🔊 TTS Settings
Teresa Lu was no pushover.
Having grown up as one of six siblings, she’d learned early that to get attention, one had to step forward. When the Lu family needed meat for the kitchen, she was always the one to grab a bow and go hunting with her father. And she’d taken to it like a fish to water.
Teresa had become one of Alik’s best hunters, cultivating the necessary virtues: patience, silence, focus. She had once told Alex that most people think hunting is about putting an arrow through an animal’s eye or heart and dragging the carcass home. Sure, sometimes it is, but most hunting is about watching your prey run into the woods with one of its vessels pierced and then following it. Following the tracks, the blood trail, or the scent if you have hounds, and not losing the trail until you can finally bring it down.
As she said, humans had the greatest stamina of all, and Teresa embodied that truth perfectly.
And now, her sharp gaze was locked on Alex as if he were her quarry. She had fashioned his evasions into arrows, following the bloody trail of excuses he’d left. Now she would follow that trail slowly, quietly, waiting until a weary Alex could protest no more. Then, she would strike.
Teresa spoke again.
“I’m coming with you.”
She had locked the door and was approaching him. Her footsteps made no sound on the floorboards.
“I know what you’re going to say….”
“Okay.”
Alex said quickly.
“Please come. I desperately need your help. Right now.”
He skipped the excuses and chose to walk into the trap himself. The reward was immediate.
Teresa stopped, blinking in surprise as she looked at him. For a second, Alex thought she looked adorable, a stark contrast to the ‘death-stalker’ expression she’d worn moments before.
She pointed at the red orb hovering over his finger.
“I was a little annoyed you hid that from me, but you didn’t make me chase you for it. I’ll let it slide this time.”
Alex shrugged.
“We both know how that would have gone. I’m just too distracted by the potential for priests to kick down the door to ask right now, but later I will ask why…”
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
A sudden, heavy pounding on the door made Alex and Teresa freeze. Their hearts leapt. Had they been discovered already?
A familiar voice called from the other side.
“Teresa! Are you in there?”
Thank the heavens. It wasn’t priests. It was Mr. Lu, Teresa’s father.
The doorframe rattled and shook.
“Why is the door locked? What’s going on in my own house?”
His voice cracked like a whip.
“What are you two doing in there? Alone?”
…Scratch that.
This was worse than priests. Teresa’s face went parchment-white.
“Father? Were you listening at the door?!”
“I followed you!”
Mr. Lu barked a short, sharp laugh.
“I was young once too! I know how this goes! Childhood friend is leaving on a long journey, might never see him again!”
“Father!”
“And who knows who he’ll meet in that big city, right? So. You share your feelings, one thing leads to another… next thing I know, none of my children are married, but I’m already a grandfather!”
Teresa buried her face in her hands, which were now bright red. Alex shouted.
“Wait, Mr. Lu! What you overheard isn’t about that!”
Click.
Teresa and Alex both inhaled sharply, looking at each other in horror.
“Well, if there’s no problem, then I suppose you won’t mind me coming in? Right?”
Mr. Lu’s voice echoed in the dark hallway. Teresa rushed toward the door.
“No, Father! Don’t come in!”
“Aha! I’ve got you, you… you… uh…?”
Mr. Lu’s jaw went slack as his eyes landed on the glowing Mark now hovering over Alex’s shoulder.
Alex’s mouth, once again outside of his control, opened.
“It’s not what you’re thinking… well, it is. It’s exactly what you see.”
Mr. Lu’s face hardened.
“Downstairs. Both of you. Now.”
“It might not be all bad.”
Alex finished his explanation, tapping the Jester’s Mark on his shoulder with a fingertip. The Lu couple and Teresa sat at the kitchen table, having listened quietly as Alex laid everything out. He’d told them everything he’d learned about the Mark.
“It helps me learn. And it doesn’t seem to restrict what I can learn too harshly. I can still use magic. That means there’s a gap in how the Mark interferes.”
Alex licked his lips, dry from the long explanation.
“If I can figure out that gap, maybe I can even turn this power to my advantage. But I need time for that. And following four ‘Champions’ around as their manservant… I’ll never get that time.”
Alex looked up at them, his expression serious.
“So I’ve decided. I’m going to Generasi. And I’m taking Selina.”
Mrs. Lu grasped Alex’s hand firmly.
“Good. We’ll help you.”
She looked at her husband.
“Won’t we, dear?”
Mr. Lu had his hands gripping the edge of the counter so hard his knuckles were white.
“They take your parents, and now they want to take your future too?”
Mr. Lu growled low.
“No. Absolutely not.”
Then he placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“Going alone is dangerous. So take the Lu family’s ‘greatest weapon’ with you.”
Teresa shot her father a sharp look.
“Great-Grandfather’s swords?”
“No. You and Brutus.”
“Ouch!”
Teresa swatted her father’s shoulder.
“Father! I’m the weapon?!”
Alex was already nodding.
“Thank you, Mr. Lu. With this ‘human weapon of mass destruction’ by my side—OW!”
“Alex!”
Teresa puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms.
“I’m offering to leave my family to help you, and you make jokes?”
“Your reactions are funny.”
As Alex said it, the Lu couple nodded in unison.
Mrs. Lu gave her daughter a significant look, then spoke to Alex.
“And honestly, if we don’t joke right now… I think we’ll have to admit how terrified we are.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Gather what you need and go get some sleep.”
