Drokor was waiting for them when Kaden arrived, accompanied by a three other elders. “You cannot leave. We did not ask for this, and do not understand why the Mercari would not let you finish what is begun.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Sara said. “We have to hand over to the new party or give up everything we’ve earned from the Mercari.”
“Unless,” Trella said. “I do what I damn well please. If I wanted to come here, I would have. I did. For all anyone knows, I just discovered that [Skeledeer] fat is a reagent and I’m coming back to get more. If I choose to make potions while I’m here, that’s my business. Where are you going to get potions?”
“There’s an [Alchemist] in the party coming in,” Sara said. “He or she will be able to brew [Fire Soul].”
“And they will put themselves at risk for our [Makur]? They will trade a tree for a mother with one beautiful calf and one hideous one? I doubt it.” Drokor seemed hurt. “What will you do with the Xorn bracers?”
“Take them with me. The Quest doesn’t have a time limit,” Kaden said. “Basu said something. That Kai Fen was a different man when she had his child. Give him a decade or three, maybe he’ll be different again.”
“A child by him. No child belongs to the father. But perhaps this is true.” Drokor went with them to the FarPortal. “Your beasts will not be happy far from their home. At least not the [Ulf]. Who knows if a [Skeledeer] can be happy?”
“I have a plan.” Kaden dipped his head. “Thank you. I won’t be able to wear my [Ulfen] armor except during winter, but I am grateful to the Resyr for making it. I want you to care for my [Makur]. Even the ugly calf. I’ll pay for it to be raised well and come back to check on it from time to time.”
“They are not just livestock, they are our life style. You’ll need to learn from us.” Drokur looked to Trella. “There can not be words worth what you have done.”
Trella quietly pulled out potion after potion, handing them to Drokor. “It’s your decision. But if you decide to cure the rest of the Resyr, I understand.”
Eve spoke softly, carefully chosen words, then shook hands, while Sara spent thirty minutes explaining key deals and expectations, as well as cargo discussions.
Kaden looked around. “Where’s Ashi?”
“I asked for more time for Ashi,” Sara said. “She has chosen to remain and teach. I’ve never seen someone who detests children be so passionate about teaching them. The Mercari don’t care greatly about her presence, they want Eve, myself, and Kaden gone.”
“The mage will be welcome among us,” Drokor said. “We have many who are sick in the mind and imagine what cannot be. She will have company.”
The FarPortal flared to life, and a stream of Adventureres came out. They ignored the offered [Letidyr], activating bracelets that flared, surrounding them with a luminous aura of both fire and ice mana.
*How much you think artifacts capable of holding off the cold cost?* Trella asked.
*Too much.* Kaden preferred the Letydir, or his [Ulfen Armor].
Sara waved as a man surrounded by orbiting crystals stepped through. The crystals formed rings about him, rotating and projecting information. “Samuel?”
“Serious Sam,” He answered in an odd accent. “We’ll do handoff in a moment. Listen up! Everyone has their assignments. Move out, meet the clans, absolutely no fighting. We’re here to spread civilization, not act like the barbarians. Quickly, report back.”
“[Barbarians] are different than [Beserkers],” Kaden said.
Serious Sam had long black hair and wore a tunic with art painted on the front. The cat was recognizable, as was the [Unicorn], but no cat beast fired mana beams from its eyes. He gestured, and his crystal array swung around behind him to form a map that grew larger with more detail every second. “Don’t mind the map, as the [Rogues] move out, it’ll get more up to date, and then Hal will be able to make recommendations on peace strategies. Any attacks will be seen before they even begin. And ended before a drop of blood is spilled.”
Sara handed over a scroll. “These are logs of current deals. We’ve had difficulty convinving everyone to trade with the Resyr, but they’ll come around given time.”
“Well, the solution to that is simple. [Junk in the Trunk!]” Sam reached into Inventory and drew out a club that rippled and blazed with mana, then tossed it to Drokor. “You can trade that, right? For nuts, or maybe some squirrel meat or something? It’s plus twenty to strength if your intelligence is below ten. Should be perfect.”
