B1 Chapter 10 - Shelter girls

My arms were like jelly, I thought as I entered the shelter, my bag was stuffed with my yellow dress and the writing materials the guild master gave me. I was happy for the free materials, but I seriously needed a bigger bag. Hmm, oh wait. Jackson was planning to walk with me, wasn’t he? Oh well, I guess we never discussed when I got off work.

Nancy waved as I approached. “We've been waiting for you. Dinner is ready.”

“I ate while I was out, so I will pass,” I said, lying.

“Nope. You gotta make room for this meal, we are celebrating,” she added.

Frick. “Okay, but after dinner I gotta do some homework. You’d like the guild master. He wants me to write up a report of the shelter girls so I can give him more details. He is concerned the slavers are changing behaviors.”

“Hmm, Zach is finally making a move?” she said as she placed a finger on her chin. “He is more of a watcher most of the time. I guess he is still only just watching. But I suppose, anything is a blessing.”

“You have known each other a long time?” I asked.

“You could say that,” she said, looking away. “Let us just say I am not surprised he asked you to take reports over coming here himself.”

Well, if that wasn’t a loaded statement. “So what’s for dinner?”

“You’ll see,” she said, taking me to the big study room. It was big enough to fit almost everyone. I think it was originally a mess hall. But most girls usually ate wherever they wanted, so it was odd to be taken there to see everyone.

The atmosphere was more lively than usual. Emily clapped. “The meat bringer!”

Huh? Jackson brought the meat, though.

Everyone cheered at Emily's comment, and I sat down, and my heart froze for a moment. A baked potato, butter, and chives. Next to it was a decently sized steak slice. I take it, wolf steak.

Nancy set a bowl of salt next to my plate. “Not sure how much salt a lady from Rumora would want.”

I just hugged her.

“Oh my,” she said, patting my head. “That was a bit more than I expected.”

“Are there any left?” I asked.

“Oh? How come?”

“I’d love to take a few to the guild girls tomorrow for work,” I said.

“I don’t have any more now, but I’ll buy some more soon, okay?”

“Thanks,” I said.

She poured some milk into a glass for me. “Tonight, let us feast. Tomorrow, we return to rations.”

All the girls cheered. Though the kids with them cheered the loudest.

I took a bite. It tasted just like I remembered it back on the farm. Maybe better? Creamy, warm, and just a perfect accompaniment to the meat. Life was certainly good. If Nancy made enough. Perhaps I would sneak to the forest and see if Bethany, Brandon, and my mother wanted one. I bet she’d get a kick out of how this tastes. But that would have to wait until tomorrow.

Post dinner, I counted all the people. Forty-one adults, if you include me and Nancy. Twelve children as well. With Wendy being the only girl to have two children, Wilfried and Wanda. Of the children, we had five girls and seven boys, with the oldest being thirteen years old named Fred. He was healthy, wanted to work, but was a bit too young to be hired by anyone local. Not with a poor background. The best he could currently do was be the boy who did stuff like chop firewood.

Before Brandon’s disappearance, he was the next oldest boy at eleven. Even the youngest could walk and talk, with the exception of Kelly’s son, Keith. He was only seven months old himself.

I noticed something else while making notes: the girls seemed more lively than usual. We had cake the other day to celebrate, and cake and potatoes today? I wonder if the good meals were having an effect? The kids, in particular, were actually running around a bit. Though the mothers seemed to scold them for wasting energy.

I made my way to the room to rest a bit. I had the next day off, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t busy. I wanted to copy these notes I took for the guild master, just in case I had to turn them in. I wanted a copy for my mother.

***

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“You awake, Alexis?” Nancy said next to my curtain. I had been up for a while, but I was just resting today. The main thing to do was to get more information on the other girls and take that it to the guild master, and I couldn’t do that until they woke up.

“Yeah, I’m up. Something up?” I asked.

“Samatha, Tabitha, and Jackie are planning to go to the forest today. I thought you may like to go with them.”

“The forest, what for?” I asked.

“Tons of stuff, firewood, edible plants, and sometimes a lucky herb worth selling,” she said.

“Oh, right, I guess that was dumb of me,” I said, getting up. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go, but I don’t have a knife.”

“I got a few,” Nancy said, holding one out.

“You keep knives on you?” I asked.

“Course. I am a woman of the cloth after all. Always carry at least four. Two of which are blessed, so they do extra damage to demons. And one of my blessed ones is specifically blessed to identify and hurt succubi.”

