Rocky had no idea what was going on, and neither, presumably, did the two-legs around him. There were several, likely a half-dozen or more, and he recognised some of them. The one with the shiny hide stood out the most, of course, but there was one, just in the corner of his eye, that smelled of meat and blood, and had a huge square silver-coloured claw on his right arm. Someone screamed, and others joined in.

Where he had ended up he didn't know. And in that moment, he had no time to wonder about the hows and whys. But this was in the midst of two-leg territory, and it was dangerous to be in. So he moved.

Immediately as he took his first step, he crashed forward. He realised a little late that he’d been standing on some elevated surface, a narrow length of wood that cracked beneath his weight and now gave way as he’d moved. He pushed with his hind legs and aimed for the open space behind the crowd of two-legs.

Even with his best efforts, he didn’t get far. He was too heavy, too bulky, to make a big jump, and the wood beneath his feet ached under his weight, unable to support the enormous strain that he put on it. The best he could do was make a short leap, then barrel into the crowd. Following an intense hunch that it would be a very bad idea to indiscriminately kill two-legs on his escape, he chose to thrash his head left and right to shove them to the side. Instead of catching them underfoot and running them over, he knocked them away with the side of his horns, not head-on. It had the intended effect, and the path cleared out. Even the screams lessened a bit as the two-legs had the air knocked out of them, and the pushed ones stumbled into the ones behind them.

As he traversed into the open air, crashing and shattering sounds filled his ears, and he reflexively closed his eyes, which saved them from the sharp debris. Some kind of invisible wall? Come to think of it, there had been a vague distortion and shimmer right between the inside of the room he’d been in, and the outside… it must’ve been a barrier that he’d now smashed through.

New smells filled his lungs, replacing the scents of blood and meat in the room behind him. Dung. Smoke. Fire. Hay. It was an assault on his snout, but one saving grace was the odour of grass and leaves. It was barely noticeable, but unmistakably there for a sharp sense of smell like his.

Home.

He had stopped in the middle of the rock-paved path made by the two-legs, which was flanked by tall structures of stone to his left and right. Now, he began to run again, aiming to get away from everything, to run away from the two-legs territory. But just as he picked up speed, a feeling of anger spreaded in him, directed at something behind him.

No, at someone. The two-legs with a shiny hide. He had stepped into the path and taken a big plate of silver-shining hide from somewhere and held it before him, while yelling something. Rocky felt the anger taking over. It beat his survival instincts. The two-legs needed to be taken down first, nothing was more important. He turned, and charged at his opponent.

——

Fen felt horribly clueless as to what had happened - he only understood what had come of it. Somehow, the Ironback Charger, the very same creature he’d diagnosed as being as dead as dead could be, beyond any doubt, was alive and kicking, it had escaped the Bag of Holding that Essa had sucked its carcass into, and now they had a live Ironback in the middle of Silverrock.

Bags of Holding were not designed to capture and hold living beings: their intricate spatial magic was easily disrupted, and if broken, the bag ruptured. The result was what had happened here: Essa’s Bag’s contents had spilled out and been scattered around the shop, along with the Ironback itself.

It was by a stroke of sheer luck that he’d gotten away without far worse injuries: one of the items in the bag, it must’ve been a staff or club, had hit him in the head and made him stumble. With his hands bound, he had not been able to maintain his balance and dropped to the ground, which had kept him out of harm’s way when the Ironback had dropped off the butcher’s counter and run through the crowd into the shop’s display window.

The next thing he noticed was that Ser Rovik and Essa had been spared, and were reacting to the situation. Just now, the half-elf was bent over him, lifting her hand from his head. Motes of green light were flickering along her arm, the telltale sign of healing magic, but she was finished him. Barely sparing him more than a glance after making sure that he would live, she moved to the next injured person in the shop. Meanwhile, Ser Rovik stood outside, yelling at the Ironback which was turning to face him.

Ah… that must be [Taunt].

Not a commonly picked [Skill] but here it did its job wonderfully. The Ironback’s attention was entirely on the knight, who further stoked its anger by clanging his left-hand buckler against the side of his enormous greatshield. Even Fen felt its attention-grabbing effects, despite how the [Skill] was not even directed at him.

And… he was digging his heels into the paved road? To take such a heavy attack head-on was insanity! And right now, Ser Rovik was the only person that could prevent the beast from rampaging, at least until reinforcements arrived. Fen would be of no help, even if Essa removed the [Skill Seal] on him. The healing spell might have restored his HP but the sharp pain in his head whenever he tried to move kept him from doing so. He would only be a hindrance right now.

Worse yet: as the Ironback came back into his field of view he could tell that it was not just back to life but completely healthy. A pair of his arrows were stuck in its back, but the blast wound that had killed it was gone. Whatever internal injuries it had sustained must have healed similarly, because there was no other way that it could run like it did.

