Scene Two: Werewolf
...Of Act Three: Trickster
In the eyes of Sira Jessura, we are in
Lysvid's Capital, in the world of Lysvid.
It is early evening
On November 7th, 2017.
"Well, here we are."
Will gazed on ahead of us into the literal monster nest. Not something I would ever call them aloud, but it was true. For things that lived off the blood of other creatures, a monster was a good word.
By first impression, the city was enormous. Streetlights dotted the expanse of the city until they disappeared into a dark fog as far as the eye could see. The buildings, all tall and black, lined the sides of the street like standing coffins, their windows spray-painted black to keep out even the city lights they installed themselves. Even considering Orden, it was one of the dreariest cities I'd ever stepped foot in. Rumor stated that almost every vampire alive lived here – or so to speak, anyway. Alive was a tentative term for these people.
The dreary bastards dressed all in dark clothing. Males clad in heavy coats, robes, and cloaks sauntered down the street, challenging anyone to meet their crimson-eyed gaze. The women wore almost nothing, slipping in and out of the crowds and alleys like slinking shadows.
"We'll make for an inn," Loki told us. "Lysvid keeps their inns central. Meaning, we must traverse much of the city to get there."
I sighed. "Like walking into a damned spider web."
As we started into the city, Loki glanced sidelong back at Ryoku. "Watch out. They like to make eye contact with their food. I'd keep my head low, and my blade high."
Ryoku gulped. The poor kid looked horribly uneasy around the vampires. We'd passed some of them on our way to the Capital from our entry spot, so he wasn't entirely alien to them by this point. Still, I couldn't imagine meeting vampires when you didn't acknowledge their existence before, especially in such bulk.
As we started into the city, it became clear that the vampires had a preference. Females lurked near Will and Ryoku especially, tracing their clawed hands across their arms, their hips, and honestly reaching for anything they thought they might get away with. Ryoku didn't know what to do. At least Will seemed assertive enough to put some distance between them. Lusari waved her lit staff around to dissuade them, while Loki and I only needed to boast our weapons. Against that, the males constantly tried to assert themselves before us. Many bumped chests with Loki or Will. Lusari and I seemed a bit safer.
Hours trickled by as we delved deeper into the lair of desolation. I thought the city might never end, or else we passed the inn already. Our anxiety grew as the populace thinned. Luckily, they seemed more distracted around the city's center, too. Maybe the sounds and smells of the big city helped cover us up.
Somewhere deep within the city, we saw a column of odd-looking vampires dressed in full-black uniforms, their hoods drawn over their heads. They marched down the street in single file, crimson eyes locked ahead, hands on their weapons.
"The Ritual," Loki muttered to our unanswered question. "Vampiric cult, essentially. Believes that the blood in our veins is their Creator-given right. Blood banks and donors are sacrilegious to their ilk. We'd best stay clear of their kind."
Ryoku watched them go for an awfully long time, a wary hunch in his shoulders. Will mentioned this cult earlier. The leader walked like he was the city's gift to us, his shoulders swinging as he walked, the tail of his black coat fanning behind him as he walked. For a brief moment, I was sure he glanced our way. I saw his curls of brown hair beneath his hood, the glint of his crimson eyes. However, as the thought entered my mind, the leader turned, and they went on down the street. We drew breath only once they rounded the next corner.
"As hostile as they are to us, they're like the guardsmen of this city," Loki explained, though he spoke with distaste. "Them and the Night's Watch – those are friendlier to us, FYI – protect the city and its folk from harm."
"What sort of being could harm vampires?" Lusari asked. It almost sounded prejudice, but possibly just her idle curiosity.
Loki fanned his shoulders. "Werewolves. Vamp hunters, too, though I doubt they get much of a foothold in this place."
Will's brow shot up. "The vampiric capital has werewolves? Truly?"
Loki nodded. He still gazed after where the Ritual folk had disappeared as though they might return. "Every world's got its vice. Harohto's supposed to be friendly, but it's wrought with war and strife. Syaoto, she has her demons. Orden has its rebellion, too. Parallel to your world, Ryoku, is our own. A world rife with life."
I saw the look in Ryoku's eyes. His world was a sensitive subject. I interjected, whether to save Ryoku or Loki. "It's always night here. How do werewolves function?"
