Always Blame a God

Seer

Derrick followed the snowy tracks to the stocky mule who stood happily munching away at branches, shoulders slightly shorter than his own. Oh, foot cocked and ready to strike while still looking nonchalant. This one's going to be a handful. He took a step forward and it immediately took a step back. It stamped its hoof and snorted while looking directly at the man, daring him to get any closer. "Look, mule, I'm not going to hurt you." It turned its head away to wrap its lips around a lock of fine twigs. Circling around to its side, Derrick approached again, only to be at exactly the same distance away from the animal as he had started.

"Dammit, mule, work with me." He sighed as he wiped his glove over his face then patted his belt pouches to search for any sort of treat. Maybe I have something in here that might work as— The giant ears perked up and turned his way. "Aha. Curious, aren't we, mule." All right then, how about we play a little game called 'Follow the Leader,' eh? His belt pouch clinked as he pretended to pull something out of it, then he turned away from the animal. "Oh, mule," he said in his sweetest, most tantalizing voice he could muster, "don't you want this?" He peeked over his shoulder, then went back to fawning over his imaginary prize, hunching over it as he pretended to stroke it.

The snow crunched heavily behind Derrick and he stepped away from the noise. "Not for mules." He glanced back and grinned. "But don't you want it?" Snuffling snuck up behind him and a large slobbery muzzle prodded and poked the man as it searched for the mysterious snack. Bits of chewed tree twigs dribbled onto his armor in a sticky gloop. A rein dangled as it explored, and Derrick surreptitiously snagged the leather. He slowly turned, all while guarding his special something. "Well, mule, I hate to break it to you, but you've been had." The animal nosed his closed hand and he rubbed its soft velvety nose. His fingers opened, revealing the lack of anything interesting and it snorted, pulling back its head in disgust, but Derrick held a firm grip on the rein. "I know, mule, I know. I've been fooled before too." He reached up to rub the whorl on the animal's forehead and it tossed its head. "Fine, have it your way. So long as you come my way first."

Erin was cleaning off her blade when man and mule entered the clearing. She whistled and said disbelievingly, "You managed to get Seer to go with you that quick? I'm impressed."

"We came to an understanding of sorts." Derrick tied the animal to a sturdy tree. Sneaky and underhanded though it may have been.

She sheathed her knife, then went back over to the pelts. "What you're saying is that you bribed him."

"Nope," he chuckled, "no bribe. He thought he was getting one though, so you were close."

"Well," she took hold of a pelt and flipped it so the flesh side sat flat on the snow, "you managed to do something that many have tried and most have failed." She flopped out a second pelt. "Do you have a horse, or are you on foot?"

"Hm?" He spread out the other two pelts nudging part of one with his toe to lay it flat. "Horse. I left her at the creek. Why do you ask?"

Erin rolled her eyes. "You didn't really expect that you'd save my life and not at least get dinner out of it, did you?"

"Actually, no." He squatted on his heels. "I wasn't planning anything other than not having to leave a corpse in the snow with no rocks to cover it or relatives to notify. And you had it pretty much under control anyway."

"Thanks," she sighed with a smile. "Though you wouldn't have found any relatives, even if you looked hard. Anyway, once these pelts cool down, we can head back home and get warm. Shouldn't take long though in this cold. Go get your horse and they should be ready."

"Wolf pelts on your mule?" He tilted his head questioningly. "Doesn't he balk at that?" Cass is probably not even going to want to ride close to those things, much less have them on her.

"Yes," she took a moment to adjust her gloves before continuing, "or at least he did the first time. Seer's had lots of practice hauling all sorts of things." She pushed down on a pelt with her boot to see how it flexed. "Get your horse. I'll load these up in a few minutes."