21 – A Mother’s Gratitude
Hunched behind a stand of narrow pines, Lucy peered down into the ravine where, maybe a hundred yards below the trail, she could see the dry wooden structure that, according to the little dirt-encrusted kid beside her, was ho to a handful of survivors—only it didn’t look like anyone was surviving too well down there. She gently squeezed Albert’s shoulder. “You’re sure that’s the one?”
The little boy nodded, pointing to a derelict blue station wagon parked beside a weed-choked dirt road near the bottom of the ravine. It was mostly covered with dead branches—a sloppy attempt to hide it, maybe? “My mom’s car!”
“Okay, then…” Lucy tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she looked around, willing her Hunter’s Senses to tell her if sothing was lurking nearby. Nothing triggered any sort of alarm, but then again, the skill wasn’t infallible when it worked, and she didn’t know if she could actually activate with the force of her will. She pointed to a shadowy spot between two of the narrow tree trunks. “Can you hide here for a minute while I look?”
He nodded, but when he inhaled, his lower lip quivered, and she could see fresh tears building in his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Albert; I promise I won’t leave you.”
The little boy had been through a lot—bruised and filthy—he hardly rembered when the trolls had taken him. When she’d questioned him, he’d acted confused but seed to recall “playing by the green tree” when things went dark. Lucy didn’t know where the green tree was, but the trail she’d been following, hunting her quarry, led them to their current vantage where Albert had excitedly pointed out the cabin below.
“Okay,” he whispered, despite his obvious fear. He hunkered there down behind the tree. Lucy uprooted a clump of long, dry yellow grass and propped it against the gap between the trees, further masking his presence.
“There. Nice and safe. Be right back!” she whispered. With that, bow in hand, she deftly made her way down the slope, stepping from one large stone to another, trying to move as silently as possible.
Lucy had taken a class evolution that was supposed to steer her in a more stealthy direction, but she hadn’t seen much benefit from it yet—no new stealth-based skills or spells, anyway. She wondered if maybe so of the levels she’d been banking, the ones the System was holding off until she completed her hunt, would result in sothing along those lines. She hoped so, if only so she could keep up with Andy better when he was scouting or stalking his prey.
A smile crept over her lips at the thought. Andy was good at hunting his enemies. It was almost scary—no, it was scary, just not for Lucy. “Okay, focus,” she breathed, studying the abandoned-seeming structure. It wasn’t much, just a few sheets of plywood, most of which were painted rust-red, nailed together over a ramshackle two-by-four fra. Had they built it there after the apocalypse? Had they found it, or maybe just the wood up there?
Albert wasn’t sure where he was from, but he’d ntioned a town called Sahuarita. Lucy wasn’t an expert on the area, but she was pretty sure Sahuarita was about a half-hour drive south of Tucson. It made sense, considering where she was; the Santa Ritas were a solid hour-long drive from the trailer park. Once again, images of Steve hiking through the mountains with her flashed through her mind. Lucy pushed them aside, focusing on the matter at hand.
Maybe Albert and his folks escaped to the mountains during the apocalypse. Maybe they’d been making ends et—barely, by the looks of Albert—but then the trolls found them. Lucy shuddered, dreading what she might find in the little cabin. That was when she heard the voice—feminine and thick with emotion.
“…co on. Don’t do this to , you ass!”
Lucy hurried across the open ground between the trees and the open cabin doorway. At first, she thought there wasn’t a door, but then she saw a door-sized chunk of plywood lying on the ground ten feet away. Sothing had pulled it off the hinges. She pressed herself to the wood, peering into the darkness.
Once her eyes were out of the sunlight, she realized it wasn’t exactly dark inside. Slanted rays of light pierced the gloom as the sun shone through gaps in the poorly fitted boards. She saw a man lying prone on an olive-colored rug, and kneeling beside him was a young woman—red-haired and dirty, wearing mud-stained overalls. Lucy didn’t miss the spear lying on the ground beside her, nor did she fail to note the blood spatters on the plywood interior of the little shack.
“You son of a bitch. How am I supposed to figure this out on my own? How am I going to find him? You’re the tracker!” The woman was sobbing, and Lucy realized the man was already gone—his chest was still, and there was an ashen tone to his face that wasn’t at all natural. Pity gripped her, and she cleared her throat.
“Um, excuse—”
“Who the hell…” The woman leaped to her feet, spear in hand, spinning to face the doorway, a snarl on her thin lips.
Lucy backed away from the doorway, left hand up and open, her bow held low. “I didn’t an to startle you.”
“Well, you damn well did, bitch!” The woman deftly darted through the doorway, crouched low in a fighting stance. Her red hair was wild, and at first Lucy thought it was tangled with branches, but then she realized it was tied in knots around little bones. The energy coming off the woman felt wrong. There was sothing in her eyes that made them feel unnatural; they didn’t focus the way a normal person’s might, but darted here and there as she snarled.
“Um, I’m just looking for—”
“For what? Were you with them? You look familiar. You’re one of ’em, aren’t you?”
“Who? I’m alone.” Lucy’s fingers twitched on her bow, but she didn’t raise it.
“It’s not my fault!” the woman said, licking her lips, glancing back toward the plywood shack. “I…I couldn’t get mixed up in it. I have to find my boy.”
“Your boy?” Lucy’s hand was still up, palm out. “I can help, maybe.”
“You think? You took him!” The woman lunged forward with her spear. It was a lot cruder than Andy’s, but its rusty blade looked plenty hard and sharp enough to do so real damage. She moved fast, too, and Lucy recognized her form; she knew what she was doing with that weapon. Luckily, Lucy was quicker, and she leaped back, lifting her bow. She drew the string back, and a fiery arrow sprang into existence, flickering and smoking.
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“Stop! He’s safe, and I don’t want to hurt you!”
“You do have him! I’ll skin you alive, bitch!” The woman snarled, exposing straight white teeth as she darted forward again. Lucy knew better than to try to bargain with a madwoman wielding a spear; she either had to go into a full retreat or fight back. She fired one fiery arrow into the ground before the woman, then turned and ran, sprinting for the slope that would take her back to Albert. Then she saw him standing there, a stricken look on his face as he watched the scene unfold.
“Albert!” Lucy hissed, glancing at the woman, but she’d noticed the boy too, and her spear had fallen from her grasp. She stood, mouth agape, eyes focused at last, tears pooling as she stared at the little boy.
“M-mommy? Don’t hurt her. She’s good.”
The woman fell to her knees, a great sob shaking her body as she opened her arms. Albert ran to her, and Lucy looked around, hoping that whatever or whoever had killed the man in the cabin wasn’t still around. Had it been the trolls? She didn’t think so; the woman had accused Lucy of being with “them”.
Her fire arrow continued to sputter and smoke behind the woman, but nothing caught fire and it soon went out, flickering and fading as though it had never existed. anwhile, the woman hugged Albert and, after a mont, looked up at Lucy. “I’m Rachel.”
Lucy nodded, brushing so loose strands of hair out of her eyes; a breeze was kicking up, rushing down through the canyon. “I’m Lucy.”
The woman seed like a different person. Her eyes were steady, and that strange, unnatural air about her had faded. Was it sothing to do with her class? Were those bones in her hair part of it? “We were looking for Bert when the assholes ca. I was sure they had him.”
“Assholes?”
“Yeah, so bandit-types. I ran and hid, but they, um…” Rachel glanced toward the ramshackle structure nearby, and Lucy got the picture. The bandits had killed the man in the shack. Rachel stood and hoisted Albert onto her hip. “I’m sorry I scread at you, but I’m…” She shook her head, eyes darting to the hillside behind Lucy.
“You’re on edge—understandably,” Lucy replied.
The woman nodded, licking her lips as she looked around the rough clearing. “I c-can’t stay here. Bert needs…”
Again, she trailed off and, again, Lucy finished for her. “Bert needs soplace safe. I can give you directions to my settlent. I’m sure they’d take you in.”
“You—what about you?”
“I’m hunting sothing. If I weren’t on a quest, I’d say I ought to hunt down the, um, bandits who did this.” A thought occurred to Lucy, and she added, “Bert said you weren’t alone. There were others living here?”
Rachel nodded. “Gail and Eli, but they took off a few days ago. I’m, um, I’m afraid they ran into the assholes who ca here. It seed like they were looking for sothing.” Lucy noticed how Rachel’s hand drifted toward a lump in the front pocket of her filthy jeans. Suddenly she sobbed, looking back at the shack. “They t-tortured him, but I didn’t want to reveal myself. I didn’t want to because I knew they wouldn’t let either of us live, and Bertie—” She hugged the little boy tight, pulling his head down onto her shoulder. “He needs .”
“I get it.” Lucy pointed to the road. “Co on, let’s move over here and I’ll explain where squite sa is.”
“squite sa?”
“My settlent. There are lots of good people there.” Lucy walked with her away from the shack, past the partially obscured station wagon, and onto the dirt road. “This road will lead you down through Box Canyon, right?”