Loki glanced at me. "They remain in their wolf forms, of course." He gestured toward the sky. Only then did I realize that the original moon we'd been looking up at was gone. In its place looked to be two moons. one blue, one red. "Lysvid runs in a cycle of moons. The one you saw earlier – a moon by any world's standards – passes over during early morning and noon. Later on, the red one rises from the north, the blue from the south. As they meet in the sky, it marks evening. Once they set, nightfall. No moon shows overnight. At dawn, so to speak, the first moon rises." He rambled all of that like it was common knowledge. "You see? No sun. So the wolves can't go back to normal once they're bit."
"You know much about this world, Loki," Will commented aridly. "Have you spent a lot of time here?"
Loki smirked. "You could say that."
He didn't elaborate. Even given the piousness of this Trickster, pressing him for answers couldn't possibly be a good idea.
"Thanks for the history lesson," I muttered. "Now, how about something useful? Maybe the distance to the tavern, or the regular price of good rum."
I heard Ryoku chuckle behind me. When I looked at the Trickster, though, his eyes had turned sharp. His hand shot to the hilt of his sword. I reached for mine, glancing around. Had another vampire gotten too close? Had the Ritual members turned around after all?
No, that wasn't it. Loki's piercing emerald eyes scanned the crowd in search of something. I followed suit. Will's footsteps came up beside me.
Sensing the danger was an acute ability for me, especially compared to something the Trickster could muster. Even Will had better sensing abilities than I did.
I focused, trying to zero in on the disturbance. Ryoku's footsteps behind me sounded like they were miles away.
"...could such a foul creature enter the city? Isn't the Ritual doing their jobs? What of the Night's watch?"
"You think they care about us? All it is for them is blood, blood, and more blood. Even if it comes from our own kind."
There it was – a snarl. Screams erupted in a wide circle around the noise. People near us still cast disgusted looks in the way of the noise. The female vampires clustered behind our company while a few of the males stepped up around us, flexing their venomous muscles and snarling under their breath.
It was difficult to make out. Slowly, I became aware of the cold energy of the vampires. That was always present even while we weren't directly aware. It was why the five of us had our cloaks wrapped tightly around us in this city.
Beyond that, though, came a different sensation. Amid the cold, tantalizing aura of the vampires appeared heavy warmth. A primal, wild energy that slowly rose up until it felt like it might suffocate us. Then came the arid scent of wet dog.
My eyes shot open just as the beast bounded into the street ahead of us. Vampires screamed just like normal humans in any crisis, pushing and falling over one another in their struggle to escape the beast. Its head shot up, and it lunged at one of the vampire women who'd tripped on the cobblestones. Her screams lit the city like a flame, just as her blood spurted out in huge splashes. Did vampires have blood, or was that their toxin?
Full-on panic took the streets by storm. Some vampires in dark-brown uniforms blew on white horns that looked like they came from demons. Some hung around near the monster with airy hesitation.
Loki stepped forward, and the beast reared on us in an instant. Could it smell that we were different? The monster straightened over its victim, towering to a height that must rival my own. Ribs pressed out on its wiry chest like upraised scars, covered in coarse grey fur from head to toe. Its facial structure looked more wolfish than anything, but its eerie gait suggested otherwise. Insanity crawled in the depths of its wide golden eyes. If I were like it, I thought, I'd be just as insane.
"A werewolf? Here?" Will muttered, eyes locked on the beast. "How did it get so deep into the city?"
"City guards' not doing their job," I guessed. "Oh well. Guess we get one fight that won't piss off this damned city."
"It's a smidge worse than that," Loki commented. The sharpness of his tone made me turn. "This is not a werewolf – it's a Warg. They're sacrilegious even among other wolves. Wolves infected with the Lycanthropy gene. It turns them feral and beyond any possible reasoning!"
He swung his sword in a practicing way; the wolf mimicked his movement. He lifted his chin toward a nearby vampire in a brown coat. "Go! Get her to safety! The rest of you, to me! With your heads about you!"
He barely finished speaking before the Warg lunged. To my surprise, Loki darted around the incoming strike and brought his silver blade down upon its back. Dark blood rained upon the pavement as the monster howled in agony.
