The sun’s graceful and gleaming rays of light shone through the vibrant leaves of the forest. Patchy shadows shook against the long grass and ferns as great branches above swayed in the morning breeze. The scent of salt from the distant sea and damp grass below filled the nostrils of Ryder and Durge as they trudged their way eastward to Rofaun. It was midday until they found Kalv’s buried footprints and tracks from his tail. Like a greyhound on the hunt, Ryder paid close attention to every step the starora made; every squished flower, snapped twig, and crumbs from rations, ensuring nothing was left unseen. Durge followed alongside the frantic noble, mindlessly putting one foot in front of the other or gazing at his slime-friend that still clung to the side of the health vile.

“You think I should release him one day?” Durge asked.

“Do whatever pleases you,” Ryder said, staring at the soil for tracks.

“I’d be doing a certain starora, if I could do whatever,” Durge smirked.

Ryder’s nose wrinkled as a wave of disgust washed over him. “You’re still charmed by Kalv, although he’s a thief?”

Durge scoffed, “I’m a thief. You’re a thief. We’re all thieves in this world. Cattle steal grass from the soil. You steal valuables from goblins. I steal the hearts of cosmics. It’s how the clouds move and the grass sway, I don’t make the rules of nature,” he shrugged.

The tracker shook his head, “Even if he’s allied with Fike?”

“I think I should be able to charm Kalv well enough,” the flirt said.

It took six more hours of walking through the woods until the sight of a purple tail sticking through a bush and the glimpse of curled horns above the shrubbery caught the duo’s attention. Kalv leapt out with his drawn daggers but quickly subsided when he recognized his fellow party members.

“You’re alive!?”

“No thanks to you!” Ryder yelled, not intending for it to be spoken aloud.

“We managed well enough. Where’s Fike?”

Kalv’s eyes widened, “He’s not with you?”

Must be ahead of us then. We need to hurry, Ryder thought. “He left us and headed for Rofaun. He can’t be more than a day ahead.”

“Well, I’m glad we get to walk together! This bag has been weighing me down and it gets spooky traveling the woods when it gets dark!”

Durge put a hand on the cosmic’s shoulder and looked longingly into his starry eyes, “Ryder, tell him why he can’t stay with us.”

Ryder blinked rapidly as the starora grew somber and confused. “Uh Kalv… You should return to Maria. Fike has no intention to keep any of us alive when he can take our shares and claim the 400 for himself. If I were you I would sell the loot you have and wait for us at the Hall.”

Durge nodded along as he held onto Kalv, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. We’ll meet you there, my starlight.”

Kalv gazed at the two humans before putting his head down. “If you both think that it’s for the best…” He adjusted the straps of his brimming rucksack. “Then I suppose I’ll be going.” He took a few steps and glanced back at the duo who waved him goodbye.

“Not even a farewell kiss? Cold. Even for you,” Ryder said under breath, waiting for Kalv to be fully swallowed by the forest.

Durge punched him in the shoulder. “He would’ve only clung closer. You’ll figure these things out in time.”

“Tsk. Now we have to catch up to Fike.”

Durge sighed, “Always more walking to be done.”

The pair of companions trotted along dirt paths and animal trails until they saw no light except for the sliver of moon and the fields of fireflies. Without knowing how far away Rofaun or Fike was, they opted to not start a fire. A blanket of stars overshadowed ahead on the clear night. Twinkling and dazzling in the great beyond, Ryder looked to the heavens and imagined what he’d do with his share of the gold when he returned to Maria. His eyes closed but his dreams of grandeur turned to nightmares of the undead with a shadow of crossbow bolts raining from above.

He awoke with a shortened scream that startled Durge awake from his slobbered slumber. “One of these days I’ll knock you back to sleep with my fist,” he groaned.

Ryder apologized as he laid on his back and focused on his breathing, deeper and slower they became until his eyes shut again and the morning sun of the first day of the month of Romask came to be. The summer morning came as the day before, breezy warm air and clear sky above. More horizons passed as the duo kept walking. The greyhound followed Fike’s tracks until all that was left was a dirt trail, long dead of grass.

Ryder and Durge looked at one another with a glare. “You first, Sir Scholar.”

“Not this time oaf, you’re the shield-bearer. Bear it.”

Durge groaned and strapped his white heater shield to his arm. Scratched, cracked, stained, and splintered was the shield bought at Irid’s 37 days ago; adventuring proved to be degrading, not just for the equipment, but the mind as well. The monotony of the dirt trail was ruthless for Ryder, it beat getting tripped up over vines and roots but the repetitive passing of trees without any interesting landmarks, creatures, or tracks left to locate made it grueling. All that was left for him were his own thoughts overlapping one another like a typhoon.

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Fortunately, Ryder’s mind was able to focus on the path that deviated to a sharp curve and opened to a large road with a canopy of trees shading the clearing. Durge put a hand on his mace and Ryder unslung his bow when Fike appeared with open arms in the middle of the path.

“About time you two caught up! Come on, we’ll share our spread of goods in the house,” he said with a wide grin.

“You left us!” Ryder shouted.

Fike rolled his eyes, “Of course I did, you both would’ve done the same. Don’t tell me otherwise.”

“Are others here?” Durge asked, nodding toward the group of rustic buildings down the road and the two horses behind the stable gates.

“There shouldn’t be. I’ve seen a fence or two travel here or someone cower here to lose some heat they’ve scrounged up but all of the ‘active members’ should be out and about. This is a place of business and utility, not a tavern or inn. Now come on.”

