Chapter 3

Duren set the crate down in the small pile of boxes that were deemed unworthy of attempting to cart back with them. The Wagoneers hadn't wanted to leave anything, but when Michaeleen, the apparent leader of the defending trio had demanded they make room on the wagon for his two comrades or he would leave them alone in the wilderness and carry them back himself they relented. One of the two, Corinth, the male, hadn't made it, from the looks of it the cyclops had snapped his spine, and caved in his rib bones, If Duren had to guess he would say it looked like his own bones had punctured his lungs, or perhaps even his heart. He lay peacefully in the back of the cart, under a white cloth stolen from the broken cart. The cart's other occupant probably wished she was dead.

Duren had thought she was, seeing as she hadn't moved since she had been hit by the cyclops's club, hadn't even stirred, but when he and Michaeleen had turned her over gently, she had woken up screaming before vomiting all over and passing back out from the pain. Moving her to the cart had been a long and audacious process, seeing as any movement that jarred her even slightly was enough to wake her up and start her screaming like someone was ripping her limbs off. Eventually Duren and Michaeleen were able to get her loaded on a soft pallet of fabric and they turned the cart around, making the best time they could without jostling the injured woman.

Duren and Michaeleen walked beside the cart, one on either side as it made its slow deliberate limp back to the town from wince it had come. The first few minutes were tense, everyone straining to hear if the goblins would come back in larger numbers to finish what they had started. But after the third straight hour of relatively peaceful silence everyone relaxed slightly. As they walked Duren kept seeing Michaeleen glancing at him out of the corner of his eyes. After about the third such occurrence he decided to be direct with him.

"Yes?" he asked, looking over at Michaeleen. The man was dark-skinned, not as dark as some of the southerners he had seen with fully black skin, but somewhere in between that and his own complexion, his hair was silvery blonde and it was cut short and neat. He had golden eyes, slit down the middle like a cat's though no tail or ears to go with it, and strangely enough, he had a sort of citrus smell around him, it was strong enough for Duren to smell it even at a two-foot distance. According to the old man, some time in the past humanity had interbred with the Wilders that resided in the southern area of the continent. Those people had been beast-like, almost fully like a bipedal cat.

At some point in the past the two races had merged, becoming one race. Nine times out of ten a person would be born purely human, but there was always a small chance that a child would be born with some bestial attributes, like Michaeleen's eyes, or even a tail or cat-like ears on top of the head. This happened even when both of the parents had no bestial characteristics, conversely it also happened the other way around as well, where two people, perhaps both having all the features that commonly appeared; the eyes, the ears, the tail, and on the rarest of occasions; digitigrade furred legs and clawed arms and hands up to the elbows, even if two such people were to have a child it was nine times out of ten going to be human-looking. That was just the way of things, it was all random, it could lay dormant for six or seven generations and then all of a sudden the great great great grandkids had a tail.

"Yes what?" Michaeleen asked, feigning ignorance, he had to talk a little louder to be heard over the rumble of the wheels of the wagon on the road.

"You keep looking over at me when you think I am not paying attention, what do you want?" Duren asked, glancing over at him; Michaeleen was silent for a time.

"It's just-" he paused to gather his thoughts before trying again. "It's just, I guess I never thought people actually did that," he said.

"Did what?" Duren asked, feeling more confused, not less with every word that came out of Michaeleen's mouth.

"You know, ran up a cyclops and stabbed it in the eye, that's like something out of a legend or something, never thought I would see that, and it was just so quick I mean-" he trailed off, now openly staring at Duren as they moved. Duren felt his eyebrows rise.

"What, is there a better way?" he asked and the guy looked at him with open surprise. "So far that seemed like the easiest way to take them down that I know of," He supposed there could be a better easier way, there typically was when it came to things like this. "How do you normally take one down?" he asked, looking over at the man in question.

"That is only the third one of those I have seen," he said with a strange look on his face, "the other two we were lucky enough to be in a large group, about fifty of us Odann," he looked at the blank look on Duren's face and went on to explain. "That's what we are, Corinth, Solvey and I are, members of the Order of Odann, people hire us and if we agree and the coin is good enough we take the job." Having clarified that up he continued; "Anyway, there was fifty of us, and we were able to get the beast down, and deal with the other monsters that had come with it, but we lost five guys," he sighed, "Second time was dicey, came out of nowhere like this one did, thank the goddess though it didn't have any underlings, five of us were able to distract it and Torya was able to shoot a crossbow bolt in its eye, it didn't go deep enough to kill it, but it did blind the monster, we all backed up, bated it towards a clifts edge with noise and got out of the way as it walked right off the edge." He looked at Duren, "you've killed more than that one?" he asked, and Duren half nodded half shrugged.

"Some, they are pretty common in the wilderlands, easiest way is to be in a tree above them, make some noise and when they look up drop down on them, if you can get them in the eye with a long enough blade then they are pretty easy." There was silence for quite a while after he said that, this time it was Michaeleen that initiated the conversation.

"How old are you?" he asked, he looked Duren up and down, apparently sizing him up for something.

"Seventeen, you?" Duren asked, turning the question back.

"Twenty-five," he answered, "Hey, your name is Duren right?" he asked, and when Duren nodded he went on. "Listen, Duren, when we get into town first priority is to take Solvey to the healers, soon as I get her to the healers I’m going to have to get Lisika, she will want to be there, after that I need to settle some of Corinth's affairs." he glanced sadly down at the shrouded body and sighed. "When all that is done, I'll treat you, drinks are on me," he said, "it's the least I can do, after you saved our asses back there." Duren smiled and was about to reply when an idea came to him.

"Say, can a person join the Odann?" he asked, and Michaeleen's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Yeah, of course, are you thinking you want to join?" he asked, there was a note of both approval and hope in his voice, "Listen, if that is the case once we get in town and I handle all the things I need to I’ll meet you at the hall, with my backing and your skill you will be set." It didn't sound like a bad gig in Duren's mind, getting paid to do what he normally did anyway. "Let's say the day after we get back, I'll meet you there, at the hall and we will get it all set up." nodding his assent Duren smiled, feeling glad to have a plan.