Book 2. Chapter 2

“Tell me everything,” Adrian ordered more than asked.

Dave sighed heavily. “It started two nights ago, but we realised this morning.  We are pretty sure we are safe here.” Dave paused as if to invite questions, but Adrian stayed quiet. There were lots of questions that he could have asked, but it was better to let Dave express himself. “Umm. They are brewing some smelly stuff that is poisonous to it. Here and a couple of other buildings have had walls and roofs painted with it. It should protect most of the center of town.” He paused. “I am surprised it attacked as close as it did, we might need to double check the recipe we are using. Umm.”

Adrian knew that his own impatience must have been making the young man nervous. “Just slow down.”

“All the magic users are coming here. Umm. We bought specialised knowledge.  It claims Lucu’s only hunts at night. Umm. It nests underground. We have had search parties out all day but haven’t found it yet. Umm.”

“How did you find out about it.?”

“Oh,” Dave’s face fell. “Two nights ago it killed Mark Reynolds.”

“Lightning Mark?”

Dave nodded.  “And last night Audrey Collins,”

“I don’t know her,” he said by reflex, thinking only about Mark. A man whose friend died in the first moments of the event who had then got furious revenge on his friend’s killer. Basically electrocuting the river to guarantee vengeance.

“After Mark, we knew something was out there, but we did not know what. When it attacked Audrey, there were witnesses. It cost thirty thousand energy to get detailed information.”

“You can do that?”

“Yes, and no.” Dave paused again. “They bought a memory stone about urban monsters. That was eighteen thousand energy. From that they identified that a Lucu was the most likely fit.  Then they bought a specialised stone around how to kill Lucu’s. From that they worked out we were facing a Tackma, which is one of the weaker ones.”

“Mark’s really dead?” he asked dumbstruck, completely ignoring the fact that the Lucu he faced had been weak. He did not want to confront just how powerless they were against these new monsters.

“Yes,”

“Damn,” he had already been in a strange mood. Emotions flying all over the place and now. Collapsing down to the floor, unsure how to process the feeling. And it had come for him.

Dave squatted down beside him. “I am sorry.”

“I just need a moment.”

Mind was blank. Should there be tears or anger or something else? What society demanded did not matter, everything was blank. Bird threat ended and then another one was coming.

“The Lucu Ward potion will protect us and we will find its nest and kill it.”

This creature mates for life and when it has young, it will voraciously defend its territory, hunting down and assassinating the strongest magic users in the area relying on physical prowess to beat its victims.

All it was doing was defending its young. Maybe sapient, though, maybe not.

God damn it.

Forcing the choice. It was a human killer.

There is no god.

How could there be a god? Not a question to answer. Mark was dead. Yeah, he was old, but he was still a person. Who was Audrey? Not something he wanted to ask. There was no need to have another person to mourn.

“You are safe here.”

It is not about me. The sharp retort died unspoken in his throat. Safety mattered, he needed to get to Melbourne.

“The town will handle it.” Dave continued quietly. “The Lucu is only a minor annoyance. The Bird was an extreme one.”

Minor! Two people are dead.

In this new reality, two people were minor. Three weeks ago he had been lucky and had only attended three funerals for grandparents. No one close to him had ever died and now…

Dave still squatted next to him, a hand on his shoulder.

“I am a mess,” he told him.

“Everyone is,” Dave said, “I just do my duty, do my best, put on a brave face. Don’t for a moment think that anyone is any different.” There was a long silence as they were both lost in their internal contemplations. The noise of celebratory drinking washed over them as they sat in the foyer out of sight. Everyone was so happy. The Lucu was not a threat to most of them, but it had targeted him.   “I know it is scary but till you leave Wagga we will make sure you are safe. We have safe houses that even a Lucu can not breach, even if the potion fails.  Then once we find the nest, we will kill it.  You will not need to do a thing.”

“I know,” the emptiness and despair was rolling back. Maybe it was Dave’s words, or maybe sustaining the emotional level was too much.

“It is the town's problem.”

“I know”

“You have done so much for us and everyone needs to unwind occasionally”

It was true, years of project management had taught him the value of a wonderful party. People could only sustain intense focus for so long, they needed a chance to unwind. Himself included.

“You have been flogging yourself and the Bird’s dead now. Relax, drink, be merry. The petty annoyance of Lucu will be dealt with soon.” The words were so soothing, but Adrian was sure that even Dave thought they were empty promises. Reluctantly he stood and for the sake of everyone else tried to release the tension as he entered the dining room proper.

“Adrian,” Jules screamed from across the room while jumping up.  She silenced the entire room.  There were almost a hundred people packed in and everyone’s eyes turned to where he stood in the entranceway. The babble of cheerful conversation died. The clink of a single server moving a plate echoed.  Jules was the only one moving as she ran and threw herself at him, encompassing him in a big hug.

Then everyone cheered.

The entire team was there; Kozzie, Susie, Graham and then on a different table Sally and her team. He spotted Lucas on a third table and Rupa on a fourth.   Enormous platters of meat were everywhere, along with vegetables, even chips and bread and dozens of bottles of wine.

Steve grabbed his arm again and guided him towards the table that Jules had come from. A small amount of tension had drained from his face. “Do you want a beer?” Steve asked. “Safe zone,” he reminded Adrian, seeing the momentary hesitation.

Adrian held up the flask that Sam had gifted him in answer.  Steve's eyes widened a bit when he recognised the bottle.

“Splendid stuff,” he said, then curiously patted Adrian on the back before wandering over to Sally’s table. Probably was going to report on the Lucu. Sally looked more relaxed than previous times he had seen her, but she was still tense. He wondered how many other issues like the Lucu weighed down on her.

“Grab some food,” Graham instructed “and eat it quickly.  I have already told all these clowns to give you space.  I reckon you've got about an hour till they've had a couple of drinks and they forget that and swarm you.  So enjoy the next bit.”  He gave him a wink.

“You are my hero,” Susie said, fluttering her eyelashes “you have saved the town.”

Rolling his eyes, he sat on the offered chair. Insides were still trembling, and he kept having minor flashbacks of the Bird and now as just as often the Lucu. Putting on his best pleasant professional smile, he had been there in the past. At a party stressed about his personal life but needing to put that aside to make sure the rest of the team enjoyed themselves. Like it or not, he needed to put the game face on. Everyone else needed it.

The table had an amazing selection, but his eyes were on the cut roasted meats.  The fatty cuts looked divine. There were tongs but.. The meat looked like it cooled enough.

The meat was hot and slimy as he grabbed it and filled his plate, before shoving a choice piece into his mouth.  It was delicious. His stomach rumbled.

“Bird,” Graham told him, knowledgeably.  “Like fatty pig just better.”

“Everyone said it was going to taste like chicken,” Kozzie told him. “They were so wrong.”

“It is good,” Adrian told them,shoving another piece into his mouth, after all his hands were already covered in animal juices so there was no point using cutlery now.

“And enough to feed the town,” Graham told them. He left for Sally’s table.

“You know,” Kozzie said, “you are going to have to tell us your account from the battle. Graham's is blabbering about the noise but has no details.  Apparently he was cowering in the mine the whole time.”

Everyone laughed and Susie's face was flushed.  She was drunk, and that reminded him of what Sam had passed him.

He grabbed the basic book of magic traps “I got you a present.”  He said to Susie, “please read it now.”

“So?” Kozzie asked.

“Not till after I have eaten.” He was also eager to see Susie’s reaction to the new knowledge.

Susie had another gulp of wine and opened the book.  Her mouth went slack as the book glowed.