Gremlin's Greed: Chapter 1 COMPLETE (And Public) (Patreon)

The gremlin’s prey headed straight for his trap. Over a month’s worth of effort, just minutes from paying off. Most hunters chose easy targets such as elk, but not Jasper. He was not a conventional hunter. His eyes were set on something far more profitable – a caravan.

“I hate the cold,” Jasper muttered. He sniffled and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, taking care to keep his pointed nails at a safe distance.

“Don’t freeze to death,” a jovial voice said.

Jasper glanced over his shoulder. A tall man stood behind him, his dark skin a sharp contrast to the snow surrounding them. A bored expression was plastered across the man’s handsome features, but a twinkle in his brown eyes gave his excitement away. The gremlin stood just below the man’s chest, but that didn’t stop him from craning his neck back and glaring daggers at him.

“Ethan. What are you doing here? Don’t tell me something went wrong,” Jasper said.

“Calm down, everything is fine. The caravan is going to be in range soon,” Ethan replied, jerking his thumb toward the snowy path below them.

Jasper drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. A maniacal grin spread across his face. The gremlin clapped his hands together in excitement as he hopped from foot to foot.

“Great! I can tell that this will be my favorite part. You’d best get back in position.”

“Really? I was thinking I’d go bird watching instead,” Ethan said with a smirk. “I’ve heard they love the cold.”

Ethan didn’t wait for a response. He strode back the way he had come. Jasper offered a series of finger gestures to Ethan’s back. The gremlin didn’t remember their exact meaning, but it had something to do with the man’s mother and a farm animal.

Jasper approached the edge of the snowy plateau. It ended with a sheer cliff that transformed into a sloping hill dotted with rocks. The path was at the bottom – almost two stories down, more than enough to cause serious injury to anyone who fell down it. The gremlin leapt forward with a howl of glee.

Jasper landed feet first on the snow. He kept his balance as he slid downwards for several seconds, which was several more than he’d expected. As he shot downwards, his foot caught on a protruding rock. The gremlin lost his balance and went down in a tumble of green skin, curses, and snow.

A few painful seconds later, Jasper created a hole in the thick snowfall at the bottom of the cliff. The glowering gremlin climbed out of the ground, caked in snow and dirt. He fruitlessly brushed himself off and rubbed his ears to warm them as the canter of horses grew closer.

He took a deep breath as the air around his hands started to hiss. Motes of purple light swam into being around him, buzzing like a hive of furious bees. Then they vanished. A bright purple flash lit the mountain pass as a clap of thunder ripped through the air. Horses neighed in terror and reared up, sending their hapless riders tumbling to the ground.

The caravan descended into chaos within seconds. The guards’ screams joined those of their horses as the wagon train skidded to a halt a short distance from the gremlin. Jasper clapped his hands in delight. He swaggered up to the caravan and watched the guards desperately attempt to calm their rides, but quickly got bored with the spectacle.

“Ahoy, guards! I have arrived to announce that this is a robbery. Hand over your shiny bits and only a few of you will get hurt!”

Jasper paused for effect. The guards drew their weapons and scanned the area for whoever had spoken. Unfortunately, the snow covering the gremlin’s already small stature had made for an effective, if unintentional, camouflage.

“Down here, morons!” Jasper yelled, drumming his fingers against his thigh impatiently. “Where do they find these people? A sloth would think faster than these muscle heads.”

The guards finally looked down and spotted Jasper cursing in the snow. They exchanged confused glances but didn’t move to act.

“Where did this little kid come from?” One of the guards asked.

“Must have been camping and gotten spooked by that thunderclap,” another suggested.

“Camping? Alone and in the middle of a mountain pass?” The first asked incredulously.

Jasper’s eye twitched slightly. He waved his hand in the air until the guards caught notice of it. Then he flipped them off.

“Gremlin. I’m a gremlin, not a child! And I’m here to rob your caravan.”

“Hmm. I’ve never heard a gremlin talk before. What do you think, Jason?”

“I suppose the voice is pretty gruff for a kid. Follow procedure, I guess.”

The first guard shrugged and pulled a small horn from his belt. He lifted it to his mouth and blew until his cheeks puffed out and his face turned purple from effort. The horn remained silent. The guard tried again, then lowered the horn as he gasped for air.

“Thing’s broke. What now?” He asked breathlessly.

