6. Scavenging (Patreon)

I’m not religious. Staring at Quetz’s still form, I had no idea what to do. It didn’t feel right to do nothing, but then, what should I do?

After another moment’s hesitation, I bowed. “Thank you.”

That done, I dusted off my hands and scanned down Quetz’s body. Where to start?

Feeling guilt, or remorse, or respect, or whatever that emotion was that made me want to do something for Quetz—that was one thing. Giving up on all the good money to be had from a hundred-thousand year monster because of it? Pure insanity. And at the end of the day, I’m a practical woman.

I wonder if anyone’s claimed his core yet?

“Don’t be ridiculous, Kit. That’s crazy. There’s a whole company’s worth of people out here just for that. And all the other hunters. Someone’s got it already. They’ll be swarming all over him,” I told myself.

Ignoring my own words, I followed along Quetz’s neck toward his serpentine body, searching for the spot over his heart where his core resided. All the while, I muttered to myself, “No, no. It’s impossible. How could I get his core? That kid has it already. Instead of being stupid, I should harvest some scales. Or ruff feathers. Teeth! Eyes! Those go for good money. Don’t take this pointless gamble. You’re smarter than this.”

Should be around here, a rebellious voice in the back of my head whispered. I traced a hand along Quetz’s skin, searching. Scales passed by, softer than they looked, but still hard enough to reflect bullets and most magic. I admired them, fingertips tracing their edges.

“Yeah, the scales! Grab the scales. C’mon, I don’t need the trouble of a bunch of idiots up my ass for stealing ‘their’ core. The scales are worth hundreds, no, thousands! It’s totally worthwhile,” I tried to convince myself. Despite my best efforts, I kept walking, kept searching.

Heat under my hand. I squeezed, feeling through the scales. A hard, stone-like texture met my palm.

“No. No, no, no. There’s no way this is the core. Uh-uh. It’s just… a tonsil stone. Yeah.”

I drew a dagger and dug into his flesh, prying apart scales so I could cut at the softer flesh beneath. Blood spilled to the earth, still hot. Past muscle, past tendons. There, under the flesh, up against the bone, a small, golden stone shimmered, maybe as large as my palm.

My breath caught. I stared, wide-eyed, completely frozen. Holy shit. It’s Quetz’s core.

“Over there! Go toward his head, you cowards! Hurry up and find it. We need to get it back.”

Jolted back into motion, I squeezed the core out into my hand and palmed it into my jacket. The wound gaped open, in no way subtle. I hesitated for a second, then dragged a branch over and stuck it in the wound to make it look a little more natural. Sure. This branch, and no other branches, cut Quetz open. They’ll fall for that, for sure.

Footsteps. Crunching leaves, nearby. No time to make it look more realistic. I darted up a tree and scurried into a hollow. Lifting the collar of my jacket and lowering my hat, I hid as much of the gold as I could and waited.

The boy walked into view. Soaked in blood, he cut the image of a wandering demon, red from head to toe. His once-white robes clung to his body, completely red now, and red replaced the bluish hint to his hair. He caught sight of the hole in Quetz’s neck and turned, looking around. Hunkered in the tree, I sat frozen, utterly still. Pass by. You see nothing. Nothing at all.

His eyes passed over me and wandered through the woods. Brows furrowing, he knelt and checked the leaves underfoot. My heart lurched, then settled. Quetz’s drop had disturbed them so much that anything I had done was swallowed up by the splash. He won’t find me that way. I’m safe.

Another one of the white-robed figures marched out of the wood and smacked the boy in the back of the head. “Find it!”

He took the blow, head bowing slightly from the force. “It’s gone.”

“Gone? You utter incompetent! What’s the point of our expedition, then? It’s all a waste of time, thanks to you!” The man drew back his hand and hit the boy again, harder.

The sound of flesh-on-flesh stirred old memories. I tightened my grip on the core. He isn’t you. They aren’t them. Leave it alone. You can’t save everyone.

“Find it! I don’t care where it is, who took it, if you can’t recover it, we’ll kill you. Your core is the only valuable part of you! You can be replaced, and don’t forget that!” the man snarled. He held up a small box threateningly. A fragment of core shimmered in the heart of the box, and complex lettering twisted in a circle around its outside.

I frowned. Some kind of enchanted control?

A memory throbbed through me, almost-forgotten. I pressed a hand to my forehead. Images flashed through my mind. Red collar. Box. Threat.

Right! That’s right. I almost forgot, because they never bothered to use one on me.

No. It isn’t them. This isn’t— I paused. Brows furrowed, I peered down from the tree, trying to catch a better look. Is it?

