Dreamland

Just as we approached the relay station, the Lynx appeared from the forest.

There was at first a small commotion, a couple of people ran away, but once they observed he was with us, they calmed down.

I greeted him happily:

“Hey, Lynx! Good to see you! I was wondering where you've been!?”

“Grrr. Wav, wav!”

“Oh, come on, we are far away from those people. Besides, only dogs bark? You're not a dog!?”

“Meow! Meowaoueu!”

I snorted and let out an exasperated sigh. If he wants to play the clown, let him be. Spartacius and Tina were laughing out loud. Even Alice chuckled.

We got closer to the camp whilst the Lynx continued to daff around.

“Is that beast not dangerous?”

One of the soldiers pointed at the Lynx. At this, 'the beast' stopped suddenly, turned towards the soldier, and growled:

“Groharr!”

Surprised by the sudden change and the roar, the soldier stepped back, almost losing his helm in the process. I tried to calm things down.

“Not at all; he's just fooling around and very sensitive to what he's been called! Please just refrain from calling him a beast.”

The soldier corrected me:

"It"

Uh, oh. The Lynx confirmed it in his way, running towards the soldiers:

“Wraharahaharahara!”

I don't know what beast was he impersonating now. Still, the result was impressive: the soldiers' panic running speed increased exponentially, and a young officer who was approaching us felt the need to react and screamed.

“Attack! Turtle formation!”

Of course, the Lynx changed his running direction suddenly, as if chasing one or another soldier for a couple of meters and leaving them alone once they picked up speed or even stopped cowering from fear. He did not intend to catch any, but the poor blokes did not know that.

I sighed and sent a probe to check their levels. Confirming my assumptions, the highest level was under forty and was now coming out of a house at a slow pace. After my probe, he accelerated a little. All the others were around level twenty, so around Spartacius' level or lower.

I turned towards the Lynx.

“Satisfied?”

He replied with a brilliant grin and a rough laugh-like bark. Yes, he was satisfied with the commotion he had caused.

OK, OK. I got it. He does not like to play the role of a mount, but what else can I do? I have to leave it be. I hit my forehead with a hand in exasperation and sighed.

The level 38 or something appeared to be the captain. He arrived at the scene whilst the turtle formation was still not complete. He looked at me, looked at the soldiers, then again at me. I raised my shoulders, he sighed, and then he approached us. The Lynx was suddenly a very brave mount running behind the coach as any brave mount would.

“Hello. I am captain Horaces. Is there a problem?”

“Hello, captain; my name is Cala. We are travellers going towards Silver Town. I fear my mount did make the wrong impression on the young officer, greeting him with too much enthusiasm.”

I felt a probe, and I saw him wince, then I saw a flicker in his eyes when I mentioned Silver Town and a tired look when I mentioned the officer.

The poor man was an open book; probably that's why he remained a provincial captain even if he seemed to be a capable one.

“Grrr?”

The Lynx watched us with puppy eyes and an innocent grin. Not a tooth was visible, only a bit of his tongue. He then rolled on his back, inviting me to play with him. Alice facepalmed whilst Spratacius and Tina were again rolfing inside the coach.

The captain turned towards the officer that was trying to take his place in the still not completed turtle. He was not fooled by the Lynx's antics but for sure realized that we were not going to attack his garrison.

“Officer Doha, you'll take the platoon and exercise the turtle formation there on the field. You are not coming back until your group does not enter information in less than 60 seconds. Understood?”

Whilst the platoon left marching towards the field, the captain turned to me.

“Lady Cala, if you want to use the teleport, the tax is 11 silver for the carriage; the tax collector is in front of the teleport. You are the first carriage in 3 days that goes there. Are you aware of the situation?”

“To be honest, captain, no. I just heard some rumours.”

“Well, the rumours are true. Everything seems to be dead in that direction. It starts a couple of hundred meters from the border. A very strong magical storm wiped out the area about a week ago. Since then, very few people have passed here through. Our previous garrison had been completely wiped out five days ago. We found nothing, not even their corpses. We came here three days ago; I hope you can understand that our people are a bit nervous.”

“Oh. I'm sorry that my mount did scare the officer...”

“Meowrrr”

“Yes, I know you are sorry too!” I patted the Lynx on the head. He just glanced a sorry, not sorry look at me.

