A Monster Life Ch. 34-36

Brun fell back and groaned. Ulric gave Conchim a smile. 'Well done.' he said and moved close in front of her to examine the damaged feathers on her head. 'Does it hurt?'

She blushed at the sudden closeness and his careful stroking of her feathers. 'Not much.' she said. 'It'll pass soon enough.'

He grumbled as he pulled a loose and broken feather away and tried to fix the rest. 'I'm glad it's not more than this. You have a beautiful plumage and I'd hate to see it messed up.' he said as he held out the feather to her.

She took it and glanced up at him. 'Thank you.'

He gripped Brun hard by his hair. 'We're going to have a little talk.' he said and walked while Brun groaned in pain as he stumbled along and clutched at Ulric's paw.

One of the captured men looked around at the harpies and their friends, and grumbled when he saw Brun half dragged along by the strangest demonic bloodwolf he'd ever heard of. 'I knew we shouldn't have taken the money.'

Elzbieta leaned a little closer to him. 'What money?'

He shot back startled at the sudden closeness of the elf with cold wrath in her eyes. 'I.., the money we got for hunting near the harpies instead of our usual spot!'

'Interesting.' Elzbieta said and the man felt her gaze piercing him with ice daggers. 'You should tell us more about it.'

He pointed quickly towards his leader. 'Brun! Brun made the deal! He knows everything!'

Elzbieta stood up and smiled at Ulric. 'Darling, it seems that man Brun has a lot to tell.'

Ulric grinned maliciously at the whimpering man at his side. 'I'm all ears. Queen Sawea will be eager to hear what you have to say as well.'

***

Sawea stood with the harpies eagerly awaiting the return of their loved ones and they whistled and sang cheerfully when the hunters came escorting the thieves who were tied together in a line. Brun was separated and brought before Sawea on his knees. 'Start talking.' growled Ulric.

Brun glanced up at him, then at the queen standing tall and proud before him with her eyes gazing coldly down on him. 'I received an offer for quite some money a while ago to fish in this territory instead of the farther regions.' he grumbled.

'Who was it?' she said without any melody in her voice. Ulric thought it showed just how angry she was.

'I don't know his name and had never seen him before. When I asked why he wanted us to fish here, he said it was his business.'

'And you didn't think we'd try to stop you?'

Brun frowned. 'I did, which is why we received our cloaks.'

The aura of her sky blue plumage grew from a normal day to a freezing mid-winter day. 'So, for some money you endangered our food supply and threatened our lives, risked attacks on your comrades, and if we hadn't stopped you now, an attack on the town.'

Brun looked away and gritted his teeth.

Ulric looked back at the line of men and women on their knees. 'What will we do with them, your Majesty?'

Her cold gaze passed the line and some of them felt the chill crawling down their spines or their chest tighten in fear of what they expected to happen. 'They were after our peaceful lives.' she said calmly. 'It would only be fair for them to suffer the consequences of their choices.'

'Please!' said one man and crawled forward on his knees. 'Spare me! I have a wife and kids at home!'

He shrank under her freezing glare. 'Did you even think once about our children?' she said and the man's eyes nearly glazed over at the imminent end he saw before them, The others refrained from their futile attempts for mercy and a few wept silently.

'Maybe we can come to an agreement that will at least avoid taking any lives.' said a bearded man in a long blue jacket and wearing a red scarf. as he walked up to Sawea.

'Mayor Dennily!?' gasped Brun, as surprised as Ulric and the girls were.

'Her Majesty was so gracious and benevolent to send a messenger telling us they were going to capture you and invited me to witness it.'

Ulric raised an eyebrow at Sawea, and she smiled slightly. 'I was certain you would succeed.'

'Then help us!' said Brun to the mayor.

Dennily nodded. 'I'll help you get what you deserve for putting many lives in danger through risking a bloody fight between our town and the harpies. Even if we had won, the town would have probably been burned down and lost.' He turned to Sawea. 'I'd like to ask you to hand them over to me so that I can put them to work as the town serfs and have them earn the rest of their lives by working hard. We have especially need of hands to expand our fields and orchards and I'd rather use them for that than let them idle uselessly in prison.' He gestured back at Brun. 'Brun will still be locked up outside of work as his punishment for starting this. In exchange, we'll offer you part of every harvest as their lifelong payment to you.'