WHOOMPH!

The next moment, the three-ton beast slammed into Ser Rovik. The greatshield flared up and the air seemed to distort as the enchantments absorbed and dispersed the enormous force acting on it. Without them, the knight would have been tossed through the air, or worse, knocked to the ground and crushed underneath the Ironback’s feet. But here, the impossible was made possible and the knight was only pushed back a short distance as the beast was halted in its tracks.

“That was a nice try, but you’re going to have to try harder to break my guard”, he then shouted as he reared up a little and smashed his buckler into the side of the Ironback’s head. The creature reeled back from the hit, giving the Ser an opening to exploit.

Another enchanted item. There was no way a regular shield bash would hurt a creature of that size like this - let alone stun it, as the Ironback was. Add to that the heavy plate armour, which Fen had no doubt was also fitted with enchantments, the wand and whatever items he did not have visible - rings and accessories, for instance -, and the gap between human and Ironback shrunk down enormously. In fact, Fen began to wonder if the odds were not in Ser Rovik’s favour.

He revised that thought when he noticed that the knight had drawn another item from his belt, taking advantage of the creature’s dazed state. This fight was over. “Now how about you get another taste of this”, he said, the wand aimed square at his opponent. “[Amplify-”

Suddenly the Ironback whipped its head forward and to the side. Its horn scraped against Ser Rovik’s shield before slamming into his left hand. Fen watched in shock and horror as the force of the blow knocked the plate-gauntleted hand aside with such force that Ser Rovik lost his grip on the wand, and the thin wooden stick slipped between his fingers and fell to the ground. The creature immediately took a step forward, stomping its hoof down. Fen winced as the sharp crack of splintering wood filled the alleyway.

Before Ser Rovik could regain his balance and launch a counterattack, the Ironback capitalised on its advantage. It hooked its front horn around the side of Ser Rovik’s greatshield and sharply threw its head to the side, forcing Ser Rovik’s defence away and leaving his front wide open. Finally, it reared its head to attack…

… and stopped. Thick vines wrapped around its head, stopping all its movements, and more entangled its front legs before it could attack with them. It roared and thrashed its entire body around, but it gave Robert all the time that he needed to recover his bearings and back away.

“Are you unhurt, Sire?” asked a firm voice. Fen didn’t need to check to know that it was Essa who had spoken those words and casted the spell that was now entangling the struggling beast.

He grunted as, in spite of the pain surging through his head, he tried to get to his feet. The loss of their trump card, the wand, was one thing, but the Ironback… A shudder ran down his spine. The way it had all-too-suddenly recovered from the daze and precisely aimed its strike to disarm Ser Rovik and break the wand - those were not the doing of an instinct-driven animal. There was something very wrong here, and their victory did not feel nearly as certain anymore.

He needed to help.

“Good work, Essa”, Ser Rovik said. “Save your mana - I’m unhurt. What delayed you?”

“I ensured that the other customers were fine - it seemed like you had the fight in the bag. Fret not, Sire, I have recovered your wand.” She held up the item. “I used my vines to drag it out of the way before the Charger crushed it.”

So the splintering wood was just one of the vines being crushed. Fen breathed a sigh of relief, though he knew they were not out of the woods yet. Already the vines were straining, and the Ironback was beginning to shake some of them off.

“Very good. Then hold it while I slay it.”

“That is not possible, Sire.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember Sire, I’m a [Druid]: under most circumstances, we cannot attack an animal or assist in its killing. Even to [Bind] it is pushing the limits of what I can do - I cannot keep it restrained while you attack.”

“What? This Ironback is going to rampage through the city if we don’t stop it!”

Essa mumbled something under her breath and shook her head. “It will flee once you drop your [Taunt]. You should do so fast - I can’t hold it much longer.” Indeed, the Ironback was breaking one vine after the next, well over half of them already laid on the ground. She looked over her shoulder and met Fen’s eyes. “And you needn’t say a thing, huntsman - I know my healing wasn’t enough to enable you to fight again.” Again facing Ser Rovik, she continued: “As for the guardsfolk...”

“No, damnit, I need the kill!” he responded sharply. “If the guards get it, they’ll- just give me the wand.”

Essa threw the stick through the air. Ser Rovik caught it, but whilst he was busy, the Ironback gave off an angered roar and tore its back legs out of the vines.

“Watch out!” yelled Fen, but it was too late. As Ser Rovik turned his attention back to his foe, it pushed itself forward with both legs and smashed its horn into his chest. It did not have the force of a full charge attack but it was enough to knock him off his feet and onto his back. Before he could react, it pinned him down with a hoof on his chest, and another on his arm before he could aim the wand again.

