Adveturous Fox Ch 0 (Pilot)
Every adventure has to start somewhere and what better place than a tavern in some generic fantasy town? Unfortunately, this is not the life Flaris wants to lead...
This short story (something about 2k words) is as you can guess by the title a pilot. It is written from the perspective of Flaris which I've made the main character, but the 1st chapter (currently in the making 3000 out of 5500 planned words) will be from the perspective of a narrator (similar to 'Taur Up!'). If you read it whole please give some comments about what you liked, what you disliked etc. I'm trying to become a better writer which will become easier if I have someone's else feedback. Hope this story isn't too cringy and that you get some enjoyment out of it! See you (hopefully) in the next chapter!
The tavern was bustling with sounds of drunk patrons, the song of a travelling bard and the occasional shout directed in my direction to bring more ale. It wasn't a big or luxurious tavern, but it did the job for travellers and the town's regulars. My problem with working here? It's pretty hard to manoeuvre between everyone in this crowd when I'm 3'8'' and even some children that come here in the morning are taller than me. Well, I'm 3'8'' not counting the ears, with them on top I think I'm something around 4'5'', but that's just the "perk" of being a fennec.
"Flaris! Stop dreaming and get these mugs to these gentlemen in the back." shouted the big wolf that was my boss. As I followed the direction of his finger I spotted the "gentlemen" I was supposed to serve. Almost knocked out drunks smiling at everyone and everything. And again to push through the crowd... "Sorry, sorry, coming through" At least the tavern isn't so big that I have to push through them constantly... suddenly I felt a swat to my butt, another perk of working with drunkards and being feminine enough after few mugs of ale..."Ack! Who the fuck was that?!" I shouted in the general direction of where it stung the most "C'mon hic... little girl it's hic... just a..." He couldn't even finish his sentence when I slammed my free hand against the table and stared daggers at him "One more of you fucks calls me any variety of 'girl' and you'll regret it!"
It might've been a little overreaction on my part as even the bard stopped his play and stared at me, but it did very well in getting the message through and helped me vent some frustration. I moved to my original destination and with the best smile I could muster after this I gave the "gentlemen" their beers, but when I wanted to move on one of them dared and asked, "So... you're not a girl?" My smile began to shake and through gritted teeth, I gave them the answer "No, I'm not, please stop asking" and quickly walked to the counter. "I was right! Now, pay up!" I heard one of them shout and then there was the sound of coins hitting the table.
Oh, so a dumb bet... They really don't have anything better to do, do they? Maybe my boss will allow me to go early tonight after that outburst. As I thought so I did and approached the huge wolf "Hey, boss can I..." he interrupted me and with a sigh placed his huge (in comparison to mine) paw on my shoulder "Flaris, you remember our deal right? No outbursts like that for a week and you can work here?" Oh shit, I forgot about that! Something about me scaring off customers with my threats and ruining their fantasies... pff bullshit.
So I answered the only way I thought fit "Yeah, about that... Look I'm sorry but I couldn't stop myself, it was the seventh time this day and I just couldn't hold this anymore! I'm not working in a brothel." I don't think he took that seriously with him staring at me unconvinced. I was a little intimidated, but it wasn't hard for him as the wolf was almost two times larger than me! "Flaris, listen to me that was your last chance and you blew it" He paused for a moment, handed me 15 crowns and continued "This is your pay for this week, as you might suspect this is your last pay from me, get ahold of yourself kid and make sure you do better in the next job".
I couldn't do anything about him kicking me out, so I just wandered the town thinking about what to do next "Hm, the wet cobblestone looks really pretty in the moonlight" I muttered absentmindedly to myself. Sometime later I wandered into the main market square, it was almost midnight by this point, but I could see fairly well thanks to all the torches around. "Well, while I'm here might as well look at the job board near the city hall..." I muttered again to myself, it helped me relax after the tavern fiasco. I forgot how massive the market square was, guess the tavern really did take a lot of my time. The marketplace stalls were still here, guess it isn't really profitable to assemble them every day, maybe I could hire myself in one of those as help.? No, no, no after my last work I'm not touching anything related to customer service! Right, the job board, almost forgot about it. Let's see... not much in here... 'Cleaning help needed', 'Looking for a nurse' blah blah blah, nothing really rewarding... Huh? 'The slaver's guild is looking for personnel to help load and unload cargo in a caravan travelling into the Eastern Wastelands, we seek volunteers with previous combat experience and with a pass into the Wastelands. The base reward for the job is 145 crowns, plus 20 crowns for every slave we manage to sell to the locals.' Shit, I didn't want to get involved in this slavery business, but the pay here is really good for a simple trip. Previous combat experience huh? Wonder if experience with a hunting crossbow counts... Eh, I'll probably take it, just have to do this "pass" why do we even need this? Yawn Hell, I need to find someplace to rest...
New day, new problems! Yay for me... Ugh, I should have gone to sleep earlier, I feel like sleepwalking right now; at least it smells like something delicious is being cooked downstairs! It's good to be on the opposing side of the counter for once...
But right now I need to concern myself with my problem: I must get ready quickly before the marketplace is flooded with people. Aside from that this place is clearly a step up from the cheap drinking place I was working at, pretty paintings on the walls, clean wooden floor, even some potted plants and most importantly a nice service, a rare commodity in town. The food is delicious too! Never eaten such well made eggs and bacon! But the luxuries of this place did leave a dent in my funds, 2 crowns for a night and breakfast was a lot for one night, but I couldn't find anything cheaper open in the middle of the night.
As good as it was I really need to get going "Thanks for the service! Here's your pay and I must be going. Goodbye!" I shouted to the innkeeper as I was leaving and only saw her waving a goodbye. Truth be told I was in a hurry, I didn't want to get squished in the crowd when the townfolks gathered at the marketplace plus I do have to acquire the pass so not like I want to wait at the towns hall. So if I wanted to be faster than them and get to the towns hall I had to run. The pass itself is supposedly important, some treaty with the locals or something like that, not that I care about it, I just need it for the job.
Looks like a lot of people are already heading for the market, good thing I'm running there, might be there quicker than- *thud* huh, didn't see a wall of black fur here "I'm sorry, didn't see you down there buddy!" as I looked up I immediately recognised that jackal face "Oh, hey there Gidly, look sorry about that but I'm in a hurry" I proceded to move past him, but he managed to grab me by the arm and planted me on his shoulders "I'd be happy to help plus it would help me repay the favour right?" I still tried to readjust to the new high-up perspective, grabbed him to stabilize myself and with a sigh said "I told you already no need to repay me, I just made you a basic bandage out of cloth, no big deal".
As I was talking he silenced me with a finger "Still, I want to help. Where are you going in such a hurry anyway?" he cocked his head to look at me with confusion written on his face "Don't you have a job at the Whistling Bard?" I looked sheepishly at him and scratched my head "Yeah, about that. I threatened some guy that thought I was a girl and swatted my butt, but it wasn't just about that. A lot of guys came in there drinking, drinking hard, and you know, got flirtatious and it escalated from there..."
Gidly started walking with me still on his back and started chuckling at me "Hah, can't blame them, you did look really cute in that uniform you were made to wear" after that he really started laughing and I could only blush and try to talk my way out of this "A-anyways, after that, I came with the idea to look for a job near the towns hall and I stumbled upon this really good offer from the Slaver's Guild looking for personnel to unload their cargo in the Eastern Wastelands, the money is really good too!" Gidly stopped laughing when I mentioned the Slaver's Guild "You know how easy it is to get in trouble on jobs from them right? Especially in the Wastelands?" and there he goes again treating me as if I was an irresponsible child, I did furrow my brow in annoyance "Not like I can get a better job with how new I'm in the town" I muttered beneath my breath and quickly resumed "The only problem is that they are taking people only with passes to the Wastelands, so I was going to the towns hall to get one. Why is it even that important?"
The jackal started walking, but apparently, his curiosity couldn't be sated with only this "Wait, wait, wait. You want to go into the Wastelands to help with trading with the locals and you don't even know what the pass is for?" I shrugged at him. With a groan, he started "Well, let's start from the treaty-" I interrupted him at that point "Please don't give me history lessons, I already got one from the innkeeper I was staying at. Can you just tell me why I need it?"
Gidly muttered something that I couldn't exactly hear "Fine, in short, you need it to not get captured by the locals. By the treaty, anyone from outside the Wastelands without the pass is considered a brigand by the locals and they have full rights to do as they please with you. So if you don't have one and you encounter the locals your employer can only stand there and watch as they do ANYTHING to you or be seen as a brigand too" I could feel my fur standing and my ears going sideways, the threat of meeting the locals without the pass is really convincing "Yeesh, that's... harsh"
Now it was Gidly who shrugged "Eh, not really, the kingdom and any trade route coming through the Wastelands are greatly benefiting from this and if you actually have the pass the locals should treat you as guests, but there still are some bandits in there so sticking close to some local caravan is a good idea". We continued walking, or should I say he continued walking with me on his back to the market square "By the way why are you carrying me through the streets? Don't you have anything better to do?"
I couldn't help but ask that. He was usually busy with 'other things' as he called them. "Not really, besides after you described the job I started to think that it could actually be good for me. You know how things are, sometimes you need to change your surroundings a bit to flourish and..." Yeah, sure Gidly, go on making excuses like that, I'm starting to connect the dots.
Mysterious wounds in an alley I had to help with? Check.
Fear of the Slaver's Guild and Wastelands? Check.
Need to get out of the city? Check.
I just kept staring at him as he made excuses. "Yhm, yeah, sure. Just admit it you've got yourself into some bad shit and are starting to lose footing in the city." He suddenly stopped with a facial expression of a child caught on the crime, but still trying to hide the fact "What? Of course not!" Of course, you're not involved in anything. Obviously! Not wanting to drill deeper into this I just pretended to belive him "Riiight, I'll let that slide and for now let's be partners in this job if you want it so much." He looked at me with gratitude
"Yeah! And would you look at that! The city hall." Wait a minute, was I so distracted that I didn't notice the abundance of people at the market?! "Good, let's get these passes done with... Also Gidly." He looked at me from below "Yes?" "Can you put me on the ground? I feel like a child, it's humiliating!"