“Is that soup?” Rud asked, letting out a contented sigh.
“I worked all night on it,” Taz proclaimed, dipping a bowl into the mixture and holding it out for Rud to take.
The druid took the bowl, finding a seat near the fire to warm up. He looked above, finding that the roof he had constructed for the chimney was working perfectly. No rain found its way through, allowing the fire to burn as hot as ever. Once he downed his first bowl of soup, Rud drew his cloak tightly around himself and headed out, promising to return. He teleported to his village, finding a light on in one house.
Rud knocked on the door, listening to the clatter of surprise within. A mortal opened the door a crack, going ashen white when they spotted the spirit. The signs he had placed needed to be amended, including the location of the longhouse.
“Hello. If you head down this road, you’ll find a big old treehouse. We’re serving soup if you want some,” Rud said.
The human woman stared back at him, blinking as her mouth hung open. A few moments later, she slammed the door in his face. Rud took no offense and headed off to fix his signs. He checked his mail at his mailbox, finding that his report had been picked up. And there was a scatter of fragments left behind. He put those in his bag before amending his sign near the start of the road. The druid updated each sign between the entrance and the first village, along with those going west to east.
When Rud finally returned to the longhouse, he was soaked beyond what he expected. The mortals were sitting awkwardly around the fire, listening to stories of mountain homes told by Taz. He grabbed another bowl, sitting in and listening to those old tales. The things the dwarf said seemed too outlandish to be real, but the mortals were enraptured.
“Yay fire,” Sarya said, yawning and stretching.
“No kidding,” Rud said, slurping on his third bowl of soup. “And we have company.”
“I don’t care for the company of mortals,” Dean growled.
Rud watched as Taz stoked the fire, adding more branches and Fairy Peat. It was surprising to see the dwarf’s master of the peat. It must have been obvious enough that he knew what to do with it. Shredding it into small pieces and placing it on a fire made sense. Even a piece no larger than a grain of rice would burn for some time. And with more intensity than should have been possible. The druid was just happy he put up the peat he was drying before the rain got here.
With such foul weather, the mortals seemed reluctant to leave. But their leaders spurred them into motion. After a few more bowls of soup, of course. Even the meat harvested in or near the grove had properties that would fortify a mortal’s body. Rud forgot about that often, as he took advantage of the delicious food daily. Before the group left, he gave them each a pot of his fancy tea. The weather didn’t seem so bad in the eyes of the mortals, giving them the strength to press on through the storm.
“How long is this rain going to keep going?” Taz asked. “I guess I’m just lucky to have cut out drains in my new section of the mine.”
“Oh. I didn’t even think about that,” Rud said. “But the rain is only here for a day or two.”
“It can stay for a week,” Sarya said, yawning and rolling on her back. “Someone scratch my belly. Woof.”
Taz took up the task, giving the wolf a good scratching. Since his hands were like sandpaper, she enjoyed it greatly.
The conversation shifted to Ban’s attempt at ranking up. Rank 1 meant more than just a new realm of power. She also could pick a new upgrade once she woke up. Thicket Travel was already awesome, and Rud couldn’t wait to see what she would get next. Anything that made life in the grove easier was fine by him. While the others needed the fire to feel comfortable, the druid was happy to exploit the powers of his cloak. He shuffled off from the longhouse, feeling those brave thoughts fall away as he passed through one set of double-doors.
The weather was foul, and the wind was more biting than he ever remembered. Rud headed to his tower to make his daily notes, shivering part-way through. Once he was out of the wind it was fine, but the top of the tower wasn’t much better. He wrapped himself in his cloak and observed the surrounding area.
“That’s not good,” Rud said, chewing on a nail idly.
Within the range of his tower, he had spotted three active dungeons. There was a fourth that had done little since he started watching. Perhaps the rain was enough to stir it to life. It wasn’t uncommon to see five or six monsters lingering outside of a dungeon. The druid wrote his notes down, observing at least twenty monsters moving from each dungeon. He was unsurprised to see the ones heading to the east, but the group from the fourth dungeon was heading north. Toward the grove.
That confirmed a theory he had about the monsters and the dungeons understanding that the grove was protected. With Ban out for her rank-up, they must have sensed there was an opening. The force heading to Barlgore had about eighty monsters. It looked like a procession of forest creatures marching through the underbrush. Rud made notes of their locations and speed. The worst of it was that they were outside of the grove. Which meant Mint couldn’t use her position as the guardian to sense their movements.