“Do something!” Fen shouted at Essa, in spite of the horrid pain behind his eyeballs. It was as though someone was driving a knife into his skull. He fumbled, reaching for the bow on his back. With both hands bound, that proved impossible, and the pain was getting so bad that he could barely see anymore.

“I can’t”, Essa replied. She had a strained look on her face, Fen noticed - even through his blurred vision. The healing spells followed by the [Bind] must’ve taken a toll on her mana.

“It’ll kill the Ser!” As angry as he was at the knight for his refusal to accept Fen’s innocence in the prior incident, he did not want to see him dead either.

“It won’t. Just watch…”

The Ironback looked down at the knight beneath it, then at Essa, and finally at him. Then it huffed, lifted its weight off its front legs and turned away. Fen watched in disbelief as it ran down the street and rounded a corner.

It was gone.

“We will get another chance at its head, Sire”, Essa said as Ser Rovik got to his feet. “We need only prepare things.”

“I doubt it. If it makes it to the gate, the guards posted there will slay it… but how did it stop attacking and flee?”

“Did you not drop [Taunt]?”

“No! I was trying to keep it in place until I could get another hit in with the wand.”

“Could it have broken through?”

The Ser grunted as he lifted his helmet’s visor up and strapped the greatshield to his back. “Even other people have trouble overcoming the compulsion to attack when they’re affected by [Taunt]. An animal of base instincts should not be able to do that.”

And yet this one just had.

The implications of this, coupled with the display of intelligence Fen had seen, were worrying. If he didn’t know better, he would have taken the beast they’d just fought for a different one from the one that he had whittled down for Ser Rovik to kill this morning. The difference was like night and day. But he had seen the arrows in its back, the little scars on its horns, the spots along its back - he was certain that it was the same one.

He was not allocated more time than that to think about it, however. A group of guardsmen came running down the street, their heavy boots announcing them even before he could see them. Everything from the Ironback’s rupturing the Bag, to it running away, had taken no more than a minute, yet it had been enough to make quite the mess.

Ser Rovik looked at him. “I don’t know what foul play is at work here, huntsman, but this is not over.” Then he turned to face the guards arriving, to explain.

Fen just sighed. There was no point - nothing he could say would convince the man otherwise. He wanted to rub at his temples, but his bound hands put a quick stop to that. The guardsmen rushed to secure the site while the captain sent a message to the gatehouse - Fen could tell because the other man was barking orders whilst putting a hand to his head, a telltale sign of someone using mental magic.

The escaping Ironback would easily be taken out by the gatehouse guards - is what he would have said five minutes ago. Now, having seen the intelligence in its eye, he was not so sure anymore. He wondered what it was doing right now.

———

Rocky barreled down the path of stone, his fear fueling his flight. He knew that he stood no chance against the two-legs in their territory, that if he wanted to live, he needed to run.

His snout guided him to where the familiar scents of the forest were coming from, and his eyes warned him of the dangers ahead. Two-legs were all around him, but most got out of his way in time. Some two-legs had made structures of wood blocking the path, leaving too little space for Rocky to dodge them. Those he charged through, tearing them down as he did. He was more careful with the two-legs: where he could, he steered clear of them entirely, and where he could not, he knocked them aside as gently as he could.

The fear helped him now, as it had before. It reminded him that if he killed any two-legs now, even by accident, the others would come to take vengeance for them.

It also reminded him of the wooden stick, and how its glowing light was the last thing he had seen before the searing pain that his life had ended with. He knew it was dangerous. He also knew that the two-legs with the shiny hide had it, and would try to use it when they saw an opening. He felt a little pride at his quick thinking: moving his head to reduce the force of the bash attack, pretending to be stunned and giving the shiny-hide a fake opportunity to use it, he had not planned any of it but it had worked out for the best.

And it reminded him that fleeing was more important and that to attack the shiny-hide two-legs meant losing time to escape. The shiny-hide had done something to him to make him feel anger and a want to attack them. He had overcome it at the very end, but the rage had made him stay and fight until then. It had even clouded his judgement, kept him from using his abilities.

Dangerous.

There was something else, Rocky thought as he dodged a handful of screaming two-legs and rounded a sharp corner, losing much of his speed but picking it right back up on the straight path. Before he had knocked down the shiny-hide one, they had intervened. The other two-legs. He could tell that it was them who had controlled the plants that had bound him for a time, by waving around that big limb of theirs.

No, not a long limb. It was a long stick that they grasped. An item to extend their reach, or to empower their spells.

A tool.

He wasn’t sure how he knew that word. He just knew that he did.

