Chapter 14
Xane was cooking breakfast when Delores stumbled out of her room, hair sticking out in multiple directions and in need of a brush. Half awake, she moved to the table, pulled out a chair, and plopped down on it. Letting out a loud yawn, she propped her head up with one hand while covering her mouth with the other. A moment later, a plate of eggs and bacon was slid in front of her as he went back to cooking.
“Morning Xane.” She said sleepily as her nose seemed to twitch as it took in the smell of fresh food.
“Morning Del.” He replied as he cracked a few more eggs into the pan, watching his sister out of the corner of his eye. Delores picked up a piece of bacon and bit off a good portion of the thick strip. Her eyes shot open, then closed as she moaned, savoring the taste.
Swallowing, she picked up the small glass of watered-down ale to wash it down. “You know, if I knew you could cook like this, I would have adopted you earlier.”
“If I had known you couldn’t cook, I would have chosen Charlie’s family.” He retorted back to which Delores grasped her chest, feigning being hurt. A moment later, the two laughed before he returned to cooking as she ate.
“It’s been what, three months since that day? Do you regret it?” she asked as she picked at the eggs. Xane remained silent as he plated his food and took a seat.
“It’s not where I saw myself. But it is nice having someone I can talk to. Even if she can’t cook to save her life.” He joked, causing her to chuckle.
“Well, excuse me for not taking the gourmet cooking classes Captain Alder offers.” She said sarcastically, getting a scowl from him in return, before they both laughed at the joke.
While they ate, Xane thought. When the mayor had convinced him to be adopted, he was barely speaking. If it wasn’t for Charlotte, he probably would have forgotten how to talk. While the girl was more than happy with his short and sometime stumbling answers. Delores helped bring him back to a conversational level.
“Copper for your thoughts?” Delores asked him.
“Just thinking how I nearly forgot how to speak. If it wasn’t for you, Boyd and Charlie, I’d probably be mute by now.”
“I think Boyd did more to bring you out of yourself than either of us girls.” She said with a knowing smirk.
“Yeah, he’s a funny one and a load of laughs once he gets a few drinks in him.” Xane said with a chuckle.
“Says the child that can out drink him.” Delores said, picking up her cup.
“Not my fault he doesn’t understand poison immunity works on alcohol.” Xane said with a shrug.
“True, he can be dense sometimes. So, what are your plans for the day?” Delores asked, changing the subject.
“I was thinking about doing some hunting and see what herbs I can find.” He replied. Delores smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair, causing him to scowl. “Alright, just be safe out there. If you get yourself an elk, let Boyd know so he can get the hide. I’m going to go get ready for my shift.” She said before heading back to her room.
Minutes later, Xane was walking outside when Vaettr bounded up next to him. Patting the enormous cat on the neck, he noticed fresh blood on her muzzle. Xane’s eyes narrowed seeing it. “Vaettr, you weren’t going after old Gretchen’s chickens again, were you?”
The cat’s yellow eyes opened wide as she shook her head. Apparently remembering how badly that went for her afterwards. Now she often jumped the wall early in the mornings and was always waiting by the gates with her breakfast in her jaws.
Veering off the main road, he patted the cat on her neck once more before he stepped inside the apothecary. Behind the counter, the potion maker Rebecca welcomed him as he entered her shop.
“Good morning Xane, did you come for more training?” She asked.
“I stopped by to see if you needed any herbs.” he replied. The potion maker’s eyes lit as she pulled out a list from a pocket of her apron.
“I was hoping you would be willing with spring finally settling in.” She said, handing over the list of herbs, all of which he had gathered many times before. Giving her a wave, he pocketed the list as he stepped back out to find Wraith perched atop of Vaettr’s massive head. Reaching into his bag, Xane pulled out a piece of smoked meat and tossed it into the air. Wraith let out a small cry of excitement and launched from Vaettr’s head to catch his treat. The big cat lowered her head, letting him scratch under her chin and behind the ears, as she chuffed happily.
Nearing the gate, Xane came to a stop when Mel noticed him and flagged him down. “How’s my favorite student doing? You going out hunting?” Mel asked as he patted Vaettr’s flank.
“Who’s the other student?” Xane asked, to which Mel hooked a thumb over his shoulder. Behind him, Billy was attempting to use a pair of blunted, short swords, which flailed uselessly against the training dummy. Seeing the boy, Xane gave the guardsman a questioning look.
“Fool has it in his head, that if you could use them, then why can’t he.”
“That bad?” Xane asked, not flinching as Wraith landed on his shoulder. A moment later, he winced as Billy struck one of the training swords against the dummy in a way that caused the blade to vibrate out of his hand.
Mel shook his head and spat before turning back to Xane. “See, the twit can’t even grip it right.” Which caused Xane to chuckle.
Billy apparently noticed him, stomped over angrily. Behind him, his lackey Jimmy picked up the dropped weapon and hurried after Billy like a dog with its owner. While Xane was more than happy to ignore the pair, as Mayor Unger had requested. It seemed these two had other ideas.
