment.