[Beastborne: Voracious] (Book 5) Chapter 38

Chapter 45

The days passed quickly after Hal’s display of fiery prowess.

Each [Iron Ingot] was of such high purity that Hal didn’t need to create nearly as many ingots as he did. Exceeding the quality limit for any building material meant a reduced need for that material. But seeing as he took it as both an opportunity to train his Copper Sigils and his Dragonfire, Hal was more than happy to be used as a one-man furnace.

Ashera got her [Mythril Frypan] and McDervish got to borrow Hal’s Dragonfire for a project of his own he wouldn’t talk much about. All Hal could see as he blew a very tiny pencil-thin stream of white hot Dragonfire (which was much harder than it looked) was the Goldsmith melting strands of glinting wire together in a complex pattern.

This work was far more difficult, and it took Hal most of the day to recover from it. He worked into the late hours to finish up as much of the gathered ore as possible before finally turning in for the night.

Over the next few days, he popped in from time to time while the smithy was being constructed on the outside of Brightsong proper to smelt more ore as they stockpiled it, gaining a greater appreciation and skill with Goldflame.

Tristal rushed about from person to person, helping where she could without having to be told. The Kinslayers, Val and Dale, helped out where they could. Val, being a Beastborne, was somewhat limited in her usefulness, but with Hal’s Dominate still placed upon her, she wasn’t in any immediate danger to anybody.

Dale, on the other hand, wasn’t a Beastborne, but a Druid. A rare Class that could shapeshift into various monsters and beasts. He preferred the big ones like bears and the even larger manticores.

He was oddly similar to a Beastborne in the fact that he could utilize almost all the powers of a monster while in that form. However, he couldn’t use any other monster’s powers, which limited his utility.

After he had transformed into a terromantula at the request of one of the dwarves, he was banned from transforming into anything larger than a bear while within the walls of Brightsong.

Komachi still cried about it sometimes. It was the most hideous spider anybody had ever seen.

That was one of the few perks of the Shiverglades. Bugs and pests were nearly non-existent unless they were the monstrous variety found out in the swamps. Inside the valley, they were relatively sheltered from them, as the cold kept such creatures from finding a foothold.

Still, it was unsettling, to say the least.

In his various forms, the Druid was an immense aid to the construction efforts. Val struggled to find some use until, of all people, Komachi took the wandering Beastborne under her paw.

Val, it turned out, had a fascination with food and drink—notably drink—and Komachi was all too happy to let the woman shadow her and help her make those fabulous brews.

This didn’t go over very well with Elora, but Komachi had put her paw down, and Elora gave in.

Hal worked on finding a way to replicate [Magicite], but there was only so much he could do with Bonecrafting on its own. He knew he would need to use Aetherochemy, but his skill was so lacking that it wasn’t much use right then.

Besides, with Carve, he had nearly completed Kow’s Inn. They had found the perfect spot for the shaggy spotted oppa’s inn. An area where the mountain came down in a long toe of stone that stood several stories tall.

With Carve to roughly sketch out the shape and dimensions, the dwarves were able to get to work finishing it up. Hal could take out tons of stone at a time from inside, leaving only supports that the dwarves carved and shored up with metal and timber.

It would still be a few more days until it was completed, but while Hal couldn’t completely make a building on his own, he could more than halve the time it would take.

Provided that the building was made of stone, of course.

Hal looked back on Brightsong from the top of the first bulwark that had held back the hordes of monsters during the Battle of Brightsong.

The wild crystal that he had used to help defend his home was still there. Nobody had much luck carving it out, and Hal had better uses for his time, though he wasn’t sure if the Copper Sigil would work on it.

The crystallization was a result of a borrowed Sigil from one of the Balesian Council members, Feril Ironbound. Like his name, he had given him a temporary use of Iron Sigils, which had turned the tide of battle.

