Corsairs & Cataclysms

Chapter 2

The bedroom was still dark when my upper body shot up from the bed on high alert. Shana was still deeply asleep beside me and appeared to be undisturbed. Dash was in his maple-wood crib on Shana’s side of the bed. The crib was swaying gently as if it had been recently touched and my son was gurgling happily. Which was a bit unusual, Dash had done nothing but cry whenever he woke up. To hear him awake and content was out of the ordinary.

“Quix?” I whispered in the dark, eyes scanning for whatever he had warned me about.

The moment Quixbix uttered the word crib, I scrambled across the bed and leapt off the side.

If you aren’t careful, you will wake your mate, Torin Carter. She appears to be exhausted; it would be better to let her keep sleeping.

The voice of the intruder practically boomed in my mind. And it was one I recognised.

“Tramadachius.”

The regal snawfus stepped forward from the shadows in the far corner where he had been concealed. His hooves clip-clopped on the stone floor until he stepped onto the carpeted area. The massive character-monster came to a halt and snorted out a mist of breath through his wet, black nose and shook his massive head. A few lavender petals were shaken loose and drifted slowly to the floor from the branch-like antlers that crowned the magnificent creature.

Up close, I could admit to myself that Tramadachius was an impressive beast. The raw magnetism and majesty he exuded was on a scale that I hadn’t experienced before and dwarfed mine. A result of an incredibly high charisma that easily overpowered the mental resistance I possessed. I hadn’t picked up on it during our first meeting because the snawfus had been actively using his mental skills to suppress several hundred warriors in Belshgar Bastion instead.

Tramadachius (Snawfus)

Monster Grade: Alpha Monster Level: 170

HP: 204,600 (monstrous nature contribution only.)

Character: Ranger (U) 32, Shadow Ranger (notorious) (P) 65, Master Shadow Ranger (notorious) (K) 38

Threat: Impossible

XP Value: 1,400,000

Mob Description: Snawfus are deer-like creatures. They are incredibly swift and possess powerful psychic attacks that can be focused on a single target or applied as an area of effect. The grade of the snawfus determines the strength of this attack. Unlike most mobs, the snawfus can advance through the grades as well as levels.

They are a special mob type with a propensity for testing characters and taking a pound of flesh if not defeated. However, they rarely finish their prey in a single assault. Preferring to chip away at them slowly until they are satisfied. They are renowned for their vindictiveness and are considered one of the Darkwyrld's natural disasters.

The snawfus had grown a little stronger since our last meeting.

“Why are you here?” I asked, an edge of concern creeping into my voice. The last time we met he chewed me out and threatened to kill Shana if I didn’t honour him sufficiently.

Under the guise of straightening my posture, I inched closer to the crib, not wanting to give away my intentions. The memory of how effectively Tramadachius could pin people to the floor with his mind was at the forefront of mine.

Calm yourself, Torin Carter. I did not come here to cause you or yours any harm this night. You and your mate have upheld your end of the bargain, I will uphold mine. The grudge between us has been soothed. I came to visit my namesake as is only right. I am his…what is the term your people use…his Godfather, correct?

That was not part of the agreement. Which had only been that he would be named Tramadachius to honour the snawfus. No more, no less. But arguing with an entity that could stomp you into the ground without breaking a sweat was not a wise manoeuvre and I held back the instinctive response. When I said nothing, Tramadachius continued.

From what I’ve learned, it is a tradition for a Godfather to bestow a gift upon their Godchild and I have done so.

I swear that the snawfus sniggered at the end, but before I could parse his words the crib swung more strongly as something moved within it and Dash cooed audibly. Ignoring the potential danger, I leapt across the divide and looked inside.

Dash was loosely swaddled in blue and white blankets with silver threading. He had managed to partially wriggle free, and his head was completely visible, revealing his cute, pointed ears and the light dusting of dark hair that was no longer covered. But it hadn’t been his wriggling that rocked the crib into motion. Dash was not alone.

