Back to Yonder for Publication, page 21
I shook my head. “Oh, the indignity and suffering I have to endure.”
Rava stood up and grabbed my hand. “Oh, stop being dramatic or I’m going to think that I need to have you call me Mistress tonight.” Then she dragged me off to bed.
It was a rough life, indeed.
Chapter 25 – the Porcelain Mug
I hadn’t slept come morning, though Rava did end up getting a bit of shut-eye—much to Josie’s delight. When the three of us came out of the section of the tents where our bed was, Nimeera was already up and had apparently tried her hand at cooking.
Tried her hand at it was a much better way to describe the result than making breakfast. Bacon could be tricky to get just right, but I’d never seen someone who could do to eggs what she did. It was more like she’d assassinated them than cooked them. None-the-less, I choked it down and thanked her for her efforts, making a mental note never to leave Lina behind again.
“Do you have any more Potions of Flight for me, Rava?” I asked.
The elf hadn’t eaten, saying she was feeling a bit sick this morning. Josie had immediately asked if it was because she was pregnant—which caused Rava to get a bit teary eyed, so the subject had been quickly changed.
“Yes,” she replied and pulled out a pouch with two dozen potions. “This should serve to get you back and forth for the next month or so. The full potions have a duration of one hour now because they get a bonus from my skill level, while a half potion will have the same effect as you are used to. Unfortunately, the maximum speed is still the same.”
I shrugged, “Three hundred miles per hour is still damn good. I would have loved to have had a cruiser that could travel that fast.” I knew they didn’t get my reference, but it was true. A hotrod like that would have made chasing down speeders into child’s play.
After that, we made sure we had some supplies, but mostly we were just going to buy what we would need in Westerton. It was a little less than a hundred miles to the city from here. If the caravan did well, they’d make it in four or five days—but at the pace they’d been making, and without me to pester them to keep going, it would most likely be closer to eight days.
Maybe that wasn’t being charitable enough. I figured Rava might push them a bit harder than before. She was not excited to be left behind. Nimeera didn’t like it, either, but did as I instructed.
With a few goodbye kisses, I downed a potion and picked Josie up. There was no reason for both of us to take one when I could easily carry her. My independent minded foxkin wife didn’t even complain. It seems she had developed a taste for cuddling.
Less than an hour later, we saw the city and decided to land about a mile outside of town. It would probably be better if we appeared on foot. For now, our story was simply that she was a swordswoman who had heard about the tournament and wanted to test herself. I was her husband and had decided to accompany her, while the rest of our family stayed back on the ranch.
It was close enough to the truth that it didn’t feel like an outright lie, but still concealed my identity. I had to wear a hood and gloves to cover my face and skin, but hopefully most people would mistake me for an orc or an elf, although I was more than a little bit too beefy for the latter.
When we got to the gate, Josie did the talking for us. I had wondered if that would raise an eyebrow or two, but after she said she was going to be competing in the tournament they seemed to stop wondering why I wasn’t the one speaking and began to cast sympathetic glances my way. Maybe they thought I was a whipped husband with a very strong wife who kept him under her thumb.
Once through the gate, I marveled at the city. It had been obvious from the air that Westerton was much larger than Yonderton. The press of people inside the walls, however, made the differences stick out all that much more.
I had become accustomed to wide open spaces. It made me wonder what Centrum might be like, since this was still considered the frontier. Being the frontier, the city even had a large wall built around it to keep out monsters.
Heck, from what Rava had told us, for people in the Old East, Centrum was the very edge of the civilized world—and that was if they were being generous. Everything beyond Centrum was considered a wasteland and not fit for people to live in.
Though a frontier city, Westerton’s population exceeded well over a hundred thousand souls—and maybe as many as twice that. More people also meant more opportunities. We ended up having to ask for directions twice to find the Porcelain Mug, the inn where Rose was supposedly waiting for us.
I was conflicted about this meeting. The amount of money she owed us was significant, and would go a long way towards securing my family’s future. But I knew she wasn’t actually an outcast skunkkin.
No. I knew the truth about Rose. She was actually a monster—something called a gray slaad—which could change its shape. She was also a servant of Mensor, the god of monsters.
Worse than that, she had it in her head that I was the King of Monsters, and would bring about some kind of balance between the intelligent monsters and Olimer’s ‘civilized’ races which had pushed them out to the Untamed Lands. It awkwardly reminded me of the proposition the fairy queen had given me. The desires for freedom or to save one’s race were powerful motivators.
When we finally found it, we pulled up to the bar.
It was an odd place. There were some rather rough looking fellows—Miners, adventurers, and ranch workers mostly. But there were also several ladies dressed in more finery than I had seen in Yonderton. I asked Josie about it, but she didn’t have a clue, either.
