Chương 54: Chapter 53

I clambered up onto one of the chairs so I could watch as Gramps rolled out a small map no bigger than my chest across the wooden table. He pinned down the corners with half melted candles, and I got to have a good look at what had been drawn. The lines of the map were neatly drawn, and I could easily make out where the outpost was as well as the trade road that passed by us. I did note that no one else's homes were marked on the map except for the Kellins' trading post.

There were other landmarks though, with small written words in Helenian noting what they were. An unusually shaped rockface here, a cave there, an open field on the side of the mountain. All places one could navigate by. Gramps' finger circled an area south of the outpost and slightly east, back in the direction of Ajinar.

"The Warden noted the Rift was in this area. It's a few hours hike from the outpost. Will you be wanting your own copy of the map?" Miyara, her dark cloth garments not making a sound as she moved, gave a firm nod.

"We'll take a copy."

"Penny, if you wouldn't mind?" Gramps asked. Wouldn't mind what? I wondered. Is mum going to draw them a new copy? Mum quickly left the room and returned with a blank page of light brown paper and a pot of ink. Watching someone manually copy a map sounded about as interesting as watching paint dry so I started looking around the room for something else to do when I sensed aether being used.

My eyes snapped back to my mother only to see her slowly pouring the ink onto the blank page while she touched the edge of the paper with her finger. The ink, rather than splashing everywhere, moved with purpose, shifting across the page without leaving a residue as it copied the lines and text. I realised as I watched that it was the aether in the ink that I could sense.

It took a few minutes, but my eyes were glued to the process the entire time and when Mum finally finished, I couldn't tell the two maps apart except for the fact that the new one still looked slightly wet. Then even that difference vanished, and I glanced at mum curiously.

"What did you do?" I asked louder than I intended, climbing up onto the table in my excitement. Mum scooped me off and deposited me back on the floor before I could cause the remaining ink to spill.

"I used my Copy Page and Dry Ink Skills," she explained. I nodded with all the seriousness I could muster. The names sounded self explanatory anyway, and I guessed such Skills made sense for someone whose Class Path was in administration. Seeing Skills used for simple every day tasks was a bit of a wake up call for me as I realised most people probably didn't pick their Skills based on their combat or exploration applications. It was something for me to keep in mind in the future.

Mum left for the kitchen, and I noticed at least two of the brothers from the adventuring crew watching her go. They weren't lecherous in their gazes, but it was pretty obvious they were 'admiring' my mother which set me on edge. I must have been really obvious in my displeasure, because the next thing I knew Amari, the other foxkin with her dark red coat and slash of white fur across her face, was right in front of my face.

"Want to play a game, kid?" she asked, blocking my view of the room behind her as she crouched down to be eye level with me. I looked around, wondering if Etta was going to play as well, and realised she had vanished at some point during all the kerfuffle. With a shrug, I turned back to Amari.

"Sure." The foxkin held out a coin for me to inspect. At first glance, I thought it was just another silver coin, but the moment my fingers touched it, I felt the slick, oily, indescribable feeling that I experienced every time I came in contact with something made from aether.

"An aether coin?" I asked.

"Mmhmm. Sure is. So, here's the game. When I say go, if you can find it, it's yours. Sound fun?" I grinned as I thought, Free money? Yes, that sounds fun you wily fox! Amari placed the aether coin slowly and deliberately into the palm of her outstretched hand, then closed her fingers into a fist. She did the same with her other hand and then held them both out with the backs of her hands facing toward me.

"Where's the coin?" she asked playfully. What kind of game is this? I literally just saw you put it in your palm and close your hand? I tapped the back of the hand that had held the coin. Amira opened her clawed fist and showed me an empty palm.

"What?" I muttered then with childish exuberance tapped the other hand. The foxkin opened that hand as well, showing that it too was empty. Now I was just confused, and without thinking reached out to touch her fingers and see if she was pinning the coin between them or something. I only realised halfway through rummaging in between her furry fingers how impolite I was being. Rather than be offended, Amira started laughing, spreading her fingers in encouragement as I rifled through her fur.

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"How?" I grumbled as I came up empty.

"Where is it?" I knew about basic sleight of hand but this was beyond what I had experienced in my previous life. Literally combing through her fur I had come up empty and it wasn't like she had sleeves to hide the coin in!

"It could be anywhere," the foxkin suggested, her golden eyes flicking dramatically next to me. I turned to see the coin sitting in the middle of the chair next to me. I reached out to touch it, feeling the slickness of the coin's surface.

"Can you show it to me?" Amira asked and I glanced up then went to hold it out to her. Only when I presented it to her, nothing was there. By this point I was deeply confused, my little face scrunched up as I tried to figure out what was going on.