“Hey Jimmy, look. It’s the town’s orphan.” Billy said, trying to insult Xane. In response, Xane just watched the boy with a deadpan expression.
“Yeah, the town orphan. Ain’t got no family.” Jimmy said, laughing as if it was the funniest thing ever.
“You little shit’s I never said you could stop.” Mel shouted at them two.
“Why don’t you shut up. My father’s the mayor.” Billy replied to the man, then turned his eyes back to Xane. “Hey orphan boy, why don’t you let us practice on you.” Xane rolled his eyes and was about to urge Vaettr on when Jimmy spoke.
“If he doesn’t want to do it, maybe we can practice on Charlie. That brat thinks she can use a sword.” Vaettr’s ears flattened as her lips peeled back and she let out a low growl. Both boys’ faces paled seeing the big cat''s reaction. Xane’s head snapped back to the two as his eyes narrowed. Sliding off Vaettr’s back, he shouldered past the two and entered the sparring circle.
Jimmy picked himself up off the ground from where he fell when Xane shouldered past and gave Billy back his training sword before he picked up a training longsword. As Xane settled into a defensive stance, Sarah and her daughter came running up to see what the commotion was all about. Raising his longsword overhead in a two-handed grip. Jimmy let out a wordless shout as he charged forward. Xane chose not to wait and rushed forward as he went in low. Getting inside Jimmy’s guard as he brought the training sword down, Xane struck out with his empty fist before diving through the larger boy’s legs. Jimmy came to a sudden stop as the training sword drop from his hands and he clutched his crotch. A collective gasp of the spectators accompanied the wincing of the male guards. As Jimmy fell to his knees, Xane came up behind him and grabbed the back of the wounded boy’s collar. With a jerk, he brought Jimmy’s rag doll like body around to use as a shield from Billy’s attack. One sword missed as the other slammed into the side of Jimmy’s face, causing the boy to fall to the ground as blood spurted from his mouth.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Jimmy!” Billy shouted as he froze in shock. With one hand, Xane grabbed Billy’s wrist as he spun closer, then used the momentum to hip throw the larger boy. Billy’s breath shot out of his lungs when his back hit the ground. With a deft movement, Xane straddled the boy’s chest with the back of his skinning knife against Billy’s throat. Leaning down, Xane whispered into the boy’s ear, causing Billy’s flushed face to pale in fear a moment later.
Sheathing his knife, Xane stepped away from the boy as the watching guards cheered him as others mocked the older boys. Mel stomped over with anger smoldering in his eyes as watched the two trainees.
“Unger, take Marshal to the healer. Perhaps Mary can save his teeth. After that, you both will run laps around the town until I am tired.” Captain Alder barked at them, causing Xane and Mel to start.
“My father will hear about this.” Billy said as he picked the sobbing boy off the ground.
“I hope he does, and please include your threat involving a young girl.” The captain said, not relenting with his glare at the two. Billy just tsk’d as he dragged Jimmy away. Moments later, they disappeared behind the line of watching guards.
Xane turned his eyes from the back backs of the two older boys to the smiling face of the captain. The man clapped him on the shoulder as he let out a good-natured laugh. “Thank you for taking it easy on them, Xane. And don’t worry about the mayor, I’ll be having a conversation with him shortly.” The captain said before patting his shoulder a second time and left, heading towards the mayor’s home.
Xane walked back over to Vaettr and climbed back into the saddle. Turning to leave, he was stopped when Mel placed a hand on his forearm. “You be careful out there. The caravans are starting back up and don’t need Vaettr spooking their guards.” The man told him, then patted the big cat on the neck and went back to his duties.
Xane crouched on a thin branch as he waited for his quarry. During the winter he, with the help of Delores went on a bit of a skill point spending spree. The first of the skills he purchased were stealth and predator’s aura. On his sister’s advice, he also dropped a few points on a skill called elven trail. The skill allowed him to walk along branches and limbs like he was walking along the ground. On a whim, he purchased another skill called wall runner. As the name implied, it would allow him to run along vertical surfaces for a short time.
In the distance, the snuffling of the boar rooting amongst the roots could be heard. Xane waited with his bow held in a relaxed grip, with an arrow already knocked. A grin grew on his lips, watching it grow closer. The boar that entered the small clearing was rather big for its species. Raising his bow, he waited for the animal to turn and provide him a clean shot.
Keeping the red dot that precise shot provided him trained on the thick skull, he waited. Slowly its head turned to one side, then the other, before it became interested in a particular patch of ground. Xane’s fingers were starting to ache when the beast finally turned its body to the side. Letting out a breath, he activated his newest special Power Shot and released the arrow.
The arrow glowed brightly with his mana as it left the bow and released a thunderous blast as hit slammed into the boar’s temple. The massive head snapped around with enough force to knock the heavy beast from its feet and onto its side. Giving out one last squeal of pain, it kicked weakly at the air as it died.