More importantly, the other two-legs had spoken words that he had understood. “It will flee once you drop your [Taunt]. You should do so fast - I can’t hold it much longer. And you needn’t say a thing, huntsman - I know my healing wasn’t enough to enable you to fight again. As for the guardsfolk...”

Among the jumble of gibberish, he had understood those words as though they were spoken by another of his kind. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they were meant for him even if the two-legs had obviously responded to the shiny-hide’s statement. They couldn’t hold him for long. The ‘huntsman’ was incapacitated, he would not be a foe to contend with that time. Once [Taunt] was dropped, he would flee. More precisely, it was a statement that he would flee. Not should, would.

He slowed his run as he saw himself confronted with the final obstacle before him: a grey wall with two-legs standing behind it to watch for threats. At the end of the path he was taking, was a much larger structure that formed an archway with an opening through it.

An opening that was being closed as a wooden path slowly rose up from the ground to form a wall.

His time was limited. If he was caught inside the two-legs territory, he would not escape. His doom would be certain.

Rocky let the fear guide him.

He charged.

When the guardsfolk arriving at the scene had sent a quick magic message to their colleagues posted at Silverrock’s gatehouse, they had in their haste left things vague. A warning about a creature rampaging through the city was well and good, but without any qualifying information it was up to the local overseer to make a decision. Failing more specific orders, he had ultimately ordered a lockdown. The guards at the gate had shooed out what few folks were waiting to enter or exit the city, then they’d begun to raise the bridge. But such processes took time.

The drawbridge was only about halfway up when Rocky arrived, drawn by the muscle strength of four guardsmen that pushed a capstan-like crank to reel in the wooden structure by its mighty chains. Rocky didn’t understand the complex mechanisms, but he saw the open plains past the gate, and that the opening through that gate was slowly being closed. That told him all he needed to know. He built up speed on the downhill slope, charged through the gate and towards the wooden barrier keeping him from freedom at full force.

The outcome of a battle against an Ironback Charger was usually determined in the first few seconds: close the distance, and they were bulky animals whose slow, wide hits could be dodged by a nimble hunter. But if one was hit by their charging attack, they were usually done for: even a young Ironback Calf with the [Charge] [Racial Skill] could crush its opponent’s defenses if it got in a good hit with some wind-up.

But Rocky was not an Ironback Calf anymore, he had maxed out and ranked up [Charge] into [Iron Charge] over a year ago. And thanks to the descent of the hill he had built up far more speed than he would have been able to on a flat area. So, when he activated his race’s signature ability right as he passed under the gate, the resulting impact put even the heaviest battering ram to shame.

It was his saving grace that the drawbridge, considered to be the weak spot of a fortress’s outer walls, had been enchanted with durability and force-absorbing runes to mitigate that weakness, or he would have simply smashed right through in it. Instead, the bridge held but was slammed forward, which yanked the chains designed to pull it up. The guardsmen up top lost their grip as the crank’s handles were jerked from their hands, and without a counter-force to gravity dragging the heavy bridge down, that crank began to spin wildly as the chains spooled off. Nobody could grab onto the bars without risking broken bones - or worse. So, the crank was left to spin unchecked, the drawbridge thundered down to the other end of the moat, and the door was open.

Rocky fled over the now-open path, past several shocked peasants and through the open fields. In less than a minute he disappeared into the forest beyond, leaving in his wake a dumbfounded overseer, four bruised guardsmen, a city thrown into chaos and a number of townsfolk with light or moderate injuries. But, as though by a miracle, not a single death.

—One hour later---

Silverrock was in chaos in spite of the guardsfolk’s attempts to calm the population. Not that Fen could wrong them: a monster running through the streets and, from what he’d heard, having knocked over several merchant stalls and food carts on its wild escape, was not something one just shrugged off and moved on from.

The area outside the butcher’s shop was thankfully under control. A pair of guardsmen were digging through the destruction, a cleric tended to the injured, and more guardsfolk diverted foot traffic away from the area. It would probably not take long to have the street cleared: already a footpath into the shop had been cleared so that the guards had a safe way in, and the civilians a safe way out, without stepping on sharp glass pieces or pointy chunks of rock.

His eyes returned to the guardswoman standing before him. Even by human standards, she was young. She was probably born to a family of guardsfolk, or perhaps to a retired adventurer, if she was a fully-fledged member of the city guard at her age. But if she was entrusted with getting Fen’s version of what had happened, she doubtlessly had the [Skill] that guardsfolk had, which let her detect falsehoods and mistruths. So even if he wanted to lie, he could not do so without it being noticed. Of course, he had no reason to lie either.

“So”, the guard spoke. “Let me recap what you have told me so far: Ser Rovik, Miss Essa and yourself went out to kill an Ironback Charger. When the Ser used a magic item, the Ironback suddenly sustained an unexplained fatal injury. You dissected the body and declared it dead. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Please describe your findings for me.”

