They settled into a slow cruise back to Greenstone, they had picked up as many contracts as they could from the Boko adventure society and would file them with the society in Greenstone. They also picked up a local map which Teddy had added to his mapping ability which could be replicated onto the table next to the driving bridge. The map showed all the desert villages that were next to impossible to find unless you were a local and knew the area. The plan was to take a meandering route back to clear off as many notice board contracts as they could. They all agreed that by the end of the trip they would all be experts on fighting desert monsters.

“It seems that most of the monsters out here are pretty fragile but deadly.” Kyra said, sticking her monster goo covered sword in the sand before dismissing it.

“And they’re all about that camouflage.” James added.

They had just taken out a Desert Toad, a large flat reptile that buried itself to wait for prey to come past then snatch them in with it’s long sticky tongue. The two of them had done it together, really it was an iron rank solo job but as they were all out here together and there was no rush and no harm in having the backup.

As James and Kyra mounted the back of the drop deck and through the doors to the bottom deck they heard Teddy and Lucy working in one of the spare rooms. They had converted it into a mobile workshop.

“I’m sure Charlie said the repeater module goes the other way up, you trying to make it more efficient or less?”

“Hey I had the idea for this I’m relying on you to make the magic work. Me heavy lift you brainy.”

“Whatever, look I think it goes in this way then that’s the section complete.”

“Looks good to me, I think that’s the most of the technical side, the ‘engine’ if you like. Then we just need to agree on the outer design.”

“I think you had the right idea, the beauty of the material is we can experiment with it having multiple stages.”

Kyra and James realised that the others hadn’t even noticed them as they were so intent bent over the workbench studying their project.

“So what’re you two working on now then?” James asked from the doorway.

Lucy slapped the partially made model flat on the bench in front of them as they both turned to see James and Kyra.

“Oh just the beginnings of the next project, not ready to show yet.”

“Can you tell us what it’s for or is that a surprise as well?”

Teddy looked at Lucy and shrugged.

“We didn’t want to get your hopes up so soon after getting this beast, but we figured we cant exactly drive this into the woods or in town. We have enough fourth stage crystal to come up with an idea with enough left over for spares and repairs.”

As they talked they made their way up to the top deck to sit around the rear table, James provided a smoothie for everyone from the built in blender in the kitchen.

“So a smaller convenient vehicle from this one?”

“Exactly, smaller, lower power usage, like a utility vehicle.”

“Sounds cool, sounds like you were almost done with it?”

“Well building the ‘engine’” Lucy used bunny fingers in the air at the word. “Is easy enough, the magical theory is similar to what we used on this but smaller, and the modules were pre-made by Charlie and myself.”

“The design takes longer because we don’t always agree what it should look like.” Teddy said.

Kyra grabbed a pad and pen, Teddy jumped behind the wheel and kicked the vehicle into motion, spinning the wheel to head back to the next village. James released Koda who liked to sit on the bow and feel the wind on his face and Kyra released Lucky who just liked to be busy, wandering around the deck sniffing.

“Maybe we write a list of all the things we want it to have then we draw from there?”

They all started firing ideas in, they realised that it was not going to be an assault craft so armour was negligible. With it being a lightly armoured vehicle speed and agility would be paramount. Between the need for speed and the fact that it had to operate in a low magic density area they had to make it as skeletal as possible. What Kyra ended up with was a dune buggy looking craft, squat and low with rugged wheels. The main form of the vehicle were solid bars of crystal making little more than a roll cage and windshield. It had a storage area on the rear and Lucy and Teddy had interrupted with their expertise in dealing with fourth stage crystal to add that it could either be a two seater car or it could unfold once more to give back seats.

After a while of sitting the oval table at the rear of the top deck they realised that Teddy had been sat with them sipping his smoothie.

“Err bro, who’s driving?”

“Don’t worry I’ve got it in hand, first mate has got this.”

James transformed his arm into a long tentacle and used it to pull the captains chair slightly to see who Teddy was referring to. Lucky was stood on the chair with his front paws on the steering wheel, Teddy had gone as far to put the driving gloves on his paws and a hat on his head.

“See, he can be responsible.”

“Really?” James asked incredulously.

“Nah, not really, it’s essentially on cruise control with the steering locked and I’m monitoring it on the minimap. But don’t tell Lucky, look how much fun he’s having!” As he said it Lucky gave out a bark and wagged his tail, a big doggy smile with his tongue hanging out.

