MU2 Chapter 16:77 – Curiosity Is An Adventurer’s Best Frenemy

  [Earthborn candidate #254726, Function increase level 5 cluster]

  Name: Finn Race: Human Class: Mage Subclass: None

  Affiliations: Glorious and Honorable Enchanter’s Guild

  -----------Membership: Full Initiate, Level 1

  Level: 16 Experience Energy: 1% to next level

  Strength: 17

  Stamina: 22

  Endurance: 26

  Dexterity: 24

  Intelligence: 42

  Wisdom: 39

  Charisma: 18

  Health Points: 454 Mana Pool: 571 Mana Regen: 6.248 MP per minute

  Carry Weight: 492 lbs Potion Sensitivity: 25 (level 5)

  Survivability Index: 29.833%

  Skills: Tracking level 11, Enchant Item level 2, Craft Spell level 2, Surge level 2, Detect Mimic Level 1, ????, ????

  My watch passed quickly, and I stayed up with Arilyn for her watch as well. I would pay for it the next day, but I didn’t care. We spent the time talking when we weren’t kissing. Mostly about little things. The night couldn’t be any better.

  At least until Harper woke up for her watch. She walked up on us, clearing her throat. I almost dropped Arilyn into the grass.

  “And we’re dead,” she said bluntly. “All because you two weren’t paying attention to the night.”

  Feeling suddenly guilty, I opened my mouth to apologize. But Arilyn’s finger to my lips stopped me.

  “Harper, you worry too much. Nothing dangerous is within half a mile of us!” Arilyn replied. Her tone was relaxed, even with the tension in her body.

  “I’m sorry, what?” she hissed angrily at Arilyn. “You may think that, Heals, but there are wild animals out there. Maybe mercs or monsters that don’t want to bring us home and feed us!”

  “I’m a Veiled Cantor, remember? I set up a boundary spell when we set up camp. Nothing that would be a danger to us has crossed that line since it was set.”

  Harper just looked at her, then at me, before throwing her hands in the air and walking back to her sleeping roll. “Okay, Heals. If it’s so safe, I’m going back to sleep. I suggest you two do the same.”

  “Wait,” I whispered to Arilyn. “We didn’t need to stand watch most of the night?”

  She giggled and leaned in for a kiss. “Nope.”

  “Mmm. Well, I for one still need sleep.”

  “Oh, come on, Finn! Don’t you want to watch the sunrise with me?” She wiggled in my lap, looking at me with hooded eyes.

  I could feel a smile forming on my face, mirroring hers.

  The sun beat down on me as we continued our ride toward the mountains. Its light was almost more than I wanted to deal with. But thinking of that sunrise, it was beautiful. With a sigh, I looked over at Arilyn. Despite staying up most of the night, she looked well-rested and quite cheerful. She noticed me looking and smiled back, flashing her dimples at me.

  I smiled back tiredly.

  “…And when I woke up you weren’t there and I was cold. Finn, can you get me a blanket? I’m small and get cold easily.” Vessa said in my mind. I was trying not to zone her out, so I brought my full attention back to her and what she was saying.

  She had gotten over her earlier annoyance and freaking out, and was over-explaining herself. It reminded me of when my little brother was five or six, and he would tell me something one way, then in another fashion, before going into a third iteration of the same thing. Just to make sure that he was heard or mulling it over out loud to make sure he had it correctly.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Even though I still found it annoying, I already had patience for it. I smiled slightly at her continued discussion of her waking up alone and cold. “I’m sorry I didn’t cover you with the blanket; it was just so warm last night, I didn’t think. If you want, next time we’re in a town, I’ll buy you a blanket. One just for you.”

  “Really? My own blanket? Thank you, thank you!” she replied. “That would be so nice, and I wouldn’t have to share, would I?”

  “You wouldn’t have to share.”

  The little dragon chirped happily. She stopped and turned to look back at me. “Still doesn’t make up for you leaving me alone for so long,” she thought grumpily, her earlier elation put on hold.

  “I was just on the other side of the camp, Vessa, sheesh!” I muttered.

  “Finn! Get up here,” Harper called over her shoulder.

  Urging my horse forward, I caught up to where Harper had stopped, worrying at some strands of hair as she looked at the road ahead of us. Something big had left a large swath of drag marks across the dirt road.

  “What the heck did that?” I asked. I looked to both sides of the road, and there was a distinct trail through the grass and undergrowth among the trees. It wasn’t as easy to see as evidence of passage over the road, but even with the vegetation slowly going back to normal, the direction of the creature, either a massive snake or a monster with a wide tail, the direction of its travel was clear. I dismounted to get a closer look at the spoor.

  Harper also dismounted. “I don’t know, and that’s what worries me. I’ve never seen anything like this around here.”

  I kneeled down to look at the drag marks, trying to decipher what kind of animal or monster they could belong to. At first, I tensed up, thinking it was the track of a snake, but the path was too straight for the way a snake moves. Even if a snake is going in a straight line, they have a tendency to deviate when they are hunting. Or when they are avoiding things that might not feel nice underneath their bodies.

