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Loyal Dogs The Traitor By Evan Drake © 2019, Evan Drake, All Rights Reserved

Chapter 7: Another Detour

Thern had completely lost track of how much time he and Firion had spent drinking, yet he found the hound's company far too enjoyable to worry about it. His other fears and anxieties were forgotten as well amidst the pleasant conversation. He was beginning to see what Firion's true role in the group was. Despite it just being the two of them, they were laughing louder than anyone else in the place.

"And that's when the farmer says, 'you milked the wrong one!' " Firion started pounding on the table as he roared with laughter.

Thern lay on his head on the table, gasping for air, his tail wagging furiously behind him.

"Yeah, I heard Bernard's been chosen for the next sacrifice," a voice whispered.

Thern stopped laughing almost immediately, his right ear swiveling in the direction of the sound. It appeared to be coming from the table behind them though he couldn't gauge how far. He looked at Firion who also had stopped laughing and made a subtle nod toward the left.

"Really? Poor bastard 'as no luck, does 'e?" another voice replied. This one also whispered, but in the new silence, it was easy to pick up. "First 'is son, no 'im."

"Not really. Heard he volunteered. Guess he couldn't handle the guilt."

"Aye. Poor bastard. But that means we ain't dealin wit another choosin tonight."

Thern mouthed "choosing?" to Firion who shrugged.

"Maybe there's a way we can save him. Heard some drifters came into town earlier today. Maybe one of them could be the sacrifice."

Thern and Firion exchanged looks. Even if they weren't the drifters the canid was referring to, this was not something they could ignore.

"Are you mad? We ain't goin around kidnappin folks."

"They're just drifters. No one will miss them. We just find out where they're staying, wait until they go to sleep, then snatch them." Well, I won't wish that fate on my greatest enemy, but I'm glad it's not me."

"Aye. I'll drink to that."

Firion stood and stumbled backward. Thern immediately caught on to the ruse. Back in Morken, he had seen the hound down twice as many drinks and not lose his balance. "All right, big guy, that's enough drinking for you. It's time to get you to bed."

He threw Firion's arm around his shoulder, legs buckling slightly under the hound's bulk. He half-dragged his faux-drunk companion outside. Once the tavern was out of sight, Firion straightened up. "Glad you caught on to that. Didn't want 'em to know we were listening in."

"Yeah, no problem." He rotated his shoulder and stretched his back. "Only next time could you not put all of your weight on me?"

With a heavy slap to Thern's sore shoulder, Firion replied, "I needed it to look real, didn't I, little guy?"

"Grayon? Is that you?"

A large dog with red fur appeared before them, arms open wide in a welcoming gesture. He had a rugged look like someone who was used to traveling. If Thern had to guess, he figured this canid was a mercenary. "It is you! I haven't seen ya since the last harvest!" He wrapped his arms around Thern's neck.

Thern was too stunned by the sudden gesture to react. Firion tapped the large dog on the shoulder. "Excuse me, friend, I think you have--"

"Keep calm and act as if we know each other," the hound whispered. "There are eyes on us."

Thern smiled immediately. "Hey, it has been a long time! How've things been?"

The hound broke the hug, still smiling warmly, but his pointed ears swiveled in different directions. "Everything's fine now that I've seen you again. We should have lunch together! Come! I'll make your favorite. And of course, your brother is welcome, too!"

Without awaiting a reply, he slung an arm around Thern's shoulder and steered him down the street. As they walked, the hound talked nonstop about the little things that had happened in his life which Thern suspected to be a lie to further the illusion they were old friends. Thern did his best to remain calm and avoid reaching for his weapon. If it weren't for the conversation they heard in the bar, he wouldn't even have considered playing along with this farce. First Morken, now Plainkir. What in the world had they wandered into?

The hound eventually steered them into a house. The only furniture was a single large table and several chairs. At the head of the table was a single armchair.

Thern's hand immediately flew to his sword at the sight of a black-furred female hound with large floppy ears sitting in the armchair, her legs crossed and resting casually on the table. She had all the look and feel of a leader despite her unkempt fur and tattered clothing.

What worried Thern most about the female was the emblem situated on her left breast. It was a canid's head with red eyes and holding a blade in its jaws. It was the mark of the mercenaries faction, the Blood Hounds.

The hound who brought them there quickly patted Thern and Firion on the shoulder. "Whoa, there, fellas. This ain't a trap. I promise."

"And we believe that because...?" Thern asked. "I know that mark anywhere."

"Because if it were a trap, you would already be dead," the female replied. She dropped her footpaws from the table but remained sitting. "Name's Millian. The hound behind you is Sirius. I'm gonna get straight to the point: you two are Paladins, right?"

Thern's eyes widened and he turned to Firion who looked just as shocked.

"Relax, I know you guys get all fidgety when someone threatens your 'secrecy'." She made a mocking gesture with two fingers and rolled her eyes. "But you're secret is safe here."

"How'd you figure us out?" Thern asked, shakily.

"I can smell the self-righteous stink coming off you the moment you came into town." She pointed to their weapons. "Plus only Paladins carry weapons made of moonsilver."

"You have a pretty good eye," Firion said. "But what makes you so sure only Paladins carry those kinds of weapons?"

Millian smiled slyly. "Actually, I was recruited to be one, but then I found out you have to forfeit any fortunes and work for free. Sorry, but I like money."

"Look, how about you get straight to the part where you tell us what you want from us," Thern said.

"Now, now. Ladies don't like it when a guy is too eager you know." Her little quip got a small chuckle out of Sirius. "Besides, I hate repeating myself, so I'm gonna wait until the rest of your group gets here."

"You know about the others?" Firion asked.

"Well, I did see you come into town and made the two of you for Paladins, so I'm gonna say yes."

Thern said nothing. He didn't like this situation especially after the way things went in Morken.

While they waited, Thern and Firion introduced themselves and heard a little about Millian's past, claiming she didn't like uncomfortable silences. She told them that she was the leader of a mercenary group, but thanks to a certain incident, only she and Sirius remained. When questioned about the details, all she would say was "I'll tell you when the rest of you are here."

Thern didn't care how much Millian chose to share. He didn't trust her, and he wanted to know exactly what she wanted from them. The conversation with Reylin came to mind. The Blood Hounds were notorious for taking on the dangerous jobs.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew it couldn't be true. There was no way word got around that fast. But squashing the most obvious theory did little to relax his nerves. Even Firion wasn't his usual, good-natured self.

He had no idea how much time had passed by the time Sirius returned with the others. They didn't look at all surprised to see Firion and Thern.

"Hello, Millian," Gaius said. "I should've known you were involved in this."

"Wait, you two know each other?" Thern asked.

"Just from Gaius's early days when worked as a Vulprani guard." She smiled as she turned back to Gaius. "I gotta say, I never thought you would become a Paladin though it's not very surprising."

"What do you want?" Gaius asked flatly.

"All business as usual. You never were any fun. Anyway, you're right. We don't have a lot of time. Short version: Everyone in this town will die if we don't help them."

Gaius remained straight-faced, but a small twitch of his tail told Thern he was intrigued. "I think we will need to hear the long version."

"Sure, but I don't know all the details myself." She motioned to the chair on her left side and Gaius sat down. "I was sent here a week ago to look into some missing canid reports. There's been too many jobs about finding a lost loved one and it's making the leaders nervous."

"That sounds similar to what my team and I have dealt with," Gaius said. "We just left Morken after discovering a smuggler's tunnel with kidnapped females inside."

Millian's ears rose. "A smuggler's tunnel in Morken? That doesn't sound right. The only country that even remotely practices slavery anymore is Lupra, but slavers wouldn't try to operate this far from the border."

"We suspect it's the work of an accursed. There have been reports of a pale-furred coyote in the area."

"That...can't be good."

