The King and his Hand

Chapter 2: He and I

Everyone scatters in all directions. I decide to follow Ren and see what he's up to. 

"Ren, wait up!" 

He slows down as I jog over to him, heaving with every step.

"Wanna…huff… team up?"

Ren is unhinged and theatrical, so he should be a great ally to have. He smiles, baring his teeth, and pats me on the back with a heavy hand, making me gasp.

"Sure, dude! I was just planning on going mining for resources. Especially diamonds. We're gettin' that enchanter quick, baby! You down?"

I lean back and stretch out my arms to crack my back. 

"Sounds like a terrific plan, buddy."

We each started collecting sticks and twine to make axes and cut down some trees. From the wood, we begin carving our pickaxes. We sit down on stumps and carve silently for a while. The only sound is the wood shaving away by our axes. Ren picks at a bump on his pickaxe with his claws. Eventually, he breaks the silence.

"How are you feeling, Martyn?"

He looks up at me. His golden brown eyes glow curiously behind his rectangular shades. I can see a ghostly faded crown perched on his head, surrounding his wolf ears. Is his soul royalty? I wonder why.

"Feeling about what?"

Ren frowns and looks down at his pickaxe, continuing to carve. He has very bushy eyebrows. It's pretty adorable when he furrows them, like most dogs. But it can also be mildly scary as well. 

"This whole thing. It's just crazy, right dude?"

It is pretty messed up. I shiver at the thought that everyone here will die three times. It's even worse knowing my job is to cause most of them.

"Yeah, I guess it is."

Ren scrapes one last sliver of wood off his pickaxe and holds it up to the sun to look it over. He then attaches his head to a stick, and I follow suit. 

"Ya ready, Martyn?"

He stands up and swings the pickaxe onto his right shoulder. I nod and throw mine over my shoulder as well. Ren is much larger than me, reaching almost 7 feet when I stand just over 6. He has broad shoulders and a muscular build. His fluffy hair is in a low ponytail that reaches down just below his shoulder blades, around mid-back. His outfit makes me think that the big bad wolf stole the lumberjack's clothes instead of the granny's. That comparison makes me chortle. We stop in front of a giant cave opening carved into a relatively small mountain.

"How's this cave look, dude?"

I can see plenty of iron and coal, and the cave runs deep.

"Looks good, Boss."

I slap my hand over my mouth, embarrassed by my slip-up. Ren laughs with one loud and deep. "HA!" 

"Boss? Where did that come from?” he chuckles. “I mean, I can be your boss if you want to." 

He cocks his head slyly, clearly amused by my mistake. Seeing him so amused puts me more at ease. I decided to continue it as a joke. I punch his shoulder affectionately.

"Well then, my liege," I tease. "Let's get you that enchanter."

*    *   *

"I found some!" 

Ren shouts excitedly, mining the rock away to reveal the most beautiful blue stones ever. He picks one up and holds a torch up to it, casting a glittering blue light across the cave walls. I look up and spin around, taking in the incredible sight. 

"Wow…"

My voice echoes through the cave. I look down from the ceiling towards Ren. He looks up and smiles softly, excitement in his eyes. It's either his eyes or his tail wagging five times a second. He sighs, then turns his head to meet my gaze.

"Well, we have what we need. We should head back up."

"Yeah."

We both collect our tools and hang them off our backs. Ren does half a skip to catch up to me and stares ahead, whistling softly. His bushy tail wags back and forth slowly. I twiddle my thumbs and look down at my shoes. We both open, then close, then open our mouths.

"This was-"

"This was nice." 

"Yeah." 

"Yeah."

We both laugh softly, then return to silence. The only sound is our tools clanging together on our backs, occasional water droplets, and our heavy footsteps. Eventually, we see the surface ahead of us. 

"Well, this is where we part ways, Your Majesty."

I put my hands in his massive paws and bow low. He laughs, slowly removing his hands from mine and shaking them off. 

"Where shalt thou be headed, underling?"

He bows low and looks up, smirking. Our joke feels ridiculous now, but it's so much fun. But I can't tell him the truth. I don't think he'd take "I work for murderous gods, so I have to go cause pain and suffering so that they can feed, and I don't get tortured for eternity." very well. So I tell him half the truth.

"Oh, just off to meet new people."

Ren frowns. Does he not buy it, or does he just not like the answer?

"Why can't we go together?"

My god, Ren really is a little puppy. I want to say, “There's no reason.”. To keep hanging out with him. I'd love to chill with him, but I have a job. I come up with something plausible and then respond.

"You- need to focus on building the shop and setting up a base. Then, while I travel, I can advertise the shop and get you some customers!"

That makes sense, and Ren agrees. He slowly nods.

"You're right, of course. You get a clientele, and I'll set up shop. Well, sounds like a plan, dude!"