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MOVING QUICKLY but staying in the shadows cast by the wall, I moved toward the voices. The closer I got, the clearer it became that it really was Mink and she was indeed crying.
When I visualized her crying, I clenched my teeth in anger. The blood rushed to my head. I quickened my pace.
I distantly realized that my body was different now. My movements were cleaner, but also smoother. I gracefully jumped over a short stack of wood, even though just one hour ago that trick would have been beyond my abilities. It was like I was lighter. It felt like I had been carrying a heavy backpack filled with rocks my whole life up until that moment.
What’s going on with me?
And then it suddenly hit me. The ring and button! The improvements were starting to take effect!
And the energy too. I had cast off my shackles. I was no longer dependent on energy. Now I didn’t need to agonize over every little point.
The wall quickly came to an end and I jumped around the corner. I found myself just ten steps away from the sobbing girl and... In the dim light of a torch in Mink’s hand, I could see a man standing just a step away from her. He was tall and broad-shouldered. Very nice gear. He cut a masculine profile and had light curly hair. I was immediately reminded of Haakon from my class. The exact type of guy that conquers the hearts of beautiful women.
Who is he? A hunter? A warrior? I don’t really care. No matter who he is, he will answer for Mink’s tears!
They still hadn’t noticed me. I wanted to shout at the guy, but I stopped short when I heard Mink’s voice.
“Please, help him!” she pleaded and placed a hand on the warrior’s shoulder.
“Sorry, Mink,” he answered coldly. “I cannot save your brother. You have your dead daddy to thank for that.”
“But the son doesn’t answer for the sins of the father!”
“That is true, but he insulted Black Bull gravely. Now, the Chief won’t stop until he’s exacted revenge on his son.”
“That was so long ago!” Mink exclaimed with sorrow in her voice. “Neither Badger or I were even around yet.”
“That doesn’t change a thing,” the warrior was implacable. “Only blood can wipe away an insult like that. Your brother is just too much like your father. When Black Bull looks at him, he can only see the man that insulted him.”
“But Wolf, what about me?” Mink suddenly asked. “What will become of me? I am his daughter too, after all.”
The warrior snorted.
“You’re a woman,” he threw out. “The Chief doesn’t care about you. As soon as you join a new family, he will forget all about you.”
I clenched my fists even harder. He’s talking about Mink like she’s an object. I had also realized who this warrior was. Mink’s former fiancé. Yellow Wolf if memory serves...
“By the way, about that,” the warrior came even closer to Mink. “It’s too late for anyone to help your moron of a brother but, as for you... You’re so beautiful...”
I saw Mink frown. She took a step back from Wolf.
“Hey, what’s this?” Wolf snorted. “Scared? It’s me. Don’t be afraid. I’ll take you into my family. You can be a servant to my wife.”
“Wife?” tore itself from Mink.
“Oh yeah! You haven’t heard! Robin will be my wife.”
Wolf laughed.
“You remember. She always had a thing for me. Well now her dreams are coming true. I just have one regret... She isn’t as beautiful as you. But her daddy is rich as a prince. I need to put the future of my family line first.”
Mink turned white as a marble statue. Her high chest was heaving in rapid deep breaths. I saw how badly the bastard’s words were hurting her.
For the record, he took her agitated state in his own way.
“Now, now. What’s this?” Wolf whispered tenderly. “You will be Robin’s servant. But we will always be together, just like you wanted.”
Wolf gave a self-satisfied smirk and extended a hand to Mink. She gave a sharp twitch and took another step back. Her pale face instantly turned beet-red.
“Don’t touch me!” she shot out, her voice quavering in rage and resentment.
“It also occurred to me that maybe we shouldn’t wait for my wedding.” Wolf’s smirk grew even wider. “What say we settle everything right here and now?”
“No! Get out of here!”
Mink tried to bat Wolf’s hands away, but he deftly caught her by the wrists.
An instant later, I was at the scumbag’s side. Grabbing him by the shirt collar like a misbehaving dog, I threw him aside.
Wolf flew a few paces, crashed down on some boxes next to the stable wall and fell silent.
Mink gave a fearful sob and dashed over to him. I took a few steps and stopped behind her. She fell to her knees, and I glanced over her shoulder.
“He’s still breathing,” I commented serenely. “But his head took a hard hit. That’s why he’s unconscious.”
For the record, there’s no blood. All in all, he’ll live. But still I feel bad...
If I hadn’t been out here, this scumbag probably would have forced himself on Mink.
My voice made Mink shudder and turn her head.
“What have you done?!” she whispered furiously.
“Helped you,” I shrugged. “What? Didn’t you need it?”
Mink’s eyes squinted menacingly. Her cheekbones looked sharper. I thought distantly that she even looked pretty when mad.
