Chapter Twelve #3
“Unfortunately, the pigs escaped the barn last night and ended up crapping everywhere,” I lied.
“I’m talking heaps and heaps of pig shit.
If you got anywhere near my land, you’d be covered in it.
Those pearly-white coats on your horses would be tarnished, and I don’t even want to think about what your golden armor would look like if some got kicked up on there. ”
Nuro blinked, and his posture slackened a little.
“It’s not a far ride, so I think we can manage without you,” I said. “But I appreciate your offer. I really do.”
My Oscar-worthy performance seemed to come across as genuine enough for Nuro to back down. He cleared his throat and shuddered as a grimace contorted his face.
“Very well,” he said tightly. “I recommend you clean up such filth.”
“Oh, I plan to,” I said. “It’s on the top of my to-do list, in fact.”
“Then see to it,” Nuro said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Hand Aila, Hand Kryyk, join Lieutenant Giian in writing up your reports. I want them done before supper.”
“Yes, Commander Nuro,” the two Hands replied at the same time.
Aila gave me one last nod, which I could only assume was silent thanks for the save in Midhallow, and then she and the dwarf trotted toward the Frostfyre, too.
“So… am I dismissed?” I asked the Commander, who was watching his soldiers leave with a stoic expression.
“Yes,” he said dryly. “Leave. Go tend to your pig shit.”
“Great,” I huffed before I snapped Ethel’s reins and started the journey back to my farm unattended by the king’s men.
There were a few more Hands situated down the street, and when we passed them, I heard them mutter under their breaths about me.
“Is he the farmer that’s supposed to have the shard?” one whispered.
“I didn’t realize it was him,” another replied.
“Why is Nuro letting him go? I thought the whole reason we were here was to--”
“Quiet, fool,” another hissed. “If Nuro hears you, he’ll take your hands and your tongue for good measure.”
That pretty much confirmed everything I had already known and feared.
The rumors that reached Emberstone were the same ones that had reached the rogue bandits on the King’s Road. Drakar had made sure to let everyone know exactly who had taken what he believed was his, and it wasn’t like there were many farmers in Gladewood.
The others kept to themselves, and because of the amount of produce I had, I’d kind of inadvertently taken them out of business.
“This doesn’t bode well,” Ellyn whispered to me as we passed their curious gazes.
“Not at all,” Karrida agreed as she leaned over the back of the bench to speak to us. “Are you sure you shouldn’t find a new place for ‘you-know-what?’”
“There’s nowhere else it can be,” I mumbled to my girls. “Anywhere other than my farm, and it’s at risk.”
“But on your farm it’s at risk, too,” Karrida whispered.
“I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place, regardless of what I do.” I sighed. “I’d rather rest easy knowing where it is.”
“Then I guess that will have to settle it,” Ellyn said as she squeezed my bicep. “It will be alright, Noah. What we’re talking of won’t allow anything to take it away from you.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” I sighed before I focused on the path ahead.
When we returned home to the pig shit-less farm, the farmhands were already tending to the Emberhorn goats. The furry creatures had settled in nicely, and they were producing an insane amount of milk each day.
I gave Brom a brief rundown of what had happened and told him about the king’s men wanting to see the farm and to not let them in should they show up.
I also told him the plan to store the milk in the barn and, eventually, the greenhouse, so it could produce some heat against the cold of winter.
He helped me unload the rocking chair from the wagon, while Karrida and Ellyn carried the mattress inside. It was pretty hard to deny what we were doing as we brought the furniture into the nursery, so I revealed to my lead farmhand our plan for starting a family.
His congratulations were sincere, and he said he’d pass along the hope to the rest of the farmhands to save me some time.
Once he’d left, I slid the mattress into the crib. It was a perfect fit, and the soft plush bedding would be perfect for our little one when they finally arrived.
We situated the rocking chair in the corner of the room for now, and I placed the soft toys in a wicker basket my mom used to use for yarn. The little wyvern figurine sat on the windowsill for now, but I was hoping to build a shelf for more little trinkets at some point.
