Book 3 - Chapter 27 (Patreon)

That night his dreams were nothing special. He didn’t remember them on waking, and after examining them with [Memories In Glass], he mostly saw nothing but nonsensical shapes and images, and repeated sentences from conversations throughout the day. The most cohesive part of his dreams was a short dream where he’d screamed at the spiders and they’d all run away. Davi said, “They’re really sensitive to sound.” And then they both played a weird song together where every time they plucked a string it screamed like a child. A chilling image to look back on, but in the dream it hadn’t felt weird at all.

He honestly wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with that. It didn’t feel like the nightmares from before Lumina had left, and if his dreams were content to stop torturing him, maybe he should just leave well enough alone.

His bedroll was uncomfortably hot, so he was eager to be up, but when he climbed out of his blankets he realized that the morning was actually quite cool.

It was Marksi, who’d been sleeping next to him, who was so warm. Not just that, the little lizard was burning up. A fever.

Brin hurried to find Hogg, but on the way he ran into Pio first. The hulking [Beast Master] saw the expression on Brin’s face, glanced at Marksi, and his eyebrows knitted with worry. He took Marksi out of Brin’s hands without a word.

Pio lay Marksi on the driver’s bench of his wagon after fetching a blanket for Marksi to lay on. He carefully lifted Marksi’s hands and legs, opened his mouth and looked inside, and peered into his eyes. Marksi cheeped in annoyance and then curled up and went back to sleep.

Pio sighed. “He will be fine. A little fever.”

“He ate way too many spiders last night. I told him to stop but he wouldn’t!” Brin said.

“Hm. You went out? You fought monsters?” Pio asked, a bit of an edge in his voice.

“Hogg said we could. But maybe I should’ve left Marksi behind.”

Pio seemed to accept that excuse and his posture relaxed. “Bah! If he does not fight, how will he grow? Big Ron is great friend, but if he did not fight, he would still be Little Ron. Yes? That’s right, Big Ron?”

Pio’s giant boar responded with a happy oink, a deep and resonant sound, but still cheerful somehow. Brin hadn’t actually seen Big Ron up this close yet. The animal had a domineering presence that reminded him of Poco the bull, but he lacked that glint of intelligence that had been in Poco’s eyes. This was just a big warboar that Pio had tamed, not a familiar.

Any other day and Big Ron would be all Brin could think about, but for now he gave him barely more than a passing glance. “So what do you think made him sick?”

“Maybe the fighting, maybe the eating. But is not bad. Dragons are made to do both, yes? Do you hunt with him many times?”

“A few times…” Brin gave it some thought. Marksi had been there for almost all of Brin’s greatest fights. Well, no, he’d fallen asleep before Brin had fought his zombie dad and had missed the ambush with the [Anti-Mage] that had nearly killed him and Hogg. He’d stayed out of most of the fighting at the town walls. He hadn’t been there for Basil, or for Siphani. And in the fights he had been part of, his role had been mostly as a distraction. His greatest battle had probably been back before he even had legs, when he’d bitten the Facaldagart’s eye. “No, actually. Come to think of it, this is the first time that we’ve really killed monsters together side-by-side. He took out a bunch of the little ones for us, more than any of us except maybe Myra.”

Pio scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. “[Weaver] girl killed spiders? Eh, whatever. Then this was the first big hunt for him, I think. He worked hard, ate much, got a little too tired. He’ll be fine. Go help pack up camp.”

Brin stroked Marksi’s back one last time. “I’ll be right back.” Then he went to help the caravan get ready for the day.

He chose chores that would keep him near Marksi, but Pio never left his side. He got a damp cloth and gave Marksi a sponge bath, then stood nearby, checking his fever every so often with the back of his hand.

Someone else packed up Pio’s tent and put it in his wagon, and Pio stayed with Marksi, even after the wagons started moving.

With the wagons moving, Brin could walk where he wanted, so he chose to walk right next to Pio who was still watching Marksi.

Now that he didn’t have anything to do, there was nothing stopping him from worrying. He felt his throat tighten, and not with any kind of sickness. Marksi had never gotten sick before. With the high Vitality that everyone had, flus and colds were rare. Brin had gotten a few colds, but he hadn’t had a fever that he could remember.

It would be one thing if this were just a regular fever, but it wasn’t. This was his fault. He felt his breath hitch a little bit at the thought and forced himself to breathe normally. This was his fault. He’d brought Marksi to fight the spiders. But wasn’t that what he was supposed to be doing?

That is a dragon. Can you make him stronger? No, but you could prevent it. Maybe his mistake had been not helping Marksi fight more often, sooner. Whatever had made this happen, he hated it.

He hated that he was with a caravan. If this had happened in Hammon’s Bog, he would’ve marched straight to the nearest [Witch] and demanded that she take the fever from Marksi and give it to him instead. Now, all he could do was watch.

