Niles
Niles dodged the flames shooting out of the fire-spewing turtle and ducked around to its side. Fortunately, it wasn’t any faster than a regular turtle, though it was the size of a coffee table. He’d already discovered his spear was not going to pierce its shell, so this time he shoved the shaft of the spear under the beast and used it as a lever to flip the tainted animal over. As he’d hoped, the creature was pretty much helpless in that position. He felt a little bad ramming his spear in through the shell opening for one of its legs, but Birgit had assured him it was necessary to kill the tainted animals. She claimed they were extremely bad for the local ecology, and looking at the scorched earth around him, Niles could easily believe that. Also, if they stole a crystal without killing its guardian, the beast would go on a killing rampage, destroying everything in its path as it searched for its crystal. Niles didn’t doubt it. So far, he’d had to fight this fire-tainted turtle, an air-tainted eagle, an earth-tainted snake, and that time-tainted squirrel. The snake had been easy. Its scales were rock hard, but it had been so stiff and slow that Niles had finally just smashed its head in with a really big rock. But the eagle had been terrifying, with at least a twelve-foot wingspan. Fortunately, it had also been really stupid. It had swooped right onto his spear point, impaling itself. Thankfully, the spear’s crosspiece had done its job and kept the winged terror’s talons and beak from getting to him.
“Another medium crystal,” Birgit proclaimed, examining their latest prize. “I think this one is pristine and vibrant as well. It still will not sell for as much as the time crystal, since fire is only a basic element, but it is not even midday yet, and we already have seven crystals. This is by far the best hunt I have ever been on.”
Suddenly, a cry ripped through the air. It came from their left and behind them. It was probably Hilaria. Niles took off toward the sound, but then glanced back at Birgit.
“Go,” the kappa shouted. “I will follow.”
Niles sprinted across the rugged ground, leaping over rocks and plants, while dodging around boulders and scrubby trees. The cries continued. They were definitely cries for help. Throwing caution to the wind, Niles increased his pace, and the scenery seemed to blur past him.
Dodging around a boulder, Niles caught sight of Hilaria perched atop another boulder beside the stream, and coming out of the water was a Lovecraftian nightmare. Dozens of ropey tendrils emerged from an amorphous, translucent, blue-gray blob, flailing wildly in the air as it undulated out of the water towards Hilaria. The main mass of the thing’s body was the size of one of those European mini-cars, and at the end of each tendril was a round, lamprey-like mouth filled with jagged teeth. Hilaria’s huge, badger-like familiar stood in the horror’s path, clawing and biting at the blob, but already three of the thing’s tendril-mouths were fastened to the elemental.
Without slowing, Niles charged the monster, spear first. Blasting right past a half-dozen tendrils that flailed in his direction, Niles plunged his spear into the horror. Meeting less resistance than he’d expected, the spear sank in past the crosspiece, and Niles did not stop until his forward hand sank into the creature. It felt like he’d thrust his hand into acid. Instinctively, he pulled back from the intense pain. As his spear pulled free of the beast, rather than blood, blue-gray smoke shot out of the abomination, spraying Niles with even more pain.
One of the tendrils struck at Niles like a snake, clamping its rows of teeth onto his shoulder. Striking the tendril with his spear proved ineffective, as it didn’t really have a cutting edge, and he couldn’t get a good angle to stab at it. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, Niles went back to stabbing the main body. His spear thrusts went deep, and each time acidic blue-gray smoke shot out, but if that was actually harming the creature, he could not tell. Another mouth latched onto Niles leg, and he started to feel light-headed, though whether it was from some sort of poison or blood loss, he couldn’t tell. Whatever was causing it, he was rapidly losing focus and strength.
