269: Mistake
I quickly dished it out to everyone, making sure to give Lily the largest piece, but with Huling, Gilain, Liane and Hari, there was absolutely nothing left. I was glad that Milo had created the two-house system again so I wouldn’t have the merchants staring at us.
The pie itself was great; the pastry had admittedly gone a little soggy on the bottom, but it was still rich in flavour. The sauce wasn’t too runny and coated everything perfectly, while the hare remained perfectly tender.
“So much better than jerky!” I heard Gilain mutter.
I was half expecting him to mention the buffs, but nothing. Maybe he didn’t notice?
I supposed that would make sense. If you didn’t know you should be looking for it, you likely wouldn’t. Also, how often would someone his level actually check the status screen?
That thought was dashed when Jen practically leapt to her feet with her plate in hand.
“This is perfect for me! Tell me we can make more!” She looked straight at me.
“I have plenty of hare stock left, but that was my last voidscale hare. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for some other dexterity-based creature though,” I explained.
The conversation seemed to have prompted Gilain to look at his stats, his eyes going wide before he went back to a passive expression.
“I see, it’s making more sense,” he muttered.
I expected him to ask a question, but he just carried on eating, looking down, and to no surprise, Lily had already finished her section of pie, and was eyeing off the berry tarts, of which I gave her two.
I was surprised when Liane got to the berry tarts next and scrunched up her face.
“Don’t like it?” I asked.
I tried the mixture myself before I added it to the tart, and it didn’t seem that bad. The ruby drop wasn’t overly sweet and greatly mellowed out the tart flavour from the frost cherries. It certainly wasn’t my best work, but I wasn’t expecting Liane of all people to not like it.
Placing it back down, she laughed, “Not your best work on that one, Trev.”
“Is the ruby drop so bad?” I asked.
“It’s not that; the pastry tastes like meat. It’s just not right,” she said.
As I looked around, others moved on to their desserts: Gilain and Hari both downed it in a single bite, happily eating it, while Jen and Milo, both having seen Liane put hers down, were scooping out the berry mixture and ignoring the pastry.
“You can’t use savoury pastry on a sweet dessert, Trev,” Jen added with a laugh.
Liane, seeing the other two scooping out the berry mix, went to do the same, and just in time as well; I noticed a certain paw was getting closer to the tarts left on the ground.
When I finally took a bite myself, I understood the problem: it wasn’t even that it was just meaty; it made the sweetness from the sugar feel wrong, and there was a coating in the mouth that just felt bad.
I happily gave my own tart to Lily; I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
While all this had been happening, I had barely noticed that Crisplet had been studying the puzzle some more, even getting the box I had given to Jen that contained all the other designs.
Shortly after dinner, Huling appeared next to me, scratching Lily.
“Thank you for dinner, young Trevor.”
“You’re welcome any time,” I said.
“Sylvy mentioned the human king is giving you control over the forest to stop people destroying it,” Huling said.
“I’ll try, though I’ve only been to the one town so far,” I explained.
“You’ll need to come back after your trip to the north then.” Huling seemed to consider.
“Yeah, although it’s going to be a difficult goal. I can’t stop the creatures in the forest attacking the towns after all, nor the forest itself from overtaking the cities,” I explained.
This was a concern I’d been having because it was all fine telling the cities not to touch the dark forest, but what about when it finally encroached on the town itself?
“I think I know some people who could help with that. Lily doesn’t like them much because they were too nice towards humans,” Huling laughed.
“Is that why she likes you?” Liane asked with a grin.
“We shared a lot in common until young Trevor showed up and turned her into a city cat,” Huling joked.
Lily let out a low growl, but Huling didn’t even flinch.
“After your trip, come back to the forest and I will introduce you to Silas. I believe the dryads will be more than happy to work with you to control the forest and work out something, provided the humans keep their side of the deal,” Huling said happily.
“That’s the part I’m worried about,” I laughed.
“Just tell them if they enter they’ll die; the forest will do the rest.” Huling clearly didn’t see it as the same problem.
“That’s the problem though: what if the forest gets close to town and a child accidentally gets too close?” I asked.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Is the same mercy shown if a wolf cub approaches a town?” Huling countered.
I just shook my head. “I want to have a barrier or a clearing of sorts between the city and the forest, a no man’s land if you like. It’s a pity Sylverith couldn’t set up her wards.”
“The forest is much too large for that, for even someone as powerful as Sylverith,” Liane commented.
Huling nodded in agreement. “Or it would already be done. I shall return to my den for the night, but I will see you again before you’ve passed the forest. Think on it, Trevor, and if you agree, I will set up the meeting. I also think Lily should take you to visit her home one of these nights, see the beauty of the forest with your own eyes.”
She gave Lily a final scratch before she appeared to vanish, a small gust of air following.
I also noticed that Milo’s eyes went wide at the notion of taking me into the heart of the dark forest.
There was silence until it was broken by Gilain, with a laugh, “That’s dangerous company you keep, Trevor.”
“Huling is nice to me,” I commented.
I knew from the comment by the King, the reactions to her, and even Morlin and Gilain both knowing her name, she was likely incredibly dangerous, but I had no reason to be concerned. She seemed to be good friends with Lily, which was rare.
“She might be responsible for the most deaths amongst high-ranking adventurers,” Gilain added.
Lily lifted her head and glared, but a small scratch from me was all it took to calm her back down.
