Rexus ~ Chapter 9!

Good morning all! Just wanted to mention that ch 1-6 are going to get heavy rewrites. I was trying to settle on Jaxon's personality, and it took a bit to get into a good groove with him. On to the story!

“Skipping freak, vanishing along a road that I barely survived cautiously moving along!” Jess was covered in mud, blood, and her armor was scorched and charred from failed attempts to disarm traps. It had also just started to rain. Today was not her idea of fun times. “When I catch up to him, I don’t care what the others want, it’s stabbing time! I’ll get into the guild, get the recognition I deserve, and make giant barrels of money. Then-gah!”

Jess stopped short just as a sword whistled through the area her head should have been. She had forgotten to go into stealth, and was now staring at a small pack of Wolfmen as they surrounded her. She screamed her frustration as she was forced to dodge another attack. “Well isn’t this just perfect! You suck!”

The world went dark for her as she was clubbed over the head from behind, and she found herself standing in her respawn room looking at a notification.

You are unconscious! Warning: you are currently a prisoner of war!

In Eternia, a Wolfmen had lifted her listless body and carelessly tossed her over his shoulder. They started walking toward town in a good mood, they had a prisoner! One of three things would happen next. They would slay her before she awoke, they might use her body for various crafting components or give her to a Shaman, or… perhaps the strange Human would trade some of his power-pain buffs for her life. At their loping speed, the pack reached town and brought the prisoner over to the small area the Human had set up. He was surrounded by smoked meats, cured hides, and various other commodities that were either of low value to the wolves or something that they could go without.

“Step up right, wolf-friends!” Jaxon called in a terrible rendition of their proper tongue. “Strong making power-pain! Small cost, large gain!”

“We need to get you some more practice with our speech.” The leading Warrior jeered at Jaxon. The man in question simply stared back at him blankly, his artificial smile causing their hackles to rise. 

“Thank you for interest, but words too big to catch. You want trade?” Jaxon was speaking slowly, but still failing spectacularly. 

“I have woman!” The Wolfman Warrior called out in equally broken English. “I give to you, whole party gets pain-power!”

“Pain-power, that’s a cute name for Chiropractic care.” Jaxon chuckled lightly, obviously not understanding that he had been saying something similar. He looked at the lady in question, getting a nagging feeling that he had seen her before. Jaxon spoke in their language, trying to haggle. Badly. “Whew! Stink! She worth whole friends getting pain-power?”

“Up to you.” The Wolfman flicked his ears, their version of shrugging. “Either that, or we eat her and pay another way.”

Jaxon hesitated, then looked at the stack of goods he had collected. He looked back at the lady, then the goods, and shrugged helplessly. “I… suppose. Please get in line and lay on the table, there is far more I can do for your bodies on a proper surface.”

The Wolfmen chuffed, knowing they had gotten a good deal out of him. It was very likely that someone would cut down the female human when she was up and moving around again. It was unlikely that she had been coming toward them with good intentions, and the second she acted out or left Jaxon’s side… someone would pounce. Jaxon went fairly quickly with these adjustments; knowing that he was being taken advantage of made him work more forcefully than usual. Yipping and whining were common as he used his glove’s needles less accurately than he could have. Still, the Wolfmen were pleased by the outcome of their deal, and left standing tall.

Jaxon glared at the still form of what he assumed was an assassin type, cracking his knuckles. She would need to pay him back for the rescue and the free care he had needed to give the Wolfmen. He sat down on his table, having no patients waiting, and stared at her as the rain started to pick up. he was under a lean-to, and staying dry, but she was flopped awkwardly on the ground in a slowly growing puddle. Jaxon watched with interest as she regained consciousness; it was very different in this world. Instead of slowly coming around and being confused, her eyes popped open and she hopped to her feet ready to fight. Jaxon saw her wince as what must be a horrible headache arrived.

“Good morning, Sunshine!” Jaxon called to her with a wide smile. He wanted to be friendly with her, but he had really needed the supplies he would have been getting from the Wolfmen. Jaxon had heard a few things about the trip that were making him want to be extra cautious, and bringing enough to satisfy his basic needs would be hard to do if he had to keep giving out freebies.  All of this added up to him being a tish upset that she had been captured. “So… I kept the Wolfmen from eating you while you were asleep, but it cost me quite a bit and I am going to need you to reimburse me.”