Whether it wanted to or not, the Shiverglades had been forced to acknowledge the Bravers Guild and the establishment of Brightsong.

Now they had to race against the first snow to get enough of a foothold that they might be able to survive the winter. And to do that… Hal needed to leave.

Durvin looked at him, tightening his belt with a grunt. “Used to more attributes’n this.”

“We’ll get your Levels back,” Hal assured him.

“I ain’t fer doubtin’ you, lad.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

“Ye sure it’s wise leavin’ them there like this? I know ye got some sorta geas on the lass, but… well, it ain’t hardly been a week since they was attacking you.”

“Geese?” Hal asked.

“Geas, lad. Magical compulsion, ye ken?”

Hal nodded. “Friends and enemies come and go quickly on the battlefield.”

“Aye, true enough. But yer leavin’ quite a few old enemies behind with yer people, if you get me.”

“I do, Durvin,” Hal told him, turning to look at him in his newly minted armor. He rather liked the way it looked, tiny interlocking plates of bone beneath a cover of dusky blue cloth. It offered a significant improvement over his now destroyed [Fourth Armor Set], plus it was light and moved fluidly.

Hal was confident enough with his Sigils that he could go with Durvin alone, but having armor was never a bad idea.

It was a tall order, he knew. But they weren’t facing a Tyrant White dragon, nor were they facing down an Ancient Dungeon. This was, as far as Hal understood, just a normal Dungeon. Still powerful and dangerous, but a normal Dungeon all the same.

If they managed to die inside, they would just be spit back out, alive and well. They could try again later, and that meant that just taking two of them kept most people still working and, in the case of the Kinslayers and Founder Tristal, guarding.

Hal had left explicit instructions with Orrittam and Naitese, as well as the Wortlings and the Manatree. There seemed to be no end to the number of people he had to talk to just in order to leave for a few days.

Durvin looked up at him, thumbs stuck behind his belt. “Well, lad, ye ready?”

“Just waiting on you.”

With a loud “harrumph!” the dwarf hopped down from the bulwark and made his way down into the Shiverglades.

Hal had no idea where the Dungeon was. The dwarf was guided by the missing piece of his soul, which he could feel like a tether pulling him in its direction.

“Ye know this is a bad idea,” Durvin told him as he lifted one booted foot, waggled it about, twisted, and turned a few degrees before walking in a new direction. He did this every hundred or so steps, because, as he said, “It keeps me on track, ye ken?”

“I’m very familiar with bad ideas, Durvin. They are, you might say, my stock-in-trade.”

“Well, so long as ye know what yer doing,” he told him.

Lurklox had been explicitly told to stay behind and watch the Kinslayers and, most of all, Tristal. Giel was under the watchful eye of Elora and Mira, who were trying to draw out the old innkeeper they had befriended so long ago in Murkmire.

A shadow landed in front of them. Hal whipped out his chainsword, ready for a fight. It was unexpected, this close to Brightsong, though. The Rangers had reported that all the monster activity in the area had been oddly quiet since the day he had cleansed the Kol’thil Bleed from himself.

“Ain’t no monster, lad,” Durvin said. “I told ye as much. The durned Trinic Call that ye did? That would scare every beastie for hunnerds of miles around.”

Hal frowned as the slim shadow materialized and leaped at them. He recognized the form.

“Mira, I thought you were supposed to be in Brightsong?”

She shrugged, her armor glittering like fish scales. “I thought it would be wise if I went along with you.” She punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Noth is beside herself with worry over you, and Elora can handle Giel if she needs to. We’re fine back home. You, on the other hand, could definitely use the help of an awesome Dragoon like me!”

“The lass has a point.” When Hal shot a warning look at him, he snorted. Durvin wasn’t the sort to be pushed around by anybody. “I’m weak, lad. Ye ken that well enough. You can’t do it all yer durned self, and this lass ain’t exactly needed at home. Her skills are more in the fightin’ and slayin’.”

