Contract Card

They found an inn before they found work.

Near the bridge, a bystander pointed them toward a place two streets off the guild hall. The inn looked cheap enough that the sign was tattered and painted over more than once.

The first floor was surprisingly spacious and had a few tables of workers eating their supper. On the left side, a hearth was lit that filled the air with a glow against the winter frost outside.

Cain kept his hood up and led Mira toward the inn’s counter. The clerk greeted them and asked what they needed.

“Do you have a room with two beds?” Cain asked.

“Yes, we do. That would be six coppers for a night’s stay.”

Mira remembered what they had talked about on the road when he shared how short he was on coin. So she took a silver from her pouch and slid it into his hands.

He nodded thanks and gave the silver to the clerk. He grabbed the change and keys and handed them both to Mira.

The clerk gestured upstairs and they went and found a narrow room with a shutter that leaked chill. Cain closed the shutter and dropped their ration sack. He removed his outer coat and hung it on a rack.

After three days on the road and sleeping in ditches from Darrow, an actual room felt like heaven.

“This is probably one of the happiest days of my life,” Cain said.

“You’re overselling it.”

He chuckled. “I’m serious. I thought you’d take the ditch forever and leave me the tree.”

“That’s mean. I didn’t mean it that way. You should have said something if you were not comfortable.”

Cain put his hands up. “I’m just kidding. I’m used to it. I’ll do anything if it makes it easier for you.”

Mira’s ears went red. For a breath she just stood there, then she set her canvas bag down a little too carefully and didn’t look at him.

“Huh!?”

The room went quiet for a moment.

“A-anyway, do you want food or should we go get some rest?” Cain said.

“I’m starving, but I’m too tired.” She sat on the nearer bunk and shuffled, then started removing her wet boots. “You can go down and eat if you’d like. I just want to sleep.”

“I guess I’ll do the same.”

She let out a breath and glanced at the second bunk, then at him. “Thank you, for asking for two beds. I mean, I don’t know how to say it, but I appreciate it.”

“It’s nothing,” Cain said. “I just… thought you wouldn’t want the one bed.”

Mira’s shoulders eased. She smiled at him.

“Goodnight, Kell.”

They slept in actual beds for the first time since they met. Before dawn the mills pulled Cain up, and he dropped off again.

A wind through the gap woke them both in the morning. They went downstairs and had a light breakfast that was still better than what they had been eating the past weeks.

“One thing we still should do,” Cain said while eating, “is eat that chicken stew you promised. Not this bread and broth.”

“Then we’d better make sure we get a good job at the hall later.”

After that, they returned to the guild hall they had only looked at the night before.

The Ostbridge guild was bigger than Cain expected from a mill town. It was cleaner and newer than the Averdmouth hall that he had been used to for years. The air carried notes of wet wool and chalk which made his nose tingle.

High timber beams ran the length of the room. Brass lamp fixtures on the walls gave a gold light over the polished floorboards. A long counter sat under the official guild crest, where a woman looking busy was sorting papers, quiet and still.

The job board filled the right wall near her station with clean wooden frames.

“Back in the docks, I was only taking bronze and iron jobs,” Cain said while admiring the board.

There were multiple notices and papers pinned neatly through each tier, and his eyes went to the Steel row.

Mira did the same.

“We should aim for Steel-tier ones. I believe we can manage it.”

He read that row the way he used to at the docks. He spotted escorts, recovery, and clearance assist notices that they could take for a day or two. But one with the ink still fresh and dark caught his attention, and he went closer to read carefully.

assistance needed in the north forest please!!!
I need one or two people capable of assisting me for a short trip into the forest. Our target is a Rhynne (don’t panic, it’s the weak kind, I promise.) Basically, I’m a monster tamer and I just need someone to protect me while I do my thing, that simple! meet me here in the guild hall before first light tomorrow or I leave without you!! - Yours truly, Valerrie, the best monster tamer, hehe

“Is this real? Looks like it was written by a child,” he said under his breath.

A chair scraped at the counter. The clerk had seen them eyeing it.

“That one’s urgent,” she called. “A young lass put that up this morning and has already paid. She’s eager to be done by tomorrow.”

Cain took the notice and crossed over to her. He handed it over and she reviewed it.

“A Monster Tamer?” he asked.

“I don’t know much about them to be honest, but I reckon they talk to those monsters and capture them for research or service. You can ask her more about that if you’re interested,” the clerk said.

“I’ve heard of them,” Mira said. “Although they are not common, only a handful I know of have passed and earned their licenses.”

“That’s right,” the clerk said. “It’s also the first time I’ve had one walk through that door asking for help. She says that the Rhynne isn’t much of a threat but she wants the Steel tier because it might carry some risk. And this one pays thirty silvers because it’s urgent and the tamer insisted.”

He looked at Mira.

“We should take it,” Mira said. “I’m curious about her too.”