Rud descended the stairs of his tower, not bothering to check the weather report. He passed through a bush then into the longhouse. “Monsters,” he squeaked, slamming a crudely drawn map on a table.
Mint yawned, standing to assume her human form and approaching the map. “Really? She asked, scratching her head. “So soon?”
Rud explained what he had seen in his tower. Mint seemed less disturbed by the information than the druid expected. She departed from the longhouse, trying to take Dean with her. But he held the wolf back, intending to deliver a warning to Barlgore himself.
“That’s fine,” Mint said. “Sarya is getting better by the day.”
And they were off. Dean snorted and growled, seeming to view the weather outside with the same disdain as everyone else. “The southern trail will be filled with monsters,” the wolf explained.
Taz looked up from his soup. When he locked eyes with Rud and Dean he looked away as though the act of making eye-contact would volunteer him for the task. He busied himself with the fire, concerned without reason that it would go out.
“Are the mortals worth it?” Dean asked. He growled, sighed, and nodded. “Of course. I’ll prepare to depart.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Since they were heading to Barlgore, Rud loaded his bag up with tea and ingots. He layered the metal bars at the bottom, placing them two-deep before adding the tea. There were also saddlebags on Dean’s new saddle, giving him a bit more space. With the map and information he had recorded tucked safely in his backpack, the druid saddled his wolf and departed.
“We’re taking it easy,” Dean said, his voice barely carrying over the rush of wind and clash of rain. “I don’t like the look of the lake.”
Rud couldn’t see anything around them, let alone the lake. It took every bit of his concentration to hold onto the horn and keep his cloak wrapped around him. Water still trickled through, dripping down his neck and soaking his tunic, doubling the effects of the icy wind. Despite Dean’s claims of taking it slow, he darted over the landscape with ease. He jumped from cliffs, zipping around trees as though they weren’t there. It only appeared as a flash, but the druid caught sight of that abandoned village. It stood like a dead sentinel in the rain's haze.
The trip was agonizing, but it passed without incident. Rud was shocked to see the gates of the town still open. The guards were bundled under oiled cloth cloaks, pinching them tight in the front as they looked out over the approach. Dean dashed through town, finding it easier to move without folks out on the street. The wolf recalled where Lord Feather was last time and ran there without diverting. Rud dismounted, watching as his companion found a dry place to rest and wait. A few knocks later and the door swung open.
The lord of Barlgore was dressed in an oiled cloth poncho. What parts of his clothes were visible underneath were soaked with rain. The edge of his wide-brimmed hat dripped with water. “What an unexpected surprise. Come in.”
Rud bowed his head, pushing in to find the cramped sitting area filled with people. He paused and waited for someone to say something.
Feather cleared his throat. “This storm has us battered. We’re expecting flooding from the lake, so I’ve assembled a council. It must have been urgent for you to come all this way in this weather, spirit.”
Rud froze for a moment, all eyes in the room staring at him. “Monsterscomingfromtheeastthoughtyououttaknow.” He blurted the statement out as one long word, eliminating any pauses between sounds.
“Excuse me?” Feather asked. But Rud could tell he got the message. He just didn’t want to believe it.
“Monster coming from the east. I thought you should know.”
A murmur spread through the assembled council, concerns rising to the top. Feather got the group in line, but it took a bit.
“Slowly, Rud. I need to know what we’re facing.”
Rud handed his notes over and explained what he had seen. He didn’t leave out details, including the part where monsters were heading to the grove as well. The mortals had no early warning system. They didn’t send scouts to view the area and had no farseers amongst them. By the day, the mortals seemed unprepared to tame such a savage land. Perhaps this is why the ruins near the lake existed. At least the dwarves had the good sense to leave the area, heading north for the mountains.
Feather turned to his council. They shot ideas around the group, not seeming to reach a consensus. The leader of the town turned to Rud with a smile, nodding before vanishing into a back room. He returned with five crystal fragments, handing them over as payment for the information.
“You’ll just trust his word?” one grumpy human man asked.
“Naturally,” Feather said, turning for only a moment to glare at the man. “Time to prepare is worth any cost.”
“Oh,” Rud said, withdrawing a few pots of tea from his magical bag. “Take a few of these.”
