Chapter 3

I was so happy Tila had told the woman my name was Lin that I immediately forgave her for everything, except the claws. Being given a pet name by a cute girl was one of my top goals, only surpassed by my wish to defend the world from a Dark Lord and, of course, do all the stuff described in Sisterhood of Midnight. I could never decide which of them was my favourite. Both made me excited in different ways.

Unfortunately, we still needed to pay for our accommodation, since Manra, our landlady, had a feud with her nephew over potatoes, so she refused to give us anything on credit, not being fully sure he would pay us either. So, my last money got us a warm meal and a room... with a single bed.

I really did try to prepare myself for it, but the moment I saw the room, the scene from Mystery of the Tail flashed before my eyes, and I almost fainted. Tila saved me by sitting down on the bed in such a manner that it was clear even to me that it was her, not our, bed. I sat down on the chair next to the window, hoping that the cold air would calm my pounding heart.

“You should be happy, I got you a job”

She frowned, but I could only think about how cute and fluffy her ears looked.

“So, how long will it take?”

Yeah, the job… How could I tell her I was thoroughly unqualified for it, and that my plan was to sneak out before sunrise, camp outside, and eat apples for the rest of our journey? Unless, of course, some dark lord rose, and my skills would become high in demand. Then, we would live like the heroes of the legends.

“I don’t want to look like this forever”, she added, brushing her fluffy tail with her fingers.

A pang of guilt shot through me.

“A c-couple of days max”, I sputtered.

My mind raced through all my spells, trying to find anything that would protect a flock of sheep from wolves, but unfortunately, I was kind of traumatised by all the boring spells Talinderie had forced me to learn. So, instead, my mind wandered to the question of whether Tila’s neko blood would make her go into heat like Niar did in Mysteries of the Tail, so I would be forced to help her.

“What are you thinking about?”, she asked.

I froze, wishing with all my heart that her nymph blood hadn’t given her mind-reading abilities.

“N-Niar…”

“Niar?”

She blinked.

“She was a great sorceress…” I mumbled.

“So you plan to do what she did?”

I blinked. Of course, why hadn’t I thought about that before? Clearly, Mystery of the Tail didn’t have anything that would help in this situation, but Sisterhood of Midnight had and then some, and I suddenly remembered how Kayah and her sisters-wives did defeat Goblin King Ulgur, who terrorised Intara.

“Yes! We will do what she did!”

For some reason, she didn’t share my enthusiasm. It bothered me a bit, but I tried to tell myself that I still needed to prove myself to her, just like Var’tel when she joined the sisterhood.

“I'm going for a shower”

She got up and glared at me.

“It better work. I don’t want to have another night in the tent”

I nodded and pressed my head against the cold window pane when I suddenly realised the room was so warm we didn’t need to sleep with our clothes on.

Day 22

Despite the relative comfort of the floor and the blanket, I didn’t sleep well. Tila had come back from the shower wearing only a tank top and underwear, and against my better judgment, I had a long, hot shower after her. So, of course, my imagination kept me awake the whole night, and when I finally fell asleep, my dreams weren’t any better.

At least when I opened my eyes, Tila sat on her bed, fully dressed, so at least I could concentrate on our upcoming quest.

“You got up early…”, I said.

I tried yet again to be nice and have a normal conversation with her, but she didn’t appreciate my efforts.

“No, you woke up late… Was that part of your plan, too?”

I sprang up from the floor and looked out the window. We are supposed to meet Manra in the morning. We were late… I dressed in such rising panic that I almost missed her curious gaze as she followed my every move. Almost. I didn’t have time to dwell on it, but I did add it to my mental library to ponder on later. Preferably, when I was alone.

I ran downstairs, trying to wrap my cloak around me at the same time, and I almost slipped and fell, but Tila grabbed my arm at the last moment and prevented me from spraining my ankle.

“Be careful, weirdo...”

At first, I regretted that she had averted my fall. There were many exciting scenarios that began with a sprained ankle, but then I remembered that a sprained ankle would mean no work, would mean sleeping in the tent, would mean claws, so I mumbled a quiet “Thank you” in the end.

Manra gave me a disapproving look when we finally reached the bottom of the stairs, but nevertheless introduced us to her nephew Eran, who sat at the table with a mug of ale in his hand. He wiped the foam from his enormous moustache and glared at me.

“So you are the mage Auntie spoke about? You don’t really look like one”

I pouted.

“I am!”

My mind went through the list of spells that would prove him wrong without creating too much collateral damage, but before I had a chance to come up with something, Tila sat down opposite him. She peered at him from under her hood.

“Bad year, huh?”

Eran frowned and took a deep swig from his mug of ale.

“Ay, the worst year in my entire life”

He took another swig.

“And trust me, winter will come early, I feel it in my bones, so does Larson, and he is the oldest here, so he knows”

“The wolves…”, Tila observed.

“Wolves..? They are monsters! And when the sheep are gone, they will come for us, I am telling you, they will come before the first snow falls”

He took a third swig, and Tila concluded,

“Yeah, the Easterners always have the worst, and no one really cares…”

“No one!”, he hollered.

He banged his mug against the table.

“I lost a fortune already!”

“So…”

Tila smiled under her hood.

“3 crowns will be a small payment for helping you out, right?”

For a moment, I was scared that Eran had some regressive genes in him, because after hearing the price, a low growl escaped his mouth, and he threw his mug on the floor. In the end, they settled on 30 shields and a promise that he would send his dogs on us if we failed.

So now I was trapped between claws and teeth. Great.