Chapter 8: Continuing the Hunt
Garrick made his way through the beginnings of a crowd that had begun to choke the street as people meandered between the various booths. When the crowds slowed his progress too much, he glanced at the nearby booths and was unsurprised to find them filled with a variety of trinkets relating to the Chimera. Dante had been eating a Chimera-shaped pastry when Garrick had run into him, so while it was unusual, Garrick had already been prepared.
It didn't take long before he saw a large building that featured a painted sign that depicted a faded dragon curled up on a pile of treasure, its eyes closed. Coils of smoke made from in chipped gray paint billowed from its nostrils.
Garrick would be shocked if this wasn't The Sleeping Dragon tavern.
The building and sign both were in drastic need of repair. The entire tavern slouched to one side as though it were drunk and was reaching out toward its neighbor for support, and several of the windows were broken, mostly just with a decorative spider-webbing of cracks, but one window was missing the glass entirely. The door looked as though it had been thrown off its hinges at some point, but whoever had reattached it hadn't been a professional.
Garrick approached the battered door and gave it a tug. A deadbolt protested against his entrance. With the door refusing to budge, his only other option was to knock. He pounded three times on the door and then waiting. When he heard nothing within, he knocked again, increasing his volume until the door shook on its hinges with each strike, and only stopping when he heard sounds coming from the other side.
The sounds that came from the other side of the door were far from subtle. Bare feet stomped across the floor, and there came a growling snort followed by a bellowing shout. "Whoever the hell needs a damned drink at this hour better be ready for my boot up their ass!"
Garrick raised a brow. It was still early, but it was a reasonable enough time to be up.
The lock was thrown back and the door flung open to reveal a muscular man who stood half a head taller than Garrick. The veins in his neck and face budged and throbbed dangerously as he hissed and grunted rage-filled breath between teeth clenched shut.
Garrick beamed a pleasant smile at him. "Hello and good morning," he greeted. "My name is Garrick. I assume you're Tobias?"
The man stood there, muscles tight as though ready to throw a punch at any second. Odds were that the only reason he hadn't yet was because Garrick's friendly greeting had confused him too much to move.
"Do you mind if I come in?" Garrick asked. "I have several questions I'd like to ask you, and while I'm at it, I could use a drink."
"We're not open yet," the man snarled.
"All the better," Garrick said cheerfully. "My questions are somewhat private, so I'd prefer that no one else be around." When the path inside was still barred by the man's bulk, Garrick continued, "oh, don't be like that, Tobias. I'll pay you well enough to buy a new door, maybe even some glass for that window of yours. You're ruining an opportunity for yourself."
Tobias' expression curled into a sneer, almost like he'd bitten into something bitter, but he stepped aside just barely enough for Garrick to enter.
"Thank you," Garrick said as he squeezed past the man and into the tavern itself.
The inside was as rundown as the out. Chairs and tables alike leaned from their legs being uneven. One chair near the wall had a leg that had been crudely hammered back on, a half inch of bent nail protruding from the wood. Dust hung so thick in the air that it was visible even without sunlight. Even if it weren't visible, the smell of it would have been enough to announce its presence. Under the light, earthy scent of heavy dust and the thick aroma of aging, rotting wood lingered the smells of vomit, piss, and spilled alcohol.
Tobias made his way around the back of the bar and pulled out a chipped and filthy glass, which he wiped out with an even dirtier rag. "What'd'ya want?" he grumbled as he thunked the glass down on the bar.
Garrick selected the stool that looked like it would rock the least and sat down on it. "Whiskey," Garrick said.
Tobias grunted and turned to fetch a mostly empty bottle off the wall. He poured the last of its contents into the smudged glass before thrusting it in Garrick's direction.
Garrick stared down at the glass with a grimace and swirled the dark liquid about a couple times. A couple flakes of a mystery substance dislodged from the inside of the glass to whirl about like the insides of the world's most disgusting snow globe. He grimaced and pretended to take a sip from the very edge of the glass, his lips locked tight to keep anything from passing through, and once the glass hit the table, he told himself he wouldn't be picking it up again.
To loosen Tobias up for a proper conversation, Garrick made good on his promise by producing a handful of coins from a pouch at his belt and spreading them across the bar top. The faces on the coins would be unfamiliar to anyone in this world, but certain metals were considered valuable in most worlds and thus could be used somewhat interchangeably. Judging by Tobias' slack jawed expression of wonder at the coins, Garrick had probably overestimated their local value.
"All this just for a couple 'a questions?" Tobias asked over the sound of metal scraping on wood as he scooped the coins into his palm before Garrick could have a chance to change his mind.
"They're important questions."
"Clearly." Tobias dropped all the coins but one into a pocket, and he eyed the one he still had, subtly checking that it was authentic. Garrick let him have a moment to investigate, choosing to peer at his hands and pick flecks of dirt and hardened horse blood from around his nails.
