I lay in the cot next to Frail, our bodies pressed close in the cold of night. Frail was asleep, I could tell by the small snores and his even breaths. I'd had that dream again, where Frail towers over me with red crystals of lyrium breaking through his skin, replacing his muscles and building in chunks on one side. I was calling them dreams now, too. I hadn't mentioned it because I wasn't sure it hadn't been a drunken delusion that was brought up in my nightmares again and again.
Slipping slowly out of bed and placing an additional warming rune in my stead, I dressed quickly. No use in staying in bed if I wasn't likely to fall asleep again. The frigid cold air chased the dredges of drowsiness away as I walked out to see an empty encampment. It was eerily silent.
Walking toward the center, I noted the firepit was running low on wood. Icy water buckets were lined up next to it and Jany's table was set up. It was still dark out, the wee hours of the morning where it's colder than you'd think until the sun comes out and heats everything up. Only on the coast, the chance of the sun coming out was slim. Instead, it was more likely to be overcast as it had been. Or, as I stared up at the sky where the stars were being blocked out by rolling dark clouds, it was likely to rain.
Just as I was about to start lifting the buckets into the pot to help Jany with breakfast, I heard approaching footsteps.
"You are awake far earlier than I expected." That timbered vice was familiar but I had gotten used to the way it was tight with anger and distrust these last few weeks. I turned to see Alon who was clasping and unclasping his hands, almost nervously.
"Alon, good morning."
"Good morrow. Might I – might I have a word with you?"
"Depends." I was terse and completely untrusting of him. First he was judgmental and then angry at me for something I had no control over.
"On?" He followed my movements, helping me raise the pot over the fire and then stoked the fire so it rose while I poured the icy water into the pot. I didn't answer, instead working slowly.
"What it is." I said just as I spotted Jany and Beltrude coming from the main entrance of the encampment. On their shoulders were a few nugs, pheasants, and a fennec fox. Their cheeks and nose tips were rosy from the cold.
"Alon. Those are storm clouds. Shall we assemble the tent?" Beltrude pointed to the sky and Alon looked long and hard.
"Yes. Over the fire, and bring the tables here so we all stay warm." Alon and Beltrude went off to collect something while I sidled next to Jany and helped him skin the game. The first time I did this, I couldn't help but look at the cute nugs and fennec foxes. But then my stomach growled and I imagined them roasted with parsley and other herbs.
Sliding the knife as close to the skin as I could, I peeled back the fur, trying to keep the entire thing as in tact as possible. These could be used for a hat, or some gloves after it's been tanned and treated.
Once the meat was stripped, Jany and I placed the meat along with bits of onions, potatoes, some elfroot, and some cabbages – my cabbages – into the large pot as it was already boiling. A little bit of salt and then it was a matter of stirring, of which Jany did most of.
In that time, Bel and Alon came up with four tall poles that they places in a square around the firepit and then a large black cloth that looked slick and oily was hefted up using the poles and then secured in place. This left the firepit partially exposed but that was fixed with another tent over it, a metal one with grates that allowed smoke out but water merely collected and riveted down into barrels on either end.
"It may snow." Alon said and then gestured for me to help move the tables.
Sighing, I did, hefting up the wooden tables as best as I could and dragging them through the flaps of the tent and arranging them to allow everyone to have a place to sit.
"I realize, I may have acted rashly." Alon said when we were left alone outside while Beltrude took in the barrels and logs that acted as seats.
"Rashly? Oh boy." I huffed as I picked up an empty barrel and took it in.
"I must apologize for my behavior, for my anger." Alon continued, though his voice lowered as soon as we were in the tent.
"And?"
He looked at me questioningly. "And…?"
"And for being judgmental about the bath incident." I too lowered my voice but his eyes widen with recognition and I swear his cheeks pinked and his eyes turned away guiltily.
"Yes. I suppose I should – I mean, I do apologize for my reaction for that as well."
"Good." I huffed and continued bringing in barrels but Alon continued following me. He helped me lift a not quite so empty barrel in and then we sat down as a roll of bread was placed in front of us.
"It's stale, but it's the last one from the last batch." Jany smiled as he held another roll and broke it in half and handed it to Beltrude.
"I have a new duty for you." My brows rose as Alon broke the roll in half and handed me one piece. "If you'll follow me, I can show you." He led me outside and toward the stables.
"It's been established that the horses do not like me." I stated as we entered the stables. We passed Bryant who had taken over the stables for his late brother. He was brushing a speckled brown and blonde steed with a braided mane. I recognized the horse as Tali, Emeric's preferred steed. "And I thought Bryant was taking care of the horses." I nodded to the man.
"Yes. Right you are, but these aren't about the horses." He stopped outside of a stall and then I heard the faintest, squeakiest, tiniest little yips ever. Pushing forward I looked in and spotted a litter of mabari pups all crowded around one very proud female mabari, sucking on her teats. I counted eight of them, all with varied fur colors.
