[61]

“Why was a Doom Champion this far south?” I asked Izzy.

We walked alongside our horses, giving them much needed rest. The hills had taken a toll on all of us, but after the undead ambush, we were all too afraid to stop. That thing would have no trouble catching us again if it wanted. There was nothing we could do about that. However, the horde with it would struggle to follow. Undead were notorious for wandering off course. After all, that was the reason for our mission.

“Damned if I know,” Izzy said, shrugging. I think she was trying to remain tough for us; when she thought no one was looking, I saw her glancing back.

“I expected to face threats like that near the mountains, but not this far south. If we have more like that to look forward to, our chances of making it back aren’t looking so good.” I said, clarifying my concerns.

“It is strange,” Izzy admitted. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It is unlikely that it was more than an isolated attack. Chances are that the large galloping horses of the cavalry troops either woke the undead in that barrow up, or alerted them so that they could stage an ambush. For all we know, they were waiting for the soldiers to return.”

“We should have killed it,” Raxx chimed in. Out of all of us, he seemed the least worried by the ambush. The way he described his life at sea, that was hardly a surprise.

“Too risky,” Izzy said, shaking her head. “Whatever Harald did to it definitely took its focus away from us, but that isn’t enough. The worst kind of magic reinforces a Doom Champion’s bones and vitality. I promise you it outranked all of us—the aura was proof of that. I’ve never felt anything like that before.”

We all felt a shiver thinking about it.

“Well, hypothetically, what if that was not an isolated attack?” Joy asked. “Considering how many bad things are happening at once right now, I think it would be in our best interest to expect nothing less.”

Izzy sighed, then after a minute answered. “It does not bode well for our expeditions if core forces are being sent to attack a bunch of first years. It is possible, if unprecedented, that Gozmyr knew we were coming. Or at least, a warlock did. That worries me as much as you.”

“Can you alert the other teams? Just in case?” I asked. Gene, like the other team leaders, was the only person with a communication token.

“No,” Izzy said, shaking her head. “I have a long-range token with two uses that connects directly with Marwin. Using it before I have more information would be a waste of resources. Until we know more, we should put it out of our minds.”

Joy snorted. “Not even going to tell us to be more cautious?”

“Of course, be more cautious,” Izzy smiled grimly. “Always be more cautious. That is the most important lesson you can ever learn.”

Truest words I ever heard. If one thing studying monster lore had taught me, was that there was an impossibly large number of bad ways to die.

Along that line of thinking, we moved half a mile to the north of the hoof tracks we had been following. Instead, every so often Joy would ride back alone on her stupid horse Bubba to make sure we continued in the right direction. Our purpose was to go further north, anyway, and to be honest, I still hoped that we never found Reynold.

Ideally, we would miss both the troops and the buffoon all together. If Gozmyr forces headed south to intercept our excursion forces, then being in the north was likely the safest place we could be. That was what I told myself, at any rate.

The weather was cool, but the dry sun baked us into stopping. A rolling brook full of mountain water we came upon was too much of a temptation to pass up. Running peaceful water, and the distinct absence of hills, put us all at ease. Raxx, who I learned through conversation, had spent all his rank 1 and 3 skill points on Fishing and Navigation, caught us several large trout for lunch. Joy and I, well, mostly Joy, picked a few herbs for seasoning that we found scouting the area. After the harrowing day, a relaxing rest by the brook and freshly cooked meal was exactly the thing we needed.

Together, we sat in a circle in our makeshift camp while I blackened the spiced fish on a cast-iron skillet. It was Izzy’s pan, and I decided I had to have one of my own for future excursions. My time with Rollo and Saewulf had me cooking things on sticks, mostly; an inferior method if there ever was one. Thankfully, my E ranked skill in cooking guided me well enough to do the meaty fish justice.

I had just handed out the food when the strangest noise sent my neck hair standing straight up. A keening sound, almost like a soft wail, stopped me in place. The clamor grew progressively louder, and I along with the others searched for the source.

Except Izzy. Izzy was looking directly at Raxx.

