Looking back I never got to read that book. The Vagrant of Thunder. For some reason, I felt like that book had something in it that I needed to read... Something that could help me in the future...
But oh well...
I'll read it next time I go to the Fishing Village of Morigan, but for now, Ceauli, Tusk, and I are traveling to the Kings Outpost, which will then take us down a long road to the Kingdom of Rend. I should be able to ask Tusk some questions along the way...
---
We walked across the same emptiness of sand. Our exhaustion running dry as the sun beamed down on us. Well, except for Tusk. After half a day of walking, we stopped under a rocky overhanging hill that gave us a bit of shade from the burning sun.
We sat and talked. Our conversations lasting until the peak of dusk, when the sun finally started to set.
Ceauli sat next to me as Tusk sat alone on the other side of the small campfire.
She was staring at him with a sort of intrigued look.
"Hey, Tusk, who are you?"
"Who am I?" he repeated back, his body covered in a full black cloak as the sky turned to darkness around him.
I sat forward, my golden dagger pressed against the burning fire as I cooked a small piece of meat from its pointed end.
"Yes, who are you? Hoefen seems to know a little bit, but I'm out of the loop."
"Fine. I am Tusk. The Killer of Kings, the Vagrant of Thunder."
"What!"
"Huh?" Ceauli turned to me as I turned to Tusk.
"You've heard my name before?" asked Tusk, his red eyes cast in the dark as I pulled my meat-covered dagger away from the fire.
"No-no, I... Vagrant of Thunder... How did you get that name?"
"It's a name from not so long ago. I got it right after leaving the Shorebringers."
Ceauli sat up amazed, "what! Shorebringers! You were... You're..."
Did she really just now piece it together? I thought she figured this out back in Forr?
"Hoefen, why didn't you tell me this!" she blurted confused and bewildered.
I picked off the piece of meat from my dagger and took a quick nibble on the soft end.
"I thought you knew... But more importantly, Tusk, I want to ask, did that name Vagrant of Thunder exist before you?"
"No," he responded blunt and fast.
"Really? Like nothing-"
"Quit it Hoefen..." Tusk sat up and looked out into the darkness, "this is not the time for pasts. I've dwelled on mine for far too long."
"But you still fight for revenge? So why not bring us into the loop?" I asked, my hands pealing the thick brown meat from my dagger, like wet paper.
"There is a difference,
"AHHHHHAHHAHAHAHHHHHHHAHHHH!" a loud boyish scream, echoed across the light dimmed valley in the distance.
Tusk sat up abruptly, grabbing his Sword of Thunder and turning to the echoing sounds as Ceauli and I jumped up scared.
"Is that a Monster?" she asked afraid and jumpy.
"What Monster is that? It sounds so human?" I asked as well.
Tusk looked out into the slight darkness. The sound of the screaming man slowly started to fade, further and further away from us.
"It's a human... I will deal with it..."
Ceauli looked at her shaking palms, her shaking hands, and legs.
Tusk stood up, his sword strapped to the left side of his belt as his rippled black cloak flowed over his tough scratched-up armor underneath.
He looked at me and nodded his head, "Hoefen protect."
"Yes sir!"
He walked off as I cleaned off my golden dagger and pointed it out into the dakrness. But before I could ready myself to fight I turned to Ceauli who cowered in fear.
"Are you ok-"
"No, no I'm not Hoefen... Why didn't you tell me?"
"What? Is it really that big of a deal to you?" I asked back confused by her sudden switch from strong and fierce to afraid and anxious.
"It's not... Just why didn't you tell me?"
"Like I said, I thought you knew. I never really-"
"Hoefen! Hoefen! You are killing me! Killing me! Please... Please... I... I hid it from you, from my brother, from everyone..."
"Wha... What...?"
I lowered my golden dagger as Ceauli started to cry.
"Sob sob sob!"
"Ceauli... I've never seen you cry."