"It certainly is problematic if there's any truth to it." He leaned back in his seat and drummed his fingers on the table. "So canids have vanished in this area as well?"

"Well...it's more complicated than that. Giant spiders have pretty much laid siege to the town."

Phen shuddered a little. "Giant spiders? That's a joke, correct?"

Millian turned to the pup with a wicked smile. "I thought so too until I saw one of the big bastards." The smile faded as she turned to Gaius. "I don't remember Paladins recruiting this young."

"He's a special case," Gaius interjected. Cecili stepped in front of the fox pup. "You were discussing giant spiders. How large are they exactly and do you know how many there are?"

"A lot, and yeah, they're damn big. Big enough to kill a grown canid on its own and drag the body back to its nest. As for how many, we don't know. We tried to raid the nest and got overwhelmed pretty quickly. Lost most of my guys getting out."

"You do realize our combined numbers are two less than what you started with?" Gaius asked. "It's possible there are dozens of those things in there."

"I'm aware of that, but I know how skilled you are. I'm not leaving here until every one of those spiders is in pieces."

"So why not, ask for aid?" Cecili asked.

Sirius snorted. "And tell them we got our asses kicked by some spiders? We'll be kicked out if they knew."

"It doesn't sound like you're dealing with typical spiders," Bayli said. "If they're a big as you say, they have to be afflicted."

"I'm aware," Millian said. "Hey, Sirius, you mind getting us something to drink?" When the hound left, she said to Gaius, "That's why I'm asking paladins for help. Your typical merc doesn't know how to deal with this."

"I agree that typical mercenaries are ill-equipped to deal with this. So how long has this been going on?" Gaius asked.

Millian put her footpaws up on the table. "From what we gathered, a while. A few months at least. First they started giving up their dead. Then they were forced to move on to the sick and elderly. Lastest rumors are that they're sacrificing travelers and criminals."

"That's terrible," Phen said.

Cecili huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "If this area is under the protection of a mercenary faction, why is this the first you're hearing of it?"

"Because the spiders have this place surrounded," Millian said, the low grow in her voice clear. "They let you in, but they don't let you leave. Unless you think you can do better? A pair of merchants tried to make a run for it. One of them came back...most of him anyway."

"Fuck," Bayli said. The others wore similar looks of displeasure and fear.

"I miss something?" Thern asked.

Bayli responded. "If the spiders are organized enough to put an entire town under siege, we have a serious problem. It means something's commanding them."

"Or someone," Firion added. "You think it's the coyote we've been chasing?"

"It's too soon to speculate," Gaius said, scratching his chin. He sighed heavily and rubbed his temple. "But this situation absolutely cannot be ignored."

Sirius returned with several mugs and a large pitcher. He passed out cup and poured everyone a drink. Thern was disappointed to learn it was water, but it made sense not to get drunk at the time.

Millian left her cup untouched. "You're not going anywhere until they're dealt with. This town is bleeding and won't last much longer."

"The tavern seemed to be doing pretty well," Thern said.

"Because it's easier to accept your fate when too shit-faced to think straight."

"So what are our options?" Bayli asked, nettled. "It sounds like we can't do this with such a small group."

"We don't have time to wait. There's no aether door here, and the closest one is several days' ride away." "How many more canids are going to be sacrificed while we wait for reinforcements?"

"But what good will it do to rush in blindly and get ourselves killed? What you described sounds like an afllicted nest which is something we won't ignore, but we don't have the numbers."

"What if we plug the entrance?" Firion asked, hopeful.

"We don't know how many there are," Sirius said. "And in this area, it's easy to hide them."

"What about the Kingsglaive?" Thern offered. "Hopefully they're still in Morken."

Cecili snorted and rolled her eyes. "It will take no less than a week to get there and come back with them, and that's assuming they're still in Morken."

"What about that stone Gaius uses?" Thern said, struggling to keep his cool. "He could be there and back just like that."

