The Last Available

The Last Available - Chapter 2

"Well sonofa-" Devinon Nimblefingers was not happy. The morning sun warmed his face and forced him to squint his eyes.

"What your problem, kid?" Throg Axehammer scanned the area ahead, ready to have his axe in hand at the first sight of danger.

"It's an errand quest," Devinon replied. "A godsdamned errand quest."

"A what?" Liam was only barely paying attention. More than anything, he appeared to be ogling every woman he saw.

"An errand quest-seriously, you guys are clueless!" Devinon ground his teeth in frustration and balled his fists. "We're supposed to save the world...by getting this dude a book? Why can't his lazy ass get the book himself if it's so important?"

"This important," Throg stoically replied. He sniffed the air and grunted his approval. "If Gerald say so, then it so."

"He didn't even give us coin to buy it!" Devinon dug his fingernails into his palms. "What has this got to do with saving the world from an all-powerful evil?"

"I think book stores are fabulous!" Liandra did not appear to be paying much attention to the actual conversation at hand. Instead, she was daydreaming about all of the books in the store to read, page through, and possibly set on fire.

"We have plenty of coin, I'm sure," Liam laughed as he flicked the strands of soft, brown hair from his face. "Why, I alone have a hundred gold coins on me right now!"

Devinon grinned ear to ear and began imagining all of the different ways he could get at the bard's coin purse. He was relatively certain it would not be much of a challenge no matter which method he used. Suddenly, this worthless grindquest didn't seem to annoy him as much.

"Fine," he grumbled, "let's go get this damned book already."

When they reached their destination-Alexander's Book Emporium-they stopped outside. It was a simple, one-story building with two large windows showcasing a plethora of tomes for the perusal of its patrons. Pylara peered in through one of the windows to see that the shop was moderately busy. It appeared that this particular shop was quite popular and-

"Enough already," Devinon growled.

"Enough what?" Throg replied.

"Enough...um..."Devinon stammered. "Enough exposition already."

"I have no idea what the kid is talking about," Pylara replied, impatiently. "Can he just shut up already?"

"First of all," Devinon growled. He walked up very close to her. It was difficult to appear imposing when your adversary was at least two feet taller than you. "I am not a kid. Second-"

Liam opened the door to the shop and started to enter with Brutus close behind but Devinon, forced to remove his gaze from Pylara, grabbed them both and tried his best to stop them. They seemed to barely notice at first but eventually stopped.

"What is your hesitation, child?" Brutus asked. "Do you sense danger inside?"

"We haven't determined how we're going to get the book yet," the halfling whispered. "We can't just walk in there and grab it!"

"Of course we're not," Brutus laughed. "We're going to buy it!"

Throg pushed his way past his companions and stormed into the store, followed by Pylara, Liandra and, eventually, the rest of the party.