“I won’t be able to sleep, Mrs. Lu.”
“You need to conserve your strength.”
Mrs. Lu stated decisively.
“I’ll brew you some sleepy-time tea if I have to. It’ll knock worry and all else right out of you.”
Mrs. Lu was right.
Rushing off unprepared would only increase the chances of getting caught. Even if they woke Selina and slipped out quietly, dragging a sleepy ten-year-old across the kingdom’s border made no sense.
Mrs. Lu promised,
“I’ll wake you at first light. So, up you go now.”
“Alright.”
Alex nodded to Teresa.
“We leave at sunrise.”
The next morning, Alex Roth encountered a monster outside the inn.
A bestial head of enormous size lunged from the shadows. Gleaming, sharp fangs. Eyes flashing with violent instinct. A long canine muzzle filled with knife-like teeth.
Another identical head lunged from the left. And another from the right. Three fierce heads growled, their gazes fixed on Alex, threatening to tear him to shreds at any moment.
With a nervous heart and sleep still clinging to him, Alex carefully drew out a piece of last night’s leftover roasted pork he’d saved.
“Easy, Brutus. Look, I brought a treat. Good boy.”
The three heads, which had been sniffing the air, softened their gaze. Fixated on the meat, all three began to pant and lick their chops in anticipation.
The three heads were attached to one body, a torso as massive as a small horse.
A Cerberus.
Not all monsters in the Kingdom of Tamland were Ravener’s creations. Nature already had its share of dangerous beasts. Among them, the Cerberus was one of the most dangerous, yet also one of the easiest to tame if you knew how to train them and raised them from puppy hood.
When Teresa had found this one, less than three years old, in the woods and brought it home, the Lu couple had been horrified. But the patient young hunter had been stubborn, explaining how useful such a fierce guard dog could be, and had won her parents over. Besides, she’d already named it.
Brutus.
And Brutus, curled in her lap, had been, impossibly, as gentle as a lamb. Cerberu were affectionate to most people.
…Except Alex.
CHOMP!
“Dammit!”
Alex yanked his hand back just in time. Brutus had lunged, trying to snatch the meat, and nearly taken Alex’s fingers with it.
As Alex staggered back, the Cerberus’s two other heads dove for the breakfast. The remaining head, instead of the meat, sniffed at Alex with a smug expression.
Alex shook his head. Another failure.
Most people might have hated the beast. But this was a Cerberus.
How could anyone hate a creature this magnificent?
“I’ll win you over someday. Just you wait.”
Alex glanced down at his own shoulder. A black tunic and a thick wool cloak completely concealed the Mark.
Maybe I can use this Mark to learn dog-training tricks?
“Ready!”
Someone called out.
Alex shook off his fantasy of a well-trained Brutus fetching, rolling over, and playing dead.
Teresa was walking out of the house, holding Selina’s hand. Selina’s face, still rubbing her eyes and yawning, was full of smiles.
“How far is it to the magic city, big brother? Can we get there quick? Do they have lots of magic there?”
Alex smiled at his sister’s questions. He hadn’t told Selina anything about last night yet. He would, once they were safe.
Alex spread his arms wide.
“Super! Super! Far. It’ll take us ages to get there. And from what I hear, it has more magic than anywhere else in the world.”
“Haaaam… okay.”
Selina nodded, yawning again.
Teresa, who had been smiling down at Selina, lifted her gaze to the sky above the rooftops on the horizon.
“Sun’s not up yet.”
She tapped the composite bow slung over her shoulder. A quiver held black-flipped arrows, and a hunting knife at her belt gleamed silver. Her knee-high boots made no sound even as she walked.
“Let’s move before the village wakes.”
As Alex took Selina’s hand and Teresa untied Brutus’s lead, the Lu couple emerged from the inn.
Mrs. Lu looked over the group and sighed a low, wistful sound.
“Really… look at you all, grown up so much. Too fast. It’s all gone too fast.”
She clung to her husband’s arm.
“Be careful. Both of you.”
Her gaze, which had been on her daughter, dropped to a yawning Selina.
“Be careful on the road, and wary of strangers. Desperate times make for desperate people… capable of things you can’t imagine.”
“Aye, it’s the season for brigand kings like Skar to make trouble.”
Mr. Lu added.
“Uther be praised we caught that one. Once you’re out of the kingdom, send word when you can. Now, come here.”
The Lu couple bent down and pulled Teresa, Alex, and Selina into a tight, all-encompassing hug. The warmth enveloping Alex brought a lump to his throat. His eyes grew hot, his vision blurred. This might be the last time.
He hugged them all back as hard as he could.
When it was time to part, the Lu couple’s eyes were also shining with tears. Mrs. Lu’s voice trembled.
“Go on now. Teresa, if you don’t leave before your brothers wake, you’ll never leave.”
Teresa sniffled, then looked down and said quietly,
“Goodbye, Mother… Father. Come on, Brutus.”
CRUNCH.
Brutus’s first head snapped a large bone in his mouth in two. The second head snatched up a piece, and the third licked its chops before trotting after its mistress.
“Goodbye, Mr. Lu, Mrs. Lu. Thank you for everything. You must stay safe, too.”
Alex tightened his grip on Selina’s hand.
“We’ll get there. We’ll all get there.”
With that, Alex shouldered his heavy pack and followed Teresa as she led the way, fervently hoping the promise he’d just made to the Lu family would one day, somehow, come true.