Eve crossed her arms. “It’s not so simple. Long term stability requires agreements from each clan.”
“I won’t tolerate people being uncivilized,” Sam said. “That’s why I volunteered to come. I don’t want gold. I don’t want loot or even experience. What I want is everyone to sit back, chill—get it?—and give up their shitty dreams of selling snowcones to the world in some interdimensional ice-cream truck.”
Warning: You have exceeded your allotted time.
Consequences will commence in five minutes.
“We have to be going,” Sara said.
Kaden didn’t hesitate. He knew exactly where he was headed. “I’m going to Samarna, there’s the [Druid] Grove Marcus and Ydra belong to. I’ll have my [Ulfen Armor] cleaned and it’s not like I can even wear armor there. It’s like being baked in an oven.”
“Let’s go.” Trella took his hand and stepped through. Behind him, Garm slunk along, and the [Skeledeer] limped on three feet.
A wave of heat like a Blast Furnce had Kaden stripping his Ulfen Armor as he stumbled off the FarPortal stone. And through the Soul bond, he performed the required juggling, summoning Trinity and dragging Garm into his soul so the poor [Ulf] wouldn’t die of heatstroke.
Trinity’s scales flushed red in the warmth, and she stretched high, then flinched as she sniffed Kaden. “I know!” He stored all his [Ulfen Armor] and put on coarse cloth shorts.
Vip joined the party, dancing around Eve’s feet as she coughed. “I’m sorry, love, I need to change, and for that I need privacy.”
“I don’t mind heat or cold in normal extremes.” Sara’s Horror nipped at branches that encroached over the FarPortal. “Shouldn’t this grove have someone present to greet us?”
Kaden shook his head. “We’re in the Southern Islands. And trust me, we’re being watched, it’s just not by people. May as well show yourselves.”
Two of the nearest palm trees rippled and rocked, roots waving as they tore up from the sand. What had looked like coconuts were now brown, husky eyes.
[Palminder - Guardian Hybrid]
The Palminder is a distant cousin of the Drydel, never quite as popular but far easier for tropical druids to tame and train as servants. Their utility as more than scouts has always been in question but their ability to blend perfectly even to those detecting stealth has saved more than one southern kingdom. These palminders are more plant than beast. Your skills will be less effective.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
*@AAA___#^$&*
*Beast Knowledge. It ain’t a beast.*
Kaden waved to the nearest one. “Marcus and Ydra know me. We just came from the north, with the Beserker clans and I was looking for a place to thaw out and clean up. Can you smell? Probably not.”
“Consider yourself fortunate,” Sara said.
A bare path Kaden would hardly call a game trail split open, and a green vine poked up to wiggle like a finger, leading them on. “Either it’s a guide or it’s a trap. One way we find rest, the other we get XP.” Kaden had barely spoken before Trinity lumbered down the path, pausing only for her serpent head to look back and whistle.
For nearly ten minutes, Kaden made his way through the jungle with Trella just behind him. She gripped his hand. *Don’t look back. Eve couldn’t stand the heat and is changing.*
*If I wanted someone to look at, I have you,* Kaden replied. *Say when we continue.*
A few moments later, Eve spoke. “Thank you. I have always cherished my robes. They were the first possession I received when I set out on my own. I was dressed for Egalion, not Verona’s winter.”
She’d changed into a simple Healer’s white, though as Kaden stared, the pristine white changed to a tinge of pink—then outright pink, then magenta.
Sara gasped and shuddered as a crimson stain blossomed out from Eve’s heart until the robes were the color of fresh blood.
Eve shrugged. “White isn’t really my style anyway and Nurav doesn’t want me mistaken for some loving healer of a lesser goddess.”