As his vision started to narrow, Niles noticed a sphere the size of a basketball in the middle of the blob. It was similar in color to the rest of the creature, but more opaque. Hoping it was something important. Niles thrust his spear at it with all his remaining strength. The thrust once again met little resistance, but the sphere moved back as he poked it, forcing Niles to thrust his arm into the amorphous mass after it. Finally, as it felt like his entire arm and side were on fire, his spear hit resistance, and he shoved with his last ounce of energy.
The creature popped, sending out acidic smoke in every direction. Fortunately, the force of the eruption was enough to throw Niles back and out of the cloud of corrosive gas. Never before had Niles felt so much pain. Most of his body felt like it was on fire, but at least it overshadowed the pain of landing on his back on the rocky ground.
“Niles, are you alright?” Hilaria called out.
“Ow,” was all Niles could manage to groan out.
The smoky cloud caused by the creature’s demise quickly dissipated, and Hilaria made her way to Niles’ side. “Do you need me to bandage you, or cast healing magic? It looks like you are already healing.”
“What happened?” Niles recognized Mona’s voice. Turning his head, he saw her standing on the far bank of the stream. Behind her, Uma and her guardian familiar emerged from the undergrowth.
“There was an other-planar horror hidden in the stream,” Hilaria shouted back. “It was huge. I could tell my familiar would not be enough to stop it alone, so I yelled for help. Niles arrived and killed it. He was amazing.”
“Where is Birgit?” Uma asked as she joined Mona on the far bank.
“I am right here,” Birgit answered, emerging from behind a boulder. “I told Niles to run ahead.”
Niles’ energy was rapidly returning, and his pain had receded to an aggressive itching. Sitting up, Niles took stock of himself. Ruby was gone from her usual perch, but that didn’t surprise Niles. She had disappeared just before each of his other fights, so she doubtless was back in her home plane and would return shortly. His skin was still a little red, but was gradually returning to its normal color. The two bite wounds he’d received had already healed over, and the even scars were fading. He wasn’t sure what was allowing him to heal so quickly, but he was incredibly glad to have it. His clothes, however, had not fared so well. Both his shirt sleeves were all but gone. His surcoat and pants had fared better. There was enough left of them to preserve his modesty for now, but they were not long for this world. At least his bracers and boots had survived, though his bracers were badly burned and pitted.
Seeing Niles was recovering well, Hilaria rushed over to her familiar. Almost all of its fur was gone, and the skin underneath was an angry red. On top of that, it had several gaping holes in its body, which leaked a greenish-brown liquid that glowed with earth magic.
“I found an earth crystal you can use to heal her,” Birgit offered, joining Hilaria by her downed familiar.
“Oh, I could not take your crystal,” Hilaria demurred. “Besides, I found one of my own.”
“It will take more than one crystal to heal that,” Birgit insisted. “And I know you would offer one if I needed a crystal.”
“But your familiar heals himself,” Hilaria said, looking over at Niles.
“I have an earth crystal, too,” Uma offered, having waded across the stream to join them. “This is a good area for earth crystals. I am sure we will find more.”
“We should take a break here,” Mona suggested. “You can heal your guardian, and we can have lunch. There must also be a strong crystal nearby to have attracted a horror.”
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“Yeah, there’s a big water crystal in the middle of the stream,” Niles said, seeing the telltale aqua glow of water magic coming from a deep pool in the stream beside them.
“How can you tell?” Mona asked, looking into the steam herself.
“Niles sees crystals glow, like magic does for him,” Birgit explained. “I have hardly had to use my detector at all, and we have already found seven crystals.”
“Seven!” Uma exclaimed. “I thought I was doing well, finding four.”
While the three students readied a spell to heal Hilaria’s familiar, Niles waded out into the stream with Mona and pointed out the crystal for her to retrieve. It was almost the size of a golf ball and classed as large according to Birgit. Hilaria offered it to Birgit for Niles’ help, but the kappa refused, saying it was Hilaria who had discovered it and had been the most at risk.
