Feral Mage: Chapter 5

“Bryce, you missed the show!” Alice said as she and Vex entered the tavern.

 Bryce was still at the bar but was looking at an assortment of beer mugs laid out randomly on the counter. The barkeep stood in front of him, cleaning a glass.

 “Oh, did you two have fun?” He asked, never looking away.

 “Yes! Janna was amazing, she juggled six knives at once while standing on a rolling ball,” Alice said excitedly.

 “The stupid fox just did stupid things,” Vex grumbled.

 He heard Alice and Vex come up beside him. Quickly feeling Vex’s tail buffing against his side.

 “Um, did you drink all of these, Bryce?” Alice asked.

 “No, just two. He’s trying to map out the monster attacks with the empty mugs,” the barkeep said with a laugh. “The crazy fool.”

 Bryce shot him a quick frown before turning back to the mugs. He had hoped to keep quiet about the monster and make it a coincidence they went that route.

 “Monster attacks?” Alice asked in a tone that told Bryce there was no shot in hell he could convince her it was a coincidence.

 He turned and faced her with a smile.

 “Yeah. A few nasty deaths in nearby villages. Thought I might look into it,” Bryce stated.

 Vex’s tail swished faster as it bumped into his side.

 “We’re going hunting?” Vex asked in a chipper tone.

 Alice was not as thrilled about it as the wolfkin. She gave him a stern look and crossed her arms.

 “You expect me to pay you to drag me around monster hunting?” she asked in a hostile tone.

 “Of course not,” Bryce lied with a laugh. “I won’t charge you for the days we investigate this.”

 Alice narrowed her eyes at him.

 “And you’ll give me an equal number of days for the escort job, but at no cost,” she haggled.

 Bryce let out a huff.

 “Half.”

 Alice thought for a moment then smiled at him while she held out her hand.

 “Half,” she said as Bryce grabbed her hand. “And you pay for food during this hunting trip.”

 He heard a huff from the bar.

 “You’re a merc,” the barkeep grumbled as he inspected the glass he was cleaning. “I should have guessed.”

 Alice released Bryce’s hand and turned to the barkeep, the smug look of victory on her face. The barkeep laughed as he waved down one of the barmaids and directed them to the table Alice and Vex chose to sit at. Bryce didn’t mind, a monster causing that much death would have a decent bounty. Probably more than he would make from escorting Alice even. Add that this might lead to a new aspect, it was something he couldn’t pass up checking out.

 He looked over the assortment of beer mugs a little longer then smiled. There was a pattern to the attacks. He thanked the bartender and made his way to the table to join the girls. Both of them were eating what looked like an omelet with fried potatoes at a table not far from the entrance.

 Bryce took a seat beside Vex and received a growl from the wolfkin as he snagged a slice of fried potato off her plate.

 “So, let me guess we’re packing up and heading out after we eat?” Alice asked with a sigh.

 Bryce shook his head as he heard the sound of the tavern door open near him.

 “No. We’ll rest here for the night. Then head west to a small village called Oakbridge. I think that’s where the monster will strike next—” Bryce paused as he felt something fluffy brush against his back and arm.

 He turned and noticed the kitsune from the performance standing behind him, her three tails buffing him. Vex noticed a moment later.

 “My Bryce!” Vex said as she pushed the tails away from Bryce. “Tails off, stupid fox!”

 “Rude!” the kitsune said to Vex before walking over and sitting beside Alice.

 She shot Vex a glare, then ignored the wolfkin. Instead, she looked at Bryce and smiled.

 “I’m, Janna. I couldn’t help overhearing what you said. Kinda hard not to,” the kitsune greeted as her fox ears twitched. “So, you’re going after the monster?”

 Bryce’s eyes went to her neck, but he didn’t see any tags marking her as a mercenary.

 “Bryce,” he said before answering. “You already heard I was.”

 Janna smiled as her tails swished behind her. Her gaze drifted from Bryce to Vex and finally to Alice. She was sizing them up and Bryce couldn’t figure out if she trying to make it obvious or not. Janna’s gaze returned to him.

 “How long have you been after it?” she asked with her arms now crossed in front of her.

 Bryce shrugged.

 “Just heard about the deaths from the bartender. Why?”

 Her tails started to twitch angrily behind her.

 “Amateurs,” Janna said with a huff. “I’ve been on this case for a week. Researching and preparing to hunt this monster.”

 Bryce gave her a confused look.

 “Aren’t you a traveling performer?” Alice asked adding words to Bryce’s confusion.

