8 – Magical Rock Salt

“What a thrill! What a fight!” Jax had taken his chainmail off, leaving it to the side in a crumpled pile, and was pressing a now-red-stained bandage to the bite wound on his side. “I can’t believe the beast got through the mail and the Iron Hide. Truly a worthy foe!”

“It would not have happened at all if you had lured them out like we planned,” Kaylin said.

“Nonsense. A great warrior doesn’t use tricks or sneakery.”

“A great warrior survives to fight another day,” Ren muttered, continuing to rinse out the lingering bile taste with the borrowed water skin. Immediately following the fight, once the adrenaline had drained out of him, he had examined the mangled, broken head of the monster and promptly retched.

The small group was gathered near the trees, ten strides from where the two large musttel corpses lay in front of the cave mouth. “Thank you again, In’dala, for intervening when you did,” Kaylin continued. “I know it was not part of the contract.”

The bald woman nodded once in acknowledgement. “The contract says safe travel. You were no longer safe, so.”

“Truly, a worthy foe,” Jax repeated. “Ahh, its teeth could have stood to be less sharp though.”

“You’re in no position to travel,” Kaylin said, glancing up at the fading afternoon light filtering through the canopy. “I say we make camp here for the night. We can use the cave. Tomorrow, we can make the journey back to Florn.”

Ren cocked his head. “I thought you said something about Meridians, or Merda. What’s—or where, I guess, is Florn?”

“Meridia. That is our home and our ultimate destination.”

“Too far away on our current supplies though. What do you think? Half a fan’s journey?” Jax asked.

“Maybe a little more. Five or six days, depending on the roads. And exactly. Florn is the closest town in any direction, only a day away at most.”

“Less now that we’re refined. Ha! Oww!”

Kaylin furrowed her brow at the big man. “Quiet. You need to rest.”

“Fine, Mother!” he mocked, but proceeded to sit down, his back against one of the trees.

Kaylin turned back to Ren. “We need supplies before we make the rest of the journey. It took longer than we anticipated to find the nexus.”

“Huh. So, how does that work? You all appeared right after I found it. That timing seems pretty convenient.”

Kaylin and Jax looked over at In’dala. Her face was an expressionless mask. “There was a mana spike. Common when a nexus is consumed.”

They waited, but she offered no additional information. Jax broke the momentary silence. “Well, I could use a drink and soft bed. Making camp sounds glorious.”

As the afternoon light continued to shift from bright yellow to golden, they cleared an area in the cave, moving the discarded, broken bones of other creatures to the side and gathering fallen wood for a fire. Once they moved their packs into the den, In’dala set off back into the woods, presumably to check the surrounding area.

“Ahh, that’s better,” Jax muttered, resting against the smooth cave wall, a bloody bandage still pressed to his side.

“I’m surprised it doesn’t smell worse,” Ren said, looking around at the bones. “Normally, at least where I’m from, creatures like this have a truly awful scent.”

“I’ve heard the same; they must be younger. I don’t think they develop their glands until full maturity. But I would need to check the bestiaries in the archives.” Kaylin had begun removing the party’s remaining supplies from the bulging pack. “Looks like dinner is hardtack again.” Sighing, she held up several thick, rectangular crackers. “What I wouldn’t give for a voidbox.”

Ren glanced toward the two musttel carcasses. “I may be able to help with that.”

“You?! There is no chance in the dark heavens that you of all people have a voidbox.” Kaylin examined him, following his gaze. “Oh! But you said you cooked romans, some kind of noodles, correct?”

“Ramen. And, uh… I can cook a lot of stuff.”

“What a boon! A fortuitous encounter grows all the better! The council smiles on us.” Jax was grinning like a madman.

Let’s hope this works, Ren thought as he silently activated his Insight skill, face turned away from the others. As with the wine, the carcass appeared to glow and Juliette’s lilting French voice spoke in his mind: “[Juvenile musttel carcass. Fresh. Imbued with strength, speed, and fire and poison resistance. The liver of the musttel is especially potent.]”

“I could get used to that,” Ren muttered under his breath.

Walking over to the animal on the left, he knelt down beside it and, out of habit, reached for the empty spot beside him where he normally would have his butchering knife. He peered over toward his bokken. “Umm, do you guys have a knife I can borrow?”

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“If meat is on the menu, then you can have any weapon you choose,” Jax said, reaching for the pack to retrieve a leather-sheathed hunting knife that he tossed over to Ren.

Ren spent the next half hour butchering and preparing one of the musttels. He tried to use the Insight skill to help guide the process, but it seemed unable to tell him any more information than it had revealed before.