I slowly followed her gaze to the Harak and realized that it was coming from his slightly opened snout! Fearing he might be under the effects of a paralysis spell, I reached out to touch him, and nearly fell on my ass when he shouted in my face.

“Welllllllllllll,” Raxx sang in a deep, and rich voice completely uncharacteristic of his normal gravely tone. His timing was perfect, making sure we were all giving him our full attention before starting.

“There once was a dread pirate named Raxx!”

“Who loved a maiden with big stacks!”

“Lo, she didn’t return the feeling!”

“And ran off with a sailor more appealing!”

“But he couldn’t make her climax!”

When we all recovered from laughing, Raxx continued singing stupid ditties while we ate our food. To my constant surprise, the beastman showed us yet another side of himself: that of a bard. Raxx could switch from singing a stupid poem to a soul-crushing ballad on the fly. His normally deep voice could reach quite high, more in line with his hyena-like laugh, giving him a range most human singers could never hope to match.

“Raxx, where in the abyss did you learn to sing like that?” Joy asked, clearly as awed as me. We knew he loved to fight, and had a prodigious talent with a saber, but no one could have expected that. It was like there was an angel lodged inside that big furry blue throat.

“Since I was a cub. I was the shipsinger on the family vessel. We test all Harak at a young age to see if they have a voice.” Raxx said, eating his fish uncooked. Sea Dogs loved to eat their fish raw, having no concern for parasites or other maladies. Apparently, it was a near universal trait for beastmen to be resistant against maladies of the stomach. A mage king had probably made them that way so that their beastman armies would be easier to feed.

“What does a shipsinger do?” Joy asked.

“Hmm, it’s kind of hard to explain. We remember the stories of the past and write new ones for the future. But the most important thing is we sing to commune with Sajon and the pack. It helps us steer the ships and appease the lord of winds for fair weather. We preside over eulogies for the fallen, and we sing to welcome new cubs onto our ships.” Raxx explained.

“Wait, so you are like a priest?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise.

“Yes, exactly,” Raxx said, giving me a wink. “Not like the stodgy priest of Erzaal that you know, with their celibacy and boring sermons. More like a suave womanizer that everyone loves and buys free drinks. Which you should do, by the way. Buy me drinks, I mean.”

His surprising act had the effect I suspect he intended. All of us, even Izzy, had relaxed, filing away our narrow escape from a higher ranked monster. Unfortunately, the mood did not last.

“Gene’s here…” Joy said with a sigh.

His bright plate reflected off the sun like a beacon in the hills. Joy had spotted him some time ago heading up the brook in our direction, but we did our best to ignore him and listen to Raxx. None of us were quite ready to move on.

“What are you morons doing?” Gene Pew asked from atop the warhorse he had commandeered. The animal was huffing mightily, likely from being ridden all night and all day. It was a good thing our team leader was not as stupid as he looked. He slid off the animal, leading it over to the brook before returning to us.

“Did you catch them?” Joy asked, ignoring his question.

“No, I was too late.” Gene said.

“Reynold’s dead?” Izzy said sharply, standing up and turning to face him.

Conversely, I almost did a dance.

Gene shook his head. “No, but I found a battle. Or the remains of one, I guess. They caught up and confronted the Kestev team several hours west of here. Reynold’s group killed an Ergentein trooper, or at least I think it was a trooper. The corpse was so charred by flame that it was hard to be sure. A bunch of horses were fried, too. Speaking of which, I’m hungry, got any more of that fish?”

“Anyway, after that, two or three horsemen headed southeast, likely toward Felbrigg or another town. I don’t know if they captured some of the group or were just after reinforcements. Not a stretch really, I mean we are in their kingdom.”

“And the rest?” Izzy asked.

“North, where we were going.” Gene said grimly.

“So, they could still be chasing them.” Izzy said thoughtfully.

“It makes the most sense,” Gene said. “There is no other reason I could think of for them to be traveling in that direction. Unless they caught them all and are coming after us next.”

“Why would they come after us?” Joy asked.

“Well, I mean, I am Reynold’s cousin. Tedric is my little brother.” Gene said, shrugging.