Cinder X Bella ~ Prologue!

“How truly marvelous,” Master Merchant Alaric Vigatori lamented dramatically, slapping his left palm to his forehead while gesticulating wildly with his right. “There go my hopes of returning home after buying fruit in bulk. By the time we make our return trip, all that will be left is overripe remnants. Who was in charge of this wagon? You! How do you expect me to pay your wages if I can't even turn a profit!”

Rubbing both hands through his hair, he shook his head and scoped out the land around him. “I bet you all think we're going to make camp here? Two days in a row? Well… you might be right. Sometimes these things can't be helped. On the other hand, perhaps they could, if my wife didn't adopt every creature we came across! Look how that turned out… my newest apprentice has burns bad enough that I will need to pay a Healer to mend his flesh. Yet another expense, and even less profit to be made!” 

Alaric looked over to Elara, wondering if his complaints would get through to her this time. Unfortunately, she was ignoring him and casually scratching the chin of the ascended beast in the wagon… right beside him? The merchant scrambled away, even as Elara skeptically stared at him. “Aw, Boo-boo, there's always at least one issue on every trip. You can't judge everything only by the profit to be made.”

“What profit?” Alaric snorted derisively while keeping an eye on the smoldering beast. “It’s not just an issue. That one is going to be more trouble than he's worth, my sweet Bappy.” 

“Boppity, Alaric! How long have you known my nickname?” Elara gently teased, rolling her eyes at the familiar joke.

“I wish you hadn't brought that thing along with us. No matter how you treat them, monsters and beasts start as wild animals. You can never be sure how they will act. Not to mention, who they will hurt.”

Just as Alaric was a Merchant by his system-granted class, Elara was an Exotic Beast Enchanter—a highly specialized version of a Beast Tamer. Both of them viewed the world through the lens of their class and skills, which often caused them to disagree on how any given subject should be covered. 

Even as Alaric glared, Elara distractedly rubbed the smug little head of the smoldering beast then offered a flattened palm holding a small sweet pepper to the salamander. Complying with her unspoken request, the flaming lizard leaned forward and increased the intensity of its body heat, roasting the vegetable so Elara could pop it in her mouth.

With a winning grin, she looked up at her husband and offered him the next treat. “Want to try? I think I've got this trick fully formed in its mind.” 

She shifted toward Alaric, and even though he was annoyed, the man couldn't help but let his scowl fade. Elara was dressed comfortably, wearing cloth pants and a loose-fitting tan blouse to hide the dust of the road. As she waited with her hand outstretched, her head slightly tilted as she tried to catch his eye. The sun hit her golden curls, and the merchant forgot what they were arguing about for a moment. 

He took the offered pepper and tossed it in his mouth, grumpily conceding the fact it was rather tasty. “A hot meal is always nice, but training a new beast on the road and not in a secure environment is basically asking for accidents to happen. Even if you're planning to train this one to help some noble’s kitchen, right now you are merely cooking with disaster.”

“He's just a baby. You can't blame little Sigismondo for that accident.” Elara's eyes went wide, her mouth pursing into a pout as she tried to convince her money-driven man. “That's his name, by the way.”

“Sigismondo the salamander? Bit of a mouthful. Wait, how can you be certain it's a ‘he’?” Alaric let out a rueful chuckle despite his resolution to be firmly against this interloper singeing his lace-trimmed seat cushions.

Elara placed another pepper in front of her new pet, a victorious smile pulling at her lips—she knew she’d won the argument, even if her husband wouldn't admit it. “Just a part of my class. I felt his distress, and you know I can't just leave some small creature to suffer, once I know they are there. Besides, he's an extremely rare ascended beast. As you said, I'm certain we could sell him to some noble house, or perhaps even gift him to the palace directly, once he's trained. Rumors are that the young Prince has quite a bit of talent with fire, so this would be a well-received pet…”

She trailed off at that moment, knowing Alaric would be trapped in his own mind for a few minutes as he worked out the best profit incentive. A direct sale was always good; he could earn his money and move on. However, such an appropriate gift to the Crown Prince could earn him not just the favor of the crown but favors from the crown. Perhaps even tax breaks… or the outright removal of certain tariffs as he moved through the kingdom.

“As for his long name, I'm certain Bella will find him a proper nickname. She seems to have a knack for giving beasts names that stick.” Elara chuckled for a moment before her eyes went wide, and she grit her teeth. Exactly as she’d feared, her husband's nostrils flared, and his mind snapped back to the present.

“You keep that thing away from our daughter!” Alaric shoved his finger at the small red lizard, who was now curled up and napping on Elara's lap, as if it hadn't burned someone's flesh badly enough to require a magical Healer in the last half hour. “I have no intention of allowing you to bring it all the way to our home after this trip. There is a reason we have a small menagerie off-site for training and safety purposes. Besides, you don't see me storing all my goods in our house. Why would we continue paying for a proper stone training area if-”

“Boo, you say the same thing every time we come across any new beast!” Elara’s frustration seeped into her voice. “Bella loves small creatures! Don't you remember the snake? The griffons, I admit, were a bit large. But she loves the goose-”

“You know my history with geese.”