They relaxed at the table and went over the drawing, when it was as good as they all wanted Teddy took it and put it in his storage for he and Lucy to work on later. After that they all got their collective loot out to look it over and sort it into piles, they had one for keep, one for sell and one for donate. The academy annex was an amazing opportunity for people from all walks of life to go and get a vocation that will support them and their families for the rest of their lives. The funding however was a bit of a kicker, the cost of the tuition was put against the individual in an indenture contract, any consumables, armour or weapons were also put against the contract. By throwing whatever weapons and armour that they didn’t want and weren’t really worth selling meant that it helped those in the academy that weren’t fortunate enough to be independently wealthy and needed to keep their contract as small as possible.

Teddy got up and shoo’d Lucky off the chair who hopped down then sat and put both front paws in Teddy’s lap for him to take the gloves off, he then trotted off to the table and Kyra had to take his hat off before it got blown off when he went to the front to see Koda. Teddy slowed the vehicle down and brought it to the side of the upcoming village, the benefit of having such a versatile vehicle was that they could straight line over the desert without the need for the roads, when they got near Teddy would join the road leading in so as not to upset anyone.

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He parked far enough out to be unobtrusive to the modest dwellings and Kyra and James headed into town, leaving the others to tinker in the workshop again. They split up as they reached the outskirts, Kyra was already searching out for a local hospital or healers hut to try and clear out the patients with Lucky leading the way. The locals weren’t scared of James but they gave the big man space as he cut an imposing figure. He made his way to the local notice board to see what they had for them. There were two contracts up for grabs. The first was just a local pest that was bothering a farmer going out and picking cactus petals, a small rodent bird that was easy to deal with, the second was a rock wyrm. A solid iron rank monster had taken its home in the cliffs nearby, a slightly rockier patch of desert. He used his adventure society badge to make a copy of both contracts and bent down to pick up his copy of the monster reference guide from a dog sized desert spider that had it webbed to its back, he buried his nose in the magic tablet and went to find Kyra.

………

Arava had been working in the healers hut her whole life, she had been passed down all her mothers and her mothers before hers knowledge of healing. The visiting essence healers were rare to come through as they were semi-nomadic and liked to be left alone most of the time. They never shunned outsiders but were happy to be by themselves. She had a trouble case at the moment, one of the elders had a chill that she couldn’t shake. She had tried everything she knew and he just couldn’t beat it. She was sat next to his pallet on the ground holding his hand when she heard excited sniffing outside the thick fabric that covered the doorway to the hut. Next thing she knew there was a dog barging its way into the hut, she was gripped with fear at the presence of the unknown animal until she saw it politely sit, cock it’s head and loll its tongue out. What made her really relax was she saw the shivers of her patient decrease dramatically and the old man breathed easier with him there. She jumped a little when she heard a woman’s voice calling out.

“Lucky, Lucky, where are you?!”

The dog wagged it’s tail and gave a small non-threatening whumph of a bark. Very shortly there was a knock on the side of the doorway.

“Err, come in.” Arava said nervously.

Kyra pulled the sheet aside and let herself in, she had covered her head in the fashion of the desert dwellers which covered all but the front of her ash blonde hair, her eyes were a rare colour in the desert most being dark brown but hers were electric vivid blue. She smiled as she came in and patted her leg for Lucky to come over.

“I’m sorry, I hope he didn’t scare you.”

Arava had seen enough essence users to know that this woman was one, she had no doubt she was a beautiful woman before she took to this life but the beautifying effects of being an essence user had already set this woman apart from normal standards. Her dog was an unusual breed she hadn’t seen before and there was no denying that it was having a healing effect in the room, her own weariness from tending the old man seemed to be easier to bear with him around.

“No, he has been well behaved other than letting himself in.”

The beautiful woman smiled and rested a hand on the golden dogs head.

“He is good but he is young and enthusiastic. May I join you?” She motioned to the other side of the pallet.

“If it would please you.” Arava replied formally, she was worried that this woman could take whatever she wanted anyway and asking was a formality.

The startling beautiful woman sat down opposite her and looked down at the old mans face.

“I am a travelling adventurer and a healer, can I help you?” She asked.

Arava nodded and the woman took the old mans hand in hers, she saw her fingers were covered in expensive rings and jewellery on her wrist when the sleeves of her robe fell back as she took the mans pulse.

“I will use some magic to heal him please don’t be alarmed.”