“What about the adventurers and karaks you were training?” Hal asked.

Mira made a dismissive motion with her hand. “They can do without me for a few days. Unlike you, I know how to properly delegate and train up my underlings to carry on when I’m needed elsewhere.”

Hal had to admit that Mira’s adventurers were shaping up much faster than he would have thought possible. She seemed so lazy, but every time he checked in on them, their progress was astounding.

“I like to poke things,” she added, brandishing her spear. “Besides, I might be able to find some useful loot in this Dungeon. With Durvin as weak as he is right now, you could use all the help you can get.” She knelt and pinched his bearded cheeks until he roared with rage and swatted at her.

Mira danced back and laughed, a musical tinkling sound that Hal admitted he missed. She was a beautiful and lithe caramel-skinned elf, though she originally came from the same Earth as Hal. She never did tell him her true name.

He knew well enough that Mira wasn’t it.

Sometimes she would give him other names to see if he would take the bait, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she had truly slipped in her real name in there, knowing he’d never be able to sort it out.

That was the type of person Mira was. Simple in some ways, yet complicated in others, and always good for a laugh.

She was at odds with the Shiverglades and the rough-and-tumble way of Brightsong, but there was no better ally to take into the depths of danger than her.

Noth’s presence on the battlefield was a prickly problem he didn’t know how to solve. He loved her. Truly. It hurt him to see her in harm’s way. She had once told him that she felt the same, and so it was only fair that she went with him when possible.

Still, Hal found himself looking for excuses whenever he could to go alone or with somebody else.

It wasn’t that he valued the lives of the others any less, but until he was strong enough to keep Noth safe, he didn’t feel right bringing her out.

And even that thought, as potentially noble as it was, was steeped in misogyny even if it wasn’t of ill-intent. Noth was strong enough to take care of him sometimes, and definitely strong enough to take care of herself.

I should have asked her to come, Hal thought to himself. Then again, she was using her slimes to great effect. They could create wondrous alchemical ingredients and even eat stone to produce different materials.

Unlike Hal, Durvin, and Mira, she was essential to the various building and stockpiling efforts. Once Hamrin had found out she had slimes as a Monster Tamer, he was always after her to produce one ingredient or another.

Monster Tamers, and the slimes they could tame, were incredibly rare and valuable in other parts of the world, and Hamrin was only too glad to be able to gain the services of one.

They trudged through the Shiverglades for most of the day, talking and sharing stories about their new members. Both of them knew at least part of the truth behind the Founder and the Kinslayers, though the rest of the people didn’t.

There was no reason to tell them, and it would only spoil their acclimation. If there was any true hope of reforming the Kinslayers, it had to be done without prejudice.

Given time and their own freedom without being forced to do much of anything, the two Kinslayers flourished. Val was still trying to find out what she was capable of. She still had a free Class slot open and Dale had two. They were both encouraged to try things out, things that, under the control of Rinbast, they had been forbidden from.

Creation was one such thing. Dale, in the form of a powerful umbral badger, could make quick work of any outcropping of stone. There were strange blind burrowing monsters—worm-like things that made Hal’s skin crawl—that he could turn into that dug through the stone caverns as if it were sand.

It was inspiring to see them take so well to freedom.

A part of Hal was afraid what might happen when he left, but he couldn’t stay around forever. He kept putting it off a day at a time until eventually, he realized the snow would come and then it might be too late.

The Shiverglades grew far more dangerous when everything was white on the ground. Creatures that slumbered in the frozen soil below their feet woke up to hunt, creatures that were almost impossible to tell apart from a drift of snow until they sprang out at you.

Darkness had fallen by the time they spotted the Dungeon. It was so obscured by trees nearby that they would have walked right past it if not for Durvin.

“Well, I’ll be,” he muttered, thick, calloused hands on his hips.

“It is rather on the nose,” Mira agreed. “A bit gauche, if you ask me.”