As we continue the walk, Richard waves to the puppies, bringing them back to him and he absently ruffles their fur as he walks.
“You ever try riding one?” I enquire and Richard chuckles, shaking his head.
“No, I like my own feet. I’m really not much of a rider anyway.” Richard answers as I start eyeing the clay cliff faces that surround the downtown, trying to spot the eagles who nest there. It’s only a few more minutes before we realise we’re not the only one’s who have heard about the mutating eagles – Raven’s Circle is here.
“Ah fuck…” I mutter and Mikito flashes me a quick sympathetic glance. Richard just snorts and takes a few quick steps to bring himself in front.
“Afternoon everyone,” Richard flashes a big charming grin, looking utterly relaxed while surrounded by four dogs each the size of a pony.
“Afternoon Richard,” Nicodemus replies, walking forwards and engulfing Richard’s hand in his. The red-haired giant seems to have gotten bigger I swear, now topping over nine feet at a guess and with muscles that go on for days. I’m kind of jealous – I’ve bulked out a bit, but nowhere near his extent. I’ve got more of a gymnast figure while he does the man mountain thing. “You guys here to deal with the eagles too?”
“Actually, I was hoping to tame one or two of them,” Richard explains and Nicodemus nods at that.
While those two talk, Luthien and Kevin make their way around the group to talk to me. I brace myself internally, wondering what these two want.
“John…” Luthien doesn’t stop at a normal distance, instead approaching close enough to reach up to put a hand on my chest. I step back smoothly, noting her new level and her class as an Elementalist.
“Yes?” I keep my voice level, even if my words are curt.
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You’ve been avoiding me,” Luthien continues.
“I’ve had things to do Anne,” I pause and shrug, “And I’m doing fine.”
She looks at me with sympathy, just the barest flash of anger at the use of her real name as she continues, “What happened to your bike?”
“Being repaired,” I tell the truth, not particularly caring if she knows.
“Oh, John! Do you need some Credits, I’m sure we could spare some,” she tosses a glance at Kevin who nods agreeably.
Tired of this, I wave my hand, “Anne, just, go away.”
“Why are you being so rude?” she pouts at me now, switching tactics.
“Because I know you. Perhaps a bit late, but I know you,” I turn from her and start walking to Nic and Richard when Kevin grabs my arm and glares at me.
“Don’t speak to her like that. I’m willing to put up with some shit because of what we did, but…”
I shut him up by punching him hard enough to break his nose and when he lets go of my arm, I kick him away from me. I stop then, though his friends already have swords drawn and a bow pointed at me. Impressive. Luthien doesn’t do anything though, running over to her boyfriend.
“Don’t touch me. Either of you. Don’t come near me, don’t talk to me, just don’t. I want nothing to do with you people,” my voice comes out in a whisper, rage that rushed into me the moment he touched me barely contained.
Richard looks between us all, a hand held out to his side to the puppies while Nicodemus waves his guys down. I stalk away from them all, giving them my back as I try to calm down. Damn. I played into her hand again. Now they are the ones who are the injured parties.
A short while later, Richard comes up to me and points so I follow him up the trail, Mikito trailing along behind. The first minute of walking is done in silence before Richard finally breaks it, “Are you going to explain why Mikito and I nearly got killed just now?”
I shake my head, knowing that the Circle probably wouldn’t have killed them. Or me for that matter. Still, it’s nice they were willing to back me up, even though we barely know each other. My hand still trembles from the adrenaline at my side and I fight to keep my voice steady as I answer him, “Anne – Luthien’s – my ex. You know that. What you don’t know is that we were a couple for years, though every summer she’d travel up here for work. Didn’t think much about it, but when I lost my job in Vancouver and my place burnt down, she suggested we move up here together permanently. A new start. So I did. Uprooted my life and left my friends and family to be with her. Except she and Jeff had been cheating on me this whole time and I finally clued in.
“You know the stupidest thing? I realised I stopped caring about her a long time ago. Stopped loving her, but every time we’d talk about something serious, she’d redirect it. I’m not even sure she ever loved me either, I was just another trophy, another admirer. But mostly,” I draw a deep breath before continuing, “mostly, I just want it done and over with. I’m done being manipulated by her, and if the only way to do that is to avoid her, so be it. I won’t get drawn into her web again. Not if I can help it.”
By the time I’m done, we’re nearly at the top of the short hill and looking towards the trees that the eagles normally nest at. Not surprisingly, the eagles haven’t stuck around while we hiked to their nest which leads to a more interesting question. “Richard, what exactly was the plan here?”
“Well, if we can net one of them, I can dominate it and make it a pet if I can enforce my will on it. Tame it if you will,” Richard explains.
“Great. But they aren’t coming back till we’re gone so…?”
Richard pauses, staring up at the empty tree and then looks back at me and then Mikito, “Oh, right. I didn’t really think about that.”
I exhale slowly, carefully and pull the trigger. When the shot finally comes, it’s a surprise that makes me lose a few precious seconds, the tubular shotgun that Richard lent me going off with a hiss rather than a bang. The other eagle that I wasn’t aiming at takes off while I recover, making it well out of range before I can even try to take a shot. I stand swiftly and walk over to my netted target as it struggles, attempting to free itself from the slowly constricting metallic net that covers its body.
The bald eagle is definitely mutated. For one thing, it’s about six feet tall and on top of that, I’m pretty sure there’s something wrong with its wings – the way the air ripples around them now and when it was landing seems to indicate something more is going on. Thankfully, the netting and gun were bought from the Shop especially for Beast Tamers looking to capture new pets so it can’t get out.
I can see Richard and Mikito scrambling up the cliff now that I’ve taken my shot. The other bald eagle that fled is circling high above me, it’s unmutated form watching what we are doing to its sibling. I’d feel sorry for it but I just spent the last three hours squatting in a crudely built camouflaged dugout, hiding from it and its brother till they returned to their nests. Seems like neither Mikito nor Richard had bothered to learn any Stealth skills as yet, something we’ll have to fix if we are to work together.
When Richard does make it up, what he does next is truly mystical. He squats down next to the eagle, meets its eyes and they engage a staring contest. That goes on for nearly ten minutes before he finally breaks away and starts untying his new pet. Yup, real mystical.
With most of the day spent getting Richard a new pet, one that he quickly names Orel, we don’t have a huge amount of time to hunt. With that in consideration, we decide to head straight along the river, moving across the trails that line Miles Canyon in search of prey. Richard sends Orel in the air and keeps the Huskies ranging in front of us. Ali’s almost superfluous in the beginning with Richard’s pets in play, Orel sending us in the direction of potential prey and the Huskies running them down. The dogs are well trained though, often just hounding the monsters till we arrive so that we can finish them off and get the experience as a group. Otherwise, Richard would just be getting all the experience.