Ryder and Durge planted their feet, watching as the party leader took a few more steps forward. The duo looked to the tree line and the branches above, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

“What are you expecting? An ambush? I’m not here to slay you!” he laughed. As the two boys stood still, Fike sighed and groaned, tilting his head back and forth like a pendulating clock.

“Fine! If you really want me to ruin the surprise so that you’ll trust me, I’ll tell you. For any person who would’ve survived such a difficult quest, I was going to welcome them to be a member of the Vultures. Some of the party members that you saw before were newly recruited, but I felt they were unproven, unlike you two, who survived the reckoning of the dead and defeated that witch. Now, I must reward thee, but before you become one of us, I have one more job for you inside.”

“What kind of reward is doing another job?” Durge said.

Fike chuckled, “The reward is after, but some have found this type of work to be satisfying.” He began to walk onward to the hamlet and waved at his party members to follow.

“Slice his fucking throat, if anything is off,” Durge whispered.

Ryder nodded and readied the dagger under his pant leg as he stepped forward.

Fike led them to the backside of the buildings. The forest hid the hamlet as it engulfed the entirety of it. From the skies to the soil, there wasn’t a sight to behold that didn’t include roots and vines. In time, the buildings would be dragged down into the earth as if they never existed.

“This place needs a gardener,” Ryder said.

The party leader exhaled briefly from his nostrils, “I believe we had one at some point or another… I can’t recall his fate.”

At the back of one of the outer buildings he opened two cellar doors and stepped into the cobwebbed darkness. The duo stood outside and heard the strikes of metal until an orange flame glowed from a torch within the basement. “In here!” Fike yelled. Durge took the first steps down with Ryder a step behind him, practically stepping onto the heel of the oaf’s heel.

“Why are we in here, Fike? Let’s just go to Maria and get paid,” Durge said.

“It’s not everyday you visit Rofaun, boy. Every time you enter you’ll leave for the better,” he smirked. Through dusty garden tools, rotten barrels, and piles of weapons, they walked until the walls became crudely cut stone for a small hallway and room. An iron door blocked their path until Fike removed the key from his neck and opened it with a loud screech. Unexpected groans echoed off the stone walls, like a bear caught in a claw-trap. Ryder and Durge held taut to their weapons and took a few steps back while Fike laughed.

“This is your final quest, my companions.”

He stepped through the iron door and ushered for them to follow. In doing so, they saw an iron cell fit with another locked door, spikes along the steel lattice wall, tools for torture, and dried blood that seeped into the ground.

“I ask of you to slay a beast who has done all of us wrong. Slay this monstrosity that has hunted us down and stolen not only our belongings but our lives.”

The three of them gazed at the putrid creature. Chained to a chair with a sack over its head. Each breath from the beast moved its entire body up and down as if it was its last. Major work has been done to the monster: strips of fur removed, skin sliced, and claws removed from a paw.

“You couldn’t have killed the poor bastard sooner?” Durge asked. As he spoke, the beast pulled the chains and tried to scream from its tied mouth.

“We needed information from him. But since he’s grown too proud, the boss said to make a trophy out of him. Isn’t that right, you mangy mutt!” Fike slapped against the bars of the cell. A fury took over him and he unlocked the door swiftly before pushing the duo inside.

“Slay this putrid monster!”

“What’s in it for us!?” Durge asked.

“I will make you both my Seconds! We will pick apart this land from Locria to Willow!”

“Just as Willis was?” Ryder muttered.

“Who!? Oh— the orc… Yes, a pitiful leader. Always had a knack for recruiting the worthless. But you will not be him. I trust in you both to be better!” He forced the duo to grip their weapons and raise them high before he ripped the burlap off the monster.

The beast’s pupils shrank instantly as it gazed upon Ryder and Durge. It leaned against the wall as far as it could, trying to squeeze through the cracks of the wall that weren’t there. Tears welled in its eyes and streamed like the Catefur River upon the stone floor.

Time seemed to slow as Ryder and Durge looked upon the beast. A clipped ear, scars running down its red-stained down muzzle. Its bloodshot amber eyes and its gray snout were easy to recognize. For it was Kincaid chained to the wall. Imprisoned by the scavengers and forced to live through the Infernal Lands for the past two months.

“Slay the beast!” Fike screamed. It was his last words before a mace met his skull and a dagger entered his chest. He slumped against the metal bars as his teeth fell from his mouth and his heart stopped pumping. The party leader’s eyes fixed upon the floor as Ryder retrieved his blade and snapped the key off his neck.

Kincaid braced his shaking arms against the stone when set free. Durge pulled the rope off his muzzle and offered his only health potion. The beast swallowed all of the contents and regained his breath as he sat opposite of his lifeless captor.

Ryder hugged Kincaid greatly, turning his black fur damp with tears. He groaned as the boy pressed against him but wrapped his injured paw around the back of his head. “I’m sorry, boy.” Kincaid whispered in a raspy voice.

“I knew they couldn’t kill an old dog like you!” Durge said with a tearful grin.

Kincaid cracked a smile before his head started bobbing from exhaustion.

“Durge, look through the weapons and help me carry him,” Ryder said, throwing the beast’s arm over his shoulder. The duo hauled Kincaid from the scavenger’s nest and onto the two horses. The towering beast sat upon his own steed while Durge and Ryder led the way to the Sister-City.