The Empress of Beasts, page 64
part #13 of The Wandering Inn Series
“What? Bu—”
Wil was stunned. He stared at Foliana. What had she done? She’d erased—frantically, he tried to recall his life’s details. And then today’s events. He remembered it all! At least, he thought he did. He remembered this morning, his lesson, even going to the Professor’s office with Umina. And the conversation about Niers’ past. But the question—
The young man went pale. He couldn’t remember! He could remember asking the Professor his question, remember the Titan walking back and forth, Wil’s own reactions and emotions, but the answer? It eluded him! Wil stared at Foliana. She was eating his message to his father!
“Lady Foliana! What did you do?”
“Hm. Erase your memory. Wasn’t it obvious?”
The Squirrel Beastkin [Rogue] looked at Wil. He was shaking.
“That was my answer to the Professor’s question! Why did—was it too great a secret? Why did you take it from me?”
His mind was a jumble. Was it something she had done herself? Her decision, overriding Niers’? Or—paranoia gripped Wil. Was this how the Titan safeguarded his secrets?
Foliana swallowed the rest of the paper. She looked at Wil as he tensed, aware she could kill him without any effort. She reached into her pocket—she was wearing clothing. Rather nice clothing, but all in dark grey. She pulled out a piece of paper, folded four times, and handed it to Wil.
“Mm. Here. Read this. It will explain.”
Then she turned and walked out of his room. Wil stared at Foliana’s bushy tail as the Squirrel-woman opened the door, nearly gave Venaz a heart-attack, and hopped off the balcony. Wil listened to Venaz shouting incoherently, and then at the bit of paper in his hands.
He felt a premonition. A stirring on his skin. His hands shook so hard he could barely unfold the paper. But then he looked at it.
It was a short missive. But it changed everything. Wil read it, rubbed at his eyes, and then read it again. In her room, Umina sat in silence, wondering, and the world changed for her. For Wil, it lit up. And he smiled and laughed.
Dear Wil,
A question asked on someone else’s behalf is no real question. Even one for family’s sake is a poor equal to the true desire I saw bursting out of you. If your father asks, you may direct his inquiries to me.
As to your truest question, and your little discussion in your bar, I don’t actually know the location of the most infamous shipwrecks like the Laleday’s Triumph with the Mooncaller’s Quiver, for instance. Even I would spare no effort to grab such an artifact.
However, I am aware of a number of sea-based locations that the Forgotten Wing company have never been able to explore thanks to those damn Dullahans and their sea superiority. Each one is a credible shipwreck or site where I am convinced something of value lurks, but has never been explored due to depth or danger. See the attached list.
Sincerely,
–Niers Astoragon
PS: Oh, and when you form a crew, try to pick a trustworthy [Captain], would you? [Storm Sailors] can be just as bad as [Pirates]. Also, try to be back with whichever classmates you take before the summer break ends.
6.56
The inn was dark when the traveller first arrived. No—not traveller. She was, in fact, a Gnoll cub. She had white fur. Her name was Mrsha.
This was her home. But she had been away from home. Just for a little bit. And she had come back just now. But, for however short her absence had been—a lot could happen while you were away.
The Gnoll knew it before she pushed the door open to the inn. She paused, cautiously standing on two legs to push at the handle. She sniffed the air. And then, slowly, she swung the door open.
The first thing that greeted Mrsha was an empty inn. It was day, but the inn was unnaturally still. Too quiet. The Gnoll cub dropped to all fours and hesitated.
Where were the guests? The staff? It was…she sniffed the air again.
No dream. But she could see nothing but shadows in the inn. Then, as she padded inside and the door swung closed through no help of her own, she saw the red.
Red. Drops of crimson on the floors. Overturned tables. Broken chairs. Mrsha stared at the destruction. Then, slowly, she looked forwards and saw her.
There was a body lying amid the worst of the destruction. Something had hit a table hard enough to split it. And lying there, was a familiar person. In the center of the red.
Something terrible had happened. Mrsha froze. Then she slowly moved forwards. She saw Erin Solstice, lying in the splinters of wood. Surrounded by liquid.
Erin?