The other vampires seemed inspired that Loki could actually harm it. A few of them scooped up the injured female, who was groaning and crying in a right mess. The others came to wing us against the wolf.
The beast turned on Loki as I stepped into its blind spot, closely followed by Will. One trait I admired about the soldier was his willingness to go up against anything, even monsters he'd likely never faced before.
I swung heavily with Sinistra, but the beast dodged all but the furthest bite of the edge. It let out another horrific noise. It writhed in pain, lashing out at us. We danced around each strike nimbly, keeping a careful distance between us. I blocked a lash of its claws with Sinistra's broad face. Sparks sprayed across the road. It let out a savage growl rumbling deep in its throat.
Ever wary, Will stepped up to wing me as the monster prowled toward me. Its body tensed up so that it could easily close the distance between us before I could draw a breath.
It sprang without warning. Will stepped out in front of me and blocked it with the breadth of his spear, tossing it to the ground unceremoniously. Loki made to strike, but the creature already got to its feet and retaliated at Will aggressively. Will blocked the first strike, but I stepped in before it could lash again and swung headlong at the beast. It ducked underneath and tried to bite at our ankles. Loki dissuaded it by choosing to step in, and it staggered away, retreating to pace almost on all fours.
Prints of blood followed the beast as it lurked, a low growl rumbling in its chest. Lusari and Ryoku remained behind us. I was sure they could do some damage with their magic, but this monster might just rip their heads off before they could muster a single spell. It could easily go after any of the vampires nearby, but it trained its golden orbs on us.
I would've rather fought the beast alone. Loki and Will, along with the few vamps circling around us, would only get in the way of my broadsword. I was better suited to lone combat. Still, I shacked up with this group. It meant I might always have this stalwart soldier and deluded Trickster at my side. Still, as long as I had Ryoku at my back, it might be okay.
As the beast prowled, I thought its fur began to look reddish. Surely we hadn't struck it enough to soak its entire coat.
I thought I saw a change in Loki's expression, and he added a second hand to the grip of his longsword. I gave him a questioning look, but he didn't meet my glance. The Warg's fur was definitely turning red. Were its abilities so different from those of a werewolf?
"Step back," Loki warned us quietly. When neither of us made to move, he shot me a sidelong glare. "Seriously! Get back or I'll—"
"You will what?" Will challenged. "To be a Guardian suggests I must stand between Ryoku and danger at all times."
"Even when it could cost you your life?"
"Especially," I barked. "What about you, Trickster? Would you fight without a crowd?"
A shriek from the monster nearly cut my sentence short. Somehow, with the way its skin turned red as blood, the Warg's capabilities took a turn for the worst. It cleared the space between us in a single bound and bore down on Loki with both claws. Loki, caught off guard, reflected with the edge of his sword. It didn't seem to do much to the Warg, but stone cracked around Loki's feet from the sheer force of it.
Will and I had to help. We seemed synchronized as we lurched toward the monster. Will swung his lance like a baseball bat at the monster while I raised my sword above my head. The Warg's eyes flashed.
In an instant, it was upon us. One strike dissuaded Will's lance, causing him to teeter in an attempt to regain his balance. All I saw of the monster was the golden trails its eyes seemed to leave in the air as it closed in. It struck the face of my weapon with such force that I struggled not to drop the blade, or else break my arms trying to hold on. The beast lowered itself in front of me, and charged.
Whoosh!
The beast lurched to the side, ice beginning to thatch across its fur. I smirked. Lusari's ice magic. The sheer power of it ran a chill down my spine from this close. Still, the beast's radiating flesh was melting away the ice as quickly as it formed.
It gave me enough time to recover, and I switched my grip on Sinistra to swing headlong at the beast. Even with ice forming across its flesh, it proved much faster than me, ducking beneath with ease. Will tried to stick it with his lance, but the creature rolled away, leaving a trail of melting ice behind it as it went.
By the time Loki made to connect his sword with the beast, it had fully recovered and lunged at him without relent. Will rammed it with the blunt end of his lance, but the creature only jolted, latching onto Loki with its claws out. Loki cried out, trying to shake the beast off. I hesitated. Could I cut the monster without cleaving Loki in half, too? Furthermore, did I even care?