Curled up beside him was a snawfus foal. The creature was twice the size of Dash, and its fur was a creamy white. It had two small twigs for horns and was in the process of licking the baby’s face with its long, pinkish tongue. Dash gurgled happily and one of his little hands was buried in the white fur as if he were stroking the beast.

“What the hell?” I whispered, grabbed my son and pulled him out of the crib into the safety of my arms.

The foal started to bleat in distress the moment I did, and Dash began to wail.

That is not necessary. Tramadachius advised me. The foal will not harm your son. They are bonded now and have been since the foal’s birth. Young Tramadachius will have noted his companion’s absence. It is no coincidence that he only began to settle when he sensed the foal nearing his location.

Quixbix’s question of how the foal existed was secondary in my mind at this point. More relevant was the bonded part.

“What did you do?” I snarled the question at the deer-like monster that calmly strode up to the crib and nuzzled the foal that had got its feet and tried to clamber out of the crib without much success.

The snawfus looked up at me from the foal and quirked his head to the side to show its amusement.

Is that not the question I should be asking you? This is not my doing. It is you, Torin Carter, not I, that bends and breaks the rules of the Darkwyrlds wherever he goes. That which was once inviolate suddenly becomes mutable where you are concerned.

The foal was born of my essence at the same moment that your son took his first gulp of air. The Darkwyrlds sang and so he came to be, his fate entwined irrevocably with your sons. I would have come sooner, but I am unfamiliar with foals and was concerned the child would not be able to make such a long journey until he was a bit stronger.

The chime.

Tramadachius was talking about the chime that reverberated through the Framework when Dash was born. There had been no notifications or any sign that it had meant anything, and I had put it from my mind. Perhaps there were no notifications because the Framework hadn’t been programmed for this scenario or it was something which had been suppressed by Ashli.

This is what had Violet so distracted. She had assured me that it would be no danger to me or my family and that helped me relax just a little.

Of course, speaking of things suppressed by Ashli, Preternatural Insight chose this as the moment to burst into life and a modicum of understanding flooded into my head. Not everything, but enough to know that Tramadachius spoke the truth.

This was not some ploy he engineered or had any control over. The true purpose of the foal’s birth was unclear. There might not even be a specific purpose. Dean often opined in vulgar fashion about Ashli’s many failings when it came to designing the Framework. Some of that had been deliberate, to hide his existence and retool the original design for a new purpose. However, a fair bit of the criticism was valid.

The foundational basis of the Framework was flawed and many of the design decisions made little sense or didn’t work as they were supposed to. What happened with Dash and the foal could simply be an unexpected consequence of the rushed nature of the Framework’s construction. No nefarious intentions by any party.

If you put him back in the crib, the child will likely stop crying.

I didn’t want to, but it was undeniable that Dash was wriggling in my arms and trying to roll his little body towards where the foal bleated. The little creature looked up at me and blinked his big, dark, adorable eyes. It was difficult to find something that looked like Bambi as truly threatening.

Slowly, with much trepidation, I took a step and then a second back towards the rocking crib. Once Dash and the foal were almost close enough to touch, they both calmed down. Dash stopped wailing and the foal stopped fidgeting on the edge of the crib’s railing.

On the bed beside the crib, Shana shifted in her sleep and mumbled something incomprehensible, but it sounded like she was having a comforting dream.

“How is Shana still asleep?”

That would be my doing.

“Well, stop. If you want me to trust you, stop messing with my loved one’s minds.”

The snawfus snorted and clopped its hooves a bit testily but finally bowed his head in acquiescence. I sat down on the edge of the bed between Tramadachius and Shana. Close enough to the crib that the Dash and the foal didn’t kick off again, but I kept the babe in my arms regardless.

“What’s the foal’s name?”

He doesn’t have one.

“That won’t do,” I whispered. “Everybody should have a name.”

