"So first things first," Clara stated as the three of us made our way from the restaurant towards the market part of town. "Fiona do you even know what a cockatrice is?"
I frowned, "I vaguely remember hearing about them. It's like a magic chicken isn't it? Only it's a lot more dangerous than a chicken because..."
My voice trailed off as I tried to remember the details. It came up once in a cartoon I watched back in my old life. Ironically it was all about magic and friendship, but the cockatrice was a one-off thing in a single episode, as best I could remember.
"Oh! I remember!" I grimaced as it finally came to me. "It can turn people to stone right? If you look into its eyes?"
My girlfriends exchanged a look and a smile, then the tall strong ranger responded "Close cutie. That would be much more dangerous, and a lot harder to hunt if you couldn't risk looking at it. No, it's not the gaze of a cockatrice that can petrify people, but its bite."
Avril took over, "You were right that they're similar to chickens though. Vaguely similar anyways. A bit larger than that, perhaps more like a turkey?"
"Imagine a cross between a turkey, a lizard, and a bat," Clara elaborated. "Their wings are bat-like rather than feathered, their neck and tail are scaly like a lizard, but they have feathers around the base of their head, their legs, and the base and tip of their tail. And in general terms they'd actually be pretty harmless, if not for the bite."
"A single scratch from their sharp beak is enough to turn a person to stone," the gorgeous druid stated in an ominous tone. "And they know it too. If they feel the least bit threatened their strategy is to fly straight at whatever they perceive as the biggest threat, squawking and biting and flapping their wings and scratching with their claws. Even without the threat of petrification it can be a harrowing experience."
I shuddered, "So that's why this quest is such a big deal then? This thing could literally kill us if we're not careful?"
Clara shrugged, "We'll be exceptionally careful. And while they're vicious and dangerous, cockatrice aren't generally all that clever."
"Their bite isn't immediately fatal either," Avril added. "It takes a few minutes for the petrification to fully transform a person, and during that time it can be reversed with the right sort of magic. Such as my cleansing spell."
By that point we were in the market, surrounded by a bustling crowd of people. There were merchants hawking all manner of wares, customers buying stuff, and loads of people just milling around. It was one of the loudest and liveliest areas in all of Riverside. If you were up for dealing with a crowd it could be a very invigorating place, but if you wanted peace and quiet or some alone time it was generally awful.
Fortunately none of us were in that sort of mood. We needed supplies for our mission, and whatever we needed we'd find it here. It was just a matter of looking for it and knowing who to talk to.
"Let's split up," Avril suggested. "I'll stock up on travel rations for two weeks in the wildlands, Clara why don't you focus on buying whatever special tools and weapons we might need to secure the feathers and blood? We can meet up back at the house when we're finished."
The ranger nodded, "Sounds good. Fiona do you want to come with me or stick with Avril?"
I thought for a second or two then asked, "Is it ok if I come with you? I have some more questions about how we're going to fight this thing."
"Sorry Avril," I added to my gorgeous blonde girlfriend, "I hope you don't mind?"
She smiled, "Not at all cutie, I'll see you two later!"
Before she left we all exchanged hugs and kisses with her, then Clara and I set off in one direction while Avril headed the other way.
"So what did you want to know Fiona?" the tall strong ranger asked as she led us towards the corner of the market where some of the weapons dealers tended to set up shop.
I asked, "I'm guessing you know where we're going to find these things? Since you told Herve we needed two weeks, you know how far away they are?"
She shrugged, "I know what sort of terrain they like, and where they've been sighted in the past. That's about a five day walk from here. I'm sure he knows where they are too, which is why he said ten days? Five there, five back. But that's assuming we immediately found one and defeated it on the spot. I'm allowing us four days for that, which should be plenty of time to locate and track an ideal specimen, and it also gives us time to prepare so we do it right."
"There's no point rushing into something and getting one of us hurt," she added. "No amount of money is worth it if all three of us don't come back together, safe and sound."
I couldn't argue with that. Instead I asked, "Do you think we'll be ok? It sounds like these things can be really dangerous."
Clara shrugged again, "Any trek into the wildlands can be dangerous Fiona."
"All three of us are smart and we're careful," she continued. "We'll do it right. In this case Avril will hang back, she'll keep out of the fight and be ready with her spells so she can save us if either you or I get bitten. That means the two of us will be doing the dirty work, but I don't anticipate any of us getting into danger. Planning and preparation up front is the best way to handle this quest."
That was the last of our conversation for a while, as we'd reached the merchants she wanted to talk to and her focus was on haggling and procuring the right tools for the job. And apparently those tools were a half dozen special arrows and a spool of snare wire.
Our next stop was a glass merchant, where Clara bought a couple flasks with matching stoppers, so we'd have something to hold the cockatrice blood. After that she bought a couple leather pouches, to hold the feathers and the vials. Then she found a carpenter's shop where she bought a sturdy wood box that could be used to carry an egg. That was filled with some cheap rags, to ensure the egg wouldn't be damaged in transit.
We made a few more purchases that afternoon, but nothing unique to this job. Just the usual adventure stuff, to make sure we'd have everything we might need. Like a fresh tinderbox and fire-starter, some candles, a few more wineskins, that sort of thing. Considering we'd be out for up to two full weeks and we weren't going to be close to any outposts or hamlets we'd have to bring more supplies and gear than usual.
Once Clara was satisfied we headed back to the house, with talk of an early bedtime tonight and an early start the following morning.
• • • • •
"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate bugs!" I shouted as I brought my hands together and unleashed my flame spell. I'd been focusing more on my magic lately, since it didn't require physical strength to be good at it. My small stature wasn't a problem there either.