One of the vamps sprang behind Loki and struck the beast soundly in the jaw, driving relief through my chest as the creature hit the ground between us with a pained yelp. It quickly got to its feet, however, and swung at Will. As the soldier stepped away, I swung heavily and with as much haste as I could muster.
A consequent set of sharp twangs shot through the air. Before my eyes, three arrows pounded directly into the throat of the Warg. Each one landed atop the other in fluid motion, busting all but the last arrow and driving all of them deeply into the creature's neck. Blood spurted out like a cork pulled from shaken wine.
The creature let out a savage noise unlike anything I'd ever heard, reeling on the spot. Its crazed golden eyes turned even more fervent, searching desperately for its attacker.
There he was. Ryoku, his bow drawn with another arrow already strung to it. A cool, confident smirk hung on his face. It only lasted for a second before his eyelids fluttered, and something changed about his pose. He suddenly looked confused – and the Warg, now fully enraged, locked onto him.
It took little more than that for us to launch into action. Lusari unleashed a wide burst of ice magic, smashing into the Warg like a window that shattered before his chest. The impact must have slowed him enough for Loki to dart forward and bury his sword in the beast's shoulder. It let out a fervid wail, lurching on its hind legs as it struggled to free itself from us. Its frantic movements dodged my swing, though my sword cleaved the surviving arrow in its throat asunder and sprayed reed shrapnel everywhere.
As it spun, however, the head of Will's lance burst through its chest. Blood and guts sprayed a sizeable distance, luckily clear of the lot of us. Now, finally, I saw the life fade from the monster's deluded eyes, and it went limp. Will pulled away just in time as the beast collapsed unceremoniously in the middle of the cobblestone road – alone, and quite dead.
We stood there, chests heaving from our battle. Loki stretched out his sore arms, sword still in hand. Will stared at the fallen monster with remorse. Lusari was giving Ryoku quite an incredulous look. No doubt she was trying to piece together how he'd mustered such a fatal blow while the beast was in full movement. She wasn't the only one.
Slowly, hesitantly, the vampires came out of hiding around us. Only the one that struck when Loki was trapped looked at least a little unperturbed. The women were quick to fawn over the men, and Ryoku had an untoward amount of attention coming his way. Hostility from them was at an all-time low.
"How did this get into the city?" Ryoku asked. The fool only had eyes for me, not the hundreds of bloodsuckers on him like some sort of fresh snack.
"Who knows," Loki muttered. He strode toward the Warg's body. Without explaining a word of this, he brought his sword down upon the Warg's neck with a sickening thud, arrows and all. Everyone reared back in disgust as the beast's head rolled down the road. Only now, I noticed, a certain light faded from its golden orbs.
"It would have gotten back up," Will seemed to realize aloud, giving Loki an incredulous look. "Wargs could survive such an attack?"
Loki wiped the blood on the Warg's hide with disregard. "Keep their spinal cord intact, and they'll rise from anything. Easiest way is to just lop off the head. Even those arrows missed their mark. Though," he added, giving Ryoku an unreadable look, "I imagine they wouldn't have if the bowman knew exactly what he was shooting at."
Loki looked his blade over and, with a scowl, rammed it back into its scabbard. "Wargs are vicious, unlawful monsters, and they must be killed whenever the opportunity should arise. In most cults, creating a Warg is an unforgivable sin. It violates the laws of nature, and werewolves are supposed to be a tree-huggy sort of monster. "
I couldn't help but see why. Though wolves were harmful to humans, they often kept to themselves. A violent guise such as Lycanthropy didn't suit them.
"But something is creating them up here," Lusari said.
Loki shrugged. "To be expected. Lysvid's in a state of war. The wolves, I bet, are losing. Some might turn to this."
Ryoku looked like he must be bursting with questions. "Why did its fur turn so red?" he asked. "It got... stronger, didn't it? Somehow."
Ryoku's inquisitiveness must have been perfect for Loki, who beamed like a teacher asked to profess his knowledge. "It's what we call their 'last hunt,'" he explained. "Like how a predator draws on all their adrenaline when their life is endangered. Only, when a Warg does it, their strength and abilities increase at least tenfold. That's why we had to fight so seriously back there – and, speaking of which, why I'm so impressed with you!"