Sawea looked along the line and the hopeful and pleading looks in their faces, then gave Dennily a nod. 'Very well, I will take you up on your offer. We never had need for hostilities between us and I will not see it happen because of the faults of a few.

Dennily smiled and bowed his head. 'Thank you, your Majesty.' he said as several harpies whistled cheerfully and the captives sagged in relief. He looked back at Brun. 'You should be very, very grateful to her Majesty that you get away with your life.'

Brun clenched his jaw and glared at the ground but kept silent.

Dennily extended his hand to Ulric. 'I want to thank you and your party for helping out with this as well. You saved our town a great deal of trouble.'

Ulric shook his hand. 'We'd hate for good people like Nina at the inn to be the victims of selfish criminals.'

Dennily nodded. 'Indeed.' he said. 'Come by the town hall, there's a guild member who will add a reward to your card as a small token of thanks.'

Ulric smiled. 'Thank you, we will certainly come by later.

***

A group of harpies escorted Dennily with the prisoners towards town until they'd meet up with town guards who were on their way, and others prepared for a small feast with the caught fish that they'd brought along on the way back home. Ulric and the girls were seated at the base of the main tree where they received water to freshen up, and fruits, nuts, and seeds from the local forest amidst crowns of brightly coloured flowers and feathers, before receiving finely cut slices of fish and the meat of small game as the meal they all shared to celebrate. Ulric had eaten sushi before but was a little hesitant about the raw meat. Seeing the girls eat and enjoy the selected cuts with edible leaves and specially made pastes lessened his worries, and he took a bite. The mixed flavour of the ingredients tickled his tastebuds and he hummed in satisfaction. 'This is good!' he said. 'And we only ate roasted meat up till now.'

Sawea, who sat next to him, smiled, and Iphigenia giggled. 'We do need to have the correct ingredients to make something like this.' she said and licked a blot of paste from her finger. 'We just haven't come across any so far.'

'I know some recipes, Master.' said Kaui. 'I can make us some when we get the opportunity.'

He smiled at her. 'I'd love to taste that, cutie.' A soft voice began to sing and Ulric was pleasantly surprised to see it came from Conchim, sitting on the other side of Sawea.

On breeze we glide, high up brushing clouds

Watching over our lands of green, blue, and grey

With our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers

our daughters and sons, our blood burns to fly

On winds we soar, swiftly along the silver clouds

strike as lightning to return home once more

our talons full and our hearts with joy

A safe nesting place as days go by

Storms we weather high and low

We fly and flutter, take on any gale

No rain, light or hard will bring us down

We rise above towards the soothing sun

The harpies sang and whistled and Ulric and the girls applauded. 'You have a beautiful voice.' said Valdys.

'Thank you.' said Conchim.

'It's even better than hearing birds sing when I wake up.' said Ulric and a warm glow flowed through her.

She stroked her wings resting on her lap. 'Thank you.' she said while ignoring the question of why his praise affected her.

'It's our traditional celebration song.' Sawea said. 'Conchim has been the one to sing it since she came of age.'

Another harpy began singing, with a second one joining quickly in a duet about a couple falling in love and their first flight together, and more singing followed until drowsiness from eating and the calming effect of gentle voices had Sawea begin the closing melody, and the harpies left for their nests while singing softly along. Ulric and the girls hummed as they retired to their sheltered resting place and fell asleep quickly.

***

Sawea and Conchim visited Ulric and the girls a little later after their rest. 'You're going to search for the artefact again?' the queen asked.

'Yes.' Ulric said as they were packing their belongings. 'I guess we'll have to do some digging since you said there are no markers or buildings here.'

'You think that would be the only place to hide it?'

He looked up at the top of the mountain cliff that the artefact piece pointed to. 'Nina told us of a legend about a country on top of the cliffs here and a large treasure, but I think if that were true they'd know about it. A large treasure would only bring trouble so it's better it doesn't exist, although Nina loves the romance of such stories and such a dream is a treasure on its own.'

Sawea nodded. 'I'd like to give you a reward for what you did for us.'

He smiled at her. 'It's all right, we were glad to help.'

She chuckled. 'I think you'll appreciate it.' she said. 'Are you afraid of heights?'

He looked puzzled at her. 'I'm mostly bothered by the last stretch towards the ground.'

He held his breath when she embraced him tight and smiled at the girls. 'I'm going to borrow him for a moment.' she said to the surprised girls, and looked at Ulric again. 'You might want to hold on to me.'

