The next day had come. Lostros had taken it upon herself to take both first and second watch, leaving Don to take the third and final watch. The brute initially looked surprised for a slight moment when he saw Loki, but quickly shrugged it off as a peculiarity of Blythe that he did not want to bother asking about. Having regained some of its strength, Loki followed them inside the tent, where they slept until morning.
Blythe awoke the very first thing at dawn. Lostros’ silhouette could be seen stained on the tent. “Are you awake, Blythe? We’ll be leaving for Yuilli before sunrise. It might be best for you to rise early.”
A grunt of understanding could be heard from the inside of the tent, and seconds later, the entrance was pulled apart. Loki walked through, nudged by Blythe. Both the bear and its master yawned, still getting used to the morning shine.
“Is that… a bear?” Evie piped up from nearby. She retreated behind Lostros, making sure she shared no eye contact with Loki. “Mister Blythe, where did you find that bear…!”
“Whoa… a bear!” Adan fearlessly moved closer. “It looks pretty small, though.”
“That’s ‘cause it’s just a cub. I think,” Blythe replied, an imaginary bead of sweat dripping down from their cheek. “Loki, pick up some branches from the forest nearby.”
The bear growled in affirmation as it sauntered off into the woods below.
Blythe had made an interesting discovery in regards to Loki. They had found a runic symbol that had been inscribed on the back half of the bear, near its rear. The little magic knowledge Blythe possessed proved useful, as they were able to identify the symbol as being a language spell. It didn’t allow Loki to speak Adanovian like everyone did, but it still allowed it to understand its master’s commands. A decently smart bear was better than a bear with no smarts, after all.
The shapeshifter sat down on an empty tree stump near the middle of the camp and started eating some of the rations they had left. Lostros and Don were busy packing up camp and folding the tents, while Adan and Evie seemed to be focused on something related to their magic. Both were chanting in phrases Blythe didn’t understand.
“Mister Blythe, I never did ask,” Adan spoke up upon finishing his chanting. “What do you do? I don’t see you carry a weapon around.”
They raised a hand up, as if telling the boy to wait for a moment while they finished their food. “There’s not much use hiding it, is there? I’m a shapeshifter.”
“I see…” Evie nodded. “S-so that’s why you have the fortunes of multiple people.”
Their reactions were more than enough to convince Blythe that they had not encountered many shapeshifters during their lifetimes. Which was understandable, for people who could fully morph into entirely different beings were few and far between. Types like Blythe, who could hold an endless number of copies of people were one in a billion.
But as one would expect of Blythe’s shapeshifting, it wasn’t very useful in battle. Its range only extended to humans and not beasts, and it didn’t even grant Blythe the magic of the ones they changed into. For the most part, the ability only maintained the image and physique of the chosen person.
In terms of the range of abilities Blythe had heard Outsiders were capable of—well, theirs was definitely on the lower end of the scale.
“Grawr…” A few minutes later, Loki returned, carrying in its mouth an entire bundle of sticks. As it reached its master, it opened its mouth, allowing them to fall to the ground. Then, it returned to Blythe’s side, lying down and remaining still.
As Blythe quietly mouthed a thanks for the bear, they picked up one of the sticks and threw it into the almost-deathly campfire, allowing it some more time to burn before they left. Confident it would last for at least another hour, they started to pack up their belongings, placing them on their seat of the wagon.
Lostros approached, confused at the shapeshifter’s actions. “Do you plan on walking the rest of the way?”
“No, of course not,” They chuckled. “Now that Loki has regained some of its strength, it should be able to ferry me along the way. I’ve always wanted to mount a bear. Err, but not like that.”
The knight raised an eyebrow at the shapeshifter’s weird language, but ultimately left it alone. Less weight on the wagon meant less weight on the horses, and that also meant a faster journey to the border town.
“The horses are ready,” The wagon driver announced. “Best we make our way while they’re still raring to move.”
Lostros nodded, and with a quick call to Adan and Evie, they got onto the wagon. Blythe called for their bear, and it walked over to them with its head raised, perhaps a sign of confidence. Once they had voiced their readiness to the rest of the party, they continued onward to their next destination, the border town of Yuilli.
“Home is where the heart is, but what of the heartless? Are they doomed to be homeless?”
Yuilli had a reputation for being one of the more safer border towns. Despite its dangerous proximity to the Jacklands, it remained safe due to the thousands of knights that were stationed there. Mountain ranges were common there, which made it an ideal base of operations for mining companies who were looking to strike it rich. The recent years had stripped the upper layers the earth of much of its minerals, so the King had personally funded more miners to delve deeper below the surface in search of potentially more precious gems and ores.
Despite industrialization however, Yuilli retained a homely atmosphere, primarily thanks to the many inns and taverns that lined the streets—perfect outlets for the frustrated miners to drink away their sorrows after a hard day’s work. Underpaid and overworked, they were, but business never seemed to slow.
The inn in particular that the party was going to stay at—the Golden Mug—was well-known around the parts for being the closest to luxury one could pay for in the town. Using his connections, Aadovar had managed to secure the party with rooms for the night, at least until they found Princess Shiloh and were ready to continue to Adovania.
After a lengthy entry process in which the knights continuously hounded Blythe for owning a bear as a pet, they eventually managed to enter inside. It was already bordering nighttime, and the entire day had been spent travelling, so the party was naturally tired. Upon getting settled into their rooms, Lostros announced that they would meet at the town square tomorrow to meet with Princess Shiloh.
And so they went to bed that night.
Or Blythe would’ve, had they not had a little itching in them telling them to do some mischief. It was late in the evening, and the moon had already descended, but their fingers seemed to hunger for the touch of jewelry.
Their room was situated on the second floor of the inn, but it wasn’t such a great height that they couldn’t navigate the way down. The window creaked, and Blythe crawled their way onto the ledge carefully. They took one last glance at the sleeping bear on the floor and leapt forward, catching themself on an exposed pipe of the house beside the inn. From there, they allowed gravity to do its work, as it slowly dragged them closer to the earth.
“I'll just look for someone who looks rich enough,” They mumbled as they descended.
Fortunately, the darkness of the night served perfectly as natural cover. Countless times the shapeshifter used it to evade their foes and sneak past even the most keen-sighted archers without so much as making noise. A snap of the fingers later, and Blythe shifted their appearance to resemble an inconspicuous-looking man with bland attire—a perfect disguise of the night for anyone not specifically looking for them.
Calmly, they walked onto the main street, where they were surprised to find dozens of people still walking up and about. No, they looked like they were all gathering somewhere. Discreetly blending themselves in with the rest of them, Blythe followed the group through the streets without much objective.
‘Are they going somewhere?’ The shapeshifter thought. ‘Wait, this leads to the town square…’
Blythe approached one of them. “Good evening. I’ve noticed you’re all going somewhere. Can I ask where?”
“You didn’t hear?” The man replied. “There’s an execution underway in the town square. The knights finally caught the witch.”
“Witch?” Blythe questioned. “What witch?”
“Who else? Shiloh of Adovania. The witch who cursed this town to be how it is today. She tried to hide, but thank the gods the knights found her.”