His expression changed like the weather. His eyes brightened with enthusiasm. "Three arrows in a moving target in rapid succession! Not to mention the target was a Warg in its last hunt! I haven't met many capable of such a feat except..." He hesitated, mulling over his words, but smiled again."Truly, I chose the right Defender."
Ryoku just smiled. I could tell he was eager to ask Loki more questions like an arrow notched to a bow.
"You're pretty knowledgeable in the field of Lycanthropy, old man."
The female voice, honeyed to the nines, belonged to a small, ivory-skinned girl who entered our midst. She was unmistakably a vampire for her crimson eyes, and almost looked about Lusari's age, though that didn't say much for their kind. She could have been my great grandmother for all we knew.
She kept her midnight-black hair strung up in pigtails. That was about where her childishness ended, for she wore a decidedly adult expression with her luminous eyes on Ryoku. She also dressed in a style no kid should ever wear. Her white dress-shirt was tied off at the base of her ribs with more than half the buttons undone, baring a lacy black bra that had to be a push-up. She even had her black thong hiked up by her hips above her tiny skirt, cutting off far above the fishnets she wore with it. The more I studied this newcomer, the more I could tell she was older than she looked. She was diminutive and slender, but the black make-up around her eyes hid some years from her. She could be as old as Loki looked.
When she appeared, the battle-wizened men of our group quickly became boys again. Will only glanced at her for a moment before his eyes trailed off, then he shamefully averted them altogether, staring away to find Lusari giving him a hilariously stern look. I had to clear my throat sharply for Ryoku to draw his gaze from her waist, and he only gave me a sheepish smile, his face flushed. Loki, however, didn't seem to avert his eyes at all.
."Perhaps I am," Loki replied. His tone was dreamy and distracted, baring his silvery tongue. "And who might be inquiring? Such a pretty lilac amid the city of the undying."
Gross. Even first impressions must put years between the two. The girl didn't shy away. Seducing vulnerable men was an asset of female vampires. She gave a formal curtsy that very obviously flashed anyone standing behind her. Oddly, though, all of the vampires behind her pointedly averted their eyes. Not one must have caught a glimpse of her rear. What did she mean to these people?
"My name is Cleria Nightfang," she replied in her silky voice. She sounded just like a prostitute, I realized. Sharing company with the emperor of Orden unfortunately made me quite familiar with their ilk. However, the presentation of her last name suggested I was right. "Your ample knowledge of Lycanthropy makes me suspicious of you, old man. Just who are you, exactly? Are you a werewolf of some sort?"
Loki seemed to clue in for the first time what she was calling him. Maybe he even detected that sickly-sweet tone she used on him. "O-O-Old man!?" he demanded. I tried to catch his look and warn him, but he was too enraged. "I'm Loki! That's Loki the Trickster god to you, little girl! And if you knew much about Lycanthropy at all, then you'd know I couldn't walk out as a human in a place like this!"
It was only after he crossed his arms defiantly and snuck a glance at Cleria's expression that he noticed mine, and he froze. The fool had just openly declared his name while the rest of us were trying to blend in. A hefty bounty sat upon Ryoku's head. Considering that and the wealth of information on him, it wouldn't surprise me if Orden already knew that Loki was with us.
He did manage to create a shocked look on Cleria's face. "Really?" she asked shrewdly, much of her honeyed voice absent now. "The Trickster god? You?"
Cleria's expression was fully condescending. Regardless of his handsome visage, expensive attire, and the way he held himself at all times, Loki didn't quite fit the image of god. However, she lost interest in him before he could spit out a reply, and turned to the object of her initial interest – Ryoku.
"Who are the rest of you? World travelers, clearly. Are you looking for work?"
I chose to step in. I wasn't sure I trusted Ryoku to muster up a lie. Even then, I wanted as little contact between him and this vampire as possible.
"The name's Roxy Cleon. Swordstress, from the world of Id."
