Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Worried that the enemy would hear the soft continuous growl emanating from within Maya’s throat, Flint fell onto his knees and faced her. He pressed a finger to his lips and then held her snout closed. The intelligent sheepdog understood the gesture and shut up.

Flint wasn’t sure how the enemy’s vision compared to theirs. He assumed they had better senses and fighting instincts than him. Friendly people—or creatures—wouldn’t frighten and then kill his mule, so he was sure they meant his arm. If the four-legged creatures had strong senses of smell, hiding would do them much good. They’d get sniffed out sooner or later. After some thought Flint realised, they didn’t have many other options. Their best bet was to hide somewhere with a good view and ambush their pursuers.

The biggest question on Flint’s mind was who they were dealing with. It annoyed him that the life quest didn’t give him more information. Knowing who or what he was protecting Lea’s Slumber from would go a long way. Identifying the Champion of Equilibrium and their purpose would help too.

The pursuer—assuming it was the same figure he had spotted earlier in the day—had a human-like figure. Being of the same race didn’t guarantee friendship, unfortunately. They could be a scouting member of a bandit troupe, a maniacal murderer, or an assassin set upon him by the Greenfinger. It wouldn’t surprise him if the skinny man decided a Woodson didn’t deserve a life quest and hired someone to snuff him out. Several fae races shared the same shape as humans too. It could be a scout investigating him or Lea’s Slumber too. Either way, a fight felt inevitable.

Flint checked his crossbow. Both barrels were still loaded. He regretted not testing it during the journey and practising with the loading crank. The crossbows issued to him by the Building Division required brute strength for reloading. He didn’t mind since [Builder’s Brawn] gave him additional power when building or working with mechanical devices—he wasn’t sure where the ability started or stopped. However, reloading had always been a slow affair. He prayed the weapon wouldn’t fail him and looked around for cover that wouldn’t limit his vision.

The beasts accompanying his pursuer had ascended and descended the walls with ease. A hiding spot without a roof just wouldn’t do. Flint needed someplace covered so nothing would get at them from above. Maya tugged him towards a hole in the wall near him. It was at ground level and large enough for her to walk in comfortably. The entrance to the building had collapsed, but the side facing the Heartstone was full of holes. So, he followed her lead and crawled into the ancient structure.

The Heartstone’s rainbow lights filtered into the building through the many openings pockmarking its walls. The colours brightened and darkened periodically, creating an almost otherworldly environment. Flint could never figure out how some people like the captains spent hours at a time around the stone monoliths. Though pretty, the colours eventually got unnerving. Even though the Heartstones were valuable to humankind, he got the feeling they weren’t a natural element of the disks. No one had ever successfully answered his question: where did they come from, and who had placed them in the earth?

Idle thoughts left Flint as he heard a sniffing sound nearby. Maya’s ears stiffened, and her tail hung limp. He sensed a mixture of fear and concern from her. She wasn’t terrified but understood that they were in danger. At the same time, their connection broadcasted a more complex emotion concerning him. It took a moment for Flint to realise that it was trust. Maya believed that he’d keep her safe, and he wholeheartedly intended to.

The openings in the wall let Flint watch the outside from reasonable safety. He held the crossbow close to his chest, ready to unload the bolts in anything that looked at him the wrong way. A human and beastlike silhouette appeared just outside the Hearstone’s light. The former was shorter than him and skinny. The androgynous figure made it impossible for him to determine gender. Even though the accompanying beast stood on all four, the top of its head came up to her shoulder. The creature’s thick patchy fur made it impossible to determine a genius. He scanned their surroundings, more concerned about finding the second creature.

Bits of stone and dust rained down on Flint. When he realised Maya was watching the ceiling, he realised the second beast was above them. It made an odd yapping sound, and the other two figures turned to face them. Flint retreated from the wall straight away and aimed his crossbow at it, looking down the sights. He hoped they hadn’t detected his movement or were still confused about their scents until Maya started growling.

A shadow appeared outside the hole they had used to enter the building, so he pulled the top barrels trigger. Much to his surprise, the crossbow fired with minimum recoil. The bolt disappeared into the opening, and a loud dog-like yelp sounded outside. Loud cursing and growls followed.

A monstrous force akin to a war beast struck the damaged wall, and cracks spread from every hole. More dust and stone rained on them from the ceiling, and a chunk bigger than Flint’s head crashed to the floor a foot to his right. Maya jerked towards the nearest exit, but he grabbed her collar and held her in place. He was sure she’d get mauled as soon as she stepped outside. A quick scan brought his eyes to a hole in the ceiling. It led to the floor above.

Maya tried to wriggle free when he picked her up and yelped when he tossed her up through the hole. The building shook again as an unknown force struck it. More pieces of the ceiling fell all around Flint as he took a running start and jumped. He just about managed to grab onto the hole above. Maya tugged on his sleeve as he tried to pull himself up. Despite her good intentions, the act only made his climbing efforts more challenging. Several thundering heartbeats passed before he got his knees up and made it onto the higher level.

The building shook again as he tried to get back on his feet, almost throwing him off balance. Flint righted himself just as the floor started crumbling and rushed away from the hole. He ran to another opening in the wall and got a better look outside. The smaller beast was once again nowhere to be seen. The humanoid figure stood in the Heartstone’s light showing off pale white skin. Her black hair almost blended into the darkness like her long flowing dress. Even though the surrounding ruins blocked the wind, she seemed to flutter.

When the Heartstone’s lights brightened, Flint got a better look at her beautiful face and its sharp features. The pointed ears curved while tapering, confirming his suspicion she was fae. Her eyes darted up to meet Flint’s, and the woman moved faster than any human. She raised her short bow and fired an arrow. It shot through the opening and whizzed past his right ear. Flint raised his crossbow while she raised his quiver and pulled the second trigger. The fired bolt scraped her bow arm, making her scream.

