38 – Laukin

  “I think I saw the stairs to the cellar in the kitchen,” Andy said, leading the way into the inn’s bar. As they passed the few upright tables, they each unloaded a burden of heavy iron and steel weapons and shields that they’d taken from the corpses of the blitz-rats outside. Andy wanted to go through them when they had a chance, but he also figured the inn’s defenders might need some armaments.

  The ratman sorcerer was still smoking—burning on the inside from Andy’s magic—as they passed over it. Andy breathed through his mouth, something in him revolting at the scent of burned flesh that reminded him of meat on a grill. As they passed into the kitchen, Bea paused and said, “Someone should keep watch in case more rats come.”

  Lucy nodded, pushing past the older woman back into the bar. “I will. They might need your healing down there, Bea.”

  “Just don’t be a hero, girl,” Bea replied. “If a pack comes, holler for us.”

  “Yep.”

  While they were talking, Andy and the others explored the alcove beside the pantry, where a wooden staircase led down into darkness. “There’s a heavy door down there,” Omar whispered, his eyes glinting in the dark. Andy cast Ember Vision again, and the shadows melted away, revealing the door. It was strapped with iron and made of heavy hardwood planks. Evidently, the blitz-rats had been trying to open it—axe marks marred the wood—but either they’d given up or gotten bored because it was still quite intact.

  Gripping his spear, Andy descended the steps and, when no other brilliant ideas came to him, he knocked on the door. “Anyone in there?” He heard Bella snort and looked at her, shrugging.

  After a moment, a man’s voice called back, “Twi tlelek dran qui?”

  “Oh my gosh!” Bella hissed, leaning against the door. “Hello? We’re here to help!”

  “Twi tlelek—” The man’s voice was cut off, and then, a moment later, a feminine voice came through.

  “Who are you?” she asked in perfect English.

  “We’re, um, here to help against the rats,” Andy replied.

  Muffled conversation followed, and then heavy scrapes, as large objects were moved away from the doorway. A few minutes later, the door rattled as someone unlocked it. Andy and the others backed up to the stairs, where Bea waited. He didn’t want to look threatening, but he didn’t want to be unprepared either, so Andy held his spear before him with the point nearly on the ground.

  As the door slowly opened, wide eyes reflected Bea’s light in the darkness. Dozens of people peered out of the dark cellar, their faces gaunt and pale. At first, Andy thought they were human, and he felt a little foolish. His mind had been jumping to all sorts of fantastical ideas when it came to the citizens of that strange town—would they be elves or dwarves or some other bizarre species of people?

  When one of them stepped forward, he almost felt relieved when he realized she wasn’t human. He’d thought her skin was pale in Bea’s soft light, but it wasn’t skin! She had a soft, fuzzy coat of fur on her face, a pink button nose, and, at the sides of her fur-covered head, ears that looked like they’d be more at home on a fox than a person.

  “Who are you?” the woman asked, and though the voice came from her fuzzy lips, the words didn’t match their movements. That was when Andy saw the softly glowing chain around her neck and felt the gentle play of mana in the air.

  “Are you translating with magic?”

  She reached fur-covered fingers up to her neck, nodding. “A gift from my mother when I left home.” She gestured to the silent, watchful eyes of the people clustered behind her. “I was traveling through Scarag Heights when the vermin attacked. Are they gone?”

  Andy nodded, but Bella answered, “The ones in the bar are gone, but the city’s still full of them.”

  “Dra landa ver nosen dro brag,” a deep voice rumbled from the darkness, and the fox-eared woman nodded, clearing her throat.

  “We should barricade the inn. More vermin may come. The System has given us a quest to do so.”

  “I’m Bella, and this is Andy, Omar, and Bea.” Bella beamed at Bea proudly. “She can help if any of you are hurt or sick.”

  “A healer?” The woman stepped forward. “I’m Jilly. There are wounded among us.” As she moved closer, Andy realized just how slight Jilly was; she was probably less than five feet tall, and he doubted she weighed seventy-five pounds. As more of the people in the cellar pressed forward, their various fur patterns and differently shaped ears making it clear that this species of people was far from uniform, he saw that most of them were similarly small. A few outliers were among them, though—big, burly folk with thicker fur and canines that their lips struggled to conceal.

  “What kind of people are you?” Jilly asked.

  Bella smiled, and Andy realized she was in heaven. This was the kind of scenario every sci-fi and fantasy enthusiast dreamed of. “We’re humans! What about you?”

  Stolen story; please report.

  Jilly said a word that her necklace clearly couldn’t translate, “Laukin.”

  “Let’s get you out of there!” Bea said, backing up the steps. “That air is foul.” She wasn’t lying; as the laukin crowded the door, Andy had gotten a whiff of rot and urine and other dank odors.

  “Dra norg ver nosen dro brag,” one of the big, burly laukin rumbled, ducking under the cellar’s lintel.

  “Gord wants to get started securing the inn,” Jilly said.

  Andy thumped Omar’s shoulder. “We’ll help if you want to stay with Bea, Bella.” The truth was, he wanted to get upstairs out of the increasingly ripe air. Bella agreed and, as Jilly translated for her, Bea ordered the laukin upstairs into the kitchen where she could “see better.” Andy knew she too wanted some fresh air. Meanwhile, he and Omar led the way out to the tavern so that he could give Lucy a heads up; the last thing he wanted was for her to shoot one of the burlier laukin thinking they were related to the ratmen.