Cleria scrutinized me carefully. I'd been mistaken as a resident of Id before in other worlds aware of the outer spirit realm. Of course, thousands of vampires couldn't hang out in one world without being minutely aware of the outside. Id was known for its desert lands, where the people had darker skin, strangely colored eyes, and hair kissed by the sun. Only the undertones of black in my hair hinted my true heritage, but I usually styled my hair to hide it. Even among good company, I didn't boast about my homeland.
I noticed Ryoku giving me an odd look, too. No, he knew we had to lie. What was the emotion in his eyes?
"How is Id this time of world-year?" Cleria asked in a mocking-polite tone.
I scoffed. "Hot. What else?"
Now Ryoku sidled around me, offering Cleria a hand. "Ronyx Curtis," he introduced himself, surprisingly smoothly. "Nice to meet you."
He didn't try to lie about a world. Nothing he'd ever heard of might explain away his golden hair, his easy smile, his fair skin...
Still, I felt he could have called himself Rumpelstiltskin and the girl would have accepted it. If I ever found myself looking at Ryoku or anyone in the same way she did, I'd sell my own bounty.
"A pleasure," she told him sensually, practically devouring him with her eyes. She took his hand and lightly ran her nails across his knuckles. At least, if Ryoku felt anything from that, he had a solid poker face. "Soft hands. Bitten, but dirty. You work for a living, or you did somewhere else. Maybe a... cook, of some sort?"
He smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
I wouldn't let them see how mad I was that she could guess things about Ryoku that I didn't know. "Were I the one in charge of Ellithea, I'd make a pretty boy like you a prince. Still, I suppose the pure line of elves is a snobbish one."
She'd handed him his own alibi and the name of one of the biggest elven worlds in the spirit realm. I could see the twinkle in his eye from here. He hadn't heard a word of her flattery. All he heard was the world of elves. I hadn't decided if his curiosity was cute or annoying yet.
Lusari approached next, perhaps to stop Ryoku from asking questions about his apparent homeland. Her snowy eyes concealed a depth of intelligence behind her timid, cutesy act. As she curtsied before Cleria in a practiced, refined manner, I knew she had a lie painted on her lips like a canvas.
"Hello, Cleria. I'm Belle Collier, a fledgling mage from a small academy in Fayzr. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
I gave Lusari a surprised look. I could easily believe she was actually telling Cleria the truth and had lied to us. Even her regular stutter was gone! Cleria only looked bored. Lusari seemed the least interesting to her, probably because of the alarming difference in their personalities. Cleria could be horribly wrong, though. For a girl we'd met surrounded by thugs in a compromising situation, Lusari carried herself well.
"A pleasure," Cleria agreed half-heartedly. "So that makes a god, a warrior from the hottest of worlds, a mage from the coldest, and a pretty elf boy. That brings us to..."
Will jumped when his eyes fell upon her. The tall, good-natured warrior had been staring out into the sea of faces with a dreamy, spacey smile on his placid face. I'd seen him trekking through the Old Forest's dizzying hills with expertise, but he looked bored in the painted city of Lysvid. He was certainly a country boy, unimpressed by illustrious buildings or ornate lamps, but by the mighty trees in the woods that skyscrapers only tried to impersonate, clutching for the sky with hands of leaves and branches. Here, standing before Cleria, he looked like he was in the wrong painting.
"Me?" he asked, shocked, as though he should be the last one giving his name. The poor lug was a mile behind the conversation. He had the most time to conjure up a fake name, but the look on his face showed he hadn't used it at all. Loki, who missed his own cues earlier, started gesturing frantically to Will from behind Cleria – waving to the lamppost, his sword, and even a moustachioed vampire who stared at Loki like the Warg returned through him.
"Uh, right!" Will said after a horribly long pause. "Silly me! How could I forget? Why, my name is Jeffrey! Uh. Sir... Jeffrey... uh, Lampsword. I hail from Bonnin!"
The gallant pose he struck afterward was too much. I choked trying to hold my tongue. Ryoku and Lusari giggled in fits behind Cleria, who was staring at Will, clearly thinking he was touched in the head. Loki buried his face in his hands.
"Right," Cleria said in a tone as dry as the desert I claimed my home. "Of course. That would make a god, a warrior from the desert, a mage from a wintry world, a pretty elf, and... You... what was it?"
He raised a polite hand in greeting. "Sir Jeffrey Lampsword, miss. From Bonnin."
