Feral Mage: Chapter 10

 Bryce opened his eyes as he woke up and instantly felt something heavy. Looking down, he saw Vex sleeping on top of him in the back of the wagon. Reaching out with his hand he tried to push the wolfkin off of him. Vex woke up at his touch and started to rub her head against his hand, letting out a happy low growl as she did.

“Vex,” Bryce said. “I’m not trying to pet you, I’m trying to push you off me!”

He pushed himself up with his other hand and got enough leverage to finally move the wolfkin off of him. Vex frowned as he climbed out of the wagon, a second later Vex was standing beside him holding the large egg.

“Good morning,” Alice said with a yawn as she sat up in the bedroll.

Vex quickly rushed over to Alice with the egg. Bryce scratched his head as he looked around the camp, he felt something was off. He realized Janna wasn’t here when he saw her empty bedroll, and a knot in his gut formed.

“Hey, have you seen Janna?” Bryce asked Alice.

The snow elf turned from Vex, who was no doubt trying to talk her into making omelets, to frown at him.

“No, I haven’t,” Alice said as she cast a worried look around the camp.

Vex, still carrying the egg, made her way to the wagon and retrieved the iron skillet.

“Vex,” Bryce said to get her attention. “Can you pick up Janna’s scent?”

Vex pouted at him and her tail drooped.

“Do we have to look for that stupid fox?” she asked.

Bryce remembered Janna backing him up in the mayor’s office. There had been no real threat, but she was prepared to have his back.

“Yes,” Bryce answered Vex firmly. “I’ll use my manticore Aspect, maybe together we can find her scent.”

 Vex looked at the giant egg and back to him frowning.

“But, omelet!” she said.

Bryce shook his head.

“We’re not eating while Janna is missing,” he said.

“Bryce is right, Vex,” Alice added.

Vex pouted as she looked between them and the giant egg. She let out a sigh as she sat down the egg and made her way to Janna’s wagon, climbing up into it. Bryce was wondering what she was doing when Vex pulled a large travel chest to the back of the wagon and tipped it over. A hogtied Janna fell out of it.

“Oh, look. I found the fox,” Vex said as she hopped out of the wagon. “Let’s make omelets!”

Bryce walked towards Janna, who was glaring at Vex and trying to say something through her gag. Someone had used a piece of charcoal to write ‘stupid’ on Janna’s forehead.

At least now I know Vex can read and write.

Bryce knelt down by Janna and removed the gag from her mouth.

“That mangy mutt tried to kill me!” Janna said while snarling towards Vex.

Bryce raised an eyebrow at her. Vex had tied her up with regular rope.

“Why were you still in that trunk?” Bryce asked as he stood.

Janna blinked before scowling at him.

“Because I’m tied up!”

Bryce nodded.

“Tied up with rope. Janna, you’re a pyromancer! Just picture a flame on the rope and burn through it! ” Bryce stated.

Janna stared at him in silence for a moment before she stood up and the ropes holding her fell away. Bryce thought she would rush to Vex and the two of them start fighting. Instead, her tails started swishing about excitedly.

“I didn’t know I could do that!”

Bryce was thrown off by her happiness.

“I’m surprised you didn’t. You’ve demonstrated that you can imbue your fire magic into metal with your throwing knives. That’s a much more difficult skill.”

Projecting fire on something touching your skin should be trivial compared to that. Even Bryce knew that, and his magic was non-elemental based.

“My family wanted me to be a knife thrower for their circus,” Janna answered before she bit her lip shyly. “They only trained me how to imbue fire to knives and dismiss my magic. I taught myself to cast a fireball.”

Bryce recalled the massive odd ships that would dock in the rivers or ports of large cities to perform shows or trade. The Horo-Kitsune, or wandering foxes, usually kept to themselves. They would apply their trade and move on to another city.

“Projecting fire is probably one of the best close-range defenses you have. I’ve seen elemental mages use it to teach painful lessons to idiots who tried to grapple them.”

“Now I know I can do that!” Janna said. “Thank you, master!”

Bryce sighed.

“Please don’t…”

The sound of horses approaching broke his attention from Janna. Two soldiers on horseback entered their camp. The lanterns hanging from their saddles told Bryce they had been riding through the night.

“You’re the one that killed the vampire in Oakbridge?” the soldier asked as soon as their horses came to a stop.

“Yes,” Bryce answered cautiously.

The soldier let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank the gods,” the soldier said. “The new mayor wants to hire you to take out the vampire coven.”

“What happened to the old mayor?” Bryce asked.

The soldier gave a grim look.

“He took the head of the one you killed and nailed it to a post outside of town. He was dead a little after sundown. The new mayor sent parties out to hire you as soon as his body was found.”

Well, he was quick to piss them off. Time to see how much they’ll pay.

Bryce lifted his hand and scratched his cheek in thought. He turned and gestured toward Alice.

“Well, you see, I’ve taken the job of escorting this young woman. You’re asking me to backtrack and place her in a dangerous situation,” Bryce said, doing his best to suppress his smile.

“Vampires! I’ve paid you good money! If you rush off to take care of this coven, I’ll not pay you for the time!” Alice said hotly, her voice dropping its frontier accent for one similar to what was spoken in the cities.

She was a smart girl and knew they had the advantage in negotiations and Bryce wanted to make sure they paid him well. The former mayor had pissed off the coven with his display, they would be on the outlook for attacks now or on the offensive. That made this job more difficult.

He gave a quick glance to Vex and Janna conveying to them to be silent. Both of them had confused looks from Alice’s change in voice.

“The new mayor is offering twenty gold for you to clear the coven,” the soldier said.

