Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 26

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 26

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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“P-please, allow me to go with you. Those who you speak to must know with whom they speak.” Averi was pale and could not meet my gaze. Gone was the knightess defiant even in captivity, filled with ideals and views of justice. The woman with the blood of fearsome creatures running through her veins, with talent and power in spades, shook in my presence. “Your eminence, please, I beg for the right to have my people see reason.”

“My name is Will. I hold no titles, no land, and no people.” Memories of my parents in this world returned. They were not my true parents, but I had tried to be a good child. They cast me aside out of fear and then I only knew the mercy of the As’Kari’s Shu’Ann. “Address me by my name, Knight of the Kingdom.”

“Y-yes, it will be as you wish.” Once, Kan’Is asked me why I hid my strength and power. He told me that it would make everything easier for me. I would be asked for less favors by the people, Djet’Is would bother me less, and more would be enticed to follow me. No more questions. No more arguments. No more need to pay and bribe others. Only a mass of soldiers and followers at my back. I abhorred the idea. “Please, once again, I ask of you to let me speak to my people and make sure they make no mistakes.”

“None here can hold you, so you will be coming with me.” I couldn’t shake the urge to speak more candidly and directly. When I cared for others, when they looked to me for help, or set me upon a pedestal beyond them, I always spoke in such a manner. Stand tall. Lead properly. Make sure that nothing goes wrong. I relished and hated the sensation at the same moment, but I knew that I couldn’t allow it to take hold of me. The people I counted as colleagues in this world were too few. If I strayed too much, if I did not do away with my new reputation, then I could isolate myself forever. “Your arms and armor will be with us shortly. Put them on, and then we will leave.”

“Y-yes! Thank you, thank you!”

Averi bowed several times before fleeing from my presence, thus leaving me alone with Cornelius. The glittering, ebony eyes of my giant beetle and mount regarded me with a casual wisdom, just before it shifted and brushed its armored shell against me ever-so-gently. I placed my hand upon its shell after recovering from my brief imbalance.

“At least, you’ll still be you, Cornelius.” I muttered my thoughts aloud for the first time in a long time, but soon enough shook my head with a sigh. Footsteps. Familiar ones. They were approaching me. I didn’t even need to turn before addressing them. “Djet’Is.”

“You cannot stop me, nor the As’Kari forever, and neither can the people here be without us. Grant me the right to travel beside you and take the measure of these forest people, and I will pay handsomely.”

“And, give you the right to speak and broker a deal with them?”

“If they try such a thing in your presence, then they would be foolish allies not worth having.” Djet’Is stared down at me with a mane of red hair. Her form was that of a titan amongst men, a statue of beauty combined with physical power. A true child of Aphrodite and Ares made flesh, and after hearing of her defeat, Kan’Is will surely teach her the method I taught him. The day will come when she outstrips me completely and utterly in power. “You will move against the As’Kari if I ask for what I wish. Therefore, they will invite your wrath. So, they would be fools to accept any offer I would give.”

Despite her prideful words and declarations, and her sheer power and blessed power, there was fear in her eyes when I met them.

“Your personal guard stays here and defends the village. Then, I want ten Warriors here to guard it forevermore.” It was not the hundred I had asked her before, with the intent of gutting the As’Kari’s ability to wage war. “Ensure the people’s safety now and in the future, and I will allow you to come with us.”

“Done. You have my word.”

I grunted in understanding, before being left in the presence of my mount.

I was tempted to speak, to ask him why, before steadying myself and clearing my mind.

This was unbefitting my age. The path I chose was the one which would ensure that Kan’Is would be forced to be diplomatic. This path was the only one possible for me to take and ensure the As’Kari’s momentum was not regained, and they covered the Great Desert in blood for the sake of their ideals. The tribes needed to reunite peaceably, otherwise it would simply break in the future, and the price of peace would be paid twice over.

I was not a child, but a physician and a doctor who found himself with great responsibilities and the power to act upon more than he ever dreamed.

With all this power at my disposal, with all the talent and skill I could use to better the lives of others, I had to be responsible.

So, I took another deep breath to clear my mind, before sharpening my countenance and committing myself to my cause.

Perhaps, in another life, I can have a family, friends, and equals who did not fear me.

In this life, however, I had power and I would use it to save others.

It is the right thing to do.

It would be irresponsible, even selfish and arrogant, to throw this power aside… let alone contemplate using it solely for my own sake.

…

Gale’s brow was furrowed, while she considered Cornelius.

“If he could fly all this time, why didn’t he?” The short-haired young woman cast a suspicious gaze upon my mount. “It would’ve made a lot of things easier.”

“He carried most of my things on his back. A few people, he can fly with, but not all that I own.” Cornelius would do so and struggle if I asked, but I knew better than to push him to his limits. I intended to have him grow large and mighty. Perhaps enough so that I could set my own domicile and clinic upon his back. I gave him power whenever I was able, fed him correctly, and I was sure that I had more than enough to support his growth into a large beetle. He wouldn’t grow as large as the ones carrying whole villages, hatcheries, and supplies for hundreds, but a single home and workspace was more than enough for my dreams. “Don’t fret. He knows to be gentle when there are others aboard him. He won’t risk your lives.”

