34 – Not even godlike beings

The party spotted Taiival’s caravan as soon as they left the forest, and its intrusive mist, behind. Before them were the vast plains that made up this little triangle of Nocturnia of the Winds between the mountains to the East, the forest they just emerged from, and Noctis. The caravan was made of three covered wagons pulled by beasts that looked like horses but weren’t quite right, being more muscular and a bit taller than them. Even more recognizable about these beasts, was the single horn that grew on the side of their head.

“Ah, perfectly on time. Welcome, friends!” Taiival exclaimed, hopping off the cart he was sitting at to greet the adventurers.

“Hi,” Melina said. “We are ready.”

“Good!” The merchant said. “Let’s depart then.”

As he turned his back to the team to rejoin his caravan and get his men ready to travel, feeding the beasts and tightening the harnesses, Ishrin instructed his team.

“Let’s go.” He said. “It should be nice and easy to Semiluminal”

“Right.” Melina said.

“Might be even a bit boring but… whatever. It’s work, right?”

The girls nodded.

“Okay. Lisette, you take the middle wagon. Melina, you watch the rear. Eyes open. I’ll take the front and chat with Taiival.” Ishrin said and looked at Melina. “Don’t do strange stuff. Okay? Normal, non-nosy adventurer things only. I want to get to Semiluminal nice and easy with no added pain.”

Melina nodded, but she was a bit uneasy, and even Lisette could tell that she was by the way her fox ears drooped to the side and twitched.

“Need a pillow?” Ishrin asked them.

Lisette cocked her head.

“For the hard… seat… you know.”

“I do not.” Lisette said deadpan.

“I’m fine.” Melina said from a bit farther away.

“Your loss!” Ishrin said, taking out one such pillow for himself.

He could see that Taiival was looking at him with a mixture of interest, envy and disdain when he theatrically sat down on his pillow beside the merchant. He offered him one, but the merchant refused.

“I’m used to traveling by cart, thank you.” He said. “I could have a better seat installed for me, after all, but I like the hard wood. Keeps me awake.”

Ishrin’s eyes narrowed. “Seems convoluted. You have your escort, you can doze off.”

“Please forgive me for insinuating that I do not trust you. I simply prefer to remain vigil.” Taiival said.

“Okay.” Ishrin said, and looked around. A brief moment of silence followed.

“You are looking at the Paiishins, aren’t you? They were a gift from Lucius himself, these mighty beasts.” Taiival said, noticing that Ishrin had been staring at their peculiar shape. “They are a half breed, halfway between monster and animal. A special ‘product’ of the Red Mansion. See their horns?” he pointed. “You can tell if the beast is male or female by looking on which side of the head their horn is. These two are males, their horns on the left.”

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Ishrin hummed. “I have never seen beasts like these before.”

“They are one of the… less known products of Obscuria. Lucius usually keeps them in the Mansion, but he gifted these to me to help me start my trade business, as an act of kindness.”

“Kindness?” Ishrin scoffed. “That man… lizard. Lizard, right?” The merchant nodded, amused. “Lizard. Well, he doesn’t seem the type to be kind without reason. He didn’t ask for anything in return?”

“Well,” Taiival shrugged. “You know how it is. A gift never goes unappreciated.”

Ishrin nodded. “You became his courier.”

“All I do is sell his wares, my friend.” Taiival smirked. “Nothing strange about that.”

“Do you also dabble in beasts yourself?” Ishrin asked, eyeing the Paiishins.

“I only transport, and sell.” Taiival said, showing his palms. There were rings on his fingers, and one of them seemed magical.

“Do you happen to sometimes transport other kind of beasts, monsters and strange creatures?”

“From time to time.”

“I am looking for exotic ones, not beasts of labor.” Ishrin continued. “Planar denizens, you know… someone would call them otherworldly. Demonic, maybe? Or elemental.” He said, tapping his chin, letting the last word linger.

The merchant looked in the distance, the corners of his mouth curving upwards. “I might have something.” He said. “Not live ones of course, but it might tickle your fancy anyway. I will show you.”

***

Melina saw, thanks to her enhanced vision, Ishrin disappear inside the covered cart together with the merchant. He emerged after a few minutes, still chatting merrily with the other man, but she could feel through her empathic link that his whole mood had shifted. From the easygoing yet uneasy calm he was feeling before, to a barely contained sense of rage. Her only explanation for that was that he had seen something inside, something that was possibly connected with what was going on at the mansion before they left, when he told her that it wasn’t the time to investigate it.

She tried to think nothing of it, especially because her senses picked something up, moving in the tall grass about a hundred meters from their position. She whistled, and the two heads of her companions turned almost in unison to look at her. After a brief exchange, a communication done entirely with their hands in the coded language Ishrin and Lisette already spoke and that Melina was only now learning, she saw Lisette get up from her post and slowly let the caravan outpace her. In the meantime, both she and Ishrin extended their senses to cover for the blind spot.

Lisette returned soon after, showing her a small crystal, no more than Tier 6 and returning to her position.

“Very quiet today, isn’t it?” the man sitting beside Melina said.

“Oh yeah, very.” She said.

He nodded, adjusting the reins of the two beasts. He wasn’t very observant, she thought. He was probably used to low tier adventures protecting him, and their way of escorting the caravan probably involved dealing with the monsters of the plains, renowned for being stealthy and hard to spot, only when they attacked, and he didn’t even notice Lisette dealing with the danger before it showed up. She felt kind of disappointed that he would never appreciate the work that she and her team put in, from spotting the monster to communicating, coordinating with each other and outright killing it in a matter of seconds. But, she thought, he was no more than Tier 3 in power and a civilian: she could not expect someone like him, who was not an adventurer, to understand.

The hills rolled by. The trip was going to take three days to reach Semiluminal, as opposed to the single day they would have taken if they had gone on their own, even accounting for their usual frequent breaks and leisure hunting detours. Time seemed to never pass, and the sun hung in the sky forever, taking ages to slowly approach the horizon and color the sky orange. But eventually it did, and the merchants made camp and prepared to cook dinner.

“Little change of plans.” Ishrin, who had been of a sour mood the whole day, pulled the rest of his party to the side to talk in private, under the canopy of a lone great oak at the edge of two tilled fields. He took out a couple of small crystals, milky white with a lucid surface that reflected the setting sun, and a tablet made of the same material.