She spread her wings wide and Ulric felt a pressure of air underneath him. 'Wha!?' He quickly wrapped his arm around Sawea's neck when they lifted up in the air at the thrust of her wings. 'We're flying!?'

Sawea giggled in a cheerfully melodic way which made Ulric think she was in a playful mood which she usually didn't show. He also couldn't avoid the thought of her chest feeling nice against him. 'I can use my wind magic to lift heavier things in the air, or in this case, a full grown bloodwolf.'

That explained the sense he had of being pushed upwards by wind while being pulled by her strong wings. 'I hope that includes setting them down gently.'

Her laugh rang like clear bells and she spoke of competing in her youth with her father for who could carry a rock or a short log the farthest, only to have to give up later when she became of age and she'd have to behave more like a ruler. They had reached the top of the cliff when she was done with her tale, and Ulric waited with looking down until he had his feet planted firmly onto solid ground. 'Yikes!' he said at the tiny trees and the lakes that were no more than splotches of water. He stepped back and took a deep breath. 'If I watch this any longer I'll try to fly myself.'

Sawea giggled. 'I'll fly along with you then.'

'All the way to the bottom?'

She giggled again. 'I'll make sure to slow you down first.'

He looked around at the barren, flat stretch of moss with a few patches of tough grass in between, and the stone ruins of what might have been a tall house or a tower once. 'What's this?'

'This is our ancestor's country.' said Sawea, and strode towards the ruin. 'It used to be full of green and rich colours, until the soil became poor and few plants could grow here.'

Ulric looked down at the layer of moss they walked on. 'It'll be a long time before it gets better.'

'Maybe one day our descendants will live up here again, but we have a good life down below.' Sawea said and led Ulric into the ruin and gestured at a doorway of a barely intact chamber. 'Take a look.'

He stepped inside and stared silently at the hoard of gold and silver pieces, chalices, plates, cutlery, gemstones, and jewellery scattered around the chamber. 'Girls, you're not going to believe what I see here.' he said over the link.

Iphigenia chuckled. 'I think I can. Conchim just explained to us why Sawea took you for a flight.'

'Even if she was the one who started it, you'd better behave, darling.' said Elzbieta.

'Of course I will.' he said and immediately blocked a certain memory. 'I'm in the presence of royalty.'

Sawea stepped up next to him. 'You'll find what you're looking for in that box.' she said and gestured with a nod to a small, dark wood box covered in dust on top of a large wooden chest.

He picked it up and lifted the lid. 'The artefact!'

'What we collect here are things we found in the lands between the mountains. Some were lost, others had been stolen by thieves we caught, and others simply lay beside their dead owners. You are welcome to take with you what you like.'

Ulric looked back at her. 'Really?'

She smiled at him and puffed up her chest a little as she clasped her hand behind her. 'Unless something else caught your fancy on the way here.'

He looked away in rising embarrassment. 'I, we couldn't accept such a gracious offer.' he said and looked at the stone in the box. 'We only came here looking for this.'

Sawea giggled and put her hand on his back. 'I'm not going to drop you on the way back, if that worries you.'

He chuckled and looked at the heaps of valuables glittering lightly in the light from the doorway and a small window at the side, and something caught his eye. 'Then, a handful of gold coins will tide us over for a while, and something as a gift.'

When the two returned to the others, Conchim looked a little suspiciously at her mother, but she only gave a dignified smile. 'I wish you good luck on your quest.' she said in her royal manner. 'You're always welcome here.'

Ulric bowed his head to her. 'Thank you.' he said and held up the box. 'Also for this.'

Valdys took the piece and let it tremble in the palm of her hand until it rotated and lay still again. 'We're heading back the way we came.'

'Good, then we have no detour when we stop by the town.' said Iphigenia.

The harpies gathered to wave their new friends goodbye and they watched

them until they left their sight between the trees. One of the young women leaned closer to Conchim. 'I thought you said you'd only want someone stronger as a mate, are you sure about letting him go?'

Conchim huffed flustered. 'Who could keep up with that demon!?'

36 - Commitment

'Yes, I received the request from the mayor.' said the woman at the guild desk in the town hall. Judging from the mementos on her desk of a gilded dagger and the skull of a predator the size of a wolf or large cat, but with an elongated muzzle full of sharp teeth, Ulric suspected she was a veteran herself at an age around forty..