“The heart and lungs were destroyed, and the entire front was… blown out, I suppose I would call it.” He tapped his sternum with his thumbs, as best as he could with his hands bound. “If the destroyed heart and lungs didn’t kill it, the blood loss did.”

“So you were certain at the time that it was dead? No possibility of an ability like [False Death] tricking you?”

“I had actually considered that as well. But [False Death] only fools quick checks like listening for a heartbeat, it doesn’t hold up to an in-depth examination”, Fen explained. Well, he could guess why the guard pressed this point - the dead didn’t just ‘come back’ out of nowhere.

“I see. What happened next?”

“After the unexplained death, Ser Rovik believed that I must have done something to steal the credit, or otherwise trick him. He had Miss Essa restrain me until we could have my innocence verified. By his order, Miss Essa also collected the carcass into a Bag of Holding. Then we returned to Silverrock.”

“I understand that you stopped at this butcher’s shop. Did you go here immediately?”

“We first stopped at the city gates where one of the local [Priests] performed an [Augury] to check if the EXP I had was the same as in the morning. Like I say, Ser Rovik believes that I stole his kill, so this was his way of checking... Either way, I came out truthful but he was not yet convinced so he had me stay with him. I believe he was going to ask a guard to verify... But he first wanted the Ironback’s horns removed, for the bounty. So we came to this shop.”

“And that time, as you were staying with Ser Rovik during his errand-running, is when the incident happened?”

“Right. We had just entered the shop and Ser Rovik was speaking to the owner about the carcass, when Miss Essa’s Bag of Holding tore open and the live and healthy Ironback spilled out into the shop, along with the Bag’s contents. Amidst the confusion, it ran through the storefront to escape, shattered the glass and tore out some of the brick wall… it was quite the mess, especially with people getting trampled or hit by glass.”

The guard dismissively waved her hand. “Sixteen injured, property damage of at least fifty gold and the creature escaped, making fools of the entire gatehouse regiment. You needn’t mince your words, Mr Draelgar. Even without any deaths, miracle that it was, this incident is a complete shitshow.” She sighed and shook her head. “What happened next?”

“After it escaped from the shop, Ser Rovik and Miss Essa engaged it in a short fight but were unable to beat it. It knocked the Ser to the ground and fled down the road. That was the last I saw first-hand, everything after that I’ve overheard.”

“Hm. Well, your account of the events matches up with the reports of witnesses in the city and the gate guardsfolk. But…” The guard pinched the bridge of her nose. “I am supposed to ask you this per our squad leader’s order. Frankly I think it is ludicrous, but Ser Rovik seems to believe this to be some conspiracy against his person, that you are involved with. Tell me, do you know anything about such a thing?”

Fen inwardly groaned. He had guessed that Ser Rovik would use his influence as a knight of the barony to pull some strings with the guards, and have them ask him. It didn’t surprise him: he’d that the Ser’s earlier words were no empty threat, and honestly, this was a good chance to clear up all doubts. Still, a conspiracy? That WAS ludicrous.

“Let me frame it like that: I have no idea what happened today, if it was… some freak coincidence or an elaborate trick played on the Ser. As best I know, there is no conspiracy against him or his. If there is, I have no part in it. I would happily have completed the contract, let the Ser have his kill, get the bounty and my payment and wished him well. Besides, Ser Rovik did not suffer any loss from this, since he refused to pay me for the job or let me have the horn for the bounty.”

The guard sighed. “The payment for your contract is a matter you’ll have to take up with the Ser yourself, or through his lordship’s court”, she said. “That goes beyond what the city guard can help you with. Either way… all that you said is truth, so this ridiculous accusation can be deemed as proven false.” Looking rather tired, she passed a hand over her face, then continued: “Your statement lines up with the facts. And since you have thoroughly verified that the Charger was dead, I see no wrongdoing that you could be charged with.”

“Are there any clues as to why the Ironback was suddenly alive again?” Fen asked.

“No. Our assumption was that it was still alive, just unconscious, but you’re an experienced hunter and you say it was dead, so that falls flat. You have no clue either, I presume?”

“None at all, sorry… So, you say that I needn’t worry about charges?”

“It is ultimately the Baron’s decision to make, but I see nothing you could’ve done better, so I believe you may consider yourself in the clear. You may be summoned as a witness, but that is a concern for another day. For now, you are free to go, so please leave the scene.”

Fen held up his bound hands. “Before I leave, can you please pass the message that Miss Essa needs to lift the [Bind] and [Skill Seal] spells on me?”

The guard’s face took on an interesting mix of surprise and annoyance. “What? I thought those were ours! I swear to… here. [Cleanse]!”