That is not something I have any familiarity with. Why don’t you do so? The foal will be yours to care for, after all. The two cannot be separated without dire consequences and I do not expect you would countenance me taking young Tramadachius as an option.

That horrible thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “Absolutely not!”

Then it is agreed. Care for the foal will be your responsibility.

There was a finality to that statement, and I got the distinct impression I had been manipulated by the ancient monster.

“Hmmm, Bambi would be too on the nose. What to call you…” I mused and holding Dash in the crook of my left arm, I reached out with my right and let the foal gently lick at my fingers.

Recollections of Violet and the painting over her desk, Monarch of the Glen, worked as inspiration. A portmanteau perhaps. My first thought was Monglen, but that was a bit too close to mongrel and other less salubrious words. So, I switched them around “How does Glennarch sound to you? Are you a Glennarch?”

The foal yipped softly in appreciation and nuzzled against my outstretched hand. Upon the naming, my identify ability was activated.

Glennarch Carter (Snawfus)

N/A

Character Aptitude: (see description)

Loot Value: -

Threat: -

XP Value: -

Current Affiliation: The Shattered Storm

Monstrous Description: Glennarch Carter is the soulbound companion of Tramadachius (known as Dash) Carter. His aptitude and class will be linked to Dash Carter, and he will ‘come of age’ and gain his character traits on the same day.

“Dammit, how am I going to explain this,” I sighed softly accepting the reality that this wasn’t going away. The identify had provided a measure of relief. The wording confirmed Glennarch was bound to Dash and not the other way around.

Despite that, the possibility of quietly eliminating the animal crossed my mind. Doyle would do it without compunction.

However, even though the snawfus might be comfortable leaving Glennarch with us, it still came from his essence. I got the distinct impression that if I were foolish enough to try and dispose of the little beast, he would be back to exact some vengeance. Not that I truly wanted to, the foal was far too cute once the worry of it being in Dash’s crib had been allayed.

The snawfus grunted out one of his creepy audible laughs at my predicament.

“What does he eat? Spawned monsters don’t need to eat, though they often do anyway, but according to his profile he is not a spawned monster.”

Milk. The snawfus answered.

A glance over my shoulder at the sleeping Shana brought forth another grunted laugh from the large creature.

That will not be necessary. Anything from a doe will be fine, cow’s milk will suffice if that is not available. I led a herd of deer to your shores for just such a purpose.

My shores? “Wait, how did you cross the lake?”

It is time for me to depart. I can only suppress my true nature for so long. The snawfus said instead.

Who knew if that was the truth or not but an answer on how it got here, with a herd of deer no less, was not on the cards. The large beast trotted across the room and nudged open the bay window with its muzzle.

The audience was over.

“If you’re hankering to test those with strength, there is a bunch of high-levelled off-world invaders to the south.”

The words came out of my mouth almost unbidden. Tramadachius paused halfway through bunching his muscles for the exiting leap.

Interesting. I might just do that.

Farewell, Torin Carter. Until next time.

With that, the snawfus bounded out of the bedroom and into the night. There was a faraway sound when its hooves clattered with the cobbles down below and then it was off. I stood up and rushed over to the window, but barely caught a glimpse of the departing white fur.

“Next time? Is he going to show up with another foal every time I have a kid?”

Quixbix said.

“What is that!” A now awake Shana squealed in shock. “Where is Dash?”

I’d forgotten that Glennarch would start making a fuss when I moved away with Dash in my arms. He’d managed to wake Shana now that the snawfus wasn’t keeping her asleep.

“I’ve got him, I’ve got him,” I repeated quickly and strode back over as she jumped up from the bed and practically snatched him from my arms.

“What the hell is going on, Torin,” she demanded.

“Get back into bed and I’ll explain.”

Shana let me usher her back over to the bed while I murmured a shortened version of what just happened. Once finished, I reached into the crib, pulled the foal out and put him down on the floor beside the bed. “The crib is not for you. Don’t worry, I’ll get you a little bed so that you can stay nearby.”

