That, surprisingly enough, was that.
We returned to the Federation and Dalston the following week. The trip back was wrought with the same dangers as the initial one. The military officers in the Bend were going mad with paranoia. They had been instructed to stop and inspect anyone they saw passing through. We were careful and they never got the chance to ask us anything. Xerces kept things short. She thanked me for removing Lord Forester and handed me the bag.
After that, I felt a little lost. It was the single biggest payday that I'd ever earned. It was enough for me to buy my own house, clothe and feed myself for the next half-decade. Now that I was finally in a position to potentially purchase property of my own, I didn't even know if I wanted to. It was cheaper than owning a home in my old world – the taxes were dirt cheap and you didn't pay for any utilities. But how much use would I get out of it in the end?
I was mulling over the question in my head while sitting in a tavern that Cali had sworn by. It was owned by one of the few friends she had. The atmosphere was lively and the interior was well decorated. Tahar sat on my left and nursed her own drink quietly. In a sense I had peaked. I'd gone from picking litter from battlefields to assassinating the commanders who made them.
It was only after an hour of rest that the bar's owner, Lillian, decided to grace us with her presence.
"Oh, would you look at who it is! Tahar and…"
"Ren."
She snapped her fingers, "That's right. You're the fellow who's enraptured my Cali."
Enraptured? Cali seemed like more of a free spirit than that. Though I was willing to admit that my particular brand of getting into serious trouble was very appealing to her. She took one of the three empty chairs around the corner table and propped her head up on her hands. "I've been hearing a lot of crazy rumours about you."
"Rumours?"
Now that she mentioned it – it did feel like everyone was looking at me. The gaggle of mercenaries in the opposite corner of the bar were staring me down and whispering to each other like gossiping schoolgirls. That was to be expected with such a high-profile job. Getting caught by some Inquisitors and getting away, and then finishing it regardless? That's the kind of tall tale that would get your ass beaten by someone in a foul mood.
Lillian laughed, "Those people in Sull have started calling you 'Blackvein.' Your name and face is plastered onto every building and noticeboard in the West Country. They say you rampaged and killed sixty men on your lonesome."
I clenched my teeth and hissed. It was closer to the truth than I would have liked. The soldiers had been talking with each other, and then talking with people outside of the army. Outrage beset outrage. They must have been trying to put pressure on their commanding officers, and were working to besmirch the name of the Inquisition in one fell swoop.
"They may be exaggerating a little."
"How much is a little?"
I shrugged, "I didn't keep track. I just got into a fight and ended up being the winner."
"Sure, whatever you say tough guy. Anyway – people are willing to believe it because they think it'll scare away their troops. The Inquisitors have been screaming from the rooftops that you're a cursed man. Their word is worth less than dirt around here though."
Earning a nickname was generally considered a bad omen amongst rogues. It meant that you had accrued a level of infamy that betrayed the sneaky spirit of the job. I was well beyond that point now. I had become a well-known face in both the Federation and the Kingdom. I would never make a habit of calling myself 'Blackvein,' but it was a title that stuck around for a very, very long time.
I couldn't call myself a rogue anymore – not traditionally. As much as I may have been afraid of things changing, my new status would damage the trust I garnered from them. I was one of the other guys now, one with enough money to have my own home. From there, a world of new opportunities would open up to me. Why would a man like that continue slogging through boggy battlefields for spare change? It was a mixed feeling. I didn't like it but that was the only way of life I really knew. Wallowing in poverty and misery seemed easier than going into something new blind.
Lillian laughed, "I wasn't so sure about what kind of fella' you were when Cali talked about you. But if you snuffed out those invasion plans, you can't be all that bad. Welcome to the winning team."
I frowned, "I'm no soldier. I just go where the money is." Indeed, my tenure as a contracted arm in the military had ended just as quickly as it started.
"Well, you can't pick sides after this. You step over that border into Sull again and they'll hang you from the nearest tree."
"That implies they'll be able to catch me."
I finished the last of my drink and sighed. Lillian continued to stare a hole through my head.
"Where is Cali?"
"She has a few errands to run. Probably stocking up for our next misadventure."
She leaned into the table and spoke under her breath, "How much do you know about her?"
"Enough."
"I've been 'friends' with her longer than anyone else – hell, she didn't even know what a friend was until I took her under my wing."
I snorted, "What? Are you afraid I'm going to snatch your baby from you?"
"A little."
"I'm more responsible than that," I replied, "I know that Cali has a complicated idea about what a relationship is. I let her stick around on a whim really. If I wanted a quick screw I could go throw some of this gold at a prostitute."