The captain rolled his eyes, shrugged and whispered:

"It is an excellent opportunity for lieutenant Doha to do these exercises. He is the son of somebody important in the court."

In the end, we were able to place Tina-Thiara's letter with the captain as they did have a post office for the soldiers. He raised a brow and watched me, a bit intrigued when he saw the destination but did not comment. There was not much that we could do here, we spent some ten minutes, took water then we left for the teleporter.

“Do we all go at once, or do we send somebody to investigate? Should I go?”

I looked at Alice. Unusual to hear her planning and asking questions. I turned towards the Lynx.

“You have the honour to scout. Are you ok with it?”

He nodded.

“If the teleport there is not working, you'll come back running. You are the fastest; that's why I ask you to scout. We'll wait here for you. If there is anything bad there, please don't fight, evade, run, and hide; they are too dangerous.”

"Meow"

As soon as the Lynx approached the teleport area, the tax man looked at me:

“That would be five silver for the mount!”

I handed him the silver, the Lynx stepped on the teleporter, and a bright light enveloped him. Next moment the surface was empty.

We looked at each other, waiting. I hope nothing happens to him.

A couple of minutes later, the teleport area illuminated itself.

A soldier screamed:

“Incoming teleport!”

The group of soldiers that were only relaxing a couple of meters away jumped to their feet, collecting their weapons in a hurry. Oh drats. I raised a hand, waving towards the officer:

“I think it is only my scout returning!”

The officer nodded, but the soldiers continued with the preparation, however, at a more tempered pace. That must be the protocol.

Indeed the Lynx appeared on the platform, giving us a wide grin.

“Harharhar!”

I sighed and then waved to him. The officer was confused.

“Do you trust your mount as a scout?”

I nodded and walked towards the teleport. Alice followed behind me with the coach.

“That would be 16 silver!”

I watched the taxman surprised.

“I understood it is 11 silver for a coach?”

“Yes, ma'am, 11 silver for the coach and 5 for the mount.”

I sighed. A taxman is a taxman everywhere. The Lynx grinned even happier. Why did this make him happy was a mystery to me.

I paid and stepped on the teleport near the Lynx, the coach being next. The teleport light embraced us, and I arrived utterly blinded on the other side.

I heard the Lynx lamenting as if speaking for himself:

“Noob, completely noob to keep the eyes wide open during a teleport! Let me see, are you ticklish?”

He pressed a claw in my side.

"He! Not fair!"

"Noob penalty!"

I suppose the area was double-checked and secure for him to have so much fun. I am ticklish, and that only motivated him more.

He was on a roll. I wonder what did he eat?

As soon as I could see again, I watched around. Everything was covered with a several centimetres thick grey dust carpet. There was no wind. The air was stale and warm.

We were standing in the centre of a round plaza; behind us, the road was running straight to the horizon as far as I could see; however, the line of sight ended in about 500-600 meters in a kind of grey haze. In front was the city or what was visible from it and not covered in the same grey haze and a beautiful chalet to the right. A small yet visible shield was there in front of it: 'Ivar's estate'. Well, our ghost did have a nice chalet at the town's entrance!

The town was not surrounded by walls but by a circular road with many similar beautiful houses and small palaces on the interior side, fields and forests on the other side.

“There is nobody here, but I think the teleport has some surveying mechanism. Somewhere an alarm may be ringing.”

I nodded to the Lynx. I don't know how he sensed that, but it was probable. He seemed to be now entirely concentrated; the joyousness was gone.

“Let us check first Ivar's castle. Our ghost friend should be waiting for us there.”

Alice drove the carriage towards the entry.

“Do we go all in?”

“No. I'll go alone. You'll stay together. Please. If there is anything dangerous, you'll leave through the teleport!”

“Those clowns on the other side would not give us any protection. If there is something, we should better stay together.”

I sighed. Probably he was right.

“OK, if there is anything, just make enough noise. I'll come back as soon as I can!”

“Sounds better. “

The Lynx grinned again. I raised my shoulders and left towards the entrance of the estate. He came running beside me.

"Should I not come with you?"

Hm. He was worried.

"The best would be to stay together, but then we would have to leave the coach. I don't like the idea, it is our ticket back. It is better if you stay here. I'll be short."

"OK, you're the boss."

He nodded and turned back towards the coach. I entered the estate. The same grey dust was everywhere, covering everything, broken windows, broken furniture.

"Ivar? Ivar, are you here?"