I still had my short sword with me, along with daggers and throwing darts on my belt, but my style of fighting with those things combined with my small size and lack of muscle meant there was absolutely no point trying to use them against the sort of foes we'd been up against so far.
A sheet of fire spread out from my fingertips and blanketed the giant scorpion in front of me. The monster let out an angry hiss as it scuttled back, but the damage was done. Its eyes and mandibles were scorched and blistered, and one of its claws fell smoking to the ground. That still left the other claw, and its vicious stinger intact.
"Crap!" I yelped as I jumped back, narrowly avoiding that stinger as it lashed out at me with uncanny accuracy.
Behind me on the left Clara let loose another arrow as she replied, "Yes Fiona, numerous times!"
"I'm not a fan myself," Avril added through clenched teeth as she lay on the ground between the ranger and myself, using her magic to neutralize the poison spreading through her side after one of the giant bugs landed a lucky hit with its stinger.
We'd been in the wildlands for the last four days, and this was our second encounter with monsters since we left Riverside. The first was two days ago and had been relatively easy, a pair of hungry wargs tried to make a meal out of the three of us. Needless to say they met with a very quick and decisive end.
This encounter wasn't going anywhere near as well. We'd spotted a solitary giant scorpion in our path and decided to attack rather than try and go around, only to find out it had three friends nearby.
The first was already dead and another was trying to free itself from the thorny vines Avril conjured up to entangle it, but while she was dealing with a nasty wound to her right hip me and Clara were struggling to keep the remaining two monsters at bay.
Despite the gravity of the situation Clara remained calm and her arrows found their marks every time. One more hit to the tail of the beast in front of her separated the stinger from the rest of it. The deadly tip fell useless to the ground while the enraged monster hissed and lunged with its claws.
"Switch!" Clara stated, and the two of us stepped around each other so I could use my magic while she targeted the other beast with her arrows.
This time I went for my most powerful spell to try and finish it off while she kept the half-baked scorpion behind me busy. My left hand clutched a fancy gemstone that hung from a cord around my neck as my right hand stretched out towards the scorpion Clara just de-stingered.
An arc of blue electricity leaped from my hand and struck the monster, causing its entire body to twitch as it seemed to seize up. The energy flowed between the two of us for a solid fifteen seconds, and when I finally released the spell I was weary but the scorpion was dead. Probably. It wasn't moving anymore and there was steam coming out of numerous cracks in its carapace, so I sure hoped it was dead.
Clara in the meantime had sank three arrows into the tail of the remaining scorpion, its stinger was still attached but flopped uselessly around as the beast hissed and skittered this way and that in an attempt to lash out with its remaining claw.
Then in a show of bravado our ranger ducked and rolled under the monster as it lunged. She drew her big dagger during the manoeuvre, and came up directly beneath it with a powerful upward thrust. The thirty-centimetre blade crunched through a thin spot on the creature's tough exoskeleton then sank right up to the hilt into what passed for a head on the nasty thing.
The strong sexy ranger pulled back and yanked her weapon free as she got clear, and the monster staggered back a few paces while thick yellowish goop drained from its latest wound. It collapsed a second later, its limbs falling limp to either side.
"Avril how are you doing?" Clara asked as she turned to survey the situation. "And Fiona, are you ok?"
"I'll be all right," our gorgeous druid said as she pulled herself upright, leaning on her gnarled wood staff.
I grimaced as I looked around as well, "I may never sleep again, but I'm not hurt."
The ranger nodded once, "Help Avril get clear. I'm going to round up my arrows then let's get the hell out of here."
"And next time we see a scorpion, we go around!" she added with a scowl.
Fortunately Avril was well enough to travel by that point, and as soon as Clara recovered the half dozen or so arrows that hadn't broken the three of us were once again on the move. We were travelling north east through low mountains and scrubland, and according to our ranger we were only about a day away from a river valley where cockatrice were known to dwell.
It was only two or three hours after fighting the scorpions when we found a relatively safe spot to make camp for the night. Then Avril sat and finished her healing while Clara and I rounded up what little firewood we could find.
And as the three of us sat and ate a small meal of weak stew, dry salted meat, and rough crusty bread, we talked a bit about the two encounters we'd had with monsters since setting out on our quest.
"Is it just me, or are there more monsters around nowadays?" I asked after taking a swig from my wineskin.
Clara shook her head, "It's not just you Fiona. Finding a couple wargs so close to town was unusual. We're four days out now, and it's not that rare to run into monsters out here."
"It's like we told you back at the beginning cutie," Avril added. "In the aftermath of defeating the queen all her hoards left, but they'd already scared off much of the wildlife and local monsters. Now the demon threat is gone, monsters and other beasts are returning."
"The wildlands are living up to their reputation once again," Clara stated quietly.
I grimaced, "I remember thinking it was like a walk in the park back then. Now I get why people don't venture too far out from the safety of the town walls. Especially after those giant bugs today? There was a few minutes there I thought we were in deep trouble."
Avril was munching on a piece of crusty bread she'd dunked in her stew, but after she swallowed she agreed. "We were cutie. I made a mistake and got stung, and with me down that left both you and Clara at risk. It was a good and painful reminder, none of us can afford to take things for granted out here."
"I'm just glad you're ok," I sighed. "I was really worried about you."
"Same," Clara agreed. "But we made it, we're all ok now. And we'll know better for next time, not to let our guard down and not to make any assumptions."
She had a gulp from her wineskin then added, "So let's finish eating, then you two get some rest while I take first watch. Avril I'll wake you for second watch, and Fiona you'll have third watch."
The gorgeous druid and I both nodded in agreement, then the three of us finished our dinner in silence.
