A Soldier's Life - 327 - Once A Hound, Always A Hound

Chapter 327: Once A Hound, Always A Hound

I finished my bath and waited for my clean clothes before joining the impatient Konstantin. I left Raelia with Baldo as she wanted to spend the week training Baldo, who hadn’t aged in the last month in my dimensional space. I wore magebane as I walked with Konstantin through the glowstone-lit streets.

“Is this legal?” I asked. “Will it draw unwanted attention to Gilda?”

“Gilda can take care of herself. There is a bounty on doppelgangers. As for the werecat—I am not certain. From what I understand, they are not welcome but need to kill someone in order to be hunted. After we slay the doppelganger, Gilda will keep watch on the werecat,” he said as we walked. A few late roaming goliaths eyed us but did not stop us.

“Is it not weird that Gilda is hunting her kin?” I asked softly.

“Gilda is not a doppelganger. She is a shapeshifter, a changeling. We have been over this,” Konstantin said irritably. I replied with a Konstantin grunt as we were taught to hunt both in Hound training. A shapeshifter was restrained to a humanoid shape close to their true shape and had a male and female sex. In contrast, a doppelganger could draw on its aether core to assume a vastly larger or smaller shape and was sexless. They reproduced but copulated with a humanoid race. That woman usually died in childbirth.

We entered a somewhat busy tavern, mostly filled with goliath patrons, with a pair of humans chatting at a table in the corner. I casually scanned the room, trying to find Gilda or our target. Konstantin walked up the stairs to a balcony, and I followed him. I was a bit surprised when he sat across from a young female goliath, but I quickly recognized familiar shadows on her face. It was Gilda. I joined Konstantin, noting that we were well-positioned not to be overheard amidst the conversations and the clinking of glasses silverware.

“Tell him,” Konstantin said to Gilda.

“What about the manticore sacs?” Gilda asked flatly.

“If you wanted them, you should have helped in the hunt,” Konstantin said irritably. “Now, tell him.”

Gilda clenched her jaw before talking in a rare display of unfabricated emotion. “The human server,” she said, not looking below.

I glanced below, and a large man with shoulder-length golden hair walked among the tables, delivering mugs and food. I watched him inconspicuously for a moment but didn’t see anything. “How do you know?” I finally asked.

“I can smell it,” Gilda said disdainfully. “I have followed him for a few days, and he has been seeding some adventurous female goliaths.” I didn’t have anything to say to that, and we ordered food, which I barely touched as I watched the blond man. He was very flirty with female goliaths, but I still didn’t note anything out of the ordinary.

“He has already seeded three goliaths. I can smell the taint on them,” Gilda said. Once we eliminate him, we can tell the authorities, or they might not survive carrying his spawn. I still wasn’t convinced and even tried using my aetheric night vision to see if I could see something.

“Why not go to the authorities? Why do we have to do this?” I asked, still not buying into this.

“They would just mess this up and alert the doppelganger, and it would get away,” Konstantin said matter-of-factly. I wasn’t so sure about that, but Konstantin was a if something needed doing, he was the only one who could do it right, kind of guy.

“What if you are wrong?” I asked, chewing on some boiled pork strips in my soup.

“I’m not,” Gilda stated.

“Why don’t you poison him? That’s what you do, right?” I tried to get out of this situation.

“If I had the manticore sacs, I could have brewed something. As it is, it is better to let you two handle it.” Gilda stood and walked down the stairs, her hips swaying provocatively as she walked toward the exit. The blond man diverted to talk with her briefly before she left the tavern.

“She will lead him to her room at her residence near the north wall tonight,” Konstantin said. “You can do the honors.”

“How generous of you,” I stated sarcastically.

“I am a generous person,” Konstantin said seriously while standing. “Be back here an hour before sunset. I will escort you to her apartment.” Konstantin left, and I watched the doppelganger suspect for another hour before leaving myself. Maybe he gave off some type of pheromone that Gilda could identify. If we were wrong, I would be killing an innocent man.

I didn’t stay much longer and walked out of the tavern, passing just a few feet from the man. He was wearing thin gloves, so he wasn’t touching the silver coins being handed to him. Maybe Gilda was right. I wandered the streets and ended up at a bookstore. I figured this was as good a place as any to pass the time. Most of the books were in the Goliath dialect, but there were a few in other languages. When I asked, they didn’t have any Telhian books, but they did have a section in Elvish.

The Elvish language had been stable for thousands of years, and only the variance in calligraphy made it harder to read. I immediately found something helpful: a book on the local flora and fungi. It had been frustrating to be in the wild for a month without recognizing anything in the biome. Maveith knew only what was edible. He could not assist me in relation to alchemy or as an apothecary.

My next stop was an alchemist. Goliaths weren't known for their alchemy, and even in their largest city, I hadn't been impressed. Still, for a few gold coins, the alchemist helped me transcribe some of his tier one recipes. Goliaths were friendly and helpful people, and he wasn't even concerned that I might become a competitor.

It was time to meet up with Konstantin, and I returned to the tavern. He was wearing different clothes and had appeared to have at least washed. He didn’t say anything and expected me to fall in behind him. When we reached an apartment building, he went right to Gilda’s room on the second floor, and I followed him in.

