A Monster Life Ch. 10-12

Humanus hummed and drummed his fingers on the desk's surface.

'Or do you want them to focus their attention on the tax they're paying?'

'I'll talk to the head of the merchants, we'll see if we can arrange for a cart or two with expendable goods and men to be in the area.'

The ruffle of cloth and creak of a chair sounded. 'Good. We'll speak soon. There's something I have to confirm in the meantime. It seems a human, an elf, and a tame bloodwolf are travelling together in search of the demon lord.'

Iphigenia, Elzbieta, and Ulric stared at each other. 'They know about us!?' Elzbieta said while Humanus bellowed out a laugh. 'What nonsense is that!?' he said.

'It does sound like a drunkard's tale but it came from a usually reliable source so I have to check it out.'

'Have fun with that then. Even if it was true, only a few know of where the demon lord resides so they'll never find him.' Humanus said and the study's door opened and closed.

Iphigenia gestured to go back up and they hurried silently to the back room where they had entered. 'We were going to be found out sooner or later.' Ulric said.

'True, but this was way faster than I'd expected.' Iphigenia said.

Elzbieta folded her arms and frowned. 'One of the goblins must have warned someone.'

'Or someone at Winter City.' Ulric said.

She looked at him. 'Why would they tell any demon? That makes no sense.'

Iphigenia looked at Kaui biting a fingernail and frowning. 'What is it?'

Kaui looked up. 'I don't like what I heard about an attack by humans.'

'I wonder what they meant too.' Elzbieta said. 'It sounded like they have humans working for them, but who would?'

'It's a typical strategy in my world by the powerful to distract people from what you're doing.' said Ulric. 'Keep their attention on something else, usually another group of people to hate. He's living up to his name.'

Iphigenia looked at Kaui. 'Any idea where that village could be?'

Kaui shook her head. 'No, but usually when merchants leave they buy a supply of items for the road from the master. We can find out through that.'

'Good. We could prevent the attack from happening and expose the treachery of the lord.'

The others agreed and they prepared to leave through the window. Ulric coiled the rope around his waist and let down Iphigenia and Elzbieta while the street was clear. Kaui kept an eye on them until Ulric tapped her shoulder and pointed at the door. She made sure the light of the lantern didn't shine at the door before listening at it, and cringed at footsteps coming closer. She gestured at Ulric to be silent.

The footsteps halted near the door for a moment and she held her breath while her heart pounded hard. The footsteps continued and she let out a silent deep breath. She returned to Ulric and nodded before looking out the window and receiving the next scare.

A cursing orc ran down the street chasing a dog. 'My hat, you filthy mutt!'

Iphigenia and Elzbieta held on tight as they hung halfway down the wall and Kaui pat Ulric's arm quickly to stop him lowering the two, creating a small cloud of dust that had gathered in his fur at the archive room. It tickled his nose and he scrunched and shook his muzzle to stave of the inevitable. His sneeze was as loud as could be expected from a bloodwolf.

The dog let go of the orc's hat and ran further down the street while the orc picked it up and grumbled as he wiped the dirt from it, right underneath Iphigenia and Elzbieta.

Kaui hurried to the door to check if the one who passed earlier had heard the sneeze, and almost bumped into it when it opened. A grim looking guard frowned at her. 'What are you doing here?'

'I,' she began and looked back quickly at the frozen pose of Ulric, hiding the arm gripping the rope behind his back and leaning forward in an attacking pose with the other. 'I was looking into the stuffed bloodwolf for master Barkan. He might be interested in obtaining it for his studies. The thing's so dusty it made me sneeze.'

The guard peered down at her. 'You sneezed that loud?' he said and stepped closer to Ulric, who strained to hold the rope.

Kaui gripped her dress. 'You don't think he's the one who sneezed, do you?'

The orc looked at the bloodwolf's eyes which were fixed on him. A cold chill ran down his spine and he took a step back. 'He looks alive.'

The orc on the street put on his hat and fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a pipe, cleaned it, stuffed it with tobacco, and lit it. 'Damned dog.' he grumbled as he looked down the street.'

'It's the light.' Kaui said. 'But he looks alive enough to make you think he could pounce and rip you apart at any moment.'

The orc nodded. 'A cousin of mine was killed by a bloodwolf once. Pieces of him were all over the place.' he said and backed away far enough to the door before turning away from the eyes he could swear were following him. He hoped he wouldn't get nightmares later. 'Finish your business quickly.'

'I will.' Kaui said as she watched him go down the corridor. She closed the door and leaned back against it with trembling legs and let out a deep breath. Ulric grabbed the rope with his other paw and gestured at the window. 'Ah!' she said and hurried to check on Iphigenia and Elzbieta. The orc at the street looked up a bit at the bright night sky, blew a puff of smoke, and strolled back to where he came from. As soon as he disappeared from sight she gestured at Ulric to continue letting Iphigenia and Elzbieta down.

'We're safe.' said Iphigenia when they stepped onto the ground.

Ulric collected the rope and Kaui looked at him. 'How are you going back down?'

He grinned at her as he coiled the rope around him again and gestured at the window.

'You're just going to jump!?'

He nodded.

'But you might get hurt even when you could jump this high!'

He shook his head, stepped into the window frame, and out again. Kaui gasped as she rushed forward to look down, and watched as he jumped away from the wall, bounced off of the opposite building, bounced once more from the wall beneath her, and landed safely on all fours in front of the alley. She sighed, closed the window, and hurried down to meet up with the others a few streets away and return to master Barkan's home.

***

'I think I know where the ambush will happen.' said Kaui as she brought up a meal for the three half a day later. She laid out a map on the salon table and pointed at the symbol for a village. 'Penrata, near the canine beastfolk border.'

Iphigenia swallowed a spoonful of stew. 'It's so far from human territory, how could they even get there without being seen?'

'Probably by keeping low like we did.' said Ulric. 'How sure is she that it's this place?'

'Pretty sure.' Kaui said after Iphigenia asked. 'The one who came to buy supplies mentioned taking old stuff there for apparently no reason.'

'Expendable.' said Elzbieta.

'When will they leave?' asked Iphigenia.

'In less than a quarter day.'

Iphigenia stood up. 'Then we have no time to waste. Can you smuggle us out again?'

Kaui nodded and soon enough she rode her cart towards the city gate with the three hidden in it again. The same unhappy guard at the gate as before saw her coming and waved her through quickly this time.

Inside the forest she halted and the three stretched their legs after crawling out of hiding. Iphigenia smiled at Kaui. 'Thanks for everything, you've been a great help. We'll follow the carts and fight whoever tries to attack.'

Kaui nodded and waved as they set out on the parallel route Kaui had drawn on a map for them. She looked at the city, sighed, and looked back at the group disappearing between the trees. She bit her lip for a moment after climbing onto the cart, then spurred the cow on to ride home.

*****

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