Chapter Twenty-Three

Moira and Sloane waited at the corner of the square. After she’d returned to the tavern, she’d told Sloane about Cyrus’ invitation to dinner. Sloane had begged to come along. Surprisingly, Moira agreed. There was just something about the elf that she had grown to like. Plus, Duke seemed more comfortable with her joining them.

That morning, Sloane dragged her to the Quest Guild to report the Dungeon, much to Moira’s dismay. But she’d gotten 30 gold and a new title out of it, so she supposed it hadn’t been all bad. The title Dungeon Discoverer seemed pretty good. It added +5% experience while in a Dungeon.

After finally leaving the Guild Hall, they’d spent the last several hours inquiring about Cyrus and his teammates. Although, it was more Sloane inquiring and Moira and Duke standing quietly behind her.

No one knew much about them, but they’d all made note of how polite the group had been. Moira was still suspicious. Her gut told her something wasn’t quite right. She wanted to trust Cyrus after their time in the forest and then after his explanation earlier that day. She just felt like there was something he wasn’t saying or couldn’t say.

Sloane coughed, gesturing towards the other side of the square. “There they are. Come on, let’s go!”

Sloane grabbed Moira’s hand and pulled her through the crowd, gracefully avoiding people. Moira, on the other hand, banged it to several people on the way through, apologizing as she went. Finally, they made it to Cyrus and his teammates.

His teammates weren’t human.

The one to the right had small scales covering his arms and legs. With a smattering of scales covering the tops of his cheekbones. His wavy brown hair was pulled back into a haphazard bun and his eyes, slitted with golden irises, glinted with mischief. The man grinned at them, showing pearly white teeth. They looked mostly human except for the elongated fangs where his canines should’ve been.

“Hey, there! You must be Moira. Cyrus has told us all about you.”

“Hi,” Moira replied, trying to be friendly.

He turned to Sloane. “And who are you—”

“Are you a Basilisk?!” Sloane blurted out, interrupting him.

“Yeah! I suppose you don’t see too many of my kind out here, huh?” He winked at them. He bowed playfully. “And who might you be?” He gracefully grabbed Sloane’s hand and placed a kiss on the back of her hand.

Sloane giggled. “I’m Sloane. A friend of Moira’s.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Sloane. If I had any idea, I’d be in the presence of such a gorgeous elf I’d—”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Myles, come on, we’re here for business.”

Moira’s mouth almost dropped open as she took in the second stranger. He was beautiful. The man was all angles, sharp jawline, sharp cheekbones. But it was his wings that stood out the most. He had large brown and auburn feathered wings that stretched behind him and taloned hands that were clenched at his side. Pin straight platinum blond hair was meticulously coifed back against his head. His eyes were shockingly blue and were pointedly staring at Myles.

Myles threw up his hands. “Alright, alright. Just trying to be friendly.”

“I’m Ethan and this is Myles. It’s nice to meet you both.” He smiled, smoothing out the angles of his face.

“Nice to meet you,” Moira said as she looked back and forth between the two men. Moira felt oddly drawn to the three of them. They felt familiar, like a dream she’d forgotten. She shook her head and focused back on Ethan, and attempted to figure out his race surreptitiously.

Ethan sighed, “I’m a harpy.”

“I wasn’t—”

Ethan arched his brow knowingly, and Moira snapped her mouth shut.

“If we’re all done admiring each other, then let’s head inside.” Cyrus gestured to the building behind them. They followed Cyrus into the restaurant and were quickly seated in the far corner, away from prying ears.

Moira adjusted against the dark green chair. It was waxy and smooth, like it was made of Hosta leaves. Cyrus gestured to the waitress and requested wine for the table. The tall blonde nodded respectfully before backing away from the table, leaving them in awkward silence.