A lot could happen while you were away. Mrsha stopped. Erin was breathing. But faintly. The Gnoll, eyes wide, looking left to right, still sniffing the air, stepped closer. Erin didn’t move. Her eyes were closed. Mrsha halted a few feet from her. She glanced around again and then patted the floor with one paw.
It made a faint sound. But she could not speak. Erin didn’t move. Mrsha looked around again. But the shadows were all she saw. She looked at Erin. Her fur was rising. Mrsha hesitated. Then she moved forwards. Her paws trailed in the red. She looked down. And then slowly, eyes wide. She reached out, for Erin’s face—
“Ugblaagh!”
Erin came to life and screamed wildly while her hands flew up. Mrsha leapt away and Erin lunged. Her arms encircled the Gnoll and caught Mrsha as she fled for the door. Laughing, Erin scooped her up. Mrsha glared up at Erin and began licking the red liquid on Erin’s face. The [Innkeeper] started giggling.
“Gotcha! Well, how scary was it, Mrsha? Hey! Hey, that tickles!”
The lights came on. Embers flared in the fireplace, and the inn’s patrons emerged from their hiding spots, from behind the curtains of the [Grand Theatre] at the other end of the common room, the kitchen, the staircase—Lyonette walked out of the kitchen and put her hands on her hips.
“Well?”
Erin set Mrsha down. Reproachfully, the Gnoll stared up at her. Then she held up her paws and curled up a few fingers. Erin’s face fell.
“What? Six outta ten! But I was such a good actor!”
Laughter. Some of the guests who’d come out of hiding were chuckling. Rufelt, the Gnoll [Bartender] of Tails and Scales, shook his head as he stood up.
“I believe she smelled all of us, Erin. If you want to fool a Gnoll for your—house of horrors—you’ll have to block our noses.”
“And ears and eyes. She could also tell you were breathing, Erin. And that it was sauce on you, not blood.”
“Well—I know that! But even for a bit, isn’t the illusion good?”
“Better actual illusion magic or actual blood. I’m afraid it won’t work. Gnolls can smell as fast as you can see. You’ll never get them this way.”
Erin threw up her hands as Ishkr walked over with a wet towel. She wiped herself off, grumbling and letting Mrsha lick more tomato sauce off her face.
“Well, that’s a bust. Back to the drawing board! At least we got Hawk.”
“That wasn’t funny! I was about to raise the alarm! And if you were a second slower I would have! Watch Captain Zevara would have burnt me to ash for a false alarm!”
The Rabbit Beastkin complained as he clambered out from behind an overturned table. Mrsha watched as Erin pointed a finger and the artfully broken table and chairs reassembled.
“Don’t worry, Hawk. Captain Zevara hates me anyways.”
“I wonder why. Can I have a carrot cake now?”
“Sure! Carrot cake for everyone!”
Only Hawk and Mrsha cheered. The rest of Erin’s guests who’d taken part in her haunted house idea as participants or unwilling test subjects looked dubious. A Drake regular with half a tail—it had been severed and was now a stump only a few feet long—raised his claw.
“Does it taste like carrots?”
“That’s the best part! It only tastes sort of like carrots. It’s mostly like sugar!”
The Drake brightened up.
“Alright then! On the house?”
“No—”
“Absolutely! It’s one cake, Lyonette.”
Erin waved at Ishkr. He looked at Lyonette first. Erin met Lyonette’s eyes pleadingly and held Mrsha up to add the silent appeal. The [Princess] sighed.
“Fine.”
“Alright!”
Everyone cheered that. Mrsha righted the table with Hawk’s help. Or rather, she sat on the table while the Rabbit Courier lifted it with one hand and clung to the edge, defying gravity and giggling silently. He had to smile.
The Wandering Inn was alive and well. Erin laughed as Ishkr came out of the kitchen with a carrot cake. Rufelt sniffed at the cake, noting the tiny carrots Erin had drawn on top.
“Hm. Looks sort of like the other ones.”
“Yeah, except when I cut it—tada! Orange! And you can see bits of carrots.”
“Ooh! Me first! Me first!”
Relc hurried into line, pushing people out of the way. He lifted Ceria up and dropped her to one side. The half-Elf protested of course, as did the two Gnolls and the half-tailed Drake veteran, but Relc simply pushed and they slid. He stopped as Mrsha cannonballed into one shin and a furry hand stopped him on the chest.