The vines holding Fen’s wrists broke into wisps of light and dissipated, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt his [Skills] coming back to him. “Thank you, officer. I’ll leave now then.” He shifted on his feet while rubbing his sore wrists, and began to walk.

“Don’t you live in the lower district?” she called after him. “Why are you going uphill?”

“I need to go to the castle. I have some business there.”

—Later—

When Fen arrived at his home, he found a human boy waiting for him outside. A familiar face, he thought as he braced himself and walked closer. Seeing him approach, the boy cleared his throat and stood straight as a candle.

“Mr Draelgar, I bid you good afternoon. I am a Squire of Ser Rovik and-”

“I’m aware, Squire Vincent. This is the fifth time you’re introducing yourself to me. What can I help you with?”

The boy put on a grimace, but continued. “Ser Rovik has sent me to speak to you about the leashing contract.”

“The contract that he claims I broke and thus is not valid?” Fen asked.

“The Ser says that the contract is still valid, given that new facts have come to light. As such, the Ser… actually, I’m not supposed to waste my time explaining this to you. I’m just to inform you that I shall fetch you come tomorrow, to get the leashing job over with.”

Then reaching into his doublet, the squire added: “The Ser has also given me this to pass to you, as a gesture of goodwill after the day’s misunderstandings. Fifteen silver coins - half the bounty for an Ironback horn as a generous upfront payment, to tide you over until the contract is completed and you can receive the remaining payment in full.” He produced a small purse, clinking with coin, and held it out.

Fen’s eyes widened a bit, and he lowered his voice to a sharp whisper. “I can’t take that. Put that away before someone sees you with it, boy!”

“What? Why not?” the squire asked, but at least hastily obeyed Fen’s request. Perhaps he too realised that waving around a bag of money in the poorer district of Silverrock wasn’t the best idea. “And besides! I am a knightly squire, not a ‘boy’!”

“I’m not… no, never mind. I think it would be better to discuss this with Ser Rovik himself. There are matters that can’t be cleared over a courier.”

“What’s there to discuss? You have a job to do.”

Fen pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just… take me to him. Is he at his home?”

“He’s at the barracks nearby, to discuss some matter with the captain. He will not be pleased that you trouble him again, but if you insist, it is your own neck that you’re putting on the line… Follow me.”

The barracks. It was more like a small town within the city, a humble name for what was really Silverrock’s guard headquarters near the gate. Ser Rovik was probably discussing the incident with the captain… it was none of Fen’s business, at any rate.

Going with the squire, they passed through the gate and headed to a round tower that was built onto the city’s outer wall, allowing for quick access onto the ramparts if needed. The boy went in to check, then a minute later came back out. “Go in”, he said simply, waiting outside as Fen stepped through the doorway.

Inside was a round office built into the foot of the tower, where the Ser and his attendant were sat before a desk. There were some city maps stacked on the side and the empty chair behind the desk was pushed back, so it was likely that Ser Rovik had already spoken with the guard captain, and was waiting for something. Though right now, he was looking at Fen with an annoyed frown on his face.

“You’re disturbing an important conference, huntsman”, he said. “You’re lucky that the captain had to leave momentarily right before you arrived.”

“Apologies, Ser. There is a matter I need to discuss with you directly.”

“And you couldn’t have done so earlier, instead of breaking the spell bindings and running off?”

“The city guard asked me to vacate the scene, so I left”, Fen replied. “Plus, it was a guardsman that broke the bindings, when I asked them to speak with Miss Essa about undoing them.”

“Quibbles”, Ser Rovik said. “You know I wasn’t done with you.”

“I couldn’t well have opposed the guards' direct order to leave, Ser.”

“Then you should’ve waited and come to find me later”, he snapped. Still, he made no motion to chastise Fen other than with words. Even a knight’s political power had its limits, and Ser Rovik knew better than to go directly against the authority of the guard in the midst of their barracks.

“Either way”, he continued, “I don’t see what there is to discuss. This was an unfortunate misunderstanding, which I will admit I reacted rather strongly to. People in my position always have a target on our backs, I’m sure you understand. Still, I’m glad that it is now cleared up, and you are owed an apology for the accusations. But outside that, there is no problem, is there? The Ironback is alive somehow, so we’ve just to slay it again. Then I get the kill, you get your pay and we can put all this behind us.”

“I apologise again, Ser, but there is a problem: I cannot accept the job”, Fen stated.

“What do you mean ‘accept’? We already have a deal in place”, Ser Rovik pointed out.

“We had a deal, Ser. That one is broken.”

