Born a Monster

356 256 鈥?Bullied By Boars

鈥淲hat we need,鈥?the Black Hound said, 鈥渋s some good old creative thinking. It鈥檚 the sort of thing we pirates do well.鈥?And he winked at me.

Yeah, I didn鈥檛 trust him, or his thinking.

It was a bear finding the points for it, but it unlocked Creativity Pool that I could pay for separately.

鈥淚 notice what you鈥檙e doing.鈥?I told the Hound. 鈥淵ou think if you move slowly instead of quickly I won鈥檛 notice you pulling your dagger.鈥?br>
He pulled forth a tin flask, and took a swig from it. Forget the dainty flasks bards tell you about, this one could easily hold half a gallon. 鈥淢y, my, you鈥檙e neither attentive nor trusting. Betrayed at a young age, were we?鈥?br>
鈥淎 young age.鈥?I agreed. Less than three months.

I swiveled my head around. 鈥淭hose trees, I think.鈥?I said.

鈥淭o cut down for firewood? Those have some pretty thick trunks.鈥?br>
鈥淭o build raised platforms upon.鈥?I said. 鈥淚f those boars are as powerful as they seem, we鈥檒l want those thick trunks supporting us.鈥?br>
.....

鈥淭hat鈥檚... we don鈥檛 have rope.鈥?he said.

鈥淒on鈥檛 tempt Rhishi.鈥?Kismet said. 鈥淗e finds a way to do things. What about those trees over there? For wood.鈥?br>
鈥淗rm.鈥?I said. 鈥淎ctually, a large problem is that there is only one of me. I鈥檓 needed both hunting for food and building the new shelters.鈥?br>
The woman pressed a food into the dirt. 鈥淎 pity we can鈥檛 dig down. Elevated houses will be vulnerable to winter storms. I can hunt.鈥?br>
鈥淣ot unless your divine power can hide you from the boars.鈥?the Hound said.

鈥淏oars are natural gluttons. They鈥檒l have retreated to their lair to digest. If we had enough spears, we could hunt them down.while they sleep.鈥?she said.

鈥淜ismet, your senses are as keen as mine. We need you hunting, as well.鈥?br>
鈥淲ell, then Boris over there comes with us to carry things.鈥?she said.

鈥淢y name is Yaroslovl.鈥?he said. 鈥淥r Yaros, and I am no man鈥檚 slave, nor woman.鈥?br>
鈥淔ine. Call me Corvina.鈥?the woman said. 鈥淜eep up; you don鈥檛 want to be alone when those boars wake up and start looking for food.鈥?br>
鈥淲ell, I think I should guard the wounded.鈥?the Hound said.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have to fend for themselves.鈥?I said. 鈥淎t least for a bit. Grab a saw, we鈥檙e on lumber detail..鈥?br>
鈥淟et鈥檚 at least move them inside. Some manner of protection.鈥?br>
鈥淚鈥檝e given some thought to that, as well.鈥?br>
Keeping the Hound in my peripheral vision, I began whipping together some Healing mana.

鈥淭hat looks a lot like doing nothing.鈥?he said.
鈥淲ell, we don鈥檛 have healing potions yet.鈥?I said. 鈥淚鈥檒l have to do this the hard way.鈥?br>
He produced a vial of greenish liquid, with bits of herbs still floating in it, and poured it down the throat of one of his men. The one I hadn鈥檛 bitten, I noticed.

Not as a matter of pride, you understand. I was trying to figure out how the Hound thought in order to stay ahead of him. He only needed to outsmart me once, and bad things would happen.

His man coughed, and began thrashing.

鈥淲hat the hell? The witch assured me this was a working potion. I鈥檒l anally rape her until she dies!鈥?br>
It had to be a distraction; everyone knows that healing potions require nutrition to work. Besides, even though he wasn鈥檛 going to be up and about, even the cheapest of healing potions rarely have lethal side effects.

I applied the miko light to Madonna. Her injured body siphoned the energy in. Some color returned to her cheeks, but her hands remained pale and cold, her pulse thin and rapid.

A cursing pirate captain had begun moving his men inside the hut.

It wasn鈥檛 a large hut, and Madonna ended up on the porch. Not that I minded; I liked having her where I could see her.

The Hound worked at a pace that preserved his fatigue meter.

鈥淲ell, tell me about yourself.鈥?he said.

I shrugged. 鈥淚鈥檓 a Titanspawn.鈥?I said. 鈥淲hat else is there to know?鈥?br>
鈥淲hat drives you to be here, in our islands, anyway?鈥?br>
Nicely done, I thought. He could see which question I would answer, as well as how.

鈥淢ostly duty and promises.鈥?I said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a small quest that needs done, before I can board a ship and go home.鈥?br>
鈥淭ell me.鈥?he said.