A distant buzzing grew louder and louder. In a flash of vibrant green and blue, a dragonfly as long as Kaden was tall buzzed through the canopy, keeping its distance as it surveyed the group and then flitted away.
“Enemy?” Sara asked, drawing a bow.
“Not friendly,” Kaden answered. “Insect emotions are hard to read.”
The root-vine had burrowed back under the ground, which left Kaden undertain if this was the prelude to an attack or a case of ‘otherwise-occupied.’ A moment later, the trees shook and parted as a short woman strolled by. On one shoulder sat what was either a tiny tornado or a minature jaguar. The debris blown about by the storm formed the shape of a kitten. The woman’s hair was an odd mix of black and white in patterns like zebra, and she kept it cut short above her shoulders. Like most druids, she wore loose tan robes that were less outfit and more a single flap of fabric cinched by a belt at her waist.
Kaden had seen Eclipse as a kitten and the panther grew larger in the dark. He wouldn’t underestimate the kitten-storm, and powerful people rarely needed to show their power.
Behind the woman, the earth split open, and a swarm of vine-roots waved, some wrapping around her, others probing the air and others clearly pointed Kaden’s direction.
“I told you there was a [Beast Master] scarred with metal,” the woman said to the vine. She glanced to them and strode forward, reaching to clasp Sara’s hand. “My third husband lives in the far north these days, he’s mentioned you and your party. The [Beast Master], his [Assassin] love, the only [Transfusionist] for the last century. And of course, you have a reputation, Ms. Scylla. I’m Warden Kemp, Druid of the Southern Isles.”
Trinity rumbled deeply, in essence, *Not my island. Druid of all of them but mine.*
“Yes, the island where your terrors reign,” Warden Kemp answered. “Ydra has been hunting poachers daily and she does so by my order. You and your kind are welcome here, Mother of Monsters, but you are welcome here by my decision, on my land.”
For a split second, Kaden held his breath. Trinity wasn’t the kind to accept others having control. Or to take into account power imbalances. But she looked away, bowing her armored head.
“I can understand you,” the Warden said. “I understand almost all beasts, it was my chosen Class Evolution skill, but they need to speak. The cappucins don’t. Ydra is very excited you’re back, and you’re welcome here, but please understand, this is a working Grove with so much to do every day. We don’t have time to lounge. We don’t offer exotic treaments, just the ones that keep our [Druids] on their feet. I can offer you peace and warmth and food.”
“Please,” Sara said. “We’d like that.”
“One more thing, we don’t allow undead beasts—wait.” The Warden had focused on the [Skeledeer], which had just caught up. “That’s what the smell is. I was sure it was you. Wait. Maybe it is you, too.”
“Not a lot of hot baths in the frozen north,” Kaden said.
The Warden laughed as she waved for them to follow. “That, we can offer. For all of you. You’re young and you look—and smell—exhausted. Groves are good for that. Have you experienced how peaceful life can be?”
Eve answered first. “No. What we’ve experienced was demon invasions, demon daughters ambushing Kaden, grahts, trips to Hell, drunken feasts where Kaden slept with other party members and [Ranger’s] apprentices getting their members torn off. Peaceful? Not precisely.”
“Olidar Kemmel…” The Warden spoke Olidar’s name like a curse. “That won’t be happening here. The demon part. Or the dicks. My proteges are both women. Everything else is up to you.”
###
Kaden tried not to scream as a hundred and eighty pound man used his body weight on Kaden’s shoulder. [Fortress of Stone] didn’t offer help, since the Warden had said it prevented the feedback senses people with the [Massage] skill used to ensure they were pushing the limits of the muscles. It was currently disabled, and Kaden missed it. “I said I’m good,” he wheezed. “I said I was fine with somewhere quiet to sleep. I said—”
Pain became white-hot agony as a nerve Kaden hadn’t known before screamed up and down his entire body.
“See? Damage from who knows when,” His torturer/attendant said.
“Stop whining!” Sara said. “This is an honor. You should relax and enjoy it.”