Upon finding the coin he held satisfactory, Tobias grunted and dropped it among the others with a clink. "So, what're your questions?" he asked, leaning over the bar. The old wood let out a creaky groan of protest at the weight and visibly bowed under his bulk.
Before Garrick could open his mouth to answer, a clatter came from somewhere back behind the kitchen, and Tobias whipped around.
"Dante! It's about time you got up, you lazy ass!" he snarled. "Get the fires goin'! We've got company!"
"Actually, about Dante-" Garrick started, but he was interrupted by a bang followed by scratching. A bad feeling rose in Garrick's gut, and he summoned his Chimera to his lap where it wouldn't be seen by Tobias.
"What the hell are you up to back there, Dante?!" Tobias stormed toward the kitchen.
"Wait!" Garrick hissed.
Tobias whipped about. "You tryin' ta stop me from dealing with my own ward?"
"Not at all," Garrick answered. "No, I'm trying to save your life." He pressed a button on his Chimera, and his spear materialized beside him. Ignoring Tobias' incredulous stare at the spear's appearance, Garrick dismissed his Chimera, took up his weapon, and followed the sounds of scratching and banging through the kitchen.
"Hey, you can't go back there!" Tobias insisted, rushing after him and grabbing his arm. But instead of being stopped, Garrick pulled Tobias along with him down a back hallway, even in spite of the larger man trying and failing to dig in his heels. "What the hell?! Who are you?!"
"Sh!"
The door at the end of the hall had been left ajar, and faint light trickled in through the crack. The sounds were coming from the other side of the door, the scratching of claws on wood followed by a crescendoing thumping as something rammed against the wood over and over again.
"The kid I take care of is dumb as a brick and does stupid shit all the time," Tobias said. "There's no reason for you to come at him with a damn spear. I'll take care of it." He tried to walk past Garrick but was stopped when the Nascentian twirled his spear about and thwacked the butt of it into the wall to block him.
"Dante isn't back there," Garrick said.
Tobias narrowed his eyes. "If that's not Dante, then what the hell is it?"
"I'm not sure," Garrick answered. "That's why I need you to stay back."
A dog-like growl came from the back room, and the back of Garrick's neck pricked as he realized what was in that room.
"Never mind," Garrick corrected. "I'm pretty sure I know what's back there, and if you go in there, it will definitely kill you."
There came the splintering sound of wood giving way to whatever had been pounding against it.
"Stay here," Garrick commanded, and he continued down the hall. From the corner of his eye, he could see Tobias trailing after him. He sighed but continued anyway. He had offered all the warnings that he could. If this man still had a death wish and wanted to follow, then that was on him, not Garrick.
The Nascentian noble nudged open the door with the butt of his spear and then entered the room, the blade of his weapon raised in front of him.
Inside the room, a second door that led to a smaller room that seemed to be a storage closet, the door of which had been smashed in, and one of those dog-headed monsters was crouched on all fours, rending a pile of matted blankets with its claws and sniffing at the remains.
Spear raised high, Garrick crept closer while it was distracted. He wasn't entirely sure what he could do. His weapon had done little in his last fight against one of these beings. In the end, it had been crushed to death by stampeding wild horses, and he didn't have access to anything that rivaled that sort of crushing power. Maybe the back was a weakness or it only had such thick skin while it was focusing, and he could stab it while it was distracted. It was a longshot, but it was the best he had.
Garrick crept closer, trying to stay out of the dog monster's line of sight. He raised his arm so he could strike the second he was close enough to do so.
"What the hell is that?!"
Garrick swore and leapt back as the beast whipped about at the noise and lunged out of the closet, rising up on its back legs. "I told you to stay back!" he snapped at Tobias.
"This is my house!" Tobias snapped back. But now that he could see the monster fully, he finally seemed to find wisdom in Garrick's warning, and he took a couple steps back so that he was on the other side of the doorway.
The dog-faced monster lifted its head and let out a long howl, and Garrick shivered.
"What exactly are you gunna do about this?" Tobias asked.
"Well, I had a plan. Now I have to improvise." Garrick gripped his spear, preparing himself to be charged.
The monster ended its howl and then stood there, its pose defensive.
Garrick blinked. The other one he'd fought had seemed so aggressive in comparison. But it didn't matter. If the monster wouldn't attack, he would.
He lunged forward, thrusting his spear toward the beast, but it leapt back, evading the attack. A second attack had about as much effect, and Garrick was growing frustrated. As the monster landed from its elegant dodge, it broke apart into thousands of tiny pieces as though it were teleporting using a Chimera, and all the flecks and bits of it disappeared into thin air.
Garrick lowered his weapon and stared at the spot where the monster had so recently stood. Tobias' confused yelling coming from behind him sounded distant, as though coming from miles away. "Well, this is troubling," Garrick muttered under his breath. "Very troubling indeed."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone