Myrra - Part 3

[Myrra]

To town


We had decided to leave and go to town, but the Sslik said: "After a few days”, so we have to prepare a lot of provisions because Biniki eats like uh, well as a dragon.
She hunts alone now, while I repair the handcart to transport our food, as Dad did when he was there.
It is the Sslik who told me that the house with wheels is called “handcart”.
It is too big for me but I think Biniki will be able to pull it, after all it is mainly for her we should make lots of provisions.
When Biniki comes back, she tries to pull the wagon.
It takes several days to manage to build a harness that allows her to pull without being hurt, but she needs a few more days to collect enough supplies, so when the cart is ready, I help her to hunt and I also collect roots

The cart is full, and Biniki is ready on the road, but I still have something to do ...
Biniki does not want her parents' house to remain open with no one inside, and we do not know how to close it, we decided to bury the entrance.
To do it, I have weakened several rocks above the entrance, and they only stay in place because I put unstable planks. Now I'm going to remove them using my slingshot .
I climb up the mountain, to a large flat rock a little up and aside from the weakened rocks, them I make them fall. Well to tell the truth, it takes me several shots to make the first one fall, because the plank is well held by the weight of the rock, but in the end, it starts to fall and roll, then another and another and, in the end, it’s like the whole mountain falls. Falls and does a lot of noise and dust. I crawl on my rock, because I fear to fall because the whole mountain shakes, and I close my ears, pressing them on my head.
I do not see anything and I'm full of dust. But when the dust settles, the entrance to the house is totally invisible.
Of course, Biniki and I know where it is, but the day we will return, we’ll have to spend a lot of time to reopen the lair.
Covered with dust, we go wash ourselves in the river, then take the road in the direction the sslik said, towards the new Trismus.

Evening comes and we still walk. We left in the morning and we walked all day, then slept, then walked again.
The road meanders in the forest and the trees are so tall I can’t see the sun, only rays through the trees, and now the evening comes again.
In addition it starts to rain. Fortunately I can sleep, curled in a ball under The wing of Biniki, and she tucks her head under the other wing, and we sleep bad, all night.
When the morning comes, we eat and it remains less than half of what we had when we started. Another day, maybe two, and we will have to hunt.

Miauuwwww my legs hurt.
We now walk on this road since four days, and this noon we ate the remaining food.
I want to stop and go back to the lair, but then I remember it is totally blocked and it will probably take months of hard work to access it again.
So, as it is impossible to go back, we both go on. Biniki does not complain, for it is a game, it’s novelty ...

It is no longer possible to delay the decision now. If we want to eat, we have to hunt. Leaving the cart on the side of the road, we enter the forest to hunt.
Biniki has eaten and has her tummy full of food, and I have two rabbits for me to cook, but we continue to hunt for at least one day worth of food, when we hear rhythmic shocks.
We carefully approach the source of the noise, and it is stronger now, and then there's a huge crack and the ground shakes. Then the forest is quiet again for a short time, and shocks start again.
We move more cautiously, and finally we see the source of the noise. It is a dwarf and he has a large metal tool. He uses it on trees and he has already broken two trees.
I shout "Hello" to cover the noise, so he stops, and look around, seeking who called, then keeps his eyes on us, without moving.
As he does not move, and I advance and Biniki follows me.
As I approach, I notice he has clothes with many pockets and tools that stick out of them, and has something like a cart without wheels hanging in the air on his side.
Now I’m closer, I see he’s really small, his head is at the same level as my chest, he starts to squint as I approach, he is wrinkled and all red. He also must have problems in his head because he mumbles to us.
"Hell .. Good evening ... Gentl.. err… Pretty young lady and hatchling. Are you lost in the woods? Can I offer you a bed err... I mean hospitality?”
"Hello Master Dwarf, we are on the way to new Trismus, is it far ?"
“The road is in that direction" and he shows roughly the right direction "and the city is three hours walk from here”
I thank him and reward him with a gentle lick on the cheek, where there is no beard, and then we go, leaving the dwarf silent and motionless where he is.

Indeed, late in the afternoon, we sight the city and we find a large coloured slab on the road.
I touch it, I try to understand what it is, I gently tap above, and then I turn to Biniki
"What do you think it is?”
"I do not know"
And that’s when a young elf appears in the middle of the slab, in a falsh of light and a “plop”, looking disoriented, then his eyes slide on Biniki and lock on me.
He looks outraged and vitriols “You should not walk around naked, it is indecent," then he turn and pretend to leave.
"Wait, what am I doing wrong?”
He turns again and answers:
"Exactly that, Nothing, while you should get dressed, that's what is wrong. Your fur does not cover all that should be hidden.”
"But I have no clothes"
“Then go buy some." With these words, he throws a few coins, like the ones Mom and Dad used to buy their tools, and he goes away while I pick up the money.