Arava nodded her consent for her to continue. The woman placed a hand on the old mans chest and light flared beneath her palm into the man, nothing much happened but Arava started to notice the old mans grip slowly get stronger from the limp cold grip he’d had. The woman tutted slightly and a green light flared under her hand into the mans chest, this time he gripped her hand strongly and his eyes fluttered.

“What did you do?!” Arava asked.

“Two spells, the first was to find out what was wrong and the second was to imbue him with life energy. My cleansing power is for poisons and toxins and unfortunately does not include diseases. What have you been giving him, may I see?”

Arava didn’t even think to question her, moving to pick up the mortar and pestle she had been grinding herbs in to pass to the woman. She smiled as she accepted it sniffing it, she then listed most of the ingredients and Arava only had to tell her one that she had missed. The woman nodded and pulled a mirror from inside her robe and suddenly there was a spice rack in the room with them, she pulled herbs from it to add to the mix describing what they were and what they did. She handed the mix back to Arava instead of feeding it to the man. Arava gave it a bit more of a grind and sniffed it with an experienced nose, she sniffed the herbs individually that the woman added and crushed them a little rubbing the textures between experienced fingers. When she was content she added a little water to make it drinkable then the strange essence user helped lift the old man’s torso so that he could drink the mix. He settled back onto the pallet and the two women sat in silence, the time stretched slightly without either of them moving or talking. After a while the old mans breathing was noticeably better and his shivering had stopped. Arava smiled at the imposing woman opposite her, wherever she had come from and whatever power she had she had just earned her trust. She drew a blanket over the old man and got up to go out in the sunshine, the essence user rose gracefully and sent the dog out first, wagging its tail.

Arava left the building and turned her face to the sky to feel the sun on her face. As she opened her eyes and screamed as she was looking up at a giant bearded man.

………

Kyra was getting the hang of integrating into different cultures she came across. The latest village was quite strict on dress, it seemed to have stemmed from a safety point of view from hiding in the desert. She felt justified in her dozen, or so, wardrobes of all different styles. Loathe to cover her hair that had reached new levels of lustrous in this world she was excited to try her new head scarves. They were a reserved people and she knew that she had to tread lightly to not alienate adventurers to an already reclusive people. Luckily she could keep up an air of patience while messing with James over the interface.

“Where is she.” The giant rumbled down at Arava. She looked like she might pass out.

“Don’t bully her you big oaf.” Kyra said as she ducked through the doorway.

Kyra squeezed her shoulder and gave her a smile and she quickly headed off. Kyra punched James on the arm and headed out of the village.

“While you sent me round knocking on almost every hut in the village Koda and Lechuza reported in, they cleared the birds but panicked the farmers into thinking two bigger monsters had turned up, maybe we put a sign around Lechuza’s neck… with a bell.”

“She still sneaking up on you all the time?”

“I don’t know if she’s doing it for her own fun or for training but it’s annoying as hell.”

As they were on the path on the way out there was a massive rumbling. The earth started heaving and several buildings collapsed. Kyra and James leapt into action, diving into buildings to save the inhabitants.

The earth had stopped moving and James and Kyra were helping the villagers, the mud huts collapse had caused very few injuries and Kyra had quickly dealt with them, casualties in the open with obvious injuries were much quicker to deal with as she could be publicly bold with her magic. They both looked up when they noticed the faint sound approaching the village. A low sleek dune buggy was approaching, Teddy was driving with Lucy in the passenger seat. The roll bars were made up of different shades of blue crystal, they were triangular and had sharp edges with only a few round sections to allow for grabbing to get in and out. The wheels were the same design as the land yacht and looked magnetically attached with a small gap to act as suspension. Darker crystal made up the bottom of the vehicle including massive bull bars on the front and rear. Silvery crystal provided a windshield against the sand curving up into a sunroof. Teddy and Lucy were sat in deep bucket seats and strapped in with four point harnesses.

They skidded to a stop, hand break turning the dune buggy sideways to park next to them, a cloud of sand erupted from the cart that had been trailing them, as it settled they could see that none of the sand had managed to get into the cart.

“Get in.” Lucy said.

“Where?!” James said, looking at the two seater.

Lucy smiled and reached back between the seats to the small shelf area, she slapped it with the flat of her hand and crystal reacted in the fashion the were getting used to; sections were starting to unfold and the area behind the front seats expanded backwards, including two more bucket seats unfolding with the flooring.

“I said get in bitches.” Lucy grinned at them.