Guild Of Zeroes

Chapter 7

Quin and I stood shoulder to shoulder in cool, knee deep water, spears poised above the surface. We were standing in a slow flowing bend of the river that was heavy with grass and reeds. The vegetation offered plenty of hiding places for fish and the more curious, or maybe the more stupid fish, would be interested enough in our feet to wander into spear range. We called those fish dinner. The sun was dipping down to the horizon and swarms of flies were buzzing up into the air and flitting across the water. The flies were biting, annoying little bastards but the more they buzzed over the water, the closer the dumb fish came to us. It was a worthwhile trade. I could take a few bites in exchange for a meal.

"You think we should head back and check on Mouse?" I asked. "He seemed pretty well shaken by that reading."

Quin struck with their spear but came up with nothing. "I don't really want to come back without something to eat. Plus, he seemed fine when we left. Looked like he just needed some quiet time. You know how he gets."

I shrugged. "I guess."

Quin lanced down at another fish. "Don't poke him too much. He'll come to us when he's had a chance to rest. He doesn't need us pestering him all the time."

A flash of silver scales rippled in front of me and I thrust down, wincing as the rough bandage Quin had put on me chafed against my new tattoo. The spear struck true and I came up with dinner impaled on the end of my spear.

"Nice!" Quin cheered. "You got one. Bit small though."

I walked back to a large flat stone on the shore. "I'll clean and scale this then while I wait for you to get frustrated and give up."

Quin waved me away and returned to their fishing. I laid the fish on the stone and got to work. Long years of practice let my hands work while my mind wandered. The wall of anxiety loomed closer now, and I felt as if I had scaled midway up it's face. I was better, but never over it, and now I felt as if I was dangling on short ledge, unsure if we were pulling ourselves up to an unexpected but irreversible change, or if were we plummeting down to disaster? It was probably best to take things one step at a time. I glanced down to the bandage around my tattoo. I was in control. I could do this. Maybe. This wasn't something I could do alone, but maybe with the three of us we could get through it. We could start with the quest card Hawk had given me. That wouldn't be too much trouble would it? I'd take Quin and Mouse and do some scouting around. If things turned out to be too much we'd run home and get someone more qualified to help us. Quin slapped another fish down in front of me and I set to work gutting and scaling it while I put together a loose plan in my mind.

With the guts and scales dealt with we walked back to camp to find Mouse laying under a tree with a tiny book in his hands.

"You've learned how to conjure books out of nothing, have you?" asked Quin.

"My robe has pockets," Mouse answered. "Lots of pockets. How did the great fish hunt go?"

"If you take your nose out of the book, you'd see," I said.

Mouse licked his finger and turned the page. "I can't, the book is so much more interesting than reality."

Quin turned to me and gave me a conspiratorial wink. "Since he's so interested in his book, help me find some pans and some salt. Two or three handfuls should do it, right?"

Mouse snapped the book shut and shot to his feet. "Nope. Not happening. My stomach will not tolerate another Quin special dinner."

"I'm not that bad am I?"

I handed my catch to Quin and put a hand on their shoulder. "I'm sorry to say it, but yes you are that bad. Your cooking is the only time I've ever had pork that was burnt on the outside, raw in the middle and too salty all at once."