Duskbound

It should have been simple. Jensen was a [Vault Seeker]. He could literally close his eyes and point to unclaimed valuables just waiting for someone to come pick them up off the ground. But his father didn't want him going out into the wild lands. It was dangerous there, with powerful monsters and deadly traps lurking in old, forgotten ruins where all the best vaults waited.

So he'd blocked Jensen's efforts. First it had been keeping him from getting funding. Then he'd made it difficult to secure supplies. If Velik hadn't randomly known a woman who actually owned an extradimensional storage item—Jensen suspected it was the pendant she wore—the plan would have been sunk. He had no doubt his father was somehow behind the monster hunter's guild going back on their deal, too.

Despite everything, he'd salvaged his expedition. Sure, it was just the six of them instead of the better than a hundred it was supposed to be, but he had four gold-ranked monster hunters on his roster, sort of. Giller wasn't technically part of the guild, but she was easily strong enough to qualify, and even better, she specialized in fighting human threats. He hadn't expected that to be particularly useful this early into the trip, but he'd been happy to have her there when arrows started raining down from the sky.

She'd be their front liner when they got to Slokara too. That whole country was notoriously authoritarian and militaristic, and he didn't think for a moment that they'd clean out a vault without some group or other contesting them for the prize. Giller was along specifically to insure her employer's interests in this project.

Unfortunately, the second Velik vanished, she would, too. And that was looking more and more likely with each passing day. They'd barely reached the first milestone and Jensen could already see how frustrated the guy was getting with Giller and Aria. It didn't help that Sildra was trying to treat him with the familiarity of an old friend when he obviously didn't feel that way about her. The only one Velik seemed to get along with at all was Torwin.

This latest fiasco, with someone targeting him, had broken something in Velik. He was a man tired of swimming against the tide, with too many problems and no good solution. Jensen knew what that looked like; he'd seen it too many mornings in the mirror for years. And Velik was not good at hiding how he felt, whatever he might think. Probably has something to do with living in the woods by himself for ten years. That's not exactly great for social conditioning.

They'd barely crossed the first milestone of this journey and it was already threatening to unravel. Honestly, Jensen wouldn't be surprised if his father was somehow behind this particular problem, too. How exactly his father could have known to target Velik was a mystery, but Jensen couldn't put it past his old man.

"Hey, you got a minute?" Jensen asked, approaching Velik while he was standing off by himself and Giller was directing the line of prisoners into the garrison with Torwin's help. Hopefully, between the authority as a representative of the Blendstin Trading House and a gold-ranked monster hunter, that whole situation would turn out fine.

"Probably," Velik said. His eyes stayed locked on the retreating line of prisoners, or more likely on the marshals emerging from the building.

"I just wanted to say that you're not in this alone," Jensen told him. "All of us are supporting you, and that's some big hitters on the roster. Whatever this is, we're not going to push you in front of the wagon to make it go away. You can, and should, rely on us to help you."

"I do trust you to help me, Jensen. I trust you because I know how much you want this to succeed and that if I leave, it all falls apart."

Okay, that's true, but Morgus's hairy balls, have you ever even heard of tact?

"Self-interest aside," he said dryly, "Torwin and Sildra both care about you, and by the way, she thinks of you as a friend. Why don't you feel the same way?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"She was another kid I knew when I was seven. Her father burned my house down after the incident. I haven't talked to her in a decade other than a passing sentence until this last week. We're strangers who happen to be from the same place."

Jensen nodded along, then said, "She doesn't feel that way. Maybe you should take the opportunity to make a new friend. Or don't. Your choice, but there are worse people to put some trust in."

"And Aria and Giller? Are you going to tell me why they're so wonderful, too?"

"No. I don't know Aria, and Giller is here purely as a business decision. She's representing the Blendstin family and I trust her to do exactly that. I don't think she'd deliberately do anything to get someone killed, but if it was a choice between leaving someone behind to save the treasure or sacrificing the riches for the good of the team, I know which way she'd lean."

"And Aria is a self-absorbed, pampered magician of some sort," Velik said. "At least, that's the act she puts on. She's dangerous, though, and she knows things she shouldn't. I don't know what kind of skills she has, but she might be stronger than Torwin."

"I don't think she's a bad person. She's spent years of her life hunting monsters and propping up humanity. That gold pin isn't just for show, you know."

"They're not that hard to get," Velik said. He reached up a finger to tap the one pinned to his collar.

"Most people don't start there," Jensen told him. "Look, all I'm trying to say is have a little trust in your team. Most of us want you to survive this, and the ones that are indifferent at least recognize that they have better odds of reaching their own goals if you're still alive and breathing."

"Fantastic," Velik said. The last of the merc prisoners had disappeared inside the garrison, leaving just the two of them standing on the street. Everyone else had gone inside, which meant Jensen needed to get in there too.

"I'm going to make sure the story gets laid out straight," he told Velik. "I hope you're still here when I come back out. But… if you feel like you need to run, I'll understand. Find us on the road in a few days before we get to Ashala, alright?"

"Sure. A few days on my own might do me some good."

It wasn't lost on Jensen that Velik had ignored the part where he'd said 'still here,' but he decided it wasn't worth pressing the hunter over the issue. Whether Velik decided to run would probably depend on whether the marshals came swarming out of the garrison to capture him. If that did happen, Jensen hoped Velik got away cleanly. It would be a lot harder to proceed if they had to get him released from prison, and they were already way behind schedule.

One problem at a time. Just keep pushing forward and you'll reach the goal eventually, he reminded himself as he followed the last of the marshals into the garrison.

* * * Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

The second the doors closed, Velik walked away. It wasn't even about the marshals and whether they'd want to keep him in a cell until they were sure he wasn't a monster. Someone had tried to kill him, and at least one of their agents was still out there. Velik was alone and vulnerable, and standing in the middle of the street waiting for the next attempt struck him as a very foolish decision.

The city wasn't his territory. He lived in the wilderness, and even if the forests around here were nothing compared to back home, that was where he was comfortable. The moment there were no eyes on him, he was off, running through the streets back toward the gate, where there wasn't a constant drone of noise and smells trying to distract him, where there weren't thousands of people crowding around him with unknown classes and skills.

The gates never closed in King's Crossroad, not unless some sort of monster horde swept down the road and attacked them, so Velik had no trouble getting back out. An hour later, he'd reached their former campsite and slowed down. It didn't take long to find traces of the ghostwalker cat, even if following its trail back was difficult.

He traced it for miles, through fields and over two streams into a forest a ways off from the road. It wasn't until he was under the boughs that he started to relax. For the first time in months, he was back in his element. Velik was a solitary hunter well practiced in the art of skulking through the woods for prey. This was where he belonged, where he was strongest.

Whoever had sent the monster after him had done it from this forest. And if they were still here, Velik was going to find them. Then he'd see who'd sent them and why. If that cat was the best they could do, they didn't have a chance of stopping him.

His spear slithered down his arm and solidified in his hand as he studied the forest. The cat was light on its feet, but it was still the better part of eight hundred pounds. It couldn't erase all signs of its passage, and it didn't take long to find another clipped pawprint at the edge of a patch of moss.

Silently, Velik slipped deeper into the forest.