As Kane was walking back towards the town of Homitage, Alpha at his back,
he saw more and more people walking the roads. Homitage was a decently sized
harbour town located to the east of Kravnje. It housed roughly about thirty to forty
thousand citizens with a decent standard. There weren’t many poor citizens, mainly
because anyone who wanted to work, could actually find something to do and be
payed for it. The group of people Kane just passed by seemed to be some type of
merchants. Their horses were pulling long wagons that were covered by a fabric so
he couldn’t guess what they were carrying. He greeted them as they passed each
other, the merchants shooting them wary glances, hurrying past them to avoid the big
wolf walking just behind him. Kane chuckled and shook his head, loving the wolf
more by the moment. Neither talked to each other, Alpha not as to avoid drawing
attention, Kane to avoid strange stares.
As they walked up to the guard house, just outside the city gates, they
approached but stopped and drew their weapons as they noticed the big wolf.
''Is that your wolf?'' One of the guards asked, stepping a meter closer than the
others. He must be the guards captain, but Kane wasn't impressed at the sight of
him. He stepped up to the captain and looked into his eyes.
''Yes he is. Any problem with that, captain?'' Kane asked, rather sarcastically.
The captain gave him a nasty look, as if talking to a beggar. The fear, however, didn't
leave his face and Kane knew it. The anger on the captain's face grew and he looked
like he would explode. Luckily for him,he just turned around and waved him off,
sticking out his hand, palm down. The universal gesture for bribe. Kane shook his
head slightly, took a piece of silver out of his satchel and put it into the captain's
hand, closing his hand around the captains and squeezing. Kane was disgusted by
the corrupted officials, but he had to play their little game. For a while longer that is.
As Kane and Alpha walked under the castle gate, a busy atmosphere replaced
the previous. The streets were full of people, workers, merchants, servants, horses
and other animals. Alpha walked up beside Kane and sent mental note.
''Can i eat them?'' He asked with a hint of anticipation. Kane stopped in his
track and stared at Alpha in amazement.
''Ofcourse not! You can't eat just anything you like, you stupid wolf'' Kane
yelled. The crowd around him stopped and stared at him. ''What?!'' Kane yelled and
stomped forward, heading to the guild house. The guild house was located at the far
end of the town, at the harbour. The reason being that Kane was going there without
first stopping by at his own home was to gather the money the kill would bring him.
He had gathered some parts that were in extreme demand and would probably net
him a months pay hunting smaller game. As he was walking through the streets with
Alpha walking behind him, the gasps nor the staring seemed to stop. Everyone
noticing the wolf behind him stopped and gaped at the big wolf who was trailing him.
Kane smiled inwardly, glad about the envy the others felt for him.
As they walked up to the guild house, Kane stopped just in front, searching for
something with his eyes. He took a moment to appreciate the sheer beauty of the
building every time he visited. It was just marvelous. The guildhouse looked like a
miniature castle with a keep. There was a one meter moat dug around it, six towers
and the gate. The gate looked far heavier than it was, and he could easily lift it
himself, but he never longed to show off his strength, it would just attract problems,
problems he didn’t need right now. Kane and Alpha crossed the little bridge and
through the big door into the guildhouse.
There were about forty people scattered around the guild room, most drinking
at the bar, a few sitting at the lounge and some delivering items and cashing them in.
After the door slammed close behind them the whole room became silent as a grave.
Everyone was staring at them, some were whispering between themselves. Kane
strode casually towards the exchange as if nothing was amiss. Alpha stopped a
meter behind him, sitting on his bottom, his head swiveling around, checking for
trouble which never came.
‘’I would like to exchange these items’’ Kane said as he threw down the pieces
of the greptodon which were valuable. The exchange clerk looked at him, baffled. Not
knowing what to do he ran off and a few moments later the manager came waltzing
behind him. When he saw who it was his tension evaporated but renewed upon
seeing the wolf sitting behind him.
‘’Mister Kane, what a pleasure to see you today. I see you have found some…
company?’’ he managed to utter after a few unpleasurable moments later. Kane just
smiled and nodded his head.
‘’The money, would you?’’ Kane added. The manager, a thick, short man with
a large mustache bowed three times in succession, hurriedly and motioned for the
clerk to open the door and let Kane in. Kane was unsure of how to proceed but
decided to follow the short man into his private office. Alpha stood up but waited in
front of the door, pacing around impatiently. Kane just sent him a mental wait for me
and Alpha sat down again, yawning. It was a few long moments before the crowd
went back to semi normal. Chatter sprang up again slowly, but the topic were Kane
and his new companion.
‘’Please take a seat’’ said the manager as they entered the room. Kane did so
and even poured himself a drink, which the manager frowned to but didn’t say
anything. He took his seat opposite Kane and put one hand into the other. He put up
a fake smile and started. ‘’These items are of high value. Would you care to tell me
how you got them?’’ Kane frowned, annoyance showing on his face.
‘’I killed a greptodont. That is how i got them’ he said with a strong voice. The
manager almost flinched at the power behind Kane’s words, but did good to hide it.
‘’Please, forgive me. There have been others who had claimed similar things
but brought us stolen goods. We do know that you are our esteemed customer, but
still, when it involves such outrageous numbers we have to make sure, you
understand, yes?’’ the thick man said hurriedly. Kane lifted one eyebrow and asked
in return.
‘’How outrageous?’’ and leaned back on his seat. The guild manager put on a
sly smile and replied.
‘’We have a request for the item at a thousand gold coins. Even a finders fee
for my poor self, of ten gold coins if the item is delivered within time’’ he said openly.
Kane barely managed to hide his shock and awe. A thousand gold coins? That was
more than he had made for all these years combined. His total savings were two
hundred and seventy five gold coins and three hundred silver coins. Who would have
posted such an outrageous amount for greptodon ingredients? The king? He laughed
inwardly, maybe that would be his ticket inside, to finally do what he longed for all this
time.