 Janna gave Alice a smile.

 “I am by day. It keeps my skills sharp. When night falls, I hunt monsters,” Janna said proudly as she stood.

 She gave them a cocky smile as she pulled a knife from her sleeve and showed it to them. A moment later fire consumed the knife and she threw it into a piece of paper nailed to a post not far from the bar. The knife pierced the paper and fire consumed it.

 “Pyromancy,” Alice said.

 Janna nodded to her and then looked back at Bryce.

 “Leave this to the professionals,” Janna said hotly before turning and making her way to the bar.

 Bryce just smiled as the barkeep started to chastise her for burning up the menu and throwing knives while in his establishment. The cockiness left the kitsune and her tail and ears drooped. Janna left them alone after that and they enjoyed their meal. Bryce found a spot for the wagon on a hill near town, it gave a good vantage point in case anything tried to sneak up on them. Once there they made camp and started to get ready for the night.

 “I’m surprised you put up with Janna at the tavern,” Alice said as they set out bedrolls.

 Bryce shrugged as he laid out his bedroll on the ground.

 “Oh, that? Not worth getting riled up about. I’ve met wannabe monster hunters before. They’re all cocky, fed by stories they’ve read of a profession that doesn’t exist,” Bryce said.

 Vex immediately set up her bedroll beside his, despite him glaring at the wolfkin.

 “Monster hunters aren’t real?” Alice asked with a surprised tone.

 Bryce shook his head as he pulled his bedroll away from where Vex laid hers.

 “Not like how they’re portrayed in the books sold for a copper. Most real monster hunters are mercenaries responding to a bounty or groups of soldiers sent by some noble to take care of it. The risk is too high for the reward to make a career out of it, at least for most,” Bryce sighed as Vex moved her bedroll to be beside his again. “The idiots that call themselves ‘monster hunters’ are just targets for merchants to sell useless flashy gear to. Very few survive their first encounter with a real monster.”

 Alice was silent for a moment.

 “So, you think Janna will die?”

 Bryce crawled into his bedroll as Vex did the same to hers. The wolfkin stared at him with a smile until Bryce rolled over to face away from her.

 “If this monster doesn’t get her, another monster will. If she’s lucky, she’ll wise up,” Bryce said as he closed his eyes to try and fall asleep.

 Once again, he awoke to Vex sleeping on top of his bedroll.

 “Vex,” Bryce said as the wolfkin yawned and stretched. “You have your own bedroll use it!”

 “No,” Vex said with a yawn before laying back down on top of him.

 She mumbled a few things in the language Bryce didn’t understand and looked as if she was going to fall back to sleep. She eventually did get off him when she smelled Alice cooking breakfast over the fire.

 “Good morning,” Alice said as she fried eggs in a skillet.

 “Morning,” Bryce said as he and Vex both sat by the campfire. “Thanks for cooking, Alice.”

 After their meal, they packed and prepared to leave Hayland, heading from the town as the sun crested the fields for which it was named. Oakbridge wasn’t very far and Bryce figured they would arrive near sunset given their current travel speed.

 “The stupid fox is behind us,” Vex said as she looked behind them. Bryce turned and saw Janna lashing the reigns to speed her wagon faster. He steered the mules of their wagon over to let the hotheaded kitsune pass.

 “The monster is mine!” she called out with a laugh as she passed them.

 Bryce saw the kitsune’s gear as she rode by. Leather armor dyed red, which even at a passing glance he could tell lacked protection over vital areas and would restrict her movement in others.

 Flashy and useless.

 Bryce steered the mules back on the road after the dust had settled.

 “If she’s lucky she won’t break an axle,” Alice said from the back of the wagon.

 Bryce looked back to see the snow elf scowling as she waved away the dust cloud caused by Janna’s wagon.

 “Yeah, I think Vex is right,” Bryce said as he felt a furry tail thump into his side.

 Vex nodded in agreement beside him.

 “Stupid fox!” Vex said.

***

 Janna had pushed her wagon to arrive at Oakbridge before sunset. Not just to beat the amateurs, but she knew the attacks always happened shortly after the sun had set. She made camp not far from the town’s entrance to keep an eye on new arrivals. If the amateurs showed up, she would try to dissuade them again, for their sake. She thought back to the man and his two female companions she had met back in Hayland, Bryce was his name.

 “Oh? There’s a monster attacking people? I think I’ll just run over there and get myself killed,” Janna said to herself mockingly as she slipped the black bandoleer with throwing knives over her armor.

