Feral Mage: Chapter 8

Bryce held the reins of the mules as he led the wagon away from Oakbridge. The faint sound of growling came from Vex, who sat beside him. He gave a side glance to see the wolfkin was still staring behind them with canted ears and a snarl on her face.

“Vex, you glaring at Janna’s wagon isn’t going to make it turn around,” Bryce said, not for the first time.

Vex turned and looked at him with a scowl on her face.

“The stupid fox is following us!”

“There’s only so many roads this way, Vex,” Bryce said trying to reason with the wolfkin. “I warned her the mayor would probably do something stupid. I’m glad she’s actually taking my advice and leaving town.”

Though she has been following us for a while….Bryce sighed, hoping he hadn’t just gained a stalker.

They managed to make it a few miles before their traveling was interrupted. A heavy-laden wagon was stuck in a muddy rut along the road. An old man, who was trying to push the wagon out of the rut, cast a fearful gaze toward them as their wagon approached.

“Whoa,” Bryce said to the mules as he pulled on the reins to stop them. “You look like you need a hand.”

The old man relaxed at his words. “Yes, yes I could.”

Bryce checked the wagon wheel and gave it a firm shake to make sure it was secured. The merchant’s wagon was loaded down with merchandise and any wiggle room for the wheel would spell disaster for the wagon further down the road.

 “Thank you for the assistance, young man,” the trader said to Bryce.

 “You’re lucky my master came this way,” Janna said from her wagon.

 Bryce cast a glare at the kitsune. She had stopped her wagon behind theirs as he helped the trader out of the mud. Any doubt that she wasn’t stalking him was now gone.

 “Not a problem,” Bryce said as he checked the wagon wheel one more time before standing.

 Janna had been right, the old man was lucky it had been Bryce who first came upon him. Bandits would have slit his throat and stolen what they could. He also knew from his time on the road that even ordinary travelers might be tempted to do the same if they thought they could get away with it. People were generally awful creatures.

 “I’ll give you a discount, as thanks for the aid,” the trader said as he pulled the cover off the goods he was transporting.

Alice left the wagon to stand beside Bryce as they looked over the merchant’s wares. Some were goods from the larger cities that would sell well in the small frontier towns, others were items the trader had scavenged from the wilds while traveling.

He noticed Alice looking at some bags of salt. She had taken up the camp chores upon herself, such as the cooking and cleaning. Most escorts Bryce had traveled with did jack shit, and by the time you got them to their destination, the gold wasn’t worth putting up with them.

“How much for the bag of salt?” Bryce asked.

“A copper a bag. It’s what I paid for them, the least I can do for your help,” the old trader answered.

Bryce felt a tug on his shirt and turned to see Vex beside him. He was surprised she had given up on growling at Janna.

“Omelet,” Vex said once he turned to face her. He looked to where she was pointing in the wagon and saw a large egg wrapped in a wool blanket.

“That’s the egg of some kind of monster,” Bryce stated.

The trader looked turned and looked where he was.

“Oh, that. I found it in the woods a few days ago. No tracks around it, so figured it was abandoned. I thought some noble or tavern owner would buy it was a novelty to display.”

Bryce frowned at the egg. “It’s probably rotten.”

He felt Vex tug again at his shirt and when he turned back to her she gave him a pitiful look. Bryce sighed as he looked at her.

“How much do you want for it?”

 When they got back on the road, Vex sat beside him holding the egg wrapped in the wool blanket. The thing about the size of her torso. Her tail was waggling happily and Bryce was thankful that she was no longer growling at Janna. Unfortunately, the kitsune was following along right behind them in her wagon and he had zero doubts she would make camp next to them as well.

Vex patted the top of the egg. “We’ll have omelets in the morning!”

Bryce raised an eyebrow at her.

“That thing is probably bad.”

Vex shook her head.

“No, it’s good. I could smell if it’s bad,” she answered.

Bryce didn’t say anything else. The egg made Vex happy and the old trader had traded it to him for the sword from the vampire. So he wasn’t out any coin for it. He did the decent thing when he traded the sword and warned the old trader about the vampire coven in the area. The old man had paled at the news and Bryce was sure he would change his route away from the area.

They continued along the road until the sun started to set.

“Bryce, shouldn’t we make camp?” Alice asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

He gave a glance behind them and saw Janna still following. He had hoped the kitsune would give up and break for camp. He wasn’t that lucky.

***

Janna smiled when she saw Bryce looking back at her. He was testing her, to see if she could keep up with the life of a mercenary. Normally she would’ve broken for camp much sooner. She wondered how many miles of road she wasted by making camp so early.

Her heart raced and her tails lashed behind her excitedly. This was just like the novels where the master was cold and distant to his pupil, but secretly teaching them. She just had to stay with it and remember that Bryce wasn’t trying to drive her off, it was all just a test. A test to see if she was worthy to learn from him.

