Chapter 9.1: Bandit's Cove

A low, threatening, growl echoed across the clearing. Scott rolled his eyes then glanced over to Rhea. His beautiful elven companion shook her head. There was nothing else that could be done about it.

The blood tracker snarled at Scott then eyed Rhea in a lustful manner. It was obvious what he was doing, though it would be less annoying if he wasn’t a player pretending to be from the tribe of the blood trackers.

“Stop that stupid snarling. You wanted to get sold at auction and I’m getting tired of your passive aggressive bullshit.” said Scott. The furry wolf man had made lots of aggressive noises, but he had not once attacked.

The wolf man snarled hotly at Scott then showed him his fangs. Scott rolled his eyes then raised his hand. “You really want to do this? If not, just shut the hell up and come on. The sooner we’re done, the sooner you can be bought by someone else.”

Yellow eyes flashed and the wolf man made his move. He ran forward and lept toward Scott. The sorcerer did not even bother to dodge. He simply raised his arm.

Sharp fangs bit down on his arm with great force and the blood tracker began to worry it back and forth in an effort to bite Scott’s arm off. After a full minute of making that attempt he looked up at Scott and saw only a bored expression. He had not taken a single point of damage.

The blood tracker let Scott’s arm go then sighed. “You’re no fun, you know that?”

“Yep, good old predictable rock.” said Scott lightly.

The wolf man snorted then backed away. “If we were the same level you would have lost that arm.”

“If we were the same level I would have set you on fire and left you here to burn.” retorted Scott with a smile.

The player with a furry-fetish yawned loudly and exposed his long pink tongue before glancing over at Rhea. He flashed her a wolfish grin.

“Try it and I’ll cut it off.” said Rhea pleasantly.

The wolf man whined like a frustrated dog then nodded. “Fine, what is it that you want with me?” he asked Scott.

“Simple, we are searching for a group of well-hidden bandits. We want you to try and find their trail.” said Scott.

Yellow eyes brightened considerably. “Well, that’s something at least. I doubted that you’d need me for my battle prowess.”

“You’d need to have some of that before I’d want it.” replied Scott in a sarcastic tone of voice. He expected the wolf man to start growling and being aggressive again, but the fanged man-beast merely laughed then nodded his head.

“Good point. Alright, if it’s tracking I can do that much better than you. Might even be able to work it into my backstory.” said the wolf man.

“Great. Well, let’s get going.” said Scott.

As they left the clearing outside of Eizen, Scott heard Ero whispering inside his mind. He tried to hide the smile that rose to his lips, but it was hard. The little fairy had said, “My, what a big ego you have grandma.”

The trip back to the lighthouse was somewhat uneventful. The wolf tried to make another move on Rhea and she had casually twisted his arm around and pressed his face into the dirt until he begged for forgiveness.

At the lighthouse, the group stopped a moment to take in the view of the early morning sun shining over the sea. It was quite the majestic sight. The background song, a soft and lonesome instrumental piece truly set the scene.

The moment was ruined by the blood tracker making snuffling sounds. He had his nose to the dirt and rocks nearby. He crawled around on all-fours like a wolf sniffing out a trail.

“Seriously?” said Scott. Did he have to track like that or was this just some weird player quirk?

Rhea shrugged. As long as the furry would-be alpha found the trail she did not care.

They walked around the lighthouse twice before the new guy in the group picked up on something. Quickly they jogged off toward a single rock on the beach.

When they arrived, the wolf man sniffed around the rock in circles. Scott was about to ask if he’d found the hideout but to his surprise and disgust the wolf man stopped moving then hiked up his left leg like a dog who was about to mark his territory.

“What the hell are you doing?” called out Scott.

The blood tracker turned his wolfish head toward him then blinked. “Oh, sorry.... force of habit.”

“I don’t have to touch that rock do I?” asked Rhea. Ero echoed her sentiment inside of Scott’s mind.

“No, with a bitch I mark my territory in other ways...” said the wolf with a wide fanged smile.

Scott’s eyes narrowed then he pointed his hand toward the rock and said, “Burn.”

The wolf man proved to be far more agile than he had seemed. He hurled himself out of the way of the oncoming fiery missile. Scott had not aimed at him, but he did want to make a point.

The boulder was hit with a powerful concussive blast of flame and force that sent it rolling sideways. Surprisingly, below the rock there was a hole with a ladder leading down. The group gathered around and Ero brought Scott’s attention to something just inside the hole.

Scott touched the destroyed set of ropes and springs. “You’re right Ero; it does look like this boulder was meant to be moved from the inside.”

“Yeah, they probably come out here, and then roll the boulder back into position. Would mean that there is another entrance.” said Rhea.

“What, no one’s going to thank me?” said the wolf man.

“Thank you.” said Scott sincerely.

“I’d rather the bitch thank me.” said the wolf man.

Rhea started to unsheathe her sword. She said, “I have a name. Use it.”

The wolf merely grinned at her then yawned in a condescending manner. He loved it when a bitch got uppity.

Scott noticed the interaction then decided to say something. “Wolf guy, you stay here since you’re too weak to be of use in a fight.”

The wolf glared hatefully at him then unleashed an angry growl. How dare this human say such a thing about him.

Scott winked at Rhea then hopped down into the darkness below. He did not even bother with the ladder as such a distance was nothing for him. He hit the ground and felt a light jarring sensation in his legs but otherwise he was unharmed.

Rhea hopped down next and she landed with supernatural grace. She smiled at him then blinked and jumped to the side. The wolf man had leapt down into the tunnel below as well.

“Oh fuck me!” snapped the wolf as the fall broke his legs severely. The shin bone of his right leg poked out through the skin and he bled heavily.

“Dammit!” cried Scott. He started to pull out a healing potion, but it was too late. The furry idiot died on the spot covered in his own life’s blood.

Rhea glanced down at the dead wolf then sighed. Life was a fleeting thing, and she had to think about the hardships that many people endured, especially their group. “Do you think we can get our deposit back?”

“Not till the asshole respawns. Man, what an idiot.” remarked Scott.

***