“Like I said, that was an unfortunate misunderstanding”, Ser Rovik said with a nod. “Given that I thought at the time that you had set me up somehow, I believed the deal to have been made in bad faith. That is all straightened out… But I’m well aware that spoken words are fleeting, which is why I had my squire hand you an up-front payment to smooth things over. Did he not give you the money?”

“He offered it to me, Sire, but I actually refused it and the associated offer to enter a new contract.” He made a point to call it ‘new’. “Your squire still has the coin.”

This made Ser Rovik put on a frown. Up until then, he’d kept a friendly face, now he looked more serious. “You refused? I thought you needed the money. What reason have you to not take it?”

“Well, you would be correct, Ser. Voiding our agreement put me in quite the bind, with the upcoming taxes to pay. Truth be told I didn’t even believe you would want to hire me again. So I was left with no choice but to take another offer.”

Suddenly, the lumbering knight was standing. He’d gotten up so sharply that his chair fell backwards with much noise. His tone was very sharp as he asked: “You gave the Ironback away to somebody else?!”

“No, Ser. I did not arrange a new leashing job... I mean that I took a new position that does not allow me to take on outside work.”

“A new position.”

“As Barony huntsman and gamekeeper.”

There was a full five seconds of silence as Ser Rovik digested what Fen had just told him. “You… it… You have taken up the gamekeeper office for the Silverrock barony? Why?”

“Well… His lordship had actually made me an open offer a while ago, but I had thus far turned it down as the freelance hunting work suits me better. However, I depended on the money that our leashing job this morning would’ve brought in, to pay upcoming taxes and keep myself afloat. When you voided the agreement, I thought you would be too soured to want to hire me again, and I could not count on the sudden windfall of a new opportunity, so I chose to approach his lordship the Baron and accept his offer of stable employment.”

Essa eyed Fen. “Huntsman… you’re withholding the truth. There are ulterior motives to your decision”, she said with an icy tone to her voice. Ser Rovik looked at her over his shoulder, then back at Fen.

“Ulterior motives? Is that right?” he asked.

Fen feigned innocence. “What do you mean, Miss Essa?”

“You could have hunted down the fledgeling Ironback yourself, if money was the only reason you needed the job. A bounty of 30 silver would have covered your taxes with some to spare - and that’s without counting additional rewards for bringing down a creature that caused the city a lot of trouble. Could it be that… ah, but of course…”

The penny had dropped, it seemed. Fen chose to not let her speak her realisation out aloud, however, and steered the subject back: “The Ironback is likely to have gone into hiding to lick its wounds. Hunting it down would be a long and uncertain process. Fighting it would be even riskier… you have fought it yourself, you have seen how it was changed. And if, against all odds, I managed to find it and kill it, who’s to say it could not come back to life a second time? There were too many risks for just 30 silver coins in bounty and a potential but uncertain reward.”

The reason that he could see Essa had figured out, however, was different: he was worried about what the knight might do next. His reaction was surprisingly mild, but he could just as well have decided to strong-arm him into doing more work. Fen was a simple commoner. If the knight forced him to complete the contract then stiffed him on his pay, he’d be out of luck: the nobles mostly kept each other in check, and the common folk were helpless to their whims. They usually played by the rules, but after today’s disaster Fen knew he was squarely in the knight’s sights, and he couldn’t guess what Ser Rovik thought of it all. So he had chosen to ensure his safety, by manoeuvering himself into a position where he had the Baron of Silverrock backing him.

As a level 20 [Hunter] and with years of experience, he could take on more dangerous and well-paying jobs to make a good living, though it was less steady. In comparison, the gamekeeper position had a stable pay and came with rules that offset the benefits.

One of those rules was that he could not do work that competed with his position, such as setting up hunts and collecting pay for them. It was why he had refused Ser Rovik’s offer. And given that as gamekeeper, his boss was the Baron himself, Ser Rovik’s position of lesser nobility would not let him override that rule.

“It appears to me that you are, as humans say, cutting your nose to spite your face” Essa remarked. “Ser Rovik is an honourable man, your fear of him is unsubstantiated.”

“Think of it as you like”, Fen replied. “I had to make a choice, and I decided what’s best for my wife and myself over risking it all trying to slay the Ironback and hoping that Ser Rovik would not be sour at me.”

In the meantime, the knight’s face lit up as he, too, realised what Fen was saying. He looked at Fen again, and asked: “Is that really it? You believed that I would not act with honour, so you fled into his lordship’s arms? Do you think so low of a knight, huntsman?”

“Well Ser, with all due respect… you did have me arrested over the loss of some EXP.”

“The EXP is not- no, never mind. Look, huntsman, our agreement predates your employment. You’ll just have to explain that to his lordship, and we can wrap things up. I can double your fee, if you insist on being sour about today.”