Lillian rolled her eyes, "You know full well that Cali is prettier than anyone they've got down at the local whorehouse. That's noble blood for you."
"The point stands. I'm not even touching that question until I'm convinced that she's capable of making a proper, informed decision." My head was cast back to what Cali had told me when Tahar was trying to come along with us. There it was again – the way that I pushed my own decisions onto other people, hoping for an easy way out. The reasoning was different here. I'd feel like a huge asshole if I took advantage of Cali and her mental state.
The more time I spent with her, the more elusive the answers to those questions became. She was composed, intelligent and talented. Some of my world-weary wisdom had taken root in her. She was finally becoming someone who didn't need help from outsiders to go about her daily life. Yet those flashes of bloodthirsty madness were still there. There was a deeply buried issue within her, something that happened at a young age that made her this way.
Lillian wasn't satisfied with my non-committal answer; "Would you be interested in that kind of relationship with her?" It was enough to give me serious pause. Would I really? The other side of my brain was getting irritated at her controlling behaviour. Friend or not, she didn't have much of a right to drill into me on our relationship.
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
Lillian pouted and fell back onto the chair. She was a gossip monger by habit. There weren't any juicy details to squeeze out of me at that moment. She stood up abruptly and left to attend to a customer without another word to me. I noted that she had forgotten to grab my empty tankard in the process of doing so. I didn't feel like having another anyway.
Soon after the doors swung open and Cali entered the tavern. She scanned the tables until she found us sitting in the corner. She marched over and took Lillian's now-empty seat, carefully balancing her halberd against the edge of the heavy wooden table.
"Hello Cali," Tahar smiled.
She nodded, "Ren, Tahar. I decided to do some investigating of my own. You said you intended to find and kill a powerful creature, did you not?"
She was right; "Sure, I did say that. I think I have three months left on the clock. If we can find something with strong spiritual energy, I won't have to worry so much. Time and money – that's all I need."
"In regards to a powerful magical creature, our options are limited. There may still be a few giants remaining to the East, yet the journey there will take a significant amount of time."
"I think that's a no-go," I concluded. Stigma was right – I should have let the situation stew for longer and killed more of them.
"The other major rumour I heard was of a more dubious nature. Men of disrepute have been telling tales of a wyvern to the north."
"A wyvern? Can't say I'm familiar with one of those." I had learned in my many years of life in this new world that words didn't always mean what I expected them to. 'Wyvern' conjured images of dragons with scaly hides and bone-covered snouts. Stigma saw fit to explain to me by speaking directly into my head.
"Some fools consider them a myth – though even with my clouded memory I am certain that they were a great terror once long ago. They contain an explosive amount of soul energy and are capable of wielding incredible magical power. To slay and consume one would power us for a decade, easily."
"A decade huh?" I muttered to myself. Now that was the kind of thing I was looking for.
"I should clarify – a wyvern is not something to be taken lightly. Even you may struggle to battle one effectively."
Cali was also quick to pour cold water on my ambition, "The nature of the story changed between each person I queried, as did the location of the supposed beast. The nearest location could take us a month to reach on foot."
"That means we need a more reliable source of information," I concluded. "People will tell you anything if they think they can get something out of it. We need an expert, somebody who knows what they're talking about."
"Where could we find one?" Tahar interjected.
I snapped my fingers, "Hunter's guild. They always have an ear to the ground on stuff like this. Nothing walks or rampages through this continent without them knowing about it. The problem is they're a bunch of insular bastards. If they think it undermines their position of being major food and fur producers, they won't talk."
Cali stroked her chin, "Then perhaps a bribe will do? Or aiding one of their number in return for information?" Cali really was picking up on how to be a rogue. Those were my first ideas too – but most hunters would refuse to accept outside help out of principle. It couldn't hurt to try asking one of them though.
"I guess we can drop by the guild and see if anyone is willing to speak with us. I'm not gonna' get my hopes up though."
Tahar was intrigued, "Hunter's guild? See skilled hunters of this place with my own eyes."
I had a feeling that she'd be disappointed with what she was about to see. Tahar's hunting skills were graceful and well honed. Some hunters around here preferred to go into things with 'heavy artillery' in comparison. Several men could join one party and overwhelm their prey with pure numbers. Their tracking and accuracy were genuine, but the mentality was totally different.
"Leaving already?" Lillian asked as I handed her a tip for her service.
"Apologies," Cali said, "But Ren has urgent business to attend to. There's no time to waste."
"Alright, alright. Just don't go getting yourself into too much trouble, either of you."
"Of course."
Cali waved goodbye to her friend and followed us back out onto the street, now I had to remember where the damn guild was located…