To my surprise, Glennarch seemed to understand what I was saying and settled down on the rug. Before long, Shana reached down and started scratching the foal between his baby horns.

Glennarch’s cuteness was difficult to resist.

***

Shana adjusted to Glennarch's presence surprisingly quickly. Once she had calmed down, the elf fell in love with the little fella almost straight away. By daybreak, a little bed area had been prepared for the snawfus foal. A scouting team I sent out returned with a herd of fifty White-Tailed Deer that provided milk for him to drink.

The foal turned out to be quite the celebrity within my inner circle and many of them dropped by over the next day to come and make a fuss over him and Dash.

Including Jackson.

“All hail the conquering hero of Pandaemonium,” I teased him when he was announced and entered one of the sitting rooms.

Jackson’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the praise. I would normally have got a few glares of disapproval from his three girlfriends for taunting him, but their eyes had already fallen upon the centre-stage duo. There were oohs and aahs and Celeste let out a very high-pitched squeal of delight.

“They’re so cute I could die!”

She, Britney, and the dryad, Piper, abandoned the young man with unbridled enthusiasm and headed over to the gaggle of other women that surrounded and fussed over the pair of youngsters.

“I’d hardly call myself a conqueror,” Jackson replied with a mild cough, and I pulled him away from the door to a seating area on the other side of the room.

“You’ve quadrupled the underworld territory we control in only a few months. I think you should give yourself more credit.”

“Britney says the same thing.”

“She’s a smart girl, you should listen to her. Unless she’s bad-mouthing me, in which case, ignore the terrible advice and report her to Doyle immediately.”

“Britney would never do that!” Jackson blurted out in shock.

“I’m joking, Jackson.”

He pushed his lensless frames up his nose. “Oh, that’s a relief. I’m still not used to your sense of humour.”

“I get that a lot. Drink?” I picked up a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cabinet and shook it enticingly. It was Jackson’s preferred tipple.

“Isn’t it a bit early?”

“With our enhanced constitutions, it’s never too early. Somebody out in the wider Darkwyrlds better have figured out a way to make alcohol more effective. Maybe I should put Sheamus on it. Booze can be used as an accelerant, that’s sort of related to incendiary alchemy.”

“I’m not sure anything Sheamus would invent would be safe for consumption,” Jackson said doubtfully but accepted a tumbler of whiskey.

“How is the weather witch I sent you doing?”

Jackson’s face scrunched into one of distaste. “Apart from being on a hunger strike, she’s fine.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at his predicament even if it was one of my making. “How’s that working out for her?”

“It’s not having the intended effect. She is in no danger; the Framework recognises her ‘suffering’ is self-inflicted and there is no shortage of available nutrition. Consequently, there is no mercy, and her body uses ambient mana to repair itself. All she has achieved is to make herself and everyone around her more miserable.”

“I can tell you don’t like that. You’re a good guy, Jackson, but sometimes a bit too much of a soft touch.”

“I’m not going to force her to eat, Torin,” he said firmly.

“I didn’t say that, but have you considered alternative methods?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, how about assigning her a bunk beside the kitchens? It’s easy to resist temptation long enough to chuck your bowl of grub out a window, but if you’re surrounded by enticing aromas and the sound of sizzling constantly you are far more likely to break. Once you break the hunger strike, she’ll be more cooperative in general.”

Jackson pondered my suggestion thoughtfully. “Maybe I could put her on food preparation duty as well. Keep her constantly surrounded by it.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Any further discussion was cut off when one of Susan’s assistants hurried through the open doors, spotted me, and made their way over.

“Lord Carter, Regina Reynolds has just arrived via the gate. She has a prisoner in tow and has been directed to take him to the pens in the Slave Market. The Castellan strongly suggests your presence for the interrogation is advisable. It is William Reed, the Governor of Wisconsin.”

Well, now. This was something I would have to attend to personally.

“Shana, I need to step out and handle some affairs of state. Trisha, can you come with me, please.”