Once everything was unpacked and put away, I decided to check my ammo supply since I’d been using so much of it recently.
I reloaded my Glock for good measure, and after checking my supply, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t super low.
But I needed to be more resourceful and use my sword whenever I could.
Otherwise, I was going to run out of ammunition, and I had no way of getting any more in Mystica.
After that, I cooked us some pasta with more goat cheese, fed Fang and Nelly, and cracked open a beer I had left over just for the hell of it.
“What a day.” I sighed as I sat down on the couch next to Ellyn. “I am really getting tired of these fights.”
“We did well,” Ellyn said as she rubbed my thigh in a soothing motion. “More than well, actually.”
Karrida, who had been perched on the arms of one of the couches, suddenly gasped, keeled over, and clutched her chest.
“What is it, Karrida?” I jumped up as I placed my beer on the coffee table and moved over to the half-dwarf.
“The tug… in my chest,” she groaned. “It’s gotten worse ever since we came back.”
“How bad?” I asked as I rubbed her back.
“Really bad, Noah,” she huffed as she looked up at me through her long lashes. “This is the worst it’s ever been.”
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “You said it wasn’t too far away from here, right?”
The flushed half-dwarf shook her head as she pressed her palm against her chest.
“Maybe we should go see what it is?” I suggested. “Do you think that would make the pain go away?”
“Probably,” she grumbled. “But what if something attacks us out there?”
“Shaar has already played his cards for the day,” I said. “It’s unlikely he’ll attack again.”
“I don’t want to put us at risk just because something is pulling me,” Karrida said. “That’s the last thing I want.”
“Yes, but if you’re in pain, and it’s not going to go away until we find whatever it is, then we might as well risk it,” I said before I looked over at my wife. “Ellyn, do you want to come?”
“No, I’ll stay here and finish decorating the nursery,” she said. “If you two don’t come back after sundown, I’ll send the townguard into the forest.”
“Alright, that sounds like a good idea,” I agreed. “Come on, ‘Rida. We shouldn’t delay it any longer.”
I decided not to take my AR with me just for the sake of saving ammunition, but I did keep my Glock strapped to my side, and I had my sword where it belonged, too.
Karrida limped all the way to the side-by-side, and the red-faced half-dwarf was groaning nonstop. I’d never seen her like this before. Her powers had always affected her subtly, but never like this.
Once she was fully settled, we set off for the Mist Woods. I used Karrida as a navigator, but it was hard to hear half of her directions through the moans and groans of pain.
We had only been driving for a few minutes when Karrida shot out her hand and pressed it against my chest.
“Stop,” she huffed. “We should walk from here.”
“Walk?” I blinked. “Karrida, you can hardly move.”
“Trust me,” the ginger-haired woman wheezed. “We’re close. But we need to walk.”
I trusted her instincts more than my own, so I killed the engine and helped her step out of the passenger seat.
The half-dwarf clung to my arm, even after she was back on solid ground, and I wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her steady.
We continued to trek through the forest on foot, and, thankfully, we still had a little bit of daylight left to help us see the way.
It was eerily quiet, which did absolutely nothing for my nerves, but I kept my attention on Karrida and kept her upright.
We were moving at a glacial pace because of how incapacitated my girlfriend was becoming. She swallowed her moans of pain to keep quiet, but sweat was forming on her brow, and her legs were moving like they were made of stone.
“Karrida, maybe I should carry you?” I suggested. “You can hardly move.”
“I’m… fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “We’re… almost there.”
“You said that ten minutes ago,” I said in a deadpan tone. “Let me carry you.”
“No, it’s--”
Karrida’s ice-blue eyes suddenly widened, and her entire body locked up.
I froze, too, and I glanced around at our surroundings to make sure we weren’t about to be attacked.
But there was nothing.
There were no beady eyes staring from the bushes. No ominous breeze rattling the canopy of leaves above us.
“Noah,” Karrida whispered as she lifted a shaking hand and pointed toward something in the distance. “Look.”
I followed where she was pointing, and to my surprise, I saw a cave mouth.
And there was fire glowing from within.