Bryce listened and thought for a moment. He would have taken that originally, but not now.

“No,” he said as he started packing up their wagon. “If you’ll excuse us, we need to pack and get back on the road.”

He packed away both Vex’s and Alice’s bedrolls before the soldier cursed.

“Forty gold,” he said.

Bryce moved to the mules and checked the reins on them, ignoring the soldier.

“Shit, fifty gold. That’s the highest the new mayor would let us offer. I can give you the twenty up front and the rest back in Oakbridge,” the soldier said. “Please, take the job.”

Bryce looked at Alice and she gave him a small smirk.

“Okay. I’ll take care of the coven,” he answered.

“Thank you, sir,” the soldier said.

“But, omelet!” Vex pouted while holding the giant egg.

The soldiers led the way back to Oakbridge as Bryce’s wagon followed with Janna’s right behind him.

“You’re welcome,” Alice said with a smug smile.

“You played your part perfectly. Thank you, Alice,” Bryce said returning the smile. “How big of a cut?”

Alice laughed.

“Ten gold. Unless you want to haggle?”

Bryce chuckled. The smile on Alice’s face told him he did not want to haggle with the barmaid.

They arrived back in Oakbridge as the sun was starting to set. A crowd of people, many armed with torches and weapons, were waiting across the bridge, but parted once the soldiers crossed. A burly woman with a scowl approached Byrce’s wagon as he pulled on the reins.

“Good, you took the job,” the burly woman said before looking at the soldier. “How much?”

“Fifty gold, Mayor,” the soldier replied, causing murmurs from the gathered town’s folk.

The burly woman turned to the town’s folk.

“Shut the hells up,” she yelled before turning back to Bryce. “That’s a good bit of gold.”

Bryce nodded.

“Would have done it for less when I brought the head to the old mayor. He turned down my offer to take out the coven and refused to pay me for the one I killed. I was working another job when your soldiers found me. Sorry mayor, but there’s no way in hells I’m doing it for the original price.” Bryce answered.

The burly woman gave him a stern gaze, then shrugged.

“Fair, I would have done the same. Also, call me Mora. I’m Oakbridge’s tavern owner. I’m only acting as mayor since no one else could decide on what to do,” Mora said before turning. “I’ll get your gold from that idiot’s coffers. Follow me.”

They followed Mora to the building that Bryce first brought the vampire head to. Only now a human head was placed on top of the building weather vane. Bryce recognized it as the former mayor from the large mustache. Mora stopped and looked up at the head.

“He has done more as a weather vane than he ever did as the mayor,” Mora said before opening the door and stepping in.

Bryce stared up a the head for a moment and saw it turn slightly as a strong breeze came through. Then, he and the girls followed Mora inside.

The place was trashed. Blood smeared the walls and some was used to x out the eyes of the former mayor on the paintings, those that weren’t torn from the walls. Bryce could tell several people died in this room from the amount of blood on the floors and walls. Mora ignored it and made her way past the desk to the mayor’s office. Two soldiers were standing in this room, guarding a safe in the wall. Bryce recalled a painting had hung there during his first visit to the Mayor. The door was pried from the safe and he could see stacks of gold.

The guards saluted Mora as she went to the safe and counted out fifty gold coins, laying them on the desk before Bryce.

“Kill the damn bastards. No one gives a shit about the old mayor, but the soldiers that died protecting him were good men.” Mora said.

Bryce counted the gold as he picked it up. Only to freeze as he heard a scream outside. He frowned as he made his way to the door of the building, more screams and shouts echoed from outside. Bryce swung the door open and saw two cloaked figures standing among several dead town folk as the rest tried to flee. He heard laughter from one of them as he felt something strike his chest and knock him back into the building.

***

Janna let out a scream as she saw the bolt punch into Bryce’s chest and his body fall to the floor. It had hit his heart. The man who had saved her from the vampire, killed before her very eyes from just opening a door. Laughter echoed from outside the building.

“Damn it!” Mora said looking down at Bryce as she and the soldiers entered the room.

Janna felt tears start to run down her face. Bryce had just started to teach her, now he was dead. She drew a deep breath, it was up to her and the others to finish the job. She turned to look at Vex and Alice, preparing to rally them to action, to get vengeance for Bryce. Both were staring at Bryce’s body with matter-of-fact expressions. Did they not realize the seriousness of this or were they in shock at his sudden death?!

“Tsk. He liked that shirt,” Alice said. “I might be able to stitch the hole close.”

Vex nodded.

“He will be hungry later. We should make the omelet!” Vex said to Alice with her tail wagging.

“How can you think about food right now? Master is—” Janna yelled at them in anger.

“Please stop calling me that,” Bryce’s voice said. “You’re as bad as Vex with her ‘My Bryce’, Janna.”

She turned and stared wide-eyed as Bryce pulled the bolt from his chest and stood up. The hole where it had struck him quickly healing closed.

“What the hells?” Mora said as she and the soldiers took a step back.

Bryce dropped the bolt to the ground as the laughter died outside.

“You girls stay here,” Bryce said as he walked out of the door. “It’s time for me to get to work.”

“But, how?!” Janna asked as she stared at Bryce in disbelief.

Vex laughed.

“Stupid fox,” the wolfkin said with a grin. “My Bryce doesn’t hunt monsters for the gold, he hunts them because he eats them. Stupid vampires are prey that just came to their predator. They saved him hunting them.”

Another bolt struck Bryce. He pulled it out and tossed it to the ground as he continued towards the two cloak figures.

“He eats monsters?” Janna said softly, as she wondered just what her master was.