The boy stiffened. He shook his head.

“No?” The man lifted his head again, then froze.

Defiant, the boy glared up at him. His hands hung loose, no threat of attack. No magic throbbed through the air. Nonetheless, tension simmered between the two of them. I held my breath.

The man scoffed. “As I thought, not compliant enough. Your strength and sync is good, but in the end, you’re just as useless as the old Big Four turned out to be.” He lifted his finger over the box.

The boy tensed.

The Big Four? That collar? There’s no way. But it has to be.

I whipped Cher up and whispered, “I know you hate me, but don’t fail me now!”

The man plunged his finger down. I aimed for his hand and squeezed Cher’s trigger.

A blast rang in my ears. Hot lead flew from Cher’s muzzle. The man’s hand exploded. Blood and bone fragments splattered onto the leaf mould. The box bounced away, harmless.

I blinked. Holy shit, Cher hit? She didn’t even whine to me about low mana!

Holding his ruined hand, cursing a up a storm, the man whipped around. He glared at me. “Kill her!”

“Kill me? I just saved his life!” I announced. I stood out of the hollow, stomping a foot onto its edge. Staring down at the kid, I pointed Cher at the man. “Choose. Do you want to follow this asshole? Or do you want to live your own life?”

The kid stared at me. Vicious eyes tore me apart. “I want to live!”

“Good choice.” I pointed Cher at him and pulled the trigger again.

Startled, he flinched back, but not faster than Cher’s bullet. It blasted into his throat. He stumbled back, a hand to his neck.

The man blinked, confused. All at once, he laughed. “You… I knew it! A filthy hunter like you? Of course you were after his core! But you won’t get it so easily. That core belongs to us. You’ll have to get through me firs—”

Claws carved through the man’s chest. He gagged and spat up blood. An incredulous expression on his face, he touched the dark claws piercing his chest.

The boy yanked his hand free. Red leather struck the ground at the same time as the body did. A singed hole cut through the collar where Cher’s bullet had pierced through. He shook the blood off onto the fallen man and rubbed his collar-less neck. “You don’t own me. No one does.”

“Good going, kid,” I laughed, popping another couple bullets into Cher. Ammo’s low. Better stock up when I get home.

Low mana, Cher grumbled in response.

I patted her. “Yeah, yeah.”

The boy frowned at me. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Don’t worry. My gun talks.”

He gave me a look that suggested he was, instead, worrying more.

Not-so-distant voices cut into our conversation. “What was that?”

“It sounded like a gun! One of the hunters?”

Throwing Cher over my shoulder, I hopped down from the hollow and offered the boy my hand. “Run!”

Ignoring my hand, the boy sprinted off into the forest. I lagged behind. Eh? When did I get so slo—

I glanced down. My feet wiggled back at me, still gold-furred and more hand- than foot-shaped.

Sighing at myself, I hopped into the trees. From one branch, I threw myself to another, and caught up to the boy in no time. “Break left. They’ll expect us to cut right, away from Elgany. We can’t hide in the Wilds forever, but it’ll take a few days for Elgany’s military to get here and try to sort whatever’s left of Quetz, and I’ve played hide-and-seek with the Wilds rangers before.”

The boy nodded. He scrambled up Quetz’s flank and over onto the other side.

I followed with a great swing from the tree, a scramble across Quetz’s top, and a leap to the opposite tree. “Who are those guys? Actually, who are you? How the hell did you kill Quetz? I mean, hell, you made it look easy!”

He flicked his eyes at me. “I don’t know.”

“Alright, I asked several questions. You’ll have to be more specific.”

“I don’t know,” he repeated.

“You don’t know… who the people you came here with are?”

He shook his head.

“What about who you are?”

Another head shake.

“Alright, fair, I mean, who ever knows who they really are,” I muttered, hopping to another tree. “So… how did you kill Quetz?”

He hesitated, then shook his head again.

“I saw that. You know that one.”

He shook his head. “They said not to tell.”

“You killed one of them. I think their rules are out the window, don’t you think?” I reasoned.

At that, he paused.

Bullets peppered the branch ahead of me. I dropped, passing it by, and swung off a lower branch instead. “Shit! They found us.”

“Over there!”

“Two of them! A chimera, and one of ours!”

“Which one?”

“A!”

A blast of fire snapped through the trees. The leaf mould set alight, crackling merrily. I glanced over my shoulder. White flickered here and there between branches. Close! Too close!

“C’mon, kid. They’re after you for a reason.”

The boy glanced up at me. “I’m a dragon.”