Chapter 77

Near a Crescent Shaped Lake.

Thrush

It drizzled. I didn’t mind the wet. Nor the cold of the night. Those things never bothered me. I waited with unending patience at the foot of the trail, waiting for the goblins to ascend the trail. I munched on dreambons and handed one to BarnacleEyes every so often. She paced around, complaining about Hawkin leaving. Between her and Hawkin, I wasn’t sure who was more distraught.

I think it’s time I repay the kindness Hawkin has shown me. The Fable Stone. Our contract with the goblins. I owe you a great thanks. I hope you will understand my gift to you.

I swallowed a dreambon whole and crushed it with my throat on the way down. I tossed one to BarnacleEyes and asked her if she remembered everything we talked about.

“Sure, sure,” she said. “Seven silver per barrel from the orcs. One silver per barrel from the goblins. Doesn’t make much sense to me, but you're the boss.”

“What else?” I said.

“Don’t talk to either the orcs or the goblins about the price. Just take the payment, count it quietly, load up the carts, and make sure they leave.”

I nodded and then took in the smells of the forest. The cracking bark of expanding, growing trees. The growing leaves and unfurling of spring life. The wet earth. The roots that scramble amongst roots. The sea breeze. Pollen. The wood of carts. The stench of goblins. The odor of an orc.

The orc appeared first and moments later came the goblins with their creaking carts. BarnacleEyes and I waited by the brewery until they arrived.

“You must be Thrush,” the orc said.

“I am.”

“Zik,” he said with a hand to himself.

BarnacleEyes forced her own introduction and shook the orc’s hand. Then she navigated everyone through the delivery. The barrels were counted and organized. I helped load them into the carts, and BarnacleEyes took payment from both the orcs and the goblins. The coin was there and she told the goblins to scram.

Zik didn’t leave right away. He lingered for a spell.

“I’ve heard rumors,” Zik said.

I waited and listened. After receiving nothing else from me, he continued. “Are they true? Did you really take a harpoon to the heart?”

“Not to the heart,” I said.

“Did you recover sunken ships?”

“Yes. All of them.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Ok,” I said with what I thought was a friendly smile.

The orc squirmed and his eyes bloomed with fear. I heard his heart rate increase.

“They-they say that there’s magic in these woods that keep the animals at bay,” Zik said.

“Magic?” I said.

“That’s what I’ve heard. That’s why there isn’t any game for days—maybe weeks.”

“That should be resolved tomorrow,” I said. “These forests will be quite different then.”

“So it’s true? The human has magic?”

“That’s true,” I said. “Hawkin has magic.”

Zik went on for a few more minutes, and I patiently listened. My part of our conversation was short and boring, but the orc didn't seem to mind one bit. When we parted ways, I found BarnacleEyes in the brewery gleefully recounting the coin.

“I’ve never seen so much at once,” she said, swinging her feet from her seat atop a barrel.

“Where are you going to put it?” I said.

“I’m giving it to you.”

“Let’s say I’m not here.”

“Ok, what’s the deal? You keep saying that. Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving. Tomorrow morning.”

“You’re leaving too?”

“Hawkin is staying,” I said. “I’m the one that’s leaving instead. I want you to leave him a message if you could. Can I trust you with that?”

“Trust me? Of course you can trust me! I’m trustworthy!”

“I want to give something back to Hawkin as a thank you for everything he’s done for me. This wilderness means a lot to him, so I’ll go looking for the cowbell root instead so he can stay here. I’m faster. My senses are made for hunting anything. Plus I get to be a traveling merchant. It will help me level up my inventory so I can carry more smoked fish.”

“But, we’re supposed to be a team,” BarnacleEyes said softly.

“I’ll return faster than Hawkin would if he went instead.”

I consoled BarnacleEyes for a few minutes when sadness came over her. We talked quietly while I explained things again and shared my message for her to relay to Hawkin. We then spoke of my return with the aim of giving Hawkin the cowbell root as fast as I could.

“Why don’t you meet him on the plane that he goes to everyday? Take a few bottles of the planes cutter beers with you. When you have the root, you can meet him on the plane and give it to him there.”

“That’s an idea,” I said. “A good one, but Hawkin told me not to go there. He said I wasn’t welcome there. That the gods don’t want me there. For good reason.”

“That’s stupid,” BarnacleEyes said and she swung her feet for a few moments before continuing. “Why don’t you bring some with you anyway? Then you can use your merchant skill to make someone else do it?”

I adopted the idea without hesitation. Out of respect for Hawkin, I wouldn’t go onto the ethereal plane, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hire someone else to do it for me.

After our conversation, BarnacleEyes and I decided that she could hoard the coin in an empty barrel in the cellar of Hawkin’s cabin. We picked one out and I punched a slot in the lid so she could dump the coins in.

“If you want any for yourself, feel free to take as much as you’d like,” I told her.

“Are you serious? Can I take all of it?”

“If you want. If it’s more useful to you, then take it.”

“You’re joking.”

“Build a hoard if you like. Doesn’t every goblin captain have a hoard?”

BarnacleEyes burst into tears and hugged me. Her tears wet my fur. She sobbed and laughed and told me she’d work hard to be the best captain ever. I hugged her back and quietly listened.

When she was back to her cheery self, she told me she’d see me in the morning, and clomped away in her oversize boots. I wouldn’t see her in the morning. I’d be off on my adventure by then. My plan was to enjoy a beer with Hawkin before he went to sleep, and then gather everything I needed and head south.

“Psst,” Boggo said from a tunnel in the wall.

The coast was clear and we sat together to shoot some dice for a few rounds, to talk, and to practice some of my merchant skills. Everything was jovial between us until I broke the news that I would be leaving in a few hours.

“Why?” Boggo said.

“I’ll be looking for a root,” I said.

“Why didn’t you ask me? If it’s underground, blue besties know all about it. What root are you looking for?”

“Cowbell root. The leaves have metal veins and they make a sound when the wind passes through them.”

Boggo pondered that for some time while we silently shot dice. Then without a word, he left his affairs behind and scampered off into a tunnel. He returned half an hour later.

“Glad you’re still here,” he said after wiggling his butt back into his cushion of blue fur. “I spoke with some of the other besties. None of that grows around here. It sounds like something the red besties might know about. You might want to check with them.”

“Where are they?”

“Near the amethyst mines.”

“Where’s that?”

“Hmm. All the landmarks I can give you are all underground.”

I knew none of them, no matter how many Boggo went through. He tried his best to help me map out the world via underground rivers, cave-ins, ore deposits, mineral and gem caves, and aquifers. The only helpful hint was that the cowbell plant might grow near a crescent shaped lake.

“Maybe,” Boggo amended. “It might grow near something like that. I’m sorry I can’t be much more helpful.”

“I appreciate it. You’re sure it’s south of here?”

“Oh yea,” Boggo said. “Way, way south of here.”

“Thanks again,” I said. “Let’s play a few more rounds. After that, I’ve got to pack things up.”