Jasper let out a slew of curses and stomped toward the guards. It took him a little longer than he would have preferred due to the snowfall that rose above his knees. When he reached them, he snatched the horn out of the man’s hands.

“The cap’s still on it,” the gremlin barked.

He popped the leather cover off and placed the horn on his mouth. A thin note emerged from the instrument. Jasper pulled it from his mouth with a grimace. A small needlelike tooth was stuck in the mouthpiece.

“Now look what you made me do!” Jasper yelled. “It’ll be at least a day before that regrows!”

Jasper lobbed the horn at the guard. It bounced off his helmet with a loud clang. The sound reverberated through the mountain and the guard took a step back, lifting a hand to his head with a wince.

“Huh. I should have just done that in the first place,” Jasper mused.

A dozen guards jogged up from the halted caravan and joined the two standing across from Jasper. A man with a small red plume in his helmet glanced down at the gremlin and frowned.

“Is this what you sounded the horn for?” He asked, distain oozing from his voice.

“Yes Captain. The gremlin says it’s robbing us, sir.”

The captain rolled his eyes. He knelt down in front of Jasper and titled his helm slightly to peer condescendingly at the gremlin.

“You sure about that, buddy? There’s an awful lot of men to rob here. I’m feeling magnanimous today. If you turn around and run back into the mountain, I can pretend this never happened,” he said, his lips turning up in a smirk.

“Go kiss an anthill. Now, do me a favor and scream nice and loud.”

The gremlin flicked his hand and a bolt of crackling purple energy erupted from his fingers. It leapt from one man to another, passing through all the guards before they could even blink. The energy was followed by a series of loud pops as all of the guards’ weapons were replaced by limp fish.

“Vision! The little bastard is a Vision!” The captain screamed.

Tossing his useless fish aside, the captain lunged for Jasper. The gremlin rolled nimbly out of the way and stuck his gray tongue out at the man. He kicked the guard in his backside and cackled as the man fell face first into the snow.

“I appreciate the yelling. It was just what I needed,” Jasper said, waving his hand again. “You can go now.”

There was another series of pops and the guards vanished, replaced by an assortment of mice and rats. Jasper giggled with glee. He stepped over the captain, who was now a gray furred rabbit, and walked up to the edge of the first wagon.

He didn’t have to wait long for a stern looking woman to emerge from behind the train of carts. Two large guards accompanied her. Jasper gave her a moment to take in the situation before he cleared his throat.

“I assume you’re the merchant in charge of this wagon train?”

“You assume correctly. And you are a Vision that has killed my guards,” she replied flatly, looking around at what remained of her guardsmen.

“Didn’t kill them,” Jasper corrected, yawning. “Just turned them into rodents. Except for your captain.”

“And what did you do to him?” She asked.

“Turned him into a rabbit,” Jasper explained. “They aren’t rodents.”

“I see. Is there a reason you have transformed the majority of my guards into a pile of fish, rodents, and a rabbit?”

“The fish are their swords,” Jasper explained. He began cleaning the dirt out from under his nails.

“The question still stands, gremlin.”

“Ah, yes. I believe I was in the process of robbing you.”

The woman and her guards exchanged glances. One of the guards moved his hand to the hilt of his sword. Jasper turned it into a fish.

“Make sure you find that some water. You don’t want your sword to die,” Jasper informed him with a cackle.

The guard sent worried glance at the fish and moved to cup some snow in his spare hand before a sharp glance from the woman stopped him.

“You don’t give us much incentive, Vision. With my guards transformed into tonight’s dinner, I’ve got no chance of getting to Rellen alive. Not to mention I would be destitute and lose all my wagons without any goods to sell.”

“Oh, you’ve misunderstood. I don’t want all of your stuff. I’m much too small to carry that. I just want the shiny bits. Gold, silver, ornately decorated spoons. Sun dried tomatoes if you have them. Give me that and I’ll leave peacefully. I’ll even turn your guards back since I’m feeling…magnanimous,” Jasper said, baring his needle-sharp teeth in a grin.

A strong wind howled through the pass, buffeting everyone with a wall of snow. Jasper tapped his head impatiently.

“Think faster, merchant. Night is closing in, and I don’t think either of us fancy weathering it without a camp.”

The merchant sighed and slapped one of the guards on the back of his helmet.

“I told you we should have hired a Vision for the trip. But you and the good captain were so insistent that there would be no chance of running into a Vision in these mountains,” the merchant said, hitting the guard in the back of his helmet. “This is coming out of your pay, you hear me?”