“He’s related to the Chief,” she sighed fatedly. “Now Badger is done for!”
Ah, so that was what she was talking about...
“Step aside,” I nodded and reached for Wolf’s body.
“What are you going to do?!” Mink choked in fear and tried to block her former fiancé with her body.
Her behavior was getting on my nerves.
“I’m gonna flay him alive,” I answered with a rapacious expression and added: “Then you can cook him up for dinner. Badger will be glad to have fresh meat!”
Mink gaped and opened her big eyes wide in bewilderment. I decided to throw more fuel on the fire and shot out:
“How did you think your brother and I made it out of the City of Shadows?”
Casting a cannibalistic gaze at the unconscious warrior on the ground, I added with pity in my voice: “Ugh, too bad we never caught such a plump one out there. In fact, we had to make do with stinking animals and bony mutants.”
A look of fear and disbelief plastered itself on Mink’s pale face. Covering her mouth with her right hand, she froze still.
“So, you say he’s a relative of the Chief...” I muttered, hoisting Wolf over my shoulders. “Your brother isn’t as helpless as you think.”
Wolf was a real ox of a man. Just one hour ago I wouldn’t have been able to lift the burly fellow even an inch off the ground. But now, with thirty points of strength, it was quite easy.
“Go inside and get to sleep,” I said to Mink and added: “And don’t you worry. Nothing will happen to him. I’m going to sneak him over near a tavern. Tonight, he’ll sleep beneath the moonlight, and tomorrow he’ll wake up fresh as a daisy.”
Surprisingly, Mink complied. She got up off the ground and slowly plodded into the house. A-hem... I’m willing to be she’ll spend the whole night weeping.
I then, trying to keep to the shadows of the fences and buildings, headed toward the tavern. My first impulse was to strangle the creep, but something was telling me that Mink would never forgive me if I did. So I did as promised.
Once back, I gave the backyard a thorough inspection. Not finding anything suspicious, I went inside. When I went up the stairs, I heard muffled sobbing from Mink’s room. Welp, just as I thought. She would be crying all night. I wanted to somehow comfort her, but I could tell it was best to leave her alone for now. And for that matter, what did I know about comforting girls?
When I got into my room, to calm down a bit I started packing up all my new stuff. It didn’t work very well. The longer I thought about what happened, the angrier I became.
When I started to feel like smashing everything around me, a timid knock came at the door.
After I opened up, I froze for a moment. Mink was standing in the doorway. Her eyes, red with tears, were burning with determination.
“I need the truth,” she said in a quavering voice.
I took a few steps back and pointed silently at a chair. Running a thoughtful gaze over her, I closed the door. The door closed with a click, making her shudder. But she quickly sat down, giving a fated sigh as she did. And then she noticed all my machetes on the bed. Her already huge eyes got even larger. Okay then, one more tick in the “Eric is a monster” column.
“Ask your question,” I said calmly, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Who are you?” overcoming her last doubts, she finally made up her mind.
“My name is Eric Bergman,” I answered.
“My brother said you came down here from the mountains, is that true?”
“No,” I shook my head.
My curt response clearly did not satisfy her.
“But are your relatives from around here?” she asked with hope in her voice.
“Nope.”
“But you speak our language so well it’s like you grew up next door!”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Languages come easily to me.”
Mink frowned.
“So you’re trying to say you learned our language over the several days you spent traveling with my brother?”
“No,” I shook my head again. “Much faster. It only took me a few seconds.”
I could read disbelief and a mean taunting look in Mink’s eyes.
“Would you mind telling me the truth?”
“I have no reason to lie,” I answered. “You’re free to decide what to believe.”
She looked me thoughtfully in the eyes.
“Why did you save my brother? Do you have some hidden motivation?”
I answered as convincingly as possible:
“It goes against my personal code to abandon those who fight by my side. And as for motivations... You’re right, I have some. But they have nothing to do with saving your brother.”
“Are you looking for something?” Mink came right up close.
“Yes,” I nodded and answered honestly: “A Place of Power.”
“Place of Power?” she asked. “And what is that?”
“If only I knew...” I muttered back.
Seemingly, that only confused her more.
“How were you able to heal my brother?”
A phial of potion appeared in my hand out of thin air. Mink’s mouth hung open amusingly.
“This is a satiety potion,” I explained and extended her a bottle. “One swallow is enough to significantly restore one’s lifeforce. It also sates thirst and hunger.”
Mink accepted the phial with a quavering hand. Spellbound, she turned it over in her fingers and tried to give it back to me, but I raised a hand:
“Keep it, it’s a gift.”
“But...” she frowned.
“Keep it,” I insisted. “Don’t insult me. It might save your life one day.”
