Chapter 9
"Nice shooting," Taika said.
"I guess. I could've done better. The pressure got to me."
Taika huffed and chuckled at Kaeorin's feigned modesty. "Well, at least it was good enough. This time."
"That's true," he said, nodding, staring down at the tiny village of Cathar as the clouds broke to reveal green fields and smoking chimneys. A sudden shiver ran through him. "It's cold all of a sudden."
"Ha!" Taika guffawed and slapped him on the back. The woman was strong. When her helmet was on, any one person might easily mistake her for a man. "We're at the top of a great mountain, sky hunter. The air is always cold. Let's just hope we're out of here by winter, eh?"
Taika strode off laughing. The ship's deck vibrated with the stomp of her boots as she left Kaeorin to wander his mind alone. "I did put an arrow through its neck," he thought to himself, "but I was aiming for the eye." The distinction of being named heroes belonged to every member of the ship's crew.
Kaeorin replayed the scenes in his mind. When the ship was leaning, the crew dove into hatches on deck to save themselves. They even grabbed Taika. After he had driven off the Seregios, they emerged to repair the ship. Men and women took great leaps into the air. Kaeorin thought they had gone mad and meant to plunge to their deaths on the forest tree. No one fell. They grabbed the rope netting around the airbag and threw more rope down to their comrades waiting on the railing. They tossed tools about themselves, never missing. It seemed like only seconds passed before they were righting the ship, one heave at a time. They leveled the deck and repaired the damage with only a slip of a foot or hand between success and death. The captain, too. Perhaps living another day is reward enough for them.
Kaeorin stood upright, hands settled lightly on the deck railing. He watched small flocks of Seregios fly about below, some so distant they appeared the size of normal birds. He wished they were. Those flocks were the reason they stayed aloft all night. It did not take much talking to convince the captain of it.
The mountain was not their normal habitat, and no living eyes have seen them in such large numbers. They would soon destroy the natural life cycle. Only time stood between them and the villages. Even normal birds, in a migration this large, would be disastrous, but large monsters? There were village huts smaller than an adult Seregios. Kaeorin shuddered at the thought and cursed his colorful imagination.
The ship docked in Cathar without incident, though the dock workers stare in shock at the damage. Night Wind accompanied the captain to meet the dock manager. He hoped to expedite Merkel's trip to a village healer. All color had drained from his skin, and his breathing was strained and shallow. Veins of dark color crawled up his neck from his chest, from the place Night Wind had cut him with the dark beast's scale. Taika and the palicoes sat in Merkel's cabin, waiting.
Night Wind knocked and walked in. Behind him entered two men wearing white robes, carrying a large satchel. "These are the village healer's nurses," said Night Wind. The nurses unfolded their satchel and turned it into a stretcher. "I've told them what has happened. Everything is in good hands. Fortunately, the people here know exactly what to do."
Taika spoke as she stepped aside for the nurses. "What? How can that be? Seregios have never lived near the mountain. They probably have never even seen one."
"I imagine you're going to learn soon enough," replied Night Wind. He stepped away from the door as the nurses left with Merkel cradled between them. "For now, you should get some rest. There is a guest house here, and it's quite well kept. I suggest you also wander around the village and enjoy it. Buy some food. Buy your hunting supplies, souvenirs, or whatever else you like. And, you should know that there is not one Guild house standing, nor one single Guild official stationed up here. You had best take advantage of the freedom while you can. They're bound to send some people up here in a few days…after they get the docks down in Harth back in order." He winked and smiled at them, as best as a felyne can, before following the nurses off the ship.
The guest house was an inn without a kitchen. A dozen rooms filled out the building. Balconies lined the outside on both floors. Kaeorin's room presented a beautiful view down the mountainside and into the valley, at the bottom of which lay Harth. He could see the dock fires still burning as the sun continued rising. He hoped they didn't hurt any innocent people, but he couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about the Guild office.
Kaeorin felt disgusting from all the fighting and excitement and from staying up all night. He found the bathhouse and washed before heading out to find some food.
Cathar was less than a pin prick on a map, and it had few restaurants to suggest otherwise, but, come nightfall, the few here were as bustling with activity and energy as any large trade port Kaeorin had seen. Each place specialized in a local tradition, so the fare was never the same. He couldn't get into his first or second choice, forced to walk a short hike up a rough trail to the next place. The short line of people in front of him told him he was not the first to suffer his fate. As he walked around a large stone outcropping, his frustrations disappeared with the smell of wood fire and smoked meat that met him.
Each establishment brewed their own ale and distilled their own spirits. A hostess sat him at a full bench crowded with locals. Before him appeared a mug of dark beer, both bitter and sweet. A platter followed with a massive, steaming chunk of kelbi meat accompanied with a dumpling made from rice, covered in a sweet and spicy sauce that smelled like a campfire. The heavy herb flavor of the meat was quite different from Kaeorin was used to, but it was delicious, and that suited him just fine.
A drunken woodcutter told him that the owners always loved when monster hunters came to Cathar. "They eat twice as much and drink many more times than that. What's better is that they always have the zenny to pay for it."
"What about the servers and cooks and brew masters? Do they always like it when monster hunters visit Cathar?" Kaeorin asked.
"Hmm. No, not always. Depends on the hunter, yeah?" replied the woodcutter.
"Well, yeah. That makes sense." Kaeorin nodded and finished his meal while listening to the woodcutter tell stories of things he had seen higher up the mountain. Some waved off his tall tales, and everyone laughed at his jokes.
Night Wind came for them early in the morning. Kaeorin felt uneasy and ready to see the healer. The woodcutter's comments had left him too curious about what happens to undesirable hunters. Taika, on the other hand, had no such encounter, it seemed, and exercised no restraint in her love of local ale. She moaned like a whining child as she prepared to leave. She tried using Lucky as an impromptu sun visor, but the brandishing of claws re-affirmed the nature of their relationship. She held a gloved hand over her eyes while chewing on jerky as Night Wind led them higher up the village side of the mountain.
The healer's house was small. Just behind it a path led up to a wide, flattened clearing where many people worked in fields filled with herbs and crops that Kaeorin did not recognize. Smoke curled from the chimney, accompanied by a scent of incense. The two nurses from yesterday stepped out through the front door, followed by a taller man wearing farmer's clothes. His large ears came to a point at their zenith.
"Pardon me, but are you the healer?" asked Kaeorin.
"Of course. These are my sons. Our family has served our role for many, many generations. My name is Musashi." He indicated his sons in turn. "This is Yuji and Masaru." The two sons bowed in respect to the hunters and their palicoes.
"Father," said Yuji. "We must hurry."
Kaeorin notice Merkel, then. He lay on a thin mattress on the floor. Musashi's sons lifted him and carried him between them. He wore a tunic that bound his arms in place, and a cotton hood covered his head completely. A loosely woven mesh netting covered the space where his mouth should be. From the mesh, a dark, sickly mist drifted.
"What is going on here? We're in enough trouble as it is," Kaeorin said.
Musashi raised his hand. "Worry not, hunter. The binding is for everyone's safety—ours, yours, and his. Please, up this path, beyond the fields is my dojo. We must go there immediately, if we are to save this man's life.