She turned to Jasper with a defeated look and shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve got no choice. You may have the gold in exchange for returning my guards to normal and leaving the rest of us alone.”

“Wonderful! I’d shake your hand, but I don’t want to get any weird human germs,” Jasper said. He cleared his throat and glanced behind the merchant. “Our trade deal is completed, my exceedingly tall friend. You can come out now.”

Ethan stepped out from behind the wagons. Two large backpacks were slung over his left shoulder and a young woman over his right. He strode right past the merchant and up to Jasper, only pausing to drop one of the packs in the gremlin’s arms.

“We’ll be taking a hostage, just to make sure you don’t try to follow us,” Ethan warned before giving them all an easygoing grin.

“Don’t worry too much, she’ll be dropped off in Rellen safe and sound. Gremlin’s honor.” Jasper added.

One of the guards opened his mouth to argue, but the merchant silenced him with a glare.

“How much could they possibly have gotten this quickly? Keep your trap shut,” she hissed. She looked back at Jasper. “And do you think you can just kidnap one of the people traveling with us?”

Jasper bared his razor-sharp teeth and purple energy crackled across his body like a glowing snake. The merchant held the gremlin’s glare for a moment. Then her shoulders fell, and she let out a defeated sigh.

“How much is a gremlin’s honor worth?”

“Not very much,” Jasper admitted.

“I figured,” she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “You better return that girl unharmed, Vision. I’ll make you pay if you don’t, even if I have to hunt you down myself.”

The gremlin tilted his head to the side. “You really mean that. Interesting. Nonetheless, she’ll be fine. Just don’t try following us.”

Ethan grabbed Jasper by his belt and lobbed his small partner into the air. The gremlin landed on the ledge he’d jumped off a few minutes before, sending up a puff of snow.

“Warn me before you do that!” Jasper yelled down at Ethan.

A backpack sailed through the air and narrowly missed Jasper’s head. The gremlin had the good sense to roll out of the way moments before the woman followed suit. A few moments later, Ethan’s hand appeared at the top of the cliff and the tall man pulled himself up.

Jasper waved down at the caravan. Then he snapped his fingers, and every change he had wrought vanished. Guards popped back into existence and their swords reappeared on the ground.

“Chop chop. Time to go,” Jasper said. “We don’t want them following us.”

“I doubt they can get their wagons up a cliff,” Ethan said, but he didn’t slow down.

The tall man picked the woman and his pack up off the ground before striding away from the cliff and deeper into the mountains. Jasper followed at his heels, jogging to keep up.

A few hours later, long after the sun had fallen below the sprawling peaks of the snowy mountains, they arrived at a large flat plateau. At the left side of the plateau was a sheer cliff and at the right, the wall of a mountain with a small cave in it. There was already a pile of wood set up within the rocky niche.

The wind howled violently as they crossed the lengthy plateau to reach the cave at the far end. After nearly a minute of hurried walking, the three of them rushed into the shelter of the rocks. Jasper pulled flint and steel from a small pouch at his side and, after several strikes, the sparks caught. Ethan set the woman down and walked over to Jasper.

The two men shielded the flames as they slowly spread to the rest of the wood. Once the fire was roaring, Ethan plopped down beside it.

“You can stop pretending to be unconscious,” Ethan informed the woman without looking back at her.

A few seconds passed. Then the woman sighed. She sat up and scooted closer to the fire without hesitation. Her nose was twisted slightly in annoyance.

“How long have you known?” She asked Ethan.

The tall man shrugged. “Your stomach grumbled while I was walking.”

“That doesn’t mean I was awake,” she protested.

“Then you grabbed the strip of dried meat I was saving for lunch out of the pouch on my back,” Ethan continued dryly.

“Ah. Didn’t think you noticed that. I was really hungry, and I hadn’t eaten since yesterday.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ethan said with a chuckled.

Jasper grabbed a strip of dried meat for himself and tore into it, chewing loudly. Both Ethan and the woman shot him annoyed looks. The gremlin swallowed and pointed an accusatory finger at the woman.

“You made us do basically all the work. You even made Ethan carry you all the way back here. That’s fine. But taking our food…? Don’t you have any shame?” He asked.

“All the work? I’m the one who had to infiltrate the stupid caravan for an entire month! And who found all their valuables and told Ethan where to look? I did just as much as you did. I reckon I earned myself a good bit more than just a strip of dry meat.”