Pio kept trying to tell Brin that Marksi was fine, but he couldn’t help but feel like Pio was getting more nervous as time went on. He checked Marksi’s temperature more frequently, gave him another sponge bath, and kept patting Marksi’s side and telling him that he would be ok.

Some time around noon, when Pio reached his hand up, Brin thought he would take Marksi’s temperature again. Instead, he made a fist and knocked on the side of the wagon.

He’d seen a monster.

There were several more knocks, moving all the way back down the line. Brin carefully didn’t try to see the monster himself. He loosened his spear from his harness, and started pulling on his mana so he’d be ready for anything.

Pio pulled a whistle out of his pocket and blew. The caravan stopped a moment later.

The [Beast Master] walked up to Big Ron and unbuckled him, releasing the boar from the harness he used to pull the wagon.

“Come, my friend,” said Pio. Then he pointed to Brin. “You, stay here. Stay with your friend.”

Brin nodded and dropped his spear back in its holster. He felt Marksi’s face. If anything, he was hotter than before.

Only Zerif the [Caravan Master] had a wagon in front of Pio’s so Brin got a full view of the proceedings.

Pio reached down and pulled a stone up from the road. He hucked it into the forest, striking a tree. The noise acted as a signal, and a horde of Giant Spiders flew from the forest all at once.

They swarmed just as Brin’s enemies had, with the little ones in the lead, and two huge ones in the back, but these all attacked at once.

When the first tarantula sized spiders reached Pio and Big Ron, they ignored them. Pio just spread out his arms to welcome them, and Big Ron acted as if they didn’t exist.

The first dog-sized spider jumped onto Big Ron’s foreleg and latched on with a bite, but the giant boar didn’t react. Three dog-sized spiders drew close enough to leap onto Pio, and finally he moved.

Pio drew in a deep breath and shouted. “Begone!”

The shout hit the spiders like a concussive blast. All the little ones fell away and scattered to the wind. The nearest dog-sized spiders rolled onto their backs, and the ones further away immediately turned around and fled.

“They’re sensitive to sound,” Brin said to himself.

Pio patted Big Ron’s side. “Go have fun.”

Big Ron charged, heading straight for the biggest of the Giant Spiders. The boar didn’t hesitate when the Giant Spider charged forward in return, pincers wide to bite, forelegs up to stab. He charged… and kept charging, straight through the monster.

What followed next was lots of happy squealing, lots of crunching and tearing, and buckets and buckets of spider guts. Big Ron moved through the swarm, killing everything that moved, chasing down the spiders that fled. Just like Marksi, the boar ate his fill of the spiders, but unlike Marksi, he stopped when Pio told him to stop.

When the swarm was well and truly scattered, Zerif stepped down from the caravan with Hogg. He patted his forehead with a handkerchief that was already damp. 

“Three attacks in three days. What absurd luck.” Then he seemed to notice Brin watching, and smiled. “Well, at least Big Ron got some exercise! I know he must’ve been feeling antsy.”

Pio roared with laughter, and Brin couldn't quite tell if he actually thought that was funny or if he just thought he had to laugh at his boss's jokes. “Big Ron had a very good day today! Not lunchtime yet, but he is full.”

Zerif nodded patiently. "Perhaps leave Big Ron free after you get him cleaned up? It may be wise to leave him unharnessed and ready to react to any situations that arise. I'll hitch your wagon to mine and pull them both."

"Yes!" Pio said eagerly. "You hear this? Come, friend, I will wash you."

Pio fetched a rake and brush from his wagon, and then he and Big Ron left to find the nearest stream. Meanwhile, Zerif pointed and Pio's wagon rolled under its own power to hitch itself to the back of Zerif's wagon.

"How many of those could you pull?" Brin asked.

"Oh, you know how these things go," said Zerif in a non-answer. "It depends on this and that."

Hogg clapped his hands. "Well. Looks like this is wrapped up. Time to get moving again?"

"Yes, of course, what was I thinking?" Zerif blew a whistle hanging from a necklace, and the wagon train started again. It was interesting that Zerif could move his wagon without touching it. Brin wondered what the range was. "And will you be joining the defense, should more monsters arrive?"

"I won't let anyone get hurt. But I don't plan on jumping in for every little thing and stealing experience from your people."

"How grand. Thank you! That is very noble of you." Those words would've sounded like sarcasm from anyone else, but Zerif spoke in his normal deferential tone.

He dabbed his head with his handkerchief, and then walked back to his wagon, needing to trot quickly to catch up to it. Hogg stayed back with Brin.

"So how did I do last night?"

"Not too bad, but you should've said something immediately when Myra tagged you. If she's making mistakes like that then she needs to know," said Hogg. "Also your spearwork was a little sloppy."