Flint got a glimpse of smoke rising from the wound before the building shook again. The wall crumbled in its entirety first, and the floor followed. It was too late for him to use [Reinforce], so he scooped up Maya and jumped. Just as Flint landed, a dust cloud spreading from the collapsing building surrounded him, and while trying to cover his mouth, he let go of his beloved sheepdog. Maya ran straight at the fae woman and lunged.

Five or six years had passed since Flint got Maya. While travelling between build sites, his company had stopped at a hamlet for the night. A couple of the builders had gotten into a drunken fight and destroyed a shepherd’s cottage wall. Flint had felt guilty for not separating the hot-blooded teenagers and volunteered to fix the damage. The man and his wife had fawned at the speed and quality of Flint’s work and offered to pay him. When he refused, the man had insisted he at least take a pup from his prized dog’s first litter. Flint had picked Maya. She had grown from no bigger than his hand to a medium-large dog since then, weight at least half as much as the fae-woman.

Screams and growling filled the night as Flint desperately felt around for Maya in the dust cloud. He heard more animal cries nearby. One sounded like an odd child-like yapping. The other was a deep chuffing. The latter got closer, and thundering footsteps accompanied it. When Flint’s eyes adjusted, he found himself face to face, a horse-sized bear with long curly hair. It stood on its hindlegs, swiping at the air blindingly barely a foot from him. Flint dropped to his knees, rolling away towards Maya’s sounds.

He didn’t dare turn away from the bear and used the crossbow’s crank to pull back both strings. Then he reloaded them, aimed at the bear’s head, and fired both bolts at once. The creature roared as both projectiles found its face. It fell backwards, swiping blindly. Flint took the opportunity to crawl towards the feminine screams and Maya’s throaty growls.

The dust had just started to settle when he found the wrestling pair. Somehow, they had moved to the other side of the little square, more than a dozen feet from where they start. Flint watched in horror as the fae woman gave up on trying to pry Maya’s jaw off her left forearm and reached for a dagger with her right.

“Back!” He yelled. Unfortunately, it was one of those instances where Maya took too long to obey. She tugged on the bloody arm once more before letting go. The fae woman used the window to draw a black rune-covered dagger and slashed, getting Maya along her left side. She yelped, falling back.

Flint saw red as he charged at the woman. The bear roared behind him, and he heard claws scraping the stone as it chased him, but he didn’t change course. A swift kick to the wrist got the woman to release her weapon. He tried to stomp her head, but she rolled away, and he got her right upper arm instead. Maya paused her whining to bark.

Back!

It was more an emotion than a word, and Flint knew that it had come from Maya. While leaping over the fae-woman, he caught a glimpse of the crimson light behind him. It was coming off the bear. The creature’s front paws blurred before striking where he’d been standing less than a heartbeat ago. Instead of hitting him, the glowing orange claws struck the fae-woman, cutting her off in the middle of an alien word. Flint had seen worse sights, but his stomach turned on seeing her crushed skull and caved-in chest cavity.

Even though Flint’s instincts told him to run, he stood his ground. Blood soaked Maya’s left side, and he sensed she was on the verge of collapse. The bear would easily run him down if he tried to escape while carrying her. Abandoning Maya wasn’t an option either. So, while the bear turned its head to the sky and bellowed, Flint reloaded his crossbow. His hands moved faster than they ever had before.

When the bear turned its attention to Flint, he ran sideways, along the collapsed building’s walls away from Maya. He caught her collapse just out of the corner of his eye. If the bear got to her, she wouldn’t survive. Flint fired the first bolt, striking the beast’s side. The attack got its attention. The behemoth charged at him once more, roaring.

Running in circles to confuse the beast would’ve been ideal, but he couldn’t risk the smaller predator returning to jump him or Maya. So, Flint focused on getting his erratic breathing under control and formulating a plan. Once he knew what he was doing, he stopped against the wall across the square from Maya. Flint faced the bear and aimed at it down the sights. Once it was less than six feet away, he fired at its eye and leapt to his left. He didn’t wait to determine whether the bolt had hit its mark or not and sprinted towards the dead fae-woman.

When Flint heard the bear charging again, he knew the next seconds would determine Maya’s survival—and his, of course. He dove over the mangled corpse and snatched up the rune-covered blade dagger. As expected, the bear hesitated once near its dead friend. A powerful wave of sorrow and self-loathing spread from the beast. Flint took advantage of the opening and flanked the beast. His lungs protested and a stitch formed in his side, but Flint ignored all the discomfort. He thrust the blade forward, putting all of his weight behind the weapon.

[Builder’s Brawn] didn’t activate since the dagger didn’t count as a building tool, material, or complex mechanism. However, the runes flared when the weapon made contact, piercing through the bear’s hide and flesh like it were butter. Flint bounced off the fur and landed on his bottom, still holding the hilt. Only a nail-sized fragment of the blade remained. The beast swayed for a second before falling. Flint had to roll out of the way to avoid getting crushed.

He scanned the vicinity for the fae-woman’s second companion. Flint saw no signs of it besides a trail of blood leading away from the square. Hoping it had suffered a mortal wound, he rushed back to Maya. She whined as he stroked her head. Her chest rose and fell at an alarming rate, and the blood on the ground had turned black.

“No.” Flint sighed, desperately feeling around his person. He had left the bandages and salves on the cart. He leaned in and kissed the side of her head, desperately looking for options. “I’m not going to let you die, girl. I promise—”

The Heartstone hummed loudly, and Flint had his way out. He sprinted to the stone monolith, praying nothing would come after Maya while he was communing with it. Flint let the structure suck him into the endless sea of white, approached the book, and selected [Kennel Master].