鈥淲ell, it starts with getting Admiral Danton鈥檚 Boots of Blackness.鈥?br>
鈥淗is magic boots? You think any pirate is going to give up boots that allow them to ambush anyone, anywhere, generally speaking at any time?鈥?He shook his head. 鈥淲hat are you offering in exchange?鈥?br>
鈥淢ore money than he can make by piracy.鈥?br>
He began sawing another limb off a trunk. 鈥淎lone, mate. You meant more money than he can make by piracy alone.鈥?br>
鈥淲hy would he remain at piracy, when honest trade would be more profitable?鈥?br>
鈥淎h, and that鈥檚 why you鈥檒l never make a good pirate, lad. We鈥檙e a greedy lot, we are, but it isn鈥檛 all about the shiny and the trinkets. We鈥檙e predators, you see. Culling the weakest from the ocean, keeping the sailors strong enough to survive.鈥?br>
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think even you believe that.鈥?I said.

鈥淒oesn鈥檛 matter what I believe or not. What matters is what I can make you believe. For example, I think you鈥檙e winded.鈥?br>
I nodded. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l get to make your move, once more. I think we both understand that one of us will be dead, afterward.鈥?br>
For my part, I had no doubt that I could beat him to the prone Madonna. Still, he looked that way.

鈥淚 think I鈥檒l pick a time when my men aren鈥檛 also at risk.鈥?he said. 鈥淵ou want to swap out tools? You鈥檝e got two trees down, and this one isn鈥檛 fully pruned yet.鈥?br>
鈥淔air enough.鈥?I said.

The saw was in bad shape. Not just the Hound鈥檚 fault; it hadn鈥檛 been maintained properly in a long time. I鈥檇 have to find a flat enough rock, have at it with hammer and some loving Metal mana.

But for the short time, we lumbered, we talked.

Gradually, branches were pruned, and then I pared them down into sizes.

鈥淪tarting to look like workable wood, with the tips for the fire.鈥?he said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 green wood.鈥?I said, flexing a branch to demonstrate. 鈥淚t will burn poorly until we dry it out. Don鈥檛 worry; if it comes down to it, I鈥檝e learned goblin cold cooking methods.鈥?br>
鈥淐old cooking? How does that work?鈥?br>
鈥淎bout how you鈥檇 think.鈥?I admitted. 鈥淵ou end up with tasteless, flat food unless you鈥檝e a kitchen yeast to fluff it a bit. But at the dusk that starts a new day, nutrition is nutrition.鈥?br>
鈥淢y System swaps out days at midnight. Most nights, I鈥檓 comfortably asleep for that.鈥?br>
鈥淚 would think that your profession and captaincy would keep you up late.鈥?br>
鈥淚 did say most nights.鈥?he said. 鈥淭rick to it is to build a good crew. People you can trust. Maybe not with your sister, but trust them to think like a crew.鈥?br>
He set the axe aside, pulled a cavalry saber from his inventory. It was a heavier blade than most people would have preferred, but the curved edge made it good at striking and cutting. He made no move to draw it from its sheathe.

鈥淎 lesser man would threaten you about now, mention that your feline lass is out with a witch and one of the stronger members of his crew.鈥?he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to be handing over leadership to me; we both know it.鈥?br>
I laughed long and hard. His expression turned... oh, gods, the rage! I couldn鈥檛 stop. 鈥淵ou know that won鈥檛 go the way a lesser man would think, right?鈥?br>
鈥淥h, because of your deadly venom? I think you鈥檙e tapped out, at least for the day.鈥?br>
鈥淎bsolutely.鈥?I said. 鈥淭he venom I鈥檝e got left might sting quite a bit, but it isn鈥檛 enough for an actual dose.鈥?br>
鈥淎nd I鈥檝e seen you fight. You鈥檙e a shield, not any good in a straight up fight. One of your lasses, the spear, she鈥檚 off in the woods. Didn鈥檛 even tell you where she was going.鈥?br>
鈥淪he did.鈥?I said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 taken the chisel and hammer and gone looking for stones we can carve into spearheads.鈥?br>
鈥淪he鈥檚 nowhere that she can help you. I have this enchanted sword here, and this pistol.鈥?br>
I slid my reticule over both.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a bad bluff.鈥?I said. 鈥淚 almost called up Mystic Vision.鈥?br>
He put his weapons away. 鈥淲hat made you think it was a bluff?鈥?br>
鈥淭he pistol.鈥?I said. 鈥淵ou forget the time we spent on Prison Island. The mysteries of the black powder are known to me. It鈥檚 like wood; difficult to bring to fire when wet. What you have in that hand is an expensive lump of steel.鈥?br>


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He put the weapons away. 鈥淔or someone so young and naive, you鈥檝e otherwise got a pretty sharp mind, lad.鈥?br>
鈥淭hanks, but we鈥檝e a lot of work before it gets dark.鈥?br>
I began whittling.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think wooden stakes are going to cut it, lad.鈥?br>
鈥淣ot stakes.鈥?I said. 鈥淧egs. Unless we have nails that I missed?鈥?br>
鈥淣ot that I saw.鈥?he said.

.....

We had most of our first frame together by the time the hunting party returned.