"That stone was never meant to transport multiple canids at once. It would take several trips and the exertion would leave him bedridden again. Are you even thinking these plans through?"

"I don't see you coming up with a better idea!"

"Enough!" Gaius stepped between them. "We cannot stand by and let them defile their dead or worse sacrifice an innocent life so they may continue to live this life of trepidation. We depart for the spider caves at sunset."

That was good enough for Thern. Cecili didn't look happy about it, but she allowed the matter to drop as well.

Gaius turned to Millian. "Before we continue, has there been any mention of a coyote with pale grey fur?"

"A yote with pale grey fur? Can't say I've seen one. Why?"

"I'll explain whilst preparations are made."

Gaius and Millian went to a separate room to talk while everyone else checked their gear and tallied supplies. They were only in the next room, so Thern heard everything. It was a one-sided conversation. Even without seeing her, the silence spoke volumes of how she felt. Millian wasn't happy with the turn of events and likely blamed herself for not noticing something when she was only one town away. An uncomfortable silence had fallen over the rest of the group.

She didn't speak until after Gaius finished his explanation. "Lemme get this straight: You think some yote is kidnapping canids and turning spiders into monsters for what? Kicks?"

"This is still speculation, but given the proximity, I find it being a coincidence unlikely," Gaius said. "We know the kidnappings were deliberate, but it may be possible the spiders were unintentional. If that's the case, we need not fear interference by whoever is responsible."

"Shame," Sirius said with a low growl. "I would've loved a chance to 'talk'."

Thern wanted to agree with him, but he also wished to never meet the canid responsible. Just lob the monster's head off and be done with it. He had met some selfish and even cruel canids over the years--he was no angel, but this was something else.

Going over the plan distracted him from his thoughts. The plan turned out to be a simple one. Enter the nest, kill all the spiders inside, then seal the place again. Thern knew in practice the plan would be much harder. Ten well-armed mercenaries couldn't clear out that nest. And they were going in with only eight.

Millian reported only one entrance to the cave where the spiders lived had been found, and that they tunneled through when it was sealed supported that theory. Unfortunately, everyone came to the consensus to clear out the spider's lair instead of blocking it off. According to Millian, the largest number of spiders spotted was 20. Gaius pointed out that thanks to the aether which mutated the spiders, there was a good chance not many of them survived to reach such a large size. If they were lucky, the spiders consumed each other when desperate for food.

"By the way, what are we doing with the pup?" Sirius asked.

"He's coming with us," Gaius said simply. "Phen is more than capable of holding his own in combat."

Millian's ears rose as she gave Gaius a cursory look, but let the matter drop.

Once they had settled on a plan and made sure their equipment was in working order, they decided to make their move. They decided to walk as bringing the horses might draw them to the entrance. Using bait to draw the spiders out seemed like a good idea, but Gaius worried it would take too long and the townsfolk weren't going to wait around.

They didn't get very far from town before Thern noticed they were being followed by a group of canids. It was clear the party wasn't used to following anyone as they did not attempt to conceal their presence or the makeshift weapons they carried.

"They must be waiting for a good chance to ambush us and take us to the spider nest," Millian explained. She spat at the ground. "Fucking cowards."

"They're just frightened," Gaius said.

"So were the canids they fed to the bugs."

Thern chose to get between them before things escalated further. Already Cecili was sending glances at Millian. "So how did you two meet anyway?"

She smirked at him, her tail swishing in time with her movements. "I liked to pickpockets, and Gaius liked to arrest thieves."

"It is a little more complicated than that," Gaius said stiffly.

"Are you still blaming yourself for that? Gaius, you helped me turn over a new leaf."

"You went from thief to sellsword," Sirius said. "That hardly sounds like a step up."

She chuckled. "It is in my book!"

After a short round of laughter, a silence fell on the group. The grass began to shorten opening up their line of sight which Thern was grateful for. But it didn't take long before large rocks took over concealing the area instead. Night had long since fallen by the time Millian signaled for the group to stop.