"PUPPIES!" I cooed, and immediately let myself in but Alon halted me.
"Let Jezebel sniff you first. She doesn't know you."
I nodded and slowly extended my palm toward the bitch. She looked me in the eye long and hard before sniffing it. It almost sounded like she was growling and I was getting ready to get out of there when her mouth opened and out her tongue licked my palm.
"She likes you." Alon said and I made to grab one of the pups now wandering around slowly. They weren't newborn but they weren't small either. They were about the size of a full grown domestic cat. But they were chunky and pudgy and so cute.
"There's eight! She had so many, and all at once!" I cooed with my baby voice at the pup who licked my face.
"Actually two mothers gave birth but Jezebel and her sister, Farai, were getting on in their years and Farai passed as soon as she delivered. Jezebel's been caring for them." Alon smiled. "Wait… did you say eight? There were nine last night." He came into the stall and picked up each pup and counted them. Then he pulled the ninth one out from under four pups still sucking for milk. "Ahh, the runt. I doubt he'll make it to adolescent. He is easily pushed aside."
"Awww…." I placed the pup down and it went off, then grabbed the runt form Alon and placed him at the mother for it to get milk as well. "Not if I can help it. He'll be…" I paused to lift its tail up. "She'll be just as strong as her brothers and sisters and cousins.
"That is exactly what I want you to do." Alon walked back out and I stayed inside making sure the runt, so to speak, got it's fill before clambering out. "They are old enough to begin training, and Dugan was waiting for them to get a tad older and Bryant has no patience for untrained beasts."
"So you want me to train them?" I looked into the stall and smiled widely. This is one duty I would not mind taking over.
"Yes. For now it will be small things. Where they can relieve themselves, when to come and go, but as they get older and bigger, we'll all do combat training. But basic obedience is needed. While mabari are very intelligent, in their adolescence they are… rambunctious and rebellious." Alon explained as we walked out of the stables. "It will be your primary duty until they are ready for combat."
"I'm going to have fun with this job." I giggled, thinking of the puppies.
I should really smack my past self. Mabari are adorable as pups, it should be down right illegal to be that cute. They love to go everywhere, explore everything and unfortunately go everywhere. I always kept a shovel handy while in the stables and always looked around. I don't know how but they'll sometimes make it out of their stall.
That first week was fun. I'd go in, get them acclimated to me, play with them, then reward them when they sit, speak, roll over, play dead. You'd be surprised how easy they got those down pat. Unlike the months it took for me to train my pets growing up.
The runt didn't die, just as planned. Because I made sure she always got milk. Either by pushing another pup off Jezebel or by asking for a bowl of sheep milk and feeding it too her. I named her Duchess right off the back.
Duchess was a white with brown speckled spots all over her with large floppy ears. And Duchess was the most adventurous of the litter. She found her way everywhere and into everything. I once couldn't find her until her yips brought me to a barrel of grain for the horses. How she managed to get up into the barrel is beyond me but I had to keep a close eye on her.
The others I eventually named based on their propensity for trouble, excitement, and obedience. Hey, Alon didn't say I couldn't name them!
There was Trouble, who was as the name implies, always trouble or in trouble. He made a whole rack of shovels fall when he got out of the stable following his sister Duchess. He didn't get hit by any of them, which was a miracle. Trouble was a fluff of fur that reminded me of calicos, with large brown eyes that always had a guilty look to them.
Moar, yes, I'm terrible at names. Moar was a chubby brown furred pup who was greedy when it came to food. Always wanted more. And when there wasn't any, he'd howl and bark until he got more. Every time I asked him if he "wanted more" he'd come running, until finally anytime someone said more, he'd respond at attention. So I named him Moar.
Ser Howlsworth, kill me I took inspiration from Ser Pounce-a-lot and Anders, was a howler. You guessed it. He howls whenever he got the chance. I really mean whenever. If he wasn't occupied, he was howling. I had to smack him on the nose to get him to shut up but those eyes! Large blue eyes that made my heart melt.
Barkspawn, I couldn't help it, was not a barker, but he play attacked everything. And he got his name much later for reasons I'm sure you can guess.
Dog, responded to that because he'd always watch Bryant work and Bryant would yell at him "Dog, get out!" or "Dog, shoo!" or "Dog, go back to your momma." So Dog, a robust black furred mabari, was named Dog.
Growlith – I grew up with the games so sue me – was a stripped blonde and brown furred mabari who, as to her name, growled often. Her teeth barred and paws spread as though ready to attack.
Slipper, I believed to be more cat than mabari. She got to places that she really shouldn't be able to get to. Like how she got on top of Emeric's cabin that one day blew my mind. I suspect Trouble and Duchess helped her but those two gave me that 'I didn't do it' look whenever I went looking for the culprit.