“She’s not wrong,” Ethan laughed. “But let’s not argue. This is a time of merriment and feasting. We’re rich!”

“For now,” Jasper muttered. “We still have to give Lima her cut.”

“Linna,” the woman said.

“Pah, whatever. You’re a terrible hostage,” Jasper said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Accomplice,” Linna corrected. “Now, how far away from Rellen are we? I’ve got a crew to hire.”

“That eager to return to the Asharr Islands?” Ethan asked. “You’ve only been on the mainland for a little over a month.”

“More than enough for me,” Linna said, not bothering to hide her distain. “I don’t need some musclebound idiot stabbing me because I look like an Asharr Pirate.”

“Not every islander looks like you. When Jasper and I traveled to the Islands, there were just as many that looked similar to mainlanders,” Ethan said.

“You are putting a lot of faith in the intellectual capabilities of the common masses,” Linna scoffed.

“Whoa, stop there. Big useless words. Just get to the point,” Jasper said through a mouthful of meat. “Also, you are an Asharr Pirate. The musclebound idiot would be right.”

“That’s beside the point,” Linna said, grabbing another strip of meat from Ethan’s pack and stuffing it into her mouth.

Jasper grunted but let the matter drop. They quietly watched the fire flicker for a few minutes. The gremlin let out a loud yawn and laid down against one of the bags.

“I’m going to sleep. I’ve seen enough of your ugly mugs for today, and I don’t think I can handle any more without throwing up,” Jasper said. He was fast asleep within minutes.

“Wow. That was quick,” Linna said.

“He is a gremlin of many talents,” Ethan agreed. “Go ahead and get some rest as well. I’ll keep watch.”

“Nah, it’s too early. Say, you’ve travelled over the mainland, right?” Linna asked.

“We have. We spent some time under the employ of the Gellan kingdom a long time ago,” Ethan said.

“Tell me about it,” Linna said, leaning forward.

“There is much I should not say. We have an…interesting past, and Jasper would not appreciate me sharing our secrets.”

The gremlin muttered something angrily in his sleep and rolled over, presenting his backside to them.

Ethan raised an eyebrow and Linna forced herself to stifle her laugh.

“But I suppose a little talk would hardly hurt anyone, especially after a successful job,” the tall man admitted. “Take a look at this.”

Ethan shifted his cloak to the side, pulling his sleeve back and revealing his right arm. With a hiss, a cloud of steam rose from his skin. A black rectangle traced itself along his forearm. The swordsman pressed it lightly and it swung open with a gentle hiss. The inside of his arm was filled with thick gray tubes and gears humming gently with purple energy.

“Typhon’s beard, what is that?” Linna cursed, peering closer at the machinery.

“The scars from a battle that nearly killed Jasper and me. The only reason I’m still alive is because a large portion of my body has been rebuilt. It makes for a fascinating trick, doesn’t it?” Ethan asked with a warm smile.

He let Linna stare at it for a minute longer before closing his arm with a click and pulling it back inside his heavy cloak.

“That’s amazing. I had no idea something like that could be done.”

“It can’t. I was fortunate enough to know a very powerful Vision. They saved me,” Ethan said.

Linna’s eyes widened. She shifted herself closer to the fire as a gust of freezing wind howled past their encampment.

“You know more than one Vision? Are you also-”

“No,” Ethan cut in, laughing. “Just a swordsman with some extra metal.”

Linna looked slightly disappointed, but she let the topic drop. After a short silence, she jerked her chin in the direction of the packs at the far side of the camp.

“So, if you don’t mind the question, what’s the loot for? I can’t believe a Vision couldn’t find a safer method of employment,” she said.

A grimace flickered across Ethan’s face, but it vanished almost instantly.

“That’s a longer story. Let’s suffice to say we needed a lot of money in a short amount of time, and we couldn’t let ourselves get stuck in one area for too long.”

“You’re getting chased, aren’t you?” Linna asked.

Ethan’s eyebrows rose. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head with a wry grin.

“You are much too perceptive. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to know more about this matter. I suggest you try to get some rest. We still have a long walk ahead of us tomorrow, and you’ll be burdened with the weight of your sins and gold,” Ethan winked.

Linna rolled her eyes, but it was clear that the swordsman was done talking. She curled up next to the fire and sleep took her into its arms.