“Oh no you don’t. I asked, and I’m getting my cake after that heart attack.”
“Hey Hawk! Let me just get by you. I’ll finish my cake so fast you won’t even notice—”
The two jostled for position as Erin, rolling her eyes, sliced up the cake. Hawk was actually strong enough to push Relc, and they were so quick that it looked like a blur as they spun, pivoted, and ‘gently’ rammed each other out of the way.
“Thin slices because it’s for everyone. It’s extra healthy. Less sugar—although it tastes great! And carrot, which is good for the eyes and stuff. I didn’t even frost it all.”
“But that’s the best part!”
Relc complained. He and Hawk reached for the plate. Erin narrowed her eyes.
“Stop fighting!”
“Yeah! Get out of the way, you two!”
“Shut it whoever said that! I’m a Senior Guardsman and the first guest of this inn! I deserve first slice! Plus, that one’s the biggest.”
Erin made a face. She’d made the first slice biggest by accident by almost twice as much as the others. Hawk smiled.
“I’m not fighting with Relc, Miss Solstice. I’m just protesting a bully—”
“I’m just overeager for cake! It’s an addiction!”
Mrsha waved her paws between the two as they shoved around her. Erin sighed. Then she had a wicked idea. She turned and lifted the plate and cake like a discus.
“You want it?”
“Erin—”
Lyonette raised her voice warning, but it was too late. Relc and Hawk turned as Erin’s arm shot out.
“Go get it!”
Patrons ducked or swore as Erin threw the plate down the length of the [Grand Theatre]. It had far to go—the expanded common room could hold hundreds of people very comfortably and Erin had thrown the plate and cake far enough to hit the [Actors] on stage at the back of the room.
But it never made it that far. Hawk and Relc jumped out of line and the plate sailed ten feet before Hawk zipped past Relc and caught the plate. He swore—he’d been just a step behind.
“Hey! The big slice is mine!”
“Eat my tail, Relc!”
Hawk laughed and he came to a stop, already chewing down a bite on a fork. Relc glared at him.
“You suck.”
“I’m a Courier. Even the Gecko of Liscor can’t beat these legs.”
Relc opened his mouth, looked around, and made a strangled sound.
“Jerk! Hey! I’m at the front! Excuse me! Excuse me.”
Erin rolled her eyes, but she doled out the portions of cake to all of her guests. There were only about forty people in her inn at the moment. Put another way, there were forty people in the inn, and she was lucky not all wanted cake. Mrsha scarfed hers before Rufelt had even tasted his, and she peered over the table at his plate, licking crumbs out of her fur.
“Hm. This does taste different! I quite like it.”
Rufelt smiled as he tasted the carrot cake. Erin smiled.
“Whaddya think? Hawk? Good or not?”
The Courier smiled. He gave Erin a thumbs-up as he savored his last bite.
“I like it! How much for one?”
“Um, eight silver. Frosting runs you an extra four, but I can do any decoration you like.”
Rufelt’s brows shot up.
“Half a gold piece for a cake? Pricey.”
“Well—it’s unique to my inn for now. And it costs four to six silver for the ingredients alone depending on how much some of the stuff is. Two silver’s fair! Plus, Lyonette would kill me if I charged five.”
“Oh, absolutely not five. Seven or six would be fairer.”
The [Bartender] remarked thoughtfully. Hawk shook his head.
“I don’t care if it’s nine so long as it’s not an entire gold piece. And I’ll pay for frosting. How about…oh, can I make it a name?”
“Ooh. Got someone in mind?”
“Absolutely. I want to have something made of carrots that a date can like. Can you write Asheli? That’s ‘ash’ plus ‘e’, ‘l’, ‘i‘…”
Erin nodded. Ishkr was scribbling down the order on a quill with ink near the kitchen.
“It’s all on the order log! I’ll have it by tomorrow morning. You want hearts?”
Relc sniggered.
“Absolutely.”
Hawk was unembarrassed. He fished around in his jerkin pockets and came up with a glint of gold. Mrsha looked at it, deeply impressed.
“Can you change this?”
“Just one second! And would you like something else to drink? To eat?”
Moved by the speed of glitter, Lyonette was there and giving Hawk his change. He paused, thoughtfully.