Jess reached for her dagger, determined to end this fool even if it took a head-on fight. her palm slapped against her pants, and she went pake instantly. It was gone! Her Graverobber’s Kris! She couldn’t loot his body without it, and losing it was enough to lose her chance at admittance to the guild no matter what she did. “Mother-”

“Hey! Please keep your voice down, you don’t want to… this should be good.” Jaxon shifted around on his seat as the lady turned and ran away from him. she got eight feet before a Warrior appeared out of the rain and loomed over her. It slapped her in the chest at full force with a snarl, sending her tumbling back almost to her starting position, this time gasping for air. “I may not have had a chance to mention that we are in a Wolfman stronghold, and the only reason you are alive is that I bartered for your life. Now, if you want to go back to your spawn point you can try that again. Otherwise, you are going to have to leave with me and find a way back to the humans.”

“Leave with you?” Jess suddenly had hope in her eyes, maybe she could convince him to take her willingly to wherever he was going. If she was able to secure a treasure trove, perhaps the guild would be forgiving about the loss of the dagger. It wasn’t like a rival guild had it, it had been stolen by a Wolfman! “Sorry I tried to run, I freaked out a little. I’m Jess, thank you for saving me.”

“Well! Proper manners!” Jaxon clapped lightly. “Wonderful, I had been thinking that no one remembered that ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ were words still in circulation! They play a game and become unaccountably rude for no reason other than it ‘isn’t real’. You are very welcome, and… perhaps I was a bit hasty in demanding payment. It shouldn’t be required to pay not to be eaten. That should be normal, right? Right.”

Jess started thinking that they had made a huge mistake. Her group had been chasing him because they thought this man had wealth and influence, but up close it was easy to see that his gear was at low durability and he was just intimidating. It was likely that people hadn’t been avoiding him for fear of his social power, they had just been avoiding him! She put her face in her hands. “I know I don’t seem to have much choice, so I’d be happy to wait. If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going?”

She was expecting the worst so his next words made her perk up in abject glee. “Going? Oh. I’m going to a temple that gives out amazing rewards for clearing challenges. I’m not sure if it will be super rare items, skills, classes, or just a river of gold, but it’s only a few days away.”

“Are you messing with me?” She looked at his face, which now only showed uncertain confusion.

“Why would I do that?”

Jess broke into a brilliant smile. “Is there any way that I could work off my debt to you? perhaps you need a travel companion to help keep watch at night?”

“I’m not really into that sort of thing, thanks. I prefer to date and such, I’m not a person who pays for company.” Jaxon smiled at her, but as her face turned red he dropped his smile and appeared startled. “Oh! I apologize! You mean like a party? I can’t do that, sorry, I’m on a solitary quest, and adding anyone to my party will cause me to fail it.”

“Ahem.” Jess cleared her throat and tried again. She needed him to take her along! “If we are just traveling to the same place, not in a party, is that acceptable?”

“No.” Jaxon snapped at her, eyes full of fury. She reeled back, and Jaxon coughed into his hand. “No, I don’t see any reason that wouldn’t work. Sure, let’s be travel buddies!”

“U-um. Okay then.” Jess wasn’t sure what to say; what would set of the freaky man and what would be fine? She had to play it safe, if he discovered that she planned to rob him it would be difficult to escape from the area. Perhaps flattery was the best option to throw him off the trail? “What are you doing here, by the way? How did you get the Wolfmen to respect you enough not to attack you on sight?”

Jaxon’s smile seemed to become flirtatious, and he gestured at the collapsable bed he was sitting on. Or was it a padded table of some kind? “Why don’t you lay down and I’ll show you exactly what I can do for you. You’ll feel better than you have in years.”

“Ah. No, no thanks.” Jess lost any vestige of a smile. How could this filthy man proposition her so blatantly, so publically? Sicko. What a disgusting waste of space. “When are you going to want to leave here?”

“I would say…” Jaxon looked around at the stronghold, which was swiftly beginning to smell like wet dog. He had no interest in seeing what drying dog smelled like here. “As soon as the rain stops?”