Hat Trek: On the Road
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2021 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  technicolorpie, color by  marmelmm

Prompt: adventure

Whistle Belly Vengeance reference courtesy of  mercmarten



“Going back in?” Fuji asked.

Meredith nodded. “I need to see what’s going on before I send this to Varan,” and the mare sat down as her padd accessed the game module, aware that the Komodo monitor was looking on.


***


The terrain had been changing as they moved northwest, away from the elephant village and Mausheim. The Kurwood Derby sat in its box, with neither the paladin nor the mage willing to risk putting the hat on again until they had the counter to it. The trees were thinning out and the path they were making snaked its way uphill amid rocky crags and clumps of furze-bushes.

Meredith pushed aside some undergrowth and paused. “’Ik, lir demef,” she said to Varan. “Come take a look at this.”

“What is – ernh,” the vir said as she joined the mare.

Stretching out ahead of them was a road, easily four meters across and composed of smooth stones mixed with a binding agent. They had emerged from the woods at a bend in the road, and it appeared to head directly east in one direction and to the northwest in the other.

Varan stepped over to the side of the road and prodded the surface with her staff, eliciting a thunk of wood against stone. “Appears solid enough,” she remarked. “So, which way?”

“We were headed northwest earlier, so let’s keep going and we’ll see what’s going on,” Meredith said as she saved the game. Saving frequently had saved them no end of trouble in the past. “At least it’s fairly level.”

“Your hooves bothering you?” Varan asked.

“Not too bad, but if we find a city, I need to see a farrier.”

The road’s curve eventually evened out and became almost ruler-straight, still heading northwest as the forest thinned out and finally disappeared altogether, replaced by low shrubs and grass. Several hours later, with the sun starting to go down, the road still hadn’t deviated from its course by the time the pair had stopped to make camp for the night.

“Any idea where we’re going?” Meredith asked as she added some dry grass to the fire. The sun had gone down, and the sky was filled with stars, although not in any discernible pattern that the Terran or the Kashlanin could recognize.

Varan summoned her map and studied it. “There’s Mausheim, and the elephant’s village . . . too much of the map’s still obscured to have any idea what’s ahead of us,” and she closed the map, folding it carefully before stowing it in her bag. She peered into the distance, her feline pupils dilating. “But we might not be too far away.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.” The mage cast a brief cantrip, wrapping the fire in darkness before pointing down the road. “See it now?”

Meredith squinted. “Glowing haze. City lights; I’ve seen my parent’s home arcology from the mountains, and it glows like that at night.”

Varan grinned as she released the cantrip and the fire brightened. “We should be there tomorrow,” as she lay back and wrapped herself in her cloak. Her fingers moved, warding the perimeter to warn both of them of any intruders or threats as Meredith, too, bedded down for the night.

As the sun rose the next day, the pair ate some of the food in their packs before extinguishing the fire and setting off down the road at an easy pace. They had gone perhaps a mile before Meredith’s ears swiveled. “Someone’s coming, from behind us.” The mare and the vir turned, and both of them blinked.

The approaching creature had a wolf’s head, fur and tail, but it loped along on a quadrupedal body that had an upright torso. Leather straps crisscrossed the muscular chest, and the wolf’s paws held the straps as it jogged along the road at a steady pace on its four feet. Seated on the wolftaur’s back was a fox with sandy light-brown fur and huge ears.

The unlikely pair came to a halt facing Varan and Meredith, and the fox said, “Well, what’ve we got here, Suve?”

“Dunno, Fox,” the odd wolf said. “’Owdy, strangers. Ya’ll new ‘round here?”

“Yes, we are,” Varan said guardedly.

Meredith made introductions, one paw on the hilt of her sword in case it was needed. “Are you headed to the city in the distance?”

“Sure am, Ma’am,” the fennec replied cheerfully. “Name’s Fox, and this here’s Suve.”

“’Suve?’”

“Yeah,” and Fox scratched the wolftaur between his ears. “He weren’t born with no name, but I call him Suve on account o’ he’s always got four on the floor.” He threw his head back and laughed.

Meredith and Varan exchanged looks. Varan asked, “Can you tell us anything about our destination?”

“That’d be Ottokar City,” Fox said. He grinned and sang:

“Take me down to Ottokar City
Where the traffic’s fast and the girls are witty!”

Suve merely smirked. “Life’s like this highway. Sometimes you gotta ride it.”

“Sure, but all night long?” Fox countered. “I don’t think you stopped at all.”

“Was hittin’ mah stride, Fox.”

“Well, nobody can hold you down, friend.” Fox chuckled, plucking a canteen from a pannier on Suve’s back and taking a drink. He winced and shook all over, making his ears flap. “Hoo-ee! That’s good Whistle Belly Vengeance, there, that is! You lovely ladies wanna belt?”

“Um, no thanks,” Meredith said. “Can you tell us if the Sacred Car Park is in Ottokar City?”

Fox nodded. “Yep!” he said, but added nothing after that. Some of the characters in the game were like that, withholding information until the player had reached it.

It could get irritating.

“Well, since you’re headed in the same direction we are,” Meredith said, “you’re welcome to travel with us.”

“Why, that’s right kind of you, Ma’am,” Fox said. “Ain’t that neighborly of her, Suve?”

“Eeyup.”

“Gets a mite lonely out here from time to time,” Fox said as they all started walking again. “Life, ya see, is a highway. Best you can do is ride it.”

“All night long,” Suve added.

They walked throughout the day and made camp as the sun went down again. “We’ll reach the city tomorrow,” Varan judged.

“Yep,” Fox said. Now that he was on his own feet, the fennec barely came up to Meredith’s waist, not counting his ears. The vulpine walked over to Suve and carefully removed his panniers and harness, caressing the wolftaur’s fur with his paws before looking up at him.

“’Owdy, Fox,” Suve said.

“Wanna fuck, Suve?” the fennec asked, stepping through the bushes as he moved away from the hard surface.

The wolftaur looked a little confused. “Why don’t we do it in the road?”

Fox shook his head. “Not in front of the paladin, she might get the wrong idea.”

The two loped off into the darkness. “I already have the wrong idea,” Meredith chuckled.

Varan laughed softly. “As long as they don’t make too much – “ Her ears flattened as a high-pitched, drawn-out howl split the quiet night “ – noise.”