The friendship of the three students impressed Niles. It gave him hope that Birgit was not the sort to let greed get in the way of friendship. The only trouble was that he was pretty sure he and the kappa were not really friends. At best, she probably saw him as a useful employee, and possibly she saw him as more of a dangerous pet she hadn’t fully trained. She was always polite, but her body language said she was still at least a little afraid of him.
They finished sweeping the valley by mid-afternoon, finding six more crystals and fighting four more monsters, nothing in the same league as the horror, though. Summoning the flying mounts again, they flew back to pick up their supplies and then flew to another remote mountain vale. Once there, they spread out and hunted some more, finding one small crystal, but once again, the shadows of the surrounding mountains brought darkness early, and they set up camp.
“I cannot believe how well this hunt is going,” Hilaria declared as they sat down to eat their evening meal. “It is just too bad we do not all have hu familiars like you, Birgit.”
Hilaria had chosen to sit next to Niles and put her hand on his shoulder as she leaned over to look at Birgit, who was sitting on Niles’ other side. They’d compared their finds, and Niles and Birgit had found almost twice as much as either of the others, so Niles could certainly understand the sentiment. It made him feel good to be so useful. He just had to make sure that it didn’t end up with him being used.
“Niles certainly is remarkable,” Uma agreed. “You would not consider selling his contract, would you, Birgit?”
Niles tried not to show his shock. He had no idea selling contracts was a thing. Was that something else he had to worry about? At least he’d only really agreed to work for Birgit a month before they would renegotiate. He made a note to find out more about this contract selling before then.
“No, I couldn’t possibly sell Niles’ contract.” Birgit replied.
Uma sighed, “Oh, well, I had to ask. We had best keep secret what an amazing crystal hunter Niles is, then, or you will be swamped with offers for him.”
The night passed peacefully, but the new valley did not prove as lucrative as the previous one. They only found four more crystals, all small, and decided to head back to the academy by midmorning. Having become more accustomed to flying on griffin-back, Niles was better able to relax and enjoy the scenery on the return flight. That left him feeling less drained than the long flight out had, but it was still nice to get back to Birgit’s dorm and indoor plumbing so he could wash up. He’d been able to wash up some in the cold mountain streams, but he was glad to have a hot bath he could use to really get all the blood and sweat of his battles cleaned off. It was late afternoon by the time he was finally feeling clean and refreshed, but Birgit still wanted to go cash in their crystals at the nearby town.
“Wow, this is quite a place,” Niles noted as they entered the crystal dealer’s.
The emporium was a grand place with polished marble floors and fluted columns of the same gold-and-black-veined white stone, supporting an arched ceiling from which elaborate crystal and brass chandeliers hung. Marble counters ran down both sides of the large chamber, with clerks manning stations divided by partitions to provide privacy.
“This is one of the premier crystal exchanges in the kingdom,” Birgit informed him. “All the students at the academy are required to do at least some crystal hunting, and they also require many crystals for their school projects.”
“Is it always this busy?” Niles asked, seeing that there were a dozen clerks, all of whom were busy with customers, and beyond that, there was a long line waiting for a clerk to free up.
“No,” Birgit answered as they took their place in line. “But there is always a rush on Restday when everyone returns from their weekend hunts. Normally, I wait until later in the week to come in to avoid the crowd, but I fear my funds are all but depleted at the moment, and you need new clothes.”
Niles soon understood why she normally waited. The line moved quite slowly, but finally, their turn came. Stepping up to the counter, a goblin clerk greeted them.
“Buying or selling?” the short, green woman asked, eyeing Niles with what he thought was suspicion.
“Selling,” Birgit answered, and began pulling the crystals they’d found out of a pouch, unwrapping each from the protective cloth she’d wrapped them in.
Niles noted the goblin looked impressed, but not blown away by the crystals revealed. Pulling out a magnifying lens, the goblin inspected each crystal, listing out the four characteristics of each while writing her findings on small slips of paper she placed under each crystal. They all matched what Birgit had predicted. After that, the goblin made an offer for each crystal, starting with the most expensive down.