“Magic weapons can identify monster races?” I asked, shocked.

“Yep, but they are rare. These I brought with me from Drachenlict. I haven’t seen any items like this locally.”

I let out a breath. “Interesting. So, I take it you handed me a normal knife?”

She nodded. “This is Slime Valley, not Drachenlict. Demons seem to rarely spawn in this area. Though my teacher said she once killed a leshy before, but that was before I even met her.”

A leshy? Yikes. That was on the same level as a succubi, way more than I can handle.

“The worst the forest has near here is the occasional dire wolf, but they are pretty rare themselves.”

I gripped the knife tightly. “Got it.”

“Mind if I go to?” Emily asked.

Nancy hesitated a bit.”I dunno.”

“I won’t get lost this time! I swear!” Emily added.

Nancy looked at me.

“Maybe next time, it is my first time, once I get a better lay of the area, I’ll take you,” I said.

Emily jumped up and down. “Sweet.”

“In the meantime, shouldn’t you be studying with Nancy?” I asked.

“Frick. Yeah,” she said, deflated. Boy, that girl was all over the place emotionally.

“They are out front if you are ready,” Nancy added. “Please be careful. Even the safest forest can be dangerous.”

Outside, I saw the three girls. They had some wicker baskets and grabbed a fourth for me. I saw everyone last night, but seeing them next to each other really helped paint them as a bit different. They seemed to be the three biggest girls at the shelter. Tabitha was the smallest of the three and had red hair. Samantha was the biggest with short blonde hair, and Jackie had black hair.

“So, do you girls usually go to the forest?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Tabitha said. “Food had been a bit shorter lately, so we were extra tired, but the past few nights have been good.”

“So, is there a method to the madness?” I asked. I grew up as a farm hand. I wasn’t against working, but I had never gone foraging before.

“I usually get firewood,” Samantha said.

“I know what greens and berries are edible,” Tabitha said.

“I don’t have a specialty,” Jackie said with a grin. “I just collect anything that looks useful. I was thinking of going to the river today. Might try and see if I can spear a fish or two.”

Hmm. If nothing else, at least I can carry some things. I guess firewood too.

The forest to the south of town was pretty quiet. We split up once we reached the forest. The plan was to meet up by the main gate once the sun was directly overhead. More of a safety check on each other, more than anything else.

I walked around seeing if anything caught my eye. Eventually, I came to a spot with lots of nice wood. So I used my knife to carve it into more manageable pieces for the basket. I was actually getting quite a lot. It was a while before noon still, and my basket was full. I was still cutting up some firewood. I could carry it in my arms after all. I occasionally took a break to eat some berries. I didn’t know if they were poisonous or not, but poison immunity was another gift from my mother. So I wasn’t particularly worried.

When I cut up more wood than I could carry, I decided to just head back to the gate. The other three girls were already there, but looking at the sun, I thought I was early. Oh well.

“Wow! So much! Even more than Samantha,” Tabitha said. “You can put some in my basket. The edibles don’t take up much space.”

“Any luck?” I asked Jackie. “I got some clay and two fish. I picked some smooth rocks and firewood as well.”

“A good haul, everyone up for another trip?” Samantha asked.

I nodded. I could keep going. I could always do my homework later on after dinner.

The girls looked a bit tired, well, except Samantha. We dropped off our load, and Nancy informed me that Jackson was looking for me. I guess I didn’t mention I was off work today. She told him what I was doing. So it was all fine.

I had just about finished filling up my second basket when I heard a scream. Running over to the sound. I found Tabitha on the ground and a wolf nearby. Crap. She was bleeding too. I jumped between the two of them, and the wolf pounced at me. I caught it by the throat. This was risky; if it were a dire wolf, it could probably out-muscle me. Yet it squirmed in my grip.

“Just a normal wolf this time?” I asked. It just flailed and kicked. I headbutted it and it fell to the ground, bleeding from its skull.

“Alexis?” Tabitha asked. “How…”

“Shh,” I said, looking at her. Blood was pooling around her fast. “Crap. I don’t think I can stop the bleeding. But… I can help. I need to take you to my mother,” I said. “Do you trust me?”

She nodded as her eyes began closing. Okay. Gotta freaking move! She didn’t have much time. Plus, I couldn’t risk being seen. It took only about three minutes to reach the cave where my mother was staying. Please, hold on, I thought as I felt Tabitha’s pulse weakening.