Blood, Dust, and Silver - Chapter 2

After four days of travel Tanson was starting to regret the whole cloak idea. It was heavy to carry, hot to wear, and the colour clashed with his boots.

Dorian's ears perked, and he pointed toward some dunes in the east. He pawed at the ground, and whimpered. Tanson smiled, and pulled the water from the sand. Being able to smell water was a handy ability, that was probably the main reason Dorian travelled in that form.

Tanson topped off their water supply, and used the rest to make a small bathing pool. Dorian jumped straight in. Tanson took off most of his clothing, leaving the wrap around his chest, and joined him.

The two of them relaxed for a while. Now that Tanson had a moment to think, he reflected on his changes. Physically he was pretty much the same, with two big exceptions floating about in front of him. The mental changes were less obvious, at least to him.

Earlier that same day, Tanson found himself annoyed with his penis. He had some similar thoughts since his spirit quest, but that was the first time he caught himself. He swung his hips back and forth in the water, the feeling between his legs was alien and disturbing. Even though he had a lifetime of experience with one, his body felt it was something that should not be.

“Dorian, how long will it take us to reach the border?” Dorian shifted back into a man, then shrugged his shoulders. “Walking? Eight months, a year... Longer, it depends really.” Tanson nodded, they would have to be careful not to be found out during that time. That meant spending most, if not all of it in disguise.

He thought about having that strange appendage hanging between his legs, for that long, and shuddered. He took a deep breath and looked away from Dorian. “The next town we get to, I'm going to see their Alchemist.” Dorian raised an eyebrow. “About what?”

Tanson bit his lip, and blushed. “I... Look, it's not important. Just something I have to do.” Dorian looked a bit worried, but nodded. “If it's something you have to do, that makes it important. Problem is we're broke.” Dorian pulled out his coinpurse and shook it. There were a few coins jingling but barely enough to buy a draught of febrifugia, let alone a specially brewed fleshcrafting tonic.

Tanson nodded then pulled himself out of the water, they'd have to stay in town for a few days to get some work but it was easily doable. Dorian shifted back to his wolf form, then clambered out and shook the water out of his fur.

They walked for most of the rest of the day, camped for the night, and repeated that for six days. They arrived in the town of Castover at around midday on the seventh day, the first place they went to was the town hall. The bounty board listed five bounties. Two were small time, one was claimed already, one was too far out of their way, but the last was ripe pickings.

Fifteen gold bars for the live capture of a man named Oliver Kisky, wanted for questioning related to counts of unwarranted and/or obscene necromancy. Tanson and Dorian made their way to his last known address, and looked around. Dorian smelled clothing and personal affects.

Tanson found a ring of keys and a box of nails, both of which went right into their pack. Dorian led Tanson to a cave just outside of town. There was a skeleton near the entrance, it wasn't walking around or anything but Tanson roasted it just in case. The cave itself was more of a crack in a rock, but was big enough to enter.

The inside of the cave was a smallish chamber with a shoddy fort made of piled rocks. A man was lying on a hammock, Tanson looked at the wanted poster and confirmed that it was the man they were looking for. “Alright, let's do this easy-like. Hands on your head, no sudden movements”

Oliver jumped up and flung a burst of greenish light at them, Tanson recognized it as an entropy spell. He intercepted the spell with a jet of fire from his hands. Dorian ran forward toward the necromancer, and Tanson kneeled to the ground and concentrated.

Dorian jumped out of the way of several bursts of entropy magic, and got behind Oliver. Dorian growled at the man, and showed his teeth. As Dorian was keeping Oliver's attention, Tanson reached into the earth around them and called it to move.

Dorian sensed the ground moving and lunged at Oliver, the man in question charged up a burst of entropy and took aim. Tanson buckled the rock under Oliver's feet, causing him to miss Dorian entirely. Dorian was not so impaired, and sank his teeth into his arm.

With his casting arm in the mouth of an angry wolf, Oliver was a tad more cooperative. Tanson stomped on the ground and made a small cage around their captive. “Don't turn me in, they'll kill me!” Tanson shrugged his shoulders. “The wanted poster just said you were to be questioned.”

Oliver just sighed. “I just... Wanted to see my mother again.” Tanson shrugged again. “Explain that to the city officials, not really my place to judge.” Tanson kicked the cage out of the cave.

Tanson pulled two ropes out of his bag. He tied one rope around a rock, and made sure that Oliver was watching. He incinerated the rope, and the rock was scorched. He then tied the rope around Oliver, and removed the cage. “Move.”

Oliver didn't need to be asked twice. The walk back to town was a short one, and Tanson walked his prisoner straight to the Sheriff's office. Tanson turned in Oliver, and received ten barstamped gold coins and five gold bars worth of silver coins.

Tanson went to the town's Alchemy shop and nervously waited outside the door. He took several deep breaths then told Dorian to stay outside.

He opened the door to the shop, and hoped he wasn't closing the door on his old life.

To be continued...