She nodded and slowly stuffed the potion in her pocket.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” I said, face-palming. “There are exactly seven doses in that phial, and don’t drink it more than three times per day.”
“Is this sorcery?” Mink asked, almost whispering. Her eyes were glowing as if she had finally heard the answer to the biggest question in her life.
“Yes,” I answered calmly.
“Are you altered?” She whispered with dry lips.
“Well, something like it,” I answered. “But it’s not like you think. I don’t drink mutant blood. Where I’m from, people like me are called mages.”
She shuddered.
“And where might that be?”
“My world.”
It pained me to look at Mink. She was all pale. Her lips were trembling. Tears were welled up in her eyes.
“You... came... from... another... world?” she asked slowly, quaking like an autumn leaf.
“Yes,” I answered with a frown.
“Are you possessed?” Mink asked with a half affirmative tone. Seemingly, she was now more afraid of me than she was before she came into the room.
“Not that I know of,” I answered, trying to make my voice as reassuring as possible. “Your brother already asked me about that. I told him the same thing. What exactly are the possessed?”
“Bloodthirsty spirits who come here from the other side...” Mink said quietly, as if afraid someone might overhear. “They need a victim in order to obtain a body in our world. They are the only beings in our world that hold dominion over sorcery and artifacts of the Age of Fire. Until I met you, I thought all that was just fairy tales from an old madman...”
Mink’s face changed as if the solution to a riddle had just dawned on her.
“Are you here to kill us all?! You’re seeking a new body for yourself!”
She seemed to have been overwhelmed by a panic attack.
“Well, first of all,” I started with a chuckle. “Now that it’s come to that, these possessed you speak of only need to be reborn once. And secondly, if I really were what you take me for, you would all be long dead.”
My mocking tone threw her off. Clearly, it wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.
“And third, stop shivering. I don’t need to kill anyone to go between worlds.”
“Is that true?” Mink asked in a very childish manner.
“Think about it,” I suggested. “If I were the kind of thing you imagine me to be, what would be the point of saving your loser brother’s life? Or healing him with rare potions? It’s true ― I would have gotten lost in the City of Shadows without him but, sooner or later, I would have found my way to civilization.”
Mink fell silent and stared at a fixed point.
“If I were in your place, I would be more concerned with other things.”
Mink looked me inquisitively in the eyes. There we go. That’s more like it.
“What?” she asked.
“For starters, the fact that your Chief is no stranger to the blood and dried innards of mutants.”
Mink frowned.
“No way,” she frowned.
“Oh you better believe it,” I chuckled. “I saw a new shipment being brought specially for him.”
“Where could you have seen that?”
“At the market. In Gravedigger’s tent.”
When she heard the name Gravedigger, Mink hiccupped loudly.
“But that isn’t all,” I continued. “I have reason to suspect that most of your Chief’s court is also altered. Gravedigger had too much for just one person.”
“He did?” Mink asked.
“After our encounter, Gravedigger left your kindly little town in a hurry. Now I can guess why at least.”
“He, like me, took you for possessed?” Mink nodded.
“Exactly,” I chuckled.
“So you don’t kill people?” Mink asked just to be sure. But I could already see that she trusted me.
“No.”
“So how were you able to get into our world?” Mink was gradually getting over her fear, and it was being replace by curiosity. She seemingly only now had begun to realize who was sitting in front of her. I was in no mood for jokes though. I had basically just earned my way out of her fear, but now I would have to experience her curiosity in full measure.
I had to go digging in my backpack again. The amulet of the wanderer appeared in my hands as if from thin air, and Mink couldn’t take her eyes off it.
“With this magic amulet,” I responded, showing her the artifact. “But that isn’t all. Crossing over requires a very large amount of mana.”
“And what is that?”
“It’s like magical energy. Magical force. Mages use it to cast their spells. But alas, when I crossed over, I used all my mana and now I can’t get it back. It seems in your world there is no such thing as magic. My supply is empty.”
“So that’s why you’re looking for that place!” Mink exclaimed. “You need magical power.”
“It’s just a guess, but ― yes. I hope there will be somewhere I can refill my supply near it.”
Before I could finish answering that question, Mink had another one ready.
“So does that mean there are also possessed creatures in your world? What do you call them? And where do they come from?”
I was wrong. She had a whole three questions.
“Yes,” I answered patiently. “We have them, too. I call them otherworldly creatures. They come from different worlds. Dark and cruel worlds.”
For the next hour, I gave detailed answers to all her questions about otherworldly creatures. Mink wanted to know every little thing. When I thought I was done with the questions, she asked one more:
“How do you know so much about them?”
Grunting like a decrepit old man, I got up off the bed and stretched out happily, then stared into Mink’s teal eyes and responded:
“It’s actually all quite simple. Because I am a hunter of otherworldly monsters.”
