Chapter 44: Volume 2 – Chapter 13

The first thing Peter noticed when he stepped inside Shantee was the smell. The air had the unmistakable stench of a cocktail made from sweat and male musk with a hint of aroused primal. Considering what he saw some tamers doing out in the open presently, it was no surprise. 

The second thing was the amount of free space. When he couldn’t see any rooftops from the outside, he had assumed that the buildings must have been made short. Instead, Shantee was remarkably empty, or at least half of it was.

There were two buildings, both in the right half looking inside from the gate. One was a large building which looked like it was built by an architect fond of wooden shipping crates. It was two floors high, its flat peak ending just below the nearby ramparts. It had a doorway facing Peter, and presumably another on its side, where Lore was presently directing Rena to park her wagon.

Opposite the large building was a small house. Peter was worried even thinking of calling it a shack, even though it was, because he spotted the intimidating man from before presently standing in its entrance, barking orders at nearby tamers.

“On the double, on the double!” Rand shouted at the tamers leaning against the crate-building. “Get those asses moving, move, move, move!” The tamers grumbled and complained, slowly migrating elsewhere within Shantee, mainly the left side.

This side, it seemed, was where tamers laid their claim. There was a dense group of tents in one area, with a large number of tamers and their primals presently congregated. There was another spot, host to one tent. Nearby it were some belongings and such scattered about, but far more than necessary for the one or two tamers present.

“Not what you expected?” A voice called out to him from behind. Peter sighed as he turned to face the owner. Fira.

“Life is full of surprises like that, I suppose,” Peter said while staring at her.

Fira grimaced. “So you did see.”

“In hindsight it should have been obvious from the beginning. What kind of tamer sends their primal off to the middle of nowhere?” Peter stepped towards Fira. “The kind that doesn’t exist, apparently. Tamers aren’t taught that primals could retain their ability to communicate indefinitely after losing their bonds. I thought they would go feral unless they found another tamer to bond with, but the Free Women proved otherwise.” Peter frowned. “It seems almost suspicious that I never heard about this before.”

“Of course you haven’t heard about it. It means that your precious slaves over there could be freed and allowed to choose to remain with you. But humans can’t have primals doing as they please, now can they?”

“We’re not his slaves,” Kalista angrily stated.

“Call yourself whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me.” She glanced at Peter. “I hope you recognize that my situation shouldn’t be shared with others.”

“On the contrary, maybe I should just capture you here right now. Without anyone to control you, you’re a threat. You could burn this whole place down before the hour. ”

“Do you think having a tamer makes primals less dangerous? Need I remind you of a certain incident? They could also just order me to burn the place down all the same. Don’t think that just because humans own them they’re any less of a threat. Your kind isn’t pure of heart either.”

“Twice now I’ve agreed with you on something. I’m starting to worry I’m on the wrong side of things. So, you don’t want me to tell anyone? Fine, and good luck.” Peter said as he turned to head towards Lore.

“Wait,” Fira begged.

Peter angrily faced her again. “This better not be what I think it is.”

“I have a proposal I’d like to make.”

“I appreciate that you insist on insulting me and my primals before asking for help. I'm not interested in anything you have to say.”

“You’re not going to even listen?! I won’t leave you alone until you at least hear me out!”

Peter let out an exhausted sigh. “Fine.”

“I want you to act like my tamer while we’re both here in Shantee. You’ll take care of me so I don’t go feral, in exchange you’ll get my fighting power. Winter is approaching and it’s getting cold, and I can create fire so I’m even a valuable asset for survival. Any money I receive, I’ll give you…” Fira’s voice trailed off. “Half, maybe more. I just need enough for food and to replenish some of my emergency savings.”

“Is that your full offer?” Fira nodded. “Then no.”

“What, why?! It’s a good deal!”

“Because I can’t trust you,” Peter angrily replied. “I just found out that you don’t even have a tamer, and you weren’t even the one to tell me. I found out on my own. A few days ago you were threatening to side with ferals if I didn’t have sex with you. Why would I want someone like that on my team?”

“I didn’t seriously intend to do something like that, I just didn’t want to go feral!”

