Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 036 - The Golden Goose (Patreon)

I will fly to the edge of the mountains north of you today!  Any chance you can escape into the woods when you travel?

I do not know, but I will let you know if I can!  Soon we can see each other again!

Pammon was excited, and Kaen felt it as a constant wave of joy seemed to radiate through their connection.  He was smiling and almost started whistling as he walked with Hess through the outer part of Ebonmount.

“You seem rather happy,” Hess whispered as he glanced around them.  “I take it you have some good news about your friend?”

Kaen nodded and spun around in a circle real quick.

“We can talk about it tonight back in our room,” he replied in a cheerful tone.  “For now, we need to make sure Sulenda has the latest information, and we can get the news out around town.”

Hess chuckled and shook his head in amazement.

“You almost seemed more concerned with this whole wagering thing than the quest you are supposed to head out on tomorrow!”

“I am not distracted!  I just need to make sure that you and Sulenda are compensated for what you both lost because of me.”

Hess grabbed Kaen by the shoulder and spun him around.

“Listen, Kaen, I need you to pay real close attention to the next few things I say. You do not owe me anything.”

Kaen started to talk, and Hess held up his massive finger and silenced him.

“I would not trade the last six-plus years of my life.  Other than having Hoste alive and watching him raise you, nothing compares to the time we spent together.  I have watched you grow and become a man I am proud to say I had a small role in.  So stop worrying about me and making up for what you feel I lost by raising you.  Do tomorrow and every day after because it is a life you and your partner want.”

Hess smiled and pulled Kaen in, and hugged him.  It had been almost five years since the last time he could remember an embrace like this with Kaen.  He felt Kaen slowly put his arms around him and squeeze.

“Ogre nutts!” Hess exclaimed.  “When did you get so strong?”

Kaen let go as Hess broke the embrace, and both of them laughed.

“Soon, I will be able to break out of that embrace of yours,” Kaen joked.

“Probably sooner than you think,” Hess stated as he turned and motioned with his head for Kaen to follow.  “Let’s get back to the inn and take care of that business you have in mind.  I also need to take care of a few things while everyone in town shows up tonight to wish you luck.”

Groaning, Kaen nodded and walked a little faster to catch up with Hess.

“Don’t whine about all this. You asked for it,” Hess reminded him.  “No matter what happens in the next few months, you will be a celebrity.  You need to learn to deal with it.”

Being a celebrity did not bother Kaen, it was the lack of getting to see Pammon that was going to frustrate him the most.  If he was expected to group with other adventurers on quests, he could not have Pammon's help for a while.

Ignoring the truth of what the next few months might bring, Kaen focused on the moment.  The plan that he had started appeared to be coming along nicely.  He just needed to make it through to tomorrow morning.

When they turned the last corner of a street that would bring them to the Fluffy Ignot, Hess and Kaen both stopped when they saw a line of people stretching down the sidewalk and around the corner at the door.

Two massive women stood at the door, keeping people in line and from pushing to get inside.

“What the heck is going on there?” Kaen asked Hess.

“Ungghh,” Hess moaned as he grabbed Kaen and led him back the way they had come.  “We need to move to the back entrance, or things will get ugly if everyone sees you.”

“That was all for me?” Kaen called out as Hess dragged him backward.

Hess nodded, not caring if Kaen saw him acknowledge that question.

“Sulenda is either going to kill us or kiss us,” Hess muttered as he picked up his pace a little bit.

“Why would she be mad?” Kaen asked as he jogged to catch up with Hess.  “We are bringing in a ton of business!”

Hess dodged a few people on the sidewalk and motioned for Kaen to keep up.

“The amount of money that is going to change hands is hard to imagine.  There are going to be a lot of people wanting their piece of this pie, and hopefully, no one gets stupid and tries to take someone else's slice.”

“What does pie have to do with this?” Kaen called out as he dodged a person who barely missed running into Hess.

“Just wait! We will talk later!”

Hess kept moving faster, and Kaen finally decided just to stay in his shadow and let Hess do all the work of dodging people or making them dodge him.

Kaen and Hess had to double back around a block and found the alley entrance between all the buildings, eventually leading them to the Fluffy Ignot loading door.  A pair of guards were at the dock. Thankfully, no line of people trying to get in was back there.

“Is it really this bad?” Hess asked as he walked up to the two female guards and flashed a grin.

A tall, dark-haired woman who looked like she had seen a few fights based on her broken nose and the sword hanging from her hip nodded.  Her expression did not change from someone who lived in a constant state of being pissed at the world.

“News broke this morning that your wonder boy somehow has a chance at a silver token, and the people are clambering to make bets,” the woman informed them as she opened the door she was standing in front of.  “Sulenda has held off all bets until she can confirm details with you two, so get your arses in there!”

Hess nodded and danced by the woman and slipped through the open door.  Kaen smiled and winked at the woman, who simply grunted and rolled her eyes at him.

The loading area was filled with boxes and casks, and a few people were moving them around.  Light globes provided enough light to work by, but it was not as bright as Kaen would have preferred.  The room smelled like a few casks had busted open at some point and gave the room a cherry wood scent.

