His Contract

The Main Street of Tilton is quiet. Very few walk its street, mainly the town guard. Two of Tilton's guards meet Casimar, Rilia, and Dathma as they begin to walk Tilton's streets.

"Halt!" A guard exclaimed. "Find shelter, night is beginning soon."

Rilia responds to the guard: "We've come to hunt this beast."

"Mercenaries? Hired by whom?" The second guard asks.

"A client of ours lost a shipment of goods to the beast. He wants them and while we're here, might as well hunt the creature for a bonus." Rilia said.

"Respectfully miss, that is the town guard's job and his goods were probably destroyed by the monster!"

"If you need help, we're here." Casimar jumps in to say.

"Fine then, don't expect our protection." The guard says.

Rilia and Casimar on accident in unison say "We don't."

The guards turn around to walk away; however, a loud screech is heard. Both guards look at each other then run off towards the noise. Rilia, Casimar, and Dathma do the same, keeping close behind. Quickly, Dathma overtakes the guards. Rilia and Casimar remain a little behind them. The entire group arrives at the location of the scream. It's quiet, blood thrashes along the cobblestone street. There is no body to speak of. The animal, the creature, dragged it off somewhere. The blood trail is obvious and large. The victim doesn't have much time. The entire group continues onward. Following the trail further and further. No more screams have been heard as the blood trail runs thin.

The body is found with no creature holding on to it. It's a young woman, she's passed on.

"Shit!" The guard exclaims. "Go and grab the others! It must still be nearby." The other guard heads off to get more guardsmen to deal with the beast.

"Now is your chance to run." The guard says.

"We'll be fine." Rilia assures the guard.

Seconds pass and a noise is heard from the shadows around them. It's a loud growl. The creature claws the cobblestones on the grounds below them. Dathma reaches for his ax on his back. He puts his right hand on its handle and watches Casimar and the beast. Rilia and Casimar already have their weapons unsheathed. The guard is nervous, but holds on tight to his sword. The animal charges at the guard and bites directly into his sword-wielding arm. The animal crunches more and more until the arm comes off completely. The guard screeches in pain. Rilia and Casimar covered their ears to avoid the deafening noise. Dathma moved quickly. His ax was ready to kill the beast in a signal motion. He didn't wish for it to suffer, as was usual for him. But before Dathma took the strike and killed the beast, Casimar yelled.

"Don't!"

Dathma looked at Casimar, he'd back up less than an inch. The creature used the moment to pounce on Dathma. He threw the creature away. The creature was angered more and focused entirely on Dathma. It didn't even look toward Rilia and Casimar. Didn't acknowledge them. As this happened, a woman put her hand on Rilia's shoulder. Casimar used this moment to circle behind the creature and stab it with his battered blade. Before he could strike, he heard a loud crash. Rilia had grabbed the woman who touched her by the throat and threw her against the wall. Casimar's head flicked backward to see what was happening. The creature used this moment to try and attack Dathma. He again threw away the creature and eventually it ran away into the forest.

"Who the fuck are you!?" Rilia says with palpable contempt. The woman tries to speak but can't get any words.

"Your hand is too tight around her neck, Rilia." Casimar says.

"It should be, crazy woman. I'm going to let you go, if you run, the guy with the ax will cut you down. Understand?" Rilia says.

The woman blinks and nods simultaneously. Rilia lets the woman go. She falls to the ground. She coughs over and over. Rilia stands over the girl. Casimar walks over and crouches in front of her. Dathma stays where he is. With his ax in hand.

"So woman, who are you?" Casimar asks.

"Pristine." The woman says.

"Who the hell are you?" Rilia asks.

"Those creatures, they are known as the Passi." Pristine states.

"That doesn't tell me who you are and why you think you could grab my shoulder unprovoked." Rilia presses Pristine.

"I- I- I'm a zoologist." Pristine says.

"What the fuck is that?" Rilia yells.

"I- I study animals."

"Okay, so is there something special about the Passi?" Casimar asks.

"They don't belong in Spalis. They're native to caves far from here."

"How far?" Casimar asks.

"Mocantage far."

"They are from the republic?" Rilia asks.

"Yes. I don't know how, but they migrated here by accident. I attend the University in the Eunuch Lands. I learn about animals of the world and go discover new ones." Pristine states.

"A scholar? Nobody likes scholars." Rilia says.

"That I know is a fact." Casimar agrees.

"Look, I came to this town because the mayor asked me to. I told them about the Passi but they didn't believe me. But you three are from out of town and look smarter than most. I thought you three would be the ones who finally listened to me." Pristine says.

"What exactly do you think we can do?"

"The Passi are doing this because they are scared. They never usually settle down in places so close to towns. They must have found some cave nearby and chose to settle there. They went to hunt and found Tilton." Pristine continues on.

"So what are you asking us to do?" Rilia asks.

"If we scare the Passi out of their cave and force them further into the forest. Then it's a win-win for everyone."

"Not for me. I need proof I killed one of them." Casimar says.

Pristine looks toward the dead woman's body. Check the woman's body! That passi looked rather young. It probably lost a tooth in the bite!

"No." Casimar says. "I need practice. Killing a beast allows me to learn."

"I- I guess a way to scare them you could kill the pack's leader."

"You really want to do that Casimar?"