We reach the town, and at the edge of it I found two sellers, to who I buy clothes using the money of the elf.
These are not beautiful, and they are somewhat large, but at least people will stop looking at me.
The vendors tell us where to find the inn, the vault, the trainers and the caves of dragons.
Hearing these words, Biniki wants to go but the sellers tell us we need to touch the shrine of the city before anything else, then, to follow their traditions, we both go touch the shrine.
It vibrates a bit and I have a weird feeling, but if touching it can make other people happy ...

I go with Biniki to the dragon caves, there are two of them, with a dragon in each.
One says he is name Avatarian and is a dragon adventurer. He asks Biniki if she wants to learn the skills that will make her able to survive.
The other is named Kerian and is a dragon crafter. He offers to teach how to craft whatever she may need.
As we first need to survive, she accepts the training of the adventurer, who told her to go hunting gruoks and bring proof of their death.
Going through the town, Biniki comes with me to talk with the biped trainers and I found one that wants me to hunt gruoks for him, so I accept the task to stay with Biniki.
Then we want to go buy some items to help us hunting, but we’re broke and to gain money, we need something to sell, so we both go hunting, Biniki with her claws and me with my slingshot.

[Myrra]

Training


The day after we arrived in town, we decide to talk to every trainer we can find, and offer them to work for them, and ask them what they can teach us.
I didn’t know there were so many schools available, for craft or to fight against the Aegis.

The War. That’s something worrying us a lot.
Previously, when the Sslik was with us, he told us about it and, considering the monsters descriptions he told us, I understood who killed our parents, from Biniki and me.
So we obviously want to avenge, but as the Red didn’t survive the assault, there is no single chance a little tigress and a small drakonel could stand against them with no training at all, so we talk a lot and decide to first train to fight, me with the warrior trainer, and she with Avatarius. They tell us they have missions for us, but they want us to first prove that we’re worth to be granted the responsibility of their missions, so we spend a few days showing what we’re able to, and to learn the basis skills of the fighters.

The next days, Biniki and me do missions for the trainers that send us to secure the roads. We lower the population of gruoks, spiders and maggots.
But what’s more important, we learn new special attacks, and sequences that make us able to hit our foes harder or easier, and to avoid being hit.
At the same time, with the skins and what we collect from the bodies of our preys, we earn a little money we use to buy weapons and clothes for me, and armor scales for Biniki.
After a few weeks, we feel more secure, able to defend ourselves, and we go check what craft we should learn.

GGGRROOOWWWwwww I will tear off his eyes !
First he asks me to pick up slabs, I bring them back to him, then he takes them and asks me for bricks.
If he had not taken them from me I could have cut the slabs I did bring, but no, I must return get some more...
But this is nothing yet. When I bring back the bricks, he takes them away then tells me I have to make blank spell shards from the bricks, so I have to go gather AGAIN.
And now that I have given him lots of spell shards and that I have no more of them, he tells me that I must copy spells on some spell shards.
Hearing that, my fur bristles and my ears lower and press themselves hard on my head, I uncover my fangs and ready my claws, ready to attack the offender.
Fortunately, Biniki is there and holds me back; otherwise I would have eaten his ears!
With a storm in my head, fur still bristled and tail waving fast and nervously, I go back AGAIN to gather slabs.

Since several weeks now, we live in New Trismus. We both grew and I’m nearly adult sized now.
Biniki is still as small as before, but her muscles are stronger and she’s swifter.
I trained a lot to hunt and heal, while Biniki has focused on the magic and knowledge.
Talking with the trainers, I have decided that I will follow the path to cleric to be able to pass the acceptance tests to become healer.
For the fight, as I will have to learn to defend myself better, I have decided that I will fight with bare fangs and claws, but for this I will have to go to Kion, and become a disciple of the famous monk trainer who lives there.

Biniki spent days and nights with Kerian, and learned to make everything a dragon can craft.
Obviously with her big paws and claws, she is not very clever, but she has a huge strength, and does not fear to shape objects directly inside the fire, and that is a huge advantage over me.
Finally we often work together, I harvest the raw material because I am cleverer, and I carry the resources in my cargo disk.
This is an item I purchased at vendors at the border of the city. Two of them in fact : one for me and one for Biniki. It was expensive, but the time saving is worth the cost.
Biniki focuses on learning the magic because she decided she will become a spell-caster dragon, but her magic is the one of dragons, one I do not understand.
on the other hand, she understands my healing magic and she’s able to write down spells for me.

[Myrra]

Gifted !