“This way,” Hess stated as he danced around a few boxes and waved at one of the workers who glanced at them.  “We need to hurry!  Time is money.”

“Were you two out there picking flowers and daydreaming?” Sulenda asked when the door to her office opened, and they both walked through.  “Have you seen the line outside?  Perhaps the room full of runners waiting for an update?”

“It’s good to see you too,” Kaen joked.

Sulenda glared at Kaen and then let out a sigh.

“Just tell me what I need to know!  I need details so I can make sure everything works in our favor.  I already know what you might end up at, but I need to know the details to make the numbers work better in our favor.”

Hess gave a quick rundown of the quest, and Sulenda sat there wide-eyed and in shock at hearing Kaen would be attempting an iron group quest on his own.

“Five orcs… that seems a bit dangerous.”

“Dangerous means better odds, right?” Kaen asked.

Sulenda grimaced and nodded.  She glanced down at her paper and started writing quickly.

“Five Orcs gives a lot of betting opportunities.  We can run odds on how many you kill if you need assistance, if you die, and more.”

“If I die?!” exclaimed Kaen.  “Why would we have that an option?”
Hess chuckled, and Sulenda looked up at Kaen from the paper she was writing on and winked.

“You might be surprised how many people may bet that way.”

Kaen groaned and leaned back in his chair.

Sulenda got back to her paper and, after looking over it once more, handed it to Hess, who quickly glanced at it.

“Change the odds on these last two here, and I think you will be set.”

Sulenda took the paper back and scratched out the odds she had set for killing the fourth and fifth orc.  Tapping her pen against her head, she did some quick math and wrote down her final sets.

“You two sit still while I go run this out to the bar,” Sulenda said as she rose from her chair and headed toward the door. “We have a few more things to discuss.”

After Sulenda left, Kaen leaned over toward Hess and poked him.

“Do I want to know the odds she put on me dying?”

Hess started to chuckle and banged his fist against his chest when he started to cough.

“With the odds she put on you dying, I might almost risk a little money just in case,” teased Hess.

Kaen lifted his hand up and gave Hess the middle finger as he smiled.  Turning to look at Hess, Kaen spotted the map on the wall behind them, stood up, and went over to it.  He saw where the pass was and remembered the map on the back of the quest sheet.  He took his finger and traced the road to the spot where the orcs should be.

Pammon, can you do me a favor and focus on where I am right now?

A few seconds passed, and Kaen could feel Pammon gazing across the land from where he was flying over, looking at him.

He put his left finger on Ebonmount and started to move his finger on his right hand to the southeast of him.

“He is here,” Kaen whispered at Hess.

The chair Hess was sitting on scraped as Hess stood and moved to stand by Kaen.

“You can tell that how?”

“He is focused on me, and it's not that I can see this far or what he sees, but I just know where he is and where I am now.  I can feel the distance somehow.”

Kaen shrugged and tapped the two places his fingers were on the map.

“He is moving north up to this edge of the mountains,” Kaen explained as he dragged his right finger from where Pammon was now and where he would be.  “Tomorrow, I will head to about here, and he will start scouting the area where we will end up.  I should know exactly where they are by the time I arrive.”

“That is…” Hess paused for a moment as he studied the map and what Kaen had told him.  “Impossible? Amazing? I am lost for how to describe it.  This is one of the reasons why you and Pammon will be unstoppable.”

“Who is Pammon?” Sulenda asked suddenly as they heard the door close.

Kaen jumped while Hess never flinched.

“Pammon is the name of his bow,” Hess replied as he kept his eyes on the spot Kaen had his fingers at. “The silly boy felt it needed a name.”

Sulenda huffed and blew a raspberry at them.

“Why do men feel the need to name their weapons?  At least he didn’t give it a girl's name, did  he?”

Kaen laughed, but it came off a little weird as he gave her a smirk.

“Does it matter if it is a girls name?” he asked.

Sulenda plopped down into her chair and put her feet up on her desk as she leaned back.

“It does not, but I would not tell people you named it.  People are already worked up about you.  Telling them you named your bow would not be advised at the moment.”

Kaen nodded and moved to his seat.

“So, how did the news of my test and quest go out there?”

Sulenda closed her eyes and smiled.

“Kaen, you are going to be the golden goose for me.  You know the only bad thing about being a golden goose?”

Tapping his chin, Kaen recalled the old story told about a golden goose that laid golden eggs.

“Everyone wants one?”

Sulenda’s smile grew wider, and she chuckled as she opened her eyes.

“While that is true, the real problem with being the golden goose is at some point, the owner of the goose killed it to see if he could figure out how to get more gold for himself by learning the secret of the goose,” she explained as she took her feet off the desk and leaned against it with her arms.  “The owner of the goose lost all the money he could make because he got greedy and killed the goose.  We need not be too greedy, or something bad might happen to you, and then none of us will get what we really want.”

Kaen swallowed the lump he suddenly felt in his throat.

He was certain she was warning him about greed, but he was not sure by whom.