“Thanks for joining us, Moira… uh, and you too, Sloane.” He glanced at Moira, an eyebrow raised. “Moira, I’m hoping you’ll join us in Mons Caput. So, I wanted you to meet my team. To give you some background, our party consisted of me, I’m a Knight class—I focus on taking damage for the team and dealing damage where I can; Myles is our Mage—he focuses on spell-casting and alchemy when needed; Ethan is our Healer—he heals and buffs us during a fight. I guess that is self-explanatory. Achlys was our Rogue—he was our big damage dealer; I provided the distraction he needed to deal quick and dirty hits. Moira, if you join us, we’re hoping you’ll be able to take that spot, since you’re a Rogue class.” Cyrus looked at her expectantly.

Moira stared back with wide eyes. How’d he known that she was supposed to be a Rogue? She hadn’t told anyone that the system tried to force her into a Rogue class. Duke’s hackles raised, and he stood and growled loudly at the three men. Sloane looked at her and then back at the men.

“Moira’s not a Rogue class. Haven’t you Analyzed her? She’s a Ranger,” Sloane said.

All three men looked at her in surprise and stared at her intently, their eyes going blank for a second.

Cyrus spoke first. “Sorry, Moira, I don’t know why I thought you were a Rogue class. I just assumed.”

Moira could feel a sense of nervousness rising in her. His explanation didn’t make sense. She felt like she was battling against whatever was drawing her towards them and her sense of self-preservation.

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“Sloane’s right. I’m a Ranger. I had the option to pick Rogue, but it didn’t fit,” she said, her guard raised. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

“A Ranger, yeah, I could see that,” Myles mused from his seat beside her.

“But, Sloane. She’s a Rogue.”

Cyrus narrowed his gaze in warning.

She coughed. “Well, I guess that disqualifies me from your party, then. I’ll join you in Mons Caput but, Sloane’s a great Rogue. She’ll do great with you guys.”

That’d been her plan. Sloane wanted adventure. She could be the one to join their team and be trained up. Then, Moira would be free to go home.

Sloane brightened, she opened her mouth to—“Wait a minute, a Ranger is also a damage dealer.” Cyrus stared her down. “You just have more of a split focus between weaponry and magic. I still think you’re the best option for our team,” Cyrus said, his eyes darting back and forth, observing everyone.

Sloane slumped back in her chair. Ethan and Myles both arched their brow at Cyrus.

The waitress interrupted the discussion, dropping off red wine and some sort of sage green bread with seeds baked into the top, before whisking away into the depths of the restaurant. Moira grabbed her glass of wine and drank several sips, letting it cool her nerves.

Ethan noticed the awkward tension. “Maybe we should table the conversation and just get to know each other better?”

Moira smiled gratefully, and Ethan nodded subtly toward her. She took a slice of the bread and hesitantly took a bite. It was light and fluffy, almost melting in her mouth, with a touch of sourness that lingered against her tongue.

Sloane launched into a discussion about weapons, telling them about the best places to purchase weaponry in Tersus and then asking to see each of theirs. The men all complied, dutifully pulling out their weapons of choice for the women to examine.

By this point, all the bread was gone, and the waitress was back, asking if the group wanted to order food. They all ordered from the menu and turned back towards each other.

“What brought you all together as a team?” Moira asked, breaking the silence.

“We all met each other around 3 years ago? Is that right? Has it been that long?” Myles asked, turning to look at Cyrus and Ethan.

“You’re right, it’s been a little over 3 years.” Ethan responded.

“Yeah, three years ago all of us found ourselves in Regius, the Capital. The four of us had been looking for new opportunities and wanting to join a party, to be real Questers.” Myles said, talking with his hands. “None of us had had any luck until this point. I had traveled to Regius from Tempestas, hoping to have better luck at the Capital. Ethan did the same, traveling from Mons Caput. Achlys and Cyrus both grew up in Regius. Funny story, they actually grew up together and—”

“Come on, get on with it, you’re rambling.” Ethan interrupted.