"No wonder... Sob! No wonder you wanted to go with him. I get it now. I just thought you were crazy, but now I know... Sob... That you're psychotic."
"I don't understand Ceauli, just tell me!"
"The Shorebringers killed my Uncle!"
---
Ceauli and I sat back against the flickering nightly campfire. Our cloaked up bodies across from each other as the night slowly turned further into its deep darkness.
This always seems to happen to us. Tusk always off on his own fighting Monsters in the darkness as Ceauli and I are alone by this campfire sharing our feelings. It's the second time it's happened already and I don't know why it keeps happening. Maybe she doesn't trust Tusk enough to start crying, or maybe it's all a coincidence, or... Or it could be this kindled flame in front of me, her face on the other end, wrapped in a blanket. Her bushy eyes, bushy hair, narrow nose, smooth chin.
She's beautiful and flawed... What am I saying... We're all flawed, Tusk isn't perfect, the people of Morigan aren't perfect, Elisese, Forr, none of the Kingdoms are perfect.
I looked up at Ceauli's cute pouting face and asked, "hey you wanna talk more about this? We can-"
"No, just leave me alone. I'm just tired. Ok, I'm just tired."
"Ok..."
She's probably going through a lot in her head.
---
Meanwhile, in the slow lowering darkness, Tusk stood alone. The sounds of faint screams floating about the cold air as crackling sand beneath his feet buckled in tension.
"OOOOOOOOOOO...! ANOTHER HUMAN TO FEAST ON...!"
Tusk stood emotionless. His head and body still aching from his fight with Caroline a few days ago. He looked in the darkness of the surrounding voice. The silence, its ominous words bouncing in and out of the waves of wind.
"HOW WILL YOU TASTE HUMAN? DELICOUS, DELICOUS, DELICOUS, DELICOUS!"
Tusk immediately could tell the level of this Monster. It wasn't a Boss level, nor was it anything higher than a Knight level. It was more of a Grunt level... But there was something else different with it. Something that Tusk couldn't grasp. How could this Monster speak?
There are only a few select Monsters that can speak. First are humanoids, Monsters that have combined with humans, or have close connections with Humans. Second are the Knight-level Ghosts, which are just Ghosts with really tight connections with the earthly realm. Third, are some Boss-level Monsters, those are the most typical to speak, but only in some syllables or phrases. And finally, there are the Special Monsters, which are just Monsters with special abilities that let them speak.
But Tusk couldn't tell what this monster was because of the dark. So he resorted to his typical plan.
He gripped tight to the grip of his Sword of Thunder and pulled it from its sheath. He then pointed the blade out in a random direction and said in a soft slightly pissed tone, "thunderstrike."
Crackle...BOOM!
An explosion of lighting struck down on Tusk's location, sending out sparks in all directions.
"THAT WON'T HURT ME HUMAN!"
Flaming sparks shot across the sky, their ashy spread lighting up the sky like rainfall. Tusk spun in a three-sixty as the rainfall illuminated the entire surrounding area.
There it stood...
Tusk looked up at the Monster with his glowing red eyes. Its body large and twisted, with nipples running along its many stomachs, and four arms connected to its sides. In one of its arms, it held a human. Tusk immediately figured out this Monster's deal. It was a Special Monster. The way it stared at Tusk, the way it moved, it talked, the way it looked, it was all too Monster, and not enough Human.
"What are you?" asked Tusk.
"THAT LIGHTING! YOU ARE THE VAGRANT OF THUNDER!"
Tusk stepped back confused, his sword in hand as the raining flames touched the sandy floor and spread in lines and waves across the ground.
"You know my name Monster?" he asked.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MY LUCK! A SPECIAL HUMAN! LORD SARIEL WILL BE PLEASED!"
"Sariel..."
Tusk looked up at one of the hands-on the goopy nipple-covered Monster's back. It was holding a human. But not just any human. This man was wearing all red puffy cloth clothes, a feathered cap, and a lute on his back.
He was a Bard...