Chapter 42 — A Return to Farharbor

  The raptor-pulled wagon filled with open crates of tavi fruit stacked three high and secured with canvas trundled along the cobbleway at a good pace. For being jungle frontier, the roads were remarkably well maintained.

  The whole Hatterwick family had come along, even the newly acquired hounds. Falma had the reins together with her parents on the driver’s bench. The two adult horror hounds, Nog and Nilly, were loping alongside the wagon. The tired-out pups, Azi and Azu, were curled up next to Laiya. Toren and Laiya were riding in the back on the wagon’s loading lip, feet dangling as they kept watch for dangers from the surrounding jungle. Thus far the only threats had been to the tavi fruit, an occasional opportunistic saberbeak looking to snatch an easy meal.

  Thankfully, the wagon Kota had arranged on their behalf was large enough for the five of them and almost the entire harvest. The downside was feeding the larger raptor. At the current rate, they would have to buy more zoots in town to feed it on the way back. Though, that wasn’t a terrible outcome. It was only because of Emina’s [Preserve Ingredients] Ability that the zoot meat Harthol had left with them had kept as long as it had in the humid jungle heat.

  Having to reclaim the stead should the barrier fall to a determined assault while they were gone would be an annoying and dangerous setback, but who could he have safely left behind? Except for him, they all needed to visit a Celestial Mirror of Truth to update and change their Skills.

  Toren checked Horevi’s height just cresting enough to be visible through the trees. Completing the trip to town in a single day required getting up before dawn and leaving shortly after the light of Horevi’s approach began to brighten the sky. The minor hardship would be well worth the effort if it meant getting back in time to recharge the claim barrier. Not having to find or pay for lodging for five people was just a bonus.

  The harvest had gone well. Maybe worryingly well. Still recovering from his injury and the first use of his new trait, Toren did tire quicker than expected, but with the ladders and crates Warnel had found and repaired, plucking the tavi fruit with six people helping had been simple if tedious work, taking the rest of the first day and half of the second. He was beginning to think he had misjudged the hatter… the deal with the fae aside.

  With as much as the drain worms had feasted on the bountiful tavi fruit, the risk of some of the worms reaching level 25 and evolving into astral worms had been high. As such, they had used the astral-pulse stones again once everyone and all the fruit were gathered in one place.

  [Alchemist] Nalrevin, who sold them the stones, had advised that tavi groves were often a favorite hunting spot of the shrieker bats from which the stones were made. Rather than ‘stones’, the round baubles were enchanter-made from the bat’s mana core. The pulses produced were only painful and disorienting to people and animals but deadly to soul parasites like the astral worms.

  The [Alchemist] offered to pay a good price for any cores they harvested, but Toren was having second thoughts even if the pay was decent. As painfully soul-jarring as the simple pulses from the enchanted cores were, maybe he didn’t want to encounter the shrieker bats, much less hunt them.

  Rational worries aside, his group’s first expedition into the jungle was a larger success than he could have reasonably expected: sacks full of zoot crests, a wagon-full of tavi, and a bounty of levels—all within a tenday of arriving in the colony. It was surely enough to make the tenday’s debt payment, something he’d risked everything for but hadn’t really believed possible. Hells, he’d even become a land owner.

  Of course, the gods give with one hand and take with another, and too much good fortune had come his way suddenly. It would have been worrying even without having tied his fortunes to a hatter who sold his luck to the fae.

  Toren wasn’t looking forward to returning to town. That was the real reason he was brooding himself in circles. He didn’t need [Meditation] to realize that. There was no way the Conclave goons would leave him alone with as much as he had cost them—and worse, how brazen he had been about it—and there was even less chance that his and Warnel’s return would go unnoticed.

  Conclave of Shadows. Any organization that put ‘shadows’ in its name wanted people to think it had eyes and ears lurking around—in the shadows. It was cringy, really. Who were they trying to convince?

  That didn’t change the danger. The assassin they sent had been close to tier 2. If an actual tier-2 [Assassin] had been sent, he and Warnel would be surely dead and Emina and the girls would be slaves sent off to somewhere even worse than this jungle colony.

  Whether there was anything he could do about it was the problem. Until they sold the tavi, keeping to the main cobbleways and staying in sight of a [Guard] at all times was all he could come up with. Guarding the wagon and raptor from being stolen would be an issue, too. The more he thought about it, the more Toren preferred the Hatterwicks spending the entire time in the Church of the Faithful, or at least the upper part of the market square.