Gale changed significantly over the course of the last few months. Though I did not teach her how to increase her strength, the steady diet of monsters and the abundance here meant swift alleviation of her malnourished state. The young woman was well-muscled and with nary a hint of fat on her form, and that which remained solely did because of her gender. If she were a young man, there would hardly be a hint of fat left on her form. What little there was now was hidden by baggy clothes with ease, because of her days consisted solely of training, of eating, of hunting, and of sleeping.

So, with her hair cut short and dyed brown, while clad in hunter’s clothes, she looked to be a young man with ease.

She’d initially hid her gender when we met to keep herself safe from predators, so I cast a glance at her disguise and she took note.

“If you think a bunch of starving, desperate people are bad, just wait until you meet the nobility. They’re nothing like the warrior nobility that you Desert Tribes have.” Faint disgust colored her features and a growl carried itself in her voice. Was she taught or did she learn from experience? I did not ask, but I listened. “Do you know what a milkmaid is? They tended to cows, churned butter, and hardly got any sun on their skin. Pretty girls, well fed, and their fathers can’t complain… so, they took them along with the cows. Not for their skills, though.”

“In the Desert, Warriors are expected to take wives and sire children. As many as they can support, and even take the wives of their fallen comrades, and support them too.” The Desert had strange customs, but it was a matter of survival. Hunting and foraging in the Great Desert was the lifeblood of any family. Crafting equipment and creating fabric required material, which had to be gathered or bartered for within the tribe. Women could hunt as well, of course, but the investment of resources to forge a warrior typically had families and clans look for safer routes than take risks. And, so, the women stayed within the tribe, did what they could to make money by creating trading goods while raising children, and were rarely amongst warriors… about only a fifth of the Warriors were women who fought beside their husbands. Usually, they had a concubine to care for children and do the crafting back home, or left it to their clan’s elders. “But, I see your point. In your culture, I see that one wife expected. So, those in power abuse their authority and take women to take as wives and concubines?”

Gale gave a single, harsh laugh at my words.

“Playthings that they toss aside once they’ve had their fun. If the girl’s lucky, they’ll keep her around until they reach the capital. Sometimes they walk alone through the woods back home. Maybe a few gold coins richer for their trouble.” Gale was raised as a hunter by her father. I could only imagine they encountered the people the Kingdom’s nobility discarded. So, the depravity and sickness of this place were more terrible than I thought. “The unlucky ones don’t make it, if the noble wants to reward his soldiers.”

My blood ran cold at the words, but I managed to speak.

“Why did your people stand for it?” Gale’s head snapped up at my words and she levelled a glare at me, but I explained after a moment. “Were things that peaceful? Were things that good, and such moments so rare that people decided to turn a blind eye?”

Gale paused, her shoulders shuddering, before nodding.

“Aye. It was good for a time. Even for hunters, there was plenty to eat and enjoy for years and years. We had festivals every season. Celebrations whenever merchants arrived. The Kingdom either cared or didn’t bother us as long as our town tithe was paid.” Gale recounted with sorrow. Despite her youth, she could barely be older than eighteen, she seemed to recall times far beyond her. Did being fed the flesh of monsters better the memory of those who were fed with it? “Before the Kingdom began taking everything away, before we were abandoned, I think everything was fine… and things like women being stolen away or lost just a rare tragedy.”

Gale seemed lost in good memories, of a time when she had a home and a family and a community, before she spoke again with gritted teeth.

“Those times are past now. I’ll never trust them again.  I can hardly stand to think that those people are alive… and I almost want them to fall, even if it means that the last light we have fades.” Gale’s words were filled with heat and anguish. She glared at the great tree of light, the sole thing that kept away the terrible darkness, and disgust filled her eyes. “I know that you want them to be spared. That you don’t want anyone to die… but, physician, you haven’t suffered as we have. They betrayed us, after we gave them everything they asked for and more. Do you understand?”

I shook my head.

“I can’t. Not completely. Not enough to want them all dead to the last, even as monsters and the darkness claw at the door.” I admitted and Gale looked at me with both anger and disappointment, but she stayed and listened. It was more than I could have hoped for. People are inherently irrational and act upon their emotions more often than not. “But, I don’t trust them. Nor will I stand by and allow them to gain more strength. They have done terrible things, betrayed their people, and for that I cannot stand idly by.”

Gale shook her head at my words.

“You can say that because you’re strong, because if they try anything against you, they’ll falter and fail. But, physician, you must understand that not everyone is as strong as you, and you can’t protect everyone.” Gale’s words gave me pause. So, that is how she saw my refusal to act against her former leaders. It was little better than refusing to trade with a belligerent power that intended to crush her people. Worse, because I could save her and her people, she saw it nearly as a betrayal. “We can’t ever be as strong as you. What do you think will happen once this is all over? Even if we control everything past their walls and defenses, once the monsters cease, once the day returns, we’ll be at their mercy again.”

And, there was that fact.

Gale saw past the current terror, she looked into the future, where the people who betrayed her and left her to die would return with battle-hardened armies, with great numbers fed by all the skilled farmers and ranchers taken from the frontier, and with bloodlines carefully cultivated to greatly increase the strength of their military.

What can they do against such a force?

The peace I sought today, which would spare so many lives, was a cure for what ailed the land now.

But the conflict she sought was a manner of prevention, the excision of a tumor at its absolute weakest, which would leave them returning to the sun without such a terrible foe looming over them.

In her eyes, I was a fool who only saw what was right in front of him… and she was right.

I hadn’t thought about what would happen when all of this ended.