Rachel nodded. “Yeah.”
“Well, you need to head down out of the mountains and then work your way north, through the desert—but follow roads when you can. You gotta get to the desert east of Tucson. I an northeast, really—all the way to the foothills of the Catalinas. The sa is there, and, um, you can see it from pretty far away. We’ve got people out patrolling, too, so if you get close…” Lucy trailed off, noting the look of panic in Rachel’s eyes.
“I can’t walk all the way to Tucson! I an, Albert can’t! It’s gotta be forty miles or more—”
Lucy shrugged. “I’ll give you so food and a blanket. It’s not that bad. I hardly ran into any monsters, and you look like you could handle so javelinas or, you know, goblins. At least it’s hope, Rachel. You can’t stay up here alone.”
“You have food?” Rachel eyed Lucy’s heavy pack.
Lucy nodded, sliding the bag off her shoulders. “I have a notebook in here, too. I’ll draw you a rough map—the roads I followed to get here.” She started by taking out one of her extra bottles of water and handing it to Rachel. “I already gave Albert so water. You can have that.” Then, as Rachel drank, she pulled out a gallon-sized, resealable plastic bag that she’d filled with fire-roasted snake at. It was enough to feed a person for days, and, as far as she was concerned, extra. Lucy didn’t have any trouble hunting for at.
“Oh my God, that slls good!” Rachel said, taking the heavy bag.
“Go ahead and snack on that while I draw your map.” Lucy got to work, drawing a rough representation of the path she’d taken from the sa all the way south and east toward the Santa Ritas. “This will get you really close,” she said, ripping the page from the book.
Rachel licked so char and grease from her fingers, watching as Albert chewed a piece of the tender at. “I, um, I owe you, Lucy. Let repay you with this.” She reached into her pocket and drew out an ornate brass key.
Lucy’s eyes widened at the surprising revelation. “A key?”
Rachel nodded. “A quest reward. We earned it together— and John and the others. I think you’ll get a quest when I hand it to you. I hope it’s not a curse to you like it was for us.”
Lucy frowned, eyeing the thing. “A curse, how?”
“Well, I told you about our friends who left, right? We got into a fight about whether they deserved to take the key. I’m sure that’s why the bandits showed up here.” She looked around, narrowing her eyes at the canyon walls. “I’m sure they’re still looking for .”
“Um…” Lucy looked at the key warily.
Rachel held it out, pressing it toward her. “I know it sounds bad, but I think you’ll make more use of it than I will. If not you, then your settlent. It’s just…” She licked her lips again, her eyes darting around.
“It’s just that you don’t want to be carrying it. You think the bandits might track it sohow.”
Rachel nodded. “I can’t move fast enough with Albert…” She shrugged, glancing guiltily at the little boy, then back at Lucy.
“Okay.” Lucy reached out and grasped the key. She felt a hot tingle of mana, and then the System spoke to her:
***Congratulations, Lucy! You’ve just acquired a dungeon portal key! This key opens a portal to the Garspire Repository of Knowledge. To activate the portal key, simply send so of your mana into it. WARNING: Garspire is inhabited by dangerous beings, and you will not be a welco guest. This is an Elite dungeon with a party-size limit of four.***
Lucy’s eyes shot wide as she glanced hastily at Rachel. The other woman grinned, nodding. “We weren’t ready to activate it, but there was no way I was gonna let that skank, Gail, and her junky boyfriend take it.” She frowned, glancing at Albert. “Sorry, baby boy. Those are potty words.” Looking at Lucy again, she added, “I still can’t believe they brought those creeps here. Poor John…”
“Where’s John, Mommy?” Albert asked, looking up at the woman. For the first ti, Lucy realized the dead man in the shack might not be his father.
“He had to leave, baby.” Rachel looked at the road, then at Lucy’s map. She hefted the mostly full bag of snake at. “We can have this?”
“Yeah, but don’t let it go too long. I cooked it last night with lots of squite smoke, but still…” Lucy shrugged.
“We’ll eat it today.” Rachel winked at Albert. “Stuff our bellies.”
Lucy looked up the slope toward the trail she’d been following before running into Albert and the trolls. “Well, I’m off further into the mountains—”
“What was it you’re hunting?”
Lucy chuckled, shaking her head. “I wish I knew. Sothing that flies and has an enormous appetite. Sothing about the size of a horse, if I were guessing based on the tracks.”
It was Rachel’s turn to stare, wide-eyed. “Oh! You an the wyvern!”
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