“So that was a lie too, then?” Fira’s mouth opened for a brief moment to protest, but she froze. “That’s what I thought. I’m not taking your deal, and stop bothering me, and no, I don’t consider that a use of my favor.”

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Peter walked away before Fira could say anything else. Lore waved him over, and handed Peter his travel gear.

“Is everything there?” Lore asked.

Peter opened the backpack. Clothes, his coin pouch, some leftover food. Lore handed him the tent as well. “Yes.”

“You’ll want to go see Rand, he has the reward money for the quest.” Peter grabbed his coin pouch and walked towards the man in question. Rand was presently watching a pudgy man and some primals unloading the food from the first wagon and bringing it into the large building across from him. 

As Peter drew near, Rand joined his hands behind him and straightened himself. At full mast, Peter was certain that he was taller than even Kalista  by an inch or so. “At ease, soldier!” His voice boomed.

Peter awkwardly looked around, unsure what to do.

“Your mission to deliver critical supplies to this location was successful! Present your license, and I will hand out your reward." Peter showed it. "Your papers are in order. Here is your pay!” He held out two silver coins with his right hand, the other still behind him.

“Uh…” Peter grabbed the money, “Thanks.”

“May your dedication to this great Kingdom never waver!” Rand shouted.

Peter blinked. “Sure…” he said as he dropped it into his pouch and walked away. He wondered if he would be holding onto the money for long. Since he had used one of the guild’s summoning stones to capture Occo, he was short one. He would have to pay a fee if he wanted to have two, though he would hold off on that for the time being. Perhaps he would come across one through another tamer’s misfortune.

Feeling tired since it was late in the day, Peter found a spot near the wall and sat against it. The second wagon was parked not ten feet away from him, the Taurus still attached and observing the tamers nearby.

A young man crept up behind the wagon and began to rummage through the back. Had they already finished with the first, and were starting on the second? It would be less distance to carry if they switched the position of the two wagons. Perhaps it was not easy to turn around inside Shantee.

“Hmph,” Fira loudly huffed as she began to stomp away from Rand. It seemed she was not happy with her reward. For a moment Peter felt conflicted, but reminded himself he mustn't get involved.

The young man emerged carrying a small crate. His eyes darted side to side, and he spotted Peter, looking nervous. Their gazes met for a brief moment before he began to run. It looked like he was running towards a door in the wall. Perhaps a secondary entrance to save them the work of having to open and close the gate all the time. It seemed fragile, though.

As if responding to Peter’s suspicions, a loud voice suddenly boomed. “THIEEEEF!” Rand shouted. The young man quickened his pace, and Rand raised his hand. A heavily armored Centaur materialized and immediately began to race forward towards the criminal. She lifted her glaive with one hand and pulled back, then launched it across the fort. Peter momentarily lost track of it behind the wagon before it landed in the dirt right where the young man was about to step.

The weapon pierced the ground and the young man was shaken, and took a step back. He turned to face the Centaur just in time to see her large body burling towards him. With a loud smack, she crashed into him while picking up the crate in one swift motion, sending him flying. He rolled across the ground a few times before hitting the wall with a large crack, and let out a scream. “Hmph,” the Centaur looked a mixture of proud and annoyed as she walked back towards Rand with the crate.

A few tamers near the tents began to snicker, while some rushed towards the young man.

“It was a good attempt!” one of them shouted.

“Zilas, are you in charge of this one?!” Rand angrily shouted.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Zilas replied in a sarcastic tone. Rand angrily watched him for a moment before returning to his dwelling.

Zilas soon went towards the young man. It looked like the crash was bad enough to cause him to break his arm, he was howling in pain as he looked towards the others.

Zilas brought out a vial with a red liquid and uncorked it, then presented the opening to the injured man. The others began to pull on his broken arm while he drank the red liquid. In a moment, his arm was set correctly and the contents of the bottle were empty. Zilas placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. Peter couldn’t tell what he was saying.

As their group began to walk back towards the tents, a loud voice from outside the fort began to shout.

“Dungeon Break!”

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