  The other thing was that it was dragging things under it, meaning that the body weight was not on the part of the animal that was dragging here. It was definitely a tail, and I saw a couple tufts of dark fur. As bizarre as the thought was, I was beginning to think the animal that made the trail was a giant beaver. I could barely make out the tracks, and one of them definitely looked like it could belong to a webbed and clawed foot.

  “Beaver,” I said, nodding. Harper gave me an odd look. “Big beaver. Like the size of an SUV.”

  Harper shook her head. “There are no giant beavers on this continent, Finn,” Harper clarified.

  I snorted. “This has got to be a magnificent beaver. The King of Beavers. I have got to lay my eyes on this!”

  I started to move in the direction the creature had traveled. In the back of my mind, I knew this was a bad idea, yet the chance of seeing such a massive animal that wasn’t likely going to see me as food? It was worth it.

  “Finn, stop! We don’t know for sure what the deal is here,” Harper snapped. “We should be careful and ride after it carefully so we’re ready. Just in case.”

  I grinned at her. “You want to see it, too.”

  “Uh, yeah! How often does one see something like that, dude? It’s not even supposed to be here. Let’s go!”

  Harper mounted her horse, and I did likewise. It was almost strange to see her this excited, but a safe detour to see the equivalent of a giant ball of twine and the greatest dinosaur museum all at once was a difficult prospect to pass up.

  So it was no surprise when Arilyn looked at Harper and me like we were crazier than a plump of geese fishing for compliments. “What the Hells are you to going off about? None of this sounds like it’s safe!”

  Before Harper could answer, I spoke up. “Neither of us has seen anything like this, Arilyn! Let’s go check this out!” I rode after Harper without waiting for an answer.

  She made an exasperated noise before following. I was more absorbed in keeping an eye on the giant beaver trail. You’d think such things would be easy, but the average beaver that I was familiar with moved primarily through the water. They weren’t built for moving on land too much with their short legs and fat, squat bodies.

  “These beavers sound tasty. Can I eat it if it’s not too big?” Vessa asked.

  “Seriously?” I replied with a chuckle. “Look at the path of destruction it left! I don’t think you’ll be able to eat very much of it with that tiny mouth of yours, little one.”

  “I’m very motivated,” she replied with a huff.

  “Pretty sure you’re just hungry. Do you want some jerky or a biscuit?”

  “Yes, but I still want to eat this beaver.”

  Laughing, I pull both some of the meat jerky and a biscuit out for Vessa. She moved from the mane of my horse and sat perched on my shoulder to eat both. I’m pretty sure she chose that spot so she could keep an eye on the obvious tracks of the giant beaver.

  The easy-to-follow path led us deeper into the forest, where the trees were older and the underbrush thicker with more thorns. There was a sense of wildness to the area that was not evident nearer the road. My gut started sending out warning signals, but I ignored it. I was convinced that there was no real danger from the beast. Why would there be? Beavers ate wood.

  Arilyn rode closer, clear worry on her face and in her voice. “Finn, I don’t like this. We really don’t want to be in this part of the forest. It’s not for adventurers of our levels.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Rocks made a huffing, whinnying sound that did not sound like he was comfortable, and balked slightly at moving forward. Again, I missed GB. She would have reacted as if whatever made her nervous was a challenge. And that mare would have had my back. Rocks would likely throw his head and get the heck out of there as quickly as he could buck me off of him.

  At least he would take Vessa with him if he could.

  I urged my mount onward, feeling no guilt as to the danger it might have put him in. I was still excited to see the majestic beaver ahead of us. There was a slightly sweet musk wafting through the air, with a hint of vanilla. I had a vague memory of there being a connection between the vanilla flavor and beavers, so I saw this as a great sign that we were getting close.

  The air became heavy with moisture with every step of my horse. Why would a beaver like it humid, I wondered? I didn’t know much about beavers, I’ll admit, but I didn’t need to just to watch them in their preferred habitat. Most animals just didn’t do that.

  And then the main smell hit us. I gagged, the overwhelming smell of reptiles and what I assumed was the entire contents of a cathouse rolled into one. Giving it all I had, I refused to throw up in such a public situation.

  Grins and excitement mostly gone, we rode onward into the old-growth forest. Which was the granddaddy of such things as the trunks were wider than I was tall. More and more of the overgrown canopy blocked the sunlight until we rode through what seemed like the handicap of traveling during an extended solar eclipse.

  We came upon some rocks that partially blocked our path, but not enough that we could get over or see over them. We worked our way around and through the rocks, which looked as if they had fallen from a recently broken wall. As we rounded the corner, we beheld what was making the ungodly stench.

  It was a massive patchwork creature, formed from discarded, butchered beasts.

  It turned its two heads toward us with a deep growl.

  Good comedy, and all of public transit was fare-free in honor of Rosa Parks's birthday!