"We should rest up before we go any further. Don't wanna be worn out before we face those eight-legged bastards."

"Aren't you worried about our 'friends' trying to ambush us in our sleep?" Bayli asked.

"Nah, they stopped following us a while back," Sirius said. "They don't like to get too close to the spider's nest if they can help it."

"And the spiders?"

"Won't come out unless it's to feed. But we'll need to be careful."

They found a small area off the road surrounded by rocks. It did a good job shielding them from the wind and prying eyes. They hadn't brought many supplies with them, preferring to travel light for speed and convenience. Despite the risks, a campfire was started. For dinner, they ate some bread that Cecili had packed and drunk a little water. Then they turned in for the night and took turns keeping watch.

When Thern's turn to keep watch came, he noticed Millian was still awake. She leaned against a nearby tree, staring at Gaius. He wondered what their relationship was. It didn't feel sexual, but there was something beyond friendship between them.

With nothing else to do but pass the time, he decided to ask something that had nagged at him since their meeting. "How did you two meet?"

"Me and Gaius?" When Thern nodded, she smiled and her tail swished again. "He saved my life."

"That's it?" he tried unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment.

"He saved me in more ways than one." She stared into the dwindling flames of the campfire. "Back when I picked pockets for a living, I--of course--got caught. Gaius would always tell me off then send me on my way."

"That doesn't sound like him at all. He's always going on doing the right thing and all that."

She smiled. "Sounds about right. He never locked me up in the jails because he knew a young, poor non-mage in Vulpran would just become someone's cock sleeve or a part of someone's experiment."

Thern said nothing. He had heard stories of the what life was like for non-mages in Vulpran. As a non-mage himself, he had no intention of confirming the rumors. Though it seemed the jails there weren't so different from the ones in Canius. It wasn't unusual for someone to have to trade "favors" in order to avoid spending the rest of their life in a cell. Of course that only applied to those who had something to trade. Sexual favors didn't carry much weight. Not when there were plenty of whores and prisoners at their disposal. Sometimes to avoid the hassle, they just outright killed the offender and made it look like an accident. It was why he made a point of joining any groups that would take him.

The useful survived in Canius. That kind of life made sense to him. If one didn't have the skills, they could learn them; there was always hope not being stuck in the life they were born into.

Millian continued, interrupting his thoughts. "Anyway, Gaius always stepped in and saved me. He gave me coin, food, even clothes whenever I got caught, and on rainy nights, he let me sleep at his place. I guess I took advantage of that, knowing I would likely never see the inside of a cell."

"That was very kind of him."

"Oh, yeah, very kind. Until the day he whipped me bloody for robbing some noble family." Her ears pulled back and a bitter smile touched her muzzle. "For the longest time I hated him for that. Took a while to realize he did me a favor that day. Those nobles would've did a lot worse if they got their claws on me."

She sighed and turned to Gaius who was sleeping next to Phen. "I just don't get why someone like him would join the Paladins."

Thern's ears rose. "What's wrong with the Paladins?"

"The ones I met were cold-hearted bastards. They only gave a damn about some sacred balance and act as if they're ready to die. It's like they cut themselves off from true feelings or something."

Thern was silent again. He had already noticed it with the others. Phen was quite adamant about helping those in need, but the others seemed more selective. He remembered the coyote in the warehouse and how callously Gaius took his life. That definitely didn't seem like the kind canid Millian described. Considering the yote's crime, it was hard to sympathize with him, but it still left a bad taste in Thern's mouth.

"Do yourself a favor: get out while you can," Millian said. "The Paladins may be guardians, but that job takes something out of you." She curled up on the ground. "It's not a life everyone should try to live."

Thern was left alone in the dark with his thoughts. Part of him wished the spiders would come out so he would have something else to worry about instead of his concerns. He decided it wasn't his place to judge. He was no saint to begin with, so he had no right to judge the actions of others. When the time came, he awoke Firion to take over then fell asleep, images of large spiders haunting his dreams.

---

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