Maaowww. I do not know what I have this morning .. I feel weird.
It’s not some sickness, no. In fact I feel energized, ready to travel the whole word.
What I feel is strange : a little feverish, and something like a feeble stomach ache.
Well if it lasts till evening, I'll go ask a healer.

As Biniki studies with Kerian, I go hunting to earn some money, I would like to offer her a real dragon cargo disk.
When I arrive at the broker shop, to see what he lacks and know what to hunt, I see a nice tomcat and I am stunned.
He is so beautiful. So tall. So strong. rRRrRRrrRRrr.
I purr loud, I approach and I see I have his attention, but his gaze is not friendly. Looks like ... yes, that's it, he size me up.
"Your parents should not let you go out in your state, little cub. Go home."
Miiaauuuww I can not answer, I'm stunned, blushing, and I burn from inside.

When I finally manage to recover from those intense emotions, he is gone and is no longer in sight, so I go hunting, trying to forget him, remove his image from my head, but he comes back in my mind again and again and I feel all weird when I think about him.
I hunt very bad today, I do not bring back half my usual share of preys, and have some injuries that I would have avoided if I had been focused on the hunt.
I sell what I have gathered and I go to Biniki to share our midday meal.
I tell her I saw a beautiful tomcat and she asks me to introduce him, so I am forced to admit that he was not interested in me and that I do not know where he is. I do not even know his name.

Seeing me disturbed, Biniki suggests that we go hunting together in the afternoon, and go achieve the mission we have both postponed so long: to attack the army of skeletons near the stone circle.
Approaching the stone circle, I see the first skeletons that look patrolling aimlessly, and I pull one so Biniki and me can destroy him with a little difficulty.
Biniki and me kill a second one, then a third, and we move in to attack the next one, and then I see the tomcat at the other side of the stone circle, struggling with several skeletons. He looks in trouble.
My blood boils and, before I can think about it, I charge a group of two skeletons who are on the way between me and him.
Biniki follows me, asking, with fearful voice
"Mom? What are you doing! Not so fast it's dangerous!"
"It's the tomcat. He is in trouble!"
"We too" she replied while two other skeletons converge on us to reinforce those that I have charged.
I do not think anymore, I am a storm of claws and fangs, my body on fire and insensitive to the many injuries that I gather as I make my way in the mass of skeletons that come as reinforcements.
However, step by step, I get closer to the tomcat who actually seem to manage his own battle without need of help, but not the mess Biniki and I create while approaching.
I crush skeletons front and sides, and Biniki covers our back, using her scales as a shield and striking back with claws and fire breath. I hear, although I do not realize the implications of this, she whimpers whenever she is hurt. More and more often and more and more panicked.

As we arrive at voice reach of the tomcat, he shouts to us
“Crazy female ! Flee ! Don’t bring them to me !�
But I do not listen, in the middle of the fight I only hear his voice and, to me, it’s a call.
With a feral roar I leap forward, dispersing several skeletons on my way, and I hit the three skeletons that were threatening him, reducing them to dust.
Behind me, Biniki runs at full speed to keep near me, bleeding from multiple wounds and a front leg folded against her chest.
We joined the tomcat, but the skeletons that we were fighting quickly join the battle.
Now we are three against five, and our multiple wounds start to produce bad effects.
My hits are less accurate and less deadly.
We try to retreat, and little by little we move away from the stone circle, but skeletons join in faster than we kill them, and when there are a dozen skeletons around us, the tomcat falls with a loud cry, hands pressed on the stomach, where a sword left a large wound after piercing him.
The skeletons benefit from the fall of the tomcat to press me on both sides and soon I feel a cold inside me, from a rusty blade, but before I fall, I hear the cry of terror, then of pain, from Biniki who also fall.
The world disappears, everything fades out and I ...

Open eyes again, hearing Pratt McGrubbin speaking as in the middle of a formal meal.
I am no longer near the stone circle. I am near the Shrine. In retrospect, I'm exactly where I was when I touched it the first time.
And as I move my eyes where Biniki was when we touched the shrine, she appears, coming out of nowhere.
None of us is hurt, but I'm exhausted and I have this strange feeling in the stomach again

Biniki and me talk long, very long with Steward Pratt McGrubbin. He explain us we probably have the Gift. For us, dead will not be permanent, but each time we’ll die, we’ll revive near the shrine we’re bound at, and each time we’ll revive as we did this time, without loosing our memories, only a little exhausted and weakened. He also explains us that each death needs a full day to recover from, and if we die again before, the weakness is harder and lasts longer. Then he sends us to assessors so we can get a token to let everyone know we have the Gift.

[Myrra]

end of the batch... more to come (not so) soon in a new post

[awdz]

Excellent, I love the feel you give with the first person style. :-)

[Litarath]

nice work Myrra, I do enjoy your works! and I hope to see them soon again