Then there was Leonardo. I didn't name him because he was an artist or never won any Oscars, I named him after the very famous turtle of the same name, and that's because Leo here was a born leader. He stood over his siblings and cousins and gave a bark and they fell in line. I learned really fast that they had formed a pack and as soon as I trained Leo, the others quickly followed. But that also meant that if I did something Leo didn't like, I had nine very troublesome mabari after me.
Which I just happened to do. I scolded the wrong mabari, I'm assuming, for something one of the others did. And that… that made Leo mad.
They really don't highlight how intelligent mabari are in the games and books. Or how they recognize patterns and note how important objects are to humans. Because the next thing I knew, Leo had my toothbrush in his mouth and Trouble and Duchess had my earth clothes in theirs.
"No…no no no … LEO… no. Put. That. Down, please." I approached Leo slowly and he gave a snort almost like a snicker and then he began chewing up my toothbrush and the others were ripping up my clothes. I managed to spare the other Earth clothes I had but my toothbrush was lost.
Collaring the mabari and locking them in their stall was their punishment, especially as I looked at the mangled up toothbrush. I took Leo to the cage outside, so he wouldn't stage some sort of uprising. It was by Emeric's throne and in the cold but I left the dog a blanket. He still whined and gave me those sad dog eyes but I got wise to that already.
"Leo… this was important. You see." I held out the toothbrush for the dog to understand. "This… this was from home… my home." I looked at the plastic case and thought of the times I used it while on Earth, for vacations, overnight stays, sleepovers. Leo was licking me through the bars of the cage and I realized I was crying. "Now you realize." My voice cracked as I looked at the mabari. It was barely a month and these dogs were already so big.
Sighing, I looked at the encampment and the bustling of people. A few had stopped to laugh when they saw me wrestling with the mabari for my stuff back but it was something I was used to. Apparently training mabari takes some persistence and patience that no one warned me I should have.
I left camp to find the south river. Recently, some giant bears were seen near our usual stream and rather than engage combat every time we had use for it, we simply relocated our operations. I stumbled my way to it and began trying to at least clean the toothbrush in the river. I sat on the bank with my heaviest scout jacket on with the hood up because the wind chill would get me even with the warming enchantments.
I scrubbed, and while I wouldn't be able to tuck the brush back into the plastic case I could at least try to fix the brush so I can continue brushing my teeth even if my toothpaste ran out weeks ago. It wasn't turning out good, I was just losing more and more of the bristles.
"Hoo…"
I looked away from the toothbrush. Was that-
"Hoo!"
An owl? I looked around the trees across the river and spotted it. It was looking directly at me. What was an owl even doing conscious midday? It hooted again and then turned, almost to behind me to which I turned. I really should pay more attention to my surroundings.
I came face to face with a large black bear with a brown muzzle whose nostrils flared as it sniffed me. Large brown eyes stared into my own.
Toothbrush forgotten, I made no sound as the bear slowly began standing onto its hind legs and I wasted no time in propelling myself into the frigid cold river and began swimming. Logic only hitting me then that bears are much better and faster swimmers and runners than humans but I committed and didn't look back unless I heard something.
I was across the river and scrambling up the bank as I heard the splashes of the bear coming after me. My feet wet and my body rushing with blood I took off into the woods. I knew them somewhat. And by somewhat I mean marginally because we had outposts this way too and I studied the map Alise had shown me.
I tripped, slipped, and skidded around trees, roots, and branches laying on the ground. I came around a bend and somehow the bear was in front of me. I turned around to go the other way and I ran. My breath heavy, my heart pounding and my lungs burned because some of the river water I swallowed. I was going up, and if I could slide down a cliff I'd be golden. The bear wouldn't follow me down, would it?
I came up to the top of a rather steep cliff that overlook the coast and stopped, looking behind me. I took a moment to listen and it seemed like nothing was chasing me. No sounds or snapping branches, no rustling. I held my hand out and a burst of green energy exploded around me. No one, and no animal, would notice me right away. That was a very handy spirit magic spell. Using the Fade to hide from sight if temporarily.
Senses tense and body beginning to shake from the cold, I calmed myself down enough to take stalk in approximately where I was. I had an idea, especially as I peered down the cliff and saw steps. I traced the steps and found what looked to be a structure. It was large and had a door to it from what I could see. It was by the coast as well, by the sound of waves crashing against rocks and the tide going over the graveled sand.
"-mson!" I heard a familiar voice echo up to me. I looked over the cliff and then I heard a high pitched neigh. I went to the other side of the cliff that let me look at the coast more and nearly fell over when I saw a very familiar speckled horse with its familiar blonde haired red armored rider, Emeric. And then my eyes traced over to where our leader was riding toward. There was the very familiar red lyrium powered ex-templar dwarfed by two large red lyrium corrupted horrors.