"Are you done teasing my grandson?" Gramps asked. Amira laughed a little and shrugged before standing up and walking away. I spun to look at Gramps who just gave me his own little shrug.

"It was mostly sleight of hand," he explained, "though she might have used an Illusion spell in there as well. I didn't sense it, but that doesn't mean she didn't do it." I was still processing that information as I walked towards the kitchen to find mum when a twinkling light caught the edge of my eye. Amira gave me a small wave from where she had sat down with the three brothers and she meaningfully pointed at her pocket then at me.

I reached into my own pocket curiously, my fingers grazing over a slick oily coin. I couldn't help but smile. Does this make you a kind fox? I wondered. Either way, I ran off with my prize before she could somehow make it disappear again. After that excitement, the rest of the day was a wash. For some reason, George and Etta didn't come around for sword practice, and Mum didn't have time to give me lessons as she was baking some trail rations for the adventurers.

So, I focused on my Paths of Running, Balance, and Body Strengthening. I made liberal use of my improved obstacle course while my mother kept an eye on me from the kitchen window. As for me, I kept an eye on the sky. It's only paranoia if they aren't out to get you, and I didn't feel like being turned into bird shit. The following morning I woke up to find that the adventurers had already left.

I half expected my aether coin to have gone missing, but it was still in my little hidden nook along with the Skill Seed for a Lesser Stealth Skill, some pretty rocks, my past-the-use-by-date night vision potion, and a sharp knife I had borrowed from our kitchen. It never hurts to be prepared. The sun was barely up, and while I expected my mother to be awake already, I thought the old codger might still be in bed.

So when I heard two male voices speaking, I started sneaking down the stairs, stopping at the second landing before crawling over to the edge to listen in.

"... all of them." I didn't recognise the voice.

"And none to the south?" That was definitely Gramps.

"None. I found this one in an owl's nest."

"Grimfaced?"

"No, just a brown owl. Probably already been dead a few weeks. They don't clean out their nests that often and use the remains to lure in insects for a snack. This one I tracked to its den. The bigger claws actually make them easier to track as they tend to scuff the rocks as they climb over them. Dunno what got to it but it managed to escape only to bleed out in its hole. This last one I took down myself. Another crow, like the one that carved up your grandson a while back.

Bigger than normal too, and I don't just mean the talons. What do you think, Cornelius?" Silence reigned for a moment, and I wondered if maybe Gramps was whispering his answer, but he must've just been thinking because the conversation finally resumed.

"I'm not sure, Hurin. But I don't like it. How far north did you range to find these?"

"Just a few days. Been looking out for them over the past few months like you asked."

"And you didn't bring them to me sooner? The bird's carcass is fresh but the bones on this rat have to be months old." A shuffle of clothing had me guessing that Hurin had just shrugged. Just how big of a loner was the old forester that he couldn't be bothered bringing back news earlier.

"Didn't think it was that important till I took down the bird. Others were long dead," Hurin grumbled.

"Thought that maybe that was all there was to it. They're both rats so figured maybe it was just some weird breed of rat. Bird's got the same kind of talons though… that's odd enough to warrant coming and seeing you."

"Can you range further north? See if there is anything out of the ordinary? Say up to a week's trek?" I heard movement again, not sure whether it was Gramps or Hurin shuffling about.

"Not until after winter," Hurin answered after a moment.

"Reckon the weather's gonna turn in the next day or two. A storm's brewing, and I ain't looking to be buried in a snow drift. If there's something north though, we won't see it till after winter anyway. I'll be back when the thaw begins."

"Alright, Hurin," Gramps said, his tone clearly unhappy with the outcome.

"Thanks. I'll see you in a few months. Stay safe." I quietly made my way back up to my room and looked out the window. Sure enough, in the distance I could see dark clouds approaching. However, the onset of winter was not what plagued my thoughts. That discussion had clearly been about animals with over-developed claws or talons, like the crow and rat that had attacked me.

I didn't realise Gramps had set Hurin the task of keeping an eye out for more of them, but the fact that the forester had found three of them told me there were more of the little beasts out there. I didn't like that one bit, and I could feel my stomach twisting as the knowledge fed into my paranoia. Was I going to get attacked again, and if so, when? Why did they keep coming after me?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of mothers cooking wafting up from the kitchen two floors below, and then breathed out slowly as I tried to let my fears go. I had no control over those creatures, or why they kept attacking me, but I did have control over myself and what I could do about it. Climbing down from the wooden chest beneath my window, I moved into a push up position on the cold, wooden floor and got to work.

Winter was about to start, and I would be mostly stuck inside or just around the outpost. A safe space and a solid three months to work on my Paths and progress my capabilities. That way, when the snow melted and the air started to warm, I would be that little bit more ready to face whatever those beasts were.