“There’s a new bunch on the right,” Azarin shouted.
I looked over to see at least a dozen fresh mutants lumbering our way, but they were still far enough out that I could use a snail grenade without the risk of hitting my friends.
Krachma’s mace dripped purple as he pointed it at the nearest pile of broken bricks. “Debris.”When he swept that mace toward the approaching monsters, the bricks shook, then flew up and followed the mace’s arc right into the mutants. The bricks hit hard enough to bruise meat and even break bones. As they flailed under the impacts, my glowing snail grenade landed between the injured beasts, and two seconds after that, the explosion sent purple bits flying.
One of the monsters that had been hanging back opened its beak and let out a longscreeeeee.That must have been their signal to retreat. Every one of them, fresh and wounded alike, waddled down the shore as fast as they could and dove into the ocean.
We all stood there, breathing hard, covered in sand, purple blood, and the sticky mud created when those two things met. There were dismembered monster corpses everywhere. I looked around to make sure none of us were among the dead, and by some miracle, we weren’t. Already, the big white sea birds were circling, hoping to feast on the bodies.
The Outcasts were triumphant.
“I got sand in my gills. That is very irritating. Should I pursue the food?”
“Naw, Trax, we’re not here for them. Let’s find the treasure so we can get the hell off this rock.”
Twenty-Two
The cold had been forgotten during the excitement of the fight, but after things calmed down, that returned with a vengeance. Our clothes had been soaked, and that created such an extra chilling effect that even the Core dwellers shivered. Sifuso was getting sluggish. My teeth were chattering so hard, it was hard to talk. I got my Red enchanted bowl out of my pack, activated the magic hot enough to simmer a stew, and clutched that against my chest in a desperate attempt to dry out my gloves and warm my fingers enough to feel them. The bowl helped a lot.
We’d received a few minor injuries. The gash on my neck hurt, but it was shallow enough a simple bandage stopped the bleeding. The cut on my arm throbbed, but it wasn’t too bad either. Sifuso had gotten the worst injury of anyone with the deep cuts on his scaly chest, but lacertians had really thick skin, so hardly any blood came out. I think being a lizard, the cold might have actually slowed his blood down even more. Bognar and Danny had both gotten roughed up a little, but overall, I think everyone was feeling too triumphant to worry about their aches and pains. The Outcasts had been tested and won!
With me being too cold to think straight, let alone talk, Rade took over the role of the sensible one. Which, frankly, was arather frightening prospect, but he seemed to have everything in hand. I’m sure his usual bluster would be saved for when our survival wasn’t at stake, and he had more of an audience.
“Get those boats pulled all the way up and tied to the rocks. I’d prefer to not have the high tide carry off our ride home.” Rade made a good call there. Without our boats, our options were to wait for Morton to come rescue us, which was unlikely, or to send Trax for help, and him successfully communicating what was happening to some random fisherman was even less likely than our gnome suddenly turning courageous. “Krachma, would you kindly do the same with those less fortunate adventurers’ boat so we have a spare?”
“And I shall check their bodies for valuables.” Azarin had never been the squeamish type. “I’m not expecting much, but you never know. Maybe one of them was an enchanter.”
“Danny, climb up top there and keep watch. If you see the monsters coming back, holler. And be careful, there could be more of those things hibernating in the sand.”
“What about him?” Bognar asked, nodding toward me. “Carnavon’s gone white as a deadlander.”
“Indeed,” Rade agreed. “That complexion is more suited to my people than someone from the land of perpetual fire. You should get out of this wind.”
“I’ll be fine,” I managed to say between the chattering teeth. “When’s this summer thing you keep telling me going to start again?”
“About six months from now.”
“Fuck.” I hid behind a boulder with my bowl to get out of the wind.
It was ironic that the very first spell I’d learned was still one of my most useful. This humble bowl had saved my hotlander ass from the horrible state that Trax referred to ashypothermiaa few times now. It was like huddling around my own personalcampfire worth of warmth. Holding the fully activated piece of metal in my bare hands was a great way to get burned, but currently, it was just steaming away salt water.
After a few minutes, I even got enough feeling back in my hands to reload my gun. Thankfully, it appeared that only one of the wax paper cartridges on my belt had gotten ruined by moisture. I tried my best to get the rest dried off before their powder got soaked too. I looked forward to the day I could afford nicer ammunition with cases made of brass, which was supposed to be far more reliable.
As I sat there, gradually warming up, I noticed there was an odd pattern to the nearby sand. It was too lumpy, and there seemed to be a pattern. I crawled over, brushed some of the sand aside, and swore to myself when I saw the speckled white color beneath. We didn’t have birds where I was from, but I’d seen things like this more recently from our neighbors’ chickens, only this was far bigger than what came out of a chicken! I brushed off another two of the lumps and found they also contained half buried eggs. Then I looked gradually outward and realized there were dozens more of the things stashed here.
Azarin stuck her head over the top of the boulder. “I looted the dead adventurers and found three Tetars, a rusty longsword, one silver pinky ring, two useable daggers, and a gold tooth.”
I didn’t want to ask how she’d gotten the tooth out. “Imagine rowing to your death because you got greedy after hearing Rufus sing a song.”
“A sad way to go.” Then Azarin saw all the eggs. “Oh, wow.”
“Yeah. This must be why those squishy beasts were so dedicated to keeping us away.”
“That’s a lot of baby monsters waiting to hatch… Well, shit. You know, I really shouldn’t feel pity for something that just tried to kill me, but now I do.”
I knew what she meant. I’d come here looking for treasure to keep a crime boss off our backs, not to terrorize some strange tribe of mutants. The saint I followed was pragmatic, not cruel.
“We should leave them alone.”