In fact, when the bartender saw her in armor with her swords strapped to her back, he snorted before bringing us our drinks. We ended up waiting for a couple of hours, and I was just about to give up for the day, when Rose came in through the front door. My expanded senses had picked her up just outside the entrance.
She still moved with that same deadly grace. If anything, it was even more potent than before. Something about her felt off, though—but maybe that was just my increased Soul Stat reacting to her true identity as a gray slaad.
Her attire was just as odd. She wore a long dress with lace and frills done in pastel colors. It made her already striking features stand out that much more. Several of the men stood to offer her a seat at their table, but she didn’t bother to respond to them.
Instead, she made a beeline right for where we sat at the bar. Or, more to the point, she headed right for me. She never took her eyes off of me once, after we’d made eye contact.
Stopping right beside me, she put her hands together and squealed. “You came! I was beginning to get worried.”
Josie snorted. “Well, you do owe us money.”
Rose looked confused for a moment, but then said, “Oh… that, of course. I was just more excited to have you here, my king. If you’d like to come to my room, I’d be happy to give you what I owe you.”
People had started to stare, and it felt strangely awkward. Something was definitely wrong. I had long since stopped caring if people gawked at me. Gloves covered my hands, and my hood was still up, so no one could tell that I was a human— which raised an interesting question that I didn’t hesitate to ask.
“How’d you know it was me? I am all covered up.”
“I could never miss the Monster King; besides, I recognized Josie—and who else could be sitting with her, but you?”
There was nothing technically wrong with her words, but it still didn’t hit me as being right.
“You need to stop calling me that,” I said softy, though forcefully, “especially where others can hear. I think we should go and find someplace a bit quieter.”
“Stop calling you ‘my king’? But why? It’s true.” Rose asked this, while seeming almost distraught. “I’ve waited so long for this, and I can tell you’ve become even stronger. This really should be quite fun.”
A burly orc pushed up to the bar, forcing his way between me and Josie. I saw the foxkin’s hand go to the pommel of a blade at her shoulder, but I sent her a telepathic, “No.”
“What’s the matter Rose?” the orc asked. “Is this guy bothering you? You know we’ve got a spot for you at our table, if you want to spend some time with real men.”
Rose gushed. Her mannerisms seemed a bit forced, but I assumed it was just because I was remembering her incorrectly. “Oh, honey, you could never measure up to my king. He is a man above all men.”
The orc took a step back, taking another look at me. Then he snorted. “Must be damn ugly if he has to wear a hood in a place like the Porcelain Mug. But a king? Hmmm… he should have announced himself when he came in. Then we could all have bowed, proper like. Didn’t even know that we had kings out here on the frontier, but I wouldn’t want to dishonor one.”
Rose smiled wickedly; it seemed she was enjoying this.
“Oh, he is the king of monsters. I once saw him kill a dragon with his bare hands,” she gushed, squeezing my arm.
That really got the orc laughing. He called back to his table and said, “You hear that, boys? He convinced our sweet Rose that he’s a dragon slayer.”
There were a few jeering responses, but I ignored them and simply stood up. “Rose, you can come with us… or don’t, but Josie and I won’t be staying.”
Then I turned to move. I sensed the hand reaching out for me even as the orc went to grab my hood. But with my Agility, it was child’s play to catch his wrist and twist it sharply. I wanted to break his arm, but that might have led to an escalation. What I didn’t sense quick enough, though, was Rose’s tail shifting around to knock my hood back.
The room was instantly filled with gasps and the sound of chairs scraping against the floor when they were pushed back, as men rapidly stood up. Every man there—and some of the women—all had weapons in hand. I even felt magic gathering between the hands of two of the finely dressed ladies, but didn’t spare the time to process what that meant.
The orc burst out laughing. “Ugh… no wonder you wear a hood. You are one ugly orc. No tusks. I’ve heard of albino orcs, but usually thems mothers do the merciful thing and ends them on the first day. But I ain’t never heard of a tuskless orc.”
He peered up at me. “Wait. Are you an elf?” He tilted his head at that question, looking at the side of my head. “No, I don’t see no pointy ears.”
He turned to Rose. “I don’t know who this snake oil salesman was, Miss Rose, but you’re entirely too much of a woman for a freak like him.”
One of the women at the back of the room who was holding a ball of mana between her hands called out, “I can tell you what he is. I just don’t know what he’s doing here. There haven’t been any notifications and I would have known if a new one had been sent.”
The orc looked back at her. “You knows this guy, Serilla?”
She snapped at him. “No, Kelvin. I didn’t say I knew him, I said I know what he is. And right now, it’s Deputy Serilla—no matter what games I may like to play in my off-time. His presence here puts us back on duty.”
Now, I paid more attention to the woman than I had before.
Josie was frowning at the woman, too. She was a monkey-kin, surprisingly good looking, despite her boxy ears and a tail that she held wrapped around her waist.