"Right," Cleria said again, either deaf or ignorant to the chuckling behind her. "Sir Jeffrey Lampsword, an apparent knight from Bonnin." She gave Will a lasting look before turning back to Ryoku, who quickly shut his mouth. "I'd love to get the story of how your little group came to be, but I came here for a reason. Tell me, are you lot looking for work?"
"For work?" Ryoku echoed softly.
"Why, of course we are!" Loki agreed, the only one who kept his natural identity. To be fair, I thought he'd burst at the seams if he tried to act normal for five minutes. "Our stay in Lysvid will surely not be for long, but we're seeking an inn and hoping to stock up on supplies and funds before we depart once more."
For the first time, Cleria brightened up after hearing Loki speak. "Perfect! I can refer you to an inn just down the way." She stopped to point in the direction we'd been heading before the Warg appeared, though a little more to the west if the moon's angle was to be trusted. "The Resolute Mire's a great inn and pub. Tell them I sent you, and they'll cut your cost by at least forty percent." Her smile returned, and her fangs peeked out from her dark lips. "So, are you lot interested in becoming werewolf hunters?"
Ryoku's brow rose, and I could almost read the plaintive thoughts on his face at a glance. I shared some of his sentiments – it had taken all of us to defeat the one Warg. If we fought more, would we survive? On the other hand, Ryoku seemed to feel sorry for the likes of them. A race of humans and wolves turned into monsters, unable to revert to their human forms.
"There's no real catch," Cleria reasoned. "One, it's no real commitment. You get the night at the Resolute Mire, and then come to the Defender Registry in the morning. What?" she added at Ryoku's expression. "The Registry's good for more than just Defenders, y'know." She said the world Defender with a little spite, I noticed. Probably a good thing we hid Ryoku.
"Register there with us, and the clerk will give you registry papers. You bring those to the gear shop down the way; they'll outfit you in our own special weapons and armor. They'll augment anything you insist on using, too. See, we've got all sorts of tonics and herbs suitable for taking down the wolves with ease.
"Either way," she went on, watching Ryoku's face like she might find answers there. "Back to my point: there's no commitment. You keep those papers, and you can sign up anytime you come back to Lysvid. It's no contract, per say, but gives you permission to engage in our territorial war. If you didn't have them, then the wolves could just kill you in the middle of the streets, and nobody could lift a finger. That, and we don't hold any real responsibility if you die on the job."
Loki already looked sold. "Discount at the inn, and free gear?" he echoed, as though that had been all she uttered. "Sign us up! We'd love to clean the streets of their ilk, wouldn't we, Jeff?"
He elbowed Will mockingly, who glowered at him. I shared a smirk with the Trickster. No way Will was ever going to live this down.
Will was the first one to look to Ryoku. "What do you think?" he asked. "Werewolf hunting? Hardly clean work by the sounds of it, but we can earn extra money. Until we get to Syaoto, funds cannot be underestimated."
He deliberately avoided using Ryoku's fake name, since he probably didn't catch it. His tone gave Cleria surprise, though; by her expression, she hadn't realized Ryoku was the leading voice among us, and regarded him in a new light.
"It'll work," Ryoku agreed. He didn't seem to give it much thought. What else would we do to earn money here?
"Excellent," Cleria replied with a smile. "Then I'll see the lot of you in the morning. And," she added, with a wink to Ryoku, "the woman who was injured is being treated, if you were wondering. Considering the usual impact of a Warg attack, the city owes you a great debt. Consider my job offer as something of my own personal amends for the fact, if you will. But if that isn't enough…"
She whispered something close to Ryoku's ear, and before a blushing Ryoku could stammer out a reply, she slipped away in the crowd. I glared after her, wondering if the vampire girl was worth trusting. Finding us in the middle of the city to offer us a job seemed too convenient. Maybe, as much as I would never say it aloud, I didn't like how she looked at Ryoku.
The crowd started to disperse around us and some guards came to remove the body of the Warg I caught Will's eye and raised a brow at him. "Really? Jeffrey Lampsword, of fucking Bonnin?"
Our group started laughing anew. Watching Ryoku's face light up again, I realized I didn't really care where we ended up or what we did – as long as I was with him.