“Let me have your names then,” the clerk said. “I’ll fill out the contract card.”

They gave her their names, Cain giving his false one. The clerk checked Mira’s clear prism briefly and her license, then glanced at his sword poking through his coat. She stamped a small piece of thick paper and slid it across.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“Unlike bronze and iron tiers that only have chits to be given to the clients to get paid, steel and up need a contract card, especially for jobs that require a clerk to confirm completion. You simply show it to the tamer lass tomorrow and bring it back to me when the deed is finished.”

“Got it. Thanks. We’ll take it from here,” Cain said.

They said goodbye to the clerk and stepped back outside, into Ostbridge’s morning chill.

“We’ve never taken a guild job together,” Cain said.

Mira tucked her license and prism away and glanced toward the northern mills.

“Does that worry you?”

“No. Just looking forward to it, that’s all.”

The rest of the day passed quickly as they walked Ostbridge’s streets. Cain joked that they clearly had not done enough walking yet after the trek from Darrow. Mira found it ridiculous and only laughed.

They bought only what they needed and ate what they could afford for lunch and supper. When the night came they took the same two bunks and Cain checked their card twice before sleeping.

The night was peaceful, but dawn came harder. The frost was worse than yesterday. They laced their boots in the dark and wore their coats even tighter.

The hall waited for them before first light.

Valerrie was already there, and they almost walked past her.

She stood under the board lamps in a blue winter coat that stopped at her hips. A short spear sat across her back, and a coil of pale cord looped twice around the coat. Blonde bangs sat straight across her forehead and the bob beneath them barely cleared her jaw.

She had a soft face, round cheeks, and an air of youth that made Cain wonder if she was still growing. She was small, not child-small, just grown short. In his mind, he read her as about twelve. She came up barely past his elbow.

Cain stopped and Mira followed, half a step later.

Valerrie bounced once on her heels when she saw them looking down at her. Her face brightened like someone had handed her a hot meal.

“Oh! Hi there! You’re Kell and Mira, right? I’m Valerrie Montclair, twenty, the best monster tamer in Avermark!” She stuck out a gloved hand and noticed the height problem mid-reach and waved it up to them instead.

“Wow. You’re both so tall. Do you hit doorframes a lot? As for me… I hit counters, different problem. Hehe.”

Cain glanced sideways at Mira, trying to see if she had heard it too. “Twenty? You’re already older than us?”

Unbothered, Valerrie tipped her chin and replied with a proud yes.

Mira had gone still in a different way.

“Montclair?”

Valerrie cocked her head, blinking. “Eh? You’ve heard it? Are you from Weighbridge too?”

“I am. My name is Mira Merewin. My family’s business works the river side of the weighing streets.”

“I knew that! Small world. Well, my family may be famous for our freight house, but out here, I’m just looking for a winter monster. So, pay no mind to that name, pretty please?”

“If you say so. It’s nice to meet you,” Mira said.

“I’m looking forward to working with you,” Cain said.

Valerrie rocked on her toes. “Eh, I was worried you’d both be scary, and please we don’t need all that formality, but okay, same here!”

“We’re just here for the job. Nothing to be scared of,” Cain said while offering her a small smile.

Valerrie nodded. “Oh, I need to show both of you something. This is important for our job.”

She dug into a side pouch, nearly dropped something, caught it with a little “Ah!”, and held up a small crystal the size of a plum. “This is Chime! Well, it’s not its official name because we don’t have one yet, but I love naming things to help me remember which pouch is which. Otherwise, I’ll put snacks in the wrong one and then I’d be sad later.”

Mira stared at it. “Chime?”

“Cute, isn’t it? This is a new thing we came up with while researching. You see, monster taming is still a young field, and the division has been pushing this for some time already. This is the year we made the breakthrough.”

She held the crystal out to them proudly. “Once a beast is bound with our spell, the crystal can hold it. You can call it back out when you need it by using a summoning spell. It’s like a cage you can put in your coat, cute and portable! Isn’t that amazing!?”

Cain leaned in without meaning to. “You’re saying that this can hold a living Rhynne?”

Valerrie closed her eyes and tipped her head with a soft little bounce in her shoulders. “Mm-hmm. If the taming works, that is!”

She tucked Chime away, clearly pleased with both of their expressions. “Our research department wants a winter-native monster for study. There are a lot of targets I can think of, but Rhynne is the easiest to capture because it’s relatively weak. Both of you are my tall backup in case things go wrong.”

Cain glanced at Mira and both of them nodded at the same time.

“Great! I’ll explain our plan on the way to the forest.” Valerrie rushed toward the door and stopped. She patted her pouches one by one and checked her spear to see if it was still on her back. When she was finished, she laughed at herself and glanced at them.

“Let’s go! I have everything with me. I may have short legs but I walk fast, so try to keep up. Hehe!”