I held out my hand towards her, intending to ask her if we could go somewhere at bit more private to discuss things, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Rose had slid to the side of the room. There was a wicked smile on her lips, and it dawned on me that this was probably one of those moments where Mensor was testing me to see what kind of monster I could be.
Rose’s faith in me was as disturbing as it was misguided. I had no intention of being any type of king, certainly not of monsters—not that I was above being monstrous, if that’s what was necessary to protect my family.
The woman saw my hand, but dismissed it. “Rules are rules,” she said. “So folks, you might as well know that this man is a human. I don’t know why Sativa has sent us another one after more than thirty years without one, but I’ve read enough descriptions to be certain. It appears that, after all this time, the goddess has given us another Sheriff.”
Her words hung heavy in the air. I half expected her to drag me off for my own good to protect me, if she thought I was the new Sheriff in Weston. Instead, she pointed at me and said, “Say howdy, boys.”
There was some grumbling and a few weapons were waved at me, but what struck me as odd was that she’d continued gathering mana between her palms in front of her.
Paying closer attention, I determined that it was Ice Mana. I’d seen Melossi form an attack like this. Something was definitely off in this place, and it was more than just Rose.
Deputy Serilla smiled at me and said, “Now kill him, boys.”
Chapter 26 – Bar Fight!
Two words roared through my mind: Bar fight!
I knew I should be pissed that this so-called deputy was trying to kill me. Hell, I didn’t have an idea about why she would want to kill me—but she was, and she was inciting a mob to get it done.
Despite that, I couldn’t work up the energy to be upset with her. There was essentially nothing more quintessential to a tabletop role-playing-game, like the ones I played back as a kid before I had discovered girls and forgotten all about RPGs in the pursuit of pussy, than a tavern room brawl.
Heck, many of the fantasy novels I used to read had great scenes centered around a bar fight.
And yet, I’d never been in one. That didn’t count the times I had to go in and break one up, back home. Tearing trust fund babies off of each other and having one puke on my shirt was definitely not as much fun as the bar fights in my games. Here, though, I was in a magical world—and I’d never been in a proper bar fight.
Quelling the orcs outside the tavern in Yonderton came close, but once again I’d been acting as the Sheriff, and not a combatant. I suppose I had gotten close to one in the Untamed Lands, but Rose had intervened. This time, I thought to myself, I wasn’t gonna hold back.
I glanced at Rose to ask if she was gonna help but she was already sliding behind me. Then I looked over at Josie and said, “Try not to kill any of them if you can. I’ll be the tank you can just pick off the stragglers.”
I said it out loud because I wanted them to hear. They’d either get nervous at the absolute confidence in my voice, or more likely they’d think I was a brash fool and underestimate me. Either way worked for me.
Without waiting for a response and with ki pumping through all my channels, amping my Agility up to ridiculous levels, I moved. Everyone else in the room might as well have been standing still. I didn’t dare increase my Strength any further against normal people and a ki barrier automatically formed around my skin.
A flash of cold moved past me but I was long gone when the deputy’s ice burst froze over half the bar, sending ice blasting into the barkeep. I had already broken Kelvin’s arm and then struck his chest with the flat of my palm which doubled him over and sent him flying across the room. He didn’t even have a chance to cry out, as the explosion of air from his lungs robbed him of that capability.
Then, I was amongst the tables and their armed attendants. I stomped kneecaps, broke wrists to cause weapons to drop and caused several heads to whip back and forth, rattling the brains—or lack thereof—inside them. Wolfkin, cowkin, foxkin, orcs, and others, they all were blasted to the ground by my fists, or sent spinning around the room.
Within just a few seconds, eighty percent of the men in the room were down and the first faint sound of groans were coming as a few of them had managed to hold onto their breath. I looked around and saw that only the two female mages, including the deputy, two well armored orcs, and a whip slender elf still stood.
I was a bit surprised that I hadn’t felt any heat from Josie behind me, and I spared an instant to glance back at her. My blood boiled at what I saw. She was unconscious, being held up by Rose with an aura of Gas Mana around her.
I took a step towards the faux-skunkkin, but she waved a finger back and forth at me and said, “Don’t be angry with me, my king—I’m just following orders. I couldn’t let your wife interfere. Besides, it’s more fun to see you cut loose. You have to admit, it feels pretty damn good, doesn’t it?”
When I didn’t reply, she added, “Just give in and enjoy it. It’ll be so much more fun.”
I was pissed, but then again, I knew who she served.
It was more that I was pissed at myself. I had no chance to respond, though, as a sword was descending toward my shoulder. My ki aura might very well have been able to handle it, but there was no reason for me to take the chance.
I spun around the orc, or had started to, when I was hit by a field of mana. The world kept moving at the same speed, but I seemed to slow down. If I hadn’t already been moving several times faster than the orc attacking me, I likely would have gotten a chance to test out how durable my aura really was.