‘’When will i receive the money?’’ Kane asked calmly.
‘’As soon as you give me the ingredients i will hand out your money, mister
Kane’’ the manager said, touching his mustache in a sadistic manner. How irritating
and ugly for a sight that made, Kane thought to himself.
‘’Show me the money, manager’’ Kane said, putting the items in front of him
on the table. The managers eyes became golden coins, Kane would have sworn if he
hadn’t known better. The money reflected in them as soon as the manager saw the
items. He stood up and went over to a vault, turned a few valves in opposite
directions and the vault opened. The manager walked in and took out two big bags
which he laid out in front of Kane.
‘’Here you go. Pleasure doing business with you, as always’’ the manager
said, going for the items.
‘’Not so fast. Let me count the gold first and see if its the real thing. Something
about this deal seems off. I assume you have no issue against it?’’ Kane said as he
pushed away the managers hands. The manager showed a face of incredulity, insult
and outrage at the same time. But he nodded and sat back down. Kane took one of
the bags and turned it over on the table, examining the heap and biting into random
gold coins to see if it really was gold. The first bag counted exactly five hundred
pieces and every piece tested was real. Kane then turned over the second bag and
poured the coins onto the table as well. Much to his surprise, three poisonous snakes
were also a part of the bag and they immediately went for him, launching themselves
towards him, mouth open, fangs out. Luckily for him, his reflexes were out of this
world and he never had problems dodging anything, so this was also not an issue for
him. He grabbed the snakes in midair and hurled them at the manager, who
squealed like a pig as the snakes injected their deadly poison into his bloodstream.
Mere moments later, the bites became blue and the area around the bites went from
a light to a dark blue colour within the minute. The poor manager first started
breathing heavily and then convulsing, throwing up all over himself as he choked on
his vomit and died. Guards came running into the room, weapons raised. Kane just
put up his hands and kept sitting on the chair, not moving a muscle as not to
provoke the soldiers. He could easily take them out, but it wasn’t in his own interest
to make a scene here. He rather liked the harbour town and enjoyed its women even
more. One of the guards came over and examined the dead manager and at that
exact moment a crash was heard from the vault. The guards turned towards it and
approached it slowly. The words that followed were a shock for everyone present.
‘’Guild master?’’ the guards yelled at the same time. Kane looked over and to
his surprise, the guildmaster was laying sprawled on the floor, his hands and feet tied
up, a gag in his mouth. ‘’Untie him, hurry up!’’ one guard yelled to the other. What a
fuss, Kane thought to himself. And all i wanted here was just my money.
Some half an hour later, Kane was sitting in the guild masters office, across
from the guild master who looked better than half an hour ago.
‘’You sure saved me, mister Kane. I have no idea how to ever repay you’’ he
said. Kane bowed slightly and smiled.
‘’No need to thank me, i honestly was just protecting myself. I am glad that the
circumstances were as they were, otherwise i might have found myself in quite the
mess, guild master’’ Kane replied. ‘’I rather like to avoid trouble, but i do not mind
getting into trouble if it means helping others, or in this case, the whole guild.
Speaking of which, what happened?’’ Kane asked sincerely. The guild master leaned
his old back to the leaning chair and sighed.
‘’The greptodont ingredients really are worth the money he told you. When i
told the manager about the request we had gotten, he put me out stone cold, as his
clerk had entered the room we were sitting in, tied me up and put me into the vault.
I… am getting old, my dear child. I trusted the wrong person and that was it. That is
the whole story, nothing fancy. I am damn happy that you were the one bringing the
items and not some scoundrel or i would have been dead for sure and he gone with
the money’’ the guildmaster explained.
‘’What stopped him from just taking the money and leaving with it?’’ Kane
asked in return.
‘’You see, anyone leaving the guild house gets checked. The employees get
checked even worse than the manager or me. No one can bring out such a quantity
of money and be employed at this place without a very strict document. He couldn’t
get it as i have to be the one to put it together. No one even knows it exists, hence
there is your answer’’ the guild master replied.
‘’I see. The amount would be too big for him to be available to carry out of her
by himself, and if he had tried to, there would have been a reckoning. But i still don’t
get why he tried to kill me. Obviously, he would have had the same problem’’ Kane
replied.
‘’Not really. He might have said you tried to kill him but got bitten instead and
he automatically inherits whatever you have here at the guild. A guild managers word
weighs a lot, so we probably would have believed him. How wrong i was. The greed
of mankind weighs heavy on this world shoulders’’ the old man said and sighed,
drooping his head and shoulders. ‘’Maybe the Gods left us for that reason, among a
few others. We are a hungry, selfish, greedy, warmongering breed. All we desire is
this world’s pleasures. Of course, not every single one of us is like that, but most are.
Please, forgive this old man’s ramblings. It is not every day i get to talk to people,
especially those willing to listen’’ he finished and stood up, holding his hand out.
Kane sent him a warm smile and took his hand, standing up.
‘’Thank you for sharing your wisdom, guild master, and for explaining what had
happened. I am glad i was of service and even more that it saved someones life.
Now, if you would excuse me, i have a lot of gold to spend’’ Kane said and laughed,
taking the gold bags with him. He waved once more to the old man and left the room.
Alpha was silently awaiting his return at the entrance. Again, upon his entry the room
went quiet. He didn’t give it any thought as he walked out of the guild house, Alpha
following him closely.
‘’What now?’’ Alpha asked.
‘’Now, my new friend, we go celebrate’’ Kane said and laughed out loud. ‘’I will
buy you the biggest cow or bull or whatever you would like to eat, and as for myself, i
will eat and drink until i die.