Bryce pulled his wagon over to a small clearing by the road and Janna pulled on her reins to do the same. She had come to a stop by the time Bryce’s party was exiting their wagon. The snow elf was placing wood to make a campfire, while Bryce tended to the mules. The annoying mutt was coddling that rotten egg Bryce had purchased for her. Janna exchanged a glare with the mutt before climbing out of her wagon. She pulled on her fire magic as she approached the snow elf and with a flick of her wrist ignited the campfire.

“Thank you, Janna,” the snow elf said as she put away the flint and steel in her hand.

“Happy to help,” Janna replied before she turned back to attend to her horses. She gave a quick glance to see Bryce was watching her.

“Janna, I’m not training you,” Bryce said as he brushed the mules.

She smiled at him.

“Whatever you say, master,” Janna responded.

Bryce sighed and shook his head. “Please, stop calling me that.”

The snow elf placed a skillet over the fire and soon the smell of food cooking filled the air. Janna’s stomach growled and she took another bite of her travel bar. The bland rectangle of oats did little to fill her stomach, but the merchant that sold them to her said they were as good as three whole meals.

“Janna, come join us!” the snow elf called out to her.

Janna turned and smiled as she saw the elf patting a spot for her on a blanket near their fire. Bryce was sitting by the fire, but his focus was on caring for his sword. Janna took note of that and grabbed her knives and a wet stone. She made her way to the fire and took a seat.

“Thank you,” Janna said to the snow elf.

“Thank you for starting the fire. I haven’t introduced myself yet, I’m Alice,” the elf said before pointing to the wolfkin who was staring daggers at her. “And that’s Vex. You already know Bryce.”

Janna smiled at all of them, even the mutt.

“I’m Janna, though you already know that. So you’re the escort job for Bryce?” she asked.

Alice nodded her head.

“Yes, he’s escorting me to the Red Pine Kingdom,” Alice’s smile faltered some. “I’ve felt less safe in the human kingdoms since the end of the Second Border War in the North.”

Janna gave her a sympathetic look. The Second Border War had fueled prejudice against elves, especially snow elves. Even in the cities, Janna had heard slurs uttered toward elves in taverns. Knife ear, snow rats, and worse she had heard, it was more common in the frontier towns.

“Well, you certainly picked a good escort. He can fight vampires after all,” Janna said with a smile at Bryce, or she tried to. The mutt had placed herself in front of Bryce blocking her view. Vex just glared at her with narrowed eyes.

“And a primal troll,” Alice said with a smile. “I feel very safe with Bryce. Though, I do worry he’ll keep delaying escorting me so he can run off to hunt monsters.”

Janna stared at Alice. She was stunned.

“How did you get past its regeneration?” she asked as she turned to face Bryce. Only to see a smiling Vex.

“My Bryce—” Vex started to say before Bryce came up from behind her and covered her mouth. Pulling her back into his arms to hold her.

“Suffocation. I cut its throat and lodged a bone in its windpipe. Its regeneration healed the wound, but it couldn’t breathe.” Bryce answered.

Vex had tried to escape his grasp at first, but now that she realized he was holding her, the wolfkin’s tail was wagging and she looked very content. Which annoyed Janna.

“It was a very close fight. Things might have turned out differently had Vex not helped me out.” Bryce said before releasing the wolfkin. Vex just smiled as she leaned back against him.

“You turned its strength against it,” Janna said. This was a lesson. She knew he would teach her!

Bryce picked back up his sword and started caring for it.

“Every strength is a weakness and every weakness is a strength,” Bryce said. “The only difference is the situation it is in. At least that’s what that sadist always said to me.”

Janna pulled out a wet stone and started to sharpen her knives. She mulled over what he had said. She was curious about who the sadist was, but Bryce seemed to become absorbed in his task. Even ignoring the wolfkin leaning against him as long as she didn’t interrupt his work.

“Here, Janna,” Alice said as she handed her a plate of food.

Janna’s mouth watered as she took it. Conversation died down around the campfire as everyone ate, except for Bryce who only got a plate once he was done.

She watched as Vex laid her bedroll right beside Bryce’s after the wolfkin put the egg in the back of their wagon. Apparently, the wolfkin was fine lugging it around everywhere, but didn’t want to sleep by it. Probably would have broken it in her sleep and woke up with egg on her face, literally.

Janna chuckled to herself at the thought and pulled her bedroll from the wagon. She then made her way to the other side of Bryce, being sure to lightly buff him with her tails as she laid out the bedroll next to his. Vex glared at her as the three tails buffed Bryce.

That’s right, I’m getting my scent on him.

A sigh escaped Bryce as he looked between her and Vex.

“That’s it. I’m sleeping in the back of the wagon with the egg,” Bryce said as he took his bedroll and made his way back to the wagon.

Vex growled at her as she laid down on her bedroll.

“Stupid fox,” Vex said in a low growl.

“Mangy mutt,” Janna said with a frown. “Bryce is going to be my master. Whether you like it or not, so get used to it. Because he’s going to be my Bryce, not yours.”

 She smiled to herself as the wolfkin glared daggers at her.