"If I can't kill this beast, I have no chance to ever kill Magito."

"Dathma and I will be there. Keep the fight fair."

"I'm going!" Pristine exclaims.

"Why?" Rilia asks.

"To make sure you send the Passi off correctly."

"Fine. Just don't stop me." Casimar said.

"I won't. I'll lead you to their cave, I can follow their tracks."

The group follows Pristine into the woods. She finds footsteps in the dirt below them. She examines them and knows they're the feet of the Passi. The group continued onward into the forest for only a few moments until they reached a cave.

"Here. The Passi are here." Pristine says.

As the group arrives, some Passi exit the cave having smelled the humans' approach. They all growl and show their teeth. Casimar pulls out his dagger. Dathma still holds his ax in his hand, he never put it away. Behind these Passi, emerges one larger than the rest. Missing an ear and having gray hairs on its chin.

"You're the alpha then." Casimar says. He grips tighter on his dagger.

"Get him Casimar!" Rilia cheers.

The alpha stretches and begins stalking Casimar. The alpha charges Casimar and jumps at him. Casimar narrowly moves out of the way. But the alpha Passi still claws his arm. The alpha Passi senses the auras of all the humans. He believes he must kill them all. The creature looks at Dathma, the strongest of the humans. Knowing he must kill him first. Casimar sees the Passi distracted. He charges at it while zoned in on Dathma and stabs it in the back. Casimar then drags the blade downwards. Slashes the Passi's back. The Passi howls as loudly as it can. Then lets out a whimper. Then another whimper. The creature falls to the ground. The alpha passi could no longer move. Its spine had been injured. All the other passi saw this as a loss and needed to retreat. Some began to move back into their cave but Rilia stopped them and threatened them. Eventually, all the passi exited the cave and ran off farther into the woods. One passi, an older female, looked back at the alpha passi before running off.

"Must have been it's lover." Rilia said.

Pristine runs to the alpha and lays with it.

"He was injured, this alpha. His stomach. It's wounded. They didn't mean to settle down here. They did it for him. Their alpha." Pristine said.

"So they had nothing left anyway, seemed they would have moved on soon even if Rilia didn't scare them off." Casimar says.

"Yes, probably. May I see your dagger, Casimar?"

"Why?"

"To put this alpha to rest."

"I can do that." Casimar states.

"I wish it not to suffer." Pristine exclaims.

"Fine then, here."

Casimar hands over his dagger. Pristine slashes the throat of the Passi whilst shushing it to sleep.

"It has passed on."

Pristine cuts off a piece of its fur.

"Your proof."

"Thank you Pristine."

"Thank you three as well, I never would have been able to solve this situation as well as I did. More people in the village would have died. I'm sure more Passi would have as well. It was necessary."

"I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more animals." Rilia says.

"Where are you all traveling?" Pristine asks.

"We don't know yet, for now we head back to Ladrio tomorrow."

"I apologize that I had to kill the creature Pristine. It was just something I had to do."

"I understand. In my university, we are trained to hunt invasive species who enter other animals' ecosystems. The Passi however, give them a year's cycle and see where they are. They may end up back home."

As they walk back to Tilton, they talk to one another.

"Good to see you don't hesitate. Was a little worried there." Rilia says.

"I want to kill Magito, you think some rabid animal is going to scare me?" Casimar responded.

"Well no, I just wanted to tease you a little."

"I never expected the alpha to be injured." Pristine says.

When they arrive back at the crime scene, guards wait. They'd come with reinforcements. One tries to speak. Casimar interrupts: "Problem solved, the creature has been killed. There shall be no more victims. Tilton is safe".

The guards cheer, one asks how Casimar, Pristine, Dathma, and Rilia managed to defeat such a powerful beast. Casimar simply stated that all it took was distraction and a mighty blade. As he spoke, the dagger he had cracked more and more in his hand. The guards looked shocked, they all looked at each other, a creature so strong, so rough-skinned that it broke the mercenary's dagger just trying to kill it. They imagined how fierce the creature was and looked at Casimar with much admiration. They offered him, Rilia, Pristine, and Dathma drinks for their work. Although they still didn't trust Pristine. Rilia, Casimar, and Pristine gracefully accepted. Dathma, however, reminded the guards that Executioners are not allowed to drink. They swiftly apologized for their words. Casimar, Rilia, Pristine, and Dathma headed to Tilton's pub which opened right as midnight struck with word of the creature's death spreading quickly through the cheering of the Tilton's guards. The entire town drank themselves till they passed out. Casimar and Rilia passed out with their arms wrapped around each other, whilst drunk they'd revealed much to each other, all of which had been lost to the ale. Dathma was the only one still awake in the pub. Or at least he thought so, Pristine wakes up and looks at Dathma. She waves. Dathma speaks to her: "Rest Pristine." Pristine smiles and falls back asleep in the tavern. She slept a long while and when she woke up, Rilia, Casimar, and Dathma were gone.

Hours passed, Rilia and Casimar gave themselves time to recover and begin their trek back to Ladrio. As they got ready to leave. Pristine showed up.

"May I come along? I get the feeling you'll be seeing a lot of creatures."

Casimar looks at Rilia, she nods yes.

"Yes Pristine, you're welcome to come along." Pristine stares Dathma in the eyes. Then the group begins their trek back to Ladrio.