  That accomplished, he and Omar helped to drag broken tables over to the bay windows where, with the help of some nails and a hammer a laukin produced from a closet somewhere, they barricaded all the openings. One of the laukin started a fire in the big stone hearth, and though Andy feared it might draw attention to the inn, he had to admit the cheery glow and scent of burning wood did wonders for the general morale.

  When he brought his concern up with Jilly, she shook her head. “Go upstairs and look out into the city. We won’t be the only ones with a fire. Vermin use it too; the nights are harsh in Scarag, especially this far past summer.”

  Andy frowned. “Are we still bound by the usual seasons, though? The System took your town and turned it into a dungeon—”

  “This isn’t my town! As for the weather, I think it’s the same. I don’t know the System’s rules any more than you do, though, I’d bet.” She sounded irritated, and Andy could see why; however bad things had been for him and the residents of the trailer park, at least they hadn’t been pulled away from Earth and put into a dungeon.

  They were in the kitchen, and he could see half a dozen laukin sitting in wooden chairs around a long, wooden counter. Bea was moving among them, administering her strange water-based healing. Meanwhile, other laukin were carrying buckets of steaming water down to the cellars. He was amazed at how fast they’d gotten things working…and gotten to work. “Are they all inn employees?”

  Jilly shook her head. “About half. The others were guests or tavern customers. When the horde came through, we took shelter down below. Her eyes widened and unfocused at the same time that Andy received a System message:

  ***Congratulations! You’ve completed the optional quest: Liberate the Clover Bear Inn. In addition to experience, you’ve gained a better chance at rare, System-generated awards if you’re able to complete the dungeon. Experience applied to your Brimstone Stalker class is being held until you complete your level 20 refinement, which will be available the next time you rest.***

  “We secured the inn,” Jilly said, smiling broadly. Her teeth were more human-looking than those of the big, burlier members of her kind. Only her canines were slightly elongated.

  “Another level!” Bella announced from where she sat, watching the laukin cooks working at the stove. In addition to boiling water, they were cooking a large pot of something that was beginning to smell good—onion, spice, and meat scents filled the air.

  Lucy came through the door from the “common room,” as Jilly called the bar area, and announced, “I think we should take turns resting.”

  Andy could see she was wound up about something. “Did you level?”

  She nodded. “Says I have a refinement coming.”

  Bella hopped off her stool and came closer. “Why don’t you two go first? Sleep a few hours, and then the rest of us can.”

  “I can wait—” Lucy started to say, but Bea cleared her throat, shaking her head.

  “No, I’ll need to tend these folks a while longer, and Bella wants to stay with me. Omar should keep watch in the common room. You two can take over at midnight.”

  Andy shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” He turned to Jilly. “Did you catch all that?”

  “Most of it. Some of you want to rest? I can ask for a room key.” She nodded to a matronly, brown- and white-furred woman who was working at the stove. “She’s the innkeeper. Just a moment.” She walked over to the stove and then commenced a hushed conversation in the strange, lilting language of the laukin. Andy wondered at that; why wasn’t the necklace still translating at least her words? He supposed it must be a function of the magic; it only translated what the wearer wanted.

  After a few minutes, Jilly returned, her brow furrowed over her dark eyes. “She says you can take one of the rooms, but she says some of the others are talking about slipping out—going home to check on loved ones.”

  Andy frowned. “Do you think there’s a chance?”

  She shrugged. “Laukin are good at hiding. Still, wandering around in the dark with vermin on the loose isn’t smart. Anyway, Mari says not to worry—says her husband is talking sense to the others. That’s Gord, and the folks in this inn respect him.”

  Andy knew the man she was referring to; Gord was the biggest of the laukin and had been directing the barricading efforts. He’d communicated with grunts and gestures to Omar and Andy during the process. “Anything we can do?”

  “No, this is a laukin problem. I’ll make sure nobody does anything that will risk the inn.” She pointed to a drawer in the counter near Lucy. “Keys are in there. Rest well.”

  Andy looked at Lucy, and she nodded, pulling the drawer open. She produced a key with a symbol on it that Andy figured was probably a room number. When she looked at him and arched an eyebrow, he shrugged. “Look for a room with the same symbol.”

  “Oh, Andy?” Jilly called. When he looked back at her, she said, “Be sure you keep the curtains drawn closed and don’t light anything bigger than a candle.”

  “Right.”

  The matronly laukin said something in their singsong language, and Jilly added, “Mari says thank you.” She turned to include Bea. “Everyone is grateful.”

  A few minutes later, Andy and Lucy found their room—the third on the left in the long, second-floor hallway. It was dark inside, but Lucy had taken a candle from the common room, so Andy let his Ember Vision drop. The room was simple—a bed slightly larger than a twin-sized one back on Earth with a lumpy but soft mattress; a single chest along the opposite wall; and a stool in the corner. The curtain was pulled already, so Lucy set her candle on the stool and, together, they sat on the side of the bed.

  To lighten the mood, Andy tried his hand at a little humor. “Sheesh, hope I’m not moving too fast for you; didn’t expect to invite you back to my—”

  Lucy turned toward him and laid her fingers over his lips. With a small smile, she pulled him down onto the mattress, the two of them facing each other, sharing the single pillow. “Hush. Just lie with me, will you? And no, it’s not too fast. But you’re definitely not getting lucky on this lumpy mattress in the middle of a giant-rat-infested city.”