  Maybe the Hatterwicks could make a large enough donation at Eshem`zel’s shrine to get Reaver Yorne to keep an eye on them?

  Horevi continued to rise into the sky, but was still far from his midday height when the jungle split away on either side to reveal the tree-cleared approach to town.

  The cleared area gently sloped down from the town’s imposing Ability-constructed stone walls until it met with the jungle. Colorful fletched shafts poked out randomly from the sparse carpet of small-leafed plants and ferns, and the pale white of unclaimed bones littered the ground. Not a safe place for farming or building, but steaders with livestock to sell were already occupying the lightly built pens outside the gate—no doubt neighbors whose steads they had passed on the way.

  Like the others there, Kota’s younger brother, Joric, had beat them to town and waved to Falma, calling out from the pen where he was watching over and playing with two hunting-packs-worth of Marton and Bessimi’s horror hounds and pups. ‘Training the pups and getting them used to unfamiliar people’ was how Bessimi had described Joric’s work—soon to be Iresmi’s work when Joric graduated to hunting the jungle like his older brothers.

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  “Azi! Azu!” Falma called out when the Hatterwick’s pups ran off to visit their siblings while she was returning Joric’s enthusiastic wave. The two older dogs soon followed. “Ah-! No, Nog! Nilly! Return!”

  “Isn’t it fine?” Warnel asked. “Joric could look after the hounds while we’re in the town. It would be hard to keep them with us.”

  “That does sound like a good idea,” Emina agreed. “Toren?”

  “Judging by the pens being outside the gate, there was always a chance someone would’ve had to stay with the dogs,” Toren pointed out, speaking loud enough for his voice to be heard even muffled by his helm. “That would solve a problem for us if Joric’s willing.”

  “Shame you’re stuck with the reins, Falma. Laiya will have to handle convincing Joric. You shouldn’t mind, you’ve only got eyes for Kota after all,” Emina teased her daughter.

  “Mom!”

  The puppies running off did teach Toren something interesting: the extent of the blind hounds’ sensing range. Not anywhere close to how far a sighted hound could see, but impressive for what it was.

  Toren and Laiya hopped down when Falma slowed the raptor to a walking stride. Laiya’s helmet slit turned Toren’s way, and he gave her a nod of confirmation.

  With their faces hidden by the helmets. The plan was for him and Laiya to pretend to be hired guards. Warnel would handle the talking with the gate guards.

  Laiya was already jogging off to meet with Joric by the time a tier-2 [Guard] approached to inspect their cargo.

  The tier-2 [Guard] didn’t look too thrilled when he looked under the canvas. “Tavi fruit? You’re going to need to pull the wagon over to the side until [Alchemist] Nalrevin can come out to verify they are free of drain worms.”

  “We’re headed to the [Alchemist] now. We’ve already treated them with the incense he gave us,” Warnel offered.

  The [Guard] motioned to where he wanted the wagon to be moved. “Even so, orders from Lord Hanoval are orders.”

  The raptor wasn’t keen about backing up, but Falma cajoled him into accomplishing the task, giving the blue-scaled beast a strip of smoked meat as a reward.

  A runner was sent to fetch the [Alchemist], and they settled in to wait.

  ~~~

  Name: Toren of Theravos

  Race: Human

  Age: 20

  Profession 1: Level 5 Burningblood Berserker (4300/10000)

  Mana: 72/72

  Strength: 16

  Constitution: 13

  Dexterity: 14

  Agility: 12

  Wisdom: 12

  Intellect: 8

  Will Power: 18

  Perception 15

  Appearance: 8

  Charisma: 8

  Luck: 10

  Attribute Upgrade Points: 4

  Traits:

  Sacrificial Guardian

  Abilities:

  Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Mid

  Control Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

  Flurry of Blows (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low

  Ability Upgrade Points: 4

  Profession Skills:

  Pain Tolerance 5

  Severe Wound Recovery 5

  Berserker Knife Arts 1

  Spear 9

  Club 8

  Focus Rage 3

  Combat Awareness 3

  Intimidate 2

  Skills:

  Theravos Language (Speaking) 15

  Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10

  Religion 10

  Meditation 5

  Bone Strengthening 3

  Hunting 20

  Butchering 13

  Archery 19

  Stealth 18

  Arithmetic 4

  Foraging 16

  Tree Felling 6

  Running 12

  Mana Sensing 14

  Danger Sensing 1

  Wound Binding 8