A strong, spicy scent hit me as I entered, and the small kitchen was filled with drying herbs and glass bottles containing different colored liquids. Knowing Gilda’s profession, I didn’t touch anything. Konstantin settled into a chair at the table. I walked through the apartment, noticing a small bedroom and a washroom. Besides the high ceiling, the place felt very small.

“She’ll lead him back here after his shift. He finishes at sunset,” Konstantin muttered. I thought that was a bit creepy, considering Gilda appeared to be a very small and young goliath. Even if this blond man wasn’t a doppelgänger, maybe getting rid of him wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

After checking and finding the three exits from the apartment, I settled into a chair across from Konstantin. After an awkward silence, he asked, “Are we going to hunt the basin next?” The basin was the other hunting ground that Navek had suggested. Manticores flew over it often, but it was very swampy and had many big snakes.

After some thought, I offered, “I think we should head to the nesting cliffs next.”

Konstantin raised his eyebrow, “Really?”

“I want to see if the manticores on the far end of the island offer channeling essences too. There is a larger population. And yes, I know the danger as there is very little cover. I might ask to borrow Raelia’s ranger’s cloak and go on my own.” I revealed.

“Stupid,” was all Konstantin said. We could hear voices outside, and he nodded to me. I stood behind the door, and Konstantin went into the bedroom. I rested my hand on magebane as footsteps approached. The door swung open, and a jubilant young goliath came bounding into the room, beckoning the person following her to follow. He stepped into the room, closed the door, and finally noticed me.

He reached for a knife on his belt but froze, confused. His body slowly collapsed onto the ground, and his head bounced and rolled to Gilda’s feet, a shocked expression on its face as the light of life faded away. The body and face appeared to deflate as the skin turned from tan to a grayish-blue hue. Gilda’s face was similarly a mask of shock, her dagger gripped tightly in her hand. Konstantin walked out of the bedroom and watched as the body assumed its natural posture form.

“Well, it looks like you were right; it was a doppelganger. You two can clean up,” I said as I sat down to wait until I could pull the collector out.

Gilda was looking at Konstantin and me for answers. “Told you he could take care of himself,” was all Konstantin said as he started checking the body. “I will get the constable and will tell him about his other victims.” Konstantin found a small coin purse and spilled the contents, mostly copper and a few silver. He then pulled off a tarnished gold ring and inspected it. “Looks runic,” he said, handing it to Gilda. “You discovered him, the ring is yours.”

I kneeled over the body, and the collector appeared in my hand. Gilda was less shocked by this revelation, as she had seen me use my dimensional space during the voyage. However, I still think she was trying to piece together how I had beheaded the creature without moving. Blue aetheric smoke quickly pulled into the device, creating a major illusion.

I studied the prismatic patterns for a moment before putting them in my mouth. Gilda realized it was too late and stepped forward, but they were already gone. “My fee,” I said, grinning, making the collector disappear. My core was a little tender, but it handled the essence well. “Do you need me to slay a wyvern or any other creature?” I asked in good humor. It had been a successful endeavor as the essence would improve my night vision.

“We can handle it from here,” Gilda said, finally finding her tongue. I nodded and walked out the door. There were no Adventurer’s Halls on the island, but perhaps I might find someone else who could use a revelation scroll or someone with Glasha’s lore ability. Glasha had never taken the time to examine my other artifacts as she was too busy preparing Mynasha to become the Supreme.

I asked my innkeeper when I returned, and the next morning I was walking along a sandy beach toward a small village just outside the walls. I had invited Raelia but hadn’t told her my purpose in visiting, so she decided to train Baldo instead. The village was a half-mile walk, and several fishing boats were offshore casting nets in the shallows. The people onshore paused in their work, gutting and preparing fish to be smoked.

I approached the largest gray-skinned man. His bare torso rippled with muscles that would make Maveith jealous. He nodded respectfully as I stood before him. “My name is Eryk and I have been directed to your village by Lazarin, the innkeeper. He told me your village has a seer who can read objects.”

He nodded again before speaking. “I am Mokin of the Sandspire Clan, I can bring you to Matron Namao, but she may turn you away. She doesn’t speak to everyone who comes to her.”

“That is all I can ask,” I said, returning his respectful nod. The innkeeper seemed to think this woman had the skill I was looking for.

He guided me a short distance up the hill and into the lush jungle, where we emerged in a sunlit clearing adorned with several wooden cabins. A few large dogs lounged nearby, their eyes watching me with a mix of curiosity and suspicion, though they remained silent. In one corner, a handful of goliath children engaged a class outside. It was clear that visitors were not unusual here, as the children soon returned their focus to the teacher. Surrounding the village, small gardens burst with unfamiliar plants.

The cabin we entered had a rich briny scent of salt mixed with the refreshing aroma of sweet mint. An older goliath, seated at a sturdy table, turned her gaze towards us, her hands skillfully slicing a root vegetable into delicate, thin strips. Her head tilted ever so slightly, revealing a depth of wisdom. A sense of surprise washed over me, accompanied by an insistent itch in my arms, as the intricate etchings on my bones reacted to something she was doing. She exuded an air of authority and seemed to come to a decision: “Mokin, you can leave us. I believe this is the one I was expecting.”

Mokin looked at me and then the Namao, as if asking if she was sure. She smiled and nodded, and indicated that I should sit. After Mokin left, I asked curiously, “You were expecting me?”

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