 He had made a lucky guess though of where the next attack would be. Still, it showed how amateurish he was just to rush there without preparing. Probably was just doing it to impress the wolfkin and snow elf with him. Janna snorted at the thought.

 She had already killed monsters. Three goblins who had been raiding a field in the north and a pack of dog-sized rats in the basement of a manor.

 She adjusted the bandoleer and looked in the small mirror she had set up, her red leather armor with the black bandoleer made her look every bit like the monster hunters from the stories. The merchant that sold it to her had said it was made from fire drake hide, which was why it was red, and would be stronger and more flexible than regular leather. It had cost a lot of her savings, but it was worth it. She smiled, if her mother could see her now she would take back all that she had said.

 “Sorry Mom, the circus life just wasn’t for me,” Janna said as she twirled one of her knives. “Just wait, soon my name will be on the cover of those copper piece books.”

 She looked herself over one more time in the mirror before setting out. Oakbridge was the same size as Hayland, but instead of bordering fields, it bordered a small river. The bridge made from oak that crossed it was clearly what gave the town its name.

 The mostly human town folks gave her curious glances as she passed. Kitsunes were a more common sight along the major rivers and ports that could support the large clan ships of the Horo-kitsune or wandering foxes. That was the name for the kitsune clans who lived as nomads on the large ships. Traveling and earning a living through trading or performance, as her mother’s clan had. A traveling circus. She wondered how her family was doing since she set out to be a monster hunter.

 Her nose twitched and a smell broke her from thoughts of her family. She felt her adrenalin spike and her tails started to swish excitedly behind her. The smell was faint, the scent of dried blood and rot. A scent that was not human.

 Janna began to track the smell and soon determined it was coming from a cloaked man who just entered the town. Doing her best to contain her excitement, Janna began following the cloaked figure.

 The cloaked man made his way to the edge of town toward a thicket of trees that buffered the town and river. She waited for him to enter then followed behind him. She moved quietly not to rustle the fallen leaves among the grove of ash trees.

 The whistle of the wind was what alerted her and Janna dodged from the sound as steel sliced open her cheek.

 Hungry eyes looked at her from under a cloak. The man’s sword only paused a moment before directing its path back to her.

 Janna’s hand reached for the man as she unleashed the fireball. The cloaked figure jumped back, far more agile than a human should be able to as the fireball struck the ground. The flames quickly started to spread and the light illuminated the cloaked man’s face. Pale skin with long fangs and wild eyes greeted her. A monster.

 She pulled a throwing knife from the bandoleer and hurled it at the monster. She smiled as it sunk into its chest. Her gut dropped as the man barely noticed it and snarled at her. She launched two more throwing knives, encasing them with fire, as the monster moved toward her. The cloaked man readied his sword as she launched another throwing knife at him. The illumination from the burning blade showed a twisted smile on the monster’s face. The blade shifted in his hand and deflected the burning throwing knife as he closed in on her. Janna flinched as she saw the monster start to swing its blade at her, he was too close now for her to dodge.

 The sound of steel clashing rang out as the monster jumped back. Another man stood between the monster and Janna. She recognized him in the glow from the fires.

 “Bryce,” she said, but he ignored her. His focus was on the monster.

 The monster snarled and rushed forward at him. Bryce moved faster, too fast for a human, too fast for the monster. A cry of pain escaped the pale creature as the arm holding the sword was cut off and fell to the ground. It hunched low to the ground looking more like the beast it was instead of the person it pretended to be. It cast a wary glance at Bryce before scurrying away deeper into the grove.

 Bryce casually followed, as if this was merely a stroll for him, he only paused a moment to look over his shoulder at her.

 “The grove will be an inferno soon. Better get out of here, Janna” he said before walking deeper into the woods.

 Janna turned and ran at his words as if they were a command. The heat of fires within the grove grew hotter and she cursed herself before stopping outside of the grove.

 She took a breath and pulled on her pyromancy, the fire was made by her magic and she could dismiss it. Slowly the glowing light and heat from the grove dissipated. She stood there with only the sound of crackling embers as a company with her heart racing.

 “I fought a vampire,” Janna said with a laugh.

 Her hand went up and touched her cheek. She felt wetness and brought her hand back to her vision to notice the blood on her fingertips. She had almost died in that grove.

 Determination filled her as her bloody hand closed into a fist. Since she was a child with just one tail she had wanted to be a monster hunter, like the story she used to read. Tonight she encountered someone who could fight them, someone who could teach her. Her tails swished excitedly behind her as she looked out into the grove.