Kaden would have told her exactly where she could go and what she could do when she got there, but he couldn’t breath.
“You had mana-burn on this hand. Practically the whole arm, and your body has been compensating. Just lay still like this, the worst is over for now.” The [Masseuse] stood and clapped his hands. “Who is next? You, the lady with the snakes. Or are those some kind of Cosmic Horror?”
Kaden could only bask in the deep satisfaction as Sara covered herself in a thin sheet and lay down—only to writhe at a part Kaden could only call mild stretching. “She carries a lot of stress as Party Leader. Make sure to honor her extra well. There’s ten silver in it for you if you do,” Kaden said.
While they sat, Warden Kemp relaxed on a throne of vines, vines that pierced her skin at the shoulders and hips. The blood loss didn’t seem to bother her, as she meditated, occasionally asking questions. “Your Burning Dream Queen has moved deeper into the volcano range, so far only our fastest scouts have been able to find it. It built two nests and abandoned them.”
That made Kaden happy. It was frightening boss. Dagger Dreams were terrifying to start, engulfing them in fire only made them more terrifying in every way. “Any idea why it’s abandoning nests?”
“We think it’s becoming more dependent on Fire Mana. Is it true, you brought a Destruction Wyvern to the [Vivomancers] to modify?”
In between short shrieks from Sara, Kaden explained. “It can’t even eat without its aura destroying its food. I have a question for you. The Druids near Verona hate the plate in my chest.”
“Ours will, too, except that two of the tier three druids owe you, we have three tier four druids, who have lived long enough to start sacrificing their ideals, and I understand the desperation of wanting to survive. Don’t expect our younger set to be so kind.” The Warden rose and stretched. “Come. Walk with me, [Beast Master].”
Kaden didn’t hesitate. Vip dashed to his side, while Trinity rose and stretched.
“I’ll come too,” Trella said. “Your massage looks too much like the Sister’s stretching training. I don’t need to rest, I need to do.”
“How. Many. Stop! Potions. Ow! Did you. Make?” Sara said between squirming. “You need rest more than any of us.”
“I don’t want to rest. If I stop moving, I’ll never start again.” Trella’s tone dropped with each word.
“How about training?” The warden waved her hand in a circle. Her throne dissolve into a nest of root-vines. “Give us a thirty second head start. Rooty will try to entrap you. You have [Limber] so it’s not easy at all. You can [Shadow Step.] You have probably a dozen Deceptions. If you can escape Rooty and catch up, you’re welcome to come.”
“And if I don’t?”
The Warden pointed to Kaden’s foot, where a vine burst up to encircle it. “You’ll either cooperate or Rooty will make you cooperate. It can make a nice hammock, but it could also choose to hang you by your ankle. I suggest cooperating.”
“You’ve got a deal.” Trella crouched, focused on them. “Your time just started.”
Kaden looked back to find the diminutive Warden sprinting like [Terror Birds] chased her, and he followed, sending the [FalCrow] ahead to keep track of where he needed to be. Half a mile away, he ducked through wide leaves and slammed into the warden, which was like running into a brick wall.
“[Immovable] and seventy five attribute points,” She said without looking at him. “Your love will discover something about Rooty momentarily. He covers this continent. Completely. Also, he has sap that can sedate victims. Not that he’s interested in eating your love. Rooty’s a cannibal. He only eats other plants.”
Trella shrieked in frustration, followed by a sound that could have been many things, but if Kaden were to guess, it was someone being dragged by a root-vine.
“She needs to rest. She was the only Alchemist for all twelve clans,” Kaden said. “What did you want to talk about?”
“Talk? Nothing. I wanted to show you. My title’s not for nothing. When the Cataclysm destroyed this continent, it created thousands of islands. Each is a prison. Some prisons are more open than others. But there’s one prisoner you’ll want to see.” She stood on tip-toes so her head almost reached his shoulder and whispered. “This is where the Life Dragon is imprisoned.”