Wandering Warrior: Judge - Chapter 18 (Patreon)

Chapter 18

The werebear leapt for me, easily clearing the very frightened young men still on the ground.  I didn’t know how tough his hide was, so I avoided the obvious move of planting my spear-staff in the ground and allowing him to fall on it.  If his skin was too thick, it would snap the thin blade.  Repairing it would be impossible without finding a high-quality blacksmith shop, so I really wanted to avoid the hassle.  Instead, I dove out of the way, rolling to my feet just off the main road between two buildings.  I backed between them, knowing it would force him to come straight at me.

I squared my shoulders and got ready to play danger-tag with the lycanthrope.  The fact he was willing to openly shift in full view of everyone, combined with the obviously expensive enchanted pendant, told me this guy was a sanctioned shifter.  For him to earn that honor, he must have been important, and had very good control of himself.  Until I had a better grasp of the politics in the region, I had to be careful with people like him.  That meant no silver, fire, or removal of limbs.  Even out here in the middle of nowhere, he could be a major player that I couldn’t afford to kill.  That, and maybe my sense of justice was telling me it would be wrong to kill a guy who ultimately was just trying to take care of his people.

The werebear barely paused before rushing in to attack me.  I stabbed forward, poking him hard in the front shoulder.  He reared up on his hind legs, swiping my spearpoint to the side as he grabbed it just behind the blade.  I shoved, and the shifter’s claws dug furrows in the dirt as I pushed him back.  The werebear’s eyes widened in surprise, my strength stat more than enough to equal the bear-man’s thick muscles.

“Told you, big guy.  This wasn’t a good idea.”  I twisted and pulled my spear-staff out of his grip, slicing the thin blade across his palm.

He growled in pain, and lunged forward.  I dodged out of the way, but my rucksack on my back bumped into the wall of the building beside me, stopping me from getting fully out of the way.  His claws raked across my left shoulder and arm, causing a flash of pain like lightning in the corners of my vision.  I was mad.  Mostly at myself, for making such a rookie mistake and not dropping my ruck, but still plenty angry at the werebear.

I stuck my spear-staff into the bear’s side as it moved past, angling the blade to slide between his ribs.  His hide was tough, so I put some umph behind it.  I had to let go of the weapon, since only my right arm was listening to my commands.  The wounds to my left were deep enough to sever something important, and I was losing blood fast.  As the werebear turned to set himself, I ran my index finger through my own blood and drew a circle on my forehead, sending a burst of energy into it to heal at least some of the damage.

Since I wasn’t concentrating on anything besides ‘make me better,’ the quick and dirty spell didn’t close up any wounds except my leg, but the bleeding slowed to something less life-threatening.  Good enough to finish this fight.

As the bear-man got set to charge – my spear-staff still sticking out of his side – I surprised him by running right at him.  Before he could do more than take a step back, I punched him in the face with everything I had.  The sharp crack of bone was accompanied by a moan, and he dropped flat on his stomach with a broken jaw.  Then I jumped straight up and gave him an atomic elbow, dropping with all my weight onto his forehead.  The crack of bone told me I cracked his skull, and the werebear’s eyes rolled back in his head as he was knocked unconscious.  “Well, that was exciting.”

New Title Earned: Werebears aren’t Carebears

-Defeating an Alpha Werebear without killing it has granted you a new title!

Skill Imparted: Your attacks have a 5% chance to stun any ursine opponents.  Staring down an ursine opponent has a 2% chance of intimidating it into submission.

“I swear, the Titles I earn are only getting weirder.”  The new bonuses would be nice if I ever had to fight more werebears, and fighting mundane bears always made me feel bad about killing them.  Now, I had an option to avoid fighting them in the first place.

After dealing with the notification, I finished healing myself while the lycanthrope shifted back into his human form.  I made sure to pull my spear-staff free before he became a man again, which meant his naked body was completely free of any wounds by the time all the extra hair fell away in a disgusting carpet around him.  “It really isn’t fair how quickly they can heal.  There isn’t even a scar.”

“You are only saying that because you don’t know how bad the change hurts.”  I spun quickly to see Jess standing there with Murphy.  She had her hands full of packages wrapped in soft furs, and Murphy was warily eyeing the sleeping man while holding his halberd.  “If you did, you wouldn’t envy them so much.”

“But I thought you couldn’t shift?”  I watched carefully as her eyes darted to her feet before quickly looking back up at me.

“I can’t.  Anyway, what happened here?  We were coming back from the tanner’s place when we heard the commotion.”  Jess was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.  I didn’t push her, figuring she would tell me when she trusted me enough.

Instead, I accepted her change of subject.  “He asked me about my car’s extended warranty, and I finally took the chance to get even for all those annoying phone calls.”  They both looked at me like I was crazy, which was a fair assumption.  “I’m just kidding.  I got jumped by one of the guys that stood at the gate, and then this guy tried to make me pay for their healing after I won the fight with him and his friends.”  I motioned for them to follow me out onto the main street, where the young men I had beaten were still laid out.  “I disagreed, and you can see the results of our little argument.”

“Good decision, not killing the mayor.”  Murphy walked over and poked at the unconscious lycan.  “He’s the father-in-law of the Vice-Admiral of the Sailor’s Guild.  They control most of the shipping along the Mighty Reka.  One word from him, and every bounty hunter from both sides of the river would be after you.”