Fen wanted to groan. “Ser, you cannot insist that the agreement is still in effect. You declared it invalid yourself, actually.”

“Based on false assumptions. So what is your stance, huntsman? We need not beat around the bush here… do you want an apology? Reparations? Something else?”

Fen shook his head. “Ser… your kind offer is appreciated, but I did not come to coerce you. If I took your money now, it would be considered a bribe. And I don’t think his lordship would accept the reasoning that the agreement that we had was ‘un-cancelled’.”

Essa chose that moment to speak up. “If it pleases you, Sire, I can have a written letter of apology drafted for you. We’ll send that out along with a revised offer to the gamekeeper’s office.”

Fen wondered what her plan was. Bold as it was of her to say this right in front of him, an apology letter would let Ser Rovik pretend that he was very sorry about the misunderstanding with little actual effort on his part. A good wordsmith could pen the most heartfelt of letters in an hour and make it sound like it came from the knight’s own hand. And it would make no difference, he thought he had made that clear.

So he insisted. “I’m sorry, Miss Essa, but his lordship’s rules are clear.”

“That goes without saying”, she replied, giving him a charming smile. “I mean to say that this offer would be made in hopes that we can put this incident behind us and work with you, in your position as gamekeeper of course, to take down a dangerous beast. Surely you too are worried that an Ironback Charger capable of inexplicably resurrecting itself is a potential disaster that needs addressing before it grows into a problem to the barony.”

So quick thinking on her feet. He wondered what she was doing in a backwater place like Silverrock… Fen wished that he could speak with her and hear more of her story. Was her presence due to an arrangement with Ser Rovik’s family? Sadly, he couldn’t very well invite her over for tea with his wife and himself, given their respective positions.

He chose to give a non-committal response: “A kind offer, but I can’t give an answer without due consideration. Can you have it sent to-”

His suggestion was interrupted by Ser Rovik, who poked his gauntleted finger into Fen’s chest. “Look, huntsman, I need that Ironback! No. Matter. What. If you’re going to be stubborn, I will work with you as the barony gamekeeper, but I will not let you abuse his lordship’s goodwill in giving you that position, to enact your petty vengeance.”

“Ser!” Fen exclaimed, backing away a step. “You know as well as I that the baron would not approve of my putting any one person’s interests before those of the barony, even a nobleman’s! I… look, if you believe that I am misusing my office to slight you, you’ll need to take that up with his lordship. Besides, you’re free to hire another hunter to leash the Ironback for you, Sire. I’m not the only archer around here.”

“You know as well as I do that there’s next to no huntsmen left in Silverrock, that can reliably kill an Ironback, and they’ll not be available on short notice. With that beast having a target on its back now, I might lose it entirely before I get another chance! So no, I will not find someone else when I have someone perfectly capable right here!”

Why on earth did he want it so badly? Ironbacks were worth a hefty chunk of EXP, but not this much, and he wouldn’t gain much from killing a beast with a bounty on its head… Luckily he did not have to defend himself against the angered knight, because their dispute was interrupted before it could escalate.

“Is there a problem here?” a voice boomed through the room. A burly man stood in the doorway, his ornate armour designated him as the captain of the city guard. “Ser Rovik, I could hear you halfway across the barracks. I’ll not have you shout like a madman in my camp! What’s going on?”

“We were just getting finished actually, I was about to leave”, said Fen, hastily moving away from the wall and the knight. He silently thanked his elven heritage for his sharp hearing, and the captain for wearing loud iron boots, which told him that help was coming.

The Captain’s eyes shifted to him, from the stunned knight. “... you must be Draelgar. I just got word of your appointing. Congratulations on that.” He extended a heavy gauntleted hand, which Fen shook. “Are you here about the Ironback?”

“No, I had to speak to Ser Rovik. But on that subject… I would want to organise a hunting party to deal with it, and enlist the help of the city guard for that. But I don’t want to disturb your conversation with the Ser. I can come back when you have time.”

“Hm… very well, please go speak to my assistant about arranging a meeting.” The Captain stepped into the building and passed Fen, freeing up the doorway, which the half-elf immediately used to leave the office room, and the barracks.

As his nerves cooled a bit, he revised his thoughts. That was Ser Rovik dealt with, for now. The knight might cause him trouble in the future, but now Fen had the barony backing him, so he could put that matter to the back of his mind.

What weighed much heavier on his mind was the Ironback’s behaviour today. Even taking aside its inexplicable return from the dead, its sudden intellect and the way it had moved was decidedly not normal. If it were to become a Sweeper... no. It was better to nip it in the bud before it became a real problem.

He asked one of the men walking around the barracks where the captain’s assistant could be found, and prepared to set up his first big job as the barony’s huntsman and gamekeeper.