Dropping from the tree, he came to his feet and approached the beast while stowing his bow. Pulling his skinning knife, he began cleaning his kill. While working, he was thinking about how to best spend the rest of his skill points when Wraith sent him a warning.
Turning in time to see a man step out of the trees with something slung over his shoulder. Behind him, three more men stepped out, each armed with either a sword or a bow. He tried using identify on the first man but got back nothing.
“Would you look at that? We just found ourselves dinner and show boys!” the one with in the lead said with a sneer, causing Xane to raise a brow in question. “Kill him.” The man said, right before the two with bows loosed a pair of arrows.
Both arrows slammed into the wall of earth that rose up out of the ground mere inches from him as the men shouted in surprise. Sending out a mental call to Vaettr, he drew swords from under his cloak and darted into the trees.
“What the fuck? Where did the little shit get off to?” One of the sword wielders said as they came around the crumbling wall. Looking down from where he was perched on a limb, sheathing his blades and drawing his bow. Alex had taken a human life more than one when he was deployed to the middle east during his military days. But this would be the first time he would be forced to do so as Xane. Taking a deep breath, he lined up the arrow on an archer and waited. A moment later, he loosed the arrow as he pulled the elk he had hunted earlier that morning from his inventory.
The sound of the arrow cutting through air was drowned out by the sound of breaking branches and a pained scream as the dead elk came crashing down. The second archer cried out in pain as Vaettr leaped out from the underbrush and racked him with her claws.
At the hell cat’s appearance the other man with holding a sword screamed in fright and attempted to flee. The leader drew his blade and started backing away, jumping at shadows as his friend’s screams died in the distance. Using the amplifying effect of Predator’s Aura, Xane pushed his aura onto the man. For a split second, he locked up in fear, then crumpled to the ground when an arrow punched into his eye.
Dropping out of the tree, Xane drew one last arrow and put it through the skull of the still struggling to get out from under the dead animal. Looking around, he surveyed the carnage that he had inflicted, then fell to his knees and vomited. Xane knew it was going to happen. Even with his life on the line, killing another person never came easily.
Vaettr’s approach pulled him from his misery. Wiping his mouth with some cloth, he stood and moved to see what the leader was carrying. Reaching the dead man’s side, he knelt down and inspected the bundle. It was a large canvas bag tied off at one end, shaped like a large duffle. Untying the knotted rope, Xane’s eyes went wide, seeing the small pair of finely made boots attached to equally small feet.
Carefully he removed the bag to reveal a little girl around his age with long curly red hair. Judging from her clothes, she came from a rather wealthy family. Looking her over, he found her hands and feet were bound, leaving vicious red marks. On closer inspection, he found the side of her head matted in dried blood that was hidden by color of her hair. Using his knife, he quickly cut the ropes, then set about healing her wound.
Channeling healing energy through his hand, he gently placed his palm against the wound. As the golden light washed over her face, the girl’s breathing became even and moments later, her eyes snapped open.
Cutting the flow of magic, he pulled away his hand a moment before the girl shoved him away roughly. Anger and fear twisted her pretty face as she looked around while scrambling away. Seeing the girl’s face, Xane stepped back with his hands up while his anxiety rose.
The girl’s hand landed on a rock that she quickly snatched up to use as a weapon as she shouted. “Where am I? What do you want from me?”
“We’re in the forest west of Stonevale. As for what I want, a thank you would be nice.” Xane snapped back, still running on the high of battle.
“What?” she said, looking around and taking in the surrounding scene. “Oh, Gods.” She said before falling to her knees and retched. After a few moments, she stood on shaky feet and looked at him. “You… killed them?” The way she said it, he wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question.
“Yeah, they tried killing me first. And if you ask me, they probably didn’t have the best intentions for you, either.” Xane replied rather defensively.
The girl looked at him, then took another look at the men before letting out a breath. “Thank you for helping me in my time of need. I am Juliana Moradania, second princess of Moradan.
Suddenly Xane’s confidence withered as his anxiety shot high. The girl’s strained smile fell as she noticed the fear that appeared on his face. Something in the back of Xane’s mind took over as he took a knee before the girl with his head bowed low.
“Please stand. You save my life, after all.” She said in a gentle tone. Silently he stood, nodding to the princess standing before him. “May I ask your name?”
“Xane.” He said quietly, before turning to deal with the dead. Suddenly the princess let out a scream as she fell back, pointing a finger.
“Monster!” She screamed, pointing into the woods. Spinning Xane, drew his swords only to find Vaettr poking her head out of the bushes. Sheathing his swords, he smiled as he moved to give the cat a hug.
“Xane, what are you doing? That’s a monster.” She shouted. Vaettr let out a chuff and held her head high as Xane laugh.
“She’s not a monster. She’s my pet. Her name is Vaettr.”
“Your… pet?” she said incredulously. Xane just gave the princess a grin while giving the big cat a scratch behind her ear.