The council perked up upon seeing the clay pots of tea. Feather gave them a sly grin and bid farewell to Rud. The druid headed out. Despite the rain, businesses that had dedicated buildings were still open. He found the nearest blacksmith and tried to sell his enchanted bars. They didn’t know what they were looking at, so they refused to pay anything close to a reasonable price. The tea was easy to offload, though. Rud went to three different shops that sold stuff adjacent to tea—such as reagents, tonics, and so on—before finding a woman interested in the lot. He made enough mortal money to exchange for twenty fragments, although they were of questionable quality.
Rud had to search for a place that would buy his enchanted ingots. He poked around with Dean following close behind. One shop that sold magical items pointed him in the direction of a tower in the town’s center. It dominated the area, built on a raised mound of earth and poking into the foggy sky. The tower bore a powerful base, wider than it should have been. It got thinner near the middle and even through the haze the windows were flooded with light. The roof was slanted and made of wood shingles, like most everywhere else in town.
“Looks like a place where a wizard would live. Right, Dean?”
“I don’t care for wizards.”
Rud had trouble working the front gate of the area, as it was bordered by a stone wall with a thick iron gate. He crawled under it and Dean jumped over it. A few knocks on the door later and a scared-looking beastfolk answered the door. They were smaller than Rud, having the appearance of a rabbit person. One shriek later, the woman slammed the door in his face.
“People are doing that often enough for me to be concerned,” Rud said, turning to Dean. “Should I be concerned?”
“I think she was screaming at me.”
Rud waited a while, leaning against the wall to stay out of the rain as much as possible. Dean stood as a stoic guardian, unblinking in the rain. The door creaked open again. The druid expected to get zapped by something but softened when he saw a familiar face. The brown-haired elf with sleepy eyes stared out at him, a faint smile lingering on her face.
“Oh! Elmera,” Rud said, waving up at the woman. “I was looking for a wizard. Didn’t expect to find the wizard.”
“Come in. You must be cold,” Elmera said, her voice flat.
Rud followed her inside, but Dean remained where he was. The druid was hit by a wave of heat, then a sensation as though he was being blasted with a twenty-foot hair dryer. His hair poofed out feeling uncomfortably static-y. Only after searching the area did he realize that Elmera had cast some spell. He poked his head out the door, stifling a laugh as he looked upon Dean’s poofy fur. The wolf did not look amused.
“What can I help you with?” Elmera asked.
Rud withdrew the last pot of tea from his bag. He wanted to butter up whatever wizard he found, but pretended as though it was a gift for her. “I have some new ingots to show you.”
The scared rabbit-folk stood in the corner, fidgeting with her robes. Elmera took the tea and raised an eyebrow. “A new one?”
“Yep. It looks the same, but if you inspect the description…” Rud placed the bar on the table. “It has a bonus aspect.”
“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
Elmera inspected the bar. She probed it with magical test. Dancing lights shot into the bar, fluttering in the air only to die on the ground. A look of approval spread across the wizard’s face. The more tests she ran, the happier she seemed.
“I can’t afford these,” she said.
“Well, just buy what you can. I need to stockpile fragments.”
“Why?”
“Secret grove stuff. Wizards should be good at keeping secrets, right? Like the reason why you own a giant tower. Or that bunny-girl over there.” Rud leaned over, pointing at the beastfolk girl. She scattered, heading upstairs.
Elmera seemed unconcerned. She entered the negotiation phase that most mortals did. This was Rud’s least favorite part when dealing with them. They wanted a good deal, but he just wanted to get his fragments and get out of there. The clock was ticking on the monsters, and Rud and Dean needed to be back in the grove as soon as possible. They had likely already overstayed their welcome. While they settled on a price, the elf couldn’t afford every bar.
“Take the rest,” Rud said, appreciating how light his pack felt. Although it was stuffed to the brim with nearly thirty-five fragments, it weighed far less than when it had the bars.
“Rud,” Elmera said as he was leaving. “Come back soon. I’ll have something to show for my research.”
Rud gave her the thumbs-up before leaving.
“She seems nice,” Dean said, allowing Rud to enter the saddle. “Can we please get out of this rain.”
“Yeah, let’s get back to the longhouse. I’m going to jump in that pot of stew to warm up.”
“Hmmmm. Rud soup. Sounds delicious.”
“Let’s not repeat what happened when we met,” Rud said.
“Come on, Dean. Show us the meaning of… going real fast!” Rud shouted.
“Let’s not repeat what happened when we met,” Rud said, pulling nervously at his tail.