"I think I did alright. What am I supposed to do with a spear against hundreds of little spiders?"

"Wide sweeping strikes. Pretty much what you did, only better. Too much of your training has been focused on trying to beat Zilly and Davi. Human opponents in a duel. You need to practice with monsters and beasts in mind. But your biggest mistake was failing to use all your assets. You have those light and sound bombs. Why aren't you using them?"

"Because... it was the middle of the night? I didn't want to wake anyone up." The excuse sounded flimsy in his own ears.

Hogg tapped his ears and pointed up. Brin got the message and made a sphere of silence around them both. It was a little tricky to make one big enough to cover both of them, but he was able to keep it going while they walked.

"The point of those enchanted balls is so that people will see you using them, to give you a plausible disguise for your real illusions. Next time a monster attacks the caravan, you need to use them. I don't care if it's unnecessary and you get in trouble. And if I find a suitable monster for tonight, you should use your illusions there too. I'll have you go alone so you can use that camouflage you figured out."

Brin nodded. The tone of this conversation was a scolding, but honestly he was excited to try out Hogg's suggestions.

"I noticed that Pio had some kind of shout Skill. What was that?"

"[Voice of Command] is a [Beast Master] Skill. It does what it sounds like. He's also got Skills to examine the condition of beasts and to slowly improve the animals that he tends."

Brin scratched his hair, nervous, though he wasn't sure why. "Oh. Then it's a [Beast Master] thing. I thought the spiders might be weak to loud sounds."

"No insects like loud sounds. Giant insects are no different. You should've used that sound bomb to disrupt their horde. Although I will admit you would've run the risk of making the big ones run away and rob you of their experience. Now enough about that. How's Marksi?"

Brin collapsed the sphere of silence. "Come see."

Marksi still lay where Brin had left him. He was still hot, but maybe a little cooler than he'd been before. Or maybe it was wishful thinking. It's not like Brin had a thermometer. Actually thermometers weren't terribly hard to make if you could get your hands on some mercury. Maybe they would have some he could buy in Oud's Bog? Although if Marksi was still sick when they got there, he'd be looking for a cure, not a thermometer.

Hogg's face stayed impassive as he gently stroked Marksi's back. The old adventurer probably had a lot of experience staying stoic in situations like this, because he didn't let a trace of emotion show on his face. "You'll be ok. Actually where's Pio? He should be here? I'm going to go find that idiot."

Pio rejoined the caravan a few minutes later with a damp and tidy-looking Big Ron. He immediately checked on Marksi, but there wasn't anything he could do that he hadn't already done.

Lunch was just a loaf of bread and water, delivered as they walked. Apparently, Zerif was getting impatient with all the monster breaks and didn't want to stop again until nightfall.

Throughout the day, Marksi's fever slowly receded. By the time they stopped for the night, he was back to his usual self, running around like a puppy and acting confused but pleased when everyone kept trying to dote on him.

When Hogg came back to check on him, Marksi jumped up and licked his face, drawing roaring laughter from both Hogg and Pio. Hogg tried to do his best to hide how obviously relieved he was that Marksi was feeling better, and Brin swore he noticed him blink away a few tears.

But when Marksi started begging him for something to eat, Hogg's expression turned to granite. "Absolutely not. Nothing for the rest of the day."

Pio crossed his arms against his bare chest and nodded. "He is right. No food until tomorrow. Your belly is still full." 

Marksi whined piteously, but he found no support, not even with Brin. "I told you not to eat so many spiders!"

He turned his full puppy dog eyes on Hogg. Hogg stared back. And then, impossibly, the granite cracked. Hogg looked at Pio and said, "What about magic?"

Pio's eyes went wide with intense interest. "He truly eats magic? Can I watch?"

Hogg nodded and held up a hand, but then hesitated. Brin wondered what the problem was. Marksi used to love eating Hogg's illusions. Oh, that was it. Marksi had a lot of trouble eating Hogg's hard light.

Brin made a blob of inky darkness appear on Hogg's hand, making it look like Hogg had summoned some kind of shadow magic. He still wasn't the best at projecting illusions other than light, but he was ok with black as long as it didn't need to be too precise.

Marksi tested the blob of shadow with his claw, and upon seeing that it wasn't solid, bit forwards and then slurped it up. Brin felt a brief, small disoriented feeling as a trace amount of magic was torn away from him.

"Amazing," Pio whispered. "Yes. This is fine. He may eat magic. But no solid food! And he will not be going on any trips into the forest tonight."

Apparently, Brin would be going into the forest completely alone tonight. It wasn't until after they stopped for dinner that Brin managed to get Hogg alone again to ask if he'd found a suitable monster for Brin to hunt.

"Yep, and it's the perfect thing. I'll tell you now, you'll never be able to beat this one if you don't sneak up on it. Finding it will be easy, though. Just follow the road. It's been following us."