Elara paused, lips twitching, before finally giving in and tipping her head back to laugh heartily. She reached her hand over and placed it on her husband's lap, trying to comfort and calm him. “You can't hold her back, if this is her path. She's already showing signs of being a Beast Tamer, exactly how I started out. She's not going to have the terrible experiences you used to have before I came around. Think of how much profit properly trained horses have brought you, able to pull your wagons thirty percent farther than your competitors each day. How many caravans do you have going at once now?”

“While I admit there are benefits,” Alaric stiffly stated, “Bella has already begun acting in a way not fitting with her station in life. The servants tell me how she goes to the barn, singing and dancing for our beasts of burden. Her maid tells me she refuses to sleep without at least two kittens in bed with her… and on the subject of nicknaming your beasts? They are always childish nicknames, and the creatures tend to answer her call, even when we are trying to get them to listen to us using their proper names! While I love what you have been able to do for our family, she is not you. We've been able to buy a noble title, land, and have been teaching her etiquette since she could sit upright.”

“Where are you going with this?” Elara questioned her husband in a dangerous tone.

“Do you really think a noble child should be practically living the same life as our servants?” Alaric finally spit out the thought that had been on his mind for far too long. “There is an order to these things, and frankly, any beast is dangerous. Look at how tiny this creature is, then look at what it did to Jaxon. What if that had been Bella? What if it had burned her face and left behind scars which would preclude her marrying up into higher nobility?”

“You can't judge everything by the profit to be made, Alaric!” The Beast Enchanter shook her head in exasperation as she repeated herself once more. “If the system says this is what she will be best at, if this is the path it gives her in life, we need to respect that! Plus, marrying into higher nobility? It's been less than a decade since we were able to purchase a title from the crown. The peerage would never allow it, let alone the King and Queen. Don't let your dreams get too disconnected from reality.”

The merchant sucked in a breath, only to let it out in a great puff of air. As the breath left his lungs, his mounting anger seeped out of him. After thinking for a moment, he plaintively shrugged and spoke in a softer tone. “I want more for her than we had.”

“We've had it pretty good though, haven't we?” Elara grasped his hand, pulling on him gently until her husband scooted closer and wrapped an arm around her. “Would this be such a bad life for our daughter?”

“I suppose not.” Alaric finally admitted, settling into his ruined cushion. “Perhaps what happened with Jaxon has a silver lining. He's all elbows and knees, crashing, bumbling, and fumbling. Perhaps, were he not as green, he would have moved away from the salamander in time for you to intervene.”

“He overestimated his abilities and underestimated mine,” Elara firmly stated. “Jaxon will heal, and he will have learned a lesson which will stick with him forever. It may well be that he makes a better apprentice going forward, due to this incident. It will be as the system wills.”

“You have too much faith in the system.” Alaric started the familiar argument between them, though he course-corrected as his wife stiffened next to him. “No matter, no matter. I understand your point. I trust you, and if you find value in the beast… I suppose it can stay.”

Recognizing the peace offering for what it was, Elara leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Then, looking around at the assortment of caravan workers who were waiting for orders, she took a deep breath and stood. “I suppose we should tell them to make camp? By the time the wheel is repaired, our daylight will be gone. I'm sure the Duca wouldn't appreciate us fixing it, only to need to park outside his walls for the whole night. The way some of these people snore, the guard might think they’re trying to blow the walls down.” 

As she spoke, Elara nudged her husband's shoulder and finally got a laugh out of the man. He arched an eyebrow at her, flashing a cocky smile before leaning over and waving at his second-in-command to begin making camp. “I feel it's odd that you waited more than a decade to voice a complaint about my sleeping habits.”

“Couldn't risk this cushy life and noble title,” she quipped back at him, earning an eye roll from her husband—both of them fully understood she would be perfectly happy sleeping in the woods, not to mention perfectly safe. In fact, the beasts there would likely build her a home and act as impromptu servants, if she so desired.

For the final exchange of gentle squeezing and murmurs, the two separated, and Alaric stepped out to look over the eight wagons in his caravan. As per usual, his own led the way, as it was only half-filled with wares, the rest filled with adequately comfortable sleeping materials.

In his early years, he’d stuffed the wagon to the brim and slept under it. But with his increased status, it wouldn't give the proper indication of his wealth and position if he were to do something so copper-pinching. At any rate, his business had been flourishing over the years, in no small part thanks to his wife’s ability to keep their animals well-trained and in excellent condition.

The third, fourth, and fifth wagons were filled with trade goods, but the second was currently housing the two griffons he’d finally convinced his wife to sell off to the Duca’s menagerie. They were so close to his own conveyance to ensure Elara could keep an eye on the terrifying things and soothe them as needed with her skills. 

Alaric shook his head and gave the second wagon a wide berth as he moved to help with preparations for the evening. “Nasty things, those. Vicious to anyone other than their bond, and they act like seagulls—constant squawking and a disgusting amount of feces to clean each day. Can't get rid of them soon enough for my liking.”

The sixth wagon was essentially a small kitchen and currently housed the grown daughter of their main house chef. Giada had taken after her mother and was working on her to become a highly-trained cook, though she would never be as magically gifted at the craft as a proper system-gifted Chef. She’d joined the caravan to get some experience cooking in a different environment, as well as making connections on the road for when she set out to seek her own fortune. 

Alaric appreciated the better-quality food, but more than that, was pleased she came at a reduced rate, compared to her highly-skilled mother. “Can't believe she charges twice as much if she has to travel… I'd have to point her out to the guards and warn them there was a bandit on the road if she came with us. Yes, this is better for everyone.”

The final wagon didn’t belong to the Vigatori merchant house, and this one captivated his attention for a few moments longer. Alaric wasn't certain how he felt about the situation, but only a few days before this trip, Elara's oldest friend, Bibbidy La Fata, had unexpectedly arrived at their home. Bibbidy was practically an enigma to the merchant, being neither young nor old, oddly plain, yet captivating to the eye. She was sharp, both mentally and with her wit, and she refused to hear any argument when she’d made her mind up about something.

Without asking, she had simply announced at the last moment that she would be joining them on their journey. All he could do was throw up his hands and loudly question why competing merchants would travel together, and now he could only grumble her response before shaking his head and walking back to look at the wagon undergoing repairs: “‘We're not competing. You have multiple caravans; I have one little wagon’. Sure, Bibbidy, sure. I swear, if a single customer purchases from her instead of me…”

He let the threat hang in the air unfinished, knowing it was an absurd thing to worry about. Still, as far as the merchant knew, Bibbidy had never been married and had no staff or workers. How she traveled the back roads of the kingdom without being robbed had long been a mystery to him, especially as she made no attempt to hide the fact that she drove a wealthy wagon. The duo of stallions pulling it along were black as midnight and absolutely majestic, trained even better than those in his own caravan. Not only that, she sat sideways on the driver’s seat, singing at the top of her lungs the entire day, wearing clothes dyed royal purple, of all colors!

“Perhaps they think she is actually some royal, and bandits don't want to call that kind of attention to themselves?” Alaric could only grunt in dissatisfaction at not knowing and drop the subject. The merchant moved over to help hoist his damaged wagon, double checking the placement of the wheel after the original, broken one had been fully removed and the axle re-greased.

Nearly an hour later, just as the sun began to dip below the horizon, the wagon was gently set down, earning a cheer from those who’d been working at it. Alaric looked up, a bright smile on his face, finding his wife walking toward him from their wagon and waving at her as she came closer.

Just then, the new apprentice, Jaxon, came through the gap between wagons two and three, coming face-to-face with Elara. Specifically, his gaze landed on the salamander in her hands, and he hastily lept backward away from the creature that had burned him earlier that day. 

*Craw-k!*

Out of nowhere, a raven swooped at the young man, and the boy twisted away and rolled his ankle on something in the road. The pot of soup he’d been carrying flew from his hands and splashed over the griffons in the second wagon’s cage. The near-boiling liquid earned a screech of pain and fury from the proud creatures who had just been doused, and they lunged at the fallen boy, their talons reaching through the cage and swiping at him.

The air filled with shouting as everyone noticed what was going on, but Elara moved fastest, rushing forward to grab at Jaxon—only for him to jerk away as the salamander came close to him once more. The startled lizard let out a splash of flame, burning the extended leg of the larger male griffon, Gregario.

Now absolutely furious, the ascended beast slammed itself against the cage, managing to bend then break the bolt holding it closed. The griffon screeched and jumped at Jaxon, but Elara jumped in the way and activated her skills, doing her best to calm the monstrous cross between a lion and an eagle. Confused, Gregario reared back as its instincts warred with the magic coursing off his trainer. 

“Shh, it'll be alright. It's going to be fine…!”

The griffon settled down at the intonation, dropping to all fours and staring at her with an aggrieved expression. It let out a sigh, then started turning as if to return to its wagon. Just then, Gregorio’s mate, Gabriella, furious at being covered in soup, leaped out of the wagon over the larger monster, extending both talons to slash at Jaxon.

Instead, the black claws came directly down onto Elara, rending her from neck to navel.

As Alaric’s howl of grief tore the night, one person who had been watching from a distance slunk back into the shadows.

“Yes, yes. The mission is complete. The stage is set. Yes, yes… the daughter will be a perfect fuel. The plan is in motion!” the figure cackled as a raven dropped to her shoulder, hunching and staring at her intently before nodding a single time, opening its wings, and flapping away.