Niles had learned money in Deca was all based on precious metal coins. Copper was the lowest denomination, silver was the next up, and a single silver was worth one-hundred copper. Gold was the apex coin, and a single gold was worth one-hundred silver. So, it seemed gold was quite valuable here. Coins also came in two sizes, small and large, with the large ones being worth ten of the smaller ones. The total offer for all the crystals was seven gold and forty-eight silver. More than half of that total came from the time crystal.
“May I have a moment to discuss the offer with my associate?” Birgit asked, and the clerk nodded politely and stepped back from the counter. Once she was out of earshot, Birgit spoke quietly to Niles. “I propose an even split of the profits from this hunt and the ones going forward, but I also suggest we keep a few of the crystals. I will most certainly need high-quality crystals, like some of these, for the spell to send you home, and I will also need crystals for my classwork. There is a considerable markup on crystals, so we will save considerable money by using crystals we find ourselves rather than buying them, and we can always sell them later if we discover we do not need them.”
Niles agreed with keeping some of the crystals, but he was a little less enthusiastic about the fifty-fifty split. An even split always sounds nice, but aside from transporting him there, what had Birgit actually done? He’d found the crystals. He’d fought the monsters. Birgit had just followed along and picked up the crystal once it was safe. Still, he couldn’t have done it without her guidance and transportation, and she technically could have just kept everything from this hunt according to their initial agreement. He also didn’t want to alienate her by haggling over a few coins. For now, he would accept the proposal. Maybe if he decided to stay here, or ended up stuck here, he would go independent and hunt crystals on his own. It seemed to be a quite profitable business.
“Alright, that sounds good, for now, at least.”
They held back seven of the gems with the best purity and color, but they were all basic or common types, so they still ended up getting five gold and twenty-seven silver. It was growing late in the afternoon, so they had to hurry to complete some shopping before the shops closed. Fortunately, since the shops in the town catered to students, they were open late on Restday to take advantage of students flush with cash from weekend crystal hunts.
They went to the leather shop first, and Niles commissioned a good leather tunic and a new pair of bracers for twenty-two silver. Technically, Birgit commissioned it, since as a familiar, Niles could not. It seemed he was going to have trouble making transactions on his own. So much for his idea of going independent.
Their next stop was a weapons shop where they commissioned a spear. After talking with the weaponsmith, Niles decided on one that would be a few inches longer than the one he’d borrowed from Mona, with a heavier shaft and blade. He purchased a good dagger and a razor as well. It felt good to have his own money to use instead of having to rely on Birgit for everything, though it rankled having to have Birgit make the actual purchases.
“I will buy you a couple of surcoats if you will allow me to pick out the color and pattern,” Birgit offered when they reached their last stop, a clothing shop. Niles gave her a suspicious look, and she explained further. “I would like you to wear the colors of Hazzerbog. It would be three green circles, oriented two above one, on a brown field. For dress occasions, you would belt it with a matching green sash. I will buy that as well, but your regular belt would do for everyday use.”
“That sounds fair,” Niles agreed.
Besides the surcoats, he ended up getting three plain shirts and three plane pairs of pants as well. He realized, as Birgit paid the tailor and arranged to pick up the clothes, that he had accepted the fact that he was going to be here for a while. He pondered that as they walked back to the academy. So far, it really had been pretty cool. He’d gotten to fly on a griffin, hunt for treasure, meet some very interesting people, and fight monsters. The monster fighting had been a mixed bag. It had been exciting, but also painful. His fast healing somewhat balanced out the danger aspect, and he had to admit he liked the role of protector, but he was less enthusiastic about being considered more like a pet than a person in some ways. Birgit was treating him well enough, though, aside from not being able to send him home, which he accepted was currently beyond her ability. It remained to be seen how hard she was going to work to fix things though. This next week should reveal much.