“Well then, why don’t we get out of here before he wakes up?”  I hurried between the two, moving along the backs of the buildings fronting the main road.  “Are you coming?”

They shrugged and followed me to the back of the inn, where Leedy and Cross were waiting inside.  I didn’t bother knocking, instead barging inside like I owned the place.  We walked through an empty and cold kitchen area before emerging behind a long bar that had seen better days.  The only people inside the common area were ours, and they sat empty-handed at a table near the front door.  They both stood as we entered, and I frowned as I saw a distinct lack of meals present.

“Leedy, please tell me you found some hot food.”  He shook his head at me, and I growled in frustration.  “Damn.  Well, what did you get?”

He approached the bar like a soldier walking to an execution.  I was confused at first, until I realized what I must look like after the fight with the werebear.  Tattered and bloody didn’t look good on anybody.

“We have a problem.  This region has been dealing with a sharp increase in threats since I last moved through here.  Bandits have become so brazen that they openly scout the town from the road, daring someone to come after them.”  Leedy’s ramrod-straight posture told me he was uncomfortable, but he pushed on.  “The innkeeper left for Greendown with a contingent of their best militia members over a week ago to ask for help.  They should have been back yesterday, but there has been no word.”

“That explains the guards we met at the gate.  The regulars are all gone, so they had to use their youngest members to fill in.”  Murphy looked at Leedy for a brief moment, and the two had a silent conversation that ended with him giving his Corporal a grim nod of agreement.  “We have to find them.  They might be lost in the forest, or they could have been captured.”

Both of them looked at me, and Leedy held out a hand.  “I swear, on my honor, that we will join you at Greendown as soon as we can.  Our oaths won’t allow us to ignore these people’s plight.”  Cross snorted, and everyone turned to look at him.  He ducked his head in shame, knowing by the looks on our faces that his cynicism wasn’t very appreciated.

Instead of reacting to his outburst, I thumped my fist on the worn bartop.  “It isn’t just bandits.  There have been sightings of undead and goblins as well, according to the shop owner I talked with.  All of these things happening at once can’t be a coincidence.”

“But what would cause something like that?”  Jess had set her packages on the bar, and was fiddling with her bracers.  Cross was eyeing them with obvious hunger, until I flicked him in the forehead and shook a finger in his face.  Nobody noticed our interaction as she started putting things in piles from her stack of items.  “It isn’t like the three groups would be working together.”

Leedy nodded in agreement.  “It’s almost like when a new apex predator moves to an area.  The entire region gets shuffled around, with the original predators figuring out new territories and hunting grounds.”  He turned to look back at the front door, pausing to think for a second.  I silently agreed with his idea.  It would explain the wendigos we had fought, as well as the raptor pack clashing with the big cats before the vampires interrupted them.  Predators forced to relocate and find a new place to live.  “I know the mayor.  He should have some idea of what might have changed recently.  At the very least, it should give us a starting point.”

“Um, about that…”  Leedy spun to look at me, and I shrugged.  “He’s taking a nap right now, and we shouldn’t disturb him.”

“How do you know he’s taking a nap?”  Leedy crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.  “What did you do?”

“They fought, and he knocked the mayor unconscious.”  Murphy dodged the kick I aimed at his shin.  “We should probably get out of here soon, before he wakes up.”

“Great!  Now we have to go out there blind.”  Cross finally spoke up, and he shook his fist at me in anger.  “How are we supposed to help people when you keep attacking the leadership of every town and village you visit?!”

“What can I say?  Today I woke up and chose violence.”  My joke was met by flat stares.  Some people just don’t have a sense of humor.  “Look, they started it, I just finished it.  And besides, you stopped caring about the people out here a long time ago, so stop pretending before I take the other hand.  Faker.”  I held up a hand and curled my fingers, trying to form a small ball of fire to emphasize my point, but my lack of control was still a problem.  A column of fire shot straight up from my hand, scorching a burned spot in the ceiling.  I played it off like I meant to do it, since I had an image to worry about.

“Okay, okay, just calm down!”  Cross held up his hands in surrender.  Well, one hand and a stump, really.  “I’ll shut up now.”

“Well, we should probably get out of here then.”  Leedy decided to ignore my interaction with Cross, instead going over to where they had been sitting and collecting his gear.  “We’ll meet you in Greendown as soon as we can.  Just be mindful of how you handle Captain Cross when you approach the gates.  They’ll recognize him even without his Warden armor on.”

“About that.”  The group turned to look at me, and I leaned on the bartop, moving clear of the piles of packages Jess was still organizing.  “I’m not going to let you go by yourselves to help these people.  I’m not blind to their problems.  You are trying to hold true to the tenets of your organization, and I respect that.  We’ll all go together.”  Both Leedy and Murphy gave me sharp nods of appreciation.  Murphy’s seemed like more of a confirmation of something he already knew, while Leedy seemed a bit more thoughtful.  “Besides, I have a feeling I know exactly who is causing all of these problems.”

“Before we go, everyone needs to come and get their presents.”  Jess patted each neatly stacked pile, practically jumping with excitement.  “You’re going to love them!”