“I’m just setting the stage and giving some background, geesh. Anyway, we all ended up in Regius. There was a tournament going on that the Quest Guild and the City Guard had put on last minute. Everyone was scrambling for a team. Cyrus wasn’t happy with any of the locals, calling them ‘spoiled brats with no talent’ and we all ended up at the same bar one night and got to talking.” Myles stopped and glanced at Ethan. “See, this is where some background would’ve helped.” Ethan rolled his eyes, but noticeably stiffened in his seat.

“What I was going to say is that Cyrus and Achlys grew up hating each other. Too competitive. But they were both desperate, so, after some demonstrations and a lot of beer, we all decided to join up just for the tournament, to see if we could earn some extra coin. We ended up winning and formed a formal partnership. The rest is history.”

“You’ve all been traveling together since?” Moira asked.

“Yeah, since the tournament, we’ve been traveling, taking Quests, going through Dungeons,” Ethan replied.

“So, it’s been three years of nonstop traveling, always being together?”

Myles laughed, “Yeah—I’m surprised we’re not sick of each other yet.”

“Why are you guys headed to Mons Caput? Do you have a Quest?” Sloane asked, leaning in.

Myles answered. “We have an active Quest. Our team chased it into the Silivea Forest, but—” He glanced at Ethan. “We weren’t strong enough and lost Achlys. We’re headed to Mons Caput to grind some experience at their Dungeon.”

“Could I join, then? As your Rogue? You said you needed one.” Sloane said, her voice pitching up into a whine.

Cyrus sighed. “I don’t know. You’re not very high-leveled. You’d just be putting yourself in danger.”

“Moira’s a low-level too,” Sloane said, mouthing ‘sorry’ to Moira.

She waved her hand in acknowledgment.

“It’s different with Moira. We have a deal.”

Duke nudged her leg. “She comes with us.”

“I tried. They don’t want her to come.”

While it would’ve been nice to pawn her off to them as her replacement. They weren’t biting. And she couldn’t risk Cyrus breaking their deal.

He pressed his head against her leg. “It’s important. She comes.”

She stared down at Duke, meeting his brown-eyed gaze. He knew something. Or could sense something she couldn’t.

“Fine. I’ll see what I can do.” She relented. She’d just have to make the right argument to get what they both wanted. Moira cracked her knuckles under the table.

“I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going unless Sloane goes too.”

“I don’t think we can do that, Moira.” Cyrus said, calling her bluff.

“Okay, it was nice chatting with you all. Good luck with your Quest.” Moira said as she got up from her seat, gesturing to Sloane to follow. They both got up and began walking towards the door. Duke followed close behind, growling at Cyrus as he passed him.

She winced as they got within three feet of the door. They needed Cyrus. She was depending on his Outworlder expert to find her a way home. Moira reached for the door handle, slowly turning it.

“Wait!” Cyrus yelled.

Moira sighed softly in relief and turned to look at the men. Duke seemed to roll his eyes and sat down at their feet.

“Fine. Sloane can join us.”

Moira grinned and sat back down at the table. She raised her hand to Cyrus, “We have a deal then. Sloane and I will join you in Mons Caput.”

Cyrus just blankly stared at her hand and Moira slowly dropped it. Awkwardly looking around. Guess they didn’t shake hands here.

“There. Are you happy? She’s coming along, but that could’ve ruined our chances of getting home,” she muttered to Duke.

He wagged his tail.

Sloane grinned broadly and dived into more questions about their past adventures and Mons Caput. Myles launched into a story about when they were assigned to kill a Banshee that had been terrorizing a village to the south of Regius. The waitress dropped by with the rest of their food and the five of them dug in.

They finished dinner quickly and made plans to meet up at Tracy’s the next morning. The men had some additional supplies to buy tomorrow morning. Then the plan was to head for Mon Caput once they were done. Sloane, Moira and Duke waved their goodbyes and headed back to the Tavern. They’d be sharing their room for another night before heading out with Cyrus and the boys.