“You know, Erin mentioned she’d made carrot bread. And carrot noodles…”
“Oh, the special orders? We can serve you a sample! Ishkr, bring out the two special dishes and some bowls! Free to everyone who wants to try it!”
Another cheer. Erin might have been surprised by Lyonette’s sudden generosity, but the glint in the [Princess]’s eyes was all avarice. Rufelt leaned on the table as Mrsha grabbed her plate.
“No licking! You can have some of the pasta or bread, but not too much!”
Erin scolded the Gnoll cub. Mrsha sighed. Rufelt laughed. He leaned over the table as Ishkr trotted into the kitchen to boil said pasta and heat up the bread. You couldn’t have carrot bread without it being warm and having butter, after all! He nodded at the patrons.
“Nice touch your assistant has there. Miss Lyonette knows how to work a crowd. Serve them food and have them buy drinks! Then again, Hawk alone will more than make up for the free food. He’ll pay anything to fix his carrot addiction. I’m a bit worried about him, to be honest.”
“Yeah. I mean, isn’t it a stereotype that rabbits like carrots? They don’t actually love it. It’s like—not good to feed them that all the time, right?”
“I uh, don’t know about stereotypes unless you’re intimately familiar with the Rabbit Beastkin tribe. Or…raising rabbits? I think it just tastes really good to Hawk. Like meat to Gnolls. Or fruits and Garuda. How do you make carrot noodles, by the way? Puree them and make a dough with some egg?”
Rufelt looked amused. Erin smiled with delight.
“Exactly! How did you know?”
“You don’t marry a [Chef] without picking up some tricks. By the way, she’ll be stealing that carrot cake as soon as I tell her about it.”
“You [Thief]!”
Erin good-naturedly wagged a finger. Rufelt grinned, exposing all his teeth as Lyonette came out with a steaming slice of buttered bread for Hawk, not Relc. The Rabbit-man perked up as he saw it was indeed carrot-based. Rufelt grinned totally unapologetically.
“Fair’s fair. Hawk’s a customer at Tails and Scales. We have to cater to his tastes! I can’t believe Lasica didn’t think of it—but then, she’s done all kinds of carrot-based dishes for him before.”
“Fancy stuff? Anything I can copy?”
“If you liked honey roasted carrots, or braising them in a stew—she could tell you all the ones she’s done for him. Between you and me, I think Hawk actually lays off the carrots if he likes someone. It’s just that he wants to meet someone who’ll eat some carrots among the Drakes he dates, so this is how he weeds them out.”
“Ooh, gotcha.”
Erin watched as Lyonette showed Hawk a tidy bundle of the carrot noodles she’d made and the Courier obligingly pulled out more coins. Erin smiled. It was another ordinary day. In fact, this might be a small record for how peaceful it had been of late. Aside from excitement worldwide, Erin hadn’t done anything crazy since Esthelm.
And even that had been fairly uncrazy by her standards. This haunted house idea was the biggest thing so far. Erin didn’t know why she’d thought of it—it wasn’t near October! But she’d missed it last year and it was a fun concept.
“So, where’s Lasica?”
Rufelt looked up and shrugged.
“Shopping for tonight. I’m free.”
“You’re not joined at the hip?”
He snorted.
“Hardly! You have to give a lovely lady like Lasica time to herself. That’s how the relationship works, Erin.”
“Ooh. Gotcha. Advice from an expert! I’m not in on the dating scene right yet.”
“No? A nice young Human girl like you doesn’t have Gnolls and Drakes coming by?”
Erin coughed, turning red at Rufelt’s smile. He was better at teasing than she was! He and Lasica often visited the inn, despite the issue of teleporting from Pallass.
“Well, I mean, there was this thing with this Drake—and uh, Goblins. Word got around. But I’m not super into dating even when I was home. I had a boyfriend once—”
Thump. Mrsha had fallen off the table. Rufelt raised his eyebrows, not seeing Lyonette, Relc, Ceria, Drassi, even Ishkr all turn and look at Erin. She waved it off, blushing.
“Just for a bit. It’s hard. Dating, you know? I like chess more. Um—so about the haunted house! Thoughts?”
Rufelt obligingly changed the subject, ignoring the blatant curiosity from everyone else. He frowned.