Iphigenia handed her the party's guild card and looked around. 'Not much guild business here.'

The woman nodded. 'This is a very quiet corner and there's not much to do for adventurers.' She placed the card in a slot of the wooden box that adjusts the card's numbers, and pressed several iron buttons. 'Some requests are taken by adventurers passing by, and sometimes I take them up myself when no one's available. The mayor already discussed with me the option of creating a request to solve the case with the harpies before, and having you resolve it during your own errand was good timing.' She took the card out and inspected it, then returned it to Iphigenia.

'Ohh, nice.' said Iphigenia. 'A rank up and our total increased by a good amount.' She handed the card to Elzbieta.

'Seeing what the consequences might have been if the harpies had attacked the town, it's well deserved.' the woman said and smiled. 'We're grateful for your work. All we have left is finding the one who paid off Brun but I doubt we'll ever see that guy around here.'

'We were just at the right spot at the right time.' said Iphigenia and stroked Ulric's neck. 'Who knows, maybe we'll run into him on our travels.'

The woman looked at Ulric and Susi sitting next to him, and leaned a little closer. 'The mayor warned me, but are you really bloodwolves?'

Ulric chuckled. 'I have my own circumstances, but we both are.'

The woman chuckled. 'I just couldn't imagine a demonic beast to be so friendly. Until now.'

Iphigenia smiled at Ulric. 'I know of no one as lovable as them.'

Nina greeted them cheerfully when the party arrived at the inn. 'Congratulations! The news about capturing Brun and his crew and making peace with the harpies spread fast.' She knelt down and stroked Susi's head. 'You must tell me all about it.' She frowned at Ulric. 'And explain why you pretended to be a fluffy pet and made me look silly.'

Iphigenia laughed. 'We will during a good meal and drink.' said Iphigenia.

Nina hopped up straight. 'Sit down, meals and drinks coming up!' she said and went into the kitchen.

Soon after Iphigenia began with the help of Elzbieta, other patrons began listening in and the events were the topic of every conversation. Nina sat later with them again while petting Susi and Trixy.. Kaui grabbed into her satchel and pulled out a roll of cloth. 'Nina, you mentioned that legendary treasure and country on top of the mountains.'

She looked up from petting Susi. 'Yes? I know it's just a fantasy but it would be nice to think something like that really existed.'

Kaui slid the cloth towards her. 'If you ask the harpies, they don't know of anything like that, but Master found something and thought it would make a nice gift for you.'

A little puzzled, Nina unfolded the cloth and unveiled a fine silver necklace with a silver bird sequin. She lifted it and watched it sparkle in the candlelight. 'This, is for me?'

'You can think of it as coming from that legendary treasure, and Master's apology.'

Nina smiled wide. 'Since no one will believe it, I'll say it is. I don't know how to thank you!'

'No need. You lighten the mood when we first came in here and saved us trouble.' said Ulric.

'Bring us another round of drinks and give the one who saw it a big hug.' giggled Iphigenia.

Nina wrapped her arms around Ulric and hugged him tight. 'You're a fantastic wolf. And I'll get you your drinks.'

'That last part wasn't really necessary.' he said over the link to Iphigenia.

Iphigenia grinned. 'It was your idea. A big hug from a pretty girl is the least reward you should get.'

***

'A bloodwolf, you say?'

The hooded figure spat out his wad of pacco. He'd been chewing on it all the way from the town in agitation and it had lost it's slightly spicy taste and invigorating effect earlier. 'Yes.' he grumbled. 'Where did he come from? Did one of you demons go crazy and fucked around until a new abomination spawned?'

The canine kept his cool because the human needed to run a few more errands for him, but he'd deal with him later. 'I don't know who he is, but he and his wenches have caused trouble before. I'll need to take more drastic measures.'

'You'd better, Tarrence. My employer doesn't like to see his plans go to waste. Now that the town and those harpies are on friendly terms there's no chance he can get the lands for a few coins.'

'Go take care of Brun before he does remember your face.' the canine said and waited for the hooded man to get on his horse and leave before vanishing into the shadow of a thick tree.

***

Ulric and the girls enjoyed the lightly clouded dry and warm sun on their trek to the next ring piece. They'd stayed at the inn to rest and left after Nina had charged herself with Susi and Trixy, and stole some hugs from Ulric. 'Should we think about getting a few horses or something, if the remaining ring pieces are hidden farther away than this second one?' he asked.