“It sounds like a lot of that is people dying on the way to her, and others being greedy, but any friend of Lily or Sylverith is a friend of mine,” I explained.
“Sylverith is a name I’ve heard a few times now,” he said, looking around, likely wondering if someone would protest the question.
“She’s the dragon and protector of the dark forest. Lily is her favourite daughter and a friend of mine,” I explained.
Gilain looked serious for a moment. “Who were your parents exactly, Trevor?”
This seemed like an odd question, but I shrugged. “I don’t know, never got told anything. Why?”
Gilain shook his head, waving it off. “It’s nothing; don’t worry.”
There was clearly more to this than he was letting on. Did he have a suspicion about who my parents actually were?
***
The next morning I woke up with Lily lying across my legs, which took me quite a while to squirm my way out of. Crisplet wasn’t in the fire, so I guessed he joined in on watch again.
This was quickly confirmed when I walked out and saw a patch of fire surrounding the building again, although this time it was far more controlled. It seemed to be a body length wide, and only came up to the knee. It also didn’t appear to be anywhere near as intense as the first one.
“Morning,” I muttered to Jen and Milo, looking around for Crisplet.
“He’s patrolling around the fire,” Milo said, pointing to the side as Crisplet came wandering around.
The moment Crisplet spotted me, he gave me a burst of sparks, expressing happiness and power.
“This is much calmer than last time. Did it keep all the evil bugs away?” I asked.
I got another large burst of sparks.
“I’m going to start breakfast if you want to join.” I looked back at Milo and Jen, who gave the all-clear.
Breakfast wasn’t anything special. I was still rather annoyed at myself for cutting corners last night and using the savoury lard pastry instead of the butter and sugar one. It wasn’t like I didn’t know the recipe; I had made it several times before.
For today though, I made up some fresh rolls, along with some slices of bacon and a couple of eggs each for everyone. It crossed my mind to make something sweet, but I wanted to redeem myself with a bang, and I would be pulling out my dessert book today that I had been ignoring for far too long.
Crisplet broke me out of my thoughts with a piece of coal as I nearly burned the bacon.
“Thanks, Crisplet, thinking about dinner,” I mumbled.
For Lily’s breakfast, I just cooked three large pieces of Drakon instead of what everyone else was getting, and I was surprised to see Huling had shown up again, sitting next to her with a grin on her face.
So I put on three more pieces for her as well.
“Are you joining us all the way north?” I asked her.
“Oh no, that would cause you trouble. I’ll be here tonight, but I’m not very liked by the humans.” She let out a cold giggle.
“They don’t like Lily either,” I started to say.
But Hari joined in, surprising me. “Though it’s true they don’t much like Lily, they only see her as a shadow cat. Huling, on the other hand, has a reputation that lasts centuries and is often used as a cautionary tale to scare kids: ‘Share what you have and be nice, or Huling comes in the night.’” He said the last part like he had heard it a thousand times.
This seemed to make Huling’s day, as she appeared next to Hari. “They really talk about me like that!”
Hari nodded. “You’re the big bad monster who’ll take greedy children.”
Huling laughed. “I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t take a child; I’d take their parents for raising them greedy though.”
“Please don’t take children’s parents; that’s how they end up as orphans.” I frowned.
“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean I actually did it, young Trevor. I don’t enter towns and cities and cause havoc; they need to come to me, and I can’t say I’ve had any families enter the forest, but I do like the stories,” she said.
“I don’t; it makes it seem like a friend of mine eats children, when you don’t,” I said.
Hari laughed. “That’s a reputation you’ll struggle to change, Trev; it’s been engrained across generations.”
“Also, I like it; it means most people leave me alone,” Huling said happily, moving back to Lily.
“Don’t you have experienced adventurers seeking you out because of it? Because your name is known even on my continent, and I don’t think you’ve been there,” Gilain questioned.
“Maybe one a year will reach me,” she said.
I started to dish out breakfast to everyone as Milo and Jen entered, which ended the conversation quickly.
Huling and Lily both vanished as soon as their bacon was done, with Huling giving me a wave and a grin that sent a shiver down my spine.
The more I interacted with her, the more I noticed nothing about her appearance except the silhouette was human.
Trying to shake that from my mind, I asked Hari, “When is the next town?”
“We’ll be passing through a village tomorrow, but it’s smaller than the abandoned one, if it’s still there at all. Then, two days after that, we’ll get to our next town. It’s at the north corner of the dark forest and is mostly a farming town,” Hari explained.
My focus was entirely back on the abandoned village. “Did we ever find the villagers of that abandoned one to let them know the spikeback was dead?”
Hari nodded. “Milo let the guild know, and they were in contact with the elder. They will be moving back after repairs are done and a sweep is made to ensure no other spikebacks are in the area.”
Hari seemed to be conflicted for a moment before he spoke. “Trev, be careful about going to the heart of the dark forest. I’m not worried about the monsters there; I’m not fool enough to think Lily wouldn’t keep you safe, but they might not understand just how dangerous that mana intensity is to us. Warn Lily before you’re dragged there unexpectedly.”
Milo’s eyes went wide, hearing this for the first time. “It will be mana paralysis all over again, Trev.”
“I’ll talk to her; don’t worry,” I said.
I made a note to do it sooner rather than later. Huling liked chaos too much, and for all I knew, she was convincing Lily right now to kidnap me.